Three man wearing motorcycle helmets rob a convenience store then abandon their vehicle outside a hospital. A group of people are taken hostage in the hospital and Inspector Ishida and Captain Tohno handle the negotiations. Ishida suggests allowing the three criminals to escape with three doctors as their hostages in order to let the other hostages go free. After this is done, Lt. Ado tries to understand the motive for the crime. He discovers that something else is behind the crime and that the hospital was not selected by chance.

The film is about Malik (played by Paolo Roberto), a young man with immigrant roots living in a Stockholm suburb, who is living in a world of crime and violence. But when he meets Carmen (played by Rebecca Facey), a young beautiful and intelligent girl, his world changes and he has to choose between her and criminality.

The film is set in an unnamed Brazilian small town. Zé do Caixão, the local undertaker who disdains religion and emotion and who believes the only thing that matters is the "continuity of the blood" (specifically his own), is looking for the "perfect woman" to bear him a superior child who will be immortal. Since his wife Lenita has been found to be unable to bear children, Zé begins to make advances with Terezinha, the fiancée of Zé's friend Antonio. Terezinha scolds him by telling him that Antonio is the only man in her life. During a Catholic holiday, Zé, discontent with her infertility, kills his wife Lenita by tying her up and having a venomous spider bite her. The local authorities cannot find a clue to arrest him and he remains free to do whatever he wants.

Some days later, Zé is invited by Antonio to visit a local gypsy who will tell the fortune of Antonio's marriage with Terezinha. The gypsy reveals, however, that there is going to be a tragic disaster, and the two will never get married. Zé, in response, calls her a fraud and states that the supernatural is a hoax. She warns him not to mock the supernatural forces, lest they make him pay. That night, Zé and Antonio go to Antonio's house, where Antonio tells Joe that he really did not believe the witch's words, and that he expects to marry Terezinha and have a happy life together. Fulfilling the witch's prophecy, Zé bludgeons and then strangles and drowns Antonio in a bathtub.

Once again, the police can find no evidence to directly implicate Zé with the crime. He proceeds with his plan to seduce Terezinha by purchasing a canary for her, which she accepts. Suddenly he starts to touch her against her will. Terezinha tries to resist, and Zé savagely beats her into a helpless state and rapes her. Finally able to speak, Terezinha curses him for his brutality, saying she will kill herself, then return to take his soul to hell. Zé laughs at her, but the next day she is found hanging in her home. To his surprise, she does not blame him in her suicide note. Meanwhile, the village's Dr. Rodolfo begins to suspect Zé for the recent outbreak of violent deaths that has occurred. When Zé becomes aware of the doctor's suspicions, Zé appears at Dr. Rodolfo's home, gouges his eyes with his long fingernails and sets him on fire.

Time passes, and Zé remains unpunished for his crimes. On the Day of the Dead he meets Marta, a young woman who is visiting her relatives, and decides to choose her as his perfect woman. Zé escorts Marta home late at night, only to be confronted by the gypsy who predicted the doom of Antonio and Terezinha. She tells Zé that his soul shall be claimed by the ghosts of those he murdered and by Satan at midnight. Zé threatens the gypsy, but after leaving Marta at her destination, he is visited by ghostly apparitions. Zé runs away, and arrives at the mausoleum where Antonio and Terezinha are buried. At the edge of his sanity, Zé opens the coffins to prove to himself his victims are really dead, but instead sees that their eyes are open, and their faces crawling with spiders and maggots. Some time later, the villagers arrive at the mausoleum after hearing Zé's screams and find him lying on his back, horribly disfigured, his eyes bulging open. At that same time, the bells of the local church ring, announcing the stroke of midnight.

Phyllis Lapin (Phyllis Smith) has asked Michael Scott (Steve Carell) to push her father's wheelchair down the aisle at her wedding, a role that she gave him to secure six weeks off for her honeymoon. Michael is eager to participate, seeing himself in a "father of the bride" role, but is upset when Phyllis' father "upstages" him by walking the last few steps down the aisle under his own power.

Goaded by Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) hunts down wedding crashers. He ousts Phyllis' Uncle Al (George Ives), who fails to pass Dwight's questioning due to dementia. When Uncle Al is reported missing over the PA, Dwight realizes his mistake.

Michael makes several crude attempts to recapture the limelight, culminating with an overlong toast at the wedding banquet in which he impugns Phyllis' chastity. Outraged, Phyllis' husband Bob Vance (Bobby Ray Shafer) throws him out of the reception hall. Dwight does not let him re-enter, taking satisfaction in being able to eject a real wedding crasher. Michael finds company with Uncle Al, and eventually confesses that he is sorry for his behavior and worried that it may have sullied Phyllis' day, although Uncle Al is only able to respond with aloof statements.

Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) is upset that many details of Phyllis' wedding, from the invitations to the wedding gown, were copied from her own canceled wedding, and is further rankled when her ex-fiancé Roy Anderson (David Denman) fails to recognize any of these details. Roy expresses regret over his lack of involvement in their wedding plans and pays "Scrantonicity", the Kevin Malone-led (Brian Baumgartner) wedding band to play their song, "You Were Meant for Me". Touched by the gesture, Pam dances with him, and they leave together. Jim, who was flirting with Pam earlier in the reception, takes consolation in his relationship with Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones). When Phyllis leaves the reception hall with Bob Vance, Michael apologizes to her and she thanks him for finding Uncle Al. The newlyweds ride off in a Vance Refrigeration van.

Orphan drudge Mary Ann finds love and hope in the arms of a promising but poor composer, John Lonsdale.

Janet Gaynor plays a rebellious princess who must try to marry the man she loves, instead of the stuffy old prince her parents want her to marry. But will this ordinary man love her back once he finds out she's a princess?

Katayama (Show Aikawa) is on the way home to his wife and little daughter when he stumbles on a gang of punks beating up an innocent man. Katamaya decides to help the stranger and surprisingly wins the fight. This turns out to be a bad decision as his daughter is kidnapped and murdered by the leader of the same band of young thugs. Katayama seeks revenge and tries to seek out the gang's location.

Coffin Joe returns to his village after recovering in a hospital from shock and blindness from the events in the previous film. Having been absolved of his previous crimes and murders, this time he is even more determined to find the "perfect" woman with whom to sire a son of superior lineage, for his singular, obsessive desire for the "continuity of blood". Assisted by his gaunt, hunchbacked, facially disfigured servant Bruno, he kidnaps six beautiful women the first night he returns to town. He puts them through a series of sadistic trials to determine if one of them exhibits no fear, indicating superiority to bear his son. When the woman named Marcia remains proudly unaffected while the others scream and beg to the terrors they are submitted into, Coffin Joe retains her as his chosen and imprisons the other five in a pit below his bedroom, where he releases poisonous snakes to kill them. Too shocked with what Coffin Joe had done, however, Marcia refuses to make love with him, and Coffin Joe lets her go. He claims to know that she won't report him to the authorities.

After this incident, the village receives the visit of the local colonel's daughter Laura, who soon catches the attention of Coffin Joe. Coffin Joe invites Laura to meet with him at midnight, and she quickly falls in love with him. The colonel and his other son try to stop Laura from meeting with Coffin Joe, but it is in vain. Determined to be rid of Coffin Joe, Laura's brother tries to bribe Coffin Joe by offering a large amount of money if he drops Laura and leaves the village. However, Coffin Joe and Bruno capture him and brutally kill him. They later frame the colonel's thug Truncador for the murder.

Later, to his shock and horror, Coffin Joe learns that one of the women that he kidnapped and killed using the snakes was pregnant. Feeling guilty for have killed an unborn child, he eventually has a horrible nightmare where is he dragged to a graveyard and pulled into Hell. There he witnesses its inhabitants being endlessly tortured and persecuted. He sees the Devil, and Coffin Joe is shocked when he sees that the Devil appears to be himself. After the nightmare is over, he remarks his beliefs strongly, claiming what he is doing is not wrong.

Meanwhile, Truncador escapes from the jail and meets with the colonel, who wishes to kill Coffin Joe for seducing his daughter. He sends Truncador to find other hit men, and that same night they attack Coffin Joe, but Coffin Joe manages to kill them all. At the same time, Marcia can't free her mind of the kidnapping victims’ deaths and drinks arsenic. Before she succumbs to death, she reveals to the doctor and to the present people about Joe's crimes. The villagers, under the command of the colonel, prepare a lynch mob and go after Coffin Joe.

Meanwhile, Laura is ready to give birth to a baby, but the doctor tells Coffin Joe that her situation is too critical, and only one (Laura or the baby) will survive. Coffin Joe and Laura agree the baby is the one who must live, but the operation ends unsuccessfully with both Laura and the baby dying. Devastated, Coffin Joe takes Laura's body to a mausoleum in the cemetery, where he is finally surrounded by the villagers. Coffin Joe tries to escape but is shot and ends up falling in the pond in which he dumped his previous victims. In the movie's final scene, the local priest approaches Coffin Joe and begs him to accept God so his soul will be saved, and Joe concedes, accepting God as his savior. He drowns in the pond and sinks as skeletons rise to the surface.

After their graduation from college, friends Catherine Furness (Janet Gaynor), Chris Thring (Charles Farrell), Mack McGowan (James Dunn) and Madge Rountree (Ginger Rogers) move to New York City. Madge hopes to become an actress, lawyer Chris wants to work for a big firm, Mack aspires to being a radio crooner, and Catherine desires to be a writer. Although the quartet are great friends, their relationships are strained by their romantic entanglements, for Catherine is in love with Chris, who has eyes only for Madge, while Madge cannot make up her mind between Chris and Mack, who adores Catherine.

After a 15-hour transcontinental flight, the youngsters call Phyllis Carmichael (Barbara Barondess), an alumna of their university, who invites them to a party. Later, when none of the friends have jobs yet, a desperate Catherine responds to an ad seeking parents for orphaned infants. After Catherine explains to Dr. Nathan Kurtzman (Gustav von Seyffertitz), the babies' caretaker, that as an orphan herself she is willing to work as a nanny for anyone who adopts one of the babies, Harriet Hawkins (Beryl Mercer), a kindly old woman who runs a used clothing shop, hires her. Harriet explains that she keeps one of the babies with her to show to the rich people who drop off their clothes in hopes that someone will adopt the child.

Catherine rushes to the boardinghouse where the friends are staying and discovers that Chris and Mack have also found jobs. Their excitement is short-lived, however, for Madge announces that she is leaving to live with Phyllis, who can introduce her to a better class of people. While Mack disparages Madge's selfishness, Catherine is heartbroken when Chris runs after Madge. Mack proposes to Catherine, but she gently turns him down and moves in with Harriet. A month later, Mack visits Catherine and helps her persuade Louise Mockby (Drue Leyton) to adopt the boy for whom Harriet is caring. Catherine learns from Mack that Chris became ill and disappeared after Madge left with businessman Howard Jackson (Kenneth Thomson) to be married in California.

Catherine tracks down Chris, who requires round-the-clock nursing. Her loving care saves his life, and after Chris recovers, he realizes that he loves her. The two are wed and everything goes well until the return of Madge, who decided not to marry Howard. Madge has inherited a large amount of money and pesters Chris, who now works for Gerald Mockby (Theodore von Eltz), Louise's lawyer husband, for legal advice. Catherine is jealous of the attention Chris pays to Madge and finally confronts her. Catherine and Chris are to spend the weekend with the Mockbys, and Madge states that if she cannot persuade Chris to stay with her, she will give him up. Catherine is crushed when Chris misses their train and goes to the Mockbys alone. Chris soon arrives, however, and Catherine hugs him as he says he wants only her.

Eiji, Sabu, and Nobuko grow up as friends at the Kobunecho orphanage during the Edo period. Years later, Eiji is framed for the theft of a 100-ryo piece of gold cloth from the Watabun Bank and is sent to the Ishikawa Island workhouse. Refusing to speak, Eiji is dubbed "Bushu" by the head guard Ryojiro Kojima. Sabu is fired by from his job as a paper hanger by Hokodo for his constant visits to see Eiji and is sent out into the country, where he develops beriberi. When Osue visits Eiji, Eiji explains that he believes that he was framed by Watabun and others who believed that Eiji intended to marry Watabun's daughter. Eiji insists that he had no such intention and that he only loves Osue but that she must forget about him because he has devoted his life to revenge.

The mistress of the geisha house where Nobuko works intends for her to marry 37-year-old Toku and take over as mistress of the house but Nobuko would rather run away with Sabu and Eiji. Osue visits her and Nobuko accuses Osue of stealing the gold cloth. Sabu steals food from his employer and is fired again, forcing him to return to the city.

Eiji breaks his leg saving another prisoner's life during the collapse of the frame of a building being constructed and is left with a permanent limp. A strong rainstorm creates a risk that the Okawa River will flood and leave the island underwater. Disgraced pimp Roku, who repeatedly raped Nobuko and was responsible for the suicide of her older sister, runs into a burning building to rescue a girl there. Eiji convinces the prisoners to work together to reinforce the workhouse and protect it against the flood. The violent new prisoner Giichi, known as the "Grass Snake", attacks Eiji but Eiji defeats him and his knife-wielding compatriot Ryu by beating them with his cherrywood cane. Instead of punishing Eiji, the head guard sends Giichi and Ryu to Denmacho and is paid by Sabu to send Eiji to Kitamachi court, where his case is reopened with a petition signed by 100 inmates and he is set free.

Sabu and Eiji return to Nobuko's house, where the mistress has ended up marrying Toku. Nobuko asks Eiji to marry her but he returns to Osue instead. Eiji finds a letter of apology written by Sabu and becomes enraged but Osue confesses that Sabu is protecting her and that she framed him for the theft because she wanted to marry him herself. Her father hears her confession and begs Eiji to punish him instead of her, but Eiji forgives her and takes her as his wife as she desired. Eiji visits Sabu, who puts on a display of apologizing for the theft. Eiji punches him, then embraces him.

Young Elizabeth Blair (Shirley Temple) lives at the Lakeside Orphanage, a dreary, regimented place supervised by two decent but dour women. Her older sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson) works in the kitchen, laundry, and dormitory. Elizabeth is a sweet child but her high spirits and creative imagination often lead her into trouble with the superintendent; such as one night when she snuck in her pet horse Spunky into the children's bedroom.

When the trustees descend on the orphanage for a tour of inspection, Elizabeth is caught playfully mimicking the head trustee and is threatened with being sent to a public institution. Young, rich, handsome trustee Edward Morgan (John Boles) intervenes. He takes an immediate liking to Elizabeth and, in a private interview with the child, learns that most of her life has been spent obsequiously expressing her gratitude for every mouthful that has fallen her way. He adopts her but, not wanting to curb Elizabeth's spirit by making her feel slavishly obligated to him for every kindness, he tells her a fictitious "Hiram Jones" is her benefactor and he is simply acting on Jones's behalf as his lawyer. He nicknames her "Curly Top." Meanwhile, he has met and fallen in love with Elizabeth's sister Mary but will not admit it.

Elizabeth and Mary leave the orphanage and take up residence in Morgan's luxurious Southampton beach house. His kindly aunt, Genevieve Graham (Esther Dale), and his very proper butler Reynolds (Arthur Treacher) are charmed by the two. Elizabeth has everything a child could want including a pony cart and silk pajamas.

Mary secretly loves Morgan but, believing he has no romantic interest in her, she accepts an offer of marriage from young Navy pilot Jimmie Rogers (Maurice Murphy). Morgan is taken aback but offers his congratulations. Hours later, Mary ends the engagement when she realizes she doesn't truly love Jimmie. Morgan then declares his love, reveals he is the fictitious "Hiram Jones", and plans marriage and a long honeymoon in Europe with Mary.

In the 24th century C.E., Yokohama has grown massively and is under the control of Mayor Woo. As mayor, Woo has begun forcibly sterilizing the local population, forcing all citizens to take birth control pills. His laws are enforced by a loyal officer, Takeshi Honda. Ryo, an aimless drifter, is attacked by government forces; during the ensuing fight, Honda realises that Ryo is a replicant left over from a civilization ending war. Ryo eludes capture and follows a child who had previously been asking him for food back to the base of a rebel outfit intent on ending Woo's tyrannical regime. Some of the rebels had been captured earlier and Woo has spent many hours trying to persuade them to give up their children and turn against the rebels. With Ryo on their side and believing that now is the perfect time to strike, the rebels attempt to kidnap Mayor Woo at a public event in order to ransom him for their captured friends. During the attempted kidnapping internal divisions boil over when some members of the group start stealing valuables from guests, Woo signals his body guards and they begin fighting back. The mission aborted, the group of rebels make their way outside and commandeer a school bus, realizing that one child, Honda's son, remains on board. Returning to their base, the child who met Ryo befriends him. The group's internal divisions end in a coup where a group ousts the leader before themselves being incapacitated or killed by Ryo, leaving only a skeleton force.

Seeing Honda's son as akin to a grandson, Woo agrees to trading him back for the prisoners of the rebels. They agree to meet and Honda's son is returned as are the prisoners. One couple, however, made a deal with Woo, and upon leaving the prisoner transport system, opens fire on the group, killing most of them - including the leader. Ryo, the boy and a surviving rebel go into hiding, leaving another rebel alone to wander off. They come across a movie theater and the boy manages to sneak Honda's son out to join them. Honda tracks them down and fights with Ryo until his son appears and urges him to stop. He takes him home and both men agree to fight again some other time. Honda returns home and discovers that his wife is a replicant, confronting Woo he discovers that he is also a replicant, as is his son. As part of his programming he is unable to attack Woo who reveals that his plan to sterilize everyone has grown from the belief that the "Old World" was limiting and unnecessary. Leaving, Honda meets up with Ryo where they fight as images from the previous two ''Dead or Alive'' films are intercut. They accidentally merge into a penis-headed mecha and agree to stop fighting to take down Mayor Woo. They take flight and the film cuts to Woo in shock whilst in the middle of having sex.

Mizuki is an assassin being contracted by one organised gang in the midst of a yakuza-triad turf war. He is hired to kill an officer in the gang for cash. While setting up his shot, someone else gets to his target first; he seems to recognise the person but can't quite remember who they were. Returning to his base of operations, he lies by saying he was the ultimate killer and taking the money given to him by the contractor. After doing some research, he finds out that the other assassin goes by the name 'Mizuki Kohei' and begins to track him down. While making a booking over the phone he runs into his contractors who attack him, deciding to lay low, he makes the decision to return to his childhood home: an island off the coast of Japan.

The other assassin, fearing the heat of his actions, also decides to go into hiding. After rushing to catch the ferry, Mizuki buys a bowel of noodles and reminisces about how he associates them with childhood trips to the mainland; he and his friends would drink the soup quickly and then leave the tofu until last. This sequence is intercut with the other assassin performing the same action. Mizuki notices the other assassin aboard the ferry and follows him onto the island. Upon confronting him, he reveals his name to be Shuuichi, his childhood friend; the two agree to hold off on the killings and begin to reminisce about their past.

A flashback sequence shows Shuu and Mizuki with their friend Kohei as children playing on the beach. Their life at the orphanage having been routine but welcoming, the orphanage's head being a devout Roman Catholic. Eventually Mizuki is adopted to the mainland while Shuu and Kohei grow older, he sends regular letters, but they eventually stop coming through. It is revealed that many of these letters were faked for a long while after Mizuki's adopted parent takes his own life. Fearing the religious burden having been brought up Catholic and the possibility of facing the bureaucracy of child protective services, Mizuki ran away.

The two assassins reunite with Kohei who takes them to various places on the island from when they were children, including the local school where they reminisce, challenge each other to physical tasks and play football. Kohei puts them up at his house with his pregnant wife, and encourages them to visit the orphanage's old head, who has since suffered horrific burns from an accident, rendering him immobile. After visiting their old guardian, they watch a number of old Super 8 films of their trips and adventures together as children. While they do this, a travelling theatre group arrive on the island and get into an unfortunate accident, leaving two of them unable to perform for the children as planned. Shuu, having stepped outside due to overwhelming emotion, overhears the bad news and offers his and Mizuki's services to the theatre company, to which they agree. Hearing from Kohei how Mizuki and Shuu hijacked their school's production of the Nativity story, the orphanage's new head becomes increasingly worried about Shuu's seemingly innocuous offer to help. The performance goes off without a hitch, while back on the mainland, the gang war becomes increasingly violent and unsustainable.

Kohei's wife sees a newspaper clipping of Shuu's involvement with the initial killings, and one of them witnesses the old orphanage's head watch a news item that identifies them as assassins. Having reflected on their past selves, the two assassins decide to team up and fight the yakuza and triads, taking their money and funnelling it into water and medicinal supplies for children in Africa. They raise an exponential sum of money before it is revealed that Shuu has a deteriorating medical condition. The two assassins are confronted by the last of the gangs' men, they succeed in killing them but are severely wounded. They both decide to return to the island one final time. They order the noodles together, and having finished, Mizuki dies in Shuu's arms. They land on the shore, and Shuu carries Mizuki's body up a tall hillside overlooking the harbour. The film cuts to images of their childhood together before showing both men, dead together on the hillside.

The film cuts to an insert that reads: "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" before showing Kohei and Chi return from the hospital with their new-born baby.

In the film's first portion, filmed in black and white, Dr. Sergio, a psychiatrist, appears on a television program on a panel with three other contemporary psychiatrists after he claims to have conducted experiments on four volunteer drug addicts with LSD in order to investigate his claim that sexual perversion is caused by use of illegal drugs. As evidence, he presents a series of documented accounts of drug use which led to lewd and bizarre sexual acts. Marins appears (as himself) on the panel with the psychiatrists as some type of expert on the subject of depravity. During the program, Dr. Sergio recounts the experiment to his colleagues on the panel, who reject his claims.

Dr. Sergio gathers the four volunteers, and after receiving an injection, the volunteers (four drug users seen in the previous segments) are instructed to stare at a movie poster of Marins' ''The Strange World of Coffin Joe''. The film changes to color and each patient's experience is vividly portrayed in a series of surreal scenes.

The film switches back to black and white, and Dr. Sergio reveals that he did not in fact give the patients LSD, but rather a placebo, and their experiences were caused purely by their reactions to the Coffin Joe movie poster.

:Place: Scotland :Time: First half of the sixteenth century

Act 1

''Scene 1: The shores of Loch Katrine, with the Ben Ledi mountains in the background''Some libretti divide the action into much smaller scenes, ten in the first act and seven in the second

Shepherds are watching flocks at dawn on the shore and men in the nearby forests are hunting (Chorus: ''Del dì la messaggiera già il crin di rose infiora'' / "It is the day of the harvest and rose tresses are fully blossomed). Elena appears in a boat on the lake and sings of her longing for her true love, Malcolm (Cavatina: ''Oh mattutini albori| vi ha preceduti Amor'' / "Love has preceded you, to awake me again from my slumbers"). At the edge of the lake, Elena hears the sound of horns and vainly hopes that Malcolm will be among the hunters. However, King James - who has disguised himself as "Uberto" in the hope of meeting the beautiful Elena - approaches from a distance, claiming to be a lost hunter. She offers him shelter and James accepts, and the two cross the lake towards Elena's home (Duettino: ''Scendi nel piccol legno'' / "Get into my little boat"). As they sail off, the men in his entourage arrive, searching for the disguised King (Chorus: ''Uberto! Ah! dove t'ascondi?'' / "Oberto, where are you hiding?"). Frustrated, they agree to widen the search and pray for guidance in finding their leader.

''Scene 2: Douglas's home''

Arriving at her home, Elena explains her simple life. But Uberto/King James sees insignias of his ancestors and learns that Elena's father is Douglas, the King's tutor, who has since become a rebel exiled from the court, a decision which Uberto in an aside says the King regrets. Elena's friends arrive and sing of her betrothal by her father to Rodrigo, chief of the Highlanders, a Scots tribe opposed to King James. Uberto/James becomes jealous. However, he suspects that Elena is not in love with Rodrigo (Duet: ''Le mie barbare vicende'' / "What good will it do to hear about my cruel fortunes?"). Directly, he asks if there is someone she loves, and learns this was only a brief episode in her past. Encouraged, he prepares to leave Elena's house (Duet: ''Cielo! in qual estasi!'' / "Heavens, I feel myself transported in ecstasy"), and he and Elena expresses similar emotions. All leave as Elena goes inside.

Malcolm arrives, having decided to join the Highlanders (''Mura felici, ove il mio ben si aggira! / Dopo più lune io vi riveggo'' / "Happy walls, that shelter my beloved. After so long I will see her again!"). Alone, he recalls fond memories of Elena: (Aria: ''Elena! oh tu, che chiamo!, Deh vola a me un istante'' / "Elena! you whom I call!, Ah!, fly back to me for a moment, come back to me and say I love you"). Then he swears he will take her away from the strongest man or die in the attempt. Unseen, Malcolm then watches Elena and her father discussing her upcoming marriage to Rodrigo. She is reluctant, but Douglas orders her to obey his command: (Aria: ''Taci, lo voglio, e basti'' / "Be quiet! It is my wish...Show me that you're a daughter worthy of her father"). As he leaves, trumpets announce Rodrigo; Douglas orders Elena to follow him.

Malcolm, who has overheard the conversation, approaches Elena and they pledge their undying devotion to each other (Duettino: ''Vivere io non saprò/ potrò, mio ben, senza di te'' / (Elena, then Malcolm): "Beloved, I shall not be able to live, my love, without you"). Together they leave.

''Scene 3''

The Highland warriors urge one another to fight (Chorus: ''Qual rapido torrente'' / "Like a swift-flowing stream, surging over obstacles in its way") and welcome Rodrigo. He pledges to lead them to victory but, aside, expresses anxiety to see his future bride: (Cavatina: ''Eccomi a voi, miei prodi'' / "I come to you my brave honor of the native soil"). His soldiers assure him he will win the hand of the woman he loves, as well as military victory.

Douglas enters and he and Rodrigo greet one another, the latter fervently expressing his desire to see Elena. (Rodrigo and Chorus: ''Ma dov'è colei'' / "But where is Elena, who kindles such a sweet flame in my breast"). Acclaimed by the assembled crowd for her beauty, Elena enters. Rodrigo approaches, declaring his love: (Aria: ''Quanto a quest'alma amante'' / "My loving soul finds the sweetness of this moment"). Concerned that she does not appear to respond, Douglas assures Rodrigo that she is restrained by modesty. Father, daughter and suitor each express their hopes, concerns and fears: (Trio: ''Di opposti affetti un vortice'' / "A whirlwind of contrary emotions, Swirls about me").

Malcolm and his men arrive to join the Highlanders, demanding to be put to the test. Elena tries to hide her emotions, but Douglas immediately understands where her heart lies. At the same time, Rodrigo offers friendship to Malcolm and introduces Elena as his bride-to-be; but he, too, perceives a connection between Malcolm and Elena. In a quartet accompanied by the chorus of soldiers and women, each expresses his or her conflicting emotions: (Rodrigo: ''Crudele sospetto, Che me agiti il petto'' / "Cruel suspicion That sets me shuddering"; then Elena and Malcolm together: ''Ah cèlati, o affetto, nel misero petto!'' / "Ah my affection - keep yourself hidden"; then Douglas: ''Ah l'ira, il dispetto, mi straziano il petto!'' / "Ah! Anger and resentment Tear my heart apart"; finally Albina and chorus: ''Crudele sospetto gli serpe nel petto!'' / "Cruel suspicion twists Like a snake").

Abruptly, Serano enters to warn of an attack by the King's forces. The Bards (Coro dei Bardi) enter and sing ''Già un raggio forier d'immenso splendor, addita il sentier di gloria, di onor'', in which they are then joined by Albina ''E vinto il nemico, domato l'audace''. As Rodrigo, Malcolm and the Highland warriors prepare to depart for battle, everyone joins in singing ''Su... amici! guerrieri!'' / "Go on, friends and warriors, Go on, let's march, let's fight". All leave for battle.

Act 2

''Scene 1: A thick wood with a cave''

In the woods, Uberto/King James has come to find Elena, hoping to save her from the coming battles (Cavatina: ''Oh fiamma soave, che l’alma mi accendi! pietosa ti rendi a un fido amator.'' / "Oh sweet flame. Show compassion To a faithful lover"). Meanwhile, Elena asks Serano to find her father, whom she expects to see before he goes off to fight; Serano leaves. Uberto/King James then approaches Elena and declares his love, but she tells him she loves Malcolm: (Duet, leading to a trio: Elena and Uberto: ''Alla ragion deh rieda'' / "Ah! may your agitated and overburdended soul Return to reason's control"). Nevertheless, Uberto gives Elena a ring he says the King gave him, and emphasizes that it will see her through any danger. He prepares to leave, but Rodrigo steps forward, having overheard their exchange: (Duet: ''Qual pena in me già desta'' / "What distress in my fatal misfortune"". This becomes a trio with Rodrigo's: ''Misere mie pupille!'' / "O my wretched eyes!".) Overwhelmed with rage and jealousy, Rodrigo orders his men to reveal themselves and kill this stranger. Elena pleads with Rodrigo's men, and Rodrigo decides to duel with Uberto himself. The two exit; Elena, trying in vain to calm them, follows.

''Scene 2: The interior of the cave''

Malcolm enters, looking for Elena, but finds only Albina. Serano joins them, explaining that Elena has gone in search of her father, Douglas, who is on a peace mission to the King's palace. Despondent at losing Elena, Malcolm seeks his own death: (Aria: ''Ah! si pera: ormai la morte! fia sollievo a’ mali miei'' / "Ah! Let me perish; death now Would be a relief for my ills. But if she comes to me she will bring eternal happiness to my life"). However, he is confronted by the arriving clansmen who announce that Rodrigo has been slain and the Highlanders face certain defeat. Malcolm leaves for the palace, determined to rescue Elena even if it means his life.

''Scene 3: A room in the King's palace''

Douglas begs his former student King James for forgiveness, not for himself but for his daughter and those who helped him on the field of battle. The King refuses, and orders him imprisoned. As Douglas is led away, the King is saddened by having to act so severely. Meanwhile, Elena has gained entry to the palace by showing her ring from "Uberto", and hopes to save her father, Malcolm and Rodrigo (of whose death she is unaware). Suddenly, in the next room, she hears the voice of "Uberto" expressing love for her: (Aria: ''Aurora! ah sorgerai avversa ognor per me? D’Elena i vaghi rai mostrarmi.'' / "Dawn! Ah! will you always Arise inauspiciously for me? Oh God! Why show me Elena's fair eyes?"). When "Uberto" comes in, Elena is thrilled, certain he will help her gain an interview with the King.

''Scene 4: The King's Throne Room''

The two enter the throne room as members of the court join them: (Chorus: ''Imponga il Re: noi siamo servi del suo voler '' / "Let the King give us his orders"). Elena, puzzled by the courtiers' behaviour towards "Uberto", suddenly she realises that Uberto and King James are one. King James, softened by his affection for Elena, decides to forgive Douglas; but he makes a show of severity by condemning Malcolm. Finally, he relents and brings the young couple together. In her rondo finale, Elena rejoices to have saved both her father and her true love, while everyone else rejoices that peace has been restored: (Rondo: ''Tanti affetti in tal momento! mi si fanno al core intorno, che l’immenso mio contento'' / "So many emotions at such moment / Come clamouring about my heart / That I cannot explain to you / My immense happiness")

The main character, Keisuke Iwasaki (岩崎 圭介 ''Iwasaki Keisuke''), is a handsome and very muscular high school teacher by day and dispenses a surreal and perverted brand of "justice" at night as the Rapeman under the business "Rapeman Services", which is co-run with his uncle, a former surgeon. The business' motto is: "Righting wrongs through penetration." Clients call on the Rapeman to handle cases such as the revenge of a jilted lover, forming parental bonds through a traumatic crisis, making disruptive co-workers more docile and other things of that nature. When engaged in his night trade, the Rapeman wears a black leather ski mask shaped like the head of a penis, but no trousers or underwear. In the middle of a rape, if the woman/girl becomes unresponsive or expresses enjoyment, he uses special techniques such as "M69 Screwdriver" or "Infinite Loop" to apply more pain to the victim. Despite regretting some of the contracts he fulfills, he always completes the task.

The Commander of the shuttle-craft Vulture (John Leslie) leads two teams of Scavengers to the stricken cargo ship Cyclops in an attempt to retrieve salvage. Each team of Scavengers is formed from one man and one woman. One team competes in yellow the other in red and the salvage they are attempting to recover is usually marked with their team colours. The Commander and The Scavengers are joined by a female android, played by actress Anna Galvin, who provides directions and tactical information to the team once the game has begun.

Ben Shaw and his new wife Jane leave New York for Tokyo, Japan, where Ben has a job as a photographer. While traveling, Jane hits a girl in the middle of the wilderness. Later they start to find mysterious lights in their photos. Ben begins to complain of severe shoulder pain, and his friends begin to comment he's looking bent and hunched over, though the doctor he goes to see can find no cause. Ben's assistant takes them to her ex-boyfriend, who says that the lights are spirits, manifestations of intense emotions. They then go to a psychic, Murasame; however, Ben refuses to translate what Murasame says, claiming he is a hack.

Later on Jane decides to visit the office building in the photo. When she gets there, she goes to the floor where the light has gathered, and takes pictures in the empty office. She encounters the spirit, and learns that the girl's name was Megumi Tanaka and that Ben knew her. When she confronts Ben about it, he admits that he and Megumi were once involved in a relationship, but that after the death of her father, she became very obsessive and clingy, and eventually dumped her, with help from his two friends. Jane is upset with Ben and decides they need to find Megumi.

They go to Megumi's home, only to find her decayed body; she had committed suicide with potassium cyanide. Meanwhile, Ben's friends, Adam and Bruno, are killed by Megumi. Adam's eye is torn out while shooting pictures and he dies from shock; Bruno commits suicide by jumping from his apartment. Finally, Ben is attacked by the ghost of Megumi, who attempts to choke him. After nearly throwing Jane through a nearby window, Megumi stops, leaving Ben alive.

After Megumi's funeral, Ben and Jane return to New York, thinking it's all over. However, Jane finds some recent photos in an envelope which still show Megumi. She then finds more photos, taken by Ben, Adam, and Bruno forcing themselves on Megumi. Ben tries to explain he felt it was the only way to drive Megumi away, as nothing else was working. This explains why Ben didn't want to translate what the psychic said earlier in the film. Realizing that Megumi was trying to warn her and disgusted by Ben's past actions, Jane leaves him saying she will not spend the rest of her life with him.

Angered, Ben begins photographing the apartment looking for Megumi. After throwing the camera across the room, it takes a picture of him, showing Megumi sitting astride on his shoulders. The movie pans back to the hospital where a nurse is weighing Ben, showing a weight of 275 pounds, the weight of two people. In an effort to rid himself of her, he electrocutes himself. He is rendered completely catatonic and sent to a mental institution. The last scene is a reflection of the glass from the door, showing Megumi still latched to his back.

"Combined Intelligence" agent James Bond comes under fire from an assassin. He dodges the bullets and enters Casino Royale. There he meets his British contact, Clarence Leiter, who remembers "Card Sense Jimmy Bond" from when he played the Maharajah at Deauville. While Bond explains the rules of baccarat, Leiter explains Bond's mission: to defeat Le Chiffre at baccarat and force his Soviet spymasters to "retire" him. Bond then encounters a former lover, Valerie Mathis, who is Le Chiffre's current girlfriend; he also meets Le Chiffre himself.

Bond beats Le Chiffre at baccarat, but when he returns to his hotel room, is confronted by Le Chiffre and his bodyguards, along with Mathis, who Le Chiffre has discovered is an agent of the ''Deuxième Bureau'', France's external military intelligence agency at the time.

Le Chiffre tortures Bond in order to find out where Bond has hidden the check for his winnings, but Bond does not reveal where it is. After a fight between Bond and Le Chiffre's guards, Bond shoots and wounds Le Chiffre, saving Valerie in the process. Exhausted, Bond sits in a chair opposite Le Chiffre to talk. Mathis gets in between them, and Le Chiffre grabs her from behind, threatening her with a concealed razor blade. As Le Chiffre moves towards the door with Mathis as a shield, she struggles, breaking free slightly, and Bond is able to shoot Le Chiffre.

André (Curado Ribeiro), is a son of a wealthy family who meets a girl called Luisinha (Milu).

Luisinha lives at a small pension house with Rita (Maria Olguim) and Januário (João Silva), who are as parents to her, and with mr. Simplício Costa (António Silva), better known as Costa do Castelo, a lazy but highly talented guitar player who together with (Hermínia Silva) reaches success.

In order to see Luisinha every day, André decides to move into the same pension, offering an assumed name and pretending to be a chauffeur. When all seems to be going according to plan, enter Ms. Mafalda da Silveira (Maria Matos), André's aunt, who unmasks her nephew and ends the farse.

André gets injured in a car accident, and takes advantage of his ailment to persuade his aunt with the help of his uncle Simão (Manuel Santos Carvalho), to allow Luisinha to live at her mansion, to attend him. Luisinha ends up moving in and, thanks to her, the mansion knows joy and light again.

One day, Simplício Costa comes to the mansion at the request of Simão and, unexpectedly, he finds the lost love of his youth, gone for over 30 years: Mafalda. All seems perfect, but one person stands before in André and Luisinha's happiness, Isabel de Castelar (Teresa Casal), an ambitious woman coveting Daniel's fortune. With considerable effort, Ms. Mafalda and the "Costa do Castelo" manage to join together not only Daniel and Luisinha but also themselves.

The hero of the tale is an unnamed young man, a commoner. Julius is his male black cat. The hero is in love with the daughter of a king, and the feeling is mutual. Julius is in love with the white female cat of the king, who also serves as the royal chauffeur. The king objects to both relationships and throws the commoner and his cat out of the palace. The rejected duo head to a movie theater, seeking entertainment. They watch a film featuring "Rodolph Vaselino" (Rudolph Valentino) as a bullfighter. The film inspires Julius to form a plan which will allow his master to win the hand of the royal daughter. But Julius first asks for a prize for his services, a pair of boots.

In time, the duo organizes a bullfighting spectacle, with the hero in disguise as a masked bullfighter. Julius' original plan was to use a hypnotic machine to control the bull and impress the king. The actual fight ends up involving a more physical struggle, but the hero does come out on top. The king is suitably impressed to offer the hand of his daughter to the masked bullfighter.

Shortly after, the king wishes to learn the identity of his prospective son-in-law. He is enraged to discover the commoner he dislikes behind the mask of the bullfighter. But the hero leads the royal daughter in a quick escape, followed by Julius and the chauffeur. The four of them make it to the royal car and escape, while the king briefly and futilely gives chase on foot. The films ends with the car speeding off into the distance.

Born with the plain name Gencho Gunchev and with the soul of an adventurer, he cannot settle with the daily grind of a clerk. Using his charm, Gunchev begins relationships with rich women and after that disappears with their money.

Pretending to be the famous freelance architect Yastrebovski, he wrings a huge amount of money out of a group of naïve people. The swindling is caught in a bar where he squanders the money of those people. Despite he is well-known to the police with all his reincarnations (see Special notes at the end), he manages to provoke sympathy in the inspector in charge (Tzvetan). Simulating illness, Gunchev is hospitalized, and in the hospital he manages to forge his death certificate. Then he goes to Bourgas in a search for his next victim. There he meets the intelligent and sensitive teacher Boryana and they both fall in love with each other. But soon, realizing he will be caught, Gunchev escapes from Boryana, taking only a picture of her.

Again in Sofia, not without the help of providence, he manages to steal a uniform of a police captain. By accident he catches a man (Sedlarov) who has an illegal workshop in his house. Gunchev accepts the bribe from Sedlarov and, true to his nature, offers to marry his daughter, Sevelina. Under the name Iliya Burevestnikov he blackmails all illegal private contractors in the area and incidentally comes across one of his ex-wives. His identity is uncovered and he finds himself again in custody. The only thing he requests from the inspectors before going in jail is the picture of Boryana.

In a typical Lisbon "pátio", or courtyard, by the Popular Saints festivals, a handful of plain people live their day-to-day, their dreams, disappointments, passions, jealousies and joys in an almost enchanted atmosphere. Alfredo is a good lad whose brother Carlos, flirts with frivolous Amália. Her sister, Suzana, is in turn in love with Alfredo. Narciso, Rufino's father and his partner in the neighbourhoods café, is a chronic drunkard and a guitar virtuoso. Rosa, a merry widow that sells flowers, is in turn courted by Narciso and by the unpleasant and arrogant Evaristo, the grocer, father to envious and spoiled Celeste. The rivalry between Narciso and Evaristo reaches its height in a dance night at the courtyard that ends in a veritable camp battle. At long last all is settled between the several loving couples and life goes on serenely in the courtyard.

A drifter identified only as "Friendless" (Keaton) sells the last of his possessions, keeping only a few trinkets and a picture of his mother. The money buys him only some bread and a sausage then is gone.

Unable to find a job in the city, he stows away on a train. He thinks it is going to New York but it is heading west. He sleeps in a barrel but the barrel rolls of the train. He manages to get a job at a cattle ranch despite having no experience. Meanwhile, a neglected cow named Brown Eyes fails to give milk and is sent out to the field along with the other cattle intended for slaughter.

As Friendless tries to figure out how to milk a cow, he's told to go out and help the other ranch hands bring in the cattle. Unsuccessful in riding a horse, he falls off and sees Brown Eyes. Noticing her limp, Friendless examines her hoof and removes the rock that had been hurting her. Brown Eyes proceeds to follow Friendless around, saving him from a bull attack. Realizing that he's finally found a companion, Friendless strikes up a friendship with the cow, giving her his blanket at night and attempting to protect her from wild dogs. The next day, Brown Eyes follows Friendless everywhere, much to the chagrin of the other ranch hands. Friendless accidentally sets two steers loose after they'd been corralled in, but on the joking suggestion of the other hands, brings them back in by waving his red bandanna.

The ranch owner (Truesdale) and his daughter (Myers) are preparing to sell the cattle to a stockyard, though another rancher wants to hold out for a higher price. The owner, no longer wanting to wait, prepares to ship the whole herd out. Friendless, shocked to hear that Brown Eyes will go to a slaughterhouse, refuses to let her go. The ranch owner fires him and gives him his wages. Friendless tries to buy his friend back with his earnings, but is told that it's not enough. After failing to get more money from a card game, he joins Brown Eyes in the cattle car and tries to find a way to free her. The train is ambushed by the other rancher and his men. Friendless and the ranch owner's other hands manage to drive off the attackers, but only Friendless makes it back to the train as the others chase away the rancher.

Arriving in Los Angeles, Friendless frees Brown Eyes and leads her away, using his red bandana once more to guide the other thousand steers to the stockyard. The townspeople are terrified of the cattle as some of the cows break away and begin entering the stores, but Friendless manages to corral them together. Friendless ties Brown Eyes up before going back to retrieve the other cattle, leaving his red bandana with her in order to keep her cool. Realizing his mistake, he enters a masquerade store to find something red to attract the cows. Deciding on a red devil's outfit, he exits the store and the cattle begin to chase him. The police attempt to arrest him, but are mistakenly sprayed with hoses from the fire department, who flee once they see the cattle coming.

The ranch owner, realizing his ruin if the cattle are not sold, drives with his daughter to the stockyard. The owner tells him that no cattle have arrived yet. Defeated, the ranch owner prepares to leave when he sees Friendless leading the herd into the stockyard. Overjoyed, the ranch owner tells Friendless that his house and anything he owns is his to ask for. Friendless says that he only wants "her," gesturing behind him to where the ranch owner's daughter is. The owner is surprised and the daughter flattered, but they quickly realize that it's Brown Eyes that he's referring to. The three drive back to the ranch, with Brown Eyes beside Friendless in the back seat.

