Prince Tsoi (Hwang Jang Lee) is the cruel lord of the Ching regime. He has earned his high rank by using his Lohan Fist techniques to destroy the Ming rebels, who, in turn have targeted Prince Tsoi for assassination. Enter Shao Hai (Meng Hoi), a naive kung fu scholar who earns a living by acting as a janitor for the local Shaolin Temple. The monks here apparently don't take their positions too seriously, as they spend their days bullying Shao Hai instead of praying or practicing the martial arts. Shao Hai lives with his Aunt who adopted him, and learns the martial arts from his drunken master Uncle (Chien Yuet San, doing his best Sam the Seed routine), formerly a head monk of the local temple. The day Prince Tsoi comes to the temple, Shao Hai watches the arrival from the roofs above. He sees incognito rebel assassins about to attack Prince Tsoi, and yells out to the Prince to take cover. Upon hearing Shao Hoi's warning, the guards leap into action and chase off the rebel offenders. Prince Tsoi then shows his gratitude towards Shao Hai for potentially saving his life.

Prince Tsoi (who really doesn't like Shao Hai) allows the young man to think he has gained favor with the Ching. So this immediately goes to the head of Shao Hai and he goes around alienating those around him. Meanwhile, Shao Hai's Uncle asks him to spy on Prince Tsoi to determine which form of martial arts he practices. When Shao Hai informs his Uncle that the Prince practices Lohan style, he convinces Shao Hai to ask Prince Tsoi to teach him this super secret form of kung fu. The Prince is suspicious of Shao Hai's desire to learn Lohan Fist, but agrees because he sees the kid as a pawn of the rebels. In short time, Shao Hai learns Lohan and Buddhist Fist techniques. He finally gets to apply these skills when masked rebel assassins penetrate the palace security to kill the Prince. He beats off the assassins, and manages to kill one. When he removes the mask of the dead rebel, Shao Hai goes into shock when the assassin is none other than his Aunt who adopted him. Shao Hai now realizes that he is on the wrong side of this conflict. He goes to seek the advice of his Uncle, who recruits him into the rebellion, something that his Aunt firmly believed in.

The Prince's advisors warn him that someday Shao Hai could become a potentially great opponent with Lohan Fist training. But the Prince still plans to use Shao Hai to expose the underground. Over time, Shao Hai becomes more knowledgeable with the Lohan techniques, and begins to train his Uncle. The Prince finally catches on about whom Shao Hai is, and demands he send his Uncle to the palace to face him. After the two fight to a standstill, the Prince's guards interrupt the fight, giving the Uncle the opportunity to escape. The angered Prince Tsoi organizes a search party to track down and kill Shao Hai and his Uncle. Meanwhile, both men have hidden themselves in the forest where Uncle begins training his nephew in the ways of the Buddhist's Palm; the only known method of counteracting the Lohan Fist. After undergoing training of the Five Elements Buddha's Palm techniques, the enlightened Shao Hai returns to the palace to challenge his opponent. He fights through Prince Tsoi's bodyguards to finally engage the Prince himself. Shao Hai must defeat the Prince not only to avenge his aunt's death, but in the name of freedom itself...

After surviving a sneak attack on himself and fellow feds Jimmy (William Steis) and Gene (Michael Gregory) as they transport Mafia boss Raymond Manta (Titus Welliver) out of a Mexican jail, FBI agent Jeff Douglas (Robert Patrick) becomes an unwitting pawn of the White Hand mafia cartel.

The White Hand lies to Jeff and says that his family is being held hostage and he has to help them smuggle a huge drug shipment to get them released unharmed, Jeff is forced to turn one-time courier for the White Hand, whose leaders are Manta and four others—Helmut Vitch (Mick Fleetwood), Milt Kowalski (Miles O'Keeffe), Russ LaFleur (Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter), and Hansel Lee (Gustav Vintas). In truth, the cartel had already murdered his wife and two young children, and planned to kill Jeff after he succeeded in delivering their drugs.

The drugs are delivered and the White Hand sets Jeff up to be killed in a car bombing in Las Vegas, but Jeff's instincts kick in and he is only slightly injured in the blast, and the cartel thinks he is dead and gone. Jeff then finds out that his family was wiped out and breaks down. A short time later, the FBI wants to get him back to work, but Jeff has begun planning his revenge against the White Hand.

Officially censured but unofficially aided by concerned agent Megan (Kristen Meadows), whose mother was raped and murdered years ago, Jeff steals some FBI files and kicks off his cartel extermination campaign by killing Vitch in Las Vegas, at Vitch's casino.

In New Orleans, Jeff sabotages LaFleur's liquid-heroin deal with a factory fire, and then at LaFleur's night club, Jeff finishes him off in full view of a satellite hook-up watched by Manta and Kowalski at their hide-out. Kowalski does not enjoy killing and is angry that Manta's brutal murder plan is disrupting their business, which begins to anger Manta in turn.

After that, Jeff kills Lee in his heavily guarded mansion in Seattle. After Megan arrives to speed up Jeff's getaway, the couple is apprehended by local cops, and then ambushed by Manta's men.

Although Megan is captured and taken away in a helicopter, Jeff momentarily flees. Angered by Kowalski's accurate descriptions of him as a sadistic creep, Manta shoots and kills Kowalski at his complex, but endures a savage beating from Jeff who is able to rescue Megan.

Under arrest at FBI headquarters, Manta says it's not over by a long shot. Manta grabs a gun, and in an effort to disarm Manta, Jeff plows into Manta and sends him through a window. As a result, Manta takes a fall to his death, which completes Jeff's mission to wipe out the White Hand cartel.

As in the previous series, Green and Benton play Colin Armstrong and Howie Scott, two best friends since childhood who are married to two sisters, Jackie (played by Nicola Stephenson) and Pauline (played by Siân Reeves). The series commences with the two friends being the only witnesses to a gangland shooting, and after the police fail to catch the culprit, and the families' houses are set alight, the families are forced to go on the witness protection programme, which relocates them to London. They are forced to change their names, with Colin choosing Brad Shearer, a reference to Newcastle United F.C. player Alan Shearer, and Howie choosing the name Duncan Carr, not realising he didn't have to stick to the suggestion list. He requests a change of name but it's too late. He decides to get people to call him by his middle name which is Wayne but then realises that it now sounds like the curse word 'wanker'.

It is also revealed that Pauline is having an affair with a workmate, although Howie is unaware of this. This develops later in the series as, separated from her lover, she develops an attraction to the police officer who first dealt with their case, DS Tate, failing to realise that he is being blackmailed by the criminal who is after the two families, Sweeney, who has bought up his gambling debts.

As the problems between the two families worsen, Colin and Howie make numerous accidental references to others that reveal their true names and origins. Both of their relationships with their wives also become strenuous, after it is revealed that Colin was married prior to marrying Jackie, yet never revealed the fact to her. Howie is also in trouble as he was best man at the wedding and failed to disclose the fact to Jackie or Pauline.

While Jackie forgives Colin, Howie and Pauline's relationship seems to be over after she disappears without trace, spending the day with DS Tate, unaware that he is revealing her location to Sweeney. However, DS Tate changes his mind and decides not to take her to an agreed meeting place with Sweeney. Pauline phones Howie to tell him that their relationship is over, unaware that her call is being listened to by the police, who believe that she has been kidnapped.

Pauline then spends the night with Tate, giving him the opportunity to read her address from a piece of paper in her handbag. Meanwhile, Howie and Colin become traffic wardens, and Colin accidentally gives his influence David Ginola a parking ticket. Partially as a result of this, they resign their positions as traffic wardens and Colin buys a large quantity of gardening equipment, proposing that they set up a landscape gardening business.

After discovering that Pauline is having an affair, Howie trails her to a hotel where she is with DS Tate, however, they are caught and kidnapped by Sweeney's thugs. They are taken before Sweeney, who demands they return the drugs they 'stole' from him. Howie and Colin lead Sweeney's thugs on a false trail to find the drugs.

The Police find out that the person Pauline has been contacting is DS Tate, and immediately interrogate her about it. Meanwhile, Sweeney's thugs take Howie and Colin back to Sweeney's caravan, where DS Tate is waiting for them, ready to shoot them both. DS Tate, Howie and Colin escape after fooling Sweeney's thugs into thinking Tate actually shot them (He poured tomato ketchup over them to make it look like blood). One of the thugs kills the other, and claims that he will make it look like the thug and Tate shot each other - "After all, you were shagging the big guy's wife." Howie and Colin hear this, overpower the thug and take his gun, before throwing him into the back of a nearby car. They drive to the airfield where Sweeney is about to leave in a plane, and mistakenly stop the wrong plane, however, the police arrive and stop the plane carrying Sweeney. Tate is arrested for conspiring to kidnap, and Colin and Howie return to the safe house. However, Colin collapses and it transpires that after Sweeney's thug kicked him earlier, he had a ruptured spleen. Colin thinks he's been given the 'snip', however, it is explained that he had a splenectomy and is not able to have the 'snip'. Jackie reveals that she is pregnant and Colin and Howie decide to stay in London.

After a record-breaking storm, David and Chuck discover half-million-year-old fossils on the cliffs near their homes where no such bones should be, prompting Tyco Bass to reveal some of the history and customs of the Mycetians, the Mushroom People of Earth. After Tyco's departure, the boys' discovery of the ailing Prewytt Brumblydge's unexpected Mycetian connections leads them to attempt a new, unscheduled trip to Basidium.

Andie Bradley (Johnson) is a gymnast whose ambition is to participate in the Olympics. When offered the opportunity to train with one of the leading coaches in the U.S., she gratefully accepts. This requires her to move to Seattle from Portland. When she attends her first session, she is scrutinized by the coach about her weight and feels the pressure to lose the pounds. At first she adopts a sensible diet, but it soon leads to excessive calorie restriction. When she hangs out with a fellow team member, Leslie (Tara Boger), Leslie tells her that there are ways around it and encourages her to self-induce vomiting, saying, "You can eat what you want, and not gain a pound." Andie continues restricting her calories, but when she cannot help eating due to extreme hunger, she resorts to purging methods.

Her mom notices changes in her weight, while her boyfriend and best friend also notice changes in her attitude. Andie eventually tells her best friend that she sees the changes and can't stop her behavior. She faints twice, both during competitions, and goes to the hospital, after fainting the second time, where a doctor talks to her parents about her health problems. Her parents decide that she and her mother will move back home. Andie runs away to the gym, where she sees a new girl being given the same lecture about her weight that was given to her. She decides that she is not ready to go back to training. After moving back to Portland, Andie joins a support group where she is encouraged to eat as part of her therapy. At the end of the movie, she is seen walking into the school gymnasium and getting back on the balance beam.

Part 1

The secret society "Big Fire", scheming to conquer Earth, is furthering ''Project GR''. The special investigation organization of the United Nations dispatches an agent in ''Country T'' to interfere with the plan. Daisaku Kusama, a Japanese tourist, is mistaken for the agent and is abducted by "BF".

Part 2

Daisaku Kusama comes back barely alive to Japan with Secret Agent Azuma with GR1. However, "BF" plans an attempt on Daisaku's life to recapture GR1 and they let GR2 and GR3 attack Tokyo.

Part 3

A bomber carrying a hydrogen bomb crashes into Japanese waters. The hydrogen bomb has already been recovered by "BF" though the bomber is recovered at once. "BF" demands that GR1 should be exchanged for the hydrogen bomb.

Mia Thermopolis' boyfriend won't take her to the prom. Her 15th birthday is coming soon, and friends convince her that he'll ask on that day. Michael and his band sing a song for her on her birthday. The volume was up so that everyone in the school heard. Michael earns detention but still manages to make it in time for Mia's birthday dinner. Mia was surprised by her birthday gifts, especially a snowflake necklace from Michael that symbolizes their falling in love at the winter dance. Dinner turns into a disaster. Poodle jumps out of Grand'Mere's purse and runs around the restaurant. The busboy (Jangbu) spills a meal on Grand'Mere's suit and gets fired. Mia throws a birthday party. While parents are getting more birthday supplies, teens play a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. Mia asks Michael to prom, but he refuses her by saying he'll go bowling instead.
Instead of taking her boyfriend Boris into the closet with her, Lilly enters with the handsome Jangbu. Boris breaks down.
Mia's parents return home and stop the party. At school, Boris tells Lilly that he loves her so much he'll drop a globe on his head if she doesn't take him back. Lilly refuses him, and he accidentally does so and injures his skull. Mia and Michael stop him from severely bleeding. Tina comforts Boris, and they become a couple. Later on, all the busboys in town go on protest after the incident at the restaurant. Protest ruins the venue for the senior prom. Grandmere helps and provides a new location, the Empire State Building. Mia blackmails Lana into letting Michael's band play at the prom, which they do. Michael and Mia reach second base at the prom, and Mia's mother gives birth to Rocky Thermopolis-Giannini. Jangbu, the busboy, returns to his home country, leaving Lilly to contemplate her decision to leave Boris and his newfound love for Tina.

Jangbu the busboy returns to his home country; leaving Lilly to contemplate her decision to leave Boris and his newfound love for Tina.

Category:2004 American novels Category:American young adult novels

Category:The Princess Diaries novels Category:HarperCollins books Category:Proms in fiction

The plot is typically intricate: Peter Jamiesen, the jilted boyfriend of the formerly wealthy Virginia Fablon, hires sleuth Lew Archer to investigate the background of Francis Martel, a man of mysterious wealth, grandiose claims, and violent threats. Fablon and Martel quickly wed after Archer's arrival. The resulting inquiries take Archer from the homeless to the wealthy, a canvassing seen in other Macdonald novels. Archer links Martel and Fablon to old gambling debts and a suicide that might have been murder.

Except for brief forays into Las Vegas (the title refers to cash skimmed by casino operators to avoid taxes) and the environs of Los Angeles, the action takes place around Montevista. A wealthy enclave, Montevista is characterized by private clubs, opulent homes and exclusive medical clinics. The plot's implications, however, reach beyond California, as the edges of the story extend to Central America and Europe, whose cultures and economies the book sees as inextricably tied to American life.

The game follows on the events of the first game, in which funky aliens ToeJam and Earl crash landed on Earth. After managing to rebuild their spaceship and returning safely to their home planet of Funkotron, the duo soon learn that a bunch of Earthlings had stowed away on their craft and have now invaded Funkotron. With the humans spreading panic across the planet's citizens, even scaring the source of all funk, Lamont the Funkapotomus, away to another dimension, it is up to ToeJam and Earl to clean up the mess they've made and send all the Earthlings they brought with them back to where they came from.Kristan Reed, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/virtual-console-sega-mega-drive-review?page=2 Virtual Console: SEGA Mega Drive], Eurogamer, Jan 23, 2007, Accessed Apr 8, 2009

In 1981 Leila Murray works as a receptionist in a motel. She begins to offer sexual services to customers in exchange for money. As she explores her sexuality, she discovers within herself an attraction towards semi-rough sex. One of her customers, Gary Jensen, beats her during their first encounter. When he returns to apologize, she accepts and begins to see him again. When one of Leila's other customers gets too rough, Leila flees to Gary's room to seek his consolation and protection. His gentle treatment of her encourages her growing trust in him.

Leila's only confidant, outside of Gary, is a little girl that plays around the inn. The girl lives in an unhappy home, where her parents fight constantly. One day, the girl's Uncle Andy takes the child and her mother Bonnie on a roadtrip. In the midst of this trip, the little girl discovers that her mother and her Uncle Andy are having an affair.

Meanwhile, Leila has grown very close to Gary, who begins to represent an escape from her passionless marriage and dead-end job. She stops charging him for sex. Despite momentary misgivings about his intentions, his passion convinces her to turn away from her life. She steals the money from the inn, and gives it to Gary, along with her savings acquired through her sexual services of the inn's clients. Together, they drive away in his car to his cabin in the woods. Once there, she is informed by one of Gary's friends that he is a pimp, and that his intention is to sell her services to his friends. Trapped, with no money or means of transportation, she is raped and beaten by a group of men invited by Gary. In the midst of her trauma, her mind turns back to the day in her childhood when her Uncle Andy had taken Leila's mother Bonnie out on a roadtrip and killed Bonnie in a fit of jealousy, right in front of the child Leila. It is thus revealed that Leila 'is' the little girl to whom she had been talking throughout the film. The little girl's broken home life holds the key to Leila's grown-up sexuality.

After Leila is raped, one of the men takes pity on her and helps her to escape Gary's cabin. Gary and the men form a search party and comb the woods to find her. The little girl, Leila's child self, appears to Leila to inform her that Gary intends to kill her and that she must fight for her survival. When Gary finds Leila, he is distracted by the distant screaming of the little girl that he can't see, and Leila takes the opportunity to run off and flee to safety in the arms of her friend and co-worker Millie, who had been searching the woods for her, as well. Thus Leila turns her back on Gary and acknowledges the previously-suppressed memories of her past.

A young man Ling Shih-hua (Chang Yi in a rare good guy role) is severely beaten by Japanese mobsters and left for dead on the beach. He is nursed back to health by a pretty young girl, and he vows to take revenge on the criminals. Meanwhile, Miss Tien Li-Chun (Angela Mao) comes to town with a score to settle with Ling. Apparently, her sister was jilted by Ling and she killed herself, so Tien must avenge her by taking his life. Ling begs her to spare him until after he gets his revenge, to which she reluctantly agrees, only to save his life after he gets mercilessly beaten by his enemies. As Tien waits for Ling Shih-hua to recover so she can beat him, he runs into an old man who teaches him the art of t'ai chi. This gives him the edge he needs, and he finally destroys the leader of the gang. Angela finally jumps in to take her revenge, but Ling's girlfriend throws herself between them and begs for mercy. Tien surprisingly spares their lives and storms off into the distance, presumably to find someone else to take out her aggression on.

One year after training a young Freddy Wong (Jackie Chan) in ''Drunken Master'', Beggar So / Sam Seed returns to find that his wife has adopted a son named Foggy. Sam takes a disliking to the boy and tortures him mentally and physically. Devastated, the boy runs away and takes a job at an inn, where he meets Rubber Legs and his student. He overhears that they are looking for Beggar So and want to kill him, making Rubber Legs' Northern 'Drunk Mantis' Boxing supreme.

However, Foggy returns home to warn Beggar So, who has been injured by Rubber Legs. Beggar So sends Foggy to a sickness teacher for herbs to cure him, and the doctor teaches him a dreaded style called 'Sickness Boxing'. Now, armed with this sick form of fighting, Foggy is ready for Drunk Mantis. In the end, Foggy goes berserk and kills Rubber Legs. Unable to escape from his trance, he sees Rubber Legs when he looks at Beggar So and attacks him. The film closes with a freeze frame as Foggy leaps after his adopted father as the doctor watches on.

Director Andrew J. Kuehn has excerpted brief segments of terror and suspense in a wide variety of horror movies and strung them together with added commentary, as well as some enacted narrative, to create a compilation of fright-inducing effects. ''Halloween'' actor Donald Pleasence and ''Dressed to Kill'' star Nancy Allen provide the commentary on topics such as "sex and terror" (''Dressed to Kill'', ''Klute'', ''Ms .45'', ''The Seduction'', ''When a Stranger Calls''), loathsome villains (''Dracula'', ''Frankenstein'', ''Friday the 13th Part 2'', ''Halloween I'' & ''II'', ''Marathon Man'', ''Nighthawks'', ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'', ''Vice Squad'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?''), "natural terror" (''Alligator'', ''The Birds'', ''Frogs'', ''Jaws 1'' & ''2'', ''Nightwing''), the occult (''An American Werewolf in London'', ''Rosemary's Baby'', ''The Exorcist'', ''The Omen'', ''Carrie'', ''The Fog'', ''The Fury'', ''The Howling'', ''Poltergeist'', ''The Shining'') and spoofs (''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'', ''Hold That Ghost'', ''The Ghost Breakers'', ''Scared Stiff'', ''Phantom of the Paradise'', ''Saturday the 14th''). In one segment of the anthology, legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock presents his concepts of how to create suspense in a clip from ''Alfred Hitchcock: Men Who Made The Movies''.

Trouble arrives in town when a cloaked kung-fu expert sets about embarrassing local masters with his exceptional ability. After meeting a humble, unassuming master and his three eager students, the fighter continues his arrogant mission and leaves another few reputations in tatters. The defeated master stumbles away with his pupils, but is left shattered by his complete loss of face. It is this dejected state that persuades his three students to look for revenge against the mysterious wanderer. However, they are well aware of their limitations and decide to split up in the search for worthy masters.

The first avenger meets an eccentric Crane style master who easily beats him during a fight. After some persuasion, the master accepts the newcomer and decides to teach him the precise Crane movements. The second meets a bean curd seller and her blind father. An initial misunderstanding is turned into a teaching opportunity when the second student is taught legwork by the high-kicking woman. Finally, the third is given a chance to learn pole-fighting from a fisherman after a failed attempt to steal his fish. This opening animosity also turns into a fruitful teacher/student relationship. Meanwhile, the original shamed master is also preparing his skills and, in between drinking bouts, sharpens up his swordplay skills. With each of the four now galvanized by this period of teaching, they are now ready to meet their tormentor.

Golden Swallow is forced into violence when a figure from her mysterious past goes on a killing rampage while leaving evidence that holds her responsible. Golden Swallow gets involved with a love triangle involving a mad, but righteous, swordsman named Silver Roc and a gentle warrior named Golden Whip. The three team up to conquer the evil forces of the martial world, but their joint venture only lasts so long, due to the two men's egos. Ultimately, a duel to the death is planned between them, leaving Golden Swallow caught between two men, both of whom she admires.

Based on the original Infinity Timeline and Exegesis. Human descendants of planet Earth, who have long lost the knowledge of Earth's existence, inhabit a star by the name of Delta on planet Geodesa under the rule of Deltan Government. Scientists predict the collapse of the star within 500 years. Deltan government construct a massive evacuation vessel named the Ark Starship which may hold a few million occupants from the billions that are on Geodesa. As the filled Ark ship leaves Delta in search of a new home, remnants of the Deltan government call evacuation of the whole Delta star system. Only a few million people manage to escape before the collapse of the star. Deltan government reforms on nearby habitable stars growing into an interstellar civilization known as the Deltan Federation. Hundreds of years later the Ark Starship colonizes a star several thousand light years away from the collapsed Delta star forming the Centaurus culture. Thousands of years later Centaurus re-establish contact with the Deltan Federation. Centuries later distant Deltan colonies form the Star Fold Confederacy politico-economic union against the wishes of the Deltan Federation. Deltan Federation declares war on Star Fold Confederacy. Deltan Federation closes Hyper-spatial Interstellar Portal used for high speed travel between Deltan and Star Fold space. War lasts for decades at a seeming stalemate and is brought to end by Centaurus acting as peace negotiators. A thousand years later practically all humans develop a genetic malfunction that causes infertility. All interstellar governments blame each other and especially the Centaurus due to their Biogen gene manipulation program. A cold war sets in. A data file is received from an anonymous source that points that a cure may be found on Earth. From this point the game's players act as protagonists with the discovery of Earth as their main objective. I-Novae Studios noted that discovery of Earth would end the beta phase for the game, which corresponds to the subtitle 'The Quest for Earth'.

