Seventeen-year-old Josh Swenson, an articulate teen whose dream is to change the world, creates his own website which he calls "The Gospel According to Larry" because Larry was the most unbiblical name he could think of. He writes articles on this site preaching his feelings and ideas about making the world a better place.

He is unpopular until someone writes an article about him in a local newspaper and the number of hits begins to grow. He then decides to start photographing and posting his possessions. He was curious to see if it was possible to track down someone anywhere in the world simply by their possessions. He only has 75 possessions and has a list of guidelines to keep track of how many possessions he has, such as to sell or trade an old CD, book, or video whenever he wants a new one. The guidelines were inspired by his reading of a book about Native Americans who did not want to leave a "footprint" behind, which led him to believe every purchase is a major decision.

Not everyone is happy with his site. A poster of the screen name betagold despises that Josh has kept his identity online as a secret behind and threatens to find him, no matter what he does to hide. She even notices minor clues to his location that he speaks of that.

U2's lead singer Bono takes an interest in the site, causing even more publicity. He decides to host a giant rock festival called Larryfest where all of the bands would play for free and all companies would sell food and drink at cost.

After the festival, Josh is at home when an older woman knocks on his door, who reveals to be Tracy Hawthorne, the person behind betagold. She is surrounded by reporters wanting to get a photograph of "Larry." With his real identity exposed to the public eye, he is initially glad because then he can spread his anti-consumerism message to all those who do not have access to the Internet. He quickly realizes that reporters are not interested in his message, but in his life, family, and friends.

Josh likes to pretend to talk to his deceased mother at the makeup desk at Bloomingdale's. His mother would go there once a month to buy makeup and talk to the woman who worked there. To do so, Josh sits on a chair, says something, waits for the next voice he hears, and accepts whatever they say as his mother's answer.

Josh becomes really depressed that he cannot leave his house without being harassed by reporters and attempts to receive an answer from "his mother". He is very confused and does not know where to go from there. He hears a woman speak of suicidal statements and then considers suicide as the only way to escape his state.

He bikes to the Sagamore Bridge because he has heard stories of how people had jumped from there and then returns home pretty shaken up. The next day, while being bored and looking up Greek and Latin roots, he puts two roots together and comes up with the word "pseudocide" (pseudo-, "false" and -cide, "killing") to refer pretending to kill oneself. He starts planning his faked suicide. Although unsure of whether to go through the plan, he considers it his project and does everything necessary for it to occur.

On the day to execute the plan, he cuts and dyes his hair and rides his bike to the Sagamore Bridge. After seeing no one around, he throws his clothes over and tucks his pants into his bag so that he is wearing shorts. He waves to a passing car and tells them he was running past and saw a kid jump, describing his previous look. When they see his bike is registered, Josh freaks out to the point he throws up. He leaves and stays at a small motel where he watches the local news revealing the entirety of the incident. He does not want any doubt that it was a suicide.

In a central Coast motel room, Liz has been hired to seduce Billy Nottle, a local councillor suspected of accepting bribes from developers.

At the Farnborough Airshow, a rogue group hijacks a Mirage 2000-10 after killing its pilot. French Air Force pilots Captain Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli (Benoît Magimel) and Captain Sébastien "Fahrenheit" Vallois (Clovis Cornillac) are instructed to escort it back. When the rogue pilot attempts to fire a missile at Vallois, Marchelli is forced to destroy the stolen Mirage. The French "Special Missions" department, seeking to blackmail Marchelli into working for them, tampers with the video from Marchelli's gun camera. A subsequent court-martial finds Marchelli guilty of destroying the stolen Mirage without provocation and discharges him from the air force, prompting Vallois to resign as well.

Special Missions promises to have them reinstated if they fly a Cannonball run over hostile territory to the Horn of Africa to help sell the Mirage to an Asian customer. Marchelli and Vallois agree but are forced to land in hostile territory before completing the flight. They are captured by terrorists intent on stealing their planes. Marchelli and Vallois manage to escape in one of the jets, while the terrorists dismantle and make off with another.

The terrorists plan use the stolen Mirage to shoot down a tanker aircraft over Paris during the Bastille Day celebrations. Marchelli and Vallois intercept the rogue Mirage and shoot it down over an unpopulated area.

The novel tells the story of Richard Lamb, a young Englishman who marries a teenage Argentinian girl, Paquita, without asking her father's permission, and is forced to flee to Montevideo, Uruguay with his bride. Lamb leaves his young wife with a relative while he sets off for eastern Uruguay to find work for himself. He soon becomes embroiled in adventures with the Uruguayan gauchos and romances with local women. Lamb unknowingly helps a rebel guerrilla general, Santa Coloma, escape from prison and joins his cause. However, the rebels are defeated in battle and Lamb has to flee in disguise. He helps Demetria, the daughter of an old rebel leader, escape from her persecutors and returns to Montevideo. Lamb, Paquita, Demetria and Santa Coloma evade their government pursuers by slipping away on a boat bound for Buenos Aires. Here the novel ends, but in the opening paragraphs, Lamb had already informed the reader that after the events of the story he was captured by Paquita's father and thrown into prison for three years, during which time Paquita herself died of grief.

''The Town,'' the third novel in Conrad Richter’s ''Awakening Land'' trilogy, continues the story of frontier woman Sayward (née Luckett) Wheeler and her family. At 280 pages, the book is considerably longer than the other books of the trilogy. The focus of this final book is on the dramatic changes to the town and region with rapid development and industrialization. The theme is dealing with change. Sayward lives through the development of her Ohio Valley settlement into a thriving town, with a variety of businesses and industry. She becomes wealthy by pioneer standards by selling off parcels of her own land to newcomers.

The town changes its name from Moonshine Church to Americus in a successful quest to be named the county seat. The town government constructs civic improvements such as a new bridge and canal. Sayward’s husband, Portius Wheeler, convinces her to give up their old log cabin and move into a fine new brick mansion house he builds in the downtown section of Americus. He believes this is in keeping with his position as the town's attorney. Sayward eventually gets used to the luxury of her new home, but also feels a sense of loss for her former frontier way of life.

Sayward is reunited with two long-lost members of her family, who were introduced in the earlier books of the trilogy. Her father, Worth Luckett, had abandoned the family to live a hunter’s life after his favorite child, Sulie, was lost in the forest. After an absence of many years, he returns to Americus and tries to re-establish relationships with his grown children. On his deathbed, Worth confides that he found their sister Sulie alive; she had become fully assimilated as a Lenape (Delaware Indian) and married a Lenape man. Sayward and her remaining sister, Genny, travel to the Indiana town where Sulie resides and try to reconnect with her. Sulie claims not to know them as she is now part of the tribe and does not want to leave. Her sisters conclude Sulie is lost to them.

Sayward also deals with the problems of one or another of her nine surviving children. Her youngest son, Chancey, causes her the most worry. He is a quiet, sensitive youngster with frequent health problems. He often retreats into daydreams of belonging to another family who will understand him better.

As Chancey grows older, he feels an increasing sense of separation from his family, and often clashes with his mother over their differing views on work and progress. He becomes close friends with Rosa Tench, a girl from the poor side of town in whom he senses a kindred spirit. Their families finally tell him that Rosa is the result of Portius Wheeler's extramarital affair with the local school mistress, meaning that Rosa and Chancey are half-brother and sister. They are forbidden to see each other and are threatened with the law, but they continue to meet in secret.

Finally, Chancey tells Rosa he can’t see her anymore. At the town fair, Rosa tries to force a confrontation with him, cutting loose their hot air balloon. Chancey deflates the balloon and returns them safely. When Rosa realizes that Chancey will never defy his family and take her away from Americus, she commits suicide with the same knife used to cut the balloon's tether.Richter, Conrad. ''The Awakening Land'' (1966), Chapters 28, 29 of ''The Town'', pp. 571 - 577. (This plot-line was not in the 1978 TV mini-series of the same name, where the pair were separated as children, not young adults.)

After Rosa’s death, Chancey becomes embittered toward his family and moves out to a boarding house in town. He then moves on to the larger river port city of Cincinnati, where he becomes a journalist. He works as an editor of a newspaper, writing articles from a socialist point of view that criticize industrial progress and some prominent people in the state, especially members of his family. He returns to see his family only when necessary.

Chancey returns in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War (although the year is not given, the book refers to Union troops answering the call of their “backwoods president,” meaning Abraham Lincoln). He has come for his mother's last days. After being supported for years by anonymous contributions, his newspaper has failed and been sold off at auction after the contributions stopped. He hopes that he may inherit some money from Sayward’s estate to enable him to start over.

At home, Chancey learns that his mother had been the anonymous contributor who financed his paper all those years. He had often criticized her in print, and she did not agree with his published views. He also learns that she has saved clippings of all of the poems, articles, and editorials he has written. Chancey realizes that he may have been wrong about his mother, and therefore wrong about many of his other conclusions. He recognizes that he will have to “ponder his own questions and travel his way alone.”

Winnie the Pooh decides to have a party for his friends but needs more honey. He asks Tigger, a tiger with spring-like tail, to help him collect the honey they will need to have the party. Other friends from the Hundred Acre Wood such as Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Piglet and Roo, also help ''Tigger'' find the honey they will need. After traveling through six areas and completing three minigames, Tigger goes to talk to Christopher Robin about finding more honey and he suggests different kinds of food. The party is a big success thanks to Pooh and Tigger.

As the book begins and progresses, Tris hears voices on the wind telling her seemingly useless bits of information. In an effort to cool herself off in the summer's cruel heat, she and her three "mates"—Sandry, Daja, and Briar—head up to the wall that encloses Winding Circle. On the wall, Tris hears more voices and then suddenly a lighthouse nearby blows up. As Tris and her teacher Niklaren Goldeye examine the ruins, they realize that the tower was blown up by a new substance they have never heard of. In the ruins, Tris finds a baby starling, which she decides to take care of.

While repairing a magical net protecting Winding Circle with Dedicate Frostpine and his apprentice Kirel, Daja sees a magically hidden boat out of the corner of her eye. While eating a turnover from Dedicate Gorse's kitchen's, Briar smells the unmistakable scent of cinnamon and poppy, a sure sign of someone invisible. A forgetful novice realizes that there are a lack of bandages, so Dedicate Lark and Sandry are forced to make some more. The Temple is short on medicine, so Dedicate Rosethorn and Briar are forced to make more. All the signs lead to trouble. When Daja finally tells Frostpine about the ship, he immediately tells Dedicate Superior Moonstream, who sends word to Duke Vedris IV, Sandry's uncle and the ruler of Emelan. Pirates are afoot.

Tris's cousin Aymery Glassfire comes to bring Niko a letter, and is recognized by her. He tries to get Tris to go home, saying her father is ill, but she refuses, saying that if he wanted her, he would send for her. While everyone is talking, a novice comes and tells Niko that every mirror, crystal, and vision bowl has been broken. That leaves Winding Circle blind to the future. Early the next morning, when jumping into a wind magically, Tris realizes that there is a huge invisible magic box coming slowly toward Winding Circle. Later in the morning, Frostpine takes Daja to repair two chains that protect Winding Circle. During the repairs, the pirates begin their attack.

As the attack goes on, the four start to help. Tris takes one of the pirate's "boomstones"—a hard sphere containing gunpowder—with her winds and sends it away. Briar and Rosethorn take seeds of thorny plants and grow them quickly and thickly along the cove to capture and kill the pirates. When all the adults leave to help defend Winding Circle, Tris practices zapping targets with her lightning and the help of Sandry, Daja, and Tris. Tris tests herself when a boomstone begins a descent on Discipline and blows it up.

When looking through Aymery's belongings, Briar finds that even though he claims he's staying for several weeks, Aymery has only brought a very small wardrobe. In a locked trunk, Briar finds cinnamon oil and poppy, used for invisibility. He also finds a mirror, when all of the mirrors in Winding Circle had broken the night before. When following Aymery out of Discipline at midnight, Tris and Briar confront him, whereupon he reveals that he had been working for Enahar, the pirates' chief mage, for some time. Then Aymery lets in the pirates through a side gate. Sandry, Daja, Lark, and Niko come and deal with the pirates, and Tris takes the dying Aymery's earring that links him to Enahar.

Maddened by helplessness, Tris goes up on the south wall to deal with the pirates herself and get them away from the one place she can call home and Sandry, Daja, and Briar join her and help. They bash through the pirates' barrier by pulling their strength together. Daja finds all the metal in the pirates' fleet like nails and weapons, pulls it out, and drops it in the water. Tris uses her lightning to blast ships. The four start destroying the fleet when they are all caught in mage traps on the ships. They appear to be lost when Niko returns their string of combined magic. With the extra power of the string and their arrived teachers, they destroy the rest of the fleet. Enahar attempts to capture Tris using his link with Aymery's earring, but Sandry, Daja, and Briar realize this and use stray lightning on Tris's hair to destroy the small piece of jewellery.

Because she killed and injured many of the helpless slaves on the pirate ships, Tris decides to help with the wounded pirates and slaves. She gets little thanks. All she cares about is trying to make up for some of the harm she did to so many people with her lightning.

Lauren Kline is a pretty, young medical resident, completely devoted to her work in the Emergency Room of San Francisco Memorial Hospital. She worked round the clock dealing with patients until she got into a serious car accident. As a result of the accident, Lauren went into a coma. She "woke" to awareness outside of her still comatose body, and was frustrated that she could not communicate with anyone. After a while, she chose to spend most of her time at her old apartment, where she is discovered by Arthur, the man who took over renting the place. Only he can see, hear, or touch her. After some initial disbelief on his part, they fall in love.

Background

''Desperate Housewives'' focuses on the lives of several residents living on Wisteria Lane in the town of Fairview. In previous episodes, Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross) begins dating Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), a local dentist."Remember, Parts I & II". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Jenna Bans (writer), Alexandra Cunningham (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer). ''Desperate Housewives''. ABC. May 21, 2006. Season 2, no. 23 & 24. Mike Delfino (James Denton) plans to propose to Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher); however, Orson intentionally runs over Mike with his car and then flees the scene. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) and Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) elect their maid, Xiao-Mei (Gwendoline Yeo), as their surrogate. Afterwards, Gabrielle discovers that Carlos and Xiao-Mei are having an affair. Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) learns that her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), fathered a child out of wedlock prior to their meeting. The girl, 11-year-old Kayla (Rachel Fox), and her mother, Nora (Kiersten Warren), move from Atlantic City to Fairview.

Episode

"Listen to the Rain on the Roof" takes place six months after the aforementioned events. Orson and Bree become engaged and, although they initially planned to wait until they were married to have sex, they are unable to overcome temptation. Bree visits the doctor immediately after, fearing that she may have suffered a stroke; her doctor informs her that Bree had just experienced her first orgasm. Later at the couple's engagement party, Orson's former neighbor, Carolyn Bigsby (Laurie Metcalf), arrives uninvited and accuses Orson of having killed his missing wife, Alma (Valerie Mahaffey). Despite a sense of doubt, Bree believes Orson when he denies Carolyn's claims. Later, the rain washes away mud at a construction site and uncovers a buried body.

Mike has been comatose since the hit-and-run. Dr. Lee Craig (Terry Bozeman) warns Susan that Mike will most likely not awaken from his coma, but she remains optimistic. She meets Ian Hainsworth (Dougray Scott), a British man whose wife, Jane (Cecily Gambrell), has been in a coma for several years. Ian asks Susan on a date, which forces her to face the unlikeliness of Mike recovering.

Gabrielle and Carlos are in the middle of a prolonged divorce. Carlos has moved into an apartment across town and Gabrielle is forced to care for Xiao-Mei, who is over eight months pregnant and on bed rest. During an argument, Gabrielle threatens to send Xiao-Mei back to China after she has the baby. Later, Gabrielle discovers that Xiao-Mei has run away and enlists Carlos' help to find her. The two bicker before acknowledging the challenges they will face while trying to raise a child as a divorced couple. Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) finds Xiao-Mei in a house that she has been trying to sell and notifies the Solises.

Lynette is frustrated with Nora inviting herself to family events. To ensure that Nora does not show up to Parker's (Zane Huett) birthday party, Tom and Lynette tell her that they are having Kayla over for a quiet afternoon. Nora becomes suspicious and arrives at the party unannounced. She is furious over their deception and threatens to take Kayla home, but Tom tries to calm her by inviting Nora to stay. Lynette accuses Tom of putting Nora and Kayla ahead of the rest of the family, which encourages Tom to ask Nora to leave and pick up Kayla later. Eventually, Nora obliges.

The storyline follows the armies of Prince Garett of Baltia as they battle the Dalsis Empire and the monsters they unwittingly awaken, framed as a battle between the forces of good and an ancient evil that threatens to overrun the world.

The story begins with an assault on the Nation of Baltia by the forces of the Dalsis Empire. King Alfador sees the castle will not be able to stand and urges his son Prince Garett to flee to the town of Sulras, both for his own safety and to gather reinforcements from Duke Carleon. He assigns the sword master Baldarov to go with Garett and protect him on the journey.

Together they escape from the siege and journey to Sulras, meeting the cleric Mina on the way. The three of them help defend the town from a bandit raid in the night, and are granted some reinforcements by Duke Carleon. Before they can start the journey back, Sabra, one of Baltia's commanders, arrives to tell them that the Castle has already fallen to Dalsis and many of the other commanders have been taken prisoner. As he returns to the castle he is set upon by monsters in the woods, but he perseveres and eventually arrives at the castle. He leads a campaign to retake the Castle, freeing the prisoners. However, Dalsis has already taken the treasure Baltia was protecting, the magic sword "Warsong".

Garett then rushes to the aid of Anzel, one of Baltia's fortresses, which is also under siege. He rescues the fortress' commander Bayard, and begins his march through the Dalsis Empire towards Emperor Pythion's palace. Duke Carleon himself commits to the cause, joining the fight by Garett's side. The monsters that are encountered as they travel into Dalsis continue to become more vicious, numerous, and powerful as time goes by, and Garett realizes they are attacking the Dalsis forces as well as his own. He arrives at the palace and defeats Emperor Pythion, and the emperor explains that he awakened the ancient evil with Warsong.

Garett retakes Warsong and begins his campaign against the evil, fighting ever more powerful monsters along the way and eventually tracking their source to the dark land of Seneferia. He finally gains access to a citadel in Seneferia that is the home of the ancient evil, and deep within the citadel he fights the embodiment of that evil, Chaos.

After slaying Chaos, the defeated being admonishes Garett by explaining that Order and Chaos were created by the world itself and Chaos was revived to help save the world from destruction by keeping it in balance. Chaos also says that it will return as long as humans continue to fight one another. The citadel then sinks into the ground as Garett and friends escape, and Garett wonders whether they have actually saved the world, or set it on the path to ruin.

Overview

Der Langrisser was one of the first tactical RPGs to allow the player a choice of story paths. Depending on the player's choices, the protagonist of the game, Erwin, can switch allegiances between three factions: the Descendants of Light, the Rayguard Empire, and the Demon Tribe. Alternatively, he can choose to create his own faction in opposition to the other three.

Erwin begins the game on the side of the Descendants of Light, fighting against the Rayguard Empire, which has enlisted the aid of the Dark Lord Böser in the interest of unifying the continent and putting an end to the wars which plague it, unaware that Böser is chiefly responsible for the conflicts. To unify the continent, the Empire needs the power of the two legendary swords, Alhazard and its anti-type, Langrisser. Determined that the two swords should not serve one master, the Descendants of Light, led by Jessica, pledge to stop the Empire from finding Langrisser. Erwin commits to discovering Langrisser before the Empire.

Erwin's rival for Langrisser, Leon, is the leader of the Empire's Blue Dragon Knights and a frequent obstacle to Erwin's progress. By chance, however, the two find themselves participating in a common cause, and begin to suspect that the differences between them are not as great as they imagined. Leon suggests that Erwin side with the Empire, the choice of which is left to the player's discretion. If Erwin sides with the Empire, the roles of protagonist and antagonist are reversed: Jessica's Descendants of Light side against Erwin and the player, and the Rayguard Empire allies itself to Erwin. Former allies become enemies, and previously defeated enemy commanders become allies. The choice of sides carries significant weight to the story, because Erwin will ultimately have to kill the opposing side's commanders to bring peace.

If the player refuses Leon's offer to change sides, Erwin will remain with the Descendants of Light until the Empire is completely crushed. If the player accepts, Erwin remains with Rayguard until Langrisser is found, at which point the player may choose to betray the Empire if Erwin takes Langrisser before Leon. If Erwin betrays the Empire, he commits himself to the destruction of both the Empire and the Descendants of Light. The Prince of Darkness Böser, sensing Erwin's strength, himself betrays the Empire and places his forces under the player's command. Erwin remains with Böser until the unsealing of Alhazard, at which point he may leave it to the player's discretion whether or not to continue on with Böser or to betray him. If Boser is betrayed, Erwin will commit to a totally independent path of absolute peace for demons and humans, ultimately setting himself in opposition to the Goddess Lushiris herself. If Erwin remains loyal to Böser, he commits to destroying the Demon Tribe's enemies and taking power for himself, assuming the character of a sociopath.

Relations with Kaiser Bernhardt

Depending on the path taken, Erwin's relationship to Kaiser Bernhardt, the leader of the Rayguard Empire, takes one of several forms. On the Light Path, the steady advance of Erwin and the Descendents of Light compels Bernhardt to ever greater dependence on the Demon Tribe and Al-hazard, culminating in his suicide as a final act of defiance against Erwin. On the Imperial Path, Erwin submits to Bernhardt's rule and is given Al-hazard as a token of Bernhardt's esteem. On the Independent and Chaos paths, Erwin hunts Bernhardt after an attempt by Rayguard to ambush Erwin fails. Bernhardt escapes long enough to reflect on his ambitions and their consequences, but is cornered and killed by Erwin. If Erwin has accepted the Independent path, Bernhardt takes solace in the knowledge that Erwin intends to bring peace after he is gone. If Erwin has chosen the Chaos path, Bernhardt leaves him with a warning against the use of peace and darkness for the same ends, which Erwin fails to comprehend.

Relations with the Goddess, Lushiris

Because Erwin is presented as the avatar of Lushiris' will, Lushiris is accepting of the player's decisions in his name, even if she disagrees with them. Although Lushiris does not appear on the Light path due to Erwin's compliance with her wishes, Erwin's use of Langrisser for ends opposite her own provokes her to action on the Independent and Chaos paths. Should Erwin take the independent road, he will find himself in opposition to Jessica, who serves as Lushiris' formal avatar on behalf of her own personal desires. Jessica plans to defeat Erwin by deactivating Langrisser, believing Lushiris will be open to this possibility due to the defeat of Böser and the non-necessity of Langrisser's continued existence as a counterweight to Alhazard. To prevent this from happening, Erwin invades Lushiris' domain before she can act. Lushiris determines that Erwin has strayed from her guidance as a means of proving that a person as great as Erwin can exist, as a testament to humanity's ability to end social conflicts and bring peace. Erwin defeats Lushiris but not before receiving a final warning that one day he too will be confronted with someone with the will to overthrow the existing order, just as he has done to Lushiris. Her words prove prophetic, as Erwin finds himself faced with a new movement of people who believe that if only they are strong enough, they too could rule El Sallia.

Lushiris takes a different approach on the Chaos path. Unable to accept the possibility of Chaos' reign, she personally descends to El Sallia to defeat Erwin after Jessica is killed. Although Erwin defeats her, Lushiris poses an ominous warning to Erwin before dying, arguing that although his way has proven triumphant, he is nearly insane and capable of great destruction. If he should abuse his position as ruler, she warns, her will would re-manifest and punish him. Although there is no clear statement of her return in the epilogue, Erwin is described as facing a rebellion of people who have united in the face of a common enemy, suggesting it is her spirit within them that has taken its vengeance for Erwin's misdeeds.

Backstory

When the god Aion created the world of Atreia, They created the Drakan—powerful dragon-like beasts tasked with safeguarding the humans; performing Aion's will on the planet; and protecting the Tower of Eternity, Aion's physical presence on Atreia. For a time, the Drakan obeyed Aion; but over time, they began to enjoy their power, ignoring their duties and abusing the humans who inhabited Atreia. Aion took notice, creating the twelve Empyrean Lords in response. Angelic in appearance, the Empyrean Lords were demigods who walked amongst humans, and used a force called "Aether" to create a powerful barrier, later to be called an aetheric field, around the Tower of Eternity, protecting all of those within. While the outside world continued to be ravaged by the Drakan, who had become the more ferocious Balaur; the humans within the barrier managed to tap into the Aether, gaining their own powers. In time, they would become known as the Daeva.

As time went on, the Lords decided that they had to be more aggressive in stopping the Balaur. With the number of Daeva growing, the Lords decided to form an army, with ten of the Empyrean Lords leading the Daeva into battle; while the remaining two, Siel and Israphel, protected the Tower of Eternity (thus earning the title "Tower Lords"). This conflict between the Balaur and the Empyrean Lords would come to be known as the Millennium War, which led to no real progress by any side. As the war progressed, a faction of Lords began to view the war as unwinnable, and Lord Israphel proposed a discussion of peace with the Balaur. This surprise proposal drew criticism from within the faction; after a lengthy and heated debate, seven of the twelve Lords became the winning majority to move forward with the plan.

However, for reasons unclear, the negotiation failed. When the Balaur arrived at the Tower of Eternity, a commotion broke out, killing a Balaurian captain; the remaining Balaur, enraged, marched upon and destroyed the Tower, which set off a chain reaction that threatened to destroy the planet. However, Israphel and Siel made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their own lives to protect Atreia. The world was shattered into two "hemi-shells", with a dark Abyss lying between them; but it was held together by the aetheric field created from the Tower Lords' sacrifice.

While the Balaur were banished to the Abyss, the Empyrean Lords found themselves in conflict with each other. Two groups were formed as a result, each with five Lords; the Seraphim, who had proposed the peace solution and blamed the others for sabotaging the peace negotiations by failing to agree to them; and the Shedim, who blamed the Seraphim, believing that their weakness and their proposing of the peace talk allowed the Balaur to gain the upper hand. From that day on, the two sides became bitter enemies.

The Shedim migrated to Asmodae, the dark and harsh upper, inner half of the planet; while the Seraphim Lords settled in Elysea, the light and abundant bottom half. They both took their humans and Daeva with them, and over time, they adapted to their respective new worlds and declared the opposing side their mortal enemies. Those in Asmodae became the Asmodians, rugged survivors, gaining dark features and a fierce loyalty to their kin. Those in Elysea became the Elyos, growing even more beautiful and believing themselves to be Aion's chosen people (although they have grown arrogant). From that day on, they would wage war for centuries as bloody enemies.

When Colin, a friend who has been absent, comes back to his circle of friends, his friends are worried about how to approach him over the death of his fiancée, Carol, who has drowned. Diana organizes a tea party for Colin's arrival. The characters are shown to have interrelationship tensions and this is near erupting when Colin arrives, heightening the tension when they all work to appear friendly towards him. However Colin seems euphorically happy while the rest of the party are near breaking point.

Diana is concerned in Act I regarding whether her husband (Paul) is faithful or not. Deep down she knows he is not and has a feeling he is having a love affair with Evelyn. Evelyn's husband John is in business with Paul and knows that Paul and Evelyn have slept together but doesn't say anything in fear of damaging business relations. The play unfolds and Colin's arrival triggers Diana's confrontation. She ends up pouring the cream on Paul and breaking down at the end of the play.

The play takes place in three bedrooms during one night and the following morning. The cast consists of four married couples. At the beginning of the play, the oldest couple, Delia and Ernest, are getting ready to go out for a meal to celebrate their wedding anniversary; Malcolm and Kate, the youngest, are about to host a housewarming party, to which the other two couples, Jan and Nick and Susannah and Trevor (the only ones whose bedroom is not seen), have been invited. At the last minute Nick has hurt his back and is unable to go. The complicating factor is that Jan used to be Trevor's girlfriend, and after Susannah and Trevor have a blazing row, Susannah finds Trevor kissing Jan. As a result Susannah leaves the party and goes to visit Delia and Ernest, whose connection with the rest of the plot is that they are Trevor's parents; she ends up sharing Delia's bed, while Ernest is forced to sleep in the spare room. Meanwhile Trevor himself, feeling unable to go home, is also offered a bed in a spare room by Kate, but decides to go and "straighten things out" with Nick and Jan, leaving Kate waiting up for him. Eventually Trevor and Susannah seem to be reconciled, but at the end of the play the audience might doubt whether this state of affairs will last.

Terrorists have taken over the headquarters of the United Nations and have seized the government officials in the building. They are now being held as hostages in the top floor of the building by Victor, the leader of the terrorist gang.

As a member of a special Government Assault Team, it is up to the player to command their team and reach the top floor (the 40th level), rescue the hostages and eliminate the terrorist threat by killing Victor.

The play begins on Christmas Eve. Harvey and Bernard argue over the violence shown in a film on TV while Neville and Eddie obsess over building remote controlled Christmas Tree lights; all the men largely ignoring their wives. Rachel becomes anxious over the late arrival of Clive, eventually leaving the house to look for him. When Clive arrives he meets Belinda and they swiftly develop a mutual attraction.

Throughout Christmas Day Clive grows closer to Belinda and more distant from Rachel. Finally around midnight, after a drunken game of snakes and ladders when Belinda and Clive believe everyone has gone to bed, they attempt to have sex in the sitting room but they are thwarted when they set off a toy drumming bear which rouses everyone else.

On Boxing Day, Bernard goes through the rehearsal of a dreadful puppet production of ''The Three Little Pigs''. But after only two of the sixteen scenes, Harvey grabs the puppets and begins a fight, enraging Bernard.

On the 27th, Clive tries to sneak off first thing in the morning but Harvey shoots him, mistaking him for a looter. Bernard incompetently pronounces him dead. When Clive recovers, he is taken to hospital, leaving Neville and Belinda together, Neville having chosen to ignore what happened.

The film follows Laud Weiner, an oblivious, self-satisfied, and spoiled Hollywood manager-producer, as he explains his 'hard' work to the camera while in reality taking credit for other people's ideas and making everyone's life difficult.

Robert L. Forward has created a device that will change whatever goes through it into mirror matter. Another character (who is unnamed) suggests sending protons through it, but Forward says that he has tried that, and will now send himself through. The other character argues that he will not be able to digest because his internal organs will be the wrong way round and his biochemistry altered, but Forward argues that he can just pass through it a second time. He travels through, and checks his heartbeat and appendectomy scar (which are on the same side as before). He gloomily says that everything is the same as before, being "as sure as my name's Robert L. Backward."

Pilot

The pilot of the series aired with some anticipation. Beforehand, columnist Randall Denley had written that "I suspect [it] will be the highlight of the evening," noting the series had been described as "wondrous and fiendishly humorous." The first episode, titled "''The Gurney Orphanage For Beginners''," features Princess Lucy and her suitcase falling from the sky in front of the orphanage and killing three rabbits. Upon getting up and seeing the orphanage, Princess Lucy believes she has found her castle and royal family. Instead, she is surprised to find the building is full of mutant orphans, and devastated to learn she is an orphan herself. She tries to escape, but finds any way out blocked by a lake monster and a dangerous forest, among other things.

Eventually, a woman agrees to adopt Lucy. However, the other orphans see that the woman will probably not provide the best home for her, and intervene. Lucy ultimately decides that she belongs in the orphanage more so than her ideal castle.

Series

The series was continued with twelve more episodes: Themes explored include "social issues, pop culture references and humour." Due to the show having the visual appearance of a children's television series, each episode was preceded by a content warning, stating that the show was intended for an adult audience and that "parental discretion" was advised.

"''Do Orphans Dream of Electric Parents?''" is the second episode. It is about Brian Brain inventing robots and making them his parents, only to find that the robots want to divorce each other. In the next episode, "''An Orphans Life Indeed''", Princess Lucy seeks a best friend, but her vanity causes her to decide that only she can be her own best friend. Lucy then clones herself, but the clones prove troublesome. Seymore, who is in love with Lucy, ultimately solves the problem by slaughtering the clones with a chainsaw. One critic remarked that this was a particularly "disturbing" scene for the series.

The fourth episode, called "''The Perfect Lesson''", sees the orphans trying to perform a play to impress visiting prospective parents. It is from this episode that the show's title is derived, as the play repeatedly refers to "what it's like being alone". This was followed by the episode aired on 24 July, "''The Poster Child''" which is about a corporation that attempts to adopt Aldous to use her in advertisements. Aldous, under a witch's curse, must accept this shallow adoption or die.

In the episode "''Fire the Reverend''", a religious speaker visits the orphanage and confuses Charlie with Satan; the real Satan and his son later emerge, and Charlie finds out that while he is mistaken for being evil, Satan's son is trying to shed the perception that he is good. Eventually Charlie saves the day by persuading Satan and his son to leave the orphanage. The seventh episode is entitled "''Red, White and Orphanage''". It is about another orphanage abducting Brian Brain in order to exploit him in their plans for world domination. This was followed by "''Sammy's Episode''", which is about Sammy taking various medications, as well as shock therapy. The ninth episode is "''A Tale of Almost Unbearable Sadness,''" which is focussed on declining morale in the orphanage and exploration of the dangerous forest.

Alternate names for the tenth episode are "''Lucky Lucy''" and "''You Gotta Know When to Hold 'em''". In it, Princess Lucy bets that Byron and Beasly cannot be cleaned and wins. She afterwards gambles more but nearly loses the orphanage in the process. The episode "''Armie Loves Cigarettes''" sees Armie taking up smoking. According to the Internet Movie Database, the second last episode and season finale aired on the same day, 18 September. The twelfth and second last episode is called "''A Frightful Flu''," and in it Aldous entrusts care for the ailing orphans to a witch. The final episode, "''Silver Screen Lucy''" or "''The Sweet Stink of Success''," is about the orphans making short films to impress a prospective parent, but he ends up adopting Nanny Goodapple and Beasly and Byron, leaving the orphanage to Aldous.

The episode begins with rumours abounding that Sergeant Wilson has gone AWOL. Meanwhile, Jones is having troubles with the butchers shop: shortages in rationed meat means his customers are getting more upset with him, which is affecting his mental health. Walker offers to give Jones a rabbit to skin (so he can sell the skin to a furrier), but Jones refuses as a single rabbit would make things worse, and confides he is desperate for off-the-ration meat.

The following evening, the platoon inform Captain Mainwaring that after a particularly heavy night drinking, Wilson was seen about town with a young woman (a Wren) on his arm. Private Pike reveals that Wilson and his mother had an argument about something, so he is not calling Wilson "Uncle Arthur", and will not take orders from him. However Mainwaring informs Pike that unless he wants to be charged with insubordination, he will respect Wilson's position as Chief Clark and Sergeant in the bank and on parade respectively.

During this discussion, Wilson is found in the church hall, asleep behind the stage curtain. While Mainwaring berates the still tipsy Wilson in his office, Wilson begins to see pigeons on Mainwaring's bookshelf. Both believe this to be the result of Wilson's drunken state until Pike enters the office and points them out. Immediately, the office is filled with pigeons. It emerges that Walker had stored the birds in the boiler room and they had escaped. Walker secretly proposes to Jones to buy the pigeons from Walker to augment his supply of meat, and is persuaded to help Walker to hide them in the church. However, Jones becomes suspicious when he hears on the radio that there is a sudden and unexplained shortage of pigeons in Trafalgar Square, and ends the agreement.

On Sunday, Mainwaring and Frazer are welcoming people as they enter the church for the morning service when Mr. Hodges arrives and says to Frazer "I've been helping her (Mrs. Fox) with her blackout curtains". Just ahead of a church service we hear a conversation between Wilson and the young woman, where we discover that she is his daughter from a failed marriage before Wilson moved to Walmington-on-Sea. This is reason for the argument between him and Mrs Pike, apparently it was a secret he had kept to himself. Frazer is the only person to overhear this; Wilson admits to Frazer that he hasn't seen much of her while she was growing up, but that he did his best to send her to a good school. Frazer replies that "she does you credit" and admits to Wilson that he knows he is prone to gossip, but promises never to reveal Wilson's secret.

The hymns are ruined when the organ begins to play and dead pigeons are fired across the church: Walker is exposed as having hidden several of the pigeons in the organ pipes.

The residents of Fernley Park, the home of Sir Roger Ackroyd, discuss the suicide of a local woman, Mrs. Ashley Ferrars, during the previous night. Ms. Ferrars had a close relationship with Sir Roger and her death has greatly affected him. They further discuss the impending announcement of the engagement between Sir Roger's daughter-in-law Flora and Ralph Paton. An attractive neighbor, Caryl Sheppard, arrives to play bridge, followed by Hercule Poirot, who has recently moved to the village. Caryl invites Poirot to dine with her at Fernley that evening with her and her brother, Dr. James Sheppard.

When Dr. Sheppard arrives, he and Ackroyd discuss the late Mrs. Ferrars. Ackroyd had planned to marry Mrs. Ferrars after she had finished mourning her late husband's death. After putting him off for three more months, she confessed to having poisoned him. She was driven to suicide by an unknown blackmailer. Ackroyd is certain that she would have left him a letter detailing who her persecutor was. That night, after everyone has gone to bed, Ackroyd is stabbed with a dagger through the neck, with only his own prints on the handle.

Dr. Sheppard tells Poirot of the real cause of Mrs. Ferrars’ suicide and the letter that Sir Roger received. Ackroyd's secretary Geoffrey Raymond tells Poirot that at 9.30, he heard Ackroyd tell some unknown person that he could not give them money. Houseguest Major Blunt also says he heard the words when he was walking on the terrace, but was distracted by a woman in white moving about the grounds. The woman turns out to be parlourmaid Ursula Bourne, who is secretly married to Ralph Paton.

The next morning, Poirot summons the butler, Parker, and asks him to state what is different about the study compared to the previous evening. Raymond is questioned about any strangers seen in the past week. The only one he can recall was a young representative from a firm of Dictaphone manufacturers. Mr Hammond, the family solicitor, reveals that the dead man's will leaves the majority of the estate to Paton. It is also revealed that ₤100 cash is missing from Ackroyd's room. Four days later, Flora confesses that she stole the money. Blunt, in love with Flora, chivalrously claims the money was given to him by Sir Roger but Poirot tells the Major that Flora was going to marry him to escape her and her mother's poverty.

The next night, Poirot gathers all the suspects and, after revealing Bourne's marriage to Paton, proceeds to discredit Paton's alibi. Poirot tells the assembled group that in order to save Paton, the real murderer must confess. They have until midday tomorrow and then Poirot will go to the police. After everyone leaves, Poirot fetches back Dr. Sheppard and accuses him of the crime. He reveals that when Blunt and Raymond heard the voice of Ackroyd heard refusing a blackmail request, they were in fact listening to a previously made Dictaphone recording. The murderer then removed the Dictaphone from the scene. The murderer can only be someone who had a receptacle to carry away the machine and who had the study to himself for a moment after the discovery of the body – in other words, Dr. Sheppard himself. The doctor's motive was to protect himself – he was Mrs Ferrars’ blackmailer. Poirot suggests that the doctor take the "cleanest" way out; Sheppard agrees and leaves. Poirot tells Caryl that he has failed to catch the murderer, but that he is able to clear Ralph.

Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall), a conflicted young TV star from the U.S., runs away from the set - and his problems - while shooting a big-budget film in Canada. His reluctant limo-driver, Rick Schiller (Don McKellar), a down-on-his-luck indie filmmaker, is enlisted to find Taylor before the childstar destroys himself.

Lemon, a reclusive young woman with an unspecified chronic illness, sits in her apartment reading books about Nazism and reliving her life story. But as she tells the audience, that life story consists mostly of stories she herself was told in childhood by "Aunt Dan", a family friend. In flashback we see the miserable marriage of Lemon's parents and the child's eagerness for escape through Dan's stories.

Dan is a charismatic, eccentric figure, who tells the girl of her love affairs with women but also of an intense imaginary romance with Henry Kissinger. Dan's worldview is an application of Kissinger's doctrine of ''realpolitik'' to private life—amoral, ruthless, and seeing all relationships in terms of dominance and submission. As the play continues, Dan's stories become more bizarre, including one in which she conspires with a gangster's moll to murder a policeman. Lemon's inarticulate mother tries to stand up for the value of compassion, but she fails and is made to look foolish and weak by Dan's eloquence.

Dan is transformed, however, when she becomes ill some years later. Tended lovingly by a nurse, she comes to feel for the first time a sense of loving connection with the world. Lemon is bewildered and alienated by this change in her mentor, and Dan dies soon afterward.

Now an invalid herself, Lemon gains no similar insight from her illness or from her memories. Continuing her study of Nazism, she decides that compassion is simply a lie people tell to comfort themselves, and that this lie is only possible because the powerful of the world have taken on the burden of necessary violence. She concludes with the thought that ordinary people owe killers like Hitler and Kissinger a debt of gratitude for making their self-deceit possible.

McHattie plays Reverend Randall, a Staten Island-based televangelist who has been bilking his flock and secretly watches pornography while he is rehearsing his sermons in his stately home. Cervenka plays Rhonda Stample, a born again Christian who watches his programs and regularly sends him money, to the irritation of Rhonda's non-believer husband, Jerome (Viggo Mortensen). Shortly after Jerome loses his factory job, his sister in-law Lenore (Dominique Davalos) comes to Rev. Randall's home in a rainstorm, claiming car trouble. He reluctantly lets her in, and the two take turns seducing and then retreating from each other, until they finally engage in violent lovemaking. Jerome shows up later that evening, along with two boorish neighbors, and beat him for what they believe is an unwanted encounter with Lenore. All of them contemplate the possibilities of blackmail against him with a sex scandal, but Randall manages to escape his home. That morning, he is picked up hitchhiking by Rhonda, who pitches him on the notion of bringing her into his ministry. In order to avert the intentions of her husband and sister, he agrees to her idea. Later, Rhonda's addition to Randall's program has become a huge success, with Jerome, Lenore, and the neighbors all enjoying a higher standard of living. But Rhonda gets drunk with power, and makes increasing demands on Randall, first to boot all the other parties from their ministry, and then for a bigger share of their proceeds. Randall resists the latter option, but ultimately gives in. The film finishes with Rhonda performing a heavy-metal inspired song of faith, "Destroy All Evil", with imagery associated with tropes of the musical style.

Reverend Ray Porter runs a Pentecostal faith healing and televangelism empire based in Arkansas. Four rednecks, one of whom was bilked out of her inheritance by Rev. Porter's ministry and another of whom just got out of prison, try to rob Porter's ministry. A series of wrong turns inside the church during the robbery leads Claire, her boyfriend Jesse, Arnold and Big Joe onstage right in the middle of a broadcast, and the four robbers turn what was supposed to have been just a robbery into a hostage situation.

During the hostage negotiations, a series of snowballing scandals involving the ministry come to light. The robbery, hostage taking, and scandal revelations all are broadcast live over satellite television as locals gather in bars to watch. Porter and the robbers develop a rapport that resembles shop talk among thieves as they discuss the best ways of investing stolen money.

The Christian network's producer, a drug-addled electronics wizard named Stonewall, adds minor complications to the ongoings, playing with the images in comical ways that keep the television audience laughing.

The local sheriff, whose duck-hunting trip was interrupted by the incident, seems to sympathize with the would-be robbers. He has to deal with his own moral struggle in trying to enforce the law when his sympathies lie elsewhere. He just wants to see the situation end with nobody getting hurt, and he butts heads with the network's owner and federal agents who demand harsher action.

The owner of the satellite network, G. W. Wraith (loosely based on Jerry Falwell), demands that the National Guard be called in, leading to a siege and an unexpected outcome to the entire situation.

The game centers around the player character receiving an Email to investigate a certain ski resort. After picking one of four player models, the game begins with the player escaping the resort after being attacked by unknown thugs, called "Boardroids". Upon escaping the facility, Danny Kass meets the player in an area called Boom Town, an oil field taken over by a mysterious corporation. The player discovers that the Earth's climate has been changed dramatically by this corporation, and teams up with Kass to regain Boom Town. Upon progressing, the player encounters a chainsaw wielding man, Boomer, who the player kills to liberate Boom Town.

From there, the player proceeds to Falls and Creeks, a snowy area where the enemy has taken over. The player finds and kills Fall, the enemy leader of the area, allowing the player to progress to Bat City. The player progresses around the world to learn that an unnamed corporation, simply known as "Big Core", has rapidly shifted the Earth's climate.

The player travels around different locations and breaks Big Core's control over the region by executing the Boss character of that area. Along the way, the player allies themselves with professional snowboarders including Travis Rice, Rio Tahara, Bjorn Leines, and others.

After defeating each areas bosses, the player travels to the Big Core itself and destroys the cause of the climate change. The earth is restored to its natural climates and the player escapes the Big Core.

The game starts with young Timmy Turner being excited to see a new special season finale episode of one of his favorite shows--''Crash Nebula''—on TV. However, he finds that his TV stops working just as it premieres, and the only other time it can be seen is a day later when it reruns. He attempts to have Cosmo and Wanda fix it through a wish, but they can't, since their wands aren't working.

The reason for this is that the Royal Jewel, the second most powerful source of fairy magic in existence, has been stolen, meaning that wish-granting powers have been disabled on a massive scale. Timmy goes on a mission to try to find out who stole the Jewel and turn him in, so that all will be returned to normal. The first suspect is Quince, the royal jester in service of Oberon and Titania, rulers of Fairy World, who was recently fired for "not being funny."

After fighting Quince, Timmy has him interrogated by Jorgen von Strangle, but it turns out that Quince did not have the Jewel, and the only way to get it back was by using the magic of the first-most-powerful source of magic: the famous Fairyversary Muffin (first introduced in the Fairly OddParents TV-Movie "Abra-Catastrophe!").

To assemble the muffin, Timmy must bake it with magical forms of common cake ingredients, namely super strong hair raising flour, a phoenix egg, pixie sugar, and mooncalf milk. He somehow orders everything using the Internet, but Vicky snatches everything, and the ingredients are scattered in various places, such as in the possession of his parents or of Vicky herself (although the Phoenix Egg was destroyed). With the ingredients compromised, the trio must work to recover everything and put together the muffin before it's too late.

Failing UHF TV station KRUD, Channel 17, is "reborn" as Christian television station KGOD. The new format is a big success but attracts an incompatible mix of fringe ministries and broadcasters wanting time on the station. A series of humorous vignettes show the different religious shows the station broadcasts: a faith healer, a radical black nationalist preacher, a preacher with a drive-in church, a Christian game show, etc.

The film is very similar in both plot and style to the 1989 film ''UHF''.

In this prequel to ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', it shows Romy and Michele as they graduate in 1987, and again three years later as they take on Los Angeles.

For years Romy and Michele have been dreaming to move to L.A. and become rich and famous, but they decided to put their move on hold while they save money. Three years have passed by and they've only managed to save $68, only $8 more than they had in high school. Despite their lack of money, they decide to go ahead with their plans to move to L.A. after seeing ''Pretty Woman''. As the girls arrive in L.A., they decide to become prostitutes but chicken out after their first encounter with a client. As they walk home, a man lends them a dollar for a vending machine, and Romy and Michele are arrested for prostitution.

David moves to a new house at the base of some beautiful mountains. The next day, rather than settle into the new house, he decides to climb the mountains. Upon reaching the summit, he encounters the Phoenix. They are, at first, frightened of each other, as the Phoenix had been chased by a scientist for several weeks and David had, of course, never seen anything like the Phoenix before. The Phoenix is flattered by David's attentions, though, and decides to educate David about the legendary creatures in the world.

The first adventure in the Phoenix's curriculum for David involves seeing the Gryffins. They first meet a witch who goads the Phoenix into a race. They are captured by the arrogant Gryffons, who sentence the Phoenix to death for bringing humans into their magic world.

