During a stag do at a local football club, Harold meets one of the acts, a stripper called Zita. After a whirlwind romance, the couple are married, although the actual wedding ceremony is delayed when Albert, acting as best man, loses the ring somewhere in the yard. They eventually find it in a pile of horse manure, and since they have no time to clean up, the smell of the manure on their clothes has noses twitching in church.

Harold and Zita fly to Spain for their honeymoon, but Albert refuses to be left behind. His constant presence begins to drive a wedge between Harold and Zita. When they are finally alone and begin to consummate their marriage, they are interrupted by Albert's cries of distress from the adjoining room, and discover that he has contracted food poisoning from some of the local cuisine.

The only available flight back home at short notice has only two seats, and Harold feels obliged to fly home with Albert, leaving Zita in Spain to follow as soon as possible. Back home, Albert quickly recovers, while Harold frets over Zita not writing. When he finally receives delayed postcards and a letter from her, she tells him she has decided their marriage cannot work and has taken up with a British holiday rep at the hotel where they were staying. Harold is heartbroken, and, despite his earlier scheming to get rid of Zita, Albert is sympathetic.

Some months later, Harold tracks down Zita and finds that she is pregnant, and when he assumes he is the father she does not disabuse him. Harold offers to take care of them both and persuades Zita to go with him, but on returning home Albert makes it clear that he does not like her and she flees. A short while later, the two men find a baby in the horse's stable. Harold assumes that the child is Zita's, and, with Albert's help, takes on its rearing. They argue over what name to give the baby, with Albert insisting he have his name, and Harold eventually compromises by naming him Albert Jeremy at the christening but always refers to him as Jeremy.

Returning from work one day, Harold finds the baby has been taken from his pram while Albert was asleep. An unsigned note left in the pram convinces Harold it is from Zita wanting the child back. Searching for her, Harold comes across her stripping in a local rugby club where she is grabbed by some men in the audience. Attempting to save her, Harold is beaten up and is only rescued when Zita and her musician save him by taking him into her dressing room. Harold hears a baby's cries but, when he pulls back a curtain, he finds a mixed-race baby. It turns out that Zita and her musician, who is black, are a couple. Harold then realises that 'Jeremy' was not Zita's baby and was not his child.

The book concerns an extraterrestrial hive mind named Medusa, which has assimilated many worlds and life forms and plans to absorb Earth as well. Dan Gurlick is an alcoholic who unknowingly ingests a spore from Medusa, which turns him into a host.

Charlie Johns wakes up in Ledom (model backwards), a world of gender-neutral people. He believes that he has been transported to the future, and the Ledom tell him that humanity has been destroyed by nuclear war.

He meets Seace, the head of the Science One, who explains the A-field, an invisible force field the Ledom use for everything from spoons to buildings. He meets Mielwis, the head of the Medical One, who explains to him how the Ledom came to be gender-neutral by a mutation. Mielwis tells him that the Ledom have both genital organs, which drop down when they're aroused and retract when they're not in use.

He meets Nasive and Grocid, the heads of the Children's Ones, who explain Ledom religion to him. The Ledom worship children because "it is inconceivable we would ever obey one".

Then Philos, a historian, leads him to the cerebrostyle, a technology that allows a viewer to watch recorded memories in their mind. Charlie reads a "letter" in this machine which is a manifesto of Ledom society. It tells how sexual differences have caused strife for humans and how Ledom society has achieved harmony by following a charitic religion and creating a gender-neutral culture.

After he's done reading the letter, Philos takes Charlie out to the edges of Ledom, where he finds Philos's partner Froure and his child Soutin. Philos had let the Ledom think Froure and Soutin had died in a landslide because the Ledom, despite what Mielwis had told Charlie, did not mutate but undergo monthly medical procedures to keep them gender-neutral, and Philos doesn't want this to happen to Soutin. Philos asks Charlie if he will take Soutin back to his time period, and Charlie agrees.

They go back to the Science One and after a short confrontation with Seace, Charlie takes Soutin into the time machine. However, the time machine doesn't go anywhere and Charlie realizes he's stuck in Ledom. Mielwis asks him for his opinion about Ledom, and Charlie says they're all freaks and if humanity knew they existed humans would kill every one of them.

Mielwis knocks Charlie unconscious and confers with Nasive about how humanity is not yet ready for gender equality.

Charlie is allowed to live with Philos, Froure, and Soutin at the edge of Ledom. The book ends with nuclear bombs bursting in the sky, with the Ledom and Charlie being protected by the A-field.

Pablo and Meca, two young urban delinquents, live from day to day by a series of robberies, mostly car thefts. During one such robbery, the car’s owner catches the two in the act. They roll up the windows and lock the doors to prevent intrusion. Helplessly trapped inside the troublesome vehicle by a mob that has now closed in around them, the pair forces a clear path through the crowd by brandishing a gun, before making their escape into the street. However, the stolen car only proves to be the first step in a more elaborate scheme. Spotting an attractive waitress named Ángela at a local cafeteria, Pablo is immediately captivated by the receptive (and equally restless) young woman, who soon becomes his lover, promising to stay together always. Pablo teaches Ángela to shoot a gun and, subsequently, inducts her into their gang after an afternoon of makeshift target shooting.

The gang now consists of four members: Pablo, Meca, Ángela, and Sebastian or "Sebas". Sebas has joined the group to help in a series of more ambitious thefts, but he is initially unhappy with the presence of a girl in the band. Pablo, with Meca’s support, assures him that Ángela can hold her own.

In the first robbery, that of a factory office on the outskirts of Madrid, Ángela, disguised as a boy with a mustache, serves as a lookout. In the second holdup, she shoots one of the guards who has fired at the gang’s car. At the conclusion of each of these robberies, Meca brings the getaway car, usually a stolen one, to a deserted area and set it ablaze. He stands by the side of the fire and enjoys viewing the flames.

Alternately spending their idle time at discothèques and video arcades, acting on their impulsive whims, and succumbing to the intoxication of drug use, the emboldened quartet begins to stage an ever-escalating series of hold-ups throughout the city.

Their share of the money from the two successful robberies enables Ángela and Pablo to buy a new apartment on the outskirts of the city. It is from this location that the gang plans a third robbery, the assault on a branch bank in one of the more congested middle-class neighborhoods of Madrid. During this robbery, Sebas kills one of the guards and is, in turn, gunned down outside the bank by a squad of police who have surrounded the area. Pablo, Meca, and Ángela manage to make a getaway, but Pablo has been seriously wounded and is bleeding profusely.

Ángela brings him back to the apartment to nurse him while Meca disposes of the getaway car in the usual manner. However, the black cloud of smoke attracts a police helicopter and Meca is killed as he resists arrest. Understanding the seriousness of Pablo’s wound, Ángela calls a doctor who, upon arriving at the apartment, confirms the gravity of Pablo’s condition. He has been shot in the liver and must be brought to a hospital if he is to survive. Refusing, she offers him a large bundle of cash if he will treat Pablo right there. Taking the money in his black satchel, the physician promises to return shortly with instruments for surgery. Hours pass, but the doctor does not come back. Pablo, who remains unconscious, lies immobile on the bed. He stops breathing while Ángela sits in the darkened room staring at him. When she realizes he is dead, she fills her own duffel bag with the remaining money from the robbery and walks out of the apartment. She disappears into the shadows of the approaching night walking towards the city.

In 2015 the German film ''Victoria'' with Spanish actor Laia Costa in the lead role paid a homage to ''Deprisa, deprisa'' by recreating the final scenes of the film which appeared to be a clear reference to the original film.

When the Minister for Trade and Domestic Affairs asks them to retrieve some compromising photos of her at the Playgirl Club, the Goodies have to infiltrate the club.

It is the weekend and the Goodies are happy about this, but whilst Graeme reads, Bill's and Tim's hobbies are getting on each other's nerves, so they decide to do neither and tell Graeme that they are bored. Graeme is no longer happy because they disturbed him. He then explains the book he is reading is about the prehistoric age. Then, while explaining, Graeme thinks there are prehistoric fossils under the office and falls down a deep hole.

Bill and Tim decide to rescue him, but Tim confesses he is not going down. Bill goes in the hole alone but, when he goes down the hole, he pulls Tim down too.

They both fall to the bottom, where they find Graeme has turned a tunnel into the Goodies' own tunnel. They find a Tyrannosaurus rex with its mouth open and look into the mouth, when it suddenly closes on them.

They discover they cannot get back out of the dinosaur's mouth, so decide to travel through the creature till they reach its stomach. They are stuck there for a long time, until Graeme comes up with an idea — they will shout through the Tyrannosaurus Rex. So Bill shouts for help, but ends up waking the creature. When the creature's mouth opens, they all run out and climb back up the hole to their office. Graeme states he wishes he could have a better examination of the creature, when it smashes through the floor and tips the office over.

Ultraman Great is the ultimate warrior and protector of peace in the entire universe. For eons he's been fighting an intergalactic battle against Gudis, an evil virus that attempts to wipe out all competing life forms. Now the Gudis virus has infected Earth, producing a horrifying group of giant mutant monsters to carry out its goal of the complete obliteration of every organism on Planet Earth. Ultraman must now battle Gudis and his mutant monsters on Earth. But the Earth's polluted atmosphere poses a threat to Ultraman and he has to become part of a human's molecular structure. Jack Shindo has the ability to transform into Ultraman Great by using his Delta Plasma Pendant (which holds Ultraman within his molecular profile) to transfer his molecules into that of the interstellar hero.

In the 22nd century, everybody lives in the urban areas of the world. Police officers and lawyers have been abolished and only the Judges are in complete control of human society. One of them, Judge Dredd, must pursue the renegade Judge Rico and Mega-City's most dangerous criminals. Eventually, Dredd defeats Rico and wins a final battle with the Dark Judges to rescue Mega-City.

In 2003, Vince tells his friends a story about Joy.

In July 1986, Vince and Joy meet at a holiday camp and are attracted to each other while in their late teens. Vince told Joy he had a really bad underbite and that his mother was married to his stepfather, Chris. The following morning, Joy and her family have suddenly vanished, leaving only a note in ink on the step of Vince's caravan. Due to the rain, all he can make out on the paper is, "I feel so ashamed." Vince is angry and upset that she has gone without leaving any way for him to get in contact with her.

In September 1993, Vince has a girlfriend, Magda. He looks for a new roommate and offers the room to a superstitious woman called Cassandra McAfee. Cassandra has a cat called Madeleine who goes into Joy's house, so she follows the cat into Joy's house. On the other side of the story, Joy meets George Pole on a blind date. They eventually move in together, just before Cassandra storms into their house after the cat. The only people left are Julia, Joy's friend and Bella, a gay man. Cassandra finds out that there was a woman called Joy who used to live there and thinks it can only be fate. Joy catches sight of Vince in Oxford Street while on the bus, but does not get to meet him. At the end of this section, Vince also sees Joy going into a church ready to get married, but he does not talk to her.

In 1999, Vince is now with longtime girlfriend Jess, who he discovers is having an affair. Joy is trapped in a loveless marriage with George, who dominates her and does not allow her to have a life of her own. She eventually breaks free and she and Vince meet again in 2001, when they talk about what has happened. In April 2003, Vince finishes telling his friends the story and they advise him to find Joy. The happy ending occurs in October 2003 when, after running into an old friend of Joy's, Vince is encouraged to see her and is given her address. The novel ends before they meet again.

Using the name "Randy Pandy", Bill becomes a superstar who is obsessed with his fame, and Tim and Graeme have to save him from the consequences of his pop stardom

Max Washington (Gregory Hines), just released from prison after serving time for burglary, is a talented tap dancer. His late father owned a dance studio that is now run by Little Mo (Sammy Davis Jr.), whose daughter Amy Simms (Suzzanne Douglas) gives lessons to children. Back on the streets, Max isn't interested in dancing again but he is interested in seeing Amy, his former girlfriend. A local gangster, Nicky, doesn't care for Max personally but does try to recruit him to take part in a robbery. Amy has a job as dancer in an upcoming Broadway show and tells its choreographer about Max, hoping to land him a role in the chorus. Max is reluctant to agree to it, then incensed when he is humiliated during the auditions. Max must decide whether to swallow his pride and dance the way the man wants, or give up his art once and for all and return to a life of crime.

A young Polish sailor Bronislav ("Bronek") Korchinsky (Horst Buchholz) arrives in Cardiff, planning to propose to his girlfriend Anya (Yvonne Mitchell). However, he discovers Anya gone and someone else living in the flat. The landlord reveals that Anya left several weeks ago and owes back rent, even though Bronek was sending monthly payments to her. Bronek pays Anya's debts so that the landlord will give him her new address.

Meanwhile Gillie Evans (Hayley Mills), an orphaned tomboy who lives with her Aunt, is playing with boys at the dockside. Bronek approaches the group, seeking help in locating the address he has been given. Gillie, who lives in the same building, walks with him.

Bronek finds Anya in her new flat, but she tells him to leave. Frustrated by Bronek's long trips at sea, Anya has been seeing a married sportscaster named Barclay (Anthony Dawson). Bronek, furious with jealousy, screams at her, and she pulls a gun from her dresser, but he takes the gun and shoots Anya dead. Gillie who had been playing in the halls with caps, hears the shouting and witnesses the murder as she peeks through the apartment door's letter box. Gillie's play with caps has also masked the sounds of the gun shots for the rest of the building.

Gillie sees where Bronek hides the gun, and she takes it to use as a toy. Barclay arrives to visit Anya, but, finding her dead, quickly flees. A neighbour discovers the body and summons the police.

The investigating police superintendent, Graham (John Mills), learns that Gillie was in the halls during the shooting and deduces that she witnessed the murder. However, Gillie, a habitual liar, gives an incorrect description of Bronek and does not tell Graham that she has the gun. Later, Bronek, who saw Gillie take the gun, chases her into the attic. He takes the gun from her, and they become friends. He agrees to take her to sea with him when he flees the country.

Bronek plans to depart the next day on a Venezuelan merchant ship, the ''Poloma''; for the night, Gillie leads him to a hiding place in the countryside, where he entertains her by re-enacting his overseas adventures. Meanwhile, the police discover a photograph of Bronek and Anya together, sparking interest in Bronek's identity. Under police questioning Barclay admits to having visited Anya's apartment the day she was shot, making him a prime suspect.

With the ''Poloma'' set to sail, Bronek persuades Gillie to let him go alone. Bronek leaves her with his metal cigarette case. Some picnickers find Gillie at the country hideout and take her to the police, where she continues to lie, identifying Barclay as the murderer. With Barclay as the suspect, she admits that she saw the crime and re-enacts it for Graham at the apartment, but accidentally reveals that she knows the killer is Polish. She still denies knowing Bronek, but by now the police know he is the murderer. Both the police and Bronek are aware of the three-mile limit for British legal jurisdiction.

Graham drives Gillie to the pilot station at Barry Docks and takes her on a pilot boat to the ''Poloma'' as the ship approaches the boundary of territorial waters. At this point, Gillie is obviously trying to obstruct Graham's progress. When the inspector confronts Gillie and Bronek now together aboard the ''Poloma'', they deny knowing each other. Nevertheless, Graham attempts to arrest Bronek, but the ship's captain prevents him, saying that his navigation officer has plotted ''Poloma'''s position as just outside the three-mile limit, and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the British police.

Gillie runs around on the ship trying to evade both crew and police, and falls overboard while trying to stow away on the ship in the hope of remaining with Bronek. Being the only person to see her fall, Bronek dives into the water to save her and loses his ship. The pair are rescued by the police boat sent from Barry Island. Bronek admits his guilt after Gillie hugs him, and Graham commends him for his bravery in saving her. The "Poloma" sails off and his chance of freedom has gone.

The titular team of ''The Umbrella Academy'' is described as a "dysfunctional family of superheroes". In the mid-20th century, at the instant of the finishing blow in a cosmic wrestling match, 43 superpowered infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy at the start of the day. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a.k.a. The Monocle, an extraterrestrial disguised as a famous entrepreneur, adopts seven of the children and prepares them to save the world from an unspecified threat as the Umbrella Academy. In ''Apocalypse Suite'', the team disbands and falls out of contact until they meet on the news of Hargreeves's death, and subsequently reunite when one of their own numbers becomes a supervillain.

Randy Mason (Chris Carrara) is a teenage tech whiz who lives in a suburban neighborhood located somewhere in the state of California with his mother Marti (Derya Ruggles), who creates designs for an ad agency and his father Brent (who's away for the duration of the film on a business trip). Randy designs and uses remote controlled models as a hobby, as well as using the modified controllers for other purposes as well. Among them is a helicopter named Huey, a double-winged plane, a WWII fighter plane called Zero, red and blue racecars, a green monster truck, a Godzilla knockoff and a yodeling mountain climber named Gunther. He shares the hobby with his good friend and love interest Judy Riley (Jessica Bowman), an avid baseball player and shows her the local model home which serves as his secret hideout.

After Randy pulls a prank on a bully across the street named Ben (Jordan Belfi) by using one of his remotes to mess with his TV control and then uses the helicopter to drop an empty Coke can on Ben's head (which Ben threw in his yard in the first place), Ben steals Randy's fighter plane. Randy reluctantly lets him take it, but tells him the controller is locked by at night with the others, so Ben insists he bring it to school the next day to give to him. Randy does, but brings his own controller to try to take it back from Ben when he's using it, but the dueling controllers result in the plane accidentally flying into the classroom where Randy's science class is and after causing chaos among the students, crashes into the project of his friend Jamaal (Kenneth A. Brown).

Getting the blame for it because no one saw Ben, Randy is expelled from the school and arrives home to hear Marti saying on the answering machine (she was stressed and too upset to think at the moment) that she heard about what happened and is going to confiscate all of his models. Randy then decides to hide them at the model home until Marti calms down. Judy suggests the best thing to do is tell the truth about Ben, but Randy also feels responsible for what happened and doesn't further wish to incur Ben's anger. Judy helps him under protest and she reminds Randy of her baseball game that night. Despite having forgotten about it, he says he'll be there.

As Randy is leaving later, he stumbles across three store robbers named Delbert McCoy (John Diehl), Louis (Tony Longo), and Louis' cousin Richie Marinelli (Stuart Fratkin). The three robbers (having robbed a convenience store, but left the money behind by accident) decide to break into and hide at the model home until the road blocks the cops set up for them are cleared away in 3–4 days. The ill-tempered Delbert (embarrassed by his real name and insistent on being called Del) has a gun which is why they have been labeled on the news as armed and dangerous. They unwittingly trap Randy in the attic when he hides from them not knowing he's there by taking the ladder to the window away after he's climbed up. The robbers use the ladder and packs of cigarettes in order to create a path on the carpet that keeps them from walking on the alarm sensor pads.

Randy attempts to use his helicopter to contact the eccentric real estate agent Mrs. Williams (Lorna Scott) who's driving by in her car with a written message, but she doesn't see it and eventually, the helicopter can't keep up with the car. Randy also tries to trip the burglars up by using Gunther to put a tack in Richie's shoe, but he and Louis just barely avoid stepping on the alarm pads. Randy attempts to steal the gun, but it proves too heavy for Gunther to lift. Getting hungry, Randy uses Gunther to steal Louis' sirloin steak and then when attempting to steal the can of baked beans, Randy runs into the same problem he did with the gun earlier and is forced to drop the can on Richie's head, which he believes Louis did.

At her game, Judy gets worried about Randy not being there and calls his house and leaves a message. Marti hears the message when she comes home from work and not having any idea where Randy is, calls the police. When Marti tells Ben and his mother Dee about Randy disappearing, Ben accidentally reveals a bit more than he should have known, to which Dee (hinted at being emotionally and possibly physically abusive) declares to Marti that she'll figure out if her son knows more than he's letting on and drags him away. After using his bag straps to try climbing out the window and failing, Randy falls asleep at about the same time as the crooks. Marti stays by the phone that night and falls asleep on the couch. Judy and her family get home late from the game and go straight to sleep, not noticing that Marti called earlier and left a message on the machine.

The next morning when Judy gets up, she notices the message and listens to it. After calling Marti and hearing how worried she is, Judy then sets out on her own to find Randy. Louis looks out the window and sees her coming towards the model home and alerts Delbert and Richie. Randy sees her coming too and when the crooks take Judy hostage, Randy proceeds to use the remote controlled toys against them to prevent them from escaping and to rescue Judy. After Louis breaks into the attic using a knife to pick the lock, Randy uses the Godzilla model to melt roofing tar in a bucket and dump it on Louis' head, causing Louis to fall onto the carpet that sets off the alarm. Randy then uses the helicopter to sic Mrs. Williams' bulldog Bluto on Richie and then uses the airplane to tie Richie up with a flag line.

Randy disarms Delbert using Gunther and Judy picks up his gun and throws it away. Delbert angrily makes his way towards Judy, but Randy gets Delbert to step on each of the racecars and uses them as remote controlled roller skates to lead him away. Delbert ends up crashing into rocks and is thrown through the air into a cardboard sign for the real estate company. The police arrive and arrest Louis and Richie (and presumably Delbert as well), Randy is reunited with Marti and Jamaal and Mrs. Williams with Bluto (who ran away from her). Randy and Judy quietly agree to find a new secret hideout and the film ends as Randy lures the yodeling Gunther down from the top of the roof.

Sexually repressed virgin student Leslie (Leslie Cumming) is visiting an island off the coast of Massachusetts along with her photographer boyfriend Gary (David Hasselhoff). They're researching a derelict hotel the locals believe to be haunted by a witch.

While Leslie and Gary work on their project, a family comes to the island to inspect the hotel: greedy matriarch Rose Brooks, her husband Freddie, young son Tommy, and pregnant stepdaughter Jane (Linda Blair). They are visiting the place because Rose plans to buy the hotel and turn it into a private club. They're accompanied by the lustful Linda Sullivan, a young architect hired to provide an estimate for the renovations, and real estate agent Jerry Giordano.

After a storm leaves the guests unable to leave the island, they are attacked and murdered one by one by the Lady in Black, an evil witch who was once a famous movie star and is now carrying out a gruesome satanic ritual that involves four elements: greed, lust, a pregnant woman, and the defiling of a virgin. Rose is burned alive, while Linda and Jerry are captured while having sex, then tortured and crucified. Freddie and Gary are killed too, after Leslie is raped by a demon during a satanic ceremony. Ultimately, Jane becomes possessed by the witch and confronts Leslie and Tommy. She begins to choke her little brother, causing him to drop the tape recorder Jane had given him as a gift. The recorder plays a message Tommy had created for his sister, expressing his love for her. This succeeds in temporarily breaking the witch's hold on Jane, who throws herself out of a window to her death in order to prevent the witch from regaining control. Leslie, the only survivor along with Tommy, wakes up in a hospital bed, where she is horrified to learn that she was impregnated during the ceremony.

When a man is murdered by a killer wearing a gorilla costume, the victim's daughter Alice Townsend is accused of the crime.

The story begins with Hester and Pearl in their cabin in the woods. Hester has little discipline for her child, and Pearl runs wild and free most of the time doing as little work as possible. Pearl frequently visits a blind boy named Simon who lives in a house nearby. They become friends, and Hester lets Pearl help Liza, the caretaker of Simon's sickly mother, with the chores around Simon's house. However, Pearl has been stigmatized as the child of "the temptress," and this reputation follows her everywhere. She isn't fazed by this until Simon begins repeating things his older brother said about Hester. Upset, Pearl runs away to the graveyard to visit the grave of Simon's mother who died shortly after Pearl started helping out around the house. She talks to the minister until Doctor Devlin comes. Pearl returns to Hester, who tells her that the doctor is a "devil." One night Governor Winthrop lies dying, and Hester is called to tend to him. Pearl runs away from the Governor's mansion, and finds Devlin standing on the scaffold. He invites Pearl up until the minister, Arthur, comes and takes Devlin away.

Pearl grows closer to Simon, and Nehemiah, Simon's only brother, gives his blessing to the friendship when he lets Pearl take Simon to the beach. However, Pearl learns that Simon and his family are returning to London, and Hester and she are moving to the Netherlands to be with her mother's relatives. Pearl was supposed to leave the night of Election Day, but instead Arthur the minister collapses and eventually dies. Hester is blamed and put in the stocks, preventing any escape by sea. Devlin comes to taunt Hester for what she has done, even asking her if the minister fathered her child because of her reaction to his death. Hester remains defiant and doesn't give in to him. However, she falls extremely depressed when she arrives home, and Pearl is forced to bring Simon's father Caleb Milton and Doctor Devlin to help Hester. Hester agrees to travel on the Milton's boat to England, and also agrees to a seven-year work contract with Milton's sister.

Hester and Pearl work with Milton's sister until Pearl turns 18. Pearl learns that Devlin gave her property in England and New England. She sells the English property and purchases a home in the English countryside, where Nehemiah and she get married. Pearl and Nehemiah argue about Simon's welfare, and Pearl decides to improve Simon's quality of life. In the meantime Caleb and Liza Milton both die, leaving Pearl in charge of the household. Simon reveals his lust for Pearl, and they have sex while Nehemiah is away. Pearl becomes pregnant, and initially claims the child is Nehemiah's, before he learns the truth. Nehemiah indirectly kills Simon by causing him to commit suicide, which is covered up, and Pearl grieves for a long time.

Her child, Abigail, is sent to live with Nehemiah and her servant Mag in London. After a plague ravages London, both Nehemiah and Pearl move back to London with Abigail, who refuses to speak to Pearl or call her "mother." While in London Pearl learns that Nehemiah cheated on her many times with Mag while drunk. He later has an affair with the widow of an English army general. Pearl doesn't know how to feel about this until Doctor Devlin comes. He explains to Pearl the story of her conception, and gives her the scarlet "A" that her mother wore. Soon, London experiences a great fire, which burns all of Nehemiah's trading stock. Pearl permits Nehemiah to leave her for someone with fewer traumas, before leaving for New England with Devlin and Abigail to make a new life.

Alice Denby visits her uncle, Cyrus Stevens, at his old, dark mansion on Long Island. She brings along Arthur Madsen, who has written a mystery play about a criminal called "The Gorilla". Alice asks her uncle to consider investing in the play. As he begins to read it, elements from Arthur's play begin to appear in the house. Detectives arrive looking for The Gorilla. The lights go out suddenly at midnight. A gorilla (an ape, not the criminal) escapes from captivity and carries Alice away. In a twist ending, the strange happenings on stage are revealed to be the imagined events of Arthur's play within the play.

Agnes Harrington's uncle separates her from her family in Africa when her wealthy father passes away, so that he won't have to share his brother's fortune with the child. Years later on his deathbed, he sees to it that Agnes is restored to her rightful place in society, cutting his own son John Fairfax out of the chain of inheritance in the process. John, Agnes and a number of other people gather at a social event at the famous Fairfax Estate, unaware that it is being used by a gang of bootleggers, and that a hidden treasure is concealed somewhere on the grounds. To make matters worse, a creepy madman is stalking the grounds, and one by one people start turning up dead.

The show that tells about a group of anthropomorphic animals that live in a fictional jungle in Africa called Freeborn.

The movie opens showing super star Eddie Tudor (Cole Sprouse) on the red carpet at the premiere of one of his films. Tom Canty (Dylan Sprouse) watches it on TV and imitates Eddie (he mimics him by saying his catchphrase "Oh yeah!"), when his grandpa, 'Pop' (Ed Lauter), calls him to get ready for school. At school, the principal asks what his ambition is in life, and Tom replies that he wants to be Eddie Tudor. The principal then advises him to join the acting classes (which Pop doesn't allow him to do). He has lived with Pop since his parents died a couple of years earlier. From a young age, Tom has wanted to become an actor, partly inspired by the stories of fame and appeal of acting conveyed to him by his neighbour and best friend, Miles (Vincent Spano). Miles is a former actor who has known Tom since quitting showbiz and moving to the area when Tom was a little. He often tells Tom about his life as a star, although not revealing much as to how he lost his fame. Now 14, the same age as Eddie Tudor whom he looks exactly like, he wishes that he really is Eddie and gets frustrated with his Pop's persistent pushing for Tom to forget about the acting, and telling him to do 'real work', like helping him with his business, when Tom is not at school. He says he only pushes Tom because he cares about him. Miles, however, supports Tom's acting ambition, but warns him that it is a tough business to get into and survive in.

Meanwhile, Eddie Tudor is frustrated with his life and being told what to do all the time. He doesn’t seem so interested in acting and can’t understand why his single mom (Dedee Pfeiffer) pushes him so hard to stick at it. He longs for some freedom and to be able to be a normal kid. Not appreciating what he has, he constantly goofs off on set and unknown to him, he is about to be dropped from the production that they have recently started filming in Palm Beach, where Tom lives. When Tom hears about the production, he visits the lot where it is taking place, in the hope of meeting his idol, Eddie Tudor, and getting into the acting business. During a break from shooting, Tom (who sneaked onto the set and hid under a trailer) meets Eddie for the first time. Eddie, pleased to see another kid on set to hang out with, invites him into his trailer and the two talk and play Eddie's Xbox. Tom is thrilled to meet Eddie and see inside his trailer and be on a film set, also to play the Xbox, since Tom doesn’t have one at his Pop's house. Eddie says that his mom doesn’t care how much he plays the Xbox in his spare time, because she is so busy. Tom tells Eddie how lucky he is, in comparison to him, but he's a friend of the former actor, Milles. Eddie doesn’t seem impressed by this, though, having never heard of Milles or other actors that Tom speaks about. Tom notices that Eddie doesn’t seem to appear that interested in acting, choosing to concentrate mainly on his Xbox that he's playing. Tom then spots Eddie's suit which he wears on screen in the 'Spy Teen' films and asks Eddie if he can try it on. Eddie, still engrossed in the game, replies "Sure, whatever". Eddie takes notice however, when he sees Tom in his suit and hairstyle, and realises that he and Tom are identical in appearance. He then puts on Tom's clothes and changes his appearance, and they are stunned to see how much they look alike. The Assistant Director of the film Eddie's shooting then comes into the trailer and, realising that he now has a chance for a bit of freedom away from filming, Eddie (who now looks exactly like Tom) says "Well, Eddie, it was great to meet you, but I best get going", leaving a startled Tom in his place, who will now have to act just like Eddie.

The real Eddie meets Pop, who picked him up from the sidewalk that he was walking along. Thinking that he is Tom, Pop drives him home in his pick-up, lecturing him about why he should have come straight home from school. Eddie sees Tom's home and his bedroom, which has posters of Spy Teen and 'Miami Squad', which Milles starred in, on the wall. The next day he and Pop go to work (Pop runs a landscaping business and Tom sometimes helps him) where Eddie tells him that he's not Tom and explains what happened, realising that he's not having much fun or freedom planting trees with Pop, and a frustrated Pop starts thinking that 'Tom' has gone mad. Meanwhile, the real Tom realises that fame isn’t everything it's portrayed to be as he has to cope with being ordered about by Eddie Tudor's mother and his agent and packing loads of filming and appearances into his day. At first, he faints with the shock of so quickly becoming Eddie and acting in a big movie, as he had for so long dreamed about. He is then accused of faking the faint by Eddie's agent and given a row by her and Eddie's mom for creating a fuss when they relocate to Miami, who dismiss his behavior as Eddie's usual playing-up and don’t listen to him when he tries to explain that he is just a normal kid who switched places with Eddie for a laugh, and that they are leaving Eddie behind in Palm Beach, as well as Tom's own life. He asks if they can go back, but is refused, so Tom adjusts to his sudden new life as Eddie and enjoys it and acts well as Eddie and the character that Eddie must play, but he misses Pop and Miles. Tom Canty proves to be a 'better Eddie than Eddie', according to Elizabeth (Kay Panabaker), the cute co-star of Eddie Tudor in the production they are shooting together. She gets along with Tom much better than Eddie, which is why she realises that the boy she is now working with can't be Eddie and demands to know who he is. Tom explains all to Elizabeth and the two become close as they keep up the pretense in front of everyone around them, including Eddie's mom and Jerry (his agent), whilst they figure out what to do. Elizabeth suggests that Tom phone home, so he does, explaining all and knowing that he will be in trouble if his pop believes him.

As the days pass by, both Tom and Eddie try to tell people that they are not who everyone thinks they are. All Tom can now do is hope that his Pop comes to pick him up, whilst Eddie, upon realising that the production has moved to Miami, decides to get to the film set himself. He hotwires his boat (which was left in Palm Beach) after Miles takes the key from him and throws it into the water to stop who he thinks is Tom from running away from home. After he doesn’t get very far in the boat, Eddie has to be bailed out by Milles from the police station, and driven home to Pop who starts on Miles for interfering. Miles says he just cares about Tom and doesn’t want to see him going off the rails, but warns Pop that's what will happen if he keeps pushing him. Whilst they are arguing, Eddie jumps into Milles' car and drives off in it. Pop and Milles follow him in Pop's truck, losing track of him when he stops at a roadside service station to buy a veggie burger meal. At the film set in Miami, Milles and Pop bluff their way in by saying that they are extras. They also ask if there has been a kid pretending to be Eddie Tudor trying to sneak in yet, to which the security guard replies, "No sir, not yet". Later, Eddie arrives and the guard says to him, "You must be pretending to be Eddie Tudor" and lets him in. Once on the set, he spots Tom and confronts him, yelling "You're dead, punk!" and they have a brawl with Eddie ranting "You took my identity!", Tom responds with "It wasn’t my fault-They switched location!". Eventually, all calms down and everyone finds out who is who and what has happened. Eddie tells his mom that he now realises that she only pushes him because she cares, to which she says "That's right", and she also reunites with Miles, whom she used to date before Eddie was born, while he was still in the business-before he went off on his own, which he tells her was because he didn’t like the person he had become, not because he disliked her or acting. She understands and reveals to him that Eddie is his son.(Earlier in the movie when Miles thinks he is speaking with Tom he says "I'm not your Dad, but I care about you a lot......I’ve known you since you were a little kid and I've always thought you were cute, Tom".)(it is never mentioned to Eddie that Miles is his father).

The movie ends with Eddie and Miles getting to know each other for real, as father and son, and, Miles and Eddie's mom hinting to each other about getting back together. All remain friends with Tom and he is taken on by Jerry to have his own acting career, starting with a production of Mark Twain's Prince and the Pauper with Eddie. "We were going to use twins, but I think Tom and Eddie would be great" said Jerry. "They sure fooled all of us". Pop asks Tom if that is definitely what he would like to do and after hearing the excited reply finally gives his approval and blessing to Tom. Milles tells Eddie that he is a lot younger than he was when he first started acting and says that the most important thing he learned was to be gracious and treat people with respect. He asks if Eddie can do that, to which he replies, "I will now!" and he does, just insulting Elizabeth jokingly at the filming of Prince and the Pauper, which she does back. They film with Tom, whilst Milles is now trying his hand at directing, with Eddie's mom producing and Jerry (Sally Kellerman) and Pop looking on. The end credits then begin, whilst the final shot shows of Eddie and Tom chilling together and with Miles barbecuing in a garden and everyone looks happy as Milles plays football with Tom, and his lookalike that he's known for much less time but who is really his son, Eddie, proud that the boys are following in his footsteps as actors and knows that they will not make the mistakes that he did after everything that they learned in their fun adventure: A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper.

Cyrus Norman was a millionaire who lived in the Louisiana bayous with his mistress Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard). Norman died ten years previous, and now an American Indian man (George Regas) paddles the executor of Norman's estate, Mr. Crosby (George Zucco), through alligator-infested waters to Norman's isolated mansion, where his will is to be read at midnight. At the mansion, Crosby meets Miss Lu, who lives there with a large black cat. When he removes the will from a safe, he discovers that someone has tampered with it.

Crosby and Miss Lu are joined by Norman's survivors: Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard), Fred Blythe (John Beal), Charles Wilder (Douglass Montgomery), Cicily Young (Nydia Westman), Aunt Susan Tilbury (Elizabeth Patterson), and Wally Campbell (Bob Hope). As the group gathers in the parlor to read the will, an unseen gong rings seven times. According to Miss Lu, this means that only seven of the eight people present will survive the night.

Norman's will has two parts. The first indicates that Joyce will inherit the entire estate, under one condition: Concerned about a streak of insanity in the family's blood, Norman stipulated that his heirs must remain sane for the next 30 days. If Joyce loses her sanity during that time, the heir will be determined from the second part of the will. This arrangement raises concerns about Joyce's safety, since other family members can increase their chances of inheriting by murdering her or driving her insane.

After the reading, Crosby informs everyone that they will have to stay overnight; Miss Lu warns them of spirits in the house; and a security guard found prowling outside claims that a murderer called "The Cat" has escaped from the nearby insane asylum. In the parlor, Crosby tries to warn Joyce about something, but a hidden doorway opens in the wall and someone pulls him into the space behind it. Joyce becomes frightened when everyone except Wally believes she imagined this.

Amid suspicion and accusations, Miss Lu gives Joyce a letter from Norman that Joyce and Wally use to find a diamond necklace. Joyce puts the necklace under her pillow in Norman's room, but after she falls asleep, a hand reaches out from the wall, terrifies her, and takes the necklace. At this point, Joyce is almost out of her mind with fear and confusion, but Wally finds a movable wall panel near her bed and opens a hidden door leading to a secret passageway. Crosby's dead body falls out from behind the door.

To help Joyce recover from her fright, Wally chats to her in the parlor. When he leaves to fetch some liquor, he hears something in Norman's room, opens the hidden door, and explores the passageway. Meanwhile, Joyce sees the door in the parlor as it opens. When Wally calls to her, she hears him through the passageway and enters it to find him. Once she is inside, someone closes the door.

With no exit, Joyce explores the passageway, walking past a dark cranny where the security guard is hiding. The Cat also walks past the guard, who stops him and takes the necklace from him, but the Cat stabs the guard in the back and follows Joyce, who has discovered a door leading outside. After the Cat chases Joyce into a shed and threatens her with a knife, Wally arrives and calls him "Charlie", having found the second part of the will in Charles's coat. Charles removes his Cat mask, pins Wally to the wall with his knife, and begins to strangle Joyce, but Miss Lu arrives with a shotgun and kills him. The next day, Wally and Joyce explain the story to newspaper reporters and unofficially announce their engagement.

Megan Paige, an investigator for the Rochester Police Department, is investigating the murder of a young girl named Carla Castillo. Her body was found in the nearby village of Churchville, New York, along with traces of white cat hair. Opposing her colleagues and boyfriend Kenneth Shine, Megan insists that the murder is the work of a serial killer. Despite Megan's considerable efforts, she fails to catch the killer. Stress and obsession over the investigation causes Megan to hallucinate the victim's image. She ultimately has a nervous breakdown after being kicked off the case and unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide.

Following two years of medical treatment and attending a support group headed by a wheelchair-using man named Richard Ledge, Megan rejoins the police department in an office job. Following a similar murder of another young girl, Wendy Walsh, whose body is found in Webster along with some white cat hair, Megan successfully lobbies to rejoin the investigation. Partnered with Steven Harper, they try to find links between the victims.

Then another girl, Melissa Maestro, is killed in Macedon. They find a number of commonalities between Wendy and Melissa but fail to connect these to the first victim. The Webster Police Department, who has jurisdiction over the latest murder but are uncooperative, receive a call from 19-year-old Elizabeth Eckers who tells them she is being held hostage in a house. Megan is convinced the suspect is not the Alphabet Killer and breaks procedure to preempt a police raid. Megan almost defuses the situation but an officer shoots the suspect through a window and kills him. Webster police declare that the Alphabet Killer is dead and announce the discovery of white cat hair in the house. Megan spirals into another nervous breakdown.

Certain that the Webster police planted the evidence in order to justify killing an innocent, Megan continues the investigation on her own. Megan discovers that all three girls attended St. Michael's Church in Rochester. Still suffering from hallucinations of the victims, Megan visits the church and tries to question the pastor but has another breakdown and is hospitalized.

Megan escapes the hospital and takes refuge in Ledge's home. There, she finds out that he used to work as the math teacher for the St. Michael's Church, which finally reveals that he is the Alphabet killer. Before she can act, he leaps from his wheelchair – having only pretended to be disabled – and attacks her. Ledge knocks her unconscious and drives to a remote spot near the Genesee River to drown her. Before Ledge can inject her with a sedative and dump her into the river, Megan breaks free and, after a struggle, shoots him in the foot with his own gun. Ledge falls into the river just past a large waterfall, though it's unclear if he is dead or not. Unsure whether Ledge is dead and confused by her surroundings, Megan is driven by the intense situation to another, longer breakdown.

Megan is again hospitalized and kept under intensive psychiatric care. The final scenes of the film show Megan wearing a patient gown, heavily sedated and strapped to a bed in a psychiatric ward. There is no one else in the room, but in her state, she envisions the spirits of the victims waiting for her to return and seek justice for them.

The final scenes of Megan are intercut with scenes of a survived Ledge altering his appearance. He is shown in church, receiving communion and exchanging glances with a potential victim. It is unclear if these scenes of Ledge are actually occurring or are part of Megan's psychosis.

A title card announces: "In 2006, police exhumed a fireman's body and posthumously cleared him as a suspect. To date, the Alphabet Killer has not been found."

The film follows Harry Voss during three important days of his life. The first is as a youth, the second on the day of his high school graduation and the third as a lonely, middle-aged man.

The phases of his life show the destruction of hope and innocence and his descent into cynicism, alcoholism and hopelessness. Idealizing romantic love with a beautiful girl in his childhood, he is bitterly disappointed when the real world does not match the idealized images of love in his own imaginings. He then discovers as a teenager his peers consider him an outcast due to his chronic and physically disfiguring cystic acne, which covers his face, chest, shoulders and back in weeping pus-filled sores and repulses all who see him. He turns to alcohol to kill the pain and disappointment, losing all hope of finding true love, only to end up destitute, as an alcoholic in later adulthood. Only through a freak chance encounter late in his life is he transported back to his innocent memories of childhood and the idealized love of a beautiful girl that he craved in his youth. Finally fulfilled, he dies by wading out into the open ocean after finding his only "true" love - a "crazy love". The irony of the "hollowness" of this lost, idealized, love, and the tragic significance Harry places on this single event, sums up his lost life and finally makes him the hero of his own story.

Each of the three phases filmed involves a sexual encounter with a "passive" female. In the first phase, the child is pushed into a sexual encounter with a friend's attractive mother whilst she is sleeping, drunk, in her bed at home. In the second, a girl lies passively in the back seat of a car, uninterested, whilst he attempts to have sex with her. She does it only as a favor to her boyfriend who is friends with Harry, but cannot carry through in the end and turns away in disgust at his appalling cystic acne. In the third, as an older alcoholic, he and his drunk friend stumble upon a fresh corpse and "steal" it as a joke, only for Harry to find that the dead - but still warm - girl resembles the girl of his childhood dreams.

The next morning his friend finds Harry has committed suicide by intentionally walking out to sea with the corpse in his arms, apparently committing suicide after consummating his final desire.

''A Dirty Carnival'' is the story of Kim Byung-doo, a small-time gangster in his late 20s. Unable to acquire the money necessary to save his family from eviction, Byung-doo subverts his boss, Sang-chul, and takes a job directly from President Hwang, Sang-chul's boss, to eliminate Attorney Park, a public prosecutor who has been bothersome to President Hwang. On this job's completion, Byung-doo receives the money he was hoping for in addition to President Hwang's respect and a spot at his side. Byung-doo and President Hwang swear never to speak of the hit to anyone so that they, and the organization, will not be implicated.

While these events unfold, Byung-doo is reunited with his elementary school friend, Min-ho, who has become a movie director. Min-ho's current project is a gangster film, although prospective scripts are continuously shot down by his higher-ups for being too fake. In an attempt to improve the film's authenticity, Min-ho sets out to interview Byung-doo who he sees as "a real gangster". Meanwhile, Min-ho manages to reunite Byung-doo with his high school love interest, Hyun-joo. Byung-doo finds that he still has an interest in her and attempts to rekindle their relationship.

Sang-chul becomes aware of the Attorney Park murder and feels threatened by Byung-doo's subversion of his authority and lack of consideration for the organization. He sets up a hit to take out Byung-doo, but Byung-doo learns of this before it occurs and stabs Sang-chul to death, guaranteeing his safety in the short term.

These murders don't leave Byung-doo without heavy emotional baggage, however. When Byung-doo's gangster tendencies frighten Hyun-joo away, Min-ho attempts to console Byung-doo who reveals to Min-ho his darkest secrets, including the hits on both Attorney Park and his former boss, Sang-chul.

Missing Hyun-joo deeply, Byung-doo tries to hide his gangster tendencies to revive their relationship. However, despite his words to Hyun-joo otherwise, Byung-doo is unable to truly escape the gangster occupation. In fact, as his rank within the gang escalates, his actions become more violent and cruel, juxtaposing his ever-growing affection for Hyun-joo.

Soon Byung-doo discovers that Min-ho's gangster film reenacts many of the events from Byung-doo's past, including the hit on Attorney Park. Realizing the dangers of the organization being implicated, Byung-doo confronts Min-ho and threatens him never to tell anyone, choosing to spare his life despite pleas from his underlings that he do otherwise. These underlings later decide to take matters into their own hands and threaten Min-ho more seriously than Byung-doo was willing to do, but still sparing his life. It is then that Min-ho, deeply disturbed, goes to the police and informs them of the potential threats on his life. The police attempt to arrest Byung-doo but fail. It is then that Byung-doo believes that the proper solution is to eliminate Min-ho once and for all. As Min-ho (and his film) have become quite popular, it will not be an easy job - Byung-doo intends to perform the hit and fly out of the country, escaping the consequences of his actions.

Byung-doo moves to assassinate Min-ho at an after-party for his film. Min-ho manages to escape outside where he is captured by Byung-doo's underlings who are supposed to take Min-ho to a planned location for Byung-doo to meet them at. Upon arrival, Byung-doo is attacked by a group of thugs. Despite being outnumbered, Byung-doo manages to stumble away from his attackers, heavily wounded. He appears to be saved as his underlings arrive on the scene, however, they betray Byung-doo and kill him. Notably, Jong-soo, Byung-doo's former right-hand man and his lone accomplice in the Attorney Park murder, is present and appears to be leading the betrayal.

The scene shifts to a meeting with President Hwang and Min-ho, who appears to be alive and well despite being captured by Byung-doo's men. President Hwang discusses potential movie ideas with Min-ho, saying he can draw inspiration from the stories of his past, though they shouldn't be too close to the truth for as he says, "a fiction should remain a fiction", referencing Min-ho's first movie and its connection to Byung-doo's untimely fate. Soon Jong-soo joins the meeting, taking Byung-doo's position at President Hwang's side, showcasing his subversion much in the same way that Byung-doo subverted his own boss, Sang-chul.

The final scene is a repetition from earlier in the film, where Byung-doo visits Min-ho on his movie set to give him advice. Byung-doo encourages Min-ho with the friendly words, "Make something with a real gangster spirit," reinforcing the strength of the friendship and gangster themes running throughout the film.

''Koi wa Ina Mono Myōna Mono'' actually starts while Tamura is in high school, when he encounters another boy, Narumi Seiwa, who he immediately recognizes from his foreseeing dream. He promptly passes out after seeing Seiwa from the stress of meeting the guy he knows he will end up sleeping with, which will confirm that he is a homosexual.

Tamura attempts to avoid Seiwa at all costs, since he is already strongly attracted to him against his will because of the numerous times he has had the foreseeing dream of sleeping with Seiwa. Seiwa's touch is enough for Tamura to get aroused. Seiwa is further confused from Tamura's reactions and adverse avoidance of him.

Tamura's avoidance of Seiwa irritates the other boy, who wants to know why he seemingly hates him. The end result is that Seiwa follows Tamura around school wanting an explanation, making it hard for Tamura to control his feelings for Seiwa.

Eventually after such a long time of trying to avoid his "fate" and Seiwa's growing affection for him, Tamura finally gives up and sleeps with Seiwa after only knowing him for a few weeks, because of the stress it has caused him from his own stubbornness, and Seiwa's inability to give up liking him. However, the real reason he sleeps with Seiwa is because he finally admits that he does love Seiwa. The two become lovers and life partners afterwards.

When last seen, Tamura and Seiwa are an "idiot couple" who still act like newlyweds, even seven years later.

The film traces the story of a family's struggle for survival in the aftermath of the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, to North Vietnam's communist regime. After her South Vietnamese Army husband Long, is imprisoned in a North Vietnamese re-education camp, Mai, her son Lai, and her mother-in-law escape Vietnam by boat in the hopes of starting a new life in Southern California. Believing his family is dead, Long gives up in the face of brutal conditions, while Mai struggles to keep her family from crumbling under the pressures of life in a new country. When Long learns his family is alive in America, he is reinvigorated and decides he must join them at any cost.

Having quit Dunder Mifflin, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) settles for a job at Staples. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) relishes the thought of becoming Michael Scott's (Steve Carell) new Number Three and begins to pester Michael for attention. When Andy begins to irritate his co-workers, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), after getting no support from Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) or Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), recruits Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) to play a prank on Andy by hiding his cell phone (which plays ''Rockin' Robin'', sung a cappella by Andy himself) in the ceiling and continually calling it.

Meanwhile, Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) returns to the office from his leave of absence, and Michael wants to celebrate by asking the Party Planning Committee to throw a Mexican-themed fiesta that includes firecrackers, a chihuahua and a donkey. Later, as Jim and Pam continue to call Andy's hidden cell phone, he is pushed over the edge by the combination of Jim and Pam's prank and Michael's rejection of his friendship, and in a fit of rage punches a hole in the wall.

When Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) finally reveals to Michael that she was the cause of Dwight's secret visit to Corporate, Michael realizes his error in forcing Dwight out and goes to Staples to ask him to return to Dunder Mifflin. Angela was worried that Michael would realize the two were involved in a romantic relationship, but Michael believes that Dwight saved Angela out of loyalty to the company. Dwight returns to the office and, much to his delight, thinks Oscar's welcome back party is actually meant for him.

Karen has noticed how much fun Jim and Pam had together during their prank on Andy; she confronts Jim and asks him if he still has feelings for Pam. Jim nods as he quietly says yes and Karen walks out of the room, visibly upset. Meanwhile, corporate sends Andy to anger management where he plans to get out of the 10-week program in five weeks through his usual charms: name repetition and personality imitation.

A husband (Chase) is being divorced by his wife (Edna Marion). She recounts his cruelty, abuse, and drunkenness before a judge (Will Walling) at court. His lawyer (Laurel) attempts to defend him but only succeeds in making his client look worse. Oliver Hardy has a small part as a police officer.

Utilizing a film-within-a-film format, the overall plot involves New York City-based director Eddie Israel directing actors Sarah Jennings and Frank Burns in a Hollywood marital-crisis drama, ''Mother of Mirrors'', which is about a formerly wealthy but unemployed husband who berates his newly religious wife about what he considers her hypocritical aversion to their sex-and-drug lifestyle. During the shooting of that film, Israel becomes more and more demanding of his actors, growing increasingly obsessive with finding the ugly truths beneath the story's surface. All the while, his own carelessness and bad behavior with his own family begins to erode him and to corrode his marriage to Madlyn.

Kim (Ravi Sheth) is a 13-year-old street orphan in Lahore of the 19th century (1894). Kim thinks he is native, but he's actually of British origin, the son of an Irish soldier and an unknown mother (unlike the novel on which it is based, Kim's mother is not portrayed as Irish, but it is made clear that Kim is white). Kim is hired as a guide by a travelling Tibetan lama (Peter O'Toole) on a search for a river where Budda hurled an arrow, turning it into a place of redemption. When he finds his father's regiment and the British military discover his origins and his real name, Kimball O'Hara, he's placed in an English college. His nature, however, is opposed to the regimentation expected for the son of a British soldier, and he rebels. His familiarity with Indian life and his ability to pass as an Indian child allows him to function as a spy for the British as they attempt to thwart revolution and invasion of India. Rejoining his holy man, Kim is trained by an Englishman called Babu (John Rhys Davies) to become a British spy and receives orders from a British Colonel (Julian Glover) who assigns him a risky mission in the "Great Game", the behind-the-scenes struggle between Imperial Britain and Russia for supremacy in Afghanistan and Central Asia. He also befriends an astute Afghan horse-dealer named Mahbub Ali (Bryan Brown), a British Secret Service agent, who helps him with his task.

Tim comments how Britain had colonized far away places to keep alive the noble art of playing cricket, and he and Bill argue about keeping politics out of sport.

The Minister of Sport asks the Goodies for help, informing them that all other member countries have left the Commonwealth, apart from the tiny August Bank Holiday Islands (where the next Commonwealth Games are to be held). "August Bank Holiday Islands - where's that?" asked Graeme, to which the Minister for Sport replied: "Between Easter Island and Christmas Island."

The Goodies are asked to train the British Commonwealth athletic team to top fitness, but the potential members of the team are all former Members of Parliament, and not athletes — they are also very old and fail the test, and the Goodies have to take their places in the team.