The game is a sequel to the ninth ''Star Trek'' movie, ''Star Trek: Insurrection''. The Son'a and the Ba'ku now live in peace on the planet, and a Starfleet outpost has been set up to monitor the situation. Son'a construction uncovers ancient ruins and Captain Jean-Luc Picard is sent to investigate.

The player plays the character of Ensign Sovok, who becomes embroiled in a plot to harness the destructive powers of a coveted genetic seed. The player must engage alien forces and outwit foes in a series of missions, to prevent the Federation from falling victim to the Romulans.

The owner of an IT company, Ravn, wishes to sell it. But, for years, he has pretended that the real boss lives in America and communicates with the staff only by e-mail. That way, all the unpopular decisions can be attributed to the absentee manager, while all the popular ones to him directly. But now, the prospective buyer insists on meeting the big boss in person. In a panic, the owner hires a failed, over-intellectualizing actor to portray this imaginary boss, and the actor proceeds to improvise all his lines, to the consternation of both the buyer and the company staff, who finally get to meet their ghostly boss.

Ten-year-old Finnegan "Finn" Bell, an orphan being raised by his elder sister Maggie and her boyfriend Joe, is overpowered by an escaped convict while playing on a beach on the Gulf Coast. Finn brings him food, medicine and bolt cutters to get the iron shackles off his leg, and is taken hostage. The convict tries to escape to Mexico but the police seize his small boat. The convict hides on a buoy and the police tow Finn back to land. Finn sees on the news that the now recaptured convict was mobster Arthur Lustig who had escaped from death row.

Joe is called to do gardening at "Paradiso Perduto" ("Lost Paradise" in Italian), the mansion of the richest woman in Florida, Nora Dinsmoor, who has lived as a recluse since her fiancé left her at the altar years before. Finn accompanies Joe and encounters Dinsmoor's young niece, the beautiful Estella. Dinsmoor invites Finn to come back and play with Estella. She behaves haughtily on Finn's first visit, but her aunt forces her to sit for an impromptu portrait by Finn. Dinsmoor warns Finn that he will fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken.

Several years pass. Maggie runs away from home and Joe raises Finn alone. Finn goes to Paradiso Perduto every Saturday and develops into a talented painter. Although Estella is at times flirtatious, even attempting to seduce Finn at one point, she leaves to study in Europe without telling him. Heartbroken, Finn gives up painting and his visits to Paradiso Perduto.

Seven years later, a lawyer tells Finn that a gallery owner in New York City wants to show his work. Finn is perplexed but agrees to go. There he encounters Estella in the park. She is in a relationship with a wealthy businessman, Walter. She resumes her flirtatious behavior towards Finn, posing nude in his apartment and arousing Walter's jealousy.

Eventually Finn, frustrated by Estella's evasiveness, lures her away from Walter and the two have sex. She tells him she is going to visit her aunt briefly, but will be back for the opening of Finn's show. But on opening night she fails to show up. But Uncle Joe does, and inadvertently embarrasses Finn with his crudeness. Finn goes to Estella's abode in New York, hoping to find her, but instead finds Ms. Dinsmoor, who reveals that she came to New York to attend Estella's wedding to Walter, which upsets Finn. She then tells him that Estella was using him to make Walter jealous and convince him to marry her. When she realizes how seriously she has upset him, she is remorseful and apologizes for her manipulation, but it is too late.

Back at his studio, Finn finds a strange bearded man wanting to see him. It is Arthur Lustig! Finn is first incredulous, then uncomfortable with his presence. As Lustig leaves, his comments make Finn realize that he, not the wealthy Ms. Dinsmoor, has in fact been Finn's benefactor during Finn's entire time in New York. Finn goes with him to the subway station.

Waiting for a train, Lustig sees three unsavory acquaintances on the opposite platform. Finn and Lustig outmaneuver them and get on a train. They think they are safe, but one of them comes through the car and brutally stabs Lustig. As he bleeds to death in Finn's arms, he reveals that he has been Finn's benefactor in return for the kindness Finn showed him as a child.

Devastated, Finn drops everything, goes to Paris to study art, and becomes successful. He returns to Florida to visit his Uncle Joe. Ms. Dinsmoor has died, but he visits her house anyway. Sitting in the garden, he thinks he sees an apparition of Estella as a child. Following the little girl through to the back dock, he finds her mother, who turns out to be Estella, now divorced. She admits she has often thought of him, and asks him to forgive her, which he does. They hold hands looking out over the sea.

Marissa Jaret Winokur plays Becca Wasserman, a young woman recently engaged to a young man, Adam Lopez (Mark Consuelos). Hoping to improve their modest honeymoon plans, Becca seeks the vacation prize offered in a local beauty pageant. Charming and buoyant, Becca enters herself confidently, over the objections of her embarrassed mother (Fran Drescher) who believes that her daughter's plus-size form will be ridiculed. Becca rejects the criticism and becomes determined to win.

Overcoming all expectations, Becca becomes Miss Squirrel Hill. The flush of success drives her to compete in other, larger pageants in the city, and she announces ambitious plans for the future. Her fiancé is supportive at first, but he becomes quickly dismayed by her aggressive efforts to win. As Becca struggles to advance in the pageant circuit, she appears to change for the worse in many ways, before finally recapturing her original good nature and ''joie de vivre''.

To learn more about the Mysterons (voiced by Donald Gray), Spectrum have devised "Operation Sword", the objective of which is to land a spy probe on Mars's moon Phobos in order to capture detailed images of the planet's surface. The first probe is detected and destroyed by the Mysterons but the second, ''Mini-Sat 5'', touches down safely and begins its orbital reconnaissance. Once Phobos has made a full orbit of Mars, the images will be transmitted to Earth, where they will be received at K14 Observatory in the Himalayas.

Captains Scarlet and Blue (voiced by Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop) have been dispatched to K14 to observe astronomers Carter, Angelini and Breck. To the astronomers, the second probe was able to reach Phobos undetected by travelling in the "shadow of fear": "Phobos" – the name of a companion of Mars in Greek mythology – means "fear", and the probe avoided detection by approaching the moon from behind so that it would remain invisible to Mars.

A few hours before transmission, Breck is viewing Mars through a telescope when the planet begins to flash brightly. Overcome by the dazzling light, he is killed and replaced by a Mysteron reconstruction. Knowing that K14's antenna will need to be rotated to receive the transmission, the reconstructed Breck plants a bomb in the rotation gear, rigging the device to explode when the gear is turned. He then hides in the rocks above the observatory. Aided by Melody Angel and Captain Grey (voiced by Sylvia Anderson and Paul Maxwell) in a Spectrum helicopter, Scarlet and Blue pursue and locate Breck. Revealing his sabotage, the reconstruction fires a gun at the officers but is shot dead by Scarlet. However, before Scarlet and Blue can warn K14, Carter and Angelini turn the antenna and the bomb explodes, causing the antenna to collapse and crush the observatory.

With Carter and Angelini dead and K14 destroyed, Earth misses the probe's transmission. However, Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray) insists that Operation Sword will go on.

The Gaul woman Varinia (Rhona Mitra) and her village are attacked by the Romans. Her entire village is taken into slavery, and she is sold to Lentulus Batiatus (Ian McNeice). Spartacus (Goran Višnjić), a Thracian slave condemned to the mines, attempts to protect another slave. Spartacus is nearly crucified before Batiatus purchases the man. Spartacus and a handful of other slaves are brought to Batiatus' ''ludus'' to be trained as gladiators. Spartacus and the other slaves are brought to the gladiators to eat, where he meets Nardo (Chris Jarman), Draba (Henry Simmons) and David (James Frain). Before a fight breaks out between Draba and Gannicus (Paul Telfer), they are stopped by their trainer Cinna (Ross Kemp).

Jeffrey Wyatt is the widowed father of identical triplet teenage daughters, Lisa, Jessie, and Megan. As he picks his daughters up from the airport, he neglects to tell them over the summer he has become engaged to Cassie McGuire. Cassie wants to redesign their California beach house with the help of house designer Susan Evers. Jeffrey initially doesn't like Susan's ideas, but comes around to allowing them due to Cassie.

Lisa, who is dating David, has invited a boy she met in Paris named Hawk, a "bad boy" to eat at their house. She doesn't know how to break it to David that she finds Hawk "more unpredictable". She asks Jessie to pretend to be Lisa on a date with David, so Lisa can go on a date with Hawk while their father goes on a date with Cassie, Susan, and Nick (Ray Baker) his best friend. As the adults are getting ready for their double date, Susan compliments Jessie going out with David, almost exposing the ruse until Jeffrey innocently jokes he confuses the girls occasionally. On their date, Jessie is bewildered to be at a "Welcome Home Lisa" party with all of their friends. She embarrasses herself during a karaoke dance skit called "The Jackson Three" (a parody of the Jackson Five), singing the Janet Jackson song "What Have You Done for Me Lately".

Hawk is not wanting to settle down and be Lisa's boyfriend. He asks her to run away with him, but she refuses. Later that night, Jeffrey figures out the switch and grounds the girls for three weeks, with David disappointed in Lisa and Jessie. Lisa unleashes her feelings and tells Jeffrey that she doesn't like the jealous, snobbish Cassie, and neither do her sisters. The next morning, Susan speaks with Jessie and Megan, saying her earlier compliment was not an honest mistake, but that she suspected Lisa and Jessie were switching identities, and even shows them a picture of herself with her twin sister, Sharon Grand.

Lisa runs away with Hawk on his motorcycle only to break down at a diner. Jessie and Megan, using David's car, find her. Jeffrey, Susan, and David also do so. Hawk and David fight in the diner, causing the police to be called, and Hawk breaks up with Lisa. David begins to like Jessie better than Lisa. Cassie becomes angry that Susan went with Jeffrey to the diner. The girls begin to befriend and like Susan. They set up a date for her and Jeffrey by not telling Nick and Cassie to come. Jeffrey expresses his admiration for Susan, who refuses because he is engaged. She quits working on the Wyatts' house and continues with Nick's condo and Cassie moves the date to two days away. The girls go to Susan's apartment and meet Sharon Grand, Susan's twin sister. Sharon agrees to help them set up Jeffrey and Susan.

On the wedding day, Sharon and the girls lock Jeffrey and Susan in the garage shed, resulting in Jeffrey missing the wedding. Cassie, devastated, hooks up with Nick and drives away. David and Jessie become a couple. Jeffrey and Susan realize their love for each other after playing the piano and singing to the music box she bought and then gave to him. Sharon and the girls take down the shed wall, revealing Jeffrey and Susan about to kiss.

Continuity

In ''The Parent Trap II'', Sharon Ferris married Bill Grand (Tom Skerritt), creating a family with their daughters, Nikki Ferris (Carrie Kei Heim) and Mary Grand (Bridgette Andersen). Susan was married to Brian Carey (Alex Harvey). They divorced prior to the events of ''Parent Trap III'', and Susan reverted to using her maiden name, Evers.

After inheriting a family resort in Hawaii from Jeffrey's late aunt, Jeffrey and Susan decide to head for Hawaii with his identical triplet teenage daughters, Lisa, Jessie and Megan, before spending their 2-week honeymoon in Australia, with Susan's twin sister Sharon Grand taking care of the girls.

They find the resort in a run-down condition, and they decide to repair it and sell it. The triplets spend most of their time at the beach having fun and meeting boys. Jeffrey meets an old high school rival, Ray, who promises to keep the resort as it is if Jeffrey will sell it to him. He has other plans in mind, however, and they are not limited merely to Jeffrey's resort.

Meanwhile, a mean resident named Charlotte Brink causes problems for everyone.

Jenny Warden, a care-assistant in a retirement home, is in a loveless marriage, and has a lover. She befriends Stella Newland, a resident with terminal cancer, and Stella gradually reveals the events of her life, which in some ways parallel Jenny's. A vanished film star and a secret house add to the intrigue until the terrible truth of the brimstone wedding is finally revealed.

Set in Alaska and Suffolk, this story is written in three first-person narrations, the first and longest of which is the memoir-confession of Tim Cornish.

Tim, a would-be novelist of twenty-four, has just received his master's degree. He travels to Alaska for a nature-exploration cruise with his older male lover, Ivo, a paleontologist who will be lecturing during the cruise.

Tim has been living with and supported by Ivo, but, since Ivo's recent declaration of love, Tim has tired of him.

Ashore in Juneau while Ivo is elsewhere, Tim meets Isabel, an unhappily married, somewhat older woman, with whom Tim immediately falls in love, and he promises to meet her in Seattle after breaking up with Ivo (who he pretends is a woman). When Tim tells Ivo their relationship is over, Ivo refuses to accept it. On an excursion to an uninhabited island, the two men tussle; Tim strikes Ivo, who then strikes his head against a tree. Leaving Ivo for dead, Tim flees the island and rejoins the cruise, saying nothing of what has happened.

Tim helps himself to the cash and credit card Ivo left behind and flies to Seattle, hoping to find Isabel, but his guilt causes him to abandon that plan and he returns to the UK, where he settles into an unchallenging job in his hometown and lives alone in his parents' house. As there has been no word of a police inquiry and no report of the finding of Ivo's body, Tim seems to have committed the perfect crime, though he is increasingly haunted by what he has done, believing he sees Ivo everywhere. Then he begins to receive a series of anonymous letters, each of which describes the island ordeal—and rescue—of a castaway.

Isabel's own brief memoir, in the form of a letter of sorts to Ivo, and a concluding letter to his wife by a schoolboy friend of Tim's who becomes Tim's solicitor, complete the book, which explores questions of sexual identity, fidelity, and guilt.

Sandor comes from a wealthy home and is highly educated. Joe, longing for a friend, falls under his spell.

Some years earlier, Sandor had taken part in the kidnapping of a former model, Nina. He now plans to kidnap her again so that they can live together. At present, Nina lives in a heavily guarded residence with her husband and many servants. Eventually, Joe's colourful stepsister, Tilly, is also dragged into the plot. However, things don't turn out as Sandor had planned. Most of the story is seen through Joe's eyes, but Paul Garnet, Nina's driver, also tells part of the tale.

Bo-kyung (Han Hyo-joo) is approached by two young men from the countryside, who are both convinced she is Myung-eun, a girl who left the village years ago and whose father is now dying. When they realize she isn't who they think she is, the more outspoken of the pair, Ki-yeong (Kim Young-min), asks her to be the "stand-in" for a night, so that the old man can die after seeing his estranged daughter one last time. Despite her hesitation, she gets in their car.

Largely set during World War II, the story is told by Faith Severn, who at the prompting of a true-crime writer recounts her memories of her aunt, the prim, fastidious, and snobbish Vera Hillyard. Vera's life is initially centered on her beautiful younger sister, Eden, even to the exclusion of her own son, Francis, with whom she has a poor relationship. Later, Vera brings up a second son, Jamie, born during the war and presumably fathered by Vera's soldier husband, though the timing of his birth raises questions. Vera becomes intensely devoted to Jamie, while Eden marries the scion of a wealthy family.

When Eden is unable to have children with her husband, she begins to demand custody of Jamie, who she claims is being poorly raised by Vera. To the bewilderment and shock of the rest of the family, the custody battle escalates to violent levels, leading to tragedy and a series of disturbing revelations.

Set in the distant future, a young tribesman, Maradek searches for his father, Afurad. In the course of this search, he helps to foil the forces that threaten the world's destruction.

Twenty years after Paul closed the Gate to Hell and defeated the evil Bishop, during the time then, he and Adelle fell in love but she was corrupted by a demon from Hell during his fight with the evil bishop. He then realises that his visions tell him about something evil that is coming, so he sets out on a journey to find the answers to his questions. His travels lead him to the Byzantine city of Sirmium, the pirate city Ylgar and the Saracen port Yusra.

Paul must find three artifacts - The Eye, The Weapon and The Rune to close the Gate to Hell. Each artifact is hidden in a different city. On his journey he must fight Undead, Daemonic creatures, Saracen armies, and even his own kind, before his final battle with the Devil himself. Only through blood can he meet his fate at the very doorstep to Hell.

The game has 2 endings depending on the actions of the player (Both endings take place after the Devil was banished through the portal). The bad ending sees Paul possesed by the Devil due to his bad deeds while alive,the Devil being able to continue his plans without anyone left to stop him. The good/normal ending sees Paul accepting his death to seal the Devil once again and save the world .

In isolated pockets of what used to be America, humans fight stylized duels in small, biodiesel-powered airplanes. In a land where chivalry and honor are everything, what happens when rebels from Australia, enamored of the amazing technology held by the Americans, hatch a plot to bring some of it back to their homes?

Mirrorsun, which orbits Earth and prevents electrical machines from functioning, has been defunct for some time. However, when it comes back to life with a vengeance, the new Highliber must reform the Calculor, a large computer whose components are human beings. At the same time, Americans are working with an underground group to bring their airplanes and weapons to Australia. Can the Highliber and the Overmayor of Rochester, the capital of Australia, stop the American technology from destroying their way of life?

The film's history takes place in 1999. The tomboyish, outgoing Julieta is the daughter of a member of the Palmeiras soccer club board. She is constantly frustrated by what she sees as institutional bias against women in soccer. One day while watching her beloved Palmeiras, she is struck by a handsome man, Romeu, that she sees rooting for the Palmeiras' chief rivals, the Corinthians. After meeting the same man again in the middle of eye exam, Julieta and Romeu quickly become a couple. However, in order to avoid incurring the wrath of her parents, Romeu is forced to pretend to be an adoring Palmeiras fan, an increasingly difficult task for the die-hard Corinthiano.

Finally, Romeu is forced to admit his true allegiance to Julieta's father on a turbulent plane flight following the Palmeiras' disastrous defeat in an international match in Tokyo (the 1999 Intercontinental Cup). Romeu and Julieta are shunned by both members of their family, including Romeu's spry grandmother. Eventually the two families face off in a heated confrontation outside Romeu's apartment, an argument that is escalated particularly after it is revealed that Julieta is pregnant.

Eventually, the two feuding families are able to rally around their love for both Romeu and Julieta, even if they are unable to look past their different sport affiliations.

Background

J.R. Ewing is a fictional character that William K. Stevens of ''The New York Times'' described as "the nastiest man on television, the Iago of Texas oilmen, the smiling snake of a star of Friday night TV's ''Dallas,'' a man so venal, so low, so mean, so diabolical that he has become an absolute delight to an estimated quarter of a billion viewers around the globe." His ''New York Times'' colleague John J. O'Connor described him as "the eldest son of the oil-rich Ewing family... [who is] a sadistic bully and a swindler" that "captured the public's imagination". Season 3 left the viewer with numerous people to suspect for the murder.

Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray) is J.R.'s wife. J.R. had threatened to reinstitutionalize her for alcoholism. Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby) is J.R.'s ex-mistress and Sue Ellen's sister. J.R. broke his promise to marry her and gave her 24 hours to leave town. J.R. framed her for prostitution in response to business pressure she put on him. Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin) is Sue Ellen's lover. He was supposedly killed in a plane crash. Vaughn Leland (Dennis Patrick) is J.R.'s banker and business partner in the now worthless Asian oil leases. J.R. swindled him out of $20 million (equivalent to $ in ). Miss Ellie Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes) is J.R.'s mother. J.R. mortgaged the family ranch, unbeknownst to his parents, and had plans to drill for oil on the property. Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval) is Bobby's brother-in-law and business rival. His father (Digger Barnes) was swindled by J.R.'s father (Jock Ewing), leaving him penniless except for some oil wells that J.R. had shut down. Alan Beam (Randolph Powell) is a political fixer. Beam knew too much about J.R.'s dirty dealings, making him expendable after J.R. tried to extinguish him, giving him motive. Marilee Stone (Fern Fitzgerald) is the widow of Seth Stone, J.R,'s business associate who committed suicide as a result of business dealings with J.R. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) is J.R.'s mild-mannered brother. He is the classic sibling rival, who is fed up with J.R.'s handling of family business and slights to Bobby's wife, Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal), who happens to be Cliff's sister.

Although generally regarded as somewhat of a rival of J.R. in the fictional world of Dallas, Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) was not a suspect due to his activity in the related fictional ''Knots Landing'' world. Similarly, Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton) had an alibi provided by liaisons with a married college professor.

J.R. explains to Jock and Bobby that Ewing Oil is doing fine, leaving Bobby suspicious. J.R. had swindled most of the other oilmen that he knows to salvage Ewing Oil by convincing their cartel to buy worthless oil fields in Asia from him just prior to nationalization. Cartel member, Jordan Lee hounds the Ewings about their underhandedness and makes sure they know Seth Stone committed suicide as a result of the dealings. Soon thereafter, Sue Ellen nurses a hangover while watching the local news to see reports that Ewing Oil sold off most of its holdings just before the nationalization. The report ends with the story of the widowed Marilee Stone, whose husband Seth had bought shares from Ewing Oil. Marilee's calls to J.R. are refused. Banker Vaughn Leland, who lost $20 million (equivalent to $ in ) in the deal, reaches Ewing Oil offices to express his belief that J.R. duped him, but Jock refuses to offer any restitution. All of the cartel members have lost everything they had in the deal and J.R. increased his wealth in the dealings. The Ewings question whether J.R. took advantage of inside information, but J.R. assures his father and brother that such unethical behavior was beneath him.

Lucy Ewing spends time with her professor/boyfriend who is only interested in her for one reason. Attorney Alan Beam visits Kristin Shepard for ideas about how J.R. might have swindled everyone. Shepard suggests Hank Johnson may have information. Shepard has been tape recording secrets of the cartel members from between the sheets and learned how J.R. got them all to buy his oil wells. Beam asks her to try to get information from Johnson by pretending to still be J.R.'s secretary. Bobby talks with Miss Ellie about Pam who has flown to Corpus Christi to find her mother, Rebecca. They both think it is because she is grieving from the recent death of her father Digger. Sue Ellen apologized for her drunken behavior the prior night and laments that it gave J.R. fodder for his plans to re-institutionalize her. Bobby says he will try to keep J.R. from taking that action. J.R. tells Johnson to ignore Shepard's request for records and to shred them. Sue Ellen sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Elby. She gets a reminder about drinking until you are unconscious and promises to stop. J.R. confronts Kristin about her mischief. He tries to bribe her to leave, but she does not accept the offer. J.R. spends some time with Sue Ellen. She alerts him that Bobby is going to speak up for her. He is not worried. She then inquires about whether he is going to be unfaithful. When he leaves for another woman she gets upset, but finds a gun lying around, which gives her pause.

Cliff arrives at Ewing Oil with paperwork proving his (and his sister Pam's) claim to a share of Ewing Oil well No. 23, one of Ewing Oil's most profitable wells. After confirming a monthly output of around 5,000 barrels, which would earn Cliff $500,000 per year (equivalent to $ /year in ), J.R. then orders that Ewing 23 be shut down rather than let Cliff earn a dime from it. Bobby expresses his concern to his wife about her obsession that has caused her to quit her fashion buyer job to search for her mother. Lucy spends quality time with her professor. After she leaves he calls his wife. Police officer Harry McSween brings Beam to J.R.'s office to clarify that J.R. wants him to leave town. J.R. demonstrates how he could use his influence to trump up rape charges. J.R. tells Bobby and Jock that he shut down the wells to shut off new claimant Barnes. Bobby is upset, but Jock agrees. Pam and Bobby decide to leave Southfork in disgust.

Bobby and Pam depart in the morning after Bobby informs Miss Ellie and Jock. The parents are displeased. Sue Ellen and J.R. enter at the end of the debate with the parents in time to remind J.R. that he has driven them away. This displeases J.R. and he reminds her that his is going to put her away for speaking ill of him. McSween serves Shepard with a warrant for her arrest on charges of prostitution in front of Beam who was visiting her. He offers them a deal. If they leave town within 24 hours, he won't chase them. She threatens to kill J.R. J.R. calls Dr. Rogers to take Sue Ellen away that night. J.R. hangs up on Leland who is continuing to threaten him. Sue Ellen continues to ponder the gun and tucks it in her purse before heading out somewhere. Cliff visits Digger Barnes' grave. He apologizes to his dad that he let J.R. beat him like Jock had beaten the father, and swears on his father’s grave that he will kill J.R. J.R. is at the office at night when Rogers arrives at Southfork to cart Sue Ellen away. He steps into the outer office to pour himself a drink. He hears a noise outside his door and as he investigates, he is gunned down by an unknown assailant and collapses.

In the middle of a quiet suburb, a power-hungry pre-teen dreams of making her cookie selling troop the most powerful clique. With the moral compass of a movie gangster, she is willing to use everything from her family, friends, and even a schoolmate's terminal cancer diagnosis as leverage in her quest for cookie world domination. Cookies must be sold, and power will be grabbed, no matter the cost!

The story centers around the friendship of two college students at Columbia University and follows them from their freshman year in 1974 to their adult lives in the late 1990s. Orno is a humble man from Missouri who gains entry to Columbia through his own strong work ethic. Soon after the school year starts, Orno befriends Marshall, a charismatic student from a wealthy New England family who has a photographic memory. At first, Orno is in awe of Marshall's abilities, and becomes jealous of him when he uses his talent to gain the attraction of women or easily skate through school. Eventually, Orno's view of Marshall becomes fractured when he learns about his history of mental illness, troubled family life, and many secrets.

Marshall soon drops out of college and moves to Los Angeles to work as a TV writer, and develops an addiction to cocaine. After starting a relationship with Marshall's sister, Simone, it is revealed that many impressive stories Marshall told Orno were fabricated. Orno drifts apart from Marshall, who is suggested to be a pathological liar. The friendship between the two crumbles on the eve of Orno's wedding to Simone, when Marshall invites an old girlfriend of Orno's as an apology for having an affair with her when they were in college, showing that he has become obsessed with the past when Orno has moved on. It is also revealed that Marshall's family is financially destitute despite their attempt to maintain the appearance of wealth. Marshall's father, who shares Marshall's photographic memory and tendency to lie drowns when the family goes out on their boat during a storm. After marrying Simone, Orno finds himself settling for mediocrity, finally realizing that he will never be like Marshall. Eventually, Orno leaves New York City with Simone for Maine and finds work as a dentist, a job he finds surprisingly fulfilling. The novel ends with the birth of Orno and Simone's first child, and the two talk fondly about Marshall.

After a considerable number of suspects have been identified, Sue Ellen deduces that it was Kristin who shot J.R. At her psychiatrist's office, as she is discussing the gun and how it made its way to her bedroom, she remembers that the last time it was in her possession was when she was at Kristin's condo. She finds J.R. at home, when Kristin shows up and Sue Ellen reveals all.

When Sue Ellen earlier showed up at her sister's apartment with the gun (looking for J.R.), Kristin calmly offered her a drink, with the knowledge that she was drunk and would most likely pass out. Once that happened, after placing Sue Ellen back in her car, unconscious, Kristin took the gun and shot J.R. and planted the gun in Sue Ellen's closet the next day in order to frame her.

After J.R. hears everything and is about to notify the police, Kristin reveals she is pregnant with J.R.'s baby and threatens to reveal everything if the police are brought in. Facing the prospect of another scandal should his child be born in prison, J.R. decides the matter should be handled quietly.

Widowed high school English teacher Nora McPhee lives with her 15-year-old son, Michael, in a broken down house in Venice, Los Angeles. One night, her long-lost father, Max Dugan, appears at her door; she initially does not recognize him, as he went to prison when she was only 9 years old, and disappeared after serving 6 years. He explains that he is dying within the year, and wants to give her and Michael the $687,000 ($ million today) he managed to embezzle from a Las Vegas casino after they appropriated his property, worth that same amount.

Nora meets police detective Brian Costello when her car is stolen and they soon start dating. Nora and her (possible) father conceal his identity from Michael and Brian, with Dugan telling Michael that he knew "Max" in prison then tells Nora the same, further obfuscating what she can believe.

Though Nora rejects his money, only wanting his presence in her life, Max continues buying extravagant cars, appliances, and renovations for her and Michael, making it harder for her to hide the truth from an increasingly suspicious Brian. Busybody neighbor Mrs. Litke complicates things by continuously reporting things to the police.

After two weeks together, Nora is now sure that it truly is her father. She pleads with Max to turn himself in, confident that the police will take the money and release him to her care for his final few months. Instead, he leaves a message that he is fleeing to Brazil with part of the money, leaving the rest for them.

Brian stops Nora as she heads to Michael's baseball game. He has figured out who Max is, and that he is dying, and warns her that she could face prison time unless she turns Max in. Nora refuses to do anything until after the game. After Michael hits the game winning home run his first hit of the season, thanks to training from MLB coach Charley Lau, paid for by Max Nora finally tells Brian everything. She also convinces him that Max is unimportant, and that the off-duty Brian can call in the information after lunch. Max is seen driving away, apparently headed for Brazil.

Shrek is quietly living in the swamp with his family when the Christmas season arrives. Under Donkey's urging, Shrek reluctantly promises Princess Fiona a special Christmas surprise. Shrek goes to the local bookstore in Far Far Away to try to find a present for Fiona, but since he does not know what Christmas is all about, the shopkeeper gives Shrek a copy of ''Christmas For Village Idiots'', a step by step guide to celebrating the holiday. Shrek proceeds to follow the book's advice by decorating the house and getting a tree so he can spend a quiet Christmas Eve with his family, but Donkey brings the entire "family" to the swamp, spoiling Shrek's plans.

As Shrek tries to recite "A Visit from St. Nicholas", Gingy, Donkey, and Puss in Boots interrupt and each tell their own Christmas story. Donkey tells of a Christmas parade passing by the swamp and licking an enormous waffle Santa, and absentmindedly starts licking Shrek's foot. Puss's version of the Santa Claus story ends with playing with the tassel on Santa's hat, while in reality he is playing with a bauble.

Gingy tells a horrifying story about how his girlfriend Suzy was eaten by Santa Claus. Donkey calls it ridiculous, and finds Shrek's ''Christmas for Village Idiots'' book. A fight breaks out over the book and Shrek's supper is destroyed. After lighting his butt on fire, Shrek finally loses his temper and ends up ejecting his friends from his house, including Donkey, who denounces him as "Ebenezer Shrek" in the heat of the argument. With their Christmas spirit ruined, Fiona is upset at Shrek's behavior and leaves with the ogre triplets. She catches up to their friends and explains to Donkey what Shrek had wanted for Christmas.

Shrek, remorseful at what he has done, catches up with the group and apologizes for lashing out at them earlier. He then tells everyone this is also his first Christmas, since ogres do not celebrate anything. They return to the swamp and Shrek tells his own version of "The Night Before Christmas", featuring himself as "Ogre Claus". Soon, they hear bells and go outside to see Santa and his reindeer, although Gingy is still afraid of Santa and runs back inside in fear. The special ends with Santa using his magic to put ogre ears on the moon.

At the end of ''Time and Again'', Morley had prevented the meeting of the parents of the founder of the time travel Project, Dr. Danziger, and ensured that Dr. Danziger would not be born, and that the Project would not occur.

But Major Ruben Prien of the Project still has residual memories of what would have happened. He is able to put the pieces together. He finds another time traveller, more or less stranded in the present (the 1970s) by Morley's actions. The time traveller is able to go to the point where Morley had altered time, and prevent Morley's actions. The original timeline, with the Project, is now back in place.

Morley has settled down in the 1880s, married Julia, and works as a graphic artist. He is, however, vaguely dissatisfied with his life. Morley, knowing that he was unable to stop the Project, eventually returns to the 1970s to see what might be going on with the Project, which has in fact become moribund. Prien soon realizes that Morley is back, and arranges a meeting with him.

Prien persuades Morley that it might be possible to prevent World War I, and Morley travels back in time to the year 1912. Not only does he do it to head off the devastating war, as in the original novel, he has a personal desire to travel in time. His motive to visit the spring of 1912 is to see the brief-lived vaudeville act, "Tessie and Ted", who, we finally learn, are Morley's great aunt—and the father who died when Morley was only two years old. He sees them, but forgoes any interaction with them. His primary purpose in visiting 1912 is to find the mysterious "Z", a confidential agent of President Taft whose quiet trip to Europe would have assured peace and prevented the World War, had Z not vanished from the scene, after getting the written assurances he needed, but before returning home. Once Z is found, Morely can do whatever is required to prevent Z from vanishing.

Morley soon is enveloped in the blissful world of 1912 New York, seemingly meeting at every turn a woman he calls the "Jotta Girl." Morley is able to eavesdrop on a clandestine meeting between Z and Theodore Roosevelt, and finally realizes that Z is Major Archibald Butt (an actual historical character), military aide to both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, whom Morley has already met in the society of this New York. He tries to get close to Butt, but is frustrated by the Jotta Girl, who Morley belatedly realizes is an agent of Dr. Danziger, original head of the Project and opponent to Prien. Danziger, who opposes changing the past for any purpose, has figured out who Z was, and has sent the Jotta Girl to interfere with Morley. However, Morley does not realize this until Butt is off to Europe on the R.M.S. Mauretania, seemingly ending any chance Morley might have to try to ensure that Butt completes his mission.

His purpose frustrated, Morley returns to report to Prien in the 1970s. It is his intent then to return to Julia in the 1880s, feeling nothing further can be done. Independently of Morley, Prien has learned that Butt was Z, and knows why Z vanished, his mission incomplete. Butt sailed on the Titanic and did not survive. At first, Morley refuses to make another attempt to complete his mission. He is motivated to try again when Prien informs him of the precise date that Morley and Julia's son, Willy, will die in World War I, killed in action.

The ''Titanic'' iceberg Morley returns to 1912 and travels to Belfast, where the ''Titanic'' is under construction. Seeing no way to sabotage the vessel's construction (which would cause Butt to take another ship), Morley has little choice but to await the ship's completion and sail on her himself, having carefully planned to be near one of the lifeboats where men were permitted to board. Aboard, he meets Butt, who spurns Morley's offer to tell him how to get off the ship safely once the iceberg strikes. Butt will not leave a vessel on which women and children may die (and, according to some accounts, did act in a heroic manner during the sinking). The Jotta Girl is also aboard, and after Captain Smith fails to take Morley's warning seriously, agrees to help Morley. They distract the helmsman, setting the ship onto a new course. That course is the one which impacts the iceberg and sinks the ship. Had they taken no action, the ship would have missed. Butt's mission fails with his death. The war will happen, and the only hope Morley has for Willy is that forewarned with the information about the day he is to die, that he will survive.

In an epilogue, Morley has returned to 1887, or, by now, 1888. He is emotionally torn up not only by his responsibility for the ship's loss, but also by his attraction to the Jotta Girl, who presumably survived and returned to the 1970s. As the book concludes, he and Julia are laying in supplies for what Morley knows will be the Blizzard of 1888.

A young woman named Hyun-chae is on train looking through an art book. As she turns the pages, she discovers a written message underneath a picture of bears playing together in the springtime. She reads:

''I like you so much.''

''Like a bear in springtime, I know your secrets''

''... you're like a lovely bear.''

''This is just the beginning of my love for you.''

''Next book is Gustave Caillebette 'Young Man at His Window.''

Hyun-chae is an unlucky girl who has trouble finding love. Born with bad manners, she is unable to keep a guy for very long. Throughout her life, she has been unsuccessful with love, but goes on through life with her bad manners and pure honesty.

Her father, an alcoholic, a chain-smoker, and a writer, often counts on Hyun-chae to bring him art books from the library, saying that they help him think better. Hyun-chae, desperate as she is to fall in love, fails to see that her best friend from childhood, Dong-ha came back from the military to be with her. Instead, Hyun-chae becomes obsessed with the man that has written the love notes inside the art books, believing that they are meant for her. With this thought in mind, she seeks out the writer with a determined state of mind, believing that every man she meets could possibly be this mere stranger.

An outer space terrorist from a planet named Arous, a brain-shaped creature named Gor (Dale Tate), arrives on Earth and possesses young scientist Steve March (Agar). Gor proceeds to use his vast, destructive powers to bend the world to his will, threatening to wipe out the capital city of any nation that dares to defy him.

Meanwhile, Vol (Tate), another brain creature from Arous, arrives and eventually inhabits the body of March's fiancee's dog. Vol goes on to explain that Gor is a wanted criminal on their world. His only physical weakness is the human body's fissure of Rolando, and Gor is only vulnerable during the brief period when he needs to exit his host to absorb oxygen.

Issue #1

The team is introduced as they fight to save a young girl named Mandy from possession. After the battle Christian examines a mysterious symbol on two pieces of paper. One has the symbol surrounded by three rings and the other by two.

Issue #2

A young boy is possessed at a wedding reception and the team is called in. Before the battle Christian intentionally fails to take his prescribed injection of holy water—the team's means of protection against possession. During the battle, the demon they are fighting possesses Christian who then disappears.

Issue #3

In the wake of Christian's disappearance, the team tries to figure out his motives. Many more pieces of paper with the symbol from issue #1 are found, each with one less ring. Holly reveals that the same symbol is carved, in numerous places into Christian's chest. Burroughs deduces that it may be a countdown of some sort.

Christian's whereabouts are revealed as he arrives in the small town of Iron Wood, Michigan. Once there he journeys to the house of a girl named Sierra Waggoner, who is possessed. There the demon possessing him leaves his body after saying "I have delivered him to you."

The rest of the team receives a call from the priest in Iron Wood and journeys there themselves. They arrive to find the entire town under demonic possession.

Issue #4

This issue opens as the team battles the possessed parishioners of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. After they drive their enemies away, the team ties up and has a conversation with the demon possessing the corpse of the church's priest. This conversation reveals the demonic plans underway in Iron Wood.

Now knowing what they face the team goes into action. Trix is left to guard the demon possessed priest, while the rest of the team searches for Christian. Holly decides to break off on her own and encounters a hoard of possessed towns folk who overwhelm her. She is rescued by Michael Waggoner, the father of Sierra Waggoner.

This issue ends with Burroughs realizing that Satan himself is in Iron Wood and is likely the demon possessing Christian.

Issue #5

Burroughs and Walt find themselves in the local public school battling the possessed student body. Back in the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the dead priest escapes opening the church and Trix to a new attack. While her allies are fighting for their lives Holly has a conversation with Michael Waggoner about Christian and suddenly realizes Christian's plan.

The Symbols carved into Christian's chest serve as a means of holding Satan inside Christian's body even after death, effectively killing Satan along with the host body.

The team members come together in front of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, as the Satan possessed Christian comes out to meet with them.

Issue #6

The church is destroyed to start this issue as the team members engage the demon possessed towns folk of Iron Wood in final battle.

After local councilman and former bagman Charles Halsey is mugged and his throat slashed, Logan and Greevey investigate the case and the two young black male suspects initially caught. Their suspicion turns to organized crime when they link the victim to Masucci family soldier Tony Scalisi (Paul Guilfoyle).

As Stone and Robinette continue their investigation, they uncover a corruption scandal involving a councilman; the collection of parking meter violation fines has been awarded to a firm connected to organized crime. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, District Attorney Wentworth won't allow Stone to offer Scalisi immunity. However, in order to win their case, their only option might be to make a deal with the mobster.

Stone discovers that the case involves not only organized crime, but also elected city officials and a deputy police commissioner whom he accuses of changing his testimony and doctoring evidence in a past case. Stone is unable to use the police because of suspected corruption within the department, so he consults Assistant U.S. Attorney John McCormack (William H. Macy).

Angela is exasperated by the behaviour of her 71-year-old mother-in-law, nicknamed the Old One – of her superstitious ways and her doddering, foolish manners. The Old One has an adopted son who is an imbecile named Ah Bock. While Angela's elder son Mark does well in school and wins a prize in a national oratory competition, she is worried by the influence her mother-in-law wields over her younger son, Michael. She also has to endure her husband Wee Boon's three younger brothers, including one in Australia who has joined an fanatic Protestant cult.

In 2016, the United States is in a sustained economic depression. Industrial disasters, resource shortages, and gasoline prices at $37 per gallon have made railroads the primary mode of transportation, but even they are in disrepair. After a major accident on the Rio Norte line of the Taggart Transcontinental railroad, CEO James Taggart shirks responsibility. His sister Dagny Taggart, Vice-President in Charge of Operations, defies him by replacing the aging track with new rails made of Rearden Metal, which is claimed to be lighter yet stronger than steel. Dagny meets with its inventor, Hank Rearden, and they negotiate a deal they both admit serves their respective self-interests.

Politician Wesley Mouch—nominally Rearden's lobbyist in Washington, D.C.—is part of a crowd that views heads of industry as persons who must be broken or tamed. James Taggart uses political influence to ensure that Taggart Transcontinental is designated the exclusive railroad for the state of Colorado. Dagny is confronted by Ellis Wyatt, a Colorado oil man angry to be forced to do business with Taggart Transcontinental. Dagny promises him that he will get the service he needs. Dagny encounters former lover Francisco d'Anconia, who presents a façade of a playboy grown bored with the pursuit of money. He reveals that a series of copper mines he built are worthless, costing his investors (including the Taggart railroad) millions.

Rearden lives in a magnificent home with a wife and a brother who are happy to live off his effort, though they overtly disrespect it. Rearden's anniversary gift to his wife Lillian is a bracelet made from the first batch of Rearden Metal, but she considers it a garish symbol of Hank's egotism. At a dinner party, Dagny dares Lillian to exchange it for Dagny's diamond necklace, which she does.

As Dagny and Rearden rebuild the Rio Norte line, talented people quit their jobs and refuse all inducements to stay. Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Stadler of the State Science Institute puts out a report implying that Rearden Metal is dangerous. Taggart Transcontinental stock plummets because of its use of Rearden Metal, and Dagny leaves Taggart Transcontinental temporarily and forms her own company to finish the Rio Norte line. She renames it the John Galt Line, in defiance of the phrase "Who is John Galt?"—which has come to stand for any question to which it is pointless to seek an answer.

A new law forces Rearden to sell most of his businesses, but he retains Rearden Steel for the sake of his metal and to finish the John Galt Line. Despite strong government and union opposition to Rearden Metal, Dagny and Rearden complete the line ahead of schedule and successfully test it on a record-setting run to Wyatt's oil fields in Colorado. At the home of Wyatt, now a close friend, Dagny and Rearden celebrate the success of the line. As Dagny and Rearden continue their celebration into the night by fulfilling their growing sexual attraction, the shadowy figure responsible for the disappearances of prominent people visits Wyatt with an offer for a better society based on personal achievement.

The next morning, Dagny and Rearden begin investigating an abandoned prototype of an advanced motor that could revolutionize the world. They realize the genius of the motor's creator and try to track him down. Dagny finds Dr. Hugh Akston, working as a cook at a diner, but he is not willing to reveal the identity of the inventor; Akston knows whom Dagny is seeking and says she will never find him, though he may find her.

Another new law limits rail freight and levies a special tax on Colorado. It is the final straw for Ellis Wyatt. When Dagny hears that Wyatt's oil fields are on fire, she rushes to the scene of the fire where she finds a handwritten sign nailed to the wall that reads "I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."

Wyatt declares in an answering machine message that he is "on strike".

After twenty-five years in an institution for the mentally ill, Grace (Cauchi) is discharged and Dr. Spiteri (Saliba) helps get her a job with banker David Caruana and his wife as a personal maid to their daughter. She's happy there but she still longs to find her daughter Angela. Meanwhile, Angela has been released from a female correctional facility and she and her boyfriend fall in with thief Victor Gatt and his gang.

Mother Wolff is a rather resolute cleaning lady. She is married to a somewhat clumsy and timid ship carpenter by the name of Julius Wolff. The story begins as she comes home with an illegally poached roebuck, where her daughter Leontine is waiting for her. Leontine has fled her service to the pensioner Krüger because she was told in the late hours of the night to bring a pile of wood into the stable. Mother Wolff, constantly considerate of her own reputation, wants to send her daughter back. But as she learns that the work concerns a "beautiful dry club", she allows Leontine to stay the night with the intention of acquiring the wood herself.