They escape and the Phoenix keeps his appointment with the witch. David returns home to meet the unpleasant scientist visiting his parents. The two friends implement plans to avoid the scientist, firstly by finding some buried treasure with the help of a gruff but friendly sea monster, and spending the gold coins on magic items to foil the scientist's plot to capture the rare bird.

While visiting the magical world to buy necessities, David has a brief adventure with a prankster Leprechaun, meets a cantankerous potion-selling hag, and a faun. The Phoenix rescues David from remaining too long in this world, which could absorb those beings who are not magical.

The Phoenix and David sabotage the scientist's equipment and frighten him into leaving town. The old Phoenix celebrates his 500th birthday, and soon reveals he must "bow to tradition," and build himself a pyre of cinnamon logs. David tearfully complies with his friend's wishes, buying the necessary items from town.

The Scientist shows up and follows David up the mountain trails. The Phoenix is reborn, but as a hatchling, does not yet comprehend its peril. David appeals to the young Phoenix, who dimly recognizes a friend, and flies away to avoid capture. David watches as the old Phoenix's feather changes from blue to gold.

A few months after his reassignment to the Baltimore Police's marine unit, Jimmy McNulty discovers a female corpse with broken legs floating in the harbor. He visits Homicide and checks in with Sergeant Jay Landsman, finding out that Colonel William Rawls passed the case off to Baltimore County because the body was found east of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. McNulty studies tide charts as he attempts to prove where the body was dumped into the water; he types up a report and faxes it to the county homicide unit. Rawls and Landsman immediately realize McNulty's involvement when the case is passed back to them an account of his report proving that the body actually went into the water west of the bridge, and thus in the city homicide unit's territory.

Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski meets with his father-in-law, Major Stan Valchek, wishing to stay in Narcotics and work cases like the recent Barksdale investigation. Valchek instead wants Prez to move up the ranks. At Narcotics, Kima Greggs is working her desk job and Thomas "Herc" Hauk has returned to street cases. Greggs and her romantic partner, Cheryl, discuss possible fathers for artificial insemination along with Greggs' job dissatisfaction. Bunk Moreland visits McNulty to ask if he can help him locate Omar Little for the upcoming murder trial of Barksdale soldier Marquis "Bird" Hilton. Bunk later has a chance meeting with Lieutenant Cedric Daniels, now in charge of the evidence room. That evening, Bunk again asks McNulty for help locating Omar, but to no avail.

Bodie Broadus drives to Philadelphia with another Barksdale drug dealer, Sean "Shamrock" McGinty. Bodie is enraged when the car he has collected is devoid of any narcotics and worries over informing his superiors. Stringer Bell, who now leads the Barksdale Organization while Avon Barksdale is imprisoned, reveals that he had Bodie and Shamrock followed. Bodie is later seen running a tower crew. Stringer visits Avon in prison, telling him that the Barksdales' connection with New York, Roberto, failed to deliver the product which Bodie was sent to collect. Stringer later learns that Roberto was arrested by the DEA and becomes concerned that Avon implicated him in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. Stringer is assured that his funds are being returned to him, but the New York suppliers no longer feel safe dealing with the Barksdales.

Frank Sobotka, the treasurer of a stevedores union, meets with fellow union leader Nat Coxson, who is angry that the Baltimore grain pier is still in a state of disrepair. The two disagree over lobbying tactics; Frank wishes to push for having the canal dredged, an ambitious and expensive project that will employ far more people than the grain pier alone, while Nat urges him to set his sights lower by focusing on rehabilitation of the grain pier. Frank later tells his nephew Nick to see someone named "The Greek" about a shipping container they have coming in. Frank confronts his son Ziggy over losing a container. Later, he visits a church where he has donated a stained glass window and asks the priest, Father Lewandowski, to set up a meeting with Senator Barbara Mikulski to discuss difficulties at the docks, including the grain pier. Valchek delivers his own window to the church, but is angry that Frank's union beat him to it, and apparently donated much more money to the church than the police and fire unions combined were able to.

At Delores' bar, the stevedores riotously discuss days gone by. Ziggy shows off and exposes himself while standing on a table. The following morning, Nick is met by Ziggy and Johnny Fifty on his way to meet with The Greek about the container, and tells Frank that their cut will be the same. Frank and Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa are dismayed when Sergei "Serge" Malatov, The Greek's lieutenant, leaves the container sitting on the dock for several hours. When they insist that he get on with things, Sergei drives away. Frank orders Horseface to "lose" the container in the stack, so as to make it less conspicuous. Later, Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer Beadie Russell stumbles across the container and notices the broken customs seal. She finds the bodies of over a dozen young women inside and calls for backup. Frank and the stevedores gather around as the police arrive.

Nita Longley is a divorced mother of two boys and a World War II switchboard operator working for a telephone company in Gregory, Texas. She splits from her unfaithful husband four years prior. A sole operator for the small town, Nita is on-call day and night. She petitions her boss Mr. Rigby for a secretarial job with regular working hours, but Rigby tells her that because of wartime her job is “frozen” and that everyone has to make sacrifices.

Nita's status as a single mother makes her the target of not only town gossip but also of unwanted attention from men. Two brothers, Calvin and Arnold Triplett, frequently peep in on and harass Nita at her home. One of the townspeople is the nameless “raggedy man”, a man with a disfigured face who is always dragging around a lawnmower. The raggedy man is usually seen lurking in the background when the Triplett brothers try to intimidate Nita’s sons, Harry and William Henry.

After a night of drinking, Calvin knocks on a door, but is rebuffed by Nita, who tells him the telephone company does not allow after-hours visitors. One night, Teddy Roebuck, a sailor on leave, arrives at Nita’s doorstep in need of a pay phone so he can contact his fiancée. A heartbroken Teddy learns his fiancée is now involved with another man. Nita offers Teddy a cup of coffee to cheer him up, and they form a bond. With nowhere else to go, Teddy decides to spend the rest of his leave with Nita and her sons. He becomes close with the boys and takes them on a bus trip to a beachside carnival, and he and Nita fall in love with each other.

After Calvin and Arnold try to get a peek at Nita bathing, Nita telephones Sheriff Watson to report a peeping Tom. Though the sheriff does not find anyone, he tells Nita that everyone in town is talking about the stranger staying with her. When Nita mentions having seen the raggedy man near her house, the sheriff explains the man is a harmless drifter named Bailey who has been around town the past couple of years mowing lawns.

When Teddy is seen on Nita’s porch without his shirt on, it further sparks the townspeople’s gossip. Nita letting another man stay in her home particularly incenses Calvin and Arnold, who are still angry at her rejection of them. They lure William Henry to the town bar and try to ask him intimate questions about his mother. Teddy walks in and gets in a fight with Arnold and Calvin. After tending to Teddy’s injuries, Nita and Teddy agree it would be best for him to leave town. The boys sadly bid Teddy goodbye, and Harry resentfully blames Teddy’s departure on his mother. When Harry protests he wants to go to live with his father, Nita counters that his father has never returned for him.

After her application for a job transfer is met with resistance from Mr. Rigby, Nita decides to buy three one-way bus tickets to San Antonio from the local agent. That night, Harry goes outside to use the outhouse, but Calvin locks him inside. He and Arnold invade Nita’s house, unplugging the telephone system and cutting the lights. Suddenly someone outside starts Calvin’s truck, honks the horn, and aims its lights at the front porch. When Arnold steps outside with a knife to investigate, he sees it is the raggedy man. Arnold manages to stab the raggedy man, but after a struggle the raggedy man kills both Arnold and Calvin before they can harm Nita and her sons. Nita finds Arnold and the raggedy man lying dead on the porch. Looking closer at the raggedy man’s disfigured face, Nita realizes “Bailey” is actually her long-lost, unfaithful husband and the boys’ father, Harry Longley, Sr. (Sam Shepard).

The next day, with the sheriff’s blessings, Nita and her sons board the bus to San Antonio. Harry is happy that their father returned to protect them, and they agree they will see Teddy again.

''Stet'' tells the life story of a visionary Soviet filmmaker named Stet who lives through Stalin's repressions, manages to direct his first feature film, but ends up in a prison camp for various offenses against the bureaucracy.

The novel is narrated in a "Russian" voice, by an ostensible third-person narrator who is nevertheless full of opinions and bitter aphorisms. Despite his third-person status, the narrator seems to be a major character in the book.

The tone of the book is black humor, and often entirely pessimistic, as it delineates the difficulties of living as an artist who does not accept or worry about the judgments of his surrounding world. Yet the character of the filmmaker Stet, to whom aesthetic ecstasy remains available throughout his trials, seems to give the reader an alternative to the pessimism of the narrator.

Bernice "Bernie" Rhodenbarr, a former San Francisco burglar, resumes her life of crime when a corrupt police officer named Ray Kirschman blackmails her.

A dentist, Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake, hires Bernice to break into her ex-husband Christopher's home and steal back her jewelry. Things take a turn for the worse when Christopher is murdered while Bernie is robbing his home, and thanks to Sheldrake and her lawyer Carson, Bernie is the only suspect.

To clear her name Bernice and her friend Carl hop from bar to bar looking for someone who knew Christopher. They find out that Christopher had quite a few girlfriends... and boyfriends. Bernice has three new suspects after an old flame of Christopher's tells her about an artist, a bartender, and a mysterious man known only by his nickname: "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!"

Bernice investigates the artist and the bartender only to have them show up dead. With no clues or witnesses, Bernice waits for Dr. Sheldrake in her home to confront her. Demanding she tell her everything she knew about Christopher, she concludes that Cynthia herself had sex with her ex the night he was murdered.

During the conversation the TV flashes to an episode of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Bernice realizes Carson knew the doctor's ex. Bernice calls Carson to meet her in the park with the bag of jewelry Bernice was commissioned to steal in the first place. Bernice has also deduced that Carson was in love with Christopher himself. A scuffle ensues and Bernice, along with her friend Carl and Ray, capture Carson.

The plot follows a country doctor's hapless struggle to attend a sick young boy on a snowy winter's night. A series of surreal events occurs in the process, including the appearance of a mysterious groom (stablehand) in a pig shed.

It begins with the doctor having to urgently attend a sick patient in a village ten miles away, but his only horse died the night before, so his maid Rosa goes off to find another. She returns empty-handed — "Of course, who is now going to lend her his horse for such a journey?" — and the doctor expresses his frustration by kicking the door of what he thinks is his empty pig shed. A mysterious groom appears from within and supplies the doctor with two magnificent horses to pull his trap. The groom, being the oaf that he is, boorishly kisses Rosa when she tries to hand him a harness, leaving two rows of red tooth marks on her cheek. The doctor scolds the groom, but quickly realizes that he is in the groom's debt and jumps happily into the carriage. The groom declines to travel with him, preferring to stay with the terrified Rosa, who dashes into the house and makes every effort to secure herself, although her fate is "inevitable". The doctor can do nothing to stop the groom, who, with a simple "Giddy up!" sends the horses on their way and breaks down the doctor's front door to get at Rosa.

The doctor is almost instantly transported to his sick patient's house. It is, he says, "as if the farm yard of my invalid opens up immediately in front of my courtyard gate". After being ushered into the house by a family whose explications he does not comprehend, the doctor is quietly implored by the patient to let him die. Initially, the doctor deems the patient completely healthy and feels annoyed that his patients keep calling him at night for no reason, but, after he notices the boy's sister holding a bloody towel, he reexamines the boy and discovers a large, deep wound on his right side that is full of worms. The family and assembled guests are pleased to see the doctor at work. The horses, meanwhile, having somehow freed themselves of their straps, have opened the windows and are neighing frantically.

The doctor's thoughts keep returning to the fate of his maid, for which he blames himself. In accordance with a simple tune being sung by a school choir that has assembled outside the house, the family undresses the doctor and places him in bed alongside the patient. When the family leaves the room, the doctor assures his skeptical bed mate that the wound is not that bad, gathers his belongings, and jumps out a window and onto one of the horses. He expects to get home so soon that he does not even bother to get redressed, but the horses do not move as quickly as they did on the outgoing journey. The doctor, disgraced, finds himself and the horses "crawl[ing] slowly through the wasteland of snow like old men". He feels betrayed by his patients and his community, and the story concludes with the line "A false ring of the night bell, once answered — it can never be made right."

Toe (Jerry Don Clark) wants his rock band Pigpoke to go on tour. He raises funds for the tour by selling marijuana, eventually making leaving town a necessity in order to survive.

Taking place in the future year 20XX, ''Battle Circuit'' follows the exploits of a group of super-powered bounty hunters as they apprehend wanted criminals (identified by special serial numbers) in the city of Neo Koba. The game begins with the player attempting to apprehend criminal 9696X, a scientist named Doctor Saturn and his blob-like sidekick aboard his spacecraft orbiting Earth. After the battle, the character selected by the player returns to his employer, Harry, and is promptly given another assignment to capture a member of the "Delete Gang", Johnny, who holds a valuable floppy disk in his possession. The bounty hunter then confronts Johnny at his disco hideout and learns that the disc contains a malicious computer program known as the "Shiva (Tentei) System", which is capable of controlling all computerized systems in the world. After selecting one of the available characters, players must travel through various levels- fighting through a variety of enemies from the Delete Gang- to obtain the disc and claim their bounty.

Ella Dee is the fictional daughter of real-world occultist John Dee and Katherine Constable; Ella notes that her father did not treat her mother well. Some previous encounters between Ella and Azazeal have been revealed. Perhaps their first encounter was in the pharaohs' palace where presumably Ella trapped Azazeal (he notes he still hates the sight of sand). Azazeal mentions that they encountered each other in the Civil War, calling them "good times". The main confrontation that has been shown was in the 17th century. In 1666 Azazeal captured Ella and tortured her before her trial for witchcraft. She was found guilty and almost burnt at the stake until Thelma rescued her. Little else is revealed of Ella's life before Medenham.

Beadie deals with various agencies trying to decide which will investigate the bodies she found in the shipping container. The coroner determines the women suffocated because of a crushed air pipe on the top of the container. The damage to the pipe is deemed accidental and the case is handed back to Beadie. Meanwhile, Bunk learns that McNulty spent three hours working out where his floater was dumped in order to establish that it fell under Rawls' jurisdiction. McNulty examines the container and meets Beadie. They establish that the floater that he found in the harbor is related, as there is an extra bedroll in the container. McNulty finds that the air pipe has been crushed deliberately. Beadie and McNulty meet with the coroner, who agrees that this is grounds to consider the deaths as homicides.

Rawls meets with Ronnie, the commander of the Port Authority, and resists an attempt to hand off the Jane Doe cases. Meanwhile, McNulty convinces the coroner to estimate the time of death to see if it matches when the other girl was dumped. Rawls meets with the commanders of the other jurisdictions involved with the Jane Does, who all insist that the murders occurred in his jurisdiction. The cases are subsequently assigned to Homicide, initially to Ray Cole, but subsequently reassigned to Freamon and Bunk. The pair travel to the Port Authority and meet with Beadie, where they decide to travel to Philadelphia, as that's where the ship that carried the container is now docked. There, they interrogate the crew. McNulty awakens naked and hungover in Rhonda Pearlman's bed while Daniels talks with his wife Marla about his career. Daniels says he will hand in his resignation papers.

Frank meets with his smuggling contact Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos, insisting on being informed when human cargo moves through the docks. Afterwards, Vondas speaks to another man in the cafe, who happens to be The Greek. Back at the union house, Horseface and Ott complain about harassment by the police, who Frank learns are acting under orders from Valchek. The next day, Valchek accuses Frank of illegally funding the stained glass window he donated to their church. After Frank threatens him, Valchek visits a property developer, Andy Krawczyk, and learns that Frank's union, despite its financial troubles, has given large political contributions. Valchek meets with Ervin Burrell, in line to be appointed Commissioner, and promises to rally support for him on the City Council in return for a detail investigating the union; Burrell gives him a squad of six men for six weeks.

At the bar, Ziggy asks his cousin Nick to partner with him in selling drugs through a connection named "White Mike." Nick refuses his offer. On the way to a job, the stevedores are stopped at a police DUI checkpoint led by Sergeant Ellis Carver. Ziggy meets White Mike and asks him to give him the package with payment to follow, but Mike refuses since Ziggy has messed up his last two attempts. After the stevedores are released, Horseface infiltrates Valchek's district station and steals a surveillance van filled with equipment. He drives it to the docks and La La, Frank, and Nick help him load it into a container. Valchek assembles and briefs his new detail, including Prez, in their port side offices.

Brianna Barksdale visits her brother Avon in prison and pleads with him to look out for her son D'Angelo, as he took a 20-year sentence for their family. When Brianna informs him that the New York Dominicans are no longer doing business with the Barksdales, Avon recommends an Atlanta contact named Vargas. Brianna and Avon also note that D'Angelo's girlfriend Donette has not been keeping in touch with him. Wee-Bey Brice is harassed by a corrections officer named Dwight Tilghman, who is the cousin of one of the victims of a crime that Wee-Bey took the fall for. Avon tells Stringer that he needs to help with Tilghman and asks that he find Donette. Stringer questions D'Angelo's loyalty, but Avon insists he can be trusted. Avon finds D'Angelo snorting heroin with another inmate and tells him that they need to talk.

Using fake Coast Guard identification, Serge and an associate go to Philadelphia and order the ship held in port. When one of the crewmen comes ashore, they chase him down, beat him, and throw him into the back seat. Serge and the associate violently interrogate the crewman, who turns out to be a Turk named Sam. After Vondas and The Greek arrive, Sam initially pleads for his life in Greek, but after an ostensibly kind request from The Greek to tell him what happened, he admits that he allowed his crew access to the smuggled prostitutes in exchange for money and that one of them was killed when she resisted. Her body was dumped overboard while the crew killed the other women to silence them. Once Sam's tale is finished, Vondas slowly cuts his throat. The Greek orders Serge to leave the corpse without fingerprints or a face.

First appearances

'''"White" Mike McArdle''': East side drug dealer who has supplied Ziggy Sobotka with packages in the past. '''CO Dwight Tilghman''': Embittered correctional officer whose cousin was killed by Wee-Bey Brice. '''Andy Krawczyk''': Property developer and political fundraiser. This is the first episode that deals with Ervin Burrell being promoted to Acting Commissioner.

Gameplay of ''Carrier Air Wing'' During the decade of the nineties, many things in the world have changed. Growing cooperation between old rivals and friendships between the superpowers of the globe were examples of such occurring changes in political and economical scenarios of the world, but this fragile peace was not to last for long. In the year 1997, the fictional Middle Eastern country of Rabu has built several weapons of mass destruction, such as ICBMs, tactical nuclear bombs, and even a satellite-based tactical laser weapon, able to strike anywhere in the world.

With such weaponry in hand and benefiting from several terrorists over the world, Rabu was ready to declare war on mankind and aspire to their dream of global conquest.

An emergency call arrives to the U.S. government when in 1999, Rabu strikes Tokyo, Japan with its extensive weaponry. The Americans decide to fight back against Rabu, and the USS ''Carl Vinson'' (CVN-70) slips out to sea carrying three of the finest Navy fighter pilots in the world: Rick Ford, Mark Olson, and James Roy, launching them on a campaign to remove the threat of Rabu and bring peace and freedom back to the world.

The greatest air war in human history is about to begin...

Will, the main character and a Ranger's apprentice, is captured by the Skandians along with his friend, Evanlyn (Araluen's Crown Princess Cassandra in disguise), in a big war in the previous book, ''The Burning Bridge''. The capturer, Jarl (war officer) Erak of the Skandians (mercenaries), takes them in as slaves.

Meanwhile, Will's mentor, Halt (a legendary Ranger), has sworn to save him from the Skandians, but the Ranger Corps forces him to stay back. Halt, however, is so desperate, he insults the King of his country, Araluen. The King and Halt are good friends, so in Halt's trial, the King takes pity on Halt. Instead of the normal punishment, which is to ban the defendant from the borders of Araluen forever, he banishes Halt from the borders only for a twelvemonth. Halt is banished from the Ranger Corps until the punishment is lifted, but that is just a minor problem for Halt. He then sets out to find his apprentice once more. Halt is determined to get to Skandia quickly, so he takes the quickest route: Gallica. There he meets Will's old friend, Horace. Horace is Will's childhood friend, and just like Will, Horace is an orphan. In Gallica, Horace and Halt tried to go as fast as they could, but they were stopped by a lot of inexperienced knights, as Gallica is in a state of anarchy and turmoil. Horace, being a warrior apprentice, takes on the fake name "The Oakleaf Knight". Horace beats all of them with ease without his grizzled companion, Halt, to step in. Horace's reputation grows until he is noticed throughout Gallica, which attracts the horrible knight, Deparnieux of Castle Montsombre. Deparnieux soon captures Horace and Halt, and holds them in his keep.

Meanwhile, when Jarl Erak, Will, and Evanlyn soon arrive in Skandia, Will and Evanlyn become slaves. Over the journey the Jarl had become quite attached to the two slaves and thinks they should be treated more respectfully than the normal slave should be treated. This goes for Evanlyn, which gets to work in the kitchen, but Will unfortunately gets the job of working the yard, the deadliest place for slaves to work. Will soon gets the attention from the older crowds, and one of them tricks him to get addicted to a deadly drug, warmweed.

Erak soon sees this and can't stand it. Will has been put into a daze, and doesn't remember anyone, including himself. He only responds to orders, which he does in an obedient manner. Erak and Evanlyn soon devise a plan to escape. Throughout Evanlyn and Will's journey to freedom, Evanlyn weans Will off the drug by slowly reducing the amount of warmweed given to Will. Evanlyn eventually arrives with Will at a mountain cabin, where they take shelter. While hunting with her sling, Evanlyn watches a rider dressed in furs on a horse. Will regains his old self as Evanlyn returns to the cabin, to Cassandra's great delight and relief. The book ends with Halt and Horace watching an "accidental" fire in Castle Montsombre, which Halt predicts will destroy the tower.

In Philadelphia, Bunk and Freamon interview the crew of the ship that brought the Jane Does into Baltimore, but all pretend to speak no English. The first mate is more forthcoming and explains that the crew members will not speak English in the police's presence, and would not inform on each other, even if interpreters were provided. The detectives agree to let the ship go with little evidence or jurisdiction for interrogation. Back in Baltimore, Landsman questions Bunk and Freamon's decision to let the boat go. Later, Bunk and Beadie try to trace the movements of the shipping container in which the bodies were found and discover that much of the paperwork has been falsified.

McNulty learns that three of the Jane Does had received breast implants in the same clinic in Budapest. Additionally, in the 24 hours before their death, the girls had performed various forms of sex. McNulty visits Homicide to give them his theory, but Bunk, Freamon and Beadie shatter his pride by beating him to everything he was about to say. McNulty and Russell agree that they do not want to see the girls remain unidentified and shipped out as cadavers. Bunk's team take the French addresses listed on the paperwork to the FBI, who give them more information on the international vice trade. Later, while out drinking, McNulty learns that Russell is a single mother. McNulty tells Bunk of his desire to put a name to the dead girl he pulled from the harbor.

Valchek is informed of his missing surveillance van, which is shown to have been delivered to stevedores in Wilmington. Prez is annoyed that the Sobotka detail's commander, Lieutenant Grayson, will not authorize any wiretaps of Frank, and tells Valchek that Daniels would have brought in a better case on the Barksdale detail if Burrell had not interfered. When Valchek threatens to torpedo Burrell's efforts to become Commissioner, the latter is forced to assign Daniels to the detail. Meanwhile, Omar returns to Baltimore with a new boyfriend named Dante. The two eventually join forces with Tosha Mitchell and Kimmy to stick up stash houses together. Omar has to convince Dante he is not interested in the women beyond business.

McNulty encounters Daniels in the evidence room and the two discuss their career misfortunes. Daniels tells McNulty that he has put in for early retirement and plans to become a lawyer. Later, McNulty returns his sons to his ex-wife Elena, who sends him a separation agreement shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Nick's girlfriend Aimee wants them to move in together, which he promises to do when they can afford it. Ziggy again tries to convince Nick to join him in the drug trade. The two steal a container of cameras with the help of Johnny Fifty and sell them to George "Double G" Glekas, a fence for the Greeks. Ziggy angers Glekas by taking his photo with one of the cameras. Glekas checks the deal with Vondas and tells him that although he thinks Ziggy is using drugs and is a "malakas", Nick can be trusted.

Frank attends a political meeting at Father Lewandowski's church with his lobbyist Bruce DiBiago, who advises him to focus on courting the politicians who may not support the stevedores union, including State Senator Clay Davis. Frank takes umbrage when he is told exactly how much money has been routed to Davis, but is forced to make nice with the state senator to win his support. Davis makes it clear that he expects more money to come his way in order to vote along with the union's wishes. Frank later meets with a checker named Ringo who is having trouble getting enough work to live on. When Ringo mentions he's contemplating a move to a different local, Frank sends Ringo to Delores's bar and tells him to order a shot and a beer on him. When Ringo arrives at the bar and uses Frank's name, Delores gives him a bundle of cash. Ziggy sees the exchange.

Stringer discusses his stock portfolio with a financial advisor via telephone, while Country and Shamrock listen in; they are together in a vehicle while on a tail of Tilghman. Later, Country and Shamrock watch as Tilghman receives a package of narcotics from Butchie. On Avon's orders, Stringer contacts Butchie and asks him to supply Tilghman with bad product the next time he makes a transaction. Butchie reluctantly agrees when Stringer uses Avon's name and promises compensation. It is revealed that Stringer and D'Angelo's girlfriend, Donette, are having an affair. Avon finds D'Angelo in the prison library and tells him to avoid drugs for a few days. D'Angelo is subsequently unaffected when Tilghman unwittingly smuggles bad heroin into the prison and causes several other inmates to die.

As McNulty tries to identify the Jane Does, he finds a letter amongst their clothes, written in a foreign language. McNulty is able to have the letter translated, but doesn't learn anything new besides the girl's name and some sparse details about her home country. Bunk and Freamon tell Rawls that they need to look into how goods move through the port to understand what was happening with the shipping container. Rawls tells them they should have held the ship in the docks and that they are his scapegoats if their investigation is not fruitful. The detectives try to get Horseface to tell them more about the container. Later, after Beadie shows them the stevedores' bar, they hassle both Horseface and Frank, who is terrified when he learns that the Jane Does were murdered.

To appease Valchek, Burrell offers Daniels command of the Sobotka detail with the promise of a promotion. Seeing he is in a superior bargaining position, Daniels demands his own permanent unit if the investigation is successful, and the chance to pick his own people; Burrell agrees. Rawls allows Daniels to take most of his choices, but refuses to let McNulty leave the marine unit. Daniels persuades Greggs to join the detail despite Cheryl's desire for her to work a desk job. Daniels' wife Marla has a difficult reaction to his promotion, and storms out of dinner after he tells her about it. Kima gets the same reaction from Cheryl.

While Daniels briefs Valchek, Herc and Greggs are reunited with Prez. Herc suggests that Carver be recruited, but Daniels ignores him and states that the detail needs to accrue at least a few drug busts by the harbor before adding to its number. Meanwhile, Bunk and ASA Ilene Nathan continue to pressure McNulty to find Omar in time for Bird's trial. While cruising around West Baltimore, McNulty spots Bubbles and Johnny; after following the pair out to Baltimore County, he catches them shoplifting and threatens to arrest them unless they find Omar for him. Kimmy, one of Omar's new crew, overhears Bubbles asking around for him, leading Omar to set a trap for the vagrant and ask why he is looking for him.

The drug deaths in the prison spark an investigation. Avon tries to convince D'Angelo to use the situation to their advantage and cooperate with the investigators to reduce their sentences. D'Angelo refuses to believe that Avon had nothing to do with the deaths, and states that he no longer wants anything to do with his business. Avon works with his attorney, Maurice Levy, to negotiate a reduction of his time until his first parole hearing in exchange for information about the deaths. Despite the investigator's suspicion that Avon was involved, the attorney general bluntly tells him to take the deal. Levy subsequently fingers Tilghman, who is arrested after a planted drug package is found in his car. Elsewhere, Stringer orders Cherry, the manager of his cut house, to dilute their latest package from Atlanta despite its already-poor quality.

Frank demands that Nick return the stolen cameras, only to learn that they have already been fenced. The two argue about Frank's own illegal activities, which Frank tries to justify by saying he uses the money to help the union. Nick delivers Ziggy's share and warns him not to flash the money around, telling him that Frank knows about the theft. However, Ziggy buys a $2,000 leather coat. Nick and Ziggy meet with Glekas, who asks them to acquire chemicals for him. Ziggy takes the list to Johnny Fifty, who points them to a contact in another area. As Ziggy leaves, he is accosted by Maui, another checker, who intentionally spills coffee on Ziggy's jacket and mocks him for stealing from the docks. Ziggy later gets his revenge by littering Maui's computer monitor with photographs of his genitals.

Nick talks to his mother Joan about having had a successful day's employment at the docks, and goes to bring his father Louis home for dinner. Louis retired from the drydock when it closed, and now spends much of his time drinking and playing the horses. Nick asks Louis if he misses the docks, to which he replies, "Wouldn't do no good." To Aimee's surprise, Nick tells her that he has come into "some back pay" and suggests they look to buy a property in the neighborhood.

''Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band'' tells the story of the relationship between Alex, a 17-year-old rebel, and Aidi (which sounds like the German name ''Heidi''), a girl who enters his life out of the blue one Sunday with a phone call. She asks about a poetry book and they end up talking about their projects and aspirations. Before they part she kisses him on the cheek. Alex falls for her, and later asks her to be his girlfriend. She begins behaving increasingly coldly to him until she states that she doesn't want any relationship because she'll be leaving for the States the following year and doesn't want to be in a long-distance relationship. Alex accepts her decision. Nonetheless, they maintain a relationship that, though not full-blown love, is stronger than mere friendship. Meanwhile, Alex takes a position in opposition to bourgeois society, rejecting the commonplace life that everyone expects him to be leading in the future ("a car, two children, a wife and a business consultant") and befriending Martino, the son of a rich family but an "outcast" like Alex himself.

The Shadow in ''The Whispering Shadow'' is an underworld mastermind. He has invented a device that allows him to kill by radio control. He, along with several other persons, seeks the Czar's jewels. The series is notable for the constant false clues and decoy actions that make nearly everybody a suspect.

The game takes place in the hidden Petpet world of Petaria, in which the player controls a Petpet named "Fluffy" who is sent there from Neopia to retrieve the magical "Wand of Wishing" stolen by Archos in order to prevent him from misusing it.

Jones smartens up Wilson in the Vicar's office, getting ready to go up to the station for a special parade, at which Mainwaring will open some sealed orders. Mainwaring arrives, having been to the chemist to get some sleeping pills for Mrs Mainwaring; he says to Wilson that she is "a very nervous and highly strung woman". Jones relates how the only medicines they had in the Sudan were cascara and bicarbonate of soda; good for making you run and making you belch, but little else.

Pike arrives, and insists it is his turn to carry the Tommy gun, but in the process accidentally knocks Mainwaring's sleeping tablets off the desk and onto the floor, breaking the bottle. Jones says the broken shards of glass could be fatal if Mrs Mainwaring ate them, but Mainwaring seems unconcerned. They are put in a bottle labelled saccharine.

At the station, Frazer is making tea for the platoon, while Walker has supplied it and is charging 3d a cup. Pike asks Mainwaring if once he has read the secret orders, he is going to eat them, whereupon Jones volunteers to eat them.

Mainwaring goes into the kitchen and opens the secret orders, in the process leaving the saccharine bottle on the kitchen table. He comes out and gathers the platoon round him, then quietly reveals that His Majesty King George VI will shortly be passing through the station in the Royal Train, which has been disguised. The platoon are to guard the station, and present arms as the train steams through. Mainwaring emphasizes the secrecy, but then Hodges arrives, shouting "where's the King?!", ruining the secrecy. The platoon practise presenting arms, then the Station Master and Ticket Collector arrive, flustered, asking if the King is here yet. The platoon practise some more, and the Vicar, Verger and Mayor arrive, in their finery, having heard of the King's arrival.

A train whistle gets them all rushing out onto the platform, but it is a slow stopping train pulling only one coach and one truck. The driver and fireman get off, holding a defective brake wheel, and go to the office to telephone the depot. Whilst there, they make a cup of tea each, and load it with pills from the saccharine bottle, mistaking it for sugar.

Mainwaring checks the train politely for the King or his Equerry, only to find the coach empty except for one man who is clearly not the King. The Station Master reappears and complains that this train is in the way, but the crew are now asleep in the kitchen, having consumed the sleeping tablets. Pike tells Mainwaring he can drive it, so whilst the Station Master is on the phone, the platoon climb into the cab and set off. They soon begin to enjoy themselves and love the ride. The Station Master rushes out after they have gone, and discovers the Verger is clutching the defective steam brake wheel.

In the engine cab, Pike announces to Mainwaring that, because of the absence of the brake wheel, he is unable to stop the train, starting a panic among the men. Frazer spots the Vicar, Verger, Warden and Mayor chasing them on a handcar. Mainwaring starts to make his way over the top of the train to retrieve the missing wheel that the Verger is brandishing, and although Jones goes with Mainwaring, he is as usual a complete liability, and Mainwaring has to save him from falling off several times. Once they reach the back of the train, Hodges throws the wheel, and Mainwaring catches it, then he and Jones start to make their way back to the cab. Whilst they are on top of the train, Walker has the bright idea of putting the engine into reverse to stop it, and they are nearly thrown off.

Once the train has stopped, it of course starts to return to the station, and the others on the little handcar have to work hard to keep ahead of the train. The Station Master changes the points to put the car and train into a siding, and they all tumble out just as the real Royal Train is heard approaching. They have to parade just where they are by the line, which happens to be in front of a water trough, so when the train goes past, they all get soaked.

As described in a film magazine, Cheyenne Harry (Carey), one of the cowboys on a ranch in Wyoming, falls in love with Helen (Malone), his boss's daughter. She decides to elope to the city with Captain Thornton (Pegg), a wealthy visitor to the ranch from New York. Cheyenne and Helen's father (Wells) are downhearted. Cheyenne, devastated by the loss of his finance, decides to go to the city to rescue her, and finds Thorton giving a dinner party in a hotel about to announce his engagement to Helen. As the dinner progresses Helen discovers the true nature of Thornton and endeavors to escape from him. Cheyenne comes to her rescue and, with the assistance of some cowboys, clean up the place, leaving Cheyenne and Helen reunited.

Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) is a successful young businessman with a great job as an executive for "Swallows", a high end fast food restaurant chain, and a beautiful fiancée, Fiona Wormwood (Julie Bowen). On the day of his bachelor party, he is emailed a list of all the women he has slept with. Strangely, while the list has 101 names, his fiancée is only number 29.

He assumes the list is a prank, courtesy of his best friends Zack (Neil Flynn) and Lester (Dash Mihok)—until he meets number 30, Carlotta Valdez, who is the stripper at his bachelor party. After sleeping with Carlotta, he realizes the list does, in fact, comprise all of his sexual partners, both past and future.

Roderick cancels his upcoming wedding and begins to sequentially bed all the people on the list. Although he makes a connection with some of the women, he is unable to settle down and is compelled to continue until he has crossed all names off the list. His friends become concerned for his mental well-being and convince him to bury the list. Before he does that, he sees only part of the next name, including "Dr." and the first few letters.

He falls for Lester's charming and quirky veterinarian (Leslie Bibb), after believing she is the next name on the list and finding they have much in common, only to discover that she does not return his feelings, and wants to be "just friends". He digs up the list and discovers she was not listed, after which she has an untimely accidental death. He continues on his mission.

Throughout all this, a female vigilante, nicknamed by the media "Death Nell" (Winona Ryder), has been taking revenge on men who she feels have taken sexual advantage of women. She seduces these men and then drugs them to induce a coma, leaving them behind along with a line of feminist poetry spray painted on the wall or ceiling.

But after her most recent conquest, she accidentally leaves behind her drivers license, exposing her real identity, Gillian De Raisx, to the world. Roderick's precarious mental state is compromised when he realizes the last name on his list is Gillian's.

With twenty more names left on the list, he decides to abandon it altogether and takes up various hobbies to keep him from giving in to temptation. After an accident during a bike ride, he is found by a group of female students (all virgins) from a Catholic college who believe that he has been "divinely delivered" to deflower them. Roderick is unable to resist and catapults himself from number 82 through number 99 in the space of an afternoon. He realizes only one woman is left, and then he remembers the girls' bus driver was number 100.

Knowing that Death Nell is the last person on his list (and that he may not survive a night with her) Roderick tries to change his destiny, first by becoming a shut in, and then by tracking down another Gillian de Raisx in Sydney, Australia. But when he learns that the Agency are close to catching Death Nell, he has a sudden change of heart. Guilt stricken over his treatment of his previous conquests, he decides to face the consequences.

Roderick and Gillian meet in a diner, where they share a meal and conversation. Gillian reveals that she was a Poetry/Chemistry student who married young and was forced to perform degrading sexual favors with her husband, who also physically abused her. After his death, which was inadvertently caused by Gillian, she realized that she could dish out similar punishments to other men who treated women badly.

Gillian reveals that she is exhausted from the whole ordeal and unsure if she has the conviction to continue. Roderick and Gillian connect, and agree to each take the sedative together. They take the pills simultaneously, and spend the night together, with "The End" spray painted on the wall behind them.

The epilogue reveals that Roderick and Gillian survived the pills, and that Gillian's name was not the last on the list because of impending death but rather because Roderick decides to remain monogamous with her. They are happily married and have a son. Death Nell's comatose victims are revived and a brief scene at the Agency suggests that Roderick and Gillian's union was fated.

Gopal Kumar, the son of a hair oil tycoon in Madhya Pradesh, arrives in America to study chemical engineering in a university in Eversville. As he reaches New York, he is received by Sunil and Sushant and his comic discovery of America starts. He stays with them for one night and takes a flight to Eversville, the next day. During his journey to the airport he discovers a part of New York from where his bewilderment starts right from the American girls, new gadgets, the naked billboards, vegetarian cats and continues with telephone and multi channeled color TV. He meets Randy, who welcomes him at the airport and tries to introduce him to the American society and culture. In all the letters to his brother he complains about the language and his inability to understand it, which results in embarrassing situations. As we move into the rising action we see Gopal’s priorities and thought process changes as he is exposed to American way of life as earlier he said “I am only going to classes, library and home” but goes with Randy to see a real bar. He gets absorbed in American way of life as he even asks for cigarette to impress the lady at bar. He meets Anand (the only other Indian on campus) and dislikes him as he portrays America in a superior class and thinks “India has a lot of growing up to do and America will show the way”. He even comes across his internal conflict of whether to continue his study after the incident that takes place outside the bar. Eventually, he takes decision to continue his study and even goes with Randy to Springfield ( Randy’s hometown). He begins to learn the joy of analysis and finds that American students are unable to utilize the opportunities provided by their institutions at higher level. One day, while returning from library he meets Sue and gets touched by the emotions shown by Sue towards him. But, his heart breaks when he finds another man with Sue and spends the next few hours drinking and vomiting. One day while coming out of library he meets Tom (head waiter) and gets to know about his poverty but he is exposed to the actual reality of America when he goes with Peacock to the junkyard and the ghost town. He is shaken on seeing the poverty in the richest of all lands and on the notion that white Americans separate black ones from them and do not care of them. This way for the first time he comes across the ugly side of America. His worst part of loneliness comes when Christmas vacation descends upon the campus like a mist of silence. He feels lonely and depressed and starts missing his parents and friends in India and also Randy. He tries to overcome this by spending time in malls where he comes across a leaflet of a massage center. He goes to the center in order to fulfill his fantasy but returns unsuccessfully. Even after vacations he gets chances to see and meet naked women of America and to fulfill his fantasy, first at girl's dormitory, another at an ice show and at a lake party respectively but fails to score. Finally his one year comes to an end and he departs from his campus taking with him memories of his experiences in America. Climax comes when Gopal meets a woman in the plane. He begins discussing with her, his adventures with women in America, his fears of boring future in India and an unknown wife. He feels absorbed by her and they start kissing while talking. Finally his fantasy is fulfilled when 30,000 feet above the ocean, Gopal feels he has truly become a man. This way the novel ends without any resolution.

At the beginning of his summer holiday, a somewhat naive trainee teacher Daniel (Moritz Bleibtreu) buys a ring from a stall run by a neighbor, the aspiring artist and street vendor Juli (in German, "Juli" would be not only the month July but also a common nickname for someone named "Julia"; Christiane Paul). The ring bears a Mayan sun symbol, which, according to Juli, has the power to lead him to the woman of his dreams, whom he will recognise by a similar sun symbol. As Juli has the ring's counterpart, and as she is in love with him, she invites Daniel to a party that evening, hoping that they will meet.

Curious, Daniel goes to the party and meets Melek (İdil Üner), a young Turkish woman who is wearing a T-shirt imprinted with a sun symbol. Convinced that she is the woman of his dreams, Daniel talks to her. Melek is only passing through and looking for a place to spend the night. After spending the evening together seeing the sights of Hamburg, Daniel invites her to spend the night in his apartment.

Daniel and Melek leave the party just as Juli arrives. She sees them leave together. In her disappointment, she decides to leave town. Next day she goes to the Autobahn to hitch a ride, with no predetermined destination.

As fate would have it, Daniel is the first car to stop, on his way back from the airport, where he has just dropped Melek off. He has decided to drive to Istanbul in search of Melek, who, as she told him, will be under the bridge over the Bosporus at a certain time a few days later, although he does not know why. Daniel takes Juli with him in his stoner roommate's rusty old car. And this is the beginning a long and exciting trip across a scorching hot Southeastern Europe.

This story is about one man — who is an artist and an intellectual — he was imprisoned by two brutal regimes, the Nazis and the Soviets. 'The Professor' is a man who lives by his own personal version of the Ten Commandments. After miraculously surviving imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a bit of ironic fate, he writes a memoir of his life, which becomes the target of the Soviet censors. The so-called "freedom" of Communism becomes just as oppressive as the German concentration camp.

The coup attempt was at first presented by the government as a fairly contained military mutiny over pay and conditions of service, with the Information Minister Moktar Wawadajab assuring the BBC that the mutiny had ended without a shot being fired, and that no-one was killed or injured. While the rebellion was rapidly quelled by loyalist forces after a brief exchange of fire, and the about 80 rebels and their ringleader, the army Colonel Bechir Haggar, were arrested, the President later admitted the seriousness of what had happened. In a televised address to the nation on May 18 Déby confirmed that elements of the GNNT and of the Presidential Guard had made an attempt on his life: "A group of fanatic and manipulated officers tried to disrupt the functioning of republican institutions on the night of May 16 … Their hidden agenda was the assassination of the President."

Act I

Scene I: The Buffet de la Gare, Boulogne. Early morning, May, 1873.

A uniformed Courier ushers in Hubert, Marquess of Heronden and Mrs Axel Diensen (Charlotte). They have left their spouses and are eloping together. Charlotte is edgy and worries that Hubert's wife Serena, and her own husband, an American railway magnate, will pursue them. She is also apprehensive about how she and Hubert will be received by the English community in Nice, where they are heading. Also in the buffet are an English clergyman, Mr Spevin and his family, en route to Nice, where he has been appointed Vicar of the English church at Nice. His wife spots that the woman with Hubert is not the Marchioness. Their train arrives and they embark.

Scene 2: Serena's Sitting-room in Heronden House, Belgrave Square. Some hours later.

Serena, Lady Heronden has returned from the country with her friend, Lady Harriet Ripley. The butler tells her that the Marquess has left a note for her. She opens it but does not reveal its contents to her inquisitive friend. Harriet leaves as an unexpected visitor, Axel Diensen, arrives. He reveals that his wife and the Marquess have eloped. He suggests the both follow the eloping couple; Serena is reluctant at first but he persuades her and they agree to take the night train for the Continent.

Act II

Scene 1: The Villa Zodiaque, St. Guillaume des Fleurs, France. Two days later.

Hubert and Charlotte find that the first rapture has worn off their romance. Hubert's attempts to soothe Charlotte are interrupted by the arrival of Serena and Axel. Serena announces her intention of staying to lunch and then indefinitely, despite Hubert's attempts to dissuade her. Hubert takes Charlotte out on to the terrace. Serena asks Axel if he is not afraid to leave them together under the sky. He comments wryly "They'll be back soon. It is beginning to rain." They look at each other and smile.

Scene 2: The same. The next morning.

Axel and Serena are still at the villa. She insists on a serious talk with Charlotte, warning her that Hubert has had short infatuations before and may well go off the idea of the elopement when reality sinks in. When Charlotte is alone Hubert enters. She tells him that Serena asked if she truly loved him, and having seen him at close quarters her answer is "No". She is ready to return to London with her husband. She makes a dignified exit, while Hubert struts off in a rage. Serena and Axel seem to have won, but are emotionally exhausted. They are interrupted by Octavia, Countess of Bonnington, an eccentric elderly neighbour. Having heard that a pair of illicit lovers are at the Villa, she assumes they are Serena and Axel, and proceeds to congratulate them, ignoring all Serena's attempts to explain the situation. Finally, she dashes out with an invitation to visit her at her Villa la Joie. Axel, who has taken a liking to her, raises his glass and drinks to her. Serena says he must be as mad as Lady Bonnington.

Scene 3: The same. Some hours later.

The two couples, in their travelling clothes, are drinking coffee. The atmosphere is rather strained as they wait for the carriage to take them to the station. Charlotte goes to pack, leaving Serena and Axel together. In a long, intimate talk, he describes his early days: how he started work at thirteen and gradually made a fortune. He asks Serena to come to America some day, and then kisses her hand. Hubert comes back and the couples leave.

Act III

Scene I: Serena's Sitting-room in Heronden House, Belgrave Square, June, 1874. Afternoon.

It is a year later. Hubert announces his intention of going big-game hunting in Africa with a new friend called Mallory. Lady Harriet arrives for afternoon tea. She is in gossipy mood, and says that Charlotte Diensen is back in America awaiting a divorce. She also remarks that Hubert has a new "friend", a Mrs Mallory. Hearing the name, Serena realises the real nature of Hubert's "big-game" expedition. "Poor Hubert!" she exclaims. Harriet is surprised at Serena's mood of elation and excitement. When she has gone, Serena rings for the butler, and gives him a letter to hand to Hubert after she has left the house.

Scene 2: The Buffet de la Gare, Boulogne. Early the next morning.

The Spevins are on their way back to England. Axel and Serena enter. Spevin recognises them and comes over to their table. He assumes Hubert is travelling with them, and Serena does not correct him. He does not realise that Axel and Serena are eloping. The Stevins leave, and Axel and Serena are left alone. He admits that he is embarrassed by his ignorance of French, and he worries that his lack of education will come to irritate Serena; but she tells him not to worry: "When one elopes with an uncivilised ruffian, one must be prepared for anything". Serena says wistfully that she wishes they were both younger and had more time. Axel replies, "There is time enough, my dear love, time and to spare. Come".

It is Valentine's Day, and Spider-Man describes himself as feeling "blue". Although Gwen Stacy, Parker's first love, died a while ago, he still feels blue for her to this day. So, Spider-Man recounts into a tape recorder how Gwen and he fell in love.

The series then recounts the events from ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (vol. 1) #40–48 and #63, though it switches time order and implies that Kraven the Hunter, who appeared in #47, is behind all of the villains who attack Spider-Man. It retells Peter standing between Gwen and Mary Jane Watson, berated by his friend Harry Osborn.