Amongst the sporting equipment given to the Goodies are extremely heavy boots which, the Minister informs them, is to combat expected weightlessness they would encounter at the August Bank Holiday Islands. However, the extremely heavy boots prove to be totally unnecessary, and create a problem for Tim, Graeme and Bill, who have trouble even walking in them. When the Goodies state that they do not want to wear the boots, the Minister for Sport insists that the Goodies keep wearing them throughout the entire Commonwealth Games. Because of the extreme heaviness of the boots, the Goodies lose every event, and Britain has to forfeit the British Commonwealth to the August Bank Holiday Islands as a result. The Minister unfairly blames the Goodies for Britain's failure in the games.

Later, the Minister sees the Goodies again, and tells them that the former member countries had rejoined the Commonwealth under the new August Bank Holiday Islands rule — however, the news is not so good for Britain.

A police officer finds a goat roaming the streets of Bansha and, presuming her to be either a loiterer or a prostitute ('Stholler', as used in the poem, has both of these definitions), announces that he will soon send her off to prison. The police officer and the goat argue over the circumstances of her arrest, and whether or not the police officer would actually be able to get a conviction for a crime not committed. At the end of the song, the goat accuses the police officer of being drunk, and asserts that if she had had enough money to purchase illegal liquor for the police officer, would have been allowed to go free.

In the year 1698, Airos, a 16-year-old teenager is on a vacation, when all of the sudden, he notices weird, and unatural things. He follows a dark being into the Forbidden Woods, and he finds a sword. After a landslide, he returns back to his village. He checks out his house, in the basement, to discover a young woman. The girl disappears, and follows Airos to the Phantom Twilight.

Once Airos is inside the dark realm, he transforms into a Dark Demon. He is imprisoned, and held executed. The girl appears again, letting Airos free. Her name is Persephone. Airos and Persephone make an escape to an important room. There, Airos speaks with Rauru, guardian of the sages. Airos is told who rules the twilight. Then, Airos must find the Four Goddesses. Airos sets out to find the four.

Airos finds the Four Goddesses, and is afterwards, ambushed by King Tyrant.

The dark fantasy world where the story is set is soon to be facing divine punishment. The ancient gods, disgusted by humanity’s pride, intend to wipe mankind out and replace it with a new, more submissive race of goatmen, but this plan is not unavoidable. One party of adventurers take it upon themselves to fight back "against overwhelming odds" so that humanity is not sentenced to a fate "that may be worse than death."

Traveling with the protagonist are potentially six allies, who gradually get recruited, or ask to join the adventurers.

Buck Caesar is a paroled convict who makes a contribution to a reform school on the advice of his nephew, Jim Donahue, a lawyer. Jim feels that the boys in the reform school, including Tony, Gyp, Joey, Bingo, Ace, and Ouch, could benefit from the contribution, and he believes the publicity from it will help his uncle.

The superintendent, Krispan, does not want the contribution to lead to an audit, as he has been carrying two sets of financial books. He gets a professional hockey team to substitute for the team his school will be playing. His reasoning is that Buck will place a large bet on the school and lose, thereby getting him angry and possibly violent, which would violate his parole and send him back to prison. Buck does proceed to get angry, and punches the opposing coach, and then hides to avoid arrest.

Krispan continues in his role as ruler of the school, which had deteriorated under Buck's influence. As punishment for their actions while Buck was around, Krispan locks Joey into a freezer, and he dies. The other kids revolt and Buck comes out of hiding to aid them. The kids capture Krispan and make him go through a trial where they convict him to "join Joey". Buck, however, has gone to the police, and they arrive in time to stop them. Krispan is punished through the proper legal channels, and Buck returns to prison for violation of parole.

Set in the Old West, the Stooges are scouts for the United States Cavalry. They are sent by General Muster (Ted Lorch) to catch a gang of cattle rustlers, so they hide as bushes to try to find the gang's leader, Longhorn Pete (Stanley Blystone). However, the rustlers see past their disguises and shoot at the trio, forcing them to flee. The Stooges eventually wind up in Longhorn Pete's saloon, and the Stooges disguise themselves as gamblers and get into a card game with Pete as they wait for the cavalry.

Moe attempts to send a message to General Muster for help via carrier pigeon, but the pigeon returns to Pete, who reads the incriminating message aloud. The Stooges are forced to escape for their lives, jumping on a covered wagon filled with household equipment — and a monkey. The trio toss pots and pans from the wagon onto the ground, which the hoofs of the rustlers' horses catch them. The wagon loosens up from the horse team, and goes down in its own power until it stops.

The Stooges lock themselves within a small house, forcing the rustlers to use their guns on it from the outside. A bullet knocks off the monkey's hat, and he is forced to use a dipper as a helmet. Amidst the melee, Curly spots a meat grinder and decides to make a hamburger. The whizzing bullets accidentally topple a box of ammunition into the grinder, and the grinder becomes a makeshift Gatling gun. Discovering the chance, they add more ammunition and even a gun belt serving as an ad hoc ammunition belt. The increase in opposing firepower overwhelm the bandits until General Muster and his soldiers arrive and capture them. As the Stooges are given kudos for a job well done, the monkey goes to the grinder and twists the handle, firing a few shots that caused the three to be hit and flee the area.

The "Previously on Battlestar Galactica" section includes two scenes which were not in previous episodes: civilian refugees are seen boarding ''Galactica'' and entering the starboard hangar deck as Chief Tyrol says that Helo has been transferred to the deck to manage them; in the command center, Gaeta informs Adama that there are 51 Sagittarons in the ''Thera Sita'' inhabitants coming aboard.

A sickness has broken out amongst the more than 300 displaced civilians forced to live aboard ''Galactica'' in the unused starboard hangar bay which has been nicknamed "Dogsville". Part of the hangar has been sectioned off into a medical ward where Captain "Helo" Agathon helps direct the sick to beds while a Caprican physician, Dr. Michael Robert, examines a boy named Willie King. Willie's mother causes a scene when she protests Dr. Robert's examination, stating their Sagittaron faith rejects modern medicine. Dualla, a "Sag" herself, tries to convince the Kings that Robert is here to help them, but Mrs. King seems overly terrified of Dr. Robert.

On ''Colonial One'', President Roslin meets with her aide Tory Foster and Vice President Tom Zarek to discuss the trial of Gaius Baltar. Zarek believes that Baltar's trial could stir chaos within the fleet and warns of assassination plots and riots. He strongly advises Roslin to declare martial law as a precaution during the trial. When Zarek leaves, Roslin and Tory note that Zarek seemed extremely worried about possible unrest.

Aboard ''Galactica'', Roslin meets with Admiral Adama, and Dr. Robert explains the sick have Mellorak Sickness, a virus which first attacks the kidneys and later other organs in the body. Dr. Cottle further assures them that Mellorak, while contagious, isn't airborne and is passed only by human contact. If the patients are kept quarantined, there is little risk of an epidemic. Cottle says it is treatable with the vaccine Bittamucin, but only if administered within 48 hours of symptoms. Robert states his irritation with the Sagittarons’ refusal of medicine, saying they'd rather turn to archaic roots and herbs to cure them. Colonel Tigh shares Robert's resentment of the Sags, calling them a useless and backward people. Because of the shortage of Bittamucin, Robert believes he should ration the drug only to those who display symptoms. Roslin tells Robert to do what he can for them, regardless of their faith.

In Joe's Bar, Dualla and Apollo sit talking with Chief Tyrol, Felix Gaeta, and Racetrack about the current situation. Tyrol shows his animosity toward the Sagittarons by making alcohol-fueled comments about how they refused to fight on New Caprica and that they don't deserve medical treatment.

Meanwhile, in the brig, Athena meets with Caprica Six who offers words of consolation and encouragement and states that her best chances lie with helping the humans. In an adjacent room, Roslin and Tory watch the discussion through one-way glass. Athena tells Caprica Six that she will see to her being treated fairly during Baltar's trial, but suddenly, Caprica Six's imaginary Baltar appears who asks about Caprica Six's desire to help the humans, speculating that she perhaps wishes to become one of them. Athena leaves saying she will return later with a change of clothes for her. Caprica Six talks to Baltar and they engage in a kiss. When Tory asks what she is doing, Roslin states she's seen this before, that she believes Caprica Six is communicating with someone they can't see.

Elsewhere, Helo deals with an angry group of Sagittarons in a crowded room. They are furious about their treatment under Robert, with several of them calling him a murderer and saying he killed Sagittarons back on New Caprica. Helo believes they are overreacting until Mrs. King pushes her way to the front to inform Helo that her son Willie is dead. Helo believes the Kings waited too long for treatment, but the woman tearfully says her son had the symptoms for only 12 hours.

Later, Helo takes the news of Willie King to Admiral Adama, and Colonel Tigh. He says the Sagittarons are accusing Dr. Robert of singling them out and killing them back on New Caprica. Adama has his doubts, saying Dr. Robert is a respected physician.

Helo is alerted by his wife Athena that their daughter Hera has fallen ill. Athena informs Helo that Hera had already been taken to Dr. Robert. Helo rushes as Robert sticks a needle in Hera and asks if this is really necessary. Robert comforts the child, saying everything should clear up in a few hours. He notices Helo's anxiety and asks if there is a problem. Helo pulls his wife and child away, leaving Robert confused. In their quarters, Helo tells Athena about the accusations against Robert and wonders whether Robert also has a grudge against Cylons. To her parents' relief, however, Hera seems fine after her treatment. Nonetheless, Helo is determined to find the truth.

Helo marches down to medical, finding the lights off and no one around. He proceeds to a stack of medical files and begins reviewing them. He finds nearly 90% of the Sagittarons under Robert's care back on New Caprica died, even from the most trivial conditions. Helo is startled by Dr. Cottle, who is furious that Helo won't let the situation go. Helo begs Cottle to conduct an autopsy on Willie King, to which Cottle says he already had, finding nothing but the vaccine Robert injected him with. Defeated, Helo relents and walks out.

In the meantime, Dualla, feeling sick herself, asks Dr. Robert to help her. He gives her an injection and she lies down in a bed. At night, Mrs. King informs Helo of Dualla's illness. She is accosted by the guards but Helo rushes down to the hangar ward and finds Dualla lying motionless on a cot. He tries to revive her, but she is unresponsive. Helo tries to carry Dualla out of the infirmary but is intercepted by Dr. Robert. Robert refuses to let them leave and calls the guards to stop them.

An angry Colonel Tigh and Dr. Cottle arrive in the hangar bay. Robert demands that Tigh have Helo arrested, but Tigh shouts at a surprised Robert. Cottle admits that due to fatigue he had not viewed Willie King's blood work until a few hours ago; the test had uncovered a deadly toxin in the boy's body and no trace of Bittamucin. Robert had indeed killed him. Robert defends himself by saying that the sick Sags would have died anyway and that by giving them deadly toxins he was shortening their suffering and saving Bittamucin for those more valuable to the fleet. He looks to Tigh for support, saying that he thought Tigh's hatred of Sags was second only to his hatred of Cylons, but Tigh replies that what he hates is being wrong. Tigh tells Helo to arrest Robert. Cottle is able to determine that Dualla was unharmed by Robert and was merely sedated. Helo realizes that Robert spared Dualla as he saw her as "one of the good ones."

As Robert is marched out of the hangar bay, Helo meets Mrs. King's gaze as she stands in the crowd. After receiving Admiral Adama's apology, Helo returns home to his wife and daughter.

Added scene

The episode ends with a brief extra scene of Helo admitting to Admiral Adama that he is responsible for the deaths of the infected Cylons (see "A Measure of Salvation"). Adama asks him if he really wants to be confessing this. Helo replies, "Yes, Sir."

Adama explains that if Helo wishes to proceed, he will have to get a written confession. Helo will most likely face a court martial, and, if convicted, possibly a firing squad. Adama asks again if Helo wants to continue with his confession, to which he responds, "No." Adama dismisses him.

It has been over a month since the fleet last encountered the Cylons and the crew of the ''Galactica'' begins the tedious job of conducting repairs and maintenance to their battered ship. In his quarters, Admiral Adama reflects upon his wedding anniversary, dreaming of his estranged wife Carolanne. Adama is awakened when Colonel Tigh arrives to have him sign off on papers. Tigh reports that since most of the Vipers are out of dry-dock, Chief Galen Tyrol will be checking the servos on Airlock 12. Admiral Adama continues to fantasize of Carolanne, but it is quickly revealed that their relationship wasn't perfect. Carolanne accuses him of putting duty before family which is why she divorced him.

Meanwhile, in their quarters, Chief Tyrol and his wife Cally prepare for repair duty. Galen gets their infant son Nicky ready for daycare while Cally protests having to work when she hoped they could spend the day together. Galen reminds her that duty takes priority over their marriage obligations.

The two arrive at the damaged Airlock 12 with deckhand Seelix who enters the control booth. Cally remains disapproving, questioning why Galen picked her to work with him when she should be taking care of the baby. This starts a quarrel between them. Galen tells her things are different now that they've left planet New Caprica and are back aboard ''Galactica''. As Seelix overhears the argument through the intercom, an alarm activates and the airlock doors seal shut. Galen tells Seelix to open the door, but she says there's a pressure differential and the doors sealed automatically. Believing it to be a trivial problem, Galen begins to look for a leak and soon finds a small crack in a patch on the bulkhead.

As Adama walks to a meeting with President Roslin, he continues to fantasize about Carolanne, who accuses him of creating a god-like facade for himself and Roslin as an excuse to keep his distance. Adama meets with Roslin who brings up the issue of Gaius Baltar's upcoming trial. She indicates the trial will be problematic because they'd have to pick a common set of laws for the process, but since the colonies each had their own systems of justice she doesn't know which one to use. She says she wants to appoint an honest and dedicated person to organize and conduct the legal research. She requests Adama's son, Apollo, knowing that his grandfather was a respected lawyer. Adama agrees that Apollo is a good choice but says Apollo had never shown an interest in law. Roslin insists and Adama says he will ask him. Roslin then requests to stay on the ''Galactica'' for the rest of the day.

In the pilot ready room, Apollo enters to give a briefing. He overhears the pilots chattering about how many days it has been since they encountered the Cylons, which is currently at 49 days. Apollo berates their celebration saying they only need to consider the number "1"—since "one slip-up" is all it takes to jeopardize the fleet. Adama watches his son's stern lecture from the doorway as Carolanne's image returns to his mind. She scoffs at the fact that he never tells Lee how much he loves him and that he lets performance reviews express his feelings instead of words. Afterwards, Adama tells his son of Roslin's request that he handle the legal proceedings. Apollo is flattered saying he remembers looking through his grandfather's legal textbooks and that he briefly considered becoming a lawyer instead of joining the military. Apollo refuses because the duties of the CAG already consume all his time.

Meanwhile, the situation in the airlock grows critical. Galen's temporary patch of the hole doesn't hold and the breach expands further. He and his wife are beginning to freeze and rapidly losing air. By now, Admiral Adama has been alerted of the crisis and goes to the control room to assess the situation. Adama is frustrated that the backup systems can't be activated, and Apollo explains that extensive battle damage to Airlock 12 knocked out the bypass. Colonel Tigh suggests using explosives to break through the window of the control booth, but Apollo says the window is too strongly reinforced. The amount of explosive necessary to breach it would kill the Tyrols in the blast.

The only option left is a harrowing plan to blow the exterior hatch and rescue them with a Raptor. Adama informs Galen of the plan saying they are taking them "out the front door". Galen asks if they're planning on setting up a docking collar, but Adama replies that there isn't enough time. Cally is visibly shaken and fears they won't survive the explosive egress. Adama tells her not to worry, assuring that people have survived exposure to vacuum for as long as a minute. She begins to worry about Nicky, telling her husband that she knows what happens to orphaned children in the fleet. While Galen moves loose objects closer to the airlock so that they won't be struck during the decompression, Cally asks the Admiral that if anything should happen to them, would he see to Nicky being given to a woman in the fleet named Susan Settler. Adama promises that he'll see to it and tells them to get ready.

Outside the airlock, Athena pilots a Raptor up to the exterior hatch. Inside, Apollo and Starbuck open the side hatch and ready themselves to catch the Tyrols as they are blown out into space. In the airlock, Galen takes tight hold of Cally. He apologizes for being selfish with forcing her to work with him, but admits that he just wanted to enjoy her company. The hatch is blown sending the Tyrols and several cargo containers into space. The Raptor narrowly avoids being struck by the debris and Apollo and Starbuck catch the Tyrols safely. Apollo reports they are alive, but in rough shape.

Once back aboard, Apollo sits with his father reminiscing about his mother Carolanne. He explains that after the divorce, Carolanne took to drinking heavily. Despite his father's devotion to her, he believes his mother never truly loved him.

Down in sickbay, Galen and Cally recover from their incident. Seelix brings Nicky to see his father who painfully rests in a bed. He finds the strength to get to his feet and carries Nicky to Cally, who is in a hyperbaric chamber recovering from decompression sickness.

Meanwhile, Apollo returns to his quarters where his wife Dee tells him that his father sent down a box for him. Apollo is amazed to find it filled with his grandfather's old legal books and shocked that his father had even kept them.

Elsewhere, Admiral Adama has another meeting with Roslin. He brings up a past conversation of hers where she said that if they'd have stayed on New Caprica, she would have found a nice secluded place to build a cabin. She says Baltar's inept leadership and New Caprica's terrain would have made it too difficult. She wonders however, if the Cylons had never returned, would he have eventually left ''Galactica'' to settle down himself. He evades the question saying it would have been irrelevant anyway. The image of Carolanne returns to his thoughts who tells him that she knows he would have eventually. As Adama leaves, Roslin says she would have indeed built the cabin.

Adama returns to his quarters and takes one last look at his wedding photo before putting it back inside his locker.

Added scene

The episode ends with a brief extra scene which takes place earlier in the episode before Colonel Tigh takes maintenance reports to Adama. The scene shows Felix Gaeta walking through a corridor with Dee. Felix says that he has taken notice that the Admiral and the President seem to be spending quite a bit of time together. Dee wonders what he's implying where Gaeta believes there may be an intimate relationship forming.

The rest of the scene continues (available on Syfy.com and as a deleted scene on the DVD release) and shows Gaeta and Dee staring at each other in contemplation of the idea. The two soon begin to laugh hysterically until Colonel Tigh walks up and asks what is so funny. Gaeta and Dee come to attention and state that it's nothing. Tigh takes the reports away and when the coast is clear, the two resume their laughter.

The story follows the efforts of three teenagers to overthrow a religious cult with terrorist leanings, the Kakusei Group, which their families belonged to. Anna, the daughter of the cult leader, Todo, was rescued by a cult dissenter, Moe, as a young girl. Trained from an early age to kill, Anna's only close bond is with Moe, and her main purpose in life is to kill her father. In her efforts to reach this goal, she comes into contact with two other teens who once belonged to the cult with her: Yuri Kitagawa, a shy young man who lives with his domineering mother, and Mitsuba Maezona, a delinquent who has been raised by strangers he believes to be his family.

Yuri meets Anna after he "kills" his mother—or rather, watches her die from the results of a suicide attempt. Abused and controlled by his mother for most of his life, he feels liberated by her death as well as a strong sense of guilt. When Anna offers to help him dispose of the body and asks him to accompany her on her quest, he falls in love with her and accepts. However, Yuri is somewhat timid and innocent, and often finds Anna's violent approach to solving problems unnerving.

Mitsuba joins up with Anna and Yuri after his adopted family is killed by members of the Kakusei Group, because they had kidnapped him from the cult when he was a child. Mitsuba meets Anna and Yuri first because Anna saves him while he is fighting with the Kakusei group. His motivation is to get revenge for his family's murders, and Anna's plans to go after the cult collide with his own desires.

Though their violent antics are initially very unheroic, the three teens soon begin to confront the question of right and wrong as they battle the Kakusei Group as well as try to avoid the machinations of Inspector Nishikama, the detective assigned to the Kakusei Group case who will use anyone and anything to destroy the cult, even children. Anna and Yuri also start to develop feelings for each other. Anna, Yuri, and Mitsuba also run into another former cult member, Kunita, who has become a preacher. He implores them to look for a better option than violence, but he is also committed to destroying the Kakusei Group, as well as protecting the three kids with Moe. Another adult who wishes to help them is Sergeant Shono, an idealistic member of the Juvenile Affairs division assigned to their case. She insists that no matter what actions they have done, they are only children and therefore need to be protected and cared for. Inspector Nishikama and Sergeant Shono often butt heads over this issue. She also makes a bargain with them. She will help them take down the Kakusei group but Yuri, Mitsuba and Anna must all turn themselves in after they destroy the Kakusei group. Also, Anna and the others can no longer kill anyone other than those who once belonged in the Kakusei group. Anna, Mitsuba and Yuri agree to the bargain. However, as the situation becomes more dire, differences must eventually be put aside.

The episode begins with Starbuck restlessly asleep in her bunk and having a dream in which she finds herself in her apartment on Caprica painting the Eye of Jupiter on her wall. She becomes frustrated and splashes white paint over her artwork as the Cylon Leoben Conoy approaches her from behind. The two begin to aggressively make love until Starbuck awakens, breathing heavily.

Later, Starbuck talks with Helo, who learns of her strange dreams and suggests she see an oracle. During the discussion, Starbuck catches a glimpse of a little beaten girl in a mirror; it is her younger self. Turning about, the child is not there. Starbuck then heads to Dogsville in the hangar and sees the oracle, Yolanda Brenn. She enters the tent, finding a small winged figurine. Suddenly, Brenn speaks from the shadows, explaining that the figurine is a depiction of the goddess Aurora, who signifies change and allows Starbuck to keep it. Before Starbuck can say much, Brenn says she knows why she came. She says she knows of Leoben and the dreams, repeating word-for-word Leoben's remarks of Starbuck's destiny. She tells Starbuck that it all means that her mother, Socrata Thrace (Dorothy Lyman), is trying to tell her something important. Angry and afraid, Starbuck quickly leaves.

Meanwhile, the fleet is undergoing fuel replenishment in the orbit of a gas giant, using the planet's radiation to help hide their presence from the Cylons. After a rendezvous with her husband, Anders, Starbuck tells him about some of the abuse she endured at the hands of her mother. Starbuck says that her mother had an intense phobia of insects. Starbuck was angry with her mother one day, and hid plastic insects in her mother's shoes. As punishment, her mother slammed Starbuck's hand repeatedly in a door.

Later, Starbuck and Hot Dog are on patrol, piloting their Vipers in the clouds of the gas giant. Starbuck catches sight of a Cylon Heavy Raider and gives chase. Because of the radiation, the DRADIS is blind and Hot Dog is unable to get a confirmation of the ship. He soon loses sight of Starbuck, who remains in hot pursuit of the Cylon. In orbit, Admiral Adama aborts the refuelling and orders the fleet to prepare for a jump. Starbuck dogfights the Cylon through the clouds, eventually entering a swirling storm into which the Cylon dives. Strangely, the clouds take on the red, blue and yellow colors of the Eye of Jupiter. Determined to kill the Cylon, Starbuck maintains her pursuit, ignoring the frantic calls from Apollo to pull up before she is crushed by the increasing atmospheric pressure below the cloud deck.

After seeing glimpses of her apartment between flashes of lightning and the outline of her mother standing in the room, Starbuck finally comes to her senses and returns to ''Galactica''. Once aboard, she is shocked by Chief Tyrol's claim that her Viper has no visible damage, even though she felt bullet impacts. Likewise, her gun camera footage shows she was firing at nothing. Admiral Adama meets with Apollo, asking his son if he thinks Starbuck is losing her mind. Apollo says he will talk to her and later finds Starbuck sitting in Memorial Hallway, staring at the pictures on the wall. She tells him if she dies first, he is to place her photo right next to the photo of Kat. Apollo promises, but says if ''he'' dies first, he wants to be placed next to the photo of Duck and Nora, who were both lost on New Caprica. Starbuck asks his decision about her flight readiness and he gives her some words of encouragement. Meanwhile, she observes dripping candle wax taking the pattern and colors of the Eye. When Starbuck passes Admiral Adama and President Roslin, she gives the figurine of Aurora to Adama, saying it would make a great figurehead for the model sailing ship in his quarters.

Preparing for her next flight mission, Starbuck stops herself from entering her Viper cockpit when she sees her younger self sitting in the seat. Visibly shaken, she tells Apollo she is unable to trust herself and cannot fly. Apollo comforts her by offering to be her wingman for the flight.

Once more in the sky of the planet, Starbuck catches sight of the Heavy Raider and engages pursuit. Apollo's scopes show no sign of the bogey and he chases after Starbuck, but he quickly loses sight of her. Starbuck again chases the Raider into the swirling storm, where the Cylon turns around and nearly collides with her. Suddenly, the Viper's cockpit canopy is punctured and Starbuck passes out as her fighter begins a wild spin. The cockpit alarms change to the alarm of a clock and the scene changes to Starbuck lying in bed in her apartment on Caprica. She turns off the clock's alarm and immediately finds Leoben sitting by her side.

Starbuck believes she is being tricked again and that this is all a dream or some Cylon mind-game. Leoben assures her that he is there to give her a chance at something she avoided in her past. He gently takes her hand and leads her into another scene change, this time it is her mother's apartment. Fearful, Starbuck sees herself, six years prior, entering her mother's kitchen dressed in her fleet officer uniform. Her mother sits reading a paper and smoking a cigarette. Hoping for some congratulations from her mother for having graduated flight school and becoming an officer, Starbuck instead receives an admonishment for graduating 16th in her class. Starbuck tells her she was 16th out of 117 cadets. Angered, her mother tells her she should have been number one. Starbuck retaliates, thinking that her mother is jealous because she never became an officer, despite having served as a decorated Marine Corporal in the first Cylon War.

Starbuck then notices a medical paper on the table and grabs it despite her mother's objection. The report says her mother has terminal cancer. Starbuck offers sympathy, but her mother rejects it, saying that Starbuck should have pity for herself. In anger, Starbuck walks out the door, vowing to never return and that her mother can die alone. Starbuck relives the moment and sobs.

Leoben then takes her to the bedroom where her mother lies on her deathbed and gives Starbuck another chance to be with her mother as she dies. Starbuck sits next to the bed and notices her mother holds a scrapbook filled with all her childhood drawings, including the swirling Eye. Starbuck takes her mother's hand as she tells her that she is happy she came back. She presses her daughter's hand against her face as she takes her final breath. Starbuck quietly sobs, but is partially relieved to have been at her mother's final moments. Leoben tells her that death is not hard to embrace, and that is the message her mother was trying to tell her all along. Starbuck finally sees Leoben as something else, perhaps not a Cylon, but her spiritual guardian. Leoben says he never claimed he ''was'' actually Leoben.

In reality, Starbuck finally awakens to the shouts of Apollo begging her to come back. She moves her hand near the ejection seat lever on her Viper before telling him that she is no longer afraid and will "see him on the other side". Apollo demands that she pull up, but she whispers, "just let me go... they're waiting for me". Apollo then sees an explosion as Starbuck's Viper breaks apart and disintegrates. With no sign that she ejected, Apollo cries out in despair. In orbit, Admiral Adama asks if Apollo has visual contact with Starbuck. Apollo replies "negative...she went in". Adama orders search-and-rescue ships to be dispatched, but Apollo tells him that Starbuck is gone; there is nothing to find. There is stunned silence across the bridge.

Later, Admiral Adama sits quietly in his quarters looking at the Aurora figurine. He sees that it is a perfect fit for the prow of his sailing ship, but in grief and anger, he smashes the model to pieces and begins to sob.

Deleted scene

Starbuck is inspecting her Viper when she finds a red liquid that looks like blood. She asks Tyrol what the substance is, to which he replies that its hydraulic fluid and says all the birds leak fluid. She angrily demands that he fix the problem, but Tyrol says the seals are worn and replacements are scarce. He promises that the problem is minor and her Viper will fly, but Starbuck does not believe him. Apollo arrives and takes Starbuck aside to cool her temper.

The episode begins aboard ''Colonial One'' with President Roslin randomly drawing the names of five ship captains to appoint as judges for Gaius Baltar's tribunal. Admiral Adama happens to be the fifth name she draws, to her surprise. Aboard ''Galactica'', Admiral Adama looks over Starbuck's personnel file and reminisces about the late pilot. In the hangar deck, an inebriated Samuel Anders stands atop a Viper, grieving over Starbuck and causing a scene. Apollo climbs up to offer Anders solace, but Anders says he has to leave. In his uncoordinated state, Anders falls from the Viper and injures his leg.

Meanwhile, Racetrack preps her Raptor to shuttle Baltar's attorney Alan Hughes to the ''Zephyr''. As Hughes boards the Raptor, Racetrack comments negatively about the arrogant lawyer and the fact that she's been assigned as his personal chauffeur. Suddenly, a bomb hidden inside the Raptor explodes, killing Hughes. On ''Colonial One'', Roslin meets with the press who are concerned about the possibility of more terrorist attacks. Roslin maintains that she will not let the attack deter the court from giving Baltar a fair trial. Back aboard ''Galactica'', Apollo conducts a briefing with his pilots, but he is distracted with thoughts of Starbuck. In an embarrassing moment, he comments on a joke told by Racetrack, accidentally calling her Starbuck.

Meanwhile, Roslin and the tribunal judges interview Romo Lampkin, Baltar's replacement counsel, who is shown to be a very eccentric individual who constantly wears a blue overcoat and sunglasses. When Roslin asks why he volunteered to be Baltar's legal counsel, possibly risking his life because of it, he claims he's doing it for the "fame." Everyone is then startled by Lampkin's cat which jumps on Roslin's desk. Lampkin claims the cat belonged to his late wife, and that he brought the animal along in a tote bag.

On ''Galactica'', Admiral Adama questions Apollo's fitness for duty and grounds him from flying until he can get his head straight. In the meantime, he assigns Helo as CAG and puts Apollo in charge of security for Lampkin, much to his son's objection. Apollo meets Lampkin and learns that he had studied under Apollo’s grandfather, Joseph Adama, a man he says he hated. Lampkin requests to see his client Baltar, but chooses Apollo's quarters for the meeting, saying Baltar's cell and Lampkin's assigned quarters may be booby trapped or bugged. The meeting is arranged and as Apollo watches, Baltar and Lampkin discuss the trial. Baltar scribbles notes for his manifesto saying the tribunal will use Caprica Six's statements against him.

Lampkin later requests to go to ''Colonial One'', but since Apollo is grounded from flight, he asks Athena to shuttle Lampkin and himself over. As Lampkin boards the Raptor, his cat escapes and crawls under the craft. Frustrated, Chief Tyrol stoops down to coax the animal out, but in doing so he finds another bomb attached to the landing gear. Everyone scrambles for safety, but the bomb doesn't go off. Later, Admiral Adama admonishes his son for disobeying orders and tells him to remain focused on his duty, regardless of grief for Starbuck. Tyrol conducts an investigation of the latest bomb and reveals that someone on the flight deck crew is the assassin. Cally Tyrol is convinced that it's a Cylon plot and indirectly points the blame at Athena. Her accusation is disregarded, but Athena is outraged, asking Cally why she would bomb her own Raptor.

Meanwhile, Lampkin gets approval from Roslin to interview Caprica Six in an interrogation room. Roslin, Tory Foster and Admiral Adama eavesdrops on the conversation from the observation room. During the interview, Six says she will cooperate in prosecuting Baltar, but Lampkin says that Baltar still loves her deeply. He tells her that unlike Baltar, she will not be given a trial. He removes his sunglasses and gives her Baltar's pen, saying it was limited freedom that Baltar gave up for her. Six is moved, but returns the pen, saying the guards won't let her have it. In the meantime, Baltar panics in his cell at the mysterious "loss" of his pen.

As Lampkin retires for the evening, Deckhand Figurski gives him a box of paperwork from ''Colonial One''. The marines check the box for sabotage, but then one notices a screw on the deck. As Lampkin enters the code to open his door, the guard shoves him to the ground just as a bomb hidden in the keypad detonates. Lampkin survives the explosion, but is taken to sickbay. Apollo visits him and brings Lampkin's tote bag, sans the cat, but filled with a curious array of items. When Apollo inquires why he has Roslin's reading glasses, Lampkin says "I borrow things." He admits to having kleptomania and is compelled to steal "something" from everyone he meets. Lee, however, is exempt; though he debated stealing Starbuck's photo, Lee "has had enough stolen from him already." Apollo also finds one of the prosecuting lawyers' sandals and a tarnished button from Admiral Adama's uniform. When he comes across a magnet from the previous explosive devices, Apollo becomes alarmed. Lampkin says he lifted it off Captain Kelly. Apollo then confronts Kelly who admits he's the bomber. He tells Apollo the only option is to have him locked up, for he will continue his attacks as long as Baltar is alive.

In a meeting with Admiral Adama, Apollo is reinstated as CAG and pulled off from the legal counsel for Baltar's trial. Apollo, however, now wishes to help Lampkin; Adama doesn't allow it, saying the job is too risky, and tells Apollo to return to duty. A heated discussion ensues, with Apollo asking Adama if it is an order to return to duty. Adama responds by saying he is through giving Apollo orders. Apollo goes to Memorial Highway and puts Starbuck's photo next to Kat. Anders wanders up on crutches, and the two finally come to terms with the loss of Starbuck. Adama returns to the command center, telling the XO to remove Apollo from CAG status, as he has other things to attend to. Meanwhile, Baltar receives an envelope from Lampkin via Apollo which contains his pen and a poetic note stating, "There's no greater ally, no force more powerful, no enemy more resolved than a son who chooses to step from his father's shadow."

'''Deleted scene'''

Athena confronts Cally about her accusations of planting the bomb, which gets physical. Athena hands Cally her sidearm and Cally points it at Athena's chest. Athena taunts her to pull the trigger, but Cally hesitates. Cally tells Athena that she can't bring herself to shoot because she knows Athena loves her daughter, and her husband Helo, and that she would never do anything to jeopardize them (like planting a bomb). Cally lowers the gun and Athena grabs it and quickly points the weapon next to Cally's head. Athena warns that if Cally is the one discovered to have planted the bomb, Athena will kill her herself.

Part 1

President Roslin and Athena share the same vision of chasing Hera Agathon through the ancient opera house on Kobol, where they also encounter Caprica Six. At Joe's Bar, Colonel Tigh and Samuel Anders share a different form of vision, ethereal music which only the two of them are able to hear.

Just before Baltar's trial is set to begin, Cassidy refuses Roslin's request that Baltar be tried for conspiring with the Cylons. Meanwhile, Baltar is visited in the brig by a woman who asks him to bless her child. He refuses, but she reaffirms her belief in him nonetheless. Although the fleet is nearing the Ionian Nebula, and has not encountered the Cylons for weeks, Adama is unconvinced the fleet has truly outrun them. His suspicions are confirmed when Racetrack's trailing Raptor narrowly dodges an attack by a massive Cylon fleet. When Tigh questions Caprica Six, she informs him the Cylons had found a way to track the fleet's Refinery Ship. The interrogation turns to blows when Six takes her imaginary Baltar's suggestion to bring up Tigh's wife. Shaken, Tigh has Six shackled.

At the beginning of the trial, Cassidy's opening arguments rest on Baltar having been a failed leader and the devastating loss of 5,197 people on New Caprica. Defense attorney Romo Lampkin opens by condemning Baltar in the harshest terms, finally obtaining an unruly shout from a member of the gallery. Lampkin uses the outburst to turn his arguments abruptly into the notion that Baltar is being railroaded to execution and the trial is being held as a formality to justify the carnal desire to punish Baltar beyond any blame he deserved. Lampkin also takes advantage of Roslin's arrival at the courtroom to suggest she would have pursued confrontation with the Cylons, and gotten more people killed than Baltar had by unconditional surrender.

The trial moves further into Baltar's favor when Colonel Tigh takes the witness stand and admits to masterminding the New Caprica Police graduation bombing (see "Occupation"), with Baltar as the primary target. After Cassidy opens up the subject by suggesting Ellen is another victim of Baltar, Lampkin pushes him into eventually confessing to killing Ellen. Lampkin also coaxes Tigh into admitting his drinking problem, and Tigh further degrades his own position when he again hears the ethereal music and angrily yells for it to be turned off. He is effectively barred as a witness after repeatedly admitting he would do or say anything to see Baltar executed.

When Roslin herself takes the witness stand, she confirms for Lee Adama that Baltar helped save her life during her bout with cancer a year beforehand, and later also confirms, over the objections of Admiral Adama, that she had resumed taking medication because her cancer had returned. As the chamalla has hallucinogenic side effects, Roslin's credibility is seriously damaged.

During a recess in the trial, Romo Lampkin asks Lee Adama to consider that his role in the trial may get him expelled from the "aristocracy" of the Adama family in the fleet. Soon afterwards, Lee argues with his father over the principle of trying Baltar. Admiral Adama confirms the trial is a formality and that he already feels Baltar is guilty. He also condemns Lee for the damage done to Saul, though Lee had no knowledge of Ellen Tigh's death, much less that Saul murdered her. In disgust, Lee resigns his commission, and Adama readily accepts it. Later, in their quarters, Dualla takes Lee's role in the trial as the final straw to break their troubled marriage, packs her things and leaves over his pleas to stay.

On Colonial One, Roslin is badgered with questions from reporters about the resurgence of her cancer. Tory Foster, suffering from constantly hearing the music in the same way as Colonel Tigh, angrily tells the reporters to stop prying into Roslin's personal affairs, earning her a private reprimand from Roslin. On Galactica's bridge, Felix Gaeta and Helo review a plan to use the refinery ship as a decoy to lure the Cylons off course, and brood over a gathering storm.

Part 2

As Anders and Tory continue to hear the strange music and begin making love, Chief Tyrol is awakened by the music. Both he and Colonel Tigh begin their own searches for its source, but neither can find it. On the hangar deck, Anders realizes that Tyrol is humming the strange music, and the two agree it sounds like something they remember from childhood.

After receiving an injection for her cancer treatments in sickbay, Roslin has another vision of the opera house on Kobol. Also in sickbay, Sharon enters the same vision while holding Hera in her arms and both women wake up screaming. Sharon confirms having shared the experience and likens it to the Cylon ability of "projection." They proceed to question Caprica Six in her cell, and immediately discover that she had the same dream as well. Caprica talks of feeling compelled to protect Hera.

The trial resumes and Felix Gaeta takes the witness stand. He perjures himself by saying Baltar willingly signed the death order to have Roslin, Zarek, and others executed. Rather than attempting to disprove this during cross-examination, however, Lampkin acts on Lee Adama's suggestion and moves for a mistrial, based on prejudicial statements Admiral Adama had made to Lee concerning Baltar's guilt and the trial's outcome. Lee then takes the witness stand, but refuses to testify against his father, instead returning to Lampkin's original line of argument that Baltar, for all his failings, could not be faulted for the tragedy on New Caprica.

By a vote of 3 to 2, the tribunal finds him not guilty and the courtroom erupts in furor. His service having been completed, Lampkin abandons Baltar. Reflecting on the trial, Baltar wonders how he will survive. In CIC, Admiral Adama admits to Roslin's dissatisfaction that he was one of the "not guilty" voters. When the fleet makes the final jump into the Ionian Nebula, Roslin feels faint and a few seconds later all of the ships suffer a power outage and drift. The Galactica crew struggles to restore power. Moving through the darkness and trying to hide his face, Baltar is suddenly surrounded by three people, including the woman who had asked him to bless her child. They take him to what they tell him is "[his] new life."

Caprica Six returns again to the opera house and sees herself, Baltar and Hera looking up at the glowing, robed apparitions of the Final Five Cylons looking down on them from a balcony. Compelled by their own shared auditory hallucination, Tory, Colonel Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders converge on the Galactica gym, where they all hum the melody together, then sing the lyrics, and come to the distressing conclusion that they are all Cylons. When power is restored, DRADIS identifies four Cylon basestars bearing down on the fleet and Admiral Adama orders general quarters. All of the newly discovered Cylons return to their posts but are wary of what they might do. As the other pilots scramble to their ships, Lee returns to his locker to grab his flight gear, despite having been removed from flight status. After launch, Apollo separates from the other Vipers to chase a new DRADIS contact in the nebula. The contact turns out to be Starbuck; she tells a surprised Apollo she has found Earth, and she will lead them there.

As the Cylon and Galactica fleets prepare for battle, the camera zooms out (to show the entire galaxy), and zooms back into a nearby section of the galaxy to show a single planet: Earth.

Peter Jordan is 31 years old, $35,000 in debt, and he's been working at Super Duper Computers for seven long years. Together with his equally down-on-their-luck co-workers Stan and Willie, Peter dreams of escaping the daily drudgery of "don't forget to sell the extended warranty", and "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean". Peter's existence in Big Box Retail Commission hell is further fueled by rival Salesman Rommel who steals Peter's customers and computer sales behind his back. Just when things seem to be at their worst, Peter's long lost high school buddy Frehley blows into town and turns Peter, Stan and Willie's humdrum lives into a non-stop beer-soaked party, full of loud music, strip clubs, and beautiful girls! And with Frehley yelling "You only live once!", Peter whips out the credit cards to buy his dream car, a classic Volkswagen Beetle. But when Frehley suddenly splits town, straight-laced Peter and his buddies are shocked to find themselves left with a massive hockey bag stuffed full of primo weed.

The Stooges operate a failing restaurant, Flounder Inn restaurant and are plenty sick and tired of it by making less money. Two men (Nick Copeland, Lew Davis) walk in and order food as they look over a racing form. One man laments the state in which his horse, Thunderbolt, is in, claiming that he is "all run out" and that he wants to dump him off on some unsuspecting sap. This works in his favor when Larry opens a newspaper and reads a story on a horse named Mad Cap who won a race worth $10,000 ($ today). The Stooges then decide to sell their restaurant to Thunderbolt's owners and get into the horse racing industry.

Upon arriving at Thunderbolt's stable, Curly races the horse around the track. Curly misunderstands and runs alongside Thunderbolt, but he stops when Moe calls him over. Feeling hungry, Curly pulls out a handful of chili snacks that he swiped from the restaurant, thinking them to be salted peanuts. However, Thunderbolt eats them first and, with his mouth burning, literally "runs like lightning" towards the nearest water trough. Moe demands to know what Curly gave the horse, but he still believes them to be peanuts. To be sure, Moe eats a handful and suffers the same heated mouth as Thunderbolt and runs to the trough. Curly follows suit, and blazes to the trough as well. The Stooges quickly discover that the caused Thunderbolt's sudden burst of speed and believe it to be their ace in the hole for future races. Larry laughs at the Stooges for this, in which Moe gives those in his mouth, causing him to almost drink a bottle of kerosene by accident.

Once the race starts, Thunderbolt turns around and starts running in the opposite direction. Larry stops him and feeds him the hot peppers, but the effect is too much for Thunderbolt and he is too disoriented to run. Moe and Curly grab a bucket of water, hop on a parked motorcycle and drive alongside of Thunderbolt with the bucket hanging from a pole in front of the horse. Thunderbolt wins the race, and the Stooges enjoy the good life as they each eat their own turkey and Thunderbolt eats oats out of a large bowl in celebration.

Ramona's world is changing. The new student Daisy Kidd (who is also new to the neighborhood). At school Ramona is frustrated with her teacher, Mrs. Meacham. Mrs. Meacham pushes her students to be proper spellers; spelling is a difficult subject for Ramona. Mrs. Meacham also intercepts a note that Ramona's friend Yard Ape wrote to Ramona; after that, Yard Ape is too embarrassed to play with her or even talk to her.

Beezus, a 14-year-old just entering high school, starts speaking French around the house, spending a lot of time on the phone talking about boys and asking her friends about who she should date, which makes her little sister mad. Ramona begins to feel forgotten as Beezus, while Mr. and Mrs. Quimby are always fussing over Roberta.

Beezus, in an act of rebellion, gets her ears pierced; her parents are amused and pleased that she is growing up. Beezus nervously attends a party at which boys were invited — as it turns out, the boys stayed outside the house the entire time and the girls played inside and everyone was happy.

Ramona and Daisy's dress-up play at Daisy's house ends in disaster when Ramona falls through the unfinished floor in the attic, dangling into the kitchen until Daisy's older brother Jeremy helps fish her out. Ramona is shocked that Daisy takes responsibility and Daisy's mother isn't upset. Later, she cares for the Kidds' cat when they go away on vacation for a week and she discovers that the responsibility of catsitting isn't as easy as it looks.

Ramona's rivalry with Susan, her nemesis since kindergarten, continues. Ramona is frustrated by Susan's perfect attitude. She reluctantly invites Susan to her "zeroteen" birthday party at the park at her mother's insistence. Susan brings an apple instead of eating the birthday cake, because of her mother's cautions about germs. After the other girls tease her and Mrs. Quimby comforts her, she finally decides to eat a slice of cake. Ramona discovers she feels sorry for Susan, whose mother expects her to always be perfect. Ramona gives the leftover cake to Yard Ape and his friends, who were also playing at the park, and she decides this is a perfect day - well, not perfect, but close enough.

A mob bookkeeper (played by Milburn Stone) is confronted, shot, and killed by the utterly ruthless hitman Cappy Gordon (Jack Palance), under orders from the notorious gangster Vic Spilato, who is currently under investigation by the U.S. Senate. Cappy then heads for San Cristóbal, a bustling town in an unspecified Latin American country, with plans to deliver a similar fate to Spilato's estranged girlfriend, the singer Clare Shepperd (Linda Darnell), who is trying to escape her past connections with Spilato.

Meanwhile, Russ Lambert (played by Robert Mitchum), an American prizefighter, also heads to San Cristóbal to take his mind off his recent, accidental killing of an opponent in the ring. Lambert prepares to fight a local challenger named Rivera. At the same time, Clare, under the alias "Clare Sinclair," seeks out a bar-owner named Felipe who was once criminally connected with her gangster ex, and sells him a valuable pair of earrings. Clare watches as Lambert wins the match against Rivera and finds herself attracted to Lambert, though she has mistakenly bet on Rivera. Soon afterward, Cappy's hunt for Clare ends, and he expresses his love for her, promising to spare her life if she will run off with him. Instead, Clare flees for Felipe's bar and threatens to expose the owner to Cappy, unless Felipe will persuade Lambert to meet her at the isolated Posado de Don Pascual. Felipe does so and Clare and Lambert meet there, tentatively beginning a relationship with romantic possibilities, though Clare does not tell Lambert about her stormy past.

Clare and Lambert take an aerial tramway to La Cumbre ("The Summit"), an idyllic but almost completely secluded mountaintop village, and they enjoy a stroll through the town, unaware that Cappy is pursuing them. They watch a sexually provocative dance, performed by a young man and woman, whose older husband, Vasco (Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.), drags her off in a jealous rage, kills her, and is consequently arrested. Upset by the event, Clare and Lambert head toward a hotel where they spend the night, since the aerial lift has ended service for the night and there is no other way in or out of La Cumbre. Lambert and Clare kiss, and Lambert reveals he knows of her history with Spilato.

When Clare is alone at the hotel, Cappy violently barges into her room and makes her promise to meet him later on the cable car, where, he claims, they will reunite and run away together, otherwise he will kill Lambert. In the hotel bar Lambert is introduced to the superficially friendly Cappy, who has been using the alias "Mr. Walters" at the hotel. To save Lambert, Clare gives him the slip and goes to the cable car but Lambert finding her room empty follows and catches the car just in time. The car is also being used by local police to transport Vasco, the murderous husband from the previous night, back down to San Cristóbal. On the journey down Clare claims she has simply changed her mind and wants to finish with Lambert though he doesn’t believe her.

At an intermediate stopping point on the mountain Cappy is waiting and again threatens Clare who seems to be about to throw herself down the mountain but then faints. She is carried back on board by Lambert and they all continue the cable car journey.

High above a deep abyss, one of two main cables suddenly snaps in the middle of the cable car's journey, jolting the car to a halt and sending the car's engineer plummeting to his death. Clare, Lambert, Cappy, Vasco, and several other passengers are left stranded in midair, and the remaining cable begins to fray, threatening to send them all hurtling to their doom. There is a possibility that one of the passengers could swing from the rope to a nearby cliff, and then run back into the town of La Cumbre to send for two emergency lifts. These lifts, which are much smaller than the cable car, can be guided right alongside the car, but they can only carry so much weight; in fact, the conductor calculates that three passengers will have to be left behind and will surely die when the second cable breaks, probably within the next few minutes.

Vasco volunteers, and the police officer escorting him allows him to do so because Vasco's young son is in the cable car. Vasco, however, swings into the cliff too hard, causing him to smash into the rocks and perish. Lambert volunteers for the task next and succeeds. He returns with the first of the two emergency lifts, but, before Clare and others can board it, Cappy suddenly grabs a police handgun and wounds the officer. He then attempts to board the lift, taking only himself and Clare, but Lambert attacks him. Cappy and Lambert then fight until, finally, one of Lambert's expert punches sends Cappy tumbling over the railing to his death. The remaining passengers board the two aerial lifts and get away seconds before the cable parts, dropping the cable car into the abyss.

Sultan Mahmud Shah, ruler of Malacca, dreams of a woman with unnatural beauty. Plagued by the dream, he asks the court magician their meaning. The court magician tells him that his dream is that of an extraordinary princess who lives on the peak of Mount Ledang. Sultan Mahmud becomes obsessed with the princess or ''Puteri'', and orders his Bendahara to cancel his scheduled wedding to a local princess.

Sultan Mahmud's officers and Dinda, the princess he had been engaged to, are confused with the Sultan's sudden change of attitude. Dinda's brother, Laksamana Zainol, is especially angry on his sister's behalf. Zainol, propelled by his sister's betrayal, begins talking to the Malaccan people of Sultan Mahmud's foolishness, planting the seeds of rebellion.

Sultan Mahmud commands the Bendahara to seek the Puteri of Gunung Ledang out, but he claims the task to be impossible. The elderly Hang Tuah, greatest of all Malaccan warriors, offers to find the princess for the Sultan. He forms a party of warriors and they set out to Mount Ledang to find her and present the Sultan's proposal of marriage. They travel a great distance and have to overcome many obstacles. Hang Tuah himself becomes injured and is too weak to reach the peak, so he sends the younger members of the group onward without him. A single young warrior named Tun Mamat survives to reach the peak, where he is tempted by a flower fairy who tries to seduce him off his path. Tun Mamat repeatedly spurns the flower fairy and, upon beating her test, meets an elderly hag or Nenek Kebayan who agrees to help lead him to the peak of Mount Ledang.

Once at the peak, the Nenek Kebayan leaves Tun Mamat, and he is greeted by four more flower fairies. They give him one final warning and then leave, making way for the Puteri herself to appear. The Puteri tells Tun Mamat that she has no desire to be queen, but she will marry Sultan Mahmud if he can give her seven presents as her dowry. Tun Mamat descends the mountain with the message, along the way reuniting with various members of the group who were lost or left behind on the way, including the recovering Hang Tuah. When Tun Mamat repeats the Puteri's message to him, Hang Tuah realises that the conditions are a rejection and he has failed in his task to the Sultan. He decides to leave Malacca forever in self-imposed exile.

Tun Mamat and the rest of the warriors return to Malacca where the seven conditions are presented to Sultan Mahmud and the royal court, which are: * A golden bridge from the peak of Mount Ledang to the Malaccan palace, * A silver bridge from the Malaccan palace to the peak of Mount Ledang, * Seven trays of mosquitoes' hearts, * Seven trays of germs, * Seven jars of betel nut juice, * Seven jars of virgin's tears, * A bowl of Sultan Mahmud's son's blood.

At hearing the conditions the royal court is in shock and dismay, but Sultan Mahmud is so focused on the beauty of the Puteri that he proudly claims that the seven conditions are easy and commands his people to fulfill them. All the gold and silver of the kingdom is taken from the Malaccan people to build the bridges; mosquitoes and germs are allowed to thrive, causing sickness throughout the land; all virgin women are forced to cry into bowls to collect their tears.

At this time Zainol holds more secret meetings with the discontented people of Malacca to discuss Sultan Mahmud's inhumane commands. The people, now confident and angry, decide to strike at Sultan Mahmud for his injustice. During a second collection of gold and silver, a discontented man stands up to the royal collection officer and a fight ensues between the soldiers and the Malaccan commoners. This triggers more fights and skirmishes, sending the entire kingdom into turmoil.

At long last six of the seven conditions are fulfilled. Sultan Mahmud is overjoyed but is cut short when the Bendahara reminds him that the seventh condition has not been done. Sultan Mahmud visits the sleeping chambers of his son, Tengku Ahmad, to strike him down with a keris but two nights in a row he is unable to go through with it. On the third night, Sultan Mahmud is ready to kill his son for good, but at the last minute throws his keris aside. Then the Puteri herself appears and says that she will never marry him because he is a cruel man. Sultan Mahmud realises the error of his ways and begs his son for forgiveness.

The next morning Zainol and a large group of Malaccan people attack the palace. Sultan Mahmud decides to face them openly where he confesses his crimes and puts his life in their hands. All the people, including Zainol, accept his apology and pledge allegiance to him once again.

During the rainy season on Venus Brian, an amoral human visitor, flees for his life from the family of a purple-skinned Hrothy girl whom he has raped. Taking refuge in what appears to be a shrine, he is relieved when his pursuers do not follow, and he prepares to wait out their siege.