Sam Damon (Sam Elliott) is a virile and praiseworthy warrior.

Courtney Massengale (Cliff Potts) is the opposite—an impotent, self-aggrandizing conniver.

The story tracks their journey over 40 years, between the First and Second World Wars, as their lives, and the lives of those around them, change along with the world.

A series of violent deaths and the disappearance of a young woman bring FBI agents Hallaway (Bill Pullman) and Anderson (Julia Ormond) to a town in rural Nebraska. They meet the three survivors of a mysterious bloodbath; the young Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins), the cocaine-addicted Bobbi (Pell James), and the foul-mouthed police officer Bennett (Kent Harper). Hallaway watches the trio's respective interviews with Captain Billings (Michael Ironside) and officers Wright (Charlie Newmark) and Degrasso (Gill Gayle), where they tell the story of what brought them there:

In a warped way to pass the day, Officer Bennett and his partner Officer Conrad (French Stewart) watch (both hidden from view) and shoot the tires of cars driving along an isolated county road, then convince the drivers their tires blew out as a result of their speeding, and threaten them afterwards. They do so to one young couple then let them go.

A bit later, Stephanie, traveling on vacation with her family, sees a car (the couple's) with blood on it and tells it to her oblivious mother (Cheri Oteri). Bobbi, using drugs with her boyfriend Johnny (Mac Miller), is in a car right behind them. At a rest stop, both girls learn a pair of killers are responsible for a string of murders and likely the woman's disappearance. Stephanie's stepfather Steven (Hugh Dillon) supposedly speeds and their car's tire is shot by Bennett. Bobbi and Johnny are about to offer help, but the officers arrive and harass all of them, making Steven put Conrad's gun in his mouth and making Bobbi swear at Johnny. After all of this, Stephanie tells the officers about the bloody car she saw earlier. The officers leave to investigate.

Steven gets to work changing the tire, and Bobbi gets out to talk with Stephanie's family, who all feel violated by the officers. Simultaneously, after passing a white van, Bennett and Conrad find the car Stephanie described farther down the road, with evidence of an altercation, and race back towards the van. The van plows into the back of Johnny's car, killing him and Steven. A dead man is at the wheel, and a live person, covered in a black bag, is sitting in the passenger seat of the van, whom Bobbi tries to save. Bennett and Conrad arrive back at the scene. In the chaos, Conrad is killed and persons emerge from the van wearing rubber masks, kill Stephanie's mother and brother, and knock Bennett unconscious. Stephanie and Bobbi take refuge in the police car.

Presently, Hallaway and Anderson are trying to figure things out when bodies are discovered in a motel nearby. Anderson takes Wright and Degrasso to the scene, leaving Hallaway with Bobbi, Billings, Bennett, and Stephanie, who whispers something in Hallaway's ear after Anderson leaves. Hallaway talks with the three others, while Degrasso discovers nude pictures of Anderson and Hallaway. Leafing through them in Anderson's backseat, Degrasso is shocked to see the agents with the body of a dead woman. Before he can react, Anderson shoots both Degrasso and Wright dead, then dumps both bodies by the roadside. Hallaway, meanwhile, reveals that he was at the bloodbath earlier, and reveals he and Anderson are in fact the killers. Hallaway kills Billings, and when Anderson returns Bennett and Bobbi are also murdered.

A phone message left at the police station reveals the bodies at the motel are those of the missing woman and two real FBI Agents. As Anderson and Hallaway drive away they see Stephanie standing out in a field by the side of the road. Hallaway relates to Anderson that the little girl was on to them all along so he let her go free. Anderson tells Hallaway, "I think that's the most romantic thing in the whole world." Stephanie watches their vehicle disappear into the distance.

The film begins with two recently escaped convicts – Frank (James Remar) and "Red" (Jaimz Woolvett) – approaching a group of campers. Frank, the elder of the pair, shoots and kills the campers.

D.J. Farraday (Robert Glen Keith) discovers that his father, Del (Dean Stockwell), has been having an affair. D.J. asks Del to meet him at the family's cabin by the lake, where D.J. intends to confront him about his adultery. When the two arrive at the summer house, they find Del's younger son, Campbell "Cam" Farraday (Jason Behr), already there. Eventually it is revealed that Del had found Cam and his boyfriend, Billy, embracing there at the cabin. Del brutally beat Billy, and father and son have not spoken since. While D.J. is trying to convince Cam to stay and attempt a reconciliation, Cam reveals to him that Billy is dead, and the clear implication is that Cam blames his father for the loss.

A short while later, the two escaped convicts show up at the cabin and ask to use the phone, claiming that their car has broken down. Red, who is introduced as Frank's adult son, makes a point of taking up the hospitality offered, using that excuse to remain in the house (over Frank's objection). As the evening progresses Frank seems to be forcing Del into a challenge. Tensions are high, as Frank makes his play for Alpha of the house. At one point, D.J. goes so far as to suggest that "we all just whip 'em out and get this over with."

The police show up looking for the two escaped convicts, and things get tense very quickly. It soon becomes clear that Cam knew the convicts and has had some sort of entanglement with them. The family must reconcile and put aside their issues with each other to deal with the menacing force of Frank. Tragedy ensues in the film's final few moments, good vanquishes evil, and father and sons are reconciled.

In Los Angeles in 1928, single mother Christine Collins returns home to discover that her nine-year-old son, Walter, is missing. Reverend Gustav Briegleb publicizes Christine's plight and rails against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for its incompetence, corruption and the extrajudicial punishment meted out by its "Gun Squad," led by Chief James E. Davis. Several months after Walter's disappearance, the LAPD tells Christine that the boy has been found alive. Believing the positive publicity will negate recent criticism of the department, the LAPD organizes a public reunion. Although "Walter" claims he is Christine's son, she says he is not. Captain J.J. Jones, the head of the LAPD's Juvenile Division, insists the boy is Walter and pressures Christine into taking him home "on a trial basis."

After Christine confronts Jones with physical discrepancies between "Walter" and her son, Jones arranges for a medical doctor to visit her. The doctor tells Christine that "Walter" is three inches shorter than before his disappearance because trauma has shrunk his spine and that the man who took Walter had him circumcised. A newspaper prints a story implying that Christine is an unfit mother; Briegleb tells Christine it was planted by police to discredit her. Both Walter's teacher and his dentist give Christine signed letters asserting that "Walter" is an impostor. Christine tells her story to the press; as a result, Jones sends her to Los Angeles County Hospital's "psychopathic ward". She befriends inmate Carol Dexter, who tells Christine she is one of several women who were sent there for challenging police authority. Dr. Steele diagnoses Christine as delusional and forces her to take mood-regulating pills. Steele says he will release Christine if she admits she was mistaken about "Walter." She refuses.

Detective Ybarra travels to a ranch in Wineville, Riverside County, to arrange the deportation of 15-year-old Sanford Clark to Canada. The boy's uncle named Gordon Stewart Northcott, has fled after a chance encounter with Ybarra, who mentions his business there as being a juvenile matter. Clark tells Ybarra that Northcott forced him to help kidnap and murder around twenty children and he identifies Walter as one of them. Jones tells Briegleb that Christine is in protective custody following a mental breakdown. Jones orders Clark's deportation, but Ybarra takes Clark to the murder site and tells him to dig where the bodies are buried. Clark hesitates, but he soon uncovers body parts. Briegleb secures Christine's release by showing Steele a newspaper story about the Wineville killings that names Walter as a possible victim. Under interrogation by Ybarra, Walter's impostor reveals that his motive was to secure transport to Los Angeles to see his favorite actor, Tom Mix and says the police told him to lie about being Christine's son. The police capture Northcott in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Meanwhile, Briegleb introduces Christine and her case to famed attorney "S.S." Hahn, who takes the case pro bono and quickly secures a court order for the release of other unjustly imprisoned women whom the police wanted to silence.

On the day of the city council's hearing in the case, Christine, Hahn and Briegleb arrive at Los Angeles City Hall, where they encounter thousands of protesters demanding answers from the city and decrying the LAPD. The hearing is intercut with scenes from Northcott's trial. The council concludes that Jones and Davis should be removed from duty and that extrajudicial internments by police must be stopped. Northcott's jury finds him guilty of murder and the judge sentences him to death by hanging.

Two years later, Christine has still not given up her search for Walter. Northcott sends her a message saying he is willing to admit to killing Walter on condition that Christine meets him before his execution. She visits Northcott, but he refuses to tell her if he killed her son. Northcott is executed the next day.

In 1935 David Clay, one of the boys assumed to have been killed, is found alive in Hesperia, California. He reveals that one of the boys with whom he was imprisoned was Walter and that Walter, another boy, and he escaped but were separated. David does not know whether Walter was recaptured, but he says Walter helped him escape, giving Christine hope that he could still be alive.

In the epilogue, we learn that after the hearing Captain Jones was suspended, Chief Davis was demoted and Los Angeles Mayor George Cryer chose not to run for re-election; that California's state legislature made it illegal to forcibly commit people to psychiatric facilities based solely on the word of authorities; that Rev. Briegleb continued to use his radio show to expose police misconduct and political corruption; that Wineville is said to have changed its name to Mira Loma to escape the stigma of the murders; and that Christine Collins reportedly never stopped searching for her son.

Although he aspires to become an artist, middle-class Charles Ryder reads history at the University of Oxford, where he befriends the flamboyant and wealthy Lord Sebastian Flyte. Sebastian's mother, Lady Marchmain, strongly disapproves of Sebastian's lifestyle, especially his heavy drinking. When Sebastian takes Charles home to visit his nanny, Charles is enthralled by the grandeur of the Marchmain family estate, known as Brideshead, and entranced by its residents, including the devout Roman Catholic Lady Marchmain and her other children, Sebastian's elder brother Bridey and his sisters Julia and Cordelia.

When Lord Marchmain invites Sebastian and Julia to visit him and his mistress Cara in Venice, Lady Marchmain encourages Charles to go with them in the hope that he can act as a positive influence on her son. Increasingly interested in Julia, Charles surreptitiously kisses her in a dark alley, unaware that Sebastian can see them from the other side of a canal. Jealous of his attention to his sister, Sebastian sets out to end this friendship, and on their return to Britain, Lady Marchmain makes it clear that Charles cannot marry Julia since he is not Catholic and professes to be an atheist.

Sebastian's mother, concerned about his increasing alcoholism, cancels his allowance. During a visit to Brideshead, Ryder gives Sebastian money, which he uses to buy alcohol. Later that day, at a party given by the family, Charles is shocked when Lady Marchmain announces that the celebration is in honour of Julia's engagement to Canadian businessman Rex Mottram. Sebastian arrives at the party late and improperly dressed. After an embarrassing scene, Sebastian flees the party, and Lady Marchmain privately dresses down Charles because he gave Sebastian money, and tells him that he is no longer welcome at Brideshead. Sebastian flees to Morocco.

Four years elapse. Lady Marchmain has become terminally ill. She asks Charles to find Sebastian and bring him home. Charles travels to Morocco, but Sebastian could not return even if he wanted to, which he clearly does not. He is in the hospital with fluid in one of his lungs, and the doctor warns Charles that Sebastian is too ill to travel.

More time elapses. Julia marries Rex, and Charles marries as well, and becomes successful as an artist.

Charles is reunited with Julia on an ocean liner travelling to Britain from New York. They immediately realise they are still in love and decide to leave their respective spouses and live together. Charles and Julia return to Brideshead, where Charles plans to ask Rex to step aside so he and Julia can be together. Rex first implies he will never let Julia go, and accuses Charles of just wanting the estate. However, he then relents and agrees to release her in exchange for two of Charles's paintings, which are now viewed as a good investment. He also reveals that he converted to Catholicism to get Julia, and he disdains Charles for not having been willing to do the same. Julia overhears all of this, is shocked and angered, feeling like bartered goods. Their arrangements made, Charles and Julia prepare to leave Brideshead.

Just as they are driving out, however, they pass two cars arriving: Lord Marchmain is terminally ill, and has returned with Cara to spend his final days in his home. On his deathbed Lord Marchmain, who hitherto has not wanted Catholicism, regains his faith and dies reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church. Deeply affected by her father's transformation, Julia decides she cannot relinquish her own faith to be with Charles, and the two sadly part.

Several years later, the Second World War is in process. A disillusioned Charles, now an army captain, finds himself once again at Brideshead, this time in its capacity as a military base. A corporal tells him Julia is serving in the women's services overseas and that her elder brother, Bridey, died during the Blitz. We also learn that he is alone – he has no girlfriend or wife.

Charles visits the family chapel, where he finds a single lit candle. He dips his hand into holy water and moves to snuff out a candle that is almost out of wax. However, he then reconsiders, and leaves the flame to burn.

Describing the plot, Mellencamp said, "I can tell what it's not going to be like: It won't be 'Jack and Diane' meets ''Cujo''. He's [King] already written the story—it's very beautiful, more like ''The Green Mile''. It's an American story about an American family. Some of the characters are 100 years old, some are 15. So that will give me the opportunity to write for each character in a different style. I ain't writing a bunch of rock songs."

In a later interview he said, "[It's about] two brothers; they're 19 years old or 20, maybe 18 or 21, who are very competitive and dislike each other immensely. The father takes them to the family vacation place, a cabin that the boys hadn't been to since they were kids. What has happened is that the father had two older brothers who hated each other and killed each other in that cabin. There's a confederacy of ghosts who also live in this house. The older [dead] brothers are there, and they speak to the audience, and they sing to the audience. That's all I want to say, except through this family vacation, many things are learned about the family, and many interesting songs are sung."

The official production synopsis reads: "In the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi in 1967, a terrible tragedy took the lives of two brothers and a beautiful young girl. During the next forty years, the events of that night became the stuff of local legend. But legend is often just another word for lie. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in time to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him—or tear the McCandless family apart forever."

Leo Gogarty (Kelly) marries Margaud Morgan (McDonald) after a whirlwind romance just before shipping out to war. When he returns, he is surprised to discover not only that his bride is not what she led him to believe, but also that she expects a quick divorce. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gogarty must find their place with or without each other in a society still adjusting to peace.

Among the many Gene Kelly dance segments are 'Fido and Me', where Mr. Kelly dances with a dog and a statue, and a sequence on a construction site with a number of children.

Following the death of her mother, Asuka Higuchi travels to Tokyo to search for her long lost father. When she meets up with her half-siblings completely by coincidence, she learns that even they have never seen or even met their father. Asuka comes to stay at the Sudou residence with her younger brother and sister in hopes they will be one day reunited with their estranged father.

Zoku Shishunki Miman Okotowari

After learning that Yashiro-sensei's true name is Takashi Sudou, Asuka has at last found her biological father. However, the three siblings also discover that Yashiro-sensei is actually the father of only Asuka and Kazusa; Manato's father was the real Yashiro and he has no blood relation to either Asuka or Kazusa. Takashi Sudou took on Yashiro's name after his senpai (Yashiro) died and adopted Yashiro's son, Manato, as well.

Shishunki Miman Okotowari Kanketsuhen

The concluding chapter to the Shishunki series. Two other bonus stories are contained in this one volume edition.

The story revolves around Kiichi Miyazawa, a 17-year-old teenage high school student and his father, Seiko Miyazawa, who is training him in the family's secret martial art, Nadashinkage-ryu, a fighting style that was created around the end of the Meiji Era Japan. The style itself uses punches, kicks, throws, grappling, as well as knowledge of striking pressure points and vital points on the human body. With a passion for martial arts, Kiibo is striving to become strong by testing his skills against various fighters from different areas of Japan, as well as the world, via street fights and tournaments.

In the second part of the story, The story starts two years later after the end of high school iron fist legend, the main protagonist Kiichi Miyazawa “Kiibo”, became the heir of his family's martial art Nadashinkage-ryu after the previous one his father Seiko Miyazawa suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of his evil twin brother and Kiichi's uncle Kiryu. In order to pay for hospital bills Kiichi has turned to fighting in illegal underground matches called dark fights in which almost anything is allowed. Kiichi has become a mainstay in these fights, not only because of his outstanding victories but that he refuses to seriously injure any of his opponents, upholding his father's teachings of never killing anyone.

During one particular match in which Kiichi was on the verge of losing, his uncle appeared only to see the progress of his nephew's training and to tempt him into using a killing technique on his adversary. Refusing to give into such treachery Kiichi manages to score a win, it was during this fight that we are revealed that Kiichi mistakenly killed an opponent during a mixed martial arts tournament using a technique that Kiryu taught him. That and the fact that he crippled his father are the main reasons that Kiichi must defeat his uncle.

At the end of Kiichi's last match a secret sect of monks called the Hagyu have sent one of their own students to end the Nadashinkage style and its current practitioners, Suzuki “The Wind” Minoru is the one chosen to defeat Kiichi. Elsewhere several benefactors have formed into starting another MMA tournament called the Hyper Battle, which is held once a year in order to find the world's strongest fighter, a title which is held by one called the Battle King. Kiichi at first seems uninterested but later relents and starts training in order to participate, after challenging students at a karate dojo he comes face to face with the one sent to eliminate him “The Wind” Minoru. After testing their abilities Minoru starts to respect him and asks Kiichi to take him to meet his father. It is here that we are shown the consequences of losing to Kiryu.
Seiko Miyazawa “The Quiet Tiger” is shown in a childlike state, barely able to feed himself and at times necessitating the use of a wheelchair, he is suffering from apraxia.

Wanting to help the man who once defeated the Hagyu, The Wind starts treating him himself with knowledge of acupuncture and pressure point massage, in the past Seiko was challenged by the Hagyu school but made the fight look like it ended in a draw in order to make the school not look bad, Minoru was one of the few to take notice. After much treatment at Minoru's hands Seiko starts to recover from all his conditions baffling all the doctors at his miraculous results. Seiko gives a heartwarming thanks to his son Kiichi for taking care of him these past two years, Kiichi tells his father that the one who cured him has already left, Minoru is seen walking away with an invitation to the Hyper Battle. Later that night Kiichi bids his father a farewell as he goes to participate at the Japanese preliminaries for the Hyper Battle.

Meanwhile, at the sacred Shikabane (corpse) mountain many fighters gather at the preliminaries for the Hyper Battle, among them are many fighters of high renown to the lesser known are fighting for a chance to compete. Kiichi during the extent of 24 hours battles many opponents in order to guarantee a spot in the Hyper Battle, becoming a finalist. Meanwhile, Seiko is shown training once again but he seems to be wracked with feelings of revenge and anger towards Kiryu for what he did to him, and vows to get even with him. After being discharged from the hospital he goes to the apparent resting place of his oldest brother Son-O Miyazawa, who was thought to have been killed by Kiryu many years before and ends up being abducted by a mysterious group of individuals.

Afterwards Kiichi travels to New York City where the Hyper Battle will be held. After meeting up with an old friend he goes to Madison Square Garden where the competition will take place, he encounters many fighters among them Minoru, Kiryu who will do an exhibition fight, his father Seiko who was training with a group called “Team D” and the Japanese Brazilian fighter Mauricio “Jet” Naito who is also a deaf mute. It is at this tournament Kiichi will ultimately have to push the limits of his strength and skill in order to better himself as a fighter and martial artist. He becomes the head of the Nadashinkage school by defeating his father "the quiet tiger" Seiko Miyazawa. It is also revealed during the battle that Kiichi is adopted.

During the battle against his father Kiichi pushes his limits once again and masters the Tiger's paw technique, which was previously thought to only reside within those with pure blood of the Nadashinkage since the Nadashinkage is the only clan that possesses the 3 legs: the dragon, the tiger and the falcon possessed by Kiryuu, Seiko, and Son-O respectively. Kiichi use of the tiger's paw strike to defeat his adopted father Seiko only raises further questions about who his biological father might be.

Kiichi then faces Jet in the finals and although he is being pushed back the whole fight manages to win at the last second by redirecting the energy of Jet's punch to strike back at him, winning the tournament. It is revealed during this fight that Kiryuu is the biological father of Jet, and after the battle, while Kiryuu fights the mob enforces of Gambino and Black heart one of the henchmen gets a clear shot at Kiryuu. The bullet seems to be headed straight for an unaware Kiryuu but Jet jumps in front of the bullet at the last second which pierces him in the throat, it is confirmed in the next chapter that Jet has died from blood loss.

After a frustrating day of hunting in Canada that has left a group of combat veterans empty-handed, their hunting party comes to a river. Another band of hunters appears on the other side, and stares them down.

Suddenly a gun goes off, and Zeke retaliates by shooting and killing one of the men on the other riverbank. After an exchange of gunfire, Major Rex and his friends win the skirmish, driving the other group off.

Deciding to keep the incident a secret from the police, they round up a posse of friends and pursue the other hunters through the woods in a bloody mini-war that only Lou questions.

Two bored housewives have affairs with two different men that they meet in online chatrooms. As their online relationships develop offline, they often pass each other unwittingly in the hallways of the motels where they meet their lovers.

One day, the lady known as “Dew” is in a motel room with her college-aged lover. Suddenly, her husband bursts through the door, along with police officers that he has brought along. The other lady, known as “Small Bird”, is in an adjacent room listening to what's going on in Dew's room. Small Bird whispers to her lover to be quiet, because the police officer in the other room is her husband.

The hero, Prince Siegfried, is out riding one day with his friends when he sees a swan with a crown on its head swimming on a lake. One of his friends, Adolf, tries to shoot the swan, but just before his arrow flies, Adolf is transformed into a statue. Siegfried's other friend Benno accuses the swan of practicing witchcraft, neither of them pondering the presence of an owl just behind them. Siegfried is unable to stop thinking about the swan, and decides to follow it as it swims away from its spot on the lake. Siegfried soon finds himself at a castle.

Siegfried watches in surprise as the swan transforms into a beautiful woman in a royal white dress. He approaches her - at first, she is frightened for him and tries to get him to leave. But at his perseverance, she starts to tell him her story. She is Princess Odette. And three years prior, she was kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Rothbart (the owl) who wanted her hand in marriage. Rothbart cursed her to be a swan by day so that no one will fall in love with her, as the only way Rothbart's power can be defeated is when a man loves her with all his heart and soul. Siegfried explains that he already felt something for her the moment he saw her eyes, and asks her to go to his birthday ball the next night, where he will choose her as his bride.

Although at first she refuses, Siegfried is intent and will not take no for an answer, convinces her and when she returns to her room, she daydreams of him. The entire story is being seen through the eyes of Hans and Margarita, two squirrels who are watching them.

Enter Rothbart. His daughter Odille tells him about Siegfried, and Rothbart goes to Odette to tell her to forget about the prince and consider marrying him. She rejects, revealing she has been in love with Siegfried for the past three years.

Rothbart is not going to let Odette go to the ball. So he bars the door and lifts the drawbridge. He and his daughter, Odille, then plot to get Odette to forget Siegfried by getting him to fall in love with someone else—Odille, disguised as Odette.

Odille, disguised as Odette in a black dress, goes to the ball and tricks Siegfried into believing she is the same woman he fell in love with. Meanwhile, Odette manages to escape from Rothbart's castle with the help of the squirrels Hans and Margarita, and hurries to Siegfried's castle.