While she sells the roebuck that she claims she discovered dead to a sailor on the river Spree named Wulkow, her youngest daughter Adelheid explains that Mr. Krüger was recently given a valuable beaver coat from his wife. Wulkow then exclaims that he would without question pay sixty Taler for such a fur coat. Mother Wolff quickly realises that with this sum of money she could pay off a large part of her debt. She thus decides to steal the coat in order to sell it to Wulkow.

After the theft, Krüger reports to the police that his wood and his coat have been stolen. However, the head official von Wehrhahn feels only annoyed by this complaint. He is only interested in uncovering, "sinister people and elements that are politically outlawed or hostile to the crown or aristocracy." Given this, Krüger strives to have the private tutor Dr. Fleischer arrested for Lèse majesté. The doctor receives around twenty various newspaper and meets regularly with free thinking literary figures.

Although the head official has on several occasions not given any attention to Krüger, he decides to come once again in order to carry out his plan. This time, however, Mother Wolff is also present. She cleverly wards off any suspicion towards her, however. The comedy ends without the theft ever being solved.

In his tragicomedy ''The Red Cock'' ( ), which was first performed in 1901, Hauptmann continues several themes prominent in ''The Beaver Coat.''

Episode 1

The first episode opens to reveal a dying Henry VII mistaking his heir Henry VIII for his late son Arthur Tudor. Concerned for the fragile chances of his family's dynasty, the dying king implores his son to marry his brother's widow Katherine of Aragon and have a son to secure the family line. Fifteen years later Henry VIII is the most popular King to ever sit on the throne, but he still does not have a son by his Queen, only a daughter Mary. Elsewhere at Hever Castle in Kent the Boleyn Family celebrate the engagement of their daughter Anne to Henry Percy the future Earl of Northumberland. The head of the family the Duke of Norfolk assures her father, Thomas Boleyn, that he has the king's ear on the match and that he will give them permission to marry. But once the roving eye of the king falls upon Anne, he quickly finds a reason for the marriage to be cancelled and wastes no time in persuading her for himself, even riding from his secluded coastal castle to Kent during an outbreak of illness. Resolved that Anne will not become his mistress, but his wife, the King instructs his chancellor Cardinal Wolsey to find a way for his marriage to his devoted wife to be annulled, prompting two opportunistic Protestants reformers, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, to provide a way for the king to marry Anne Boleyn and bring untold wealth to his pocket but only if he breaks with the Catholic Church. Finally, his wife Anne is soon pregnant, only for Henry's hopes to be dashed. Instead of the longed for son and heir, Anne delivers a daughter, Elizabeth, and Henry's ardor cools towards her, even more so when he meets the sister of two of his courtiers, Jane Seymour. Despite the growing tensions between the King and Queen, Anne becomes pregnant once more but goes into premature labor and delivers a stillborn son. The first episode ends with an angry King Henry demanding Cromwell get rid of Anne which results in her subsequent trial and execution.

Episode 2

The second episode begins with Jane Seymour being dressed for her wedding and her subsequent introduction to the people who take her to their hearts, whilst the King and Cromwell differ on the dissolution of the monasteries which have angered the English Catholics and united them into a huge army to march on London in protest calling it, the Pilgrimage of Grace, headed by the King's former comrade Robert Aske whom the King tricks into incriminating himself into treason and is sentenced to a gruesome traitor's death. Meanwhile, the country is on edge as the heavily pregnant Queen goes into labour and finally gives birth to a son much to Henry's joy although it is cut short when the Queen dies. Two years after the Queen's death, Cromwell, whose power has steadily risen through the days of Anne Boleyn encourages the King to consider marrying the Protestant Anne of Cleves but once he sets sights on her, the King is repulsed and immediately seeks a way out of the marriage. Sensing the decline of Protestant influence the Duke of Norfolk devises a way to snatch the reins of power and arranges for his teenage niece Catherine Howard to enchant the increasingly obese and terrifying King and to eventually marry him. It soon transpires that the young Queen has a promiscuous history and is having an affair with a man in the king's service which the Protestant reformers seize as their opportunity to rid themselves of the Catholic faction. The Queen and her family are arrested and the young Queen dies at the hands of the executioner, like her cousin Anne Boleyn. With the demise of Catholic peers the reformers take the opportunity to consolidate their powers, enhanced by the wedding of the king to Catherine Parr who attempts to unite the royal family. The film closes as the King reflects on his past loves. His obsession with Anne Boleyn, his quiet but steady affection for Jane Seymour, and his lust for the young Catherine Howard. Finally the king's over indulgent lifestyle catches up with him and he suffers a seizure and later dies in a scene reminiscent of the film's opening, imploring his son to be successful as a man before he can be successful as a king. He dies with his son and last wife beside him.

The closing scene of the film provides a summary of the lives of the remaining characters, the summary is as follows.

' Edward became King Edward VI, but his health was frail. He died of consumption aged fifteen. Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England, he ruled by proxy until 1551 when he was imprisoned in the Tower and beheaded. Thomas Seymour did finally marry Katherine Parr, but broke her heart when he attempted to seduce the fourteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth. He was executed for treason in 1549. Bloody Mary came to the throne in 1553. She burned hundreds of Protestants as heretics and died embittered and unloved in 1558. Anne of Cleves outlived all the wives. Widely liked and respected, she was buried rich and popular with full honours. Thomas Cranmer continued to lay the foundations for the Church of England, only to be arrested for treason on the orders of Mary I and burnt as a heretic. And what of Henry? After a lifelong struggle to give England an heir, his glorious successor was not a son, but a daughter. Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn came to the throne in 1558 and ruled England for 45 years.''

The film focuses on the childhood of Lazarillo (Marco Paoletti), a young man from a very humble family who is entrusted by his mother to a blind man (Carlos Casaravilla) to serve as his apprentice.

The naïve, innocent, and idealistic Charles, who is from the provinces and is something of a mama's boy, moves to Paris to share his uncle's extravagant apartment with his dissolute, profligate, and jaded cousin Paul while both young men attend law school. Whereas Charles takes his studies very seriously in order to not disappoint his mother, to whom he writes daily, Paul never seems to go to lectures or crack a book.

At the club where many of Paul's friends hang out during the day, Charles meets the beautiful Florence, who has a reputation for being promiscuous. She spends some time with Charles at one of Paul's raucous parties, and finds him intriguing. Charles, knowing nothing of Florence's past, falls in love with her.

One day, due to a misunderstanding Florence shows up at the apartment two hours before Charles had told her to meet him at school after a class. She is greeted by Paul, who tries to convince her that she and Charles are not suited to each other and she will end up bored and cheating on Charles if they stay together. Clovis, a thoroughly corrupt friend of Paul's who operates as a kind of hustler, pimp, and purveyor of bizarre entertainments for Paul and his friends, drops by and continues the argument. He says Florence's recent virtuous impulses are fleeting and Paul is really who she should be with.

Charles finally comes home after waiting for Florence for two hours after his class ended. Paul and Florence tell him that Florence has decided to move into the apartment to be with Paul, not him, and Charles seems to take the news quite well, saying he will wait his turn. He begins to spend almost all of his time studying in his room, but his focus is regularly broken by reminders that Paul and Florence are together.

Florence moves out shortly before Paul and Charles are to take an important exam, Paul the day before Charles. Paul, somehow, does not have any trouble passing and throws a big party. Florence comes and tries to talk to Charles in his room, but he says she is interrupting his studying and throws her out, after which he seems distracted by more than just the noise from the living room.

To everyone's surprise, Charles flunks his exam. He tries to go to a church, but it is closed, and the words of a friendly bookseller fail to lift his spirits, so he wanders around. Winding up at the river, he throws his school papers and student ID in the water before heading back to the apartment. Charles loads a single bullet into one of his uncle's six-chamber revolvers, spins the cylinder, and pulls the trigger while pointing the weapon at the sleeping Paul's head. The hammer clicks on an empty chamber, and Charles drops the gun and goes to bed.

In the morning, Paul tries to cheer Charles up. While he talks, he playfully picks up the revolver and pulls the trigger, as he often does. Charles frantically tries to warn Paul that the gun is loaded, but he cuts off when he is struck by the bullet and dies without saying another word. Dumbfounded, Paul struggles for a few moments to take in what has just happened. The doorbell rings and he goes to answer the door.

''Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way'' begins with an excerpt from an email that Bruce Campbell received from Barry Neville from St. Martin's Press in regard to a book, ''Walk this Way'', that he was attempting to write. The email expresses the publisher's disinterest in that book, but a desire for Campbell to work on a different project. Upon calling Barry Neville, Bruce is presented with the idea of writing a relationship book. Bruce feels he cannot approach the concept, since he does not see himself as an authority on the subject and feels his editor has a false impression of his mastery of relationships.

He is contacted by his acting agent Barry about a potential role in a Richard Gere/Renée Zellweger romantic comedy titled ''Let's Make Love,'' written by Kevin Jarre, directed by Mike Nichols and produced by Robert Evans. Bruce jumps to the conclusion that the role is a small, insignificant part, but he finds out that his role is in fact a large part as the wise-cracking doorman. Bruce goes to New York City and auditions for the role, then gets the role despite the fact he was not the first, second or last choice; others considered included Johnny Depp, John Cusack, Billy Campbell, Gary Sinise, John Malkovich and Robert Patrick. From this point, Bruce tries to do research for his role. He first tries being a doorman at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he has an encounter with Colin Powell that does not end well.

''Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way'' continues to follow Bruce Campbell through his trials and tribulations with the movie. He goes to a gentleman's club, supposedly to learn how to be a true Southern gentleman, but instead finds it to be no more than a strip club and gets shot for portraying himself as someone else while there. Bruce also makes a trip out to see a friend about relationships, but finds his friend to be nothing more than a sleaze who takes advantage of his clients.

By the end of the book, Bruce is fighting to keep his role and seeing ''Let's Make Love'' sliding from an A-list movie to a B-list movie supposedly due to the B movie actor curse caused by Bruce Campbell.

In this game the protagonist is Ash, the leader of X-Squad, along with teammates Maya, Melinda and Judd. Set in 2037, W-Squad has been defeated, Doctor Bianca Noble has been kidnapped and her experiment Project Medusa has been stolen.

Luis, a hard working and honest family man living in a small town, becomes involved in a moral quandary: Water service has come to his street, but only one side of the street. Due to a technical error, Luis and everyone on his side simply won't be getting the service. However, the water company foreman is open to bribes in order to provide water to the other side of the street. When Luis declines to bribe the man for his family, everyone on his side, neighbours and family included, turn against him, and the foreman resents him.

After some time, Luis relents and tries to bribe the foreman, but things go wrong when the foreman calls him a hypocrite and insults him. Luis backs down on a deal and the situation ends in a fight between the two of them. In the end, Luis' moral struggle proves him right, though it happens at a cost.

The doll manufacturing company Dolls Inc. is owned and operated by Mr. Franz, who has a personal collection of very lifelike dolls stored in glass canisters locked in a display case on a wall. Sally Reynolds answers a newspaper advertisement for a secretary position. Although unnerved by Franz’s extremely friendly and pushy manner, she is ultimately moved to take the job by his appeals over how short handed the company is.

A traveling salesman, Bob Westley, comes to the office, and he and Sally develop a relationship. After working at the doll factory for several weeks, Bob makes a marriage proposal to Sally. He persuades her to quit her job, promising to break the news to Franz.

The next day, however, Franz tells Sally that Bob has returned home to take care of extended business. She finds it completely implausible that Bob would abandon her in such a manner, and notices a new doll in Franz’s collection that looks just like Bob. She goes to the police, claiming that Franz has shrunken Bob and added him to his doll collection. Sergeant Paterson is skeptical until Sally names the secretary who preceded her and a postman she heard vanished after a visit to Dolls, Inc.; both are listed as missing persons. Confronted by Paterson, Franz says his dolls are all modeled on people he knows and shows him a complete run of Bob dolls to prove the resemblance to a shrunken Bob is meaningless.

Franz implores Sally to stay at Dolls, Inc. despite her reporting him to the police. When she refuses, he uses a machine to shrink her down to doll size. He uses the shrinking machine on anyone who tries to leave him. All the "dolls" in his glass case are friends put in suspended animation. He revives Bob and four others as company for Sally.

During a welcoming party for the two newcomers, Franz is visited by his friend Emil, who wants Franz to repair his marionettes for an upcoming production. Franz mentions to Emil that he has been afraid of being abandoned ever since his wife left him, unconsciously explaining his “doll” abductions. The small prisoners have access to a phone, but their voices are too small to be heard over the phone lines, and loud music on a record player is drowning their voices out. Sergeant Paterson continues investigating Franz, with Sally and Bob now confirmed as missing. After Franz is questioned again by Paterson, he decides to kill his prisoners and himself before he is caught. He takes his "collection" to an old theater, supposedly to test his repairs made on Emil's marionette. There, he throws one final party, forcing his captives to act-out ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''.

The prisoners drug Franz’s coffee with one of the capsules used to keep them in suspended animation and escape while Franz is occupied with a theater worker. Separated from the others, Bob and Sally head to Franz's workshop, planning to go back for the others after using Franz’s device to restore themselves. Franz returns to his workshop, but not before they return themselves to normal size. They go to the police, leaving a despondent Franz behind.

Satin Records rejected rock and roll band Eddie and the Cruisers' last album ''A Season in Hell'' twenty years earlier. Now Satin launches an "Eddie Lives!" campaign to make more money off Eddie's image as a publicity stunt, despite their belief that Eddie is dead. The record label re-releases the band's first album, which becomes an even bigger hit than its first release. The "lost recordings" from ''Season in Hell'' that were discovered in the previous film are released and becomes a major hit album.

A mystery demo tape—proved by a voice expert to feature Eddie Wilson playing on it and that may or may not have been recorded ''after'' Eddie “died”—is discovered by the record company—which then adds this discovery to the “Eddie Lives!” campaign in order to find anyone to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, Eddie Wilson is actually alive. He slipped away from the car crash which supposedly caused his death and began a new life under an assumed name. He was disgusted by the music industry and decided to leave it behind. The newly generated spotlight on his supposed death angers the reclusive rocker, who now resides in Canada as construction worker Joe West.

Eddie gets involved with a struggling bar band, and his passion for music—along with his desperate anger—resurface. He decides to confront Eddie's talents once and for all. Eddie ("Joe West") challenges the bar band's talent, accepts an invitation to play and quickly dazzles the audience and the band's members. One of the band, saxophone player Hilton Overstreet's eyes widen when he first hears Eddie on guitar, but he says nothing. Eddie abruptly leaves the stage, disturbed by memories of Wendall Newton while Hilton plays a brief sax solo. Guitarist Rick Diesel pursues Eddie and badgers him about joining the band. Eddie finally begins to play again and the two circulate through Montreal's music scene, hand-picking musicians for a new band, Rock Solid.

Eddie fights against his personal demons amidst the band's rising success as Rock Solid begins to tour and win fans. Their popularity closely mirrors Eddie's former success with Eddie and the Cruisers, and he is disturbed by the similarities.

During the tour Eddie, still known to his band as Joe, begins to have more frequent flashbacks to his former life. His anger and pride peak when lead guitarist Rick Diesel calls a woman they met at gig who wants the band to audition for an upcoming music festival. Eddie's angry tirade is soothed by sax player Hilton Overstreet's cool demeanor and Rick's fast talking. Eddie caves into the band's desire to do the large public performance he so fears. He agrees under the condition that they lock themselves away in a cabin, where there are "no distractions" so they can get back to the music. The band begins to lose its momentum and Eddie's wrath finally explodes. He smashes his guitar into pieces and storms off. Hilton confronts him and says, "First you destroy your guitar, now your songs. You gonna be next"? To which Eddie replies, "They're lousy songs. They don't even burn good". Hilton then says, "It's a good thing you know 'em by heart. Be a shame to lose that many songs by Eddie Wilson." In one of the movie's defining moments, Hilton says, "I knew who you were from the moment I heard you play. The way a man plays—he's born with it; like fingerprints." He suggests that Eddie has no destiny but musician Eddie Wilson, and not Joe West, construction worker.

Satin Records has been upping the ante for anyone who can provide proof that Eddie lives. A few scenes before, an expert proved that legendary Bo Diddley had played on the mystery tapes before the death of Cruisers sax player Wendell Newton and Eddie's presumed demise in the river. In seclusion for over a month, Rick is unaware of the mounting tension around the mystery of Eddie's whereabouts. He decides to send a tape to Satin Records with a note that contains the line, "I have a band and my lead singer sure sounds a lot like Eddie Wilson."

The band auditions for the Music Festival and wins a spot in it. Eddie's doubts return. His life and true identity are about to go public. In desperation, he turns to his longtime friend and confidant Sal Amato. Sal and Eddie meet on a New Jersey beach and hash out twenty years of anger and grief. Sal demands to know where these "so-called-mystery tapes were recorded". Eddie takes Sal back to the old abandoned church where in 1963, he and former sax player Wendell Newton had a jam session with a large group of black musicians, including Bo Diddley. Eddie confesses that the whole affair, combined with what seemed to be a lukewarm reaction from the industry he had admired and aspired to join, made him feel inadequate. In one of his deeper moments, Sal tells Eddie a simple truth: it's not about setting the world on fire, it's about playing the music. Armed and primed with that sentiment in mind, Eddie returns to Montreal, ready to play the festival.

Meanwhile, someone tells the “Eddie Lives!” campaign of Wendell’s presence on the mystery tape—publicly establishing that it was record prior to Eddie’s apparent death and that the idea that Eddie Wilson is alive is still unproven. However, in Canada Eddie’s new band is about to take the stage when Rick's earlier ploy pays off. Satin Records' two executives appear and recognize Eddie. Confronted by one of the two men who once told him his music was unsuitable for release, Eddie flies into a frenzy and runs out to his car. His girlfriend, Diane Armani, runs after him and shouts that maybe they can find a bridge and do it right this time. She convinces him that although the world will discover who Joe West really is tomorrow, Eddie can still claim today for himself. Eddie takes the stage and is caught up by the thrill of performing live again and the audience's acclaim for their first song, "Running Through the Fire". Eddie introduces his bandmates one by one, then pauses. Diane nods to him and Eddie joyfully proclaims, "and me. I'm Eddie Wilson." A breathless silence greets his announcement, then the audience begins to chant "Eddie! Eddie!" Eddie grins, shouts, "Okay, let's rock 'n' roll!" The band launches into their next song as the ending credits roll.

Pierre, in Paris on his own in his forties and working as a picture restorer, has little contact with his daughter Amélie, a student who he supports, and none with his ex-wife Claire. His closest relationship is with his 80-year-old widowed mother, still active in her house in Troyes, who telephones to say she is taking a train that afternoon to visit him. She is not on the train, nor the next one. In the morning he drives to Troyes and, with a policeman and a locksmith, breaks into the tidy but empty house.

Pierre is convinced that she did take the train as she said and, by accident or malice, fell from it before reaching Paris. Amélie, on vacation after doing well in her exams, agrees with his reasoning and the two get permission from the railway company to search the 150 kilometres of track. For days on end they comb the verges, spending the nights in little rural hotels. They fool around and fight, share each other's thoughts and then part in a rage. Never have the two been so close.

One day, Amélie stumbles on the remains of her grandmother. Knowing now the emotional fragility of her father, she gets him to take her for a good dinner with lots of wine and, once he is relaxed with a pretty young woman, breaks the news to him. The pair have been brought together by tragedy, but will now have to resume their separate lives.

The "chronicle" of the unnamed narrator begins with the end of the war reaching Berlin. There is constant artillery and the narrator lives in an attic apartment that belongs to a former colleague that let her stay since he is on leave. Her original apartment was bombed and destroyed. While she lives off meagre food coupons, all of her thoughts are of food and her gnawing hunger. All of the Berliners spend their time either in the basement air raid shelters, their apartments, standing in lines for food, or raiding food stocks when the rations don't suffice. Spending time in the basement shelter, the narrator gets to know her fellow "cave dwellers" and a kind of camaraderie forms. When a series of bombing destroys her apartment, a pharmacist's widow "the widow" allows the narrator to live at her place.

All of a sudden there is silence when the Russian army reaches their street. The Russians set camp outside and spend their first days comparing stolen watches and bicycles. Eventually the soldiers enter the buildings and basement air raid shelters asking for alcohol and choosing women to rape. The narrator works as a sort of translator and mediator for women in the basement who are pursued for rape. She tries to convince the men to not rape women and seeks a commander to plead to stop the rapes but minimal effort is offered to the women. Two men outside of the basement rape the narrator after her fellow Germans close and lock the door behind her. Many families desperately hide their young daughters to preserve their virginity. Four Russian soldiers barge into the widow's apartment and eventually one named Petka, rapes the narrator. After raping the narrator Petka begins his "Romeo babble" where he expresses a liking for the narrator and how he hopes to return later that day. That same day the widow's tenant Herr Pauli arrives and settles in his bed. His male presence offers some but very limited protection against the Russian sexual predators. Another Russian soldier, described as old, enters the apartment and rapes the narrator in an exceptionally demeaning manner as he opens up her mouth to spit in it and then throws a half opened pack of cigarettes on the bed as payment.

This rape experience creates some sort of turning point for the narrator, who decides after vomiting and crying that she has to use her brains to help her situation. She decides that she needs to “find a single wolf to keep away the pack” and heads outside to find some higher ranked Russian to have an exclusive sexual relationship with so that she doesn't get viciously and randomly raped every day by different men. Out in the street she meets Anatol, a lieutenant from Ukraine. She flirts with him briefly and they agree to meet at her place at 7 pm. That night Petka arrives with some of his friends and makes himself at home. Petka and his friends shock the widow and the narrator as they place their food straight on the table, throw bones to the floor, and spit casually. Despite the narrator's worries that Petka and Anatol might clash over her, when Anatol comes he is at ease in her apartment and she discovers that his rank means very little to the Russians. Over the next days, Anatol comes to have sex with the narrator and a "taboo" is formed in that the Russians know that she is claimed. Anatol and his men come and go as they please and the widow's apartment is considered "Anatol's men's restaurant" but a restaurant where they bring the food. The narrator and the widow get food that the Russians bring and they benefit from the protection of Anatol's men against other Russian soldiers. The narrator also meets educated Russian soldiers, such as Andrei, and has many conversations about politics, fascism, and such. Petka shows up completely drunk in a fit of rage against the narrator and tries to hurt her but due to his drunkenness the widow and the narrator manage to push him out of the apartment. Among the many Russian visitors of the apartment, a pale blond lieutenant who has a lame leg and a clear dislike of the narrator rapes her one night, completely ignoring the "taboo" with Anatol. He arrives another day with a major and after conversing and drinking champagne; he asks the narrator if the major pleases her. The narrator realizes she has little choice considering Anatol has left and eventually decides to have sex with the major. She accepts the relationship with the major and does not call it rape since it is consensual. The major is very pleasant, shares his life with her, and brings her food and supplies such as candles. The narrator contemplates her status as she agrees to have sexual relationships in return for goods and protection.

Eventually, Berlin completely surrenders and the Russians soldiers leave the street. The city begins to undergo reconstruction and the German women are rallied to work under Russian and some German orders to clear the rubble and to search for Zinc. The narrator gets pulled off to do laundry and for the last days of work she works tirelessly with other women while being teased by Russian soldiers. Once the job ends, the narrator finds out through a friend called Ilse that a Hungarian plans to start a press. The narrator works with the Hungarian and others to start planning the products. Gerd, the narrator's boyfriend from before the war shows up and clashes with her on her change in mindset after the war and her discussion of her rapes. Gerd believes that she has lost her mind and has changed immensely from before. The chronicle ends with the narrator brooding on her relationship with Gerd.

The story, a Victorian thriller, involves Professor John Coleridge, who is a guest at Castle Homolky, situated above the tiny Hungarian village of Lugos. While staying at the castle, a huge black wolf is discovered with preternatural powers.

Computer scientist Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine (voiced by Rupert Davies) invites his friend Sam Loover (Keith Alexander) to his Dorset cottage to view his latest invention, the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (BIG RAT). The device is capable of interfacing with the human brain, allowing the knowledge and experience of one person to be transferred to the mind of another. To demonstrate, Mac transfers his own "brain pattern" to his nine-year-old adopted son Joe (voiced by Len Jones). The transfer is a success, with Joe instantly displaying his father's expert knowledge of supercomputers.

Although Mac plans to sell his device, Loover, an agent of the World Intelligence Network (WIN), persuades him to keep it a secret, believing that Joe and the BIG RAT could prove highly valuable assets to the organisation. The McClaines travel to WIN's London headquarters in Mac's flying Jet-Air Car to meet Loover and his superior, WIN commander-in-chief Shane Weston (voiced by David Healy). To show the merit of WIN's proposal, Weston invites the McClaines to imagine a scenario in which Joe, aided by the BIG RAT, is assigned to capture a Russian aircraft ...

At a press conference in London, a Russian pilot is answering questions on his country's new MiG-242, the world's most powerful fighter-bomber. He is unaware that Mac and Loover are using a concealed antenna to record his brain pattern and transmit it to the McClaines' cottage, where it is transferred to Joe through the BIG RAT. Joe is given a pair of special glasses that allow him access to the pilot's entire knowledge and experience. His mission is to steal a MiG-242 and fly it to England for study, thus eliminating the Russian tactical advantage over the West.

Travelling to a Moscow airbase, Mac and Joe join a group of aviation experts who are viewing MiG-242s at close range. Joe slips out of the tour bus and takes off in one of the aircraft. The soldier guiding the tour tells the authorities that the MiG-242 was stolen by a child and is arrested on the orders of the incredulous base commander. In the air, Joe shoots down a squad of MiG-242s launched to intercept him and then bombs a missile base targeting him from the ground. Reaching British airspace, he lands at Manston Airfield and abandons the MiG-242 before it is surrounded by armoured vehicles. He is then picked up by Loover in the Jet-Air Car and flown home. A farmer's eyewitness account of the boy's escape is met with scepticism by the airfield controller ...

Ending his story, Weston reminds the McClaines that his scenario has little basis in fact: the MiG-242 does not exist and Russia and the West are at peace. He asks Mac to pledge Joe and the BIG RAT's services to WIN. Mac is outraged by the idea, insisting that Joe is too young to be a spy. A fierce argument ensues, but when Loover points out Joe and the BIG RAT's extraordinary potential, Mac reluctantly agrees. Joe joins WIN as its "Most Special Agent".

The storyline follows a medical doctor, played by Samuel Fröler, who moves with his teenage daughter, played by Ebba Hultkvist, to Saltö, a small society on a fictional island in the Stockholm archipelago, and takes over his father-in-law's medical practice.

The plots deal with medical emergencies as well as relationship issues, and the daughter's longing for her mother who lives in Africa, having at the last moment chosen to stay behind to continue her work.

Ben, Sonny, Lloyd, Sam and Ronnie are friends from Sydney who are all big fans of AC/DC. After a near death experience, the five make a pact that if one among them died the other four would be bury him next to the grave of their idol, the late AC/DC frontman, Bon Scott. Twelve years pass and the five friends have each gone their own ways. When Ronnie dies from being struck by a lightning bolt while playing golf, the remaining four unite and decide to fulfill the promise they made together long ago. They retrieve Ronnie's cremated remains and embark on a road trip to Fremantle (where Bon Scott's ashes were scattered) to scatter his ashes over Fremantle Cemetery.

With the overthrow of Castle Macindaw by Keren, Orman's traitorous cousin, series protagonist Will Treaty needs to find men to help win back the crucial northern stronghold. Will seeks out a group of shipwrecked Skandians, which he hires as mercenaries. Halt and Crowley, Will's former mentor and the leader of the Ranger Corps, send the young knight Horace to help Will. Together, they manage to take the Scotti general MacHaddish as a prisoner, who is cooperating with Keren. They manage to find out that Keren has made a deal with the Scotti and is allowing them access to Araluen's northern fiefs in return for a portion of their plunder.

The Araluen Courier Alyss has been held captive by Keren who is hypnotising and interrogating her for information. Will sends Alyss a star stone, an anti-hypnosis device, and with it she is able to deceive Keren into thinking he has hypnotised her for a while. Alyss and Will send each other messages using the Courier signal code.

Will and the Skandians make an improvised siege engine, ostensibly to attack the castle. It collapses, according to plan, and the Skandians pretend to flee in panic. The castle defenders quickly become uninterested in the strange machine and are easily distracted by a show of lights to the south, caused by Will's ally, the "sorcerer" Malcolm. Meanwhile, Keren asks Alyss for her hand in marriage, however she refuses.

When all the focus is away from the west wall, Will and Horace, who had been hidden in the siege engine, breach the wall using a ladder; the Skandians follow them later. They slaughter the defenders and quickly gain a foothold in the castle but Will runs to the central tower to rescue Alyss. Keren, however, has now successfully hypnotised her. Keren tells her to kill Will if he hurts him in any way. Will tells Alyss he loves her, which breaks her hypnotic state. A fight between Keren and Will ensues. With a smaller saxe knife, Will quickly is overpowered by Keren, until Alyss attacks him by throwing acid in his face, causing him to fall out of the tower window to his death.

Later, many soldiers from Castle Norgate come to Macindaw to ensure the Scotti invasion force is turned back, leaving the Skandians to defend Macindaw. When he returns to Malcolm's home in Grimsdell Wood, Will decides to give his dog Shadow to Malcolm's friend Trobar. Will goes back to Seacliff Fief and falls into a peaceful but unfulfilling lifestyle. He later receives a letter from Alyss which says that she loves him. Will hurriedly saddles his horse Tug and begins the trek to Castle Redmont to deliver his reply.

The Hearst basketball coach, Tom Barry, berates his team, including Wallace (Percy Daggs III), after a game, and the coach's son quits as a result. One of Logan's teachers tells Dick that Logan must start attending classes. Dick sneaks into Logan's apartment for the hotel staff and finds it a mess. Veronica works at Mars Investigations for the day and walks in to find the Coach's family in the office, as the Coach has died. The son who quit, Josh, is the prime suspect, but the family suspects Mel Stolz (Jeremy Roberts) or one of the PCH bikers. Dick tries to set up Logan on a double date before realizing that one of the "twins" is actually eleven years old. Dick and the older sister leave, leading Logan to babysit the other sister, Heather (Juliette Goglia) although Logan just goes to bed. Keith talks to Mel Stolz, who says that he was on a plane at the time. Dick calls Logan and says he is in Las Vegas, leaving Logan to babysit Heather for another day.

Weevil (Francis Capra) organizes a meeting between Veronica and the PCHers, and the new leader says that they would not kill someone over a bad car like the Coach's vehicle. Mason (Robert Ri'chard), one of the team's former star basketball players, testifies to Sheriff Lamb (Michael Muhney) that Josh is responsible for his father's death. The Sheriff arrests Josh, and Veronica learns that the Coach's car was found in the water. Logan and Heather begin to actually enjoy each other's company. Keith speaks to Mindy O'Dell (Jaime Ray Newman), stating that he will continue to search for Dean Cyrus O'Dell's killer. Veronica questions Mason, but he ends up angrily walking away. Veronica and Keith recuperate, and Keith says that Cyrus's car was taken out within the timeframe of the murder. Heather sends a radio request to play a special song from Logan to Veronica, while Veronica interrogates the hotel staff. One of them says that he heard two men yelling in the room. Veronica and Logan have a chance meeting in the elevator.

Hank Landry (Patrick Fabian) tells Veronica that she has successfully applied for the first part of an FBI internship with the help of a recommendation from the Dean. Keith questions Mrs. O'Dell heavily, and she subsequently fires him from the case, although he says that he will not stop investigating. Veronica visits Josh in jail, who suspects Mason. Dick returns, getting a divorce from the older sister, and Logan and Heather remain friends. In Veronica's criminology class, she is arrested for aiding Josh to escape from prison.

Leanne Wellings (Christine Tremarco) prepares to visit her grandfather, who resides in a convalescent home. She takes her two young children Rosie (Tyler Anthony) and Ethan (Lee Massey), and calls up the stairs to her eldest daughter, Tanya (Lucinda Dryzek), to join them. Tanya makes an excuse to avoid going. Leanne eventually leaves with Ethan and Rosie. Leanne rushes to collect a dog from the shelter before it closes. She then drives to her grandfather, new dog in tow, but stops at a lay-by to buy him some flowers from a van. A lorry draws up at the same time. The children lose sight of their mother as they sit in the car. Leanne does not return and the bewildered children start to walk away from the car. Leanne's husband Matt (David Oyelowo) works at a local gym. It is here that several of the characters connect with each other: Press Officer Defne Topcu (Michelle Bonnard) ignores loner Kyle (Rory Kinnear) as he tries to make a conversation. In another scene, Leanne's parents, Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and John (Patrick Malahide) are introduced. The family slowly learn of Leanne's disappearance, and that Rosie and Ethan are now missing too. Kyle seems to have picked them up in a white van. The police begin the investigation, but the Press Officer feels there is a lack of support, and the DSI in charge is relatively new in the position.

Matt's best friend, Gary (Doug Allen), who is about to retire from the military, complains of not having enough pension to live on. Matt gets him a job at the gym where he works, and the police recruit him to spy on Matt, paying him for information.

The police begin a house to house investigation. Meanwhile, DC Stephen Beam (Charlie Creed-Miles) wakes up Sarah Wheeler (Sarah Smart), who has jet-lag and is disoriented. On learning the time from Beam, she dashes out of her flat, and opens a shed door to dump her rubbish. There, crouching in the darkness, she finds Ethan, and the dog. Ethan says that he was supposed to look after Rosie. Sarah is seen as a heroine for finding him. Ethan tells the police that his dog bit a man, who had a dirty white van. Kyle's mother Hazel (Margot Leicester) becomes suspicious of his actions. His hand is damaged, and he begins to wash his white van every day despite previously never washing it.

Meanwhile, journalist Josh Fairley (Al Weaver) smells a story, and persuades his editor to run a picture of attractive Leanne on their front page. Josh's is a small local newspaper, and he wants to run a more exciting story than golden weddings. He publishes Leanne's picture, despite getting the brush off from Defne, who is trying to keep the story relatively low profile. Josh takes photos for the paper at the home where Vic (Edward Woodward), Leanne's grandfather, lives. Josh manages to converse with Vic about his granddaughter. He eventually persuades Vic to loan him the key to his mobile home, in order to gather clues and background details. When he arrives at the mobile home, he is astonished to discover Rosie on the bed seemingly unharmed. He calls the police and takes pictures for his paper and dashes off to his office, leaving Rosie with the neighbours. Josh doesn't see Kyle who, on arriving at the mobile home in his white van, is arrested by the police.

Defne eventually persuades Matt to give a press conference, and Barbara agrees to speak as well. The press conference doesn't go well, and Josh asks Matt if he knew that Leanne was pregnant, having acquired the information from her grandfather. Matt, clearly shaken, walks out. It is left to Barbara to appeal to whoever has any information about Leanne's whereabouts. At first, she is calm, then she gives in to a scream of panic and grief in front of everyone. After the debacle, DSI Barclay is rapped by his superior for not participating and supporting the press. He remains aloof, but agrees to help.

Sarah is finding it hard to let go of Leanne's family, and starts seeing them regularly. Sarah attempts to start a relationship with Matt, but he rebuffs her advances, telling her that they can only be friends. She is upset at this, and eventually tells him her own traumatic past, in which her father murdered her mother, Sarah was 5 at the time. This seems to explain her rather unbalanced behaviour since finding Ethan.

Tanya has left to live with Barbara and John and expresses her feelings of guilt to John. She tells him that she didn't want to visit Vic because his room smelt. Tanya feels that Leanne's disappearance would've never happened if she'd joined them. John tries to reassure her. Eventually Tanya goes to stay with her dad in France. The police have a lead that Leanne may have started seeing her ex- husband, but they haven't followed it up. DCI Iain Barclay (Hugh Bonneville) is obsessed with following the flower seller, a Bosnian, who may have links with illegal immigration from Macedonia. This frustrates the rest of the team.

After 28 days, DCI Barclay comes under scrutiny from his superiors in the Met as he has no leads on the case at all. They are about to submit a report and are asking the team questions. His colleague Amy is frustrated that he hasn't named a suspect. She accuses him of refusing to name Matt as a suspect because he's black. However, Barclay's superiors ordered him to lay off Matt. Barclay denies this. Later a body is found in the woods by the dog shelter owner, whilst out walking his dogs. The body is identified as Branko, the Macedonian illegal immigrant who sold flowers from a van, the van Leanne was buying flowers from when she disappeared.

On day 33, it is August Bank Holiday. Defne is taking part in the fun run and Beam is there to support her. Josh is there to cover the event for the paper. PC Simone Farnes (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Sarah and Matt take the children to the fun run. Matt becomes overwhelmed by the crowds and he and Sarah go to her flat, leaving the children and the dog with Simone. They have sex, despite Matt's reluctance. Suddenly a boater on the lake spots a body in the water. After several days it is confirmed that the body is Leanne's.

DS Amy Foster (Janet McTeer) is about to retire, and her colleagues throw a party for her. She drunkenly gives a speech about not missing her colleagues when truly, she is terrified at the prospect of life without her work. Barclay takes her home and sobers her up. Before she retires, the forensic lab does her one last favour, they identify the fibres under Leanne's fingernails as carpet. It becomes apparent to Barclay that Leanne, desperate to give a clue to her would be rescuers, deliberately scraped up the fibres so that they would be found. It was also established that she was alive when she was dumped in the lake. John is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, following an overdose. Barclay had warned him about seeing Leanne's body after 5 weeks underwater, and he's traumatised. Only Tanya comes to visit him, her true feelings for her grandfather shows, mirroring her mum's devotion to Vic, despite her protestations of "who needs love, anyway?" Barbara is furious at John, and refuses to see him. Beam is irritated by the dog shelter man, who insists on confessing to killing Leanne.

Kyle is in court, he is remanded in custody despite his pleas that he was regularly beaten by other inmates in prison. The judge refuses to remand him to his mother. Kyle manages to escape from the police van that was taking him back to prison. He's hit by a car, but continues on his way, eventually ending up at Rosie and Ethan's house, where they're being cared for by Sarah. Rosie is delighted to see him, and gives him a hug. He disappears before Sarah comes out and finds the children.

Gary finds Kyle at the gym and beats him viciously, telling him to be quiet. Matt tells the others to call the police, and then locks himself in the locker room with Kyle and Gary, where he demands to know if Kyle hurt Rosie. Kyle insists that he didn't, and says that it was all an accident. He and Branko ran a smuggling scheme bringing in untaxed cigarettes, and storing them at Vic's mobile home. Vic had let them use it as a favour for Hazel, Kyle's mother, who worked at the nursing home and was the only person who was kind to Vic. When Leanne stopped to buy the flowers, Kyle was in the back of the flower van with cigarettes and illegal cash, Leanne then started to shout at Branko that his cancer sticks were killing her grandfather. Branko attempted to shut her up, and Leanne hit her head, and fell unconscious. Terrified, Branko and Kyle threw her in the back of the van and drove off. When she recovered consciousness, she was concerned about her children, so Kyle went to pick them up in his white van. Ethan and the dog jumped out, but he took Rosie back to Vic's mobile home, where Branko had taken Leanne. Kyle insists that it was too late, and Leanne died, so he took her body and put it in the lake.

Matt tells him that it ''wasn't'' too late, that Leanne drowned when Kyle dumped her in the lake. Kyle is horrified and turns to Gary and shouts "You said she was dead!" Matt understands that it was Gary who killed Leanne, and attacks him. The police break in and take them all away, but Kyle dies of his injuries inflicted by Gary. Gary is charged with the deaths of Leanne, Branko and Kyle. The final scene is Matt with his three children at Leanne's grave (with a smaller cross for her unborn baby). Sarah is nearby, but doesn't join the family as they walk away together.

On day one, an off duty police officer named Laurie Franklin (Suranne Jones), is on a train accompanying her mother Jen (Anne Reid), who suffers from dementia, to hospital. The train suddenly comes to a halt, and it soon transpires that a young Muslim woman has jumped from a bridge, hitting the train, leaving the train driver, Pat (Steve Evets), traumatised. Laurie and conductor Danny (Matthew McNulty) take charge until the railway police arrive. Danny gives Jen and Laurie a lift to the hospital, where Jen fits and is admitted overnight. At the hospital, Laurie learns from social worker Colly (Nina Sosanya) and foster father Nick (Derek Riddell) that a baby has been abandoned in a toilet and found by cleaner Didi (Cornell John). The baby is named Michael, after Didi's brother. As Danny and his Muslim wife Nusrat (Shivani Ghai) discuss adoption, Laurie believes that the baby and the suicide are connected. DI Mal Craig (David Morrissey), the Railway Police inspector, tells her that the corpse is in fact that of a young man, not a woman as had been previously thought.

Day two, Laurie discovers that Michael's blood group is Asian and although it is believed that the dead youth is the father, Michael's blood group does not match the deceased. However, the dead youth's finger-prints are found on the baby's pushchair, which Colly and Didi discover abandoned in the hospital grounds. It also contains a Muslim prayer for protection. Mal's son, Luke (Luke Hudson), who lives with his estranged wife, was playing by the railway lines, and recorded a video of his friend, and in the background, the video shows that the dead youth was actually pushed, at which point Laurie's superior, Supt Jim Carpenter (Hugo Speer), takes over the case. DC Bilal Choudry (Navin Chowdhry) answers an appeal and names the corpse as an illegal Afghan immigrant, Farid, who was a drug-pusher, possibly killed in a gangland revenge. Laurie is surprised to find Jen bringing home Gerard, a man they met on the train. Nusrat - hopeful to adopt Michael - discovers her brother Khalil (Sacha Dhawan) agitated and blood-stained.

Day 8, Michael falls ill, and is admitted to hospital. The diagnosis is suspected methadone withdrawal. There are no leads a week after the murder. A reconstruction of the murder is created and Muslim passenger Jamal Matthews (Ashley Walters) accuses Laurie of inciting Islamophobia. An old lady alerts Laurie to the disappearance of her neighbours on the day of the murder - a man and two women. Farid's shoe is found in their car but was apparently also worn by someone else. Nusrat disowns Khalil to the adoption officer and soon afterwards their father, Ibra (Aaron Neil), finds images of Khalil with a Taliban-type group on his computer following Khalil's visit to Pakistan, allegedly to study. At the same time Khalil is meeting Jamal.

Day 37, Nick takes Michael home and confesses to Colly, his deceased wife's sister, that he wants to keep him, but Didi tells Colly a child needs a mother and Nusrat and Danny are suitable for the adoption. Khalil has a panic attack at a royal visit and is briefly arrested by Laurie, which angers Ibra. Ibra confronts Khalil about the photos found on the computer, to which Khalil replies that they were from the past and that he has changed. Pat meets former lover Maureen (Pooky Quesnel) who reveals that she lived next to the old lady with her friend's daughter Katie, who now lives in Manchester. It transpires that Katie is Michael's mother, and the father is Farid, but it is revealed that Farid wasn't the dead youth's name. Farid is in fact, the dead youth's brother (Kamal Kaan), who turns up. Jen and Gerry bond as he goes with her to hospital, where her condition is re-diagnosed as physical degeneration and not Alzheimer's. Laurie and Mal also bond but as Pat takes Maureen to the police to explain her innocence, Mal is hit by a car whilst pursuing Sohel, one of the train passengers.