In fact the shrine is actually an automated biological factory built by ancient Martians, designed to adapt their bodies to the much wetter conditions on Venus. While Brian sleeps the factory sets to work converting his body, but since Brian is not a Martian the process malfunctions.

Next morning Brian wakes to see the Hrothy gone, and assumes that they have either departed to fetch reinforcements or are lying in ambush. When he tries to get up, however, he is horrified to learn that he cannot move a muscle, and is tormented by a terrible thirst.

Soon afterward the shrine is visited by a - an ugly-looking, primitive, amphibian humanoid - whose body is waterlogged from the rain. The begins to dance before Brian, whose converted body is forced to absorb the 's moisture. This is intoxicating to the , which seems to regard Brian as a beneficent god, but painful and humiliating for Brian. Even though his body is thirsty for the 's moisture, he feels (correctly) as if he is being poisoned by it. When after several hours the leaves he feels bloated by all the water he has absorbed and his body is completely stiff and immobile. Although relieved that his torment has ended, he knows that many more will follow and he can do nothing to prevent it.

When, two days later, more do arrive, Brian manages by a supreme effort to prevent himself from absorbing their water. Unfortunately for him, many others have suffered the same fate before him, and from long experience the know how to overcome his resistance. They force him to absorb their moisture even more rapidly, which is exhilarating for them but traumatic for him.

For the rest of the rainy season Brian passively and helplessly absorbs the 's moisture while his thoughts turn inward and violently self-destructive. Meanwhile, his sight and hearing slowly deteriorate and his body becomes permanently bloated.

As the rainy season comes to an end Brian is relieved when the finally stop visiting him. His body becomes dry and dusty and begins to shrink, and he begins to experience blackouts which he dares to hope are a prelude to death and a final release from his suffering.

Brian is not dying but merely entering a state of estivation, from which he will eventually awaken to the first of many more years of service to the .

Scapin constantly lies and tricks people to get ahead. He is an arrogant, pompous man who acts as if nothing were impossible for him. However, he is also a diplomatic genius. He manages to play the other characters off of each other very easily, and yet manages to keep his overall goal — to help the young couples — in sight.

In their fathers' absence, Octave has secretly married Hyacinthe and Léandre has secretly fallen in love with Zerbinette. But the fathers return from a trip with marriage plans for their respective sons. Scapin, after hearing many pleas for help, comes to their rescue. Thanks to many tricks and lies, Scapin manages to come up with enough money from the parents to make sure that the young couples get to stay married. But, no one knows who Hyacinthe and Zerbinette really are. It ends in the classic "And they lived happily ever after," and Scapin is even brought to the head of the table at the ending feast (even though he has to fake a fatal wound to make it happen ).

The documentary takes an in-depth look at the Tom family, which mostly consists of children who were rejected by their birth families due to mental or physical disabilities. The film is broken up into seasons, starting out with the family taking part in Halloween in the fall, and ending in the summer of the upcoming year. The family's unconventional home life becomes a foundation for the supports, challenges, and successes that they face daily.

Before going on an overseas journey, a merchant father asks his three daughters what they would like him to bring back for them. The eldest asks for a shining tiara, the middle asks for a magic mirror through which her face would always appear young, and the youngest (Nastenka) asks her father to bring her a beautiful scarlet flower like one which she saw in her dreams. Her elder sisters laugh at this simple wish.

The father's trip is successful and he finds everything that he came for, with the exception of Nastenka's scarlet flower. Nevertheless, the ship heaves off and they begin to head back while the father scans the lands around him for a scarlet flower.

A storm strikes and the father is washed overboard. He wakes up on a strange island which is full of all sorts of wonders. He explores, and eventually finds a flower just like the one Nastenka described. The instant that he plucks it, however, a great storm comes upon him and the owner of the island – a hideous monster – makes his presence known. He tells the father that he will let him keep the flower, but in return he must send one of his daughters to live with him. The father refuses, and the monster gives him a ring, telling him that whoever puts it on will be teleported back to the island, and that if his daughter doesn't come then he himself must come and be killed.

In the morning, the crewmembers of the father's ship (who had been searching for him) see him on the island and rescue him. Back home, the father prepares to put on the ring and meet his fate. However, Nastenka overhears a conversation where he reveals this to his friend when asking the friend to take care of his daughters once he had died, and she secretly puts on the ring herself.

There, she expects to be killed but instead finds herself on a beautiful island and welcomed for by a kind, unseen host. She accidentally catches a glimpse of him eventually, and is mortally scared at first. He allows her to go home to visit her family, but tells her that she must come back by putting on the ring by 8pm or he will die of loneliness.

Nastenka comes home dressed in splendid clothes and with presents for her sisters. Her sisters, however, become jealous that she lives in a magnificent palace with untold wealth, and secretly turn all of the clocks in the house back one hour. Nastenka looks outside and hears the clock chiming 8pm, and quickly goes back, only to find the monster near death. She is very saddened and vows to never leave him again, and with those words the scarlet flower which she holds reattaches itself to its original stem and the island fills with light again. The monster turns into a handsome prince and explains that he was under the spell of a witch from which he could only be freed from if he won over the heart of a lady while being in the body of a hideous monster.

The film's story is roughly based on Hans Christian Andersen's story "''The Snow Queen''" but features a number of significant changes. Most prominently are that Gerda and Kai are openly romantically attached to each other, instead of simply being best friends. Another significant change is that the opening and ending portions of the film take place in a modern "realistic" setting, while Gerda and Kai's adventures are dream-like and surreal.

Gerda and Kai

Gerda, along with her father, Wolfgang, is initially in mourning over the death of her mother. The mother died nine years previously, freezing to death in the woods, and Gerda has grown to hate the winter because of this. The family has not been able to move on until Gerda meets Kai. In this version, Kai, rather than being a childhood friend, is the new bellboy at the hotel owned by Gerda's father, and he immediately sets out to befriend Gerda and help her heal, convincing her to take up her childhood hobby of ice skating once more. Over the course of their friendship, the two soon fall in love. It is because Kai has helped Gerda find new purpose in life that she sets out to rescue him when he is kidnapped by the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen refers to Gerda and Kai's relationship as "true love."

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen in this version is intentionally malicious towards Gerda and desires to keep Kai for herself. Throughout the movie it is slowly revealed that the Snow Queen has been hoarding power for some time, intending to destroy all the other seasons and ruling the earth alone. She intended to achieve this goal using the Devil's mirror, a beautiful full-length mirror that was shattered into thousands of pieces above the earth. The Snow Queen initially kidnaps Kai because the final piece of the mirror fell into his eye, but she takes him to her palace and charges him to fix the mirror the way it was. Additionally, during the opening scenes, split-second flashes of the Snow Queen during the sequence where Gerda's mother is alone in the forest imply that she was the direct cause of Gerda's mother's death, possibly because she was a magically inclined rival of the Snow Queen, and indeed, Gerda's mother's brooch, which Gerda carries throughout her journey, has the magic and warmth needed to defeat the Snow Queen. There is also a minor sub-plot involving a fierce talking polar bear who is the Snow Queen's henchman, and stays by her side because he is in love with her. After her defeat he carries her away into her castle, and is seen taking the form of an elegantly dressed man (credited as the 'Polar Bear Prince.')

The Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Various characters that Gerda meets in the original story have been altered. The witch of eternal summer has become the motherly "Spring Witch," the prince and princess of the palace have been merged into the cunning "Summer Princess," and the Robber Girl's mother has become the fierce "Autumn Robber." In the film all three women are sisters of the Snow Queen who, like their winter sister with Kai, want to keep Gerda, albeit for various differing reasons. Together, the four sisters are known as the "Four Seasons". Gerda must escape from the Witch's cottage, the Princess' palace, and the Robber's camp, before she can reach the Snow Queen's mountain home and face the Snow Queen herself. It is stated in the legend that Spring, Summer, and Autumn have been severely weakened by Winter's attempt to take almighty power, and indeed, none of the other three sisters ever really show the same levels of power and magical influence that the Snow Queen wields over the course of the film. When they hold Gerda they explain that they are doing it to protect her, as their sister is much stronger than they can ever imagine, and that only they know the depths of the Snow Queen's cruelty and heartlessness. However, each of them helps Gerda on her quest in some small way, and just before the final fight between Gerda and the Snow Queen, visions of the Spring Witch, the Summer Princess, Chen (a young conjurer in the Summer Princess' court and a friend of Gerda,) and the Autumn Robber's daughter (who stopped her mother from killing Gerda,) along with a vision of her mother, encourage Gerda to keep going and that she knows what she must do to defeat the Snow Queen.

The Mirror

The magic mirror is the central piece of the plot and the catalyst for Gerda's adventure to rescue Kai. Listening to a legend being told to Kai by the Polar Bear, it is revealed that the mirror was forged by Satan, who gave it to the Four Seasons so they could admire their work. When Spring, Summer and Autumn looked into the mirror it reflected the essence of their power and the promise of life, while Winter saw a cold and barren world, which was the way of her season. Satan however had made the mirror twisted so that, as Winter gazed at her reflection, she desired for the power of her season to be absolute. Thus, one day, Winter steals the mirror, taking it to the Arctic wastes, where no one can find it. With the mirror now in her sole possession, she became the Snow Queen, and the world became colder. But this was not enough for the Snow Queen, since her sisters still lived, though greatly weakened. Taking the mirror up to the sky, she attempted to fly to Heaven itself, to demand that winter be made the dominant and unchallenged power on Earth. However, the magic of the demonic mirror and the magic of Heaven did not sit well together and the mirror shattered before she could reach Heaven, the glass fragments scattering to the four winds and starting the Snow Queen's quest for the recovery of the shards that fell into human eyes. After the Snow Queen's defeat, the mirror is seen sinking through the floor, possibly returning to Hell.

Canaan, a mysterious gunfighter left nearly blind from Civil War combat, roams through Mexico with a baby he has sworn to protect. On his way to a town where a family will supposedly adopt the baby, Canaan passes through a border town where U.S. Cavalry officers assigned to deliver a shipment of silver are under attack from bandits. With some reluctance, Canaan steps in to help the soldiers.

Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons (voiced by Donald Gray) warn Spectrum that they intend to kill Xian Yoh, the Director General of the United Asian Republic, who is currently in London on a state visit. An assassination attempt in the Director General's hotel room is thwarted by Captain Grey (voiced by Paul Maxwell).

Maximum security is imposed at London International Airport, from which the Director General is due to leave the country. At the request of Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray), the resurrected Mysteron double of Captain Scarlet (voiced by Francis Matthews) – whom Dr Fawn (voiced by Charles Tingwell) has determined to be free of Mysteron control and effectively "indestructible" after the Mysterons' failure to assassinate the World President – returns to duty to help lead the operation. Accompanied by the Angel fighter squadron, Scarlet and Captain Blue (voiced by Ed Bishop) depart Cloudbase in a Spectrum Passenger Jet and fly to London.

Meanwhile, the Mysterons use their powers to create a massive systems failure on board an airliner, Flight DT-19, causing it to crash into the ocean and explode. A Mysteron reconstruction of the plane, devoid of crew and passengers, continues on the original flight path from New York to London.

As a double of the Director General is driven in to London Airport in a decoy motorcade, the real Xian Yoh arrives in Spectrum's "Yellow Fox" – a secure transport disguised as an aircraft fuel tanker – and discreetly boards his private jet. As DT-19 lands, Scarlet, watching the operation from the control tower with Blue, experiences a sudden nausea that he interprets as a warning that the Director General is in danger. At that moment, DT-19 breaks away from the terminal and rushes towards the jet.

Ordering the jet to take off immediately, Scarlet and Blue intercept DT-19 in their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. The plane is unhindered by the Angels' airstrikes, and when the captains target its undercarriage with the SPV's rockets, the launch mechanism jams. Shouting down Blue's objections, Scarlet ejects him and rams DT-19's wheels, destroying them and bringing the plane to a crashing halt. He is fatally injured when the SPV collides with a radar bunker. Meanwhile, the jet takes off but hits one of DT-19's wings and crashes into a field, killing the Director General and everyone else on board. As Scarlet's body is taken away in an ambulance, the airport chief assumes that he is dead, to which Blue replies: "Maybe he didn't die ... in vain."

Bruno Salvador, known as Salvo, is the orphaned, illegitimate son of an Irish Catholic missionary and a native Congolese woman. He is educated in England, and as a fluent speaker and aficionado of "disappearing indigenous languages of Eastern Congo", he finds a natural calling as a specialist interpreter, employed by London's hospitals, law courts, city corporations, and British intelligence.

Salvo has a passionate extramarital affair with a Congolese nurse, Hannah. En route from a rendezvous with Hannah to a party thrown for his journalist wife, he is offered an urgent job by his handler at the Ministry of Defence to serve as an interpreter at a conference between Congolese warlords and their putative Western backers, the nameless "Syndicate". He learns that their objective is to eject Kivu's Rwandan occupiers and install a liberal, benevolent politician dubbed "the Mwangaza" as the head.

Whisked to a nameless island in the North Sea, Salvo is set to his task. As well as interpreting at the conference, he must also decipher recordings from hidden microphones festooning the island. Unbeknown to his employers, Salvo listens in while one of the Congolese delegates, who has shown signs of defecting from the agreement, is tortured by his employers. It becomes apparent that the Syndicate's real objective is to plunder the coltan and other mineral wealth of Kivu, and the Mwangaza is no more than a puppet. At the end of the conference, Salvo pockets the tapes and his notes before returning to London.

Salvo attempts, with Hannah's help, to alert the authorities and the press and prevent the coup. Due to their efforts, the Syndicate panics and launches the operation ahead of schedule, causing it to fail. Salvo is arrested and stripped of his British citizenship. At the end of the novel Salvo languishes in a holding facility for asylum seekers, awaiting his deportation to the Congo where he will be reunited with Hannah.

8-year-old Horton "Horty" Bluett runs away from his abusive family, carrying only a smashed jack-in-the-box named Junky. Disguised as a girl, Horty takes refuge among the "strange people" in a traveling circus. The owner of the carnival, Pierre Monetre, is a disgraced doctor and scientist with a deep hatred of mankind. Having discovered intelligent nonhuman life in the form of crystal-like jewels, Monetre works to unlock the source of their great power and, ultimately, destroy mankind. Zena, a carnival performer, takes Horty under her wing. She knows that Horty is the key to executing Monetre's destructive plan, and the only one powerful enough to stop him.

Promising final year novice Kyarra is disappointed when she alone in her class is forbidden from going to the beach to try to contact the merlee about the disappearance of Rialle. Although she has moved up a year because of her promising voice, she fears that she will be rejected and turned into an orderly. Her sense of disappointment is only worsened when her best friend Caell hears the merlee, and receives a message from them that Kyarra's parents were not Singers. The merlee claim her mother is living in Windy Corner, waiting to hear from Kyarra, and together, Kyarra and Caell sneak out to find her. They arrive just in time to find Kyarra's mother being kidnapped - Kyarra is also taken, apparently expected to have come, and Caell tries to follow them with the merlee and is nearly drowned.

Meanwhile, in the Quetzal Forest, Night Plume, the black-feathered leader of a flock of quetzal, is annoyed to be sent for by the Starmaker - Frazhin, who is using the khiz to brainwash and control groups of half-creatures raised by his priests, including the merlee who sent the message to Caell. Night Plume is asked to listen to Rialle as she is fed a memory drug made from yellow flowers, and store what he hears about the Starmaker's daughter - Kyarra - in the Memoryplace, the quetzal's collective ancestral memory. He does as he is asked, but Rialle's songs begin to break the Starmaker's hold on him, and when he is released he attempts to make contact with wild quetzal, getting himself and his friend Sky Swooper in trouble. Although Frazhin still believes Night Plume is under his control, he holds Sky Swooper captive to ensure loyalty. Summoning Night Plume to the temple, Frazhin orders him and his flock to accompany Kyarra on her journey through Quetzal Forest - although Night Plume is distracted by a message in Wild Speech from Rialle imploring him to fly to the Echorium for help.

Kyarra is transported to the edge of Quetzal Forest by Asil, a famous pirate. On the journey she is watched over by Asil's daughter Jilian who, along with the rest of the pirates, wears khiz stars to protect themselves from Kyarra's singing. She also bonds with her mother, who was left helpless by the Yehn she was given and is completely incapable of caring for herself. Nevertheless, Kyarra feels very protective of her, and sings one of the pirates Shi for attempting to harm her. The group just reach the edge of the forest when they are suddenly attacked by wild quetzal. Kyarra's song helps herself, her mother and Jilian escape, but they are unexpectedly captured by Shaiala and some centaurs with herstones. Recognising Yashra, Shaiala takes the group and other captured pirates to the Kaleri.

Night Plume's flock arrives just in time to see Kyarra vanish into green light, and Night Plume realises he, unlike the enchanted quetzal, is free to travel past the edge of the Forest. He orders the flock to delay their return, and flies over the sea, but cannot find the island. Instead he lands on a ship, where he meets Caell, Renn and Kherron journeying to the mainland to search for Kyarra. When he reveals his ability to speak human speech, Kherron becomes suspicious, particularly as Night Plume admits to being raised by Frazhin. Night Plume faithfully passes on Rialle's message, including a warning that Frazhin is trying to poison the Echorium, and that he saw Kyarra vanish into green light - a sign Renn recognises as being Shaiala's work. They reach Silvertown and learn it has been poisoned - although for most residents this is not fatal - and the group encounters Lord Azri. Telling him about Frazhin, Azri agrees they must seek him out and attack, but the Singers must first fulfill their obligation to Kyarra and head to the Purple Plains to look for her.

In the Horselord's camp, Kyarra is horrified to learn of her mother's crimes, and maintains that her punishment was undeserved. WHile she is glad to hear that Yashra will be cared for by the Harai, she is horrified to learn that Jilian is to be used as bait for her father, putting her in great danger. At a meeting, the Horselords hear a prophecy from Speaks Many Tongues, an inhabitant of Quetzal Forest, warning of doom when the dark quetzal flies. As the prophecy is spoken, Frazhin's quetzal attack the camp and, in the confusion, Kyarra frees Jilian and escapes with Speaks Many Tongues into the forest. Night Plume, scouting ahead for the Singers, learns from his flock that Frazhin has punished Sky Swooper for Night Plume's disappearance. The flock attack Night Plume, and he is badly injured, although the arrival of the Singers protects him from the angry Horselords.

Kyarra, Jilian and Speaks Many Tongues journey into the forest, where Speaks Many Tongues insists on them meeting Xiancotl, the forest people's holy man, and travelling with him into the quetzal Memoryplace using yellow flowers. Before their arrival, they meet Shaiala, who has followed them with some centaurs, and she is invited to join them in the memory trance. Each girl asks a question: Shaiala successfully learns that the centaurs are uncorruptible because they do not hatch from eggs, but when Kyarra attempts to discover how to heal her mother, the memory trance is interrupted and instead she receives a summons from Frazhin. The disruption causes Xiancotl and Kyarra to pass out, and in the panic this causes Jilian, Shaiala and Kyarra escape to the centaurs. However, on Kyarra's insistence, they allow Frahin's naga to take her to him, where she hopes she will be able to subdue him with her Songs.

The Singers and the Horselords regroup and prepare to head into the Forest and attack Frazhin. Although initially concerned for Kyarra, they are appeased when Speaks Many Tongues informs them that she disappeared with Shaiala. Speaks Many Tongues warns that Frazhin is planning to use the yellow flowers gathered by Night Plume's flock to travel into the quetzal Memoryplace and replace it with one of his own making, in which Singers will no longer exist. Although most of the Singers are horrified by this, Kherron is distracted by the promise of a miracle healing potion which Speaks Many Tongues suggests might heal his voice. The next day, the army travels into the Forest and surrounds the volcano where Frazhin has made his Temple, which is beginning to erupt as he prepares to enter the Memoryplace.

With the help of the centaurs, who arrive with Shaiala and Jilian, the army breaches the crater and begins searching for Frazhin. Although Caell and Night Plume are told to wait outside, they grow restless, and make their way into the crater. Night Plume is horrified to see the bodies of the eldest and youngest quetzal, who were useless for the memory trance, along with Sky Swooper, punished for his disappearance by having her wings cut off before she was killed. Using wild speech, Night Plume breaks the memory trance on the other quetzal, and reasserts his leadership of the flock.

Kyarra is taken by Frazhin to a ball made of crystal, called the Fane. Frazhin plans to seal the pair of them inside it, and then be rolled into the volcano to protect them from the approaching Singers. Within the Fane, they will use the Memoryplace - its power heightened by the captive quetzal and the yellow flower drug sent to the Isle of the Echoes and Silvertown - to change history so that Yashra is healed and the Singers do not exist. Although reluctant, Kyarra feels she has no choice but to get into the Fane. Just as it is sealed, Caell arrives, making Kyarra believe that the memory trance has brought him back from being drowned by merlee.

Although the Singers rescue the Fane from the priests and end the volcano's eruption, they are unable to open the Fane, within which Kyarra is rapidly running out of air. Feeling they have no choice, Renn, Rialle, Caell, Night Plume and a newly healed Kherron sing Yehn, hoping that it will break Frazhin's power. Although the Fane opens, the Yehn does not affect Frazhin, and he takes Kyarra hostage before being brought down by Night Plume and Jilian. Five years later, Kyarra wakes from the Yehn with the help of the forest people's potions, and is greeted by a reformed Lady Yashra, also healed, along with Night Plume, Caell, Jilian and Rialle. Although she is initially confused, she learns that Frazhin is dead and the Half Creatures are free again. Frazhin has been revealed to be a half-Singer child who was born on the Isle, but rejected from the Echorium because of his resistance to the Songs. Kyarra resolves to learn how to become both a Singer and a Harai princess, and plans to become the Echorium's first female Second Singer.

An alien from outer space bites a bio-researcher on the hand and turns him into a monster. Its first victim is the guard at the laboratory he's working in. The guard's daughters are getting worried that their father hasn't called them and they go to the lab, where they meet their worst nightmare.

''Akuma na Eros'' is focused on Miu Sakurai, a high-school girl who is in love with her classmate, Shion Amamiya. Miu summons Satan through a book and wishes for Amamiya to fall in love with her, but Satan demands her virginity as the price. Satan's spell fails because Amamiya is Christian, and uses his powers to make disguise himself as Miu's elder brother named "Kai", and his crow familiar, Malphas, into a younger brother named Tsubasa. Satan demands her virginity on the day of Amamiya's love confession to Miu, but along the way Miu develops feelings for Satan.

After Amamiya confesses, Miu heads to the church where Satan attempts to take her virginity. Amamiya, appears at the church and impales Satan with a sword, revealing himself as the archangel Michael. Michael and Satan battle in the church, and Satan is wounded. Michael prepares to send Satan back to Hell, but as he collapses he promises to take Miu's heart with him and tells her that he loves her. Miu runs to Satan and wishes for him to stay by her side, and Satan agrees in return for her eternal love. Michael admits defeat as he can not fight true love. Alone again, Satan reverts to his human form to claim Miu, but she faints from the excitement before he could take her virginity.

Satan assumes a new identity, but Michael summons Sarah, a half angel-half demon, and informs her of Satan's love of a human woman. Sarah summons Satan back to hell, and Satan takes Miu to Hell with him. Miu runs away after learning of the sexual relationship between Satan and Serah. Satan rejects Sarah and forces Miu to return where he claims her virginity repeatedly. Satan and Miu return to Earth, but a jealous Sarah drives a wedge between them. Michael consoles Miu and a watchful Satan takes this to be infidelity and demands sex in front of a gathering of demons. During sex, Miu swears she did not betray his love and Satan dismisses the gathering to take her privately.

Satan asks Miu to become his wife and to live with him in Hell, but it requires her to first die. He returns her to her room to think about it. Uncertain if she wants to leave her family and friends, she finds herself at the bookstore where she bought the magic book and learns that the book had been waiting for her and her meeting with Satan was fated. Miu runs out of the store to find Kai, but iron beam falls from above and kill her. Michael, having realized Sarah was behind it, arrives to find Death ready to take Miu's soul to the realm of the dead, where neither angel nor devil could reach her. He refuses to allow her soul to be taken, and uses his powers to disperse Death. Satan discovers people have now forgotten himself, Miu and Amamiya, as Michael erases Miu's and those she knew memories and takes her to Heaven to spend eternity with him.

After killing Sarah for killing Miu, Satan goes to Heaven to retrieve her. Though Michael attempts to woo her, Miu can't accept him. Satan arrives and as he and Michael battle, Miu's memories return and she runs to a badly injured Satan, growing wings of her own, she covers him. Michael opens the way back to Hell and accepts that Miu will only be happy with Satan. When Miu yells good-bye to Michael, she calls him by his human name "Shion", Michael says good-bye to himself for Miu and says that she was his angel. At the end of the series, Miu leaves her life behind and joins Satan in Hell where she becomes his wife.

The story focuses on a 12-year-old girl called Hekja. Hekja lives with her mother in a simple village by the sea. Her two brothers and father have all died. At the beginning of the book, she comes to the aid of a small puppy who was attacked by a seagull on the beach. Hekja takes the puppy to the village's witch, Tikka, for her to help heal the puppy. Hekja is told that the puppy was one of the chief's litter, and she had already given it the True Name of Riki Snarfari (Mighty Rover). The puppy was considered the useless one of the litter and apparently had no value. The chief has shown little interest in him and gives him away to Hekja but later becomes jealous of how strong the pup is. Tikka shows the girl how to look after Snarf, as he becomes known affectionately by Hekja.

Eventually, Snarf recovers, and hardly limps at all from the wound. The time comes for Hekja to spend the summer up the mountain with the other girls of the village. It is a tradition of the village for girls to stay on the mountain when they become of age, and the girls look after the cows and produce cheese whilst up the mountain, with the women bringing supplies "twice every full moon". Except for Hekja's best friend, Branna, the other girls are mean or indifferent to Hekja and abuse Snarf.

One foggy day, the girls hear a howl. Hekja goes to investigate and Snarf follows her. Hekja finds a wolf and plans to kill it before it eats one of the calves. The girls hide and try to persuade Hekja to come back and let the wolf take a calf, but Hekja is stubborn, and wherever Hekja goes, Snarf follows. The wolf appears and Snarf bites it around the neck while the wolf is biting the dog's leg. The wolf quickly dies from the bite. Snarf is considered a hero and is treated with respect and Hekja also becomes a hero. Hekja becomes friends with all the other girls and they discover that she has a wonderful singing voice. They were jealous about her making up a song about Snarf so they plead with Hekja to make a song about them.

One day, whilst still up the mountain, Hekja sees strange ships approaching from the distance. At the protests of the other girls, she runs back down to the village, only to see the Viking raiders murdering the village people, including Hekja's mother and the boy she used to love, Bran. Hekja tries to outrun the invaders, but is captured by a woman called Freydis, who is Erik the Red's daughter, and consequently is taken away as a slave.

Hekja hates the Norse and will not share her singing with them, even if it meant that she would not have to mind the cows as a thrall, if they were to hear her sing. She had told one of the Norsemen, Snorri, when he heard her sing that she did not want anybody to know that she can sing because everything has been taken away from her and that if they heard her sing they would take that away from her too. Hekja's spirit and sheer determination means that she soon finds herself joining her mistress Freydis' expedition to Vinland. Hekja befriends Freydis' brother's thrall, Hikki, and he is the only one she will sing to. They develop a firm friendship.

Upon arriving at Vinland, they find the place beautiful and welcoming. Vinland winters are so mild that the cattle can be left out all year round. Freydis and several other women in the colony are pregnant. Hikki proposes to Hekja in due course. Hekja is taken aback, but tells him to wait until she has finished serving her mistress in two years time even though she doesn't love him herself. Freydis also adopts Hekja and is now Hekja's mother.

There is another who is also after Hekja's heart however: the mysterious Snorri the Skald. He seems to like Hekja, but refrains from letting on. Hikki dies in the Viking's Skraeling raid while Snorri is wounded, and after about two months, Hekja marries Snorri the Skald and they are very happy together.

The plot involves Charley recounting the story of his vacation to his co-workers. For his vacation, Charley and his family drive to California....and it ends up everything ''but'' a "vacation".

At a ballroom of a hospital charity party in Budapest, the successful American lawyer Jonathan Harker (Hardy Krüger Jr.) suddenly proposes to his girlfriend Mina (Stefania Rocca). He wants to marry her within the week. Their friends Lucy (Muriel Baumeister), Quincy (Alessio Boni), and Arthur (Conrad Hornby) have been invited by Jonathan and have just arrived for the wedding, all without Mina's awareness. Meanwhile, they meet the party's promoter, the psychiatrist Dr. Seward (Kai Wiesinger). Later in the same night, Jonathan is called by a rich client, Tepes (Patrick Bergin), who hires him to prepare the inventory of his uncle's wealth, the count Vladislav Tepes (Patrick Bergin), in Romania. In his Porsche, Jonathan travels to the Carpathian Mountains, has an accident, and finally arrives in the count's old castle.

Vlad Tepes, here calling himself Count Vladislav Tepes, decides to leave his castle and move to the west. He says he feels tired from Romania's decline and the seclusion of his life.

In Budapest, he discusses some illegal business with Harker. He also wants Jonathan's help to turn his collection of paintings, jewels, and gold deposits into cash. Jonathan's friends, businessman Quincey Morris, specialising in money swindles, and Arthur Holmwood, a British diplomat in debt, offer to help. Though Jonathan and Arthur doubt the deal, Quincey convinces them that money is all that matters, and it is one true power that makes the world go around.

Dracula gets very interested in those young people—the men, hungry for money and power; Lucy, who wants to sleep in many beds, in many cities, have new experiences and live forever; and Mina, who wants to change the world and end human suffering. Throughout the film, Dracula tries to seduce all five of them into his own world, making them wish to become vampires. Focusing again and again on how hypocritical morality is and promising them the loss of their consciences, he says survival of the fittest is the proper way, and even the strong cannot save the weak. He also references God's slaughters in the Bible to prove that humanity was created in his image, the image of a killer.

There to stop him is the researcher of the occult and Seward's teacher Dr. Enrico Valenzi, who believes that Dracula can be defeated when he faces a strong will empowered by faith. But throughout this film, he raises more and more self-doubts, and his will almost breaks by the end.

Mina, halfway through her transformation to a vampire, manages to make Dracula trust her and kills him as he holds her in an embrace. The film ends with Mina still having the vampire's mark, leaving her fate untold.

Duff Pringle is heading across the country, aiming for his new job in technology in California's Silicon Valley. His used Ford Escort barely makes it a hundred miles from home before breaking down. He calls a car towing company to come pick him up, and when they get to the repair center, he is told the car would need to stay 2 weeks,Even though Duff has only 4 days to get to California, he checks into a motel to wait out the 3–4 days. He soon finds a note asking for someone to drive a car to St. Louis. Duff sends this person an email and gets a reply saying they would drop it off at the motel he was staying at. Duff finds Stu at a restaurant in Chipper Crossing. Stu is a hitchhiker looking to get to California too, and he asks Duff if he could come with him. Despite his appearance and behavior, Duff accepts, and they head to Saint Louis to deliver the car, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, to a woman named Rosalie Hopgood. There are several characters in this story including Bonnie, an aspiring singer with a con artist for a mother (Bonnie's mom had stolen a lot of money from people and was wanted everywhere); two thugs looking for a trunkful of cash; and Moony, a terrier dog prone to carsickness.

Yukimura, Aine is a seventeen-year-old high school student who writes sensual song lyrics and hopes to become a songwriter. One day, two school friends talk her into entering her best lyrics into a contest. When someone bumps into her in the street, she drops her lyrics and is almost run over by a passing car. It is driven by Sakuya Ookochi, lead singer of the hard rock band Lucifer, which is known for its sensual lyrics. Aine does not know who he is but falls in love. He makes sure she is not hurt, and gives her an all-access pass to that night's show. After she leaves, he finds her lyrics and takes them back to the band with a plan in mind.

That night, Aine listens from the back of the audience. As she turns to leave, she hears Sakuya singing her lyrics. She runs to the stage to see if he is the driver of the car. She is swept off her feet. At first, people tell her Sakuya is never serious about women, and she thinks he might be toying with her. Later, he kidnaps her and convinces her to become the band's lyricist, and she thinks he is playing with her but for business reasons, not romance. Sakuya then transfers to Aine's high school, wanting to protect and work with her. Initially, he sees her as an innocent he can tease, but his feelings for her soon grow. Seeing her talent, and wanting to win the girl, Sakuya campaigns for Aine to become the band's official lyricist. His manager initially objects but relents upon seeing the continued excellence of Aine's lyrics. She becomes their lyricist, using the male pseudonym Yukihiko Aine to protect her identity and the band's image.

Aine and Sakuya's relationship gets off to a rocky start when they do not communicate their real feelings. Aine tries to hide her feelings for Sakuya, thinking he sees the two of them only as co-workers. She believes he wants to preserve her virginal imagination so that she will continue to write hit songs for the band. This seems confirmed when he rejects her advances. Although Sakuya is not subtle by nature, he attempts to express his feelings for her by writing a ballad called "Little Bird" or "Love Melody", but she continues to misunderstand. Finally, after filming the music video "Drug", he corners her and confesses his feelings.

But beginning a romance and being the girlfriend of a high-profile star is not easy. As the series progresses, Aine finds herself the frequent target of Sakuya's enemies, including rival bands and obsessed fans.

Ralph Grazer, Sakuya's older half-brother, is an American media mogul who heads a business empire in the United States and is branching into Asian markets. Ralph has a grudge against Sakuya, whom he has never met although their father has pushed them to make contact. Ralph goes to Japan and uses blackmail to force Aine to break up with Sakuya and work for him instead. Sakuya takes time out from the band to confront his biological father, the man had who had raped his mother. Sakuya travels to America to learn the family business, which gives him the knowledge and power to take Ralph's position as head of the media corporation. Sakuya returns to Japan and forces Ralph to sign a contract under which he will recover his position in return for releasing Aine. Ralph, used to getting whatever and whomever he wants, is confused by this tactic and by Sakuya's love for Aine. He returns to the United States to start over and relearn from their father. Ralph returns twice more in the manga, but no longer necessarily as Sakuya's enemy.

Lucifer continues to grow, becoming a major hit. Renamed Λucifer, the band prepares to tour America and Europe. Sakuya and Aine attempt to balance their love and professional lives. Aine's feelings for Sakuya and her ability to write lyrics are tested. The band hires Hitoshi Takayama as a producer to prepare for international fame. At first, Hitoshi thinks Aine is nothing more than an outspoken groupie, with no place on band premises or in Sakuya's life. But as he gets to know her he falls in love, hiding his feelings by pretending to be homosexual. As Hitoshi plans the band's six-month move to England to set the stage for capturing European fans, he attempts to break up both Sakuya and Aine's relationship and another couple, one of the band's guitarists, Atsuro, and his girlfriend Yuuka. Yuki, the band leader, and another guitarist, soon put a stop to this plan, letting Takayama know that band members owe their success to their families and lovers.

Kaito Yoshioka, president of a rival label, resents Λucifer's success. He decides to use Aine to break up the band and brutally rapes her in an attempt to break Sakuya. A guilt-ridden Hitoshi finds Aine and takes her to his home to try to comfort her, helping her avoid Sakuya out of shame, self-loathing, and fear of being rejected. When Aine tries to commit suicide that night, Takayama tells Sakuya. Devasted, Sakuya loses his voice along with the desire to sing and leaves the band. Yuki realizes that the only way to protect the entire band is to sign with Sakuya's half-brother Ralph's label, taking the band international. Meanwhile, Sakuya tries to kill Yoshioka, but Ralph stops him. He reminds Sakuya that Aine needs him to be with her, not in prison. Ralph avenges Aine by having Yoshioka investigated for tax evasion and fraud, which destroys his company.

Aine is in a near-catatonic state, and Sakuya takes her into hiding to care for her. When she again attempts suicide, he cuts his own wrist telling her he will die with her if that is what she really wants. Aine snaps out of her depression and begins to heal emotionally, even confronting and threatening Yoshioka to never bother Aucifer ever again. Takayama finds Sakuya, and with Yuki makes several attempts to persuade Sakuya to return to the band. Aine realizes that Sakuya is avoiding music and is afraid that she will be hurt again because of him. She convinces him to return to the world they both love. Takayama's death in a car accident traumatizes and pushes Sakuya to rejoin the band and sign the contract. Ralph tells Sakuya that, when he takes over from their father, he wants Sakuya to head the company's media business. Sakuya refuses, saying he would rather be a producer. After Takayama's death, Λucifer performs its final concert in Japan before moving to New York City. While they are overseas, Aine studies to take Takayama's place and become a producer. At the end of the series, Sakuya and Aine are married with a son. ~ See one-shot of Atsuro and Yuuka's wedding, and one-shot 'King Egoist' in Love Celeb for the announcement of Sakuya and Aine's second child ~

In the desert on a Navajo Indian reservation in New Mexico, a teenage boy comes across a boxcar buried in the ground. He retrieves the corpse of an alien-like figure from the boxcar, which he takes back to the reservation and presents to the residents, including a Navajo elder named Albert Hosteen.

Shortly afterward, Kenneth Soona, a computer hacker known as "The Thinker", breaks into the Defense Department database and downloads secret files related to extraterrestrial life, putting them onto a digital tape. When the Syndicate, a secretive group of government officials, learns of the breach, the Smoking Man tells them that he has already resolved the matter, although this is a lie; in fact, notification of such a development was "the phone call [he] never wanted to get." The Lone Gunmen visit Mulder and inform him that Soona wants to meet with him and are interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. When Mulder goes out to his apartment hallway to investigate, he finds that one of his neighbors has shot her husband.

Soona gives the digital tape to Mulder at a discreet meeting in a park. An excited Mulder returns to FBI headquarters, only to find that the tape is encrypted. Scully believes the encryption is based on the Navajo language and takes the tape in order to investigate. When Skinner calls Mulder to his office to question him about the tape, Mulder physically attacks him. Scully is brought before an FBI panel led by Skinner and is questioned about Mulder's actions. Scully is told that Mulder faces dismissal from the FBI, and that she will suffer a similar punishment if she has lied to them.

On Martha's Vineyard, the Smoking Man visits Mulder's father, Bill, and informs him of his son's likely possession of the tape. Scully meets with a Navajo translator, who refers her to a code talker. Mulder is called away to see Bill; when Scully arrives at his apartment, she is grazed by a bullet shot through his window. When Mulder arrives at Bill's residence, his father prepares to reveal the truth about everything. However, Bill is shot and mortally wounded by Alex Krycek. When Mulder contacts Scully, she tells him to flee the scene. After Mulder arrives at her apartment, Scully takes his gun from him while he sleeps.

Scully brings the gun to the FBI for comparison against the bullet that killed Bill. When Mulder awakens, he becomes angry and suspicious towards Scully. Later returning to his building, Scully finds his water being contaminated. As Mulder is entering in his building, he spots Krycek, whom he disarms and prepares to kill. However, Scully shoots him to prevent him from doing so, allowing Krycek to escape. Scully brings an unconscious Mulder to New Mexico and, when he awakens, reveals that his behavior was caused by a drug placed into his water supply and that she shot him because if he had killed Krycek, it then would have been harder to prove his innocence in his father's death. She then introduces him to Hosteen, who has been translating the files on the tape.

Scully reveals that the tape contains information on both her and Duane Barry. Hosteen introduces Mulder to his grandson, who drives him to the buried boxcar. Just before Mulder heads in, he is called by the Smoking Man, who is able to trace Mulder's location through the call. Mulder heads inside the boxcar, finding a pile of the dead creatures, each with smallpox vaccination scars on their arms. The Smoking Man arrives by helicopter with eight armed commandos and, not finding Mulder inside, orders the boxcar to be burned.Lowry, pp. 225–227Lovece, pp. 176–179

In Two Grey Hills, New Mexico, Albert Hosteen (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) and his family are beaten by the Men in Black as they search for the whereabouts of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is pursued by a black helicopter before soldiers retrieve her printed copies of Albert's translations of the digital tape, but they cannot find the original. Scully denies having the original tape, saying it is in Mulder's possession. Upon returning to Washington, the FBI puts Scully on mandatory leave and forces her to turn in her badge and gun. Upon entering Mulder's office, she finds the tape missing.

Meanwhile, in New York City, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) appears before the Syndicate, who question him over the whereabouts of the tape. Mulder, alive but severely wounded, is found buried under some rocks near the buried boxcar. Hosteen has Mulder taken to a Navajo sweat lodge to be healed during a "Blessing Way" ritual. During the ritual, Mulder has ghostly visions of Deep Throat and his father, who urge him to recover and continue his search for the truth.

Melvin Frohike visits Scully's apartment and shows her a newspaper article about Kenneth Soona's murder. When she returns to FBI headquarters, the metal detector curiously goes off. Scully presents Skinner with the newspaper article, thinking that the data from Soona's death can clear Mulder in his father's murder. Skinner, however, refuses to do any follow-up on it. After Scully leaves it is revealed that the Smoking Man was waiting in an adjacent room to question Skinner about the exchange. Leaving the building, Scully has a hunch upon seeing the metal detector again that leads to locating metal in the back of her neck. Scully sees a doctor, who removes a small metal implant.

Scully's sister Melissa urges her to see a hypnotherapist to recover lost memories of her abduction. Scully heads there, but becomes scared and stops the session. Returning home, Scully finds Skinner leaving her apartment and driving off; he later denies being there. Mulder, recovered from the Blessing Way ritual, is told by Hosteen that he cannot bathe or change clothes for four days. Scully heads to Boston to attend Bill's funeral, where she introduces herself to Mulder's mother, Teena. At the cemetery, Scully is approached by a Syndicate member known as the Well-Manicured Man, who warns her that she is about to be killed, either by a pair of assassins or by someone she knows. Mulder goes to Massachusetts and questions Teena about an old photo of his father standing with the other members of the Syndicate in front of a mysterious building.

Melissa calls Scully and tells her she is coming over. After receiving a call from someone who immediately hangs up, Scully leaves her apartment and tells Melissa that she'll head to her home instead. As she leaves, Skinner pulls up in his car, telling her they need to speak in private. Melissa shows up soon afterwards and is mistakenly shot by Luis Cardinal, who is hiding there with Alex Krycek. Realizing they shot the wrong person, the two flee. Meanwhile, after taking Skinner to Mulder's apartment, Scully holds him at gunpoint, believing he is the traitor the Well-Manicured Man spoke of. Skinner tells Scully that he is in possession of the digital tape. Just then, someone steps outside the door. This distracts Scully enough for Skinner to pull his gun on her.Lowry (1995), pp.231–233Lovece, pp.181–183

Why are you wikilinking the actors twice in the plot? It looks like you wrote one, wrote the other, and then forgot to remove the excess links. I tried to remove these links already, but User:Patrick stated: "keep the links in the plot info to make it self-contained, the part before the spoiler warning is just for people who do not want to see the rest)". I disagreed with him, but didn't see a point in re-reverting it. I have now removed the links again. - Ilse@ 06:26, 7 January 2007 (UTC) The reason the links are unnecessary is that anyone who avoids the spoilers will get the links from the spoiler free section. Anyone who reads the spoilers will already have the links. Plus they're in the cast section.--Supernumerary 20:57, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "to flee the Nazi-occupied part of the Netherlands to the liberated southern part of the country, by boat" Change it "to flee from" to match "from" and "to". The "by boat" is tacked on, and you should trying playing around with the wording to make it fit better. I changed the sentence to "In 1944, the young Jewish woman Rachel Steinn tries to flee by boat, together with her family and other Jews, from the Nazi-occupied part of the Netherlands to the liberated southern part of the country." - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *"However, they are attacked by the Germans and she is the only survivor; she does not succeed in fleeing outside the occupied territory but is not caught." It needs a comma and to be reworded. I have split and reworded the sentence. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "Rachel joins a resistance group, and under the alias Ellis de Vries manages to get friendly with the German SD officer Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch), and to bug the office." Missing commas and one two many "and"s. I have split the sentence. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "She gets a job in the SD office. She really falls in love with Müntze. He is not as bad for the Dutch as other German officers. For example, he refuses to obey the rule to kill 40 innocent Dutch citizens to revenge the killing by the resistance group of a Dutch traitor. For this Müntze is imprisoned and sentenced to death." This is choppy. Did she get the job after bugging the office because then you could combine that sentence with the other easily (you could still combine it if not). "to revenge" should be "to avenge" I have rewritten these sentences and used "to avenge". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *"The resistance group plans to free a number of their imprisoned men. Rachel is only willing to participate if they free Müntze too. Reluctantly they agree. However, the attempt fails and many prisoners and rescuers are killed." Choppy again. I have rewritten the sentences. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "Rachel gets caught and imprisoned by the Nazis." change to "Rache is captured and imprisoned by the Nazis." One should try to avoid the word "get" whenever possible because it sounds informal. I changed the sentence to the proposed "is captured". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "They have discovered the bug and use it make the resistance group listening to the transmitted sound" How about dropping "listening to the transmitted sound"? I removed the "listening to the ...". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *"The country is liberated, and Rachel is imprisoned as traitor. It turns out that physician Hans Akkermans, who supposedly was in the resistance movement, was actually involved in the devastatingly ending refugee trips, thus enriching himself. This man tries to kill Rachel with a large dose of insulin. She manages to survive by eating a lot of chocolate as an antidote." Lots of problems here. "It turns out" is a colloquialism and should be avoided. I removed the "It turns out". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "devastatingly ending refugee trips" why not just "devastating refugee trips"? (or did he end them?(in that case it would be "devastatingly ending the refugee trips")) I changed it to "devastatingly ending the refugee trips". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "The country is liberated, and Rachel is imprisoned as traitor." Why not "When the country is liberated, Rachel ..." I changed the sentence. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "thus enriching himself" How exactly did he enrich himself? Paid off by the Germans? Robbed the dead refugees? I am not sure this is in the film, so I would like to leave it open. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *"This man tries to kill Rachel with a large dose of insulin. She manages to survive by eating a lot of chocolate as an antidote." This could be made one sentence. "manages to survive" and "a lot" are both informal. I changed both elements. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "Rachel's innocence is revealed" Revealed by her or discovered by someone else? I changed it into "Rachel proves her innocence". - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "together with a man from the resistance they smuggle the physician and the money and jewels he has stolen, together in a coffin, to a quiet place, where they seal the coffin and slowly kill him by suffocation." Polysyndeton? It's also very awkward. **I have rewritten this sentence completely. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) Much better. Now we know what the black book from the title is.--Supernumerary 23:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "easily adapts to each situation" Should be in the past tense and maybe use "coped". I have changed the sentence. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) I changed it as well. Take a look and see which you prefer.--Supernumerary 23:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "Things seem idyllic for Rachel and her family... until bombs start going off in the distance, an air raid siren goes off and soldiers take positions at the front of the kibbutz. It's October 1956, and the Suez Crisis has broken out." **Do not use an ellipsis! You are not building suspense for the story but trying to inform a reader. I have rewritten the sentence. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "bombs start going off" They hear bombs in the distance? "start going off" is informal. I have changed this too. - Ilse@ 11:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC) Wikilink or explain "kibbutz". I added a link to kibbutz. - Ilse@ 07:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC) "It's" should be "it is". Again formality is needed. I changed it to "it is". - Ilse@ 07:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *"has broken out" sounds informal. I changed it to "started". - Ilse@ 07:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC) *This paragraph is much better after your changes!--Supernumerary 23:59, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Tom, a scientist, invents a machine that can insert a person into the subconscious mind of another person. Desperate for funding to complete his prototype, he is forced to accept money from an anonymous investor. When the investor threatens to pull out, Tom reluctantly agrees to a demonstration a month ahead of schedule. The investor turns out to be an official at the Department of Corrections who wants to use the machine to extract involuntary confessions from convicts. Initially repulsed by the idea, Tom's friend, an entrepreneur, convinces him to proceed, and Tom enters the mind of Anthony, an addict who is suspected of having killed his girlfriend Adrienne. Though Anthony volunteers in order to prove his innocence, Tom is able to walk through Anthony's fractured memories and prove his guilt. However, when Tom tries to return his consciousness to his own body, the machine malfunctions and traps him in Anthony's mind. Unable to leave, Tom passes the years by watching Anthony's memories, while his body remains in a coma.

Meanwhile, Anthony returns to jail and, despite his father's lack of faith in him, still maintains his innocence. When his father gives him a box of photographs, Anthony happens to recall a memory as Tom watches it. Inside the memory, Anthony stares in shock at Tom, something that Tom believes to be impossible. Convinced that this will allow him to communicate with Anthony, Tom haunts a commonly-recalled memory and waits for Anthony to stumble on him again. When they make contact, Tom explains his situation and asks for Anthony's help. Anthony agrees and sets up a meeting with Tom's wife, Abbey. With Tom's help, Anthony is able to convince her to set up another experiment with the machine, though she must agree to give the technology to the Department of Corrections in order to get authorization. However, Anthony delays the experiment and demands another chance to prove his innocence. Although angry at Anthony's betrayal, Tom is powerless to refuse. With Tom's help, Anthony pieces together more details and remembers being attacked by a former accomplice.

Encouraged by this breakthrough, Anthony escapes from custody and tracks down his friend, who reveals that Adrienne was sleeping with him for drugs. His friend maintains his innocence and suggests that Anthony killed her when she revealed this to him. Unwilling to accept this, Anthony attempts to kill him, and both are wounded. Understanding that he is dying, Anthony abandons his revenge on his former friend and instead drives to Abbey. With Tom's help, Anthony is able to guide Abbey through the process and extract Tom from his unconscious. Anthony dies from his wounds, but Tom is finally reunited with his family.

Haunted by merged memories, Tom makes contact with Anthony's father, Martino, who reveals that he set up his son for Adrienne's death, in the belief that jail would finally allow Anthony to clean up from his addiction. Finally realizing that Anthony was innocent all along, Tom pieces together the last few parts of the repressed memory: Adrienne breaks up with Anthony because of the guilt she feels over cheating on him, and when Anthony confronts her, she commits suicide.

The story revolves around Ashley, son of a Lord from the State of Kastol, who recently returned to his home town. While he is with his friends, he receives a message that the neighbouring State of Lumen is under attack from the north by the troops of Genes. He decides to stop Genes and starts his journey to Lumen in order to end the fight and restore peace on the continent.

Set in 2030–2031, ten years after the events of ''Software'', ''Wetware'' focuses on the attempt of an Edgar Allan Poe-obsessed bopper named Berenice to populate Earth with a robot/human hybrid called a ''meatbop''. Toward this end, she implants an embryo in a human woman living on the Moon (Della Taze, Cobb Anderson's niece) and then frames her for murder to force her to return to Earth. After only a few days, she gives birth to a boy named Manchile, who has been genetically programmed to carry bopper software in his brain (and in his sperm), and to grow to maturity in a matter of weeks.

Berenice's plan is for Manchile to announce the formation of a new religion unifying boppers and humans, and then arrange to have himself assassinated. (Rucker makes several allusions to the Christ story; Taze's abbreviated pregnancy is discovered on Christmas Eve, for instance.) Before the assassination, Manchile impregnates several women, the idea being that his similarly accelerated offspring will create a race of meatbops at an exponential rate.

The plot goes disastrously awry, and a human corporation called ISDN retaliates against the boppers by infecting them with a genetically modified organism called chipmold. The artificial disease succeeds in killing off the boppers, but when it infects the boppers' outer coating, a kind of smart plastic known as flickercladding, it creates a new race of intelligent symbiotes known as ''moldies'' — thus fulfilling Berenice's dream of an organic/synthetic hybrid.

Both of the two main human characters of ''Software'' play prominent roles in ''Wetware'': Cobb Anderson, whose robot body was destroyed at the end of the last novel, has his software implanted in a new body so he can help raise Manchile; while Sta-Hi Mooney—now known as Stahn Mooney—is now working as a private detective on the Moon after accidentally killing his wife, and is used as a pawn in various bopper and anti-bopper schemes.

The ''Belle of Louisville'', a steamboat of historic significance located in Louisville, Kentucky (the setting for the earthbound portions of the book), occurs as a character in the book, in which it is revealed that the steamer has been imbued with an onboard artificial intelligence.

At a video arcade in Connerville, Oklahoma, two young men, Jack Hammond and Darin Peter Oswald, argue over a game of ''Virtua Fighter 2''. Hammond pushes Oswald to the ground, after which the power in the arcade mysteriously shuts down—except to a jukebox, which plays "Ring the Bells" by James. This causes Hammond to leave, but when he goes outside to start his car, he finds the same song playing on the radio. He is then fatally electrocuted through the ignition. Oswald, who witnesses Hammond's death, returns to the game.

Hammond is the latest of five local men who have died due to lightning-related causes, causing Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to investigate. Scully talks to Bart "Zero" Liquori, the arcade owner and Oswald's friend, who was present the night Hammond died. Mulder finds Oswald's high scores on the game's display, realizing that he was playing that night; Oswald was the first of the victims, and the only one to have survived. Elsewhere, Oswald is at work at an auto repair shop when his boss's wife, Sharon Kiveat, walks in. He then tries talking to her, but she nervously rebuffs him; it is revealed that he had hit on her the day before, and she turned him down. When the agents arrive and question Oswald, he claims to have not witnessed anything. However, Mulder's cell phone mysteriously overheats in Oswald's presence, to which he acts unsurprised.