In the end, it is Valentine's Day, and Gwen asks Peter to be her valentine. Peter states how her death has scarred him. Her one-time rival Mary Jane taught Peter to love again, but he reveals how much he misses Gwen. Suddenly, he notices his wife Mary Jane listening. Instead of being angry, Mary Jane feels deep sympathy for her husband and tells Peter to say hello to Gwen for her and to tell her how much she misses her, too. On this note, the story ends.

The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by his Flight Lieutenant for alleged misconduct. No one seems to have become aware of his true identity, except for a man named Dickinson, who had seen Lawrence at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and quickly attempts to blackmail him to keep his identity secret. Lawrence, however, refuses, and Dickinson decides to reveal his identity to the ''Daily Mirror''.

After Lawrence has a dream sequence, flashing back to the various figures in his life, the play flashes back to mid-1916. Lawrence is being given an unofficial assignment as a liaison officer to the forces of the Arab Revolt, under Prince Feisal (who, although he is frequently mentioned, never appears as a character). Sir Ronald Storrs, the head of the Arab Bureau, tries to talk him out of the mission, as does Colonel Barrington, a bull-headed intelligence officer. Along with two Arab servants, Hamed and Rashid (similar to Lawrence's real-life companions Farraj and Daud), Lawrence enters the desert, revealing that he feels that the supreme being of the world is "the will", and he believes that he can achieve anything if he puts his mind to it.

Lawrence later meets Auda ibu Tayi, leader of the Howeitat tribe of Bedouin, using flattery to convert him to the Arab cause (he has been paid off by the Turks to support them). Auda and Lawrence soon plan an expedition through the Nefud Desert to capture the Turkish-held port of Aqaba, which is weakly defended from the landward side. Along the way to Aqaba, however, he is forced to execute an Arab for murdering another in a feud.

Meanwhile, the Turkish military governor of Deraa and his subordinate, a Captain, watch with growing unease Lawrence's campaign against the Hejaz Railway, though they fail to ascertain the target of his campaign. The General decides to place a reward of £20,000 on Lawrence for his capture, and these leads to a comic scene where the Captain arrives in Auda's camp to offer him the reward, and Lawrence is present. Unable to act despite recognising Lawrence, the Captain is forced to leave the camp. At the end of Act I, Lawrence arrives at an army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula and uses a telephone station (despite the protests of a British naval officer) to report the Arab capture of Aqaba.

Act II begins in the office of the new commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Edmund Allenby, who is present with Storrs and Barrington. Allenby asks their opinions of Lawrence before Lawrence himself arrives. Storrs praises Lawrence, while Barrington finds him repugnant and undeserving of a position of responsibility. Allenby engages Lawrence in a brief discussion, which includes chat about archaeology, literature, and furniture, alternating with a serious discussion about the progress of the war. While Allenby wants Lawrence to be the permanent commander of the Arab liaison forces, Lawrence expresses the view that he is not up to the task, and admits to a conflict of conscience over aiding the Arabs while being aware of the Sykes-Picot Agreement to divide up the Ottoman Empire – although Allenby convinces him otherwise.

On a reconnaissance mission in Deraa, Lawrence speaks with Hamed, with whom he has grown close, as Rasheed, the other servant, died on the march to Aqaba. Hamed has tried to bribe more Arabs into joining the cause, but they have been frightened into refusing by the Turks. Lawrence is arrested by a Turkish army sergeant, believing him to be a Circassian army deserter. He is taken back to Turkish HQ, where on the orders of the General, he is beaten and then raped. This is a deliberate action by the General, who feels that Lawrence is too extraordinary an enemy to simply kill; he must destroy his will and his personality through such an act, thus revealing his weakness.

At the beginning of Act III, Allenby has just received word of the fall of Jerusalem and is posing for photographs for a journalist named Franks (a stand-in for Lowell Thomas), who requests an interview with Lawrence. During this scene Barrington (now a Brigadier General on Allenby's staff) asks Lawrence to deny that his men execute prisoners, although he is disgusted when Lawrence admits that they have. Allenby interrupts the conversation, and discusses Lawrence's request to be transferred from Arabia – a request Allenby turns down. Lawrence feels that he has learned "the truth" about himself, refusing to discuss his rape with Allenby. At this point, Storrs enters, informing Allenby that the British government wants him to enter Jerusalem in a triumph – and Allenby all but forces Lawrence to take part in the parade.

The last sequence occurs in September 1918, the last days of the war, after the Battle of Megiddo has smashed the Turkish armies and the road to Damascus is all but open. Speaking with an RAF officer, Flight Lieutenant Higgins, Lawrence recounts his own forces' hand in the operation, including the massacre of 4,000 Turks outside the Tafas village, in retaliation for their sack of the village. However, Higgins is more disturbed about Lawrence's execution of a wounded colleague – later revealed to be Hamed, Lawrence's servant.

Lawrence then meets with Auda, recounting the death of Hamed. Lawrence inadvertently reveals the British treachery towards the Arabs to Auda, although he then promises Auda that he will fight for the Arabs "to the limits of my strength". At this point Barrington arrives, and Auda expresses his admiration for Lawrence to him before exiting.

After Auda's departure, Barrington complains that the Arab forces occupying Deraa have committed atrocities against Turkish soldiers captured there and refuses to allow the Arabs to garrison the city. He also discusses the Tafas massacre with Lawrence, referring to him as a "callous, soulless, sadistic little brute", while Lawrence concedes that he is "lost to all human feeling". The play ends in 1922, with the RAF officers trying to smuggle Lawrence away from the barracks before the press, newly alerted to the identity of "Ross", can descend on them.

Fact-based story of undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena who, while stationed in Guadalajara, uncovered a massive marijuana operation in Northern Mexico that led to his death and a remarkable investigation of corruption within the Mexican government.

The play focuses on Alice, who with her mother Joan is accused of witchcraft by their neighbours, married couple Jack and Margery, after the latters' numerous failures including failed economic expansion, unsuccessful marital relations and agricultural misfortunes. In a denial of God's ill-favour towards them, they begin to interpret the unfortunate developments as evidence of witchcraft. It is later implied that Vinegar Tom, Joan's cat, may have been behind it all. The narrative becomes a tale of the 17th century England using witchcraft as a means to shift the blame towards nonconforming woman such as the old, poor, single, cunning or skilled, to help temper social unrest. Aside from witchcraft, the narrative also included themes such as the Christian faith and the oppression of women.

For context, one should take note that the play was written at the height of the second feminist movement in the 20th Century. Churchill, a highly influential feminist writer, used this specific script to display how much control men have in society and how women have historically been treated as chattel, taught to be subservient to men. All of the songs are set in the present, rather than the time period of the play, and reflect, in one way or another, the gender and sexual discrimination present in society. Betty, one of the play's characters, is classed as mad or ill simply because she does not want to marry. The play also outlined society's rejection of people who do not conform to the mainstream, or who are "odd" or "different". It was shown how going against the norm, no matter the time period, is not accepted by traditionalists. In the play, this behavior was seen as inhuman and a trait of an individual conspiring with the devil.

'''Act 1, Scene 1''' begins in Harper's kitchen. It is late. Harper's niece (Young Joan) enters and claims that she can't sleep. After a few attempts by her aunt to get her back in bed, she tells Harper that she just came back into the house after climbing out of her window to investigate a sound that she heard. Joan says that she just witnessed her uncle, Harper's husband, loading bloody children and other people into the back of a lorry. After repeated attempts to censor what Joan saw, Harper tells her that the uncle is saving the children and taking them to a safer place. She tells Joan that she can never tell anyone about what she saw because it would put all of their lives in danger. Harper claims they are on the good side and are making the world a better place.

'''Act 2, Scene 1''' is roughly 15 years later in a factory where an adult Joan has just begun her professional career as a milliner. Her co-worker Todd is an established hatter and is experienced in the field. Various days at the factory are seen, with the hats that Joan and Todd are making in various stages of completion over time. Todd and Joan exchange basic conversation about this body of work and about their previous works. Todd says that the company has been pushing for hats to be created quicker for the parades; they used to have two weeks to finish a hat but now they only have one.

''Scene 2:'' Joan and Todd learn more about each other through a discussion about their current hat designs. Todd brings up a hypothesis that the way the company gets contracts is corrupt, claiming there is a certain person's brother-in-law that is involved. Joan wants to know more, but Todd doesn't want to talk about it at work. Joan changes the topic, saying she does not like to watch the trials at night. Todd says he watches them every night while drinking Pernod, or absinthe.

''Scene 3:'' Todd and Joan speak about different hat genres: Animal and Abstract. Joan changes the subject and asks why Todd doesn't do something (regarding the corruption). He says he spends days wondering what he should do.

''Scene 4:'' Joan and Todd compliment each other on their almost completed hats. Todd announces he is going to talk to "him" (someone working above Todd). He says he is going to talk about the brother-in-law and hint at the possibility of leaking information to a friend of his who is a journalist. He say that if he lost his job, he'd miss Joan.

'''Scene 5''' shows the completed hats of Todd and Joan on the heads of prisoners being marched to have the hats "judged" in the trials.

'''Scene 6''' returns to the factory. Joan states that she can't believe that she won. She says she doesn't understand why more aren't kept, because they could be re-used. Todd says that keeping more hats would put them out of work. Joan thinks it is sad that all the hats are burned with the bodies. Todd says that the hats are metaphorical for life. He is not bothered that only three out of nearly 300 hats that he has created made it to the museum. He loves making beauty that disappears. Todd brings up his meeting with "him". "He" said, "These things must be thought about". Todd wonders if "he" was talking about the content of their meeting, or if he should fire Todd. Joan reminds Todd about the journalist he knows. Joan hypothesizes that the whole industry is corrupt. She says that if Todd is fired, she will resign. Todd almost tells Joan that he loves her, but quickly changes to saying that he loves beads.

'''Act 3, Scene 1''' finds Harper and Todd at Harper's house waiting for Joan to return. They discuss the paranoia caused by not knowing what side various aspects of nature is on. They are very worried about Joan who eventually returns in a very frazzled state. She delivers a monologue about her fear of every natural thing on her journey (a stream, horses, light, and dark). She does not know whose side of the war they are on.

Set in Westminster where OPEN Campaign is a pressure group run by Terry Small for open government. He is asking questions to the government about the 'Hassam Case', the death of an asian man in police custody. Hilary Wood works as a civil servant in the Home Office and is struggling to prevent the case from escalating. She then meets Terry has an affair with him, and decides to send him details about the case, so Hilary resigns from the service. Then Terry offers her a job in the OPEN Campaign. His organisation has many secrets of its own which makes openness difficult...

As the series pilot, "Genesis" establishes the stories of most of the main characters, as well as the series' premise. Robert Canning of IGN describes the episode as "short on action", but with "much to look forward to."

The central theme of human evolution, and the potential for superhuman changes, is introduced by the character of Mohinder Suresh, a genetics professor in Madras, India. After receiving news of the death of his father, Chandra Suresh, Mohinder goes to New York to finish Chandra's research, believing it was the reason he was murdered. Mohinder's story also introduces the idea of an underlying conspiracy involving the "heroes". At his father's apartment in India, he hears (but does not see) a mysterious person searching the apartment. The same man later gets into Mohinder's taxi, asking him several suspicious questions before Mohinder flees.

Two storylines in particular reflect a darker perspective on the newfound abilities. Isaac Mendez is a painter and heroin addict in New York City. He claims that he can paint the future, but his girlfriend, Simone Deveaux, believes it is merely the influence of narcotics. Later, following a severe overdose, he paints a mural of a nuclear explosion destroying Manhattan. Niki Sanders, a webcam stripper in Las Vegas, Nevada, discovers her abilities when she and her son Micah are forced to flee from thugs approaching their house. During the escape, Niki believes she sees a reflection that is not her. She leaves Micah with a friend and returns home, where the thugs coerce her into stripping. She blacks out during the performance, awakening some time later to find that they have been savagely killed. Her strange reflection motions for her to keep silent. Both Isaac and Niki find their powers to be "an unwelcome change that they are forced to deal with."

Meanwhile, Hiro Nakamura, an office worker in Tokyo, Japan, discovers he can control the passage of time. Hiro is presented in a lighter, happier manner than the other characters, and as someone who is excited about the changes happening to him. His friend and co-worker, Ando Masahashi, is skeptical, even after Hiro proves it to him by teleporting into the women's restroom at a bar. Hiro believes he is meant for something more, but Ando disagrees. Later, Hiro successfully teleports from a subway in Tokyo to New York City's Times Square.

Other characters include Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader in Odessa, Texas, who has discovered that she regenerates from any injuries, and has her classmate Zach film her doing such things. She believes that if discovered, life as she knows it would be over. Heading home, they come across a fiery train wreck, from which Claire saves a man, escaping unharmed.

Peter Petrelli's story crosses paths with many of the other characters. A hospice nurse in New York, Peter has recurring dreams of flying. He tells his brother, congressional candidate Nathan Petrelli, that he believes he can fly. Nathan responds by saying that Peter should put his time to better use. Peter tells his mother that he has a metaphysical connection with Nathan, but his mother is skeptical. Simone, who is the daughter of one of Peter's patients, tells him to bring morphine to Isaac's apartment. There, Peter sees a painting of himself flying. At the end of the episode, he summons Nathan to an alley in the middle of the city. Peter leaps off of the roof of an adjacent building attempting to fly, but instead it is Nathan who flies up and catches him, only to lose his grip and drop Peter. Kring credits the direct concept and idea for this last scene to Damon Lindelof, producer of ''Lost''.

Eric Stoltz plays John Dantley, an NTSB officer sent to O'Hare Airport in Chicago to investigate a collision between Global Airlines Flight 1025 (a Boeing 757-200 from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.) and PDO Cargo flight 342 (a Boeing 727-200F flying westbound cargo plane), where 185 people are killed.

Charles Martin Smith plays Henry Drake, an air traffic controller who insists his radar system malfunctioned when the planes were being cleared for landing. When the rest of air traffic control dismiss Drake and blame the incident on human error, Dantley must discover the truth about the crash: Was Drake — a high-strung individual who already didn't get along with his co-workers — simply incompetent at his job or did Drake's co-workers and superiors know about and/or had previously been warned about the aging radar system showing signs of seriously malfunctioning and crashing at critical times (and thus liable to lead to deadly situations such as the one that happened), but instead of taking action ignored the warnings and initiated a cover-up?

Roger Carr has a lot going for him. He's a handsome, charming and privileged man who practices law—more as a means to support his playboy lifestyle than a career. Thanks to his father, who is a powerful politician, Carr has many connections. For this reason, his law associates tolerate him and keep him around.

Carr is sent to Nice, France on a job by one of his wealthy political connections to find and secure the purchase of a Villa. Little does he know that this cushy assignment is going to put him in the middle of an arms deal investigation involving the CIA and a gang called the Associates.

Both sides mistake him for someone else—an American assassin—and neither side can understand why Carr is ignoring them. The CIA take it as a sign of defiance, the Associates perceive him as a cool and collected professional, who knows exactly what he's doing and is difficult to predict.

Carr becomes slowly aware that something strange is going on. He's not sure...but he thinks someone may be trying to kill him. The worst part of it is, he has no clue as to why.

What happens next will send Carr on a thrilling roller-coaster ride involving fast cars, fast women and international terrorists.

Harold Barnaby is a brilliant Egyptologist who has discovered a hidden message while translating some hieroglyphics. The message tells of an unnamed Pharaoh whose tomb hasn't been discovered yet. Barnaby is exhilarated by the discovery and the prospect of the fame and fortune that will come with it. There is only one problem. He doesn't have the knowledge, influence or wherewithal to pull off such a job without alerting the Egyptian authorities who would surely encroach on his discovery.

Luckily, Barnaby meets Robert Pierce, a transient freelance writer who is in between jobs and looking for some excitement. In a moment of drunken indiscretion, Barnaby shares his discovery with Pierce along with his small logistical problem. Pierce, who because of his job has many friends in high—and low—places, offers his services to plan and manage the "extraction". For a cut, of course.

He brings on Lord Grover, the fifth Earl of Wheatston to bankroll the project; smuggler Alan Conway; and international thief, Nikos Karagannis. Together, this motley crew set up camp in the harsh conditions of the Egyptian desert and "dig in" for the long haul. Their task is made all-the-more challenging when an Egyptian official becomes suspicious of their activities.

The story revolves around the brief freedom experienced by a small pride of captive lions, who escape from Baghdad Zoo during the 2003 invasion of Baghdad by the U.S.-led coalition. As the lions roam the streets of Baghdad trying to survive, each lion comes to embody a different viewpoint regarding the Iraq War.[http://bestof.ign.com/2006/comics/7.html IGN.com presents "Best of 2006: Best Original Graphic Novel"] . IGN. Retrieved March 17, 2012.

Five New Yorkers come to terms with the bitter-sweet reality of life in this collection of intertwined stories. Single dad Sam (Eric Schaeffer) struggles to raise his son; elderly Herb (Alan King) honors a deceased friend with a perilous act; musician Jody (Jill Sobule) worries what heartache will do to her pacemaker; free-spirited Malissa (Elizabeth Reaser) cares for her sick mother; and John (Charles Parnell) reels from his failed marriage.

The Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886 takes Scrooge to Transvaal, South Africa. His cart is passed by a galloping Cape Buffalo with a Boer duck lashed to its back, screaming for help. Scrooge rescues the duck and befriends him, not knowing that the duck was sent into the veld by diamond miners he was trying to steal from. Scrooge happily accepts his new friend's offer to keep watch when they camp for the night, but when he wakes up, his wagon, horse, and gear have all been stolen, and he has been left alone surrounded by wild animals.

Just as the animals are about to pounce, Scrooge's hurt gives way to fury and he makes a lifetime vow: ''"Nobody double-crosses Scrooge McDuck!"'' He tames the animals with his bare hands, then bridles a lion and rides it into the nearest town. Finding his cart, Scrooge retrieves his pistols and confronts the young Boer in a bar, then humiliates his rival by shooting jars of molasses and a pillow over him, producing the local equivalent of being tarred and feathered. Furious, the Boer runs back to the cart to grab Scrooge's rifle, but doesn't notice the lion in the stable until it's too late. Scrooge is forced to save the Boer from a severe mauling, before dragging him into the nearest jail. As Scrooge is leaving town, the young Boer yells from his cell that one day he'll be rich enough to take revenge on Scrooge and people like him. Scrooge dismisses this, but concedes that the young duck, whose name he still doesn't know, has taught him a valuable lesson: never trust anyone completely.

The story's closing narration reveals the young Boer's name to be Flintheart Glomgold, who will grow up to be the world's second richest duck, and Scrooge's nemesis.

The story follows the protagonist of the previous ''Crescent Hawk'' game, Jason Youngblood, as he heads to the home base of the infamous Kell Hounds mercenary organization. The Hawks are attacked en route, crashland, and spend a good portion of the early game protecting their crashed dropship and helping the Kell Hounds repel the Kurita attack.

After repelling the attack, the Crescent Hawks go on a long series of missions to rescue Jason's father from his Kurita captors, at which they are successful. Jason is reunited with his father, who has been missing since the beginning of ''The Crescent Hawk's Inception''.

The game then has a major timeskip to the period of the clan invasion. The Crescent Hawks join the Kell Hounds and fight alongside them in repelling the clan invasion, often alongside their former Kurita enemies. The Crescent Hawks, Kell Hounds, and Kurita forces are successful in defending the Kurita capital, and the game ends with the Hawks earning the respect of their new Kurita allies.

Notably, there is also a story crossover between the Crescent Hawks and the original ''MechWarrior'' game. In a short one-shot mission, the Crescent Hawks attempt to save the Blazing Aces, the mercenary group from the original ''MechWarrior'' game, from a Clan attack. They are unsuccessful at saving the main character, MechWarrior Gideon Vandenburg, who dies during the attack. However, Gideon has secretly hidden most of the Ace's 'Mechs from the clan, and the Blazing Aces survive despite their leader's death.

An interrogator prepares a man to take the stand against mob boss Frank Matajano on an Air Force base. A driver delivers takeout, which is taken to the interrogation room. Once opened, it explodes, killing the witness. In court, a judge places court on recess until the Attorney General can bring sufficient evidence against Matajano. The Attorney General angrily demands a U.S. Marshal, Pat Schiller (Robert John Burke), get evidence in 72 hours to replace the killed witness.

On a chain gang, an inmate harasses Luke Dodge (Stephen Baldwin), who fights back. When Charles Piper (Laurence Fishburne) intervenes, the guards chain him and Dodge together, and then Dodge and Piper begin fighting. The guards discuss a plan in hushed tones and change their magazines, but before they do anything, the inmate who attacked Dodge snatches a gun and starts a shootout. During the confusion, he, Dodge and Piper escape. The cop who arrested Dodge, Matthew 'Gib' Gibson (Will Patton) picks up a magazine at the crime scene. A fellow cop informs him that the Attorney General asked him to place Dodge on that chain gang against protocol. Suspicious, he runs off into the woods and finds the third convict, who is shot and killed by Marshal Schiller. Dodge and Piper argue about their plan; Dodge reveals he needs to escape to collect $5 million he stole. Piper demands half in exchange for his help.

Gibson begins to grow suspicious of the Marshal's motives and circumstances when he finds out the company from which Dodge stole the money by hacking did not press charges; the company is owned by Matajano. Matajano commissions the hitman from the food delivery to recover a computer disc from, then kill, Dodge. Gibson reveals the magazine he found at the escape scene had blanks - the guards were never intended to kill anyone, and it was supposed to be a setup.

Piper and Dodge are cornered by a hunter whom Piper attacks, causing him to have a heart attack. They take his car and drop his body at a hospital, then demand a woman named Cora (Salma Hayek) drive them to a hideout. At her house, they change clothes and part ways - Piper gives Dodge his harmonica for good luck. Dodge goes to a strip club to meet up with his girlfriend; after arranging to meet his hacking partner, Puffy, at a massage parlor to hand off the disc, Matajano's thugs enter their hotel room and kill her and begin to torture Dodge. Piper arrives and kills several of the hitmen, escaping with Dodge. He reveals that he's an undercover cop that Marshal Schiller hired to break Dodge out of prison so that he could recover the disc in exchange for exonerating him from an undercover drug bust that went bad in New York. The disc has evidence the Attorney General needs against Matajano.

At the massage parlor, Dodge meets up with Puffy, who is immediately shot by Matajano's men. Gibson, who hired a private investigator to get him information on Dodge, also arrives and participates in the gunfight. Piper and Dodge escape on special Ducati motorcycles left by Puffy; Gibson is reprimanded for not leaving the case to the Attorney General. Not knowing the location of the disc, Piper and Dodge get desperate. Dodge notices a clue on his bike that lead them to the Georgia Dome and the disc, with Cora's help. The Marshal (revealed to be working for Matajano to get the disc before the Attorney General), Gibson, Dodge and Piper all end up in a gunfight. Piper and Dodge again escape with Cora's help, telling the Attorney General they will hand off the disc at the top of Stone Mountain.

Dodge and Piper lead Matajano's men on a chase up the mountain which results in Piper killing them; he meets up with Dodge and they ride a skycar up the mountain. The Marshal, presumed dead in the gunfight, stops the car and demands the disc. Piper eventually throws him from the car and they hand the disc off to the Attorney General, who exonerates them both and gets Piper his job back in New York.

The game begins with Chell waking up from a stasis bed and hearing instructions from GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence, about upcoming tests. Chell enters into sequential distinct chambers that introduce her to varying challenges to solve using her portal gun, with GLaDOS as her only interaction. GLaDOS promises cake as a reward for Chell if she completes all the test chambers. As Chell nears completion, GLaDOS's motives and behavior turns more sinister, suggesting insincerity and callous disregard for the safety and well-being of former test subjects. The test chambers become increasingly dangerous as Chell proceeds, including a live-fire course designed for military androids, as well as chambers flooded with a hazardous liquid. In one chamber, GLaDOS forces Chell to "euthanize" a Weighted Companion Cube in an incinerator, after Chell uses it for assistance.

After Chell completes the final test chamber, GLaDOS manoeuvres Chell into an incinerator in an attempt to kill her. Chell escapes with the portal gun and makes her way through the maintenance areas within the Enrichment Center. GLaDOS panics and insists that she was pretending to kill Chell as part of testing, while it becomes clear that GLaDOS had previously killed all the inhabitants of the center. Chell travels further through the maintenance areas, discovering dilapidated backstage areas covered in graffiti that includes statements such as "the cake is a lie", and pastiches of quotes from famous poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Emily Brontë.

Despite GLaDOS's attempts to dissuade her with lies and threats, Chell reaches a large chamber where GLaDOS's hardware hangs overhead. A sphere soon falls off of GLaDOS and Chell drops it in an incinerator. GLaDOS reveals that the sphere was the morality core of her conscience, one of multiple personality cores that Aperture Science employees installed after she flooded the center with neurotoxin gas; with the core removed, she can access its emitters again. A six-minute countdown starts as Chell dislodges and incinerates more of GLaDOS' personality cores, while GLaDOS mocks and attacks her. After Chell destroys the last personality core, a malfunction tears the room apart and transports everything to the surface. Chell lies outside the facility's gates amid the remains of GLaDOS, but is promptly dragged away by an unseen robotic entity.

The final scene, viewed within the bowels of the facility, shows a candlelit Black Forest cake, and a Weighted Companion Cube, surrounded by shelves containing dozens of inactive personality cores. The cores begin to light up, before a robotic arm descends and extinguishes the candle on the cake, casting the room into darkness. Over the credits, GLaDOS delivers a concluding report through a song, declaring the experiment to be a success.

Someone is murdering Gotham's mob bosses one by one. Realizing the connection between them, and that he might be next, Boss Ottavio gathers the remaining bosses and lieutenants and summons Batman using an inverted bat-symbol. The mobsters explain to Batman that the murderer is known as "Mr. Whisper" and was a child killer who killed seven children twenty years ago. Ottavio calls Whisper the "man with no shadow" and asserts that he and his colleagues killed him, but that he wouldn't stay dead. Batman refuses to help the mobsters and leaves, but investigates the murders on his own. The mention of a shadowless man brings to mind an incident from Bruce Wayne's school days when he saw evidence that his headmaster, Mr. Winchester, not only murdered his school friend, but also cast no shadow. Batman is disturbed as he had chalked this incident up to an overactive imagination. A young woman claiming to be a nun appears at Gotham cathedral and is taken in by Whisper.

Ottavio is killed after drinking poisoned wine, and Whisper is spotted at the scene. Batman confronts him, but Whisper displays superhuman strength and tosses his enemy off the roof of a highrise. After his cape is caught on a gargoyle statue, Batman makes his way back up to the roof and again faces Whisper, who recognizes him as Bruce Wayne. Whisper then jumps off the building himself, walking away from a fall that should have been fatal. Batman decides to fly to Austria after procuring recordings of Mr. Winchester's lectures from his school and analyzing his Austrian accent, as well as accidentally hearing a recording of his father, who mentions the "Drowned Monastery" in Lake Dess. In Vienna, Batman speaks with the father of a local monastery who recounts the tale of Brother Manfred, a monk in the monastery of the Capuchins. Manfred was led astray by a novitiate named Conrad into debauchery and blasphemy. Soon, the other monks in Manfred's order followed his lead, committing terrible sins including the rape and murder of a group of nuns seeking sanctuary, with the worst of it reserved for the youngest nun. According to the story, Manfred then traded his soul to the devil for deliverance from the Black Plague and 300 years of life during which nothing could hurt or kill him. The monk's rampage was only stopped by the flooding of his monastery due to a dam break. According to legend, the spirit of the youngest nun still haunts the drowned monastery. Batman searches the remains of the drowned cathedral, witnesses a vision of the spirit of the nun and finds a blueprint of Gotham Cathedral. Batman realizes that Mr. Whisper, Mr. Winchester, and Brother Manfred are all one and the same.

Batman returns to Gotham and confronts Morganstern, the last mob boss on Whisper's list. Morganstern tells Batman about how he and the other mobsters hunted down Whisper because of the child murders, while subsequent increased police presence were making their operations difficult. When they found him, they tried to kill Whisper but found to their horror that, no matter what they did, his body repaired itself. Ultimately, they decided to chain him up and throw him into Gotham harbor. Batman agrees to be present at a meeting between Morganstern and Whisper at a local warehouse.

Batman arrives at the warehouse to find Morganstern and all his men dead and hanging from the rafters. Whisper then knocks Batman out and ties him up, constructing an elaborate Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson-style device to kill him. Whisper tells Batman that he remembers him as a child, claiming that he would have been Whisper's next victim had his father not taken him out of school. Whisper tells his story, explaining how he gained 300 years by measuring his shadow with a length of twine, his soul becoming trapped in the twine shortly thereafter. He continues recounting how he resolved to cheat the devil from taking his soul. Using the germs from the plague victims in his monastery, Manfred developed a lethal airborne pathogen that will kill everyone in Gotham City. Manfred states that Gotham Cathedral itself is the delivery mechanism for this plague, designed to shatter the vial at midnight and then magically collect the souls of everyone killed so he can offer them up to the devil in exchange for his own. He reveals that the murders of the crime bosses was really just a means of passing the time.

Batman escapes from the trap and arrives to Gotham Cathedral a few minutes before midnight. As he fights Whisper, the floor collapses and they fall into a subway tunnel. The two continue to fight and Batman tosses Whisper into the path of an oncoming train. Batman disables the Cathedral's bell, stopping the next tolling from shattering the plague vial, and thus the plague is kept contained. Shortly after, Whisper is confronted by the young nun who reveals herself as Lucifer Morningstar, and advises Whisper that ''You are mine beyond reprieve. You always were''. Carrying through with their pact, Lucifer finally takes Manfred to Hell. Later, Bruce Wayne receives a package with Whisper's/Manfred's heart, tied with the very same length of twine that once housed his soul. He flies back to Austria and throws the heart into the river to let the nun killed by Whisper finally rest in peace.

''A Mighty Heart'' is a detailed account of the search for kidnapped ''Wall Street Journal'' reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi by supporters of Omar Sheikh. The movie also covers efforts by Pakistan's Security Forces, Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) to track the kidnappers and bring them to justice. Sheikh claimed responsibility for kidnapping and beheading Pearl in 2002. He was captured and convicted but is appealing the ruling.

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

The story begins on a tiny island called Morrowland (original German: , a play on , the German translation of Neverland), which has just enough space for a small palace, a train station and rails all around the island, a grocery store, a small house, a king, two subjects, a locomotive named Emma, and a locomotive engineer by the name of Luke (Lukas) (who, as railway civil servant, is not a subject). One day, the postman – who has to come by ship – drops off a package with a nearly illegible address for a ''Mrs. Krintuuth'' at ''Zorroulend''. On the back was a large 13. After a futile search for the addressee among Morrowland's few inhabitants, they open the package. To their immense surprise, there's a black baby inside. After the commotion has died down, the baby is adopted by the islanders and is named Jim Button.

As Jim grows up, the King begins to worry that the island is too small and there won't be enough space for Jim to live on once he's an adult. He announces to Luke that Emma has to be removed. Luke, upset about this decision, decides to leave the island with Emma, and Jim (who had accidentally overheard Luke relating his woes to Emma) decides to come along. They convert Emma into a makeshift ship and sail off the island in the night, eventually arriving at the coast of Mandala (a fictional country inspired by China).

When they arrive in Ping, the capital, they win the friendship of a tiny great-grandchild named Ping Pong, who tells them the Emperor is in mourning. His daughter, Li Si, has been kidnapped and is being held in the Dragon City. Luke and Jim offer their help, and while investigating the circumstances of Li Si's disappearance, they stumble upon several names which are directly connected to Jim's mysterious arrival on Morrowland: Mrs. Grindtooth (Frau Mahlzahn), the Wild 13, and Sorrowland (Kummerland). Now Jim and Luke have another reason to go to the Dragon City, located in Sorrowland, and confront Mrs. Grindtooth.

After a long and hazardous journey, they arrive in the Dragon City. Along the way, they make two new friends, the giant Mr. Tur Tur, a "Scheinriese", and Nepomuk, the half-dragon. Jim and Luke free Princess Li Si and a large number of children, who had all been kidnapped and sold to Mrs. Grindtooth by a gang of pirates (the Wild 13). Mrs. Grindtooth had chained the children to desks at her school, where she had barked lessons to them like a Kommandant. Jim and Luke take Mrs. Grindtooth with them as they make their way back on the Yellow River, which begins right at the Dragon City. Arriving back in Mandala, they receive a triumphal welcome and are surprised by some startling news. Mrs. Grindtooth is about to turn into a Golden Dragon of Wisdom, and the other inhabitants of Morrowland want them back on the island!

With parting advice given by the now-reformed Mrs. Grindtooth and generous assistance from the Emperor, Luke and Jim come into possession of a floating island, which is named New-Morrowland, to serve as Jim's future residence. After a cordial welcome back on Morrowland, Jim and Li Si become engaged, and Jim gets a small locomotive for his own, which he names Molly.

Jim Button and the Wild 13

''Jim Button and the Wild 13'' ( ) is the sequel and concludes the story of the first book.

Following the events in ''Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver'', life in Morrowland continues as usual for a year until the postman rams New-Morrowland with his mail boat in the dark of night. It is decided that the island needs a lighthouse, but the island is too small to support one. Jim remembers and his ability to appear as a giant when seen from afar, and Jim and Luke decide to invite him to Morrowland to use his unique ability as a living lighthouse.

While sailing the oceans with the two steam locomotives Emma and Molly to the desert where lives, Jim and Luke stop to help out a mermaid named Sursulapitschi and her father, Lormoral, the king of the seas. This leads to a precarious encounter with the Magnetic Cliffs, whose magnetic pull can be turned off and on. When on, they activate a phenomenon called the Sea Glow, which illuminates the bottom of the sea, but also activates the magnetic pull, endangering passing ships; so someone must be found to ensure that no ships are endangered while the Sea Glow is switched on. In addition, Sursulapitschi is distressed because her fiancée, a " " (turtle man) named Ushaurischuum, has been assigned by her father to refashion the Crystal of Eternity, a task only possible with the aid of a creature of fire, with whom the merpeople are at war.

Using the special properties of the cliffs' material, Jim and Luke convert Emma into a flying vehicle which they dub the "Perpetumobile" due to its unlimited means of locomotion. With it, they cross the Crown of the World to get . To their surprise, in the desert they also encounter their half-dragon friend Nepomuk, who had had to flee the Dragon City following the events in the first book, for his help in capturing Mrs. Grindtooth. Jim and Luke persuade Nepomuk to accompany them and take up the post at the Magnetic Cliffs. Unexpectedly, the four meet Sursulapitschi and Ushaurishuum at the cliffs, and the Schildnöck and Nepomuk quickly become friends, enabling the recreation of the Crystal of Eternity.

Meanwhile, Jim's locomotive Molly, whom Jim and Luke had left at the cliffs when getting Mr. Tur Tur and Nepomuk, has been abducted by the band of pirates called the Wild 13. Luckily for Jim and Luke, the former Mrs. Grindtooth awakes as a Golden Dragon of Wisdom in Mandala, helping them out with information and telling Jim how to find out about his origin. With the help of the Emperor, Jim and Luke – and Princess as a stowaway – start their journey to meet the and rescue Molly. They encounter the pirates, who prove to be too much for them in battle. Molly is lost at sea, and all but Jim are captured and brought to the pirates' base, Castle Stormeye, a pinnacle of rock within the eye of a perpetual hurricane.

Unseen, Jim manages to sneak into the pirates' fortress, overpower them with a trick and some luck, and become their leader. As it turns out, Jim is the last descendant of Caspar, the third of the Three Kings, whose heirs were doomed to remain homeless after Mrs. Grindtooth had sunk their kingdom beneath the ocean millennia ago. Only the sinking of Castle Stormeye will raise it back to the surface. In the end, the sacrifice their fortress, Jim's old kingdom reappears – and to everyone's surprise, Morrowland is located at the top of the realm's highest mountain.

All the families whose children Jim and Luke had rescued from the Dragon City come to live in the new country. Jim marries and receives Molly from the merpeople, her iron frame transformed into the Crystal of Eternity. The , reformed by their sacrifice, remain in Jim's kingdom as its protectors and royal guards. , meanwhile, goes to live on Morrowland as the world's largest lighthouse.

Story

The player assumes the role of Nolan Daneworth, a WRF soldier, who is suffering from amnesia. Following the unknown injury that caused it, Nolan decides to retire from the war and settle down as a farmer. He marries a nurse named Julianne, however, his world is turned upside down when 3 men come to his farmhouse and burn it down, killing Julianne. Although he doesn't recognize their leader, the two other men turn out to be B.O.S. champions; the Boryenka brothers, Mika (younger) and Igor (older), who are the highest-ranking soldiers in the league. Daneworth re-enlists in the WRF, and enters the B.O.S. tournament in order to confront the Boryenka brothers and exact his revenge.

Midway through the game, Daneworth is captured by a group called the Resistance, led by Hang Shaiming. The Resistance claims that the entire war is controlled by a secret organization known as the Syndicate, a military-industrial complex that controls the weapons manufacturing and distribution for both the WRF and the UAN, and thus continuously profits from the perpetual war. The Syndicate uses the media to maintain its control over the world, encouraging jingoism and war-mongering through the news, while satisfying the populace's need for spectacle with programs like ''Bet On Soldier''.

Shaiming claims that Daneworth was a soldier for the Syndicate prior to his amnesia, and was tasked with hunting down Shaiming and the Resistance. However, Daneworth doesn't believe Shaiming, stating that the Syndicate is a hoax. Shaiming lets Daneworth go, but gives him a transmitter to call for the Resistance's help if he ever needs it.

Daneworth fights through several battlefields across the globe and kills several B.O.S. champions, finally making his way to the very top of the league and a final confrontation with Igor Boryenka. Daneworth defeats Boryenka, and interrogates him for information.

Boryenka confirms that the Syndicate exists, and that they ordered the attack on Daneworth's farmhouse, in the hopes of shaking Daneworth out of his amnesia. Before Boryenka can reveal more, Syndicate soldiers arrive on the scene and capture them both. Daneworth is brought before the leader of the Syndicate, Vincente Adriano, whose right-hand man, Max Balding, is revealed as the man who led the attack on Daneworth's farm and killed Daneworth's wife.

Daneworth lost his memories after an attack by the Resistance, and the Syndicate wants those memories restored because Daneworth is the only person who knows the location of the Resistance's secret base. Vincente also reveals that Daneworth's wife, Julianne, wasn't actually killed, and is still alive and in Syndicate custody. Daneworth is given a choice: either reveal the location of the Resistance headquarters and help the Syndicate destroy it, or Julia will be killed for real, and Daneworth will die on national television.

At this point, the player is given the choice of either siding with the Resistance, or the Syndicate.

If the player sides with the Resistance, Daneworth activates his secret transmitter, and he and Julianne are rescued by Hang Shaiming and the Resistance, and taken to the Resistance's secret HQ at a remote monastery in Tibet. However, the Syndicate somehow learns the location of the HQ and attacks. In the fight, Hang Shaiming is killed by Max Balding. Daneworth fights and kills Max Balding.

If the player sides with the Syndicate, Daneworth leads a Syndicate strike force against the Resistance HQ. Daneworth kills Hang Shaiming, but Max Balding arrives and states that he has been ordered to dispose of Daneworth, who has outlived his usefulness. Daneworth fights and kills Max Balding.

Regardless of the player's choice, the ending is the same. Julianne appears and reveals that she was a Syndicate operative all the time. Her mission was to get close to Daneworth and try to shake him out of his amnesia. When that failed, she and Max Balding faked her own death in the hopes that Daneworth's quest for revenge would lead him to the Resistance. With the Resistance destroyed, Daneworth has outlived his usefulness. Julianne aims her gun at an injured Daneworth, the screen goes black, and a gunshot is heard.

The game ends with the following quotation:

Happy to be away from her large family for a while, Polly O'Keefe is spending the autumn with her maternal grandparents, Dr. Kate Murry and Dr. Alex Murry, getting a better education from them in science than she would have received at home. She is grieving the loss of her beloved friend and mentor, Maximiliana Sebastiane Horne. Soon, however, surprising things start to happen, including the unexpected arrival of Zachary Gray, a charming but troubled college student whom Polly met in Greece and dated in Cyprus the year before (in ''A House Like a Lotus'').

Then, while walking near her grandparents' Connecticut home, Polly meets druids Karralys and Anaral and a warrior named Tav, all of whom lived in the area some three thousand years ago. She soon learns that she is not the first person from her time to meet the Murrys' Pre-Columbian neighbors. Bishop Nason Colubra, the brother of a family friend, Dr. Louise Colubra, has been investigating the hieroglyphs found on rocks in nearby, relics of Karralys' time. In doing so, he has also come into repeated contact with Anaral's tribe, the People of the Wind (a tribe that previously appeared in ''A Swiftly Tilting Planet''). The retired bishop is initially reluctant to discuss this, having been met with his sister's skepticism in previous attempts. However, he feels responsible for exposing Polly to the potential dangers of a tesseract of intersecting periods of time.

The Murrys and the Colubras try to protect Polly from being drawn into the past, but although she tries to obey their restrictions on her movements, she continues to encounter Anaral and the others. Karralys and Tav formerly lived in ancient Britain, but have since crossed the ocean and made their home with the People of the Wind. On Samhain, Polly feels a compulsion to visit the Murrys' indoor swimming pool, the modern location of a site considered sacred by Karralys, Anaral, and their tribe. Polly is suddenly transported to the past, where she learns that Tav wants to offer Polly in blood sacrifice in order to avert a drought. Already the People Across the Lake are conducting raids due to the privations of drought, and Tav wants to protect his adopted people. Karralys sends Polly home.

Zachary, however, is intrigued when he learns that the odd people he has seen are from the ancient past. His heart, previously seen as damaged by rheumatic fever in the Austin family novel ''The Moon by Night'', is now so weak that he does not expect to live much longer. On the slight possibility that the solution to his problem lies with the ancient druids, Zach rashly leads Polly back to the star-watching rock, a place where Polly found herself in the past once before. Polly and Zach are drawn through a time gate and trapped in ancient Connecticut, with neither the Murrys nor Louise Colubra there to help Polly out of a potentially fatal situation. Tav soon changes his mind about whether his goddess wants Polly to be sacrificed. Her primary danger is not from the People of the Wind, but from their neighbors across the lake, where the drought is more severe.

The People Across the Lake conduct another raid, and leave behind two of their injured members as they withdraw. One of them, Klep, is expected to be his tribe's future leader. He develops an attachment to his healer, Anaral, and learns from Polly the concept of love. The other injured man, Brown Earth, persuades Zachary to cross the lake with him during the night. Tynak, the current leader of the People Across the Lake, promises to let the tribe's medicine man heal Zachary's heart if he helps bring Polly to them. Zach agrees. He participates in another raid, with Polly's capture as the goal. Polly tries to convince Zach that the People Across the Lake intend to sacrifice her for her blood, but he refuses to admit this. Polly escapes, but returns for Zachary's sake. Ultimately, Polly's spirit of self-sacrifice and love, accompanied by the timely return of rain on her captors' side of the lake, wins out as a better way to interact with the Divine than an offering of death. The two tribes agree to unite and help each other. Zachary repents his betrayal of Polly, and his heart is physically healed (at least in part) before they return to their own time. When they return Polly decides that she and Zachary shouldn't see each other any more.

Rawls puts Freamon on the Sobotka detail and recommends that Bunk bring in a fresh detective as a partner on the case. Bunk, Beadie, and Cole serve grand jury summons on checkers in Frank's stevedores union, including Johnny Fifty and Horseface, as part of the investigation into the Jane Does. Frank is enraged that the detectives believe he knew anything about the dead girls. Bunk learns that the hearings brought little information and that Beadie has no informants at the port. Later, Beadie visits Maui, who turns out to be an old flame, and sounds him out about becoming an informant. He refuses to give her information on his fellow union men, but offers a tip: the union computers may be useful in tracking containers.

Bubbles visits the marine unit and informs McNulty that he has tracked down Omar. McNulty brings Omar in to be interviewed by Ilene Nathan in preparation for Bird's trial. Nathan is surprised at Omar's candor and history, but calls him a sociopath and worries about putting him on the stand in front of Levy. She gives McNulty a voucher to buy Omar some more appropriate clothes for his court appearance. Later, McNulty asks Special Agent Cleary, his contact in the INS, if he can interview any vice suspects about his floater. Cleary finds some girls being held in New Jersey, but finds it hard to understand McNulty's desire to identify the girl. After traveling to New Jersey, McNulty questions them, but gets no response since he can't promise to keep them from being deported.

Daniels offers Carver a position in the Sobotka detail, reasoning that Carver is unlikely to betray the team again after previously being caught. However, Daniels tells Carver that he will not be recognized as a sergeant and will report to Greggs. Herc is overjoyed to be working with Carver again. Daniels orders DNRs and finance investigations to be done quickly to placate Valchek, and has Greggs, Herc and Carver look into the drug trade around the port. Freamon arrives and surprises the detail by recognizing Frank from a photo, noting his link to the Jane Does. As they set up their operation, the detectives find that the dealers in the port area are much less organized than the Barksdales. Meanwhile, Valchek receives another photo of his missing surveillance van, this time from San Diego.

Donette visits D'Angelo, telling him that Stringer has been supporting her and will do the same for D'Angelo when he is released. D'Angelo is cynical about Stringer's motivations. In the pit, Poot Carr tries to restrain his dealers when an addict disparages the product sold to him. Bodie says that someone needs to tell Stringer about the product's low quality. Stringer attends his economics class at the Baltimore City Community College and asks his teacher, Mr. Lucas, about selling an "inferior product" in a competitive marketplace. Lucas advises decreasing his prices to increase market share, but warns that the product will lose credibility if the price is continually low. He also gives Stringer an example of a company CEO facing that exact problem, the solution being a change of name. After visiting Avon in prison, Stringer hosts a meeting with Barksdale dealers to solicit ideas for solving the organization's problems.

Ziggy arrives to collect money from a drug dealer named Frog, who comes short and claims his stash was stolen. Ziggy threatens him, but Frog remains indifferent. As Ziggy drives away, he is blocked by Proposition Joe's nephew, Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff, and is confronted over a debt. Cheese and his men then shake down Ziggy and become frustrated when they find very little money on him. Ziggy offers his leather jacket as partial payment, but Cheese rejects the offer and threatens to kill him if the debt is not paid by Friday. Cheese and his men then proceed to take Ziggy's car. Meanwhile, Nick views a house with Aimee; the realtor turns out to be McNulty's ex-wife Elena. Nick initially refuses to help Ziggy deal with Cheese until he realizes his cousin is in danger, but is still unable to help Ziggy since he has already given his share of their take to Aimee for a rented apartment.

Nick asks Vondas and Serge to put their smuggling on hold while Frank deals with the Jane Doe investigation. Vondas asks Nick about smuggling chemicals, but is evasive when Nick asks what they will be used for. Nick and La La negotiate with Cheese, asking the return of Ziggy's car so it can be sold to raise money. Cheese offers another week, but shows Nick that his crew has already torched Ziggy's car. The Greek tells Vondas that he won't meet with Frank, but will double his payment. Frank is dismissive of the offer, but is forced to ponder the fate of his union if he cuts ties with The Greek. At the library, Nick and Ziggy learn that the chemicals that Vondas asked for are used for processing cocaine. Nick tells Vondas and Serge that he is happy to deal as long as the chemicals are only used for narcotics. They tell Nick that they will triple their payment if Frank agrees to continue working with them, but Frank is defiant when confronted with the offer.