Two months later, Laurie, still traumatised from the accident that killed Mal, learns that Jen and Gerry (Bernard Hill) are engaged. Maureen, having told the police that she was on the bridge when the youth jumped but did not push him, moves in with Pat. Farid, Michael's real father, is preparing to collect Michael from Nick and promises to raise him with the aid of Maureen. However Maureen kidnaps Michael and takes him to Katie, who wants nothing to do with Michael. She returns to Pat, confessing that she shopped Farid for drug-dealing, causing his brother to jump from the bridge as he was left on his own. Laurie discovers that Pat has pushed Maureen over the bridge, because she twice deserted him. Laurie fears that Michael has been killed too, but finds him safe in the car, and Laurie arrests Pat. Khalil is imprisoned on suspicion of terrorism for having been at the camp in Pakistan and Nusrat and Danny fear this will harm their adoption chances forever.

The story concerns Mary Stevenson Crye, a newly widowed housewife, who turns to freelance writing to provide for her family. Her typewriter, which is demonically possessed, involves her in a series of occult.

The story concerns an offer made to the unworldly fantasist and ghost-writer H. P. Lovecraft by the canny fascist sympathizer, George Sylvester Viereck. Lovecraft is hired to write a political tract in the nature of an American ''Mein Kampf''. In return, Viereck promises to arrange for the publication of a volume of Lovecraft's stories.

In December 2009, Murdoch Ross and his friend Lee Francis Walker visit Murdoch's grandfather, Sir Charles Ross, in his castle in Storbannon, Scotland. Sir Charles is a Nobel Prize winner for his work in particle physics — more specifically the isolation of free quarks.

In this novel, when a nucleon decays into three quarks, the first two quarks appear immediately and the third quark appears on the order of a few millionths of an "yoctosecond" later. A widely accepted theory is that the original decay produces two quarks and also a third unknown particle, dubbed the "quason". This is subsequently transformed into a third quark.

Sir Charles offers a different and radical explanation: all three of the quarks are created at once, but the first two are "propagated back in time". Charles dubs the energy which had allowed the propagation through time as "tau waves". Although his theory is seemingly valid and consistent, the physicists of his time refuse to accept it because of its implications — namely the failure of some of the physical laws of conservation. Sir Charles then retreats to his family's castle in Scotland to continue his research in private. There, he succeeds in building a time machine capable of sending messages to the future and the past.

When the two young men arrive, Sir Charles takes them down into the basement, where the machine is found. As they enter the basement, a computer attached to the machine produces data on a sheet of paper, which Sir Charles hides from the other men. He asks Murdoch to type in a six-character random message into the computer. Sir Charles next activates his machine and transmits the message one minute back in time. Finally, he shows the paper printed out previously, and Murdoch and Lee are amazed: the printout contained exactly the same random characters that Murdoch typed, and these were printed ''before Murdoch had typed them in''.

After Murdoch and Lee have gotten over their initial amazement, they decide to experiment with the machine. Murdoch tries to fool the machine into creating a causality paradox, by deliberately receiving a message from the future, and not sending the message back at the due time. Suddenly, the entire system turns bizarre, and they are flooded with messages from all over the ten-minute range of the machine. Then they abruptly turn off the machine and leave.

While outside, Murdoch and Lee talk about the implications of the machine's existence and how the space-time continuum could allow for time travel without introducing a paradox. They formulate theories similar to the many-worlds interpretation, finally deciding that none of the theories they discuss fit their previous observations.

The next day, Ted Cartland, a friend of Charles and a former Royal Air Force officer, arrives to examine the machine he had helped build. They repeat the experiment, and Ted is bewildered as well. Ted, however, has a trick up his sleeve. He writes a computer program to do what Murdoch had done the day before, to remove the human element from the experiment.

The machine picks up an unexpected message, telling the experimenters that a glass jar had been broken. True enough, Lee was on the verge of accidentally pushing a jar off a shelf. However, they are unable to contact their future selves with the broken jar, since they apparently no longer exist. Sir Charles decides that upon sending the message back, the copies of themselves in the future had changed their past and thus had been ''erased'' from existence. The altered timeline, with its unbroken jar, overwrote the old one rather like recording over an old TV program on a videotape. Thus causality had been preserved. The fear of being erased chills them, and so they quickly disable the machine again.

As time goes by, they establish an experimental protocol, and they set up automated tests to gain more information about the physics behind the machine. The machine is upgraded to allow for more data throughput and a time range of about 24 hours. Murdoch also meets a young woman named Anne Patterson when she trips over Sir Charles's kitten while she was out shopping in Kingussie.

They immediately fall in love. It turns out later that she is a physicist at the site of the new fusion reactor in Burghead. Elizabeth Muir, another close friend of Sir Charles, works there as well, and he invites her to his castle to investigate the peculiar machine.

Burghead and black holes

The (fictional) European Fusion Consortium (EFC) has commissioned a large thermonuclear fusion reactor in Burghead to compete with the technologies located in the United States and the Soviet Union. The colossal energy obtained from fusion meant that huge amounts of power might someday be available at low costs. All three parties used inertial confinement technology, with the EFC opting to use ion beams.

During this time, Murdoch and Lee get to tour the large Burghead facility through Elizabeth, who is a principal physicist there, and Murdoch builds a relationship with Anne. One day, while still in the testing phases of power production, the reactor is shut down when apparent erosion is detected in the fusion chamber. Two days before, the team at Storbannon had experienced an apparent failure in its time machine, with Lee asserting that the failure had to be due to interference.

Their time machine then suddenly resumes operation again, and they elect to ignore the problem. Shortly after the incident, strange events start occurring around the world, with so-called ''bugophants'' (a blend of ''bug'' and ''elephant'') drilling tiny, long, straight holes through a myriad of objects, from human bodies to telescope mirrors.

Finally, the team finds out the cause of the erosion in the Burghead plant, the interference with the machine, and the bugophants themselves: the repeated fusion tests at the plant had, over the course of two days, produced some ''two million'' microscopic black holes, which then tunnelled through the basement of the plant and concentrated around the core of the Earth. As the black holes annihilated matter, they emitted tau waves and caused interference even before the reactor tests. Although conventional theory stated that black holes could not form from the comparatively low pressure produced in the reactor, and small black holes could not survive long anyway, the conventional theory had failed to take into account the existence of tau waves and their effects.

Lee suddenly goes into spasms and loses consciousness during a dinner with Murdoch and Anne. He is rushed to a local hospital, and then he is transferred to a special unit created to deal with a new outbreak, which had apparently affected him and several others in Burghead.

While the rest of the team is away, Murdoch finds that the machine is about to be swamped with interference, and may soon be unusable. He decides to take matters into his own hands and transmit a message far back into the past to remedy the situation. To get around the 24-hour limit of the machine, he asks Anne, who had learned machine code programming at her university, to write a program that would repeatedly bootstrap itself back in time until it reached the date desired. Anne complies, despite her deep misgivings. They manage to send the message, knowing they will be reset into the new timeline, and that anything could be different.

Their selves in the past receive the message, and they act on it immediately. They have no choice but to tell the bewildered managing committee at Burghead of their findings, including revealing their time machine. Given the necessary investigations, the thermonuclear reactor is shut down indefinitely. And although neither Murdoch nor Anne is aware of it, the flood of tau particles accompanying the message upset delicate quantum probabilities. She did not trip over the kitten and then begin a relationship with Murdoch.

Centurion

In the new timeline, word of the time machine spreads to the EFC headquarters in Brussels and to other places. Lee turns ill in the castle one day and suddenly collapses. As a doctor, Anne contacts Murdoch, who is away, and suggests that Lee has succumbed to a new outbreak of a disease, apparently a version of multiple sclerosis, but progressing much faster, taking only a few weeks rather than years, and also very deadly.

Murdoch pressures Anne to reveal more information about the outbreak, which appears to be highly classified. Anne does not know much, either. However, Murdoch finds out that a distinguished medical specialist, Sir Giles Fennimore, has arrived from London to investigate the outbreak. He learns that the disease is somehow connected to the West Coast of the United States, where Lee had been residing in September 2009, and his suspicions are raised further.

Ted and Elizabeth help Murdoch investigate. After interrogating Ralph Courtney, chairman at the Burghead facility, and a chance meeting by Ted with a young R.A.F. pilot, they eventually find out (Ted knowing much of this from his previous R.A.F. experience) that Anglo-American authorities had wished to establish an advanced laboratory for potentially dangerous research into viruses, genetic manipulation, and similar subjects. Naturally, this project stirred up a large controversy over public fears of containment failures and contamination and was eventually scrapped. However, the possible scientific advancements offered were simply too great to pass up. Thus a satellite, the QX-37, was constructed and launched into outer space, purporting to be an astronomical observatory. The QX-37 continued the experiments secretly.

In August 2009, the satellite passed right through the path of the Perseids meteor shower, and it was hit by a meteor. It broke up and disintegrated into the Earth's atmosphere. After the breakup and fallout, to prevent public panic, the entire effort was tightly classified and codenamed ''Centurion''. Again, surpassing the odds, a single mutant strain of multiple sclerosis survives on its way back to the Earth, and infects the entire population of the West Coast, with an incubation period of nine months. It was during this time that Lee was infected, since he was on the West Coast at the time.

The West Coast of the United States is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, and soon thousands of people start reporting symptoms and being hospitalized. The new strain is named ''omnisclerosis Californians''. A vaccine is announced and vaccinations begin in California. However they are stopped after 811 of the people treated die from neurological disorders triggered by one of the production batches, which had not been manufactured properly. Even though the vaccine worked, members of the public would not trust it anymore, and there are now left with no defense against the virus.

The members of the team decide to contact Fennimore through the Minister of Advanced Technology and Science Graham Cuthrie. Although he is initially skeptical, he is convinced of the machine's authenticity after a demonstration. They propose a pilot test: instead of changing many months of history, they offer to reset the events leading to the vaccine mishaps that had caused Fennimore much distress, five days ago. Cuthrie reluctantly agrees. He is asked to prepare a comprehensive document detailing the manufacturing problem, with additional measures taken to ensure its authenticity.

In the new reset timeline, the faulty vaccine batch is retracted and the 811 deaths do not occur. Fennimore becomes a spokesman for the team, convincing world governments to take action. It is decided that the information needed to produce and distribute the vaccine will be sent back several months in time, as well as other current events, to help their past selves to make better decisions.

Epilogue

The message is sent to the afternoon of January 16, 2010, from July 28, 2010, shortly after the message about the black holes is received. The message is split up into two parts, a header announcing the message, and then the message body itself to arrive an hour later, to allow the team to attach more computer memory to the machine for the message to be received completely.

That very day, in this third iteration of the timeline, Murdoch and Lee go out shopping in Kingussie, and a certain young woman named Anne trips over Sir Charles's kitten... This is the origin of the story's title, ''Thrice Upon A Time''.

An unnamed young lion is living in the jungle somewhere in Africa. One night, he and the other lions are awakened by the sound of a gunshot. All the lions run away, except for the young lion, who is confused when one of the lions tells him that hunters are coming because he doesn't know what a hunter is. However, he thinks he likes the sound of the word "hunters," so he hides in the tall grass to spy on the hunters as they pass by wearing red caps and carrying funny sticks that make loud noises (obviously guns). The young lion likes their looks, so when a solo hunter comes by, he stands up, says hello, and tries to make friends. This offends the hunter's sense of the proper relationship between lion and hunter, and the hunter says he will shoot the young lion. When the hunter finds that he has not loaded his rifle, the young lion decides he does not like the hunter after all and eats him up, red cap and all. He tries to eat the gun and the bullets, as well, but finds he cannot chew them... so instead, he brings them to the other lions. The old lion tells him to throw them away, but the young lion shoots the gun with his tail, causing the other lions to flee. They are angry with the young lion when they discover that he is the one shooting. However, the young lion likes shooting the gun so much that he practices to become the best shot in the whole world.Silverstein, Shel. ''Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back''. HarperCollins Canada, 1963.

A year later, when another man comes walking through the jungle, the young lion wants to shoot him, too. However it is revealed that the man, Finchfinger, has a circus. Finchfinger persuades the reluctant lion to come with him to the circus with the promise of marshmallows. They arrive in the city, which is not at all like the jungle. There are "tall square things" (buildings) and "things that look like hippopotamuses that move very fast with people inside them" (cars). The young lion goes into the hotel and goes up and down the elevator many times. He then meets Uncle Shelby (obviously Shel Silverstein, as he tells the story) and goes to the barbershop, where he gets his paws shined, his claws manicured, and a free haircut. He has dinner, at which he eats many marshmallow dishes, finishing with his napkin for dessert. He wears a marshmallow suit, but it gets ironed and burns all over him. He goes back to the hotel and stays up very late singing the "marshmallow song:"

Marshmallows Marshmallows Marching Marshing Mellow Malling Mallows Marshing Fellows Marshy-Murshy-

The next morning, there is a big parade for the young lion, whose name has been changed to Lafcadio the Great. Lafcadio goes into the circus tent, where he accomplishes a number of stunts with his gun: for example, he shoots six bottles off the table, a hundred balloons off the ceiling, and a marshmallow off everybody's head (including some monkeys). He joins the circus and after many more exploits becomes rich and famous. He begins to behave more and more like humans, standing on his back paws, wearing clothes, playing sports, painting pictures, and so on. He even writes his autobiography.

Eventually, Lafcadio gets tired of his life. Finchfinger comes up with the idea of taking Lafcadio on a trip to Africa. So Lafcadio, along with Finchfinger and some other hunters, goes back to Africa and begins hunting lions. A very old lion realizes that Lafcadio is not a human being but a lion and comes up to talk to him. Lafcadio then remembers that he was a lion, and that in fact he still is a lion. All the lions want him to come back and be a lion with them, but the hunters also want Lafcadio to stay a hunter. Lafcadio cannot make up his mind and says that he does not want to do either and that he does not think that he belongs anywhere. He puts down his gun and walks away, not knowing where he's going and not knowing what's happening to him. Lafcadio has not been heard from since.

The story focuses on Chouns and Smith, two members of the "Exploration Teams", who are charged with exploring for new planets, especially those that are potentially habitable by humans. Whilst temporarily without their hyperspace drive, which has apparently broken down, they land on a planet with Earth-like gravity and atmosphere, and find an advanced agricultural civilization, with grain-like plants tended by short four-legged beings.

The beings show the two visitors hyperspacial sighters (valuable instruments for galactic navigation), despite the planet never having been visited by humans before. They indicate that more of the instruments are to be found on the neighbouring planet and the explorers leave in a hurry to visit it, never stopping to consider the impossibility of the situation. On the second planet, they meet aquatic snake-like creatures who offer them more sighters.

Back in the spaceship, Chouns, who is known for his 'hunches', eventually realizes what's happened; that they've been telepathically 'conditioned' to transfer pollen from the plants (who are the real masters) on one planet to the other. The telepathic control of the plants coerced them into doing this by making them believe that two small rocks were actually valuable and that there would be more on the other planet. Chouns believes that he must immediately warn Earth of this threat, as he also realizes that one of the two animal species must have at one time been capable of interplanetary travel. However, the plants must have considered the technology of that civilization to be a threat and used their telepathy to destroy the perceived threat.

But what neither man realizes is that when they return to Earth they will bring spores with them to establish the plants on Earth as the potentially controlling intelligence.

The film is set in the mid 1970s and ends at the time of the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina.

Verónico Cruz (Gonzalo Morales) is a poor indigenous Argentine shepherd boy who lives in the desolate and harsh Andean highlands. He lives in Chorcán, a small hamlet in the Jujuy Province.

One day Mr. Lehrer (Juan José Camero) arrives in Chorcán to take the job as the new school teacher. Verónico comes to idolise his new teacher, who is also known as ''el maestro'' as a sign of respect and affection.

At one point in the film ''el maestro'' takes Verónico on his first road trip to San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of the Jujuy Province, to look for Verónico's father, who the boy has never met. While there Lehrer is interrogated harshly by government authorities and discovers Castulo Cruz is considered a subversive by the military and that he probably has become a ''desaparecido''.

As Verónico Cruz learns about the outside world from his teacher, so too does Lehrer come to understand and appreciate the indigenous people who live in northwest rural Argentina and their history.

Lehrer, near the end of the film, is given a promotion and leaves Verónico's small village to teach at a larger school far away.

However, the warm relationship between ''el maestro'' and Verónico ends after Verónico joins the navy and Argentine troops invade the Falkland Islands.

''El maestro'' later gets a letter from Verónico, that he is serving at the ARA Belgrano as a crewman, at the same time that he gets news that the ARA Belgrano has been sunk by a British submarine.

Abolitionist Michael "Nuggin" Taylor goes undercover to sabotage slave ships. Although the United States prohibited the importation of slaves in 1808, slaves are still being brought into the country illegally. Great Britain also prohibited the slave trade, putting the Royal Navy into action against slave traders, but Royal Navy Lieutenant Stanley Tarryton is acting for the slave traders. The conflict between Taylor and Tarryton is complicated by Tarryton's sister Margaret, who is falling in love with Taylor.

The Taylor-Tarryton conflict becomes entangled with the loss of the ship ''William Brown''. The ''William Brown'' is accidentally set on fire by a little girl, and must be abandoned. Taylor is a passenger on the ship, and he takes command of the evacuation when the captain is injured. Only one lifeboat is launched, which cannot carry all the survivors, many of whom are swimming in the ocean nearby. Taylor stops these desperate people from climbing into the lifeboat and swamping it, shooting some with a pistol. As a result, he is subsequently tried and convicted for murder; Barton Woodley explains his actions, thus resulting in a new trial for Taylor. Margaret, seeing Taylor in this new light, lets him know she still loves him.

Homicide detective Frank McGregor (Michael Madsen) tracks a violent duo of bank robbers: Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu. They were named the '''High Incident Bandits''' by the LAPD.

On the morning of February 28, 1997, police officers get ready for work, while Phillips and Mătăsăreanu prepare to loot an armored bank truck. Meanwhile, SWAT officer Donnie Anderson (Ron Livingston) is mourning the death of his father, a decorated policeman for over 31 years. He displays a lack of coordination with his unit during a raid on an apartment building, which almost causes one of his team members to be left alone with suspects, and is forced by his superior to take time off. Meanwhile, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu park outside the North Hollywood branch of Bank of America and wait for the armored truck to arrive. They are frustrated when the truck does not turn up and decide on robbing the bank instead. Donning black masks and homemade body armor, they enter the branch, firing at the roof with AK-47s. At the same time, an LAPD patrol car passes by, wherein a patrol officer notices the robbers entering the bank and call in a 211 for an armed robbery.

Phillips and Mătăsăreanu force the manager to open the vault and fill a duffel bag with all of the cash in the branch. While Mătăsăreanu has his back turned, the manager places a stack of notes rigged with a dye pack. With other officers arriving and setting up positions surrounding the bank, Phillips is shocked to see dozens of them and decides to walk outside, firing at them with his AK-47 and quickly being joined by Mătăsăreanu. The officers are heavily outgunned in the shootout. Anderson listens to the call on his radio, gathers his SWAT team, and races to the bank. After several minutes of firing and injuring both officers and civilians, Phillips and Mătăsăreanu decide to make a getaway. Mătăsăreanu drives their car while Phillips walks beside it and provides cover fire.

On Archwood Street, Phillips separates from Mătăsăreanu and starts firing randomly at the pursuing officers. While reloading, Phillips' AK-47 jams, and he is unable to clear it. He draws a pistol. Raising the finger, he continues firing at the officers. Then, he turns the pistol on himself, shooting himself under the chin while being simultaneously shot by McGregor. Meanwhile, Mătăsăreanu carjacks a pickup truck but is unable to start the engine since the driver disabled the fuel tanks before fleeing. The SWAT team arrives and corners Mătăsăreanu, who then takes cover behind his car, and a close-range gunfight ensues. The SWAT team eventually fires below the cars at Mătăsăreanu's legs; Mătăsăreanu is repeatedly hit in the feet and legs. Severely wounded, he drops his weapon and surrenders. It is later revealed that he dies of his gunshot wounds at the scene before paramedics can arrive.

The ending notes how the aftermath of the shootout proved to be a miracle, with no civilian or police deaths. It also notes how public opinion of the LAPD went up immensely due to their handling of the shootout. Actual footage is shown of LAPD officers receiving medals of valor and the public sending them thank-you notes and flowers in appreciation of their heroic efforts. McGregor closes by noting in an interview that "in 44 minutes of sheer terror, not one officer ran away. Everyone did their job, and I think that means something."

At 7 years old, Jeff Greene comes home from school to find a note from his mother, Melody Hittinger, telling him that she had to leave for a while and for him to not be sad. Left with his reserved father, the Professor, the burgeoning Jeff fails to make human connections. In sixth grade, Jeff catches the flu and tries to hide it from the Professor, in hopes of it not disturbing his routine.

That summer, Melody asks him to visit her in Charleston, South Carolina for the summer. He connects with her and has a wonderful time, bringing joy back in his life. After his visit, he writes letters to Melody on the first day of each month, even though she never writes back. For Christmas, he sends Melody a beautiful scarf but receives nothing from her in return. Jeff convinces himself to excuse Melody for ignoring him, and he continues to love her.

On his second summer visit one year later, Melody spends little time with Jeff. Instead, she focuses on a new boyfriend, named Max. The second visit shows Jeff that Melody does not care about him. Frustrated, he buys a boat and goes to a solitary, remote island. There he sees a blue heron and relates it to his own life. When Jeff returns home to Baltimore, he isolates himself.

In eighth grade, Jeff begins to fail his classes and starts skipping classes to ride a local amusement park ride. After his father, Horace, finds out the truth, he decides to make a change for Jeff's good. The two move to a cabin located near Crisfield. Jeff loves the cabin, mainly because he has spotted another blue heron on the property.

Repeating eighth grade at his new school, Jeff makes two good friends, Phil and Andy, gets his life back on track. He takes an interest in schoolwork, and learns how to play the guitar, which fosters a new relationship with his father. These changes underscore Jeff learning to accept himself.

After two years in Crisfield, Jeff meets Mina Smiths, and the Tillermans: Dicey, Sammy, Maybeth, and James. Jeff seduces Dicey with his guitar skills, and soon bonds with Sammy through Dicey's job at a local grocery store, Maybeth when he visits Dicey's house to observe Maybeth's talent, and James through birdwatching.

As Jeff finally forms human connections, Melody abruptly returns to his life and Jeff realizes that he never needed her love in order to be happy.

Jenna Hunterson is a waitress living in the American South, trapped in an unhappy marriage with her controlling and abusive husband, Earl. She works in Joe's Pie Diner, where her job includes creating inventive pies with unusual titles inspired by her life, such as the "Bad Baby Pie" she invents after her unintended pregnancy is confirmed. Jenna longs to run away from her dismal marriage and is slowly accumulating money to do so. She pins her hopes for escape on a pie contest in a nearby town, which offers a $25,000 grand prize, but her husband won't let her go. Upon learning she is pregnant, he demands she promise never to love the baby more than him.

Her only friends are her co-workers, Becky and Dawn, and Joe, the curmudgeonly owner of the diner and several other local businesses, who is a regular customer of Jenna's at the diner and encourages her to begin a new life elsewhere. She also bonds unexpectedly with her gruff bossy manager, Cal the cook, when she fearfully informs him of her pregnancy, only to discover he already knows and always planned to keep her employed. Prompted by her co-workers' gift of a baby journal, Jenna begins to keep a diary, ostensibly as letters to her unborn child, revealing her inner thoughts and plans.

Jenna's life changes after she meets her new obstetrician, Jim Pomatter. He has moved to the small town to accommodate his wife, who is completing her residency at the local hospital, and is filling in for the woman who has been Jenna's doctor since childhood. The two are attracted to each other, and over the course of several prenatal appointments the attraction grows. After Dr. Pomatter invites her into the office under a quickly exposed pretext, she impulsively initiates a passionate affair.

At Dawn's wedding at the diner, Earl interrupts the celebration and demands Jenna leave at once. Earl drives Jenna home and confronts her, having found Jenna's multiple stashes of cash throughout the house. Reluctantly, Jenna tells Earl that the money was for the baby, which forces her to spend the money to conceal the true purpose of the funds. In despair, she flees to Dr. Pomatter, who provides much-needed comfort; as they fantasize about running away together, Jenna's water breaks.

At the hospital, Jenna discovers Joe is also a patient undergoing an elective procedure; he hands her an envelope with instructions not to open it until after the baby is born. Much to her dismay, she is also greeted warmly by Dr. Pomatter's wife, who is rounding with other residents. Jenna then begs Dr. Pomatter to administer as many drugs as possible so she won't feel a thing.

Jenna soon gives birth to a baby girl. When she holds and sees her newborn for the first time, Jenna's profound ambivalence melts into a full-blown bond with her daughter, whom she names Lulu. Earl, clearly disappointed that it's a girl, reminds Jenna of her coerced promise not to love the baby more than she does him. She bluntly tells him that she hasn't loved him in years, will no longer put up with his possessiveness and abuse, and will not let Lulu grow up with his mistreating her, and wants a divorce. Enraged, Earl attempts to assault Jenna, but is escorted out of the hospital by security staff.

Later, as Jenna prepares to leave the hospital, due to Earl refusing to pay her medical bills as retaliation for being kicked out, Becky and Dawn inform her Joe collapsed into a coma during his procedure. Jenna then remembers the envelope Joe brought her before the birth. In the envelope she finds a handmade card with a sketch of her, inscribed "To my only friend, start fresh", along with a check for $270,450.

While leaving the hospital, Dr. Pomatter requests a word with her in private, inquiring about their future. Grateful for his profound kindness, she nonetheless promptly breaks it off, informing him of the enormous trust she sensed from his wife. She then hands him a chocolate Moon Pie and asks her friends to wheel her out.

In an epilogue, it is loosely implied that Earl left town or was arrested and never seen or heard from again, Jenna is shown winning the pie contest, as well as turning the diner into a successful chain named "Lulu's Pies", and she and Lulu walk home happily.

Harry Joy, an advertising executive in an unnamed Australian city who is known for his ability to tell stories, has a terrifying near-death experience after suffering a massive heart attack, brought on by his dissolute lifestyle. Upon recovering, he believes himself to be either in a hellish version of the world he knew, or with his eyes opened to an altogether different view of that world. He eventually discovers that his wife is unfaithful, his dissolute daughter trades sex for hard drugs with his deviant son, and his latest client is a carcinogenic polluter.

Harry tries to reform and steer a morally correct path, abandoning most of the trappings of his previous affluent life, to the dismay and disruption of everyone around him. He is also seemingly 'tested' by a series of bizarre and frightening events including being 'sectioned' to a psychiatric hospital.

Fighting for his sanity, Harry flees his home and takes up residence in a hotel, where meets a young hippie country girl, Honey Barbara, who prostitutes herself and helps a friend sell marijuana on trips to the city to bring money back to their forest commune. Harry decides that Barbara is his true love but he is soon drawn back into his old ways, and she with him. She eventually rejects Harry's lapse back to materialism and flees to the commune, refusing to see him. Harry pursues her patiently over many years, living alone near her commune, and eventually winning her heart with a 'gift' of plantings of the type of tree that provides Barbara's favourite honey (the Yellow Box Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus melliodora).

In 1932 Siam, a ravenous female ghost named Pop is ravaging the village of Sam Kotr, Roi Et, killing all the men. An exorcist is brought in, and he wraps the ghost in magical rope, which should bind her forever, or so it is thought.

Flash forward to 2000, it is the start of a new school term, and a group of university students have arrived from Bangkok to take part in a rural development project in Sam Kotr. Some of the boys spy on their beautiful female classmate, Ker, while she is bathing in the river. Accidentally, they break open a sealed well and unknowingly release the ancient ghost Pop. The ghost possesses Ker, and when the students return to the capital, the spirit is with them.

Inhabiting Ker, the ghost becomes hungry again, turning Ker into a nymphomaniac. She cannot get enough men. Ker invites one classmate out for a date. Making out in the car after a movie, she transforms into the demon ghost and runs her hand into the man's body. He survives, but it is later revealed that his liver is gone.

Ker's friends notice a change in her behavior, especially after she uses her long tongue to clean a plate of liver, and she transforms into the scary demon.

Eventually a mysterious man named Kong appears and shows the students how to dispatch the ghost by using condoms. But the spirit simply takes possession of other bodies, jumping from body to body in order to escape and survive. Kong then equips the students with a special camera and other weapons needed to combat the ghost.

The story involves a girl who thinks that she is Cinderella, and whose friends go along with her story. After talking about attending a ball, she actually appears to be at the ball. However, it is soon evident that her story is all fantasy. In reality Cinderella is lying unconscious in a snow bank. She is brought to a hospital where she dies.

A 14-year-old boy called Andy Pierce witnesses his mother, Christine, getting assaulted by two masked men working for the Animal Freedom Militia.

On CHERUB campus, Kerry is annoyed with her boyfriend, James. James goes into his room and is met by his sister, Lauren, who asks him to help her and her best friend Bethany to sneak into the basic training compound to give Bethany's brother, Jake, and Lauren's crush, Rat, some supplies. James refuses, but Lauren blackmails him by threatening to tell Kerry about him cheating on her during a mission the previous year.

James joins Lauren and Bethany on the mission to get the food to the trainees. They successfully deliver the supplies, but upon returning to his room, James gets a call from CHERUB chairman Mac, who had earlier found out about the mission, then watched it unfold on the backup CCTV system. After Mac reveals a photocopy of Lauren's master plan, including her intention to blackmail James, James avoids punishment; Lauren and Bethany, however, are punished. Lauren and Kyle are punished with having to dig out the campus ditches.

Three weeks later, James, Lauren, and Kyle are sent on a mission, with Zara as mission controller, to bring down the AFM (Animal Freedom Militia), an animal liberation terrorist group. They stay with peaceful animal liberationist Ryan Quinn, with Zara posing as his fiancée. Kyle and James befriend suspected members of AFM, and are eventually invited on a top-secret mission with the group. Meanwhile, Lauren is stuck with the Ryan, while Zara is in a meeting in London. Ryan gets invited to rescue dozens of beagle puppies that were going to be sold onto the testing company; with Zara away, Lauren joins him. The rescue is a success, but the rescuers were overwhelmed, as many more dogs were rescued than they thought. When Zara arrives after all the puppies have been taken away, Lauren saves one puppy (who had escaped) after it nearly runs under Zara's car. She brings him back to Ryan's house, and names him Meatball.

James and Kyle successfully infiltrate the AFA (Animal Freedom Army), another movement within the AFM, and find themselves part of a stunt being broadcast live. James and two members of the AFA kidnap Nick Cobb, a TV chef, from the set of a daytime chat show, and take him to a farm in Northern England. Nick Cobb is locked in a cage, and James and the two AFA members head to a safe house. The AFA start a live broadcast over the internet, which is picked up by multiple news channels, where AFA members Jo and Viv describes the poor treatment of animals by Nick Cobb's company's legal team. Cobb is revealed, locked in a cage, and fed cleaning chemicals through a tube. At the safe house, James overpowers the other two AFA members and drives back to CHERUB campus. After the anti-terrorist unit cut off the broadcast, Kyle manages to overpower the AFA members at the farm and get them to load Nick Cobb into a van, which Kyle drives to the hospital. Several members of the AFA were subsequently arrested and imprisoned.

Zara and Lauren leave Ryan's house and head back to campus, taking Meatball with them. Active agents aren't allowed pets, but Zara and Ewart Asker take up Lauren's offer to adopt him after they stop off at the Askers' house on the way back to campus.

Two days later, most CHERUB agents are aboard a flight about to depart to the CHERUB summer hostel on a Mediterranean island, and it is revealed that Zara Asker has been appointed chairwoman of CHERUB.

Born a Brahmin, Ahimsaka is studying under a guru when he sees a woman named Nantha attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. He saves her, but later learns that Nantha was intended to be the bride of his teacher.

The teacher, angered by Ahimsaka's attention to his wife-to-be, tells his student that the only way he will attain enlightenment is to kill 1,000 people. This sets Ahimsaka off on a life as a highwayman, and at first he seeks to kill only bandits and other evildoers. To keep track of his victims, he takes a finger from the right hand of each, and wears the fingers around his neck, thus earning him the name Angulimala, "the wearer of a garland of fingers." He struggles to find 1,000 victims, so he resorts to killing all who cross his path. Nantha, wanting to stop the killing, tries to kill Ahimsaka, but only succeeds in killing herself.

Eventually, he meets the Buddha himself, who tells Ahimsaka of his wrongful ways and convinces the killer that he can redeem himself by becoming a Buddhist monk.

Leonard Marnham is "The Innocent" of the novel, a Post Office engineer who is employed by the Americans to install monitoring equipment in the tunnel they are building specifically to tap the Russians. The British and Americans view each other with distrust. Leonard is befriended by Bob Glass, an American obsessed with security.

The British are aware that the Americans are on the verge of a breakthrough with decoding, and are annoyed that they have not been a part of it. MacNamee, a scientist, insists that Leonard act as a spy for them, as he is in with the Americans. Leonard fails dismally in his role as spy.

Ironically, Leonard lives in an apartment above one occupied by a rather stuffy character named George Blake, who was a Soviet agent imprisoned in the 1960s, and who escaped from Wormwood Scrubs. The novel neatly intertwines fictional meetings between the two men, and one of Blake's most notorious betrayals is given a new slant by Leonard's foolhardy act.

At a bar with his new American colleagues Leonard meets a girl called Maria to whom he is 'innocent' due to having never had sex before. They become engaged but after their engagement party Maria's ex-husband Otto, a self-proclaimed war hero and alcoholic turns up and starts a very violent fight with the couple. While defending Maria Leonard is being badly beaten, Maria hits Otto with a blow to the head which subsequently kills him.

The couple, aware they cannot report this to the police as Otto was friends with the police, decide they have to dispose of the body. They cut Otto's corpse up and pack him into cases Leonard has taken from the tunnel. Leonard, exhausted and in shock, wanders through Berlin with the heavy cases trying to find somewhere to leave the body parts, but gives up and returns to his flat with them. While leaving his flat again with the cases the next day, he encounters Blake in the lift and claims the cases contain equipment from the US, to be used in the tunnel for the next twenty-four hours only after which it will go back to the USA. Then Leonard runs into Glass, who admonishes him for removing equipment from the workplace and forces him to return the cases to the tunnel, driving him there himself. Leonard deposits the cases in the tunnel, then betrays its existence to the Russians to avoid the actual content of the cases being discovered by his colleagues. (Though it turns out later that Blake had already betrayed the existence of the tunnel long before. Blake tells the Russians about the new equipment Leonard has, so the Russians break into their tunnel from their end with a view to seizing the equipment for their own use.)

Leonard and Maria's relationship seems about to fall apart due to the strain of dismembering Otto's body, and both appear relieved when Leonard decides to go back to England for a short time. Just as his plane is about to take off he sees Maria and Bob Glass together on the roof of the airport terminal. Convinced from this that they are having an affair Leonard decides it is over between Maria and himself, having already been suspicious of them for some time.

In a postscript, the novel then skips forward thirty-two years to them both in late middle age (Leonard now circa 57, Maria circa 62). Leonard has received a letter from Maria explaining that she was never unfaithful to him with Glass until after his failure to reply to her letters, from which she took it that things were over between herself and Leonard. Maria tells Leonard she later married Bob Glass in New York, moved to America, and bore three children by him, but that Glass has recently died of a heart attack. She reveals that Glass found out about Otto and helped cover for the killing, which was the true reason for their suspicious behaviour together. The novel ends with Leonard deciding to fly to America and pay a surprise visit on Maria at her home.

In this adventure, Pitfall Harry Jr meets a girl named Mira who enlists his aid in freeing her people from "The Scourge", an evil woman bent on controlling the world.

Christine is in her forties when she learns that her partner Robert has been having an affair for the past few months. As a liberated woman, Christine refuses to put up with this situation, and supported by her girlfriends who are themselves struggling to find their Mr Right, she takes steps to get in touch with her rival...

Some students gets entangled with a group who opposes the French-Algerian war.

Jim is a 12-year-old outsider. He has a mother with anxiety and he lives a hard life. At school he is smallest in his class, and compelled to buy beer and smoke and have party's in his garage. Home is different: He's the father of the house, and takes care of his mother, who has isolated herself in bed with a video of the moon landing on VHS. She's not going out of her house due to anxiety. One day Terje (an overweight boy who claims to own a pit bull) starts in his class. He gets excluded from the class society, but he considers Jim as his best friend making him choose between an outsider friend and his poor social status.

David Rivers, a 24-year-old substitute teacher (most likely with anti-social personality disorder) begins the story by moving back to Georgia after spending several months in California fleeing from an undisclosed incident involving a classroom full of children. As the story progresses, we learn that David suffers from visions of a treacherous black creature he calls the Llapasllaly. During these visions terrible things occur, namely the death of his childhood friend, girlfriend and parents among other things. As David becomes increasingly disenchanted with his life in California, his depression culminates with the discovery of his girlfriend's unfaithfulness. After witnessing the Llapasllaly kill her, David returns to his hometown in Georgia and takes another substitute teaching job. He soon meets a woman named Samantha, whom he falls in love with and proposes to. His dark visions seem to subside. Things take a turn for the worse however when David realizes Samantha has a Llapasllaly of her own (who she calls Amelia) and who takes the form of an eating disorder. At the time of this discovery a police investigation into the killing of David's Californian girlfriend finds David in Georgia where a detective issues a warrant for his arrest, believing him to be responsible for the killing. David flees police as Samantha is taken to the hospital for treatment after collapsing. Returning to the elementary school that was the home of the incident that forced David to move to California, David attempts to prove the Llapasllaly's existence by revealing it to a classroom full of special education students. The plan backfires when the Llapasllaly kills a child with Down's syndrome. As David leaves the school, a taxi carrying Samantha arrives and the couple run to reunite before the police car arriving at the scene crashes into Samantha and kills her. David manages to escape the police temporarily and returns to the trailer he was living in. He has a final vision in which the Llapasllaly invites him to commit suicide with sleeping pills. In the final moments before the police arrive to arrest him, David realizes the Llapasllaly exists only in his mind and that the option to live or die is up to him and not the creature.

In the spring of 1993, a young Carter along with his girlfriend Laurel (Melissa Benoist) found out that Carter's mom (Michelle Harris) has been physically abused again by his father (Bill Sage). He decides to leave Tennessee along with his mom and his younger brother Ellis. In 2007, a grown up Carter (Adam Rothenberg) has discovered that his brother Ellis (Ethan Peck) has acute leukemia. Ellis then told Carter that they might need to go back to Tennessee to have a match for Ellis' bone marrow transplant since Carter is not and their mother is already deceased.

On their way to Tennessee, their car broke down and stopped at a local diner. Ellis later meets Krystal (Mariah Carey), a waitress who does not seem to enjoy her job. They later get acquainted to which Krystal quits her job and lets the boys ride in to her car to accompany them to Tennessee. Since the boys does not have anywhere to sleep, Krystal brings them to her house where her husband Frank (Lance Reddick), an abusive sheriff, gets mad at the idea of bringing them to his home. In the morning, Krystal realizes that this is not the life she has ever dreamed of since she has always wanted to be a singer-songwriter. She then decides to leave Frank early in the morning in able for him not to control her.

Along with the boys they head to a bar and danced for a little while not until Carter made a scandal that angered Krystal. Frank decides to track them using the plate number of her car to which Krystal trades with another one. Despite that, Frank was still able to catch them on the road. Krystal later outsmarts Frank and ran to a nearby train station with the boys headed to Tennessee.

Arriving at Tennessee, Carter, Ellis and Krystal have run out of pocket money. Krystal then tries to pawn her guitar but Carter stops her after seeing a flyer for a singing contest in a bar to which she competes. Frank, who arrived late at Tennessee sees a girl, traumatically abused by her boyfriend. He later realizes the same situation with him and Krystal. He heads to a bar, where the singing contest is happening and sees Krystal performing to which he does not pursue her but instead sets her free. After winning, Krystal gives them enough money and they head their separate ways.

While on the bus, Carter finds out that Ellis has passed out where he then rushes him to a hospital. Ellis later wakes up and asks Carter for a picture of a mountain in a nearby middle school to which Carter later finds out that his ex-girlfriend Laurel is there working as a teacher. Afraid to talk to her, he decides to head back to the hospital. Carter drives and heads to his old house to which he discovers that their father is not there. An old woman in the neighborhood asks Carter if he is the son of Roy and tells him that a package is waiting for him. He finds out that his father has passed away a long time ago and that the package was made by Ellis which contains a letter saying that Ellis knew about their father's death all along and decides to throw a trip to Tennessee in order for Carter to realize and face his fears that he has always thought of ever since he left home. He also said that the picture was for him to find out that Laurel was still there and tells him to give it a chance to talk to her.

It is then concluded that Ellis died to which Carter and Krystal, throws his ashes in the top of a mountain. Krystal decides to head home and Carter tells him that he will be waiting for her big break as a singer. Carter then travels to the middle school and finds Laurel. He decides to go and talk to her until the screen goes black.

The story begins in Rome, with the monk Clemens announcing the ringing of bells throughout the city. Clemens, moved by the "spirit of storytelling" (a term used often in Mann's later works), introduces the reader to the events which led up to the ringing of the bells, i.e., Gregory's arrival in Rome and coronation as Pope.

In Flanders, duke Grimald, seventeen years a widower, is pressing his daughter Sibylla to marry in order to forge an alliance with a neighboring king. Sibylla, attracted only to her brother Wiligis, spurns the duke's wishes. After the duke's death brother and sister become lovers, and Sibylla learns that she is with child by her brother.

Considering suicide out of shame for what they have done, the brother and sister turn to their loyal counselor, the knight Eisengrein, who suggests that Wiligis take up the Crusade as a means of atoning for his sins. After the couple's child is born he further suggests that they set the infant adrift in a sealed barrel. Although at first they distrust Eisengrein's advice, Sibylla and Wiligis realize there is nothing else they can do. Wiligis sets out and is killed before he even reaches Massilia (modern Marseilles). Sibylla gives her newborn to the North Sea, where she assumes it will perish.

The barrel carrying the infant is found by two fishermen in the English Channel, and these two take the barrel, the infant, and a tablet Sibylla placed within the barrel to the island where they live. Upon their return the two fishermen are intercepted by Gregory, the Abbot of the monastery Agonia Dei. Gregory reads the tablet and understands the importance of the child. He then decides to pay one of the fishermen a set sum every month if the fisherman will raise the child as his own. The fisherman, astounded by the handsome sum the priest is offering, accepts the proposal.

Years later the infant has grown into a young man. Out of fondness the Abbot has named him Gregory, and it looks as if the young man will join the monastery and remain among the brothers for the rest of his life. Unfortunately the younger Gregory gets into a fistfight with his adopted brother, and it is at this point that he learns the secret of his origins, which were up to that point kept from him. The Abbot takes the younger Gregory into his cell and shows him the tablet from the barrel, and the young man learns that his mother and father were also sister and brother. Stunned by the revelation, the younger Gregory resolves to seek out his parents in order to alleviate the suffering he assumes they must feel.

Gregory sets out for the continent with the Abbot's blessing, and later becomes the champion of his mother's city in the "Wooing War" which ensued after a jilted suitor for his mother's affections decided to resort to military force. Gregory defeats the suitor and (unbeknownst to him) takes his mother's hand in marriage. After the two marry they bear two daughters.

Several years later Gregory's mother discovers the tablet, still in his possession, and realizes that she has married, and borne children by, her own son. Dismayed by the realization of what they have done, Gregory and Sibylla decide on a life of severe penance as a means of expiating their guilt. Gregory becomes a hermit, living on a rock in the middle of a lake. Sibylla devotes her life to the care of lepers, and refuses to have their second daughter christened.