Alarmed by the FBI's presence, Zero visits Oswald at his home that night; a drunk and rowdy Oswald dismisses Zero's worries and summons lightning to strike down nearby cattle. The lightning strikes him instead, but he appears unharmed. The next day, the agents visit the scene and find a melted shoe print in the ground, linking it to Oswald. Meanwhile, Oswald uses his abilities to manipulate local traffic lights, causing a car accident. The agents visit Oswald's home and find a cut-out picture of Kiveat, Oswald's former high school teacher, inside a porn magazine.

At the scene of the car accident, Oswald's boss suffers an oddly timed heart attack; Oswald then saves him by using his electrical powers as a makeshift defibrillator, much to the paramedics' surprise. The agents question Sharon at the hospital, who claims that he told her about his powers. The agents also go through Oswald's medical records, showing that he exhibited acute hypokalemia—electrolytic imbalance in his blood. Oswald is brought in for questioning by the agents, but he proclaims his innocence and is eventually released by the local sheriff. Later, Oswald, believing that Zero ratted him out to the agents, uses his powers to strike him dead with lightning.

After learning of Oswald's release, the agents rush to the hospital to protect the Kiveats, but the power goes out when they arrive and Zero's corpse appears in the elevator when its door slides open. Oswald confronts Scully and Sharon, and the latter fearfully agrees to leave with him in return for her husband's safety. The sheriff arrives and tries to stop him. While pursuing a fleeing Sharon, Oswald summons lightning but ends up striking himself once again and, in the process, kills the sheriff. Oswald is put in a psychiatric hospital, although the local district attorney has no idea how they will be able to prosecute him. As the agents observe Oswald, he uses his powers to change the channels of the TV in his room while the song "Live Fast, Diarrhea" by The Vandals is heard.Lowry, pp. 87–89Lovece, pp. 187–189

In a liquor store in St. Paul, Minnesota, Clyde Bruckman (Peter Boyle), a life insurance salesman, purchases a bottle of scotch, a tabloid newspaper, and a lottery ticket and leaves. In the street, he almost bumps into an inconspicuous man (Stuart Charno), who heads to a palm reader named Madame Zelma (Karin Konoval). After seeking his fortune, the inconspicuous man attacks and kills her. A few days later, the eyes and entrails of a tea leaf reader, who was also a doll collector, have been found in her apartment, her body being missing. FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive at the scene of that murder to help the local cops, who have recruited the help of a psychic, the eccentric Stupendous Yappi (Jaap Broeker). Although the psychic delivers extremely vague clues, the cops are thoroughly impressed; both Scully and Mulder, however, are not.

Meanwhile, after Bruckman takes the trash out for his neighbor, he discovers the body of Madame Zelma outside in his dumpster. When interviewed by Mulder and Scully, he reveals details about the crime that he could not have known from the media accounts, which causes Mulder to believe that Bruckman has psychic ability. Mulder insists that Bruckman join them in a visit to the crime scene at the doll collector's apartment. Thanks to seemingly psychically gained information from Bruckman, her body is soon found in a nearby lake.

At the police station, Mulder tests Bruckman's ability by having him handle various objects to see what they "tell" him. It becomes apparent that Bruckman's only real psychic talent is an ability to see details of people's deaths. Scully arrives with a key chain bearing the insignia of an investment company that uses astrology to make financial predictions, taken from the doll collector's body—the same key chain was found on two of the other dead fortunetellers. Bruckman knows that the firm is owned by one Claude Dukenfield, not through a psychic revelation but because he coincidentally sold the man an insurance policy recently. He says that Mulder and Scully will not be able to talk to Dukenfield though, because he has been murdered.

Mulder and Scully drive Bruckman to a wooded spot where Bruckman has said they will find Dukenfield's body. As they tromp through the woods, Bruckman explains how he gained his ability following the death of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper in a plane crash. Bruckman cannot pinpoint the exact spot where the body is, however, so they return to the parked car, where they see a lifeless hand sticking out of the wet mud underneath. Traces of silk fibers are subsequently found on Dukenfield similar to fibers found on previous victims—they are later analyzed and found to be from lace.

At his home Bruckman has gotten a note from the killer saying he is going to die when they first meet, and telling him to say "hi" to the FBI agents. The killer apparently also has some psychic ability—the postmark is dated before Bruckman joined the murder investigation. Bruckman describes Mulder's death as the killer sees it: getting his throat slit by the killer after stepping in a pie in a kitchen. However Bruckman tells Mulder he's not able to see what happens afterwards. Meanwhile, the inconspicuous man consults a tarot card reader (Alex Diakun), who says that the killer seeks answers from "a man with special wisdom" and that his confusion will soon abruptly end "with the arrival of a woman—a blonde or a brunette, possibly a redhead." When there is just one card left unturned, the killer says that it is not meant for him but for the reader, and turns it over to reveal the "death" card.

Since the killer knows Bruckman's home address, the agents bring him to a hotel where they take turns guarding him. While Scully does not believe in Bruckman's power, the two develop a fast friendship. Scully asks Bruckman if he can see his own end. He replies that he can see their end—that they will end up in bed together, in a very special moment neither of them will ever forget. This reinforces her skepticism. Bruckman asks Scully why she is not interested in knowing how she will die. Scully finally asks him to tell her, to which Bruckman replies, "You don't."

A detective named Havez (Dwight McFee) takes over as Bruckman's guard when Mulder and Scully are called to investigate yet another new murder victim: the tarot card reader. As they leave they bump into a bellhop who is delivering food to Bruckman's room. The bellhop is actually the killer, and when he enters the room (while Havez is in the washroom), he is delighted to discover that Bruckman has been brought right to where he works. As he is about to kill Bruckman, Havez re-enters and the killer attacks and kills him instead. Meanwhile, Scully finds the same silk fiber at the new crime scene, and realizing that the bellhop had it on his tray, deduces that he is the murderer. They rush back to the hotel. Mulder chases the killer to the basement kitchen and the scene plays out as described in Bruckman's earlier premonition, but when the killer attacks Mulder, Scully arrives in the nick of time and shoots him—what Bruckman had seen was the dying killer's last thoughts, not Mulder's death.

Unable to find Bruckman in the hotel, Mulder and Scully return to Bruckman's apartment to find that Bruckman has committed suicide; Scully sees a plastic bag has been tied around his head, and that he is clutching a bottle of pills in his hand. Scully sits on Bruckman's bed holding his hand, deeply moved, just as he had predicted. That night Scully sees a commercial for the Stupendous Yappi on TV, causing her to throw her phone at it.Lowry (1995), pp. 93–95.

Napoleon "Neech" Manley (Badja Djola), a death row inmate at a Florida prison, is brought to the electric chair. Before he is executed, Neech proclaims that he will be reincarnated and avenge himself against five men who tormented him in prison.

Shortly after the execution, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the prison after a guard is mysteriously found dead in Neech's cell. The agents meet the prison's warden, Brodeur (J. T. Walsh), who believes that Neech planned the guard's murder with someone on the outside before the execution. John Speranza, another inmate, believes that Neech has returned. When Scully explores the prison's showers, she meets another guard named Vincent Parmelly (Ken Foree). He claims that another prisoner, Roque (Bokeem Woodbine), is keeping a list of the remaining four victims.

Later, the head of another guard, Fornier, is found inside a paint can. An examination of the head shows the premature appearance of larvae. The prison coroner tells Scully that the first guard's lungs were completely infested with the larvae, belonging to the green bottle fly. Meanwhile, Mulder talks to Roque, who wants a transfer out of the prison in exchange for revealing the remaining three people on the list, but Brodeur refuses to let this happen. Brodeur later finds Fornier's headless body in his office. While searching Neech's cell, Mulder discovers evidence of his obsession with reincarnation. The agents talk to Neech's fearful widow, Danielle Manley (April Grace), who is secretly seeing Parmelly. Roque is brought to the showers, where he is beaten to death by Brodeur after revealing he is the fifth person on the list.

Brodeur puts the prison under lockdown and tells Mulder that Neech had a violent history with all three victims. Mulder believes that Neech came back for revenge against the guards, but doubts that Roque was on the list. He requests that he be provided with the name of Neech's executioner, who turns out to be a volunteer named Perry Simon. The agents arrive at Simon's home to discover his decomposing body in the attic. Mulder confronts Speranza about the list, but Speranza only tells him that Roque was not on it. He claims to have seen Neech "big as life" outside of his cell. Based on phone records, Scully theorizes that Neech's lawyer, Danny Charez, may have engineered the murders with Speranza. The agents interview Charez, who tells them about Danielle's relationship with Parmelly; after they leave, Charez is suffocated by a resurrected Neech.

Brodeur visits Speranza in his cell, and offers to have his death sentence commuted in exchange for stopping the murders. Speranza takes the offer. That night, Parmelly visits Danielle, who has become agitated since Mulder and Scully have begun staking out her house. The agents now suspect Parmelly to be behind the murders and leave to notify Brodeur, who asks that Parmelly be arrested. Soon afterward, Danielle wakes up to see Neech standing at her bedroom door. She grabs her gun and confronts Parmelly, thinking he is Neech's resurrected form. The agents and a police task force arrive to see her shoot and kill Parmelly. Meanwhile, Brodeur—assuming that Charez and Parmelly were on the list—thinks Speranza has reneged on their deal and has him taken to the showers. Before Brodeur kills him, Speranza claims that one person remains on the list.

Parmelly is blamed for the murders. The agents start to leave Florida, but Mulder soon pulls over. He remains frustrated, since Parmelly was on-duty during only one murder, and was not one of the three men who knew Perry Simon's confidential identity. He also points out inconsistencies in the actions of Parmelly and Roque, who was also assumed to be part of the plot. Mulder believes that Parmelly was not responsible for the deaths, and that Neech had indeed been reincarnated to exact his revenge. However, Scully convinces Mulder that the case is over, and that they should return home. Just then, Brodeur passes them in his car. Looking in his rear view mirror, he sees Neech, who attacks Brodeur and causes his car to crash into a tree, claiming his last victim.Lowry, pp. 99–101.Lovece, pp. 193–94.

In Cleveland, a couple sit flirting in a car at night, having met over the Internet. The man, the charismatic and handsome Virgil Incanto (Timothy Carhart), suffocates his overweight date, Lauren, with a gelatinous substance he spits up. The next morning, a policeman finds Lauren's body, covered in the substance.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are called in to investigate, as the victim's description seems similar to those of other victims of a lonely hearts killer still at large. Scully attempts to perform an autopsy on Lauren's body, only to find that it has liquified with only a skeleton remaining. Scully later discerns that the substance coating the body is a concentrated digestive enzyme, and that the remains are lacking in body fat.

Incanto prowls an online chatroom, arranging to meet with a similarly overweight woman named Ellen Kaminsky (Catherine Paolone). Incanto is interrupted by his landlord Monica Landis, who believes he is a writer and who is romantically interested in him. He ignores her and resumes chatting. Elsewhere, Mulder learns that Lauren met a man in a chatroom, and researches Incanto's online accounts. They find that he had started one account using a credit card taken from a previous victim.

Kaminsky stands up Incanto while he waits at a restaurant. He leaves, murdering a slightly overweight prostitute who injures him in a struggle. Incanto is forced to flee before he can fully dissolve the body. At the autopsy, Scully finds that the body's airways are choked with the same substance that dissolved Lauren. A forensic lab report reveals that the skin under the victim's nails contains no oils or fatty acids, convincing Mulder that the killer is sucking body fat from his victims.

Mulder finds passages of obscure medieval poetry in Incanto's e-mails, and compiles a list of people who would have access to the texts from which these were taken. The agents, along with local detective Alan Cross (James Handy), agree to canvass everyone on the list. Meanwhile, Incanto, a translator of medieval Italian literature, receives a package while talking to Monica and her blind daughter, Jessie. He receives an e-mail from Kaminsky, asking to arrange another date; he is also questioned by Cross.

Returning home with Kaminsky, Incanto invites her inside, but quickly retracts his invitation when he sees the lights on in his apartment. After leaving Kaminsky, Incanto finds and kills Monica in his apartment after she discovers Cross' body in his bathtub. When Jessie asks Incanto about her mother's whereabouts, he denies seeing her. However, Jessie smells her mother's perfume in Incanto's apartment and calls the police. When they arrive, Incanto is gone, but his computer gives a list of women he has been in contact with. After trying to contact each woman in the given list, only two are unreachable, one being Kaminsky.

After Incanto comes to Kaminsky's apartment, she recognizes his facial composite distributed by the FBI. The agents arrive but after Mulder leaves in pursuit of who he believes to be Incanto, Scully is attacked by Incanto, who is still in the apartment; however, as they struggle, Kaminsky retrieves Scully's gun and fires on her attacker. Later, during questioning, a visibly weakened and deformed Incanto admits to the killings. He claims to have given his victims what they had wanted in return for what he needed (the fatty acids to keep him healthy). Incanto states: "I morti non sono più soli" (the dead are no longer lonely).Edwards, pp. 149–151

At a VA hospital in Fort Evanston, Maryland, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Stans makes his third suicide attempt; he claims that a mysterious figure will not let him die. Stans attempts to drown in a tub of scalding water, but is rescued by the hospital staff and subsequently is disfigured. Stans again claims that the mysterious figure will not let him die.

When Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) question Stans, they learn that his wife and children died in a house fire he claims was started by the mysterious soldier he says will not allow him to die himself. Captain Janet Draper stops the questioning, as Mulder and Scully were not granted permission to see Stans by his superior officer, General Thomas Callahan. After meeting with the agents, Callahan glimpses the phantom soldier Stans described. He also finds his answering machine replaying an unintelligible message. Later, while using the base's swimming pool, Draper is drowned by an invisible force.

Callahan tells the agents about the soldier and the voicemail, which was received twice before at his home. When they visit his house, his young son, Trevor, believes he saw someone go inside; Scully herself glimpses someone in the backyard. Fingerprints are found on the property which belong to the hospital mailman, Quinton "Roach" Freely. As Mulder and Scully take Roach into custody, Trevor is attacked and buried by the invisible force in his sandbox. Under the agent's questioning, Roach admits to his role in the deaths and states he is "Rappo's mailman".

"Rappo" turns out to be Leonard Trimble (Ian Tracey), a Gulf War veteran and quadruple amputee. Scully doesn't believe Roach, even though he insists that Rappo will kill him next. Scully later finds Roach dead in his cell with a bedsheet shoved down his throat. Scully assumes that he committed suicide, but Mulder shows her X-ray dental plates he had carried in the rehab room, the pool, Callahan's office, and Callahan's house; all show signs of radiation. Mulder thinks that Rappo is leaving his body through astral projection, doing so with a psychic connection forged through Roach's letters. He also plays the voicemail backwards; it is actually a threat from the phantom soldier.

Under questioning, an embittered Rappo states his belief that the Gulf War took his life away. Meanwhile, Callahan finds his wife's dead body. He goes to the hospital to talk to Stans, who reveals that Rappo — whom he doesn't know — is responsible for the deaths. When Callahan confronts Rappo, he openly admits his crimes. Rappo tries to goad Callahan into killing him, but Callahan decides to "stand down" and shoots over Rappo's head. Callahan tells Rappo that he will just suffer like him and the others, leaving Rappo enraged. The agents arrive and find Rappo in a trance; Scully thinks he's having a seizure, but Mulder realizes what is happening and tries to find Callahan. Rappo's apparition attacks Callahan with steam from the pipes in the hospital's basement. Stans enters Rappo's room, locks the door, and smothers Rappo with a pillow. With Rappo dead, his apparition disappears before it attacks Mulder. Callahan remains unharmed.

Since there is no physical evidence to prove that Rappo killed Callahan's wife and son, the case remains unsolved. Stans is released and becomes Callahan's mailman - both Lieutenant Colonel and General acknowledge each other before the former leaves to continue his work. Mulder's narration states that Rappo's family tried to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but the Army denied their request; he was instead cremated and buried in a civilian cemetery in Pennsylvania.Lowry, pp. 111–113

The novel takes place in suburban Iowa and in New York City, around the middle of the 21st century. Its first section describes the childhood and adolescence of Daniel Weinreb, an imaginative boy who manages to adapt well to his conservative surroundings until a minor act of rebellion sends him to prison at age 14. Daniel's experience there makes him eager to leave the Midwest. After falling in love with the daughter of a powerful and reactionary local tycoon, he moves with her to New York, dreaming of becoming a musician and exploring the forbidden art of "flying"—electronically assisted astral projection. Tragedy and exploitation leave Daniel's idealism in ruins, but he persists and becomes an internationally famous and controversial performer.

Alongside this Bildungsroman storyline, the novel presents a detailed portrait of a future United States torn by economic hardship and culture war. The Midwestern Farm Belt states are ruled by a coalition of the Christian right, known as "undergoders" (a reference to the successful conservative campaign to add the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance); the nominally secular government is socially repressive and business-friendly to an extreme. The coastal states more closely resemble present-day urban America, with generally permissive social attitudes and artistic ferment, but great economic inequality.

The invention of "flying" (which has happened at some unspecified point prior to the beginning of the novel, and is never described in any technological detail) aggravates these cultural divisions. By using a device that seems to be based on biofeedback, while singing with particular verve (an action that, as Disch suggests, causes unique integration of brain activity), a practitioner can separate mind from body and roam the world as an invisible "fairy", able to travel almost without restriction and perceive hidden things. The undergoders regard this as a sinful and dangerous practice, so much so that they discourage musical performance of any kind; but in the coastal cities flying is a fad, so popular that singers are afraid to admit not having been able to achieve it. Many Americans simply refuse to believe that such a radical escape is possible and claim that flying is a hallucination, but still take precautions to avoid being observed by "fairies".

In Seattle, photography assistant Carl Wade (Michael Chieffo) watches as 15-year-old Amy Jacobs (Jewel Staite) is photographed for school picture day. He becomes obsessed with her following the event, eventually kidnapping her. Her younger sister is the only witness to the incident, which takes place in their bedroom in the middle of the night. At exactly the same time, fast food worker Lucy Householder (Tracey Ellis) collapses with a nosebleed. Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) investigates Amy's disappearance, drawn to the case because his younger sister, Samantha, was kidnapped in a similar situation. The investigation leads Mulder to Lucy, who was taken from her bedroom at age eight, twenty two years before, and held in a dark basement for five years before she escaped.

Mulder's partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) suspects that Lucy may be connected to Amy's disappearance, based on her long criminal record and the fact that her nosebleed contained not only her blood type, but Amy's as well. In her room at a halfway house, scratches appear on Lucy's face and she experiences temporary blindness—injuries identical to Amy's, who is being tortured in the basement of Wade's cabin. The two develop an unexplainable psychic connection; everything that happens to Amy physically also happens to Lucy. Mulder tries to convince Lucy that she can help them find Amy, but she is too afraid to assist. Scully informs Mulder of their new lead in the case, the school photography assistant Wade, who was recently fired under strange circumstances. Mulder is adamant that Lucy, who admits that Wade was the man who abducted her, is not part of the kidnapping, and snaps at Scully when she suggests that Samantha's disappearance is causing him to become too involved with the case.

The investigation team receives a tip from a tow truck driver concerning Wade's location, which corresponds to the area where Lucy was found years ago. They find Wade's cabin in the woods near Easton, Washington, discovering Lucy in the basement with no clear indication of how or why she came there. Lucy begins to feel cold and wet; Mulder deduces that because of Lucy's connection to Amy, she must be at the local river. Mulder and Scully rush there to find Wade attempting to drown Amy. Back with the police, Lucy begins to drown despite not even being near water. Mulder shoots Wade while Scully attempts to perform CPR on Amy, but because of the connection it resuscitates Lucy instead. Amy lies on the riverbank, dead. Mulder continues to attempt CPR, despite Scully's protests.

Suddenly, the process is reversed; Amy recovers and Lucy dies. Overwhelmed by Lucy's sacrifice and his inability to save her, Mulder breaks down sobbing over her body. He later tells Scully he suspects that she died not only to save Amy, but to forget what Wade did to her all those years ago.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, a mysterious train car is left in a rail yard. After dark, a group of Japanese scientists enter the car and conduct an autopsy on an alien body. The scene is recorded and transmitted via satellite. Suddenly, a strike team storms the car and kills the scientists, taking the alien corpse away in a body bag. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) purchases an edited video of the autopsy. He believes the tape is authentic, but Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is skeptical.

When the agents go to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to track down the distributor of the tape, they find him murdered. At the scene, they pursue and capture a Japanese man, Kazuo Sakurai, who is identified as a high-ranking diplomat. Walter Skinner appears and orders Sakurai released. Before doing so, Mulder searches his briefcase (which he did not turn in to the authorities) and finds both a list of Mutual UFO Network members and satellite images of a ship. The Lone Gunmen identify the ship as the ''Talapus'', a salvage vessel docked in Newport News, Virginia. Meanwhile, Sakurai is killed by an assassin called the Red-Haired Man.

Scully investigates the MUFON group, discovering several women who claim to recognize her from her abduction experience. They have similar implants to Scully's, and inform her that they are all dying of cancer. Meanwhile, Mulder goes to the Newport News shipyard and searches the ''Talapus''. Armed men arrive and scour the ship, but Mulder manages to escape. That night, he discovers a warehouse where a craft is being fumigated by a hazmat team. Mulder believes the craft to be of alien origin, recovered by the ''Talapus''.

Skinner later confronts Mulder over the briefcase (which is now in Scully's possession), the absence of which has caused an international incident with Japan. He refuses to assist Mulder any further with his case. Mulder meets with Senator Richard Matheson, who gives him the details on the autopsy and links it with the larger conspiracy of the alien-human hybrids. Mulder investigates further, discovering that the Japanese scientists were members of the notorious Unit 731 during World War II; like Victor Klemper, they were recruited by the U.S. government to develop the hybrids. Mulder believes that the scientists killed on the videotape were working on a secret railway, transporting test subjects.

After sharing her MUFON findings with Mulder, Scully runs her implant through the FBI labs to gather technological information about it. She analyzes the autopsy video, realizing that one of the scientists seen, Dr. Ishimaru, experimented on her during her abduction. Meanwhile, Mulder goes to West Virginia and tracks down the secret train car, watching a group of Japanese men place what seems to be an alien-human subject on board. Meanwhile, another Japanese scientist, Dr. Shiro Zama, waits for the train at a station in Ohio; he is forced to board after his bodyguard is killed by the Red-Haired Man in the restroom. The Red-Haired Man follows Zama aboard the train, which is headed for Vancouver, Canada.

Mulder tracks the train to the Ohio station, but learns it has just left when he arrives. Meanwhile, Scully goes to her apartment and is met by X, who warns her to keep Mulder from getting on the train, as the scientists are aware of his presence. Scully calls Mulder, who has managed to drive ahead of the train and is just about to jump onto it from a bridge. Despite Scully's pleas, Mulder jumps onto the top of the train as it speeds past below.Lowry, pp. 122-131

In Perkey, West Virginia, a group of US Army soldiers arrives at an abandoned leprosy research compound, seizing most of the patients. One patient, Escalante, hides beneath a trapdoor during the arrival and follows the group to a secluded field nearby. He watches as the soldiers shoot the other patients, who are all apparent alien-human hybrids, into a mass grave.

Fox Mulder loses his cell phone after jumping on top of the moving train, losing contact with Dana Scully. When questioned by Scully, X tells her to analyze her implant, saying that it will give her answers about the train and her sister Melissa's murder. Meanwhile, Mulder enters the train and finds that the secret railcar is quarantined and protected by a security system. He searches for Zama, enlisting the train conductor for help. In Zama's compartment, they find hand-written journals in Japanese. However, elsewhere on the train, the Red-Haired Man intercepts and strangles Zama.

Scully sees Pendrell, who tells her that the implant contains highly advanced technology that can replicate the brain's memory functions and enable someone to know a person's very thoughts. The manufacturer of the chip was Zama, who created the implant at the West Virginia compound. Scully travels there, meeting a group of deformed patients who have eluded the "death squads." Escalante tells her that the patients were experimented on by Zama, who departed long ago; since then, the death squads have set out to massacre them. Escalante shows her the mass grave but is killed when US Army soldiers arrive to capture Scully, who is delivered to the First Elder.

Mulder returns to the railcar, seeing its door ajar; an alien-human test subject is locked in a room inside. The Red-Haired Man attacks Mulder, causing the conductor to lock them both in the car. The Red-Haired Man claims to work for the NSA, and that a bomb in the car was triggered after he gained entry with Zama's pass code. Mulder doesn't believe him, but he is called by Scully on the Red-Haired Man's cell phone. Scully—who is with the First Elder in a similar railcar—tells Mulder that unwitting subjects, including herself, were operated on by Zama on the secret railway, with the alien abduction theory used as a smokescreen. She also confirms that a bomb is in the car and believes that the quarantined patient is infected with hemorrhagic fever. She fears that thousands will die from the disease if the car explodes. Mulder finds the bomb in the ceiling.

After the car is disconnected from the rest of the train on a remote rail siding, Mulder questions the Red-Haired Man, who says that the patient is immune to biological warfare. Zama had tried to sneak the patient out of the country, but the government would rather see it destroyed than let their research fall into Japanese hands; the Red-Haired Man was sent to kill them both. Mulder, however, believes that the patient is an alien-human hybrid. With help from Scully, Mulder successfully unlocks the door of the railcar, but he is knocked unconscious by the Red-Haired Man. As the Red-Haired Man is about to leave, X appears and shoots him. Realizing that the bomb is about to explode and that there is not enough time to both save Mulder and secure the patient, X decides to save Mulder. X exits carrying the still unconscious Mulder shortly before the bomb explodes.

After recovering from his injuries, Mulder attempts to find information on the railcar, but he is unable to do so. Scully returns the journal that he found on the car, but Mulder realizes that it is a rewritten substitute. Meanwhile, the real journal is translated in a shadowy room as the Smoking Man watches.Lowry, pp. 129–131Lovece, pp. 206–208

A minister named Reverend Patrick Findley (R. Lee Ermey) in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania fakes stigmatic injuries to his hands during a sermon. Afterwards, Reverend Findley is visited by a white-haired man named Simon Gates, who strangles him—his hands smoking while he does so. Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the case. Mulder says that the minister was the eleventh fake stigmatic who has been killed over the past three years in a series of international murders. Meanwhile, at an elementary school in Loveland, Ohio, a boy, Kevin Kryder starts bleeding from the palms of his hands. The agents arrive and meet with a social worker, who claims that Kevin has suffered injuries before and that his father was institutionalized, adding that Kevin was in danger from evil forces. The agents visit Kevin's father, who claims that his son is the chosen one and that evil forces will come to kill him as part of a great war "between good and evil".

Kevin is abducted by a strange-looking bald man. Kevin's mother recognizes the man's description as that of Owen Jarvis (Michael Berryman), who had done yard work for the family in the past. Owen claims to be Kevin's guardian angel. As the agents arrive, Kevin mysteriously disappears. Owen claims he was asked by God to protect Kevin and criticizes Scully for her faith not being as strong as his. Owen jumps out the window and escapes. Kevin arrives at his home and is pursued by Gates, who kills Owen when he arrives to protect Kevin. Scully performs an autopsy and finds that Owen's corpse is not decaying, reminding her of "incorruptibles" that she learned about in Catechism. Mulder tells Scully to not let her faith cloud her judgment. Scully finds that handprints on Owen's neck belong to Simon Gates, a rich and powerful executive.

Kevin travels with his mother in a car which breaks down. Gates arrives offering to help fix the car, and Kevin, who appears in two places at once, is able to distract him and help them escape. However, Kevin's mother - becoming faint after being hurt by Gates - runs the car into a ditch and dies as a result. Scully tells Kevin she'll protect him. They bring him to a hotel where Scully notices an additional wound on Kevin's side. Scully becomes upset that Mulder will not even consider that a miracle is possible. As they talk, Gates breaks into the bathroom, kidnapping Kevin by prying an opening in the barred window. Scully returns to see Kevin's father but finds him heavily drugged.

Scully theorizes that Gates has brought Kevin to a recycling plant he owns in Jerusalem, Ohio. Mulder thinks that he has headed to the airport, as a man matching Gates' description was reported headed there. Mulder thinks Scully believes that she's been chosen to protect Kevin. Scully arrives at the recycling plant where Gates tells Kevin that he must die for the 'New Age' to come. Gates attempts to jump into a paper shredding machine with Kevin, but Kevin grabs onto the side as Gates falls into the shredder and is killed. Scully is able to pull Kevin to safety. Two days later, Scully and Kevin say goodbye; Kevin tells Scully he'll see her again.

Scully goes to confession for the first time in six years, admitting that she was raised a Catholic but has drifted away from the Church since then. She admits to being unsettled by the things she has witnessed, and even more unsettled by the fact that Mulder, usually the more credulous of the two of them, has not seen them. The priest advises her "Sometimes we must come full circle to find the truth" (unconsciously echoing the recycling symbol Scully has seen several times earlier in the episode) and ask her if she is starting to doubt her own judgment. Scully says that mostly it makes her afraid: that if miracles really do occur, then that means "God is speaking... but that no one's listening."Lowry, pp. 135–138

In Miller's Grove, Massachusetts, an exterminator inspects the basement of Dr. Jeff Eckerle, having been hired to eradicate a cockroach infestation. The exterminator sprays a roach, knocks it down to the ground, and attempts to crush it underfoot. However, upon doing so, he begins to succumb to anaphylaxis, clutching his heart and collapsing against a wall, while the roach crawls out from under his boot, unscathed. When Eckerle returns, he finds the exterminator's body covered with roaches. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is coincidentally nearby, investigating reported UFO sightings in Miller's Grove. While on the phone with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Mulder is approached by the local sheriff, Frass, who reveals that a series of "roach attacks" have taken place in the town. Frass allows Mulder onto the scene at Eckerle's residence.

Elsewhere in town, a trio of teenagers drink beer and huff fumes generated from heated manure. One of them sees a roach crawl into an open wound on his wrist, and in an attempt to extricate the insect, he begins to frantically slice his skin with a razor, leading him to sever an artery and ultimately bleed to death. At the scene, Mulder talks over the phone with Scully, who explains that it is likely a case of drug-induced delusional parasitosis, though Mulder finds a cockroach on the underside of a piece of furniture, indicating that roaches were at least present. When he attempts to capture it for analysis, the insect crumbles in his hand and the sharp pieces cut his fingers in the process, leading him to believe that the brittle casing was made of metal. Sheriff Frass purports that the government, under the guise of the USDA, has been breeding killer cockroaches in a nearby facility. Immediately afterwards, the medical examiner is found dead in a bathroom stall, initially covered with cockroaches that disappear from the scene before more than one person can witness them. Scully attributes the medical examiner's death to a cerebral aneurysm induced by overstraining while defecating. Mulder and Sheriff Frass find a seemingly dead cockroach on a sink in the bathroom, and Mulder again attempts to capture it (albeit more gingerly this time), but it proves to be alive and escapes down the drain.

Mulder goes to investigate the facility Sheriff Frass mentioned. Before breaking in, he and Scully discuss the odd behavior of the roaches, with Scully hypothesizing that the roaches could be an invasive species. Inside the facility, which resembles a typical house, Mulder sees the walls rippling and is quickly surrounded by roaches. He is then confronted by Dr. Bambi Berenbaum (Bobbie Phillips), a researcher from the Department of Agriculture who is studying cockroaches to develop more effective methods of pest control. Berenbaum has great interest in insects and, incidentally, believes that some UFOs are actually insect swarms flying through electrically charged airspaces. Yet another death occurs in Mulder's hotel, with the individual being found covered in roaches that quickly flee. At this point, Mulder believes that the individual simply died of fright, though Scully begins to wonder what is going on and decides to head up there herself.

Mulder brings a cockroach from the hotel room to Berenbaum, who thinks it may be mechanical. Mulder then visits the nearby Dr. Ivanov, a wheelchair-bound scientist who works on insect-like robots. The two discuss the possibility that extraterrestrial intelligences could send robotic probes to study other planets. After inspecting Mulder's specimen, Ivanov is rendered speechless; he informs Mulder that the specimen is, technology-wise, vastly superior to anything he's ever seen. Scully arrives in the town at a convenience store, finding the residents succumbing to panic over the roaches. She attempts to calm the people down, however the store-goers frantically flee after two scuffling patrons knock over a display of chocolate candies, believing them to be more roaches. Meanwhile, Mulder, while departing Ivanov's lab, catches another roach to bring to Berenbaum, but this time, she concludes that it is a seemingly normal cockroach. Scully finds out that Eckerle was researching dung-derived methane as an alternative fuel source, and had been importing animal dung that may have introduced the roaches to the area. Upon hearing this, Mulder speculates that the roaches are actually extraterrestrial robotic probes that are capable of consuming dung—an abundant resource already exploited by some species of roaches—to generate methane as a source of fuel.

Mulder goes with Berenbaum to see Eckerle at his facility. She stays in the car while he goes in the facility to find Eckerle who is in a hysterical, paranoid state, having been unable to escape the roaches that he feels are following him. Eckerle pulls a gun on Mulder, thinking that even he may somehow be a cockroach. Scully arrives on the scene and meets Berenbaum. Scully then goes in the facility looking for Mulder and then phones him, and when Mulder's phone rings, Eckerle believes it to be Mulder making a tone like the rest of the unusual roaches. Eckerle fires at Mulder, and his shots rupture and ignite pipes containing methane gas. The agents flee, and the facility explodes with Eckerle still inside. The next day, Dr. Ivanov arrives to talk with Mulder at the scene of the explosion and meets Berenbaum. The two leave with one another, discussing their interests in insects and robots. That night Mulder writes his report on the case, wondering how humanity would react if insect-like robots visited Earth. Mulder finds a bizarre looking bug by his food, and crushes it with an X-File.Lowry, pp. 141–144

In Comity, New Hampshire, a group of high school students hold a eulogy for their dead friend, the purported victim of a local Satanic cult. Two girls, Terri Roberts (Lisa Robin Kelly) and Margi Kleinjan (Wendy Benson), get a ride home from a jock, Jay "Boom" DeBoom (Ryan Reynolds). The girls tell Boom that the cult seeks a blonde virgin as a next victim, convincing him to turn off the road. The next day, the police find Boom hanging from a cliff. Out of sight of the police, Terri and Margi sit at the top, laughing.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive in Comity after arguing over directions along the way. They meet a local detective, Angela White (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), and go to Boom's funeral. Scully, in a bad mood, is skeptical of these claims. The high school principal, Bob Spitz, interrupts the funeral by ranting about Satanic cults murdering their children when suddenly the coffin starts smoking and catches on fire. Mulder and Scully go into separate rooms to interview Margi and Terri, both of whom offer an identical story about a satanic ceremony where a baby was sacrificed. Scully thinks their stories are cliché and points out that no account of a satanic conspiracy has been validated. Looking at the latest victim's body, Mulder and Detective White find a burn mark in the shape of a horned beast; Scully says she doesn't see anything. Mulder goes to see White to apologize for Scully's behavior and the two visit the local astrologist Madame Zirinka who claims the town's crazy behavior is due to the rare planetary alignment of the planets Mars, Uranus, and Mercury. Terri and Margi watch basketball practice, lusting over one of the players, Scott, whose girlfriend is fellow cheerleader Brenda (much to Terri and Margi's displeasure). One of the other players accidentally spills a table of drinks on them, so they cause the basketball to bounce underneath the bleachers and it closes when he goes to get it, killing him. Scully is angry at Mulder for ditching her to be with Detective White.

A town mob searches for a mass grave in the woods and finds a bag belonging to the town pediatrician filled with bones, which Spitz assumes belonged to a child. The angry mob goes to see the doctor, who claims that he had sold the bag to Terri Roberts. The bones end up belonging to Terri's dog, Mr. Tippy. Scully gets upset over a joke Mulder makes and tells him she's returning to Washington. Margi and Terri celebrate their birthday and Brenda uses a Ouija board to know who she will marry; everyone thinks it's Scott before the planchette veers away from the C and spells out Satan. Upset, Brenda rushes to the bathroom where Margi and Terri are chanting "Bloody Mary" and is locked in, killed by glass from a shattered mirror. Detective White heads to Mulder's hotel room because she found a box which inside had her cat's collar, and then she attempts to seduce Mulder but they are interrupted by Scully who informs them about Brenda's death. Terri and Margi try to console Scott, who tells them off. Turned down, Terri is mad at him but Margi still likes him and leaves.

Mulder goes to visit Madame Zirinka again, who tells him that the planets come into alignment like this only once every 84 years, and additional alignments will cause anyone born on January 12, 1979 (Margi and Terri's birthdate) to have an abundance of cosmic energy. Margi goes to see Scott alone but an angry Terri arrives. The two argue with each other and end up accidentally killing Scott after causing one of the springs and the garage door to fly at him. Margi goes to Mulder, telling him that Terri is responsible for the murders, while Terri goes to see Scully and tells her the opposite. The agents call each other and bring both girls to the police station, where the place starts shaking, causing the furniture to move around and all the guns to go off on their own. Mulder locks the girls in a room together and their power goes away once the clock ticks midnight. When the town mob and Detective White finally see Terri and Margi as the culprits, Spitz claims it was the work of Satan. Mulder and Scully drive home, arguing again over directions; when Scully defiantly runs a stop sign, Mulder notifies her but she tells him to shut up, which he does.Lowry, pp. 149–152

At George Washington University, a group of artists sketch a nude male model. However, one of the artists, John Mostow (Levani Outchaneichvili), draws a demonic creature in the model's place. While using a utility knife to sharpen his pencil, he cuts his hand and smears his blood on the drawing. When the model reaches his car after the session, he is attacked and killed by an obscured assailant. The following morning, Mostow is arrested in his apartment by an FBI task force led by Agent Bill Patterson (Kurtwood Smith), who finds the utility knife used in the murder covered in blood.

Mostow, an immigrant from Uzbekistan with a history of involuntary commitment, is charged with killing seven men by mutilating their faces. Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) become involved in the investigation when Mostow insists that he was possessed during the killings; his claims are given credence when another murder occurs after his arrest. Mostow draws a gargoyle and claims it made him kill. The agents meet with Patterson, who has spent three years working the case. Mulder knows Patterson from his time in the Investigative Support Unit at Quantico. Their relationship is tense, and Patterson is skeptical of Mulder's theories. Mulder and Scully go to Mostow's studio and discover a hidden room full of gargoyle sculptures, finding corpses within them.

A glassblower is attacked and hospitalized. Nemhauser (Greg Thirloway), another agent on the case, tells Scully that Patterson was responsible for getting Mulder assigned to the investigation and may admire him after all. Patterson finds Mulder in the library studying gargoyles, expressing disappointment in him. Scully goes to Mulder's apartment and finds it covered with gargoyle drawings. Mulder, having sculpted a gargoyle himself in Mostow's studio before falling asleep, awakens to find a figure with a gargoyle-like face standing over him; he gives chase but is attacked, his face slashed with a utility knife. Mulder refuses to explain to Scully why he was in the studio. Scully confronts Patterson, who tells her not to try and stop Mulder from doing what he's doing, because she won't be able to. Mulder again goes to see Mostow again, who refuses to divulge how to find the creature that attacked him.

Scully finds a disassembled utility knife at the latest crime scene with Mulder's prints on it and discovers that the murder weapon is missing from the evidence room. She meets with Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who is also worried about Mulder's behavior. Mulder has a nightmare about being attacked by a gargoyle that is really himself. He wakes up and goes to Mostow's studio again, finding a severed arm. Scully gets a message to call Nemhauser, but his phone is answered by Mulder, who denies taking the knife. Mulder searches Mostow's studio and finds Nemhauser's body inside a new sculpture. Mulder is then confronted by Patterson, who is unaware of how he arrived at the studio. Mulder then deduces that Patterson is the killer, based on his three-year obsession with Mostow and his request for Mulder to investigate the case. Mulder confronts him, but Patterson flees when Scully arrives. Mulder pursues him and they fight, but Mulder perceives Patterson as a demonic gargoyle creature. Patterson is shot and apprehended.

In the last scene, Patterson is pressed against the bars of his cell, screaming and pleading that he is innocent, while the camera focuses on a gargoyle drawn in blood on the wall of his cell. Earlier in the episode, Mulder told Scully that he and Patterson disagreed on the best way to investigate serial murders, and Patterson always tried to empathize with the suspect, imagining himself in the killer's place. Mulder's closing narration concludes that it was this that eventually drove Patterson insane, but Mulder cannot account for what he saw while fighting Patterson.Lowry, pp. 155–158

On August 19, 1953, a burned crewman talks to three government agents about his experience on the submarine ''Zeus Faber'', completing the story told in the previous episode. He explains that he and other crew members were locked in with their captain, who was infected by the black oil. After being knocked out from behind, the black oil leaves the captain's body and exits via a grate into the sea. It is revealed that Bill Mulder and the Smoking Man are two of the agents who are interviewing the crewman.

In the present, Fox Mulder and Alex Krycek return to the United States, but are run off the road by another vehicle. The assailants attempt to apprehend Krycek, but are severely injured when he emits a flashing light. The Smoking Man sees their bodies and orders their destruction. Mulder, who was knocked unconscious in the crash, awakens in the hospital. Dana Scully tells Mulder about Walter Skinner's condition, and says that an analysis of saliva has identified his shooter as the same person who killed her sister Melissa.

The Syndicate meets to discuss the events surrounding the ''Piper Maru'' and realize someone is leaking information. Meanwhile, Skinner tells Scully that he recognizes his shooter as the man who was with Krycek when the digital tape was stolen from him. Mulder believes that the oil found on the diving suit and Gauthier is a medium used by an alien to transfer from body to body, and that Krycek is currently occupied by it. Mulder and the Lone Gunmen use Krycek's key to recover the tape from a locker at an ice rink, but Mulder finds the case empty. Krycek returns the tape to the Smoking Man in exchange for the location of the recovered UFO.

As Luis Cardinal is identified as Skinner's shooter, the Syndicate admonishes the Smoking Man for moving the UFO to a new location. By rubbing a pencil over the envelope containing the tape case, Mulder finds a phone number which connects him to the Syndicate's office. Mulder speaks to the Well-Manicured Man, who offers to meet with him. The Well-Manicured Man tells Mulder that a UFO was sunk during World War II and that a cover story of a sunken atomic bomb was used to cover up its attempted recovery. He reveals that anyone can be gotten to, causing Mulder to ask Scully to check on Skinner.

Scully accompanies Skinner as he is being transported in an ambulance. When Cardinal attempts to break in, she tracks him down and arrests him. Cardinal tells her that Krycek is headed to an abandoned missile silo in Black Crow, North Dakota. There, the agents are captured by the Smoking Man's men and are escorted away. Deep inside, Krycek sits atop the UFO and coughs out the black oil, which seeps into the ship. Skinner recovers and returns to work. Mulder sees Scully at Melissa's grave, explaining that Cardinal was found dead in his cell. Meanwhile, Krycek is trapped within the silo, banging on the door in an attempt to be let out.Lowry, pp. 167–170Lovece, p. 212

The novel opens with five friends out for a night of drinking and occasional brawling. All five are teachers at a less-than-first-rate boarding school called Feliss Academy, situated in the town of Simka in Feliss Province (a future version of Simcoe, Ontario, the author's hometown, and not far from the author's Waterloo current home). Future versions of other real locations, such as Niagara Falls, Port Dover, and the Port Dover mausoleum appear in the novel.

The five, frustrated and bored with their unsatisfactory lives, are:

• Sir Pelinor, the school's fencing instructor, who fancies himself a courtly knight;
• Sister Impervia, the self-defense trainer, and a Handmaid of the Holy Order of Magdalenes;
• the Steel Caryatid, sorceress, psychic, and gifted in pyrokinesis;
• Myoko Namida, whose specialty is telekinesis and levitation;
• and Philemon Abu Dhubhai, Ph.D., the novel's narrator, a scientist and the scion of a wealthy and powerful family in the Middle East.

Tonight, however, is an unusual night: the Steel Caryatid has received a premonition that the group will undertake a quest. The quest reveals itself when Dhubhai encounters a ghost and learns that one student at the school has been murdered while another, the victim's boyfriend, has runoff. The group embarks on a search for the missing boy, which soon transforms into something far more sinister: a hunt for a shape-shifting alien creature, malevolent and very dangerous. The group expands with new recruits, then is whittled down by deaths along the route, as the search comes to involve aliens, a crazy and highly lethal Spark Lord, and a criminal gang nearly as bad. Their quarry, the runaway boy, turns out to be one of the most gifted psychics the world has ever known, which adds a new layer of complexity to their dilemma. Dhubhai and his surviving companions reach a bloody crisis in the basement of the power station at Niagara Falls, one of the few places on Earth that still maintains electric power and traces of OldTech civilization. Dhubhai learns that Spark Royal has kept the power flowing in order to imprison an alien force; the sinister being they have been following is only a small offshoot of a much greater and darker whole. Dhubhai discovers more than he anticipated about the cryptic workings of the League of Peoples before the alien force is controlled.

Robert Patrick Modell (Robert Wisden) walks through a supermarket, buying a large supply of energy drinks. Before he can leave, Modell is surrounded and arrested by FBI agents led by Frank Burst (Vic Polizos). While being escorted away in a police car, he repeatedly talks about the color cerulean blue, repeatedly stating "Cerulean blue is a gentle breeze." Modell's talking seemingly causes the driver to not see an approaching semi-trailer truck of that color, causing a collision. Modell escapes after the driver unlocks his handcuffs before dying.

Burst, the only surviving agent of the crash, tells Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) about his pursuit of Modell—nicknamed "Pusher"—who has committed a series of contract killings over the past two years, making the acts appear to be suicide. Mulder spots the word "ronin" written at the crime scene, and tracks down Modell's classified advertisement in a mercenary magazine. Mulder believes that Modell has the psychic ability to "push" people to do his will. Using the phone number in the ad, the agents track down Modell to a golf course in Falls Church, Virginia, where he makes a SWAT lieutenant pour gasoline on himself and then set himself on fire. Mulder finds Modell exhausted in a car nearby, arresting him.

During his arraignment, Modell uses his ability to make the judge let him go. The agents look into Modell's past and find that he failed to enter the FBI after a psychological examination deemed him to be grossly egocentric and sociopathic. Meanwhile, after writing the word "pass" on a piece of paper and putting it in his lapel, Modell is able to pass security and enter FBI headquarters. He "pushes" a government worker, Holly (Julia Arkos), into pulling up Mulder's file for him. When Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) intervenes, Modell convinces Holly that he was a man who mugged her, causing her to spray Skinner with mace and beat him. Scully is unable to explain how Modell has his power, but now agrees with Mulder's theory that he can push people into doing whatever he wants.

Agents raid Modell's apartment, but find it empty. They find cans of protein drinks in the refrigerator and medicine for epilepsy. Mulder suspects that a brain tumor has given Modell his psychokinetic ability, but that using his power is physically exhausting, forcing him to constantly consume the energy drinks. Mulder believes that he is dying and wants to go out in a blaze of glory. Modell makes a taunting phone call to Agent Burst and causes him to have a fatal heart attack while they try to trace him. The agents track Modell down to a hospital, where he has compelled a guard to shoot an MRI technician and kill himself. Mulder ventures inside the hospital and is captured by Modell.

Scully finds the two sitting at a table with the dead guard's revolver. Modell forces Mulder to play Russian roulette with him. Despite Scully's pleading, Mulder pulls the trigger first at Modell and then himself, the hammer falling on an empty chamber both times. Modell then makes him aim the gun at Scully. At the last instant, Scully sees a fire alarm in a mirror and pulls it, breaking Modell's concentration. Mulder instantly switches his aim to Modell and pulls the trigger. The bullet is fired and Modell is severely wounded.

Later, Mulder and Scully visit Modell in the hospital, where he is lying in a coma from which Scully predicts he will not awaken before his brain tumor kills him. Mulder surprises her by revealing that Modell's brain tumor was operable at all times, but he refused to have it removed, even as his health deteriorated. Scully asks why, and Mulder repeats her earlier assessment of Modell — that he was always a "little man", and his psychic ability made him feel big.Lowry, pp. 175–177Lovece, p. 213

Clockers follows intertwining storylines of low level cocaine dealer Ronald "Strike" Dunham and homicide detective Rocco Klein in the fictional New Jersey city of Dempsey (Which shares many similarities with Jersey City, NJ - where author Richard Price spent extensive time researching the subject matter.) Strike works in the drug organization of Rodney Little, a friendly but violent drug lieutenant of local drug lord Champ. When Rodney Little asks Strike to kill his second in command Darryl and take his position, Strike hesitates. While scoping out Ahab's, the fish restaurant from where Darryl wholesales cocaine, he encounters his brother Victor drunk in a bar across the street, to whom he tells a made-up story about Darryl's abuse of his girlfriend. Victor apparently sees through his story, and suggests that if Strike needs someone killed, he knows "My Man" who could do the job. Strike is surprised by this offer from his law-abiding, working-man brother, and responds noncommittally, assuming his remark is just a drunken boast. He is shocked the next day to find that Darryl has been shot dead in the Ahab's parking lot by an unknown assailant.

David "Rocco" Klein and his partner Larry Mazilli are assigned to investigate Darryl's murder. They quickly deduce that Darryl was more than just a restaurant manager. Meanwhile, Strike is promoted in Rodney's organization and is introduced to Papi, a Puerto Rican cocaine wholesaler. Rodney reveals that he has been buying cocaine from Papi and selling it behind Champ's back, without giving him a cut. Strike recognizes that Champ will have them both killed if he discovers their side business, but agrees to participate, believing he has no other choice.

Rodney brings Strike to meet with Champ at his headquarters at the O'Brien housing projects. Rodney brings an undercover police officer who he introduces to Champ as a cocaine supplier, as part his plan to sabotage Champ and take control of the organization. There, Strike encounters Champ's chief violent enforcer, Buddha Hat, a murderous man who cryptically identifies Strike as "Victor's brother." Strike takes this to mean that Buddha Hat was Victor's "My Man" and that he had killed Darryl. As Buddha Hat worked for Champ, and Darryl was the previous overseer of Rodney's secret drug sales, Strike assumes that Buddha Hat will realize their treachery and tell Champ, who would have them both killed.

Buddha Hat pays Strike a perplexing visit, where Strike, thinking he is about to be killed, is instead taken to a restaurant and peep show in New York, in a bizarre gesture of friendship by Buddha Hat. Victor gives a full confession for Darryl's murder, but his self-defense story does not match witness accounts and Rocco believes that he is in fact innocent. His obsessive investigation begins to lead him to Strike, who he believes is a much more likely murderer than the hard working and law-abiding Victor. Assuming that Victor will take a mandatory 30-year sentence to protect his brother, Rocco confronts Strike at his drug corner and forcibly takes him in for questioning several times. Strike goes to meet Papi to pick up the week's cocaine shipment but finds him shot to death. Strike panics, fearing that Champ is on to him and Rodney. He later learns from Rodney that Buddha Hat also went behind Champ's back to take a bit of Papi's profits, and murdered him when he refused to pay.

When Rodney is arrested selling cocaine to an undercover police officer, Rocco arranges things so that Rodney believes Strike has been talking to police. Rodney then sends his enforcer, Errol Barnes, to murder him. Rocco, whose marriage is in serious trouble because of the tremendous amount of work he has taken on, brings in Strike for another round of questioning. He also talks again with Victor and his mother. They reveal that Victor did indeed commit the murder in a moment when, hating his difficult life and ungrateful wife, he impulsively decided to murder Darryl just as Strike had suggested, using a gun he had earlier found and kept.

At about the same time, Errol Barnes, despite a fearsome reputation for violence, is shot and killed by Strike's panicked young assistant Tyrone, who had been on his way to return Strike's gun after borrowing it out of curiosity. Strike goes free but is still being threatened by Rodney. Also, local cop Andre "The Giant," who was a father figure to Tyrone, beats Strike and threatens to kill him for ruining Tyrone's life unless he leaves Dempsy permanently. The novel ends with Rocco driving Strike into NYC, where, while at the Greyhound station, a drug mule tries to get Strike to buy him a bus ticket. After Strike is almost arrested by the police, he buys a ''See America'' pass and leaves the city.

At an archaeological dig in the Ecuadorian highlands, two archaeologists, Dr. Bilac and Dr. Roosevelt, get into an argument over the removal of a burial urn that contains an Amaru, or a female shaman. Roosevelt argues that the urn must be taken from the site and preserved in a museum, much to the chagrin of Bilac and the tribespeople present. Later, a native shaman distributes Yaje to the local villagers and Bilac. During this ritual, a jaguar spirit kills Roosevelt in his tent.

Later, in Boston, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate the disappearance of Dr. Craig Horning, an archaeologist from a local history museum, after a security guard discovers a large amount of blood in Horning's lab. They interview both the curator, Dr. Lewton, and graduate student Mona Wustner. They also visit a reclusive Bilac. After closing, Lewton is killed by the jaguar spirit after his car doesn't start. During an investigation of the crime scene, Scully comes across rat corpses in the engine compartment of Lewton's vehicle. Mona denies that anything unusual has happened in the museum.