When Omar is called into court (without proper attire besides a flamboyant tie), he identifies Bird and the weapon used to kill William Gant. As they observe the trial, Stringer discusses with McNulty whether Omar truly did witness the Gant murder. Levy subjects Omar to a harsh cross-examination, but Omar quickly turns the attacks back on Levy. After the jury returns a guilty verdict, Judge Daniel Phelan refuses Levy's request for an appeal bond and states that he will almost certainly sentence Bird to life in prison. Afterwards, McNulty asks Omar if he really saw Bird commit the murder. Omar responds, "You really askin'?".

Freamon tells Daniels that Frank lives within his means, while his stevedores union is in financial trouble. Freamon and Prez have found a paper trail through campaign finance records linking the union to $70,000 in contributions. Herc reports that they have had success making street level hand-to-hands, but have found no ties between portside drug dealers and the union. Beadie suggests that the union is making extra money by facilitating smuggling through the port. Daniels reassigns Prez and Greggs to focus on the vice trade, and Freamon works with Russell and Bunk looking at container movements.

McNulty visits his wife at her real estate office and she agrees to go on a date with him on Friday night. When they go to dinner, McNulty drinks only wine and lies to Elena and claims he's not drinking so much anymore. She says she's still angry with him but when McNulty asks for a chance to reunite with her, she invites him to bed instead. Later, over drinks, Bunk laments the pressure he feels from Rawls, while McNulty says he wants to make another go of things with Elena.

Greggs meets with Shardene Innes for help tracking down Eastern European girls working in the vice trade. She discusses her strip club assignment with Cheryl, who is angry that Greggs has returned to detective work and insists on accompanying her. A friend of Shardene's tells the detectives that there is a madam who organizes the girls and keeps them at a motel, where they are under guard when not working. After visiting the club, Greggs takes Cheryl to the port and explains how the Jane Does died. Beadie shows Bunk and Daniels how to track container movements on the computer. Beadie and Freamon are able to tie the missing containers to Horseface.

Nick asks Vondas for help in resolving Ziggy's problems with Cheese. Nick later tags along with Serge to the latter's meeting with Cheese and watches from the car as Serge and his associates draw guns on Cheese's crew. Serge then arranges a meeting in which Proposition Joe agrees to compensate Ziggy for the torched car. However, Joe makes it clear that Ziggy and Nick would both be dead if not for their association with the Greeks. Nick, Ziggy, and Johnny Fifty deliver the chemicals in exchange for drugs. Tempted by the additional payoff and Ziggy's pleas, Nick opts to take half the payment in cash and the rest in drugs. After a union meeting, Nick goes to the bar and gives Ziggy his compensation. Ziggy ostentatiously lights a cigarette with a $100 bill, causing Frank to leave in disgust. Outside, he asks Ziggy where he got his money and how he got his bruises.

Stringer delivers an envelope of cash to Leech, a contact from Washington, D.C., concerning a contract killing. Brianna visits D'Angelo and tries to persuade him to use Avon's set-up of Tilghman to shave time from his sentence. D'Angelo refuses, reminding his mother that she taught him to stand up for himself. He tells her to let him deal with things on his own and to take the fall for the Barksdale Organization. He then asks her to tell Stringer, Avon and Donette to leave him alone. D'Angelo passes Avon in the corridor and refuses to talk to him. While working in the prison library, D'Angelo is followed by an inmate named Mugs. Mugs garrotes D'Angelo with a leather strap, then ties it to a doorknob and places D'Angelo's hands in his pants, making his death appear to be the result of suicide.

Bunk and Beadie meet with Landsman to discuss using a computer to monitor dock traffic. He is initially outraged, but is more accepting when he learns that Daniels has granted them space in his detail's off-site location. Before storming out, he speculates that Daniels might take the Jane Doe case, which would relieve Homicide of the uncleared murders. Rawls later tries to persuade Daniels to take the Jane Does, but Daniels stands firm. Later, in an argument with Marla, Daniels defends his decision to stay in the BPD and tells her he is "playing their game" from now on.

Greggs and Prez follow up on the information from Shardene's friend, and find a strip club employing Eastern European dancers. They watch as the girls leave the club and file into a van, which they follow to an apartment building. Meanwhile, Herc and Carver borrow an expensive surveillance bug to get information on the portside drug trade, allowing the clerk to hold Carver's credit card as collateral. They place the bug in a tennis ball and have some success monitoring Frog. However, when Nick arrives, Frog distractedly tosses the ball into the busy street, where it is demolished by a Mack truck. Herc and Carver later plan to fraudulently claim to work with an informant to recoup the cost of the bug.

Beadie and Freamon continue to monitor drug trafficking through the port. When they note that Horseface will be working a ship, they call in Greggs and Prez for help with surveillance. Soon enough, Beadie sees him "lose" a container, which they follow back to an east side warehouse. There, they photograph Serge meeting with Proposition Joe. Meanwhile, McNulty tries to rekindle his relationship with Elena, who admits she can never trust him again. The detail persuades Daniels to take on the Jane Doe murders in order to make their investigation a success. Daniels informs Rawls that he's willing to take on the case in exchange for Rawls' full support. However, Marla expresses anger and disappointment that Daniels has abandoned his career ambitions.

Nick sets himself up as a supplier to Frog, and gives Ziggy his share of the first drug profits. Frank attends a seminar on robotic dock technology and is appalled when he realizes the automated systems threaten to make stevedores obsolete. He pleads with Nat to let him extend his term as union treasurer for another year. Frank also confronts the union's lobbyist, Bruce DiBiago, and expresses his frustration that his lobbying efforts have failed to make political headway. Frank rants about his family's lack of a financially secure future and demands that Bruce work the politicians harder to get the canal dredged. After a stevedore named New Charles suffers a severe leg injury on the job, Frank delivers an envelope stuffed with cash to his family. Nat pointedly asks where the money comes from. Refusing to answer, Frank walks away.

Bodie buys a floral arrangement for D'Angelo's funeral and orders it to look like the tower he controlled before his demotion. Stringer visits Brianna's house for D'Angelo's wake and finds her inconsolable. In prison, Avon and Wee-Bey discuss D'Angelo's "suicide," unaware that Stringer engineered the murder. Despite being despondent, Avon musters enough anger to dismiss D'Angelo as weak for killing himself. After the funeral, Joe approaches Stringer to discuss sharing his supply for a share in the Barksdales' territory. Stringer pragmatically agrees to present the idea to Avon during his next visit. When he does so, Avon angrily dismisses it out of hand.

In the near future, most of the Earth has been conquered by aliens. However, a small region in Japan has successfully repelled them thanks to the development of "G-On" technology by the Grand Rifurekuto Amudo/Grand Reflect Armed (GRA). This technology involves a band of girls (at first two, then three) who channel energy through special glasses. In this way they are able to destroy the giant mechanized monsters, "Fancy Beasts", sent by the aliens.

Russell Wright is a young boy who finds a portal under his bed that leads to an alternate universe called Under. As he is from 'Up' (i.e., the regular world) and acquires the crown of Under, he is proclaimed the King.

Most episodes have multiple subplots, and deal with villain Bob Wire's attempts of stealing the crown and becoming king himself; however, he is regularly foiled by Russell and/or his friends. Other recurring themes are the attempts of Cliff, who was the former king of Under, to bully Russell into handing over the crown while he's in Up; and various confrontations between Under and the neighboring country of Near Under. Added to this are issues involving monsters, money, environmental issues, and even time travel.

''Un Argentino en New York'' tells us the story of Franco Ricci (Guillermo Francella) and his daughter Veronica (Natalia Oreiro). Franco is a porteño who is very sentimental, a musician, separated and with a couple of dreams. Veronica, a brave young girl, attractive and intelligent, who always obtains what she wants.

While Veronica was traveling through New York, she surprisingly decided to stay and live in the city. When Franco, her father, hears the news, he decides to travel and pay her a visit with the goal of bringing her back to Argentina.

Even though it’s hard for Franco to admit it, he’ll discover that in the past months Veronica has grown and is more mature. She has formed a music band called ''The Verónikos'', they debuted in a café and they have shown that they could succeed in the music industry. She has also fallen in love of an American boy, George (Steve Wilson), which will bring jealousy to her father.

The movie takes place in New York, a vertiginous city and unknown to Franco, which will bring all different types of hilarious adventures. After the whole journey through Manhattan, it will bring all sorts of feelings between father and daughter, which will change their lives.

Between laughs and tears, ''Un Argentino en New York'' shares with us the journey in which a father realizes that her daughter is no longer a teenager, and has turned into a woman.

On 17 April 1928, seven inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos Aires manage to escape by tunneling their way out of prison: Laureano Irala, an ex-con, Domingo 'El Pibe' Santalón, an expert poker player and forger, Julio 'El Profesor' Bordiola, a bookmaker, Tomás Opitti, an airplane pilot, Belisário 'El Pampa' Zacarías and Omar 'El Turco' Zajur, both kidnappers and murderers, and Camillo Vallejo, an anarchist. They accidentally reach a coal store run by an old couple and succeed in leaving the place: however, El Pampa dies after being crushed by the falling tunnel and the old lady dies of a heart attack soon after the inmates flee.

Soon after the event, Police commissioner Duval begins investigating the case as the men part ways: Vallejo attempts to bomb a government coach, but is killed when the explosive fails to detonate at the right time; Zajur reunites with El Pampa's widow, La Varela, and it is revealed they were on a relationship; Santaló seeks his former boss, gambler Pedro Escofet, in order to resume his gambling ways and to reunite with Escofet's wife Tabita, with whom he has an affair; Irala returns to the coal store out of guilt for the old lady's death, but the old man mistakes him for his nephew who lives in Mendoza and asks him to move in; and Tomás escapes in a byplane to an aero club in Entre Rios.

In a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Tomás flew a terrorist and was mistaken as his accomplice, which prompted Duval and his men to shoot and kill his wife and son and arrest him, even though acknowledging his innocence. Bordiola shot a debtor in front of his 10-year-old daughter when he wrongfully assumed the man was about to kill him and later married piano student Rita Baldini, an underage girl who eventually cheated on him with a horse dealer named Ricardo Cedeyra; enraged by her confession, he shot Cedeyra dead and was sent to prison. While devising the escape plan, El Pampa tells Zajur he wishes to build a monument to honour them in case they succeed.

In the present time, upon landing in Entre Ríos, Tomás witness his fellow co-pilot being gunned down by Duval and his men in an ambush set to kill him. Meanwhile, Santaló gambles against Víctor Ganz, a ruthless card player, in a no-limit game; the match goes into the night and after dawn, but Ganz does not seem to get tired at all. Santaló eventually collapses of exhaustion and Ganz is declared the winner; believing they have made an agreement to rip him off, Escofet shoots Santaló in the stomach only to be subsequently shot dead by Tabita: it is revealed she is the one who made an arrangement with Ganz, who are actually identical twin brothers who switched places with each other between breaks. She flees with the brothers and the money, leaving Santaló to die.

Meanwhile, Bordiola goes to see Rita - who has been visiting him for two years in prison despite his coldness towards her - but learns she has committed suicide: in a letter, she reveals to be the 10-year old girl whose father Bordiola shot and how she planned to avenge her father's death by marrying his killer, but could not carry on as she fell in love with him. Tomás ambushes Duval in a brothel, kidnaps and drags him to an abandoned air-field and ties him to the plane's engine, whereupon he starts it and stands aside as Duval is spun to death, finally avenging his family's murder. Soon after the old man's death, Irala inherits and sells the coal store, walking away with the money.

Eight years later, during the inauguration of the Obelisco, the monument is vandalized with the graffiti "''Monument dedicated to the inmates who escaped the prison, April 17th, 1928''". In the crowd, a laughing Zajur pictures his fellow inmates singing together in their prison uniforms; he and Irala, who is also among the crowd, share a quick glance and a smile before Irala walks away.

Ryan Banks is a struggling movie star. His best friend and agent, Todd Doherty, creates a TV show called ''I Want to Marry Ryan Banks'' in hopes of saving Banks's faltering career. The show works much like the ''Bachelor'' TV show, with fifteen beautiful women competing for Banks's love and affection.

Charlie Norton becomes a contestant when her sister and brother-in-law submit an audition tape for her. Like all the other girls, Norton is picked in order to help boost Banks's image. She is then contacted at her sister's Boston bar by Banks himself, and decides to participate on the show.

Once in the house, Norton becomes fast friends with her roommate Lauren, an aspiring actress who is only using the show to get exposure. She also discovers how "reality" TV shows work, with multiple takes and editing.

As Norton thinks she is falling for Banks, Doherty is feeding him lines. When Norton discovers the man she is in love with is really Doherty, she tries to quit the show, only to find out that it would breach her contract. As "America's choice", Norton and Lauren become the two finalists, despite Norton trying to sabotage her own chances by changing her sweet and easy-going behavior while on a trip with Banks.

With Banks's help, Doherty manages to get Norton back, and they are married a year later.

This book is about Ramona Quimby's life in 3rd Grade. The schools in Ramona Quimby's neighborhood have been reorganized, and now she gets to ride the bus to Cedarhurst Primary, where she and her fellow third graders will be the biggest kids in the school. Ramona is happy about the changes until a boy on the bus steals her new eraser, but she rises to the challenge and ends up deciding the "Yard Ape" (the boy who stole her eraser) may not be so bad, after all.

Ramona feels the best part of being in third grade is Sustained Silent Reading. When Ramona cracks a hard boiled egg on her head at lunch—and finds out her mother forgot to boil it—she ends up in the secretary's office with a head full of raw egg, where she overhears Mrs. Whaley describe her as a show-off and a nuisance. Even Yard Ape can't make her feel better about that. Things get worse when she suddenly becomes ill and throws up in class, followed by her mother leaving work to take her home.

For Ramona, there's also the problem of spoiled Willa Jean. Every day after school Howie goes outside to ride bikes with his friends, and Ramona is forced to play baby games with Willa Jean. Beezus can always say she's busy doing homework, but that doesn't work for Ramona.

At one point, Mr. Quimby has had enough of the gloom on one Sunday and insists the family go out to eat so they go to Ramona's favorite restaurant. When they arrive, Ramona begins to dance when she accidentally bumps into an older gentleman who salutes her. Embarrassed, she goes back and joins her family. Just before her family is about to leave, they are delighted that the older gentleman Ramona bumped into paid for their meal because he felt sad about his own family whom he hadn't seen in a while. This concludes that this book is about Ramona Quimby's life in 3rd Grade.

After failing to reconcile with his ex-wife, McNulty goes on a drinking binge and tries to drive home drunk. After he crashes his car and cuts his hand, McNulty eats at a diner and ends up having a one-night stand with the waitress. While drinking with Bunk, he expresses a desire to work murder cases again. Pearlman is shown how phone logs and photographic evidence link the east side warehouse to White Mike and Proposition Joe. They have identified Serge and tracked his cell phone through truck rental records. His phone records show that he calls the warehouse every day that a container goes missing. Herc and Carver have linked Nick to Frog, information which they have falsely reported as being obtained from an informant. The judge signs off on the detail's request for a wiretap, but has Herc and Carver do chores in his house in exchange.

Daniels is persuaded to appeal to Rawls to allow McNulty's transfer to the Sobotka detail, which Rawls reluctantly does. Meanwhile, in a scheme to recover the money Carver lost on the destroyed surveillance bug, Herc gets his cousin Bernard to pose for photos as their fake informant, "Fuzzy Dunlop." Carver hands the paperwork to Daniels, who balks at the name and high price but signs off anyway. Pearlman meets with Bunk and Greggs and learns that the same company owns both the warehouse and the apartments, which they speculate are being used as a cat house. They decide they need someone to go undercover to infiltrate the apartment as a john and settle on McNulty when he reports in on the Sobotka detail.

Greggs and McNulty set up surveillance of a parking garage at the apartment building. They pull over one of the johns and get him to explain how to contact the madam. Freamon, Beadie, and Prez notice a potential container theft from a ship where Horseface is working as a checker. This time the surveillance work runs in combination with the wiretaps and the detail tracks the container to the warehouse. When Frank sends out a second container as a decoy, McNulty rushes to tail it. Beadie arranges to slow down the rig with a fictitious traffic stop until McNulty can get into position.

Ziggy is egged on by the other stevedores to retaliate against Maui's taunting. His attempt ends with Ziggy stranded atop a two-story container. When Horseface reports the fight to Frank, he is too distracted by their month-end finances. Frank goes to pay his overdue cell phone bill and learns that his account is "flagged" to not be cut off—a possible clue that law enforcement is monitoring his activity. Later, Frank spots Greggs on the docks when she is posing as an engineer to watch the smuggling operation. He then learns that Beadie has been detailed to the Baltimore Police, and not transferred to Fairfield as she had claimed. He sends out the decoy container and sees it being stopped. He uses the untapped office phone to set up a meeting with The Greek; the detail sees that the call was made but cannot hear its contents.

Frank offers his brother Louis a position with the port advisory board. Louis refuses, noting the position has been offered to him because Frank made contributions and insisting that everything he has comes straight. Frank is infuriated that Louis has a sense of moral superiority over his choices. Ziggy buys a duck from a neighborhood man who keeps birds. He meets with Nick, who asks about the fight with Maui and can't hide his amusement. Ziggy takes the duck to the bar, entertaining the other stevedores with the bird's propensity to drink whiskey and beer on top of the bar. Glekas and Serge unload the clean container and angrily phone Vondas at the cafe. The detail traces the call and recognize it as the same number that Frank dialed. Vondas instructs Serge to dump the container; McNulty follows it for a time but is recalled by Daniels.

Frank and Nick meet with The Greek, who is impressed by Frank's caution and suggests they only move clean containers for a while. Nick insists that they are to be paid in full for moving the containers, and The Greek agrees to their terms. After Frank slams the table, The Greek mocks him by saying he should spend some money on things that will make him happy, such as a new coat or a new car a clear reference to Ziggy. Meanwhile, the detail dismisses the clean container as a mistake, but Freamon is pleased to have obtained Vondas' phone number. McNulty and Beadie go for a drink and discuss their past relationships. While at the bar, McNulty calls the number for the madam and sets up an appointment. McNulty has another drink at Beadie's home but leaves when he sees pictures of her children, realizing nothing good could come from sleeping with her.

Bodie, Poot, and Puddin lament that their weak product has led to a lack of trade. After noticing an independent crew dealing on their territory with more success, Bodie and Poot organize a crew to drive them from the corner. They succeed, but expect retaliation.

In 1980s Europe, flamboyant and gay 16-year-old Chance Marquis shows up at an international high school in a top hat and tails, immediately attracting the attention of the "queer-hating" resident bully, among others. Through his involvement in the school newspaper, he meets an introverted photographer with a mysterious briefcase, and while practicing tennis, he befriends a catty fashionista, both of whom act as his wingmen in his new high school. He also meets the jock-next-door, with whom he forms a tentative friendship, despite the jock's cacophonous group of friends. The film follows Chance through a year of high school, with its attendant drama, successes, and hijinks—including sneaking into a drag bar, where Chance begins to explore his true self.

Themes underscored throughout the film include facing one's fears as one grows into adulthood, and the barriers that people put up in order to cope with life. Chance claims to be strong with his nonchalant attitude, but when photos of him in drag show up all over school, Chance must face his own preachings of staying true to oneself.

A young man carrying a closely guarded guitar case meets a free-spirited young woman while hitchhiking across the Mojave Desert, she befriends him, then he hauls both of their luggage, they play an olive pit spitting game, she shares a cannabis joint, he becomes her lover, and they accept various rides, en route to a Pacific coast beach. At the beach the man runs, fully clothed, into the surf, and splashes about, while the woman with daisies in her hair, hesitatingly opens his guitar case and lays out its contents: a tie, wingtip shoes, Thrifty Drugs mouthwash, a paperback of Arthur C. Clarke's ''The City and the Stars'', a white shirt, Right Guard spray deodorant, a suit, a roll of toilet paper, white crew socks, Phillips' Milk of Magnesia, and toothpaste. The woman smiles in bemusement, perhaps sensing that her companion was not the free-spirit that she assumed that he was. She frowns in sad disappointment and climbs back up the beach stairs without him.

There is no spoken dialogue in the film aside from the lyrics to the opening and closing theme song. There is an ambient soundtrack featuring bird sounds, wind, passing car noises, popping noises made by the characters, fire sounds, and laughter, along with instrumental music.

A burglar, Scott Muller (Steven Bauer), teams up with his buddy Buddy Calamara (David Caruso), a valet at a high-society restaurant. Buddy keeps an eye on Mickey and Ray Davis, a rich married couple, while Scott robs their home.

One night, one of the items Scott takes is a diary belonging to the wife (Barbara Williams). Scott reads the diary and discovers that the wife, Mickey, an interior designer, yearns for a more interesting life. He quickly becomes infatuated with her. The diary is full of her fantasies and dreams, so Scott plans to turn these into reality.

Mickey's husband, children's book author Ray Davis (John Getz), gets too involved in his work and neglects his wife's needs. Scott uses his inside knowledge to seduce her, using the pretext of needing someone to re-design his apartment, and posing as a school supply company CEO. The forbidden romance soon blossoms into a passionate sexual relationship, as Ray becomes suspicious.

During another robbery, Buddy kills a policeman who spotted them. Scott becomes more and more tense when Mickey starts asking questions about him and his past. Ray decides to follow Scott with his friend and publisher Marty Morrison (George Wendt). They snoop around the building used by the robbers and find out Scott is the thief who stole his belongings.

Buddy sees Ray there. He tells Scott, who, visibly agitated, goes to see Mickey, asking her to leave the city with him, revealing he was the one who stole her diary. Her husband arrives and fights with Scott, and when Mickey comes to her husband's aid, Scott leaves.

When the Davises go to a restaurant, Scott breaks into their home and reads Mickey's latest diary entry. Buddy intends to rob them again and Scott tries to stop him. They fight and one gets stabbed with Buddy's knife. The married couple come home to find the last standing intruder still in the house.

Mickey gets out her pistol and aims at the masked man. A gunshot is heard and the man stumbles down. The police arrives and it is revealed that the man shot was Buddy. Mickey goes to the bedroom and finds out that Scott is there, alive but wounded. Rather than be arrested for having shot Buddy, he escapes from the police through the window as Mickey watches him running in the dark.

While being gutted alive by a fishmonger, a dying fish chooses to share a story that took place in Quebec during the autumn of 1999. A 25-year-old businesswoman named Bibiane Champagne, head of three clothing boutiques, has an abortion. She is interviewed by a journalist about her success and being the daughter of a famous person named Flo Fabert. Bibiane claims business is good, but her partner, her brother Philippe, accosts her for numerous failures. She is supported by her friend, Claire, but struggles with drugs and alcohol.

One night, while driving, Bibiane accidentally hits a 53-year-old Norwegian Canadian fishmonger, Annstein Karson, and subsequently flees the scene. Injured, Annstein stumbles back to his apartment, where he dies at the kitchen table. While at a restaurant, Claire and Bibiane order octopus but discover it is stale. The restaurant investigates the poor quality of octopus and realize the usual octopus trapper, Annstein, is missing, and find him dead. Bibiane reads confirmation of the death in a newspaper, and considers turning herself in; she confides in a stranger on a subway and consults him about turning herself in, but he tells her this will not bring the victim back. She eventually decides to dispose of the evidence, driving her car into a river. She survives, and interprets her survival as a sign that she deserves to recover her life.

The fishmonger's son Evian, a diver who was recently inspecting Manicouagan River, learns Annstein was cremated. This went against his plans for burial at sea. He encounters Bibiane by chance and she poses as his late father's neighbour. Evian falls in love with her, and she takes him away from a planned flight to have sex at her apartment. He later learns the plane crashed in Baie-Comeau with no survivors, and realizes Bibiane killed his father. Conflicted about his love for his father's killer, a stranger in a bar (the same man from the subway) tells him to marry her and never tell anyone.

Bibiane helps Evian sort through Annstein's possessions, and she accompanies Evian to Lofoten to dispose of the ashes. Finally, the fish narrator decides to conclude his story by revealing the meaning of life, but is promptly killed mid-sentence.

René, a desperately unhappy young Frenchman, seeks refuge among the Natchez people of Louisiana. It is a long time before he is persuaded to reveal the cause of his melancholy. He tells of his lonely childhood in his father's castle in Brittany. His mother died giving birth to him and since his father is a remote, forbidding figure, René takes refuge in an intense friendship with his sister Amélie and in long, solitary walks in the countryside around the castle.

When René's father dies and his brother inherits the family home, he decides to travel. He visits the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome which inspire him with melancholy reflections. He travels to Scotland to view the places mentioned by the bard Ossian and to the famous sights of Italy. Nothing satisfies him: "The ancient world had no certainty, the modern world had no beauty." He returns to France and finds society corrupt and irreligious. His sister Amélie inexplicably seems to avoid him too. As René explains: :''"I soon found myself more isolated in my own land, than I had been in a foreign country. For a while I wanted to fling myself into a world which said nothing to me and which did not understand me. My soul, not yet worn out by any passion, sought an object to which it might be attached; but I realised I was giving more than I received. It was not elevated language or deep feelings that were asked of me. My only task was to shrink my soul and bring it down to society's level."''

Disgusted, René withdraws from society and lives in an obscure part of the city. But this reclusive life soon bores him too. He decides to move to the countryside but he finds no happiness there: "Alas, I was alone, alone on the earth. A secret languor was taking hold of my body. The disgust for life I had felt since childhood came back with renewed force. Soon my heart no longer provided food for my mind, and the only thing I felt in my existence was a deep ennui."

René decides to kill himself, but when his sister learns of his plan, the two are joyfully reunited. But there is no happy ending. Amélie seems to be pining for something. One day, René finds she has gone, leaving a letter saying she wants to become a nun but giving no explanation why. René goes to witness her initiation ceremony where she reveals she has joined the convent because she wants to overcome her incestuous love for him. Devastated by this confession, René decides to leave Europe forever and travel to America. After spending some time with the Indians, he receives a letter announcing his sister's death. The novella concludes by revealing shortly after René told his tale, he was killed in a battle between the Natchez and the French.

(Note: according to the version in ''Les Natchez'', the action of the story takes place in the 1720s.)

In ''Mickey's Mellerdrammer'', Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy (known then as Dippy Dawg), Horace Horsecollar, and others present their own low budget light-hearted rendition of the 19th century Tom Shows for a crowd in a barn converted into a theater for the occasion.

Horace Horsecollar plays the white slave owner Simon Legree. Minnie plays the young white girl, Eva. Mickey plays old Uncle Tom with cotton around his ears and chin, and the young slave girl Topsy. Clarabelle Cow plays the slave woman Eliza. Goofy plays the production stage hand.

The cartoon opens with Mickey and Clarabelle Cow in their dressing rooms applying blackface makeup for their roles (Mickey originally used a small dynamite to black up his face). The cartoon is much more focused on the Disney characters' efforts to put on the play, than an animated version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The cartoon contains many images of Mickey and the other characters using makeshift props as sight gags.

The cartoon closes with the characters coming out for a bow, and Horace Horsecollar's character is pelted with rotten tomatoes. When Goofy shows his face from behind the stage, he is hit with a chocolate pie, leaving him in what appears to be blackface, as Goofy laughs making the cartoon to end.

Border Patrol agents Bobby Logan and Ernie Wyatt are planting motion sensors in a remote area of the Texas desert when they stumble across what appears to be a decades-old Jeep buried in the sand. Upon excavating the vehicle, they find an intact skeleton in the driver's seat, a toolbox containing $800,000 in unused 10 & 20 dollar bills, and a hunting case containing a scoped sniper rifle with matching ammunition. The skeleton is accompanied by a wallet, containing the driver's license of a Michael J. Curtis from San Antonio, and a slip of paper with two phone numbers on it. Logan speculates that the money is from a bank heist in the early 1960s, and suggests that he and Wyatt take the money for themselves. While Wyatt is reluctant; they both finally agree to put out the jeep's license plate information to the Sheriff's department, and ask their telephone operator girlfriends to check out the two phone numbers.

After re-burying the jeep and its contents, the duo take two of the bills to be analyzed, and learn that they were circulated directly from the Federal Reserve in Dallas and are all dated between 1962 and 1963. On checking newspaper records in the town library, Logan can find nothing relating to any bank robberies in 1962/63. He does however pause to read the headlines of 22 November 1963, the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

When the two return to the station, they discover federal agents, led by self-proclaimed "fixer" Carson, have arrived, ostensibly to take control of the planned surveillance operation and possible bust of a drug trafficker in coordinating with the local Sheriff Wells. Logan quickly dislikes and distrusts Carson, who seems to be intimately familiar with Logan's service in the U.S. Army. Logan was a decorated infantry officer wh served in the United States Army Special Forces and fought in Vietnam. Later on he left the Army and went on a self-imposed exile from higher government activities. Carson appears to deliberately blow Logan and Wyatt's cover when they are moving in to arrest a drug smuggler, almost killing Wyatt. They learn afterwards that Carson has taken over as head of station after the sudden promotion of their previous supervisor.

A local prospector discovers the Jeep burial and site and re-excavates it, summoning the attention of Carson and the US Army who cordon off the area. Logan and Wyatt's girlfriends tell them that the phone numbers are a number in Washington, D.C., and an old, unused number for the Dallas Police Department. They also tell them that the information has been passed onto two fellow Border Patrol agents, Roget and Lambassino. Upon driving to the house of the prospector, they find him murdered and the building burned to the ground. Following the tire tracks leading away from the house, they track down one of their station's Jeeps to a deserted farm, and find the corpses of Roget and Lambassino. Carson and his team subsequently arrive on the scene, intimating to a shocked Logan and Wyatt that the incident will be covered up.

Disgusted at Carson's callousness, Logan is ready to leave town for good, but he first sends him on a solo mission to Soledad Mountain to investigate a suspicious vehicle, while sending Wyatt to a location where he claims illegal immigrants are being smuggled across the border. Logan realizes the mission is a setup, and Carson is trying to eliminate anyone who knows about the jeep. He rushes to Wyatt's last known location, but arrives too late, finding him stabbed to death with Logan's hunting knife.

Grieving for his friend and determined to get revenge, Logan heads to the location where he and Wyatt had hidden the money and rifle. As he approaches, he is shot in the shoulder by Carson and his men. Logan manages to elude their line of sight, flanking behind them and killing Carson's men and shooting him in the leg. Carson limps to Logan's Jeep to try to escape, only to discover the keys aren't in the ignition. Logan empties his revolver into Carson, killing him.

Examining the rifle in the case, Logan is approached by Sheriff Wells holding a gun to his head, berating him for uncovering the Jeep and reawakening a twenty-year old nightmare. He reveals the truth about the Jeep and its contents, that Michael J. Curtis was part of a government conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy, and was himself the true assassin. Wells admits complicity in the conspiracy, providing the assassin with the jeep, gun, and money. Curtis was meant to take these things and drive south to Mexico, but instead accidentally crashed his jeep in the desert during a storm, killing himself and leaving his car to the elements. Wells tells Logan to take the money and go to Mexico; he refuses and states his intention to go back to the station and report everything. Wells tells him that he can't, that he's been framed not only for the murder of Wyatt but also Roget and Lambassino. Wells tells Logan that he'll buy him time from Carson's men. With some reluctance, Logan boards the jeep and tells Wells to tell them he'll return one day. He drives away towards the border, leaving Wells staring out across the desert.

Murray (played by Ira Rubin), is a middle-aged mobster, looks back at his beginnings from being a bootlegger to becoming wealthy and highly influential. He claims his success and happiness is from the support of his "friend" Joe (played by Sam De Fazio). Murray follows Joe blindly but Joe backstabs him by sleeping with his wife.

''Hacker II'' is more difficult and involved than the first game. In ''Hacker II'', the player is actually recruited based upon their (assumed) success with the activities in the original game. Once again, they are tasked with controlling a robot, this time to infiltrate a secure facility in order to retrieve documents known only as "The Doomsday Papers" from a well guarded vault to ensure the security of the United States.

Eventually, as they escape with the papers, the player is confronted by agents of the United States who reveal that they have actually been working for a former Magma employee, who wanted the papers in revenge for what had happened to the company the player had presumably exposed in the first game. The building that the player had unwittingly broken into was a government facility. The player then has to go back into the facility as part of a gambit to expose the Magma agent, avoiding the same security that had threatened the player before.

The main mode of the game is a single-player open-world adventure game featuring a galaxy of five worlds: Sandy Bay, Dino Island, Mars, the Arctic, and Xalax. Sandy Bay is a green landscape featuring two beaches and a small town. Dino Island is a jungle island featuring a large continuous area of grass and trees in the middle and a lava building featuring circular spiral that leads to an exit at the top. Mars is the planet Mars. The Arctic is a cold, snowy and icey world and Xalax is a large circular arena featuring an open blue world in the middle and, around it, a cyan-colored circular track and a large ecstatic crowd. Except for Sandy Bay, each world contains four races against five casual AI drivers from that world, a final boss race and a lobby connecting all five races. Each world also contains one or two bonus games. When entering any world for the first time, the player builds his own car or chooses between Sparky's pre-built cars for that world. The player then drives around each world using their car for that world to access and enter all activities. To gain access to new worlds, the player must collect golden bricks by winning non-boss races and finding hidden golden bricks in each world. Each non-boss race has three laps while each boss race has two laps (the final race has three). The game features a player assistant named Sparky, who guides, advices and supports the player and allows the player to save the game and explore each world to find golden bricks and bonus games. By beating bosses and winning bonus games, the player collects car power-ups that make their car faster, more stable on the ground or more resistant to taking damage. Dino Island's boss is Sam Sanister, a reincarnation of Baron von Barron from ''Lego Adventurers'', who has a fast car and lays oil on the ground that causes the player to slip out of control. The Mars boss is Riegel's large self-built walking robot which is indestructible and is unaffected by attacks and the Arctic boss is The Berg, a gorilla-looking ice creature who runs and is also indestructible and unaffected by attacks and lays ice ridges on the ground that send the player's car into the air and slow it down. The Berg gets a head start.

The player builds his Lego character and starts in the middle of Sandy Bay, the main world, which features take-off points to travel to each of the other worlds, provided that the player has collected enough golden bricks for that world. The player drives down to the nearby beach and meets Sparky who asks the player to go back to town. When the player arrives, they join a circle of four other drivers from that world – Workman Fred, Mike the Postman, Fireman Gavin, and Police Chief Bobby – who have a heated discussion about who is the fastest racer on Sandy Bay. Each of the four challengers insists that they are the fastest driver. Fred is repeatedly laughed at by the remaining four drivers when the idea of a digger ever winning a race is ridiculed by Gavin and the player. Fred asks the player to come to his construction site to race him, confident of winning to the point of awarding the player a golden brick if he loses. After beating him, the player goes to and races Mike, then after defeating him, they race Gavin, and finally Bobby. After defeating all four challengers on Sandy Bay, the player heads off to Dino Island to win the four pre-boss races and then beat the boss there, Sam Sanister. The player then completes the races at Mars and Arctic.

The player then enters the portal leading to the fifth and final world, Xalax. After winning the four races in the open world, the player takes on Rocket Racer – the reigning galactic racing champion who has the fastest car in the galaxy – on the cyan oval track. When the player wins the race, the player's character walks up the stairs of a tall small construction in the middle of the arena and receives the championship trophy from Rocket Racer and shows it off to the crowd. The character then goes back down and is surrounded by Sparky, the four challengers from Sandy Bay and the three other bosses who celebrate and praise the new galactic racing champion. The final race is then re-played automatically. When the player also has collected all 35 golden bricks, the player can observe fireworks in the sky in the middle of Sandy Bay.

Late one night, Mario is playing a video game on his Famicom. Suddenly, Mario witnesses a girl on the television screen crying for help from the enemies attacking her. She escapes by jumping out of the TV and introduces herself as Princess Peach. Just then, King Koopa appears and follows her out of the TV. Despite Mario's attempts to fight him, Koopa successfully captures Peach and takes her back into the TV. Mario discovers a small necklace that Peach left on the floor.

The next day, while he and his brother Luigi are working at their grocery store, Mario cannot stop thinking about Peach and the necklace. Luigi claims the jewel on the necklace is said to lead its owner to the Mushroom Kingdom, a supposed a land of treasure. A small dog-like creature wanders into the store and snatches the necklace from Mario, prompting him and Luigi to give chase before falling down a pipe.

When the Mario Bros. emerge, a mushroom hermit reveals he ordered the dog, Kibidango, to bring the brothers to him. He explains that they are now in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is being ravaged by King Koopa and his army. Angry that his marriage proposal was spurned by Peach, Koopa is turning the citizens into inanimate objects, and plans to force Peach into marriage on Friday the 13th. The hermit reveals a legend that claims the Mario Bros. can defeat Koopa, and that they will need to find the three mystical Power-Ups to overcome his magic: the Mushroom, the Flower, and the Star. With the three Power-Ups hidden throughout the Mushroom Kingdom by Koopa's forces, the Mario Bros. set out to find them, guided by Kibidango.

After a long journey with many perilous obstacles, the Mario Bros. eventually acquire all three Power-Ups. That night, Mario arrives at King Koopa's castle just as the wedding is starting. With the help of the three Power-Ups, Mario successfully defeats Koopa, breaking his spell and turning the Mushroom Kingdom back to normal. When Mario returns Peach's necklace, Kibidango arrives and reverts to his true form, Prince Haru of the Flower Kingdom. Haru explains that he is Peach's fiancé, but Koopa turned him into Kibidango to marry her in his place. Though heartbroken, Mario wishes the couple well and promises to return if they ever need help, and he and Luigi begin their long journey home.

In a post-credits scene, King Koopa and his minions are now working at the Mario Bros.' grocery store as punishment.

Demetrius and Octavius are Roman countrymen sold into slavery for not paying their taxes during Emperor Caligula's reign. Demetrius is purchased by the Emperor and taught to be a "good slave" by Argus while Octavius is claimed by a sadistic commander. The commander wants the bound Demetrius but is refused. Octavius sneaks in while the guards are asleep and frees Demetrius.

Capt. Robin Weinbaum of Earth Security submits to a request for an interview from Dana Lje, a video commentator, mostly because she can and has made his life difficult with her reporting of Security lapses, especially in a recent case involving the Government of Erskine, another planetary system. Ms. Lje reveals that she has received a communication from an outfit calling itself "Interstellar Information Ltd." about an incident in a star system so far away that even by a faster-than-light ship, no message could return from it in less than two months. The incident in fact is due to take place in the next few days. The communication also alleges that there is a new device aboard the ship, and gives the name of the device.

When Weinbaum hears the name—the ''Dirac communicator''—he is forced to believe that Interstellar Information have access to information even he doesn't have. He brings in Dr. Thor Wald to explain the Dirac device to Dana Lje. She agrees to play along with Interstellar and its owner, J. Shelby Stevens, to let Security find out how the company gets its information.

A long investigation turns up exactly nothing. Even when J. Shelby Stevens allows an interview, under the conditions of so-called "stoolie's arrest" in which he voluntarily places himself in custody for interview, with a guarantee of being set free immediately afterward, there is no progress. The only result is that Stevens predicts the date of their next meeting.

Weinbaum uses the Dirac device to communicate with his agents, even though he suspects the communications may not be secure. Each audiovisual message is preceded by a loud beep and burst of visual static, which is so annoying that Weinbaum orders it edited from the tapes he reviews.

Finally Weinbaum discovers who Stevens really is, and to his amazement the day this happens is the exact day Stevens predicted they would meet again. He orders his agents to arrest the miscreant.

The explanation he gets is this: the beep that he found so annoying represents all the messages ever sent, or that ever will be sent, using the Dirac device. With proper techniques, it is possible to extract any message, whether it be recent, or far in the future.

Weinbaum realizes that this is an incredible and dangerous thing. On the one hand he can be ready for any hostile act on the part of Earth's enemies, but on the other he may, by choosing some events over others, affect the course of future history. The final chapters of the book are a long and well-informed discussion on free will and determinism (the preface of the novel has a quote on the subject from philosopher William James). Eventually Weinbaum decides that the best choice is no choice at all. If information in the beep states that something will happen, then his agents must make sure that it happens. He calls this principle "Thy will, not mine".

Grilka (Mary Kay Adams), the Klingon ex-wife of Quark (Armin Shimerman) from a "marriage of convenience" (see "The House of Quark"), arrives at Deep Space Nine to seek financial advice from Quark. Worf (Michael Dorn) is immediately attracted to her, but is told by her adviser, Tumek, that Worf's dishonor precludes her from mating with him. Quark wishes to pursue Grilka romantically, but is ignorant of Klingon mating rituals, so he asks Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) for help. Worf, eager to prove himself capable of courting a Klingon woman, joins Dax in coaching Quark to win Grilka's affections. Through diligent efforts to learn Klingon culture, Quark is successful with Grilka; her bodyguard, Thopok (Phil Morris), becomes outraged at the unconventional relationship and challenges Quark to a duel.

Unskilled at combat, Quark stands to either lose Grilka or be killed. Worf helps him using a device that enables him to control Quark's body movements from an adjacent room to help Quark defend himself in the duel. Although the device temporarily malfunctions, he defeats the bodyguard. The scene concludes with Grilka and Quark alone and enamored with one another. Worf opines to Jadzia that Quark is unworthy of such a great Klingon woman and she counters that Worf's interest in Grilka is superficial, and there are better options awaiting him. Since Worf still fails to notice her hints, Dax initiates an aggressive romantic encounter. Worf is surprised but responds. In the final scene, both couples are in the infirmary; Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) deduces the source of their injuries. Dax and Worf decide to begin a relationship.

In a subplot, Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) is faced with the increasingly uncomfortable situation of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) carrying his baby and living with him and his wife, Keiko (Rosalind Chao) (see "Body Parts"). Miles and Kira begin to feel attracted to each other, but try to avoid growing closer; Kira decides to take a trip to Bajor for a few days only for Keiko to insist that Miles accompany her on her retreat. As the runabout is about to depart, Kira reveals that their destination is in a highly romantic setting, which prompts Miles to back out of the trip.

When Arne married the superstitious Eugenia, he agreed to have seven children with her—one for each point of the compass, excluding north. According to the birth-direction superstition held by Eugenia's family, the direction a woman faces when giving birth will affect the child's personality; each direction foretells a different personality, and Eugenia believes north is wild and uncontrollable. Years before, Eugenia was told by a ''skjebne-soke'' (a fortune teller) that any north child she had would die crushed beneath an avalanche of ice and snow, reinforcing her desire to never have a pure northern child. Her favorite child, east-born Elise, dies young and Eugenia conceives another child to replace her, Rose. While pregnant with Rose, Eugenia is adamant that her unborn child will be an east-born, so much so that her very non-superstitious husband worries that she is tempting fate.

Rose feels out of place in her family, despite her love for them and her home; she can never live up to the standard set by her dead sister Elise, and is consumed by un-east-like wanderlust and desire for adventure. Her happy and loving childhood is failing: not only are they impoverished and her sick sister lying close to death, but her parents have concealed the truth of her birth-direction from her—the superstition that has hung over her entire life. Later she overhears her parents talking and finds out she is actually a north-born.

So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him, in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family, she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle hidden within a mountain, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. Every night she sleeps with an unknown being that she cannot see but she can hear shivering. She also makes friend with a being named Tuki the son of the cook who teaches her some of his language.

When Rose gets homesick the white bear takes her home where she is allowed to stay for one month as long as she doesn't tell her family about her experiences with the white bear especially her mother. After a while, she tells her brother Neddy about the unknown figure in her bed and her mother overhears. When she leaves her mother gives a candle that will always light even if a strong wind is blowing.

The white bear takes her back to the castle and all is well until Rose's curiosity gets the better of her and she lights the candle. She sees that the being with her is a man. The man wakes up and screams. He tells her that he was the white bear and he could have been free if a maiden stayed with him willingly for a year without looking at his human face.

Because the man/bear failed to break his curse within a year, the troll queen who placed him under the curse comes to take him to her castle "east of the sun and west of the moon," where he will be her prisoner. Rose knows that she must save him and embarks on a quest to find the troll kingdom. On her long journey, she encounters many different people and dangerous situations.

Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner) informs Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) that Starfleet intends to go on the offensive in the war against the Dominion. They decide to attack the Chin'toka star system—but must attack soon, as intelligence arrives that the Cardassians and the Dominion are about to improve Chin'toka's defenses with unmanned weapons platforms. Meanwhile, Lt Cmdr. Worf (Michael Dorn) and Lt Cmdr. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) discuss their plans to have a baby.

The night before the attack, Sisko receives a vision from the Prophets, who warn him not to leave the station. Sisko tells Ross about the vision, who responds that he must decide between his duty to Starfleet and the Prophets.

Meanwhile, the Cardassian leader Damar (Casey Biggs) and his Dominion handler Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) receive an unexpected visit from Damar's predecessor, Dukat (Marc Alaimo). Dukat discloses his plan to allow one of the enemies of the Prophets, the Pah-wraiths, to possess him. He breaks a Bajoran artifact, releasing a red mist that enters his body.

The attack fleet arrives at Chin'toka just as the weapons platforms are activated. As the fleet is being destroyed, on board the USS ''Defiant'', Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson), a Cardassian working with Starfleet, infers the platforms can be taken offline if they find and destroy the central power source.

On Deep Space Nine, Dax is visiting the Bajoran Temple when Dukat, possessed by the Pah-wraith, suddenly transports in; he hits her with bolts of energy from his hands and she collapses. He opens an Orb of the Prophets and the Pah-wraith leaves his body, entering the Orb, which turns black. Outside the station, the Bajoran wormhole implodes.

On the ''Defiant'', Sisko is shaken, sensing the attack on the Prophets; Major Kira (Nana Visitor) takes over and successfully commands the destruction of the weapons platforms. After the battle, they are summoned urgently back to the station. When they arrive, they are informed that the wormhole is gone and all the Bajoran orbs have turned dark.

Dr. Bashir is able to save the Dax symbiont that shares Jadzia's consciousness, but not Jadzia herself. She survives long enough to say goodbye to Worf. Over Jadzia's coffin, Sisko decides that he must take a leave of absence on Earth. He departs with his son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton), leaving Kira in charge of DS9.

Michael Clayton is a "fixer" for a prestigious New York City law firm, using his connections and knowledge of legal loopholes for clients' benefit. He has a $75,000 debt from an investment in a restaurant he made with his brother Timmy, which collapsed when Timmy used the funds to feed his drug addiction. Michael, having gone to a loan shark to raise the money, is given one week to pay it back. He asks his boss, Marty Bach, for a loan to cover the expenses; Marty insinuates that the firm will be finished if Michael does not get Arthur Edens, one of the firm's leading attorneys, under control.

One night, Michael leaves a poker game to attend to a client who has been involved in a hit-and-run crash. Driving home, he sees three horses in a field. He stops, gets out of his car and approaches them. Behind him, a bomb detonates in his car.

Four days earlier, Arthur has a manic episode in the middle of a deposition in Milwaukee. The deposition involves a multibillion-dollar six-year class action lawsuit against U-North, an agricultural products conglomerate Arthur's firm is representing. Michael arrives in Milwaukee and bails Arthur out of jail after learning he is no longer taking his medication, but Arthur escapes from their hotel room in the night and returns to New York.

Karen Crowder, U-North's general counsel, discovers that Arthur possesses a confidential U-North memo proving the company knew its weed killer was carcinogenic, which led to 468 deaths. She brings this to the attention of U-North CEO Don Jeffries, whose signature is on the memo. Don puts her in contact with two hitmen; she has them follow Arthur and bug his apartment and phone.

Michael finds Arthur on a Manhattan street and confronts him about calls he made to Anna Kaiserson, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Arthur realizes that his calls are being monitored. Arthur calls his own voicemail at the firm and says he will go public with the memo. Karen authorizes the hitmen to take "drastic measures". They break into Arthur's apartment, kill him, and make it look like a suicide.