Seventeen years pass. In a dispute over succession Rome finds itself without a Pope. At this time two of the bishops are visited by a vision of a bleeding lamb, which instructs them where to look for the next Pope. The two bishops set out immediately to find Gregory. After a long journey they find him, shrunken to the size of a hedgehog, living on the rock in the middle of the lake. Afterwards they take him back to the shore and he is miraculously restored to the Gregory of seventeen years ago.

At Gregory's arrival in Rome the bells of city ring out of their own accord, announcing the presence of the next Holy Roman Pontiff. Gregory goes on to become one of the wisest popes in history, and he is regarded throughout Christendom as the savior of the faith.

The book closes with a meeting between Gregory and his mother. Sibylla, not aware that Pope Gregory is her son, goes to Rome to confess her sinful life and ask for pardon. Gregory, recognizing her instantly, offers this pardon freely. Mother/wife and son/husband forgive one another, and Gregory finds a place for both his mother and one of his sisters within the Church.

In the act of forgiveness each realizes, as the monk Clemens goes on to state, that though they were sinners they were able to rise above the baser elements within their own natures.

The author is re-telling an existent medieval text of the Catholic Church that was made morally instructive, and balancing the events through the medium of the sarcastic narrator and his ability to lucidly illustrate the most absurd behavior with no detectable opinion as to how the reader should judge it. This text is basically the "easy" short form of the Joseph tetralogy. The "moral of the story" is that the readers are made aware of the ideas of medieval, and even modern, Christianity, in a form so direct and "modern" that their reaction, as wildly as it may variate, is increasingly accurate and might teach them of common "humanist" themes that overreach the story-teller's intentional-fake trickery.

Three colleagues and devoted friends – Danton, Petar and Andrey – share an office and not only on the fifth floor of a socialist industrial research institute from the mid-eighties. Every morning when they come to work they lock the door of the office and, armed with binoculars and great interest, they begin watching the aerobics exercises of a young girl in the nearby building. Suddenly, their tranquil daily round is disturbed - a new director takes over the Institute and decides to develop close scientific partnerships with similar institutes in Japan. A rumor has it that one of our three friends will go on a business trip there. But who? The three friends are now rivals. ''Homo homini lupus est''! All the three undertake sophisticated underground maneuvers in order to get the prize. Everything is at stake! There is only one rule and it is there are NO rules! At the end, of course, it turns out everything has been in vain. The one to go to Japan is the director.
Numerous situations filled with humor follow and, at the very end, after the grotesque outcome, we can see the three friends together again. But this time, much wiser… perhaps.

A Valentine note to Toots from Tom, with a pink ribbon tied to Jerry, is inside a gift box. Meanwhile, Tom gets ready for a date, his whiskers in curlers.

Tom knocks on the door, rings the doorbell and shouts before dropping the box and hiding behind a pillar on the porch. Toots opens the door and is pleasantly surprised at the gift. Tom then attempts to impress Toots by playing a ukulele, singing, doing tricks with a yo-yo and dancing. Finally, Tom presents her with a bouquet of flowers, but a loose floorboard smacks him in the face and knocks him flat.

Toots responds with a scathing disparagement of Tom in jive talk, while Jerry nods in agreement to her words. After she throws the gift back at Tom (which includes Jerry), Jerry grabs an ear of corn and plants it in the box, signifying that Tom's efforts were "corny" (slang for outdated). Tom then hears a radio commercial for a zoot suit, which gives Tom an idea: to make his own zoot suit and dazzle his girlfriend.

On his knocking on the door again, Toots is now electrified and Jerry shocked to see Tom in the impressive outfit, calling him "Jackson". Tom lights a cigar as Toots compliments his new, hip look before inviting him inside. They start to jive dance and Jerry politely cuts in, dancing a few steps with Toots before Tom realizes what's going on. Tom chases Jerry, who escapes by jumping into an ashtray and rubbing a burning cigarette butt on Tom’s nose.

Jerry then peels a banana and throws the skin onto the floor, which sends Tom crashing into a piano. But he recovers in majestic form and starts to play the piano, taking on the persona of a suave, romantic lover and trying to impress Toots by using a Charles Boyer-esque voice saying, "You set my soul on fire. It is not just a little spark; it is a flame, a big roaring flame." Jerry sticks matches in Tom's toes, and lights them in order to give him a hot foot. Tom unwittingly continues with a fire-related wooing until the flames engulf his feet. He pauses, sniffs the smoke-filled air, and remarks in a Groucho Marx voice "Say, something ''is'' burning around here!", then realizes his foot is on fire and leaps about, yelling hysterically. Tom then pursues Jerry, who opens up a floor vent door, causing the pursuing cat to fall in down to the basement.

Jerry resumes dancing with Toots. Tom returns, determined to flatten Jerry with a fireplace shovel. A chase ensues. Jerry hides behind a table leg and uses his foot to trip Tom. Jerry clips the hanger in Tom's jacket to a window-shade, then kicks Tom in the eyes. Tom angrily pursues the fleeing mouse, but the shade rolls back taking Tom with it.

By the window, Tom gets repeatedly dunked in a fishbowl. This causes the suit to shrink and squeeze the cat and eventually pop off his body. Jerry jumps into the shrunken suit, which is now a perfect fit for him. He then struts away, pleased with his new suit.

In Victorian London, Alice, the wife of scientist-explorer Langdon St. Ives, is murdered by his nemesis, the hunchback Dr. Ignacio Narbondo. St. Ives and his valet, Hasbro, pursue Narbondo across Norway, contesting Narbondo's plot to destroy the earth and, later, efforts to revivify Narbondo's apparently frozen corpse. In the process St. Ives gains access to a powerful device created by Lord Kelvin, which allows St. Ives to travel through time.

In Beverly Hills, California, covering a golf tournament, New York sports reporter Mike Hagen correctly chooses the winning golfer in the reporters' betting pool. With the $1,200 he won, Mike begins buying drinks. The next morning he awakes with no memory of the night before. Hung over and believing that he failed to file his story, Mike sits beside the hotel pool drinking coffee. When an unfamiliar woman, Marilla Brown, approaches him. Mike, through a series of misunderstandings, assumes she is a prostitute. As Marilla heatedly begins to correct him, he receives a call from his editor telling him he had received Mike's story, but that a corrupt boxing promoter was threatening Mike. Ending the call, Mike returns to Marilla who explains that she had helped him write his story. This begins a whirlwind eight-day romance which ends with marriage. Only on the flight back to New York does Mike begin to discover that Marilla had hidden the details of her job, wealth and family connections in order to land Mike. This quickly causes friction.

Mike is a sportswriter and poker enthusiast with working-class friends. Marilla designs clothes for a wide array of artistic personalities. Their friends clash memorably one Wednesday night when his Poker Club and her Drama Society both convene at Marilla's apartment.

Marilla becomes suspicious of Mike after she finds a photograph of Lori Shannon, Mike's former girlfriend. Mike tries to hide his former relationship, but fails miserably. Complicating matters even further is Mike's continuing series of exposés of the activities of crooked boxing promoter Martin Daylor. Mike's life is in danger, but he hides that from his wife as well. What results is a series of misunderstandings and mishaps.

The game follows the experiences of high school student Kazuya Fuwa. He, his childhood friend Amane, an android named Raki, and a young girl named Shoko have powers awakened within them that allow them to use special abilities. They use these abilities to fight other superpowered creatures called "Evolutions".

"The Jack of Spades"

Moscow, 1886. Four years after the events depicted in ''The Death of Achilles'', Fandorin is still serving as the Deputy for Special Assignments to Moscow governor Prince Dolgurukoi. He is cohabitating with the Countess Addy, a married woman. After a gentleman con man named Momos, who goes by the alias "The Jack of Spades", dupes the Prince as part of a hundred-thousand ruble swindle, Fandorin is called in to apprehend him. Fandorin takes on as his investigative assistant a meek young policeman named Anisii Tulipov, and together Fandorin and Tulipov try to apprehend Momos and his beautiful lady accomplice, Mimi.

Fandorin sniffs out and shuts down a fraudulent lottery being run by the Jack, but Momos and Mimi escape. Momos in turn tricks Fandorin's Japanese manservant, Masa, into letting him steal all of Countess Addy's baggage. An angry Fandorin vows revenge on Momos and sets up a sting where he poses as an Indian prince in possession of a large emerald. Momos and Mimi again escape, but not before Mimi and Tulipov have a romantic encounter. Momos sends back all of Addy's baggage in an effort to relieve the pressure from Fandorin. Fandorin subsequently sends Addy back to her husband.

Momos decides to flee Moscow to avoid a determined Fandorin, but changes his mind after a chance encounter with Samson Eropkin, a thoroughly corrupt, criminal Moscow official. Momos decides to rob Eropkin, but the con goes horribly wrong. Momos and Mimi wind up captured by Eropkin, who is on the verge of murdering them both when Fandorin arrives and saves them. Eropkin is arrested for his crimes. Fandorin lets Momos go for lack of evidence and from a desire to save his boss, Prince Dolgurukoi, embarrassment. Mimi, on the other hand, faces trial for her involvement in the fraudulent lottery. She appears to be headed for prison and exile in Siberia—and Tulipov, who has fallen in love, dreams of marrying her after she is released from jail—when Momos, disguised as a lawyer, defends Mimi in court and blackmails the judge into dropping the charges. Tulipov watches Mimi and Momos leave the courthouse, not realising until it is too late that Momos is the lawyer, and he watches disconsolately as the Jack of Spades takes the woman of his dreams away.

The tone of the novella is lightly comic, making a sharp contrast to the second novella, ''The Decorator''.

"The Decorator"

Moscow, 1889. Holy Week, before Easter. In Moscow, a prostitute is brutally murdered and mutilated. Fandorin believes the murderer is Jack the Ripper, the English murderer who killed a series of prostitutes in London the year before. Early in the novel, the point of view shifts to that of the murderer, who describes his crimes and calls himself The Decorator, believing he makes ugly women beautiful. The rest of the story is periodically interrupted with the thoughts of The Decorator.

Court Counsellor Izhitsin, an investigative rival of Fandorin's, supervises the exhumation of corpses from the Bozhedomka graveyard, with Fandorin's assistant, Tulipov, accompanying. While at the cemetery, Tulipov befriends Pakhomenko, the genial Ukrainian cemetery watchman. The coroner, Dr. Zakharov, identifies four more bodies as being victims of the Moscow ripper. Tulipov reports these findings to Fandorin, whose new girlfriend, Angelina, a devout Russian Orthodox woman, lives with Fandorin regardless. Angelina's origins are described in the short story "The Scarpea of the Baskakovs" from the ''Jade Rosary Beads'' collection. Fandorin checks the records of people who have travelled from London to Moscow in recent months and have medical training, and comes up with two likely suspects: Nesvitskaya the midwife, and Stenich the male nurse, who were kicked out of medical school seven years ago. Shortly after this, Fandorin receives a gruesome package in the mail: a human ear.

Tulipov surreptitiously interviews the two suspects. Fandorin travels back to the morgue and matches the severed ear with one of the dead prostitutes. Fandorin challenges Zakharov, who won't tell him anything but instead tells him the guilty party will be at a reunion party of former medical students he's going to that night. Fandorin learns that the party's host, a businessman named Burylin, was thrown out of medical school for being part of a group of pranksters that got into trouble at school seven years ago. Stenich was also part of this group, as was Zakharov, who was trained as a coroner instead of being expelled. Their leader, Sotsky, was sent to prison, and died. It is eventually revealed that Sotsky and the rest were disciplined for accidentally killing a prostitute. Fandorin arrests Burylin after he confesses to sending Fandorin the ear as a prank.

Tulipov is assigned to work with Izhitsin, who believes the murderer must be a Tatar or Jewish butcher, and has rounded up a group of suspects he plans to torture. Tulipov tells him of the three suspects Fandorin has found, and Izhitsin has an idea for an experiment: shock the three suspects by taking them to the morgue and showing them the bodies and seeing who confesses. No one does. In the street, Tulipov accidentally runs into Fandorin, who is working undercover as a pimp. Fandorin learns of Izhitsin's stunt with the bodies and goes to confront him, only to find out that the Decorator has murdered him.

Count Tolstoy, the Minister for Internal Affairs, arrives from St. Petersburg on Good Friday and threatens to fire Prince Dolgurukoi if the killer is not caught by Easter. Tulipov goes back to the graveyard to interview the people who attended Izhitsin's experiment, and, in a sudden fit of inspiration, believes he's figured out who the killer is. While Tulipov is pursuing his theory, the Decorator arrives at his apartment and kills his sister Sonya. Fandorin is informed of this, and is then given a deathbed report from Tulipov, who believed the killer was Zakharov and had gone to Zakharov's office at the graveyard to observe him—only to run into the Decorator, who attacked and mortally wounded him. Fandorin, enraged over the murder of his assistant, goes to the graveyard and finds Zakharov missing, but interviews the watchman Pakhomenko. He receives a phone call from Zakharov, who says he is innocent and will tell Fandorin everything if Fandorin and Masa meet him at a hotel.

Meanwhile, the Decorator goes to Fandorin's house, intending to kill Angelina. He is surprised and subdued by Fandorin and Masa, who did not go to the hotel rendezvous. The killer is revealed to be Pakhomenko, the friendly graveyard watchman—whose true identity is Sotsky, the leader of the group of medical school pranksters seven years ago. Fandorin determines to kill Sotsky himself, right there in his house, but is interrupted by Angelina when she arrives home. Fandorin settles for an impromptu trial with Angelina as judge. Fandorin then reveals that Sotsky did not die in prison, but escaped and emigrated to London before returning to Moscow and getting a job at the cemetery from his old friend Zakharov. Sotsky then killed Zakharov and impersonated him in the phone call to lure Fandorin away and leave Angelina unprotected.

Sotsky admits to his crimes and Angelina finds him guilty. Fandorin then takes him outside and shoots him in the yard. After he returns, Angelina tells him she is leaving him to become a nun, because she believes she inhibits Fandorin in his work. Fandorin is devastated, but she insists. As the Easter bells sound, she tells him "It's all right. Do you hear? Christ is risen."

The film begins with an introduction to the documentary from the boys. Nat and Alex Wolff, aged nine and six respectively, are members of the fictional band The Silver Boulders, which also consists of Thomas, David, Josh, and their manager Cooper. The band found success after a music executive (John B. Williams) signed them to his label, Who's the Man Records. The band performs their new song "Motormouth" at a concert in the Hammerstein Ballroom. After the show, the band members describe how their group started and a clip from their music video "Crazy Car" is shown.

The bandmates get along well until Thomas composes the song "Boys Rule, Girls Drool", which Nat dislikes. Nat writes a song called "Rosalina" that is about Josh's elder half-sister. Thomas and Josh ridicule Nat because the song shows his feelings for her. Moreover, Josh composes another song that Nat also dislikes, titled "I'm the God of Rock and Roll", set to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". The band has a food fight in a restaurant, prompting Thomas, David, and Josh to leave and form a new group, The Gold Boulders, managed by the scornful Mort Needleman (Jonathan Pillot).

After watching media reports of the band's split on television, Nat and Alex go into a state of depression. Alex begins to binge on lemon-lime soda and falls asleep, while he lies curled in the midst of aluminum cans. Nat simultaneously writes a song by the piano titled "If There Was a Place to Hide" as the band's fans gather outside his apartment, pleading for them to reunite. Despite the absence of the formers, Alex persuades a reluctant Nat to revive the band, and subsequently, they change the band's title to its original, The Naked Brothers Band. Through a line-up of auditions, Nat, Alex, and Cooper select Rosalina as their cellist and Cole Hawkins — a member of the original Naked Brothers Band — as the guitarist.

The newly established band embark on a tour to Chicago, though Nat discovers that The Gold Boulders is their opening act. The Gold Boulders start the show with "Boys Rule, Girls Drool" and are immediately booed off the stage. After their performance, The Naked Brothers Band perform "Hardcore Wrestlers (with Inner Feelings)" and "Rosalina", which are greeted with a loud applause from the audience. After the concert, Nat hosts a party for the band in his apartment. In the midst of the party, David, Thomas, and Josh arrive at his front door, asking to join the reconstructed band. Forgivingly, a surprised Nat welcomes them to join the celebration. The film concludes with the outfit performing "Crazy Car" on the roof of the Wolffs' apartment while fireworks detonate in the background.

Title screen The player controls Sam Cruise, a private investigator in an unnamed city in an unnamed year. Sam has received a call from a woman called Lana requesting he meet her in a hotel room in town. "So began", says Cruise in the game's opening "the case of the Bali Budgie" (a play on the title of the noir film ''The Maltese Falcon'').

Lucky is a ten-year-old girl who lives in Hard Pan, a small town (population 43) in the California desert. She has two friends: Lincoln, an avid knot tyer and expected by his mother to be the President when he grows up; and Miles, a five-year-old whose favorite book is ''Are You My Mother?'' by P. D. Eastman. After Lucky's mother died two years earlier, her father called upon his first ex-wife, Brigitte, to come to the United States from France to take care of Lucky.

Lucky fears that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan. When Lucky discovers Brigette's suitcase and passport lying out, she becomes convinced that Brigitte will abandon her and return to France. This anxiety prompts Lucky to seek help from her Higher Power, a notion she acquires from eavesdropping at her town's 12-step meetings. After discovering three "signs" to leave, she runs away with her dog, HMS Beagle, during a sandstorm. Outside of town, however, she finds Miles, lost and injured in the storm, and takes him with her. They shelter in the dugouts near an abandoned mine and wait out the storm. They are soon joined by Lincoln, who tells them that the rest of the town is looking for them and will be there shortly. Before she leaves the dugouts, she casts her mother's ashes out in the wind in a makeshift memorial service with the townsfolk. Brigitte takes Lucky home and explains the papers Lucky had found in Brigitte's suitcase were actually to legally adopt Lucky, and she reveals her plans to open a restaurant in Hard Pan.

The book has no words, but is told through pictures. A boy is at the beach and finds an old camera. He takes the film to get it developed and sees photos of fantastical undersea cities and inventions. The final section of the book consists of a girl, who is holding a photo of a child, who is holding a photo of a child, who is holding a photo of a child, and so on. The boy figures out that he is one in a long line of photographers who have found this camera. He takes a picture of himself holding this photo and tosses the camera back into the ocean; it is carried across the ocean by a variety of fish and sea life until it again washes ashore and another child finds it.

In Dorna, around the Saint Demetrius holiday (26 October), shepherd Nechifor Lipan leaves for Rarău to buy some sheep from a villager. Nechifor does not return home from Tarcău and does not give any sign of life for twenty days. He did move the sheep from Cristești village (close to Iași to their winter pastures in Jijia River). Nechifor needs to pay their debts for fodder and workers' wages, and needs to return home with his son, Gheorghiță. After waiting a month, Nechifor's wife Vitoria dreams one night that Nechifor rides on a horse into the sunset, and she believes he is dead.

After hints from the priest Dănilă and the elder Maranda, Vitoria decides to pray to Saint Mary and to fast for twelve Fridays in a row, hoping Nechifor will eventually return. After Gheorghiță returns home around the winter holidays, Vitoria goes to the Bistrița Monastery to pray to the icon of Saint Anne and request spiritual advice, then leaves for Piatra Neamț to report her husband missing. The county's prefect confirms it is possible Nechifor has been robbed and killed, substantiating Vitoria's fear. The woman decides to search for her husband with Gheorghiță, taking a hatchet to defend themselves from evil-doers.

After she sells at Noon on 10 March the rest of their sheep to a Jewish merchant, David, Vitoria and Gheorghiță begin walking the route Nechifor walked to Dorna. They travel across the Bistrița River, going through Bicaz, Călugăreni (where David leaves them), Farcașa, Borca, Broșteni, and Crucea, asking everywhere if Nechifor had been there. Vitoria eventually arrives in Vatra Dornei, where the sale records of Nechifor state that he bought 300 sheep, and then decided 100 sheep went to two other unknown mountain householders. The flocks of sheep had been sent to the Neagra Șarului River for the winter from Ștefănești by the Prut River, and from there the three comrades were supposed to have continued home.

Vitoria and Gheorghiță go on the Neagra Valley to find the flocks of sheep, going through Șaru Dornei, Păltiniș, Dârmoxa, Broșteni, Borca, and Sabasa, traveling on the across the to Suha. Arriving in Suha, Vitoria finds out from the publican Iorgu Vasiliu and his wife Maria only two shepherds had walked through there since autumn. The two shepherds, Calistrat Bogza and Ilie Cuțui, live in the Doi Meri Valley and seem to have quickly grown wealthier, and their wives became vain and spendthrift. Summoned to the city hall, Bogza and Cuțui say they bought all of the sheep from Lipan and went to the Cross of the Italians with Nechifor, returning to his house. After Vitoria gets some advice, Maria launches a rumor in Suha that the sheep that were sold to the two shepherds are questionable because after Nechifor's death, there were no witnesses, and no documents were signed.

Thinking quickly, Vitoria draws a conclusion as to where Nechifor Lipan had been killed, and what happened between Suha and Sabasa. She returns to Stânișoara Pass, and finds Nechifor's dog in a villager's courtyard. The dog leads her to a ravine where Nechifor's body is found, together with that of his horse. Nechifor's skull was broken by a hatchet, proving his death was violent. The authorities investigate Bogza and Cuțui, who continue to say that they parted ways with Nechifor after they had been paid.

Vitoria organizes a big feast in Sabasa to bury Nechifor's remains, inviting the undersheriff and the two householders from Suha. The woman accuses Calistrat Bogza of hitting her husband from behind to take his sheep, with Cuțui standing guard so they would not be surprised by a passerby. The furious householder exits the house and attacks Gheorghiță, who defends himself and hits Bogza on his forehead with the hatchet, while the dog bites Bogza's neck. Ilie Cuțui surrenders and confirms the woman's accusations, while Bogza, who was gravely wounded by the dog's bite, confesses his guilt and asks to be forgiven.

A wrecked golf course has a signboard which says "Please Replace Divots". Tom, implied to have caused the damage, is trying to hit his golf ball out of a gigantic divot as he sinks, until he finally hits the ball on his 51st try. When Tom takes the flag out of the hole, the ball rolls in but bounces out; Jerry is living in the hole. After throwing the ball directly into Tom's eye in jest, Tom swings his golf club at the mouse and misses. Jerry temporarily escapes but is caught when Tom hits his golf ball onto Jerry's head, knocking him out.

Using Jerry as a tee, Tom places a ball on his head. Tom takes his shot, which cuts out a huge divot while Jerry manages to hold onto Tom's golf club. Tom looks around to see where his ball is, but Jerry whistles and holds up the ball. Tom then puts Jerry through the ball cleaner. After spitting soapy water in Tom's face, Jerry is forced into holding the tee with the ball on it. Tom's next shot backfires and breaks his teeth.

In the next scene, Tom's ball is in front of two skinny, long trees. Tom cannot stand behind his ball to hit it, so he is forced to split the trees. After he hits the ball, it ends up in a tree and triggers a "slot machine" display on the trunk. Three lemons appear on the reels; when Tom looks inside an avalanche of golf balls comes out of the tree, covering him. Annoyed, Tom returns to his game, but Jerry has replaced his ball with a woodpecker egg. After Tom hits the egg, the woodpecker hatches from the egg and comes back to peck on Tom's head.

Tom tries to hit a real golf ball, but Jerry has cleaved it to make it useless. In retaliation, Tom places the ball's shell on his head and swings at Jerry, landing him right next to the hole. Jerry, with the ball still on his head, tries to gain balance but Tom blows at and forcibly inserts him in the hole. Tom then takes out his scorecard and falsely writes down "3" in his card, but Jerry expresses disapproval, causing him to write "33" instead.

A series of violent antics eventually lead to Jerry placing a bee's nest on Tom's head. As bees swarm around Tom's head Tom slowly realizes the situation, dives out of the tree, and hides in a bush. Jerry, wanting to humiliate the cat, runs over the bush with a lawn mower revealing Tom shaved like a poodle. Tom, seeing the bees coming towards him, jumps out of his skin and runs off. The bees then chase Tom over a lake, where a stick of bamboo is seen; Tom hides underwater and uses the stick like a snorkel for breathing. Jerry whistles to get the bees' attention and leads them to the stick. A bee looks through the stick to see Tom, who spits water in its face in defiance. Enraged, and with Jerry's help, the bees dive-bomb through it, causing Tom to jump out and let out a scream with stinging bees in his mouth. Tom makes a run for it before they can fly after him while Jerry takes a driver and hits the golf ball, which hits Tom at a far distance, knocking him out.

The film opens as two white nationalists destroy an apartment complex in which most of the residents are minorities. Veteran police officer, Sgt. Lou Swanson, and his police dog, Reno, investigate the crime and realize the explosives are military in style. Their investigation takes them to the harbor, where they find a ship loaded with weapons. They are discovered and shot. Lou dies, but Reno survives.

Maverick cop Jake Wilder (Chuck Norris), is called by police captain Ken Callahan (Clyde Kusatsu), who requests Jake to take over the case. Jake is angered that he has to work with Reno, despite Reno proving himself capable through a battle training scenario.

Meanwhile, Neo-Nazis are trying to smuggle weapons across the border from Mexico. It is implied that they murdered their Mexican arms dealers. They are stopped by the Border Patrol and try to escape, but their car is destroyed in the process.

Jake and Reno survive an assassination attempt at Jake's home. Afterwards, Jake is visiting his mother, who reveals that Adolf Hitler's birthday will be the following day. Jake realizes this a clue, and takes off running. The police department works with the sheriff's office, as well as the FBI in determining where the Neo-Nazis are going to hit. One officer reveals that on Hitler's birthday (April 20), the Pope, and several other of his esteemed bishops will host the Coalition for Racial Unity.

As the Neo-Nazis hitmen are practicing for their attack, the leaders are revealed not to be just one white supremacist group, but an alliance of several including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the Church of the Creator. They plan to use their attack on the Coalition for Racial Unity as an opportunity to unite all the Neo-Nazi groups in the US, as well as the world.

Jake discovers the location of the warehouse where the Neo-Nazis are located. He and Reno go undercover and manage to steal a piece of evidence that could be used to convict the Neo-Nazi leaders. They are discovered and Jake orders Reno to flee with the evidence. Wilder subdues several radicals during the following fight, however he is finally captured, after a dozen attackers confront him at all once, and he's then hit on the head with a blunt object. He wakes up to find that he is tied up and the Neo-Nazi plan is now under way. Reno finds Jake, and eats away his rope bindings, just before a Neo-Nazi has the chance to kill him. Jake is able to call the police chief and tells him that the plan is in motion.

The police, FBI, CTU, and Sheriff's Department arrive as the Coalition for Racial Unity is attacked and in a gun battle many Neo-Nazis are killed. The Pope and his Bishops get in their bulletproof car, but it is rigged to explode. Wilder defuses the bomb, while Reno goes after the Neo-Nazi leader. Wilder chases after him as well, and after a vicious fight, manages to subdue him. Reno is set to attack the Neo-Nazi leader, who confesses to killing Reno's former veteran cop owner. Just before Reno can attack the leader, Lou's grandson, Matthew, arrives to stop him.

The show opens with the cast of ''70, Girls, 70'' stating their birthdays. The cast is made up of veterans to the stage. They are returning to Broadway and are celebrating ("Old Folks").

The cast lives at The Sussex Arms in New York City. It is a run-down hotel for senior citizens. Ida Dodd is considered to be one of the favorites at The Sussex Arms. Ida was not able to be admitted to hospitals because she did not have enough money. She decided to move to the Waldorf. When the clerk at a pharmacy treated her rudely when she needed a thermometer, she stole a thermometer. This led to her continuing her thievery. Ida makes the decision to go back home to The Sussex Arms. Her friends are surprised to see her dressed "to the nines" rather than in the simple frock she usually wears ("Home").

At the Broadhurst Theatre, the performers are celebrating the fact that they are back performing on Broadway ("Broadway, My Street").

The next day, Ida finds out that Eunice has started stealing too. She took a coat from Sadie's Fur Salon. However, Eunice leaves her coat with her name sewn in the lining at the store in exchange for the one she stole. The crew at The Sussex Arms knows they have to get back to Sadie's Fur Salon and get Eunice's coat back without getting caught. Harry puts together a plan to get this done ("The Caper").

They get the coat back thanks to Ida's fake fainting spell while pretending to be a shopper at Sadie's. The group is inexperienced, so it takes longer than it should. Ida has to keep up her ruse for a while. In her last effort of getting the shop clerks out of the way, she says that she cannot take her coffee in a cardboard cup.

In a crossover scene, the performers, Melba and Fritzi, sing about how the "trouble with the world today is coffee in a cardboard cup" ("Coffee in a Cardboard Cup").

While the group is at Sadie's, the rest of the residents at The Sussex Arms are staring at a television set. The television has no picture, however, so they have to pretend they are watching all of their favorite shows ("You and I, Love").

After the reverse robbery at Sadie's, the group decides they want to join Ida in all of her future thieving. Walter wants to sit out, though. Walter and Eunice are to be married soon. They share a moment together, but that is interrupted when they realize the audience is staring at them, wondering if they ever have sex ("Do We?").

The Sussex Arms crew, minus Walter, is ready to continue with their robberies ("Hit It, Lorraine"). They make Bloomingdale's their next target. They plan to go to the fur department. Because Gert used to work there as a detective, she is chosen to be the lookout for the group. Gert is met by her old friends in security. She stands around with them chatting right by the spot where the group is supposed to steal from. Gert tries to distract them with a story about Emma Finch. She was a kleptomaniac that used to steal furs at Bloomingdale's then went onto stealing men ("See the Light").

Act II begins with The Sussex Arms redecorated with chandeliers and television sets. The crew brings in "old folks" from the street to let them stay in The Sussex Arms. The money the crew got from lifting goods has allowed them to revitalize The Sussex Arms, which benefits the community ("Boom Ditty Boom").

With the group's success, Walter begins to be swayed towards joining them. It is revealed that Walter was formerly a safe-cracker, and this is why he was unwilling to join the group in the beginning. Eunice does not mind that Walter had a past in crime. She looks at it as an opportunity to use his skills for their next heist at the Arctic Cold Storage Vault. Walter struggles to open the door, though, because he has not done this in many years. The group may freeze to death, but Melba sings to help them lift their spirits ("Believe").

Back at the Broadhurst, the characters of a young bellhop and his grandmother are performing a duet about how visiting grandmothers is important ("Go Visit").

Eddie lets the group know that the police are there to question them. Detective Callahan and Officer Kowalski enter the lobby. They see only a bunch of old people acting as though they are deaf and have recently had operations to throw them off. When the police leave, it is made known that all they wanted to do was ask that the residents of The Sussex Arms watch the neighborhood and report anything they see that seems suspicious. The cops showing up scares the friends enough that they want to do only one more heist. They just want enough to be able to purchase The Sussex Arms themselves, then they will stop ("70, Girls, 70").

The actress who plays Ida goes on stage and says, "So they agreed to do one more." She tells the audience they need to talk about death, which up to now they have avoided, then sings what she calls "The Death Song" ("The Elephant Song/Where Does an Elephant Go?").

The last job they do turns out to be a disaster. The group goes to the International Fur Show which is being held in the New York Coliseum. They were almost caught, but Ida decides she will take the blame for it while the rest of them run away. Just before she is thrown in jail, Ida goes offstage and dies. The next time the audience sees her is sitting on a moon, looking down on Walter and Eunice's wedding. She urges Lorraine from her moon to do one last number ("Yes").

In 1957, ten-year-old Timmie Merrinoe (Richard Eyer) only wants a playmate. After a peculiar encounter with a supercomputer operated by his father's research lab, he is mysteriously invested with superior intelligence, and reassembles a robot that his father and other scientists had been ready to discard as irreparable junk. (It is explained that a vanished scientist claimed to have developed a time machine and retrieved the robot from the future -- a photograph on the wall depicts the return to Earth of the space cruiser from "Forbidden Planet," and the arrival of "Robby the Robot.") No one pays much attention to the robot after Timmie gets it operating again, until Timmie's mother becomes angry when her son is taken aloft by a huge powered kite that Robby has built at Timmie's urging (once Timmie, prompted by the supercomputer, has disabled Robby's programming to never endanger a human).

When Timmie expresses a wish to be able to play without being observed by his parents, Robby, with the aid of the supercomputer, makes him invisible. At first Timmie uses his invisibility to play simple pranks on his parents and others, but the mood soon changes when it becomes clear that the supercomputer is independent, ingenious, and evil. The supercomputer had manipulated Timmie into altering Robby's programming and, over many years, manipulated its creators into augmenting its intelligence. It can control Robby electronically, and later uses hypnosis and electronic implants to control human beings, along with intending to take over the world using a military weapons satellite. (It later declares its intent to destroy all life on Earth and then conquer the entire galaxy and exterminate any life that it contains, even bacteria.) The supercomputer takes Timmie captive aboard the rocket; the army tries to stop Robby, but all of their artillery and weapons have no effect on him. Robby boards the ship, which promptly takes off. The supercomputer commands him to kill Timmie by slow surgical torture to coerce his parents. But Robby frees Timmie rather than listen to the supercomputer. Dr. Merrinoe tells Timmie and Robby to remain on board the ship as it has enough supplies for him to last a year. Instead, Timmie and Robby return to Earth.

Timmie and Dr. Merrinoe return to the lab to shut down the supercomputer, but it stops them. Robby then shows up and turns against the supercomputer, destroying its power source. Everything is back to normal we find the Merrinoes having a peaceful evening, Dr. Merrinoe is about to spank Timmie as punishment for ignoring him. He is however stopped by Robby (whose protective programming has been restored), and the film ends with a shot of the Merrinoes and Robby all having a peaceful evening together.

Born into a financially suffering traveling freak show circus, Tara works as the show's "Wolf Girl" due to her hypertrichosis. She is well loved by her fellow circus people, but is frequently ostracized by the local teens at the towns they visit. At their latest town she runs afoul of the town bullies but meets Ryan, a teenage boy whose mother is working on an experimental depilatory treatment. He helps Tara obtain the drug by stealing it from his mother's lab. Tara experiences favorable hair loss, but also begins to have strange dreams and exhibit feral-like behaviors. This is noticed by her fellow performers, however they keep quiet because the circus has become more financially stable after its host Harley notices that the town enjoys the more frightening aspects of the show. One of the town bullies, Beau, tries to kill Tara after she accidentally discovers that he has a micropenis. She kills him in self-defense and his body is discovered by the town.

Tara is forced to steal doses of the drug after Ryan tells her that he cannot obtain any more without his mother noticing. Later that night, under the influence of the drug, Tara attacks Harley during the show. Correctly assuming that she is responsible for Beau's death, the town forms a lynch mob. Fleeing into the forest, Tara sheds her clothes and attacks one of her bullies, Krystal, by ripping out her tongue. They are found by Ryan, whose attempts at soothing Tara are foiled when she sees that he is carrying a gun. She implores him to shoot her with the last of her fading humanity, but he refuses. A wolf appears and the film cuts away as a shot is fired. The circus is then shown leaving the town without Tara. It is also revealed that Ryan shot the wolf and turned in its corpse, which satisfies the townspeople as they believed that she was a true werewolf. The film ends showing that Tara is still alive and now no longer suffers from hypertrichosis, but at the cost of her humanity.

Pretty, popular and athletic Aly has been banking on a softball scholarship as her ticket to college. She has an active life and never seems to sit still. When she injures her knee, she realizes that she will have to fund her education in other ways. She resents her mother because a few years ago, her mother became ill as a consequence of binge eating and used the money from her daughter's college fund in order to pay her hospital bill. Aly is overly critical of her family's high-fat diet. She even refuses to eat a cake that her mother purchased for her.

Aly enters a documentary film contest in hopes of using the prize money in order to fund her further education. Convinced that her overweight younger brother and mother use their struggles with weight as an excuse for everything wrong in their lives, Aly decides to take a summer course wearing a fat suit and hidden camera to prove personality can outshine physical appearance. Aly soon realizes how difficult the life can be for the overweight, as she is shunned by other students, despite her resolve to be kind and maintain the same personality she always had. She meets Ramona, an overweight girl in the same class who shares aspects of her personal life with Aly but feels betrayed when Aly uses this material in her documentary. Aly titles her documentary ''Fat Like Me'', a reference to John Howard Griffin's 1961 book ''Black Like Me'', which recounts Griffin's experience living as an African-American in the segregated Southern United States for several weeks after receiving skin-darkening injections.

Part One: Stark Wars

After Iron Man finishes a training session in order to impress a general, he returns to Stark Enterprises. Upon analyzing Force's armor, Tony discovers that the armor is based in part on his own designs which were stolen before his current Iron Man armor was developed. He compiles a list of several armored criminals: Beetle, Shockwave, Doctor Doom, Stilt-Man, the Crimson Dynamo, Controller, Mauler, Professor Power, Titanium Man, the Raiders, and others. After finishing another training session, Iron Man teams up with Scott Lang to find out who stole his designs. Tony uncovers that the Spymaster was the one who sold Tony's designs to his rival Justin Hammer. Iron Man goes after the Stilt-Man, who is attempting to break into a high-rise office building. Stilt-Man is easily defeated when Iron Man chops off one of his legs and he renders the armor inoperable with a "negator pack" which destroys Stark circuitry within. A short time later, Iron Man battles the Controller whom he knocks unconscious in front of a crowd and negates his armor. Unable to pursue legal means to reclaim his technology, Tony plans to take out every armored warrior who is suspected of having his designs.

Part Two: Glitch

The Raiders invade an Air Force plane, drawing Iron Man's attention. Iron Man defeats the Raiders using negator packs, disabling his stolen technology. Tony finds out one name is missing from Hammer's database due to a glitch in the upload. Tony and Jim Rhodes run a search of other armor-using individuals, which prompts Tony to identify the government-sponsored Stingray as the best candidate, as other known armored heroes and villains are either not advanced enough or would not use others' designs. Tony's actions draw the West Coast Avengers' attention. Tony declines the Avengers' offer of assistance, saying that his problems are personal. Iron Man travels to the Hydro-Base, where he confronts Stingray and insists that he be allowed to test his armor for stolen circuitry. When Stingray refuses, Iron Man chases him throughout the ocean and releases electricity cybernetically to incapacitate him. He then unsuccessfully attempts to negate Stingray's armor; Stingray's armor really was not based on Stark's designs. Due to this incident, Tony is informed that the government wants Iron Man to be shut down. Reluctantly, Tony announces that Iron Man's contract has been terminated.

Part Three: The Last Mandroid

Iron Man ruthlessly attacks the Beetle as he tries to steal exotic pieces of art. Beetle attempts to escape Iron Man's wrath, but is defeated and his armor negated. Iron Man returns to his base, where he has a talk with Hawkeye. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. meets with Tony and demands that Iron Man be handed over to him for attacking Stingray. Tony gives Fury Iron Man's file, having prepared a fake identity for Iron Man as 'Randall Pierce' in the event of such a scenario. Tony secretly intends to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mandroid armors - which he also designed - to prevent their technology being replicated. He tells Fury that 'Pierce' has set up a hidden base in New York and suggests Fury dispatch the Mandroids to bring Iron Man in. Tony, as Iron Man, engages the Mandroids and disables all five, much to Fury's dismay. Tony fakes evidence to suggest that Iron Man knew about their plan because he planted a bug in their equipment. Later, Tony arranges to create a new shield for Captain America.

(Note: The "Nick Fury vs S.H.I.E.L.D." mini-series hinted the "Fury" in this story was a Life Model Decoy, the real Fury claiming to have no idea of these events).

Part Four: Who Guards the Guardsmen?

The Captain (which was an alias Rogers used after abandoning the Captain America persona at the time) thanks Tony for the new shield. Meanwhile, the villain Electro is defeated by the Guardsmen and is imprisoned at the Vault, though it was Rhodes who disguised himself as Electro to sneak into the Vault. Iron Man sneaks into the Vault to neutralize the Guardsmen- as with the Mandroids, he seeks to prevent others replicating their technology- but he is caught by two Guardsmen. Rhodes accidentally breaks out all the prisoners at the Vault after he tricks a Guardsman who spotted him earlier. While battling a Guardsman, Iron Man catches the attention of the Captain. Rogers agreed with Tony's motives, but calls his methods reckless and dangerous. While trying to save a Guardsman from dying, Iron Man violently knocks him out, rendering the Captain in a coma.

Part Five: Red Snow

The West Coast Avengers arrives at Tony's home, where they try to make Tony explain himself. Tony tells them he found out about the armor being stolen after analyzing Force's armor. The West Coast Avengers are hesitant to tell Tony that he is off the team after he leaves. Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man meet with the President, who tells them to defend the people of Russia after revealing that Iron Man is going to Russia, but Titanium Man disagrees saying that Iron Man is too dangerous for anybody to handle, preferring to remain in hiding. Tony invents a modified version of the Stealth armor to sneak into Russia undetected. Iron Man goes after Titanium Man, but he fought back. While Iron Man was distracted by the Crimson Dynamo, the Titanium Man's pilot Kondrati Topolov dons the armor and leads a double assault on Iron Man. Iron Man defeats the Crimson Dynamo and negates his armor. Distracted, Iron Man is attacked and overwhelmed by Titanium Man. Iron Man tries to escape, but Titanium Man grabs him. Iron Man flies up to space to try to shake Titanium Man off of him. However, Titanium Man's armor overheated, setting him on fire. The Titanium Man armor explodes, killing the pilot. Enraged, the Russian soldiers try to attack Iron Man, but he escapes. Back at the West Coast Avengers Mansion, Hawkeye states that Iron Man is stripped of his membership as a West Coast Avenger.

Part Six: The Day the Hero Died

Test pilot Jack Taggert demonstrates a flight simulator to the U.S. Government. Edwin Cord, Tony's rival, tells a general to jumpstart the plan that can defeat Iron Man once and for all. Later, Jack suits up as Firepower to demonstrate the armor's power. Later that day, Firepower lures Iron Man into a trap, Iron Man having identified Firepower as the result of the name missing from Hammer's list. Iron Man blasts Firepower, but he strikes back. Iron Man struggles to fight Firepower due to his superior weaponry. In the nick of time, Iron Man escapes Firepower's wrath with the help of Rhodes. Unfortunately, Iron Man leads a final assault on Firepower. In retaliation, Firepower launches a nuclear missile at Iron Man, seemingly killing Iron Man in the process.

Part Seven: Reborn Again

It is revealed that Tony survived the explosion, but with severe injuries. Rhodes attempts to tell Tony to fight back as Iron Man, but Tony refused saying that the world got their wish and feeling that it is too dangerous to create new armor. Elsewhere, the U.S. Government tries to tell Cord to hand over Firepower, but Cord declined stating that he's not done with Firepower yet and blackmails them by threatening to discredit them by leaking their plans about using Firepower as a means of crowd control to the public should they try any form of legal action against him. Firepower destroys several of Stark related tech, which led Tony to believe that Firepower is behind all this. At the same time, Firepower destroys a truck full of Stark tech, surprising Tony. Firepower reveals to Tony that Cord wants revenge on both Tony and Iron Man for destroying Cord Conglomerate. Angry, Tony invents another version of the Iron Man armor to combat Firepower. Days later, Firepower attacks Stark Enterprises' San Francisco bureau only to face off against the "new" Iron Man. After a lengthy battle, Iron Man defeats Firepower, but during the fight, Iron Man damaged Firepower's backpack, which was carrying a neutron bomb. Iron Man deceives Firepower into disabling the bomb by claiming that he cannot "rescue" him from his armor in time. However, he reveals the ruse immediately after by tearing Jack out of the armor. Angered by the deception, Firepower claims that Stark's "new" bodyguard is nothing like the "other" Iron Man. That night, reflecting that he will continue as Iron Man due to the dangers that only Iron Man can handle, Tony was glad he could get a good night's sleep, and he falls asleep, ending the story.