Mulder and a group of police search for Lewton's remains. Scully sees blood dripping on Mulder's face from above and, upon looking up, they see a portion of Lewton's intestine hanging from a tree. Scully, about to perform an autopsy on the intestine, is interrupted when Mona suddenly calls and reports that Bilac was under the influence of Yaje. At the museum, Mona hears noises from a restroom and, upon opening a toilet lid, she sees rats forcing their way out of the sewer. When the two agents arrive, they discover Bilac crying beside one of the toilets, saying that Mona is dead.

Later, Bilac escapes from the room in which he is being held without exiting through the only door. Mulder notices a large drag mark through the dust on the floor, discovering a hatch leading to the museum's old steam tunnels. While exploring the tunnels, the agents find the remains of the victims and are attacked by a multitude of feral cats. As they try to escape, they come across Bilac's mutilated body. The two agents make their way out and close the hatch on the pursuing cats. The episode closes with Mulder suspecting that the animal attacks were associated with the burial urn that had been removed against the wishes of the Ecuadorian tribespeople; it is shortly returned to the burial grounds, where the local shaman watches the urn's reburial with jaguar-like eyes.Lowry, pp. 181–183

In San Francisco's Chinatown, a Chinese immigrant, Johnny Lo, makes his way to his apartment. There, he is confronted by someone telling him to "pay the price", and is overtaken by three figures wearing ''shigong'' masks. A security guard later finds the three figures near a crematory oven, in which Lo is being burned alive.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate Lo's death, the latest in a series of fatal incinerations in Chinatown; Mulder believes that ghost activity is behind the deaths, while Scully suspects a cult. The agents collaborate with Glen Chao (BD Wong), a Chinese-American detective with the SFPD. When they find a Chinese character written inside the oven, Chao translates it as meaning "ghost." Mulder also finds a scrap of burned paper in the ashes, which Chao identifies as "hell money", a symbolic offering to deceased spirits. The agents locate Lo's apartment, where they find his collection of charms, as well as bloodstains underneath the recently installed carpet.

Meanwhile, another immigrant, Hsin, tends to his leukemia-stricken daughter, Kim (Lucy Liu). To pay for her treatments, Hsin attends an underground lottery in which participants either win money or lose an organ, depending on tiles chosen from a pair of vases. One man wins the lottery but selects a bad tile, and his body is found later that day. Scully performs an autopsy and finds that he had been selling body parts, noticing his numerous surgical scars. The agents question Chao, who claims that the local community maintains a code of silence and does not reveal anything, even to him.

Chao finds information that leads them to Hsin, who installed the carpet in Lo's apartment. Hsin has a bandage over his eye, having lost it to the lottery earlier. Returning to his home, Chao is confronted by the three masked figures. Upon learning about the attack, the agents attempt to visit Chao at the hospital but find him missing. Meanwhile, Hsin is visited by the Hard Faced Man (James Hong), one of the proprietors of the lottery. Hsin tells the man that he wants to end his participation, to which the man replies that the rules cannot be broken and warns him that the ghostly fire will consume him if he leaves the lottery. The agents match the blood on the carpet in Lo's apartment with Chao. They try to visit Hsin, but find only his daughter at his apartment.

Hsin wins the lottery, but selects the tile representing his heart. Chao comes in and tries to persuade one of the game's organisers to let Hsin live but to no avail, causing Chao to knock over the table with the vases, which reveals the lottery to be fixed. Chao then storms in the room where the surgery on Hsin is about to be carried out and fires at the Hard Faced Man, after which the agents come in and arrest them all, including Chao for his involvement in the lottery. They interrogate the Hard Faced Man, but because no one who participated will testify against him, it is unlikely he will be prosecuted. Hsin is brought to the hospital and his daughter is placed on an organ donor list. Chao mysteriously disappears, awakening in a crematory oven before he is burned alive.Lowry, pp. 187–190

Sheila Justin (O'Donnell) has lived in Switzerland for 17 years, but just after marrying Philip Justin (Mohr) six months earlier, she began having nightmares about a mansion owned by the Tierneys, a family she doesn't know. She's never been there yet calls it "a place of unspeakable horror." Her hypnotist, Dr. Victor Forel (Barry Bernard) suggests that her marriage and the onset of the nightmares is coincidental.

Back in the US, when Sheila and Philip drive up to their destination in Florida, Sheila is horrified to see the nightmare mansion. Philips insists that her nightmares will end if they stay there. They surprise caretaker Jonah Snell (Qualen), who wasn't expecting guests. When Philip goes to the car for their luggage, Jonah tells Sheila that the house was abandoned 17 years earlier and cryptically says he has been waiting ever since for "the mad Tierneys" to come home.

Sheila begs Philip to take her away. He reluctantly agrees to leave, but the car won't start. Philip says that someone has damaged the engine. They're forced to spend the night in the mansion.

Although Jonah had told Sheila that she had never been there before, she has vague memories of, as a little girl, falling in love with a boy who carved their initials on a tree trunk. Jonah denies the tree's existence. Sheila tells Philip she is afraid of Jonah, but that she feels safer knowing that Philip has packed a pistol in his suitcase.

That night, Sheila is awakened by screams, then sees a figure peering through her bedroom window. Worse, Philip is gone. After searching the house, she returns to the bedroom to find a nonchalant Philip there. He says that he had simply gone for a walk. She tells him of the "inhuman" face in the window, and Philip decides it was Jonah trying to scare them away. While he confronts Jonah, Sheila gets the gun.

Come morning, Sheila finds a tree marked "SW + PT." She realizes that she is SW – Sheila Wayne, her maiden name – but can't remember who PT is. Nevertheless, it proves that she had been there before.

Mark Snell (Ching) arrives and identifies himself as the mansion's owner. He demands that they leave. Philip and Mark inexplicably recognize each other. Philip makes a veiled comment about Mark chasing them away with an axe. Mark suddenly decides they can stay. Then he mistakenly calls Sheila "Mrs. Tierney." He quickly corrects himself, saying unconvincingly that he meant "Mrs. Justin." Sheila now understands the initials on the tree. PT is Philip Tierney – her husband's real name.

She asks Philip about his name and why he lied about the nightmare house. He admits everything and tells her that the two years she had spent in a Swiss sanatorium were not due to tuberculosis, as she thought, but because at age 7 she'd had a nervous breakdown. He says again that the only way Sheila will be cured is to discover why she blanked out her memories. But to do so, she will have to go into the attic, the room that terrifies her. She won't go. Philip stomps off in anger.

Jonah tells Sheila that Matthew Tierney and his sons Lawrence and Samuel all died at midnight on the same day 17 years earlier. Matthew – Philip's grandfather – killed them in the attic with an axe, then died. Samuel was Philip's father; Philip is the last of the Tierneys.

Mark convinces Sheila that Philip is trying to drive her mad. He says that he and Jonah will stand guard outside the bedroom. She's jolted awake by footsteps and screaming, and when she opens the door, she sees Jonah fall to his death over the staircase bannister. Philip reappears and intimates that Mark is responsible for Jonah's death. Philip starts their car – he himself had disabled it – and heads for the police station. He quickly returns and tells Mark to go as he's unfamiliar with the local roads. Mark leaves. Sheila locks herself in the bedroom.

Philp bursts in and taunts Sheila to shoot him. She can't. She loves him but believes he's on the road to insanity and asks to let her help him. He agrees, but only if she does whatever he says. He drags her to the attic, where she finally remembers witnessing the murders as a child. The recovered memory cures her on the spot. Philip, though, has never believed Grandpa was the murderer. But Sheila knows – it was Jonah, insanely jealous of the Tierney's wealth and wanting it all for his son, Mark.

In the attic, Mark attacks Philip with a fireman's axe, but misses him, lodging the axe in a wooden post. As they fight, Philip throws him onto the axe's pick end, impaling him on the point.

As they leave the mansion, Philip summarizes the situation for Sheila. A guilt-ridden Jonah paid for her to go to Switzerland after the murders. Mark killed Jonah before he could confess, which would have cost Mark the Tierney fortune. They walk out the door and Sheila says of the mansion, "it was truly haunted."

In Klass County, Washington, a teenaged couple, Harold and Chrissy, are returning from a date one evening. After their car suddenly stops, they see a UFO and are captured by a pair of grey aliens. However, the grey aliens are themselves soon confronted by a giant third alien from another race, at which point the panicking greys address each other in perfect English.

At a later point, Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is interviewed about the case by famed author Jose Chung (Charles Nelson Reilly), who is researching a book he is writing about alien abductions and UFO phenomena. Scully notes that Chrissy was found with all her clothes inside out, appearing to be the victim of date rape. Under questioning, Harold claims that he did not rape her, but that they were both abducted by aliens. The foul-mouthed local detective, Manners (whose profanity is humorously replaced with words such as "bleep" and "blank"), does not believe his story, but Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) has Chrissy undergo hypnosis, in which she describes being on a spaceship surrounded by aliens. Harold claims to have encountered a cigarette-smoking grey alien on the ship who kept repeating, "This is not happening." Mulder is convinced that Chrissy and Harold were abducted by aliens, but Scully thinks it is more plausible that the two teenagers simply had consensual sex and are struggling to deal with the emotional aftermath.

The agents then speak to an electric power company lineman named Roky Crikenson, who claims he witnessed the abduction of Chrissy and Harold, and then turned his eyewitness account into a screenplay. He recounts a strange visit to his home from a pair of men in black, who told him that the UFO he thought he saw the night before was merely the planet Venus, and threatened to kill him if he told anyone otherwise. Roky's screenplay describes his meeting with the third alien, Lord Kinbote, who took him to the center of the Earth and told Roky that he had a great mission for him. In telling Roky's version of events to Jose Chung, Scully explains that Roky has a "fantasy-prone personality." Mulder, however, thinks that Roky's story contains some partial truths and decides to have Chrissy re-hypnotized. This time Chrissy claims that she was captured by the U.S. military, not aliens, and they brainwashed her into believing that she was abducted.

Chung speaks to a science fiction and Dungeons & Dragons fanatic, Blaine, who frequently roams the woods of Klass County at night looking for UFOs. As Blaine tells Chung, one night he found an alien body that was subsequently recovered by Mulder, Scully and Detective Manners. Blaine thinks that Mulder and Scully are a couple of men in black. He claims that Mulder was emotionless, but shrieked when he saw the alien, and that Scully, whom Blaine believed was a man dressed like a woman, threatened him and told him not to talk to anyone about the alien body. Mulder allows Blaine to videotape Scully performing an autopsy on the alien, which is quickly released as a video "documentary" that is narrated by the Stupendous Yappi. The autopsy reveals that the alien is actually a dead Air Force pilot in a costume. His superiors arrive to claim the body, but find it missing. Mulder tricks the military officers into revealing the identity of a second missing Air Force pilot, Lieutenant Jack Schaefer.

As Mulder remembers it, that night he found Schaefer, in a dazed state, walking naked down a highway in Klass County. After getting him some clothes, Mulder takes Schaefer to a diner, where the pilot explains that he and his partner were dressed as aliens while flying a secret U.S. military vehicle designed to resemble a UFO. He thinks that he, his partner, and the two teenagers were abducted by real aliens in a real UFO, but Schaefer is also unsure if his surroundings are real or a hallucination, and he tells Mulder that he may not even exist himself, as he cannot be sure. His superiors soon come to take him away; before leaving the diner with the military officer, he tells Mulder that "I'm a dead man." The diner's cook, however, has a different version of the story. He tells Jose Chung that Mulder was in the diner by himself that night with no one else, and that he kept asking the cook strange questions about UFOs and alien abductions while ordering piece after piece of sweet potato pie.

After leaving the diner, Mulder returns to their motel and finds the men in black seen earlier (played by Jesse Ventura and Alex Trebek), in Scully's room. Scully appears to be in a trance, and has no memory of seeing the men in black. The next morning, Mulder, Scully, and Detective Manners hear about the crash of an Air Force plane and head to the crash site, where the dead bodies of the two Air Force pilots they met earlier are recovered. Mulder visits with Chung, pleading with him not to publish the book since it will further discredit UFO researchers and witnesses by making them look ridiculous. Chung dismisses Mulder and publishes the book anyway, which Scully reads in her office. In his book, Chung describes the fates of the various people he interviewed: Roky has moved to California and founded a spiritual cult based on the teachings he believes he received from Lord Kinbote, Blaine has replaced him as a power company lineman and continues to search for UFOs most nights, Mulder (whom Chung describes as "a ticking time bomb of insanity") watches video footage of Bigfoot and it's implied this is the only source of his pleasure, and Harold professes his love to Chrissy, who rejects him and tells him she no longer has interest in romance, as her UFO experience has given her a new commitment to philanthropy and helping humanity. The voice-over ends with Chung concluding that evidence of extraterrestrial life remains elusive.

FBI assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) is given divorce papers from his wife, Sharon, after seventeen years of marriage. At a bar, he meets an attractive woman named Carina Sayles (Amanda Tapping); the two engage in a one night stand. However, after the tryst, Skinner has a nightmare of an old woman in bed with him. He awakens to find Sayles dead, her head twisted completely around.

As the murder investigation unfolds, Skinner tells agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) not to get involved. He refuses to take a polygraph test and is viewed as a suspect. Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) examines Sayles' corpse, finding a phosphorescent glow around her nose and lips. Mulder finds out that Sayles was a prostitute and interviews her madam, who claims that Skinner's credit card number was collected the previous night.

Skinner sees the old woman looking at him on a city street. However, when he pursues the old woman, he instead finds Sharon. The agents talk to Sharon, who says that the marriage failed because of Skinner's emotional distance. Scully learns that Skinner had been receiving treatment for a sleep disorder, in which he apparently had dreams about being suffocated in bed by an old woman. She fears that Skinner may have unwittingly killed Sayles in his sleep. However, Mulder believes that Skinner may be having visions of a succubus, a female demon, with the mention of similar symptoms of people's bad dreams they've experienced.

Sharon visits Skinner at his home. After she leaves he falls asleep, seeing the old woman again. He awakens as detectives enter the house, telling him Sharon has been run off the road and severely injured. Skinner admits to Mulder that he saw the woman during his experience in Vietnam, but passed it off as being due to drugs. It is revealed that The Smoking Man is observing their conversation through the one-way mirror of the interrogation room.

Mulder investigates the airbag on Skinner's car, which was the one used to hit Sharon. Scully defends Skinner to the Office of Professional Responsibility, but it does no good and he is fired. Mulder believes this was done to weaken the X-Files. Mulder, with the help of Agent Pendrell finds a face imprint in the airbag which is not Skinner's. He goes to see the prostitute's boss again but discovers that she has been murdered. The agents hope to use Judy, an employee who saw the man who actually hired the prostitute and use her to set up another meeting with him, unaware that the assassin is nearby and is aware of their plan. They agree to meet at the Ambassador Hotel in an hour. Skinner goes to see his wife, telling her why he could not sign the divorce papers. An alarm on Sharon's vital sign monitor starts sounding, but as Skinner is about to run for help, the old woman once again takes the place of Sharon, beckoning him to come closer. As Skinner leans in, he sees his wife again, now awakened from the coma; she begins to tell him something right before the scene cuts.

Mulder waits in the hotel bar while Scully guards Judy in a hotel room. The assassin enters the room to attack them but is quickly killed by Skinner, who was also there. The dead man's identity is unknown. After being rehired, Skinner returns to work, declining to say to Mulder how he knew them to be at the hotel. After Mulder leaves, he reaches into his drawer and puts his wedding ring back on.Lowry, pp. 201–204

In Millikan, Georgia, biologists Paul Farraday and William Bailey discuss the decreasing frog population. Bailey goes looking for a missing beeper and ends up getting dragged into the lake by an unseen creature and killed.

Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) drive down to Georgia to investigate. Scully is forced to bring her dog Queequeg with them due to the short notice. Mulder tells Scully that a Boy Scout Troop Leader has also disappeared near the lake. Scully soon finds that Mulder believes "Big Blue"—a plesiosaur-like cryptid—is responsible. The agents talk to Dr. Farraday and visit a local bait and tackle shop that sells Big Blue merchandise. Soon afterwards, the half eaten body of the Scout Leader is found.

Later that night, the bait and tackle shop owner walks through the swamp in boots, making fake dinosaur tracks. However, he is attacked and killed. Mulder wants the lake to be closed but the local sheriff declines and says that he does not have enough men to cover the 48 miles of shoreline. Two teenagers, previously seen in the episode "War of the Coprophages", head to the lake to lick toads; while experimenting, a diver friend of theirs is suddenly attacked underwater and his severed head floats to the surface. Scully, still skeptical about Big Blue being the killer, thinks that a boat propeller was responsible. A photographer named Ansel is also attacked just as he was frantically taking pictures of the creature. After falling into the lake and feeling something in the water, the Sheriff orders the lake closed. While Mulder looks at Ansel's photographs later that night, Scully takes Queequeg for a walk; the dog, sensing something in the nearby woods, ends up running off and disappearing (yelping is heard), becoming the latest victim of the attacks and leaving Scully saddened. Mulder realizes that the Big Blue sightings have been occurring closer and closer to shore.

Mulder and Scully rent a boat and head out onto the lake; their boat is quickly struck by something and sinks. The two find a large rock to climb up on and talk for a while about Mulder's quest to catch Big Blue, and the book ''Moby-Dick''. When Dr. Farraday walks by the two realize they were close to shore all along. Mulder thinks the drop in the frog supply has caused Big Blue to move closer to shore and seek alternative food sources. Farraday is soon attacked but manages to make it out alive. Mulder chases the attacker into the woods and fires at it, revealing it to be an alligator. Mulder is disappointed that the killer ended up being an alligator and not Big Blue. As the agents leave, Big Blue swims nearby in the lake, unnoticed.Lowry, pp. 207–210

In Braddock Heights, Maryland, a man mistakenly kills his wife, believing her, as well as the police who soon arrive, to all be someone else. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is tipped off to the case by the mysterious Plain-Clothed Man, who provides him with a newspaper article discussing the case. Mulder and partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) visit the man, and his doctor, Dr. Stroman, in a psychiatric hospital and are told the man killed five people, believing them to all be the same person.

Mulder and Scully visit the murderer's house, where Mulder sees a repairman working on the cable line. They find hundreds of video tapes of a cable news channel. Scully believes all the violence the man watched on TV may have led him to the murders, something Mulder does not believe. That night Scully watches the tapes, seeing if there are any clues to why the man committed murder. She steps outside for a break and sees Mulder in a car talking to the Cigarette Smoking Man. In the morning Scully suspiciously asks Mulder if he moved the car in the night. When Mulder tells her he only went out for a paper earlier, she believes he is lying. The next day a similar murder occurs when a woman thinks she sees her husband in a hammock with another woman; in reality she has killed her neighbor who was in a hammock with his dog. Mulder sees the same cable repairman near the house, who escapes from him. Climbing up on the telephone pole Mulder finds a device inside the cable box.

Mulder brings the device to the Lone Gunmen, who tell him it is emitting some kind of signal. Mulder contacts Scully, who is growing increasingly paranoid. Hearing possible clicks while on the phone with Mulder, she frantically searches her hotel room for monitoring devices. When Mulder knocks at her door, Scully fires her weapon at it and runs off. Mulder believes her to be suffering from paranoid psychosis. The Lone Gunmen believe the device to be some sort of subliminal mind control device. Mulder was not affected due to his color blindness. The police find a body they believe to be that of Scully, but Mulder confirms that it is not her. Mulder is unable to contact Scully's mother, leading him to go to her house. He finds Scully there, who aims a gun at him. Scully claims Mulder never trusted her and blames him for her abduction and her sister's murder. Scully's mother calms her down, and she is hospitalized.

Mulder believes that the mind control device turns people's fears into paranoid delusions. Mulder tries to contact Dr. Stroman with no success. He traces Dr. Stroman's location to an empty hotel room where he finds cigarettes in the ash tray. Using the phone log for the room Mulder tracks Stroman to a house where he spots him meeting with the cable repairman. However, by the time Mulder enters, shots ring out, and Mulder finds both men dead, with X (Steven Williams) responsible for their murders. X used a third party to inform Mulder, knowing he had orders to kill the men, but Mulder was not able to piece things together in time. Mulder calls him a coward but X tells Mulder that Mulder needs him. Later, X meets in a car with The Smoking Man (William B. Davis).Lowry, pp. 213–216

At a fast food restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, a man draws a gun and shoots three people before he is shot by police snipers outside. An older man revives the gunman and his victims by touching them with the palms of his hands.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) arrive to investigate. They interview the victims and gunman, finding that the mysterious healer, Jeremiah Smith (Roy Thinnes), disappeared while being interviewed by a detective. Meanwhile, The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) meets with Mulder's mother Teena (Rebecca Toolan), and the two argue as someone photographs them from a distance. Later, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) notifies Mulder that Teena has suffered a stroke. At the hospital, Teena writes the word "PALM" on a notepad, which Mulder takes to mean her stroke is connected to Jeremiah Smith.

Mulder finds footage of Smith being interviewed, and sees that someone else appears in Smith's place when the detective looks away. Meanwhile, Smith is at his place of work at the Social Security Administration (SSA) when he is captured by the Smoking Man, and taken to a high-security prison. Mulder heads to his mother's home and encounters X (Steven Williams), who shows him his photos of Teena and the Smoking Man. Mulder searches the house and realizes that "PALM" was Teena's attempt to write "LAMP". He then finds an alien stiletto weapon inside one of the lamps—the same kind used by the Alien Bounty Hunter in previous episodes.

At FBI headquarters, Scully meets a man who appears to be Smith, who has come to turn himself in. During an interview with Scully and Skinner, he claims to have no memory of the shooting or of healing anyone. Meanwhile, the Smoking Man interrogates the real Smith, who has lost faith in the Syndicate's project. He shapeshifts into Deep Throat (Jerry Hardin) and Bill Mulder (Peter Donat) to unnerve his captor. Finally, Smith reveals that the Smoking Man is dying of lung cancer.

Mulder blames the Smoking Man for his mother's condition. When he learns about the statement given by "Smith", Mulder goes to the SSA to bring him in for questioning. "Smith" initially complies but flees into a crowd, shapeshifting into someone else. The impostor—a Bounty Hunter—arrives at Smith's cell to kill him, finding it empty. Mulder visits Teena at the hospital, but encounters the Smoking Man and threatens him with a gun. The Smoking Man says that Teena met with him about the whereabouts of his sister, Samantha. In the parking garage, Mulder is confronted by X, who demands the alien stiletto. When Mulder refuses to hand it over, the two grapple to a stalemate.

Scully finds other identical "Jeremiah Smiths" working at SSA offices across the country. She is later met by Smith, who reveals she had met an imposter. Smith promises more information, and he and Scully meet Mulder at an abandoned site. Mulder wants to take Smith to see his mother, but the Bounty Hunter arrives seconds later.Lowry, pp. 219–222.Lovece, pp. 216–217.

In rural Alberta, Canada, a telephone lineman is stung by a bee as he works at the top of a pole. Five identical boys approach and watch as the lineman adversely reacts to the sting, causing him to fall to the ground and die. The boys look down at his body, then walk off silently.

At a remote industrial site, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), and Jeremiah Smith (Roy Thinnes) are approached by the Alien Bounty Hunter (Brian Thompson). Mulder and Smith flee with both Scully and the Bounty Hunter in pursuit, eventually reaching a waterfront. Mulder sneaks up on the Bounty Hunter and stabs him in the neck with the alien stiletto. Both he and Jeremiah escape on a boat, leaving Scully alone with the seemingly dead Bounty Hunter. When she approaches the body, the Bounty Hunter wakes up and chokes her, demanding to know where Mulder and Smith are heading. He releases her after realizing she has no such knowledge.

On the boat, Mulder and Smith debate whether they should save Mulder's mother Teena, despite the risk of Men in Black awaiting them. Mulder ultimately agrees that it would be too dangerous to visit her. Instead, they head towards Canada in a stolen car, where Smith says Mulder will find his sister, Samantha. Meanwhile, the First Elder (Don S. Williams) meets with The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) in Teena's hospital room, confronting him with photos of his prior meeting with her, taken by X (Steven Williams). They realize that there is a leak, and plan to smoke out its source by releasing false information about Teena being in danger.

The Bounty Hunter learns of Mulder's whereabouts by listening in on a phone call between him and a captive Scully, leaving her to pursue him and Smith while Scully informs Mulder that the Bounty Hunter is still after them. In Washington, Scully reports to Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who informs her that the other Jeremiah Smiths have all disappeared. Scully and Agent Pendrell investigate the data that the Smiths were compiling, trying to decipher the encrypted files. Scully contacts X, who tells her that it is related to the government's long-running smallpox eradication program. X also tells her that he believes Teena's life is in danger.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Smith and Mulder's car runs out of gas. Walking the last few miles on foot, they come across the corpse of the electrician, grossly decomposed and covered in ants. Jeremiah takes Mulder to a mysterious field where they find a group of identical children; the girls all resemble Samantha at the age when she was abducted. Jeremiah tells Mulder that the cloned children are drones, workers used to tend the fields, incapable of speaking. After retrieving a gasoline can, Mulder tries to take one of the female clones with him, against Jeremiah's wishes. However, the Bounty Hunter arrives and chases them. As he corners them in a large bee hive, the Bounty Hunter is crushed and stung repeatedly in a trap set up by the trio.

Scully and Pendrell report to Skinner and the Office of Professional Responsibility on the data being tracked by the Smiths, which appears to be a cataloging of human beings. Meanwhile, the Bounty Hunter catches up to Mulder, Smith, and the clone, plowing into their car with a van. After knocking Mulder unconscious, the Bounty Hunter pursues a fleeing Jeremiah. Mulder returns to the hospital to see his mother, resigned to the fact that he cannot save her. The Syndicate leads X to a trap at Mulder's apartment, where he is shot by the Grey-Haired Man. X crawls into the apartment and writes the letters "SRSG" in his blood before dying. The letters lead Mulder to Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), the assistant to the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations. Covarrubias tells Mulder that the fields in Canada have been abandoned, but shows him a picture of the drone children tending to the shrubs. At the hospital, the Smoking Man directs the Bounty Hunter to heal Mulder's mother, telling him that the fiercest enemy is the one with nothing to lose.Meisler, pp. 19–25

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was based on a Story by C.S.Lewis. The Four Pevensie children discovered Narnia and they defeat the notorious White Witch and restored peace into Narnia. The King Aslan made the Four Children the Kings and Queens of Narnia

Lonely 10-year-old Lucas Nickle is left with his older sister, Tiffany, and his grandmother, when his parents go to Puerto Vallarta. Neglected by his family and tormented by a local bully named Steve and his friends, Lucas takes out his frustration on an anthill and attacks it with a squirt gun, terrifying the colony. One ant, Zoc, an eccentric sorcerer, tries to fight back. His girlfriend Hova, a nurse ant who is fascinated by humans, attempts to communicate with Lucas. He drops his gun on the grass, and kicks the anthill with one of his sneakers, sending the colony flying into the grass. Hova tries to communicate to him, but she is almost crushed before being saved by Zoc. The leaders of the colony decide to use a potion Zoc has recently created to shrink Lucas down to ant size.

The local exterminator, Stan Beals, convinces Lucas to sign a contract to kill vermin. Later that night, Zoc and a small troop of ants pour the potion into his ear; Lucas wakes up and discovers that he is shrunk, and naked and is carried to the anthill for the court. Zoc insists that he should be studied then eaten, but he is overruled by the Queen, who sentences him to hard labor. Hova volunteers to train Lucas alongside her friends Kreela and Fugax, much to Zoc's mortification, and they both learn about the differences between ants and humans. The ants are later attacked by tarantula hawks. Lucas finds a firecracker discarded by Steve and uses it to scare the wasps away. This earns him the admiration of all the ants except Zoc.

Lucas is shown a painting that depicts the Great Ant Mother and the exterminator, and is told that the Great Ant Mother will return and shower the ants with honeydew, while the Cloud-Breather will spell destruction for all of them. Lucas, Hova, Fugax, and Kreela return to his house, where Lucas tries to cancel Beals' contract, but accidentally calls a pizzeria instead. Tiffany then enters the kitchen, and attacks Lucas and company where it flees.

When Zoc finds out that Lucas put Hova in possible danger, he accuses him of further treachery, and tells him that he refuses to give him the antidote, causing him to run away in fright. Hearing what happened, Hova gets angry with Zoc, and goes out to look for Lucas. Once she finds him, he is swallowed by a frog. Zoc witnesses the event and realizes how much Hova cares about Lucas, so he frees him to make up for his selfishness. Afterwards, they discuss their differences. Zoc explains that ants work for the benefit of the colony, whilst Lucas states that most humans work for personal gain. Zoc is unsure as to how anything gets accomplished in Lucas' world, but then sympathizes with him when they both admit that they both used to act without thinking.

The next day, when Beals arrives to exterminate the colony, Lucas and Zoc enlist the wasps' aid; at first, the wasps want to eat them, but upon hearing that their hill is being destroyed by Beals, they agree to help. During the battle with Beals, Lucas saves the lives of Hova and an injured wasp. Both the ants and wasps are no match against pesticide, but as Beals is about to exterminate the anthill, a beetle and glowworm that Zoc and Lucas met while trapped inside of the frog's stomach bite him in the groin. As he painfully doubles up, Lucas injects him with the shrinking potion, severely disfiguring Beals, and he retreats on a tricycle while being attacked by the wasps.

The Queen pronounces Lucas an ant in honor of his heroic actions, names him "Rokai", and Zoc gives him the antidote. He returns to normal size, reunites and reconciles with his mother, and finally stands up to Steve, whose friends choose to befriend Lucas after Steve insults them. Lucas then showers the colony with jelly beans as a parting gift.

In the style of a traditional musical, this episode follows a two-act structure —with the acts separated by a commercial break instead of an intermission. However, in the style of a traditional ''Scrubs'' episode, this is preceded by a cold open.

Cold open

Turk and Carla are deciding whether Carla should take parental leave from the hospital. Turk says he doesn't mind either way, but as Carla decides she'll take a year off, he starts celebrating.

Then, the scene changes to J.D. and Elliot in the park, when a woman, Patti Miller (D'Abruzzo), abruptly falls unconscious. As she returns to consciousness, she sees Elliot, J.D., and a worried group of onlookers singing to her ("All Right"). When she tries to respond, she sings too. In reality, no one is actually singing; Ms. Miller is hallucinating. She drifts out of consciousness, and wakes up being wheeled out of an ambulance in the parking lot of Sacred Heart Hospital, with all the hospital employees singing to her, "Welcome to Sacred Heart," led by Dr. Kelso.

Act one

Dr. Cox tells J.D. he believes Ms. Miller is suffering from a psychological problem (as opposed to a neurological one), and tells him to run some tests and "turf her to Psych." Turk and J.D. approach Ms. Miller for a stool sample, explaining that "Everything Comes Down to Poo."

Carla has brought Isabella to the hospital, and everyone is cooing over the new baby, when Elliot comes in and announces happily that she just bought a new house. Turk exits with Isabella, and Elliot expresses concern that J.D. thinks he's moving into the house with her. Carla has decided to take one year parental leave, and Laverne, Ted, and The Worthless Peons wonder how they can go on at the hospital without Carla's help ("Gonna Miss You, Carla"). Carla begins to realize that she does not want to separate herself from her work for so long.

Ms. Miller stops Dr. Cox in the hall to insist that she is not crazy, when they are interrupted by J.D. Cox breaks into a rapid-fire delivery ("The Rant Song") of the litany of annoying things J.D. does, with some help from Janitor. Dr. Cox tells Ms. Miller that if she can get J.D. to leave him alone, she'll get the tests she wants. Ms. Miller yells at J.D., and an impressed Dr. Cox agrees to schedule a CT scan.

Elliot and Carla worry about the difficult conversations they have to have with J.D. and Turk, respectively ("Options"). In the Act One finale ("When the Truth Comes Out"), all the plotlines come together. Dr. Kelso offers Carla her job back, but she worries how to tell Turk. Elliot worries how to tell J.D. he's not moving in. And Ms. Miller goes in for her CT scan, which turns up a gigantic aneurysm in her temporal lobe. Dr. Cox breaks the news to Ms. Miller, pulling a curtain for privacy that also signals the end of the act.

Act two

Carla and Elliot decide to confront Turk and J.D. Carla thinks that Turk and J.D. will help each other through the respective problems, but Elliot believes that men cannot be open about their feelings. Quite the contrary, Turk and J.D. sing about their "Guy Love." Elliot breaks the news to J.D., who walks out of the room, refusing to talk to her. Carla tells Turk she wants to return to work. Turk responds by saying, "I always thought family was the most important thing to Puerto Ricans." She becomes angry, singing that "For the Last Time, I'm Dominican". Turk tries to explain himself, and finally, agrees to support her decision. Elliot catches up with J.D., feeling awful, and offers to let him move in. He declines, and tells her they'll be "Friends Forever."

Ms. Miller interrupts them, afraid about her upcoming surgery, and asks, "What's Going to Happen?" The staff, led by Dr. Cox reassure her that she will be fine; she finally gets calm and the staff stays by her side when she's taken to surgery; the staff repeats she will be fine, which J.D. qualifies with "we hope," as she goes under anesthesia.

When she awakes, she asks Dr. Cox if the surgery works, but Cox replies "you're gonna have to tell us", and they take a step back; Ms. Miller realized that the surgery was a success, she no longer hears singing, and thanks Dr. Cox and the others. J.D. breaks the moment asking her who was the best singer in her head, much to the rest of the staff's (and especially Dr. Cox's) dismay. J.D. reflects in voiceover that in musicals everyone get what they want, but in reality, after having made a choice we may miss the way things were; as Elliot realizes she misses her roommate, Carla realizes she wishes she spent more time with her daughter, and Ms. Miller realizes she misses the music in her head.

In the small town of Home, Pennsylvania, a woman gives birth to a deformed baby. Three similarly-deformed men bury it near their dilapidated house during a rainstorm. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are sent to investigate after the corpse is found by children during a sandlot-ball game. While talking to Home's sheriff Andy Taylor (Tucker Smallwood), Mulder asks whether the Peacock brothers—the inhabitants of the house nearest to the crime scene—have been questioned about the baby. Taylor informs him that the house dates to the American Civil War and is without electricity, running water, or heat. He also insinuates that the family has been inbreeding since the war. The three Peacock brothers watch the agents from their front porch.

During an autopsy, the agents discover that the baby suffocated by inhaling dirt—meaning that it was buried alive. Scully suggests that the baby's defects could have been caused by inbreeding. Mulder insists that this would be impossible since the Peacocks seem to live in an all-male household. Suspecting that the Peacocks have kidnapped and raped a woman, Mulder and Scully investigate their now-abandoned residence and discover blood, scissors, and a shovel on a table. In retaliation, the Peacocks enter Sheriff Taylor's house during the night and murder him and his wife, Barbara (Judith Maxie).

Laboratory tests indicate that the baby's parents were members of the Peacock family. Believing that the three Peacock brothers must be holding the dead baby's mother hostage, the agents and Deputy Barney Paster (Sebastian Spence) go to arrest them. When Paster breaks down the front door of the house, he is decapitated by a booby-trap, before the brothers rip the body apart. Mulder and Scully then release the Peacocks' pigs to lure them out of the house before searching it. The agents find a quadruple amputee hidden under a bed. She is revealed to be Mrs. Peacock, the mother of the boys, who has been breeding with them for years. The brothers realize that Mulder and Scully are inside their house and attack. The two youngest sons withstand several gunshots before dying, one of them impaled on another booby-trap. Afterwards, the agents discover that Mrs. Peacock and her eldest son have escaped in their car, planning to start a new family elsewhere.Meisler (1998), pp. 39–46

The Goodies' office is being renovated, but the builders are taking a very long time to finish their work. This is hardly surprising when it is discovered that the builders have not done any work at all for months. The builders have been spending the last six months drinking tea and playing cards. The office is extremely noisy because a recording of construction work is being played to make it appear that the men are working.

The Goodies are upset at the lack of work being done. The workmen retaliate by walking off the job, vowing never to return. However, they leave a memento of their visit behind by smashing up the office and destroying it utterly.

With their office in ruins, the Goodies try to buy a building to be their new office, but buildings are extremely expensive. Then they try to buy a block of land on which a new office can be built. However, vacant land is very scarce — and what is left to buy is also very expensive and very small in size.

The Goodies eventually decide a disused railway station office would be best — and set about building one. One of the pluses is the fact that the new office is a mobile one and can be towed anywhere by the Goodies' trandem — something which is helpful when their peaceful surrounds are suddenly filled with people, houses and railway lines. People also mistakenly think that the Goodies' disused railway station office is a real railway station office, and try to buy train tickets from them.

Towing their office behind them, the Goodies park on some peaceful land, and begin to settle down. However, Tim, Graeme and Bill discover some unexpected terrifying aspects of some heavy construction machinery parked near their office, and the Goodies become embroiled in battle with the heavy machines until they find a solution to the problem.

On an international airline flight, an African man enters the bathroom, where he is attacked by a man exhibiting albino traits. The attacker leaves the bathroom with his normal black skin tone. Before the plane lands in the United States, a flight attendant discovers the victim in the bathroom, devoid of his skin pigmentation.

Three months later, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) calls in Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and informs her that four African American men have been kidnapped in Philadelphia. One of them has been found dead exhibiting depigmentation. A specialist from the CDC believes that the men have died from a disease, and has requested Scully to investigate the case. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) joins Scully and has some of the evidence samples from Sanders' autopsy analyzed by Agent Pendrell, who finds a seed from a rare West African passionflower. Mulder takes the seed to his UN informant Marita Covarrubias and asks for her help; she provides him with information on the incident on the plane.

Meanwhile, Samuel Aboah (Willie Amakye), an African immigrant who is seeking citizenship, attacks a young black man while he is waiting for a bus, kidnapping him. Investigating the disappearance, Mulder predicts that another seed will be found. They have Marcus Duff (Carl Lumbly), a social worker who is helping Aboah apply for citizenship, cross-reference the names from the flight with those applying for permanent residency or a work visa. This leads them to Aboah, who runs when they try to question him and is discovered after squeezing himself into a drainage pipe. Aboah appears to have no symptoms of disease when he is analyzed at a local medical center, but Scully plans to examine him more.

Mulder sees Diabra, a diplomat from Burkina Faso. Diabra tells him an old folk tale of the Bambara people about the Teliko, which were nocturnal "spirits of the air". Meanwhile, Scully examines a PET scan of Aboah, which shows that he has no pituitary gland. Aboah escapes the hospital and meets Duff in a car; he paralyses Duff in the same manner as his other victims and inserts a long metal object up his nose. A policeman finds Duff and requests an ambulance, and the police tell Mulder and Scully that they are sweeping the area for Aboah. Driving around, Mulder tells Scully that he thinks Aboah is the mythical Teliko. He stops at a demolition site, remembering that Pendrell found asbestos fibers on Sanders' body. Mulder and Scully split up at the site; Mulder is paralyzed and taken into a duct by Aboah. Scully, having heard Mulder's shouts for help, tracks him in the duct and is able to get him out, finding the depigmented bodies of the other victims. Aboah gets the drop on Scully, but Mulder's look alerts her and she quickly turns around and shoots him. In her field journal, Scully writes that Aboah is struggling to survive while awaiting trial. She muses that Aboah's condition and survival may be discovered by science, but humans have a fear of an alien among them which causes them to "deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate".Meisler, pp. 48–56.

In Traverse City, Michigan, Mary Lefante goes to a local pharmacy to get her passport photo taken. Realizing she has forgotten her wallet, she returns to her car and finds that her boyfriend has been murdered. The killer, clad in a hooded raincoat, renders Lefante unconscious with a hypodermic needle, then kidnaps her. Meanwhile, in the pharmacy, the elderly clerk peels open the Polaroid photo, which shows her screaming amidst a distorted background.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are assigned to the case. Discussing the photograph, Mulder tells Scully about Ted Serios, a psychic photographer who was famous for making photos which showed what was in his mind. He takes pictures of his gloved hand using a Polaroid camera found in Lefante's apartment, and they all appear the same as the one from the pharmacy. Mulder deduces that the kidnapper has been stalking his victims and is capable of psychic photography.

Lefante is found wandering on a roadside, but appears to have been given an improperly-performed lobotomy. Another woman, Alice Brandt, is later kidnapped. She wakes up bound to a dentist's chair, with her kidnapper brandishing an ice pick and speaking in German. Mulder returns to Washington, D.C., to digitally analyze the photos and finds no evidence that they were doctored. By closely examining the photos, he finds the face of an old man as well as the shadow of the kidnapper, who appears to be extremely tall or have abnormally long legs.

Scully, finding a construction company referenced at both crime scenes, investigates the possible lead, meeting Gerry Schnauz (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a sheetrock installer, who worked near both scenes of the kidnapping. She fields a call from Mulder and, after hearing what he found in the photos, realizes Schnauz, who is wearing stilts that make him very tall, is the suspect. Schnauz attempts to flee while wearing the stilts, but Scully pursues and arrests him. The agents interrogate Schnauz, who was once institutionalized for beating his father with an axe handle in retaliation for the abuse his sister suffered at their father's hands. When questioned on the location of Brandt, Schnauz claims she is safe from the "howlers," supposedly malicious spirits inhabiting the frontal lobe of people and force them to lie or otherwise deny their existence. Brandt is soon found in the woods, lobotomized. Mulder believes that Schnauz thinks he is rescuing his victims from howlers and that the photos show his nightmares.

Schnauz escapes police custody by killing an officer and then robs the pharmacy from the opening, taking the passport photo camera, film, and an assortment of drug-related materials. While investigating the robbery, Scully is rendered unconscious and kidnapped by Schnauz. Mulder heads to the office where Schnauz's father used to work as a dentist, and finds the exam chair missing. Scully awakens bound to the chair with Schnauz claiming he's going to kill the howlers in her head. Schnauz takes a photo of himself, the results of which greatly disturb him, then prepares to lobotomize Scully. Mulder, having found a clue in a photo of Scully from the drugstore's photo booth, finds a construction site near Schnauz's father's grave and realizes the RV parked there belongs to the younger Schnauz. He manages to break in and shoot Schnauz before he can attack Scully. Mulder looks at the photo Schnauz took of himself, in which he is lying dead on the floor. A diary is then discovered among Schnauz's things, and it includes a list of the women he intended to save: Mary Lefante, Alice Brandt, and Agent Scully.

In Apison, Tennessee, authorities receive a tip from someone named Sidney alleging child abuse and weapons possession by a local cult called the Temple of the Seven Stars. The FBI and BATF stage a raid on the Temple's compound, but are unable to find its leader, Vernon Ephesian (Michael Massee). Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) experiences ''déjà vu'' and walks into a field on the compound, where he finds a trapdoor. Inside, Mulder and Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) find Ephesian preparing to drink a red liquid with his six wives. Mulder stops them and handcuffs Ephesian, but he feels a strange connection to one of the wives, Melissa Riedal-Ephesian (Kristen Cloke).

Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) warns the FBI and BATF that Ephesian and his wives will be released in a day unless they can track down Sidney and the Temple's reported weapons cache. The agents question Ephesian, who states that there is no member of the temple named Sidney. When they interview Melissa, she suddenly begins to talk like Sidney, claiming that Harry Truman is president. Scully believes Melissa is exhibiting multiple personality disorder, but Mulder thinks she is recalling a past life. The agents take her back to the temple, where she takes on the personality of a woman from the Civil War period and says that the weapons were hidden in another secret bunker in the field. She also states that Mulder, in a past life, was a Confederate soldier in the field with her, her beloved, and she watched him die.

Mulder has Melissa undergo regression hypnosis for her to recount her past lives. She implies that she and Mulder have met over their past lives, always to be separated or lost to each other. To confirm her events, Mulder has himself hypnotized and recalls a time when he was a Jewish woman with a son, who had the same soul as his sister Samantha; his deceased father, who was Scully, is dead. Melissa was his husband in this life, and had been taken to a Nazi concentration camp by a Gestapo officer who was The Smoking Man. Mulder also recalls his past life from the Civil War, when he was a man named Sullivan Biddle, while Melissa was Sarah Kavanaugh; Scully, Mulder claims, was his sergeant. Scully finds pictures of Biddle and Kavanaugh in the county's hall of records and gives them to Mulder. He wears a Confederate uniform in the photo.

The FBI and BATF plan to make another search of the compound. Ephesian, realizing that he will not survive another siege, passes out poison to the cult members while his men open fire on the FBI agents and all but he and Melissa die, Melissa having feigned drinking it. Mulder surrenders in order to get into the temple. Ephesian then forces Melissa to drink the poison, and when Mulder arrives he finds both of them dead. Mulder caresses Melissa, looking out into the field.Meisler, pp. 58–63

During a routine liposuction operation in Winnetka, Illinois, Dr. Harrison Lloyd (John Juliani) suddenly begins to remove so much fat from a patient that the patient dies. Following the unusual experience, Lloyd tells Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) that he killed the patient because he was possessed. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is skeptical about Lloyd's claims, believing he's only making it up to escape legal consequences. Mulder inspects the operation room and discovers a pentagram burned into the floor; he begins to suspect that witchcraft might have played a part in the crime. Meanwhile, the staff at Lloyd's clinic are shocked when another plastic surgeon, Dr. Ilaqua (Paul Raskin), murders an elderly patient by burning a hole through her cheek and neck with a surgical laser, severing her brain stem. Scully interviews Ilaqua, who claims that he cannot remember anything of the incident. Mulder's suspicions are strengthened when he reviews the tape of the second murder, and he sees a pentagram-like pattern on the stomach of the victim.

Worried by the events, the hospital coordinator, Dr. Theresa Shannon, tells Mulder and Scully about a similar series of deaths that occurred at the same hospital ten years prior. They suspect Rebecca Waite (O-Lan Jones), a nurse who is the only person present at all the death scenes. The agents visit Waite's house, discovering evidence that she practices witchcraft; however, the audience learns that the evidence was planted there by a staff member of the hospital. Elsewhere, Dr. Jack Franklin (Richard Beymer) is non-fatally assaulted by Waite at his house. There, Waite is arrested and approached by the agents, who attempt to question Waite but are prevented when she starts to vomit pins, dying shortly thereafter. After the incident, Mulder visits Dr. Jack Franklin, hoping to learn more about Waite's possible motivation. Although Franklin is seemingly innocent, when Mulder leaves the room, he begins to levitate and devilishly smile. Later that night, Mulder deduces that the birthdays of all the victims match up with the dates of the Witches' Sabbath and that Waite was actually trying to protect the victims from Dr. Jack Franklin (she had placed the pentagrams actually protective symbols on and around the victims in the hopes of protecting them from dark magic). This also explains why Waite tried to kill Franklin. Unfortunately, Mulder also realizes that because Waite was not the murderer, the spree of murders will continue. And as he suspected, another patient is murdered with acid back at the hospital.

Soon after, the agents again meet with Dr. Theresa Shannon, and she further discusses the spree of murders that occurred ten years ago. According to Shannon, five people were killed at the clinic: four patients and a cosmetic doctor named Clifford Cox, who ostensibly died of a drug overdose. Although his birthday does not align with a Sabbath date, Mulder instinctively believes that Cox is involved in the crimes. Mulder then uses the hospital's computer program to determine what Cox would look like had he undergone heavy plastic surgery. The computer produces an image that looks like Franklin, suggesting that he is actually Dr. Clifford Cox in disguise. When Dr. Shannon discovers Franklin alone in a blood-spattered operating room, he uses witchcraft to magically teleport surgical tools into her intestines, which causes her to bleed internally. Dr. Shannon is rushed into surgery and survives. Meanwhile, Franklin removes the skin of his face, performing a ritual to make him appear younger and escapes. It is implied that he murders in a quest to gain eternal youth. The episode ends with a now-younger Franklin successfully applying for a position at another medical hospital.

The Smoking Man, armed with a sniper rifle and surveillance equipment, spies on a meeting between Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, and the Lone Gunmen. Frohike claims to have discovered information about the Smoking Man's mysterious past, stating that his father was an executed communist spy and that his mother died of lung cancer, causing him to be raised in various Midwest orphanages.

The narrative changes to 1962. The Smoking Man is an Army captain stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He talks to a friend and fellow soldier, Bill Mulder, who shows him a photo of his infant son, Fox. The Smoking Man is summoned to attend a meeting with a general and several strange men in suits. The general calls the Smoking Man's father an "extraordinary man" in spite of the threat he posed to national security, and indicates that he expects the Smoking Man to inherit his father's courage to act decisively and take drastic measures in defense of his principles. Ostensibly for this reason, they selected him to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. In November 1963, posing as a "Mr. Hunt," the Smoking Man shoots Kennedy and frames Lee Harvey Oswald. Afterwards, he smokes his first cigarette from a pack previously given to him by Oswald.

Five years later, the Smoking Man writes an adventure novel using the pen name "Raul Bloodworth". After hearing Martin Luther King Jr. give a speech arguing that "communism is a judgement against our failure to make democracy real," the Smoking Man meets with a group of men, including J. Edgar Hoover. These men propose various plots similar to a previous failed plot to undermine King's marriage and manipulate him into committing suicide, but the Smoking Man believes a more "intense" solution is required. Unlike most of the men present, the Smoking Man admires King, but believes that his opposition to the Vietnam War might convince African Americans to object to fighting, causing the United States to lose. He convinces the group to have King assassinated and volunteers to personally carry out the assassination. Shortly thereafter, a publishing company rejects his novel draft.

In 1991, the Smoking Man meets with subordinates, discussing his orchestration of the Anita Hill controversy and the Rodney King trial, as well as the Buffalo Bills' loss at the Super Bowl. He further reveals his drugging of a Soviet goaltender to ensure the outcome of the "Miracle on Ice" hockey match. One of the Smoking Man's subordinates invites him for a family dinner. The Smoking Man politely declines and states that he is scheduled to visit family. On his way out of the meeting, he distributes his Christmas presents to each of the subordinates. All receive the same gift: a striped tie. He is next seen walking past Mulder's office.

Later, while at home, the Smoking Man receives an urgent phone call from Deep Throat, who meets him near the site of a UFO wreck. An alien from the UFO survived the wreck but is critically injured and apparently on life support. Deep Throat and the Smoking Man reminisce about the multiple times they changed the course of history "from the shadows," without any public recognition. Deep Throat persuades the Smoking Man that the alien must be killed, pursuant to a UNSC resolution stipulating that any signatory nation that comes into possession of an E.B.E. shall kill it. The two men flip a coin to decide who will fulfill this obligation. Deep Throat loses the coin toss, and reluctantly shoots the alien.

A few months later, in March 1992, the Smoking Man attends the meeting where Scully is assigned to the X-Files and eavesdrops on her first meeting with Mulder. In 1996, he receives a letter telling him that his novel will be serialized in a magazine. The Smoking Man types up a resignation letter, quits smoking, and excitedly seeks out a copy of the magazine issue at a newsstand. However, he finds that the ending has been changed. Bitter, the Smoking Man sits on a bench with a homeless man and delivers a pessimistic and likely satirical monologue comparing life to a box of chocolates. He tears up his resignation letter, resumes his smoking habit, and leaves the magazine at the bench.

Returning to the present year, Frohike tells Mulder and Scully that the account he told them is based on a purportedly fictional story he read in a magazine to which he subscribes. Frohike decides to investigate and verify the story and as he leaves, the Smoking Man aims his rifle at him. Although he has a clear shot, he decides not to kill Frohike, quoting aloud to himself the last line from his unpublished novel: "I can kill you whenever I please, but not today".Meisler, pp. 75–82

The episode opens ''in medias res'' to Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as she is brought before a Senate select committee to be questioned about the whereabouts of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Scully refuses to answer the committee's questions and attempts to read a statement denouncing the conspiracy within the government. Senator Sorenson threatens to hold Scully in contempt of Congress.

Ten days earlier, at Honolulu Airport, a courier returning from the Republic of Georgia (David Bloom) is searched by customs officers. One of the officers (Andy Thompson) removes a glass canister from the courier's briefcase and accidentally shatters it, exposing both men to the black oil. Meanwhile, in New York City, Mulder and Scully take part in an FBI raid against a domestic terrorist group. Mulder's tipster within the group is revealed to be Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), whom the terrorists released from the missile silo where he had been trapped. Krycek has turned against The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), and tells the distrustful agents that he can help expose him.

Krycek leads the agents to Dulles International Airport, where they try to apprehend a second courier carrying a diplomatic pouch from Russia. The courier leads the agents on a pursuit through the airport, but drops the pouch before escaping. The pouch is revealed to carry a seemingly unremarkable rock. Mulder has Krycek confined at the high rise apartment of Assistant Director Walter Skinner before having the rock analyzed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Sacks, a NASA scientist, tells Mulder and Scully that the rock is a prehistoric meteorite fragment that might contain fossilized alien bacteria.