After learning of Arthur's death, Michael becomes suspicious when he discovers that U-North was planning a settlement just a few days before, and that Arthur had booked a flight to New York for Anna. He finds Anna and learns that no one knew of her conversations with Arthur, yet Michael's firm knew of Arthur's conversations with the U-North plaintiffs. With help from his brother Gene, a police officer, he breaks into Arthur's sealed apartment. He finds champagne and two glasses in the refrigerator, and a copy of a fantasy novel beloved by Michael's son Henry, with several pages highlighted and annotated by Arthur, and a receipt from a photocopy shop.

The hitmen, who have been trailing Michael, call the police as he enters the apartment. Michael is caught and arrested for trespassing, but Gene bails him out. Using the receipt, Michael discovers that Arthur ordered 2,000 copies of the confidential U-North memo. The hitmen also obtain a copy, which they provide to Karen. Believing Michael is blackmailing the firm, Marty offers him a renewed contract and the $80,000 he had requested on the condition he sign a non-disclosure agreement. Michael realizes that Marty and Barry know about U-North's cover-up. After paying Timmy's debt, he goes to the poker game.

The hitmen rig Michael's car with a bomb. When he leaves his car to approach the horses, the bomb detonates; Michael escapes into the woods. At a U-North board meeting, Karen proposes that the board approve a new settlement in the lawsuit. Michael confronts her in the foyer and goads Karen into offering him $10 million for his silence. Karen reluctantly agrees; Michael reveals that he is wearing a wire, with Gene and other NYPD detectives listening. As Karen and Don are arrested, Michael gets into a cab and rides away.

Vanyel Ashkevron, age sixteen, is the heir to a great estate, Forst Reach, though he does not measure up to what his father, Lord Withen, deems to be a "proper" man. He is devoted to music and cultivating an elegant appearance. Withen sends Vanyel to school in Haven, the capital of Valdemar, under the supervision of Vanyel's aunt Savil.

Savil has little interest in Vanyel because he has no psychic or magic powers, but realizes he is not as arrogant as Withen described. Vanyel finds schooling at Haven more suited to his nature, but is told he does not have the Bardic gift, and cannot become a true Bard. Feeling he has lost his dream, he becomes depressed.

Vanyel develops feelings for Tylendel Frelennye, one of Savil's protégés. He learns that Tylendel is ''shay'a'chern'', or homosexual. They become lovers and later find they are lifebonded, that is, soulmates. For the first time, Vanyel is truly happy. Tylendel introduces Vanyel to Gala, his Companion, one of the intelligent horse-like creatures that bond with Heralds.

Staven, Tylendel's twin brother, is assassinated by a family enemy. Tylendel senses his brother's death and goes mad with grief. Not understanding Tylendel's trauma, Vanyel continues supporting him as he seeks revenge. Using Vanyel's dormant energies Tylendel 'Gates' (essentially teleports) them to the enemy family. Tylendel casts a complicated spell summoning deadly wyrsa to kill members of the enemy family. Gala repudiates Tylendel and dies sacrificing herself to give time for Heralds to arrive to stop the massacre. Tylendel commits suicide, and the backlash from the 'Gate' spell tears open Vanyel's dormant magic potential.

Suffering from psychic and emotional damage, Vanyel is "chosen" by a Companion, Yfandes, who reassures him of her love and friendship and his worth. Vanyel begins recovering, but is unable to control his newly "opened" powers. He telepathically overhears thoughts blaming him for Tylendel's death. Vanyel attempts suicide, but is rescued, and the Heralds see that his love for Tylendel was real.

Savil, realizing Vanyel needs special assistance, takes him to the Tayledras, human beings who live in K'Treva, an environment immersed in magic. They teach him how to control his abilities, and convince him that being gay is not wrong or sinful. Vanyel does not want to be a Herald or a Mage, and suspects the people around him value his powers, not himself. He runs away, but as he thinks things over he realizes that Savil and the others have shown that they care about him. Just when he realizes that and moves to return he discovers a village being terrorized by a colddrake, a type of dragon. Before he can even think to do anything, he witnesses the dragon killing an elderly man. He pulls himself together and kills the dragon, but the unfortunate timing gives Vanyel the impression that he is a coward. The Tayledras later explain that he is not at all cowardly and that his reactions were normal.

The Tayledras, now aware that the drakes were gated in from Vanyel's experience, Savil and Vanyel set out to check on a village that was under Tayledras protection and has fallen under an enemy shield. Upon arriving at this village Vanyel is left to assist in protecting the village from minor harm and instead finds himself face to face with a Blood magic–crazed wizard. In Vanyel's attempts to deflect the wizard's magic he pulls on the power of a node and destroys the wizard with the raw power. He believes he will die as well, but is comforted by the thought that he will be with Tylendel. Vanyel wakes to find himself with his aunt in K'Treva as she presents him with the white robes of a full-fledged Herald-Mage.

Lo Tung and his friend Malted Candy are pedicab drivers working on the streets of Macau. Lo Tung falls in love with a baker named Ping and Malted Candy falls in love with a prostitute named Hsaio Tsui. The problem is that both of the objects of their affections are working under cruel and lecherous bosses. The pair must somehow find a way to win the ladies' hearts and free them from their unpleasant jobs.

Tyler Yim (Nicholas Tse) impregnates a lesbian cop, Ah Jo (Cathy Tsui) after a drunken night. He joins an unlicensed bodyguard service led by Uncle Ji (Anthony Wong) to earn money to give to Ah Jo, who wants nothing to do with him. Nearly nine months later, Tyler meets up with a butcher named Jack Chow (Wu Bai) and his pregnant wife, Ah Hui (Candy Lo), who helps Tyler prevent her father's assassination at his birthday. Tyler tries to convince Jack to start a bodyguard service with him, but Jack turns him down.

A group of mercenaries from South America, known as the Angels, arrive and threaten Jack, who they call Juan, and their second in command Miguel Joventino (Jun Kung) offers him a chance to rejoin them if he kills his own father-in-law. Instead, Jack assassinates Pablo Santosa the leader of the Angels and evades Uncle Ji's bodyguards, knocking Tyler out in the process, and then steals a case full of cash from under their noses and escapes from the Angels. Jack drops his wife off at her father's mansion, giving her a key to a train station locker and telling her to go there when their child is born. Tyler is interrogated by the cops in connection with Jack, who accuse him of being connected to the killer because he saw him up close. Tyler tells them nothing.

Ah Jo tries unsuccessfully to parole Tyler, but Uncle Ji succeeds. Tyler thanks Ah Jo, and Uncle Ji locks him up in a transportation crate for a night before letting him out and getting Tyler to tell him about Jack. Uncle Ji gives Tyler more money, which Tyler tries to give to Ah Jo; he finds out that she has just gone into the hospital to give birth. Tyler heads off after Jack, and breaks into his apartment only to find the Angels and Jack have the place staked out.

A running gun battle ensues between Jack and the Angels as Tyler desperately tries to survive in Jack's apartment. Tyler ends up trapped in the apartment with the gas leaking and only manages to survive the explosion by hiding in the refrigerator, on the advice of Jack. Jack tricks the Angels into killing one of their own and distracting them long enough so he and Tyler can escape the rest. Miguel admits defeat and tries to call a truce with Jack, but then calls it off when one of the other Angels spots Jack's wife who arrives on the scene to see her former apartment burning.

The Angels take off after Ah Hui, following her to the train station. Tyler steals a taxi with his fake gun, giving his wallet to the driver, who promptly takes it to the cops. The police, still suspicious of Tyler from earlier, place him at the scene of the gun battle and explosion send a Special Duties Unit team after him to the station. At the station, Tyler confronts Ah Hui with his fake gun and takes the money Jack stole from the Angels. Ah Hui goes into labor and one of the Angels shoots a cop, and then an innocent, while trying to shoot Tyler.

In the ensuing panic, Tyler drags Ah Hui off to safety and the SDU team arrives to deal with the situation. In response to Tyler's shouts that a pregnant woman has gone into labour, the SDU team send in team members disguised as medics to retrieve Ah Hui. The Angels open fire on them. Jack arrives on the scene just before the SDU team - now including Miguel and other Angels disguised as team members - starts a full invasion with tear gas. In the midst of the gases, Jack, the Angels, and the SDU team hunt one another, with SDU officers silently killed one by one by the disguised Angels, who loot tactical gear from the fallen officers, enabling them to kill even more unsuspecting officers. Tyler escapes with Ah Hui. In a confrontation on railroad tracks, Jack saves the life of a SDU team lieutenant by killing one of the Angels and surrenders to him.

The remaining Angels escape through a tunnel to a stadium full of concert-goers. Tyler has to hunker down in the tunnels as Ah Hui starts to give birth, and Jack convinces the SDU Lieutenant to let him go after Miguel in the stadium. Jack confronts Miguel in the catwalks above the concert goers and kills him with a grenade after a brutal hand to hand fight. Meanwhile, Tyler helps Ah Hui successfully give birth before the last of the Angels shows up. A fight ensues, and just as Tyler is about to lose, the last of the Angels gets shot dead by Ah Hui.

Jack is given a head-start to escape the police and visits with his wife, and Tyler recovers the money before going off to the hospital to see his child.

The musical is set in 1978. In East Germany, in an industrial city, a young chemist, David, sits working. He lives only for science. He must find a formula for the acquisition of eternal youth. He does not notice how his friend Hagen uses and deceives him. Then David meets and falls in love with the dancer, Betti. Hagen also is interested in Betti, but the girl is fascinated by David's intelligence and innocence and returns his love. David searches for the elixir now to ensure that Betti's youth and beauty will never fade. When David encounters surprising research results, he is ready to try the potion together with Betti. But the potion fails, their problems overwhelm them, and they lose sight of each other.

Almost twenty years later, much has changed in the city. The clever Hagen has become the chief partner in the chemistry enterprise. David is his employee, and the partners and employees are set against each other. A youthful Betti appears, and the old charm is again there. But the mysterious Betti disappears again, as quickly as she had arrived. David sinks into his memories of earlier times. Hagen has also recognized Betti. Did the elixir work? Will Betti forgive David or choose Hagen?

The plot of the Toronto and London productions centered on Napoleon Bonaparte's rise from a common man to the leader of France and his relationship to his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.

In the 2015 version the story is told through the eyes of Talleyrand, whose machinations and deceptions help to both make and destroy his political protégé.

Travis is a tough kid living in a big city. When he comes home to find his stepfather cramming the fireplace with his writing, Travis assaults him with a fireplace poker. As a result, he is sent to live with his paternal uncle, Ken, on his ranch outside of Tulsa. Travis, used to living in the city, soon finds country life to be boring\ the coolest, toughest kid in school, he is now an out-of-place loner, torn between his desire to fit in and his contempt for country living. Even Ken seems too busy for him, between work at his law-firm and his divorce; he is often too busy to even keep food in the house. Travis continues work on his book while maintaining a correspondence with Joe, the only one of his friends to even occasionally write back.

He also meets Casey Kencaide, who runs a riding school on Ken's ranch and is the only one brave enough to ride the Star Runner, a creature who, like Travis, was never meant to be tamed. Soon Travis is working for Casey as a stable boy, and he receives an offer to publish his book. In response he takes a trip into town to celebrate. While in town he gets drunk and is beat up by the bouncer when his true age is discovered. In bad shape, he contacts his uncle to bring him home and reveals his book deal to Ken, a surprise for Ken, as he was unaware that Travis was even fully literate.

For a while life, to Travis, at least seems bearable. Things soon get worse though, as Travis' stepfather refuses to allow the book to be published without his prior approval. Hearing this, Travis has another fit of rage and throws the phone, nearly hitting Ken's wife, Teresa, and their son, Christopher. Teresa, in response to this, and discovering Travis' criminal record, threatens to use his presence in Ken's house to win full custody of Christopher and Ken almost kicks Travis out in his real to be with his son. Eventually they make peace after they realize that they both hoped that the other would be the father and son they were looking for. It turns out Travis' father died in the Vietnam War two months before Travis was born. Ken then agrees to help Travis get his book published, going with him to meet the publisher Ms. Carmichael when she comes to town, and even arranges some publicity with a TV interview at a station owned by a friend of his.

Travis then gets a surprise visit from his friend Joe, who had hitchhiked his way there. Instead of this being a joyous event, Joe reveals that after Travis left, his friends, Joe and the twins, Billy and Mike, had turned to burglary, fencing the goods through a man named Orson. After Joe quit, the twins continued their burglaries, but found a new fence. For this, Orson killed the twins and tried to make Joe help him. Travis and Ken convince Joe that he must return to face trial as an accomplice, and take him to the local police for extradition.

As they return to Ken's ranch, a huge lightning storm strikes and Ken and Travis must go help Casey round up the horses into the barn. As they do this, the Star Runner breaks free of his paddock. Casey and Travis give chase only to have Casey's jeep struck by lightning. Although it is not directly stated, the Star Runner is killed (This is implied from Travis smelling burned flesh).

The book ends as Casey and Travis have recovered from the accident and the temporary hearing loss. Though Casey had previously spurned Travis' romantic overtures, they are now close friends who share a common bond. Travis also realizes that he, like the Star Runner, should never allow himself to be tamed or broken, even when life is at its worst.

A king asked his two daughters how much they loved him. His older said as the apple of her eye. The younger said as much as the salt on her food. He ordered her out of the kingdom. She went, with her dresses and jewels. She made herself ugly, so that a farmwife would not be unready to lease her, and wore a beggar's clothing. Finally, she was leased as a shepherdess. One day, she dressed herself in her fine gowns just to remember. The prince, hunting, saw her, and asked who the beautiful woman was who tended the sheep, garnering much ridicule. The prince fell ill with longing, and said that only a loaf of bread baked by the shepherdess would cure him. She made it, and her ring fell into the dough. When he ate it, he found the ring and declared he would marry only the woman whose finger it fitted. When every other woman had tried it, he insisted on the shepherdess as well, and the ring fit her. She dressed herself in her fine gowns, and the king agreed to the wedding.

She insisted that they ask her father's permission and invite him to the wedding. She had his food cooked without salt, and he realized that he had misinterpreted her words.

Antoine (Kadeem Hardison) and Kenny Tyler (Marlon Wayans), two close brothers, play a basketball game in 1986. Their motto for each other is "A&K: All the Way", created by their mother. Their father, James, coaches the team and directs Kenny to take the last shot for the win, but he passes the ball to Antoine out of fright, who misses and costs them the game. That night, Kenny tries to cheer Antoine up, still upset about missing the shot. James tells them that all they have to do is stick together and anything can happen.

In the present day, both Antoine and Kenny are a famed duo on their University of Washington college basketball team, the Huskies. Celebrating their most recent win at a nightclub, Kenny meets R.C. St. John (Michael Michele), a reporter for UW, with whom he sparks an interest in. During a road game at UCLA, Antoine scores a slam dunk before suffering a heart attack while hanging on the rim. Coach Pederson (David Paymer) informs Kenny and the team after the game that Antoine has died.

Without Antoine, the team begins falling apart. During one game, however, odd sequences begin to occur, leading to a surprising win. Antoine's ghost appears to Kenny in the locker room, revealing he aided the team supernaturally, and explains that the reason he's back is because Kenny called him. Kenny's teammates begin to question his concerning behavior (as only Kenny can see Antoine), and he informs his teammates about Antoine's reemergence, who are skeptical until Antoine uses supernatural forces to persuade them. Under Antoine's influence, the team storms through the competition and eventually make it to the NCAA tournament, for the first time in over a decade. Meanwhile, Kenny's relationship with R.C. deepens, despite Antoine's efforts to disband the two, believing R.C. is only out to get a story on him, which is partially true. R.C. originally prepares to submit a story to the paper when Kenny discloses to her that Antoine is aiding the team, but eventually decides against it.

The rest of the team begins to have misgivings about Antoine helping them in their games. Kenny informs Antoine, who becomes irate, and wrecks the room they're in. After calming down, Antoine relates to Kenny that he never wanted to pass away. Kenny tells the team he wants Antoine to stay, because he doesn't want to lose his brother again. However, in the Final Four against Georgetown, Antoine's antics seriously injure their All-American, Jerrod Smith (Flex), a close friend of Kenny's. While Kenny visits Jerrod at the hospital, R.C. arrives and knows it's because of Antoine, having discovered his spirit and clues in a game's footage. R.C. tells Kenny that he's letting Antoine run his life even in death, and will never truly live unless he lets Antoine go. Kenny tells Antoine not to interfere during the championship game with the team by his side, or they will voluntarily forfeit. Disappointed, Antoine leaves, but lingers nearby.

The team plays poorly in the first half of their championship game without Antoine's erstwhile preternatural intervention, spurring a halftime speech from Kenny that rouses his teammates and leads to an impressive rally in the second half to bring the game close. With the score tied in the waning seconds, Kenny attempts the game winning shot. Antoine tries to help, but Kenny tells him not to, making the shot on his own and winning the Huskies their very first championship. Before ascending into the afterlife, Antoine shares one final moment with his brother, reminding Kenny that he will always be with him. As Kenny celebrates with his team, Antoine goes off into the distance under an array of lights. Coach Pederson sees this and asks Kenny if this was Antoine, to which Kenny admits, saying their mantra: "A&K all the way".

This story is retold by Rudy Panko from Foma Grigorievich, the sexton of the Dikanka church. Rudy is in the middle of reading the story to the reader when Foma interrupts and demands to tell it his way. His grandfather used to live in an old village not far from Dikanka that no longer exists. There lived a Cossack named Korzh, his daughter Pidorka, and his worker Petro. Petro and Pidorka fall in love. One day, Korzh catches Pidorka and Petro kissing and is about to whip Petro, but he stops when his son Ivas pleads for his father not to beat the worker. Korzh instead takes Petro outside and tells him to never come to his home again, and the lovers are distraught. Petro is willing to do anything to see Pidorka again, so he meets with Basavriuk, a stranger who frequents the village tavern and who is believed by the villagers to be the devil himself. Basavriuk tells Petro to meet him in Bear’s Ravine in order to obtain the treasure that will allow him to reunite with Pidorka.

When Petro arrives at the location, he is instructed to find and pluck a fern that blooms on Kupala Night. When Petro picks the flower, a witch appears and hands him a spade. Petro digs up the treasure, but he cannot open it until blood has been shed. He is prepared to use his own blood but is presented with Ivas who has been captured. Petro is initially reluctant, but overcome by uncertainty, he decapitates the child and obtains the gold. He then immediately falls asleep for two days, and when he awakens, he sees the gold but cannot remember where it came from. Petro appeases Korzh with the gold, and he marries Pidorka. After they are married, Petro becomes increasingly distant and insane, constantly obsessing over what he has forgotten. As a last resort, Pidorka is convinced to visit the witch for help, and she brings her to their home. Upon seeing the witch, Petro regains his memory of the night and hurls an axe at the witch, who disappears. Ivas appears at the door covered in blood, and Petro is carried away by the devil. All that remains is a pile of ashes where he once stood, and the gold has turned into pieces of broken pottery.

After this, Basavriuk begins to appear in the village again and Pidorka goes on a pilgrimage. Foma’s grandfather’s aunt still had problems with the devil however; a party is ruined when a roast lamb comes alive, a chalice bows to his grandfather, and a bowl begins to dance. Even after sprinkling the entire area with holy water the tavern remains possessed, so the village becomes abandoned.

The Stooges are "recruited" by a college to drum up publicity for the college's football team by being dressed up as football players. Meanwhile, the owner of a professional football team, Joe Stacks, has to find three new players for the next game. One of Joe's girlfriends soon meets the Stooges and confuses them for genuine college football players known as "The Three Horsemen" (a parody of the "Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame fame). The Stooges go back to her house and meet the girl's two friends.

After squirting each other with seltzer bottles, everyone decides to play the game Blind man's buff. The Stooges are blindfolded and walk around trying to find the girls. Just at that moment, Joe and his two henchmen walk in. They punch out the trio and then chase them around the house. One of the women finally explains that the three strangers are actually "The Three Famous Horsemen," and Joe offers them money to play for him.

Naturally, the trio have not a clue how to play football. Their first game (staged at Hollywood's Gilmore Stadium) turns into a fiasco and eventually causing their team to lose. Believing that they had thrown the game on purpose instead, Stacks and his fellow managers turn their revolvers on the Stooges, hitting them on the buttocks as they attempt to flee.

The sexton humorously recounts the story about his grandfather's adventure in Hell. Once, when his grandfather was given the task of delivering a letter to the Czarina (apparently Empress Elizabeth), he came upon a fair in Konotop where he met a Zaporozhian Cossack. They quickly become friends and drink each other's health. During their carousal, the Cossack reveals that he sold his soul to the devil and if he was any sort of true friend, he’d promise to stay up and watch over him during the current night in order for him to remain safe.

The grandfather and his friends agree, riding on to a tavern. When they sit down to rest, the other Cossacks fall asleep, leaving the grandfather to watch alone. He starts to see things moving under a cart, but ends up falling asleep anyway, awakening to the fact that the Cossack, and the hat he traded to him, are missing. He had sewn the letter to the Czarina in the hat and is anxious to get it back. In addition, his horse is missing as well, and he reasons that the devil, it being such a long walk back to hell, stole his horse to make it a quicker journey.

The grandfather asks everyone for help, and eventually the tavern keeper gives him instructions on how to find what he seeks by taking a strange trip through the forest off the road. He follows the tavern keeper’s instructions, going through brambles and thorns, and comes across a huge field with the stream he was supposed to find in the middle of it, seeing a light moving. He moves towards it, and finds a small group of "pig-faced men" (devils) sitting around it. They do not respond, instead they focus on throwing something into the fire. The grandfather decides to sit down since they don’t seem to respond to him, and asks them for a light for his pipe. One shoves a burning stick in his face, nearly poking his eye out, and he then tells them his story so they will help him. They don’t respond, and merely stick out their empty palms, so the grandfather throws the money he brought with him to the ground.

A huge turmoil ensues, and suddenly he finds himself amongst a large gathering of strange creatures with dog-faces, pig-faces and the like, including several witches, one of whom is the most beautiful and he reasons is the leader. She says he can have his hat back if he wins one of three games of "fool". As he plays, he finds the deck seems to be loaded, as every hand he pulls out, regardless of how good it is, becomes worthless when he throws it on the table. In a rage, and forgetting his fear, he slams his fist on the table, startling the group, and makes the sign of the cross under the cards so they can't see him, and they suddenly become playable again. The grandfather begins to throw out one trump card after the other, and the witches fly into a rage.

Suddenly, the hat flies into his face, but he demands his horse back as well. The group of witches complies and a pile of bones appears, but he still demands to be taken away from them, so they give him a demonic horse that takes him home jumping over huge ravines and areas he will never describe to anyone. He gets to give the letter to the Czarina and the only thing that remains following his ordeal is the fact that once a year, on the date he met the group of demons, his wife has an uncontrollable urge to dance and does, with no way of stopping her.

The story opens with a description of the winter scenery of Dikanka, Ukraine, a witch flying across the night sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, which no one in the village notices. Since it is the night before Christmas, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints religious art in the church.

In the village lives a Cossack named Choub, whose daughter Oksana, an exceptionally beautiful village girl loved by all the young boys, is the object of the blacksmith Vakula’s affection. Choub goes out in the night with his cousin Panas to the sexton’s home gathering, suddenly noticing that the moon is not in the sky. Meanwhile, Vakula is trying to win over Oksana, who mentions that his mother, Solokha, is a witch. Choub and his cousin are suddenly engulfed in a snowstorm started by the devil and lose each other. While his cousin finds his way to the tavern, Choub comes upon his home, but the blacksmith, who is visiting Oksana, answers him. Choub cannot believe that the blacksmith would be in his own house, and concludes it is someone else's house. The blacksmith then sends him away.

When Vakula goes back to Oksana, she tells him she will not marry him unless he can get for her the slippers off the Tsaritsa’s feet. While their discussion is happening, Solokha is with the devil in her home, when someone knocks at the door. She hides the devil in a coal sack and admits her guest but more of her admirers continue to arrive, and when her son Vakula returns she has the Mayor, the sexton and Choub himself hidden in sacks; the latter two were accidentally placed in the same one but remained oblivious to one another. Vakula spots the sacks and carries them to his forge, taking them for coal; their excessive weight makes him think he must have lost his strength, and concludes it had to do with Oksana not loving him. He comes upon Oksana, who again belittles him, and runs off saying goodbye to her, threatening to kill himself.

He decides the only way to win her is to indeed capture the slippers, so he goes to Puzaty Patsyuk, a local Zaporozhian Cossack who is believed to be in league with the devil. Vakula asks him to tell him the way to find the devil while Patsyuk eats magical varenyky that fly down into a basin of cream and then into his mouth, Vakula brushes one aside as it rubs cream on his closed lips. After asking Patsyuk about the devil, he remarks that he cannot give directions to the blacksmith to what is already on his back. Vakula does not understand until he puts down the sacks and the devil hops onto his back. Vakula tricks the devil into thinking he will obey him, then grabs his tail and threatens to use the sign of the cross until he agrees to help.

Fearing the cross, the devil takes him into the sky en route to St. Petersburg, leaving the sacks behind. A group of locals begin to take the bags and discover the men inside, while Vakula goes to find the Tsaritsa. He is amazed by the sights of the city, and has the devil (who shrinks into his pocket) transport him into the palace, where he meets up with a few Zaporozhian Cossacks who are meeting her (i.e., Catherine the Great). When she comes to greet them, the blacksmith appeals to her and glorifies her slippers, which she finds amusing and agrees to give to him.

In the meantime Oksana gets upset because the villagers have been passing around the rumor that Vakula has killed himself. She knows that Vakula, a good Christian, would not do this, and that night she falls deeply in love with him. She is delighted to see him return and agrees to marry him even before he shows her the slippers. They get married and the story ends with a bishop passing by their beautifully painted house. In the church the blacksmith has made another painting, showing the devil in hell, which villagers spit on and the women bring their frightened children up to say “Look what a kaka (poophead)” (transliterated as: Yaka kaka!)!

Uma (Natalia Verbeke) lives in the city of Buenos Aires with her friend Roberto, who happens to be homosexual. She works as a flight attendant, and her job lets her travel all around the world and live an independent life without commitments. But she has a dream to fulfill: to be a mother. Since she can't find the perfect man, thanks to her job, she decides to look for a sperm donor in different parts of the world, but what she is looking for her child's father can't be found anywhere in the sperm banks. After being desperate and tired of not being able to complete her goal, she decides to look for the perfect man that has all the requirements she wants in a father, to leave her pregnant.

Lucía (Nancy Dupláa) is Uma's best friend, divorced with a daughter called Violeta, and is always willing to give Uma a hand in whatever she needs. She manages a travel agency, in which a guide called Nico (Pablo Echarri) works, and is Lucía's future husband. Nico is what every woman wants; handsome, intelligent, a good person and loves kids. All this characteristics make Uma choose him as the donor. But there is a complication, asking Lucía if she can borrow her boyfriend, to accomplish her dream.

When Uma convinces Lucía, she agrees and then tells Nico, which after thinking about it agrees as well. Considering it as "simple donation" in which each person would later follow their own lives. But this simple transaction will bring problems after Uma gets pregnant, and the feelings that no one was waiting for appear, transforming the lives of each of the characters.

During the original outbreak of the Rage Virus, Don, his wife Alice and four more survivors hide in a barricaded cottage on the outskirts of London. They hear a terrified boy pounding at their door and Alice lets him in. A few minutes later, they discover that the infected have followed the boy. The infected attack and kill most of the survivors, while Don, Alice and the boy are chased upstairs. Don pleads with Alice to leave the boy but she refuses. He abandons them as the infected break into their room by escaping out of the window. After watching his wife being dragged out of sight by the infected, he narrowly escapes on a boat piloted by Jacob, one of the remaining survivors, who falls in the water and is overcome by the infected.

After the infected begin to die of starvation, NATO forces take control of Britain. Twenty-eight weeks after the outbreak, an American force, under the command of Brigadier General Stone, brings in settlers. Among the new arrivals are Don and Alice's children, Tammy and Andy, who were out of the country during the outbreak. They are admitted to District One, a safe zone on the Isle of Dogs, guarded by the US Army. Sergeant Doyle, a Delta Force sniper and his friend, Chief Flynn, a helicopter pilot, are amongst the troops guarding the district. Tammy and Andy are reunited with their father, who was found by the US Army and has become the district's caretaker. In their new flat, Don fabricates a lie about the circumstances surrounding their mother's death.

That night, Andy dreams about forgetting his mother's face, so Tammy and Andy sneak out of the safe zone and return to their former home, where they collect family photographs and other mementos. To his shock, Andy finds Alice alive and seemingly uninfected in a semi-conscious, delirious state. The three are soon discovered by soldiers and taken back to District One. Alice is taken to a quarantine room, where she is tested and found to be an asymptomatic carrier of the rage virus. Don makes an unauthorized visit to Alice in her isolation cell, begging her to forgive him. She accepts his apology and tells him she loves him, prompting him to kiss her, unaware she is an infected. Don transforms, brutally beats her to death, and goes on a rampage.

General Stone orders the building to be quarantined and orders a Code Red alert in District One. Civilians are herded into safe rooms while the soldiers search for infected but despite the precautions, Don breaks into a room full of people and starts a domino effect of rapid infection. The crowd, with half its members infected, breaks out of the safe room and into the streets. Scarlet, a US Army medical officer, rescues Tammy and Andy as the soldiers in District One are ordered to shoot indiscriminately. Doyle, unable to bring himself to comply with the order, abandons his post and escapes with Scarlet, Tammy, Andy and several others through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. Stone orders District One to be firebombed but large numbers of the infected, including Don, escape the bombardment. After escaping with a survivor named Sam, the only survivor of a sniper attack that killed most of the group, Scarlet informs Doyle that the children might hold the key to a cure because of their genetic make up and must be protected.

Flynn arrives by helicopter to pick up Doyle but refuses to take anyone else, as they would be shot down for carrying people who might be infected. However, a desperate Sam attempts to leap onto the helicopter, and is infected and falls, which forces Flynn to abandon the four. Flynn contacts Doyle by radio and tells him to leave the civilians and head to Wembley Stadium. Doyle ignores his instructions and escorts Andy, Tammy and Scarlet to Wembley. They break into an abandoned Volvo V70 to escape nerve gas released to kill the infected but are unable to start the car while soldiers with flamethrowers draw near. Doyle exits the car and sacrifices himself by push starting the car and is burned alive. Scarlet escapes an Apache gunship and drives Tammy and Andy into the London Underground, where the trio continues on foot. Don ambushes and kills Scarlet, then bites Andy.

Tammy shoots Don before he can kill Andy, who remains symptom-free but an unknown carrier of the Rage virus. They continue to the stadium and are picked up by a reluctant Flynn, who flies them across the English Channel to France, as instructed by Doyle. Twenty-eight days later, a French-accented voice requesting help is heard from the radio in Flynn's abandoned helicopter. A group of the infected are then seen running through a tunnel that, as they emerge into the open, is revealed to be the exit of the Paris Métro Trocadéro Station with a view across the Seine to the nearby Eiffel Tower, indicating that the virus has spread to Continental Europe.

British newlywed Regina Lambert lives in Paris with her husband Charlie. She returns home following a short vacation, determined to divorce Charlie, only to discover their apartment has been stripped bare and that her husband has been murdered. Regina is soon reunited with a mysterious stranger she met on her holiday. He helps her piece together the truth about the deceased Charlie and deal with three menacing people who are now following her.

''Grown Ups'' follows the lives of three post-college friends who are coming to terms with adulthood. J. Calvin Frazier is a 24-year-old man whose roommate just left town nearly leaving him homeless. J. also learns that his high school crush Melissa (Tammy Townsend) is engaged to another man. With the help of his best friend Gordon (Dave Ruby) and Gordon's wife Shari (Marissa Ribisi), J. attempts to deal with his problems and adjust to life as a grown up.

In the pilot episode, Soleil Moon Frye appeared as Robin Carlucci, J.'s new roommate who wrongly assumes that J. is gay. The series was retooled after the pilot and Frye's character was dropped.

On the Island of San Moreno, a trio of important-looking men (a Chinese militant, a Russian General, and a European businessman) are meeting with the island's governor. After paying him a suitcase full of money for a special operation, the three men are joined, via helicopter, by Major Jake McPherson Vladakov, the second best terrorist in the world, who will oversee the operation. This entire event is witnessed by a young boy named Roberto who takes pictures of the governor, the Major, and his men.

The next morning finds retired Lt. Commander Quinton McHale making his way to the Naval base of San Ysidro, where he does some trading with the officers. Such goods and services include selling home-brewed beer, ice cream, and swimsuit calendars to the men of the San Ysidro Naval Base in exchange for things like medicine and satellite photos to help the people of San Moreno. The satellite photos are his way of spying on the opposing children's baseball team. Stationed at the base are his old crew: Virgil, a cigar-chomping ladies' man and gunner; Happy, the team lookout who lives in a treehouse; Willie, the team techie and moonshine maker; Gruber, a slightly portly card-player and cigar hoarder; and Christy, the group's musclehead who can unscrew a bottle cap with his eye.

However, Captain Wallace B. Binghamton and Lieutenant Penelope Carpenter command the base now. Capt. Binghamton believes his men have gone native and confiscates all the products McHale has sold them. He wants to resurrect his career after having mistakenly sunk a luxury cruise liner, for which he is famously known.

Vladakov takes control of the baseball field and beach on San Moreno to set up his base of operations. After Roberto inadvertently alerts Vladakov to McHale's presence, (mostly thanks to the jersey that McHale gave him and the team), Vladakov uses his new stealth boat to blow up McHale's home and nearly destroys his PT-73, a decommissioned PT Boat, which reveals that they have a bad history with each other. When the governor tells Vladakov that his operations are disrupting the lives of the villagers, Vladakov and his men invade the village during their fiesta, blowing it up, and displacing everyone that lived there.

At the Pentagon, Cobra, an admiral, finds out about Vladakov's presence on San Moreno and instructs Binghamton to stand down in favor of McHale, revealing that he was once a highly decorated, top covert operative. This shocks Binghamton, but he relays the message to McHale. McHale rejects the mission, saying he wants nothing to do with it, or with Binghamton. Upon learning that the village was destroyed, McHale accepts the assignment with the stipulations that he be given his old crew, men stationed at San Ysidro, and complete autonomy from Binghamton. Binghamton appears to agree but enlists Ensign Charles Parker (David Alan Grier) to spy on McHale. Slowly both Parker and Carpenter realize that Binghamton is an incompetent officer.

McHale sets up a camp site for the villagers and, after invading Vladakov's base to find out what's going on, heads to Cuba for supplies to fix the re-commissioned PT-73 and to combat Vladakov. McHale and his crew use a pirated variety show broadcast to prevent Vladakov from stealing missile launch codes and entertain the villagers. Binghamton, tired of sitting on the side lines, attempts an attack on Vladakov's base but upon arrival, it is vacated and shown to be a front. Vladakov has killed the men that hired him to blow up The Pentagon as his motives are finally revealed. He was monitoring communications between McHale and Cobra and is aware that Cobra is en route to San Moreno to help take out Vladakov.

Vladakov attempts to kill Cobra using his stealth boat. Roberto is aboard and he tries to short out the boat to no avail. He is captured by Vladakov, but manages to jump ship. After Ensign Parker saves Roberto, McHale successfully kills Vladakov using a torpedo he bought in Cuba, as revenge for Vladakov killing Roberto's father in Panama. Cobra lands safely and reveals that he is McHale's father, none other than now Admiral Quinton McHale, Sr. and former WWII era commander of the PT-73.

Finally, the film ends with the commendations of McHale's crew, and the promotions of Lt. Carpenter and Ensign Parker, the US Navy rebuilding the baseball field, McHale re-retiring so that he may pursue a relationship with Carpenter, and Binghamton's apparent demotion to umpire for a kids' baseball game.

General Pandemonium (Yosemite Sam as Major Strasser) gets a frantic call from Foghorn Leghorn saying that a secret German document has been stolen, and immediately heads for the Carrotblanca nightclub―the Cafe Au Lait Americain. At the nightclub, Usmarte (Tweety Bird as Ugarte, depicted like Peter Lorre), the actual thief, convinces Bugs Bunny (as Rick Blaine) to take the document.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Slazlo (as Victor Lazlo) and his wife Kitty Ketty (Penelope Pussycat as Ilsa Lund) arrive at the club. Ketty attracts the unwanted attention of Captain Louis (Pepé Le Pew) but she scratches him and throws him into the wall. Ketty, who is the ex-girlfriend of Bugs, asks Daffy Duck (as Sam) to play her favorite song. General Pandemonium suspects Sylvester may know about the document and binds him in his office. Ketty pleads with Bugs to help Sylvester out of this. Though Bugs is initially reluctant due to the fact that Ketty broke his heart, he goes to the General's office nevertheless and confuses the General himself into jail.

The story climaxes with Sylvester and Ketty escaping on the plane for Toronto, New York City and Cucamonga, as Bugs watches them go... except that they find Louis on the plane working as a steward. Louis asks Ketty, "Coffee, tea, or moi?", causing her to jump out of the plane in fright, seemingly without a parachute, landing right in front of Bugs. They kiss, then the parachute opens, covering them.

The Warner Bros. Feature Animation logo appears with "That's All Folks!" written on top of it. Tweety pops up and ends off the cartoon saying (in Peter Lorre's voice) "That's All Folks!"

This cartoon contains the ''Looney Tunes''-logo, but the ''Merrie Melodies''-leader can be heard.

Cletus Kasady has been transferred from the Vault to Ravencroft Institute for some tests. He there reveals that the alien symbiote which made him the supervillain Carnage infected his bloodstream before it died, allowing Kasady's metabolism to produce an imitation of the symbiote. Using this faux symbiote, he slaughters the guards and doctors. Carnage comes across a fellow Ravencroft inmate, Shriek. She persuades him to free her so she can join his killing spree.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are at the wake after Harry Osborn's funeral. J. Jonah Jameson thinks Spider-Man was responsible for Harry's downfall (as the Green Goblin). Peter is incredibly mixed up as he comforts Harry's wife Liz Allan. Mary Jane is upset from the whole Harry fallout and asks Peter to give up being Spider-Man, for a couple of weeks at least, so things can settle down. He agrees.

Out on the streets, Carnage is attacked by Spider-Man's doppelganger. Carnage ensnares and attempts to kill it, but Shriek stops him with a sonic blast and says she is adopting the doppelganger. Peter goes for a takeout and hears on the radio about Carnage's escape. He changes to Spider-Man and goes swinging off to find Carnage. He is attacked by Shriek and the doppelganger instead, who quickly defeat him. Spider-Man topples off a building into a back alley as the doppelganger and Shriek swing off.

Because Carnage used him as a hostage before, Jonah is immediately informed by the authorities of his escape. Jonah enters his Bugle office with plans to flee New York, only to find himself in a meeting with Carnage, who neglected to make an appointment.

The Siskos are surprised by the young woman introducing herself as Ezri Dax, explaining she was the only unjoined Trill aboard the starship transporting the injured Dax symbiote back to Trill when it needed to be implanted immediately to survive. Benjamin Sisko invites Ezri to join him, his father Joseph, and his son Jake as they travel to Tyree to seek the Orb of the Emissary. Back at Deep Space Nine, Kira prepares a blockade to stop the Romulans from arming the weapons they have placed on Derna. Worf is joined by Jadzia's friends Miles O'Brien, Julian Bashir, and Quark on a mission led by the Klingon General Martok to destroy a Dominion shipyard in Jadzia's name.

The Siskos and Ezri arrive on Tyree. Guided by his visions, they begin a long trek across the desert. Eventually, Benjamin stops and digs on a seeming whim, while his father, son, and Ezri can only watch. He eventually unearths the Orb ark, but hesitates from opening it; he experiences visions of Benny Russell confined in a psychiatric hospital, as a doctor tries to persuade him to end the story of Benjamin Sisko. Sisko begins to bury the Orb, but Ezri convinces him to open it. When he does, an energy vortex is unleashed which re-opens the wormhole and expels the Pah-wraiths from it. Sisko experiences a vision in which one of the Prophets explains that she merged with Sisko's mother years ago to ensure Sisko's birth and the fulfillment of his destiny.

Against the advice of the Federation's Admiral Ross, Kira blockades Derna with old Bajoran ships, vastly outmatched by the firepower of the Romulans. Neither Kira nor the Romulans appear willing to back down, and seeing the wormhole reopen strengthens Kira's resolve. When he sees that Kira will not surrender, Ross persuades the Romulans to retreat.

On the Klingon ship, Worf is annoyed by the presence of O'Brien, Bashir, and Quark; eventually Martok reminds him to be grateful that Jadzia had such loyal friends, and he apologizes to them. When they reach the Dominion shipyard, they execute a plan to fly dangerously close to the sun and trigger a plasma ejection that will destroy the shipyard and illuminate the gates of Sto-vo-kor for Jadzia. The plan seems to fail when they are unable to trigger the plasma ejection, but they succeed on their second try and demolish the shipyard.

When Sisko returns to Deep Space Nine, the Bajoran people praise him for reopening the wormhole. His crew welcome him back, and are perplexed at the arrival of Ezri Dax.

As a young boy, after his mother dies, Rick Martin sees a trumpet in the window of a pawn shop. He works in a bowling alley to save up enough money to buy it. Rick grows up to be an outstanding musician (adult Rick played by Kirk Douglas), tutored by jazzman Art Hazzard (Juano Hernandez). He lands a job playing for Jack Chandler's big band, getting to know piano player Smoke Willoughby (Hoagy Carmichael) and beautiful singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day). Jack orders him to always play the music exactly as written. Rick prefers to improvise, and one night, during a break with Jack's band, he leads an impromptu jam session, which gets him fired.

Jo has fallen for Rick and finds him a job in New York with a dance orchestra. One night, her friend Amy North (Lauren Bacall) accompanies her to hear Rick play. Amy, studying to be a psychiatrist, is a complicated young woman still disturbed by her own mother's suicide. Though she claims to be incapable of feeling love, she and Rick begin an affair, which consumes him so completely he begins to neglect his old friends. Jo eventually tries to warn him against getting too involved with Amy, suggesting that she will hurt him because of her mental health, only for Amy to stun her by telling her that she and Rick have already married.

Amy does not enjoy Rick's music and is not interested in his career, focusing on her own psychiatry studies. Rarely together because of their demanding schedules, they begin to quarrel and Amy sometimes does not even come home at night. All this affects Rick profoundly; his mood deteriorates and he begins drinking. Art finds him in a bar and tries gently to offer advice and help. Rick feels guilty about neglecting their friendship but takes his frustrations out on Art, this man who has done so much for him. Unbeknownst to Rick, Art is struck by a car after leaving the bar and is severely injured. Later, arriving late for his job at the club, Rick hears about Art and rushes to the hospital. Before he can see him, however, he is told that Art has died.

At home, Rick finds Amy restlessly playing piano after failing her final exams; she is considering either trying again or going to Paris to become a painter. She admits to Rick that she only married him because she is jealous of the security he has in knowing what he is good at and being able to do it; and rejects his attempts at comfort. The next night, after Art's funeral, Rick returns home at the end of a cocktail party Amy has thrown; she is drunk and angry at him for not showing up to meet her friends. They argue viciously and he tells her she is sick and should see a doctor, and leaves her.

Now an alcoholic, Rick gets fired from the orchestra and neglects his music. At a recording session with Smoke and Jo, he plays erratically and loses control of his instrument, trying to reach a magic note he has dreamed of. He destroys his horn and drops out of sight, wandering aimlessly, getting thrown out of bars. One night, he collapses in the street and a cab driver takes him to an alcoholic sanitarium. He has pneumonia, however, and the officials there call Smoke, who arranges for Rick to be moved to a hospital. Jo hurries to his side and helps him recover his health, and both his love of music and of her.

While traveling home from an escort mission, the crew of the ''Defiant'' receive a distress call from Captain Lisa Cusak (voiced by Debra Wilson), a Starfleet officer stranded on an alien world by herself, after her ship, the ''Olympia'', has been destroyed. After establishing communication with her, they discover that the planet she is stranded has a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which will eventually kill her without regular doses of "triox" medication, and her supplies of it are running low. Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) tells her to cut her dose so that she will survive the six days that it will take the ''Defiant'' to reach the planet. Captain Cusak asks that they keep a constant conversation going with her to keep her alert and to make her feel less isolated.

As they converse with her, the ''Defiant'' crew becomes closer to Captain Cusak. Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) confides in her that he is uncomfortable having his girlfriend Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson Jerald) aboard the ''Defiant''; Cusak advises him against mixing his professional and personal life. She helps Bashir and chief engineer Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) realize they have been letting the stress of their work and the ongoing war isolate them from their friends.

When Cusak's supply of triox runs low, Sisko orders power diverted from weapons to allow the ''Defiant'' to travel at a higher speed. They arrive at the planet shortly after Cusak has fallen unconscious, giving them a limited amount of time to find her. After figuring out how to get their shuttlecraft past a strange energy field that surrounds the planet, the crew finds that Cusak has been dead for roughly three years. O'Brien theorizes that the energy field caused their communications to travel through time. Sisko orders them to collect Cusak's body and gives her a proper burial back on Deep Space Nine as a Starfleet officer and trusted friend.

Meanwhile, Quark (Armin Shimerman) talks Odo (René Auberjonois) into planning a date with Major Kira (Nana Visitor) for their one-month anniversary. He tells budding writer Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton), who is writing a story about criminals, that while Odo is occupied he will sell rare crystals for profit. However, Odo decides to move his romantic evening to the following night, ruining Quark's plan. Taking pity on him, Odo decides to let him off this one time and has his evening with Kira when he originally planned.

An archeological dig on Bajor reveals an ancient tablet in an ancient Bajoran language that addresses the Emissary. Sisko brings the tablet to Deep Space Nine for further study, raising the ire of Kai Winn, who protests not being consulted in advance, and resents Sisko's connection with the Prophets. Dax's analysis of the tablet reveals an upcoming event called the "Reckoning," possibly involving the destruction of the station, and during which Bajor will experience great suffering. Meanwhile, the wormhole begins to behave erratically, causing disturbances on both the station and the planet. Winn attributes this to Sisko's possession of the tablet and forces him to agree to return it to the planet in the morning. That night, however, Sisko becomes frustrated at the Prophets and smashes the tablet, which releases red and blue vapors that dissipate into the station. Kai Winn is furious, but Sisko states his belief that he is doing the Prophets' will.

The station begins to experience mysterious power fluctuations, and the crew soon discover that Major Kira has become possessed by the blue mist – a Prophet – which is exuding intense power. The Prophet reveals that it is waiting for a Pah Wraith to battle it in the Reckoning. Most of the senior staff strongly recommend flooding the Promenade with radiation that would force the being to leave Kira, but Sisko refuses to interfere with the Prophets, and Odo states that he believes Kira is a willing participant. Sisko evacuates the station, but Kai Winn stays behind to witness the conflict, as Bajoran prophecies indicate that the Prophet's victory in the battle will result in a golden age for Bajor.

The Pah Wraith appears, having taken over the body of Sisko's son Jake, and it and the Prophet begin to battle, creating a dangerous energy buildup. Sisko orders the last of the crew to evacuate, but refuses to leave his son behind, believing the Prophets will not allow him to be killed. With the Prophet appearing to have the advantage, but both adversaries showing wounds from the struggle, Winn executes the command to flood the Promenade with radiation, interrupting the conflict and forcing both beings to leave. After her recovery, Kira accuses Winn of intervening out of jealousy over Sisko's greater faith, and warns her she will have to answer for the consequences of her actions.