Epilogue: Intimate Enemies

Tony battles the Iron-man armor in a nightmare and has to come to terms with the innocent victims his company created and his struggle with alcoholism.

The story begins with Yoko Kawashima (and her mother, brother and sister) living in Nanam. Yoko is 11 years old and living in North Korea during World War II while their father works as a Japanese government official in Manchuria, China. As the War draws towards a close, Yoko and her family realizes the danger of their situation and attempts to escape back to Japan as Communists troops close in on North Korea.

Her brother, Hideyo, also tries to leave but he is separated from his family because he has to serve at an ammunition factory for six days a week. The women of the family board a train to Seoul using a letter from a family diplomat but their trip is cut short by a bomb 45 miles away from Seoul. Yoko is injured from the bombing and the women are forced to walk the rest of the way. After receiving medical treatment in Seoul, Yoko, her sister, and mother board a train to Busan, and then a ship to Japan.

When Yoko, her sister Ko, and her mother reach Fukuoka, Japan, it is not the beautiful, comforting, welcoming place Yoko dreamed of. Once again, they find themselves living in a train station scrounging in the garbage for food to survive. Eventually, Yoko's mother travels to Kyoto to find her family. She then leaves for Aomori to seek help from their grandparents who she discovers are both dead. Their mother dies on the same day, leaving Yoko and Ko waiting for their brother Hideyo. Their mother's last words were to keep their wrapping cloth where she had hidden money for her children.

Yoko begins to attend a new school where she enters and wins an essay contest with a cash prize. News of her winning the contest is reported in the newspaper. Hideyo and the Korean family who took bid farewell and Hideyo finally reaches Busan where he finds the message left to him by Yoko. After reaching Japan, he sees signs with his name and Yoko and Ko's address. While asking directions from locals, he is spotted by Yoko and they are reunited.

Kawashima also wrote a sequel titled ''My Brother, My Sister, and I''.

Gideon's Day follows senior Superintendent George ‘Gee-Gee’ Gideon of Scotland Yard through one day of his 20-year career, during which a dozen different problems beset him and his men at Scotland Yard. C.I.D. Superintendent George Gideon is furious when he finds out that one of his detectives has accepted bribes. The consequences of confronting him spin out through the day. Other cases that Gideon deals with during the day include hunting for a child's killer and a jewel thief, solving a series of mail van robberies, and trying to find out who killed an old woman in a sweet-shop.

The Stooges are the sole heirs to a grandiose inheritance, but the money is in the hands of an underhanded broker named Icabod Slipp (Kenneth MacDonald). One by one the Stooges confront Slipp in his office. He in turn accuses first Larry, then Moe, then Shemp, of being that crook, and successfully flees his office with the money.

The Stooges follow Slipp into a theater, where they find him and his partner Joe with the cash. Both groups go back and forth trading the bag of inheritance money and blows. Eventually, the Stooges defeat Slipp and Joe. The Stooges go to retrieve their money in a nearby closet where they stored it during the commotion. However, three showgirls that Shemp scared off earlier were also hiding in there and learned of the money. They throw the bag back and forth, attempting to keep it away from the Stooges, but then a portrait of Napoleon comes to life, catches the bag, and runs away. However, Moe throws a brick to Napoleon's head and knocks him out. The Stooges run inside the portrait, take the bag of money, and dance in celebration.

After an attempt at installing a door with mishaps galore, the boys are recruited by the police commissioner (Bud Jamison) as police officers. The head of the citizen's league, Mr. Dill (John Tyrrell), warns the police commissioner that he must capture the "Ape Man", a criminal wearing a gorilla suit, that is terrorizing the city, or he will have his job.

The boys get a tip that the Ape Man is burglarizing a particular store and head out to catch him. They patrol the antique store, with Curly pausing for a while in a rocking chair aside a cat whose tail happens to swing simultaneously with the rocker. The tail gets caught eventually, causing the cat to screech and Curly to scurry away in terror, swallowing his cigar in the process.

While there, they encounter the Ape Man, Bonzo (Ray "Crash" Corrigan), who proves to be a real gorilla after he bends the barrels of the guns the Stooges intended to use against him. The trio then discover several thugs that are behind the gorilla's rampage, including Mr. Dill, who is conspiring to remove the chief so he can be the successor. The gorilla was taken from a circus and not used to this job. The Stooges proceed to beat up the thugs with all manner of fights. After encountering a fake guillotine set, which shocks Larry and Moe, Curly disposes of the gorilla by head butting him. But beforehand, the gorilla drinks a bottle of nitroglycerin the thugs were carrying, causing Bonzo to explode when Curly charges him.

The primary subject of the novel revolves around two Berlin families. One is the upper-class Treibel family consisting of the Councillor of commerce and his wife, Frau Jenny, as well as their sons Otto and Leopold. The other family is that of Professor Wilibald Schmidt and his daughter Corinna. The families have a connection that has existed for decades. Years before, when Wilibald was still a student, he was also the secret admirer of Jenny, who at that time was the daughter of Willibald's landlord. The landlord was the proprietor of a small basement shop. Willibald even went so far as to write a poem to Jenny in which he pronounced his love for her, though he failed to achieve the desired effect. The poem itself was of a modest literary achievement, but due to the young student's overwhelming sentimentality at the time, Jenny continues to bring the poem up in conversation often.

Wilibald would like to see his daughter Corinna marry her cousin Marcell, a promising future archaeologist. Unfortunately, Marcell can not bring himself to propose to her. In any case, the intelligent and independent Corinna has other plans for herself. She wants to break out of the rather mediocre world of a secondary school teacher's household. She finds the social life with the wives of the other teachers quite boring, and her father's correction of pupils’ school work offers little variation. Thus Corinna sets herself to marrying Leopold Treibel. Social position and material prosperity would seem to her an adequate guarantee for a happy future. Thus she uses any means possible in order to lure the kind but easily influenced Leopold into her trap. She uses all the charm and wit she can manage. Two dinner parties and an outing later she achieves her goal. They enter into a secret engagement. When Jenny finds out about the engagement, she is furious and makes it clear to Corinna that she does not want it to go ahead. Leopold, who is a shy and timid young man, promises Corinna that he will stand up to his mother and that the two shall be wed. Unfortunately he is not able to keep his word and when Corinna realizes this, she breaks off the engagement. The novel ends with Corinna and Marcell's wedding. The reader is led to believe that Leopold marries Hildegard Munk (whom Jenny didn't really want as a daughter in law but had to make do with, so that Leopold wouldn't move down in class, i.e. by marrying Corinna).

''Flight of the Old Dog'' is the story of a secret highly modified B-52 bomber flying into the Soviet Union on an impromptu strike mission.

The book begins with a B-52 crew during a military exercise in Idaho. Not long after, the Americans discover the existence of a Soviet ground-based laser in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Although Moscow insists that the system does not violate existing strategic accords such as the ABM Treaty, their frequent use of the laser in striking vital US assets challenges Washington's patience before the UN.

Meanwhile, Gen. Bradley Elliott, commander of the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center (HAWC; also known as ''Dreamland''), tests a unique B-52 bomber with the help of several young crewmembers. Called the EB-52 Megafortress (named ''Old Dog''), the plane is being eyed as a new strategic escort for SAC forces. The technology tested in the plane is later adapted and fitted into two B-1 bombers that are sent to attack the Soviet laser after it destroys an American space defense satellite.

The B-1 mission is intercepted by the Soviets, but the aircraft are not shot down. At the same time, terrorists attack HAWC, forcing Elliott and the Old Dog crew to launch immediately. The crew push ahead with the B-1s' mission after they realize that they are the only remaining hope for destroying the laser.

After faking a crash outside Seattle and forcing a KC-10 crew in Shemya to refuel them, the Old Dog enters Soviet airspace and engages PVO fighters before and after destroying the laser.

With a number of crew members injured, and the aircraft damaged and leaking fuel, the crew realize that they no longer have enough fuel to return safely to the United States. They set down at Anadyr, a little-used Russian airfield to steal enough fuel for their journey home. Surprised in the act of refueling by Soviet forces, one of the crew sacrifices himself to allow the plane to take off. Despite considerable damage to both crew and aircraft and a final attack by a Soviet fighter, the ''Old Dog'' is able to make it to Alaska safely.

The narrator, Arthur Wright, and his friend Hugh Dutton visit their former classmate, Dr. John Pollard at his combination house/laboratory. Pollard, a classic mad scientist, has been conducting research into the question of what causes the mutations that drive evolution. Pollard informs them that he has determined that cosmic rays are the source of the mutations, and that he has decided that bombarding himself with heavy concentrations of cosmic rays will cause him to evolve into a future version of humanity.

Pollard has built himself a cosmic-ray-concentrator that will allow him to evolve at the rate of 50 million years every 15 minutes exposure, but he needs someone else to operate it, which is why he has invited Wright and Dutton to his laboratory. Wright reluctantly agrees to operate Pollard's device.

Fifteen minutes in the device leave Pollard with enhanced intelligence and a highly developed physique. However, he is eager to continue the process and explore the further evolutionary changes mankind will undergo. The next stage, though, finds him with a huge bald head atop a frail body and atrophied emotions. He insists on continuing, and each stage of the process finds his brain larger and more powerful, and his body smaller and weaker. At each stage Pollard derides the previous stage as brutish and primitive, praises his current condition and looks forward to the next stage in his evolution.

After the third transformation, Pollard's ambition is to enslave humanity and turn the Earth into a vast laboratory for his own use, but as the transformations proceed he moves beyond such desires, with only intellectual curiosity remaining. The penultimate stage finds Pollard transformed into a vast, naked, telepathic brain that feeds on pure energy. A final use of the device, to Wright's shock, leaves Pollard a pool of protoplasm, apparently bringing the evolution of humanity full circle back to its beginning. Dutton goes mad with horror and wrecks the laboratory, and Wright barely pulls him out before it, and Pollard's house, go up in flames.

Dutton remains permanently mad, while Wright is left to wonder whether Pollard really has simply returned to humanity's starting point. "Or is this evolutionary cycle we saw a cycle in appearance only, is there some change that we cannot understand, above and beyond it? I do not know which of these possibilities is truth, but I do know that the first of them haunts me."

Cross is an experienced, but retiring Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent and assassin who is training freelance hitman Jean Laurier, alias Scorpio, to replace him. Cross is teaching him as much about protecting himself from his patrons and never trusting anyone as how to get away clean.

The CIA tells Scorpio to kill Cross for suspected treason and collaboration with the Soviets, but Cross gets to him first and pays him a large sum of money. Scorpio travels back to the US with Cross, where Cross visits his wife and Laurier visits his sister and girlfriend, who are roommates. The CIA continue to pressure Scorpio into assassinating Cross, but he proves reluctant until the CIA break into his apartment and frame Laurier with a narcotics charge. His only choice is to take the job and terminate Cross. Understanding that the CIA wants him out, Cross flees to Vienna in disguise and reunites with his Soviet opposite and friend, Sergei Zharkov who provides him a safehouse. Scorpio follows Cross' trail to Vienna. Cross intends to bring his wife out from the US and get out of the spy business. Despite blown covers and many failed CIA attempts to ambush him, Cross manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

In a failed break-in at Cross's home, CIA agents shoot and kill his wife Sarah, causing Cross to return to America. He rejects protection from Zharkov, whose agency wants to know secrets he knows as a senior field agent. Zharkov helps Cross to cover his tracks and reach America. Cross successfully evades capture and detection by the CIA and manages to kill McLeod, the agency director responsible for his wife's death. CIA wants Cross' head on a platter and contracts Scorpio again.

The new CIA director and Scorpio's handler Filchock shows him evidence that Cross might have collaborated in the past with other foreign agents and was able to make a hefty sum from it. Following surveillance video of a potential meet up between Cross's wife and accomplice at the Library of Congress, Scorpio sees his girlfriend walking out as well and comes to realization that she is working with Cross.

Enraged by this, Scorpio corners Cross and Susan and kills his girlfriend instantly without remorse. However, Cross says she was a Czech courier and he is just a middleman between their agency for staying in the game and did not betray Scorpio. Scorpio finishes off Cross after hearing his last words of wisdom. Moments later, Scorpio is also shot by a mysterious assailant, as Cross had earlier predicted.

The story takes place in the 25th century, four hundred years after humans have begun colonizing other planets, and a generation after the home planet, Earth, has been conquered by the Invaders.

The Invaders (whose name for themselves in never given) in this case are humanoid, very similar to Earth humans. A tiny human government-in-exile exists in the Alpha Centauri system, which is home to a large and prosperous human society, but the colonists there are rapidly losing their ties to the home planet. They are even beginning to look different, for instance having unusually colored eyes. They have a solid military-industrial base, a functioning space fleet, and ideas about expanding their sphere of influence, but apparently no particular interest in liberating Earth.

The Invaders have superior social engineering technology, allowing them to assess the capabilities of any individual and assign them to a role in life best suited to them. Many humans prefer this and accept their place in Invader society. Invader society is highly ordered and clean, in contrast to the polluted industrial cities in the colonies.

One man, Michael Wireman, is the last hope of the exiles. He is the son of the aging President of the government-in-exile. He left Earth as a baby when his parents and the other members of the government-in-exile escaped the Invasion. Despite having no memories of Earth, he has been raised to despise colonial society and worship the idea of liberating Earth. As the novel opens, Michael's father tells the other members of the exiled government that a large arms shipment will be sent to Earth to supply guerrillas led by a man named Hammil. The circumstances suggest that the colonial government is finally ready to support action against the Invaders, but is avoiding doing it openly. However, by this time many of the exiles have made good lives for themselves in their new home. This did not matter as long as the liberation was hopeless, but they refuse to dismantle those lives to return to Earth.

They realize that Michael Wireman is the only one who can carry on the cause. However he is a misfit with serious psychological problems, partly as a result of his indoctrination by his mother. The colonists give him military training and send him to Earth. Wireman finds the resistance group on Earth, but they are corrupt. Hammil is a narcissistic megalomaniac whose only asset is his charisma. He uses the first shipment of weapons to assault an Invader outpost and hang the commander, who was responsible for Hammil being thrown out of the Earth military. Wireman is involved in a firefight that results in him killing two attackers. He is stunned to discover that they are not Invader soldiers, but rival guerrillas trying to steal weapons. To make matters worse, Wireman discovers that the colonial envoy sent with him has a peace treaty that directly commits the colonists to support Hammil, bypassing the government in exile, in exchange for the right to have military bases on Earth, effectively making Earth itself a colony. Now completely isolated, Wireman abandons the guerrillas. In an attempt to find himself, he surrenders to be Classified as a member of human society under the Invaders. The Invaders send him to a human Classifier, Dr. Hobart.

Hobart conducts a long series of tests using form questions and measurements with a portable computer. During the sessions he engages Wireman in conversation about what he is really looking for, and what he did with the guerrillas. Wireman slowly realizes that he hates Hobart and his outlook on life. Hobart thinks that achievement consists of creating a plan for your life and following it. Wireman has never had a plan, and has never excelled at anything. He becomes more and more angry, at the same time as he begins to entertain the thought of taking over the guerrillas. He begins to see himself, not as a misfit, but as a complete Outsider.

The Classification fails miserably. Wireman has no place in an ordered society. He overpowers Hobart, and escapes. Before Wireman renders him unconscious, Hobart tells him that the one thing the Invader's technology cannot measure is the ability to re-make society.

Hammil's closest associates have by this time come to doubt his leadership. Wireman returns to the guerrillas. When Hammil tells him he might be qualified to serve as a common soldier in the guerillas, Wireman summarily shoots Hammil dead in front of Hammil's closest associates, although Wireman knows this may cause them to shoot him. Instead, Wireman is asked what they do next. Wireman replies, "Now we begin."

In the final chapter, Wireman's father returns to a liberated Earth. The Invader garrison troops were ill-equipped to put down an organized revolt, and the colonists blockaded the Solar System to prevent relief troops from arriving. Wireman informs the colonial delegation that their treaty is worthless. He is now in charge and not about to make any concessions. The colonists' own domestic politics commit them to supporting the liberated Earth, and leave them no alternative but to continue the blockade and let him become, in effect, the new dictator on Earth.

In the story, a mother laments that her "sweet-voiced nursery-school tot" is growing up. She notes changes in his behavior: He doesn't want to wear corduroy overalls anymore, and no longer waves goodbye to her, then slams the door when he comes home from kindergarten / school, and speaks insolently to his father. During lunchtime conversations, Laurie begins telling his parents stories about an ill-behaved boy in his class named Charles, who frequently misbehaves. Though in a way fascinated by the strange boy, Jackson wonders if Charles' bad influence is responsible for Laurie misbehaving. Over the ensuing weeks, Charles seems to be going from bad to worse until one day at the beginning of the week Laurie tells his parents that Charles behaved himself and that the teacher made him her helper. By the end of the week, however, Laurie claims that Charles has reverted to his old self when he makes a girl in his class say a bad word to the teacher. The next school day, Charles mumbles the word several times to himself and throws chalk. When the next PTA meeting rolls around, Laurie's mother is determined to meet Charles' mother. She closely examines the other parents and sees nothing but pleasant faces and is surprised when Charles is not mentioned at all. After the meeting, she approaches the teacher and introduces herself as Laurie's mother. The teacher says that Laurie "had a little trouble adjusting...but now he's a fine little helper. With occasional lapses, of course." Laurie's mother then mentions Charles and the teacher tells her that there is no one in the class named Charles.

Across Five Aprils is set in Jasper County, Illinois. The story begins in mid-April, 1861 on the Creighton farm. Nine-year-old Jethro Creighton and his mother Ellen have just started a long day of planting potatoes, unaware that the long-festering turmoil in the country has already exploded into battle. Ellen is preoccupied with concerns for her older boys should they be called to serve. Jethro is excited at the prospect of war, like his brother Tom and cousin Eb. He little understands the reasons for or the reality of what lies ahead. In the late afternoon, Ellen's nephew Wilse Graham from Kentucky arrives on a rare visit. During the evening meal, the discussion grows heated as Wilse accuses Northern industrialists of attacking slavery as a way to gain public support of their battle against Southern agriculture interests. The normally quiet Bill speaks in agreement with Wilse although he decries slavery. Matt Creighton condemns the immorality of slavery. The discussion leads Jethro to a realization that war is more than a proof of strength. He struggles to understand issues beyond his years. Even though they have all worked hard all day and can expect more tomorrow, the entire family waits until late in the night for the school-teacher Shadrach Yale's return from a trip into Newton. He brings news of the taking of Fort Sumter. War has arrived.

The first battles of the war occur without Creighton family involvement. Tom and Eb leave in the fall as soon as they can be spared of farm work. John is making preparations to leave in mid-winter after harvest has settled his family's needs. Shad has plans to stay until the winter school term is over. Bill is quiet and spends a great deal of time attending rallies; obviously troubled. In late autumn, his opinions on the war lead to a physical altercation with his brother John. He leaves for Kentucky, telling Jeth, “My heart ain’t in this war. . . and while I say that the right ain’t all on the side of the North, I know jest as well that it ain’t all on the side of the South either. But if I have to fight, I reckon it will be fer the South.”

In February 1862, Jethro spends an evening with Shadrach Yale, the teacher he idolizes. Yale plans to marry Jenny and return east, taking Jethro with them for schooling. He gives Jethro his books and encourages him to read and study while he is away. He asks him to study the battles in the newspapers as they will soon be in the history books Jethro will study in school.

In March 1862, with all the other boys gone to war, Jethro drives the wagon to Newton for supplies. He is fearful because he must pass the Burdow house. He arrives in town safely, but is accosted in the general store by Guy Wortman regarding his brother Bill. “Is yore pa good and down on Bill? Does he teach you yore brother is a skunk that deserves shootin’ fer goin’ against his country?” Jethro defends his brother which angers Wortman. The newspaper editor Ross Milton intervenes and the store owner Sam Gardiner calls out Wortman for attacking Creighton rather than going to fight. Milton gives Jethro a book on improving his dialect and encourages him to leave for home immediately. Dave Burdow is waiting for Jethro on his way home. He asks for a ride, telling him "There be things that's evil in these woods tonight." Burdow takes the reins and is able to control the team when a man runs out and whips the horses. After Jethro reaches homes and tells the family of the attack, Matt Creighton prepares to go into town to learn more about Wortman. Ellen encourages him to speak with Burdow as well. “We’ve held it against him that his boy stuck a knife it our hearts; now he's grabbed a second knife that was aimed at us.” Creighton suffers an attack that takes his strength and health. Jethro is suddenly thrust into a role of responsibility far beyond his years. He must tend not only his family's farm but his brother John's as well. He must do work with only the help of his sister and neighbors here and there that was done by six men the year before. Jethro and Jenny work hard but still find time to keep up their studies as Shad requested.

Several weeks later, Jethro wakes to the smell of smoke. The vigilantes angered at Bill's disaffection to the South have set the barn on fire and poured coal oil into the well. The Creighton's receive support from all over the county after the attack, including from Dave Burdow.

Summer brings news of a battle at a place called Shiloh and an influx of wounded soldiers returning home. One of the soldiers reports the death of Tom Creighton. Ross Milton prints a letter in the newspaper to those who attacked the Creightons. He calls them out for attacking an ailing man and asks, “Has this man suffered enough to satisfy your patriotic zeal?

By December 1862, deserters are becoming a problem in southern Illinois. In February, three Federal Registrars visit the Creighton farm, searching for Eb. He has deserted the army. In early March, Jethro finds Eb hiding in the woods. He is sickly and thin, regretting the moment of weakness when he deserted. Jethro agonizes over what to do. He knows the family could be punished for harboring Eb but he also cannot send his cousin off to die of starvation and deprivation. He considers telling his father but realizes that only puts the problem on Matthew's shoulders. One night when he can't sleep, he pens a letter to Abraham Lincoln asking him for guidance. To his surprise, Jethro receives a letter from the President, informing him that Lincoln also has been agonizing over this issue and has decided to allow any deserter the opportunity to return to the army by April 1 without punishment.

In July 1863 a letter comes from Shadrach Yale's aunt in Washington. He was severely wounded at Gettysburg. She asks for Jenny to come. Matt allows her to go to him and Shad improves under her care. Matt gives permission and they are married at Shad's bedside.

In December 1864, Nancy receives a letter from John. He found Bill among prisoners in a Nashville camp. They talked as brothers and Bill asked for all the news of home. Upon leaving, Bill asked John to convey a message to their mother Ellen. Bill was not present at Pittsburgh Landing. It was not his bullet that killed Tom.

1865 arrives with the final limping days of battles. Lincoln's plan for reunification is universally disliked: in the South for being too harsh, in the North for being too soft. Jethro is 13 and knows the reality of war now. He is beginning to realize that peace too will be different than his expectations. The fifth April of the war finally arrives and with it the sound of guns silenced. The armistice is signed.

Jethro enjoys the celebration with Ross Milton in Newton. Jethro thinks of the lined face of President Lincoln. “How I'd like to shake hands with him tonight,” he thinks. Following the celebration, he returns to working the fields and enjoying the beautiful colors of spring. Until the day he sees Nancy running toward him in the field. “Jeth, it's the President—they've killed the President.”

Jethro mourns the loss of the man he had never met yet considered a friend. He mourns the loss of the President who offered a merciful and fair reunification of the country. His grief is softened by the return of Shad and Jenny. When Eb and John return to the farm, Jethro will go with Shad and Jenny back east. He will receive the education Ellen wants for him. He will return and bring that education to future generations of the Creighton family.

In ''Man of Earth'', Allen Sibley is a businessman who is about to be indicted for bribery of a public official. Desperate to escape prison, he pays a fortune to the mysterious Doncaster Corporation for a new identity (and a new body and personality to go with it). However, Doncaster tricks him, sending him as an unwilling emigrant to the extraterrestrial colony on planet Pluto. Although it has been terraformed into a pleasant enough abode, Pluto is thoroughly neglected by a narcissistic Earth, and only ne'er-do-wells and misfits settle it. Sibley, with no marketable skills, is drafted into the Plutonian army, which is building an anomalously large war machine. His new commanding persona makes him swiftly rise in rank, and he soon concludes that Pluto intends to invade and plunder its neglectful mother planet. Instead, Doncaster suddenly reveals that the Pluto colony was created by them as a stepping-stone to the stars, and that Earth will be left to go rancid, while "new men", like the rebuilt Sibley, conquer the universe.

The narrative proceeds out-of-sequence. As the story begins, a man named James Kelvin presses a button and returns to a lab with a moustached scientist who informs him that he is now a millionaire. Now that the button had completed its task, it no longer works. Kelvin lives happily ever after. The end.

The story then switches to an earlier point. A man walks into a fortune telling booth where he meets a robot from the future. The robot greets him as James Kelvin and says that while unable to give Kelvin a horoscope, it can supply him with a method to attain health, wealth and fame. Kelvin receives a gadget with a button on it. Every time he presses the button, he will temporarily enter the mind of someone in the future and can read that person's thoughts and gain his abilities. But the robot warns him, "there is a danger, named Tharn". Afterwards, the name Tharn keeps recurring to him.

Later that night, Tharn appears to him. To escape, Kelvin presses the button and lands in a stream. Unable to swim, he frantically presses the button again, which gives him the ability to breathe under water. To escape the stream, he presses the button yet again and lands in New Orleans in a drunken state. He presses the button again and is transported into a lab. There he meets a bald man with a red mustache. He begins a scientific conversation with him on proteins and amino acids, with ideas stolen from the mind of the future scientist, Quarra Vee. He offers a brilliant suggestion to cure rhinitis that could make him millions of dollars. Tharn appears again, forcing Kelvin to press the button. He lands in a cornfield in Seattle and then decides that he must kill Tharn. Moments later, Tharn appears and, when Kelvin presses the button, he gains the ability for a lethal mental attack. Tharn is destroyed.

Finally, the story switches to an even earlier point. The scientist Quarra Vee, and his android companion, Tharn, are preparing to go into the past to recapture a dangerous runaway robot. Quarra Vee is transported into Chicago and walks into a fortune telling booth. As he enters, a rope knocks aside the glasses which are supposed to protect him from attempts to tamper with his memory. The robot erases his true personality, and tells him he is James Kelvin. The robot smiles.

Luke (Scott Patterson) is called in to Stars Hollow High to see the principal, who tells him that Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) is at risk of being held back a year if he does not improve his attendance and grades. As Luke is not an academic person, he decides that he needs to find Jess a tutor, and settles on Rory (Alexis Bledel) because he knows that Jess is fond of Rory. Lorelai (Lauren Graham) is not happy with this arrangement, distrusting Jess, but Rory agrees. However, she is unable to teach Jess effectively as he distracts himself with magic tricks, making book recommendations to her and convinces her to take a break and go get ice-cream. When he is driving back with Rory, having got ice-cream, he swerves to avoid an animal and crashes her car. Other than Rory's fractured wrist, the two are unharmed, but Lorelai is furious at Jess and gets into a vicious argument with Luke.

Meanwhile, Lorelai had been organising the movie for the annual Stars Hollow Movie Festival after learning Taylor (Michael Winters) planned to show ''The Yearling'' for the fourth year in a row. Lorelai is disappointed to learn that she can only choose a movie from a particular store that will give discounts for the festival, and after reviewing each movie on the list, she reluctantly chooses to show ''The Yearling''. Kirk (Sean Gunn) approaches her with ''a film by kirk'', a short black and white movie which he has been working on for five years, which Lorelai plays at the beginning of the festival, to the amusement and delight of many townspeople. Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe) arrives in town after learning of Rory's injury, and stays for the film festival, where Lorelai and Rory learn from Miss Patty and Babette gossiping to each other that Jess has gone back home to live with his mother.

Ten-year-old Bridget Ann (nicknamed "Dragonfly") lives in her Uncle Henry's funeral parlor. Uncle Henry summons Mothkin, a hunter, to investigate strange things happening in the basement as Hallowe'en approaches. In the basement, Dragonfly and Mothkin discover a doorway to a spooky underground world, known as Harvest Moon, which is ruled by an evil despot, Samuel Hain. Dragonfly is separated from Mothkin and meets up with a werewolf named Sylva who protects her from Hain. Eventually, she reunites with Mothkin for a final battle with Hain.

When the cartoon opens, the cuckoo clock in the library sounds, and the camera pans over the room, to the Town Crier who gives a brief introduction. After this, we meet four monsters (Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, the Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein's monster) who introduce themselves roaring, but then dance briefly to Gossec's "Gavotte." As characters from other books cheer that performance, the protagonist of ''The Good Earth'', his head the shape of a globe, says prayers by his bedside. The camera pans the library to the right, revealing the book ''The Invisible Man'' and an invisible man dancing, who hands off to ''Topper'' (a novel from a series by Thorne Smith, as well as a contemporary film) where a similar character continues a similar dance, then moves to ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' where a caricature of "Bojangles" Robinson dances down the steps, ''So Big'' with a caricature of Greta Garbo, and ''The Green Pastures'' which turns out to feature a big band presentation of "Swing for Sale" led by a caricature of Cab Calloway. That clip was from the Friz Freleng short ''Clean Pastures''.

Panning left over the cheering crowd, the camera reveals a singing Heidi on the cover of her eponymous book, a literal ''Thin Man'' when viewed from the side (a caricature of William Powell as Nick Charles) walking into the ''White House Cook Book'' and, when walking back out and seen from the side, shows that he has packed on some weight in his posterior. Whistler's Mother, on the cover of the book, ''Great Works of Art'' whistles "Ain't She Sweet", then three ''Little Women'' (three Jane Withers clones) and three ''Little Men'' (three Freddie Bartholomew clones) sing with Old King Cole (spoofing deep-voiced Warner Bros. character actor Eugene Pallette), the characters of ''The House of the Seven Gables'' (seven identical caricatures of Clark Gable), and a drumming bulldog intended to parody ''Bulldog Drummond''. Next Louis Pasteur (a caricature of Paul Muni in his Oscar-winning role) mixes chemicals from test tubes until they blow up, after which Pasteur is in ''Seventh Heaven''. Also appearing is Captain William Bligh from ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (a caricature of Charles Laughton's portrayal of him). None of this pleases a sleeping Rip Van Winkle (Ned Sparks, a well-known Hollywood "grouch"); the hermit complains, "Old King Cole is a noisy old soul", while using the Valiant Little Tailor's scissors to snip hair from the title character of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' to plug his ears.

The music gets louder, as ''The Three Musketeers'' (The Ritz Brothers) sing the title song of the cartoon, with ''Drums Along the Mohawk'' providing a beat, Emily Post (here portrayed as "Emily Host") scolds Henry VIII of England for his rudeness, and a character from Katherine Mayo's controversial 1927 book ''Mother India'' plays along on his pungi. Then Rip again takes scissors from the Tailor and tries to use them once more on Uncle Tom; Tom beats him back then uses the scissors to cut Rip's beard. Then Diamond Jim Brady (an Edward Arnold caricature, from the 1935 film of the same name) comes along pitching mortgage payments as the Drums beat louder, Henry becomes even more gluttonous (and Emily Post joins in the gluttony), and Oliver Twist twists. W. C. Fields (here portrayed with a red nose in a parody of ''So Red the Rose'') joins in, as does the Pied Piper of Hamelin, piping a jazzy tune and being followed by a herd of jazzy mice.

The Musketeers become ''Three Men on a Horse'' and, along the way grab the ''Seven Keys to Baldpate'' which they use to free the Prisoner of Zenda, over Aladdin's objections. Aladdin gets punched out by one of the Men. As the Three Men pass ''The Informer'' (a caricature of Victor McLaglen, who won a 1935 Academy Award for playing the role), he whispers to Little Boy Blue (here named "Little Boy Blew") who then trumpets for a ''Charge of the Light Brigade''. Robinson Crusoe fires at the Three Men, along with guns from ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' and backup cavalry from ''Under Two Flags''. With the incessant noise, Rip has had enough of trying to sleep; he loses his temper and, as the battling, running characters approach, he opens ''The Hurricane'', so that all of them end up ''Gone with the Wind'' (in a play on the then-recent book), blown back to their own books.

After this, the Town Crier appears again, concluding the cartoon with a brief message ending with "All is well, all is well ...", and the camera pans back to the cuckoo clock where Rip, who has apparently muzzled the cuckoo, is finally sound asleep.

Porky Pig begins ploughing his land and planting seeds, with some help from his dog Streamline. They plant many kinds of vegetables. But when the crops are ripe, a rooster sells tickets to other chickens who make a self-servicing cafe out of the field. Porky notices and tries to chase them off, but they persist. He tries everything to get the chicken to leave from a scarecrow to sending his dog Streamline but to no avail. To protect the last of his crops, Porky makes a deal with the chickens to plant a separate vegetable garden for them.

The opening scene includes Charley as a baby with his mother Theo in Africa. The two are forced into slavery. Twenty years later, Charley kills an abusive plantation owner and flees with his two friends, Joshua and Toby. As they run away from the slave catchers, the trio experience racism, standoffs and romance, specifically in a small town. After Joshua is killed in a standoff against the town's outlaw, the film ends with Charley and Toby leaving the town to continue traveling with no destination. According to the reviewer in the ''New York Times,'' "For all the feverish activity, there has yet to be a film of rounded merit—one of skill, imagination and impact—about the black man and the Old West. Sadly, ''The Legend of Nigger Charley'' is fair. Fair only."

The story stars , delinquent student of who wishes to become the world boxing champion. The manga follows Maeda (and his friends and rivals) as he struggles through three years of high school while becoming one of the strongest and best known high school fighters in all of Tokyo. Not just a pure action manga, ''Rokudenashi Blues'' is filled with humor and well-crafted story arcs about honor, friendship, and the pressures of being a delinquent student in Japan. Short gag-stories with chibi versions of characters are published as "Rokudenashi Buru-chu".

Jacob Petersen manages an Indian orphanage. With a small staff, he works as hard as he can to keep the orphanage afloat and is personally invested in the young charges—particularly Pramod, whom he has cared for since his birth. The orphanage has been in danger of collapse for eight years and faces bankruptcy. A Danish corporation offers a substantial donation to maintain the orphanage if Jacob returns to Denmark, where he grew up, to receive the donation in person. Apparently the CEO, Jørgen Hannson, wishes to meet Jacob.

Upset when he learns that Jacob must travel to Copenhagen, Pramod insists that he return for Pramod's birthday, which is in eight days. Jacob departs for Denmark; once there he's greeted by a driver and a young man named Christian and checked into a luxurious suite paid for by the corporation.

Jacob meets with Jørgen, who says he's still considering which project to fund. This surprises Jacob, who had understood that the decision was already made. Christian is marrying Jørgen's daughter Anna and Jørgen invites Jacob to the wedding. During the ceremony, Jørgen's wife Helene notices Jacob. They are formally introduced during the reception, but not for the first time: 20 years earlier, she was the love of his life, but he was unfaithful with her best friend and they broke up.

During Anna's speech at the marriage festivities, Jacob learns that she isn't Jørgen's biological daughter; his suspicion that she might be his own is confirmed by Helene the next day. Jacob is angry to just be learning this now. Helene claims that they'd tried to track him down in India. She is compelled to tell Anna about Jacob; the two meet and get along well, if slightly awkwardly.

Jørgen stalls the negotiations relating to funding, which distresses Jacob because of his promise to return for Pramod's birthday. Jacob attempts to explain, but the disappointed Pramod cuts the phone call short. Jørgen discloses that he will create a foundation in Jacob and Anna's names and fund it with a large sum of money. One of the conditions of the contract would be that Jacob must live in Denmark. At first Jacob cannot comply, thinking of Pramod and the other children who have been part of his life for so long; he also resents the implication that he could be bought by Jørgen.

When Jacob storms out, Jørgen runs after him and admits the real motivation: he is terminally ill. Jørgen had brought Jacob to Denmark so he could care for Anna and Helene, as well as Jørgen's twin sons Morten and Martin. Angered at this deception, Jacob hastily leaves for his hotel room. Later, Anna arrives distressed because she has just discovered Christian with another woman. Jacob comforts her, realizing his need for her in his life. He signs the contract with Jørgen with the conditions intact.

Jørgen dies. On Jacob's next visit to India, construction work at the orphanage is well underway. Jacob invites Pramod to come to Denmark to live with him, but partly because Jacob used to rail against the rich, Pramod decides to stay in his home country.

A rich man meets a poor woman, A`isha, who sells lottery tickets in the streets. He is shocked at how her appearance resembles that of his recently deceased daughter. The rich man offers to pay her father a monthly fee to adopt her. The father accepts, and after finding out how attached the rich man is to A'isha, the father tries to blackmail him for more money. The police find out and jail the father.

Released from jail the father finds that A'isha has completed her studies. He demands a large amount of money from the rich man, but when he refuses to do so, the father takes her by force. The film ends as A`isha returns to her stepfather and marries her love, Dr. Sami.

Laramie Pilgrim (Yolande Donlan) is an American exchange factory worker who trades places with an upper class British girl. After much adjusting to English country life, and with the various attendant culture clashes, Miss Pilgrim comes to the rescue of her new village and its exploitation by a local land developer.

The only son of the poor but aristocratic Whitecliffe family is to be sent to the nation of Ritalla in order to sell the family's cattle to upgrade the nation's livestock. As a side benefit, his parents hope he will marry the King's only daughter, Princess Maria. Unknown to his family, Tony is already secretly married to a commoner. Fate intervenes when drifter Tommy Hudson, who is the identical likeness of Tony, comes to the Whitecliffe estate to seek work. Tony engages Tommy to impersonate him on his trip to Ritalla accompanied by Cooper, the family's only servant.

Tommy and Cooper travel to Ritalla where Tommy pretends to be Tony. The princess refuses to meet him because she does not want to get married. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bastini is scheming to force the King to abdicate since his daughter refuses to marry.

Tommy meets the princess and they fall in love.THE DUKE WORE JEANS Picture Show; London Vol. 70, Iss. 1829, (Apr 19, 1958): 8.

Bannion (Baker) is a career criminal with an entourage of minor criminals and fast girls. He plans a robbery at a racetrack and gets £40,000 - but in reality this is another crook's money. Word is spread of his responsibility and he is sent to prison, where he is a well known figure.

In prison the Italian boss Frank Saffron takes him under his wing and secures a move to a different block through claiming to be a Roman Catholic. He tells him the outside world wants their £40,000 back, but is prepared to give favours if he gets a cut. They make their plans whispering to each other during Sunday mass.

When one of the weaker inmates is planted with a blade and falls to his death in a scuffle with the guards, this triggers a prison riot. The other prison boss O'Hara is less sympathetic to Bannion. During the riot Bannion opens the door to let the guards back in and wins favour of the prison governor. He is transferred to a low security prison for his assistance but his booed by fellow inmates as he leaves.

During the transfer, it is revealed that Bannion paid £40,000 for the riot and a "fast car". The car appears and drives the prison van off the road, rescuing Bannion. However, he has been double crossed. He is taken to a narrow boat where the criminals he robbed are waiting, also with his girlfriend as security.

They flee, but Bannion is hit by a bullet as they escape. They reach a snowy field where Johnny shoots one of his three pursuers before being shot himself. He dies before being able to say where the money is.

As the episode begins, Mayor Gray Anderson is trying to find a solution to the town's supply problems, recognizing that Jericho does not have enough supplies to survive the winter. He believes that their only option is to begin forcing the refugees who have arrived since the bombs exploded to leave. Some townspeople, having lost faith, are already making plans to leave for the south, believing that it will be easier to survive in the warmer climate. Former Mayor Johnston Green begs for them to stay, fearing that most of them will die or be murdered before they can reach safety. Just when all seems hopeless, a detachment of the United States Marine Corps under the command of a Gunnery Sergeant arrives in Jericho, traveling with an M1A2 Abrams tank, and claim that they are there to help restore electricity.

Jake befriends one of the Marines, Cpl. Maggie Mullen (Erin Daniels), and they rapidly become attracted to each other. However, it turns out that the Marines' arrival might not be such a good thing for the town when the Green family begins to suspect that they are impostors. Before the Marines are able to render any real assistance, and after the people of Jericho have begun sharing their own supplies with them, the Marines receive orders over the radio from Dodge City, recalling them to base. Mayor Anderson wants to stay on the Marines' good side, believing that, on their return, they will help to ensure that Jericho receives desperately needed supplies. To this end, Anderson decides to see them off with a fireworks display and a farewell dinner.

As all of this unfolds, a stand-off occurs inside the Hawkinses' house between Sarah Mason and Robert Hawkins. Suspicious of Sarah's intentions, Hawkins steals her hand-held communications terminal. When he reads her messages, he learns of her duplicity, and that she intends to use his family as leverage in order to acquire "the package". When Sarah discovers the theft, she takes Hawkins' son hostage, telling Hawkins that she was upset to find that he had decided to return to his family in spite of the relationship that they had had together before the bombs went off. Hawkins wants to know for whom Sarah is working, but she insists that she is now working only for herself. She plans to sell "the package" to the highest bidder in order to ensure her own survival.

Sarah ends up holding Hawkins' entire family at gunpoint, and he decides to hand over "the package", retrieving it from behind a concrete wall in his basement. It turns out that it is the unused atomic bomb that had been destined for Columbus, Ohio. After a physical altercation Sarah gets the upper hand on both Richard and Darcy, but she is shot dead by Allison. Upset and frightened, Darcy leaves immediately with both children. Allison says "I love you" to her father for what seems to be the first time. After his family leaves, Robert makes contact with Sarah's partners using her hand-held device, and pretends to be her, telling her partners that he is now dead and that Sarah wants to know where she should take the bomb to deliver it to them. The mysterious contacts reply that they will shortly communicate where they will meet.

The inhabitants of one apartment building want to have central heating. However, with significant effort and strong connections, the Journalist manages to unveil that the turn of their building, to be included in the central heating network, has not yet come. Moreover, it is unclear in how many years it will come. In their despair and after a number of arguments, quarrels and even a bit of shooting, they decide do undertake actions that are considered illegal at that time (see Special notes). They hire contractors to lay the pipes. Three guys show up, the contract is signed and the money is paid in advance. Soon the work begins. With skills and acts provoking severe doubt in their professionalism, the contractors manage to drill holes in all walls and ceilings and then they disappear. Panic and despair strikes the residents. What are they to do now...? A decision is made. They must find the crooks and bring them back to finish what they have started. Finally, it turns out that our three fellows are already in jail. Then, the sufferers strike a bargain with the director of the jail; if he lets the cheats out to finish the job, then there will always be a shift of three people from the inhabitants of the building to take their places in jail. Moreover, such highly educated people like the Journalist and the Academician will give series of lectures to the prisoners, which will help the director to fulfill the cultural plan of the prison for the year.
The job is finally done but the director of the prison is brought to Court. And our group of humble citizens, who have been only trying to provide themselves with some heat for the cold winter days, follow him in the dock. However, the Court finds them not guilty, taking into account their good will and the fact that contractors have just come to the house of the Judge.

A 19th-century opera singer is murdered on-stage shortly before her forthcoming wedding. Soon after being slain by the nefarious Dr. Emmanuel Droz during a live performance, Malvina van Stille is spirited away to the inventor's remote villa to be reanimated and forced to play the lead in a grim production staged to recreate her abduction. As the time for the performance draws near, piano tuner of earthquakes Felisberto sets out to activate the seven essential automata who dot the dreaded doctor's landscape and make sure all the essential elements are in place. Once again instilled with life after her brief stay in the afterworld, amnesiac Malvina is soon drawn to the mysterious Felisberto as a result of his uncanny resemblance to her one-time fiancé Adolfo.

When a cure for AIDS turns out to be more virulent than the disease, the U.S. establishes quarantine camps in the desert southwest. Michael Barris, a TV producer, masquerades as one of the infected and travels to the camps in search of his son. He finds horrific conditions, and learns that the so-called quarantine camps are death camps where the infected are gathered, purposefully brutalized, and ultimately cremated alive, their ashes bulldozed into the desert sand. Barris's son escapes the camp before the cycle of immolation, carrying the evidence he needs to expose the governmental mis-information campaign.