Skinner is approached by the Smoking Man, who demands that the pouch be returned. The courier breaks into Skinner's apartment and searches for the pouch, only to be thrown off Skinner's patio by Krycek. Meanwhile, Dr. Sacks cuts into the fragment, but inadvertently releases the black oil inside; the organism penetrates the scientist's hazmat suit and puts him in a coma-like state. Mulder travels to New York to visit Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), who reveals that the fragment originated from the Russian province of Krasnoyarsk and provides the documents needed to travel there. Mulder reluctantly brings along Krycek, who is fluent in Russian.

In Charlottesville, Virginia, the Smoking Man is admonished by the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) when the latter learns about Mulder's travels. Skinner and the agents are subpoenaed to appear before Senator Sorenson's panel over the missing pouch; when Skinner questions Scully about Mulder's whereabouts, she is not forthcoming. Meanwhile, as Mulder and Krycek hike through the forests of Krasnoyarsk, the former theorizes that the fragment may be tied to the Tunguska event, a mysterious cosmic impact that occurred in the area in 1908. The two men come across a slave labor camp, but are captured by the taskmasters and thrown into a gulag.

Skinner and Scully meet with Senator Sorenson, who questions them on the death of the courier and the location of Agent Mulder. Mulder talks with a fellow prisoner who tells him that innocent people have been captured and brought here to be subjected to experiments. Immediately afterwards guards burst into the room and inject Mulder with a syringe. When Mulder awakens he is in a large room bound with chicken wire along with many other prisoners. Black material is dumped onto his face, infecting him with the black oil.Meisler, pp. 95–101

While imprisoned in a gulag in Krasnoyarsk, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) learns that Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) is a double agent working for the Russian taskmasters and that all prisoners have been subjected to a black oil vaccine. In his dungeon, Mulder is given a sharp object by another prisoner, who had made it to commit suicide. When all the prisoners are taken out and are arranged in a line, Mulder sees Krycek talking to one of the captors and runs toward them, tackling them. Mulder then steals a truck and flees with an unconscious Krycek in the back of it; a pursuit by his captors ensues. As Mulder drives the truck, Krycek awakes and jumps off the truck. Mulder, having been unable to stop the truck due to its faulty brakes, runs the truck off the road and it crashes. Mulder quickly makes his way out of the truck and hides under the dry leaves, while Krycek is found by a group of men whose left arms have all been amputated and has his arm forcibly severed to prevent his involvements in black oil vaccination tests.

Meanwhile, Vasily Peskow (Jan Rubeš), a former KGB agent, has come out of retirement and traveled to America where he assassinates Bonita Charne-Sayre, a doctor who is developing a black oil vaccine for the Syndicate. He then tracks down Charne-Sayre's test subjects and tests the Russian vaccine on them before killing them to cover his tracks.

Mulder is found by a group of Russian peasants (one of whom owns the truck that Mulder stole), who help him return to America, and rejoins his partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Scully and assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) had been detained by a United States Senate committee seeking to uncover Mulder's whereabouts when they cannot reveal his current location, but the committee was adjourned upon Mulder's arrival. The agents attempt to track down Peskow, following a trail of murders in Boca Raton, Florida, as well as locating a stolen truck. However, the assassin is able to outwit the agents, and destroys the last of the oil-containing rocks seen in the previous episode in an oil-well explosion after Mulder fails to remove the bomb. He returns to Russia, where it is revealed that he had been hired for this task by Krycek.

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) dreams of a red light that leads him to the corpse of a young girl buried in a park in Manassas, Virginia. When he awakens, he heads to the park and finds the girl's skeleton. The girl was determined to have been murdered by John Lee Roche (Tom Noonan), a serial killer who murdered thirteen girls throughout the 1980s; his ''modus operandi'' included cutting a heart out of the clothes of each victim. Mulder had captured Roche by deducing that he committed the murders while traveling as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Roche's hearts were never found, although he confessed to all of the murders.

Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson) autopsy of the skeleton finds that the victim died in 1975, suggesting that Roche's killing spree started much earlier than the FBI had previously thought. The agents search Roche's old car, where they discover sixteen cut-out hearts. Mulder and Scully subsequently visit Roche in prison, hoping to learn the identities of the remaining two victims. Roche, however, tries to play mind games with Mulder. That night Mulder dreams of the night of Samantha's abduction, seemingly showing that his sister was abducted by Roche rather than aliens.

The next day, Mulder asks Roche where he was the night Samantha was abducted. Roche claims he was on Martha's Vineyard and had sold a vacuum cleaner to Mulder's father. Mulder later finds the vacuum in his mother's house. After convincing Walter Skinner to grant them further access to Roche, the agents question the killer and are told the location of one of his remaining victims. He also claims exactly what happened the night of Samantha's abduction. An autopsy of the body reveals it does not belong to Samantha. Roche tells Mulder the final body is Samantha's, but says that he will only reveal where it is if Mulder takes him to the scene of her abduction. Mulder secretly releases Roche from prison and brings him to Martha's Vineyard.

Upon arriving at his family's old summer house, Roche explains exactly what happened the night of Samantha's abduction. However, Mulder tells him that the house was bought by his father ''after'' Samantha's abduction, convincing him that Roche is not telling the truth. Mulder plans to bring Roche back to prison, but—following another dream about Samantha—awakens to find Roche gone, with his badge, gun, and phone stolen.

Using Mulder's credentials, Roche kidnaps a girl in Swampscott, Massachusetts, whom he met on his flight with Mulder to Boston. Scully and Skinner arrive the next day and the agents head to the site of Roche's old apartment in Revere. They find him with the girl in an abandoned bus nearby. Roche holds a gun on the girl and tells Mulder that he'll never know for sure whether the last victim is Samantha or not if he kills him. As Roche starts to pull the trigger, Mulder shoots him. In his office Mulder stares at the final cloth heart and puts it away, unsure of whether it belonged to Samantha or not.Meisler, pp.84–91

Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the death of Maria Dorantes, an illegal immigrant from Mexico living in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno, California who was found dead, with her face partially eaten away, after yellow rain fell from the sky. Maria was the object of the love of two brothers, Eladio (Raymond Cruz) and Soledad Buente; Soledad blames his brother for her death. The migrants believe that the so-called "Chupacabra" was responsible for her death, despite the fact that none of the circumstances of the death resemble anything close to reports of the Chupacabra. Mulder, assisted on the case by Mexican-American INS agent Conrad Lozano, is able to track down and interrogate Eladio, who frightens the other migrants. Meanwhile, Scully discovers that Maria was killed by a fungal growth known as ''Aspergillus''.

Eladio escapes as he is being deported, killing a truck driver in the process. A clinical exam on the driver shows his death was caused by a rapid growth of ''Trichophyton'' — the Athlete's foot fungus. Scully brings samples of the fatal fungi to a mycologist who discovers that their abnormally rapid growth was caused by an unidentifiable enzyme. This revelation leads Scully to suspect Eladio of being an unwitting carrier of the enzyme, necessitating his immediate capture. Eladio, seeking to return to Mexico, meets with his cousin Gabrielle to ask for money. He works with a construction foreman for the day to make the money. Soledad comes after him, seeking to kill him, but finds the foreman dead. Eladio escapes in the foreman's truck and heads to the grocery store where Gabrielle works, spreading the fungal growth. The agents later confront Soledad at the supermarket, discovering another dead victim of the fungus.

Eladio returns to see Gabrielle, but by now has grown deformed from the fungus. Gabrielle, afraid of him, gives him her money and lies to the agents about his location when they come to see her. In actuality, Eladio has returned to the camp where Maria died, where Lozano tries to spur Soledad on in killing his brother. Soledad finds he can't do it, and Lozano struggles with him, being accidentally killed when the gun goes off. Soledad becomes a carrier of the fungal growth himself and flees with Eladio towards Mexico.Meisler, pp. 115–22.

In Pittsburgh, Leonard Betts (Paul McCrane), an EMT paramedic, is decapitated when his ambulance collides with a truck. Later, at the morgue, his headless body leaves its cold chamber, knocks out the attendant, steals his clothes, and escapes. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) visit the morgue, where they find Betts's head in a medical waste dumpster. Scully attempts a cranial examination, but the head's eyes and mouth both suddenly open when she begins the procedure. Meanwhile, Mulder goes to Betts's apartment, where he finds the attendant's discarded clothes. When Mulder leaves, Betts—who has regrown his head—rises out of his iodine-filled bathtub.

Mulder interviews Michelle Wilkes (Jennifer Clement), Betts's former partner, who recollects his ability to detect cancer. When an interior slice of Betts's polymerized head is examined, the agents discover that his frontal lobe displayed signs of pervasive cancer. Mulder has Chuck Burks (Bill Dow) subject the slice to a Kirlian photography test; the final image shows corona discharge that takes the appearance of human shoulders.

Using fingerprint records, Scully learns that Betts shared finger prints with a man called Albert Tanner. The agents visit his elderly mother, Elaine (Marjorie Lovett), who informs them that Albert died in a car accident six years previously. Meanwhile, Wilkes tracks down Betts at another hospital and confronts him. After an apology, he gives her a lethal injection of potassium chloride; Betts is then pursued and captured by a security guard. After he is handcuffed to his car, Betts escapes by tearing off his thumb. The agents search the car the next morning, finding disposed tumors in a cooler in the trunk. Mulder believes that Betts subsists on the tumors, and that his nature makes him the embodiment of a radical leap in evolution.

Upon learning that the car is registered to Elaine, the agents have the police search her home. Elaine recounts how her son endured bullying as a child "because he was different", and says that "he had his reasons" if he killed anybody. Meanwhile, Betts accosts a bar patron and kills him to obtain his cancerous lung. Later, in a storage unit, he seems to shed his body and create a duplicate. When the agents come across the storage unit, the duplicate Betts attempts to flee in a car, which explodes when fired upon and seemingly kills him. Scully suggests that Betts's first death as Albert Tanner was staged, but when they exhume Tanner's casket, they find his body still inside. Mulder becomes convinced that Betts can not only regenerate his body parts, but his entire body itself. Because of this, he believes that Betts is still at large.

At Elaine's behest, Betts removes a cancerous tumor from her body before summoning an ambulance. The agents, already staking out Elaine's house, encounter the paramedics when they arrive. Scully accompanies Elaine to the hospital while Mulder conducts a search of the neighborhood. However, after arriving at the hospital, Scully realizes that Betts has stowed himself away on the roof of the ambulance. Betts locks her inside the ambulance with him, calmly but apologetically telling her, like his earlier victim, that she has "something I need". After a struggle, Scully kills Betts by pressing charged defibrillator paddles against his head. Scully remains silently stunned by Betts's suggestion that she has cancer. Later, in her apartment, she wakes up with a cough and nosebleed, confirming her illness.Meisler (1998), pp. 144–150.

In Philadelphia, Ed Jerse loses a divorce settlement to his ex-wife, who has sole custody of his children. After getting drunk at a bar, Ed wanders into a tattoo parlor and impulsively receives a tattoo depicting a Sailor Jerry-like pin-up girl with the words "Never Again" under her image. At work the next day, Ed hears a woman calling him a "loser"; he has a violent confrontation with a female co-worker—who denies saying anything—and is subsequently subdued.

In Washington, Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully conduct a discreet meeting with a Russian informant, Vsevlod Pudovkin, who claims to have seen a UFO at a secret research center. Upon returning to FBI headquarters, Mulder heads out on vacation to visit Graceland, leaving Scully to follow up on the Pudovkin case for him. Scully is uninterested in the case and expresses serious doubts about Pudovkin's credibility, leading to an argument with Mulder. Scully becomes upset over the direction her life and career are going.

Meanwhile, Ed is fired via telephone. He hears the same voice as before and yells at the woman living below him, thinking it was her. Upon hearing the voice after a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses stop by, Ed goes downstairs and murders his neighbor, throwing her body in the furnace. When the voice talks to him again, Jerse realizes it is coming from his new tattoo. Scully heads to Philadelphia and watches Pudovkin enter a tattoo parlor. Inside, she sees Ed arguing with the owner, wanting the tattoo removed. Ed strikes up a conversation with Scully and invites her out to dinner, which she initially declines.

That night, Scully talks to Mulder over the phone and informs him that Pudovkin is a con man and part of the Russian mafia. Frustrated by the conversation, Scully calls Jerse and tells him that she changed her mind. At a nearby lounge, Scully is concerned about Ed's arm, where he has burned the tattoo with a cigarette butt. Ed convinces Scully to get a tattoo, and she has one of an Ouroboros applied to her back. Scully stays at Ed's apartment. The tattoo is angry at him, saying she will be dead if he kisses her, which he does anyway.

The next morning, two detectives arrive at the apartment after Ed goes out, telling Scully that Ed's neighbor is missing and blood was found in her apartment with an unusual chemical substance in it. Scully researches the material on Ed's laptop and tries to call Mulder, but hangs up before Mulder has a chance to answer. When Ed arrives, Scully tells him that they found blood in his neighbor's apartment and that it was likely his. She thinks that the chemical came from the tattoo ink and wants them both to head to the hospital to be tested. Ed tells Scully about the voice he has been hearing from his tattoo.

As Scully heads to the other room to get ready, her FBI badge falls out of her coat pocket. Scully discreetly picks it back up without Ed noticing. The tattoo begins to talk again, convincing Ed to redial Scully's last call to see who she was speaking to. An FBI operator answers and, upon learning that Scully is an FBI agent, the tattoo forces Ed to attack her. Scully tries to escape but is overpowered by Ed, who wraps her in a bedsheet and carries her down to the basement to throw her in the furnace. At the last moment, Ed is able to overpower the impulses of the tattoo and instead thrusts his own arm into the furnace.

Scully returns to Washington and is congratulated by Mulder for being the first person to make a second X-File appearance. Ed was brought to a burn center in Philadelphia where the ergot chemicals were found in his blood; it was also in Scully's blood, but not enough to cause hallucinations. Mulder wonders if this all happened because of their earlier argument, to which Scully replies that not everything is about him.Meisler, pp. 135–142

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) learns that she has a cancerous tumor between her sinus and cerebrum. She initially tells only Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) of the diagnosis, and is determined to continue to work. The agents head to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to see Betsy Hagopian, a Mutual UFO Network member who was previously discovered to be suffering from similar symptoms. The agents learn that Betsy has died, yet find someone using her phone line. They trace the call to Kurt Crawford (David Lovgren), a fellow MUFON member. Crawford tells them that all but one of the MUFON members Scully previously met have died of cancer. Scully is skeptical of Mulder and Crawford's claims that a government conspiracy and her abduction are behind her illness.

Scully visits the last surviving MUFON member, Penny Northern, who is being treated for cancer at a medical centre. Meanwhile, Mulder discovers that all the abductees were childless but had been treated at a nearby fertility clinic. When Mulder is called away by Scully, an assassin, the Gray-Haired Man (Morris Panych) arrives and kills Crawford with a stiletto weapon, revealing him to be an alien-human hybrid. After meeting Penny's physician, Dr. Scanlon, Scully elects to begin chemotherapy. Mulder sneaks into the clinic and finds Crawford there, seemingly alive. Mulder and "Crawford" hack into the clinic's computer database and find information revealing Scully has a file there. Mulder sees Skinner and asks to deal with The Smoking Man to save Scully, but Skinner convinces him not to do so.

Mulder recruits The Lone Gunmen to help him break into a high security research facility where he thinks he may be able to find more information on how to save Scully. Meanwhile, Skinner tries to deal directly with The Smoking Man for Scully's life, who tells him he will get back to him. Inside the facility, Mulder discovers that Dr. Scanlon works alongside several clones of Kurt Crawford. The clones show him Scully's harvested ova and tell him they are trying to save the abducted women's lives, since they acted as their birth mothers. They also hope to subvert the colonization project as an inside job. Mulder takes Scully's ova and leaves, being pursued by the Gray-Haired Man as he escapes. He returns to the hospital to see Scully, who tells him that Penny has died but that she intends to fight the disease. Afterward, Mulder phones Skinner to let him know that Scully is doing okay and may return to work soon, as well as thanking him for his advice about not negotiating with the Smoking Man. Skinner and the Smoking Man later come to terms on their deal in seclusion.Meisler, pp. 155–163

In Brooklyn, New York, a group of Hasidic Jews gather at a cemetery for the funeral of Isaac Luria (Harrison Coe), who had been beaten and shot to death by a gang of three young neo-Nazis. The last to leave is Isaac's betrothed, Ariel (Justine Miceli), and her father, Jacob Weiss (David Groh). During nightfall, a dark figure enters the cemetery and crafts a man-shaped sculpture out of mud.

When one of Isaac's assailants is found strangled with the dead man's fingerprints on his body, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are called in to investigate. Scully suggests that the murder was an act of retribution, and argues that the evidence was staged to look like revenge from beyond the grave. When the agents visit Ariel and Jacob, their request for the exhumation of Isaac's body angers the old man.

Mulder and Scully then interview Curt Brunjes (Jonathan Whittaker), the racist owner of a copy shop across the street from the market where Isaac worked. Mulder tells Brunjes that the other two boys, who work for Brunjes, are in danger. Scully mentions that there is a rumor spreading that Isaac has risen from the grave to avenge his death. The two boys, who are eavesdropping on the conversation, are terrified at this prospect.

That night, the boys dig up Isaac's grave and find his body intact. While retrieving tools from the car, one of the boys is brutally murdered. The next morning, Mulder and Scully find a book on Jewish mysticism buried with Isaac's body; it mysteriously bursts into flames. On the book is Jacob's name. The agents search for Jacob, finding him in a synagogue with the hanged body of the last remaining boy. Although Jacob admits to both of the murders, Mulder believes that a Golem—a creature from Jewish mysticism—is the true murderer.

Later, Brunjes is found murdered and Mulder and Scully watch the shop's surveillance tape. They discover that the Golem has features similar to Isaac. Mulder deduces that, because Ariel and Isaac were not officially wed in a Jewish synagogue, Ariel created the Golem out of love to serve as a surrogate for her late husband. The two agents arrive at the synagogue to find Ariel and the creature exchanging wedding vows. After an intense fight, in which Jacob and Mulder are both wounded, Ariel declares her love for Isaac and returns the creature to dust.

Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden), the daughter of Spring the Beauty (Весна-Красна) and Ded Moroz, yearns for the companionship of mortal humans. She grows to like the Slavic god-shepherd named ''Lel'', but her heart is unable to know love. Her mother takes pity and gives her this ability, but as soon as she falls in love, her heart warms up and she melts.

One night, a masked robber murders Bruce Wayne’s parents. Vowing revenge, Bruce studies hard, follows his father's footsteps and becomes a doctor. Even though he continues studying, he still presses his first promise to himself that he will avenge his parents. He spends hours locked up in his laboratory, and as his experiments continue to augment in cost and secrecy, he is warned that he will be evicted from the university. Bruce suddenly learns about Fraülein (Julia) Lavenza's unscheduled visit. Fearing that she will be attacked like his parents were, he suddenly rescues her from the same man that killed his parents. Bruce viciously beats the robber and is ready to kill him, but Julia makes him let the man go. The couple go to Bürgermeister Gordon to report the would-be robbery. Gordon immediately suspects something is amiss when it is revealed that the highwayman called the Fraülein by her name. While the police investigate, Bruce unveils to Dr. Seltsam that he has purchased a castle where he will continue his research. Seltsam ponders at what Bruce is doing unsupervised by the university. Bruce invites him to come see for himself.

That night, Bruce unveils to Dr. Seltsam his 'bat-hound', a dog which has been infused with the energies that give a bat nighttime tracking abilities. Seeing this abomination, Seltsam warns Bruce that he is treading on dangerous ground and that he should stop immediately. Bruce explains to him that he has discovered that the electricity that flows in the human body, and that in fact any animal has unique properties and varies like the different attributes of every animal themselves. He says that once captured and isolated, these energies can be transferred to other living organisms. He explains how these could be used to improve and heal mankind, and that if these energies could be restored after death, it might be possible to bring someone back to life. Seltsam runs off, condemning Bruce's 'black magic'.

Bruce is about to give up his research when Alfredo falls through the floor into a tunnel. Following it, Bruce and his servant find the vaults under the university that contain all the body parts used to study biology. Alfredo discovers that some of the pieces date from very long ago, which Bruce at first believes impossible because science has no way of preserving human tissue for that long. Looking through the rows of jars, he finds his father's brain, donated to the university and perfectly preserved for 15 years. Bruce steals the brain and hoping that there is some energy left in it, prepares to construct a new body for his father, one that will be great in size and strength.

With a new course to pursue, Wayne convinces Dr. Seltsam that he has abandoned his research. Alfredo and Bruce construct a new body for Thomas Wayne and revive it using electricity. Bruce is disappointed when the creature acts strangely, as it is afraid of the dark, but light bothers it. The doctor decides to destroy it after he is reconciled with Dr. Seltsam and Julia. He promises to take his fiancée to dinner and later meets with Dr. Seltsam, who tells him about how he has noticed that Thomas Wayne's brain has gone missing. Bruce suddenly comes to the realization that his father experienced tremendous stress when he died, and that to restore him, he has to compensate. He rushes to the castle, ready to continue his research.

Bruce clothes the creature in a costume, which mask the scars and will supposedly help in recovering the memories. He injects it with a serum that will give it some attributes of a bat. It becomes aware of itself, sees its hideous face and breaks out of the laboratory, escaping in the night. Weeks pass, as the Bat-Man roams the roads and attacks burglars or criminals, and Bruce's attempts to find it are fruitless. One night though, using the Bat-Hound to track the Bat-Man, they find him attacking the robber who killed Bruce's parents. Bruce stops it from killing the criminal. Before running away, the robber reveals that he was hired by someone. Bruce sends Alfredo to investigate, while he returns the Bat-Man to the castle. Before falling asleep, Bruce mumbles about Julia, about where she is staying.

The Bat-Man is changing, becoming more bat-like in appearance as time passes. He kidnaps Julia from her home and runs off with her. Bruce learns of this and starts the chase. Hot on the Bat-Man's trail, Bruce stumbles upon Dr. Seltsam's lab. The Doctor has captured the Bat-Hound, and has both Alfredo and the robber strapped to machinery in his lab. Seltsam tells the robber that he is no longer useful and that he is going to kill him. As the machinery does its work, Bruce intervenes but it is too late for the robber. Seltsam reveals that the miracle preserving liquid is mainly composed of brain liquid and that the highway robbers were all his henchmen. Seltsam explains that Bruce's father was against his methods of progress through murder and that is why he had to be killed. Seltsam activates the self-destruct sequence in his lab. The Bat-Man barges in the lab, lets Julia go and attacks Seltsam. As the lab crumbles, Seltsam accidentally electrocutes himself and dies. The Bat-Man holds up the roof of the crumbling building, letting the others escape. It calls Bruce 'son' before the lab explodes and kills it. Alfredo theorizes that the Bat-Man kidnapped Julia so Bruce would follow him to Seltsam's lab. As a mob arrives to the burning ruins, Bruce explains to them how Seltsam was destroyed because of the Bat-Man.

The episode begins at the National Mall, where Major General Benjamin Bloch (Scott Hylands) gives a speech to a crowd of Vietnam War veterans. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) patrol the crowd, searching for a potential gunman. However, when the agents see the gunman, he repeatedly disappears and makes their efforts to track him difficult. Mulder finds himself aiming his gun towards the panicked crowd, desperately searching for the gunman, who has disappeared right in front of him.

Twelve hours earlier, at Fort Evanston, Maryland, Lieutenant General Peter MacDougal (Bill Agnew) is shot in his limousine by the gunman. Skinner briefs the agents on the killing, noting a king of hearts playing card—used by the soldiers in Vietnam to mark their kills—was left at the scene. The FBI suspects a far-right paramilitary group, the Right Hand, of killing MacDougal in an effort to stop an upcoming re-dedication of a Vietnam war memorial in Washington.

Mulder and Scully head to Virginia to question the Right Hand's leader, Denny Markham (Larry Musser). A search of his fenced-off cabin uncovers ammunition and a photograph showing him in the company of a Sergeant Nathaniel Teager (Peter LaCroix). After being arrested, Markham reveals that Teager was a soldier in Vietnam who was left for dead as a prisoner of war. Meanwhile, at the Vietnam memorial, Teager approaches a war widow and claims that her husband is still alive as a POW. After giving the woman her husband's dog tags, Teager mysteriously disappears.

Skinner informs the agents that Teager is officially dead, and that his remains are at the Army's forensics lab. However, Mulder learns that the lab only possesses Teager's dental remains, and that the cause of his death was recorded as "inconclusive". Mulder believes that General John Steffan (William Nunn), who signed Teager's death certificate, is his next target. Teager makes his way past Pentagon security and kills Steffan in his office. Upon seeing Teager on the Pentagon's surveillance tapes, Mulder notes the frequent unexplained appearances and disappearances of Viet Cong troops reported by POWs in Vietnam.

During a meeting with Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), Mulder learns that Steffan, McDougal, and Bloch were all involved in negotiations concerning POWs. Meanwhile, as Bloch's motorcade makes its way to the Mall, Scully spots Teager in the crowd, only to see him vanish in an instant. Mulder tells Skinner and Scully that the government has arranged for their investigation to fail in an effort to cover up the truth about American POWs still being kept in Vietnam.

In the present, during the re-dedication ceremony, Mulder realizes that no one can see Teager if they are in his line of sight. Teager follows Skinner and Bloch to the motorcade, where he unsuccessfully shoots at the general and Skinner suffers a flesh wound. Teager is shot in turn by the agents as he tries to escape. As he succumbs to his wounds, Teager repeats his Army identification. Afterwards, the Pentagon states that the assassin was a different person—which Mulder denounces as a lie. He leaves Skinner to silently ponder his own service in the war as he looks upon Teager's name on the memorial wall.

Background

Max Fenig (Scott Bellis), a NICAP member, has been repeatedly abducted by aliens throughout his life. After meeting with FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), Fenig was abducted once again, and thought to have been lost entirely. Several years later, Fenig is found dead amongst the victims of an airplane crash. Investigating the disaster, Mulder and his partner Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) learn that the airplane crashed after being intercepted by a military jet—and possibly by an alien spacecraft. Mulder's search for evidence of such a craft leads to him diving to the bottom of Great Sacandaga Lake to find it; while Scully is ambushed by an assassin seeking to kill a military witness, leading to her colleague Pendrell (Brendan Beiser) being shot.

Events

Mulder is caught by a group of commandos after swimming to shore. In Washington, Scully tends to the critically wounded Pendrell while Scott Garrett, a Man in Black, escapes. Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) arrives shortly afterwards and tells Scully that the orders to protect Frish have been countermanded and he is being arrested for providing false testimony. Scully releases Mulder from confinement and tells him the "official" explanation for the crash, that Frish and Gonzales caused the crash by mistakenly vectoring a military fighter craft with the plane, and that Frish lied to cover it up. Mulder is skeptical of this latest explanation and thinks the crashed UFO he found underwater is really what was involved in the crash. Scully tells Mulder that Sharon is not really Max's sister, but rather an unemployed aeronautical engineer who met Max in a mental institution. She also tells him that Pendrell died from his wounds.

Mulder and Scully visit Max's trailer, and watch a tape of him where he talks about finding proof of alien existence. The military recovers the crashed UFO from the lake, including the alien body. The agents visit Millar, whose investigation has been unable to prove or disprove the military's cover story. Mulder tells Millar what he believed really happened. Mulder believes that Max boarded the plane with proof of alien life and that a UFO stopped the plane, abducting him. A military aircraft intercepted the two however, with orders to attack the UFO. While Max was being returned, the military aircraft struck, causing both the UFO and plane to crash.

Mulder visits Max's trailer again and looks through his mail, finding a luggage claim ticket. Scully visits Sharon, now in a mental institution, who tells Scully that she stole technology from her employer that Max believed was alien. The device was in three parts, one which she had, one that he brought on the plane and a third one. Mulder uses the claim ticket to obtain the third device at a New York airport and heads on a plane to return to Washington. Garrett, who is also aboard, sits next to him. Mulder soon realizes who Garrett is and holds him at gunpoint. Garrett does not care, telling Mulder that if he shoots him the plane will depressurize and he will be able to escape with a parachute he has with him. Mulder imprisons Garrett in the airplane bathroom but Garrett soon emerges with a zip gun and orders him to hand over the device. Suddenly the plane starts shaking and bright lights shine in through the windows. When the plane touches down and Mulder gets out both Garrett and the device are gone and Mulder is missing nine minutes, having no memory of what happened. The agents visit Sharon one last time in Max's trailer and say goodbye.Meisler, pp. 187–196

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT cryogenics researchers Jason Nichols (Joseph Fuqua) and Lucas Menand (Jed Rees) become embroiled in an argument as they walk down a city street. They are approached by an old man (Michael Fairman), who warns Menand that he will be killed by a bus at 11:46 pm that evening, but Menand ignores him. After the man is arrested by campus security, his apparent prophecy is proven true when Jason tries, but fails, to save Menand, who is promptly run over by a bus and killed at the exact time (11:46 pm).

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the case, learning that Jason was taken into custody after the bus driver told police that he (Jason) pushed Menand into the path of his vehicle. However, Jason tells authorities that he was actually trying to save Menand. The security guard who arrested the old man is found frozen to death after exposure to a chemical refrigerant. Mulder interviews Jason, who explains Menand threatened to go public with a claim that Jason had falsified data on a research paper.

The old man kills Dr. Yonechi (Hiro Kanagawa), a Japanese researcher, by pricking him with a metallic stylus, introducing an unknown chemical into his body. The agents approach Nichols' girlfriend and colleague, Lisa Ianelli (Susan Lee Hoffman), who recognizes the chemical compound as a rapid freezing agent that Jason had been engineering for years. However, she claims that the compound has not yet been invented and that if Yonechi was injected with the chemical, he may not be dead. With Lisa's help, Scully and a team of medical personnel successfully resuscitate Yonechi, only for his body temperature to rapidly increase until he bursts into flames. Police receive a tip that the old man is living at a nearby hotel. Inside the old man's room, the agents discover a faded color photograph picturing Jason, Yonechi and Lisa toasting champagne glasses in the cryology lab. Mulder deduces from the picture that the old man is a time traveller who is attempting to alter that future, and that he is none other than Jason Nichols himself.

Lisa locates the elderly man and confronts him; however, he injects her with the chemical after explaining that Lisa will be responsible for the coming future. Scully successfully resuscitates Lisa. Jason confronts his elderly self in the computer mainframe room at the cryogenic lab, where the old man has erased all of Jason's files from the mainframe. The old man tells Jason that the success of their research made time travel possible, but also plunged the world into chaos. Jason lunges at the old man, choking him as he demands to travel back himself and save Lisa. Mulder arrives with the news that Lisa has been saved, and the elder Jason wraps his arms around his younger self and bursts into flames, the fire consuming them both.

As Lisa is loaded on to an ambulance to receive further treatment, Scully breaks the news to her that Jason died in the mainframe room fire. Mulder then reminds Scully of a statement in her thesis in which she asserts that "... although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome," which indicates that, despite Jason Nichols effectively erasing himself from the future, the rapid freezing agent compound will be discovered by someone in the current universe, resulting in the eventual discovery of time travel.

Later, Lisa sets to work at the cryonics lab, attempting to reconstruct the chemical compound.

Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the birth of five babies in the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia, who were born with tails. The mother of the most recent baby, Amanda Nelligan, tells the agents that the father of her baby is Luke Skywalker. By researching the baby's chromosomes it is discovered that all five share the same father. The parents of the children blame the local fertility doctor, who had used insemination to impregnate all of the mothers but Nelligan. Mulder spots a janitor nearby with signs that he formerly had a tail. When he runs, Mulder chases him and catches him. The janitor, Eddie Van Blundht, is discovered to be the father of all of the children. Scully believes Eddie used a date rape drug although Mulder questions how he could be in the position to give it to the women.

Eddie escapes by transforming his face into that of the booking cop and knocking him out with a blow to the head. Mulder and Scully visit Eddie's father, a former circus performer who claims he still has his tail. Mulder and Scully soon realize the father is actually Eddie when he addresses Mulder by name without having been introduced. The agents give chase, but Eddie escapes. He then transforms into the husband of a woman he impregnated and hides out in their house. When the real husband comes home early, Eddie transforms into Mulder and leaves the couple confused. Mulder and Scully meanwhile discover the desiccated remains of Eddie's father hidden in the attic. Performing an autopsy on the body, Scully finds that he had an extra sheet of muscle under his skin, which Mulder concludes Eddie inherited and uses to transform his appearance.

As Mulder, Eddie visits Nelligan, showing her a photo of Eddie. Nelligan tells him that she went out with him in high school, but views him as a loser lacking drive and ambition. The disappointed Eddie leaves just as the real Mulder shows up. Realizing that Eddie just visited Nelligan in his guise, Mulder searches for him down the hospital corridors. He finds the fertility doctor and a security guard nearby and handcuffs them to each other, believing one of them to be Eddie. The real Eddie, however, is hiding in a vent above. He gets the jump on Mulder and locks him up in the hospital basement. Again as Mulder, Eddie tells Scully that he feels the case is a waste of time and they should return to Washington.

Eddie returns to Washington as Mulder with Scully and presents the case to Skinner with a poorly written report. Eddie visits Mulder's office, then his apartment, being surprised at what a loser Mulder appears to be (though highly pleased with how attractive a man he now is in Mulder's face - as he admires himself and practices his 'agent moves' in the mirror). Later that evening Eddie visits Scully with a bottle of wine and tries to get her drunk and seduce her. As a reluctant Scully is about to give in to a kiss, the real Mulder breaks in and interrupts them. Revealed, Eddie sheepishly reverts to his actual form, shocking Scully. A month later, Mulder visits Eddie in prison. Eddie complains at being given muscle relaxants to prevent him from turning into someone else, asking if that was Mulder's doing. Eddie then tells Mulder that he was born a loser, but Mulder is one by choice and that he should seriously "live a little".Meisler, pp. 209–18.

At a postal routing center in Vienna, Virginia, a woman is killed by a swarm of bees in the bathroom while taking a cigarette break. Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), working for The Smoking Man (William B. Davis), covers up the death by deleting the file on the case from agent Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) computer, cleaning up all the evidence at the scene, burning the woman's body in an incinerator and replacing the police's blood sample for the case by impersonating Mulder. As he leaves the police station, Skinner is chased down by Detective Ray Thomas, who believes he is Mulder. Skinner tells him there is nothing on the case warranting his involvement, and leaves.

Shortly after Skinner arrives home he is met by Mulder, who tells him about the case and the fact that someone is going to great lengths to cover it up. Mulder reveals that Detective Thomas was killed, which shocks Skinner. Mulder tells Skinner that Scully is undergoing tests regarding her cancer. Later that night Skinner meets with The Smoking Man, who is accompanied by Thomas' murderer, the Gray Haired Man (Morris Panych). Skinner is angry that Thomas was killed and wants to end their arrangement, which The Smoking Man refuses to allow. Mulder calls Skinner, telling him about the woman's body being burned and the blood evidence being tampered with. Mulder tells Skinner that he is trying to match the bullet that killed Thomas to a gun issued to a federal agent or local officer. Skinner searches his drawer and realizes that his gun was missing and must have been the one used for the murder. Skinner, realizing he has been set up, calls The Smoking Man, who confirms that Thomas was killed with Skinner's gun and that by going to the police Skinner would end up implicating himself in the murder. The Smoking Man refuses to provide any details on what he is covering up.

Skinner returns to the routing center where he tears a hole in the bathroom wall and finds a large honeycomb of dead bees. He visits an entomologist to look at one of the bees and is told that Mulder visited him six months ago about a similar subject. Skinner finds Mulder's file on the matter, copying down the contact information for Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden). Mulder tells Skinner that a bank near the police station took a picture of the detective, which shows him with Skinner, but the picture is too obscured for Mulder to identify him. Skinner calls Covarrubias, who does not have any evidence to provide him at this time. The entomologist is killed by a swarm of bees. The next day, Mulder and Skinner look at his body, which is infected with smallpox transmitted by the bees. Skinner visits the co-worker of the postal worker who died, who tells him she was pressured to not say anything about what happened by men who demanded a damaged package. At the photo lab Mulder analyzes the photo, which reveals Skinner's identity.

The Smoking Man meets with the Syndicate, who are responsible for the bees. Soon afterward a swarm of bees attacks a school in Peyson, South Carolina, and one of the teachers dies as a result while several students are injured. Skinner heads to the hospital, where he is met by Covarrubias. She demands to know what he knows about the matter. He tells her he believes that the bees are being used as a carrier for some sort of experiment. Skinner returns home where he is confronted by Mulder, who now suspects that Skinner has been working against him all this time. Skinner is able to convince Mulder that he would not have forced his own drawer lock open and hence could not have been the murderer. Convinced of Skinner's evidence, Mulder turns in the gun with the serial number filed off so Skinner is not blamed for the murder. That night Skinner confronts The Smoking Man in his apartment, angry that nothing has been done for Scully. The Smoking Man convinces him that Scully will die if he kills him and Skinner leaves without killing him, but not before firing warning shots. Shortly afterwards Covarrubias calls The Smoking Man, who tells her to tell Mulder what he wants to hear while an unknown man is shown behind her listening on another phone.Meisler, pp. 221–230

Angie Pintero (Alex Bruhanski), the owner of a bowling alley, tells one of his employees, a man with autism named Harold Spuller (Steven M. Porter), to go home for the evening. Shortly thereafter, Angie discovers a badly-injured blond girl wedged inside of the automated pinsetter. The girl attempts to speak, but no words come out of her mouth. Angie notices police in a nearby parking lot and rushes outside to get help. He realizes a crowd has gathered around the dead body of the same girl he saw only moments earlier in the bowling alley. Angie relates his bizarre tale to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Mulder suspects that Angie encountered the dead girl's ghost; three similar encounters, and three similar murders, were reported in the area in as many weeks. The agents discover the words, "She is me" written on the bowling lane where Angie saw the spirit, but its meaning remains a mystery.

Detective Hudak (Daniel Kamin) tells Mulder and Scully that an anonymous caller phoned 911 with a message regarding Penny Timmons, one of the killer's victims. The caller claimed that Timmons' last words were "She is me." Hudak notes, however, that the victim's larynx was severed, making it impossible for her to utter dying words. The agents trace the source of the 911 call to a payphone at the New Horizon Psychiatric Center. Mulder notices one of the patients, Harold Spuller, avoiding his gaze. After viewing photographs of the murder victims, Scully comes to the conclusion that Spuller fits the killer's profile: a compulsive person consumed with the desire to organize, clean and reorder. Scully uses a rest room to attend to a nose bleed and there encounters the apparition of another young, blond girl. Moments later, Mulder tells her that the body of another victim was found nearby and Scully realizes it was the same girl she saw as an apparition. Scully decides to see medical attention for her nosebleed but tells Mulder to remain and continue working on the case. In the meantime, the audience is made aware that Harold sees the apparitions of all of the young women recently murdered.

After having the nosebleed checked, Scully makes an appointment with an FBI psychiatrist in whom she confides that she has come to understand that she relies on Mulder far more than she ever realized and finds him to be a source of strength. Meanwhile, Mulder brings Harold to the police station for questioning and, during his interrogation, makes a connection between long strings of numbers Harold can recall on command to the bowling alley. Along with Hudak and Harold's attorney, Harold leads Mulder to a back room accessible from the bowling alley. The walls of the room are covered with score sheets, including those of the victims, and these are the strings of numbers Harold recalls. Mulder realizes Harold met each of the murdered women at the bowling alley, but Harold becomes greatly upset and, from his point of view, Angie's ghost is seen standing behind Mulder. Harold rushes out of the room and makes his way to the bowling alley, where Angie lies dead from a heart attack. Mulder approaches Scully, asking her to examine Harold, because every person who saw the apparitions was dying or about to die, which implies Harold may be next. Mulder also believes that Harold formed some kind of profound connection to the victims but was unable to express his feelings due to his autism so a psychic connection formed between him and the murdered women. Scully, who also saw a victim's ghost, is struck by the implication but does not tell Mulder.

Harold is escorted back to the psychiatric center where he is tormented by Nurse Innes (Nancy Fish), a bully who seems to have a particular dislike for Harold. Later, Mulder finds Innes lying on the floor, half-conscious. Innes claims Harold went berserk and attacked her. Harold's roommate, Chuck Forsch, tells Scully that Nurse Innes warned Harold that she was poisoning him. Scully slowly realizes that Harold has probably not been taking his meds and that Innes, not Harold, was responsible for the murders. When Innes attacks Scully with a scalpel, Scully draws her weapon and fires, striking her in the shoulder. While summarizing the case with Mulder, Scully explains that Innes had been taking Harold's unused medication, triggering violent and unpredictable behavior. Scully hypothesizes that Innes—out of rage for her husband having left her for a younger woman—committed the murders in order to destroy happiness and the innocent affection Harold felt towards the young women. Later, Harold's body is discovered in a nearby alley, the apparent victim of respiratory failure. Scully, however, suspects that Harold died from what Innes took away from him. Scully admits to Mulder that she saw the ghost of the fourth victim shortly after she was murdered and the two have a short but intense discussion about trust and the fear they both share. Later, Scully sees Harold's spirit sitting in the back seat of her car.

Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) mind flashes back to being in the attic with his sister Samantha while their parents are arguing downstairs. Back in the present, Mulder wakes up in a hotel room in Providence, Rhode Island, covered in blood. Mulder calls Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who arrives, finding him in shock. Mulder has a pounding headache and has no memory of what he has done in the past two days. Scully finds that two bullets have been fired from Mulder's gun and that he has keys belonging to a David and Amy Cassandra. Scully wants Mulder to check into a hospital, but he wants to find out if he was involved in a crime before doing so. The agents arrive at the Cassandras' house where the housekeeper tells them they are not at home. Mulder recognizes a house in many of the Cassandras' paintings: a house that is near his parents' summer home in Rhode Island. When they arrive there, Mulder has striking pains in his head and flashes back again to when he was a child, seeing a younger version of The Smoking Man (Chris Owens) in his home. The agents enter the home, where they find the Cassandras dead from gunshot wounds.

The agents call the police, who take Mulder with them due to the circumstantial evidence against him. Scully performs an autopsy on Amy Cassandra, finding a scab on her forehead. The detective in charge of the case tells Mulder that they have found David and Amy's blood on his shirt. Mulder refuses to confess to the murders, not remembering anything. Scully arrives, saying she found in Amy's blood traces of ketamine, an anesthesic substance that has hallucinogenic properties. The substance was detected in Mulder's blood as well. Meanwhile, one of the officers at the station kills himself; he has similar symptoms to that of the Cassandras. Mulder suffers a seizure and flashes back to his childhood again, witnessing his parents arguing with The Smoking Man. Scully sees Mulder the next day, telling him that she believes that the Cassandras killed themselves after receiving psychiatric treatment and that Mulder was visiting them about their alien abduction experiences.

The agents visit Dr. Goldstein in Warwick, Rhode Island, who was treating Amy with an aggressive method to help her recover her abduction memories. Goldstein also treated the police officer, but says he has not met Mulder before. Mulder has another painful flashback of The Smoking Man arguing with his mother, Teena Mulder. Mulder declines Scully's request that he go to the hospital and goes to visit his mother, demanding she explain what really happened when they had to make a choice between him and Samantha. Mulder believes that The Smoking Man forced them to take Samantha. Mulder also questions who his father really is. Mulder's mother gets upset and refuses to provide him answers. Later Mulder visits Goldstein, and convinces him to again treat him so he will remember what really happened. Mulder has further visions of the past. Scully and the police arrive soon after to arrest Goldstein but find Mulder gone. Scully finds him at the family's summer home in Rhode Island and is able to calm him down. While Mulder is cleared in the deaths of the Cassandras, what truly happened when he was a child remains a mystery.Meisler, pp. 245–256

The episode opens ''in medias res'' to police investigating a dead body in the apartment of FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) confirms the unseen body's identity and leaves. She subsequently appears before an FBI panel led by Section Chief Scott Blevins (Charles Cioffi), reviewing her work with Mulder on the X-Files.

In Canada's St. Elias Mountains, a frozen extraterrestrial body is discovered by an expedition team. Professor Arlinsky, the team's leader, sends ice core samples containing presumably alien DNA to Mulder. Scully has the samples tested and confirms the DNA's non-terrestrial origin, but is attacked by a man who steals the samples. Scully learns that her attacker is Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), a Defense Department employee. When she tracks down Kritschgau and holds him at gunpoint, he reveals that he might be killed.

Meanwhile, Arlinsky returns to the mountains with Mulder, but they find that most of the expedition members have been shot dead. The sole survivor is a man named Babcock, who reveals that he has saved the alien corpse from theft by burying it. Together, the three men bring the corpse to the United States. There, Mulder and Arlinsky perform an autopsy on the corpse, believing it belongs to a genuine extraterrestrial. After Mulder leaves to meet with Scully, a mysterious assassin, Scott Ostelhoff, arrives and kills Arlinsky.

Scully introduces Mulder to Kritschgau, who claims that everything Mulder thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. He tells him that his sister's abduction was fabricated, that all evidence of alien biology are merely scientific anomalies, and that the alien body he has just examined was fake. Kritschgau claims that the entire alien mythos is a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government as a cover for the activities of the military–industrial complex. Mulder dismisses these claims.

Mulder finds Arlinsky and Babcock dead, with the alien body missing. Scully tells him Kritschgau told her that she was given cancer to make him believe. Mulder, distraught, sits in his apartment watching a conference about extraterrestrial life on television. The narrative returns to the present, where Scully reveals to the panel that Mulder died the previous night of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.Meisler, pp. 259–270

Background

In Canada's Saint Elias Mountains, a frozen extraterrestrial body is discovered by an expedition team. Professor Arlinsky, the team's leader, sends ice core samples containing presumably alien DNA to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Both Mulder and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) eventually meet Michael Kritschgau (John Finn), a Defense Department employee who claims that everything Mulder thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. Kritschgau tells Mulder that his sister Samantha's abduction was fabricated, that all evidence of alien biology are merely scientific anomalies, and that the alien body discovered in Canada was fake. He also claims that the entire alien mythos is a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government as a cover for the military–industrial complex. Distraught by these claims, Mulder loses his faith. Later, the FBI investigates Mulder's apparent suicide. Scully confirms the unseen body's identity.Meisler (1998), pp. 259–270

Redux

As a distraught Mulder sits in his apartment, he receives a phone call from Kritschgau, who tells him that "they" may be listening. Mulder, spotting a small hole in his ceiling, rushes upstairs, bursts into the apartment above his, and kills government employee Scott Ostelhoff. He tells Scully about the incident, telling her that Ostelhoff had made numerous calls to the FBI. The Bureau looks into the situation and finds Ostelhoff's body; however, they believe it is the body of a suicidal Mulder. Scully falsely identifies the body and is met by Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who tells her that Section Chief Scott Blevins (Charles Cioffi) is looking for her. She meets with Blevins and his panel, and tells them about the previous incidents leading to Mulder's apparent suicide.

As Mulder breaks into the Department of Defense, the Smoking Man (William B. Davis) searches his apartment, believing he is not dead. Scully does some research into Ostelhoff's records, coming to the conclusion that he was calling Skinner. Meanwhile, Mulder finds a room containing fake alien bodies and follows a tunnel to the Pentagon, where he finds a vast evidence room. Mulder ultimately tracks down a small metal vial that he believes may contain a cure to Scully's cancer. Scully explains to the FBI panel that Mulder was a victim of an elaborate conspiracy and that she was given a fatal disease by someone in the room. As she is about to present her evidence, her nose bleeds and she collapses. Mulder takes the vial to the Lone Gunmen, who tell him it is not a cure, only deionized water.Meisler (1999), pp. 27–34

Redux II

After hearing of Scully collapsing, Mulder arrives at the hospital where she is being treated. Before he is able to make contact with her, he is detained by Skinner and two FBI agents. Mulder is then brought to Blevins and a senior agent, who demand information on why Scully lied about his death. After the meeting, Mulder tells Skinner that a traitor in the FBI gave Scully her cancer. Meanwhile, the Smoking Man tries to convince the First Elder (Don S. Williams) that Mulder will join their side if he is given a good reason to do so.

Mulder later tells Scully that he wants to reveal the conspiracy to the public. As he is leaving, he meets with the Smoking Man, who claims that he can cure Scully by using a chip inside Mulder's stolen vial. Meanwhile, Kritschgau goes before the FBI panel, denying any knowledge of Ostelhoff's murderer, also revealing that his son died that morning. He claims to work for not only the Defense Department, but also a congressional lobbying firm known as Roush. Mulder tells Scully and her doctor about the chip. Scully's family is skeptical, particularly her brother Bill. Scully decides to go ahead and have the chip inserted in her neck.

The Smoking Man arranges a meeting with Mulder at a nearby diner. There, Mulder meets his sister Samantha, who calls the Smoking Man her "father". Samantha claims to not remember anything about her abduction, and is reluctant to stay or tell Mulder where he can find her. The next day, the Smoking Man offers Mulder the truth if he quits the FBI and comes work for him; Mulder refuses. Mulder later meets with Blevins, who claims he has evidence that Skinner was withholding information concerning Ostelhoff's death. Blevins tells Mulder he can help him if he names Skinner as the traitor in the FBI. Later, Mulder meets with Scully, telling her he was going to make the deal with the Smoking Man, but now will not after his meeting with Blevins. Despite Scully's pleas, he refuses to betray Skinner.

Mulder appears before the FBI panel while an armed Quiet Willy follows the Smoking Man. Mulder tells the panel of the conspiracy against him and Scully. Questioned by Blevins and the senior agent about whether he killed Ostelhoff, Mulder instead names Blevins as the traitor. The Smoking Man, looking at a picture of a young Mulder and Samantha, is shot by Quiet Willy. Blevins is killed by the senior agent in his office, who stages it as a suicide. At the hospital, Skinner tells Mulder that the Smoking Man is dead, although his body hasn't been found. Mulder admits that he guessed when he named Blevins, whom Skinner reveals was on the payroll for Roush. Mulder tells Skinner that Scully's cancer has gone into remission.Meisler (1999), pp. 37–46

The naughty boy Nils, who delights in torturing animals, is bewitched by a ''tomte''. Now shrunken to a small size and able to talk to animals, he flies across Lapland on the backs of wild geese. During these dangerous travels he does many noble deeds, and, at the same time, searches for the ''tomte'' who would take the spell away.

The episode begins at a funeral, attended by Guy, Caroline, Boyce (Oliver Chris), Martin Dear (Karl Theobald) and Sue White (Michelle Gomez). References made in the episode lead the viewer to first believe that it is Mac's funeral, but then a giant picture of Angela Hunter (Sarah Alexander), who left the hospital in series two, appears. The cause of her death is not fully explained, although comments made by the characters indicate she died in a hunting accident with a moose. The plot then splits between three groups of characters.

Caroline, Guy and Mac

Mac returns to work after a month's leave. When Caroline meets him she implies that she is engaged to Guy. Mac and Guy are then drunk in a bar, where Mac tells Guy he is going to die in a couple of weeks and makes Guy promise he will not tell Caroline. However, Guy tells Martin, who then complains to him about his selfishness. However, Caroline walks in and overhears the argument. Meanwhile, Mac suggests to Sue that she finds someone else to love. Caroline confronts Mac about marrying her. Mac defends himself by saying it would be better for her to marry Guy because he will live longer. Guy later decides to do the right thing, and tells Mac to propose to Caroline because they love each other. Caroline and Mac therefore become engaged and later marry, where the majority of the core cast are in attendance. At the wedding, Sue is seen with a new boyfriend. The special ends with Caroline floating away into the sky holding a mass of helium balloons.

Alan and Joanna

After being rescued by Martin while they were teetering over the edge of a cliff in a stolen campervan, Alan and Joanna are on the run, believing the police are after them for the murder of Joanna's cousin. They go to a garage to get the van checked for faults, but as they leave, Joanna accidentally runs over the mechanic by putting the van in the wrong gear and reversing into him. They then try to rob a corner shop and Joanna tells Alan to sit on the shopkeeper to restrain her, but this causes Alan to accidentally suffocate her. Back at the hospital, Boyce begins to miss Alan after discovering his replacement is worse than him. Boyce's plotline with Alan is concluded when Alan telephones him to say goodbye, almost confirming the strange love they have for each other, but instead telling him (in code) that he is "Flying west".

Later, Alan and Joanna are stopped by a policeman on suspicion of stealing the campervan. Joanna gets her peanut-butter sandwich and smears it in the policeman's face. Alan and Joanna have an argument about the minute odds of the policeman having a peanut allergy and going into anaphylaxis, while in the background this is actually happening. They then carry the body of the policeman into the van. Soon, having run out of food and petrol, Alan changes the engine to run on alcohol and fermented excrement. The plan is of no use however, as the van explodes. They soon reach the beach and Joanna gives Alan three options: Give themselves up, swim the Channel to Spain or commit suicide. As Alan is not keen on the Spanish, they choose the third option and they are last seen walking naked into the sea, presumably to their deaths - although the alternate ending shows them hanging on to a buoy sometime later.