But just as Odette is about to storm into the ballroom, Rothbart, who was there already there observing Odille, disguised as Odette, carrying out her deception, grabs Odette, holds her mouth shut and brings her closer where she is able witness Siegfried dancing with Odille, disguised as Odette. Thus she watches in horror as Siegfried pledges his love to Odille, disguised as Odette, and announces her as his wife-to-be. Overcome with sorrow, Odette faints into Rothbart's arms.

Rothbart's laughter gets Siegfried's attention and the prince quickly realises his mistake. Odille reveals her true form and the three of them transform into their avian forms and fly back to the castle. Siegfried follows on horseback, where the final showdown between the two men takes place. Hans goes to help the Prince Siegfried but Rothbart transforms him into a toad.

Rothbart initially only wants to scare Siegfried away since he pledged himself to his daughter, but when Siegfried rebuffs his pledge, Odille demands he be killed. After a long fight with Rothbart, the sorcerer has Siegfried cornered and held at sword-point. To save his life, Odette promises to Rothbart that she will love and marry him, but Siegfried, unable to bear the thought of Odette being a prisoner to Rothbart forever, grabs and plunges the sword into his own heart and causes a flash of yellow light which obliterates both Rothbart and Odille. Consequently, all of Rothbart's magic is undone: His castle collapses, Adolf transforms back into a human, Hans and Margarita are reunited, and Odette's curse is broken.

Odette and Siegfried, who survive the castle's collapse, reunite and run into each other's arms. Margarita states that Odette and Siegfried's love was more powerful than all of Rothbart's magic, and Hans agrees he would love Margarita just as much. As the sun rises upon the ruins of Rothbart's castle, all the swans from the lake fly around Odette and Siegfried in celebration.

''The IHOP Papers'' follows the life of Francesca, a disgruntled twenty-year-old virgin lesbian, originally from Southern California who falls in love with her female junior college professor, Irene. After spending some time together, Irene tells Francesca of her plan to undertake a sabbatical in San Francisco, a move that will involve residing with two of her former students—a man and a woman—who are both Irene's lovers. After revealing her amorous feelings to Irene in a letter, Francesca decides to follow her to San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Francesca moves in with Irene and her lovers, Jenny and Gustavo, in an apartment they have nicknamed "Simplicity House," where simple living and nonviolence are practiced. Initially unemployed, Francesca proceeds to search for a job and becomes a hostess at an IHOP; she is quickly promoted to a waitressing position. After a month in San Francisco, Francesca leaves Simplicity House in order to have her own apartment.

The remainder of the story follows Francesca and her intense love for Irene. Along the way, while still in love with Irene, Francesca falls in love with other women, including Jenny, Maria, Francesca's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, and at least two other women. A significant portion of the book is devoted to Francesca's loathing for job, especially her uniform.

The novel is written in first-person from Francesca's perspective. She is portrayed as writing the story in her apartment after her relocation to San Francisco.

The story features Pedro José Donoso (Andrés García), a wealthy old man who lives in a big mansion with his daughter Angela and his servants. He falls in love with and marries a gorgeous younger woman, Isabel Arroyo (Lorena Rojas). He dies suddenly, and Isabel marries employee Andres Corona. But Pedro Jose Donoso returns to Earth through transmigration: (''the passing of a soul into another body after death''), in the body of Salvador Cerinza (Mario Cimarro), a handsome (yet poor) family man. Salvador was actually a poor man who lived with his wife Cantalicia and son Moncho, but Pedro's soul forced Salvador's soul to leave Salvador's body, although Salvador hadn't died.

Pedro José searches for everything he lost, uncovering secrets, truths and deceptions. Ultimately, he must set things straight and save those who truly loved him, and reclaim the heart of beautiful Isabel. Pedro changes his name to Salvador and enters his mansion as a poor driver. Isabel feels attracted and falls in love with him. Both have sex several times and secretly Isabel kills Andres and marries Salvador. Angela marries Antonio, the maid Abigail's son. Antonio and Angela love each other very much. Pedro thinks that his death was not natural. He believes that Isabel killed him by giving him poison. Isabel did not give him poison in truth. When Isabel discovers that Salvador is Pedro, she asks him to forgive her and tells him the truth. Pedro and Isabel reunite and leave the mansion without informing anyone. However, Isabel's Aunt, Miss Rebecca believes that Salvador might have taken Isabel somewhere so that he can kill her and grab her wealth, so she and the butler, Walter, inform the police. The police chase Pedro and Isabel. Isabel tells Pedro that she doesn't want to be separated from him again, so she drives the car into a river.

Isabel dies, so Pedro's soul also leaves his body. Both souls live together and rest in peace forever. Then, the real Salvador's soul enters Salvador's body again. Isabel is buried with Pedro, and Salvador lives in Pedro's mansion for six months, but keeps on irritating everyone. Everyone finds out the truth about Pedro's transmigration and everyone is happy that finally Isabel and Pedro have reunited, but they want to get rid of the real Salvador as he was very dirty. Finally, they find Cantalicia and Moncho, and leave Salvador with him. Salvador becomes very happy. Also, Angela gives birth to a son whom they name Don Pedro.

Upon starting a career hunt, a text box will appear describing the player as the grandson of a hunting legend named Pete. The player accompanied Pete on the hunting trails when he was younger. Pete aspired to bag all species across the trails - 65 in all - hoping to earn a spot in the Hunter's Hall of Fame. However, on one of the last hunts, he slipped on an icy slope and hurt his leg, preventing him from finishing the hunt. The player's incentive to crossing the regions and finishing the hunts is to win his grandfather the plaque. The story is largely absent from the game, but NPCs across the regions will recognize the player as Pete's grandson, or hint that they have not seen the player in a long time. The NPCs have no long-term impact on the story and remain largely irrelevant in the overall gameplay.

One of the experimental texts Vidal refers to as his "inventions", ''Duluth'' describes both a novel written about Duluth (that, bordered on one side by Minneapolis and on the other by Michigan, bears scant resemblance to the real city) and a television series of the same name; when residents of the city die, they end up as characters in the TV show, who can in some cases continue interacting with the living through the TV screen. When members of the cast of ''Duluth'', the TV show, die, they become characters in ''Rogue Duke'', a romance novel serialized in the pages of ''Redbook'', the popular women's magazine.

The author of all three, Rosemary Klein Kantor, is herself a character in the book, making cameo appearances throughout. She generates texts with the aid of a computer, adding to its numerous geographical and historical errors her mangled clichés ("Bellamy Craig II plays hardball...''in the fast lane''!") and unusual grammatical constructions ("Her handcuffs now handcuffed her hands"). However, there is in the city of Duluth a mysterious cerise flying saucer whose insectoid alien inhabitants, after meddling in the spectacularly corrupt politics of the city, use an accidental tense shift to seize control of the computer, erasing the human race from the face of the earth and bringing the book to an end.

After her resignation as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and the horrifying events which threatened her life in ''The Last Precinct'', Kay Scarpetta has abandoned her elegant home in Richmond, Virginia, and is quietly living in Florida, beginning to get some balance back in her life and slowly establishing herself as a private forensic consultant. (Her first class involves the blow fly, which sometimes lays eggs on corpses.) But her past will not let her rest, and her grief for Benton Wesley continues to grow, not diminish, as does the rage within Lucy, her niece. Then the architect of her changed fortunes contacts her from his cell on death row: deformed, blinded by Scarpetta's own actions, incarcerated in Texas' strongest prison, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne still has the ability to terrify. But, unknown to Scarpetta, there are other forces behind the wolfman's apparent actions, invisibly shepherding her and those closest to her towards eliminating those who threaten them all. It is all orchestrated by the one man in her life who knows every nuance of her soul. In Szczecin, Poland, Lucy and a colleague apparently commit a premeditated murder, using blow-fly larvae to alter the perceived time of death. The novel then ends with the killing of four further people by Scarpetta's associates.

A grandfather is walking along the beach when his grandchildren inquire about the lighthouse that looks over the waters. He replies by telling them that the lighthouse is older than himself and tells them a story about it. The story is about a young girl named Andrea (Angel Locsin) and her older brother Jason (Ryan Eigenmann) whose parents work in a sugar cane field of a family called the De Veras. One day, Andrea finds a dirty boy hiding out in their truck. Her father pities the boy and takes him in as his own son.

As the years go by and the children get older, Andrea and the boy, Daniel (Richard Gutierrez), grow very fond of each other while Jason becomes jealous of Daniel because of how much attention he has gotten from his family. One day Jason and Daniel get into a fight when their parents are not home and Jason beats him up and tells him that he will be sleeping outside that night. Andrea goes out to comfort Daniel and the two imply that they love each other. The two play together and pretend to get married: Andrea is the bride, Daniel the groom and the De Vera's daughter, Monique (Rhian Ramos), is the bridesmaid. Monique complains that she is always the bridesmaid and now she wants to have her turn at marrying Daniel. One day, Andrea's parents have news that they are moving into the hacienda behind the De Vera mansion and Jason, disappointed that he will not actually be living in the big house, runs away swearing to one day get rid of Daniel for good.

Now Andrea and Daniel are in their early twenties. Andrea's parents get into a car accident and die. Jason secretly comes back for his parents' funeral and afterwards, he shows up at the hacienda and tells Daniel and Andrea that he is the head of the household and kicks Daniel out. The De Vera's children, Antonio (aka Anton, (TJ Trinidad)) and Monique, come back from studying abroad and their mother throws them a welcome home party. After hearing that Monique has returned, Andrea and Daniel go to check it out even though they were not invited. Andrea had a scheme to get a glimpse of the party but she was unable to see anything when she was bitten by one of the guard dogs. Daniel carries her into the party to seek help and then Anton gets the doctor to inspect her. She stays at the De Vera mansion for a few days, just until her foot recovers. It then seems that Anton has fallen hard for Andrea and Monique for Daniel but they are not interested. Daniel and Andrea love each other very much and make a promise to always be together. To physically seal the deal, they go to the lighthouse near the beach, Daniel gives Andrea a locket with their pictures in it and the two make love. When Andrea comes home from the lighthouse, she meets her brother and he tells her that he has made a business deal with Anton. The deal will only work if Andrea agrees to marry Anton. Andrea refuses because she clearly loves Daniel. Jason threatens to kill her if she does not obey him and starts beating her. She cries herself to sleep and hears Daniel calling to her from her window. She ignores him in fear that Jason might catch her if she tried to meet with him.

The next day Daniel tries to meet with Andrea again but she unwillingly ignores him and heads into Anton's house. Shocked, he tries again to talk to her but she tries to avoid him. He finally gets her attention and interrogates her about her being at Anton's house instead of meeting with him. She does not answer until she is questioned about the wound under her lip, the one given to her by Jason the previous night. She says that she tripped and hurt herself. She tells Daniel not to worry about anything; everything's gonna be all right. In the next scene the couple intimately makes out at Daniel's house but they are interrupted when Jason furiously barges in at the sight of the two kissing. He shouts at Andrea and pulls at her hair and then goes after Daniel, whom he beats to the ground; his final blow is to the head with a wooden crate full of bottles. He leaves the scene and Andrea attends to the now unconscious Daniel, asking him to forgive her. A few days later Daniel goes down by the lake to wash off his wounds. Monique sees him there and tries to flirt with him. She asks him if he is going to Andrea's birthday party but he replies by saying that he was not invited. Monique tells him that she was invited and now she is inviting him so the two go to Andrea's party together. Once there, Andrea notices that Daniel is attending. She thinks nothing of it and the party continues. Anton then holds a box out in front of her and opens it, revealing a necklace with a diamond pendant. Daniel sees that Andrea is still wearing the locket that he gave her and he is surprised when she has to take it off just to try on Anton's necklace. Then Anton gets down on one knee and asks Andrea if she loves him. Despite her heart telling her the contrary, she sadly looks up at Daniel and says yes. Daniel is shocked to hear this. Anton then asks her to marry him and before she can answer, Daniel has already fled from the party. Andrea says she will think about it and runs off to find Daniel and explain things to him. She searches everywhere but once she gets to his house, she finds no one and concludes that he took all his savings and ran away.

Andrea marries Anton according to her brother's wishes and Daniel becomes successful by being an underground mixed martial artist-brawler. Three years have passed since Andrea's party and one day Daniel decides to return to his hometown. Anton, Andrea and Monique patiently wait for a friend of Anton's, someone whom he has made business with. The man arrives on a yacht and he turns out to be Daniel. Everybody is surprised at this, especially Andrea. Daniel tries to win over Monique's heart again in attempts to make Andrea jealous. Andrea at this point is not jealous at all; in fact, she is still so shocked by Daniel's presence that she faints. She is revived and that night; Daniel comes by Andrea and Anton's house to speak to her. The two meet in the backyard and it is revealed that their feelings for each other have not changed one bit. Daniel tells her to meet him later at the lighthouse and Andrea goes back into the house to prepare for the "meeting" and looks for the locket that Daniel gave her three years back. Anton goes up to their room and the couple sleeps together. Then when Andrea is sure that Anton has fallen asleep, she goes to the lighthouse to meet with Daniel and the two make love.

When Andrea comes home from the lighthouse, she is shocked to see that Anton has awakened and that he knows where she has been and with whom. He shows her that he also knows about the locket, which she forgot to wear when she went to meet with Daniel, and he throws it to the ground. He then approaches Andrea and pulls at her hair asking her questions. At this time Monique walks into this scene of the fight and asks what is going on. Anton says that Andrea is making a fool out of him, and pretending to love him when she really loves someone else. Then Andrea tells Anton to let her go because Daniel is waiting for her at the lighthouse but Anton tells her to let him wait forever and takes her to their bedroom. Monique notices Andrea's locket on the floor. She picks it up and looks at the pictures; it has now become clear to her as to what this was all about. Then she goes to the lighthouse to meet Daniel instead of Andrea and she deceives him, telling him that Andrea sent her to tell him that she does not love him any more and that she has changed her mind and loves Anton. She gives Daniel back the locket.

The next night Andrea, Anton, Monique and Daniel have dinner together on the beach. There, Daniel declares that the yacht that he arrived in a few days ago now belongs to Monique. Also, just like Anton did when he proposed to Andrea, Daniel proposes to Monique with a necklace. Shocked and surprised, Monique accepts and Andrea is crushed. Daniel and Anton go off to talk for a while and they make a deal: Anton will let Daniel marry his sister only if once they marry, they will move somewhere far away to settle. Daniel agrees. Meanwhile, Andrea tells Monique not to marry Daniel because she will be truly heartbroken, that he only wants to marry her to make Andrea jealous. Monique does not believe her and leaves. When Andrea and Anton go to bed, Andrea begs Anton not to let his sister and Daniel marry because it will shatter her heart. In the middle of the night, Andrea wakes up, and she can be seen in the bathroom clutching her stomach and seems to be in massive pain. The next morning she is still asleep, and Anton is watching her. She starts muttering words in her sleep, as if she was talking to Daniel, saying such things as "Daniel, don't go, don't leave me." Anton checks on her, feels her forehead and calls the doctor.

After the examination, the doctor concludes that Andrea has a fever and that she has to take a special medicine to get rid of the infection that is causing it. The doctor explains that he cannot give Andrea antibiotics because it could harm the baby. Anton does not know anything about a baby and the doctor states that Andrea is, in fact, pregnant, but she has an ectopic pregnancy. If Andrea is not treated soon she could have a hemorrhage or severe internal bleeding. As Anton is infertile, the only explanation for her pregnancy is Daniel. As soon as the doctor leaves, Anton locks Andrea and himself in the bedroom and he starts to beat her. The maid and Monique overhear Anton and Andrea from the outside of the door and when they hear that Daniel got Andrea pregnant, Monique cries, heartbroken after hearing the news. She then runs to Daniel's house and tells him what she has just found out. Anton keeps on hitting Andrea despite the screaming and pleading for him to stop. Then she falls to the ground, and blood can be seen on her white dress. Anton stops just as Daniel kicks down the door and runs to Andrea's side. He carries her out of the house.

Daniel takes Andrea to the beach, where they talk. The two profess their undying love for each other and promise that they will live in each other's memories. After the promise is made, Andrea dies.

The movie is brought back to the grandfather from the beginning of the movie. His grandchildren ask if Andrea is still alive and he answers "Yes. She is still alive right here, in my heart." A montage shows Andrea and Daniel playing together on the beach. At the end it shows a clip of him on the sand, his hand held out, holding the same locket with Daniel and Andrea's picture in it. This implies that he is, in fact Daniel and that his last memory was of Andrea and himself, being together at last.

After creating the world, God has three cherubs spread intelligence, wisdom, and foolishness over the world. The third cherub accidentally drops all the foolishness on the village of Chelm, so that everyone in the village is very dumb. A recently orphaned boy named Aaron moves to Chelm to live with his uncle Shlemiel, while Darko, an evil sorcerer, plans to create a golem to destroy Chelm, but needs the Book of Marvels to bring the golem to life.

Shlemiel's family is poor so he asks the mayor, Gronam, for a raise. Gronam instead tells him to marry off his three daughters, which will make him rich, while Shlemiel's wife, Sarah, tells Aaron to sell his goat, Zlateh, who cannot make milk. Darko's fox listens in on Shlemiel's plan to marry off his daughters, so Darko poses as a female matchmaker and offers three nonexistent rich husbands to Shlemiel in exchange for the Book of Marvels. When Shlemiel refuses, Darko reveals his true identity and angrily causes a blizzard.

While Aaron and Zlateh take shelter from the storm inside a haystack, an imp called the Lantuch is blown inside, hitting Aaron in the head and getting mild amnesia, causing him to forget his spells. When he tries to use a spell to find the biscuits Aaron lost, it instead gives Zlateh the ability to make milk, causing his family to keep her when he returns.

Shlemiel informs Gronam that a sorcerer is after the Book of Marvels, and Gronam entrusts the Book to Shlemiel. Darko instructs his fox to spy on Shlemiel and inform him where he hides the Book of Marvels. Shlemiel hides it in the cupboard that Gronam originally took it from, and hides the key in his shoe. When Shlemiel falls asleep on his way to Warsaw to find husbands for his daughters, he points his shoes in the direction of Warsaw to remember which way to go when he wakes up. The fox steals the key from his shoe, and mischievously points the shoes back toward Chelm. After receiving the key, Darko steals the Book of Marvels.

Falling for the fox's trick, Shlemiel goes back the way he came, and when he arrives back at Chelm, he thinks that it is a second version of the village. Everyone but Aaron believes this as well. Darko returns to his castle, brings the golem to life, and orders it to destroy Chelm. The golem destroys all the buildings in Chelm except the synagogue because it is sacred, much to the sorcerer's anger.

Gronam says that if the golem lives past the Sabbath, it will live forever, and the world will be destroyed. Because the way to kill a golem is written in the Book of Marvels, Aaron goes to Darko's castle with Zlateh and the Lantuch to find the Book. As Aaron reads the information he needs, confirming that what Gronam said was true, the Lantuch accidentally alerts Darko while casting a spell. Darko takes the Book of Marvels back, but Zlateh attacks him, causing the Book to fall into the fire. As Aaron, Zlateh, and the Lantuch escape the castle, Darko sends the golem after them, but the golem has a change of heart due to Aaron's courage and refuses to harm him, even protecting him from Darko's attack. The Lantuch is hit on the head by a rock, regains his memory, and turns Darko to stone. Though reluctant to kill the golem after his latest action, Aaron does so by erasing a symbol on his head to save the world.

With Chelm destroyed, all its inhabitants leave to find new homes somewhere else, with Shlemiel and his family intending to go to "Chelm #1".

Tong Yan-Gai (Ha Yu) owns a dried sea-products and abalone store with 31 shops for rental and a total net worth $600 million HKD. He is married to Ling Hau (Louise Lee), a rich man's daughter and also has a second wife called Wong Sau-Kam (Susanna Kwan), a former nurse who used to take care of Hau when Hau had cancer. Gai has 4 children: Tong Chi-On (Moses Chan), Tong Chi-Yat (Bosco Wong), Tong Chi-Yan (Fala Chen) through Ling Hau, and Tong Chi-Foon (Lai Lok-yi) through Wong Sau-Kam. Hau did not expect to survive cancer and wanted Kam to take care of her husband after she died, but fortunately she recovered. Kam thinks that she has no power in the family because she has no true status, as she is not truly legally married to Gai, and becomes a woman stirring a range of petty acts that tend to haunt her in full circles. She seeks the family fortune and in order to do that she causes trouble in the family. Hau becomes extremely frustrated and angry at Kam and expels her from the house, and this leads to Hau's cancer resurfacing. One day in the hospital, Hau lies on her deathbed, and Kam comes to beg for forgiveness for her past actions. She is unable to speak, but she finally mutters a few words only audible to the ears of her son Tong Chi-Foon. Her words are "普通朋友", which means "ordinary friend." Foon, however, lies to everybody and says that Hau told him that Kam is forgiven. Foon lies because Foon's mother has put much pressure on him to secure her a position in the family.

It seems like a peaceful family, but Kam starts planning evil ideas with Sheung Joi-Duk (Lei Seng Cheung) and together they cause trouble. They plotted for years to find a means to take the family fortune and even created public false accusations about her own family in the media. Kam formed her own support group from the worst family members and in-laws to help plot against the Tong household to gain their family fortune. After much careful planning and even going as far as contaminating public opinion about the Tong family, she drove Gai into severe illness and eventually death from stroke. Kam and Duk begin a long war against the Tong family in an attempt to invalidate the family will to take the family fortune for their own as a way to punish the Tong family's "mistreatment" towards her. The family is in mayhem for once and they have only one person who can help them, a lawyer, Sheung Joi-Sum (Linda Chung).

The Munster family is tired of being persecuted back in Transylvania, and on finding part of a letter from cousin Marilyn in California, decides to head to the United States. On arrival they find that Marilyn's father, Norman Hyde, is missing, and her mother (Herman's sister) Elsa Hyde is in a coma. Marilyn details this in the letter but Spot burned the mail (and the letter carrier) so this comes as a surprise to the Munsters.

The family must find out what has happened to Marilyn's father, and find a way to revive Elsa. They also have to try to live in new surroundings as they try to "fit in" in America.

It turns out that Norman was trying to find a way to make his "peaches and cream" daughter, Marilyn, look a little more like the rest of the clan, but somehow the experiment backfired and Norman Hyde became Brent Jekyll. (This is a take on ''The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' by Robert Louis Stevenson.)

Brent Jekyll is running for Congress. A plank of his campaign platform is trying to get foreigners out of America (this includes the Munsters). In a more sinister part of the story, it seems that Hyde was sabotaged and transformed into Jekyll purposely, to bring forward a politician without a past to whom people would listen.

As the story unfolds, the family tries to save the day. With Herman arrested and placed in jail, Grandpa creates a replica of him from spare parts and uses it to help him escape. They flee from the scene in the Munster Koach.

On the distant planet Pangea, a transmission of the TV series ''The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space'' is seen by the child genius brother of native forces leader Tyra. Tyra has been captured by the tyrannical Lord Vox of Vestron whose people, subsequent to some global catastrophe, migrated to the stars from Pangea thousands of years ago and now seeks to recover the lost ancient knowledge of their people.