In the present day, Cybernetics and Future Science's (Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung) new supercomputer hosts a simulation program that includes an artificial world with more than 9,000 "identity units" who live as human beings, unaware that their world is just a simulation. Professor Vollmer (Adrian Hoven), who is the technical director of the program, is apparently on the verge of an incredible secret discovery. He becomes increasingly agitated and anti-social before dying in a mysterious accident. His successor, Dr. Fred Stiller, has a discussion with Günther Lause, the security adviser of the institute when the latter suddenly disappears without a trace before he is able to pass on Vollmer's secret to Stiller. More mysterious still is the fact that none of the other IKZ employees seem to have any memory of Lause.

Meanwhile, one of the identity units in the simulation attempts suicide. This unit is deleted by Stiller's colleague Walfang to keep the simulation stable. To investigate the reasons for the suicide, Stiller enters into the simulated world to interview the contact unit. The unit, called Einstein, is the only identity unit that knows the "world" is a simulation, and this is necessary to run the program. In an attempt to become a real person, Einstein switches his mind into Walfang's body while Stiller is in contact with the simulated world. Einstein gives Stiller an explanation for the mysteries, vanishing memories, and vanishing persons, telling him that Stiller's "real world" is nothing but a simulation of the real world, which is one level above.

This knowledge causes Stiller to slip into insanity. The other "real" people interrogate Stiller and he is threatened with death, incarceration, and involuntary commitment. Stiller is finally able to convince Hahn, the IKZ psychologist, of his theory. The latter soon dies in an accident that is pinned on Stiller, marking him as the suspected murderer of both Hahn and Vollmer.

Stiller flees and searches for the necessary contact unit who can connect his "real" world with the real world, a level above. He survives several assassination attempts and discovers the contact is Eva, who was projected into the simulation after Vollmer's death (as his non-existent daughter). Stiller accepts her presence, believing they once had a romance. Eva tells him he was modeled on the real Fred Stiller, a person whom Eva loved, but who went mad with power from directing the simulation in the world above. While Stiller is programmed to die in an ambush, Eva switches the minds of the two Stillers and brings the simulated Stiller into the real world.

''Zulu Heart'' is set in an alternate world where an Islamic Africa became the dominant world power and Europe remained primitive. It continues the story of a young African nobleman, Kai ibn Jallaleddin ibn Rashid al Kushi, and his former slave, the Irishman Aidan O'Dere.

One entity, divided into two women, addresses himself to an imaginary love-god represented by a pipe-smoking child. The body and voice of the divided entity are used to utter a spectrum of opposed sensations - caused by the division - and heightened sensitiveness related to the subject. The divided entity is seeking a unification, which will not happen without the approval and support of the imaginary love-god.

A Raptor piloted by Racetrack experiences engine failure soon after launch and collides with ''Colonial One'', nearly killing President Roslin and her aide Tory Foster. An investigation reveals that a recent batch of Tylium fuel contains impurities and Roslin calls upon Xeno Fenner, the director of the fleet's refinery ship, for answers. When Fenner meets Roslin and Admiral Adama, he is sarcastic and uncooperative, calling the situation a "glitch." He admits that it may be his workers' way of getting some attention after repeatedly being ignored regarding the squalid and dangerous conditions they face every day without a single break. Roslin doesn't sympathize, explaining that fuel production is critical and must be maintained. When Fenner quotes text from an underground book by Gaius Baltar, ''"If you hear the people, you never have to fear the people"'' and threatens a few more "glitches," Roslin has him arrested.

Adama is stunned by her action and inquires about the book. Visibly angered, Roslin whispers that Gaius Baltar's attorney has passed a manuscript around the fleet written by Baltar entitled, ''My Triumphs, My Mistakes''. It deals with class struggle, and she says she is thinking about having a "good ol' fashioned book burning." Adama contacts Chief Tyrol, informs him of Fenner's arrest, and orders him to go to the refinery ship to take charge of the situation. Tyrol's wife Cally admits to Tyrol that she has read Baltar's book, which discusses the unfair labor differences between the people of the Twelve Colonies. She questions why the people from the poorer colonies like Gemenon, Sagittaron, and Aerelon are forced to work in harsh blue-collar jobs while the more elite and educated colonials from places like Caprica, Tauron and Virgon get to keep their plush white-collar jobs.

Roslin goes to Baltar's cell and demands that he hand over the pages from his book. She lies, saying it was intercepted before anyone could read it, and orders the guards to tear the room apart. She concludes with a partial strip search of Baltar during which Six appears in Baltar's mind and tells him to protect his dignity. Six slides her hand into his open pants, but Baltar stops her. He withdraws the pages of his book and surrenders them to Roslin, who sneers that she's been "dying to see how it ends" and mocks his attempt to appear as a "man of the people."

Meanwhile, Tyrol arrives on the refinery ship and takes a tour of the facility, led by a foreman named Cabott. He witnesses the somber glances from the tired, grime-covered workers who are both men and women ranging in age from the elderly to mere children. Tyrol goes to the massive Tylium storage room where a single, dwindling pile of ore remains. Cabott says they're lucky if the supply lasts long enough to get them out of the system. Next, Tyrol goes to the main conveyor line where the work has completely shut down. Tyrol asks for a reason for the shutdown, but the workers remain silently defiant until a young boy named Milo speaks up and says the pressure seals are broken. Tyrol notices that the seals are completely missing and have been removed by the workers in protest of Fenner's arrest.

Tyrol returns to ''Galactica'' and informs Roslin and Adama of the missing seals and explains the workers are buying time for their pleas to be heard. He adds that some of the workers have been doing the same grueling job since the attack on the Colonies and requests Roslin accede to some of their demands for a break. Roslin objects, however, saying it is just as difficult to work aboard the algae processing, recycling and waste handling ships. She sees their work stoppage as extortion and demands the names of the organizers. Tyrol hesitantly surrenders Cabott name.

Cabott is arrested and joins Fenner in an adjacent cell. When Tyrol visits them, he finds that Cabott is having a breakdown and injuring himself. Fenner reminds Tyrol that Cabott was tortured by the Cylons back on New Caprica, and confinement is causing him post-traumatic stress. Tyrol tells Fenner there is no time for games and demands Cabott reveal where the seals have been hidden. Fenner hesitates, then angrily reveals that they were hidden in the air vents. Tyrol then has the men released and work is resumed aboard the refinery ship.

Later, Tyrol goes to ''Colonial One'' to talk to Roslin. He explains parents are passing down their skills to their children, and they are forever stuck doing the same job in the next generation. He says they should be given a chance to choose their future. Roslin understands the problem and tells him to make a list of colonists with relevant skills to supplement those aboard the labor ships. Next, Tyrol deals with a protesting young man named Danny Noon who was pulled from Dogsville. Noon had worked a summer job on a farm to earn money for college, but agriculture is not his career choice. Tyrol tells him the job is only temporary and has the angry youth escorted away.

Tyrol then finds a copy of Baltar's book and opens to a page entitled ''The Emerging Aristocracy and the Emerging Underclass''. Tyrol goes to Baltar's cell and refers to the book. Baltar learns the truth that the book has been leaked and asks Tyrol what he thinks about it. Tyrol responds that he thinks it's a load of crap, disbelieving Baltar's claim that he grew up on a farm on Aerelon—especially since Baltar's accent is different from other Aerelons he knows. Baltar, speaking in an Aerelon accent, states that he learned to mimic the Caprican accent to help hide the fact he was from Aerelon, a poor farming world known as the "food basket for the twelve worlds." Baltar explains the purpose of the book was to show that class-strife has continued to follow the fleet well after the Cylon attack, and they will find that those in the aristocracy will continue to hold onto their power.

Tyrol returns to the refinery ship where work halts when the conveyor system becomes jammed. Fenner says the belt must be repaired or else a back-up will occur which could cause the "hot" Tylium further down the line to go critical and cause a chain reaction that will take out the whole ship. Without stopping the slipping belt, Tyrol finds the problem is a jammed drive mechanism, but he is unable to reach it. Danny Noon frees the jam but injures his arm in the processes. Fed up, Tyrol walks to main control levers and shuts down the entire factory. He declares the workers to be on strike.

Aboard ''Galactica'', Starbuck finds her flight mission delayed by hangar workers who are playing cards on a Raptor wing. She demands they get back to work where the senior deckhand, Pollux, tells her that they are only servicing vital missions per orders from Chief Tyrol. Tyrol is immediately arrested. Admiral Adama angrily confronts Tyrol in the brig and orders him to call off the work stoppage, but Tyrol refuses. Adama says he will not tolerate the disobedience of orders, calling it mutiny and reminding him that mutineers are shot, but Tyrol stays put. Adama grabs the phone and orders the arrest of Cally. Alarmed, Tyrol asks what he's doing. To get his point across, Adama says he will execute Cally as mutineer and continue with the rebellious deck crew if he has to. He admits it's something he doesn't want to do, but will to maintain the survival of the fleet. Tyrol relents and calls off the strike. Adama tells him to report to Roslin who wishes to discuss the labor situation.

Tyrol meets with Roslin on ''Colonial One'' and they talk about the cultural vocations that some colonists are locked into by birth. Tyrol suggests setting up a training program to allow the colonists to learn more than one trade, and a work rotation started so that those in dangerous and dirty jobs get an equal chance to work in more comfortable and safer positions in the fleet. He adds that he'd like to see some of ''Colonial One'''s crew get their hands dirty for a change. Roslin agrees, but tells Tyrol to consider the reestablishment of the worker's union that he led back on New Caprica as it will ensure stability within the fleet.

Later, Tyrol calls his deck crew to muster when Starbuck arrives and demands to know why Diana Seelix is 20 minutes late for her first day of pilot training. Seelix is confused and Tyrol apologizes, explaining that Seelix has been promoted to Ensign and assigned to flight training - something she was turned down for earlier because her job as an avionics specialist was too important. Tyrol pins the Ensign rank on her collar and salutes her while Starbuck tells the newly recruited nugget to double-time it to debriefing. Seelix rushes off with an excited smile on her face.

Paula Parkins, the spoiled daughter of well-to-do newspaper-editor Carl and socialite Jane, gets her kicks by organizing and directing a gang of bored young women like herself. The gang's core members—besides Paula—are Georgia, Phyllis, and Geraldine ("George", "Phil", and "Gerry" for short). The gang dresses in men's attire, robs gas stations, and terrorizes habitués of a local lovers' lane...even raping a young gentleman (off-camera) after tying up his girlfriend.

Paula obtains inside information, from her father, regarding police plans to capture her gang; thus, ironically, the girls avoid capture with Carl's unwitting complicity. After a make-out party with local gangsters, Paula and Company agree to wreck classrooms — and destroy the American flag — at a local public high school, at the behest of crime boss Sheila. (The film implies that Sheila is in league with the Communist Party and their anti-American movement.) The girls perform said job with gleeful competence until the police arrive and a deadly shootout takes place. Gerry and Phil are fatally shot while fleeing the wrecked school; Paula herself guns down one of the cops. Seeking refuge from the police, George and Paula return to Sheila's, where they report their wrecking of the school. But Sheila, who never had any intention of paying the girls, attempts to have them arrested as "loose ends"; as she reaches for the phone, Paula shoots and kills her. A highway patrolman notices the girls driving Sheila's car and wearing clothes from her wardrobe. In the heat of the ensuing car chase, the girls crash their car through a store's plate-glass window; George is killed and Paula is hospitalized. Because Paula is a minor and therefore ineligible for the death penalty, the judge sentences her to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. However, Paula gets a reprieve of sorts...dying from the complications of giving birth to a child she accidentally conceived during her make-out party with Sheila's fellow mobsters. The judge who delivered Paula's conviction also denies Jane and Carl custody of their granddaughter, based on the neglectful way they raised Paula.

The cynical tag line "So what?" is used repeatedly by the girls to underscore their uncaring, nihilistic attitude.

Novel is about a young hemutiu called Senu and his ghostly double Red. Senu is usually the class clown and uses his Ka for playing practical jokes on his family. When Senu and a group of his friends play a dare in the hemutiu tombs, the dare goes horribly wrong when Senu and his Ka make contact with the Ka's of the dead. Senu is frightened, and runs out of the tomb before he finds out what he had done. Senu's Heka gets the attention of the Imakhu captain Nemhab. Nemheb then sends Senu to the Mertu gang the Scorpions, building Lord Khafre's pyramid. Senu is then helplessly tangled in a struggle for the two lands. After Senu battles Nemheb's Ka when trying to free red he became the Sem-Priest.

Category:2001 British novels Category:British fantasy novels Category:Novels by Katherine Roberts Category:Novels set in ancient Egypt Category:Voyager Books books

Carlos the Jackal has sex and kills a spider in its web with his cigarette then evicts the woman from his room. He dons a disguise and walks to a cafe where CIA agent Henry Fields (Donald Sutherland) is sitting at a table. He recognizes Fields and asks for a light but Fields does not recognize Carlos, because of his disguise. He watches as Carlos detonates a grenade, killing dozens of people.

The next year, the Jackal attacks an OPEC meeting to earn a ransom. The CIA sends Fields to identify Carlos, but he secretly plans to assassinate him with a concealed pistol. The plan is foiled when his CIA superior stops him from reaching out to shake Carlos' hand because he might be photographed doing so by nearby journalists.

In 1986 Carlos is apparently apprehended in an open-air market in Jerusalem and brutally interrogated by a Mossad commander named Amos (Ben Kingsley). The man claims to actually be a US Naval officer named Annibal Ramirez (Aidan Quinn) whose identification was lost in the chaos of his arrest. Amos confirms his identity and lets him go, stunned that Ramirez looks exactly like Carlos. Back at home, Ramirez is visited by Fields (now using the name Jack Shaw) who tries to recruit him to impersonate the terrorist leader. Ramirez refuses the assignment.

Shaw persists, turning up at a Navy ball and trying various manipulations to goad Ramirez into taking the assignment. He finally succeeds by confronting Ramirez with the human cost of Carlos' terrorism by taking him to Bethesda Naval Hospital to see a boy who has been crippled by one of Carlos' bombs.

Amos and Shaw train Ramirez at a former prison in Canada. Much of his training is devoted to situational awareness and internalizing details of Carlos' life. His training concludes with Carla, one of Carlos' ex-mistresses, training Ramirez in how to make love like Carlos. The plan revolves around convincing the KGB, which is financing his terrorism, that Carlos has begun selling information to the CIA. Shaw lures one of Carlos' ex-lovers, Agnieska, to Libya, where Ramirez convinces her of his legitimacy. He notices she has become an informant for French intelligence, however. Several French agents arrive at their apartment, and Ramirez is forced to kill them to his own horror.

Carlos sends an assassin to kill Agnieska in France, ordering him to leave Europe through London. The assassin happens to be in Heathrow airport at the same time as Ramirez, and he quickly realizes he is an impostor after Ramirez fails to recognize a code phrase. During a struggle, Amos and the assassin kill each other. After Amos' death, the CIA suspends the operation and Ramirez returns home.

Ramirez makes love to his wife as Carlos would, and she is disturbed by his change. The next day, at his son's little league game, he gets into a confrontation with another father and nearly kills him. Shaw bails him out of jail, and both men are clearly suffering from the failure of their mission. Ramirez accuses Shaw of fabricating the scene at the hospital to trick him into accepting the assignment and Shaw threatens to use the Ramirez family as bait to lure out Carlos if he tries to back out. That night Ramirez painfully reveals the mission to his wife but leaves to continue it, knowing that his family will never be safe as long as Carlos is alive.

Ramirez and Shaw meet up in East Berlin and the KGB photographs them, assuming Carlos has been turned. Enraged, the KGB raids Carlos' safe house, but he escapes. Shaw and Ramirez are waiting outside for him, and Ramirez fights Carlos on the bank of the Spree River. It is impossible to tell which of the two is the real Carlos during the struggle. As one of the men is being held under water by the other, Shaw comes upon them and shoots the man above the water several times. He realizes too late that he has shot Ramirez, and Carlos swims away. Ramirez presses Shaw to leave him and kill Carlos, but Shaw insists that their plan has worked and that Carlos is a target of the KGB.

Back home, a car bomb appears to kill Ramirez and his family and Shaw attends the funeral. In St. Martin, Ramirez receives a news clipping of the bombing with a congratulatory note from Shaw, implying that he staged the killing to liberate the Ramirez family. Ramirez nearly kills a spider in its web like Carlos, but does not. Text reveals Carlos' true fate - arrested in 1994.

U.S. Air Force Colonel Pete Moore (Glenn Ford) is the commander of the Whitney Air Force Base 458th Radar Test Group, which has been experiencing electrical difficulties aboard its aircraft. To find the problem, he sends a four-man crew on Flight 412, with Captain Bishop (David Soul) as commander. Lt Podryski (Greg Mullavey), Capt Riggs (Robert F. Lyons), and Lt Ferguson (Stanley Bennett Clay) are Bishop's crew. Shortly into the test, the Grumman Gulfstream II jet, a small twin-engine VIP transport, picks up three blips on radar. Subsequently, two fighters scramble to investigate and mysteriously disappear.

At this point, Flight 412 is forced to land by an unnamed top-level military intelligence group that debunks UFO sightings (referred to throughout the film by their facility's radio call sign "Digger Control", though this is never implied to be the organization's actual name), diverted to a remote, abandoned military airfield somewhere in the desert in the American Southwest. The crew is taken to a barracks building to undergo an 18-hour debriefing by members of a military Special Investigation Division (SID) team, which is more like an indoctrination to convince them that they did not see a UFO. Meanwhile, their aircraft is stored in a dilapidated hangar to hide it from search-and-rescue aircraft. To all appearances, Flight 412 has simply vanished into thin air. Colonel Moore, with the help of Major Mike Dunning (Bradford Dillman), sets out to find out what has happened to his crew.

Just as the government interrogation begins to raise doubts among the flight crew about the "flying saucer" sighting, Moore and Dunning find the secret base. Their efforts to release the crew are stymied by SID leader, Colonel Trottman (Guy Stockwell), who cites national security concerns. Bishop attempts to escape, but Trottman threatens to make things rough on his crew, who agree to accept a sanitized version of their report. Moore presses Trottman for an explanation, despite warning from Dunning to drop the matter. Dunning appears to have faced similar treatment following an incident in which he too faced SID. After their release, when Dunning and Podryski choose to accept the report, the others: Moore, Bishop, Ferguson, and Riggs seek the help of General Enright (Kent Smith). Trottman appears and makes the case to the General that nothing untoward has happened. Speaking to Moore in private, General Enright reveals that some wreckage of the missing jets have been found, but only minimal remains. The pilots are still missing.

Moore tries to pursue the matter, but no one cared, likely because those responsible were unwilling to deal with the implications of the incident.

Four months later, the exercise was repeated, only now with more men overseeing it. Again mysterious objects appear, with the same results. Following a debrief, the matter was dropped.

Those who cooperate get promoted, while the others find that their careers suffer. Colonel Moore was denied promotion, and retired at minimum age.

The film tells the story about the university student Göran who spends a summer on his uncle's farm, where he meets the young Kerstin. They instantly fall in love, but Kerstin is ruled by very strict relatives, so they must hide their love story from everyone, not the least from the extremely strict vicar. They experience an intense summer together, and Göran dreads the idea of returning to university in the autumn. A twist of fate changes their lives forever.

Joe Huff is a tough Alabama cop who is frustrated with a system that handles criminals with kid gloves. Currently, Joe is suspended for displaying excessive violence toward criminals. After stopping a supermarket robbery, Joe is summoned by FBI Agent Cunningham who proceeds to blackmail him into going undercover, by threatening to turn Joe's three-week suspension into six months without pay.

Due to his proficiency in criminal biker arrests, Cunningham wants Joe to go undercover in Mississippi and infiltrate "The Brotherhood," a white supremacist biker gang linked to the murders of government officials and suspected of dealing drugs to the mafia. The Brotherhood is led by the rough and violent Chains Cooper.

Joe goes undercover as "John Stone", but his job is not easy. His FBI contact, Lance, is a germophobe who does not exactly fit in with the biker crowd, and the members of the Brotherhood, especially Chains, have their suspicions about "John Stone", who has seemingly come out of nowhere to get a piece of their action.

Tasked with killing a man as his initiation, Joe enlists the FBI's help to carefully fake the murder and is accepted into the Brotherhood. However, Chains's right-hand man Ice Hensley, does not trust Joe and eventually tries to expose him, leading to Ice's death in a high-speed motorcycle chase.

During the operation, Joe learns that the Brotherhood's ultimate goal is to eliminate Brent "The Whip" Whipperton, a District Attorney running for Governor of Mississippi, who has promised to crack down on crime within the state. They plan to use a cache of stolen military weapons to storm the Supreme Court, meeting at the Mississippi State Capitol, where one of their own is on trial for murder, and assassinate both Whipperton and the judges presiding over the case.

When Chains's girlfriend Nancy accidentally learns about Joe's identity, he confides in her, and offers her immunity if she cooperates with the FBI. Though resistant at first, Nancy accepts his offer, but the operation fails when the man Joe had supposedly killed to gain admission to the Brotherhood suddenly returns. In retaliation, Chains shoots and kills Nancy, but plans to do away with Joe in a more spectacular fashion, by strapping a bomb to his chest and throwing him from a helicopter en route to the Capitol.

Joe manages to fight his way free and commandeer the chopper, then takes the fight inside the Capitol, where a melee erupts between the Brotherhood and the local police. Chains uses an automatic rifle that was planted inside the courtroom to kill a government agent, two security guards, and all of the Supreme Court judges before taunting Whipperton and killing him as well. As Chains rallies his biker brethren, Joe battles his way through the ranks of the gang until finally coming face-to-face with Chains.

Joe easily wins the fight and leaves the gang leader in police custody before surrendering his firearm to Cunningham. Chains suddenly breaks free and steals an officer's gun, intending to shoot Joe. A gunshot is heard, and Chains abruptly falls to the ground, having been shot by Joe's partner Lance. Joe then marches stoically from the Capitol.

The events of Startling Odyssey II begin with the mad scientist Dr. Killbait attempting to resurrect one of the 8 "Demon Dragons" in an underground laboratory in the Hyneld Continent. Dr. Killbait ultimately succeeds; however, the dragon escapes, destroying the laboratory in the process as well as destroying half of a town. Elsewhere, the protagonist of the game, Knight Captain Robin Solford, and his two cohorts, Balmor Roatlette, and Harold Norman, are patrolling the Feidan Forest as a result of the recent reports of a chimera threatening the area. Robin quickly senses the presence of the chimera and the three are subsequently attacked by the enormous beast. Balmor and Harold draw their blades and attack it, but only to be thwarted by the chimera's massive natural armor, their swords shattering into pieces in the process. As Balmor comments how it's invulnerable to their weapons, Robin proceeds to attack the chimera and fells it in one swing, slicing the great beast in two, much to the chagrin of Balmor and Harold. Returning to Hyneld Castle, Robin meets with King Hyneld and is informed of the strange happenings in the neighboring town south of the Hyneld Kingdom (which so happens to be the same town from which the dragon escaped). Robin then sees his adoptive sister, Patricia Hyneld, who professes her concern over his journeys. Promptly he reassures her he will be alright and quickly leaves with Balmor and Harold. As Robin and his friends investigate the underground laboratory they find an odd magical amulet which Harold attempts to read, but can't since the characters are too difficult. Presently, Hyneld Castle is attacked by the same dragon that had escaped. Having never anticipated the attack of a dragon, the castle's guards are no match for the terrific onslaught and many are slain. In an effort to avoid capture, several guards escape with Princess Patricia Hyneld via an underground passage. As Robin, Balmor, and Harold continue to follow, the same dragon that attacked the castle appears and threatens to kill them. Just as the dragon is about to attack, Balmor shoves Robin out of the room and collapses the entrance with a bomb he took prior to leaving the castle. Estranged from his friends, Robin carries on, regretfully leaving Balmor and Harold to their inevitable fates. Continuing on his new odyssey, Robin gets wind of the Princess being spotted in the Canary Continent. As he heads there through a mountain pass, he encounters an old man who cautions him of the dangers of the area. Without heeding his warning, Robin attempts to cross a bridge and subsequently an earthquake starts, collapsing the bridge and causing Robin to fall from the summit.

Robin awakens in a room and is greeted by Dr. Julia Melrose, who promptly treated his injuries. Julia expresses her surprise at how quickly Robin healed, commenting that for most people, it would've taken months to heal. Their conversation is cut short as a townsperson quickly enters to warn Julia of monsters that have managed to enter the town. Julia quickly leaves Robin to rest and is met by 3 powerful monsters that have managed to seriously wound a large number of the townsfolk. Demonstrating her prowess in magic, Julia easily dispatches 2 of the monsters; however, the last one left is much stronger and managed to erect a high level magic shield, making her attack powerless. Just as the demon is about to kill Julia, Robin quickly intervenes, stopping the full speed attack of the monster with only his sword. Completely baffled and taken aback at seeing such a strong human, the monster attempts to press his attack further, but is pushed back by Robin. Shattering his magic shield with a single stroke of his sword, Robin mounts a terrific attack against the monster, cutting him in half lengthwise in a spectacular display. Julia, in disbelief at how quickly he was able to heal and fight given his injuries, promptly runs up to him just as he collapses from fatigue. After Robin fully recovers, he assists Julia in procuring a magical feather to help cure a sick child and then quickly continues on his journey. Just as he enters an ice cavern connecting the continent, he is attacked and frozen solid into a magical ice prison set to thaw out within the next thousand years. Julia, feeling something is wrong, wishes to go with him yet at the same time expresses her doubts given her elderly grandmother's condition. Her grandmother, hearing her self-doubts, presses her on to go and follow Robin, knowing well that Julia has already fallen in love with him. Julia thanks her grandmother and with her magic frees Robin and joins him. They eventually find a fairy forest, where Robin begins to learn about his family's roots from the fairy. Robin and Julia eventually meet with a tomboyish fighting monk named Vivian who leaves her convent in an attempt to find their own town's amulet which was reportedly stolen. Robin and Julia eventually chase Vivian to a bandit hideout where they witness her fighting with the bandit leader, Galious Ruding. As the four begin to learn about the powers of the amulet and the amulet found at the destroyed laboratory in the Hyneld Continent, they begin to understand their link towards the reawakening of the 8 Demon Dragons, their need to stop Killbait, and their desire to help Robin find Patricia Hyneld.

As the game progresses, Robin begins to slowly subconsciously unlock his own hidden powers as one of the Solfords. The party learns of the lineage of the Solford family and their terrifying powers and their struggle against the Dark Ones. When they finally find Patricia, to Robin's horror, her mind and body are corrupted and twisted into evil by Dr. Killbait who encased her in a suit of high technology powered armor. As Robin attacks Killbait out of rage, Patricia intervenes and easily fends off Robin with a forceful blast of energy. Robin and Patricia duel each other in a terrific magic battle with Robin being able to easily shield his friends from her attacks using his powers. In the midst of the attack Patricia comes to her senses and stops her attack at the extreme protest of Killbait. Unable to detach herself from the armor as it is directly connected to her body, she begs Robin to stop Killbait and to erase the darkness from the world as she slowly ascends and sacrifices herself by causing her armor to self-destruct. Upon seeing the death of his adoptive sister and closest friend, Robin loses control of himself and is about to charge and attack Killbait when he is stopped at the pleading of Julia. Robin then swears an oath of vengeance against Killbait just as he is making his escape.

Near the end of the game, Robin manages to procure the legendary Helios Sword, the sword of the Solford family; and, recreates the Soul Armor, one of the last pieces of advanced technology armor rendering all weapons and attacks powerless against him. Using their power, Robin manages to fulfill his oath of vengeance on Dr. Killbait and exterminate the rest of the Demon Dragons. As the last of the demon dragons, Babylon, is defeated, the group disbands happily, believing that peace is restored. Robin, choosing to live quietly rather than continue his work as a knight, is joined by Julia and eventually the two are married and have a son, Leon Solford, the main protagonist in Startling Odyssey I: Blue Evolution. 2 years after the defeat of Babylon however, a machine/program left behind from an advanced technological age of humanity recreates one of the Demon Dragons, Sodom, making him more powerful than even Babylon. Taking control of the Big Eye defense satellite, Sodom proceeds to rain down flaming asteroids onto the planet, destroying a large chunk of the Hyneld Continent and several other towns. Having understood what needs to be done, Robin, now in full control of his powers, teleports to see the great wiseman Rossberg and the great dragon and king of the demon world, Galadan. He leaves both the Helios Sword and the Soul Armor in their custody and teleports himself to the Tower of Stars where he is sent via a teleport pad directly to the Big Eye; Robin destroying the Tower's teleport pad as a safeguard. With no way to return home, Robin confronts Sodom and the two engage in a quick, but extremely fierce battle. Sodom, many times stronger than he was 2 years ago, impales Robin through his armor with his claw. Using his powers however, Robin absorbs Sodom's own power and, channeling all of his own life into one final attack, Robin releases his full power and disintegrates and vaporizes Sodom with a flash of light. Having used all his life energy and after taking a severe mortal blow from Sodom, Robin dies a noble death with his final words, "Julia, I leave the future in your hands." Robin dies, just as the satellite self-destructs; its explosion visible to everyone on the planet. As the light of the explosion sparkles, Julia (now Julia Solford) watches tearfully and smiles as she thanks Robin for the gift of his child.

The play was inspired by a number of labor-related incidents including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 and the 1993 strike at the Fischer's meat packing plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

The drama follows the lives of a group of workers who work at a modern day plant. While work gets tougher and more dangerous, their wages are being cut, and benefits reduced. Into the fray walks Cod, a strange young man who tries to inspire them to action. But Cod has his own secrets, which include once being a scab, and is in a long term battle with the cool Sausage Man, a battle whose outcome will affect them all in deadly ways.

The play is divided into two acts and moves back and forth (and sometimes seemingly sideways) through time. Love, desire and friendship between these workers is disrupted, and transformed by the political pressures swirling around them. And the boss is beginning to make strange noises, just when his assistant has had enough.

The live stage performance rights are licensed by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.

''Crackdown'' takes place in the fictional metropolis of Pacific City, whose three districts are divided among eight total islands. The city is controlled by three criminal organizations: ''Los Muertos'' (which means "The Dead" in Spanish), a street gang of drug dealers from Central America who runs "La Mugre" ("The Dirt"); ''The Volk'' (Russian for "People", although the game states that it means "The Wolf"), a militia group from Eastern Europe who dominates "The Den"; and the ''Shai-Gen Corporation'', a formerly above-board, corrupt governing body from East Asia that rules "The Corridor". Normally, a police organization called the Peacekeepers kept the city under control; their forces, however, were overwhelmed by the sudden rise in crime. The city, therefore, sought additional help from "the Agency", an organization that, in addition to outfitting and supporting Peacekeepers, has used advanced surgical and cybernetic technology to create supersoldiers known as "Agents". The Agency is based out of a former resort hotel on an island in the very centre of the city. The player takes on the role of one of their Agents, and is tasked with systematically bringing down all three organized gangs, while keeping both the populace and Peacekeepers safe. The Agent's actions are continuously monitored by the Agency, and its Director (voiced by Michael McConnohie) provides continuous reports to him of his progress.

Throughout the game, the player roams Pacific City, systematically eliminating the leaders of the three gangs. Upon defeating the gangs' Kingpins and generals, the Agent must put down a final riot by the remaining gang members in the area which after completion will cause that city to be almost crime free. Once all three gangs are fully exterminated, in the closing cutscene of the game, the Director reveals to the Agent that there was an ulterior motive for the Agency's actions: the Agency had secretly empowered the three gangs in the first place to instill fear in Pacific City's residents, thus creating a need for the Agency to control the city, and acceptance in the populace when they did take over. The Agency Director's comments suggest that the Agency was merely using Pacific City as a test and will replicate this plan in other cities across the globe to create a New World Order.

In the aftermath of a devastating nuclear war, Americans have come to blame technology for the disaster, and far from seeking to recover what was destroyed, are actively opposed to any such attempt.

Religious sects which even before the war opposed modern technology and avoided its use in their daily life have adjusted to the post-apocalypse situation far more easily than anyone else, and feeling themselves vindicated have come to dominate the post-war society. They gained an enormous number of new members, though those families which had been such before the war are honoured and privileged, their special status indicated by slightly different clothing.

All the pre-war American cities have been destroyed in the war, and their re-construction is expressly forbidden. The US Constitution has been amended, with the Thirtieth Amendment disallowing the presence of more than a thousand residents or the existence of more than two hundred buildings per square mile anywhere in the United States.

Len Colter and his cousin Esau are adolescent members of the New Mennonite community of Piper's Run. Against their fathers' wishes, the boys attend a preaching where a trader named Soames is accused and stoned to death for his apparent involvement with a forbidden bastion of technology known as Bartorstown. They are saved when a trader, Ed Hostetter, intervenes. Hostetter grabs a box from Soames' wagon, from which Esau steals a radio.

Though sickened by the stoning and harshly punished by their fathers, Len and Esau are fascinated by the idea of a community that secretly still holds and harnesses the forbidden technologies. Len's grandmother, a little girl at the time of the destruction, sparks his interest in the technological past with her stories of big, brightly lit cities and little boxes with moving pictures, even a red dress.

Esau and Len begin to work the radio, trying to make 'noise' come out of it. Esau steals three books from the schoolhouse in the hope that they would teach the boys to utilise the radio. The two are punished harshly after Hostetter outs them as thieves. The radio is smashed by Esau's father in rage, and Hostetter demands his wagon be searched lest he be accused of being a member of Bartorstown. Esau is whipped and Len's father is visibly disappointed. Subsequently, Esau and Len become determined to find their way to the fabled Bartorstown and leave Piper's Run in search of it, following broken dialogue heard over the radio towards a river.

The boys make their way to a town called Refuge, living with the Judge Taylor and his family and working for a warehouse owner, Mike Dulinsky. Esau starts a romantic relationship with the Judge's daughter, Amity Taylor. Dulinsky wants to build a fifth warehouse to compete economically with the town on the other side of the river, Shadwell. However, this would violate the Constitution's Thirtieth Amendment as the number of buildings would exceed two hundred. He rallies the Refuge residents, who initially pledge their support. However, Judge Taylor warns Len and Dulinsky of the consequences and that he would go to the state authority. The Judge eventually betrays Dulinsky to the Shadwell residents. The Shadwell residents double-cross the Judge and kill Dulinsky and set fire to Refuge.

Len, Esau and Amity are saved by Hostetter, who is revealed to be an actual member of Bartorstown. Previously, he had to out Esau as a thief to conceal his own identity. Len is let down when Hostetter's ship turns out to be a regular coal-powered steamship, though eventually understanding it was for concealment. Strangely, Hostetter wishes to settle in a place like Piper's Run, but is unable to do so. They make a long journey to Bartorstown, a place called Fall Creek Canyon. Hostetter remarks that even those who set foot in Bartorstown do not know it is ''the'' Bartorstown, as the scientific facilities were buried from sight and Fall Creek Canyon resembles any ordinary settlement. Before the journey is complete, Len begins to think of Hostetter as a father-figure, the latter reciprocating that sentiment.

In Fall Creek, Amity and Esau are wed, while the three are sworn to secrecy and are told they will be shot if they attempt to leave. The town's leaders seek to use the childlike vision that Len and Esau had of Bartorstown to inspire the workers, who have been working for long without an end in sight. Len becomes romantically tangled with a Joan Wepplo, who possesses a red dress. Joan, in contrast to Len, has resented her upbringing in Bartorstown and seeks to leave, though the residents of Bartorstown are unable to.

The scientists of Bartorstown have been working on a long-term project with an Artificial Intelligence, Clementine, aimed at creating a forcefield that would eradicate the splitting of atoms, preventing future misuse of nuclear technology. They feed Clementine equations in the hope of creating the ultimate equation to produce the forcefield. Len is shocked to find that Bartorstown relies on nuclear power, conflicting firmly with his religious beliefs that the devilish nuclear power which annihilated society should be abstained from entirely. The community's rationalisation that sooner or later, others would unlock the lost secrets of nuclear technology and that it would be better to be preventive does not sit well with Len and his religious upbringing. Len's vision of Bartorstown is broken at last when Clementine is revealed to be maliciously sentient, and has withheld the ultimate truth as to whether the nuclear forcefield was ever possible, rendering the work of Bartorstown through the ages obsolete and void.

Len and Joan, now married, plot an escape from Bartorstown, and the two succeed, blending in with tribals to evade Bartorstown's surveillance. Len's journey is painful and he thinks of the long walk back to Piper's Run as his religious redemption. However, they are tracked down by Hostetter. The three sit together in a small town where a preaching is occurring, in similar circumstances where Soames was stoned. Len mentally prepares for himself to die, thinking of Soames and Dulinsky and the disillusioned Bartorstown scientists and acknowledging that change would come around eventually, even if he as an individual passed on. Len gives up the opportunity to out Hostetter as a Bartorstown member to the crowd to be stoned, and Hostetter reciprocates by not outing Len. Later, Hostetter is revealed to have armed backup that would have shot Len and Joan if he had outed Hostetter, but Hostetter reiterates that he knew Len so long and trusted Len that he never would have needed the backup. Hostetter, Len and Joan then make their way back to Bartorstown.

Cliff Taylor is an ex-con who wants to go straight, but since being released from prison on parole, he finds it hard to find and hold a job due to his criminal past. Cliff's younger brother Tim is worried and increasingly disillusioned because he cannot afford to marry his girlfriend Peggy and fears he will not be able to honestly find a position for himself in the world. Afraid that Tim might end up leading a life of crime like himself, Cliff decides to help him find the money to settle down. He tells his family he has found a job as a salesman, but in reality he reunites with fellow ex-convict Charles Martin and Martin's gang.

They organize a number of robberies. With the money he gets from his criminal activities, Cliff is able to buy a garage for his brother, who is now able to get married. His mission completed, Cliff decides to quit the gang. After a failed robbery in which people are killed, a wounded Martin and his pals hide in Tim's garage and force the young man to help them by telling him Cliff was part of the botched robbery. The police get wind that the gang was in the garage and arrest Tim as an accomplice. Cliff manages to swing a deal for his brother that will see him free of all charges, but he must identify the robbers and testify against them. Ahead of the police, Cliff goes to see Martin and tells him he must escape to avoid arrest and likely execution. However, Martin's pals, who have been shadowing Cliff since he quit the gang, see the two men together and move to prevent their escape. A shoot-out ensues, the police eventually become involved. Cliff and Martin are both killed. Later, Tim and Peggy admire the new sign over the garage advertising it as the Taylor Bros. Garage, and reflect on Cliff's sacrifice and how he will be considered a "silent partner".

The beautiful planet of Blue Star, home-planet to a young boy named FLAPPY, is invaded by Dark Emperor Ngalo-Ngolo. The proud inhabitants of Blue Star, wanting neither war nor the invasion, self-destruct along with the planet on a path of self-determination. FLAPPY, however, is boarded onto an escape capsule headed for neighboring Planet Seviras by his father and so survives. From his capsule he sees fragments of the exploded Blue Star rain down incessantly on Planet Seviras.

Wandering aimlessly about Planet Seviras, FLAPPY reaches an oasis where he suddenly hears a voice from the sky saying, 'Gather up the fragments of Blue Star, the Blue Stones, to this Blue Area. When all of them have been gathered...' FLAPPY, believing a miracle has just occurred, begins on a journey to gather all the Blue Stones.

Ms. Accord, the teacher at the Primp Magic School, informs Sig that there will be a tournament up for play, and everyone's competing; the reward is a medal that will grant anyone's single wish. Another scene shows Amitie and Arle pledging to play by the rules, and Sig, still as clueless as ever, eventually pledges as well, but not before witnessing six comets fall down onto Earth. Sig, realising that this is a big discovery, decides to ignore it anyhow and goes onto the competition. It turns out that the "comets" are actually six familiar characters from the Madou series, who serve as boss characters in the story modes.

A French fishing trawler crew in the North Sea becomes incapacitated after eating contaminated food while in the middle of a storm. The story follows the efforts of an international collection of amateur radio operators to deliver an antidote.

In Florida, boxing promoter Nick Donati gets double-crossed by his boxer, who throws a fight for a $25,000 bribe from gangster Turkey Morgan. Nick and his girlfriend "Fluff" decide to throw a wild, days-long party with the money they have left, before looking for a new boxing prospect. Nick orders naive young farmer turned hotel bellhop Ward Guisenberry to mix some drinks, but he does not know how, as he does not drink. Fluff kindly helps him out. When Morgan, underling Buzz Barret, and Chuck McGraw, his fighter and new heavyweight champion, arrive uninvited, Ward does not like it when the somewhat drunk McGraw pushes Fluff, so he punches him, knocking him to the ground. Nick is impressed, and persuades him to try boxing.

For his first bout, Ward is up against McGraw's experienced brother. Much to everyone's surprise, he wins by knockout. To protect him from Morgan's wrath, Nick sends him, Fluff and ringside assistant Silver Jackson to New York City by train. However, Morgan is waiting outside their usual hotel. He tries to get Ward to sign with him, but Ward knocks him down, insisting he will only sign with Nick.

Desperate, Fluff decides to hide Ward at Nick's mother's farm. There, he meets Nick's sister, Marie, fresh from a convent education. They clash. When Nick finds out, he is furious. He does not want his family to have anything to do with boxing. He takes Ward back to the city.

Ward, rechristened "Kid Galahad", wins a string of fights by knockout. He tells Fluff that his goal is to earn enough to buy a farm. Fluff falls for him, and is crushed when he confides to her that he is in love with Marie. She hides her disappointment, and with her encouragement, he drives up to tell Marie. It turns out that she is just as much in love with him. Fluff leaves Nick, confessing to him that she loves Ward and cannot bear to be around him. She gets a job singing in a nightclub.

In Ward's next fight, Nick orders him to just box and win on points, as knocking his opponent out would build public pressure to fight the champ too soon; Nick wants more time to train his fighter. However, Morgan tells his foe what to say to infuriate Ward. As a result, Ward wins by knockout.

Marie sees the fight; afterward they go out on the town. When she asks to see Fluff, Ward takes her to the nightclub. By coincidence, McGraw is in a private room there, drunk and with a couple of girls. When Morgan shows up to get him, McGraw spots Ward and pushes him to the floor. The two are separated, but Ward offers to fight within the month. Newspaper photographers take pictures of Ward with both Marie and Fluff. As a result, Nick finally learns that Ward has been seeing his sister.

Infuriated, Nick secretly turns on his boxer, agreeing to a title bout. He orders Ward to come out slugging, knowing it is a losing strategy. When Morgan discovers that Nick has placed substantial bets against his own fighter, he visits Nick. He learns that Nick wants to get back at Ward, and decides to bet $150,000 himself. During the bout, Ward faithfully follows Nick's orders and is knocked down repeatedly by McGraw. Fluff and Marie attend the fight together. When Fluff realizes what Nick is doing, she and Marie plead with him to stop. Nick finally comes to his senses and changes tactics. In the end, Ward knocks McGraw out and becomes world heavyweight champion.

After the fight, an armed Morgan arranges to be alone in the changing room with Nick, Ward and Silver. Nick is prepared though, and also has a gun. They exchange shots, fatal on both sides. Before he dies, Nick gives his blessing to Ward and Marie.