Admin girls

Having fallen out of a window, Karen walks into the office dressed smartly and feistier. However, she has lost a hand and her nose whistles when she has an orgasm. When the girls realise that Joanna is not there to control them they start going wild. They start off by doing mild things such as swapping desks and tipping up litter, then become wilder by interviewing people and asking people to pull their trousers down. Slowly, the scene turns into a "Lord of the Flies" situation. They soon begin to argue and Harriet Schulenburg (Olivia Colman) decides to become the new Joanna. Martin is captured by Naughty Rachel (Katie Lyons), Kim Alabaster (Sally Bretton) and Karen, chanting "Kill the doctor" at him. Martin calls for his mummy (Joanna), but when Harriet comes out into the office she proclaims she is the "new mummy in town", and he is dragged into the office. However, Martin somehow manages to escape by means unknown.

Set in the Sengoku period, it depicts the life of Yamamoto Kansuke who is known as one of Takeda Shingen's renowned strategists.

The book deals with the rebellion of the Cretans against the Ottoman Empire in 1889.

Scrooge McDuck walks around Duckburg enjoying the admiration of the Duckburgians for being the Money Champion of the world until a stranger shows up and hits him with a glove. After being told it means a challenge, Scrooge starts fighting his challenger until the police takes both of them under arrest.

In a courtroom, the challenger explains that the challenge is about counting their cash to decide who's the real money champ. Scrooge thinks the challenger must be crazy until he says he almost defeated Scrooge in Africa and he came here to finish the job. Scrooge then remembers who the challenger really is: Flintheart Glomgold. Donald Duck and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, then recalls how Scrooge won that time.

Scrooge and Flintheart start bragging about how wealthier they got since the last confrontation and lose temper, causing the judge to give each of them a five-gold-mine fine. After that, Scrooge allows Flintheart to visit The Money Bin hoping it would make the challenger give up. Flintheart claims to have more valuable things on his bin and the challenge continues: Scrooge and Flintheart must liquidate most of they can of their fortunes and whoever gets the biggest pile of silver dollars is the real money champ.

Scrooge tries to sell the oil wells he bought last month only to learn that the seller, "Goldflint Heartglom', tricked them with oil he poured there to make the land look like it was more valuable than it really is. He later tries to sell some gold mines only to learn there's no gold in there, just gold-painted rocks, left there by 'Flintgold Glomheart", who sold the mines to Scrooge. Scrooge then visits one of his diamond mines trying to sell it but a phony inspector called "Heartflint Goldglom" opened a dam, sabotaging the mine.

Back to Duckburg, Flintheart arranged it so they could place their money piles in the airport's abandoned landing gear. Things aren't good for Scrooge as his pile seemed to be half as big as Flintheart's. People were now hissing at Scrooge and hailing Flintheart as the new champ. Flintheart and Scrooge discuss and Glomgold says if the has-been, as he now calls Scrooge, wins he'll eat Scrooge's top hat. Scrooge says Flintheart will have to furnish the salt all by himself.

Suspicious, Scrooge investigates and learns Flintheart's money pile is right above a sewer hole. Meanwhile, Huey, Dewey, and Louie learn that Flintheart's pile keeps growing without anyone putting money on it. Scrooge and Donald go down the sewers and discover that Flintheart is inflating a giant balloon within his pile. When both Scrooge and Flintheart have finished their piles, Scrooge uses a big spear to blow up Flintheart's balloon, ending the hoax. Scrooge now demands Glomgold to make an honest pile so Scrooge can win a fair fight. Days later, Flintheart finishes his pile, which seems to be nearly as big as Scrooge's.

A mysterious sorcerer, seeing how desperate the two ducks are, shows up and tries to sell Scrooge a shrinking potion to use on Flintheart's pile of money, but Scrooge refuses, saying he'll win honestly or won't win at all. Flintheart is thinking about his mother, whose hopes he betrayed when he became dishonest when the sorcerer shows up trying to sell him the potion. Flintheart agrees to buy five gallons of the potion for five gallons of coins. Flintheart then gets the potion in a sack made of crocodile skin, the only thing besides duck skin that the potion doesn't affect and is also given a crocodile skin squeeze bottles to handle the potion out of the sack.

Flintheart starts heading to Scrooge's pile, when Scrooge shows up with a court order against it but Glomgold shrinks it. Donald tries to use a truck as an obstacle for Glomgold, but the rival shrinks it. Donald says he never saw anything missing so fast since he missed a payment on a TV. Huey, Dewey, and Louie use judo to stop Flinty and throw him back to his own pile. Glomgold then tried to throw the squeeze bottles and break them on Scrooge's pile, but Huey, Dewey, and Louie stopped them with homing rockets. Flintheart then decides to rent a cannon and shoot the sack of potion on Scrooge's pile. Scrooge then uses his scatter gun on the potion, causing it to leak on the cannon, shrinking it. The remaining potion hits Scrooge's top hat.

The piles are finally measured and the surveyors say that Flintheart's pile is 1,100 cubic inches (18 litres) smaller than Scrooge's. They also say it's almost exactly five gallons. Despite this, Flintheart gains a moral victory: because Scrooge's hat was hit by the potion, it is small enough to be eaten in one bite.

A demon by the name of Kazaan found a way to bring hell to the world. Ghost Rider has been trapped in hell for two years where every night, he rides from one of hell to the other towards the gates, should he ever reach them he will be free. However every single night, the worst demons in hell chase him to the gates and tear him apart, to be put back together in the morning and repeat the torment again. One night he meets an angel named Malachi. Malachi tells Ghost Rider that if he can stop Kazaan, he will be free from hell. Ghost Rider also has to beat an archangel named Ruth and a demon named Hoss to Kazaan. He eventually teams up with Hoss to beat Ruth. In the end, Kazaan is sent back to hell.

Malachi tells Ghost Rider that he lied, and no one can ever truly escape the pit. Malachi is suddenly attacked; his wings being ripped off thereby made mortal by Ruth. Though the Ghost Rider succeeded in his mission, and cannot be set free from hell, he is told, "Ya gotta take your pleasure where ya can." The Ghost Rider returns to his punishment of racing to the gates every night, however, he now drags Malachi in chains behind his motorcycle to be forever tortured with him.

In 2007, at the Dixmor Asylum for the Criminally Insane, a severe thunderstorm causes the security system at the asylum to momentarily go offline, opening the cell doors throughout the facility, resulting in the populace wandering freely through the corridors. Two such inmates are Daniel Lamb (Ptolemy Slocum) and Leo Kasper (Holter Graham). Daniel is disoriented and partly amnesiac, unable to remember how or why he came to Dixmor. Under Leo's guidance, they escape the facility and make their way to the ruins of Daniel's old home. Inside, Daniel recovers medication which Leo says he left there for himself in the event of him forgetting the past. The medication helps to clear his head somewhat, and he begins to remember fragments of his former life. He and Leo then set out to unravel the secrets of Daniel's past, all the while pursued by bounty hunters and agents of a mysterious organization called "The Project".

As the plot unfolds, Daniel learns that he was once a top scientist in the employ of the "Pickman Project", a government-sponsored weapons program involving brainwashing and mind control techniques. The Project's goal was to create the perfect assassin; to accomplish this, they developed the "Pickman Bridge", a brain implant containing the personality and skills of a trained assassin which could be activated on command. In theory, the two personalities could co-exist in the same mind, completely unaware of one another. The idea was that the assassin could be remotely triggered, carry out his mission, and then revert to the original persona, who would have no memory of what he had just done, hence would be immune to interrogation.

As Daniel puts the clues together and begins to remember more of his past, he and Leo set out to find Dr. Whyte, a Project researcher and one of Daniel's co-workers. However, before they can get to her, they are ambushed and sedated. Daniel wakes up in a room with Whyte, who reveals the truth to him. Six years prior, with the Project's funds under threat, Daniel volunteered himself to test the Pickman Bridge, hoping that the resulting payoff would allow him to clear his family's debts and provide a financially secure future. However, the Bridge malfunctioned soon after it was implanted, causing Daniel to suffer from dissociative identity disorder, resulting in him being able to directly communicate with the implanted personality, who he perceives as a real person - Leo Kasper. Whyte explains that Leo is dangerously unstable, and has been working against Daniel from the very beginning.

Whyte reveals that, after the implant malfunctioned, Leo's personality asserted itself, suppressing Daniel's own, and he went on a rampage across the city, murdering police officers and members of the Project, destroying the Project's records of Daniel and himself, and finally making his way to Daniel's household and killing his wife. His goal was to weaken Daniel's grip on reality to the point where Leo could take complete control of his mind. However, the Project caught Daniel/Leo after the murder, erased his memory, torched his house, and had him committed to Dixmor, where they had been working to study the effects of the implant and repair the damage, without success. Upon learning the truth, Daniel determines that he must destroy Leo once and for all. He enters a deep hypnotic state and faces off against Leo within the confines of his own mind. He is finally able to let go of the guilt he feels over his wife's death, allowing him to "kill" Leo and assert control.

Having done so, Daniel awakens on a deserted road with his memory erased once more. He is holding an envelope informing him that his name is "David Joiner", providing him with a new home address at 526 Hope Street, Apartment B, and wishing him luck. Daniel briefly hesitates before walking away.

An alternate ending is unlocked on the Hard difficulty or if the player killed too many civilians throughout the game, resulting in the final battle being played from Leo's perspective. He successfully destroys Daniel's personality and wakes up in control of his mind and body. Whyte, believing she is speaking to Daniel, asks him if he is okay, to which he replies he is keen to get back to work on the Bridge. As he looks at himself in the mirror, Daniel sees Leo's reflection looking back at him.

The Daleks begin their invasion of the galaxy with an attack on the peaceful Earth Alliance colony of Vega VI.

The Daleks continue their attack on the galaxy.

Alby continues his quest to find Suz, as she and Kalendorf face the Dalek Supreme Commander.

The Daleks are retreating as the rebellion seems to be succeeding.

It's twenty years since Siy Tarkov disappeared and it seems as if the Daleks are back.

The film opens with a wide shot of waves breaking ominously on the seashore, accompanied by Alfonsina's poetry. Another scene has Alfonsina looking into a fish-bowl and saying "I wonder what it would be like to live under the sea".

There is also an important scene where Alfonsina announces the news of her illness performed in a very different way from a Hollywood film.

The episode opens ''in medias res'' in 1989, when a SWAT team conducts a raid on a Baltimore warehouse. Inside, they find a naked and disoriented Fox Mulder in a box, shouting, "They're here!" Three men attempt to flee the scene and are captured; they are revealed to be the Lone Gunmen. As they sit in a city jail, they begin blaming each other for the predicament they have found themselves in. Detective John Munch interrogates John Fitzgerald Byers, who tries to explain what happened.

In the flashback, Byers, a public affairs officer for the FCC, attends a computer and electronics convention. There, he follows a beautiful woman who passes his booth; he also passes by booths manned by Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly, who are both selling stolen cable television. When Byers bumps into the woman, she introduces herself as Holly and claims that her daughter had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, who is in the Baltimore area.

Holly possesses a piece of paper with "ARPANET/WHTCORPS" written on it. Byers realizes that the words refer to the Defense Department's computer network, which she requests he hack into. Byers, at the time an unquestioningly loyal government employee, reluctantly complies. He finds an encrypted file on her daughter, named Susanne Modeski. Just then, a man whom Holly claims to be her boyfriend passes by Byers's booth. It is Mulder.

Byers and Holly recruit Frohike to help them decipher the file. Both Byers and Frohike decide to assault Mulder, but they decide not to when he introduces himself as an FBI agent. Returning to his booth, Byers finds his FCC colleague being arrested for the hacking Byers committed. Frohike convinces Byers not to turn himself in, and recruits Langly to help them hack into the FBI database to learn more about Holly. They discover that "Holly" is actually Susanne Modeski, who is wanted for acts of murder, sabotage, and terrorism at a weapons facility in New Mexico.

Susanne admits her deception but claims that she was scapegoated for trying to leave her job at the weapons facility. There, she had been working on ergotamine, an aerosolized gas that causes paranoia and anxiety. Susanne claims that the government plans to test the gas on civilians in Baltimore. After deciphering the file, the Lone Gunmen find that she was telling the truth, learning the location of the gas. Susanne also finds evidence that she had a tracking device put in a tooth, which she pulls out.

The four of them head to the warehouse, where they find the gas stored inside asthma inhalers. Mulder arrives to arrest them, but two dark-suited men come to take Susanne. They fire at Mulder, hitting the boxes behind him and exposing him to the gas. The exposure causes Mulder to strip naked, hide in the box, and hallucinate about seeing aliens in the warehouse. Susanne shoots the men and escapes. More men then arrive, led by X, who intimidates the Lone Gunmen to attain their future silence. Byers confronts X, asking him about his actions and mentioning the supposed cover-up of the John F. Kennedy assassination. X's unconvincing denial — "I heard it was a lone gunman" — becomes the origin of the trio's name. X leaves, just as the police arrive and arrest the Lone Gunmen.

Detective Munch does not believe Byers's story, but it is soon corroborated by Mulder. After the Lone Gunmen are released, they encounter Susanne after she has failed to get the press to believe her story. She tells them to reveal the truth to as many people as possible. Susanne is then captured by X, who leers at the Lone Gunmen as he departs with her. Later, the three of them meet Mulder in the convention center and explain what happened to him.Meisler, pp. 12–23

The galaxy is being ravaged by a deadly plague infection and it appears that the Daleks have the cure.

The surviving Graxis Wardens try to reveal the truth about the Daleks to a disbelieving galaxy.

As Kaymee discovers the truth about the plague, Galanar and Elaria discover the truth about themselves.

The Daleks pursue the Graxis Wardens, Galanar, Elaria and Tarkov to the planet Velyshaa to face their final battle.

The comic misadventures of a gangster wannabe.

The novel opens in 54 BC, with Caesar in the middle of his epochal Gallic campaigns, having just invaded Britannia. The first half of the novel deals broadly with the conclusion of his conquests in Gaul, and the second half narrates the growing sense of unease in Rome concerning Caesar's intentions, the antagonism of the conservative 'boni' faction towards him, his crossing of the Rubicon, his invasion of Italy and his victory in the Civil War.

Some of the pivotal moments include Caesar's return from Britannia; his narrow escape during the battle of Gergovia; his great victory at Alesia, which involved the complete circumvallation of the citadel, the repulse of a relief force, and the acceptance of the surrender of Vercingetorix; his final destruction of the Gallic resistance at Uxellodunum; the death of Julia and Marcus Licinius Crassus; his falling out with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and the final collapse of the First Triumvirate system; his failed negotiations concerning his re-election as consul; the opening of the Civil War; the Battle of Dyrrhachium and the Battle of Pharsalus; the flight of Pompey to Ptolemaic Egypt and his assassination there; and the scattering of the 'boni' leadership.

Newly crowned King Edvard of Denmark (Luke Mably) and his American fiancée Paige Morgan (Kam Heskin) have been engaged for two years and Paige goes to medical school in Denmark to be with Edvard and his family. Just weeks before their wedding, however, they find their relationship in jeopardy when an old law is brought to light, one that requires a Danish king to be married to a princess, or be forced to abdicate and relinquish the crown. Edvard's childhood friend, Princess Kirsten (Clemency Burton-Hill), comes for a visit and plots to try to steal Edvard from Paige, both for her personal reasons (to become Queen of Denmark) and that her father, a Norwegian royal, is heavily in debt and seeks to marry Kirsten into the royal family's money.

At one point Kirsten offers to help Paige with her study of the Danish language per a Danish marriage law. When Paige is asked to say something in Danish she answers with "The queen is a green donkey that shakes bum and pees on flowers", which both offends and puzzles the royal family. It is revealed that she meant to say "The queen has a green thumb and she waves her hand and flowers grow". The stress caused by the law causes Paige and Edvard to break up. Edvard decides to marry Kirsten. Paige decides to stay in Denmark to finish her semester. During the wedding planning of Kirsten and Edvard, Paige sees through Edvard's body language that he does not love Kirsten and is only going through the motions.

Paige is able to find a loophole in the succession law with the help of her friend Jake and his friends, who are law students. The newer law, written 41 years after the marriage law, states that any woman can be crowned a princess if she can demonstrate knowledge of the Danish Constitution by reading it in Danish before the Parliament. Luckily the Danish Parliament is present at the wedding, the Constitution is read, and the happy couple marries. Before they can kiss, however, Kirsten barges in with a mud-covered torn wedding dress. She is eventually dragged off by her father while she screams "I love you Edvard" and after that Edvard and the now Queen Paige kiss. The film ends with the newlyweds leaving the church.

The plot concerns a married woman who, at a college reunion, meets the man with whom she almost eloped ten years before. Romantically stirred by a novel he has written about her, she considers leaving her husband and reuniting with her former flame.

Jim Norman, a high school history teacher struggling with emotional problems, returns to his old hometown after accepting a teaching job there. He moves back along with his wife, Sally, and their young son, Scott.

When Jim was nine, he had moved away from the small town with his parents after he had witnessed his older brother, Wayne, being murdered by a gang of greasers during a mugging in a train tunnel in 1963. Three of the murderers — Richard Lawson, Vinnie Vincent, and David North — were killed shortly afterwards by an oncoming steam train, having parked their 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty on the tracks. (The fourth member, Carl Mueller, ran off and survived.)

Soon after he returns to his hometown, Jim starts having nightmares and flashbacks about his brother's murder. Soon afterwards, the ghosts of the three dead greasers chase Billy Sterns, one of Jim's students, to his death. Lawson, back from the dead, transfers into Jim's class. After the death of Kate, another of Jim's students, Vinnie also returns from the dead and transfers into Jim's class. The deaths of the two students are blamed as suicides.

Chip Conway, one of Jim's students, warns him that Richard and Vinnie are out for revenge. As he leaves Jim's home, Chip is attacked by the greasers, now joined with North, driving a 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty. They dismember Chip and throw his remains off of a bridge. Meanwhile, Jim has fallen under the suspicion of Pappas, the local police chief.

The three greasers have supernatural features: they cast no reflection in a mirror; can change their physical appearance to a demonic, mutilated look; are impervious to bullets; and can appear to some while invisible to others. They challenge Jim to a confrontation and make an attempt on his son's life with their car on the 27th anniversary of Wayne's murder.

Jim tracks down a retired policeman, Officer Neil, who reveals that he had been shot during a robbery and had been clinically dead for over three minutes, during which he encountered Wayne's spirit in the "mid-realm" – the dimension between the world of the living and one's final destination. Neil explains that Wayne is stuck there and sometimes when things are unsettled, spirits come back. Jim then tells Neil that the greasers all claimed to have transferred in from "Milford," but can't find any trace of a "Milford High School." Neil explains that it is not a school.

Jim goes to the Milford Cemetery and finds the graves of the three greasers, who once again confront him. They reveal to Jim that he is going to need Mueller to put everything together. Jim then tracks down Mueller, who panics and flees thinking Jim wants revenge. The greasers then attack Jim's family at their home. Jim fends them off and takes his family to a church, where they will be safe from the demonic gang. It is then revealed that when Jim was a boy, he had taken the murderers' car keys which led to their deaths. Jim realizes that he can't keep running and must deal with the past.

Jim returns to his abandoned childhood home and finds the old car keys that he took during the night of his brother's murder. He is joined by Mueller, who apologizes for Wayne's death and offers to help. The greasers attack again and take Mueller with them, reuniting their gang. Jim visits Wayne's grave seeking his help, but something blocks Wayne's return to the world of the living. In the meantime, the greasers lure Jim's family out of the church and take them prisoner.

Jim returns to the train tunnel in which Wayne's murder took place. The greasers plan to kill Jim the same way they murdered Wayne and take Jim with them, but Mueller switches sides and is killed by Lawson. The dying Mueller explains that for every life the greasers take, another can come back. A doorway to the afterlife opens, allowing Wayne to return. Wayne distracts the gang while Jim gets his family out of the gang's 1955 Chevrolet. Jim gives the gang back their car keys. Lawson promises to return, but Jim explains that there won't be a next time. The gang tries to escape in their car, only to have it struck by a ghost train that resembles the same one that killed them in 1963, which sends them to Hell.

Wayne is not aware that 27 years had passed, and Jim explains that he has grown up. Wayne can move on to Heaven and see his parents, and offers to have Jim come with him to the afterlife, but Jim refuses. Jim promises that they will be together again someday, and Wayne returns to the afterlife as Jim's family heads home.

Guy is summoned before the chief of international security and informed that the evil Baron Von Max has located the whereabouts of the legendary Crystals of Armageddon. Max needs these crystals to power the doomsday machine he has constructed in the mountains at an unknown location.

Two men are surveying an area of the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County, Florida when they are attacked and killed by unseen assailants with glowing red eyes. Later that day, Michael Asekoff and his son, Louis, are hunting for opossums with their dog, Bo, in the same stretch of woods. Upon discovering a surveyor's bloody jacket, Michael orders Louis to take Bo and run home. As Louis and the dog head off into the woods, two shots are heard.

Meanwhile, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are carpooling with FBI agents Michael Kinsley and Carla Stonecypher ''en route'' to a "team building" seminar. When they are stopped at a roadblock by local police, Mulder decides to investigate, in part to get away from Kinsley and Stonecypher, whose perky nature annoys him. As he and Scully venture into the woods, they are informed by Officer Michele Fazekas that no conclusive evidence has been found to support Louis' report of a shooting. Mulder sees this as a perfect opportunity to ditch the seminar. Later, Mulder explains to Scully that no species native to North America will attack a stronger prey animal when there is a weaker target available, so it makes no sense that an animal would go after Asekoff and ignore his young son.

At the Asekoff residence that night, Bo becomes upset and begins barking. Mrs. Asekoff lets him out, but when she attempts to retrieve him, the dog refuses to budge. She turns around to discover that the door has been shut and locked from the inside. Louis hears his mother's screams and climbs out of bed, but a dark, shadowy figure with red eyes corners him. Louis barely escapes through the dog door and runs into Mulder, informing him that the creature is inside the house. The next morning, Mulder shows Scully some tracks inside the house that appear to be human. Based on the weight distribution, however, the assailant evidently travels on the balls of its feet rather than from heel to toe. Additionally, that the creature lured Louis' mother out of the house in order to get to him suggests to Mulder that the creatures are paranormal in nature.

Jeff Glaser, a local technician armed with a FLIR device, joins Fazekas, Mulder, and Scully to search the woods for the creature. They soon spot two creatures on the FLIR which travel in separate directions, causing the four to split up. Fazekas is attacked and disappears. Mulder deduces that the creatures may be related to cryptids such as the Mothman. After a brief encounter with the creatures, Glaser takes off running and is swiftly attacked by one of them. Mulder is grabbed by the other creature, though it releases him after Scully manages to wound it with her firearm.

Mulder, wounded in the attack, and Scully spend the night in the woods together. The next morning, Scully falls through a hole in the ground while foraging for food and finds herself in an underground chamber where the bodies of the missing people are being stored. Spotting a pair of red eyes, Scully realizes she is trapped with one of the creatures and does not have her firearm with her. Mulder drops his down to her as the bushes behind him begin to rustle. He jumps into the hole as Scully shoots the creature and kills it. As they examine the dead creature, they notice its almost human-like features and wood-like skin. Nearby, the words "ad noctum" (Latin for "into darkness") are found carved into a tree trunk. Mulder, Scully, Asekoff, and Fazekas are rescued, but there is no sign of Glaser or the other creature.

Upon leaving the forest, Mulder states that the creatures may, in fact, be evolved versions of the first Spanish conquistadors who had first settled in the forest 450 years before. Although Kinsley finds this idea ridiculous, Mulder believes that centuries of seclusion could be adequate for such drastic adaptations to happen. Afterwards, Mulder realizes that the creatures presume others' presence in their territory as threatening and rushes to the hotel room where Scully is packing her things. After ascertaining that she is finished packing, he firmly urges her to vacate the room, which she does. As Mulder closes the door behind them, the camera then pans under the bed, where a pair of glowing eyes open.

The premise of the series was to follow the adventures of buxom blonde Angela St. Grace (the "Codename: Knockout" of the title) a secret agent and operative for the "G.O.O.D." (Global Organization for the Obliteration of Dastardliness) organization as she battled the nefarious agents of "E.V.I.L." (Extralegal Vendors of Iniquity and Licentiousness).

She is assisted by her partner Go Go Fiasco, a young, handsome, gay fellow agent and by her mother Celeste St. Grace, the leader of the G.O.O.D. organization.

The novel revolves around the twelve-year-old protagonist named Baby and follows her for two years. Baby lives with her father Jules, who has a worsening heroin addiction. The two move frequently, to various places around Montreal, where they encounter many other characters, among them junkies, bums, pimps, and abused children.

Baby was born while Jules was in high school with her mother, who died soon after Baby was born, though the cause of death is not revealed immediately.

Jules often leaves young Baby by herself wherever they may be living, for anywhere from a week to over a month at a time. Baby becomes distraught and finds herself wandering the streets of Montreal on her own. She is eventually taken away by Child Protective Services and put into a foster home while Jules is in the hospital with tuberculosis. There she makes friends with two boys, Linus Lucas, a 14-year-old who all the children think is the very height of cool, and Zachary, a mellow, happy 12-year-old. When Jules finally picks her up, he promises that everything will return to normal.

As Jules and Baby begin to settle down again, Jules' addiction gets the best of him and he begins to lash out at Baby, often for no reason. Baby eventually runs away and finds a semblance of security with a pimp named Alphonse. Around this time, she is taken into juvenile detention, and spends about a month in there. Alphonse develops an intimate relationship with Baby, taking her virginity, and forcing her to become a prostitute. She becomes one of his "girls" and is fearful of leaving him. She attempts to return to the apartment she had shared with Jules, but it is locked from the inside and nobody is there, so she assumes Jules has abandoned her. Alphonse also exposes her to heroin, making her addicted to it.

Baby goes back to school while still prostituting herself and meets an odd boy named Xavier. Xavier and Baby slowly but surely become closer and begin to date. As their relationship grows, they become very intimate, and have sex at Alphonse's hotel room, the only place they can be alone. When Alphonse returns to find them there, he beats Xavier and sends him home. Alphonse then beats Baby and takes all of her heroin. When Baby wakes up the next morning, she finds Alphonse dead of a drug overdose.

Baby leaves Alphonse's room and is left with nowhere to go. She decides to go to a nearby homeless shelter where she had heard that Jules was staying. They embrace, and Jules explains that he has set up a place to stay with his cousin. They pack up and walk to the local bus station. On the bus, Jules explains that Baby's mother died in a car crash while Jules was driving. The other driver was drunk at the time.

Upon arrival at Jules' cousin's house in Val des Loups, the story ends.

The capricious girl queen is semiliterate, bratty, and does not wish to be taught. When the lesson turns to botany, she wishes that April will arrive tomorrow, and bring with it the spring flowers, Snowdrops. The professor assures her that this is impossible, since it is the dead of winter, however the queen issues the decree: whoever brings a basket of these flowers to the palace, will receive the same basket of gold and a fur coat.

A poor country stepmother and her daughter dream of this reward and as soon as the stepdaughter with comes back home after gathering brushwood, they send her back to the wood — to carry out the royal will and gather the impossible Snowdrops.

The freezing stepdaughter comes to a glade in which a fire burns, and round it the twelve brother Months are heated. They listen carefully to the girl, and April asks his brothers to concede to him an hour or so to help her. She comes back home happy with snowdrops and a magic ring presented to her by April. If there is trouble, she can throw the ringlet and speak the magic words — and all twelve brother months will come to her rescue.

While the tired stepdaughter sleeps, her stepsister steals the magic ring. The stepmother and her daughter go to the royal palace with the basket of snowdrops, having left the stepdaughter at home. The pleased queen orders them to tell her where they found flowers in the winter. The two invent a tale about a wonderful place in which in the winter grow not only flowers, but even mushrooms and berries.

The queen herself decides to go to this wonderful place together with the court. The stepmother and her daughter admit that the stepdaughter was the one to gather the flowers. The queen takes them and the stepdaughter into the wood. The stepdaughter complains that the stepmother and daughter stole a ring from her, so the queen orders them to return it. After the stepdaughter receives the ring, the queen demands that the stepdaughter tell them where she found the snowdrops. After the stepdaughter refuses, the queen orders her guards to remove the stepdaughter's fur coat, threatens to execute her, and throws her magic ring into an ice-hole. The stepdaughter says the magic words April taught her and runs away.

At once there comes the Spring, and then — Summer. Around the queen it becomes dry and warm. Then there comes Autumn. The queen, having been drenched under the strongest autumn heavy rain, freezes suddenly as Winter arrives. The blizzard carries away all the fur coats which the court had taken off during the brief arrival of Summer. They begin to freeze and, abandoning the queen, the court flees back to the palace. With her remains only an old soldier and the professor. They cannot return home on the sledge as the horses had been taken by the court to return to the palace.

An old man in a white fur coat (brother month January) comes out of the wood and suggests that everyone think of one desire. The queen wishes to return home, the professor — that the seasons return to normal, the soldier — "it is simple to get warm at a fire", and the stepmother and her daughter for fur coats made of dog fur. January begins with the last request and gives the two fur coats. They begin to squabble each other, and transform into dogs. They are harnessed to the sledge, and the queen tries to use them to go back to the palace, but they don't get far.

The soldier comes to get warm at the brother months' fire. There he meets the stepdaughter, in all new furs and with a team of beautiful snow-white horses. The soldier suggests to the queen that they ask to borrow the horses so they may return home to the castle. The queen demands them, and offers the stepdaughter wealth and power in return, but the stepdaughter refuses. The soldier explains to the haughty queen that it is necessary to ask kindly. Once she does, the stepdaughter with pleasure lends them her horses and gives them warm fur coats. They all go home, having left the brother months at a New Year's fire.

In 2123, the UNS ''Amazon'' is sent as part of an exploration fleet to various planets to determine new viable locations for settlement as the Earth is destroyed by human activity. En route to Saturn, the ''Amazon'' is ensnared by a massive alien being resembling a large asteroid. The protagonist, Commander Jason Barr, is sent to investigate the incident.

He encounters heavy resistance on his way to Saturn, and after fighting through multitudes of alien ships, encounters the UNS Amazon almost completely absorbed by the organic asteroid. As he explores it, he comes into contact with what appears to be Captain Sumoki of the Amazon. However, she morphs into a demonic looking alien and attacks. Upon defeat, it reverts to the appearance of the Captain and Barr takes it back to the Moon base.

The being is examined and determined to be an alien clone. Upon interrogation, it reveals an alien listening base located on Tethys. Barr heads to Tethys to find the base and destroy its communication uplink. Upon his arrival he encounters a probe which proceeds to scan his ship before heading back to the base. Barr chases it through the valleys, where he locates the base. He manages to complete his mission and escape the base before it's destroyed. His ship, however, gets caught in the data beam and he is pulled up through it.

Regaining consciousness, he pilots the ship through several pieces of debris and destroys an awaiting alien ship. His ship is badly damaged in the process and crashes into the alien mothership. With no means of escape, he searches the ship and engages the leader in battle, finally defeating him on the bridge. He then accidentally activates the ship terraforming ability, changing its coordinates from Earth to Mars. With this Mars is transformed into a second Earth, providing humanity a new home.

The Railrodder (Buster Keaton) reads a newspaper in London, England. A full-page ad proclaiming "SEE CANADA NOW!" catches his attention. He promptly throws the newspaper away and jumps into the Thames. He subsequently reemerges on the east coast of Canada at Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia, having apparently swum across the Atlantic, where he is greeted by a sign indicating the direction to the other side of Canada, 3,982½ miles away.

The Railrodder starts his long hike, but soon finds a one-man, open-top rail maintenance vehicle, commonly known as a "speeder", parked on a rail track. He sits in the driver's seat intending to take a nap, but he accidentally puts the vehicle in gear, and it speeds off down the track.

In a series of mini-adventures shared by the Railrodder and the motor car, the vehicle (with an apparently inexhaustible fuel supply) follows the Canadian National Railway line across Canada. En route, the Railrodder is shown making breakfast, acting as a maid, and even doing laundry, never once intentionally stopping the vehicle (though he later does stop in order to obtain camouflage so he can do some bird-hunting). A running gag involves a storage compartment in the vehicle which seems to be infinite on the inside, as he pulls out everything from pillows and a bison fur coat to a full tea service. Along the way he also has some close calls with locomotives and even other speeders coming the other direction, but emerges harm-free each time.

The Railrodder finally arrives at the West Coast. After taking in the view for a few moments, he gets ready to start the long ride back, only to discover his rail car has been taken by a Japanese gentleman who has just emerged from the ocean—presumably the Strait of Georgia—and has decided to take his own tour of Canada. With a shrug, the Railrodder starts walking down the long track.

The series has a very simple plot: ''Federrico'' gets involved on funny adventures on the school or with his friends. Many times he drives mad his neighbor, ''Don Moncho'', and his mother, ''Doña Carlota''. Federrico is also in love with his teacher, a very beautiful lady.

Category:1980s sitcoms Category:1980s children's television series Category:Venezuelan comedy television series Category:1982 Venezuelan television series debuts

A couple, down on their luck during the Great Depression, move to a farm to try to make a go of living off the land. They have no idea what to do at first, but soon find other downtrodden people to help them. Soon they have a collective of people, some from the big city, who work together on a farm. A severe drought is killing the crops. The people then dig a ditch by hand, almost two miles long, to divert water from a creek to irrigate the crops.

Seiji (played by Takeuchi) grew up as an orphan who was raised by his boss Muto. The Muto family is composed only of the boss Muto, Seiji and Yoshi and serves as a branch of the larger Date family. When Muto is called upon to settle his dues to the gang, he instead vows to assassinate a top officer of the rival Tendo family. Seiji offers to carry out the assassination himself but Muto forbids it because Seiji already served a 15 year murder sentence for a gang related hit. A day later, Muto is arrested for possession of an illegal firearm and sentenced to serve 2 years in prison.

Seiji ambushes the leader of the Tendo family at his villa and leaves him in critical condition. This act compromises the future of the Date family, and the Tendo family responds quickly with a wave of brutal murders.

While visiting his girlfriend, Yoshi is killed by an assassin squad under the order of the Tendo family. After hearing of his bosses expulsion Seiji returns to the Date headquarters and shoots the first person who yells at him. A member of the Date clan explains boss Muto was expelled because he turned himself into the police and went to prison in order to avoid carrying out the assassination. Seiji readily explains it was he who told on the boss in order to protect him. Seiji carries out the assassination of the number two boss but is shot shortly after.

Seiji then goes to the bar of Muto's wife Sachie, who takes him to a doctor. Soon after, Date is assassinated. The Taiwanese arms dealer shows up at Sachie's house with weapons. Before he leaves he tells her that Seiji must love her because of his actions. Boss Muto is murdered in prison. Seiji then retaliates by killing boss Muto's killer on the way to his trial. Seiji and Sachie plan to escape to the Philippines.

As their boat begins to arrive, Sachie throws Seiji's gun into the water with hopes of a peaceful future. As they turn to get their luggage, they notice Egawa, a policeman who had provided information to Seiji, hanging from a crane nearby. The two become aware they are cornered at the end of the dock and their boat turns around when it sees trouble. The assassin squad closes in on them and open fire as Seiji blocks all the shots from hitting Sachie. As Seiji lies dead, the leader of the assassin squad tells him that he is showing off too much. The squad then walks away without harming Sachie.

Jacob (Jax) Marosco is mentored by Mulu a Dimensional Occult Guardian. The three issue storyline centered on the demi-god Jareda who wished to attempt a resurrection in our dimension. Jax and Mulu are committed to stopping him at any cost; including their lives.

The début of Jax and Mulu online. Cover art by Dennis Francis. The story covered the war on drugs, mysticism, and a romantic relationship with an older woman. Jax and the Hellhound was part of Blackthorne Publishing’s pro black and white lineup. The 1980s produced the black and white comic craze that fired up the imaginations of kids and grownups alike. Unfortunately greed and over-speculation took its toll on the comic book market by the 1990s and many indie publishers went out of business. The black and white comic book market never returned to the level of popularity seen in the mid-1980s.

Dennis Morales Francis also co created the critically acclaimed Street Wolf along with Mark-Wayne Harris. He also penciled XL, Locke, Major Lancer and the Starlight Squadron and other books for DC Comics, Blackthorne Publishing, Eclipse Comics and other publishers.

The Jax and the Hellhound series has been resurrected by Dennis Morales Francis as a full color graphic novel series and can be previewed online at www.graphic-novels.com as well as [www.drunkduck.com].

Dennis Mitchell has to rescue his friends Joey and Margaret, along with Mr. Wilson's coin collection, from the burglar Switchblade Sam.

The story opens with the delivery to a crowd gathered in Rotterdam of a manuscript detailing the journey of a man named Hans Pfaall. The manuscript, which comprises the majority of the story, sets out in detail how Pfaall contrived to reach the Moon by benefit of a revolutionary new balloon and a device which compresses the vacuum of space into breathable air. The journey takes him nineteen days, and the narrative includes descriptions of the Earth from space as well as the descent to its fiery, volcanic satellite. Pfaall withholds most of the information regarding the surface of the Moon and its inhabitants in order to negotiate a pardon from the Burgomaster for several murders he committed as he left Earth (creditors of his who were becoming irksome). After reading the manuscript, the city authorities agree that Pfaall should be pardoned, but the messenger who brought them the text (apparently a resident of the Moon) has vanished and they are unable to restore communication with him.

The Stooges are artists (Moe is a sculptor, Larry is a music composer, and Curly is a painter) living in Paris. When the landlord comes after the overdue rent and calls the Parisian police and have them thrown in the Bastille forever for not paying the overdue rent, the boys skip out and wind up accidentally joining the French Foreign Legion that they confuse with the American Legion. Posted to the desert, their assignment is to guard Captain Gorgonzola from the natives. When the captain is kidnapped, the boys are given a chance to bring him back alive.

The Stooges make their way to the town where the captain was taken, all disguised as Santa Claus (complete with a sleigh and a reindeer). Despite the disguise not working, they are able to quickly knock out a guard who confronted them and make their way further into town. Ultimately, they find their captain held by an evil sheik named Tsimmis (Vernon Dent) who is trying to offer him expensive jewelry and a harem of beautiful women in exchange for the Legion's ammunition. The trio are forced to disguise themselves again as part of the harem and use an opportunity during a dance to render the sheik and his head bodyguard unconscious. The four then escape, but end up coming across a lion's den. Before the lion could eat them, Curly is able to placate it into drawing them on a wagon back to their camp.

A United States oil company loses a drill, intended to do work in the Arctic, while flying over a Canadian lake. Company employee Sean is contacted to go to Canada to find it; however, he has to cancel plans to take his son to Walt Disney World. Although his son, Mac, is disappointed, he agrees to go with his father to Canada. Once in Canada, they meet a local native named Custer who helps Sean and another employee on their mission.

They visit the lake using a submarine, and after taking pictures of the bottom of the lake discover incredibly deep giant rivers. The legend of Mee-Shee states that the rivers lead to the ocean. Sean and Mac rent the home of Mrs. Coogan, a kindly lady whom Sean refers to as "Mary Poppins".

Mac, Sean and others see vague images of Mee-Shee that spark their curiosity. Upon meeting Custer's daughter Pawnee, Mac goes with her to a cave where local native woman "Crazy Norma" feeds Mee-Shee. This is where they first meet the unique creature. Mac runs back to the house to tell his dad, but Mrs. Coogan warns that Mee-Shee's life could be endangered if the outside world knew of it.

Meanwhile, saboteurs Snead and Watkins, agents of a rival oil company who pose as Greenpeace representatives, destroy Sean's equipment and search for the drill themselves. Their first time under the water, they see Mee-Shee and shoot him with a harpoon. When Mac finds him again in the cave he removes the harpoon, and tells environmental ranger Laura about it. Events lead to a search for Mee-Shee and conflicts with the saboteurs. The saboteurs capture Mee-Shee and attempt to kill him, but an even larger Mee-Shee appears, meaning that the one in the net is a baby and the larger one is an adult. Enraged, the mother attacks the saboteurs and kills them. Out of gratitude, the baby Mee-Shee retrieves the drill but they decide that they don't want it and throw it back. All of a sudden, 8 more members of Mee-Shee's family appear out of the water, both old and young (showing that there's more than one).

The movie opens with shots from the Spanish Civil War, and a line of Spanish refugees crossing the border into France after defeat by the Francoists. Republican guerrilla fighter Manuel Artiguez (Gregory Peck) turns away from the border and back towards Spain. His friends stop him, saying "Manuel, the war is over!".

The story returns twenty years later, to a young boy named Paco (Carlo Angeletti), who asks a man named Pedro (Paolo Stoppa) why Artiguez, who is legendary for his fierce resistance to Franco even after the defeat of the Republicans, has stopped his guerrilla raids against the Francoists in Spain. Pedro sends Paco into France to find his uncle and Artiguez. Paco tells Artiguez that he wants him to kill Viñolas (Anthony Quinn), a ''Guardia Civil'' officer, for killing his father. Paco lets Artiguez know that his father was killed because he wouldn't tell the police where to find Artiguez, whom Viñolas must capture if he is to retain his rank in the Guard.

Meanwhile, Viñolas has learned that Artiguez's mother (Mildred Dunnock) is dying, and sets a trap at the hospital in San Martín to capture Artiguez, presuming that he will come to see his mother. Like all Republican sympathizers, she is contemptuous and deeply suspicious of all Catholic clergy, some of who collaborated with Francoist Spain, both during and after the war. In return for information about the layout of the hospital and surrounding area, Paco tells Artiguez to "bump into Viñolas" for him.

A priest (Omar Sharif) visits with Artiguez's mother, who initially refuses to speak to him, but his kindness and sincerity win her over enough to ask him to warn her son not to come to see her, as she knows the Guard will be waiting for him. After Viñolas has laid his trap, Artiguez's mother dies, but Viñolas sends a spy to convince Artiguez otherwise, and to come visit her. When the priest appears at Artiguez's house, he's gone, so the priest tells Paco to pass on the message that Artiguez's mother is already dead, and not to go to San Martín. The priest also gives Paco a letter to warn Artiguez that he saw a collaborator at the Guard headquarters.

Paco flushes the letter down the toilet and doesn't pass on the verbal message because he feels sure the priest must be lying. Afterwards, Paco recognizes the man (Carlos) in Artiguez's house as the informer, and tells Artiguez about the priest's message. Pedro believes the boy, but Artiguez can't believe his friend Carlos would betray him. Trying to clear up the mess, Artiguez takes Paco and Carlos to Lourdes to find the priest. But the priest was delayed on the way, and since he's not there, they let Carlos go. On the way back, however, they see the priest, and forcibly take him to Artiguez's house. When Carlos returns to Artiguez's house for his rucksack, Artiguez asks the priest to come out. Carlos, knowing he is exposed, attacks Artiguez and escapes.

The priest tries to overcome Artiguez's antipathy for all clergy and Artiguez confesses that he knew all along that his mother was sick but didn't visit her before her death because he is no longer as brave as he was in his youth. Embarrassed by admitting his vulnerability, Artiguez allows the priest to go free and, after much internal debate, he decides to go to San Martín anyway, presumably with the mission of killing Viñolas. Once in San Martín, Artiguez encounters a Francoist sniper on the roof of the hospital and attacks him, sending him to his death. Picking up the sniper's rifle he sees Carlos the informer (who is with the police in a nearby building) looking out a window to see what has caused the commotion ; Artiguez pauses briefly then shoots Carlos, killing him. Once inside the hospital, he kills a few officers, but is finally shot.

Soldiers and officers congratulate Viñolas on at last killing his enemy, but he asks one of his lieutenants, knowing his mother was already dead and a trap would be waiting for him, why did Artiguez come back? The final shot is of the morgue, with the soldiers Artiguez killed and Artiguez himself (and his dead mother), wheeled in on gurneys and arranged in a row, dead.

Robinson Crusoe, a third son with few prospects, goes to sea against his father's wishes. On a voyage from Brazil to Africa to collect slaves, a storm forces him to abandon ship. He swims alone to a deserted island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on September 30, 1659.

To his delight, the abandoned ship turns up on an offshore rock, allowing him to salvage food, tools, firearms and other items before it sinks. He herds goats, hunts game, makes clothes, and builds a home, with only the company of a dog, Rex, and a cat, Sam, his only fellow castaways. Crusoe lets Sam and her kittens run wild. When Rex dies of old age in 1673, Crusoe nearly goes insane from loneliness.

In 1677, after 18 years, Crusoe discovers that cannibals are visiting his island with their victims. The next time he spots them with his telescope, he sees a prisoner make a break for it, pursued by two cannibals. He knocks out one and shoots the other; when the first one regains consciousness, the escapee kills him with Crusoe's knife. Crusoe takes the man back to his stockade.

He names him Friday (after the day of the week they met). Crusoe teaches him English and Western customs and turns Friday into a servant. Crusoe does not trust him at first, believing Friday to also be a cannibal who would kill him if given the chance. He builds a door to the cave in which he takes to sleeping. When Friday enters without permission late one night to sneak some tobacco, Crusoe puts leg irons on him. The next day, however, Crusoe relents and takes them off. He comes to trust his new companion completely.

In 1687, after 28 years, Friday saves Crusoe from a cannibal sneaking up behind him. Seeing a large group, they flee back to their stockade. The cannibals, however, are driven off by white men with guns. Captain Oberzo and his bosun are the victims of a mutiny; the mutineers have landed to get fresh water and to maroon the two. Crusoe and Friday rescue the men and get away undetected. Friday then goes to the leader of the mutiny, offering him a basket of fruit, but the mutineers are more interested in the necklace of gold coins (salvaged from Crusoe's ship) he is wearing. Friday leads the greedy men to the stockade. There, Crusoe, Friday, Oberzo, and the bosun capture them. Oberzo regains control of his ship. At Crusoe's suggestion, Oberzo agrees to let the mutineers remain on the island instead of being sentenced to die on the gallows. Crusoe leaves them his tools and instructions on how to survive.

Crusoe leaves for home with Friday, having spent 28 years, two months, and 19 days on the island. As they row for the ship, Crusoe imagines he can hear his dog Rex barking in the distance.

Laura Danner is a mentally ill, single mother who takes illegal drugs and is unable to care for her 10-year-old son Davey. Driven to despair, she decides to commit suicide by driving a car on to a railway track, taking Davey with her. She offers him some tranquillisers beforehand but, unbeknownst to her, he spits them out. His mother drives on to the tracks. As a train approaches, Davey tries in vain to drag her out of the car, himself jumping clear just in time. Two train crewmen, Tom Stark and Otis Higgs, seeing the car on the tracks ahead, argue about whether an emergency stop will derail the train or not. However, the train hits and kills the boy's mother. Subsequently, the railroad company calls for an internal inquiry and suspends the two drivers pending an informal inquiry.

Davey has spent the first night after the incident with an empathetic social worker, Renee. However, she places the boy with a cold-hearted, disciplinarian foster mother who immediately declares to the boy that she would have preferred a girl. Later on, after being confined to his room for insulting the foster mother while she berated him in the kitchen, he escapes by shattering first a picture frame on the wall, and then used the shattered glass to cut out the screen in the open window. The authorities are alerted and a missing persons search is initiated. The boy obtains train conductor Tom Stark's home address. He turns up at the Starks' home and berates Tom for accidentally killing his mother in the train crash, but eventually he is placated. Tom's wife Megan insists on letting the boy stay although Tom initially disapproves. Caring for Davey gradually helps the couple rebond with each other.

Megan is suffering from breast cancer which has returned and spread to her bones. Having already undergone a mastectomy, she has decided that she will no longer endure chemotherapy and must accept her inevitable death. The couple have no children, partly due to Megan's illness and partly because of Tom's job. Tom is unable to deal with his wife's illness and implores her to continue treatment. Meanwhile, the social worker, Renee, hearing that the boy may have sought out the Stark's home, arrives at the house and even searches it, suspecting the boy is there, but finds only a visibly sick Megan Stark. The family continues to bond, but the social worker keeps an eye on the family. When she sees them out in the park for a picnic, she decides to call the police, but stops when she realizes that the boy is clearly part of a devoted family.

Megan's condition deteriorates and Davey discovers that she is indeed dying. He has a fit, blaming himself not only for Megan's death but also for the suicide of his own mother. Tom Stark placates the boy, reassuring him that it is not his fault. A few hours prior to her death, Megan tells a saddened Davey how much she loves him. She dies in her sleep. Some time after the funeral, Tom informs Davey that it is perhaps now time to contact the social worker to see if he can adopt him. The film ends with Tom and Davey approaching Renee's office hand-in-hand.

''The Recruit'' begins with eleven-year-old James Choke in his combined science class in his first term of secondary school, where he accidentally slashes classmate Samantha Jennings' face with a nail on the wall after she teases him about his mother's obesity. He shoves his teacher over and runs home, an offence he is later expelled for, to find his stepfather Ronald "Ron" Onions visiting his mother, Gwen Choke. He goes back to school to pick up his nine-year-old half-sister, Lauren Onions, and they eat dinner at a local burger bar. They return home to find Ron gone and Gwen asleep, with multiple missed calls from the school on her phone and a note from the Deputy Head Teacher pushed under the door. Later that night, James discovers that his mum has died, which he later finds out is due to her consuming alcohol while taking painkillers. James is sent to a children's home called Nebraska House, where he shares a room with thirteen-year-old CHERUB agent Kyle Blueman. Lauren, however, is taken to live with her father Ron, who dislikes James and doesn't allow him to visit her. Contrary to Kyle's advice, James befriends Rob Vaughn and his friends. A few weeks later, on his twelfth birthday, James is called into the police station, where he receives a caution for assaulting Samantha Jennings and his teacher, Cassandra Voolt. Later that night, Rob and his cronies convince him to steal a pack of beer from an off-licence. The shopkeeper catches him after two of Rob's cronies block the door, preventing James from escaping. He is escorted to the police station, where he is placed in a cell and his statement recorded.

The next morning, James awakes in a room at the CHERUB campus. After dressing, he finds his way to the reception, where the receptionist directs him to the office of CHERUB Chairman Dr. Terrence "Mac" McAfferty. He introduces him to CHERUB and puts him through a series of entrance tests where he meets Bruce Norris. He passes all the entrance tests and is then sent back to Nebraska House to decide whether or not he wants to join. Kyle reveals that he was sent to recruit new agents, and chose him. Upon returning to CHERUB, Kyle shows James his new room, and he meets his handler, Meryl Spencer. In her office, he chooses his new name, James Robert Anthony Adams (after Arsenal F.C. player Tony Adams). He is then given a physical assessment and told to run 30 km per week and learn how to swim. He is taught to swim by Amy Collins, a sixteen-year-old black-shirt CHERUB agent. A few days after arriving at CHERUB campus, Kyle sneaks him onto a one-day mission in London to visit Lauren; Kyle is reprimanded but James gets off with a warning. Three weeks after his arrival at the CHERUB campus, he and seven other recruits begin Basic Training, a rigorous 100-day course designed to prepare CHERUB agents for missions, and is paired up with Kerry Chang, a recruit with two attempts at Basic Training under her belt. Despite nearly quitting after spending Christmas night outside in their underwear, they both pass. Shortly after arriving back on campus, he finds out that Lauren has joined CHERUB as well and Ron has been sentenced to nine years in jail for physically abusing her and selling contraband cigarettes.

Two months later, Amy tells James that their swimming lessons are over, and they have a mission together. Overseen by mission controller Ewart Asker, they are to stay with Cathy Dunn at Fort Harmony, a hippy commune in Wales. There, they discover that brothers Fire and World Dunn are planning an anthrax attack against 200 oil executives and politicians, including the United States Secretary of Energy and the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at Petrocon, an oil conference held in the nearby Green Brooke Conference Centre. They successfully prevent the attack, although accomplice Brian "Bungle" Evans manages to escape. For his exemplary job in the mission, James is awarded a navy CHERUB T-shirt.

Konrad, a poor miller's son, wants to marry Marie, the daughter of a rich miller. Marie's father, who is a widower, is malicious and avaricious, and he tricks the young lovers in a despicable way. The imminent demise of the miller and his innocent daughter is foreshadowed by the appearance of the bird of death and the graveyard ghost.

CHERUB agents Kerry, Nicole, Kyle, and James are sent on a mission to infiltrate the drug gang KMG, led by criminal Keith Moore. The group attempts to befriend Moore's four children to attempt to gather evidence against KMG. James has the most success, becoming friends with Keith's youngest son Junior and begins delivering cocaine to KMG's customers. Meanwhile, Nicole begins dating Junior and they take a large amount of cocaine, nearly killing Nicole and resulting in her expulsion from CHERUB.

Kerry discovers KMG's cocaine processing location, and MI5 set up surveillance on it, resulting in the capture and imprisonment of many of KMG's senior members, but not Keith Moore. Moore invites James and Junior to come with him to Miami, intending to settle all his accounts and have some final time with Junior before escaping from the UK to avoid imprisonment. Before James leaves, he finds out that Lauren hit instructor Norman Large with a shovel while doing Basic Training. She is forced to wait 2 months until she can restart basic training. James goes on the trip with Junior and Keith, but KMG's drug supplier, the Peruvian Lambayeke cartel, attempts to rob Moore. James kills a man and escapes, but Junior becomes badly injured, while Moore is captured and imprisoned by the police. KMG is destroyed, so the agents return to campus. After the end of the mission, James and Kerry begin dating.