Lord Vox intends to do this by conquering Pangea, their old homeworld, and with the knowledge, rebuild it as the seat of his empire. In his desperation, Tyra's brother brings Captain Zoom to Pangea with hopes that he can save his sister and defeat the Vestrons. Unfortunately, the actor playing Captain Zoom possess none of the heroic qualities of Zoom but is instead arrogant and egotistical.

Though Captain Zoom is reluctant to lead the natives, his attempts to explain that he is only an actor leads the natives to believe he is a spy because he "is paid to pretend to be other people". He quickly backtracks, pretending that he was testing them, and through various adventures and using his old television stories as inspiration, he leads the natives to a victory by default as Lord Vox is turned into a statue by an ancient guardian.

Simon Kabilana (Gamini Fonseka) is a powerful ruthless capitalist who uses terror to keep his workers under control and yield high production quotas. His son Malin (Richard De Zoysa) is the complete opposite, coming back from England idolizing Marx and Lenin, causing them to clash. Malin eventually gives up his fortunes in his father's company and works toward a confrontation with his father.

When Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is invited by CFO David Wallace to interview for a position at Dunder-Mifflin corporate headquarters in New York City, he assumes he will get the job. So he decides to hold a ''Survivor''-like competition at Lake Scranton to determine his successor. The entire office travels to the lake by bus, except for Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein), whom Michael will not allow to attend, much to Toby's disappointment because he anticipated getting to see Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) wearing her bikini.

Michael selects the "tribe" captains – Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) and Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) – and instructs Pam to take detailed notes on the events of the day, which include games such as egg and spoon races and hot dog eating contests. Initially unaware of the purpose of the exercise, the employees do not all take it seriously. However, when Michael reveals he is interviewing for the job in New York, Andy and Dwight step up their efforts and Stanley tries to be enthusiastic but quickly gives up. David Wallace also asks Jim and Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) to interview for the same position that Michael is pursuing.

To support her secret lover Dwight, Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) sabotages Andy, leaving him adrift in the lake in an inflatable sumo wrestling costume. Michael's final event is a walk across hot coals. Initially, only Pam volunteers, but Michael refuses to let her walk across because she is not being considered to replace him. However, Michael cannot even bring himself to do it. Dwight throws himself on the coals, refusing to leave until he is given the job, and he writhes in agony until he is dragged off.

As a last-ditch effort to salvage the day, Michael assembles a "Tribal Council" stand-up comedy competition. Jim declines to participate, and reveals that he has applied for the position in New York. While they are doing this, Pam wanders off and runs barefoot across the hot coals. Feeling a new sense of confidence because of the experience, she interrupts the Tribal Council to berate her colleagues for treating her poorly, citing the fact that almost no one attended her art show. She rounds on Jim, and tells him that she called off her wedding because of him, that it is "fine" that he is with someone else now, but that she misses the fun that they had as best friends before he transferred. As she runs to cool her feet in the water, the cameraman turns to Jim who is now in a blank stare, shaken by the confession.

Musseulmo High School (무쓸모고등학교 in Korean, literally "Useless High School"), situated somewhere in South Korea, may not be your typical high school.

One of the students there is named "Poor Girl" (Kim Ok-bin). She walks around with a stuffed doll draped around her back, which she calls "Poverty." As her name implies she is as poor as poor can get. She lives with her mother (Im Ye-jin) in a one-room building. Her mother is chronically ill and buried in debt. To help pay for her mother's bills, Poor Girl has turned to prostitution to support her family. Because of this, she carries a heavy burden of guilt and shame. So much so that she has attempted suicide. Her only friend seems to be her doll "Poverty." That is until she meets a new client.

The new client is a cross-dresser (Lee Won-jong), who's looking for a girl to play sisters with. Poor Girl is able to share some of her problems with her new-found friend. In the meantime, she dreams about dating her classmate Anthony (Park Jin-woo).

Anthony comes from a rich background. His adoptive parents are diplomats from Switzerland. He has everything a teenager can possibly wish for: good looks, expensive cars and suits. Anthony goes through life enjoying his superficial ways... until he meets Double Eyes (Lee Eun-sung).

Double Eyes is the sibling of Anthony's classmate Cyclops (Lee Kyeon) who is a bit of an outcast at Museulmo High school. As his name indicates, he has only one eye. His days at Museulmo High School are filled with loneliness and being the object of pranks and jokes. While waiting for his sister Double Eyes at a restaurant, Cyclops is spotted by Anthony and his two friends. One of Anthony's friends asks Cyclops, "Does your sister have a third eye?" Anthony and his friends laugh among themselves... until they see Cyclops's sibling named Double Eyes. Double Eyes is beautiful and his classmates are in shock. Anthony immediately falls in love with Double Eyes. Unfortunately Double Eyes has a secret...

As the lives of these students progress at Museulmo there is another problem that soon starts to emerge. Students, who have never shown any interest in education, suddenly become immersed in studying and preparing for their college entrance exams. They even give up dating! It's up to these classmates to find out what is really going on at Museulmo High and prepare for their graduation.

Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith) enters the office and says she was flashed in the parking lot prompting Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) to open an investigation. He orders Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) to interview Phyllis and make a sketch of the flasher. However, Phyllis says she didn't get a good look at him, so Pam instead draws a picture of Dwight with a mustache and without glasses. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) (who also seems to notice that the sketch looks similar to Dwight) assists an oblivious Dwight in posting fliers with Pam's sketch on it around town.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) initially makes light of the exposure incident. After being shamed by how offended the other employees are by his antics, he attempts to reassert his sensitivity to women by holding a seminar on women's issues. He closes the meeting by offering to take the women to the Mall at Steamtown. Before leaving, he receives a call from Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin), who asks to meet with him to have sex. Michael balks at the proposal, and becomes more uncomfortable when she offers to pay him for the sex.

At the mall, Michael opens to the women about his discomfort with Jan. Among other things, he tells them Jan has been videotaping them having sex and watching it with him afterwards. All the women assure Michael that Jan's behavior is not normal and urge him to get out of the relationship. He remains conflicted about what he should do about Jan, but at Phyllis's prompting he finally admits to himself that he wants to break up with her. Michael thanks them for their help by treating them to one item each at Victoria's Secret. On the drive back, Pam takes a step toward asserting herself by changing a flat tire on Meredith Palmer's (Kate Flannery) car. At the office, Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) sneaks into the women's bathroom and discovers a plush waiting room. The other men soon join him. They leave in shock when Creed Bratton enters and is shown to regularly use the women's room "to do number two" (Noting to the camera that he has been "caught several times" and has "paid dearly").

Upon returning to the office, Michael calls Jan to end their relationship, doing so by leaving a voicemail message when she fails to answer. As he is doing this, Jan walks into his office to apologize in person for their earlier conversation, but when she receives Michael's voicemail, she walks out in silence. The episode ends with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) informing Dwight he saw the flasher two minutes before in the women's bathroom "above the sink". Dwight dashes to the bathroom and examines the mirror where someone had etched a mustache similar to the sketch's. Dwight realizes the prank and curses Pam.

History suggests that the year is Summer of 1987 as the book begins.

Most of the plot follows a mixed-raced man named Gregori Grogorievich. A decorated but disgraced Imperial Russian Army Major, Gregori has left the military for a maritime life in Southeastern Alaska and has a sport fishing boat which he uses for charters and occasional smuggling. He is hired one day by a Tsarist government official to make a rendezvous with a mysterious woman named Valari Kominskiya, but things go badly. The official gets drunk and tries to rape Valari and kill Gregori, but the official is killed in self-defense and thrown overboard. As Gregori tries to find out how to get out of Russian Amerika with Valari for political asylum, he is betrayed by her, as Valari is actually a spy and a high-ranking officer in the Russian Army. Gregori is captured by the government and falsely charged with the murder of the official (who was actually Valari's superior) and with the attempted rape of Valari, leading to a sentence of life of hard labor on the Russian-Canadian Highway.

After long winter months of being subjected to brutal slavery, he and a group of other prisoners are rescued by a band of native Alaskans and are taken into the wilderness to evade the Russian manhunters called ''promyshlennik'' sent to capture or kill the prisoners. It turns out that Gregori's native Alaskan rescuers are revolutionaries called the Dené Republik that seek to liberate their Yukon lands and Alaska itself from Imperial Russia which has driven them away from their home for hundreds of years. The revolutionaries offer Gregori a place in their ranks to fight the Russians. Without much choice to go back to his old life, and longing to have a chance to get revenge for being betrayed by the tyranny and corruption of the Tsarist government, Gregori joins the Alaskan forces. Throughout the winter of 1987 and early 1988, he and the other group of prisoners who also agree to join and fight their common enemy, are trained under the Dené to fight a guerrilla war against the Russian military scattered throughout Alaska while the Dené begin establishing the foundations of their would-be democracy of the new Alaska.

At first the rebels are outnumbered in the face of the Imperial forces, but after successful attacks against fortified colonial towns, capturing weapons, recruiting more people of Alaska against Imperialist rule, and military assistance from the US and California, it appears victory for independence is plausible. Although the war to liberate Alaska will go far beyond what Gregori expected of a revolution, from surviving and losing friends to the relentless pursuit from Valari partnered with a vengeful ''promyshlennik'', traitors within the separatist Dené itself, and the unforgiving frontier, to rallying international support for the cause to fight an all-out war against the wrath of the Russian Empire that would surely decide the future of all the nations of North America.

Gavin Grey is a 1950s star athlete known by the moniker "The Grey Ghost," who plays football at the [fictional] University of Louisiana. His campus girlfriend Babs Rogers, nephew Donnie "Cake" McCaslin, and teammate Ed Lawrence adore his personality and charm. During the Sugar Bowl game, Gavin's play, defining his competitiveness throughout his career, causes a player from the opposing team to fumble the ball, which he returns to score a game-winning touchdown.

As his college days come to an end, Gavin ends up marrying Babs, starts a family, and gets drafted by the Washington Redskins. Lawrence opens a popular sports bar in Baton Rouge. Everyone is pleased for Gavin, including his friendly rival Narvel Blue, who might have achieved professional stardom had he chosen an athletic career path. Reality quickly sets in for Gavin as life in the NFL is difficult, the competition is fierce, and the schedule is grueling. Gavin is a respectable running back for the Redskins, but hardly the idol worshipped by everyone back home during his school years. Concurrently, Lawrence has accrued a number of gambling debts. He is later murdered by unidentified attackers, creating more debts for Gavin and Babs, who had invested in Lawrence's business.

Babs does her best to keep up with her husband's career and mood swings, and in doing so inherits the role of the wage earner in their household after he briefly retires. A sympathetic Donnie finds her frustrated and lonely, as his lifetime attraction to her brings them together for a brief extramarital affair. Gavin's financial setbacks encourage Babs to seek a job from Narvel to manage his restaurant.

During his retirement, money issues convince Gavin to accept a comeback offer from the Denver Broncos. The new NFL has passed him by, though, and Gavin is forced to accept that his playing days are over. He enters a failed business relationship with entrepreneur Bolling Kiely, whom he despises, spending countless hours telling old college football stories to clients. Donnie moves on with his life, becoming an author and getting engaged to a sophisticated woman named Leslie Stone, while supporting Gavin and Babs through a marital breakdown. A lost and pathetic figure, in the end, Gavin mends his relationship with Babs as he spends his withdrawal from professional sports reminiscing about his famed athletic youth.

Divorced San Francisco contractor Doug Salter is looking forward to a summer visit from his 14-year-old son Nick, who lives in Los Angeles with his mother Janet. The boy does not know that his father is gay and in a committed relationship to Gary McClain, his life partner of several years. Gary stays temporarily with his sister and brother-in-law so that Doug can come out to Nick and tell him about their relationship, rather than surprise him all at once. But Gary otherwise spends most of his time with Doug and Nick, and the boy notices his father seems unusually close to Gary. At one point, Doug takes off his watch to reach into an aquarium. Nick sees the inscription on the of the watch - "To Doug With Love Gary" and realises his father and Gary are more than friends. Greatly confused, he runs off. Janet arrives from L.A. as Doug and Gary are looking for him. Nick is at the cable car barn, where a sympathetic Muni employee, realising the boy has something on his mind, convinces him to go home. Janet and Gary have a poignant conversation during which Gary asserts, "If ''I'' were a ''woman'', this would ''all'' be acceptable!" to which Janet calmly replies, "If ''you'' were a ''woman'', I would know how to compete with you." Meanwhile, Doug and Nick have gone off alone to have a talk. Nick has sort of heard of the word "homosexuality" but isn't quite sure what it means. Doug attempts to explain that, "Gary and I have a kind of marriage." It's a bit too much for Nick to take in; and the visit's over so it's time for him to pack and go home. Doug and Janet talk briefly, and Jenet tells him not to worry about Nick. "Just give him a little time."

A young boy called Pip stumbles upon a hunted criminal who threatens him and demands food. A few years later, Pip finds that he has a benefactor. Imagining that Miss Havisham, a rich lady whose adopted daughter Estella he loves, is the benefactor, Pip believes in a grand plan at the end of which he will be married to Estella. However, when the criminal from his childhood turns up one stormy night and reveals that he, Magwitch, is his benefactor, Pip finds his dreams crumbling. Although initially repulsed by his benefactor, Pip gradually becomes loyal to him and stays with him until his death.

Cute and bubbly Sally Malasmas (Toni Gonzaga) reluctantly agrees to process her application for a visa, obeying her parents' wish that their small family be reunited. The rest of her family: mom, dad and older sister, Charry (Jodi Sta. Maria) are already residing states-side and they worry that she is lonely living in the Philippines by herself; but as far as Sally is concerned, her simple Philippine life surrounded by loyal, loving friends and co-workers is nearly perfect. However, during the interview process for her Visa application, things goes awry and her application gets abruptly denied by the handsome, yet dismissive American consul, Will Derby (Sam Milby).

The next day, a bewildered Will wakes from a one-night stand with a girl he picked up from a bar the night before and due to the notorious Manila gridlock, he misses work. He finds himself instead diverted to the Census Bureau where Sally incidentally works. Seeing an opportunity for revenge, Sally buries Will's inquiry form beneath an already mounting pile of paperwork. As she expected, Will waits all day for his turn through sweltering heat and hunger until he gets fed up and finally confronts the scheming Sally. She gives him a dose of his own medicine and nonchalantly brushes him off, informing him that his form cannot be processed properly because it is incomplete and that he must return the next day since its time for her to go home. An outraged Will cries foul to Sally's supervisor, who sides with him. Thus, in order to redeem the bureau's reputation, Sally is ordered to stay behind after hours until Will finds the information he needs.

As it turns out, Will's cold and sullen demeanor is due to him agonizing over the search for his birth parents and any remaining family members he may still have in the Philippines; but more importantly, the reason why he was given up for adoption, a question that has been gnawing at him for years. Sympathizing with Will's plight, Sally takes it upon herself to help him find what he's looking for and through this common purpose the pair bonds and grows closer.

But it seems that each has a different idea of exactly what their new-found friendship means to the other. Will's casual relationships with women conflicts with Sally's more traditional, old-fashioned virtues. Together, they must set aside differences, overcome clashing cultural prejudices and ethnocentric beliefs; otherwise, unsettled issues may put a stopper to their blossoming romance before they get the chance to realize its full potential.

The film's prologue takes place at 1:16 p.m. in an area of rural farmland in Dannebrog, Nebraska on an unspecified date in the Fall of 1996. Bob Iverson, a storm chaser with the Kansas State Tornado Center relaying information to the National Weather Service on a chase assignment, is driving down a country road to track a bizarre supercell thunderstorm. While observing the storm, Bob spots a tornado touching down almost a mile south of his location; he warns a family living nearby, right as the family's daughter Sarah, arrives home from school, about the oncoming twister, which sends them running into their root cellar just before it destroys their farm.

Meanwhile, in Blainsworth, Nebraska (120 miles southwest of Dannebrog), aspiring teenage artist Dan Hatch, who is constantly being pushed by his stepfather, Jack, to be an athlete, participates in a bicycle race and damages his bike; Jack pushes Danny into finishing the race on his bum bike, where he falls behind the other racers. Much to his luck, he wins a new bike in a raffle held by a local bank. While trying out his new bike, Dan and his best friend Arthur Darlington run into Arthur's two sisters, Stacey (whom Dan is infatuated with) and Ronnie Vae, while at the park. Dan and Arthur arrive home as the former's mother Laura is preparing dinner, when she also asks Dan to tend to his baby half-brother, Ryan. Later, Laura's sister, Dan's aunt Jenny, calls to inform her that they have been assigned to fill-in shifts as waitresses at the Salty Dawg, the local diner where they both work. Because Jack will not have enough time to take Laura to work, Jenny volunteers to take her.

At 3:37 p.m., while continuing to track the severe weather creeping toward the town, Bob decides to head southwest into Blainsworth, as Stan, the meteorologist Bob is radioing to, is astonished at the rogue anticyclonic spring-like weather pattern for the fall; while there, Bob meets Laura while getting some coffee at the diner. That evening, when Jack arrives home and sits down to watch TV, the show he is watching is interrupted by a KHAS-12 weather update, reporting a tornado 14 miles northwest of Blainsworth, and a tornado warning has been issued for St. Paul, Dannebrog and rural Howard County, Nebraska. Soon after Jack leaves to check on his mother, Dan's grandmother Belle, who was asleep in her rocking chair when he phoned her, tornado sirens suddenly blare throughout town, only to cut off abruptly as Dan goes to get Ryan from his crib. The eerie stillness outside afterward suddenly gives way to a violent tornado that approaches Blainsworth's Capital Heights neighborhood, with the sucking noises emitting from the drains notifying Dan and Arthur of its pending arrival; they and Ryan take cover in the basement bathroom's shower tub as the twister starts to obliterate the Hatch residence.

After Dan and Arthur escape from the basement of the leveled house through the collapsing floor beams from the first floor, and look in awe of the rubble that was once the Hatches' home, Arthur runs into Stacey and Ronnie Vae, who both survived the twister themselves in the Darlington's home (their parents were out of town on a trip back home to California at the time the storm hit). As Dan struggles to find his own family, Laura and Jenny are trapped inside the Salty Dawg (as they were taking cover inside, due to Jenny's 1992 Buick Skylark malfunctioning when she went to pick up Laura), which also was destroyed by one of the tornadoes. Dan and Stacey then go save Belle, at her farm; the two teenagers find Belle underneath wooden boards blown onto her from off of the partially damaged barn near her house (which itself survived intact).

As Dan and Stacey rush in the car to get Belle treated for her injuries, Dan finds Jack on a closed road, with his truck – which was overturned by the tornado, pinning him underneath it – covered in fallen power lines; he pulls Jack out from under the truck (with the help of emergency crews, after an earlier attempt by Dan and Stacey to push the truck in order to free him nearly injures Jack further), seeing this as an opportunity for his father to finally see him as reliable. However, Jack just gives a simple thank-you to the fact that Dan saved him from multiple dangers, even though his stepson may have been the only one down the road who was able to help him as it was blocked by policemen due to it being blocked by the downed lines, debris and broken underground utility lines. Later that night at the shelter, Dan reveals to Stacey that Jack is only his stepfather and that his real father, Daniel Sr., was a pilot who was killed in a plane crash when Dan was 6. After telling her that he feels he is not good enough in Jack's eyes and talks about the good qualities that his stepfather has, Stacey helps Dan consider that the two could try to find some common ground.

Eventually, Jack, followed by Dan, who sneaks himself and Ryan into the Jeep Wagoneer loaned to Jack, leave the shelter to go and look for Laura. Just as Bob pulls his truck into the driveway of the destroyed house, helping passengers Jenny and Laura along with him searching for Jack, Dan and Ryan, Jack's Jeep also drives up and the family is reunited. As soon as everyone is relieved they survived the storm, three tornadoes touch down near them. Bob, realizing that there is no adequate shelter available, advises the group to make a run for it in their vehicles. The group narrowly escapes one of the twisters, which picks up a car that the Hatches' neighbors try to outrun the tornado in themselves, destroys several buildings in its path and hurls a tree branch into the windshield, briefly knocking Jack unconscious and prompting Dan to take over driving the vehicle out of the storm's path. They, along with Bob and Jenny, make it to an overpass as the twister blows out the back window of the Jeep, nearly sucking Dan out before it dissipates into the air. As they walk out from under the overpass just as the sun rises on a clear day after the storm passes, Jack admits he's proud of Danny for not giving up in the face of adversity and trying to reunite the family.

In the film's epilogue, illustrating what happened with the characters one year after the storm, Dan explains that he is now dating Stacey, while Arthur became class president, Bob and Jenny got married and are becoming first-time parents to twins, Dan and Jack have also become closer, Jack is now supportive of him, and also taking up some new hobbies after his sporting goods shop was destroyed by the storm, and also Belle died in 1997.

The story is set in the Soviet Union during the Second World War in the year 1943. Colonel Vishnevetskiy is released from prison to organize a school of military training for saboteurs. Students,14–15 years old criminals, come from prisons and correction colonies. After harsh training they are sent to destroy a German oil depot deep in the Carpathian mountains.

The poem is divided into three sections: a shorter introduction (90 lines) and two longer parts (164 and 222 lines). The introduction opens with a mythologized history of the establishment of the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703. In the first two stanzas, Peter the Great stands at the edge of the River Neva and conceives the idea for a city which will threaten the Swedes and open a "window to Europe". The poem describes the area as almost uninhabited: Peter can only see one boat and a handful of dark houses inhabited by Finnish peasants. Saint Petersburg was in fact constructed on territory newly gained from the Swedes in the Great Northern War, and Peter himself chose the site for the founding of a major city because it provided Russia with a corner of access to the Baltic Sea, and thus to the Atlantic and Europe.

The rest of the introduction is in the first person and reads as an ode to the city of Petersburg. The poet-narrator describes how he loves Petersburg, including the city's "stern, muscular appearance" (l. 44), its landmarks such as the Admiralty (ll. 50–58), and its harsh winters and long summer evenings (ll. 59 – ll. 84). He encourages the city to retain its beauty and strength and stand firm against the waves of the Neva (ll. 85–91).

Part I opens with an image of the Neva growing rough in a storm: the river is "tossing and turning like a sick man in his troubled bed" (ll. 5–6). Against this backdrop, a young poor man in the city, Evgenii, is contemplating his love for a young woman, Parasha, and planning to spend the rest of his life with her (ll. 49–62). Evgenii falls asleep, and the narrative then turns back to the Neva, with a description of how the river floods and destroys much of the city (ll. 72–104). The frightened and desperate Evgenii is left sitting alone on top of two marble lions on Peter's Square, surrounded by water and with the Bronze Horseman statue looking down on him (ll. 125–164).