A hundred years ago, Godey, the architect who designed an enormous set of musical instruments in Alamos Town called the Space-Time Towers, had a nightmare which he wrote down in his diary, which is later discovered by his great-grandson, the scientist Tonio. The nightmare foretold that two entities that should never have met would cross paths in the space-time rift. Their wrath from this meeting will envelop the town, and cause its collapse. In a garden designed by Godey, Darkrai, a nightmare-causing Pokémon hated by everyone else, opened its heart to a girl called Alicia, who invited Darkrai to stay in the garden. Godey realized the nightmare was telling him to make a music disc for "Orácion", a song with the power to soothe the fiercest rage, for future use. Years later, Darkrai saved the life of Alicia's granddaughter Alice after she tripped and fell from a cliff.

In the present, Godey's foretelling comes true when the Pokémon Palkia, who can control space, and Dialga, who rules over time, cause disturbances in the air around Alamos Town as they brawl in the space between dimensions. At the same time, Ash Ketchum, Brock, and Dawn arrive in the town for Dawn's next Pokémon Contest inside the Space-Time Towers. Palkia and Dialga's clashing causes a disturbance in space which damages the garden. Baron Alberto believes this is the work of Darkrai. While battling Alberto's Lickilicky, Darkrai makes Ash fall asleep and creates a nightmare where Palkia attacks Ash. Darkrai then appears before disappearing down a hole that Ash and his Pikachu are sucked into.

The next day, Palkia, injured and attempting to hide from Dialga, emerges in Alamos Town. It moves the town to another dimension with no way of escaping. Darkrai reappears in the town square telling someone to go away. Alberto, joined by Ash, Dawn, and other Pokémon trainers, engage in combat with it. Outraged, Darkrai traps many Pokémon in the town square in nightmares. Later that evening, Tonio finds Palkia resting between the Towers. Darkrai tries to attack the resting Palkia. Ash then realizes that Palkia was the one that Darkrai was telling to go away and that Darkrai's nightmare was warning Ash about Palkia.

As Palkia is about to hit Darkrai with one of its attacks, Dialga arrives, opens fire on the two and immediately runs into Palkia. As Palkia and Dialga brawl, the entire town slowly starts to collapse. After Alice finds the "Oración" music disc, Ash and Dawn climb up to the music disc player on the Space-Time Towers' skybridge while Brock helps evacuate the townspeople. Tonio reveals that if Palkia and Dialga collide once more, the dimension they are in will be destroyed. When Palkia and Dialga discharge their attacks, Darkrai crosses the attacks' line and forms a sphere around itself to block the attacks, engulfing and immobilizing Palkia and Dialga in the process.

After breaking free, Palkia and Dialga both attack Darkrai, causing it to disintegrate. Ash and Dawn realize that the Space-Time Towers are no-longer charged, so Pikachu along with Dawn's Pachirisu use their electrical powers to charge the Towers as they play the "Orácion" disc. The song successfully calms Palkia and Dialga down. Dialga flies away, and Palkia's wound heals. Ash and Dawn successfully plead to Palkia to restore the lost parts of the town, returning Alamos Town to how it originally was, and the townspeople and Pokémon rejoice and return home. Later, the group mourns the loss of Darkrai, with Alice thanking it for its efforts. They then find Darkrai standing on top of the Space Tower.

In the end credit montage, Dawn fails to win a ribbon at her Pokémon contest.

While en route to the planet Ferenginar in a runabout, Jake Sisko and Nog are attacked by a Dominion vessel, but are rescued by the Federation starship ''Valiant''. Jake and Nog find that the crew are all members of Red Squad, an elite squadron of Starfleet cadets. Red Squad was on ''Valiant'' for a training mission when the ship was attacked by Dominion forces, resulting in the loss of the entire commissioned staff. Before dying, the late captain transferred command to now–acting Captain Tim Watters.

Watters says the late captain was ordered to seek intelligence on a new Dominion battle cruiser, and the ''Valiant'' has continued to pursue that mission under Watters's command, but its damaged warp drive has prevented it from getting close enough to observe the Dominion ship. Nog has the expertise to repair the engine, and Watters appoints him Chief Engineer; but Jake is seen as an outsider. When Jake talks to Collins, one of the cadets, about her personal life, she breaks down emotionally, and Watters orders Jake not to talk to her further.

With Nog's help, the ''Valiant'' is able to scan the battleship. Watters informs the crew that their mission has been carried out, and they could go home now, but he wants them to attempt to destroy the Dominion vessel, using a weak point in its design they believe the scan has revealed. Jake tries to tell them that his father Benjamin Sisko, one of the finest battle commanders in Starfleet, would never engage in such a foolhardy attack, but the cadets are won over by Watters' enthusiasm and the lure of becoming heroes.

When Jake attempts to warn Nog and Collins that the mission is too dangerous to succeed, Watters has Jake thrown in the brig. The ''Valiant'' attacks the vessel and successfully hits the targeted area, but the ship remains undamaged. The ''Valiant'' is assaulted by the battle cruiser, which critically damages the ship and kills much of the remaining crew. Nog, Collins and Jake leave the ''Valiant'' in an escape pod before it explodes; the sole survivors, they are rescued by Jake's father's ship, the ''Defiant''. Nog states that the ''Valiant'' was a good ship with a good crew, whose only mistake was blindly following Watters' disastrous orders. To Collins' pleas that Watters was a great man, Nog replies, "he may even have been a great man, but in the end, he was a bad captain."

The hero of ''The Wheels of Chance'', Mr. Hoopdriver, is a frustrated "draper's assistant" in Putney, a badly paid, grinding position (and one which Wells briefly held); and yet he owns a bicycle and is setting out on a bicycling tour of "the Southern Coast" on his annual ten days' holiday.

Hoopdriver survives his frustration by escaping in his imagination into a world of fantasy. He is not a skilled rider of his forty-three-pound bicycle, and his awkwardness reflects both Wells's own uncertainties in negotiating the English class system and his critical view of that society. Nonetheless, Hoopdriver is treated sympathetically: "But if you see how a mere counter-jumper, a cad on castors, and a fool to boot, may come to feel the little insufficiencies of life, and if he has to any extent won your sympathies, my end is attained."

Hoopdriver's summer adventure begins lyrically:

Only those who toil six long days out of the seven, and all the year round, save for one brief glorious fortnight or ten days in the summer time, know the exquisite sensations of the First Holiday Morning. All the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from you suddenly, your chains fall about your feet. . . . There were thrushes in the Richmond Road, and a lark on Putney Heath. The freshness of dew was in the air; dew or the relics of an overnight shower glittered on the leaves and grass. . . . He wheeled his machine up Putney Hill, and his heart sang within him.

Hoopdriver encounters a pretty young woman cycling alone and wearing ''rationals'' (bloomers). He dares not speak to the Young Lady in Grey, as he calls her, but their paths keep crossing. She is ultimately revealed to be Jessie Milton, a girl of seventeen who has run away from her stepmother in Surbiton, risking "ruin" at the hands of the bounder Bechamel, an unscrupulous older man who has promised to help the naive Jessie to establish herself an independent life but who is really intent on seducing her. Ironically, her flight has in part been inspired by liberal ideals of unconventionality that have been hypocritically promoted by her stepmother's popular novels.

Hoopdriver half-inadvertently rescues her from Bechamel's clutches, and the two proceed to cycle across the south of England. Ashamed of his true circumstances, Hoopdriver spins droll tales of South African origins and the comforts of wealth until shame induces him to confess his true circumstances. But he also displays genuine courage, rebuking insolent travellers who insult Jessie's honour.

Hoopdriver's encounter inspires in him a desire to better himself, as well as impossibly romantic feelings toward Jessie. At last a party consisting of her stepmother, some of her stepmother's admirers, and her former schoolteacher catches up with them. Jessie returns home and Hoopdriver returns to the Drapery Emporium of Messrs. Antrobus & Co., but Jessie has promised to "send him some books" and has held out the vague prospect that "in six years' time" things may be different.

Jessie's bookish and romantic education has kept her ignorant of the realities of life, and her ignorance contributes to the comedy of Hoopdriver's half-clever, half-ridiculous improvised stories of life in Africa. Jessie has her own aspirations: "She was going to Live her Own Life, with emphasis." Wells's intention in ''The Wheels of Chance'' might be taken to be satirical, were his protagonists' circumstances not so closely related to his own history and that of his second wife, Catherine Robbins.

The protagonist is the engineer Zopyros of Tarentum, a follower of the Pythagorean philosophical school. Having invented an improved type of catapult, he is drafted into Syracuse's war effort against Carthage by the tyrant Dionysios, creator of the first military ordnance department known to history. The historical Battle of Motya of 399 BC is a major event in the novel. Also portrayed is the incident upon which the legend of the Sword of Damocles is supposedly based.

, 1970

John Wisdom is a young man just out of college. On the night of his high school graduation, he had gotten drunk and stolen a car.

With a grand theft auto conviction he is branded a felon and as a result can not hold down a decent job. Seeing no future for himself, Wisdom takes a left turn: he decides to become a criminal "for the people", evocative of Robin Hood.

After seeing news reports about impoverished farmers and working class people being sent to the bank to pay ownership debts, Wisdom goes on a bank robbing spree with his girlfriend, Karen Simmons. He planned to do it alone, but she insists giving him a ride on the first job, so inadvertantly becomes his accomplice.

They don't steal money, but rather erase loan and mortgage records, buying time for the poor to pay their debts. At a small motel, the owner recognises them. Not able to keep it to himself, he and half a dozen people come to thank them, bearing gifts. Among them is a new vehicle.

With the FBI after them, things take a turn for the worse. At the motel they'd been staying at they shoot it up, only to find Wisdom and Karen have already gone.

Unfortunately, a panicky Karen kills a local sheriff who recognises her in a convenience store. She and Wisdom make a run for the Canada–United States border, but when Karen is shot by a police helicopter, Wisdom leaves her in the care of some high school students and their teacher.

Wisdom resumes his flight on foot on the school grounds, first unloading his gun before he is surrounded by police and federal agents at the football field. As he appears to be reaching for his gun, he is riddled with gunfire and dies.

John wakes up where the film started, in his parents' bathroom. He emerges from the bathtub and proceeds to get ready for his job interview. His entire story has apparently been a daydream.

In addition to coping with the memories of her symbiont's past lives, Ezri must deal with the range of reactions generated by her presence on Deep Space Nine. Captain Benjamin Sisko offers her a permanent job on the station, but she is reluctant to accept it due to the awkwardness of her interactions with Jadzia's friends—especially Jadzia's husband Worf, who refuses to speak to her and threatens Julian Bashir after Bashir chats with her over lunch.

Garak, who has been working on decoding encrypted Cardassian communications to aid the Federation war effort, has been suffering acute attacks of claustrophobia; Sisko asks Ezri to try to help him. Their first meeting seems to go well, but soon his claustrophobia has gotten so bad that he is found in an airlock attempting to eject himself into outer space. At a later meeting, Garak derides Ezri as a "confused child" and an unworthy successor to Jadzia, and she leaves in tears. She tells Sisko she wants to resign from Starfleet, and he berates her for wasting the symbiont's life.

Ezri returns to Garak's shop to apologize to him, and tells him about the good his work has done for the war effort. The ensuing conversation reveals the real reason for Garak's panic attacks: although he believes that defeating the Dominion is necessary for the good of Cardassia, he feels he has betrayed his people by aiding the Federation to defeat Cardassians in battle. Having helped Garak deal with his conflicted emotions, Ezri decides to remain in Starfleet. Sisko admits that he berated Ezri only as a reverse-psychology method to get her to prove herself—a tactic Jadzia had used on him before. He still holds out the offer for her to stay on DS9.

Meanwhile, Worf confides in his friend Miles O'Brien that he believes that it dishonors Jadzia's memory for her friends to treat Ezri as the same person as Jadzia; but O'Brien retorts that it is treating her like a stranger that dishonors Jadzia. Worf visits Ezri to apologize to her, and tells her that she should not turn down Sisko's job offer on his account. Ezri accepts the position, and is promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

The Bug's first victims are square record moguls Lawrence Milk and Jive Davis, who are hypnotized or otherwise prodded into killing themselves, and bandleader 'Scream' Dorsey, whose car is booby trapped and then run off a cliff. The Bug, his henchmen and henchwomen (including the villainess Sombra) are opposed by the J-Men, a group of government agents hired by the legendary J. Eager Believer.

Besides the Chief and his bumbling sidekick, Agent Barton, the J-Men include Agents Spike, Claire and Lance, Buzz Cufflink, Yank Smellfinger, James Armhole, Rocket Jock (clips of Commando Cody from ''Radar Men from the Moon''), the Lone Star (clips from ''Captain America''), the Caped Madman (clips of Captain Marvel from ''Adventures of Captain Marvel''; who transforms by using the phrase "Sh-Boom"), Spy Swatter (clips from ''Spy Smasher''), Sleeve Coat, Juicy Withers, and Admiral Balzy. Many of them appear to die horrible, inescapable deaths in the course of the film.

The J-Men work in cooperation with the F.C.C. (Federal Culture Control), opposing the Lightning Bug with Muzac (created by M.U.S.A.C., the Military Underground Sugared Airwaves Command), then with a bomb to blow up the Lightning Bug's base on the Moon. However, the Lightning Bug beats them to it, by turning his stereo up too loud and blowing up the Moon himself (and all of New York City in the process, which the J-Men consider a "double victory").

At the end of the film, Agent Barton mournfully recites the list of J-Men who supposedly gave their lives in the epic struggle against the Bug. The Chief laughs, then starts choking on a cigar he is smoking. After he stops choking, The Chief points out that J-Men are flexible enough to survive any life-threatening situation, and the final clips (from the following week's edition of the serial) show exactly how each J-Man escaped their particular peril.

Tung (Anthony Wong) is a street cop in Hong Kong who is friends with a triad ''dai lo'' named Fai (Roy Cheung). Fai hires a hitman to murder a business rival; the hit goes wrong and Fai, implicated in the incident, goes on the run. This leaves Tung in the put upon position to look after Fai's affairs.

Soon, however, Tung's squad is assigned a new Commanding Officer in the form of Lieutenant Michael Cheung (Michael Wong), a no-nonsense, tough as nails cop who was transferred for having punched out his own previous Commanding Officer. In an attempt to keep tabs on Cheung and similarly introduce him to their precinct Tung takes Cheung to the disco owned by Fai. There, Cheung meets a madam named Yoyo (whose name in dubbed version is sometimes given as Yo-Yo Ma), who is also Fai's moll. Angry and upset that Fai left on such short notice without her, Yoyo accepts Cheung's overture and the two soon find themselves genuinely in love.

In the meantime Fai's eager underling, Push-pin, moves himself into Fai's role and attempts to force Yoyo to peddle customers drugs through her escorts. Yoyo refuses, an action which results in Push-Pin slapping her across the face. Cheung finds out and takes revenge by inspecting Push-Pin's establishments every night.

As Cheung and Yoyo's relationship turns serious, Tung finds his own relationship with a married woman turning sour. She routinely asks him for money [note: seems she's paying him for sex], which leaves him constantly broke. When Push-pin realises slapping Yoyo has resulted in Cheung becoming an enemy, Push-pin hands Tung a handful of money, "as a gift." Actually, this act is a bribe, and when Cheung is later attacked by a group of Push-pin's men and Tung, having made the connection, attempts to bring Push-pin in, Push-pin reminds Tung of the money he'd given him. Tung finds himself powerless to arrest Push-pin without exposing himself as having been bribed.

Things come to a head when Fai returns to town and learns that Yoyo is seeing Cheung. Fai goes after Cheung; their fight leads to a standoff with Tung between them, and Yoyo proclaiming she and Cheung are in love and are having a baby. Fai storms off, followed by Tung. The two decide it's time to pay a visit to Push-pin, who has now been officially promoted by the area's lead triad boss, Tai, into Fai's place as ''dai lo''.

While Tung waits outside the disco, Fai goes in to confront Push-pin. After an emotional confrontation, Push-pin chops Fai in the neck with a machete, killing him. Tung sees Push-pin leaving the club; when he runs inside to see what happened, the sight of Fai's body on the floor leaves him devastated and wanting revenge.

Tung, loaded with alcohol and barbiturates, cruises town to find Push-pin. He receives word Push-pin is back at his underground casino and goes there to bring Push-pin down once and for all. This results in Tung taking on not only Push-pin, but all his underlings as well. Cheung shows up with his officers to help, only to find Tung moments later seemingly dead from a steel spike Push-pin has rammed into Tung's gut. Seconds later, Push-pin is killed by one of Fai's men as revenge for his killing of Fai.

As it turns out, Tung survives and he and Cheung pay a visit to the lead triad boss, Tai, where the two promise to eventually bring him down.

Fifteen years after the events of ''The Hitcher'', Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) now works as a police officer. He has recently been suspended for using excessive force on a kidnapping suspect, and decides to visit retired Captain Esteridge in Texas to talk about his lingering mental issues. Jim's girlfriend, Maggie (Kari Wuhrer), who has a crop dusting business, is unaware of Jim's past and pleads to come along.

Arriving in Texas, the couple pick up a car that Estridge has left for them, and set off to his house. The drive on the lonely road triggers Jim's PTSD, and when they see an RV that has been run off the road, blood dripping through the door, Jim refuses to stop and help. A motorcycle speeds past them and crashes. Maggie insists they take the driver on board. The Hitcher (Jake Busey) is insistent on making small talk and joking with them, but Jim is overwhelmed and evicts him from the car.

Jim and Maggie are eventually pulled over by a cop, but have been also followed by the Hitcher, who has hijacked an 18-wheeler truck and killed its driver. The Hitcher shoots the cop and tries to grab Jim and Maggie but is thrown off the car when they escape.

The couple arrive at the Esteridge residence late at night, but the Captain and his wife have been killed by the Hitcher. Jim and Maggie are caught in a shootout between the Hitcher, who is in the hayloft of the barn, and the local police, who have arrived on the scene. Jim pushes Maggie out of harm's way and is shot by the Hitcher. As he dies, he tells her to kill the Hitcher. Maggie escapes in her car.

Maggie falls asleep in the desert. When she wakes up, she is knocked unconscious and put inside an abandoned water tower on the verge of collapsing. The Hitcher taunts her and then leaves. Maggie escapes and uses his 18-wheeler to get away. She arrives at a gas station, makes a phone call and cleans up. The Hitcher has followed her and kills the clerk. He intends to frame Maggie for all the killings, and as part of this plan cuts off his own finger. The police arrive at the gas station. The Hitcher spins his story and Maggie is arrested. She is transported by the sheriff's van, but during the journey the vehicle is knocked on its side by an excavator. The Hitcher kills all the police officers of the escort, and tosses the key and a revolver to Maggie to make it look like she killed them.

Maggie kamikazes a mail carrier plane from a nearby airfield into the Hitcher's stolen tanker truck, but escapes the ensuing explosion. She finds the unconscious Hitcher and ties him to the truck. When he wakes up, realizing he is trapped, he begs for mercy. Before Maggie can execute him, the police show up. The Hitcher yells that Maggie is trying to kill him. The police free the Hitcher and shoot Maggie in the leg as she attempts to enter the truck's cab. Once free, the Hitcher kills the cops. Maggie gets a safe distance away and shoots the tanker, which explodes and kills the Hitcher. Maggie drops the shotgun to the ground and stands in the road, facing the remains of the burning truck.

Tattoo artist Karl Kinsky (Dern) is approached to work with renowned photographer Halsey (Leonard Frey) on temporary tattoos for swimsuit models. Despite his misgivings, Kinsky agrees to participate after seeing photographs of one of the models, Maddy (Adams).

Maddy arrives late to the photoshoot, but the two quickly bond when she expresses admiration for Kinsky's arm tattoos and recognizes their Japanese influence. After the shoot, Kinsky jealously eavesdrops on Maddy and her flirtatious boyfriend, jazz musician Buddy (John Getz). Maddy complains of having had to "dope" herself to sleep because of Buddy's odd hours. Maddy invites Kinsky to dinner, where he awkwardly asserts his dominance towards the maître d′, and then threatens to kill Maddy's ex-boyfriend Albert (Sam Schacht) for using profanity and drunkenly flirting with Maddy. They quickly leave the restaurant and drive to Maddy's apartment. She invites him in, but he declines, saying he has to catch the last train home. Instead, he goes to a sex show and aggressively speaks to a peep show girl.

The next day, Kinsky surprises Maddy in Central Park with flowers. After confronting her over her use of sleeping pills, he invites her to dine with him at his apartment. She admires his tattoo equipment and artwork. Kinsky explains his theory that women who get tattoos, which he calls "the mark", do so out of a desire to belong. The two go upstairs to dine, and listen to Buddy's music. Kinsky tells Maddy she deserves better than Buddy, citing his handsiness. Maddy calls him "old-fashioned", but begins to makes a pass at him. Kinsky turns her down, citing a need for commitment. Maddy tells him, "People don't make commitments when they fuck anymore" and Kinsky snaps at her over her use of profanity. He kicks her out but follows her to the street, insisting that they see each other again. She agrees to meet him at a Japanese art exhibition at the Met before speeding off in a taxi. The same night, Kinsky repeatedly telephones and berates Maddy from a telephone booth. When she asks him to stop, he returns to his apartment and intently watches her modeling tape.

On the day of the exhibition, Maddy sends her friend Sandra (Rikke Borge) to tell Kinsky that Maddy is out of town, and to ask him to return her modeling tapes. He visits Maddy's apartment, where he is told the same thing by Buddy. He leaves an ominous message on her answering machine, before returning to his family's home to show it to prospective buyers, only to announce that it is not for sale.

Back in Maddy's apartment, she kicks Buddy and his jazz band out for keeping her awake. As she is cleaning up, the doorbell rings. When she answers the door, Kinsky incapacitates her with a chloroform-soaked rag. The next morning she awakens and discovers her chest, shoulders and back have been tattooed with floral patterns. She screams at Kinsky and smashes a mirror once she realizes she has become a hostage. Once Kinsky tells her he is not finished tattooing her, she faints. The next day, the tattoos have been partially colored in. Maddy makes a failed escape attempt, after which Kinsky has her call Buddy at knifepoint to tell him she will not be coming home. Recognizing Kinsky's increasing violence, Maddy agrees to "wear the mark" in exchange for her safety.

Nearly finished with the tattoo, Kinsky stops and has Maddy masturbate while he watches from another room, much like the peep show he visited earlier. Kinsky orgasms just as she begins weeping. Maddy berates him for not "being a man" and having sexual intercourse with her instead. She finds a shard of glass from the mirror and plans to kill Kinsky with it, but is discovered. She seemingly resigns herself to her fate as Kinsky continues to expand the tattoos over her entire body.

Maddy is shocked when Kinsky finally announces, "It's all finished." He disrobes them both and begins to rape her. Maddy is able to grasp the tattoo gun and plunges it into Kinsky's back. As Kinsky dies, Maddy sits up, his limp body draped across her lap. She strokes his hair as she stares off into the distance.

Set as a flashback to the Roaring Twenties, Uncle Max (S. Z. Sakall) expresses displeasure to his grandniece and grandnephew, who are making fun of their parents' outdated fashions, and begins telling the story of Nanette Carter (Doris Day), a Westchester County, New York socialite with show business aspirations. She offers to invest $25,000 in a Broadway show if her boyfriend, producer Larry Blair (Billy De Wolfe), casts her in the starring role. What she doesn't realize is that Larry is two-timing her with ingenue Beatrice Darcy (Patrice Wymore), whom he envisions as the lead. When he accepts Nanette's offer, she imposes upon her wealthy, penny-pinching uncle, J. Maxwell Bloomhaus (Sakall) to lend her the money.

Uncle Max is willing to do so, on one condition. For the next 24 hours, Nanette must answer "no" to every question she's asked. Comic complications ensue when the cast arrives at Nanette's estate to rehearse, as composer and pianist Jimmy Smith (Gordon MacRae), who has romantic designs on Nanette, falls victim to the bet she's made with her uncle. Nanette wins, only to discover that Uncle Max lost all his money in the stock market crash. The only person still solvent is attorney William Early (Bill Goodwin). So, Nanette's assistant Pauline Hastings (Eve Arden) sets out to charm him into backing the show — and succeeds. The show 'No, No, Nanette' opens and is a rousing success.

Then, in a sudden flash to the present time, Uncle Max finishes his story right before Nanette and Jimmy return home to their two children.

The time is the early 1980s. A highly placed agent in East Germany codenamed "Brahms Four" wants to come to the West. Brahms Four is one of Britain's most reliable, most valuable agents behind the Iron Curtain, and that he should be urgently demanding safe passage to the West sends a ripple of panic through the SIS. Bernard Samson, a former field agent, and now working behind a London desk, is tasked to undertake the crucial rescue. After all, it was Brahms Four who had once, nearly twenty years ago, saved his life.

But even before Samson sets out on his mission, he is confronted with undeniable evidence that there is a traitor among his colleagues working for the KGB. Clearly, it is someone close to the top, close to Samson himself. It could be Dicky Cruyer, his incompetent supervisor - whom Samson despises. It could be the American Bret Rensselaer, who has built his entire career around the work of Brahms Four — and who is spending an inordinate amount of time with Samson's wife, Fiona (also an intelligence officer). It could be Frank Harrington, the 'rezident' (head) of the Berlin field unit. In fact, it could be any member of the senior staff at London Central — even the Director-General himself.

Bernard travels to East Berlin to assist the escape of Brahms Four, and decides at the last moment to send Brahms Four out in his place. His suspicions of treachery prove well-founded when he is captured and subsequently confronted by his wife, who had defected and betrayed the operation.

Ben Mears, a successful writer who grew up in the (fictional) town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine (known to locals as "Salem's Lot" or "The Lot"), has returned home following the death of his wife. Ben plans to write a book about the "Marsten House", an abandoned mansion that gave him nightmares after a traumatic (and possibly supernatural) childhood experience. Once in town, he meets local high school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a young college graduate.

Mears discovers that the Marsten house has been bought by Mr. Straker and Mr. Barlow, a pair of businessmen who are also new to the town, although only Straker has been seen. Their arrival coincides with the disappearance of a young boy, Ralphie Glick, and the suspicious death of his brother Danny. It then becomes clear that Barlow is a vampire, and is taking over the town with Straker's help. Ben, Matt, Susan, and a few other residents of the Lot try to prevent the vampires from spreading. In the end, Ben and young Mark Petrie succeed in neutralizing Straker and destroy the master vampire Barlow, but, lucky to escape with their lives, are forced to leave the town to the newly created vampires.

In 1944, Allied prisoners at a POW camp on an unnamed Greek island are forced to excavate ancient artifacts. The camp Commandant, Major Otto Hecht, a former Austrian antiques dealer, is sending some of the valuable pieces to his sister living in Switzerland. However the prisoners have discovered that they will be sent to other camps once the finds run out, so they arrange to keep "discovering" the same pieces. While Hecht is content to sit out the war, the SS Commandant of the nearby town, Major Volkmann, brutally enforces discipline, including reprisal executions of civilians.

Resistance to the Germans is led by Zeno, a former monk, and his few fighters. They use the local brothel, run by his girlfriend, as an undercover headquarters. Zeno, who is in contact with Allied Headquarters, is ordered to break the prisoners out of their camp and use them to help liberate the town and capture the nearby U-boat refuelling depot.

Two captured USO artists, Charlie and Dottie, perform a concert as cover, while the Resistance takes over the camp. With the choice of being killed by Zeno or helping them, Hecht joins forces with the Allies, helping them eradicate Volkmann's troops as well as capturing the fuel depot. After completing the mission, Charlie asks Zeno to lead him and two other prisoners, Judson and Rotelli, up to the monastery on Mount Athena to steal Byzantine treasures kept there by the monks. However Zeno tells Charlie that the treasures belong to the Greek people.

Zeno now receives word from Allied intelligence that the planned invasion of the islands has been brought forward, and so the German garrison in the monastery atop Mount Athena must be neutralised. Without revealing the whole truth, Zeno tells Charlie, Rotelli and Judson that in return for helping liberate the monks from the Germans, whatever they find there would be theirs.

However, on climbing to the monastery, the group discover a heavily armed garrison. Zeno uses gas to knock out most of the soldiers, but not before their commander orders a V-2 rocket launch to destroy the invasion fleet. Judson knocks out the control room with grenades, but one of the Germans survives long enough to activate the base's self-destruct mechanism. Not realising the danger immediately, Charlie and Rotelli scour the monastery for the treasure, while Judson frees the monks. Zeno finds the self-destruct clock, but he cannot deactivate it. Zeno, the monks and the Americans escape the monastery before it explodes. Searching for treasure until the last minute, Charlie escapes the explosion with the only treasure the Germans left behind — tin plates adorned with Hitler's face.

During the victory celebration in the village, Hecht, Charlie, and Dottie plan after the war to capitalise on treasures Hecht has already looted, by making copies to sell to Americans. Professor Blake learns from one of the freed monks that their treasure — Byzantine plates made of gold — is safe, having been hidden in the brothel the entire time.

The final scene cuts to the modern day, by which time Zeno's former headquarters have been turned into a state museum housing the treasures of Mount Athena.

The story focuses on the Grimm brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob, and is biographical and fantastical at the same time. They are working to finish a history for a local Duke, though Wilhelm is more interested in collecting fairy tales and often spends their money to hear them from locals. Tales such as "The Dancing Princess" and "The Cobbler and the Elves" are integrated into the main plot. One of the tales is told as an experiment to three children in a book store to see if publishing a collection of fairy tales has any merit. Another tale, "The Singing Bone", is told by an old woman in the forest who tells stories to children, while the uninvited Wilhelm secretly listens through an open window. The culmination of this tale involves a jeweled dragon and features the most involved usage of the film's special effects.

Wilhelm loses the manuscript of the Duke's family history while writing down this third story - he is supposed to be collecting additional information for the family history - and the brothers cannot meet their deadline. They are required to pay their rent, which was waived while they worked. As a result of wading through a stream in an effort to retrieve the manuscript (which fell into the water after his briefcase broke open), Wilhelm becomes critically ill with potentially fatal pneumonia. He dreams that at night various fairy tale characters come to him, begging him to name them before he dies. Wilhelm's fever breaks, and he recovers completely, continuing his own work while his brother publishes regular books, including a history of German grammar, a book on myths and legends, and a book on law. Jacob, shaken by his brother's experience, begins to collaborate on the fairy tales with Wilhelm.

They are ultimately invited to receive honorary membership at the Berlin Royal Academy, which makes no mention of the tales in their invitation. Jacob prepares to make a speech deliberately insulting the Academy for snubbing Wilhelm. As their train pulls into the station, hordes of children arrive, chanting, "We want a story". Wilhelm begins, "Once upon a time, there were two brothers". The children cheer, and the film ends with a caption card that reads "…and they lived happily ever after".

The film is told through the stories of two women: Nana, a grandmother, and Daisy, her granddaughter.

Daisy tells Nana of her strong and blossoming romance with a young man named Ethan and her problems at school because she is Jewish. Nana tells the story of her young life when she was sent to a ghetto and then a concentration camp.

The romantic love feelings she has for the boy are indeed strong and genuine, but the romantic love he has for her is questionable.

Ethan lets his friends judge her from the outside, not for who she is on the inside. And when she turns out to not be like every other girl he breaks up with her.

Daisy is sad so she goes and sees Nana and takes her anger out on her. She then runs away and tries to kill herself by walking in front of a moving train but she does not as her nana is there for her.

At the end, she tries to see him again but he looks at her for a long time and walks away with his friends. She stands there; heartbroken, sad and crying, realizing that maybe it was not meant to be and she walks away happy.

The ''Châtelaine de Vergy'' tells the story of an unnamed knight in the service of the Duke of Burgundy who is the lover of the Châtelaine of Vergy, the Duke's niece. The Châtelaine has accepted this knight's love on one condition: that he must keep their relationship secret from everyone, and that when he comes to visit her, he must wait for her little dog to come out to him in the garden, which signals that she is alone and the knight may come see her.

When the Duchess of Burgundy falls in love with the knight, he is forced to spurn her advances, citing his loyalty to the Duke and his love for another. In her anger, the duchess then tells her husband that the knight is unfaithful and has tried to seduce her, and the Duke accuses the knight of treachery. To save his honor, and to avoid being exiled (and thus forced to distance himself from his mistress), the knight, once the lord has promised to keep his secret, reveals to his lord where his heart truly lies, thus violating his promise to his mistress.

The Duke reveals the truth of the knight's love to his wife, trusting her to keep the secret; but, at the feast of ''Pentecoste'', the Duchess makes a cruel inside joke to the Châtelaine about her lover and her "well-trained dog". The Châtelaine realizes her lover has not kept his promise and she dies in despair. The knight discovers her body and kills himself. The Duke finds both bodies, and exacts vengeance on his wife by killing her with the knight's sword, and then becomes a knight Templar.

Orphaned at age three, when he witnessed his mother's brutal murder with a chainsaw, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) was adopted by Miami police officer Harry Morgan (James Remar). Recognizing the boy's trauma and the subsequent development of his sociopathic tendencies, Harry manipulated Dexter to channel his gruesome bloodlust into vigilantism, killing only heinous criminals who slip through the criminal justice system. To cover his prolific trail of homicides, Dexter gains employment as a forensic analyst, specializing in blood spatter pattern analysis, with the Miami Metro Police Department. Dexter is extremely cautious and circumspect; he wears gloves and uses plastic-wrapped "kill rooms", carves up the corpses, and disposes of them in the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf Stream to reduce his chances of detection. Dexter juggles his two personas, recognizing each as a distinct part of himself that must cohesively work as one. He depends on their interaction, as a means of survival and normality. Although his homicidal tendencies are deeply unflinching, as he originally claims (via narration), throughout the series he strives to feel (and in some cases does feel) normal emotions and maintains his appearance as a socially responsible human being.

The Stooges are defense workers at the Heedlock Airplane Corp., a pun on the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. In the opening scene, they enter an apartment and break into a safe, which turns out to be a refrigerator. With the food they find, they prepare a late night meal of a single slice of ham, an egg, bread and coffee. Moe and Larry share the food, and Curly gets the bone and the eggshell. While eating, Curly breaks his tooth while attempting to eat the ham bone, resulting in a major toothache. Moe suggests he simply gets some sleep, and in the morning the toothache will be gone.

The boys situate themselves for bed in a three-tiered bunk bed. Curly naturally receives the top bunk and his ascent thereto is not without mishap: faces are stepped on, and an attempt to alleviate Curly's pain using a hot water bottle ends in a soaking for Moe. When Curly does finally fall asleep, we are introduced into his dreams where his persistent moaning and complaining about his toothache aggravate the other two into action. His fear of dentists leaves the Stooges to improvise their own brand of home dentistry techniques. These techniques include trying to extract the tooth with a fishing pole and line, tying the tooth to the doorknob and violently closing it, tying the tooth to a ceiling light fixture and jumping from a ladder, and lastly, a firecracker.

As the dream sequence continues, Curly is taken by Moe to the dentist, Dr. Tug (Lew Davis). A terrified and belligerent Curly makes the check-up difficult. Exhausted from wrestling with Curly, Dr. Tug enters the adjoining office of his partner Dr. Yank (Bud Jamison) and asks him to complete the extraction. Meanwhile, Moe tries to placate Curly's fears by taking his place in the chair and simulating the procedure. Yank enters the office and—believing Moe to be the patient—knocks him out with ether in a rag and pulls his tooth, ignoring Curly's warnings. Yank hands the extracted tooth to Curly and, upon learning that Curly is the real patient, runs out of the room. Moe awakens and finds Curly holding the tooth. This understandably angers him to no end and he takes it out on Curly, who attempts to defend himself. This flailing action in the dream translates to similar action in his sleep, causing him to wake up and fall through the entire bunk bed, which collapses in a heap on top of his two sleeping compatriots. Enraged, Moe gives Curly a solid punch to the jaw. This dislodges the problem tooth and all is well. The boys fall asleep where they lie amongst the bed cushions and splintered wood.

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière is a member of the nobility who is terrible at magic, as her attempts usually result in an explosion. She is nicknamed "Louise the Zero" by her classmates, due to her inability to use any of the four magic elements. Early in the school year at the Tristain Academy of Magic, the second year students perform a special ritual where they summon their familiar, which serves as their eternal companion, protector and partner, and is usually some sort of magical creature. But Louise summons Saito Hiraga, an ordinary teenage boy from Japan, leaving her totally humiliated.

Due to the sacredness of the ritual, Louise reluctantly accepts Saito as her familiar, but proceeds to treat Saito as any other familiar, only worse: making him wash her clothes, sleep on a bed of hay, and whipping him with a riding crop whenever he upsets her. ''The Familiar of Zero'' follows the adventures of Louise and Saito as they help their classmates and friends, while occasionally blundering into situations where they risk their lives to save one another and Tristain. Saito tries to find a way to get back to Japan, but he also gains a mysterious power that allows him to wield swords and other weapons to perform heroic feats. They also eventually learn the truth behind Louise's magic (in)abilities. As Saito's and Louise's friendship grows and they start to work together, they ultimately fall in love with each other.

Now a Green Rider, one of the king's elite troop of messengers, Karigan returns to Sacor City, giving up her merchant lifestyle. The story opens a year into this service as danger is threatening the kingdom of Sacoridia once again. The dark magic in Blackveil Forest is restless, and has found an outlet through the breach in the D'Yer Wall, which has protected Sacoridia from the forest for over 1000 years. This influx of magic has interfered with a land that has largely learned to live without magic during this time. Reports of strange instances of animals turned to stone and entire villages disappearing are brought to the palace from around the country. In the end the strange magic touches even the main city as suits of iron are brought to life and snow falls within the castle. Even the Green Riders' magic is affected, sending Captain Mapstone into self-imposed solitary confinement. As a result, Mara, another rider, and Karigan are left to lead the riders as best they can. Throughout the book Karigan has ghostly visions of Lil Ambriodhe, First Rider, legendary founder of the Green Rider messenger service.

Karigan meets with an Eletian prince and learns that she has wild magic within her that entered her as a result of her battle with Shawdell in the previous book. This wild magic augments her rider ability and allows her to travel through time, even visiting Lil Ambriodhe in her own time. Unfortunately, the magic also allows Mornhavon the Black to possess her. However, Karigan uses this to her favor---while Mornhavon possesses her, she transports him into the future, and, with the help of Lil Ambriodhe, she deposits him there. This buys the defenders of Sacoridia time to prepare for Mornhavon's return.

With the weakening of the wall, Mornhavon's spirit reawakens in Blackveil Forest and begins to control the forest. Alton D'Yer is sent to fix the wall, but is betrayed by Seargent Uxton and knocked over the side of the wall into Blackveil. Mornhavon then possesses Alton and tricks him into singing the song that would destroy the D'Yer Wall, keeping him imprisoned. Mornhavon also raises two lieutenants from his army from the dead but they are later destroyed.

Excerpts woven throughout the book are entries from the journal of Hadriax el Fex. Hadriax El Fex was Mornhavon's right-hand man and best friend. From the journals the reader learns that Mornhavon was once Alessandros del Mornhavon, a prince of a foreign land called Arcosia. He comes to Sacoridia to conquer the land and harvest the land's magic to prove himself to his father. He destroys the Eletian city of Argenthythe and many of the human cities. He is met with resistance and the war drags on for many years, becoming the Long War referred to in the book. Losing contact with his father and the empire of Arcosia, he feels abandoned by his father, driving his quest for ultimate power. He conducts experiments to increase his power and make a foul weapon called the Black Star. Hadriax increasingly dislikes the Long War and Mornhavon's experiments. It all becomes too much for Hadriax when Mornhavon sacrifices one of his elite units to power the Black Star. Hadriax joins the Sacoridian league and helps in the Eletian King's defeat of Mornhavon in the final battle of the long war. Karigan receives a copy of Hadriax's journal from Estral, who finds it in the archives in Selium. From the journal, Karigan learns that Hadriax had changed his name to Hadriax G'ladheon and that he is Karigan's ancestor.

Overall the book more fully develops the characters met in the first book and introduces new characters that further the plot.

The Stooges are working as singing waiters at a restaurant and meet two doctors (Vernon Dent, John Tyrrell) who ask them to cheer up Betty Williams, a little girl who is sick from grief because her father (Ned Glass), a bank cashier, has been kidnapped while delivering $300,000 worth of bonds. The Stooges pay a visit to Betty dressed up as little girls with blonde sausage curls, but they fail to cheer her up. The Stooges then volunteer to go out and find the girl's missing father. The doctors give them a brief description of the father (middle-aged, bald-spot, an anchor tattoo, and 5'10" in his stocking feet). He and Betty like to yodel to each other, something Curly seems rather adept at.

The Stooges waste no time in stopping every suspect in sight and giving them the Stooge third degree. Frustrated, Curly starts yodeling, and after a few maladies that befall him (water, a flower pot, and a chair all crashing on his head), the boys hear a response from a radio that one of the kidnappers, Butch (Cy Schindell), has on. Butch is guarding Betty's father who is gagged and tied to a bed. Mistaking the yodeling cowboy on the radio for the cashier, the Stooges follow the sounds and intercede, knock out Butch, and free Betty's father.

Just then, three other members of the gang return. The Stooges and the father barricade the room door and use the dumbwaiter to escape to the basement. The four men follow them downstairs where a fight ensues, plunging everything into darkness, leaving only Curly fully conscious afterward to light a candle. The cashier is reunited with Betty, who recovers from her lethargy, and the pair, along with the two doctors, are serenaded at the restaurant by the Stooges.

After the death of his father, young dandy Charles Grandet (Rudolph Valentino) is taken under the care of his uncle, Monsieur Grandet (Ralph Lewis). The miserly Grandet, despite being the wealthiest man in his province, forces his family to live in poverty and schemes to cheat his nephew out of his inheritance from his father.

Charles falls in love with Grandet's daughter Eugenie (Alice Terry) but Grandet condemns their love, and sends Charles away. While Charles is away, Grandet kills Eugenie's mother, which sends him further into a maddened state. Later, it is revealed that Eugenie is not really Monsieur Grandet's daughter; if she knew, then she could reclaim all of the gold that originally belonged to her mother, leaving her father penniless. Monsieur Grandet has a violent argument with Eugenie, after she finds letters sent by Charles that her father had hidden, and Monsieur Grandet accidentally locks himself in a small room where he keeps his gold. He starts hallucinating and is eventually killed after becoming frantic.

Eugenie is now left an extremely wealthy young lady, which only intensifies the pressure put on her by two competing families to marry one of the suitors. She announces her engagement, but shortly after is reunited with Charles.

The Romans capture Druid Getafix, as part of their plan to deprive a rebel village of Gauls from the magic potion that gives them super-human strength. When the village attempts a rescue, Obelix accidentally hits Getafix with a menhir in the resulting chaos, causing him to be struck with amnesia and insanity. As the village comes to grip with this, a conman posing as a soothsayer named Prolix arrives and begins deceiving some of the credulous villagers into believing a number of prophecies he predicts for food and drink.

Knowing that Romans will quickly realise that the village is in trouble without the magic potion, Asterix and Vitalstatistix desperately attempt to have Getafix brew some. His concoctions quickly prove problematic, and alert a garrison of Romans into sending a spy into the village. Despite being camouflaged, he is captured and used as a guinea pig for some of Getafix's less dangerous creations. However, one of these makes him lighter than air causing him to float away, where he reports their problem. The Romans send a patrol to investigate, and come across the Soothsayer, whom they capture. Although Roman laws declare such individuals to be arrested, the garrison's centurion is convinced of Prolix's abilities and uses him to chase away the villagers.

Returning to the village, Prolix foretells doom if the village is not abandoned. Everyone leaves for a nearby island, except for Asterix, Obelix and Getafix. Shortly after the Romans move in, Getafix brews a very noxious potion whose vapors engulf the village, both restoring his memories and sanity in the process, and driving off the Romans on the belief that Prolix's prediction was true. Getafix quickly brews the magic potion and convinces the villagers to test the soothsayer's abilities by having them attack the Roman camp. In the aftermath of the attack, Prolix is hit by a menhir after his abilities are discovered to be a fake and loses his memories, while the centurion is demoted for his failure and was ordered by Optio to clean up the camp and also Prolix was ordered to leave the camp, as the village returns to normal.

Thirty-year-old Javier (Diego Peretti) is a surgeon and in his free time works as a disc jockey. He decides to marry and move to the United States with his girlfriend María (Soledad Villamil). They make all their plans; they wed, and then María is the first to move and make contacts in their new home, while Javier packs up in Argentina and prepares to start his new life in the States. While he is on the way to the airport, he receives a call from María telling him that she is confused and has been seeing someone else.

With no home, job, or girlfriend, Javier moves in with his parents and starts seeing a therapist, which doesn't work. To avoid the loneliness he buys a Great Dane puppy and tries to meet new girls. When he gets tired of having the dog, he meets Julia (Cecilia Dopazo). He finds an apartment and gets a job in a plastic surgery clinic. However, María calls, telling him that she is coming back to Argentina. She needs him and wants to be sure that they will be back together and that Javier will forgive her. Now he needs to make a decision, Julia also waits for an answer, and Javier isn't the same person he was before all this happened.

The Five Find Outers - Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets - are together again in the school holidays. Bored without a mystery, they decide to practise disguising themselves and shadowing people. Larry dresses up as a window cleaner, and unexpectedly the five children come across a robbery at a house in Holly Lane, the windows of which Larry has cleaned. The house belongs to a blind old man, who has apparently hidden his savings somewhere in the furniture. When the man reports the money stolen, the Find Outers initially believe it to be a simple robbery, but then in the middle of the night, all the old man's furniture is mysteriously spirited away as well.

The suspects include Wilfrid, the old man's grandson, and his cousin Marian. When Marian herself disappears, suspicion falls firmly on her and bumbling village policeman Mr Goon is convinced she is the thief - but Fatty thinks differently. Will Fatty solve this mystery?

Max Hare is boxing Toby Tortoise and beating him severely in round one. Between each round, Jenny Wren from “Who Killed Cock Robin?” tells Toby that she likes a man who takes his time, which seems to reinvigorate him. In round two, Max declares what the final blow should be, but Toby pulls into his shell to avoid Max's fists. Feeling robbed, Max demands that Toby should come out and face him, but Toby says that he feels safer inside his shell. Max tries to make Toby come out by dumping a bucket of water into his shell, but then Toby pops out wearing a diving helmet and squirts water in Max's face. At the end of his patience, Max fills Toby's shell with fireworks to draw him out. However, this backfires Toby as he unintentionally begins shooting fireworks in Max's direction. One firework sends Max flying out of the arena with the paramedics who are waiting to take Toby to the hospital. When the fireworks stop, Toby is declared the winner.

The story follows Kenji Miyazawa through different periods of his life, centering primarily on his relationships with his sister, his father, his students, and the farmers in his area. The film opens with a sequence of Kenji carrying snow in his hands and chasing after a moving train containing his sister Toshi. Suddenly the ground splits and the train descends into the sea, as Kenji sinks to his knees and calls his sister's name. In the real world, Kenji's students sit in their classroom and gossip about the strangeness of their teacher. Kenji enters through the window and proceeds to tell the students to shut their books and close their eyes, explaining principles of heat and temperature to them. Then he leads his students on an outdoor excursion, demonstrating the eccentric teaching style that Miyazawa was known for.