Characters

• James Adams: The protagonist; a twelve-year-old boy who travels to Luton, near London, to investigate KMG, a drug cartel. He becomes friends with Keith Moore, Jr.
• Kyle Blueman: A fifteen-year-old and James' best friend. He accompanies him on the mission and gets punished for smoking cannabis at a house party.
• Nicole Eddison: A twelve-year-old agent, she gets expelled for snorting cocaine with Junior Moore.

When the Goodies attend an art auction at Sotheby's, Tim is interested in a Renoir painting, while Bill is interested in the Monarch of the Glen painting.

Tim is horrified to find that a portrait painting is being bid for by ''Americans'', who are all willing to bid huge amounts of money for art treasures, so Tim rushes in to save the priceless work of art for Britain saying: "But they're not art lovers, they're Americans!" Turning to the Americans, he says: "Too many times you've taken too much from us — London Bridge, the "Queen Mary", Julie Andrews and David Frost — and we're grateful." Tim ends up bidding the enormous amount of:

: '''one million billion quintillion zillion pounds and two and a half new pence'''

for the painting, and the painting is sold to him, much to the horror of Bill and Graeme. While the Goodies are able to afford to pay a few pennies off the painting, they are not able to pay the remainder of the buying price, and decide to leave the remaining huge sum of money to be paid for by the National Gallery. However, the National Gallery does not want the painting, and do not want to pay for it.

All seems lost until the Goodies come up with an unusual solution to the problem.

When Graeme brings home a girl whom he and Tim consider a bimbo, Graeme and Tim discuss her in a very sexist manner. Bill, horrified at their disparagement of women, pretends to be a woman and reports Tim's and Graeme's behaviour to the Women's Liberation Authority. This results in a visit to the Goodies' office by the frightening Barbara, who arranges for Tim and Graeme to work for her father (Charlie), who is chauvinistic. Graeme is treated well in his role of butler — but Tim, who is forced to work as the housemaid ("Timbellina"), has to do all of the work, as well as having to put up with a lot of sexist behaviour from the master of the house.

Later, things change, with Bill reverting to normal — while Tim, as "Timbellina", takes up the cause on behalf of women.

The film opens with angel puppies talking to Annabelle (Bebe Neuwirth). They ask her to tell them a story. She begins to tell them about how Carface saved Christmas with a little guidance from Charlie (Steven Weber) and Itchy (Dom DeLuise).

The movie begins in an alleyway with Charlie, Itchy, Sasha (Sheena Easton), and their friends decorating for a Christmas party. Everyone is enjoying themselves as Charlie and Itchy tend to the young puppies. Charlie checks on Sasha and the money collection for Timmy's operation for his bad leg. Unfortunately, Carface (Ernest Borgnine) and Killer (Charles Nelson Reilly) arrive and start collecting debts from everyone. After Charlie refused to pay Carface back, as his debt payment is not due yet, he blows a mysterious hypnotic dog whistle that hypnotizes them all and causes them to give Carface and Killer all of their bones. Before leaving, Carface and Killer make off with all the food, presents, and money which includes that for Timmy's operation, and head off cackling.

After Charlie and Itchy fail several times to get the stolen goods from Carface, it is revealed that he is working for Annabelle's evil cousin, Belladonna (Neuwirth), who plots to use a massive version of the hypnotic dog whistle to hypnotize every dog in San Francisco into stealing the masters' Christmas presents, causing them to be thrown out of their houses and abandoned by their owners, much in the same way Carface used to be when he was a puppy. Charlie plots to scare "the Dickens" out of him and asks Annabelle for some aid, resulting in them being transformed into characters from ''A Christmas Carol''. Itchy becomes the Ghost of Christmas Past, Sasha becomes the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Charlie becomes the Ghost of Christmas Future. They visit Carface and make him feel guilty about stealing everything, especially the operation money; Sasha tells him that without it Timmy will be dead, which will cause another — his own, as Charlie shows him that because of his actions, he will cause his own death, and he will be condemned to Hell for eternity.

Carface, having seen himself in Timmy, must stop the whistle just in time to prevent the dogs from stealing the gifts. Belladonna flies into a frenzied rage and is about to kill him and Killer when she is frozen solid by a massive amount of snow caused by Annabelle.

Meanwhile, with Charlie and the gang, it begins to snow. Everyone celebrates, but Itchy remarks that it's a shame that they didn't have any presents to give to the puppies. Just then, Carface appears on a sled pulled by Killer and gives them everything back, and more. He even gives them Timmy's money box back, which is full to the top. He turns to leave, and Sasha asks him to stay and join the party. Carface respectfully declines the invitation, saying he's going to visit his mother instead — but wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

Annabelle finishes the story by saying "Merry Christmas!" to the audience, whom the puppies wave at, and Charlie and Itchy wish the same thing.

Shalom, a young Israeli at the outset of his life, was born into a bourgeois family in Tel-Aviv. His parents wish he would go to college, but Shalom doesn't feel like studying. His father isn't quite convinced his beloved son is doing the best he can when not doing anything at all. Shalom has a dilapidated station-wagon, two girlfriends to ride and love and "don't think twice, it's all right", as one of them sings to her sweet babbling infant. Shalom goes out on the road looking for his own self – an Israeli easy rider. In his wandering he comes across a group of artists debating over Israel's social-political fate. War and peace, occupied territories and settlements, rich and poor. One thing is not up for discussion, the future doesn't seem bright. Shalom makes up his mind to leave it all and go to America. Makes up his mind, but stays.

Graeme and Bill invite themselves along when Tim decides to visit his great-uncle Butcher at his country mansion "Tally Ho Towers", and they are waited on by Butcher's butler, Basterville. Tim is hoping to inherit his great-uncle's money and Graeme and Bill coerce Tim into agreeing to share the money with them.

Butcher leaves his money to Tim in his will — and soon after has a fatal accident. Tim as the new owner of the mansion gives in to hunting — much to the disgust of Bill and Graeme, who then have to cure Tim of his hunting obsession with aversion therapy.

A 'circular' arrives at the Goodies' office from the Loch Jaw school, advertising for school children to take part in a "Way Outward Bound" adventure course. The Goodies are interested — especially in the bounty fees being offered for any children who are brought to the school — but the Goodies are unable to get any children to go with them.

The Goodies decide to go themselves, so that they can still receive the bounty money. They dress as children — with Graeme dressed as a schoolgirl (complete with twin plaits), Bill dressed in shorts and cap as a small schoolboy, and Tim dressed the same in black and white uniform, complete with a teddy bear. The Goodies are accepted as children and admitted to the school by the school's Matron and an Army Sergeant Major. Bill proves to be a precocious 'small child' by flirting with the Matron.

The Goodies later discover the true reason why the children are wanted by the school — the Matron wants to take over the world and has been conditioning several babies to obey orders (for a baby army) so conquer the world. The Sergeant Major is unaware of the true reason why the Matron wants the children and babies to be trained for warfare — he just wants to train them.

When the Goodies escape from the clutches of the Matron, they take the babies with them — and find that they have their work cut out with feeding the babies and washing nappies etc. — they discondition the babies and turn them back into normal babies, with the aid of milk, and Tim discovers that he has the knack of being able to get the babies to burp on demand and starts contemplating taking over the world. Bill and Graeme try to stop Tim from getting worse than the Matron.

Ami Susetz, an Israeli artist, abandons his wife and daughter in New York, and comes back to his home land after years of absence.

Susetz wishes to decipher his constant feeling of failure as a human being, as a family man, as an artist. His best friends were killed in war, his paintings were burned not without intent. He has no past and no future.

Back home Susetz reunites with his dying father, with his mother, who unsuccessfully tries to understand her son, and with a childhood friend, Ansberg, now a philosopher/homeless.

Ansberg has adopted unusual methods in order to bring love back to Tel-Aviv and expects "conscientious" Susetz to assist him in that. Susetz cannot be a "conscientious", or anything else for that matter, not before he resolves his own personal fate: who is he, why was he born, why does he live.

Ami Susetz decides to make a movie, about himself, his parents, his hometown Tel-Aviv, and about all that constitutes the puzzle we call human life. His movie fails in resolving the pattern but ironically becomes a commercial blockbuster. At the end of the day, the movie gets burned, just like the paintings, not without intent...

The series was set in a fictionalised San Francisco and featured a large cast of characters whose lives are thrown into disarray by the sudden appearance of a murderous 11th Century knight in the city. Main Characters included Anton Marx, a leftwing political radio "shock jock", his fact checker girlfriend Venus Kostopikas, her friend Detective Addas Petronas and the rival gangsters Tony Quetone and "the Pope".

''Note: The following synopsis broadly covers the events of the first four issues''.

Nagasaki twins Kai and Toshi are born either side of midnight, an unexpected result of their father's frivolous prayer at their grandmother's shrine. As they grow up, Toshi becomes seemingly invulnerable to harm; a fall onto railings as a child causes the spikes to bend while she walks away unscathed. Kai himself proves impossible to injure with a knife. Another strange event affects them years later, when they and a childhood friend, Saburo, find themselves entering a magical fantasy world through the Sannō Shrine. When Kai spots a strange man stalking them, the twins run back to the real world, accidentally trapping their friend behind them. Still later, as teenagers, they find themselves once more confronted by the man from the fantasy land. He is Aratsu, a god of swords, and has come to collect Toshi as payment for their father's prayer years before. Toshi refuses, so Aratsu kills her pet dog.

This causes two policemen, the mysterious detective Sato and the mute detective Yamada, to investigate. They begin to follow Kai around and it is implied that they know more about what is happening than he does.

After refusing Aratsu again, Toshi decides to rid herself of him by stealing a gun from a young thug named KK, who threatens to kill her in retaliation. Meanwhile, Kai finds himself taken back into the fantasy world by Saburo, who has not aged since he was last seen. Saburo now serves a red dragon named Lord Rinjin who is the mortal enemy of Aratsu. Rinjin tells Kai that if Toshi refuses Aratsu a third time, he will have to leave her alone. He tells Kai to ensure that this happens or there will be trouble. Toshi does refuse Aratsu a third time, shooting him for good measure. However, the bullets only graze him and he slices her mother into pieces as retaliation.

Toshi follows Aratsu into his palace and says that she will join him provided he restores her mother to life. In her bedroom, Kai's mother's body reforms itself but she remains unconscious. The story ends with Toshi following Aratsu to begin her new life.

Kai's mother is under observation at a local hospital, where she remains unconscious and covered with scars from Aratsu's swords. Kai's grieving is interrupted by a gang of evil imps, which start to consume pieces of his mother's memory. They run when Kai attacks them as they fear his touch, but soon find weapons in a part of the hospital that is closed for renovation. He is saved by Nidoru, goddess of needles, who dispatches them with ease.

She reveals that she is aware of the debt owed by Kai's father to Aratsu. She also explains that the imps were attracted to his mother's soul, which was also cut apart by Aratsu's swords – shredded souls being easier to consume. She also explains that she and her master were the only 'shepherds of point' not to bow to Aratsu. As punishment, he killed her master. She says that if Kai agrees to help her take Aratsu down, she will sew his mother's soul back together and try to save his father, who is destined to die in a yakuza shoot-out that day. He agrees and his mother wakes up too late to stop him from walking off with Nidoru.

In his mansion, Aratsu slices through Toshi with a special sword, cutting away both her past and future, leaving her existing in an eternal 'now'. He says that if she displeases him, he will allow that time to elapse and she will vanish. He also gives her a new name, Hasharito or 'little insect', and tells her never to think of her old name. Despairingly, she agrees.

When Graeme gives Tim and Bill a special 'designer-dog' that they can enter the dog as a new breed in the Crufts Dog Show, they think that their dog is the only unusual dog there is.

Then they find that Graeme has been making all kinds of weird dogs for other people as well.

Some of Graeme's weird dogs, which he has bred for other people, include: a flying dog (a cross between a dog and a parrot) – a chair dog (a cross between a dog and a chair) – a stove dog (a cross between a dog and a stove) — and others.

One of Graeme's weirdest inventions is "Frankenfido", a six-legged monster, which is made out of a lot of 'spare parts' — the teeth being those of Donny Osmond. Tim, horrified, says: "You're using people ... and Donny Osmond!"

Bill turns up dressed as a black and white dog called "Cuddly Scamp Hairylegs of Cricklewood", which proves to be a quick-thinking 'dog' or possibly cheating with false answers when tested on "Mastermind".

After their meeting, Cuddly Scamp and "Frankenfido" go off together. Tim comments: "Who knows what he went through! All alone with that nasty great dog!" Graeme comments: "Bitch!" Tim, insulted, says: "Well!" Graeme explains, saying: "Frankenfido was a bitch." to which Tim responds with: "Oh I see."

Cuddly Scamp's meeting with "Frankenfido" has surprising results.

The Goodies are hired by a maniacally racist South African tourist agent to make an advertisement encouraging Britons to come to South Africa. However, the tourist agent is unhappy with what they have done, since they showed black people in South Africa having a good time. Tim points out that South Africa has many black people, but the tourist agent retorts that they are not having a good time. The enraged agent forces the Goodies to emigrate to South Africa.

The influx of tourist boats the Goodies' advertisement brings allows the black people an opportunity to get away from South Africa, leading to apartheid segregation disintegrating. To keep the economy going, apartheid is replaced by the new segregation of ''apartheight'' (apart-height). Tim and Graeme are tall enough not to be affected — but Bill is not quite tall enough. Bill, and the South African jockeys, are now treated as the second class citizens of South Africa, and are put under curfew. Bill is also forced to work for Tim and Graeme, who both take full advantage of Bill's newly disadvantaged position and treat him like a slave. Bill takes charge of the situation, and he and the jockeys rebel and eventually win out against their 'masters'.

The Goodies return to the UK — but the UK they return to is vastly different from the UK they had left behind just a short time before.

The Goodies's office accidentally gets completely covered in concrete, ironically as part of an architectural design of Graeme. The Main Works Department agree to save them, but only after completing a series of highways across Britain (drawn on the map as a game of noughts and crosses). Gradually all the Goodies' utility services are discontinued, including the telephone (they cannot go out to pay the bills). Then, later, when the nation is in the grip of poverty, the BBC cuts back their services by 100%, and the ending of television broadcasts means that the Goodies are cut off entirely from the outside world. Tim then asks "Who thinks we should panic now?" All three raise their hands, and proceed to panic, with much screeching and Tim crying "I'm a teapot!" repeatedly, with the attendant teapot pose.

Tempers become short and Bill (arguing with Tim) says: "In this society, every single one of us is gonna clean the shoes." Tim retorts: "You sniviling little commie." Bill retaliates with the comment: "You elitist, fascist pig." Tim, feeling insulted, says: "Well I never." Graeme then enters the conversation, saying: "This is good, political discussion, a healthy thing." Bill denies this, saying: "This isn't political discussion, we're just shouting at one another", to which Graeme replies: "Same thing."

When they are almost out of food, Tim and Graeme decide that Bill should 'provide' for them. Bill, who is totally unaware of the plans against him, comes up with a solution of cooking and eating the furniture. This means that he is not eaten and his life is saved.

The years pass, and the Goodies grow old, and they begin suffering from hallucinations, which is noticeable when Tim and Graeme are in conversation with each other, reliving their past. Tim comments: "Goodness! I've almost forgotten what an umbrella looks like." Graeme then makes the comment: "You know, I've almost forgotten what a woman looks like." Tim reminisces: "Women, yes — and umbrellas. Hey!" Graeme agrees, saying: "Many's the evening you'd dance the night away with an attractive young umbrella." Tim continues: "And, if it rained on your way home, you'd pop up your woman." Graeme then comments: "They'd keep you dry all night!" and Tim says: "I used to have a big black woman with a cane handle ...."

Later they 'get' religion, Graeme becomes a monk, Tim becomes Jewish, and Bill becomes a Black Muslim. While Tim and Graeme show their ages, Bill never seems to change — he seems to be forever young.

A rescue team finally arrives to rescue the Goodies — space suited Goodies from the future, but all that's left in the office is the skeletons of Graeme and Tim and the recently deceased corpse of Bill (who still hasn't aged). Just as they are about to leave, there is a cave-in, trapping the new Goodies where they experience similar difficulties. Immediately, the 'Future Tim' panics and assumes the pose of a teapot spout and handle, and comments: "I'm a teapot!"

The musical is set on New Year's Eve "in the avoidable future" in the grand Alpine Barclay Palace Hotel, where the guests find themselves in the midst of a potential nuclear Armageddon. The characters are American singer Harry Aikens and Cynthia Brookfield-Bailey, who may have had a romantic fling years earlier. Among the others present are Cynthia's current paramour, Henry Kissinger-like diplomat Dr. Josef Winkler, a gay couple, a minister, and a freedom fighter.

Boaz, a young officer, returns home from the Yom Kippur War (1973). He left for the war with two friends and returned with one dead and one badly injured. Down and out and lonely, Boaz aimlessly wanders the streets of Tel-Aviv. To comfort himself, Boaz goes to console his dead friend's parents, only to find himself sucked into a most complex relationship with the bereaved parents. First out of courtesy, then out of cynicism, Boaz gives them all they are missing: a poem their son allegedly wrote, false tales of heroism and some occasional snapshots. Out of thin air Boaz erects a false monument of a dead hero out of a fairly mediocre child, who did not get to leave much behind him.

Before long, Boas is running a full scale immortalization industry, “manufacturing” for each bereaved family a creative, sensitive son. A soldier and a poet. Boaz becomes romantically involved with his dead friend's girlfriend, and simultaneously with the beautiful coordinator in the army's memorial department. And so, by day they serve a holy trinity of comfort and immortality and by night they are fallen angels, ménage à trois. Before too long, the next war breaks out. Boaz is called again for duty. Now an older, experienced officer, Boaz makes sure every single soldier in his company carries in his pocket a personal poem, just in case.

''The Vulture'' represented Israel at the Cannes Festival 1981.

In 2020, twenty-five years after the events of the second film in 1995, a Candyman-themed gallery event hosted by artist Miguel Velasco in Los Angeles is attended by Caroline McKeever, daughter of Annie Tarrant and Paul McKeever from the second film and a direct descendant of the Candyman. Caroline summons the Candyman by saying his name five times in a mirror. Shortly afterwards, the Candyman kills Miguel and his lover Lena with his hooked hand.

Miguel's gallery is soon broken into by a local gang who steals the Candyman's paintings. Caroline talks with her roommate Tamara about the Candyman. It is revealed via flashback that the Candyman killed Caroline's dementia-ridden mother while she was taking a bath by slitting her throat with his hook. Annie summoned him and her death was believed to be suicide. A couple hours beforehand when last seeing her mother alive, Annie had told Caroline to 'destroy the myth'.

The murders are pinned on David de la Paz, a friend of Miguel's who soon gets acquainted with Caroline. After envisioning the Candyman and the ghost of her mother in a diner bathroom, she comes clean with David about her history. He takes her to see his grandmother, a psychic healer, who informs Caroline that she must destroy the good part of the Candyman in order to eliminate the evil. She shows Caroline visions that the good part of the Candyman lies within his paintings. Afterwards, the Candyman kidnaps David and keeps him stored in an unknown building swinging from hooks pierced into his back.

After the Candyman kills Caroline's roommate Tamara, Caroline is taken in for questioning. A seasoned police detective named L.V. Sacco is murdered by the Candyman while Caroline is in the car, which both brings her heat from the local authorities and earns her hate from Sacco's partner Lt. Det. Samuel Deacon Kraft, who had no intention of bringing her in alive. When Caroline goes to an abandoned building to retrieve the paintings from the gang who stole them from Miguel's gallery, she is captured by them and knocked out. She awakens tied to a chair and gagged. The gang summons the Candyman in the hopes of sacrificing Caroline but the Candyman kills the entire gang instead.

Caroline explores the building and finds David alive, but injured. The Candyman suddenly appears, and attempts to convince her to give her life to him. However, Caroline destroys a portrait of him with a hook, which causes a similar wound to appear on him. She slips and causes a candle to light the painting on fire, causing the Candyman to burst into flames. Caroline frees David, but is attacked by Det. Kraft, who tries to kill her with a hook. He is shot in the back of the head by Det. Jamal Matthews, who was following Kraft. Before he dies, Kraft gasps out "Candyman”. Caroline remembers her mother's advice to 'destroy the myth', and tells Matthews that Kraft was the Candyman this whole time.

After the news is released that Kraft was the Candyman, Caroline states, "There was no such thing as the Candyman" in front of a mirror to ensure he is dead. The Candyman's hook bursts through the mirror, but is then revealed to be just a nightmare. Caroline has a picnic with David and his daughter Cristina in front of Annie's grave as the Day of the Dead celebrations continue. She is finally happy, and is convinced the Candyman no longer exists.

Pietro Zastrozzi, an outlaw, and his two servants, Bernardo and Ugo, disguised in masks, abduct Verezzi from the inn near Munich where he lives and take him to a cavern hideout. Verezzi is locked in a room with an iron door. Chains are placed around his waist and limbs and he is attached to the wall.

Verezzi is able to escape and to flee his abductors, running away to Passau in Lower Bavaria. Claudine, an elderly woman, allows Verezzi to stay at her cottage. Verezzi saves Matilda from jumping off of a bridge. She befriends him. Matilda seeks to persuade Verezzi to marry her. Verezzi, however, is in love with Julia. Matilda provides lodging for Verezzi at her castle or mansion estate near Venice. Her tireless efforts to seduce him are unsuccessful.

Zastrozzi concocts a plan to torture and to torment Verezzi. He spreads a false rumour that Julia has died, exclaiming to Matilda: "Would Julia of Strobazzo's heart was reeking on my dagger!" Verezzi is convinced that Julia is dead. Distraught and emotionally shattered, he then relents and offers to marry Matilda.

The truth is revealed that Julia is still alive. Verezzi is so distressed at his betrayal that he kills himself. Matilda kills Julia in retaliation. Zastrozzi and Matilda are arrested for murder. Matilda repents. Zastrozzi, however, remains defiant before an inquisition. He is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

Zastrozzi confesses that he sought revenge against Verezzi because Verezzi's father had deserted his mother, Olivia, who died young, destitute, and in poverty. Zastrozzi blamed his father for the death of his mother, who died before she was thirty. Zastrozzi sought revenge against not only his own father, whom he murdered, but also against "his progeny for ever", his son Verezzi. Verezzi and Zastrozzi had the same father. By murdering his own father, Zastrozzi only killed his corporeal body. By manipulating Verezzi into committing suicide, however, Zastrozzi confessed that his objective was to achieve the eternal damnation of Verezzi's soul based on the proscription of the Christian religion against suicide. Zastrozzi, an outspoken atheist, goes to his death on the rack rejecting and renouncing religion and morality "with a wild convulsive laugh of exulting revenge".

The comedy is an ugly duckling tale about an overweight young woman who attracts the attention of a potential suitor. With the help of her friends/roommates, she undergoes a diet and exercise regime to shed the extra pounds she assumes she needs to lose in order to hold the man's attention.

In the summer of 1958, 15-year-old David Katz is constantly defying authority figures at the Orthodox Jewish summer camp he is enrolled in. He especially riles the paranoid camp counsellor Chaim (Marcoux) who believes David is having an affair with his wife. The adolescent antics continue with the boys arranging midnight rendezvous at the girls' camp.

The main plot starts with the disappearances of an OSS agent, Jack Jefferson, and a Soviet cargo ship in Cairo. Agent OSS 117 is sent to investigate the events, since he and agent Jefferson share a history, shown in a short opening sequence and in flashbacks throughout the film. OSS 117 stumbles into a web of international intrigue, that involves the French, the Soviets, the British, separate factions of Egyptians, a goofy Belgian spy and even a splinter group of the Nazis from the beginning.

Throughout the film the main character has two main romantic interests. The first is an Egyptian princess Al Tarouk, who can't resist the charms of OSS 117. The second is the former assistant of Jack Jefferson, Larmina El Akmar Betouche, who at first shows no interest in the main character - and in fact temporarily becomes a secondary villain due to OSS 117's continued crass statements about her religion - but warms up to him in the end.

Rookie lawyer Alec Brno (Mount) has just been assigned the case of his career: exposing a billion-dollar oil scam led by a ruthless mafia boss (Weber). When he reluctantly falls for the gangster's beautiful, but drug-addicted wife (Leerhsen), who is also his key witness, Alec soon realizes that all the legal savvy in the world can not protect him from the dangerous reality of mob violence. In a system where criminals often walk free, sometimes courtroom warriors must take the battle for justice into their own hands.

In October 1934, a famous safe cracker in Warsaw criminal circles and also a jazz trumpeter, Henryk Kwinto, is released from a prison, where he has spent the past six years. After arriving home, he discovers that his wife has already found a substitute for him in the face of a police commissioner named Karelicki. Kwinto removes hidden roll of banknotes out of the chair's leg, places his key to the apartment on a table and leaves.

Near the city gates he is met by two younger petty criminals, brothers Moks and Nuta who have successfully debuted by robbing a jewel store and are now wishing to have the legendary safe-cracker as an accomplice. Kwinto by taking out of his pocket a mouthpiece of trumpet asserts that they had mistaken him for someone else and he is a musician. Although they seem to be confused, the brothers nonetheless tell him the address of their automobile shop in case if "Mr Musician would be willing to play together with them".

Kwinto rents a hotel room. Soon he is visited by his former accomplice and now a successful banker, Gustaw Kramer who informs him that six years ago Kwinto was arrested not by chance. Kramer who was caught in the act, then agreed to lure the elusive safe-cracker into a trap set up by the police. As a compensation for moral damages he brought Kwinto 45,000 złoty considering his betrayal as resolved. In response Kwinto advises not to tell him the address of his bank, to which Kramer is confident in the invulnerability of the bank's own safes reacts with a sneer and uses the phrase "ear of a herring" ( ) hinting at the impossibility of robbing his bank.

Kwinto goes to visit a musician named Tadeusz Rychliński, with whom he performed in a band at least six years earlier. From the wife of Tadeusz, Marta, he learns about the death of his friend. Shortly before his death, Tadeusz deposited all his savings, 19,000 złoty, in the bank of Kramer, but on the way home he was robbed, the raiders took away the receipt and the bank deposit became unavailable. The next day Tadeusz allegedly threw himself out of the window. According to the widow, the police arrived to conclusion that there was a suicide.

In the memory of a perished friend, Marta gives Kwinto the Tadeusz's trumpet. In its mouthpiece Kwinto discovers a note of Rychliński where it says "I know how Kramer became an owner of the bank". Kwinto arrives to conclusion that robbery and staging of the suicide were committed at the Kramer's request.

In the light of the discovered circumstances Kwinto starts to act. He finds Moks and Nuta in their automobile shop and instructs them to find the last address of his old friend Duńczyk. Kramer receives back his 45,000 złoty in mail along with a newspaper cut out where placed the Tadeusz's obituary and understands that a war is declared on him. He sends to Kwinto Krempitsch, a hired killer, who sometime ago killed Tadeusz by pushing him out of a window. But Kwinto, who foresaw the action of the banker, takes care of Krempitsch by himself.

The brothers have not found Duńczyk. The search has been taken over by Kwinto himself and, remembering his old habits, finds his pal at a football game. However, Duńczyk has finished with his criminal past and more than anything he values a peace. At first he refuses, but Henryk convinces Duńczyk that for him taking vengeance on Kramer is a matter of principle. They witnessed that Krempitsch, trying to kill Kwinto, accidentally kills a complete stranger. Taking the advantage of a muss, heroes leave the stadium. After all Duńczyk agrees to participate in his friend's daring plan.

Kwinto presents his plan to rob the Kramer's bank and that under suspicion turned to be the banker himself. Duńczyk heads on reconnaissance to the bank and opens to be obvious an account there. With experience eye, he assesses all alarm features of the bank's building and in his home workshop by method of trial and error selects the shape of the plate capable of blocking the alarm.

The companions begin to implement the plan. Kramer on accident as he thinks meets with a charming Natalia whom he helps to start the stalled car. A week later with bouquet of flowers and champagne Kramer comes to visit her. On one of stair landings he runs into a black man who exists a neighboring apartment with a Dalmatian on the leash. Natalia asks Kramer to help her unfasten the necklace with the plate that is supposed to block the alarm in the bank and insensibly throws the adornment into the window where it is picked by Moks.

At the same time Kwinto under suspicion of robbing the lawyer Walenta's villa is detained by police and brought to the precinct. However soon the real robbers are arrested and Kwinto is getting released.

Downing gas masks and gloves, Kwinto and his companions infiltrate into the bank through a ventilation shaft of the restaurant located over it. There they stun security guards, block the alarm with a plate that served as the necklace clasp, and take out of the safe all money and valued papers. With a thermal lance Nuta cuts through a side wall of the safe an opening, and the group goes away leaving at the crime scene a plate of the necklace. Taking advantage of the owner's absence, the accomplices transport the main portion of the valuables to the Kramer's house.

In the evening celebrating the successfully turned trick the group to which belongs Natalia as well being a fiancée of Moks divides the remaining money. His share Kwinto sends to Marta ostensibly as compensation to the family of the victim of bank's machinations.

In the morning the bank was filled with police. Head of the investigation commissioner Przygoda determines that the safe was cut only to stage hacking, and rather was opened in the usual way. In addition on the found plate were discovered fingerprints of Kramer. It gave the commissioner a reason to conduct the search in the Kramer's house where in basket with dirty laundry were found the stolen valuables.

Kramer attempts to prove that at the time of robbery he has an alibi. At first he takes police to the Natalia's apartment, but she is not there and living in the apartment people argue that never saw Kramer. Then the banker remembers about another witness, a black man with a Dalmatian who had exited out of the neighboring apartment. But the owner of the apartment claims that never saw them.

Kramer gets arrested. Near the court's building he sees Kwinto who reads a newspaper and understands the robbery of his bank is the handiwork of a former accomplice. Kwinto catching the Kramer's glance touches his ear reminding Kramer about his words "ear from a herring" ( ).

A sequel, ''Vabank II'', was made in 1984.

NASA is training for the first human mission to Mars by the spacecraft ''Aries''. Due to a supposed glitch in the computer navigation system, NASA looks for the original programmer of the software to understand why it seems to be broken. Fred Z. Randall, the eccentric programmer who wrote the software, meets Paul Wick, the flight director of the Mars mission; William "Wild Bill" Overbeck, the commander of the Mars mission; and astronaut Gary Hackman, the computer specialist. Fred looks at the software and discovers that the problem is actually stemming from a mathematical error made by Gary. After a display of hard-headed stubbornness, Gary is hit in the head by a model of the ''Pilgrim 1'' Mars lander, resulting in a skull fracture. NASA decides to replace him instead of delaying the mission; Fred is brought to NASA to see if he has what it takes to be an astronaut. He goes through a series of exercises, which sees Fred do well, even going as far to break every record that Bill had set. In the end, Fred gets the job.

While getting ready to board the ''Aries'', Fred chickens out and refuses to go on the mission. Bud Nesbitt who Wick claims is the cause of the Apollo 13 accident, tells Fred about the three commemorative coins given to him by President Johnson. He gave one coin to Neil Armstrong, another to Jim Lovell, and finally shows Randall a gold coin reading "Bravery". "It hasn't done me much good," Bud says, "Maybe it'll mean something to you one day." Randall then quotes the Lion from ''The Wizard of Oz'': "If I were king of the forest!"

Fred, along with Commander Overbeck, geologist Julie Ford, and Ulysses, a trained chimpanzee, will look for fossils on Mars. To save on resources, crew members are put into "hypersleep" for eight months while the ship floats towards Mars. Ulysses purposely takes Fred's "hypersleep chamber" for his own and Fred has to sleep in Ulysses' chimp-sized chamber. He sleeps for only 13 minutes and has to stay up alone for eight months. While looking at Mars weather data, Fred notices severe sandstorms that could endanger the crew. He contacts Bud in Houston and tells him about the storms that are forecast to hit the landing site. If the crew get caught in the storms, they could be lost forever. Bud tells Wick about the situation, but Wick ignores him. The crew makes it to Mars, after Overbeck tells off Fred for being awake the whole time and using all the food—except food that the former despises: (anchovy paste, creamed liver, and gefilte fish)—for painting. They land the ''Pilgrim'' on the Martian surface. As Overbeck prepares to be the first human to step on Mars, Fred slips from the ladder and accidentally lands first.

A day after the crew lands, the sandstorms arrive ahead of schedule. After almost losing Overbeck and Ulysses in the sandstorm, the crew lifts off from the Martian surface. Wick is replaced by Bud when it becomes clear that Wick does not trust his NASA crew. The ship has almost made it out of the sandstorm when rocks kicked up by the wind hit the lander. ''Pilgrim 1'' loses power and begins to spin out of control. Fred has to rewire the entire system, reboot it and power everything back up in less than two minutes or they will crash. With less than 20 seconds, he has to complete the circuit. He frantically searches for something and finally shoves the commemorative coin into the slot, allowing the lander to regain power. The crew safely return to the ''Aries'' orbiting Mars. Fred asks Julie to dance with him in zero gravity to "Blue Danube Waltz" while wearing a silver tux and a gold dress made from the space blankets that he cut up during his accident with the sleep pod.

As Fred gets ready for hypersleep one last time, Ulysses climbs into his hypersleep chamber once again, forcing Fred to stay up for another eight months on the journey back home.

In a post-credits scene, the crew's flag pole on Mars is shown missing its flag. It is revealed that Randall's American flag boxers, which were earlier used as a replacement for the original flag, have been stolen and worn by a Martian.

Pigs Can't Fly

The first part of the novel begins with the spend-the-days, in which the grandchildren congregate at Ammachi and Appachi's home. Arjie and his female cousins, as usual, play their game of "bride-bride", which is interrupted when their cousin Tanuja (Her Fatness) refuses to indulge Arjie's desire to be bride. The adults ultimately discover their game, and one uncle tells Arjie's father "you have a funny one here" (14). Arjie is no longer allowed to play with the girls. When he questions his mother, she responds with "because the sky is so high and pigs can't fly, that's why" (19).

Radha Aunty

The second chapter focuses on the return of Radha Aunty from America. Radha Aunty and Arjie develop a special relationship, immediately, and both become involved in a performance of ''The King and I''. Although she receives an engagement offer from Rajan Nagendra, she is reluctant and develops a friendship with Anil Jayasinghe, a Sinhalese who is also involved in the play. The extended family warns Radha and encourages her to put an end to the relationship. Radha Aunt goes to Jaffna to forget about Anil, and on her return journey, she and other Tamils are attacked on the train. Eventually, she becomes engaged to Rajan. It is through the friendship between his aunt and Anil that Arjie begins to understand the concept of ethnicity and the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

In the third story, while Arjie's father is in Europe on a business trip, Daryl Uncle returns to Sri Lanka from Australia to investigate allegations of government torture. Arjie is cognizant of a long history between Amma and Daryl Uncle but is unsure of the cause of the tensions until he has an eventual realization of their affair. When Arjie becomes very ill, Amma decides to take Arjie from Colombo to the countryside to recover. Much to Arjie's surprise, Daryl Uncle visits Arjie and his mother throughout their stay in the hill country. Following his recovery, Arjie and Amma return to Colombo, while Daryl Uncle goes to Jaffna. When there is news that violence had broken out in Jaffna, Amma becomes worried about Daryl and eventually, they receive word that Daryl's body was found on the beach, supposedly from drowning but they suspect he was killed first. Although Amma tries to pursue the matter further, a civil rights lawyer tells her that there is nothing they can do, given the state of the country, and that "one must be like the three wise monkeys. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" (141).

Small Choices

In a plot shift, Appa's school friend's son Jegan comes to the family looking for a job and begins to work with Appa at his hotel and also lives with the Chelvaratnam family at their home. Jegan previously associated with the Tamil Tigers, but insists that he has broken all connections with the organization. Jegan also strikes up a friendship with Arjie and for the first time, Arjie feels his homosexual tendencies surface, as Arjie admires "how built he was, the way his thighs pressed against his trousers." The Tamil-Sinhalese tensions build up throughout the story, and Jegan is accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate a Tamil politician who the Tamil Tigers label as a traitor (177). After Jegan's room at the hotel is vandalized, Appa decides it is best to fire Jegan and he leaves with hints that he may retrace back to his violent past (200).

The Best School of All

Appa decides to transfer Arjie to Victoria Academy, a school he says "will force you to become a man" (210). Arjie catches the eye of a boy named Shehan as well as the notorious school principal. Diggy hints that Shehan is gay and urges Arjie to stay away from him. Arjie notices in himself a growing attraction towards Shehan as the two spend more time together. The principal, nicknamed "Black Tie" ropes in Arjie to recite two poems at an upcoming school function. The function and specific poems are especially important to "Black Tie" as they are his final plea to prevent the government from reorganizing the school. Arjie gets nervous reciting the poems and forgets his lines, and the principal beats Arjie as well as Shehan for failing to help him memorize the poems. One day, Shehan kisses Arjie on the lips and he recoils, but it is after the kiss Arjie begins to comprehend his own sexuality. "I now knew that kiss was somehow connected to what we had in common, and Shehan had known this all along" (250), he says. Later, Arjie and Shehan have their first sexual encounter together in his parents' garage. Afterwards, Arjie feels ashamed of himself and believes he has failed his family and their trust. During the school function, Arjie purposely jumbles up his poem after he witnesses Shehan emotionally break down from Black Tie's beatings.

Riot Journal: An Epilogue

In the final chapter of the novel, rioters start to burn down the Tamil houses and establishments in Colombo. The family escapes to a neighbor's house and goes into hiding after a mob comes to burn down their home. After their own hotel is attacked and Ammachi and Appachi are killed, Appa decides it is time for the family to leave the country. After making love to Shehan for the last time, Arjie leaves Sri Lanka and moves to Canada with his family.

Recently divorced Helen MacFarquhar, a middle-aged bookseller, after sending her daughter off to summer camp, is ready to move on in her life. One morning, going through the mail, she discovers an anonymous blue love letter, without an envelope or a name. Having discovered this letter in ''her'' mail, in ''her'' bookstore, she naturally thinks it is for her. The only question is, from whom?

At first, she thinks it is from George Matthias, the local fireman, but decides it couldn't be him, after giving him subtle hints ("Have you ever been 'on fire'?"). Not having any idea who may be the writer of the love letter, she just puts it away in her purse, trying to forget about it.

Then, Johnny, a college student working in Helen's bookstore for the summer, is invited to her house for dinner. At dinner she puts two wine glasses and a bottle next to her purse, with the letter in it. Helen accidentally knocks the letter out of the purse. While in the kitchen cooking, she tells Johnny to have some wine. Finding the letter, he mistakenly thinks it is for him from Helen, Later that night, he begins to "peel an orange", a line from the letter. Believing it's his hint, Helen rushes into the house and says goodnight, and Johnny leaves. In the next few weeks, Johnny and Helen meet and begin an affair, each thinking the other wrote the letter.

Helen goes to the bookstore, bringing the letter with her, in her purse on the desk. Then, her manager, Janet Hall, arrives, but she decides not to tell her about the letter just yet. While she is upstairs working, George comes in with new smoke detectors for the store. Janet accepts them, but the desk collapses, along with Helen's purse, which contains the letter. In all the chaos, the letter is mixed in with the instruction manuals for the smoke detectors. George, before leaving, says "Make sure you read the manuals first." Janet opens the manual, and the letter falls out. She reads it and thinks it is from George. Later that day, she rushes over to tell Helen about the letter. But Helen, not knowing how to say it, just takes it and says "It's mine". Janet, angry at Helen for not having faith in her happiness, quits.

As the story progresses, many others accidentally find the letter and mistakenly think it's meant for them. During the affair, Johnny uses his friend Jennifer's affections for him to make Helen jealous. However, she's disheartened to realize he was using her. An officer also finds the letter, thinking it was from a lady he admires; he takes it, presenting it to her on a date, but she thinks he wrote the letter to her.

As the affair goes on, Johnny's feelings deepen, and he becomes jealous of Helen's closeness with George. He continues to try to push for a real relationship; however, she is torn due to her feelings for George. When it comes to a boiling point, the pair realize that neither side wrote the love letter. Helen also realizes that George still loves her when she finds a message he left in a postcard.

They break up on amiable terms but, unfortunately, George hears the breakup and is left heartbroken and confused. Though his divorce is final, he feels he's lost Helen to Johnny. She isn't ready to let go of her feelings for George and asks if it really is over. He quietly replies "They have bad timing" and announces he's taking his daughters to New York.

Though Helen wants him to stay, George seems determined to leave. The next day, she tells him she only recently saw the inside message he left her and declares she also wants to keep in contact. Hinting he still wants to continue their relationship, George smiles and says he'll send a "postcard".

Amidst all the confusion, it is revealed that the letter was actually written by Helen's mother's lover, another woman, early in her life. Considering the conservative period and social stigma, the relationship could not be until now.

Ted is extremely worried about the forfeit, fearing that Bishop Brennan will send him to a parish even worse than Craggy Island after he carries it out. Dick Byrne has insisted that Father Dougal take a photograph as proof. To provide an opportunity for Ted to carry out the forfeit, Dick calls the bishop to tell him that his likeness has miraculously appeared in the skirting board of the Craggy Island parochial house. Bishop Brennan phones Ted, telling him he will be coming the next day, leaving Ted with no excuse not to carry out the forfeit.

After Ted stays up worrying all night, he and Dougal are surprised by the early arrival of Bishop Brennan and his assistant Father Jessup, "the most sarcastic priest in Ireland" – his sarcasm confuses their housekeeper, Mrs Doyle, and tests Father Jack's temper. Bishop Brennan's visit occurs the day before he is due to go to Rome to meet the Pope. Ted takes the Bishop to see the skirting board, and prepares to carry out the forfeit, but after seeing Jessup watching him, he aborts the kick and instead hurls himself out of the window. Brennan and Jessup prepare to leave, but are forced to stay the night when Mrs Doyle informs them that the roads have been "taken in".

Dougal suggests that Ted should kick Bishop Brennan and act as if nothing had happened, reasoning that the bishop would never believe Ted, who fears Brennan, capable of such an act. The next day, Father Jack locks Jessup inside his underpants hamper after Jessup tries to prevent him from taking liquor belonging to the bishop. With Jessup out of the way, Ted brings the bishop to see the skirting board again. The bishop notices that the skirting board now has a crude watercolour painting (courtesy of Dougal) on it, depicting a man in a bishop's hat. As the Bishop bends down to examine the painting, Ted promptly kicks him in the buttocks as hard as possible, while Dougal takes a photograph.

Bishop Brennan is shocked into a catatonic state that lasts well beyond the duration of his visit. As the bishop flies to Rome, Ted gets extremely drunk and orders Dougal to have several copies of the photograph made, including a 10x10 version for himself. Brennan snaps out of his stupor just as he is due to greet the Pope in the Vatican. After telling the Pope "He did kick me up the arse!", he shoves him to the ground, runs to the exit, picks up his mobile phone and furiously demands to be booked onto the first available flight back to Ireland.

Ted wakes up the next morning with a hangover. As soon as he looks out of the window, he sees furious Bishop Brennan charging aggressively towards the parochial house, prompting him to try to hide. The bishop kicks down the front door, bursts into the bedroom, and finds Ted hiding under the bed, which he flips over. Despite Brennan's rage, Ted manages to convince him that he did not do it. On his way out, however, Brennan sees an enormous, ten-foot-tall version of the photograph that Dougal took (thinking that Ted meant feet, when he actually meant inches). After a brief chase, Ted slips on mud and the bishop gets his revenge by booting him across the field.

At the end of the episode, Father Jessup is shown to still be locked in Father Jack's underpants hamper, using a lighter as a source of light. After the lighter runs out, he says "I'm really enjoying this".

In Oceanfront High School, a (fictitious) American high school, at the height of the sexual revolution, young female students are being targeted by an unknown serial killer. Meanwhile, a male student called Ponce is experiencing sexual frustration, surrounded by a seemingly unending stream of beautiful and sexually provocative classmates.

Michael "Tiger" McDrew (Hudson) is the high school's football coach and guidance counselor, but there is another aspect of Tiger's character; he has sexual encounters with a number of female students.

In class Ponce instantly takes a shine to a single substitute teacher named Miss Smith (Dickinson) and presents his report on John Milton's Paradise Lost. Tiger understanding Ponce's sexual life during the school break tries to befriend Ponce, and help him deal with his sexual needs by encouraging him to seek the affections of Miss Smith. Later Tiger talks to Miss Smith showing her a profile of Ponce and that he has amazing potential but has a hang up when it comes to sexual education. Tiger recommends that Miss Smith teach Ponce in building confidence.

After school Miss Smith takes Ponce to her home where they discuss what he thinks about English poet John Milton. Ponce describes Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' as the way Lucifer was expelled from Heaven, and his evolution into the Devil, avenging himself by corrupting God's finest creation, Mankind. Miss Smith tantalizes Ponce by reading him some of Milton's poems. When they go to make some hot chocolate Ponce flees into the closet. Miss Smith convinces him to come out where she then reveals that she knows about his sexual problem and that she invited him to her house to talk about it with him.

The next day in school Miss Smith informs Tiger of her progress with Ponce and of the boy's obvious attraction to her. Tiger tells Miss Smith that with her next meeting she has to do a more informative assessment about Ponce. Tiger supposedly shows a technique by fondling Miss Smith to ensure what they do is not with emotions but with an analytic mind and observation hence it won't be sexual at all, and tells her that he wants to know what exactly triggers Ponce. All this makes Miss Smith riled up.

Following Tiger's suggestion, later that night Ponce goes around to Miss Smith's house to deliver a liquor-filled chocolate duck as a present accidentally giving her his keys in the process. Ponce confides in Miss Smith, telling her that his father is dead and apologizes for yesterday. Ponce then leaves Miss Smith who finds his keys in the wrapping of the liquor-filled chocolate duck but doesn't call him back.

Ponce comes back not long after as he had to get his keys. Clad only in a night dress, Miss Smith invites him in telling him to retrace his steps to find them again. She sits him down on the sofa telling him that she can't sleep and puts on a music record. Miss Smith invites Ponce to dance with her until she's tired. Ponce and Miss Smith start to dance during which Miss smith pulls open one of her knots of her night dress's shoulder straps.

When Ponce tries to retie it Miss Smith feigns surprise asking him if he is undressing her to which Ponce denies. Miss Smith then kisses Ponce passionately which he returns. This results in Ponce breaking the chocolate duck open covering his trousers with the liquor within it.

Miss Smith takes Ponce into the bathroom where she washes his trousers in the sink while he takes a bath. She leaves his trousers to soak before she begins washing him. Miss Smith helps Ponce out of the bath, hands him a towel to wrap around himself then kisses him. The next morning Ponce and Miss Smith are lying naked and have sex before heading off to school.

Meanwhile, one young girl after another turns up dead. A police detective captain, Sam Surcher (Telly Savalas), investigates the case but never obtains enough evidence to make an arrest. Tiger is suspected, but never caught red-handed. Ponce, however, learns that Tiger is guilty when he discovers evidence hidden in his office. Tiger drives Ponce to a pier and confesses, and apparently commits suicide by driving his car into the ocean with Ponce as his witness. However, Surcher suspects that Tiger has faked his own death, a suspicion that is reinforced when he notices that Tiger's supposed widow has a plane ticket to Brazil.

After Tiger's funeral, a far bolder and much more confident Ponce engages to flirting with several of the surviving female students, taking one for a ride on his moped.

While sorting mail at Dr. Agasa's house, Conan finds an invitation addressed to Jimmy from Leo Joel, a famous architect. Jimmy calls Rachel using his voice-changing bowtie and asks her to go in his place. Rachel agrees, on the condition that Jimmy goes to a movie with her on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, Conan receives a call from a strange man, who challenges Jimmy to a game. Conan accepts the challenge, and the mystery caller gives him clues leading to bombs hidden all over Tokyo. Conan finds and destroys every one. Because of the locations of the bombs - near structures designed by Joel - Conan deduces that the bomber is Joel, who planned to destroy his "inferior" works and create a perfect new building. Upon his arrest, Joel reveals the location for his final bombs: Beika City Building, the location of Jimmy and Rachel's date.

The bombs explode and seal the entrances and exits, trapping Rachel and others inside. Conan makes his way through the collapsing building, but a warped door blocks him off from Rachel. Using his tie and cell phone, he calls Rachel and asks her to look for the bomb. Rachel finds it in a large shopping bag. To disarm the bomb, Jimmy tells Rachel which wires to cut. However, Joel made two extra wires, one red, one blue. One of them is booby-trapped, but Jimmy has no idea which. Jimmy tells Rachel to cut either one. As the rescue team arrives and carries him away, Jimmy realizes that Joel knew that Rachel's favorite color was red and booby-trapped the red one. In the last few minutes, Rachel makes a desperate decision and cuts the blue wire because the red wire represents the red string of fate between Jimmy and herself.

Tommy Linklater is an 18-year-old whose magic is often minor (re-directing croquet balls, making cards appear in closed purses, etc.) but is always genuine since he actually does the impossible. He soon learns that his hobby for playing chess while his mother was alive is another gift that she left him. His father, Herman Linklater, is a physicist who believes that all the universes mysteries will eventually be explained away.

Tommy's mother and Herman's wife, Melanie, has died and left them a house in a small lakeside town, North Hatley, that they did not know she owned. They decide to move there for a year so that Herman can finish his book on cosmology. Once they arrive, the Linklaters discover that Melanie was something of a local legend. She left North Hatley after throwing a game against the town's greatest chess rivals, the Russians. The town was forced to realize their mistakes by pushing her too hard to win and thus undermining the soul of the game. Her pictures and trophies are everywhere in the small town.

Tommy attends Hatley High, whose main claim to fame is the Knights, an internationally-ranked chess team. He befriends a basketball prodigy, Julius, whose secret passion is surfing, as well as Trevor and Darryl, two charming and ambitious guys who call themselves the Syndicate. He also meets and ends up going out with Hyacinthe Marquez, the beautiful and witty cheerleader who does cartwheels as effortlessly as she quotes Oscar Wilde. Herman, meanwhile, is being pestered by the town priest, Lorne Granger, who is a physics buff who actually and casually talks to God. Herman is very uncomfortable around priests but is eventually won over by Lorne's enthusiasm for physics. Herman undergoes a sort of epiphany when Lorne provides him with an equation that is not supposed to exist. The equation enables him to finish his book, but he is forced to confront the possibility that he not living in a clockwork universe after all.

Shaun Rodes, the egomaniac and captain of the chess team, keeps challenging Tommy to a chess match since he wishes to find out if Tommy inherited his mother's skills. Tommy refuses, but Hyacinthe sets up an after school game of chess between Shaun and Tommy. Tommy loses and chides Hyacinthe for selling him out. However, Shaun has a feeling that Tommy threw the game. Hyacinthe manages to win Tommy back by singing to him outside his window,a nd Tommy is moved to forgive her. Shaun, still suspicious from his victory, invites Tommy to an underground high-stakes chess club, which is rife with shady characters, hot babes, and money.

Shaun, hoping to prove his suspicions of Tommy's monumental talent, volunteers him to play a blitz game against the top player in the club. Tommy reluctantly shows up but wins easily. When it is announced that the Russian Junior Chess Team is coming to play Hatley High, the whole town is thrown into a frenzy for an opportunity for redemption. At the pregame dance, Anya, the captain of the Russian chess team, easily seduces Shaun, ties him up, and locks him in the school's attic, solidifying a Russian win. During halftime, Tommy performs a spectacular magic show. When Shaun does not escape from his bonds in time to play the remaining match, the coach is forced to substitute Tommy in his place.

Kozue loves to stargaze and does so regularly. On a trip to view a meteorite, she happens to meet a boy named Ginga. He has a mysterious ability to discover more information about the stars, which he uses to help scientists with astronomical research. Unfortunately, his life is mostly dictated for him, and when carrying out missions, he must always wear a protective suit. Kozue helps Ginga to gradually take control of his life by encouraging him to make his own decisions.

Set two years after Tiga's final battle, Daigo is approached by a mysterious woman, Camearra, who possessed a dark version of the Sparklence. It is then revealed that more than 30,000,000 years ago, Tiga was originally evil in nature, part of a group of four that dominated Earth. The group consisted of Dark Tiga, the telepathic Camearra (gold patterns on silver skin), the powerful Darramb (red patterns on silver) and the speedy Hudra (purple patterns on silver). One day, Tiga fell in love with a local human woman, and decided to convert from darkness to protect her from harm. Being the weakest of the four, Tiga quickly became a target of the group. However, unbeknownst to the group, the original "talentless" Tiga Dark possessed the ability to absorb powers from fallen enemies. As he eliminated each of the three dark members and sealed them away, he absorbed their powers which explains the new Tiga's color patterns (purple, red and gold lined with his original silver). Convinced by his ability to convert the last known Sparklence to good, Daigo accepts the gift and becomes Tiga once again, survives his inner struggles and vanishes the darkness within. Soon after this, he marries Rena Yanase, fellow GUTS member and longtime love interest (Shin Asuka, Dyna's eventual human host, also makes a cameo during the finale as a junior crew member, in a symbolic passing of the torch moment).