In Part II, Evgenii finds a ferryman and commands him to row to where Parasha's home used to be (ll. 26 – ll. 56). However, he discovers that her home has been destroyed (ll. 57–60), and falls into a crazed delirium and breaks into laughter (ll. 61–65). For a year, he roams the street as a madman (ll. 89–130), but the following autumn, he is reminded of the night of the storm (ll. 132–133) and the source of his troubles. In a fit of rage, he curses the statue of Peter (ll. 177–179), which brings the statue to life, and Peter begins pursuing Evgenii (ll. 180–196). The narrator does not describe Evgenii's death directly, but the poem closes with the discovery of his corpse in a ruined hut floating on the water (ll. 219–222).

Jessica has moved from her small Burgundian town of Mâcon to Paris to start a new life, inspired by her grandmother, Madame Roux, who "always loved luxury". In Paris, she initially has trouble finding work, and spends one evening without shelter. She eventually gets a job waitressing in a small café, the Bar des Théâtres, even though the café, following tradition, has never before hired female waiters. The owner hires Jessica only because he is expecting large crowds soon and needs staff. The café is in an area of Paris close to several artistic venues, including the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and a concert hall, on Avenue Montaigne. One of the backstage staff at the theatre, Claudie, helps to welcome Jessica to Paris. While working at the café, Jessica meets a number of people who are all dealing with various life crises or changes: * Catherine is an actress who has been type-cast by her role in a popular TV soap opera and who yearns to do more artistically rewarding work. She is alternating between her TV soap opera and a production of a Georges Feydeau play, rarely getting time for sleep except in taxicabs. A new opportunity arises when the American film director Brian Sobinski arrives in Paris to cast a new film based on the life of Simone de Beauvoir. * Jean-François is a world-renowned pianist who wants nothing more than to share his playing with those who would appreciate it least, and to get away from formal classical music concerts. This disconcerts his wife Valentine, who is also his manager, because of all the planning that she has done for his career. * Jacques is an art collector who has decided to sell off his collection towards the end of his life. He and his son Frédéric have a somewhat strained relationship, not helped by the fact that Jacques is in a relationship with the much younger Valérie, with whom Frédéric himself once had an affair. Frédéric is also just separated from his wife. All three face pivotal turning points in their lives on the same night, with Jessica as a thread between all three.

Gus DeMarco, an electrician, wants to purchase a bowling alley with his friends. The problem is that he still pays alimony to his ex-wife, Leonora. Gus realizes that if Leonora remarries, he can stop paying alimony, and attempts to match Leonora with various men.

Lenora has several would-be suitors, including one who upsets her because he is pushy, so she goes to complain to Gus about it. Afterwards, she has him to dinner. As he is leaving, her professor boyfriend Tom shows up directly after, upsetting Gus.

In the course of his match-making, Gus' girlfriend, Rita breaks up with him on the day they were meant to move in together. She feels he's still in love with his ex. One day, his workmate describes to him how being in love makes him feel. It inspires him to find Leonora but, seeing her in the botanical garden with Dominic stops him in his tracks.

A while later, on a job, Gus gets electrocuted while saving a workmate. Leonora, similarly to him, realizes she still has feelings for him when she sees him in the hospital. Rita, as she works there, is at his sleeping side, so Leonora leaves without talking to him. Once he's out, she visits him at his apartment. She had ended things with the professor, and she lets him know Dominic asked her to marry him.

In the end, Gus and Leonora discover that they still care about each other.

Pauly Sherman is the slacker son of wealthy businessman Edward Sherman. One day, Edward marries Dawn Delaney, a younger woman with her own son. They move in with Pauly, who makes it his mission to ruin their relationship.

The film covers the period from just before Curtin becoming Prime Minister in October 1941 until the return of the 6th and 7th Divisions to Australia (''Operation Stepsister'') at the start of the Pacific war in March 1942. The film concludes with a montage of footage of Curtin's funeral in 1945.

Now 70 years old, Brossard has spent the better part of his life in hiding, traveling among the monasteries and abbeys that offer him asylum. Though he has evaded capture for decades with the help of the French government and the Catholic Church, now a new breed of government officials is determined to break decades of silence and expose and expiate the crimes of Vichy.

Tristia was a beautiful seaside town that slowly fell into ruin and dilapidation after being invaded by a dragon ten years before the start of the game. The people of the town tried in vain to rebuild the city in the hopes of restoring it to its former glory. Hopeless, the people decided to send for Prospero Flanca, a legendary inventor who was well known for reviving many dying cities. They received an answer from Prospero, but to their confusion, it was a girl who arrived at the port of the town. That girl was Nanoca, Prospero's granddaughter, and she has been assigned to manage the renovation project.

The mini-series follows 16-year-old Aika Sumeragi, who recently got her C-class license to be a salvager, a person who searches for treasure among the ruins of the Earth's cities which have been submerged following worldwide earthquakes. However, at high school, she is regularly late for class and then her posters advertising her salvaging services are taken down. However, one afternoon, she is invited by Eri Shinkai, the class president, to join her Treasure Hunting Club where they look for the coordinates hidden away in a tattoo on classmate Karen Minamino. Aika gladly accepts, but during the trip some of her schoolmates and even their club advisor attack them in an effort to try to capture Karen. Aika defeats the girls and discovers they are being controlled by some devices implanted in their bodies. As they approach the destination, Karen starts acting strangely as if she remembers being there before. At the underwater base, Aika, Eri, and Karen make their way to a locked lab, and discover Karen's true identity.

In ''Aika Zero'', 19-year-old Aika Sumeragi is called to investigate the goings on at a private Catholic school that is run by a council group called the White Knights. In the school, the students have been mysteriously disappearing and those who have returned have no memory of the event. They discover that there are aliens who use rope-like tendrils to probe the girls, knocking them out and harvesting their energy, or possessing them to do their bidding.

The film begins showing the roots of punk music with many views on various artists and genres who accentuated the beginning of the genre, like the MC5 and the Velvet Underground. ''Punk: Attitude'' then proceeds chronologically to sort through the various artists and alumni who were central to the movement, drawing light on the general idea or "Attitude" of the punk movement, which spoke out for a generation. Bands such as The Ramones, The Stooges, The Clash and The Sex Pistols feature prominently throughout. The movie offers a canvas of praise and respect given from many interviewees as these bands are heralded commonly as the beginning of Punk progressively through the movie. Rare concert footage and personal accounts of gigs and band meetings highlight the aggression and destructive entities with surprising accuracy. The movie wraps up by emphasizing the influence that punk has on modern music.

The Steptoes have retired their horse - because the horse is lame, after having to pull the cart (and Harold) home from York, after the horse walked into the back of a removal van which then drove off - and plan to buy a new one with Albert's life savings of £80, putting £9 away for "emergencies". Harold sends Albert home and returns several hours later drunk and introduces Hercules the Second, a short sighted racing greyhound. Harold reveals to Albert that he purchased this from local gangster and loan shark Frankie Barrow for the £80 plus a further £200 owing on top. Furthermore, he plans to pay a small fortune to keep it fed on egg and steak.

They eventually have to sell all of their possessions to have one final bet on their dog at the races to try to pay off the money they owe. When their dog loses, they just about lose hope when Albert brings up that he had saved £1,000 in a life insurance policy. Harold then schemes to get the money from his father by faking his death. They find an old mannequin among their collection of junk and fit it around Albert's body. They then call Dr. Popplewell, a known alcoholic doctor, who is drunk at the time of seeing Albert and he announces that Albert has died. Harold then brings home a coffin that he has been saving for the inevitable day that his father would actually die.

The next day, the gangsters turn up to collect the outstanding debt, but after some intimidation Harold manages to stave them off when he shows that Albert has "died" and they will get their money when the insurance policy pays out. Later on, old friends of Albert's come to visit and pay their respects to Albert. They announce that they have arranged a funeral for him and this is not good news for either of the Steptoes. Later one of Albert's friends ask if he could look at him for a final time. Knowing that the coffin is actually full of scrap metal, Harold makes the excuse that his father's face is all distorted because of a difficult visit to the lavatory which is what caused him to die.

Later on an entire army of mourners come to the Steptoe household. Along with them Mr Russell from the insurance company enters. Harold meets him to collect the proceeds - only to find out that all of the insurance money is to go to a lover that Albert met in 1949 while Harold was in the army in Malaya. A furious Harold asks why he did not cancel the insurance plan and Albert's only excuse is "I forgot." Harold concocts a way of bringing Albert back to life. However once inside the coffin, Albert falls into a deep sleep and nothing seems to wake him up. Harold tries to wake him several times during the journey to the cemetery, however on the way he is hit in the head by the back door of a removal truck. They decide to take Harold to the hospital and carry on to the funeral without him. At the hospital Harold runs away and gets a taxi to the cemetery.

There Harold accidentally smashes into a tomb and whilst being buried Albert finally wakes up and frightens everyone away. The vicar runs off and meets Harold looking like he himself is one of the undead. Back home, the Steptoes discover that the insurance claim would have paid out to Harold after all, due to a clause that Albert had put in the policy if his mistress ever married. He cashes the policy in and receives £876. They pay off their debt and buy a new horse with new riding equipment, but to Albert's horror, Harold invests the rest of the money in a part share of a race horse. He discovers that his partner is called H.M. Queen.

Steve Rogers (Reb Brown) is a former Marine whose father is a 1940s government agent. His father's patriotic attitude earns him the nickname "Captain America". His father is later murdered.

Rogers, now making a living as an artist and traveling the countryside in a conversion van, is inspired by his father's story to sketch a superhero. He is critically injured from an attempt on his life that is set up to seem like an accident.

He is administered an experimental serum called the FLAG formula, an acronym for "Full Latent Ability Gain" — a kind of "super-steroid" — which Rogers' father had developed from his own glands. The formula not only saves his life, but enhances his strength and reflexes. These new abilities inspire Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman), the research biochemist and intelligence official behind FLAG who was once a friend of Steve's father, to recruit Steve and give him a costume based on his drawing.

As Captain America, Steve's conversion van is re-configured so that it can launch a high-tech motorcycle. The bike features rocket thrust — a jet booster for rapid acceleration — and a stealth setting that reduces engine and road noise. In the sequel, ''Captain America II: Death Too Soon'' it also possesses a detachable wing resembling a hang glider that allows limited gravity-powered flight.

In the final act of the film, Rogers decides to become the same Captain America as his father had been, donning a uniform identical to the one his father had worn: the "classic" Captain America uniform.

The plot concerns an advanced race which has developed within the Earth's core. Eventually their most intelligent members create an offspring. This created entity encompasses both great good and great evil, but it slowly turns away from its creators and towards evil. The entity is called either the Dweller or the Shining One.

Eventually, of the race which created it, only three are left; these are called the Silent Ones, and they have been 'purged of dross' and can be described as higher, nobler, more angelic beings than are humankind. They have also been sentenced by the good among their race to remain in the world, and not to die, as punishment for their pride which was the source of the calamity called the Dweller, until such time as they destroy their creation—if they still can. And the reason they do not do so is simply that they continue to love it.

The Dweller is in the habit of rising to the surface of the earth and capturing men and women whom it holds in an unholy stasis and who, in some ways, feed it. It increases its knowledge and power constantly, but has a weakness, since it knows nothing of love. The scientist Dr. Goodwin and the half-Irish, half-American pilot Larry O'Keefe, and others, follow it down. Eventually they meet a woman, beautiful and evil, named Yolara, who in essence serves the Shining One, and the 'handmaiden' of the Silent Ones, beautiful and good, named Lakla. Both want O'Keefe and eventually battle over him.

There is also a race of very powerful and handsome Polynesian-like 'dwarves' and a race of humanoids whom the Silent Ones developed from a semi-sentient froglike species.

There develops a battle between the forces of good and evil with not only the entire world, but perhaps even the existence of good itself at stake. But can the forces of good prevail using fear as a weapon? Or will they have to rely upon love expressed by willing sacrifice?

The novel begins with Dante, under the alias Tony Redgrave, confronted by the thug "Mad Dog" Denvers for the ninety-ninth time.Shinya Goikeda, ''Devil May Cry Volume 1'', TokyoPop, 2006 Dante kills all of Denvers' men and leaves. As Denvers reminisces about how Dante's appearance two years previously caused the fall of the local underworld, he is killed by scythe-wielding devils screaming Dante's name.

In Bobby's Cellar, a mercenary hideout, Dante talks with his partner Grue. He then leaves Bobby's Cellar, heading to Goldstein's Shop, run by gunsmith Nell Goldstein. Bantering with Nell, Dante mentions he wrecks guns quickly due to the rate of fire he employs. Returning to Bobby's Cellar, Dante acquires a lucrative job with Grue. During the job it becomes clear to Dante and Grue that it is too dangerous, so they retreat. Later, as both men evaluate the aftermath of the pitched battle, they are attacked by the corpses. Dante destroys them, though Grue freezes. Afterwards, Grue and Dante eat dinner with Grue's family.

At Bobby's Cellar Enzo introduces a new mercenary named Gilver, a tall man swathed in bandages who wields a katana. Gilver fights Dante, proving himself equal. Deciding to settle the fight with drinking, Dante wins and Gilver is robbed by the bar patrons. After leaving, Dante is beset by demons and an undead Denvers. Dante awakens in the home of a local woman, who he spurns before leaving. He learns that killing Denvers has led to a bounty being placed on his head by the Oz Club. He leaves to confront the club directly. Entering a bank, he fights the same demons once again. Defeating them he runs into Gilver, who has slaughtered the Oz Club.

Weeks later, Dante and Gilver are now being paired on numerous jobs and Grue is missing. On the way to work, Dante stops by Nell's home, giving him two handguns and warning him about Gilver. Dante runs into Grue, who has been taking assassination jobs. After leaving Dante, Grue kills a heavily in debt thug. This sparks a demonic transformation among the thug's friends and Grue's hiding place is revealed by Gilver. Grue ignites a grenade on his chest, trying to kill Gilver. Dante and Gilver continue as partners, and Enzo reveals that Grue did assassinations because of his daughter Jessica's illness. Dante goes to the hospital and finds it overrun by demons. Dante faces the demon in charge, who is feeding on Jessica's despair. He kills the demon and Jessica, shattering the connection between the human world and demon realm.

Due to the hospital massacre and Grue's disappearance, Dante is publicly scorned by other mercenaries. Gilver converts the patrons of Bobby's Cellar into demons while Dante goes to Nell Goldstein's for rest. Soon after he leaves, an explosion engulfs Goldstein's Shop in flames. Dante charges in, finding Nell working on two handguns made especially for him: Ebony and Ivory. Giving him the handguns, Nell then dies. Dante ceases using the Tony Redgrave alias. Dante returns to Bobby's Cellar and confronts Gilver. Amidst a furious sword fight, Gilver shoots Dante with the shotgun purchased at Nell's shop. Fatally shooting Gilver in turn, Dante is horrified to discover that Gilver is his brother Vergil.

Much later, Enzo drops by Bobby's Cellar and helps Dante leave. In the novel's epilogue, Dante sits in his shop as Devil May Cry begins.

The novel begins as a redheaded woman, Beryl, storms through a temple. As a priest tells her that no evil is within the temple, they are attacked. Warned by a scar, Beryl expends her anti-tank gun on her foe before it flees.Shinya Goikeda, ''Devil May Cry Volume 2'', TokyoPop, 2006 Dante and Enzo talk about work in Dante's shop, Devil May Cry. As they discuss Dante's work habits and Trish's non-presence, Dante gets a call for work. As Enzo drops Dante off near the temple, Dante races towards the evil he feels and discovers humanoid demons, who he fights. Enzo finds Beryl on the road and agrees to take her back up the mountain. Beryl catches up with Dante as he finishes his foes, and she nearly hits him with her weapon by accident. Beryl then explains the Beastheads, a demonic statue which she has chased for years.

A youth named Ducas is awakened by a demon crashing through his roof. In the demon's hands is the Beastheads statue, which Ducas takes. Chen, the boss of organized crime in the area, quickly arrives. Chen dismisses Ducas and instead focuses on the dead demon and discovers that Ducas has the statue. Meanwhile, Dante broods about the Beastheads. Beryl locates Dante's office, having tracked down the Beastheads to Ducas. Beryl persuades Dante to help her investigate.

Ducas' good luck continues and he is learning to control the Beastheads, allowing him to see the future and sees Dante killing him. Moments later, Dante and Beryl crash through the window as Ducas hides. After they leave, Ducas escapes by sprouting feathered wings, which Beryl and Dante notice. Ducas lands on a building, encountering Chen. Chen offers Ducas safety, sending his demonic minions to stop Dante. Dante dispatches the foes with ease, though Beryl finds herself overwhelmed. As Dante and Beryl decide to confront Chen, Ducas finds himself alone on a yacht. He places the Beastheads in his mouth and chews it to pieces to consume its power.

The Beastheads, now an enormous three-headed dog, tracks Dante and Beryl to a sea-side cliff. The despair the Beastheads causes nearly incapacitates Beryl. Seeing Dante fight reminds Beryl of the Dark Knight, Sparda, a fairy tale she was told as a child. She gets up and aids Dante, though defeating the Beastheads causes them to warp somewhere. Beryl dreams, remembering how the Beastheads corrupted her father. She awakens in a cave with Dante. Dante investigates and discovers they are in a parallel world where Mundus captured him as a child and his brother Vergil led Mundus' lieutenants against him. Dante agrees to fight Mundus a second time. The village housing the rebel demons is attacked by an army, all of whom resemble Trish. Mundus' former lieutenants give their lives to aid Dante in killing Trish, an action he regrets. Griffon leads Dante to Mundus' castle. Dante and Beryl enter and Dante defeats Mundus a second time while Beryl watches.

Beryl and Dante awaken in Chen's labs, where Chen performs experiments on demons. The building vibrates as Chen acquires the Beastheads' power. They attack Chen, killing his minions and causing him to flee. Dante and Beryl follow and are caught in Chen's trap. Chen discovers that the Beastheads consumes human souls but replenishes demonic power. Dante carves his way out of the trap while Chen devours the Beastheads statue.

Chen and Dante clash, both using the Sparda's sword-style. Chen gains the upper hand until Dante hurls his sword through Chen's head. Beryl uses her gun to punch through Chen's defense, allowing Dante to destroy the Beastheads. The book ends months later with a white-hilted dagger flying through Dante's front window, bearing an invitation to the museum seen in the beginning of ''Devil May Cry 2''.

Kam Kong plays an evil Manchurian General, who desires to crush the revolutionaries who have ties to the Shaolin temple. Chen Kuan-tai is Iron, a naive young man who is unaware that his father is a leader of this underground movement. An undercover operative named Ho Yeng, who conned his way into joining the rebellion, betrays Iron's father. The entire family is captured (except for Iron) and the General schedules their executions the following day. Since the leader of the rebellion is now in his clutches, the General focuses on the capture of his enemy's son, Iron. A witness to this heinous act warns Iron and he manages to escape the village and avoid capture from the Qing army. He becomes a wild, animalistic wanderer who survives by stealing food from a nearby Shaolin temple. He also watches the hopefuls who train in the martial arts there. A group of students eventually catch him breaking into the temple, and they comment on his monkey-like agility. One student (Chi Kuan-chun) follows him into the woods and suggests that Iron become a student of the Shaolin Temple. The Abbot is more than happy to accept him as a pupil, but he notices the look of anger in the young man's eyes. Iron refuses to comment on his agenda or his identity, so the Abbott assigns him a new identity—that of Iron Monkey.

Iron Monkey soon proves himself a natural in the temple training arena. In a short time, he becomes a top student, at the expense of his peers’ friendship (as they are naturally jealous). Soon, the head monks inform the students that they must select a specialized martial arts technique. Naturally, Iron Monkey selects the fearsome Monkey Fist method, which is unrivaled in the martial arts world, except for Eagle's Claw style. The Abbot sends Iron Monkey out into the wilderness where he is trained by the exiled Bitter Monk. In a year's time, Iron Monkey masters the Monkey Fist and returns to the temple with confidence and ability. The Abbott welcomes him back, but senses that Iron Monkey is still motivated by hatred and rage. The Abbot tells him that he must alleviate his inner pain, and return to the temple a wiser man cleansed of hatred. The timing is perfect as the General's guard intrude upon the Shaolin temple to recruit martial artists to the Qing cause. But the students and monks are loyal to their beliefs, and no one sells out—except for Iron Monkey. Like the hated betrayer of his father, Ho Yeng, Iron Monkey plans to join the Manchus and destroy their organization from within. His ultimate goal is to get close to the General, so he can assassinate the man responsible for the death of his family. But first he must prove himself.

The General doesn't trust Iron Monkey and assigns him the task of hunting and killing suspected revolutionaries. Iron Monkey immerses himself in Manchu propaganda and begins beating and killing his own people! But, the Captains and the General take notice of his skills and behavior, and he is given a promotion. The Manchus still don't trust him and orders him to kill more radicals. The more people Iron Monkey kills, the higher he rises in the Qing hierarchy. Eventually he becomes equal in rank to the Captains that recruited him. But he has still not achieved his goal of meeting the General. When the Manchus order Iron Monkey to crush the Shaolin Temple itself, he realizes he must finally make his move. He confronts the entire chain of the Manchu hierarchy, starting with the traitor Ho Yeng, to the Captains, and finally the General himself. However, the General did not earn his position for nothing. He is a master of the Eagle's Claw—the only form of martial arts that can overcome the Monkey Fist.

The film tells the story of a medical study with covert goals organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, conducted on poor African American men in the years 1932–1972 at Tuskegee University, designed to study the effects of untreated syphilis. The story is told from the perspective of the small town nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard) who is well aware of the lack of treatment, but feels her role is to console the involved men, many of whom are her close friends.

In 1932 she is sent to help Dr. Brodus (Joe Morton) and Dr. Douglas (Craig Sheffer) to help them "treat" rural black men in the town of Tuskegee, Alabama. She is sent around town to tell the people that the government is funding their treatment for free, but unbeknownst to them the government will soon run a study that requires them to go without any form of real treatment. She then comes across three men in an abandoned schoolhouse: Willie Johnson (Obba Babatundé), Bryan Hodman, and "Big" Ben Washington, who agree for treatment.

The study selected 412 men infected with the disease and promised them free medical treatment for what was called "bad blood". The movie shows Miss Evers suggesting the term as a strategy to withhold information about syphilis from the men. The men received fake long-term treatment, which involved giving them mercury and placebos even after penicillin was discovered as a cure. When Caleb Humphries (one of the test subjects who left the experiment) joins the Army during World War II and is treated and cured by penicillin, he returns to tell how he was cured and tries to get help for his friend. But none of the hospitals would help because the test subjects were placed on a list that stated they should not receive medical treatment because they were participants in the experiment. The survivors of the study did receive treatment and financial compensation after the US Senate investigated in the 1970s, and eventually a formal apology from President Bill Clinton.