''Over the Hedge'' is set immediately after the events of the animated film. Gladys Sharp, president of the homeowners' association, returns and plans to bulldoze the forest in order to build a swimming pool. She has been joined by a new character, Henri the taxidermist, Dwayne's brother. Given an idea from Hammy, RJ decides to have endangered species move to the forest in order to have it declared a protected habitat, preventing its destruction. The householders have been warned about RJ and company's intentions, and have created traps from everyday objects to repel the thieves. The animals manage to gather supplies so that a black-footed ferret salesman named Jack, a gray bat scientist named Sylvia, and an ivory-billed woodpecker retiree named Samson can live in the forest. As a last resort, Gladys kidnaps the friends of RJ, Verne and Hammy for Henri. So the trio hack into the security cameras of the house and Gladys lure Gladys ranting into them. Once the news and police hear this, both humans get arrested for trying to capture endangered animals. Afterwards, the animals then continue to steal food.

As described in a film magazine, it is his love for Echo Allen (Scott) that leads Jack Payson (Forman) to sacrifice his honor and deceive the girl into believing that her former lover Dick Lane (Cummings), a prospector, has been killed by Indians. Buck McKee (Beery), a half breed desperado, substantiates Jack's tale with an account of Lane's death, fabricated for his own convenience. As the only witness to the scene between Jack and Lane on the night of the latter's unexpected return when Jack was to marry the girl, Buck uses Lane's payment of a mortgage to cast evidence upon him that he was the robber and murderer of a local express agent. However, McKee himself committed the crime. His original lie confessed, Jack is sent by his bride out into the desert to bring Lane back. Sheriff Slim Hoover (Arbuckle) follows Jack based upon the strength of McKee's accusations. The parties meet on the border in a skirmish between Indian renegades and Mexican mounted police, and all are saved by the coming of the United States cavalry. Lane, however, meets his death with the forgiveness of Jack on his lips. Jack is then restored to the love and favor of Echo.

David is a six-year-old boy in a Jewish ghetto of Montreal in the 1920s. He lives with his parents Harry and Annie and his grandfather Zaida, a rag-and-bone man who collects rags and bottles on his horse and wagon, while also studying the Talmud and claiming it as the only book he has read. David loves riding with his grandfather, and shares Zaida's love for Ferdeleh, despite the horse's age and the neighbour Mrs. Tannenbaum's complaints as to the smell. Zaida jokes about covering Mrs. Tannenbaum's steps with horse excrement, an idea that delights David, who takes it seriously. While Zaida's friend Mr. Baumgarten embraces the ideas of Karl Marx to end social class injustice, Zaida replies he is instead looking to the arrival of the messiah to end all injustice.

Harry, who is not religious, designs a pair of trousers meant to be impossible to crease, and appeals to Zaida for $500 in investment, claiming he already has many orders for the product and will be able to pay back with interest in one month. When Harry demonstrates his "pressless trousers", his own business partner points out the bulges in the knees, spoiling any chance Zaida will invest. Enraged, Harry rants about marrying into an unintelligent family, condemns Zaida as a miser and not a real Orthodox Jew, and says Ferdeleh should be killed. David overhears these threats made by his father and is disturbed and embarrassed for the way he has spoken of his family, particularly Zaida. In attempt to comfort his grandfather, David informs Zaida that his father tells "terrible lies".

While David hopes to ride with Zaida on another Sunday, Harry insists instead on taking David fishing. However, Harry actually takes David to a gambling club, and talks of leaving the ghetto behind. With orders on the defective trousers cancelled, Harry goes into bankruptcy and the family's plans to move are cancelled, to David's joy. Annie gives birth to David's baby brother, and David becomes jealous his brother gets to breastfeed. Finally disillusioned with the deceptions of all adults, David covers Mrs. Tannenbaum's steps with horse excrement. The police arrive and discover Zaida's stable is in violation of bylaws requiring stables to be located 100 yards from residences. The police give Zaida 30 days to move it, but he resolves not to. He instead becomes gravely ill, and David is sent to his uncle to avoid a spread of the illness. When he returns, Harry tells David that Zaida and Ferdeleh have both died. Distressed, David runs from home and imagines his grandfather returning.

Throughout the novel Isherwood is a character of extremes. At times he pursues physical pleasure, relentlessly devoting himself to debauchery, but he interrupts these binges with periods of discipline, learning German or regularly meditating. Somehow his abandon never leads to personal disaster. The second section of the novel contains a scene that illustrates this pattern. Isherwood is visiting an island where a crew of inane Greeks blast rock for the foundations of a mansion. He observes that:

Despite all their experience, they seem to have no idea how much dynamite they should use. It is always too little or too much. We become completely indifferent to their yells of warning, followed by an absurd little firecracker pop. And then, just when you're least expecting it, there will be a stunning explosion which shakes the whole island and sends big rocks spinning through the air... A couple of times things have been smashed, but no one has been hurt, so far.

A gangster Steve Larwitt (George Raft) falls for one his singers Brenda Bartley (Joan Bennett) at his nightclub. They marry and live the high life for awhile. He gets set up and is sent to Alcatraz on charges of racketeering, for ten years. She suspects his lawyer Slant Kolma (Lloyd Nolan) having a hand in this problem. She rents an apartment across San Francisco Bay with a view of the prison. She is befriended by another woman Mary Bogale (Gladys George)whose husband is also jailed but also wants to have fun. One night they meet a man Tim Nolan (Walter Pidgeon) who becomes attracted by Brenda and starts pursuing her, much to her annoyance. He finally wins her over. However, she still loves her husband. Kolma tries to blackmail her and trap her, having sold off her jewelry for his "defense". He is jealous because he saw her at a restaurant with Tim. Brenda finally confides in Mary and tells her about her problems. She returns to singing to earn money. When she visits her husband in jail, that shyster lawyer is waiting for her. She hides the truth from Steve about the money being gone. Tim sees her singing at the nightclub and talking with customers. He continues to pursue her but although she has feelings for Tim, she wants to be faithful to her husband because she knows her love is the only thing that helps him get through his days. The treacherous lawyer is so full of jealousy, he goes to tell Steve about Brenda and Tim. Desperate, Steve escapes and looks for Brenda. He tries to kill her but Tim arrives in time with a gun and tells Steve about the lawyer setting him up and stealing their money. He escapes the nightclub and he tells Brenda to wait for him and at a street corner. He goes looking for the lawyer and finds him and kills him. Then returns to the bay waterfront, swims out and allows the prison posse trolling the water to capture him.

The film tells the story of the wealthy family Van Dyke: a frustrated patriarch Dan (Walter Connolly); his self-centered wife (Billie Burke); and his spoiled children Tony (James Blakeley) and Carol (Joan Bennett). They have constant run-ins for outrageous behavior.

Dan Van Dyke is sent to prison for tax evasion. His cellmate is bootlegger and fellow convicted tax evader Ricardi. The two men become friends and when Van Dyke dies from a poor heart, he puts Ricardi in charge of his interests.

While vacationing at a resort in Jamaica, the narrator encounters an elderly South American man named Carlos. They are soon joined by a young American naval cadet, who boasts about the reliability of his cigarette lighter. Carlos offers to bet his Cadillac against the American's left little finger that the American cannot ignite the lighter ten times in a row. The American accepts, with the narrator agreeing to act as referee and hold the car key, and they adjourn to Carlos' room.

After Carlos has a maid bring in the necessary supplies, he ties the American's left wrist to the table and the challenge begins. After the eighth successful strike, a woman bursts into the room and forces Carlos to drop the knife he has held ready to sever the American's finger. She explains that Carlos is mentally disturbed, having played this game so often in their home country that they had to flee in order to keep the authorities from committing him to a psychiatric hospital. He has taken 47 fingers and lost 11 cars, but no longer has anything of his own to bet with; she won it all from him long ago, including the car he claimed to own. As the narrator offers the key to her, she reaches out to take it with a hand that has only its thumb and one finger still attached.

An Italian, Enrico Scaffa, emigrates to America where he has a run-in with Beatrice, the elegant wife of a wealthy banker. Enrico gets a job working for a politician and works his way up to be a power in the city. Despite romancing his secretary Miss Sullivan, he crosses with Beatrice again and pursues her.

Johnny Lamb runs a secret casino in Miami. He meets impoverished socialite Lucille Sutton and decides to open a casino at her mansion. His friends worry Lucille will ruin Johnny so they hire con artists Gertie Malloy and Dictionary McKinney to impersonate socialites to seduce Johnny. Johnny falls for Gertie and asks for Lucille's help in wooing her.

Jim Kimmerlee owns a salmon cannery. He is pleased to see old friend Tyler Dawson, who has been away hunting seal. Also glad to see Tyler is his sweetheart, hotel owner Nicky Duval.

Thieves have been stealing from fishing traps. Jim is determined to put a stop to it, engaging in a feud with Red Skain, a Russian fisherman who is suspected in the thefts.

Di Turlon comes back to town after several years of big-city life. The adjustment to the fishing community is awkward at first, but Di comes around and becomes interested romantically in Jim.

As he and others go after Red and the thieves, Jim is dismayed to learn that Tyler has become one of Red's accomplices. Planning to catch the fish poachers in the act, Jim tries to spare Tyler by having Nicky sabotage his boat, but Tyler finds another vessel and joins Red at sea. Jim exchanges gunfire with the thieves, killing two and wounding Tyler.

After being found and helped by his friend after Red has abandoned him, Tyler decides there is one more thing he must do. Close to death, he takes a boat back out, confronts Red, then blows a loud boat whistle that causes an avalanche, resulting in both men's death. Jim speaks admiringly of his friend's sacrificial act.

The film involves a trio of young female singers trying to break into show business. Three young women working in an agency named Daphne O' Connor, Dixie Foley, and Susan Moore (Patsy Kelly, Alice Faye, and Frances Langford) have built a singing trio. They want to 'lease' the Dictaphone of their boss, Mr. Huxley (John Dilson) to make a record of their singing, but they are caught and fired. When they are not able to pay their rent any longer, they decide to try their luck on an amateur contest at a radio station, hosted by a Major Bowes-type named Colonel Dave (Walter Catlett). Several talents approach the microphone, including The Radio Rogues, an Italian who sings opera terribly, and an elderly chicken impersonator aptly named Henrietta (Florence Gill).

Due to lack of food, Susan becomes unconscious while singing and the contest is won by a blue-collar big band led by Tops Cardona (George Raft). They become involved with Tops after he is impressed by Susan's singing at a café run by a German named Joe Schmidt (Herman Bing). Tops offers them a job with his band at the radio station. They accept, are christened The Swanee Sisters by Tops to give them a southern flavor, and he buys them matching outfits. Tops and the girls soon become a nationwide hit once they land a sponsor (who happens to be their old boss, Mr. Huxley), but after a while, they grow tired of working constantly and not having any fun, and leave the band indefinitely. Daphne insists they attend the party (in the furs Tops bought for them), leaving Tops to fend for himself.

They accept an invitation to appear at a party held on a yacht by a Mrs. Reginald Herring-Smthye (Claudia Coleman). After meeting several unsavory rich people at the soiree, and feeling a bit sour after mixing with the "creme de la creme", they adjourn to an anteroom with a radio in it. Tops is on the air without them, and he tells everyone listening in that they are absent and how much he misses them, hoping they will to return to him. The girls soon realize they can't go on without him and return to the band.

The story unfolds in the Eurasian Steppes. Vera lives with her husband Valery and their daughter in a house on the outskirts; at someone else's wedding she meets Pavel. They become instantly attracted to each other. The film begins with a scene of quarrel between Pavel and his friend, during which Pavel decides to go to Vera by all means, regardless of her husband. The two meet in the steppe, but dialogue does not work between them. Vera returns home where a misfortune occurs: a domestic dog bites her daughter by the finger. While the mother in a panic runs for help to the neighbors, Valery cuts off the wounded finger, gives the daughter vodka and kills the dog. At night, Vera goes to the steppe to bury the animal, where she encounters Pavel: he still wanders around their house. Together they bury the dog's corpse.

Vera returns and finds that her daughter feels worse and that her neighbors took her to the nearest hospital. Valery is asleep, having got drunk from vodka. Together with Valery, Vera runs to the bank of the river where they see Pavel's motor boat. He agrees to take them by the waterway to the hospital. During the trip Valery notes that Vera's dress is all soiled in the mud, and strikes her hard against the side of the boat. Pavel immediately stops the boat at the shore, throws Valery out of the boat and together with Vera steers away. Valery returns home, takes a rifle and ammunition, sets fire to the hut and goes out to find them. Meanwhile, Vera and Pavel become lovers. In the hospital, they do not find her daughter: it turns out that the neighbors have already taken her back home. Pavel offers Vera to take her daughter and stay with him. In the meantime Valery having gotten drunk from vodka, kills a cow on the field to see if he is able to kill a living being, and then sits on the shore in anticipation of Pavel's boat. The couple appears soon. Valery slays Pavel in several shots and injures Vera. Pavel protects the woman using his body as a shield and together they sail in the blood-filled boat with the still living Vera, before it begins to sink from the bullet holes.

When unassuming sailor Casey Kirby goes backstage for a famous actress' autograph, he winds up kissing her for a publicity photo. The photo circulates, and Kirby earns a reputation as a ladies man among his fellow sailors. They bet on the chances of him kissing the stand-offish star "The Countess" of the Swingland club during a four-day leave in San Francisco. When they arrive in San Francisco, Kirby attempts to win the bet and finds that he has earnestly fallen in love with the Countess and wants to marry her. Their romance is complicated by the Countess finding out about the bet and assuming that his advances are only to win the bet, although she finds that she has fallen in love with him.

A saxophone-player/dancer (George Raft) joins a Big Band upon his release from jail. The film climaxes with a car chase.Everett Aaker, ''The Films of George Raft'', McFarland & Company, 2013 p 57

Bill (Hopkins) is a man who is bitter about his recent divorce from his wife and the loss of custody of his only child. He acts out his anger by befriending another man, Roger (Broadbent), who has been sued for divorce by his wife, so that she can enter into a lesbian relationship with her lover. Bill tries to help the man out, by funding the latter's court case to regain custody of his child. Simon Callow plays an unscrupulous and sleazy barrister hired for the case. Soon Bill, who has focused his anger against feminism which he blames for robbing him of his family, begins to feel disgust for what he and his new friend are doing.

The film starts in a riverfront slum in Limehouse. ''The Lily Gardens'', a local club, is owned by Chinese-American immigrant Harry Young. Young uses the club as a center of operations for his lucrative smuggling operation. Young is a recent arrival in London, but he has managed to take over crime operations in his area. Rival criminal Pug Talbot is increasingly driven out of business. Talbot is enraged over the situation, and his anger causes him to abuse his own daughter, Toni. The girl has been raised to be a pickpocket and is under her father's control.

At one point, Toni is about to be arrested, and Young helps her out. She is grateful for his help and grows very fond of him. Talbot alerts the police about one of Young's operations, in hopes of hurting his rival's business. Toni overhears the plan and warns Young in time. Young manages to evade the police. Talbot is furious at his treacherous daughter and beats her. Young finds out about the abuse and vows revenge against Talbot.

Young pretends that he wants to negotiate with Talbot, and invites him for a meeting at his apartment. Talbot accepts the offer, unaware that it is a trap. When Talbot arrives from the meeting, Young has him stabbed to death. The corpse is abandoned in the street. Young offers Toni a job at his organization as a "watchdog", in exchange for room and board. Toni takes the offer and gets hired.

Young has a Chinese lover, Tu Tuan, who is suspicious over his relationship with Toni. She believes her lover has fallen in love with the "white girl" and warns him against fruitlessly pursuing her. Worried that a jealous Tu Tuan might hurt Toni, Young removes the pickpocket from his operations. He gives Toni an allowance for her living expenses, which she sees as charity.

Away from her life of crime and with free time in her hands, Toni goes sight-seeing in London. She soon befriends pet-shop owner Eric Benton, and starts spending her afternoons with him. Toni and Benton fall in love. Toni starts thinking about getting a job to stop financially depending on Young.

Young prevents her from doing so, in fear of losing her. Tu Tuan finds out about Toni's love life and warns Young about it. Tu Tuan derides Young for his unrequited love for a white woman, before ending her own relationship with him.

Toni confesses to Benton about her criminal past. Benton visits ''The Lily Gardens'' and asks for an appointment with Young. In response, Young makes arrangements to have Benton killed, in a manner similar to Talbot. Young soon personally goes on a smuggling mission, and has Toni escort him. He is unaware the police are expecting him this time. A distraught Tu Tuan had betrayed him to the police, before committing suicide.

During the mission, Toni finds out about Young's plans to have Benton killed. She is terrified for the safety of her loved one. By her reaction, Young realizes that Toni really loves the other man. He decides to call off the murder plans, and tries to warn his hired assassins in time. He is pursued by the police while trying to reach them, and gets mortally wounded by gunfire.

Young calls off the murder in time, and manages to clear Toni's name from any involvement in crime. He then dies because of his wounds. Due to Young's self-sacrifice, Toni and Benton are safe and free to further pursue their relationship.

Long Island housewife Lucy Chadman is in the midst of a tarot card reading by her occult sister, Zelda. Just as Zelda exclaims something is going to happen, Lucy begins to choke to death on a South Korean chicken ball. The film shows the difficulty of Lucy's loved ones, including Zelda, had in coping with her death. But the grief turns to excitement when Zelda receives a book of spells called ''The Wisdom of Catagonia''. Within the book Zelda finds a spell that requires perfect astronomical timing—the moon, the earth, and the dog star must form a perfect isosceles triangle. Zelda performs the spell and Lucy appears.

Lucy begins to reacquaint herself with living and with her family who are shocked to see her alive again, one year later, and soon discovers that she cannot simply pick her life back up where she left off. She returns to find her widower husband has sold their home and married her greedy and double-crossing friend from college. Meanwhile, her son has opened his own successful restaurant and married, instead of going to Columbia.

When she returns to the hospital in which she died, the emergency room doctor who tried to revive her begins to fall for her. Zelda confides in the doctor that if Lucy does not find love by the next full moon, she will have to go back to the spirit world. He does not believe Zelda. Eventually, the press finds out that Lucy came back from the dead, and plague her, her family, and the hospital the ER doctor works at. Her college friend becomes jealous of her media attention and the attention Lucy is getting from Mr. Chadman. She holds a news conference of her own and tells the media Lucy made the whole thing up—claiming that Lucy used tetrodotoxin as a means to fake her own death. Lucy does not defend herself, as she sees this as an opportunity to rid herself and her friends of the media. Instead, the doctor gets fired, her sister's occult store is vandalized and she is hated by almost everyone, except her family. She decides to end the debacle once and for all by tricking her college friend into admitting she lied about Lucy faking her death in front of the media at a party the hospital is having. Lucy, the doctor, and her family walk away happily. As the credits roll, we see that both Lucy and Zelda get married and have children with their new loves. Lucy's son also becomes a father.

Taxi driver Joe Lourik gets into an argument with a finance company over payments owed on his new cab. Believing that he has been cheated, Joe reclaims his payments but is arrested for robbery. Escaping with a pair of handcuffs still attached, he jumps on a passing freight train where he meets a tramp who tells him to see Patian, a thief and a fence in San Diego, who can also remove his handcuffs. After meeting Patian, it is agreed that he will remove the cuffs on the condition that Joe drive the getaway car for a bank robbery. After the robbery, Patian sends Joe north to a boarding house in Sacramento to wait for his share of the take, but the boarding house owner informs Joe that Patian isn't good for the money.

Desperate for bus fare to return to San Diego to get his money from Patian, Joe considers robbing the cash register of the empty storefront of a downtown Sacramento flower shop. Once in the store, clerk Laura Benson emerges from the backroom before Joe can rob the register. Joe falls in love immediately and decides to go straight. With his winnings from a crap game, Joe buys a garage in Amesville and settles down, however, within a year, the police are on his trail. Joe then travels to San Diego to demand his money from Patian, but Patian's thugs force Joe to rob a post office. Desperate, and afraid that he will be caught if he returns home, Joe disappears.

Some time later, Joe sees a picture of his newborn baby in the newspaper and meets with Laura, who pleads with Joe to give himself up and serve his time so that he can continue his new life. Hearing footsteps, Joe flees from the police who have followed Laura, and Laura is arrested and jailed as an accomplice.

While Laura is in jail, Joe comes up with a plan to steal enough money to make Laura and his daughter financially secure, and he embarks on a robbing spree which earns him the moniker of "the Million Dollar Bandit." After serving her sentence, Laura manages to meet with Joe. She again pleads with him to give himself up, and as the police surround them, Joe has no other choice but to do so.

A gambler, Marty Black, wins a fifty percent interest in a thoroughbred owned by Penelope "Penny" Hollis, a prim and proper Kentucky horsewoman. Marty can't wait to wager on his new possession, Roman Son, but the health of the horse is foremost to Penny, who would rather nurture it than race it.

After he enters Roman Son in a race without her knowledge, Marty sees the horse's condition deteriorate. Penny permits him to run Roman Son in the Kentucky Derby and a romance develops after the horse's victory, particularly when Marty agrees to retire Roman Son rather than race any more.

Wealthy Congresswoman Margaret Wyndham Chase wants to run for governor of an unnamed state and needs the help of a political boss named Eddie Ace to stand a chance of making it all the way. In an attempt to grease him, she invites him to a dinner where also her other powerful friends will be attending.

Margaret has another problem. Her husband, Pembroke Chase III, wants a divorce, but she wants to keep up appearances until the governor's election is over. She refuses to sign the document he lays before her. Chase threatens her by saying he will try to ruin her campaign if she doesn't comply with his wish. She, in turn, threatens to reveal his many affairs to the public.

Chase tries to ruin the dinner by bad-talking Margaret in front of the others. He gets support from Ace, who believes that beautiful women should stay away from politics. Even Margaret's friend, political science professor Joshua Adams, wants Ace to stop her from running for governor. Adams says he isn't opposed to women in politics but doesn't want Margaret to do it, and believes that she needs more "heart" to be a truly great governor.

Ace introduces Margaret to his cronies, The Tomahawk Club, and she charms them all. Later they have a date and Ace begins to fall for Margaret.

Adams asks Ace to prevent Margaret from being elected, even though he believes that she would make a good governor if she learned to use her heart.

Margaret isn't discouraged by this, but decides to work harder on changing the men's views. She meets with Ace and Adams again to discuss politics, and afterwards she asks Ace to drive her to her house in the country. Ace complies and ends up kissing her goodnight, even though he refuses to change his mind about the governor issue.

Margaret continues to scheme to persuade Ace to help her. She talks to one of Ace's employees, Toomey, and convinces him to help her. With his help, Margaret is finally nominated to run for governor.

But Chase puts gravel in the machinery by forcing her to divorce him, claiming that she has had an extramarital affair with Ace. He also claims Ace will testify to what happened at the country house. This makes Margaret pull out of the race entirely and agree to the divorce.

Adams and Ace decide to host an independent political party to support Margaret as a reform candidate. Adams asks Margaret to run on a special platform opposing machine politics, and she agrees. With this support behind her, Margaret wins the election. She is unaware that she got the support of Ace in the run.

When Margaret meets Ace after the race, she promises to be the best governor possible, and they kiss to seal the deal.

Mr. Morris, owner of a large department store, hires offenders released on parole to give them a chance to rehabilitate. The other staff do not know.

Among them is Joe Dennis, who is resigning and leaving for California in order to end his growing friendship with fellow-employee Helen Roberts, as he feels unworthy of her. With his violent past, he does not feel he could marry such a sweet and innocent girl. They spend a last evening together and, as he boards the Greyhound bus, she says that if he did ask to marry her the answer would be yes.

They rush to an instant marriage bureau and then back to her room. The landlady emerges to throw Joe out, but relents when Helen shows her ring. Helen says they must keep the wedding secret, because Mr Morris does not approve of employees marrying each other. In fact he does not mind, but Helen is not allowed to marry while on parole.

When Joe finds a ribboned bundle of what he assumes are love letters in Helen's room, but which are parole cards, he becomes jealous of her past, and meets up for a drink with some criminals from his own. They plan to rob Morris' store at night, and recruit him to join the operation. But one of the gang is sorry for Helen, should Joe end up back in prison, and, trying to disguise his voice on the telephone, encourages her to keep him away that night; but panicking, he fails to cover the telephone properly; she recognizes the voice, deduces why, and warns Morris.

When the robbers break into the store, they are surrounded by armed guards. Morris says he will let them go once they have listened to what Helen has to say. With considerable expertise, she outlines on a blackboard the full costs of the operation they had planned and the meager returns each individual would receive if it had succeeded. Joe is not amused by Helen's role in the affair or by her sophisticated knowledge of heist planning. As he does not offer any reconciliation, she packs her things and disappears.

Joe and his colleagues search all over town, with no leads. From Helen's parole officer, Joe learns that Helen is pregnant and that her marriage was void as it breached her parole conditions. After looking everywhere for her, one of the gang realizes that she'd probably be in a hospital, and finds her. The film ends with their second, but this time valid, marriage.

It is the year 539 BC; inside the city of Babylon, known as the Gateway of God, is Tia, the adopted daughter of a perfume maker. She is picking herbs in the sacred Amytis garden. Next to the garden is a portion of the double defense wall surrounding the city. Tia soon discovered what is between the two walls; Sirrush, otherwise known as dragons.

Fearing for the dragon's health, she leaves them food. A touch from the dragons grants Tia great magical powers, enough to threaten or save Babylon. These will be needed, as far in the plains the Persian king Cyrus the Great, plans to capture Babylon. The secret of its salvation might just lie in the hanging gardens themselves.

Category:2002 British novels Category:British fantasy novels Category:Novels by Katherine Roberts Category:Voyager Books books Category:539 BC Category:Novels set in ancient Persia Category:Novels set in the 6th century BC

In every port, sailor Bill (Spencer Tracy) meets girls who sailor Spike (Warren Hymer) has already met and talked into getting his signature tattoo. When Bill and Spike finally meet, they become friends. Then, they meet Carny high diver Goldie (Jean Harlow).

Mary Richards gets out of prison after two years. She had been convicted with her husband, Jim, who created a badger game that she unwittingly participated in, and after their victim committed suicide. When she's let out (Jim remains) she has no resources, and she ducks into a cab driven by Harry Glynn to get out of the rain. They form a loving relationship, although they can't get married since Mary is still married to Jim. Harry creates a business fixing cars and it's a success. Harry, then, becomes attracted to Muriel- who takes advantage of the fact that Mary and Harry aren't married, and pursues Harry for fun. Harry who reciprocates. Mary is able to get the marriage to Jim annulled since he is a felon in prison and when Mary tells Harry she is finally free—he tells Mary about his interest in Muriel and that he'll always help Mary if she ever needs anything. Mary packs her things and prepares to leave Harry's house. Before she can leave, her ex-husband Jim turns up, having been paroled. He is unaware of the annulment. In the meantime, Harry has proposed marriage to Muriel who laughs at him, insinuating he isn't good enough for her and she was just playing around. Back at Harry and Mary's house, Jim indicates he is going to kill Harry, so Mary, to protect Harry, plays up to Jim, telling he is the only one for her. Jim takes Mary to a hideout and there discovers the annulment papers, He lets Mary know he actually broke out of prison and killed a cop while doing it. When Mary tries to get away, he threatens to tell the police that Mary orchestrated the prison break in order to control her. She calls the police anyway and soon the two are arrested and prosecuted. Harry sees the news in the papers, and hires an attorney to help her out. Believing she wouldn't accept his help, he makes the lawyer promise not to tell Mary that Harry is paying his fees. The prosecutor makes a big deal out of the fact that Harry "picked her up" at the time they met. Mary is acquitted and Harry meets her outside the courtroom in a cab- replaying the "pick-up" scene of their first meeting. But this time they plan to go make their relationship official.

In early 1939, before the start of the Second World War, Sir Robert Hunter (O'Toole) takes aim at Adolf Hitler with a hunting rifle, but hesitates to shoot and is spotted and tackled by a ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) guard. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo, he claims that his aiming at Hitler was simply an intellectual exercise, to see if it could be done. Because of his high status in Britain, his captors intend to shoot him and disguise it as a hunting accident, but, because his body displays clear evidence of torture, they decide instead to throw him off of a cliff to disguise the signs.

However, Hunter survives the fall, and, with the aid of a German fisherman and a friendly sailor, makes his way back to England. He soon discovers that German agents are after him, and that the Nazi government has requested his extradition. After killing a pursuer by electrocuting him on the London Underground, Sir Robert, now a fugitive, goes underground in rural England to escape his pursuers. It is revealed through flashbacks that his girlfriend, who played a role in organizing the German Resistance, was executed by the Nazi government.

Hunter's lead pursuer, an English Nazi sympathizer named Major Quive-Smith, successfully tracks him to his lair and traps him within it. Rather than kill Hunter, Quive-Smith offers to spare his life if he signs a false confession stating that he attempted to assassinate Hitler on behalf of British intelligence. Over the course of several days, Hunter constructs a rudimentary crossbow, lures Quive-Smith into looking down his breathing hole, and shoots him in the head, killing him.

Soon afterwards, Britain declares war against Germany, and Hunter, now with his status restored, agrees to see the Admiralty about a secret mission (heavily implied to be a second attempt on Hitler's life).

A pretty young bank clerk, Ruth Brock, attracts the young men in the small town of Marysville. Rich playboy Romer Sheffield is no exception, even though he has Camille staying openly at his mansion, scandalizing the locals. Jealous, Camille soon leaves.

Ruth, however, is all business whenever Romer tries to become better acquainted with her at the bank. She agrees to go on a date on Saturday with fellow employee Conny Billup. Romer invites Conny and his crowd to party at his estate, offering free food and drink, just so he can spend some time with Ruth. They stay long enough for Romer to take Ruth on a long walk and have a heartfelt conversation.

The gang then heads to a lakeshore dance hall. Conny gets Ruth alone on a nighttime boat ride, but she jumps ashore to avoid his unwanted advances. Out of spite, he leaves her behind. She has to walk to Romer's estate. Conny eventually finds her there, but she does not want to see him, and Romer makes him drive away without her. Romer sends Ruth home in his chauffeured car; she is seen arriving home early in the morning by Eva Randolph, the daughter of an important bank executive.

Inside, Ruth is pleasantly surprised to find childhood friend and geologist Bill Fadden in the kitchen. He has returned to do some surveying after seven years away. Bill makes it clear he is in love with her.

When Eva questions Conny about what happened the night before, he lies. The lies quickly spread, and soon the local gossips have distorted the story so much that everybody thinks that Ruth and Romer are having a brazen affair. As a result, Eva's father fires Ruth.

After quarreling with her mother, Ruth flees to Bill's campsite. Caught in a rainstorm, she faints just outside Bill's shelter. Bill finds her and brings her inside. When he is unable to awaken her, he removes her wet clothes to keep her warm. When she does regain consciousness, they become engaged, though she does not tell him about the ugly rumors.

However, Conny maliciously has Eva invite Romer to the dance hall where Ruth and Bill are. Once Romer grasps the situation, he graciously tries to bow out, but Bill hears the vicious gossip and breaks off the engagement. By the next morning, Bill has reconsidered, but she informs him that while the stories were not true the night before, they are now in the morning. She spent the night with Romer. Romer picks her up and tells her they will get married in New York.

''Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula'' tells the story of Vlad Dracula, the historical figure who gave Bram Stoker's Dracula his name. Vlad is a dispossessed noble and a patriot who fights the occupation forces of the Turks hoping to avenge the murder of his father by Romanian nobles and the capture of his brother by the Ottoman sultan. The King of Hungary (Roger Daltrey) becomes Vlad's ally and, with his support, Vlad and his men attack the occupying Turks and turncoat Romanian boyars and seizes the throne of Wallachia, in the movie called simply (and anachronistically) "Romania".

His bride, Lidia (Jane March), discovers what Vlad does to the bodies of his enemies and is horrified. She begins to lose her grip on sanity, claiming to hear the voices of the dead. He reluctantly banishes her to a convent, which he later regrets and amends. However, Lidia remains the same and ultimately commits suicide, leaving Vlad dispirited and alone with their adolescent son. Vlad's brother, Radu, arrives at the head of a large Turkish invasion force.

The narrative of the film is presented as evidence given at a hearing following Vlad's alignment with the Roman Catholic King of Hungary. At the end of the film, Vlad is excommunicated by the Orthodox Church shortly before being assassinated by Radu and having a vision of Lidia calling his name. As a result of his condemnation by the priests, Vlad is found to have risen from the grave and gained eternal life, free to roam the earth (as he has been denied entrance to both Heaven and Hell) implying that he has now become the very vampire for which his name is famous.

The vampire Lestat is awakened from decades of slumber by the sound of a hard rock band, and proceeds to take over as their lead singer. Achieving international success, Lestat, having revealed the existence of vampires, taunts the others of his kind during an interview for promoting his first and only live concert.

Jesse Reeves, a researcher for the paranormal studies group Talamasca, is intrigued by Lestat's lyrics after hearing one of his songs play on TV and tells the rest of the group her theory that he really is a vampire. Her mentor, David Talbot, takes her aside and tells her they know what he is and that a vampire called Marius made him. David also shows her Lestat's journal that he recovered and gives it to Jesse for her to read on the condition that she promises not to pursue Lestat. In the journal, Lestat recalls how he was turned into a vampire by Marius and how he awoke Akasha, the first vampire, with his music. Unsatisfied with what she read, Jesse tracks Lestat down to a London vampire club called The Admiral's Arms, where he saves her from three vampires and confronts her about Marius.

In Los Angeles, Lestat is visited by Marius, who warns him that the other vampires will not tolerate his flamboyant public profile. Marius also reveals that Lestat's new music has awakened Akasha and begs him to cancel his concert, which he refuses. Meanwhile, Akasha, who is searching for Lestat, arrives at The Admiral's Arms. After the vampires reveal their plan to kill Lestat at his concert, Akasha torches the club and kills all the vampires inside. Jesse arrives at Los Angeles and gives Lestat his journal back. She then asks him to show her what being a vampire is like. Lestat scoffs at the idea, but Jesse convinces him to spend his last moments before the concert with her. The two spend some time together and Jesse later asks Lestat to turn her, telling him she wants to be with him and that she wants to know everything he does. Lestat angrily refuses, and shows her what it's like for a vampire to feed aggressively on a human. He comes back to her asking her if this is truly what she wants, she recoils in fear from him, he scoffs at her agreeing and then leaves.

While performing at his concert in Death Valley, a group of vampires attack Lestat. With Marius' help, they both fend off most of the vampires until Akasha bursts through the stage and takes Lestat with her. Akasha brings Lestat to her new home, where the two vampires have sexual intercourse, during which time Lestat becomes spellbound by Akasha and is forced to obey her, and Akasha proclaims Lestat her new king. After the concert, Jesse is taken to the home of her aunt, Maharet, who later reveals herself to be one of the Ancient Vampires. Knowing Akasha's plan to take over the world, the Ancient Vampires discuss their plans to destroy the Queen by drinking from her and draining her of her blood. However, they believe that whoever drinks the Queen's last drop will not survive.

Empowered by Akasha's blood, Lestat and the Queen confront the Ancient Vampires. When they refuse to join her, Akasha then commands Lestat to kill Jesse, as The Queen sees her both as an enemy, due to being Maharet's descendant, and as food, with Akasha making an example out of her for those who dare disobey her command. Lestat ostensibly obeys, but after drinking Jesse's blood, comes to his senses and is released from Akasha's power. He angrily requests for his "crown" and Akasha openly gives him her arm to feed on. Lestat then turns on her and begins to drain Akasha's blood. With the help of the Ancients, Akasha's power diminishes. Maharet is the last to drink Akasha's blood, killing Akasha. Lestat goes to Jesse and, cradling her in his arms, gives her his blood as Maharet turns into a marble statue and "sleeps", becoming the new Queen of the Damned.

Lestat and Jesse, who is now a vampire, visit David and return Lestat's journal. When asked by David what it is like, Jesse offers to turn him into a vampire to which he replies he's too old for immortality. Jesse then bids David goodbye and goes to embrace him. David shows fear and rejects the embrace, sensing his hesitation Jesse looks hurt but nods in understanding. She leaves with Lestat. A few moments later, David is greeted by Marius.

The film closes with Lestat and Jesse walking hand in hand, among mortals, into the night.

In New York City 1976, the story starts with Ray, a wheelman. He falls in love with Chen Chi, but she's already got someone, Jimmy. After gaining respect from her father, Ray is betrayed and has to earn money in the meantime. He eventually meets back with Zhou, Chen Chi's father, he tells him of how Jimmy is a traitor and for the remainder of the game you must take down Jimmy's empire. After Jimmy is presumably killed in an explosion, Zhou gives Ray his blessing to go out with Chen Chi, but finds out that she has been kidnapped by a scarred Jimmy, however Ray manages to save Chen Chi and shoot down Jimmy's helicopter with a car.

Like the play upon which it is based, the film tells the story of a middle-aged gay couple – Renato Baldi, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin Mougeotte, his star attraction – and the madness that ensues when Renato's son Laurent brings home his fiancée Andrea and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.

The film centers around Norman, who is soon to marry his boyfriend Sky (Perry). Norm's parents do not approve of this, but give him $10,000 to use for the wedding. With this money, he hires Clint (Cowen), a professional wedding video director. He sends Clint out to videotape some of his best friends. This includes Julie (Oliver), a naive country girl who is surprised to find out Norman is gay; and Heather (B.), a street-wise, egocentric African American woman who doesn't really care either way. The three were once roommates in New York City; they lived on Gay Street.

Other guests include Norm's Minnesotan lumberjack cousin Sean (Duffy) and his conservative-but-open-minded wife Rachel (Campos) who is eight months pregnant, promiscuous stripper Cory (Murphy), Norm's college buddy Syrus (Yarbrough), and opinionated eurotrash DJ Lars (Schlichting). The group ultimately converge in Norm's castle in Los Angeles where pre-wedding festivities unfold.

Crises unfold when the wedding planner Norm has hired discovers he is gay and backs out; when her assistant secretly continues the gig, the planner cancels all of their catering and florists. Additionally it becomes evident to everyone at the wedding that Sky has a female mistress; Cory reveals that Sky is also a gay porn star.

Ultimately, the wedding goes off mostly without a hitch (thanks in part to Norman's obliviousness because he took ecstasy), and Clint edits the video down into a charming (if false) portrayal of a happy wedding.

Joe Tynan is a liberal U.S. senator from New York with possible presidential ambitions. For the time being, he is weighing the nomination of a potential Supreme Court justice, with the elderly Sen. Birney urging him strongly to support the nominee.

Tynan is married, with two children, and his frequent work-related absence is an occupational hazard tolerated by wife Ellie, who is busy studying for a new career as a therapist. When he travels to Louisiana to investigate the nominated judge, he encounters labor lawyer Karen Traynor, who knows of evidence revealing the nominee to be unfit. As they spend time together, Tynan and Karen (who is also married) begin a romantic affair.

While back in Washington, D.C., engaging in a friendly rivalry with Southern senator Kittner and preparing for the party's upcoming national convention, Tynan begins to realize that Sen. Birney is suffering from a form of early dementia. Ellie, meanwhile, discovers Tynan's relationship with Karen, causing considerable friction at home. Tynan breaks off the affair, and makes amends to his wife as he delivers a speech at the convention.

Lysippe, an Amazon princess, is suffering. Her tribe has vanished and her sister has been badly wounded. The Gryphon Stone can help, but the evil Alchemist, who has taken Lysippe as his slave, is after it also. With the help of her friend Hero, who has also been enslaved, they seek sanctuary in the Temple of Artemis. There, Lysippe makes new friends and enemies. While her sister Tanis is being healed, Lysippe stays in the temple, but she sometimes ventures out resulting in finding a nymph named Smyrna. As Smyrna instructs Lysippe in Amazon ways, Lysippe is formulating a plan to rid of the Alchemist and finally be free again.

Category:2002 British novels Category:British fantasy novels Category:Novels by Katherine Roberts Category:Voyager Books books

In the beginning of the story, Alexis' home Halicarnassos is at war with Macedon. As the war rages on Alexis' stepmother still wants to make the pilgrimage to the river. Alexis has the gift to turn statues that have enough gold on them into real people. This gift gets him into trouble as his stepmother has the spirit of the old king who wants to reclaim his land. Alexis meets the princess and turns her fabled chimera to life and it rampages through the city attacking all who are known as their enemies. Alexis then goes to the river and reverses his gift and is shocked when his father and his best friend are still real when all of the other statues have turned back to stone.

Category:2003 British novels Category:British fantasy novels Category:Novels by Katherine Roberts Category:Novels set in ancient Greece Category:Voyager Books books

The story is about the young Sosi. Sosi has a curse, that makes him half-snake. At each full moon, he is able to "shed his skin" and adopt the look of anyone he wants. When his brother, Theron, is injured, Sosi uses his curse to take his place in the Olympic games so that Theron won't be disqualified. Although his brother Theron is nasty to him, Sosi wants to find out about his curse at Olympia, and redeem himself in his family's eyes.

However, Sosi uncovers a terrorist plot at the Games. Boys competing in the Games, the favourites to win (including Theron), are all being targeted by the mysterious Warriors of Ahriman. Sosi soon discovers that the Warriors are targeting those that are sent dreams by the goddess of victory, Nike, who has manifested herself in the form of a priestess to oversee the Games.

When the priestess reveals herself, it is up to Sosi and his friends to make sure that the ones who she sent victory dreams win their events. However, when three out of the four she picked lose, she becomes extremely weak. The Warrior of Ahriman reveals his plan to sacrifice Nike to arise an army from the dead, Sosi has to embrace his curse. He turns into a snake, and calls Zeus to bring his thunderbolt down on the Warrior, just like his past incarnation, Sosipolis, did 36 years ago.

When the Warrior is defeated, fears arise that Soksi will go to the same fate as Sosipolis and be unable to change back from a snake. However, when Theron admits to everyone how much he loves his little brother (when Sosi's own mother cannot bring herself to) Sosi transforms back into his human self.

The pair meet in Pella, Macedonia, and Alexander manages to be the only rider on Bucephalus after a battle in which Bucephalas lost his left eye by an enemy pike.

Katherine Roberts acknowledges that the characters Charmia and Tydeos, both grooms in the royal stable, are fictional, as is the evil horsemaster. The names of the other horses are also fictional, though the horses themselves were real enough. Prince Ochus, King Darius's son, was given a larger part than in most records, and the ghosts that Bucephalus often sees are also fictional.

From the moment the battle-scarred horse Bucephalas allows a prince and a runaway girl to sit on his back, he is bound to them for ever. The prince is the young Alexander the Great, who he proudly carries into battle, blazing a trail to the very edge of the world in master's search for glory and adventure. The girl, Charm, is a lowly stable hand, who brushes away the ghosts Bucephalas sees and forgives his arrogant ways. But unlike Alexander, Charm has darker reasons to stay by his side. Through the eyes of the horse, history, mystery and adventure unfold.

The story takes place at a downtown dance hall in which Duke Taylor is the band leader, Gloria Bishop the singer, Floyd Stevens the saxophonist and Louie Brooks a local gangster and regular patron.

Gloria has a "past" with both Duke and Louie but as the film opens is falling for Floyd. Floyd is steady and true but might not be if he knew more about her romantic history. Duke thinks Gloria is not good enough for Floyd whom he treats as a brother. Louie is interested in having her back but not as much as he wants to rob premises upstairs from the dance hall.

Floyd proposes to Gloria; she accepts but is worried about her past and puts him off. Duke manoeuvres him out of town for a few months and sets about luring Gloria back to him to expose her shallow nature. The ploy fails because he starts to fall in love with her as well. In the meantime the robbery takes place (off screen) and Louie kills someone but isn't caught. Floyd comes back and after a rapid sequence of misunderstandings and the arrival of the police looking for Louie everything works out nicely.