Six years earlier, Kenji walks through natural landscapes with his friend, Kanai Hosaka. Looking at two telegraph poles, he gets the inspiration for his poem Telegraph Poles on a Moonlit Night. He talks about his dreams for the future with Kanai on a mountaintop while gazing at a beautiful field of stars. Upon returning home with an armful of rocks he has collected, he witnesses his father at work at the family pawnshop business, in the middle of insisting that he cannot give a poor farmer any more money for his goods. Kenji later argues with his father about the business, decrying the practice of profiting off the poor. However, he is cheered by his sister Toshi; he asks her if she has read his poem in Azalea, a reference to the magazine that Miyazawa started with his friends. Toshi starts to cough violently and Kenji rushes to her aid.

In 1923 Kenji moves to Tokyo out of depression, working at a small publishing out. He meets his friend Kanai again after three years, but Kanai now believes Kenji to be too idealistic, and says that they cannot walk the path they dreamed of together after all. Kenji returns shortly afterwards to Hanamaki to be with Toshi, who is very sick and talks about her fear of death. Kenji reads her a story of his and describes his writing methods and the inspiration he takes from nature. His creative process is depicted in an abstract sequence showing birds, bears, a winged Kenji, and numerous other images in varying art styles.

Kenji's father berates him for printing so many copies of his book, which no one ended up reading. Kenji declares that he doesn't write to sell books. In the classroom his students read his poetry collection Spring and Asura, but they all profess to not understand it. Kenji observes the farmers toiling slavishly in the fields and becomes overcome with emotion, hit with a sudden hallucination of being trapped and surrounded by water filled with skeletal corpses and fearful spirits. He comes to with his students worrying around him. They then tell him about a student who has been stealing from his classmates; Kenji catches the student and tells the boy to follow him, travelling a long way through difficult natural terrain until they reach a mountaintop. There Kenji asks the boy about his motives for stealing, offering selflessly to give the boy his entire salary and to get him however much money he needs. He learns that the young boy is from a poor family of farmers.

Kenji makes up his mind to quit teaching and to work the fields alongside the other farmers. He is unused to the work, and the other farmers scoff at him and view him as a weak amateur. As a sung version of Miyazawa's famous poem Ame ni mo Makezu plays in the background, Kenji works in the field in the day and teaches the farmers about art and literature as well as new fertilizing techniques during the evening. However, many other farmers still do not warm up to him, continuing to think of him as spoiled and rich, even sabotaging his crop while he is away.

He works himself to exhaustion farming and hallucinates once again, leading to a rapid series of flashbacks. He despairs and thinks of one of his last moments with his sister, when she asks him to bring her fresh snow and he feeds it to her in bed. As Kenji lies desolately in the field, all of a sudden a pair of trains burst up from the ground and towards the sky, referencing Miyazawa's novel Night on the Galactic Railroad, the basis for which was said to be his sister's death. Seeing this, he is able to regain hope. He recites a segment of his poem Spring and Asura.

Rémi is a struggling pianist with a wife, Martine, a model who is getting too old to find desirable work, and a 14-year-old stepdaughter, Marion. When Martine is killed in a car crash, Marion expresses her desire to stay with Rémi in their apartment, but is taken away by her father Charly, an alcoholic who dislikes Rémi. Marion comes back, much to her father's disapproval, and takes up babysitting to help make ends meet while Rémi gives piano lessons. Soon, Marion tells Rémi she is physically attracted to him, but he resists her advances because of her young age.

When Marion proves to be anemic, she is sent to the mountains with her father while Rémi loses his apartment and moves in with friends Simone and Nicolas. A broken man, he meets with Marion and they have sex in a hotel. She comes back to live with him in a run-down and condemned house, and although he first resists any more sex, gradually gives in. During a surprise visit, Charly at one point sees the two embrace. He asks them if they are having an affair, but when Rémi objects, Charly apologizes and leaves.

While babysitting a little girl, Nathalie, Marion finds she has developed the flu and rushes to Rémi for help. Rémi borrows money for the medicine, and while seeing the physician, meets Nathalie's mother, Charlotte. Rémi takes interest in Charlotte, who is also a skilled piano player, and begins pursuing her. Marion is disheartened as she wanted to stay with Rémi as his lover. Marion packs her belongings and leaves Rémi's place as she tells Charly that she intends to move back in with him. Although in emotional anguish over losing Marion, Rémi visits Charlotte in her apartment, and they have sex. They are unaware that Nathalie sees them.

Private detective Jake Masters is with his girlfriend Renee when he gets a call about a new case. The New York City Police Department is hunting for an eccentric millionaire, Jason Dominic, in connection with the murder of a cocktail waitress named Lucille Reynolds. Jason wants Jake to find the real killer. Jake goes to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Jason's bodyguard, Cora Merrill. After an initial case of mistaken identity, Jake, his trainee nephew Keith, and Cora meet up and visit Jason's yacht. Jason tells them the police believe he killed Lucille because she had filmed an orgy featuring him with three prostitutes, who then blackmailed him out of $50,000.

Jake, Keith, and Cora go back to Jake's apartment. Cora rebuffs Jake's advances and instead has sex with Keith. The three start working through their list of prostitutes and other unsavory suspects one by one. While questioning a man, Cora becomes violent, leading Jake to exclude her from questioning others afterward. During one encounter, two prostitutes and a male suspect tie up Jake, but the male suspect goes outside and is killed by an unknown person. Jake then follows one of the prostitutes to an apartment and rapes her before realizing that she is dead.

By chance, Jake finds out that Cora's story does not make sense. He realizes that she is actually working on the orders of Jason to kill the blackmailers after Jake has located them. Jake notifies the police of this. He then goes back to his apartment and has sex with Cora. Afterward, he confronts her, and she admits to killing all of the suspects. A struggle ensues, and Cora is killed by the police. Renee then surprises Jake at his apartment, and the two are happy to be reunited.

The seeming inevitability of war with the Dominion has Deep Space Nine's command staff depressed, especially Captain Sisko. His son Jake learns that a 1951 Willie Mays rookie card will be for sale at an upcoming auction and decides to buy it as a gift to cheer up his baseball-loving father. Jake enlists Nog's help (and funds) to acquire the antique.

The oddball Dr. Elias Giger buys the lot that includes the card. Giger offers to give the card to Jake in exchange for a strange assortment of equipment—material to construct a "cellular regeneration and entertainment chamber", which Giger believes will grant immortality. Privately, the boys decide the man is crazy but agree to his offer, and obtain the required materials by doing various odd jobs for the station's senior officers, including Chief O'Brien, Dr. Bashir, Major Kira and Lieutenant Commander Worf. To keep Jake's gift a surprise, they do not reveal the reason they want these items.

Meanwhile, Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Winn is considering a proposed non-aggression pact between Bajor and the Dominion. She is torn, not wishing to align Bajor with the Dominion, but not trusting the Federation to make Bajor's defense a priority in the event of war. Captain Sisko recommends that Winn stall for time before committing herself to a decision. The Dominion negotiator, Weyoun, has guest quarters above Giger's, and is wary of the odd noises emanating from downstairs.

Returning to Giger's quarters to deliver the requested equipment, Jake and Nog find the room empty with no sign of Giger. Jake confronts Winn and accuses her of kidnapping the doctor, earning a reprimand from Captain Sisko. Jake and Nog are unexpectedly beamed aboard Weyoun's ship: Weyoun, aware that the youths have been in contact with Giger, Winn, and the entirety of the station's senior staff, suspects they are up to something. Jake explains the scheme to obtain the card, but Weyoun seems incredulous, so Jake concocts a story that Willy Mays is a time-traveling saboteur he and Nog are investigating. Weyoun believes Jake's first story, deciding it was all innocent coincidence after all, and sends the boys away with the card.

Captain Sisko reflects on how his crew's moods have improved, over a montage illustrating how Jake and Nog's trades have helped them; the montage concludes with the captain hugging his son upon receiving the card.

In the early 1960s, former college classmates Martha Dobie and Karen Wright open a private boarding school for girls. After an engagement of two years to the doctor Joe Cardin, Karen finally agrees to set a wedding date. Joe is related to the influential Amelia Tilford, whose granddaughter Mary is a student at the school. Mary is a spoiled, conniving child who bullies her classmates.

Whilst being punished for a lie Mary had told, one of her roommates overhears an argument between Martha and her Aunt Lily. Lily accuses Martha of being jealous and having an unnatural relationship with Karen. On hearing this Mary spreads this gossip to her grandmother and Amelia spreads it around the parents of the school.

Karen learns of this and confronts Amelia about Mary accusing Martha and Karen of being lovers. Mary is foiled at convincing others that she personally saw the interactions between Martha and Karen. Using her knowledge that her roommate, Rosalie, has stolen jewelry and other personal items from a number of people, Mary forces Rosalie to corroborate her story.

The two women file a suit of libel and slander against Mrs. Tilford. A few months later, Martha and Karen are isolated at the school, having lost all of their students and ruined their reputations after losing the lawsuit. Karen calls off her engagement with Joe when he asks her if what was said about Martha and her was true. When she finds out, Martha points out that other female couples have persevered after being found out, because of the strength of their love, then admits that she has been in love with Karen for years. Karen says that Martha is just confused about her feelings, but Martha insists it is love, breaking down in tears.

Rosalie‘s mother finds the collection of stolen items her daughter has kept, leading to the revelation of Mary’s lie about Martha and Karen. Mrs. Tilford tells the judge, who will overturn the outcome of the lawsuit, publish the results in the newspaper, and a full financial settlement will be paid to the teachers. Karen tells Martha that they are still friends, and can open a new school.

Aunt Lily asks Karen about the whereabouts of Martha as her door is locked. Karen breaks loose the door's slide lock with a candleholder and discovers Martha has hanged herself in her room.

The film ends with Karen attending Martha's funeral and walking away while Joe watches her.

Swede rows up to a public dock in a dinghy. He hides when he spots a young woman who walks to the end of the pier. When a new night watchman (an uncredited Emory Parnell) notices her, Swede stops him from bothering her. The sailor begins recounting her story, and the film segues into a long flashback.

Joe "the Greek" Adams is a gambler and grifter with a couple of problems. First, he and his treacherous partner Zepp have received draft notices to join the army in preparation for World War II. However, one of his underlings, Joe Bascopolous, has just died, and his status was 4F (unfit to serve). So one of them can dodge the draft by assuming his identity. They gamble for it; Zepp cheats, but Joe still wins. Zepp fails his physical examination anyway.

The other problem is a lack of money to bankroll his gambling ship. He talks the head of the local War Relief organization, Captain Veronica Steadman, into authorizing him to run a "charity" casino, promising to raise enough money to outfit a relief ship, despite the suspicions of her lieutenant, wealthy socialite Dorothy Bryant.

Eventually, he even charms Dorothy. She tells her snobbish grandfather, to his great dismay, that "Joe's the first man I've ever met I'm afraid of. It's exciting." At one point, Joe teaches Dorothy Australian rhyming slang, for example, "tit for tat" (hat), "twist and twirl" (girl), "storm and strife" (wife). Later, he renames his gambling ship the "Briny Marlin" (darling) in her honor.

On the day of the charity ball, Joe receives a letter addressed to Bascopolous. Curious, he takes it to a Greek Orthodox priest for translation. It turns out to be from Bascopolous's mother in Axis-occupied Greece. She wrote to tell her son that when German paratroopers landed nearby, under his brothers' leadership every man in their village fought to the death. Moved, Joe reexamines his life.

At the ball, Joe's men use false bottoms in the cashboxes to steal most of the money. Joe has a change of heart and tells his right-hand man, the "Crunk", that the money is going to war relief. But Zepp overhears and forces him at gunpoint to collect the loot. Dorothy accidentally catches them in the act and thinks Joe is a willing participant. To protect her, he is forced to knock her out. Then, the two men start collecting the money. When Zepp briefly looks away, Joe attacks and kills him, but not before getting shot. Joe escapes, leaving behind a trail of blood. Then, he sends the money back to Dorothy via his trusted friend Swede. He loads his ship with the charity's supplies.

Later, Dorothy is stricken when a policeman informs her Bascopolous is dead. Then she sees the photograph of the man; it is not her Joe. When the name of the ship Bascopolous worked on is mentioned, she rushes to the dock, just as the ship is leaving for Europe. She begs Joe to take her with him, but he tells her she deserves better and turns away to hide his own anguish. The ship is torpedoed and sunk on the return trip. Dorothy visits the pier each night.

The flashback ends. Hoping Dorothy would be present, Swede arranged for Joe to meet him there. When Joe shows up at the other end of the pier, he wants to go out on the town to celebrate their last night in port rather than going back to their ship. Thinking quickly, the guard tells him he cannot leave the dinghy tied up where it is. The watchman settles who has to move it by flipping a coin, assigning Joe heads; he loses. As Joe walks to the end of the dock, Dorothy sees him and rushes into his arms. Joe is taken aback, but then embraces her. Meanwhile, Swede examines the coin: it has a head on each side.

The ship commanded by Captain Sisko crash-lands in a sea on a barren planet, injuring Lieutenant Commander Dax. A crew of Jem'Hadar, the Dominion's genetically-engineered soldiers, and their severely injured Vorta supervisor, Keevan, have also recently crashed on the planet. Keevan strictly rations the limited supply of Ketracel White, the drug that the Jem'Hadar need to survive. The Jem'Hadar capture two members of Sisko's crew, Nog and Garak, and learn from them that the Starfleet crew includes a doctor.

The Jem'Hadar commander Remata'Klan delivers a message to Sisko: Keevan will free Garak and Nog in exchange for treatment from Dr. Bashir and a conversation with Sisko. Sisko takes the opportunity to try to drive a wedge between Remata'Klan and Keevan, but Remata'Klan remains loyal.

Bashir successfully treats Keevan's wound. Keevan shows Sisko that he has a broken transmitter that could be used to send a distress call, but not enough Ketracel White to sustain the soldiers until it is repaired; once the supply is gone, the Jem'Hadar will go on a killing rampage. Keevan says he will order the Jem'Hadar to attack the Starfleet crew, but he will give Sisko their attack plan, allowing Sisko's crew to kill the Jem'Hadar easily; he will then surrender himself and the transmitter. Sisko accepts the offer, over the objections of some of his crew.

Sisko's crew establish a lethal crossfire along the Jem'Hadar's approach to their camp. Before the battle begins, Sisko meets with Remata'Klan, and tells him of Keevan's betrayal, arguing that Keevan does not deserve the Jem'Hadar's loyalty. Remata'Klan confesses that he suspected Keevan was deliberately leading them into a trap, but the Jem'Hadar's loyalty to the Vorta is part of the order of things; he will follow Keevan's orders, even though none of his men will survive. When the Jem'Hadar attack, they are quickly mowed down by the Starfleet crew. As Keevan surrenders, Sisko orders a burial detail for the dead.

Meanwhile, on Deep Space Nine, the Bajoran Major Kira gradually comes to realize that by not fighting the Dominion occupation, she has become a collaborator; she identifies uncomfortable parallels between her own passivity and those who collaborated with the Cardassians during their brutal occupation of Bajor. A Bajoran priest, Vedek Yassim, hangs herself in protest, declaring "Evil must be opposed." The next morning Kira confides to her friend Odo that she is going to start actively resisting the Dominion.

In the Midwest of American, the citizens of Raccoon City have been transformed into zombies after becoming infected with the T-virus, a biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. A military squad – consisting of leader Claus (Masaki Aizawa) and his men Roger (Hiroto Torihata), Ed (Hideto Ebihara), Robert (Tadasuke Omizu) and Norman (Yoshiyuki Kaneko) – is sent into the city by the company. Members of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, a group specialized in containing biohazard outbreaks caused by Umbrella, their objective is to rescue Dr. Cameron (Yurika Hino), a female scientist researching a new virus.

The squad tracks a signal from her ID card, and is drawn to a warehouse, where Robert is killed during a surprise attack from an unidentified monster. The team blows the creature to pieces, but is unaware of its ability to transfer its mind to other life forms. The squad leaves to chase Dr. Cameron's now-moving signal to a manhole, and the monster follows them in the body of a crow. Norman and Roger accompany Claus into the sewers, while Ed stands guard on the street. Underground, the team finds Dr. Cameron's equipment, and is attacked by a dog. After shooting the dog, they see the doctor's ID card attached to it. Roger, who is a higher-up within Umbrella, reveals to the others that the true purpose of their mission was not to rescue Dr. Cameron, but to collect her research data regarding a new virus capable of regenerating genes. She was infected with her creation, and mutated into the monster that the squad had fought at the warehouse.

While Claus, Norman and Roger return to the surface, Ed is killed by the crow, and transforms into a creature similar to the one in the warehouse. This new monster kills Norman, but Claus and Roger barely escape in a humvee, using a machine gun attached to the vehicle to destroy it. As the two men drive out of the city, Claus asks about the virus. Roger explains how it fuses with genes, enabling Dr. Cameron to regenerate her body in other life forms, and thus making her nearly immortal. Roger then impales Claus with tentacles, pinning him to the seat. At this point, Roger is revealed to have two faces, the second one being Dr. Cameron's. The researcher explains that she was watching them in the body of the dog while they were in the warehouse, and that she realized that Umbrella was pursuing her research data. Dr. Cameron tells Claus that he and his team turned out to be perfect guinea pigs for the virus she had created, and that she will continue her experiments, trying to return herself to a human form. Using tentacles, she rips Claus' face apart.

The story is set in Japan, beginning in the early 1990s up until the present day (2008), with each act centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno.

Episode 1: Cherry Blossom

In 1991, Takaki Tōno quickly befriends Akari Shinohara after she transfers to his elementary school in Tokyo. They grow very close to each other due to similar interests and attitudes such as both preferring to stay inside during recess due to their seasonal allergies. As a result, they form a strong bond which is shown when they speak to each other using their given names without any form of honorifics as that is a sign of deep friendship and familiarity in Japan.

Right after graduating from elementary school in 1994, Akari moves to the nearby prefecture of Tochigi due to her parents' jobs. The two keep in contact by writing letters but eventually begin to drift apart. When Takaki learns that his family will be moving to Kagoshima on the other side of the country the following year in 1995, he decides to personally go see Akari one last time since they will be too far apart to see and visit each other once he moves. He also writes a letter for Akari to confess his feelings for her. However, Takaki loses the letter during the journey and a severe snowstorm delays his train for several hours. When the two finally meet late that night and share their first kiss, Takaki realizes they will never be together. They find a shed to spend the night in due to the severe snowstorm and fall asleep after talking late into the night. Takaki departs from the train station the next morning and the two promise to continue writing to each other. As the train rolls away, Takaki decides that the loss of his letter is not important anymore after the kiss while Akari silently looks at her own letter addressed to Takaki which she decided not to give him.

Episode 2: Cosmonaut

In 1999, Takaki is now in the third year of senior high in Tanegashima, where the Tanegashima Space Center is located. Kanae Sumida, a classmate of Takaki, has loved him ever since first meeting him in middle school but has never had the courage to confess her feelings to him. She tries to spend time with him, waiting long after school for the chance to travel home together. However, Takaki appears ignorant of Kanae's feelings and only treats her as a good friend. Kanae observes that Takaki is always writing emails to someone and staring off into the distance as if searching for something far away. It is later shown that Takaki's emails are not being sent to anyone, and he, in fact, deletes them after he finishes writing them. He also has recurring dreams which feature Akari. After a failed attempt to tell Takaki she loves him, Kanae realizes he is looking for something far beyond what she can offer and decides not to say anything, though she believes she will always love him. With such thoughts, she cries herself to sleep.

Episode 3: 5 Centimeters per Second

It is now 2008 and Takaki is a programmer in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Akari is preparing to marry another man. Takaki still longs for Akari to the detriment of his lifestyle. He receives a call from his current girlfriend but does not answer which signifies the end of the relationship. Depressed, Takaki quits his job as he is unable to cope with his feelings for Akari. Akari goes through a box of her old possessions and finds the letter she had written for Takaki thirteen years ago in 1995. Takaki finds himself in a convenience store reading a magazine about the decade long journey of the rocket launched in the 2nd act. Takaki and Akari begin a dual narration where they both recall a recent dream. In the dream they relive their last meeting in the snow-filled Iwafune and remember the wish to someday watch the cherry blossoms together again.

Later, while walking down the same road they knew when they were children, Takaki and Akari appear to pass and recognize each other at the train crossing. It's the same place they had promised to watch the cherry blossoms together thirteen years ago, just before Akari moved to Tochigi. On opposite sides of the tracks, they stop and begin to look back, yet a passing train cuts off their view. Takaki waits for the train to pass and finds that Akari is gone. After a moment, he smiles to himself and continues walking as the cherry blossoms stir in the train's wake.

''The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh'' can be played by five to ten characters of 1st–3rd levels. The module includes optional pre-generated first level characters for use by the players. The scenario is the first of the ''Underwater'' (U) series of modules set in Saltmarsh, and details a ghostly ship and the haunted mansion of an evil alchemist. The module sleeve contains the following description:

The module is divided into two parts, ''The Haunted House'' and ''Sea Ghost'', which are intended to be played consecutively. The first part is set in the town of Saltmarsh and deals with unraveling the secret of the haunted house that lies on the edge of town. The abandoned, dilapidated mansion of an evil alchemist has been the subject of rumors about hauntings and treasure. The second part of the module follows on from the first, expanding on the concept. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=UMY9AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover preview])

Season 1

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Luzon quarantine, live-stream gamer Cairo Lazaro (Caimazing) loses to Gavreel Alarcon (Angel2000) in an online game. When Cairo invites Gavreel for a rematch, Gavreel confesses his love for Cairo and asks for a date with Cairo in return. Although Gavreel wins the rematch and continues to express his love for Cairo, Cairo is hesitant to express his feelings. While both of them slowly bond with each other, Cairo also befriends Pearl, Gavreel's ex-girlfriend and now best friend. Meanwhile, Cairo is having family problems as his father was hospitalized because of coronavirus infection.

Terrence, the ex-boyfriend of Gavreel, tries to get back with Gavreel after he recently broke up with his girlfriend. In an attempt, Terrence creates a rift between Gavreel and Cairo by making Cairo believe that Gavreel used his grandmother, Lola Cora, who died the year prior, to be with Cairo. Later, Cairo realizes his mistake of believing Terrence, and apologizes to Gavreel. Terrence was later confronted by Gavreel, Cairo and Pearl in a group meeting where Gavreel reiterates to Terrence that he will not go back to a relationship with him, and that he is in love with Cairo.

Just when things are getting better between Cairo and Gavreel, Cairo learns from his older brother, London, that their father is not doing well. Cairo feels guilty about his father's situation. It turned out that Cairo ran away from their home, and his father was infected with the virus while looking for him. The story further reveals the reason why Cairo ran away: Risa, Cairo's former best friend who had a crush on him, outed him as gay to his family and friends on social media. Unable to face his family about his sexuality, Cairo ran away from home. Later, Cairo's mother, Leila, tearfully informed him that his father has died.

Gavreel and Pearl continue to support Cairo through his mourning on his father's demise. Both Terrence and Risa apologize for their mistakes and the troubles they caused in Cairo's and Gavreel's lives. Meanwhile, Leila decided to move the family to Bukidnon province, which Cairo hesitantly agrees. Cairo finally confesses his interest for Gavreel. Thereafter, Cairo and Gavreel meet in person for the first time with Pearl's help.

Season 2

Olive Chancellor, a Back Bay Boston spinster and leader of the women's suffrage movement, becomes enamored of Verena Tarrant, an inspirational young speaker, and adopts Verena as her protegée, her friend, and her companion. When Olive's distant relation, the chauvinist Southern lawyer Basil Ransom falls in love with Verena and wishes to marry her—to relegate the young woman to the kitchen and the nursery—Olive and Ransom find themselves competing for Verena's affections. The charismatic Miss Tarrant must then choose whether to get herself to the nunnery of Olive's social cause or submit to the sensual but subservient life promised by Ransom.

The plot involves an alien, Sterilox, from the "Buttless" galaxy being sent to Earth in order to find the perfect woman who will be used to create a race of servants. Sterilox is teleported into the lab of a mad scientist by the name of Dr. Breedlove, who offers Sterilox a number of beautiful women to choose from. The highlight of the movie involves a dance number where three of Breedlove's women gyrate to rock music.

In apartheid-era South Africa, Shack Twala (played by Sidney Poitier), a black revolutionary who had served time on Robben Island, is freed by Rina van Niekerk (Prunella Gee), his Afrikaner defence attorney, because he would be a victim of retroactive legislation. Rina, estranged from her husband Blane (Rutger Hauer), is having a relationship with a British mining engineer, Jim Keogh (Michael Caine), who has attended Shack's trial. Surprised by the verdict, Rina, Jim and Shack go off to celebrate at her house. They are stopped by policemen who are conducting identity document checks and arresting everyone who does not have their papers on them. As Shack has only just been released from prison he will not receive his papers until the next day. The policeman and Shack antagonise each other leading to Shack being handcuffed and arrested. When Rina attempts to pull the policeman off Shack, the policeman hits her, knocking her to the ground. Jim assaults and knocks out the policeman making all three fugitives.

At a police station, a police brigadier (Patrick Allen) is chastised by the racist Major Horn (Nicol Williamson) of the Bureau of State Security (BOSS) for not only arresting Shack but continuing with their random identity checks and arrests that have infuriated world opinion.

The three fugitives are followed and monitored by BOSS to lead them to discover their escape route to Botswana and its facilitators, Indian dentists Anil Mukarjee and Persis Ray; a stash of stolen uncut diamonds being used to fund the Black Congress Party and its leader, a man named Wilby Xaba (Joe De Graft).

Shack learns that the diamonds are hidden at the bottom of a sinkhole. With Shack and Mukarjee's help, Jim retrieves the diamonds from the sinkhole, but Ray, wanting to use the diamonds to emigrate from South Africa, kills Mukarjee and attempts to rob them of the diamonds. Shack fights Ray to protect the diamonds, and in the commotion she falls into the sinkhole and is killed. Diamonds in hand, they have arranged for Blane, a private pilot, to fly them out of the country, which he does after Rina blackmails him by threatening to make public his drug usage and relationships with black women, illegal in South Africa.

The three arrive at the South Africa–Botswana border, where the police, who were there waiting for them, give chase in jeeps. After evading them, they board Blane's aeroplane and are chased by South African Air Force aeroplanes over the border into Botswana. They manage to escape the pursuing aeroplanes and land on a makeshift runway and disembark, with Blane departing in his aeroplane. They make their way to one of the Black Congress Party's camps where they meet many villagers, Wilby Xaba, and armed guards. Suddenly, BOSS agents arrive in a commandeered lorry, kill the guards, and take Wilby prisoner, revealing that he was their real target all along and that the diamonds retrieved from the sinkhole were forgeries. As the BOSS agents attempt to escape with Wilby via helicopter, Shack and the villagers bring down and destroy the helicopter, kill the pilot and all the BOSS agents with the exception of Major Horn, and free Wilby. Horn is disarmed of his pistol and taken prisoner, where he gloats that he will be rescued by the South African Government and that he will continue to pursue them. Jim responds by killing Horn, shooting him with his own pistol.

Kevin Malone has a troubled childhood with history of abuses by his father. To escape the miseries of his real life, he creates a fantasy world called "Fayre Farre" in which he is "The Promised Champion", the hero of the world. Amy, a fourteen-year-old girl, enters this fantasy world one day while she is roller-skating at New York's Central Park. Amy has been running away from her own real-life problems. She has lost her cousin Shelly, and Amy's father wants the family to relocate to Los Angeles as he wants to pursue a career in Hollywood. The anticipation of losing her best friends by moving away depresses Amy. She accidentally enters the make-believe world of Kevin, her neighbor who used to bully her in the past.

In Fayre Farre, The Promised Champion is losing his supremacy, as the evil "White Warrior Anglower" expands his armies to gain control over the kingdom. Through a series of adventures, Kevin wins over the White Warrior Anglower, taking help from Amy and her friends. At the end, Anglower is shown as the reincarnation of Kevin's father and Amy accepts the death of her cousin.

The play is both a philosophic discussion and a comedy, with most of the action occurring in one room in the center of the stage. Occasionally, the actor climbs out of the room and involves audience members in the performance. As the play continues, the line between the actor and the person he portrays (Brian Lipson and Francis Galton, respectively) becomes blurred, until finally the single man is both.

The novel describes a life of boredom and sudden battle action, but the chief conflict is between the traditional western ideas, which saw China in racist and imperialist terms, and emerging nationalism. The protagonist, Motor Machinist Mate First Class Jake Holman, the ''San Pablo's'' chief engineer, teaches his Chinese workers—he refuses to call them "coolies"—to master the ship's machinery by understanding it, not just "monkey see, monkey do". The ship is sent to save the China Light Mission from anti-foreign mobs, setting off a debate: "No man who favors the unequal treaties has the right to call himself a Christian!" Others reply "It is time for the Society for Propagation of the Gospel to step aside. It is time for the Society for Propagation of Cannonballs to bring them to their senses." After the crew burn and destroy a war junk, Holman takes a landing party to rescue the missionaries, including teacher Shirley Eckert whom Jake has met several times and come to love. Holman is pinned down and killed, but Miss Eckert is saved.

A girl named Parin goes to live with her grandfather in Tiese Town after her parents are called overseas on an excavation trip. After being told that there are no other children in Tiese, she finds what looks like another girl who is being threatened by a dog. Parin rescues the girl and discovers that she is actually a which only children can see. To thank Parin, the monster takes her to a crack in the back wall of the town which is revealed to be a portal to the monster world. A group of monsters known as phantoms begin a series of attacks on Monster Village. Parin, who unearths a legendary drill, decides to fight against the phantoms and restore Monster Village.

Mollie Goodhue leads a cheerless, impoverished life, largely because of her stern, miserly father. Mrs. Goodhue is mortally ill, but before dying, she gives the minister, Preacher Bolton, some money with which to buy her daughter the "finery" her father always forbade her.

Mollie is delighted when the minister presents her with a fashionable New York hat she has been longing for, but village gossips misinterpret the minister's intentions and spread malicious rumors. Mollie becomes a social pariah, and her father tears up the beloved hat in a rage.

All ends well, however, after the minister produces a letter from Mollie's mother about the money she left the minister to spend on Mollie. Soon afterwards, he proposes to Mollie, who accepts his offer of marriage.

Carter Webb (Adam Brody) is a young, soft-core writer living in Los Angeles whose young, starlet girlfriend Sofia (Elena Anaya) breaks up with him.

Carter soon after goes to be his supposedly dying grandmother's carer in Michigan, partly to try to heal and also write.

Upon arrival, grandma Phyllis doesn't initially recognize him, but once she does, and lets him in, he sees that she does need help. She hasn't been eating properly nor keeping the house tidy. After a few brief phone calls with his mother and his boss, Carter begins to clean up his grandmother's home.

Meanwhile, across the street, Paige (Makenzie Vega) and Lucy (Kristen Stewart) return home from school. Their mother Sarah (Meg Ryan), calls Lucy to the kitchen and hesitantly tells her that she has found a lump in her breast. Shocked, she wants to go with her mother when she receives her results, but Sarah quickly refuses.

Lucy watches Carter take out the huge bags of trash, snickering. Before he can talk to her, Sarah hears the noise and comes outside with their dog, Bozo, warmly introducing herself. They have a brief talk before Lucy's friends arrive loudly down the road and Sarah goes back inside. Lucy and Carter meet, and she asks Carter not to tell her parents that she smokes.

The next morning, Sarah arrives at Carter's doorstep, bringing cookies and inviting him to walk the dog. They chat about their lives. Carter eventually mentioning Sofia, wondering about his love for her. He believes that love letters he has written for Sofia contain his best work.

Once Sarah returns home, she asks Lucy to invite Carter out to take his mind off Sofia, but she refuses, and her husband agrees. Sarah abruptly leaves the room, frustrated, going to her bathroom to take some painkillers.

The next day, while on a run, Carter has flashbacks of all the memorable times he had with Sofia: their first kiss, and so on, until the breakup. When she utters the word "goodbye" once more, Carter runs into a tree and passes out. When he wakes up, Lucy is standing over him. She gives him a ride home and then invites him to a movie. Carter tells her to ask her parents permission to take him out on a school night, as they normally would not. Lucy, agrees, and goes back inside.

Shortly thereafter, Sarah invites Carter on another walk. This time, she leads him into a small patch of forest. She admits that her husband is having an affair and that she does not love him – at least not the way Carter loved Sofia. They hug and leave to run errands together. They share an awkward moment of both having something to say to the other; Carter begins with the declaration that Sarah's husband is "out of his mind". Sarah smiles, and dismisses what she has to say. Eventually, the two deepen their friendship and later, when she tells him about the cancer, they kiss.

Carter goes to the movies with Lucy and Paige. He finds out that his ex has been dating Colin Farrell. Afterward, Lucy brings Carter to a football field because he was curious about the typical high school experience. There she confesses that she is sort of dating the high school quarterback Gabe, who is arrogant and cocky, but that they have not kissed yet. They also talk about Gabe's best friend Eric who seems to be the opposite of Gabe; soft and shy. She also confesses that she knows her father is having an affair, but believes her mother does not know.

Lucy convinces Carter to come to a party with her for support after discovering that Gabe hooked up with her best friend. During the party, Gabe tries to fight him, but Eric steps in saying that Gabe is the one who screwed up. After the party, Carter and Lucy share a kiss which Sarah sees. She tells Carter to leave Lucy alone and to never speak to them again. Some days later, he leaves her a letter.

Lucy goes to see Carter, who tells her that he is not the guy for her and that if she thought about it, she would realize who is. Sarah gets her cancer treatments and finds out that everything will be all right. Sarah and Lucy talk and start to heal their relationship. As Lucy drives home from the hospital, she stops to see Eric who she realizes is ''the'' guy. Sarah finally reads Carter's letter which, though similar to a love letter, is more of a "thank you" note.

Carter comes downstairs to find his grandmother has died but does not immediately call hospice. Instead, he goes outside for some air and sees Sarah. She apologizes and they are able to end their friendship on good terms.

The story closes with Carter back in LA at the diner where Sofia broke up with him. He is writing a script about his grandmother. Talking to the waitress he seems to be getting on with his life without Sofia.

Bir (Dayahang Rai) and Bikram (Anoop Bikram Shahi) are two best friend, but they have different thoughts about what they are going to be when they are getting older.

Bir tries to help Bikram when Bikram doesn't have any money to educate himself but they separate from each other when they are six years old but Bir gives him a one-rupee coin which has text saying "Bir Bikram".

After parting, Bir becomes a country boy (farmer) but Bikram becomes a teacher with a degree in Kathmandu. After a while Bikram returns to see Bir in the village but both don't recognize each other. But Bikram decides to get him a girlfriend which Bir loves.

Joon (Deeya Pun) and Bir (Dayahang Rai) love each other but Bir doesn't express his feeling to Joon because he had promised Bikram he will keep Joon safe. But Joon had forgotten everything about Bikram since he had left her when she was young. When Bikram arrives at the villages he decides to do something nice for him to get Joon and Bir together. When trying to get them each other Bikram has to become a villain of Bir but he finally unites them.

Aaitey (Arpan Thapa) is the richest guy on the village and he loves Joon, but Joon doesn't like Aaitey. Aaitey brings a road to the village which got him a lot of money from people and respect.

Man Bahadur Bishwokarma also known as Maney (Najir Hussain) is a storyteller of the village he tells everyone what happening to each other but they have pay him to know the full story. But he has a pregnant sister who isn't accepted by the society in the village but Bir settles the controversy about his sister.

At the middle of movie Bir's mother dies; Bir gets so upset about this he goes every where to find money to pay for her funeral then he decides to sell a donkey which had been with him since he was 18.

Aaitey (Arpan Thapa) approaches Joon's father for an Arranged marriage but he gets denied by Joon but her father accepts because he wants to see his daughter at better place because he is the wealthy person on the village and pays Joon's father million rupees and promises to keep her as queen, but she decides to run away with Bir. While she was with Bir, Aaitey attacks Bir nearly leading to his death but Bikram saves him .

Jesse Lujack (Richard Gere) is a cocky, hedonistic drifter, and small time car thief, in Las Vegas. He’s obsessed with ''Silver Surfer'' comic books, the rock and roll music of Jerry Lee Lewis, and Monica Poiccard (Valérie Kaprisky), a UCLA architecture undergraduate whom he knows only from a weekend fling while she visited Vegas.

Leaving Las Vegas, Lujack steals a Porsche, intending to drive to Los Angeles. As he speeds down the highway and looks through the owner's possessions, Lujack discovers a handgun in the vehicle's glovebox, which he briefly toys with. He comes upon a highway construction roadblock and evades it. Seeing his reckless driving, a Patrolman gives chase and the fleeing Lujack runs off the road and becomes stuck. When the Officer spotlights him and orders him to step away from the car, Lujack impulsively grabs the gun, and blindly shoots through the back window of the car, inadvertently mortally wounding the Patrolman. The remorseful Lujack pads the dying Officers head with his coat, and flees on foot. Arriving in Los Angeles, Lujack finds his picture splashed all over the newspaper and TV news as the "cop killer."

On the run, but unable to immediately leave LA while arranging to get paid for a previous car theft, under the alias of Jack Burns, Lujack breaks into Monica's apartment and waits for her to return home. Monica discovers him naked in her bed and initially declines his advances but later has sex with him in the shower. Lujack attempts to convince Monica to abscond to Mexico with him. However, Monica is a star architectural student with big plans and reluctant. Lujack shows up at her college and intrudes on her presentation of a project to her professors, initially exasperating her, but he continues to pursue her, showing up in various stolen cars to offer her rides. He eventually wears down her defenses and she succumbs to his charms once again, although still ambivalent to his insistence on accompanying him to Mexico.

After Lujack's photograph appears in the newspaper, he is recognized on the street right after dropping Monica off at a groundbreaking ceremony downtown. The police find Monica and question her on the street but Monica, once again under Jesse’s spell, refuses to turn him in. When the police start following her right before Lujack comes back to pick her up, she finally accepts his offer to flee to Mexico together.

On the way out of LA, Lujack and Monica stop in order for Jesse to repair his latest stolen car. Monica walks to a nearby store and finds that her picture is on the front page of the national newspaper alongside Lujack's. Realizing the impossibility of her romantic fantasy, Monica phones the police, but then returns to tell Lujack she did so. Jesse asks her if she loves him, and she says no. He laughs and says “liar”. He then runs up the road to meet an accomplice he has arranged to bring his payment for the previous car theft, who throws a gun to him as well, which Lujack refuses and allows to drop to the street. The police corner him in the road where Lujack sings "Breathless" to Monica while dancing around the gun at his feet. The film ends in a freeze-frame of Jesse scooping up the gun and turning to face the police.

Brandon Craig is a man who is dating three women at the same time. He met all three girls in one night. One is his boss, Monique, and she will destroy his career if he breaks up with her. Another is Wendy, a tough undercover cop, who will beat him up if he breaks up with her. The third is Franki, the host of Missileblast (a parody of Rocketboom), who is a manic depressant who will act upon her suicidal tendencies if Brandon breaks up with her.

Brittney Havers, a South Florida high school senior, lives with her wealthy stepfather, Niles Dunlap, after her mother ran her car off the road in "Gator Alley" and was presumably eaten by alligators a year earlier. When Dunlap is killed in a private plane crash, his will calls for Brittney to receive a small stipend until she finishes college, after which she will receive only $25,000 a year for life from the estate. The rest of Dunlap's assets, totaling $70 million, are to be left to a corporate trust, unless a blood heir can be found.

Brittney's brash, relatively poor classmate Maya King suddenly claims to be Dunlap's illegitimate daughter as the result of her mother's extramarital affair. She is ordered by a judge to submit to a DNA test, the result of which proves she is Dunlap's child.

At the Dunlap home, Brittney hears a noise on her way to the wine cellar but it turns out to just be rats. Suddenly Maya appears and the girls reveal they are lovers before being joined by Dr. Julian Haynes, who had arranged the DNA test. The trio are in cahoots, running a scam to secure and share Dunlap's fortune.

Insurance investigator Terence Bridge, investigating the circumstances of the plane crash, finds out from Dunlap's medical records that Dunlap had scarlet fever as a child, one of the side effects of which can be sterility, and asks Dr. Haynes how Dunlap could have fathered a child. Dr. Haynes gets nervous about the plot unraveling and contacts Maya. He agrees to meet her and Brittney that night at the docks, where Maya shoots him. The two girls dispose of his body in Gator Alley.

After Bridge learns the entire affair was planned, he shows up at the Dunlap home and demands half the money in return for not going to the police. Brittney, refusing to give up any of the money, gets a gun and points it at Bridge, but instead kills Maya. She tells Bridge that he has to earn his half. He loads Maya's body into the trunk of his car and he and Brittney drive off to dispose of it.

When they stop at a traffic light, Brittney gets out of the car and walks away as a police car pulls up behind them. Bridge can do nothing but drive away when the traffic light turns green and the police car honks at him to get moving. Brittney phones in an anonymous tip that Bridge's car trunk has Maya's body in it. He is soon arrested and jailed. A videotape from the Dunlap home security system shows Bridge demanding half of the inheritance money from Brittney and Maya.

Later, Brittney flies off in a private plane with the very much alive Dunlap, who had faked his own death to escape prosecution for misappropriating millions of dollars of corporate funds to pay his gambling debts, and also to avoid the Cuban gambler Cicatriz, to whom he still owed millions. Brittney and Dunlap don parachutes, planning to bail out over swampland and disappear together. As Dunlap is poised to bail out, Brittney reveals that she packed his chute with newspaper and pushes him from the plane to his death. She then bails out, landing safely in the swamp, where her mother, also very much alive, is waiting for her in a swamp boat.

It is revealed that Brittney and her mother orchestrated everything, including the deaths of Brittney's co-conspirators, in order to steal Dunlap's fortune, and they relax in the sun on a tropical island. Brittney comes down the stairs of their villa overlooking the ocean with two drinks and hands one to her mother. As Brittney watches intently, her mother takes a sip and remarks that the drink is strong. Brittney replies, with a wry smile, "They do make them strong here, don't they?" With that, it is left to the audience to decide whether or not Brittney has poisoned the drink.

The film is set at a United States Army base in Kentucky at the end of 1944, during World War II. The protagonists are First Sergeant Vic Puccinelli and Private First Class Alvin Korwin, who were partners in a nightclub song-and-dance act before joining the Army.

Puccinelli wants to be transferred from his dull job to active duty overseas, but is refused transfer and is to be promoted to Warrant Officer. Korwin wants a pass to see his wife and new baby. In addition, they have to rehearse for the base talent show and avoid the wrath of Alvin's platoon sergeant, Sergeant McVey.

Along the way they both sing a few songs, and they do an impression of Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald by recreating a scene from ''Going My Way'' (1944) for the talent show. Further complications include a Post Exchange worker who is pregnant, a company commander who gets all his information from his wife, a scheming supply sergeant, and a defective Coca-Cola machine.

The eponymous heroine, Isabel Thorne, is a young woman, half British, half Italian, who works for the Italian Secret Service. She has been commissioned to bring about the signing of a secret contract, in the capital of the enemy, by representatives of all countries involved, both European and American. Her brother, an inventor, has devised a secret weapon by which missiles can be fired from submarines (see also depth charge) which will, it is hoped, secure military domination over the rest of the world.

Members of the U.S. Secret Service, who have been alerted, are assigned to prevent the signing of this "Latin compact" and bring to justice those involved who have no diplomatic immunity. One young representative named Grimm, however, although absolutely loyal to his government, falls in love with the beautiful foreign agent, Thorne.

In the end Thorne, who reciprocates her admirer's love, becomes estranged from her employer, the Italian government, because she does not want Grimm, who has been captured by the conspirators and knows all their secrets, to be murdered. Stripped of all her power and possessions, she unites with him at the end of the novel, no longer elusive.

''Elusive Isabel'' is now in the public domain.

Junior Jackson is the nerdy son of a former All-American football hero, Jarring Jack Jackson. His mother is another former star athlete, having been a champion Olympic swimmer. Junior is something of a disappointment to his father, who has a difficult time understanding how two athletes could produce such a weakling.

Junior is more interested in animal husbandry than sports, but his father has other plans. In exchange for free tuition to college, Bill Baker makes a deal with Jarring Jack to turn his son into a football star.

Junior somehow makes the team, in addition to falling for beautiful co-ed Terry Howard. He is too shy to talk to her, however, so she winds up falling for Bill. Some misadventures follow, including Junior scoring a touchdown—for the opposite team.

To keep up the ruse (and free education), Bill and Terry continue to support Junior and build his new-found confidence. Junior confides to Bill that he intends to marry Terry, so a guilt-ridden Bill gets drunk and makes a scene at Terry's dorm. As a result, he is expelled.

Junior, finding out the truth about Bill and Terry, is determined to make things right. He goes on to win the big game single-handedly and lives up to his father's expectations, who proudly exclaims, "That's my boy!"

''King of Thorn'' is a science fiction survivor drama. After a viral infection known as the Medusa virus lands in Siberia and spreads contagiously throughout Earth, 160 humans are chosen as candidates to experiment a cure against the virus by an organization called Venus Gate. As the story begins, Kasumi is selected as one of the 160 people for the experiment. She is forced to enter treatment and cold sleep without her twin sister Shizuku, whom she cares much about.

However, 48 hours later, some of those put in hibernation abruptly woke up, only to find the facility where they were supposed to be treated in a total state of decay, invaded by a lush jungles of trees and especially strange vines covered in thorns, which appear to have something of a mind on their own. Not only that, but the survivors soon discover that the entire ruin is filled with strange, dinosaur-like creatures and other monstrous aberrations of nature. Thinking that a great amount of time passed since their arrival on the island, soon the survivors discover not only that their sleep was indeed too short to label such dramatic changes as natural occurrence, but also that the situation in and of itself is far greater than they could imagine.

The Medusa Virus

One pivotal role in the series is that covered by the Medusa virus, a mortal disease so named after the Medusa from Greek Mythology, the Gorgon whose eyesight could turn anyone and anything into stone at a mere glance. The virus itself is extremely virulent, infecting its victims' cells and causing seizures while drying up the body, turning the infected into a solid, stone-like corpse.

While perceived as a terrible malady by the world, in reality the Medusa virus is not a virus at all, being a shapeless presence brought to Earth from outer space. It landed in Siberia during a meteor shower, by chance near a young boy and his pet deer, enough to instantly infect both him and his animal. Unknowingly bringing the concentrated thing to his home, he infected his whole family and his sister Alice. She unknowingly uncovered the true nature of Medusa when her imaginary friend, a cat-boy hybrid, came to life by erupting from her back. Terrified by the death of her family and the fact that the newborn creature devoured her brother's deer, she trapped it in her house and set it on fire, thus spreading Medusa all over the world through the fire's smoke.

It was then that the people affiliated with Venus Gate, a religious sect, showed themselves and approached Alice, believing her ability to turn imagination into reality to be a gift from the heavens. Experimenting on her and Medusa, during that time they employed a hacker named Zeus as their security specialist, though in doing so they doomed themselves when he, pursuing his crazy dreams, developed an artificial way to force dreams into suitable hosts and, thus, fabricate mind-created realities at will to accomplish his plan to force the world into a primal ''survival game'' to amuse himself.

Hologram engineer Lewis Zimmerman comes to Deep Space Nine with the intent of using Dr. Bashir's likeness as a template for a holographic program designed to provide medical treatment. In order to make the program as robust as possible, Zimmerman needs a complete personality profile on Bashir. Against Bashir's wishes, Zimmerman invites Julian's estranged parents, Amsha and Richard Bashir, to the station to be interviewed.