Freeglader starts in the capital of the Edge, Undertown. The city is slowly being destroyed by a dark maelstrom, triggered by Vox Verlix. The Undertowners begin a mass exodus, fleeing to a new life in a vast, beautiful area of justice and equality, the Free Glades. The exodus is led by Rook Barkwater, the hero of the story, and the others in a breakaway group of academics known as the librarian knights. On the journey to the Free Glades Rook gets caught up in a storm near the Twilight Woods, causing him to lose his memory. Upon reaching the Deepwoods the exodus is attacked by the recently hatched battle flocks of Shrykes. Only through the timely arrival of the Freeglade Lancers are the Librarians and Undertowners saved (combined with Xanth killing the Roost mother). Meanwhile, Amberfuce has reached the Foundry Glade. There he presents his partner with plans for Glade Eaters, special weapons designed by Vox Verlix. The two along with the Goblin Nations begin plans for an attack on the Free Glades. Rook, meanwhile having regained his memory, joins the Free Lancers. Xanth, his name cleared, joins the Librarian Knights. Everything is peaceful for several months until the attack comes. The massive Glade Eaters, backed by the armies of the Goblin Nations, destroy most of the Free Glades before being destroyed. The Sky Pirates, the Librarian Knights, the Freeglade Lancers and the Ghosts of Screetown fight determinedly but are outnumbered. Even the arrival of the banderbears fails to turn the tide. However, at the last minute large numbers of peaceful goblins revolt, killing the Goblin Chieftains. The war ends, and everyone sets about rebuilding the Free Glades.

(above) and other locales in England and Scotland.

''Into the Wild'' follows the integration of a house cat named Rusty into a group of feral cats living in a fictional forest inspired by the real world locales of New Forest, the woods about Loch Lomond, the Forest of Dean, and the Scottish Highlands. The group of cats are called ThunderClan, and share the fictional forest with three other groups of feral cats called RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan.

The novel opens with a battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan over a territorial dispute. ThunderClan is outnumbered and forced to retreat. In the aftermath, ThunderClan's medicine cat Spottedleaf receives a prophecy from StarClan, the spirits of the cats' deceased ancestors, telling her that "fire will save our Clan", which she shares with ThunderClan's leader Bluestar.

When he ventures into the forest near his home, Rusty, a flame-coloured housecat, encounters Bluestar, ThunderClan apprentice Graypaw, and ThunderClan warrior Lionheart. They invite Rusty to join ThunderClan. However, due to Rusty's domesticated past, some members of the Clan are hostile towards Rusty upon his arrival in ThunderClan's camp. The hostility culminates in Rusty fighting one of ThunderClan's warriors, Longtail, losing his collar in the process. Bluestar then halts the fight and announces that Rusty has earned his apprentice name, Firepaw. Shortly after, ThunderClan's deputy Redtail is revealed to have died, and Bluestar names Lionheart the new deputy of ThunderClan.

Firepaw forms a strong friendship with Graypaw, and Ravenpaw, who is the apprentice of Tigerclaw, an ambitious ThunderClan warrior who wishes to become clan leader. When Bluestar, Tigerclaw, Ravenpaw, Firepaw, and Graypaw travel to the Moonstone, a sacred site to the ThunderClan cats, ShadowClan cats attack ThunderClan's camp, killing Lionheart. Tigerclaw is subsequently named deputy in his place. A few days later, Spottedleaf is murdered, and several ThunderClan kittens are abducted by ShadowClan. With the exception of Firepaw and Graypaw, all of ThunderClan suspects the perpetrator of these events to be Yellowfang, a former and exiled ShadowClan medicine cat whom Firepaw had taken prisoner for ThunderClan earlier.

Firepaw learns from Ravenpaw that Tigerclaw is a traitor to the ThunderClan, having murdered Redtail in hopes of becoming deputy. Firepaw and Graypaw lead Ravenpaw to a new home in a barn away from ThunderClan territory in order to protect him from being killed by Tigerclaw for knowing too much incriminating information. Firepaw then successfully leads a rescue party with Yellowfang to rescue the abducted kittens from ShadowClan, leading to the exile of Brokenstar and his followers from ShadowClan. For their heroism in rescuing the kittens, Firepaw and Graypaw are promoted to warriors by Bluestar, who gives them their warrior names, Fireheart and Graystripe. Having proven that she is not helping ShadowClan, Yellowfang is accepted as ThunderClan's medicine cat, replacing the murdered Spottedleaf.

''Fire and Ice'' begins with Fireheart and Graystripe performing a traditional silent vigil after their promotion to warrior status in ''Into the Wild''. In the first couple chapters, the book explains in third person how Fireheart and Graystripe start to get comfortable with being warriors. ThunderClan thinks Ravenpaw is dead, but Fireheart reveals the truth to Bluestar not long before a Gathering, a meeting of the Clans held on the night of a full moon, is held.

As their first task as warriors, Fireheart and Graystripe are assigned to find WindClan (cats that live primarily on the open moors), which had been driven out by ShadowClan, and bring them home. They go to the WindClan camp and search for clues there. On the way, they see some RiverClan warriors hunting on WindClan territory. Graystripe finds the correct scent trail, and they follow it to a makeshift WindClan camp. Fireheart spots Barley's farm a little ways off the trail and the pair hurriedly leaves in fear of the dogs that live on the farm chasing them after they get let out.

Eventually, Fireheart and Graystripe succeed, finding WindClan under a tangle of Thunderpaths (a highway interchange). When Fireheart and Graystripe first find the Thunderpaths, they are confused by the mixed-up scents. After figuring out WindClan is under it, they decide to spend the night right outside the makeshift home and wait until morning to greet the Clan. Then they bring them home.

Soon after, Bluestar apprentices Cinderpaw, a smoky-dark gray she-cat to Fireheart, and Brackenpaw, a golden-brown tabby tom to Graystripe. During a hunting patrol, Graystripe almost drowns after chasing a vole onto thin ice, falling in the river separating RiverClan and ThunderClan, but is rescued by Silverstream, a slender, light silver-gray-and-black tabby she-cat who is a RiverClan warrior. Graystripe and Silverstream fall in love; however, this is against the warrior code, a code of honor that all warriors must follow. And according to the code, warriors cannot fall in love with those not from their own Clan. Fireheart discovers their relationship, and unsuccessfully attempts to discourage them from seeing each other. Graystripe finally agrees to meet Silverstream only at the full moon at the Gathering, when the four Clans meet to share news. Fireheart later realizes that Graystripe has not been keeping his promise. Because Graystripe is often gone to see Silverstream, Fireheart takes over training Brackenpaw along with Cinderpaw.

Tigerclaw, in his ambition to become leader, sets a trap for Bluestar by another Thunderpath, intending to kill her, thus bringing him closer to becoming leader. Instead, Cinderpaw is crippled by the trap. Her leg is broken, and when it heals, she has a permanent limp, preventing her from becoming a warrior. She then trains under Yellowfang to become a medicine cat.

At one point, Fireheart is reunited with his sister, Princess, a fluffy light brown tabby she-cat kittypet living in a Twolegplace (human town). Princess gives Fireheart her oldest kit, Cloudkit the snowy-white young tom, to take into the Clan as a new apprentice. Although Fireheart agrees to accept his nephew as his new apprentice, his Clanmates, with the exception of Frostfur and Graystripe, are reluctant to accept him because of his kittypet blood, even though Fireheart himself also has kittypet blood. Bluestar allows him to stay, and Brindleface the pale gray tabby she-cat becomes his foster mother.

Brokenstar, the former ShadowClan leader, eventually attacks ThunderClan, along with several other exiled ShadowClan warriors. After the battle, the rogues are driven off, with the exception of Brokenstar himself, who is blinded by Yellowfang and is kept as a prisoner. When Fireheart suggests they kill the evil cat, Yellowfang refuses, sadly revealing that she is Brokenstar's mother.

Later, ThunderClan becomes involved in a fight against RiverClan and ShadowClan, when RiverClan and ShadowClan unite and try to drive WindClan out again, and WindClan ally themselves with ThunderClan. When Fireheart is attacked by Leopardfur, a dappled golden tabby she-cat who is the RiverClan deputy, Tigerclaw watches as Leopardfur and Fireheart fight, and does not attempt to join in. Silverstream attacks Fireheart but releases him; he then attacks her but, seeing Graystripe's look of dismay, he releases her. Darkstripe the large, lean, sleek, thin-furred, dark gray tabby tom witnesses the event and reports it to Tigerclaw. Consequently, Fireheart becomes certain that Tigerclaw is not to be trusted.

Fireheart is determined to uncover the truth about the Clan deputy, Tigerclaw, whom he believes is untrustworthy, whilst risking the trust of his leader, Bluestar, and even the possibility that she might suspect Fireheart himself as a traitor.

ShadowClan and WindClan eventually lead an invasion of the ThunderClan camp in an attempt to kill Brokentail whom ThunderClan is sheltering but are driven off.

Meanwhile, Fireheart's best friend, Graystripe, risks the trust of his entire Clan as he continues having a forbidden love affair with Silverstream, who is from RiverClan. Fireheart and Graystripe face danger from Tigerclaw, who has noticed Graystripe missing from camp many times. Silverstream eventually dies while giving birth to Graystripe's kits when they come early. Graystripe is left heartbroken. ThunderClan then learns about his forbidden love with Silverstream and feel that they cannot trust Graystripe anymore.

Later, Tigerclaw leads a band of rogues into ThunderClan camp, pretending to defend the Clan. During the battle, Tigerclaw corners Bluestar in her den and tries to kill her. Fireheart arrives just in time to save her and injures Tigerclaw. Bluestar is deeply shocked and shaken by Tigerclaw's mutiny, though she manages to announce Tigerclaw's exile from the Clan. Tigerclaw then asks Darkstripe, Longtail, and even Dustpelt the dark brown tabby tom if they want to join him in exile, but each cat refuses. With Bluestar having regained her trust over the cat that had exposed Tigerclaw's treachery, Fireheart is made deputy, although the announcement of the position is made after moonhigh, which is against Clan tradition. As a deputy, life is harder for Fireheart and things change rapidly. Fireheart is unsure whether he would be a good deputy, but he is sure that he has not seen the last of Tigerclaw.

At the end of the book, Graystripe, feeling torn between loyalties, heavy-heartedly decides to join RiverClan in order to raise his and Silverstream's kits. Fireheart attempts to have him reconsider, but this later proves to be unsuccessful. Fireheart is left heartbroken with the thought of losing his friend with whom he shared many adventures, and was the first Clan cat he had ever met since his days as a kittypet. He believes he will be lonely without his best friend. Yellowfang also poisons and kills Brokentail with yew berries for the injustices he has caused.

Fireheart is ThunderClan's new deputy, but the previous deputy, Tigerclaw, still haunts Fireheart's dreams. Fireheart wonders if ThunderClan would be ready if Tigerclaw attacked, as many of the cats are still shocked by Tigerclaw's disloyalty, and many warriors are still badly injured. Bluestar begins to become distrustful of the Clan after Tigerclaw's betrayal, trusting only her most senior warriors, and those who were not Clanborn.

Bluestar, accompanied by Fireheart, goes to speak with StarClan, the Clans' warrior ancestors, at the Moonstone, located inside a disused quarry mine known to the Clans as Mothermouth. On the way there, a patrol of WindClan warriors stop them. The ThunderClan leader later fears that StarClan sent WindClan to stop them from going to Mothermouth and speaking with StarClan, which causes her to slip into further paranoia.

Fireheart struggles with his disrespectful nephew and apprentice, Cloudpaw, who disobeys Fireheart's orders to stay away from Twolegs (humans), and is eventually abducted by them. Fireheart and his friend, Sandstorm, then go on a quest to rescue Cloudpaw. They find him, take him back, and he is accepted back into the Clan by convincing the Clan that he went against his will. Meanwhile, Fireheart struggles to cope with missing his best friend, Graystripe, who left ThunderClan with his kits to live in RiverClan, the kits' mother's Clan.

The forest gets hotter and hotter as summer drags on, and eventually a wildfire sweeps through the forest. It destroys ThunderClan's camp and taking the lives of two elders, Patchpelt and Halftail, as well as Yellowfang, ThunderClan's senior medicine cat. At the end of the book, it is revealed at a Gathering that both Nightstar and Cinderfur, elderly leader and deputy of ShadowClan respectfully, have died from a sickness, and that Tigerclaw, now Tigerstar, is the new leader of ShadowClan.

Prey in ThunderClan’s territory has gone missing, and Fireheart believes that Tigerstar, leader of ShadowClan, is behind it. Meanwhile, Bluestar is mentally shaken by Tigerstar’s betrayal, for she once thought he was a loyal warrior and deputy. Bluestar believes that if StarClan had been on her side, none of this would have happened. She refuses to believe in StarClan, and declares war with them, shocking her clanmates.

Bluestar decides to name Cloudpaw a warrior because he does not believe in StarClan. Two other apprentices, Swiftpaw and Brightpaw, both choose to track down the animals who have been stealing ThunderClan’s prey. Unfortunately, the prey-stealers are a pack of deadly dogs. Swiftpaw is killed, and Brightpaw loses half of her face, making her blind in one eye. Bluestar, thinking Brightpaw will die, promotes Brightpaw to the status of a warrior, but names her Lostface. Meanwhile, Graystripe returns to ThunderClan, and his loyalty is questioned among ThunderClan.

Clan life returns to normal, but Fireheart is curious about the dogs. He asks Lostface about them, but she only repeats a few words: “Pack, pack, kill, kill.” Whitestorm reports to Fireheart that he and his patrol smelled dogs near Snakerocks. Fireheart goes to investigate. He finds a trail of dead rabbits that lead to the body of Brindleface, the sweet and gentle queen. She had been killed by Tigerstar in order for the dogs to have a taste of cat blood. Fireheart orders a patrol to discard the rabbits.

After Brindleface’s burial, ThunderClan evacuates to Sunningrocks. Bluestar is still mentally unstable, so it is up to Fireheart to get rid of the dogs. He and the senior warriors come up with a plan to lead the dogs over the edge of the gorge. The plan works; each cat successfully leads the pack closer to the gorge, breaking away from the group once they lead the dogs to a certain spot, where a fresh runner lies in wait so they can lead the dogs to the next point. Fireheart, the last in line, keeps a good distance from the dogs, but, Tigerstar comes from the bushes and pins Fireheart down, allowing the dogs to catch up. When it seems like Fireheart is about to die, Bluestar, now clear of mind, pushes the pack leader of the edge of the gorge, taking her with it.

Fireheart leaps down the cliff into the river and dives in to save Bluestar. Fireheart manages to get a hold on her, but is barely able to keep their heads above the water. However, Bluestar's RiverClan children, Stonefur and Mistyfoot, discover Fireheart struggling in the river, trying to save Bluestar, and help drag the two cats to the bank. There, Bluestar pleads forgiveness to her kits her for lying to them about who their parents were. They forgive her, as they had not known their true heritage until then. Bluestar then tells Fireheart that she realized her Clanmates were not all traitors. She also tells him that he is now the leader of ThunderClan. With that, she loses her final life, and her spirit is sent to StarClan.

Fireheart is overcome with grief. Mistyfoot asks if she and Stonefur can help carry her back to the ThunderClan camp and sit vigil for her.

Firestar is the leader of ThunderClan, succeeding the former leader, Bluestar, when she drowned saving ThunderClan from a pack of wild dogs. As he receives his nine lives at the Moonstone, StarClan gives him a prophecy: "Four will become two, lion and tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest."

Firestar chooses Whitestorm, a senior warrior who is well admired and respected, as his deputy. During the next Gathering, Tigerstar, ShadowClan’s treacherous leader, tries to unite all the clans as one, claiming that they would be stronger together. Leopardstar, RiverClan’s leader, agrees, but Tallstar, leader of WindClan, and Firestar both refuse to join this alliance, which Tigerstar has named "TigerClan".

Later, Graystripe asks Firestar if he can quickly check on his kits in TigerClan. Firestar agrees, and he and Graystripe, accompanied by Ravenpaw, their old friend, all go to TigerClan. In TigerClan, they find Stormpaw and Featherpaw, Graystripe’s kits, along with Mistyfoot and Stonefur prisoners in TigerClan. The three friends rescue Stormpaw, Featherpaw and Mistyfoot, but Stonefur is killed by two ShadowClan warriors.

In an attempt to force Firestar and Tallstar into joining his clan, Tigerstar introduces BloodClan, a group of rogue cats who live in alleys in Twoleg (human) territory. When ThunderClan and WindClan’s leaders still do not agree, Tigerstar orders BloodClan to fight for him, though the cats do not, for they take orders only from their leader, Scourge. Firestar then reveals the treachery Tigerstar has done, killing ThunderClan’s former deputy, Redtail, for power. Scourge then says that there will be no battle. Tigerstar, enraged, attacks Scourge, but Scourge kills him easily by slicing him from chin to tail with his claws. Scourge then warns the clans that they have three days to leave the forest, or else BloodClan will fight with them. In response, the clans unite as one and form an alliance called LionClan to face this threat.

During the battle, Whitestorm is killed by Bone, BloodClan's deputy, but Bone is killed soon afterwards by a group of Clan apprentices. Graystripe becomes the new deputy of ThunderClan. The battle is won when Firestar kills Scourge, though he loses one of his own nine lives in the process. Without its leader, BloodClan scatters. With the threat of BloodClan gone, the four Clans dissolve their alliance and become independent from one another once more.

More than a year has passed since the previous book, ''The Darkest Hour''. Bramblepaw, Tigerstar's son, has received his warrior name, Brambleclaw. Firestar has had two kits with Sandstorm, named Squirrelkit and Leafkit. Squirrelpaw is apprenticed to Dustpelt, and Leafpaw is apprenticed to Cinderpelt, in training to become the next medicine cat of ThunderClan. While Leafpaw and Cinderpelt search for herbs, StarClan, the cats' ancestors, sends Cinderpelt an ominous warning in some burning bracken, a picture of a tiger running through fire, which she interprets to mean that fire and tiger will destroy the forest. Cinderpelt concludes that the warning must be about Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, the daughter of Firestar and the son of Tigerstar. They share the warning with Firestar, who later decides to keep Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw separated.

In a dream, StarClan tells Brambleclaw, Feathertail (Graystripe's daughter), Crowpaw, and Tawnypelt (formerly Tawnypaw, Brambleclaw's sister) to listen to what "midnight" has to say. Eventually, they begin a journey in the direction of the setting sun. Squirrelpaw tags along and Stormfur insists on accompanying them to protect his sister, Feathertail, as the six cats trek into the unknown world. On their journey, they meet an old loner named Purdy who helps the Clan cats get to the sun-drown place (the Atlantic Ocean). Eventually, they reach the sun-drown-place and enter a cavern inhabited by a highly intelligent badger known as Midnight, able to speak the languages of cats, foxes, and badgers, who reveals to them that humans will destroy the forest and that the cats must either leave the forest or die. She also tells them that a dying warrior will lead the Clans to their new home. The book ends with a short epilogue back in the forest, where the humans begin to destroy ThunderClan's territory.

In the previous book in the series, ''Midnight'', StarClan, the warrior cats' ancestors, sent four cats (one from each Clan—Brambleclaw, Crowpaw, Feathertail, and Tawnypelt) on a quest. Squirrelpaw and Stormfur went with them. At the end of their journey, they arrived at the ocean and found an unusually intelligent badger named Midnight. Midnight told the cats that the Clans would have to leave their forest home and find a new place to live, as humans were going to cut down the forest and build a new "Thunderpath" (the cats' word for a road).

On the return journey, the Clan cats decide, after consultation with Midnight, to go through a mountain range which they had avoided in their initial travels. There, they meet a Clan-like group of cats called the Tribe of Rushing Water, who have their own set of ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Tribe takes the traveling cats in and gives them food and shelter. The Clan cats discover that the Tribe cats have a prophecy: a silver cat will save them from Sharptooth, a mountain lion that has been killing many members of the Tribe. The Tribe thinks that Stormfur is the silver cat from the prophecy, and he is therefore expected to protect the Tribe from Sharptooth. Stormfur eventually agrees to help the Tribe.

Together, the Clan cats succeed in leading Sharptooth into a trap in a cave. However, their plan to poison Sharptooth goes awry, as he swats the rabbit they used to bait him aside and goes after Crowpaw instead. Brambleclaw knows that they can't end their journey if the cat from WindClan is killed. Feathertail stares at the situation before turning to Stormfur, telling him this was for her to do not him. Without hesitation, she jumps up to the roof of the cave onto a stalactite, causing it to fall. Both Feathertail and Sharptooth are killed by the impact. Crowpaw and Stormfur are distraught and upset at the loss of their friend and Clanmate. The Tribe then realizes that Feathertail was the silver cat in their prophecy, not her brother Stormfur, as they had previously thought. The five remaining cats then continue their journey. The book ends with Squirrelpaw noticing Highstones, which is at the edge of WindClan territory; they are almost home.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, the Clans begin to experience the effects of the humans' intrusion into their territories, including lost and poisoned prey, destruction of the forest and cats being abducted.

''Moonrise'' is followed by ''Dawn'', which details the events following the questing cats' return to the forest, and their subsequent journey to find a new home.

Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Crowpaw, Stormfur and Tawnypelt have returned to the Clans from a quest with a message from Midnight, the badger: the Clans must move to a new home, or risk death. The destruction of the forest has already begun, with the Clans starving as the food supply has been cut off and their habitat destroyed by the humans building a new road. At the same time, cats are being taken away by humans, including a ThunderClan apprentice, Leafpaw. A patrol is sent to rescue the captured cats, but Graystripe is captured after he succeeds in rescuing Leafpaw and other cats from RiverClan and WindClan, as well as many non-Clan cats.

It is difficult for Firestar, ThunderClan's leader, to convince ShadowClan and RiverClan to leave. Finally, RiverClan decides to leave when their river becomes poisoned by humans. ShadowClan also agrees to leave when a tree cut down by humans falls in their camp. While trying help ShadowClan, Firestar loses his second life when a tree falls on him. Midnight, an intelligent badger from the previous book, had told the questing cats that a dying warrior will show the Clans the way to their new home. The dying warrior turns out to be the spirit of Mudfur, the former RiverClan medicine cat. Mudfur runs through the night sky as a shooting star and drops behind the mountains, telling the Clans that their new territory will be beyond Highstones. The Clans travel together through the mountains, guided by Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Crowpaw, Tawnypelt, and Stormfur.

While in the mountains, the Clans meet the Tribe of Rushing Water, and Stormfur chooses to stay with the Tribe with Brook Where Small Fish Swim, whom he has fallen in love with, and his sister, Feathertail's, spirit. Near the end of the book, Squirrelpaw confesses her love to Brambleclaw and he confesses that he loves her back. At the end of the book, the Clans discover a forest around a lake that reflects all of the stars. This was the place where StarClan had sent them.

Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a message from beyond the grave.

The four Clans of warrior cats, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan and WindClan, discover a lake which serves as their new home, replacing their old home which is destroyed by humans. The Clans temporarily set up camp by the lakeshore and decide that, the next day, they sort out their respective territories and look for a Gathering place to hold their monthly meetings under a truce. During a meeting, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, calls up Squirrelpaw, his daughter who is an apprentice, and promotes her to the status of warrior, giving her the warrior name Squirrelflight. The next day, the leaders call upon the four remaining cats that go on the journey to the sun-drown-place in ''Midnight'', Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Crowfeather, and Tawnypelt, as well as Mistyfoot of RiverClan to explore around the lake and find camps for each Clan.

The cats come across a location that seems ideal for RiverClan's fishing lifestyle. Continuing on, they find a coniferous forest which seems to suit ShadowClan. Desperate to prove herself by finding ThunderClan a camp, Squirrelflight runs ahead and accidentally falls down a large circular stone hollow. She recovers and realizes that it is a perfect place for a well-sheltered ThunderClan camp. The cats later cross a moorland which Crowfeather thinks suits WindClan's lifestyle of chasing rabbits. The five cats return and announce their findings to all of the other cats. The Clans decide to leave for their new camps the next day.

After the Clans move into their new camps, Barkface, the WindClan medicine cat, goes to Firestar and tells him that Tallstar, leader of WindClan, is dying. Firestar asks Brambleclaw to follow him as well as Onewhisker of WindClan, at Tallstar's request. Tallstar tells them that he does not wish for Mudclaw, the WindClan deputy, to lead WindClan, and wishes to switch to Onewhisker as deputy. He dies soon after telling the cats. The next morning, Firestar and Onewhisker announce this to the other Clans, much to Mudclaw's anger. Onewhisker appoints Ashfoot as his deputy, although he has not yet received his nine lives and leader name from StarClan, the cats' ancestors. The medicine cats worry about whether there is another Moonstone (a sacred stone in the old territory which they can communicate with StarClan, their warrior ancestors) for Onewhisker to visit for his leadership ceremony.

During Gatherings and times when the Clans are together, Brambleclaw spends more time with his half-brother Hawkfrost, which does not sit well with Squirrelflight. Brambleclaw has a dream in which he sees Tigerstar, his evil dead father, and Hawkfrost. Tigerstar praises Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost for their courage during the change in territory and tells them that he has great plans for them. There is also tension erupting in WindClan, which seems to be divided in two groups consisting of Mudclaw's supporters and Onewhisker's supporters.

One night, Spottedleaf, a former ThunderClan medicine cat, now deceased, goes to Leafpaw, a ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice, and tells her to follow her. Leafpaw's friend Sorreltail accompanies Leafpaw, and the two of them go far up on ThunderClan's territory near the border with WindClan. Spottedleaf takes Leafpaw to her destination: a pool of water which reflects the stars and moonlight. Leafpaw sees all of the cats of StarClan and realizes this could be the replacement for the Moonstone. Bluestar, former leader of ThunderClan, tells her that this place, the Moonpool, is where medicine cats come to share tongues with StarClan. She goes back to tell Cinderpelt, ThunderClan's medicine cat, and the two of them tell all of the other medicine cats. Later, during the half-moon, Leafpaw receives her full medicine cat name, Leafpool.

The next day, Mistyfoot rushes into ThunderClan camp and says that Mudclaw and Hawkfrost have been meeting at night. She then says that Hawkfrost and a patrol went out at dawn that day and had not returned, and she suspects that they have gone to attack Onewhisker's followers in WindClan. Firestar assembles a patrol to accompany him to fight, and sure enough, a battle starts on WindClan territory. Leafpool is left behind with a couple of other ThunderClan warriors in the camp. Two ShadowClan warriors invade and almost kill Leafpool when Crowfeather comes to her rescue. Crowfeather confesses he loves her, and she realizes she loves him too. During the battle, Brambleclaw fights Mudclaw. Although Mudclaw has the advantage over Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost saves Brambleclaw. Mudclaw claims that he and Hawkfrost had an agreement: Mudclaw would take over and make Hawkfrost the deputy, despite the fact that Hawkfrost is from RiverClan. Hawkfrost denies this when lightning suddenly strikes a tree, crushing Mudclaw and making a bridge to an island, making it the new Gathering place.

WindClan and ThunderClan are still suffering from Mudclaw and Hawkfrost's attack on WindClan. Squirrelflight and Ashfur grow much closer as Squirrelflight's relationship with Brambleclaw deteriorates because of his friendship with his half-brother, Hawkfrost, whom Squirrelflight believes is untrustworthy. Onewhisker of WindClan travels to the Moonpool, earning his nine lives and leader name, becoming Onestar.

Later in the book, Daisy, a farm cat, takes her three kits, Berry, Hazel, and Mouse, to join ThunderClan after Daisy witnesses the humans taking her friend Floss' kits away. Leafpool continues her forbidden love with Crowfeather a warrior of WindClan, and struggles with her feelings; she must choose between her Clan and her heart. Eventually, Cinderpelt confronts Leafpool about her romance when she is discovered with Crowfeather. The two medicine cats argue, and Leafpool decides to run away from the Clans with Crowfeather after Spottedleaf tells her to follow her heart. After a long night alone in the hills, Leafpool and Crowfeather return to the Clans when they hear of a badger attack on the Clans from Midnight the badger.

During the badger attack, Sorreltail begins to have her kits, and Cinderpelt helps her while simultaneously fighting off the badgers. Although Sorreltail gives birth to four healthy kits, Cinderpelt is killed by a badger. ThunderClan begins to lose the battle, but WindClan shows up at the last minute, summoned by Midnight. Together, the two Clans manage to drive the badgers away. The story ends with Leafpool deciding to remain in ThunderClan as their medicine cat, rather than leaving the Clans to live with Crowfeather.

After the badgers' fierce attack destroys much of ThunderClan's camp, Brook Where Small Fish Swim (Brook) and Stormfur, old friends of ThunderClan, help to rebuild the camp. The battle is not without its consequences, as both the medicine cat Cinderpelt and the warrior Sootfur die. The battle rekindles Squirrelflight's love for Brambleclaw (following a conflict between the two during the previous book), leading her to have an argument a few days after with Ashfur, whom she had moved to following her separation from Brambleclaw.

All of the Clans are grieving for the death of Cinderpelt. Leafpool finds herself struggling between grief and betrayal, for she has not seen Cinderpelt in the ranks of StarClan. During a visit to the Moonpool, where medicine cats share dreams with StarClan each month, former medicine cat Spottedleaf goes to Leafpool in a dream and shows her that Cinderpelt is reborn in the form of Cinderkit, one of Sorreltail's four kits whom Cinderpelt died protecting.

After months of waiting and with persuasion from multiple characters, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, finally declares that his friend and deputy Graystripe is not going to return after being abducted by humans in ''Dawn''. When a dream from StarClan, the spirits of the cats' ancestors, tells Leafpool that Brambleclaw should be the new deputy, Firestar agrees and appoints Brambleclaw as the new deputy. The decision is met with objection because Brambleclaw had never mentored an apprentice, a requirement for becoming deputy. The matter is cleared when Firestar declares that Brambleclaw will mentor Berrykit when the kit turns six months of age and mentions Leafpool's dream from StarClan to his warriors.

Tigerstar, an evil cat who is dead, continues to visit his sons (through different mothers) Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw in their dreams and when Brambleclaw becomes deputy, Tigerstar reveals his plan for Brambleclaw to take over ThunderClan and WindClan and for Hawkfrost to take over RiverClan and ShadowClan. Brambleclaw firmly rejects this idea but agrees to make up a plan with Hawkfrost when they are awake.

During the meeting, Brambleclaw hears a cat struggling in pain. He finds Firestar caught in a fox trap (wire snare) and Hawkfrost urges Brambleclaw to kill the ThunderClan leader so that Brambleclaw can become the new leader. After struggling with his desires, Brambleclaw refuses to kill Firestar and frees him from the trap. Hawkfrost attacks Brambleclaw, but Brambleclaw kills Hawkfrost with the trap's sharp stick by stabbing his neck. Before he dies, Hawkfrost claims to Brambleclaw that a ThunderClan warrior helped him with his plan and that their fight is not over.

The prophecy "Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red", given to Leafpool in an earlier book, is fulfilled; since Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost are half-brothers, they share the same blood and are kin, and as he stumbles down to the lake, blood pours from Hawkfrost's neck, making the lake run red.

In the prologue, it is revealed that near the conclusion of ''Firestar's Quest'', a prophecy was sent to Firestar by a cat in StarClan. After a report of a fox and her cubs loose in ThunderClan territory, the three kits, Lionkit, Hollykit, and Jaykit, secretly leave camp and try to track down the foxes and help their Clan. They end up in trouble, but are saved by a patrol. A few moons later, Hollypaw becomes Leafpool's (the medicine cat) apprentice; Lionpaw becomes Ashfur's apprentice; and Jaypaw becomes Brightheart's apprentice. At a Gathering, all Clans have little to report. In the middle of the Gathering, two unknown cats appear. The Clans realize they are Graystripe, with a new friend, Millie. Graystripe was thought to have died when Twolegs took him away in ''The New Prophecy''. Instead, he managed to escape with the help of Millie, and found the new home with the help of Barley and Ravenpaw. It turns out all of the forest was destroyed. The Clans leave, and Graystripe and Millie return to ThunderClan, exhausted.

The return of Graystripe causes another problem. Firestar appointed Brambleclaw as the new deputy, assuming Graystripe had died, yet Graystripe was still alive. To help make the decision on who should be deputy, Firestar sends Leafpool to the Moonpool to talk with StarClan. Leafpool is told that Firestar needs to make his own choice. Jaypaw follows her and when Leafpool sees him, she is amazed. In the end, Brambleclaw stays as deputy since he knows the Clan (and the new territories) better.

When a battle with ShadowClan breaks out, Jaypaw can only defeat an enemy apprentice with the help of his sibling, telling him where the enemy is. Hollypaw finds the thrill of battling better than chewing up bitter herbs. Jaypaw likewise receives a dream from StarClan telling him he must become a medicine cat, because he has a gift to walk in other cat's dreams. Hollypaw and Jaypaw decide to trade roles, with Jaypaw becoming Leafpool's apprentice, with Hollypaw, Brackenfur's apprentice.

At the next Gathering, a dispute breaks out between the Clans. To solve the argument, Squirrelflight shares an idea: to have a special Gathering, just once. Each Clan would have their apprentices compete in different contests; tree climbing, hunting, and fighting.

Jaypaw is upset that he can't compete, and while staying behind at the camp, he has a vision. He is choking on earth, and he smells badger and fox. He is scrabbling desperately with his paws, until realizes that he is seeing through Lionpaw's eyes. It turns out that, while competing, Lionpaw and Breezepaw fell into a collapsing badger set. Luckily, Jaypaw got there in time to save them along with Crowfeather. The leaders decide that since every Clan won at something, there would be a tie and no Clan would win.

In the end, Jaypaw walks in Firestar's dream and hears the prophecy, "There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws." Realizing that he and his siblings are the cats described in the prophecy, Jaypaw suddenly thinks "One day we will be so powerful that we shall command even StarClan!"

At a detective agency in Milan, Carloni (Gino Rossi) is looking through photographs of an attractive young woman, Paola Molon Fontana (Lucia Bosè), given to the agency by her wealthy industrialist husband, Enrico Fontana (Ferdinando Sarmi). The couple were married seven years ago, shortly after meeting each other. Fontana's recent discovery of these old photos have aroused his suspicion, and Carloni is hired to uncover whatever he can about Paola's life before her marriage. Carloni travels to the town of Ferrara, where Paola spent much of her youth. The detective soon discovers that she was best friends with two girls in town. He goes to the apartment of one of her friends, Matilde (Vittoria Mondello), and learns from her husband that Matilde's friend Giovanna Carlini died in a tragic elevator shaft fall a few days before she was to be married to Guido Garroni, a local boy with whom Paola had also been involved. When the sullen Matilde arrives home, she refuses to cooperate with Carloni. After the detective leaves, Matilde writes a letter to Guido, alerting him that a suspicious man is investigating Paola's past.

Back in Milan, as Paola exits the La Scala opera house dressed in a white fur coat with her husband and friends, she is startled to see Guido (Massimo Girotti) standing across the street. Later that night, she receives a phone call from him and they agree to meet the following day. At Idroscalo lake, Guido, who is now a struggling car dealer, shares Matilde's letter with Paola. The thought that someone is digging into their past frightens Paola, making her think that perhaps Matilde is trying to extort money from her. With their former attraction rekindled, the two agree to meet again. Meanwhile, Carloni's investigation intensifies, as he finds out more about the mysterious accident in the elevator shaft, Paola's sudden disappearance, and Guido's role in all this. He learns from Giovanna's maid that Paola and Guido were with Giovanna when she fell to her death, and that they did not cry out or rush to her side to see if she was still alive. He also learns that Paola left Ferrara two days after the accident and met her future husband shortly thereafter in Milan—never telling him about her friend's death.

In the coming days, Paola and Guido's once-casual reunion escalates into a full-blown passionate affair played out in rented rooms. To help Guido earn money, Paola arranges for him to be the middleman in a car sale that doesn't work out. As their affair progresses, Paola's frustration with her loveless marriage leads her to suggest to Guido that her husband's death would benefit both of them. At first Guido is repulsed by the suggestion, but is influenced by Paola's emotional manipulation. Later they meet on a bridge over a desolate canal that Fontana crosses on his way home. Guido plans to shoot him as he approaches the bridge. Paola pretends to have second thoughts, accusing Guido of being responsible for Giovanna's death—he saw the elevator door open and did not warn her. Guido reminds her that she ''too'' did nothing to warn her friend, and that they will ''both'' be responsible for this death as well.

Pressured to complete his investigation as soon as possible, Carloni writes of the affair and suspicious circumstances surrounding her friend's death, and submits the report to Fontana. Upset by the revelation, Fontana gets in his car and drives home along the canal road, where Guido is waiting. As the car approaches, Guido hears the sound of a car crash in the distance. He leaves the bridge on bicycle and rides to the scene of the accident, where Fontana's overturned car is engulfed in flames. Fontana's dead body is lying nearby.

Soon after, as police arrive at her home to inform her of the accident, Paola runs off, thinking they've come to arrest her. She meets up with Guido who informs her about her husband's death and that he was not involved. After Paola declares her love for Guido, he agrees to meet her the following day. As he steps into the taxi, he asks to be taken to the train station.

A Lebanese drug dealer arrives in Genoa and Vice-Commissioner Belli (Nero) soon tracks him down. After a long car chase, Belli manages to arrest him. However, when the prisoner is being taken to the police station, the police car is bombed before it reaches its target. The Lebanese and four policemen die in the hit, but Belli survives. Belli then goes to Cafiero (Rey), an old-fashioned gangster who claims to have transformed into a peaceful gardener, to question about the bombing and it turns out that there is a new player in town. Cafiero decides to take care of the new gang before the police get to them. His task turns out to be more difficult when his trusted man, Rico (Daniel Martín), turns out to be a mole working for the unknown new gangsters.

Belli's boss, Commissioner Aldo Scavino (Whitmore), has put together a dossier on the city's mafia connections, but thinks that there is not enough hard evidence to take down all the gangsters from top to down. After several discussions with Belli, he finally agrees to take the dossier to the district attorney. However, he is murdered and the dossier is stolen. Belli now takes over Scavino's seat as the Commissioner and eventually finds the murderer. The murderer names Umberto Griva (Duilio Del Prete) as his boss, as Belli expected. When Griva's brother Franco (Silvano Tranquilli) is found murdered, it seems that someone with even higher political connections is trying to take over the city's drug trafficking.

Belli then starts from square one and, after a warning from Cafiero, decides to send his daughter away to a safer place. However, his daughter is soon murdered and his girlfriend Mirella (Boccardo) beat up. With a helpful hint from Cafiero, Belli finds out about a large drug smuggling operation. As Belli arrives on the scene, a shootout ensues, and Belli survives while all the criminals are killed.

In a rural, mountainous region of Oregon, drunken hunters Ty and Vachel come across an abandoned church, which they explore. After Ty sees their truck being crashed into a tree, Vachel is castrated with a serrated machete by a chuckling assailant who then dons Vachel's hat and jacket. Ty, seeing the murderer exit the church, quietly flees off into the forest. Meanwhile, forest ranger Roy McLean encounters a van of five college-aged adults heading to rural property which one of them has inherited. Despite his insistence that they not venture up the mountain, the five continue along. Among them are Warren; his girlfriend Constance; Jonathan, and his girlfriend, Megan; and Daniel, Jonathan's brother.

On their way up the mountain, they hit a deer, and encounter Ty stumbling through the woods on his way down the mountain; they dismiss his warnings of "demons," as he is visibly drunk. After reaching a point where the van cannot drive any further, the group set out on foot and make a campsite; at night, while around the fire, Constance, Megan, and Daniel hear noises around them and become frightened, only to find that Jonathan and Warren are playing a prank. The next morning, they hike along Silver Creek to a waterfall, where they see a young girl named Merry Cat Logan singing before noticing their presence and running into the woods. Megan and Jonathan go skinny dipping at the bottom of the falls, unaware that someone else has entered the water. Megan feels hands touching her and assumes it to be Jonathan, until she sees him on shore, whereupon she panics and swims to safety.

When the group splits up to go exploring, Jonathan spots Merry and chases after her. She runs to a clearing but sees something that frightens her and hides behind some trees. Jonathan assumes it is the rope bridge over the waterfall ahead and begins to go across, only to be confronted by the killer, who cuts his hand with his machete. The killer severs the bridge and Jonathan plummets into the water below. Unable to swim, he attempts to climb back up over the ledge using the rope. When he reaches the ledge, the killer kicks him in the face, and he falls to his demise. Meanwhile, Megan and Daniel are taking photographs in the woods, and come across the church and a graveyard. Daniel, who has lost his glasses, sees a figure emerging through the trees, and assumes it to be Jonathan. He and Megan pretend to kiss as a joke, but as the figure comes closer, Daniel realizes it is not his brother. The figure stabs Daniel, and Megan flees into the church, where she watches through the window as the killer investigates Daniel's camera. Suddenly, another identical man emerges behind her inside the church; Megan realizes that the two are identical twins. She is murdered in the church while the other twin photographs her death from outside the window.

Warren and Constance (now barefoot and in shorts) return to the camp, but cannot find anyone else. While wading through the river, they encounter Jonathan's body floating downstream, and pull him out. As night approaches, Warren leaves Constance at the campsite to retrieve the car keys from Jonathan's body, but cannot find them; nearby, he finds Jonathan's body against a tree. Meanwhile, Ty finally encounters Roy in the woods and tells him about the twins at the church. Roy goes out on his horse to find the teens, and comes across Merry's family. They tell him that the twins were actually their own and their mother died during childbirth, so he mated with his daughter and had Merry. Left alone, Constance is attacked by one of the twins, who chases her up a tree. The twin cuts down the tree, and just before he is about to kill Constance, Roy shoots him and he tells the couple to go pack their items. They go back to camp, as Merry runs through the woods to find them. At camp, the other twin stabs Warren and tries to kill Constance, who rams her fist down his throat, choking him to death. Warren begins to sob and Merry watches from the trees, as the sun rises in the forest.

Renowned psychiatrist and criminologist Dr. Robert Ordway, the "Crime Doctor", is called on an emergency to a party at his next door neighbor, where a man, Walter Foster, suffers from a diabetic seizure and has collapsed on the floor. Robert administers insulin to the man, using the man's own case, but a short while after the injection is made the man dies.

Suspecting something out of the ordinary, Robert calls on his friend, Inspector Burns, who works in the homicide division. Burns concludes that the man was poisoned.

Robert's services are used to aid in the investigation, and he gets a list of the guests at the party. He starts questioning them, one by one, beginning with the dead man's sister, Claire Foster. She tells him she has no clue to what her brother meant by his last words: "I've given you one face."

Next is Claire's lover, Jack Swayne, owner of a health institute. He and Walter did not get along well, and Walter was opposed to him marrying his sister. Jack also tells Robert that Walter had financial problems, and Robert pays a visit to the attorney who handled Walter's affairs, Allen S. Tobin. He learns that Walter had spent most of what he had inherited from his father and also wanted to borrow money from his sister.

Claire calls Robert and asks him to come to her apartment right away. Apparently he doesn't get there fast enough, since he finds the home empty and Claire has been kidnapped (by Casper). Robert goes on to investigate both the murder and the kidnapping.

When he visits his neighbor Harriet, she reveals that she and her husband are selling the house, giving as reason that they cannot stay in a house where a murder took place. Robert talks to her real estate agent, Alec Girard, to have this information confirmed. Girard confirms the sale but states the true reason: they are divorcing.

Later in the day he gets a visit from Clyde, who tells him all about Harriet's romantic involvement with Walter. According to Clyde, Harriet had given Walter money from her own account. Clyde ends with telling Robert about the other woman Walter was seeing, Connie Day, who works at a mortuary.

After many phone calls, Robert finds out the mortuary where Connie works. He calls and sets up a meeting with her, but Connie is locked into a room at her office by one of the other employees. The person trapping her is Casper, who suspects that Connie is involved in a scam to blackmail the owner of the mortuary, Karl Ganns.

Casper goes to visit Robert, posing as a man who is concerned about his brother Louie's mental health. As soon as Casper and Louie enter Robert's office, Louie shoots Robert in the head. Robert's vision is impaired but he is not seriously wounded. After the shot, Casper pushes Louie out through the window, where he plunges to his death.

Since there are no fingerprints after Casper's visit, Robert suspects that a plastic surgeon might be involved. Robert gets his eyesight back, but pretends to be still blind. Looking at criminal records, he manages to match the signature he got from Casper with Gypsy Corsello, a hardened criminal, who must have had plastic surgery to change his facial features.

Robert poses as a criminal himself, Pete Hastings, to get close to Gypsy. He tells Gypsy he wants to change his appearance and is sent to the Ganns mortuary. Before Robert arrives, Gypsy hears a news report on the radio that notorious criminal Pete Hastings is dead, and calls Ganns ahead to warn him.

When Robert arrives to the mortuary, Ganns tries to poison him with an injection, but Robert manages to break free and knock out Ganns. The police arrive to arrest both Ganns and Gypsy, and both Claire and Connie are found dead in the localities. Still the head of the criminal operation, the plastic surgeon, seems to be on the loose. All the remaining suspects are invited to a party at Robert's house, where he continues to pretend he is blind. After all the other guests have gone, Alec Girard comes back and says he has forgotten his glasses. He spikes a drink for Robert with poison and waits for Robert to swallow it. Then he confesses to Robert that he killed Walter because Walter had knowledge about Girard's past as a surgeon. Walter became a problem when he started blackmailing Girard.

Girard is unaware that the police are listening to the conversation in the next room, and as soon as he is done they rush in to arrest him. The poison is then pumped out of Robert's stomach.

Part One

In Africa, wealthy businessman Mr Bitter is on safari with his guides, Allan Quatermain and Bruce McNabb. He wishes to kill a family of elephants but Quartermain insists otherwise. McNabb betrays and subdues Quatermain while the others open fire. Later, the wounded mother elephant destroys their camp and kills Bitter, dying shortly after just as Quatermain prepares to euthanise it. He whispers "sorry, girl."

Samuel Maitland, a wealthy British explorer, writes a letter to his daughter Elizabeth, enclosing a map to the fabled mines of King Solomon. Shortly after sending the letter, he is captured by native KuaKuani tribesman. Their warlock, Twala, seeks more power and believes he can obtain it by finding the Stone of the Ancestors, an artifact hidden in Solomon's mines.