Julian is embarrassed by his father's tendency toward self-aggrandizement. For example, Richard references a time he "ran shuttles" when, in fact, he was merely a steward and was fired shortly into his career. Julian implores his parents not to reveal to Zimmerman anything about a secret from his childhood, and they are angered that he thinks they would be so sloppy.

Later, his parents go to the infirmary to try to assuage their son's fears, stating emphatically that they will not tell Zimmerman that they had Julian illegally genetically modified when he was a child. However, they are unaware that they are speaking to Zimmerman's new hologram, rather than to their son. Zimmerman and Chief O'Brien are in the next room and hear everything they say.

O'Brien informs Julian about what he heard. Julian is furious, but confirms that he was genetically modified as a child. He was a poor student, apparently had a learning disability, and seemed destined for failure; his parents took him for DNA resequencing, greatly improving his intelligence and his physicality. With the secret out, Bashir sees no alternative but to resign from Starfleet; genetically modified individuals are banned from Starfleet and from practicing medicine.

Before Bashir can tender his resignation, his parents take matters into their own hands. Richard strikes a deal with the Judge Advocate General: Richard will spend two years in a minimum security prison for illegal genetic engineering, and Julian is allowed to retain his commission and his medical license. Julian makes some peace with his parents as they depart for Earth, grateful for his father's sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman pursues Dabo girl Leeta's affections, asking her to accompany him back to Jupiter Station. Shy Rom is too scared to say anything to convince her to stay, although Leeta would welcome any reason to stay with him. She is on the verge of leaving with Zimmerman when Rom careens around the corner and gives her the long-awaited reason to stay: "I love you." Leeta reciprocates, and agrees to stay.

Following the First World War, Lamont Cranston sets himself up as a drug kingpin and warlord in Tibet. The Tulku, a holy man who exhibits otherworldly powers, abducts Cranston and offers him a chance to become a force for good. Cranston initially refuses and is attacked by the Tulku's Phurba, a mystical flying dagger. Ultimately, Cranston becomes the Tulku's student and learns how to hypnotize others and bend their perceptions so that he becomes invisible, save for his shadow.

Cranston returns to New York City seven years later and resumes his former life as a wealthy playboy, while secretly operating as The Shadow—a vigilante who terrorizes the city's underworld. He recruits some of those he saves from criminals to act as his agents, providing him with information and specialist knowledge. His identity is largely unknown, especially to his Uncle Wainwright, who happens to be the Police Commissioner of New York, who he has to regularly hypnotize in order to keep the police from interfering with him. Cranston's secret identity is endangered upon meeting Margo Lane, a socialite who is also telepathic.

Shiwan Khan, a powerful rogue protégé of the Tulku, arrives in New York inside Genghis Khan's sarcophagus. As Khan's last descendant, Shiwan plans to fulfill his ancestor's ambitions of world domination. He proposes an alliance to Cranston, who refuses. After acquiring a rare coin from Khan, Cranston learns that it is made of bronzium, a metal that could be used for nuclear fission, and that Margo's father Reinhardt—a scientist working on energy research for the War Department—has become uncharacteristically reclusive and aloof. Cranston deduces that Khan has compelled Reinhardt to create an atomic bomb.

Khan hypnotizes Margo and commands her to kill The Shadow. Cranston breaks Khan's hypnotic hold on her, but she learns his secret identity. Reinhardt's assistant Farley Claymore allies with Khan to produce a working bomb, which Khan uses to hold New York at ransom. The Shadow eventually discovers Khan's location: the luxurious Hotel Monolith, a building that Khan has rendered forgotten and invisible to the city's inhabitants. Entering the hotel for a showdown with Khan, The Shadow is subdued by the Phurba before he turns it against Khan, disrupting Khan's hypnotic control over Reinhardt and the city. While Margo and Reinhardt disarm the bomb, The Shadow pursues Khan through the hotel and defeats him by hurling a broken shard of glass into his frontal lobe.

Khan awakens in the padded cell of a mental hospital. One of the doctors tells Khan that they were able to save his life by removing a part of his brain, nullifying Khan's psychic abilities. Cranston and Margo begin a relationship and join forces to fight the criminal underworld.

Sheriff Bull Harper (George Mathews) has captured and is taking "Comanche" Todd (Richard Widmark), a white man who has lived most of his life among the Indians, to be tried for the murder of Harper's three brothers.

The pair join a wagon train led by Colonel Normand (Douglas Kennedy). Jenny's young brother Billy is intrigued by Todd, who appreciates the boy's good-hearted attention.

Harper's brutal treatment of Todd causes friction with some members of the wagon train. When the sheriff beats a lad for giving Todd a pipe to smoke, Todd takes advantage of the distraction to kill his tormentor with a dropped axe.

That night, while six of the young people sneak away for a late night swim, Apaches kill everyone else, except Todd, who miraculously survives when the wagon to which he is handcuffed is pushed off a cliff. The Apaches are gathering to avenge the massacre of their own women and children by whites. It is up to Todd to lead the survivors to safety, despite the distrust of some of them. Along the way, he and Jenny (Felicia Farr) fall in love. The group manages to travel safely for five days, avoiding a large nearby Apache war party.

Todd then notices that a small U.S. cavalry detachment has appeared and the Indians have broken camp, concealing themselves. Todd saves all from an ambush, but he is recognized by the army and brought to trial. He reveals that the Harpers murdered his family. After hearing from Jenny and others about how Todd saved them all, General Howard takes pity on him and places him in the permanent "custody" of Jenny and Billy.

; Act I Stunt pilot Bill Kelly lies face down on the 1933 Atlantic City shore, his flight jacket torn. He manages to stand up, looking at a raffle ticket he holds in his hand and then to the sky, and exclaims, "Alright! I understand! I've got three weeks! Three weeks!" before hurrying off.

Aging celebrity Rita Racine, once famously known as 'Lindy's Lovebird' for being the first woman to kiss Lindbergh when he arrived home from France, comes on the stage and waits for her partner so she can enter the dance marathon on the Steel Pier. Bill appears and watches her for a moment, but as soon as she drops her suitcase, he hurries down to help her pick up her things and seizes the moment to talk with her. He asks if she has a partner yet and reluctantly walks away when she says she does. Alone, Rita rejoices the fact that this will be her last marathon and she will finally be able to return home ("Willing to Ride"). After her song, Rita sees that the rest of the contestants are making their way into the ballroom and follows them inside with hopes of finding her partner there.

Inside, emcee Mick Hamilton gets the marathon underway ("Everybody Dance"). The rules: contestants must dance for forty-five minutes every hour, followed by a fifteen-minute break; if they fall, collapse, or for any reason stop dancing, they will be disqualified. Realizing at the last minute that her partner is a no-show, Rita is forced to accept Bill's offer and quickly discovers he has two left feet. He tells Rita about his daredevil stunts at the Trenton Air Show where he crashed his plane but bought the winning raffle ticket for a kiss and a dance from 'Lindy's Lovebird'. In song, he tells her how this is his "Second Chance".

During the first fifteen-minute break, other partners introduce themselves: Shelby Stevens, a former cook in a lumber camp who knows how to get around, and harmonica virtuoso Luke Adams; struggling young newlyweds from Utah, Precious and Happy McGuire; Olympic wrestler Johnny Adel and one-time socialite Dora Foster; and vaudeville brother-and-sister team Bette and Buddy Becker. While the contestants meet one another, Rita sneaks off to Mick, where it is revealed that he and she are secretly married. Their scheme: Mick makes sure she wins, they take the prize money, and move on to the next town. Mick promises her that this marathon will be the last, but as she leaves to get ready for the next hour, he confides in his sidekick, Mr. Walker, that this, too, is a trick and there are many more marathons ahead ("A Powerful Thing").

As time passes, the contestants begin dropping off from exhaustion. Mick tries to bring publicity to the marathon, first showcasing Rita's fame ("Dance With Me/The Last Girl"), then Shelby's vocal talents ("Everybody's Girl"), and finally decides publicize the romance between Bill and Rita and plans a pretend dance floor wedding, insisting that Rita tell Bill in spite of her misgivings. After the "Two Step", Rita goes to tell Bill the plan and finds him on the boardwalk. After joking about Bill's inability to swim ("Wet"), Rita kisses Bill and quickly retreats, realizing that she's falling for him.

Remembering that she didn't get the chance to tell Bill of Mick's plan, Rita gets frightened as Mick brings Bill on stage to make the announcement himself on the nightly radio broadcast, but Bill proposes anyway, unprompted by either. In celebration, Mick has Rita sing her signature tune ("Lovebird") as the scene flashes back to her act at the Trenton Air Show where Bill first saw her. The scene shifts back to the Steel Pier where, in order to knock out some of the competition, Mick announces that it's time to run "The Sprints". Rita falls, but Bill somehow manages to stop and rewind time so that she won't be disqualified before his 'time is up'. On her second chance, she doesn't fall and the marathon continues.

; Act II As the publicity stunt wedding approaches, Rita is drawn even closer to Bill. During a fifteen-minute nap, she dreams of him taking her on an unworldly airplane ride ("Leave the World Behind"). Once she wakes, it is discovered that Happy has dropped out of the contest, tired of the marathon lifestyle and hoping to go back to Utah with Precious. Precious, however, has other grander plans for herself and switches partners to remain in the contest in hopes that she will have a chance for some limelight. Shelby, although much older than Happy, realizes that she's fallen in love with him and offers to go home with him in Precious' place ("Somebody Older"), but he declines, knowing that it would never work.

On the night of the phoney wedding night, Mick takes Rita up to the roof to show her the lines of people flocking to buy tickets. Suspecting her growing feeling for Bill, Mick insists that she get him to drop out as soon as the wedding's over, and leaves. As Rita consoles herself that this marathon-business will all be over shortly, Precious comes looking for Mick and confesses to Rita that she had had an affair with him in hopes of having some showcase time in the marathon. Rita's world is quickly falling apart ("Running in Place").

At the circus-like, cellophane-themed wedding, Mick features Precious in the ceremony as the personification of Fralinger's salt water taffy in return for her personal favors ("Two Little Words"). For the titillation of the crowd, Rita and Bill are given their fifteen-minute break in a honeymoon tent on the dance floor, one Rita knows can be ripped away at any moment. When she wishes that she and Bill could just escape, Bill offers to take her away in his plane, telling her that anything can happen if you believe in your dreams ("First You Dream"). But as he explains to Rita that his three weeks are finally up, the tent is ripped away and the hurt and confused Rita runs from the dance floor, leaving an even more hurt Bill.

Mick tries to force Rita back on to the dance floor to finish the marathon with another partner, but she is determined to go home. Mick informs her that he sold the house a long time ago. As she packs to leave, Mick furiously reminds her of everything he has done for her ("Steel Pier"). He grabs the Air Show raffle ticket Bill had given her out of her hand and wonders why she would still be thinking about how her act at Trenton had failed after some 'hot-dog pilot' got himself killed in a crash. Suddenly everything comes clear to Rita as she realizes that she had been dancing and falling in love with a man who was only with her on three weeks of borrowed time. As she realizes what a loveless trap her life with Mick has been, the world around her fades away and Bill appears ("Steel Pier (reprise)"). He says he's just a guy who wanted a second chance, but he could no longer stay - he only had three weeks, but she has a lifetime. He asks her at last for the dance he won in the raffle, and once the transient moment ends, he urges to take a chance on life ("Final Dance"). Exhausted, Rita picks up her suitcase and, with a triumphant sense of hope and determination, leaves the marathon behind forever.

The story begins with Lyle and Mrs. Primm going shopping and running into their neighbor, Mr. Grumps. The grouchy Mr. Grumps finds Lyle a nuisance because Lyle scares his cat, Loretta, and he has him thrown in the zoo. When Lyle is freed by his old performing partner Mr. Valenti, they go back to the house on 88th Street, where they find Mr. Grumps' house on fire. Lyle rescues Mr. Grumps, is declared a hero, and thus is allowed to stay with the Primms.

Bill Dancer and his young companion Curly Sue are the archetypal homeless folks with hearts of gold. Their scams are aimed not at turning a profit, but at getting enough to eat. One night, while sleeping at a shelter, Sue's tin ring, which was left to her by her late mother, is stolen and pawned by a drifter.

After moving from Detroit to Chicago, the duo succeed in conning a rich divorce lawyer named Grey Ellison into believing she backed her Mercedes into Bill, in hopes of a free meal. When Grey accidentally collides with Bill for real the following night, she insists on putting the two up for the night, even over the objections of her snotty fiancé Walker McCormick. After a confrontation with Bill exposing the truth of the con, Bill admits the truth and tells Grey it's time for him and Sue to be moving on. Thinking Bill has been abusing Sue by using her in his cons and scams, Grey demands that Sue stays with her when Bill leaves, but this only angers Bill, who tells Grey he will not leave Sue. He tells Grey that after all the years he looked after her, if he gave up Sue now, people would make fun of her for being on welfare. He tells Grey he cares about Sue genuinely, and that his cons are his only means to provide for her. Grey lets them stay for as long as they need when she understands the precarious position the homeless pair are in.

One night, Bill tells Grey he is not Sue's father, and how he met Sue's mother one night in Florida. He also tells Grey after Sue's mother died, Bill raised her himself, growing to love her like his own. Thus, when they lost their home and money, Bill could not find it in his heart to put Sue in an orphanage, so he took her with him. However, when it becomes apparent that Sue is completely unable to read or write (despite spelling a difficult word earlier), Grey begins to push even harder for Bill to leave Sue with her.

Eventually, Bill realizes this is where Sue belongs in a home, cared for by someone who can give her the advantages his homeless, nomadic existence lacks. Walker eventually, out of spite, turns them in and Sue gets put into welfare, while Bill is arrested because of never actually having had custody of the child. While in jail, Bill encounters the drifter who stole Sue's ring, and forces him to reveal what he did with it. After this happens, Grey arrives to get Bill out of jail, and has also gotten Sue out of welfare.

After learning that the drifter took the ring to a pawn shop and sold it, Bill, now knowing where it is, goes there and buys it back after his release. Sue and Grey return to their apartment, and discover the ring, which Sue takes as a sign that Bill has decided the time has come for the two to part ways, leaving her with Grey. However, the ring is accompanied by a note saying he is in the living room. Sue is happy to find Bill, realizing the ring was actually a sign that he is going to give up his old lifestyle so he can stay with Sue and pursue a romance with Grey.

The pair legally adopt Sue, and Grey and Bill are subsequently married. The film ends with Grey and Bill dropping Sue off on her first day of school.

Book One

The novel begins by following the story of Isak, a Norwegian man, who finally settled upon a patch of land which he deemed fit for farming. He began creating earthen sheds in which he housed several goats obtained from the village yonder. Isak asked passing by Lapps, nomadic indigenous people, to tell women that he is in need of help on his farm. Eventually, a “big, brown-eyed girl, full-built and coarse” with a harelip named Inger, arrived at the house and settled in. Inger had her first child which was a son named Eleseus. She then had another son named Sivert.

The Lensmand Geissler came by their farm one day informing them that they were on States land and assisting them in purchasing it. They named the farm Sellanraa. Soon after, Geissler was discharged from his position as Lensmand after a sharp reprimand from his superior and was subsequently replaced with Lensmand Heyerdahl. One day while Isak had left the farm to sell a bull in the village, Inger gave birth to a child and had killed it upon seeing that it had a harelip and would undergo the inevitable suffering in life she herself had experienced. One day, Oline, Inger's relative, visited the farm and figured out that Inger had killed a child. The news of the infanticide now spreading. One October day, the Lensmand and a man showed up at their doorstep to investigate and find evidence pertaining to the crime. Oline had agreed to serve at the farm while Inger was serving her eight-year sentence in prison.

Geissler returned one day, interested in prospective copper mining grounds near Sellanraa. Apparently, Geissler did not come to the farm just for the ore, but he also intended on planning to have Inger released from prison as soon as possible.

Brede Olsen, the Lensmand's assistant, had now settled on the land halfway between Sellanraa and the village. The farm of his was named Breidablik. One day, people came out to mark the route for a telegraph line that was to run near Isak's farm. Meanwhile, Inger had given birth to another baby girl, Leopoldine, at the prison. The following day, Geissler returned to Sellanraa. He first addressed the matter of the copper tract. He purchased the land for 200 daler from Isak, money unheard of to him until this day. Geissler also spoke of Inger and how he submitted a report to the King and the Governor regarding the case asking for her release. Inger was to be released early. Isak was stupefied by the generosity of Geissler.

Isak drove down to the village to meet Inger. Great changes had occurred while Inger was away. No longer had she the harelip but merely a scar on her face. And now she was with the daughter Isak had not yet met, Leopoldine. When one of the telegraph engineers stopped at Isak's house, a job was offered to Eleseus to work under his care in the village. Eleseus went to work in town.

A new settler arrived in between Sellanraa and Breidablik, his name was Axel Ström. He named his farm Maaneland. Axel Ström was offered by Brede to have his daughter Barbro assist him at his place.

Inger once again gave birth to a daughter named Rebecca. When Oline arrived one day, she told the family that Uncle Sivert, the one who Sivert was named after, had fallen terribly ill. It was agreed upon that Sivert was to inherit the big fortune which his uncle was to leave behind. Eventually, Uncle Sivert died and later, the fortune was to be determined.

Geissler and a few prospective mining buyers arrived at the farm by horse one day. Geissler acted as Isak's advocate and sold the section of Isak's land for four thousand Kroner. Isak marvels at how much Geissler has assisted him in making money.

News arrived that Breidablik was going to be sold. The real reason Brede was selling his place was because there were some money issues associated with the banks and stores at the village, but they made it seem as though he was selling the place on his own freewill in order to avoid disgrace.

The last part of Book One tells of Isak obtaining another wonder for his farm, this time, a mowing machine. He attempts to assemble it but fails and requires Eleseus’ reading skills to help him fix it. People from all over assemble to witness this luxury in use.

Book Two

After the officials went through the financial books, it was discovered to the shock of the family that Uncle Sivert had nothing left of his fortune.

Isak went to the auction of Breidablik. Axel, to the surprise of everyone, had purchased the farm. When asked, he said that he was buying it on someone else's behalf. Meanwhile, Eleseus had left the farm and headed back to town for a job which was no longer available for him.

On the third of September, Axel could not find Barbro anywhere. He searched around and eventually finds her on the banks of a stream. He wonders what has happened the child Barbro was pregnant with. According to her, she had been near the stream collecting juniper twigs for cleaning buckets when suddenly, she slipped into the river at the same time she was to give birth. It was too late as the baby had already succumbed to drowning. Axel went to look for the infant and found it under a heap of moss and twigs wrapped in a cloth. He ran home for a shovel to bury the body properly. Axel and Barbro argued as she continued to claim that the baby drowned when she accidentally slipped into the water. Barbro, in the heat of the argument, confessed that she had once killed another baby and threw it off a boat. That winter, Barbro went to the village to visit the dentist. Axel had no faith in her returning and as he predicted, she had gone to Bergen, another large city, to stay.

One day, Axel was going out to the forest to fell some trees when he sees Brede going up the hill, most likely on an errand to fix something relating to the telegraph line. Axel started chopping down a tree when suddenly, his foot slipped into a cleft in a stone and the tree came crashing down on him. There was a blizzard that day and night was setting in. Axel struggled for hours trying to free himself but was not able to reach for the axe lying on the ground to cut his way out. Axel yelled to Brede hoping that he would be returning from his errand soon. Surely enough, after a few hours, Brede came by but simply ignored him pretending that he was unaware of the situation. He walked on and left Axel to die. When all hope was lost, Oline found Axel. She freed him and helped him return home. On their way back, they encountered Brede who claimed that when he encountered Axel on the ground, he showed no signs of needing help or that anything was wrong.

Next day, the news reported that there was a new settler arriving below Maaneland. He was apparently very rich and was going to open a store at the location. His name was Aronson and he called his place Storborg. Spring arrived and engineers and workmen from Sweden began work on the mine. Storborg was prospering with all of these workers buying things at his trading post. The work on the mine continues but there was news that the yield of ore was not as good as promised. As expected, the commotion at the mine started to subside and workers were being dismissed. Now that the mine had been deemed fruitless, the engineer wanted to purchase the land south of the water owned by Geissler. Geissler anticipated that this would happen and so he offered the land at an exorbitant price showing that he had nothing to lose if they did not want to buy it.

Eventually, the ordeal with Barbro was discovered and she was arrested in Bergen, the village where she was staying. Now the time had come for Barbro and Axel's trial to take place. Amazingly, the Lensmand's wife, Mrs. Heyerdahl, had stepped up for Barbro by giving a great, eloquent speech that moved everyone. The jury was obviously affected by this speech and Barbro and Axel were fully pardoned. Mrs. Heyerdahl had then gotten Barbro to come work for her.

Meanwhile, Aronsen was furious that Geissler was refusing to sell his tract of land to the mining company. His trading business depended on a lot of foot traffic but since there was no more, there were no more customers. Geissler was taking revenge on the village for removing him as Lensmand. The entire fate and economy of the district hinged on whether he would sell the land. Eventually, Aronsen, not able to handle it anymore, sold his place to Eleseus who decided that he become a farmer. Geissler had finally sold his land and the mine was operational again. Later, Aronsen returned to buy back the farm from Eleseus but to no avail.

Barbro was evicted from Mrs. Heyerdahl's house after an argument in which Mrs. Heyerdahl discovered that Barbro was often sneaking out to celebrations when she was supposed to be working. Mrs. Heyerdahl was outraged that this was what she got after saving Barbro from the clutches of the law. Barbro daringly returned to Axel but unfortunately, Oline had taken her place in the household while she was away. Oline really does not want to leave the place and asked Axel to call for the doctor as she was not feeling well one night. She criticizes them for trying to evict such a poor, ill woman. Oline had died that night.

When Eleseus returned home, he talked privately with Sivert telling him his big plans - he was going to start a new life in America. Sivert was shocked and advised his brother not to go but seeing that this was futile, he gave him 25 kroner for his journey. Eleseus left that day on a boat and never came back. What was once barren land is now rich of settlers, all started from the one pioneer Isak.

Ambitious and vivacious Lily Krenshka is new in town and is arrested for working at a clip joint. She is told by the police to take the next bus out of town. Krenshka asks photographer Max West to not print her arrest photo. He offers to pay her for swimsuit poses and, never one to overlook an opportunity, she learns the art of photography from him. After a while, she sets out for New York to start a new career, changing her name to Lila Crane at West's suggestion.

A chance meeting with reporter Russ Bassett leads to an introduction to nightclub owner Les Bauer, who employs Lila as a 'flash girl' to take pictures at the club. A newspaper gossip-columnist, Roy Carver, surreptitiously offers to pay her $5 for candid shots of important guests. She negotiates to $10 and agrees.

After Crane gets a photo of Horace Sutherland, an attorney known for his gangster clientele, together with his mistress, Crane essentially extorts him for a job at Club Coco, a new fancy nightclub with 'more important' patrons.

After flattering high-society maven Mrs. Payton Grange, a former client of West, with a rare good photo, Crane's exclusive makes a name for her as a photographer. She quickly becomes well-known and well-paid, acquiring her own clients and contracts, and resisting Russ Bassett's offer to get her a steady, respectable job with his news-agency employer. She's so busy, she brings in West to be her assistant. She and Bassett develop a relationship, but he's not happy about her drive for fame and money, seemingly at all costs. Lila appears on an interview on KXIW-TV (an unlikely call sign for a New York City broadcaster, as all East Coast call signs begin with W) Channel 14.

Things shortly begin go downhill. Bassett plans to leave for Europe after she rejects his proposal of marriage. One evening, Grange dies on the dance floor at Club Coco. A picture Crane managed to take of her collapsing is stolen by Carver and published, sullying Crane with her club boss who fires her, and most of her other clients follow suit.

Crane, desperate, then shows Sutherland an incriminating photo she had accidentally taken at the club, of his boss "Backlin" and a rival crime boss who had been murdered later that night. She offers to sell it to Sutherland for $25,000. Her attempt at blackmail gets her kidnapped by Backlin's henchmen. Bassett realizes Crane is in trouble and rushes to her apartment where he disarms one of the kidnappers and forces him to reveal where she's being held. There he overpowers all three men and rescues Crane. She reveals Backlin to the police despite the fact she could be jailed for withholding evidence.

As they leave the police station, Crane renounces her career in order to marry Bassett.

In Los Angeles, California, Mack Daddy O’Nasses (Ice-T) and Slug (Barima McKnight) discover a room full of gold, along with a leprechaun (Warwick Davis) that has been kept as a statue by a medallion on its neck. Mack Daddy takes a gold flute, but Slug removes the medallion freeing the Leprechaun and is killed, though Mack Daddy traps it once more. 20 years later, wannabe rap artists Postmaster P. (Anthony Montgomery), Stray Bullet (Rashaan Nall) and Butch (Red Grant) have their speaker destroyed while at an audition. After failing to sell a guitar to pawn shop owners Jackie Dee (Dan Martin) and Chow (Jack Ong) about Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, Stray Bullet manages to convince Mack Daddy, now a successful record producer, to pick them up. However, he drops them when Postmaster P. refuses to make his music more aggressive.

As revenge, the friends break into Mack Daddy's office, Postmaster P. accidentally shoots him in the chest, and steal his magic golden flute, but accidentally frees the Leprechaun. The Leprechaun hunts the friends in order to recover his stolen flute, which places listeners of its tune in a euphoric trance. After killing Reverend Hanson, Jackie Dee & Chow, the DJ artists, and their transgender friend Fontaine, the Leprechaun reaches the three friends at Postmaster P. s home. When the boys and the Leprechaun engage in a fight for the flute, the Leprechaun forces Stray Bullet to point his gun at Butch's head threatening to kill him. Postmaster reluctantly complies but Postmaster P. foolishly charges the Leprechaun, only for the Leprechaun to force Stray Bullet to shoot himself in the head while Postmaster P. and Butch watch in horror. Butch visits Postmaster P. at his grandma's house and convinces him to use a joint laced with four-leaf clovers to strip the Leprechaun of his powers in order to steal back the flute.

Postmaster P. and Butch, dressed in drag, then visit the club in which the Leprechaun has taken up residence. Postmaster P. then breaks the Leprechaun's spell on the Zombie Fly Girls by having them smoke one of the clover joints in order to find the Leprechaun. The duo then goes upstairs to find the Leprechaun who wants the dressed-up Postmaster P. to give him a blowjob. Before proceeding any further, the Leprechaun smokes the clover joint and passes out. The boys then take the flute and head downstairs only to be intercepted Mack Daddy who shoots Butch, killing him. Postmaster P. retaliates by shooting Mack Daddy three times. No longer under the effects of clover, the Leprechaun comes downstairs and uses magic to pin Postmaster P. against a girder. Postmaster P. then distracts the Leprechaun, allowing the bullet-ridden Mack Daddy to hit the Leprechaun with a wooden chair. Immediately, the Leprechaun uses magic to explode Mack Daddy's torso, but with the last of his strength, Mack Daddy throws the magic amulet in the air.

Cutting to a dark stage with much fog and a silhouetted Postmaster P. is rapping about how he's finally made it. He moves to the forefront where his eyes are hidden behind sunglasses. He removes the sunglasses to show that his irises glow a neon green, which indicates that he is under the Leprechaun's spell. The Leprechaun is now a music manager, who took over the music world. The Leprechaun then tells the audience that he taught Postmaster P. everything he knows, before rapping about being an evil leprechaun.

Commander Sisko and his son Jake are preparing for a father-son camping trip to a planet in the Gamma Quadrant. Sisko is disappointed when Jake invites his best friend Nog to join them, and even more dismayed when Nog's uncle Quark invites himself along as well. They depart as planned, but as they set up camp, Quark quickly becomes irritated by the environment and argues with Sisko, leading an embarrassed Nog to storm off into the woods with Jake chasing after him.

Sisko and Quark are startled when an alien woman comes running out of the forest, pursued by a troop of fierce soldiers, who take all three captive. Sisko, Quark, and the woman, Eris, are taken to a cave where they are imprisoned in a force field. Eris warns Sisko that the field is lethal, and that she is unable to use her telekinetic abilities to disable it due to the suppressive collar around her neck. She explains that the soldiers are Jem'Hadar, bred and put into service by the Dominion, who rule that section of the Gamma Quadrant, and that they cannot be escaped or defeated. Sisko points out that they have been imprisoned together and are not under close guard, believing that he can use their captors' apparent overconfidence to their advantage, and begins by attempting to remove Eris' collar.

Third Talak'talan, leader of the Jem'Hadar group, informs Sisko that the Dominion will no longer tolerate the presence of ships from the other side of the wormhole and reveals extensive knowledge of the Alpha Quadrant, but he refuses to allow Sisko to speak with the Founders, leaders of the Dominion, whom Eris then claims are a myth. After several hours, Sisko makes some progress on removing Eris' collar and enlists Quark to pick the lock.

Meanwhile, Jake and Nog, having returned to camp to find Sisko and Quark gone, locate the Jem'Hadar encampment. They return to the runabout but are unable to beam the captives off the planet or bypass the ship's autopilot to break orbit in order to get help. When they finally gain control of the ship, they realize that without the autopilot, they will have to learn to pilot it themselves.

Back on DS9, a ship arrives unexpectedly through the wormhole, and Talak'talan suddenly materializes in Ops, despite the station's shields being raised. He informs the crew that Sisko is being detained by the Dominion, then transports away before he can be caught, walking unaffected through a security forcefield. Captain Keogh, in command of the ''Galaxy''-class starship U.S.S. ''Odyssey'' arrives at the station to assess the situation and mount a rescue mission. He allows the station's two remaining runabouts, crewed by Major Kira, O'Brien, Dax, Odo, and Dr. Bashir, to accompany the ''Odyssey'' on its mission.

Quark manages to remove Eris' collar, allowing her to disengage the force field, and the three escape. Meanwhile, the Federation ships come under attack, with the ''Odyssey'' sustaining heavy damage, as the Jem'Hadar weapons are able to bypass its shields. O'Brien beams aboard Jake and Nog's runabout and takes control, then beams aboard Sisko, Quark, and Eris. As the group begins to retreat to the Alpha Quadrant, one of the Jem'Hadar ships makes a suicide run at the ''Odyssey'', colliding with it and destroying it almost instantly. Back at the station, Quark discovers Eris' collar is a fake, and they deduce that she is a spy for the Dominion, which she admits before transporting away — leaving the crew with the realization that their dealings with this powerful new opponent have only begun.

The book takes place some months after the events of ''Ramona Quimby, Age 8''. Ramona is curious to meet her friend Howie's uncle, Uncle Hobart, who has just returned from Saudi Arabia. She meets him one day after school at the Kemps' house, but when he teases her, she quickly decides she dislikes him. Hobart gives Howie a unicycle, and Howie's younger sister Willa Jean an accordion. Willa Jean breaks the accordion before Ramona has the chance to stop her, but Mrs. Kemp, their grandmother, punishes Ramona anyway. Hurt and angry, Ramona tells her parents that she no longer wants to go to the Kemps' house after school, and that Mrs. Kemp singles her out. When Beezus agrees that Mrs. Kemp dislikes them both, the sisters convince their parents to let them stay home after school for one week to see how it goes.

At first, all goes well, but when Beezus won't let Ramona go out and ride Howie's bike, Ramona gets mad and calls her "Pizzaface". Even though Ramona meant it as a play on "Pieface", Beezus thinks this is about her acne, and refuses to help Ramona after she scrapes her knee. The next day, they find their cat, Picky-Picky, dead in the basement. They bury Picky-Picky, hold a funeral for him, and forgive each other for the fight. When their parents return home, they decide the sisters are responsible enough to take care of themselves; they then announce that Mrs. Quimby is pregnant, leaving Beezus thrilled and Ramona with mixed feelings.

Summer rolls around. Mr. Quimby is almost finished with college and hopes to get a teaching job in the area, but when the only job he's offered turns out to be in rural Oregon (which would force the family to move), he instead finds work managing one of the Shop-Rite supermarkets in Portland. Meanwhile, Ramona's Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Hobart get engaged. At first, they don't plan to have a wedding, but when Beezus insists, the group plans a wedding in only two weeks. When the wedding arrives, the wedding ring is stitched too tightly onto the pillow, and goes flying when Howie's father yanks on it; Ramona sees the ring on the heel of Aunt Beatrice's shoe, retrieves it, and saves the wedding.

Not long after the wedding, Mrs. Quimby gives birth to her youngest daughter, Roberta Day Quimby. While Beezus is able to visit their mother and Roberta, Ramona is a few years too young to visit the maternity ward. Later, though, when Mrs. Quimby returns from the hospital, Ramona finally meets Roberta. On the car ride home, she realizes that no matter how big or challenging the coming changes are, she's "winning at growing up".

Christopher Powell is in Malaya with his fiancée and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting he is attacked by a tiger, and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah, a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave, where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. When he eventually returns to camp, she follows. His fiancée is jealous, and the natives do not like Ulah or her pet tiger either, all of which leads to a lot of trouble.

The story picks up where Shaman's Crossing left off. The Gernian Cavalla Academy is recovering from the devastating effects of Speck plague, a disease causing severe dysentery. The disease has run through the ranks of all the Academy (and civilian) population of Old Thares, killing many of the Old and New Noble soldier sons and leaving the Academy ranks severely depleted. Many who were fortunate enough to have survived the outbreak, including Nevare Burvelle's friend Spinrek "Spink" Kester, have been forced to resign from the academy and return to their homes to struggle with the long-term effects of the disease.

Cadet Burvelle also returns home, to attend his brother Rosse's wedding. Nevare continues to have dreams about a seductive Speck woman (usually referred to as "Tree Woman") whom he fought to stop the plague epidemic in the dreamworld. On the way home, he stops as a tourist to see a giant spindle-shaped monument belonging to the Kidona plains people, but the Speck magic working through him causes him to accidentally destroy it.

Unlike most of those who were affected by the plague, Nevare was not left weak and gaunt after his bout of plague; in fact, he is swiftly gaining weight. This fact is annoying but does not affect his thinking too much as he travels home expecting to meet with his betrothed, a beautiful young noblewoman, Carsina. Yet the reaction he receives on returning home brings into stark relief the physical problem that he struggles with: the Speck plague has caused him to "grow" rather than shrink and waste away. This is a virtually unknown reaction to the plague and is seen by Nevare's father, who will not listen to his excuses, as the result of gluttony.

Nevare also visits his old mentor, the Kidona warrior Dewara who introduced him to the dream world. The Kidona tribe has been reduced to a bunch of derelicts living on a reservation due to the actions of the Gernian government. Dewara also blames Nevare for being seduced by Tree Woman and destroying the Spindle, the source of Kidona magic.

Nevare's betrothal to Carsina, though informal, is cancelled. After his fruitless attempts to lose weight, Nevare is locked away by his father and his meals regulated. However, while Nevare is locked away, a plague ravages the Widevale Estate, killing many, including his mother, eldest sister and brother Rosse. Nevare and his sister Yaril survive and run the estate while their father is in mourning, but when their father recovers, he banishes and disowns Nevare. Nevare travels east toward the remote outpost Gettys.

On the way, he stops at a small settlement called "Dead Town" and helps a widow, Amzil, and her three children by doing odd jobs to make their lives easier, in exchange he gets to eat and sleep there. Nevare wants to win Amzil's trust, but she finds it hard to trust men, having had to work as a prostitute to feed herself and her children. One day, a wounded cavalla scout named Buel Hitch reaches the town and asks Nevare's assistance in getting to Gettys, to which Nevare agrees. As they leave, he uses his dormant Speck magic to create a bountiful vegetable garden for Amzil, and his Speck self comes closer to the surface. On their journey to Gettys, Nevare realises that Hitch is in a similar position to his: he is a tool of the Speck magic also.

The Gernian goal of building a highway through the forest is being blocked by Speck magic. He enlists in the army there, but only as a lowly cemetery guard, a far cry from his former goal of a cavalla officer. He works very hard and the colonel is thinking about promoting him. After a while he meets two Specks, a girl named Olikea and her father. Olikea brings Nevare food that satisfies the magic that runs through his veins. He is getting pulled between two worlds, the Gernian world and the Specks' magical forests. He does not know where to settle down and he does not wish to betray his own people. Nevare's reputation is damaged by his gross appearance and his attempts to talk to his ex-fiancee Carsina, who has moved to Gettys with her new husband. Spink Kester and Nevare's Cousin Epiny, married, are also in town, but he distances himself so as not to ruin their reputation.

One day at his way home he gets attacked and shot in the head. His horse is stolen and he is left on the ground with his head bleeding. However, he survives and the wound heals rapidly due to his magic. Unfortunately, Nevare's magic is not as strong as it could be, since he has been avoiding the Specks so he could not get the magical food that Olikea brought. The cavalla scout Buel Hitch (also a Gernian seduced by the Specks) uses the stolen horse's bridle to strangle a prostitute who was friendly with Nevare, thus framing him for murder.

As days go by, the Speck plague sweeps by the outpost of Gettys so Nevare is kept busy as cemetery guard/gravedigger. Among the dead is Carsina, who revives briefly at the cemetery and is cared for by Nevare, then dies in his bed. He is accused of necrophilia in addition to the earlier murder, and sentenced to be tortured and hanged. But fortunately for Nevare, the Tree Woman comes and frees him from his cell and impending doom. During his escape, confrontations with Spinrek and Amzil and the townspeople force Nevare to finally give in to the magic. With his magic, he gives the townspeople false memories of his death before embracing his future life in the forest.

Hercules is walking through a snowy mountain top where he finds a woman in the cold and goes to help her. He sees Zeus in a cave, and a rock closes over the entrance. Hercules turns around, and the woman calls out to him and freezes and explodes. Hercules wakes from a dream. He turns over and goes back to sleep. As he sleeps, his campfire goes out. The next day Hercules and young man are walking through a cave with dead bodies strewn all over. The man tells Hercules that they are all men from his village and that the witch who guards the Fountain of Youth killed them for their youth and strength. At the heart of the cave they find an old woman. Hercules sees she is chained up, and is hit over the head by the man, who is actually a warlock. He says to Hercules he will now have Hercules' strength. Hercules and the warlock fight and the warlock appears invincible, but then Hercules notices a beating heart among the items in the warlock's cave. Hercules rips the warlock's shirt and sees that the heart belongs to the warlock. Hercules takes a knife and plunges it into the heart and kills the warlock. With the warlock now dead, the old woman reverts to her true form, that of a young woman. Hercules frees the woman from her chains and takes some water from the fountain. After this the fountain begins to boil and begins dissolving everything in the cave. Hercules grabs the woman and they leave the cave. Outside the cave Zeus appears and Hercules tells Zeus the water will cure Chiron of his wound. Later Hercules arrives at Chiron's house, he gives him the water and he drinks it. The wound heals, but after a few seconds the wound worsens. Hercules tells him he will find a cure for his wound. Meanwhile, all over the village fires are being inexplicably extinguished. Hercules and Chiron are talking by the fire side and the fire goes out. Hercules realizes that something is amiss. He decides to investigate. He approaches Hera's temple which still has fire. A woman is trying to persuade the priest of the temple to let them light their torches, the priest refuses. Hercules kicks down the door, Hera's priest fight him, he beats them, and lights the torch. Three women appear and tell Hercules that the torch is of no use, because Hera has stolen the Eternal Torch and plans to kill mankind once and for all. Hercules knows that humans cannot survive without fire, and if he does not get the Torch back all life will die. Later on the woman from the temple comes to Chiron, it is revealed she is Deianeira. Chiron says only Hercules can help her and points her the man from the temple. Hercules says they need to talk to Prometheus, so he and Deianeira set off. They find Prometheus frozen, he says that Hera has stolen the Eternal Torch and that Hercules must get it back. Hercules and Deianeira travel onto Mount Aepion, where Hera has the Torch. While traveling, Hercules is attacked by a giant named Antaeus and with the help of Deianeira manages to kill him.

As they camp for the night, Hercules reveals to Deianeira that he was the one who accidentally inflicted Chiron's wound. The next day as they are crossing a gorge they arrive at a point where Hera has removed the bridge. Hercules says they can continue if they use the rope which still remains. Deianeira reluctantly agrees. The two finally arrive at Mount Aepion, Hercules walks through the snowy mountain top, just like in his dream. He finds Zeus and Hercules asks him what Hera has done. Zeus says that Hera has put the Torch in the center of a ring of fire, and the fire has the power to kill immortals. Zeus warns Hercules from going through with his plan to get the Torch back. Hercules says he will do it anyway. The two men battle it out and Zeus tells Hercules that he is trying to save him. Hercules asks his father if he cares about humanity, Zeus replies that he does, but he loves Hercules more. Hercules tells Zeus he loves him too. Zeus accepts what Hercules must do, and lets him go. Hercules goes through the fire and retrieves the Torch, he throws it and it lands in Prometheus's home waking him. Fire begins to return. As Hercules lays dying in the circle, Zeus begs Hera not to harm Hercules or he will haunt her for eternity, and even threatening to give up his own immortality. Hera stops the flames and Zeus helps Hercules, who thanks him for saving his life. Before leaving the cage Hercules picks up a stick and makes a torch. Zeus asks if he knows the power of the flames, Hercules acknowledges that he does. Hercules takes the torch to Chiron's house and asks him to step inside a circle of straw. Chiron stands in the center of the circle and Hercules lights the straw with the torch. Chiron drops to his knees and cries out. As the flames die out Chiron exclaims that his wound is healed, the flames had burned away his immortality and healed the wound.

The player controls the son of Mappy who wants a wife but she will not marry him until Mappy can become a provider for his family. At the end of each level, there is a slot machine. Pulling the lever to the slot machine may allow the player to earn extra lives, items, gain or lose money. To receive it, the player must win a mini game first. After the mini-games, players access a shop, where they can buy various things with the money that they find during the game.

The Soviet Union invades and occupies a sparsely-populated Pacific atoll and proceeds to kill the inhabitants and gradually construct a missile and submarine base. Diplomatic overtures by the United States accomplish nothing, and a military response to this Soviet threat seems necessary. Such plans, however, are frustrated by infighting within the Pentagon, Congress, and elsewhere in the government. When the novel ends, the U.S. has failed to respond and the Soviets have consolidated their hold on the atoll.

Martial Angel tells of Cat (Shu Qi), a professional thief turned straight after leaving her lover, Chi Lam (Julian Cheung), two years before. But her past returns to haunt her as Chi Lam is kidnapped for the ransom of security software belonging to the company Cat works for. In order to rescue him, she calls on her old friends from her orphanage days, six other feisty women, to save the day...

The basic story starts with a pair of burglars who meet in action and some sparks fly, but the two soon break up and move on. The female burglar is Cat and she soon meets up with some other female burglars, seven of them to be exact. When her former partner ends up in trouble and needs help, Cat and her newfound friends have to take action, before it is too late. She is forced to steal a top secret product in exchange for his life, but of course, it won’t be that simple. As factors shift and alliances are formed & broken in quick fashion, who will emerge on top?

Comic book fan Les Franken (Michael Rapaport) signs up for an experimental antidepressant. Dr. Dobson (Jack Kehler) instructs him to take one pill per day. Les creates a diary for his experiences but feels no results. His lack of self-assurance keeps him from getting to know Maggie (Alexandra Holden), a quiet girl who works at a grocery store.

After several days of taking the pill, Les experiences supernatural powers, beginning with the ability to float. Paying a visit to Dobson, he sees himself floating, but Dobson sees him lying on the floor; Les has no powers at all. He explains that Les is having an adverse psychotic reaction to the drug and orders him to stop taking it. Les instead convinces himself that he has telepathy and Dobson is mentally telling him to continue taking the drug.

Gaining self-confidence, Les quits his job in order to become a crime-fighting vigilante. He gains a reputation for tackling people after stopping a gunman from robbing Maggie's store, believing he is picking up telepathic intent from would-be perpetrators. He confides his new gifts to best friends Joey (Josh Peck) and Everett (Robert Baker). Their initial reaction to his supposed ability to walk through walls is curiously ambiguous. The viewer only sees what Les believes he is doing rather than what his two friends actually witness. Les offers his services to the police but has to flee when he is recognized as the mystery "crime fighter".

After Dobson learns that Les is still taking the drug and getting worse, he calls on two representatives, Ted (Ian Bohen) and Jonas (Paul Blackthorne), to talk Les out of taking the drugs. Les believes they are there to take his powers away (as he is confronted by an alternate version of himself "from a future that will now never exist"), so his "future self" stabs Jonas in the ear and Les runs off with Ted in pursuit on foot. Les "teleports" behind Ted and knocks him out and then escapes again. Just how he actually accomplishes this highly improbable sneak attack is left for the viewer to grapple with. Les then joins Everett and Joey who believe "the suits" are just as much of an hallucination as everything else.

On the way to meeting with Dobson, Les astounds his two friends by stopping a purse snatcher. Dobson claims never to have met Les before but gives the two friends a liquid to flush the medication from Les's body. Les leaves all three and finds that Jonas and Ted have broken into his apartment and are reading through his diary, talking about kidnapping him for a few days for the drug to work its way out of his system.

Dobson confesses that Les's reaction could ruin the company if the word got out. While Dobson explains that he himself was only attempting to preserve his own career and life, Les takes the opportunity to swallow the remaining pills. After Les leaves and makes Ted and Jonas "disappear", the now-invisible pair beat Les to a pulp and utterly humiliate him in the process. With an unbelievable effort of sheer willpower, Les turns the tables and knocks both men unconscious. Realizing that he is losing his mind, he runs to Maggie for help. She reveals that she likes him but has been reluctant to speak to him because of a stutter. Les admits to liking her and requests to be locked up in the restroom until the drug leaves his system.

Les awakens the following morning to find he cannot float. As Les is walking home Jonas runs him down with his car. Jonas is about to leave Les for dead when, incredibly, Les raises himself up off of the asphalt and stands defiantly there in the middle of the street. Jonas angrily backs the car into Les and sends him flying over the roof again, presumably finishing him off. This is too much for Ted and he flees the scene on foot. But Les won't stay down. In yet another fantastic feat of willpower, Les drags himself up onto his feet and faces-off with Jonas's car. Jonas intends to run Les down once and for all, but, faced with Les's unbreakable spirit, his rage drains away. Les turns and hobbles off, a smile spreading across his bruised face.

Clarke describes a space battleship flying too close to the gravitational field of a neutron star, and subsequently being torn to bits by the high tidal forces. A military commander revealing this in a meeting says the only identifiable piece of debris was from an engineer's toolkit, resulting in the pun, "star-mangled spanner": a play on the title of the United States' national anthem.

Jack Ellery (Oakie) is staging a lavish musical revue, starring Eric Lander (Brisson), Ann Ware (Carlisle), and Rita Ross (Michael), supported by a cast of a hundred background singers/dancers (almost all women, and many scantily clad) and two full orchestras. On opening night, just before the show, somebody tries to kill Ware several times. Ellery calls in police lieutenant Murdock (McLaglen) of the homicide squad to investigate. During the show a private detective and then Rita are murdered. Ellery hides this from the rest of the performers, claiming the victims are just sick, and talks Murdock into investigating while the revue continues on, otherwise Ellery will go broke.

Several twists and turns follow, but finally the murders are solved just after the show ends. In the last scene, Nancy (Wing), a squeaky pretty blonde showgirl, finally gets to tell Ellery and Murdock what she has attempted to tell Ellery several times throughout the show. However, he kept putting her off, she was just trying to gain his attention, and he was too busy staging the show. She actually had a vital piece of information that would have solved the first murder much sooner, and might have prevented the second murder. Now that the show is over and a success, Ellery's attention is finally on her, and they go out for the night to celebrate. She giggles once again and moves off stage left in front of him, and then Oakie breaks the fourth wall just momentarily, looking into the camera with a devilish grin, before he follows her.