Quatermain returns to London wishing to spend time with his son, Harry. However, Harry's grandparents have filed for custody, declaring Quatermain an unfit parent. His lawyer tells him that, without a substantial amount of money, he cannot win the case so he goes to the bar. There, Elizabeth Maitland and Captain Good, her uncle and Bodyguard, find him and ask for his help. He refuses and they leave him her card, but once he realises who her father is he agrees to help. Quatermain finds Elizabeth being attacked by a Russian man, Sergei, whom he fends off. The pair return to Elizabeth's hotel room to find it ransacked. Only then Elizabeth reveals that she must travel to Africa to trade the map for her father's life.

Arriving in Africa, Quartermain enlists the help of his acquaintances, Ventvogel, Khiva, and, after a brief fight, his close friend Sir Henry Curtis. Meanwhile, three Russian men tasked with retrieving the map - Col. Ivan Fleekov, Petre and Sergei - enlist McNabb as their guide, telling him they may have to kill Quartermain to which he agrees.

Quartermain and Elizabeth come to respect one another as the journey progresses, especially after he saves her from a leopard that invades her tent one morning. When the group reach the drop-off location, however, they find their contact dead and an imposter in his place. They are ambushed by the Russians and Quartermain must make a dangerous ride through a crossfire to save miss Maitland. McNabb has a shot on Quartermain but does not take it, resulting in Petre being shot in the abdomen.

After seeking the counsel of a witch doctor the group realise they must cross the great Sahara desert. Quartermain talks to an African man who has been seen following them throughout he whole journey, and he introduces himself as Umbopa, saying he can be of help and has crossed the great desert before. They agree for him to travel with the group.

After McNabb fails to fall for a ruse involving multiple tracks, the Russians gain ground and the group apparently set up camp, but as the Russians close in on the camp it becomes apparent that it, too, is a trick and is empty. The Russians fall behind again. As they begin to catch up in the desert, Quatermain's group find a rock formation of a cobra, which leads them to a tomb containing the key to Solomon's mines. However, while Quartermain and the others retrieve the key, the Russians arrive, incapacitate Captain Good and kidnap miss Maitland.

Part Two

Both groups press on through the desert making for an oasis. Petre succumbs to his injuries and dies, while both parties nearly die of thirst. After Quatermain's party reach the oasis first, they ambush the Russians leading to a tense standoff. Elizabeth creates a distraction and escapes leading to an exchange of fire in which Ventvogel is injured and the Russians seize the map and the key.

After Umbopo leads them through the valleys on the other side of the desert and they gain ground on the Russians, the group sets a trap to retrieve the map. The trap initially succeeds, and McNabb is forced at gunpoint to drop the bag containing the map and key, as he and the Russians are driven off by gunfire. Khiva makes a run for the bag but is shot by both Sergei and Fleekov. Quatermain rescues the badly wounded Khiva while Henry and Ventvogel fatally shoot Sergei. As the firefight continues, Elizabeth tries to retrieve the map as McNabb prepares to kill her. However, Quatermain disarms McNabb and shoots him in the shoulder, then wounds the colonel. Khiva dies from his injuries and the others mourn him.

Quatermain's group continues toward the Kuakuani village, followed by Fleekov and McNabb, who survived their injuries. After being ambushed by warriors, Umbopa reveals his true name to be Ignosi, the rightful warlock. The warriors escort the group, as well as McNabb and Fleekov who were also captured, to their village where Ignosi challenges Twala to Nomolos; a fight to the death, for the throne. Elizabeth is reunited with her father who has survived his captivity. It is revealed that Ignosi and Twala do not fight each other personally, but rather select a representative. Ignosi has chosen Quatermain.

On the morning of the fight, McNabb and Fleekov escape their bindings and search for the key as the Nomolos begins. Initially it is evenly matched but Twala's warrior gains the upper hand and almost kills Quatermain. Quatermain manages to turn the fight around and prepares to make the killing blow, but instead he slams the axe into the ground near the warriors head as a show of mercy. Ignosi congratulates him on winning, but Twala attempts to kill him by throwing a spear. Henry sees the danger and intervenes, saving Quatermain by taking the spear himself. Quatermain tries to help but Henry dies, saying "Take good care of that lass." Enraged, Quatermain prepares to kill Twala but Ignosi intervenes. To their surprise, the warriors all close in and kill Twala without orders.

Fleekov and McNabb find the key but are discovered by Gagool, the Kuakuani witch doctor. She kills Fleekov with magic, entrancing him and forcing him to asphyxiate, but lets McNabb go, telling him he may find what he seeks, but he will never possess it. Gagool approaches Ignosi and is allowed to remain witch doctor of the tribe after Samuel vouches for her. She presents Ignosi with the key to the mines, which he gives to Quatermain. He explains that whilstever there is interest in the mines his people will not be safe, and asks Quatermain and Elizabeth to destroy the stone of the ancestors.

The pair travel to the mines where McNabb ambushes them and engages Quatermain in a fight. He is killed after Quatermain throws him down a flight of stairs onto one of many spring loaded spears that protrude from the floor when triggered. Quatermain and Elizabeth find the stone but when they touch it the cavern seals them in. Awaiting death, Quatermain proposes to Elizabeth to which she says yes, and suddenly they remember a shaft of sunlight lancing into the mine indicating a way out. They take a ring off a statue, triggering the start of an avalanche, and begin to climb out of the mine, throwing the stone back in behind them. They barely escape as the entire mine collapses. Months later Quatermain and Elizabeth are married and live in a cottage on the savanna, with Harry living with them.

Jesse Huston (Sharon Stone) has hired Allan Quatermain to find her father, believed lost on an expedition to find the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Together with his companion, the mysterious Umbopo, they penetrate unknown country, following a map believed to be genuine. It transpires that Professor Huston has been captured by a German military expedition on the same quest, led by Bockner (Herbert Lom), a single-minded knackwurst-munching, bald-headed Colonel and a ruthless Turkish slave-trader and adventurer, Dogati (John Rhys-Davies), who is a long-standing adversary of Quatermain. Huston is being forced to interpret another map, also believed to be genuine.

The two rival expeditions shadow each other, clashing on several occasions, but Quatermain's group manages to rescue Professor Huston, who confirms the mines are indeed real and he implores Quatermain to stop Bockner and Dogati from finding them. After a few harrowing encounters with both the Germans and some of the local native tribes, they finally enter the tribal lands of the Kukuana who capture them. The tribe is under the control of the evil priestess, Gagoola, who has Quatermain hung upside down over a pond full of crocodiles. Just when all seems lost, Umbopo arrives and after defeating Gagoola's warriors in combat, reveals his identity as an exiled tribal chief and the rightful ruler of the Kukuanas.

As the tribesmen submit to him, Bockner and Dogati attack the village in full force. Amid the ensuing chaos, Gagoola captures Jesse and flees into caves in the depths of the Breasts of Sheba, the twin mountain peaks where the mines are located. Quatermain and Umbopo give chase after them and they are in turn pursued by Bockner and Dogati. They follow Quatermain and Umbopo to the entrance to the mines, but are hampered by a moat of quicksand. Bockner orders his men forward into the moat, but they have trouble crossing it. Dogati then shoots down all of Bockner's soldiers, as well as most of his own men, and uses their bodies as stepping stones to cross the moat safely. As they approach the entrance, Bockner shoots Dogati and takes command of what little remains of the party.

Inside the mines, Quatermain and Umbopo rescue Jesse and find the resting place of all the former tribal queens, including the Queen of Sheba herself, encased in crystal. Umbopo explains that Gagoola had attempted to sacrifice Jesse in order to keep her power as the Kukuanas' ruler because of Jesse's strong resemblance to the Queen of Sheba. Then Gagoola appears and taunts Umbopo, who pursues her through the caverns.

As Bockner and his men arrive next, Quatermain and Jesse flee for safety, but end up in the cavern's treasure chamber, which is full of raw diamonds and other priceless treasures. As they gather some of the diamonds to take with them, Bockner hears their voices from outside the chamber, but before he can enter, Gagoola activates a hidden rock switch and seals Quatermain and Jesse inside the chamber. The switch also triggers a trap that causes the ceiling of the chamber, which is lined with stalactites to lower on them. Quatermain and Jesse manage to stop the ceiling trap, but then the chamber begins filling up with water. Just as the chamber fills completely, a lit stick of dynamite set by Bockner outside the chamber door explodes, sending them both spewing out of the chamber in the resulting flood to safety.

Bockner enters the chamber and quickly lays claim to the treasure, only to be confronted by a wounded, but very much alive, Dogati, who was wearing a protective vest that shielded him from the bullets. He then forces Bockner to swallow some of the diamonds, intending to cut him open to retrieve them later on. Meanwhile, Umbopo finally corners Gagoola. But rather than face his judgment, she instead leaps down one of the volcano's shafts and is incinerated when she lands in the molten lava below. However, the reaction causes a series of eruptions throughout the mines. Dogati is partially buried when the treasure chamber's ceiling collapses, but Bockner is unharmed. He gloats to Dogati after claiming a few more diamonds for himself, then leaves the chamber. But not before firing his gun at the ruined ceiling, burying Dogati alive. Quatermain, Jesse and Umbopo quickly flee for their lives through the collapsing caverns. They cross over a small booby- trapped lake (which one of Bockner's men fell victim to earlier), only to be stopped by Bockner, who demands they surrender their diamonds to him. Quatermain places the diamonds on the central stepping stone that triggers the trap and tells Bockner to come take the diamonds himself if he wants them. Bockner does so and falls into the lake, only to be seized in the jaws of a Mokele-mbembe and dragged beneath the water. The trap resets itself and the diamonds rise back to the surface, but Umbopo warns Quatermain and Jesse not to take them, saying they belong to the mountain.

The trio continue their escape through the caverns, which becomes even more dangerous as the lava chamber they are in is full of fire and falling rocks. Quatermain tells Umbopo to take Jesse through to safety while he follows them. But before he can do so, he is struck down by Dogati, who survived the cave-in. A brutal fight between them ensues, but Quatermain gains the upper hand at the last instant, sending Dogati falling into the chamber's lava pit to his death. Quatermain manages to escape from the mines at the last minute, just as the volcano explodes, sealing the entrance forever.

Returning to the village, Umbopo assumes his rightful place as the ruler of the Kukuanas and he and his people bid a fond farewell to Quatermain and Jesse. As they exit the village, they each reveal they had kept a diamond from the mines as a souvenir of their adventure and the movie ends with them kissing outside the village gates.

Never before has the world seen such a princess.

Nor have her own subjects, for that matter. Mia's royal introduction to Genovia has mixed results: while her fashion sense is widely applauded, her position on the installation of public parking meters is met with resistance.

But the politics of bureaucracy are nothing next to Mia's real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long—sought—after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmère as a result of the Genovian parking—meter thing, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn't there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title?

Mia Thermopolis and her friends Lilly Moscovitz, her brother Michael Moscovitz, Boris, and her teacher, Mrs. Martinez, go to West Virginia to help out the less fortunate. For three days, they volunteer with Helping the Homeless to build a house. They leave Manhattan for West Virginia with the supplies to go camping. Mia is not interested in the project, but Michael is going to volunteer with the group. At the end of the novel, a host family received the new house, and Grandmere arrived at the end of the three days to bring the group back to Manhattan.

Category:2003 American novels Category:American young adult novels

Category:American novellas Category:The Princess Diaries novels Category:HarperCollins books

The book begins with the first day of Mia Thermopolis's Sophomore year at the fictional Albert Einstein High School after spending the summer in Genovia. Michael Mocovitz, Mia's boyfriend, is now a Freshman at Columbia University and Lilly Moscovitz, Mia's best friend is still getting over her depression after the end of her relationship with violin prodigy Boris Pelkowski who is not only still dating Tina Hakim-Baba, but has also gotten unexpectedly hot over the summer break.

As the first English lesson of the year begins, Mia, Lilly and Tina pass notes saying how great they think their new English teacher, Ms Martinez, is. However, when Ms Martinez grades one of her essays harshly, Mia turns against her. Everything is going well until lunchtime, when Lana Weinberger, Mia's arch-enemy, tells Mia that college boys expect their girlfriends to Do It with them. This freaks Mia out because she is positive that she is not ready to sleep with anyone. Lilly wants Mia her to run for student counsel president and nominates her to run against Lana.

A stressful school week ends and Mia visits Michael's dorm on Saturday (after a big sleepover at the Plaza with, Lily, Tina, Ling Su Wong and Shameeka Taylor, where Mia stayed up until three o'clock and was woken early because Lilly forced her to go to a soccer game to promote her campaign) and meets his roommate, Doo Pak, where she discovers condoms in Michael's bathroom. Shocked by this discovery, Mia has The Talk with Michael, who says he knows Mia isn't ready because she invited her friends for a sleepover once she found out she had a hotel room to herself, and not him. Michael tells her he understands, but is not going to wait forever and Mia begins to think that Michael is going to break up with her. Lilly reveals that she doesn't actually want Mia to be student counsel president and wants her to immediately resign in favor of Lilly if she is elected.

Mia debates against Lana (a debate which is also televised), and provides a much more convincing argument than Lana and gets the majority of the vote. Mia realizes that she wants to be president herself, when Michael shows up at school and Mia leaves with him. Michael assures Mia he does not want to break up with her, nor for her to have sex before she is ready and the two agree to wait for three months before taking the issue further.

The novel is set on a world called Vernier, on which the cycle of day and night lasts two hundred years. It describes the journey of discovery of Knobil, a herdsman born on the grasslands of Vernier.

When Mia Thermopolis bankrupts the student government buying high-tech recycling bins, she needs to raise $5000 soon, so that she can pay for the seniors' commencement ceremony. All her friends (including, her long-time boyfriend and so-called love of her life Michael Moscovitz) mention selling candles, but Mia absolutely refuses, so Grandmere comes up with a solution: a musical, ''Braid!'' written and directed by Grandmere, starring Mia and her friends, portraying the achievements of Mia's famous Genovian ancestor, Rosagunde. Mia is thrilled, yet quite worried to be cast as the lead. She attempts to drop out, but Grandmere threatens to tell the seniors that Mia had bankrupted the student government (making them angry that she had not saved money for the commencement ceremony). '''Braid!''' also results in a new-found friendship, between Mia and 'The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In The Chili', aka J.P. - Mia's on-stage love interest, who turns out to be an aspiring screenwriter.

Another drama in her life enters the story when Michael mentions his parents are going away for the weekend and he plans on having a party. Mia starts to worry she isn't enough of a party girl. She even (as a last resort, of course) asks her archenemy, Lana Weinberger, how to act like a "Party Girl". Mia does what Lana says and it all ends in tragedy. After she drinks and 'sexy dances' with J.P., her relationship with Michael seems to be on rocky ground, especially as Michael's parents are splitting up and he is being an absent boyfriend. Her friendship with J.P. seems to be going the same way thanks to Lilly's new literary magazine, 'Fat Louie's Pink Butthole', which includes 'No More Corn!' a story Mia wrote (before meeting him) about J.P. killing himself. However, Principal Gupta immediately bans the magazine and confiscates all the copies, as Lilly has submitted five explicit stories to it, meaning that J.P. never sees Mia's story.

Mia's friendship with Lily also hits a rough patch after Mia kisses J.P. (on the cheek) as a sign of gratitude for being a supportive friend and Lily (who clearly has a crush on J.P.) stops speaking to Mia.

The play is performed at the Aide de Ferme, a benefit for Genovian olive oil farmers that Grandmere puts on. Everyone who is anyone attends, but, before the last scene, Mia is worried about her on-stage kiss with J.P. But then Michael shows up in J.P.'s costume and gives her a perfect kiss and they talk about their problems, and, once again, their relationship appears to be strong. Grandmere also raises enough money to help the Genovian farmers ''and'' Mia, solving her problems.

Mia doesn’t always have the best luck with parties, so even though it’s her sweet sixteenth, she doesn’t want a birthday bash. As usual, Grandmère has other ideas, and thinks a reality TV special is just the thing in order to celebrate royally. The whole scheme smacks of Lilly’s doing—Lilly whose own TV show is still only limited to local cable viewers. Will Mia be able to stop Grandmère’s plan? Will her friends ever forgive her if she does stop it, since it involves all of them taking the royal jet to Genovia for an extravaganza the likes of which would turn even Paris Hilton green with envy? Why can’t Mia get what she really wants: an evening alone with Michael?

With a little luck, this sweet sixteen princess might just get her wish—a birthday that's royally romantic.

Category:2005 American novels Category:American young adult novels Category:American novellas Category:The Princess Diaries novels Category:HarperCollins books

Mia Thermopolis continues with her diary entries, and this time it's after the fourth novel, Princess in Waiting. Mia Thermopolis has no one to spend Valentine's Day. Her boyfriend, Michael Moscovitz isn't interested in spending Valentine's Day. Lilly Moscovitz, her best friend, suggest that Valentine's Day is a commercialized holiday for corporate interests. Eventually, Tina Hakim Baba suggests that the entire group should watch romantic movies at her house. Her mother and her algebra teacher, Mr. Gianni, are planning to spend Valentine's Day at a romantic restaurant. Mia has to consider a Valentine's Day gift for Michael, and she decided to give him a coupon booklet. Lilly received a heart shaped diamond necklace from Boris. Although Mia thought she would be alone for Valentine's Day, she finds out that she is not alone.

Category:2006 American novels Category:The Princess Diaries novels Category:American young adult novels

Category:HarperCollins books

The book opens on the first day of school and Mia Thermopolis is now a high school junior. Her best friend, Lilly Moscovitz, is dating J.P (formerly The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn in His Chili) and Tina Hakim-Baba, who is still with Boris, is convinced that Lilly and J.P. had sex over the summer break because they spent a weekend together in upstate New York. Mia does not agree, reasoning that Lilly would certainly have told her, because Lilly tells her everything, but begins to doubt this when Tina shares that Lilly touched Boris's penis when they were a couple, something Lilly never told Mia. Mia has also decided she no longer wants to be Student Body President, but is struggling to find a way to tell Lilly who is set to nominate her for the position again. Unfortunately, Mia ends up being the only nominee for president.

Mia's Grandmere has decided to purchase a condominium in Manhattan and, while waiting for it to be remodeled, has moved out of the Plaza Hotel and into the W, which she hates, due to its modern decor and later into the Ritz-Carlton, which she also finds unacceptable.

That same night, at a dinner at Number One Noodle Son, Michael tells Mia that he needs to spend a year (or more) in Japan because a robotics project on which he has been working (a robotic arm) has caught the interest of a company that wants to develop it for use in the medical field. Mia is extremely upset about this, especially after Michael tells her it will be easier for him to be away from her since she still does not want to have sex with him. Grandmere gives Mia the key to her vacated suite at the Ritz, which plants the idea in Mia's head that if she sleeps with Michael, he will not want to leave. On the night that Mia plans to have sex with Michael, she finds out that he had sex with Judith Gershner and had never mentioned it (he mentioned the friendship, but not the sex) and is no longer a virgin. This leads Mia to break up with him.

On the day Michael is supposed to leave for Japan, he goes to Albert Einstein High and sees Mia accidentally kissing J.P. (she meant to kiss his cheek but he moved his head and she kissed his lips). J.P. has just broken up with Lilly, and Kenny tells Lilly about the kiss. Now, her former best friend and former boyfriend are no longer speaking to her. When Mia goes to explain what happened to Michael, his plane to Japan has already taken off. J.P. asks if Mia would like to see ''Beauty and the Beast'' with him, and she says yes. But before she goes, she e-mails Michael and writes, "Michael, I'm sorry," the only thing she can think to say.

Category:2007 American novels Category:American young adult novels

Category:The Princess Diaries novels Category:HarperCollins books

This volume begins almost immediately after the end of ''Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink''. Mia Thermopolis has just sent a message to her ex-boyfriend Michael Moscovitz, apologizing for fighting with him, breaking up and kissing another guy. To clear her mind, Mia decides to go to the theater with that guy, J.P. Reynolds-Abernathy the Fourth (her best friend Lilly's ex) to see ''Beauty and the Beast: The Musical''. Unfortunately, a picture of the two of them together ends up on the cover of the New York Post, making Lilly even more upset about the kiss, and leading to the end of the girls' friendship.

Mia has also been asked to give a speech for Domina Rei, a society of powerful women run by her arch enemy Lana Weinberger's mother. Of course Grandmere is dying for Mia to give the speech, and potentially become a member since she herself was once blackballed from the organization.

To make matters even worse, Mia discovers someone has created a website called "www.ihatemiathermopolis.com" which lists things that are terrible about her and mocking lists.

When Michael finally calls, he decides it is best that they stay "just friends". Unable to cope, Mia retreats to her room, begins binge-eating (mostly meat products which she used to not eat due to her vegetarianism), and refuses to go to school for four days.

Eventually, Mia's family steps in. Her father takes her to see a cowboy psychologist, Dr. Knutz, who convinces Mia to return to school and try to move on with her life. Mia at first does not agree with Dr. Knutz's assessment that she is suffering from depression, however begins to see that he may be right.

Meanwhile, as Mia is preparing for her speech to the Domina Rei, she discovers an old ancestress; Princess Amelie, who ruled Genovia for twelve days while she was only sixteen, before dying of the bubonic plague. While reading Amelie's diary, Mia discovers a proclamation the young woman had written shortly before death allowing for open elections for a Genovian prime minister and reducing the monarchy to mere figureheads, like in England. Mia tells her father and Grandmere who both advise her not to say anything about the document.

Dr. Knutz helps Mia decide to reveal Princess Amelie's story to the Domina Rei in her speech; this brave act earns her an invitation to join, and an e-mail from Michael. On her way home she finds J.P., who had earlier confessed he was in love with her. She kisses him and then finally replies to Michael's e-mail in a happy mood.

Two years after the ninth book, Mia finds herself preparing for her 18th birthday party, her prom, and her high school graduation within the space of a week. She is in a stable relationship with J.P., has become good friends with Lana, and maintains a friendly email correspondence with Michael, but remains painfully estranged from Lilly, who is now dating Kenny. However, Mia is still attached to her bad habit of lying: though she tells everyone otherwise, she has been accepted into every college she applied for, due to her royal status. She also unsuccessfully tries to publish her senior project, a romance novel written under an alias, while telling her friends and family that the project is a paper on Genovian olive oil pressing. Adding to her anxieties, her father Philippe is running in the Genovian election for Prime Minister against her cousin René, who is leading in the polls.

Having found immense success in Japan with the CardioArm, her ex, Michael, returns to Manhattan. He and Mia resume their friendship in person, and she soon finds herself questioning her rekindled feelings for him and her relationship with J.P. At Mia's birthday party, J.P. gives her a promise ring in front of all the guests, causing Michael to walk out. Mia accepts the ring, but begins to suspect J.P.'s motives: his senior project, a play about their relationship, reveals some of Mia's private secrets without her consent; he never reads her novels, and the paparazzi always seem to know when they are together. To make matters even more confusing, Michael donates a CardioArm to Genovia, and Lilly films a commercial in support of Prince Philippe, helping his election prospects. Nonetheless, she continues her relationship with J.P., planning on losing her virginity to him after prom.

Michael takes Mia on a carriage ride through Central Park to explain the motives for his donation. They end up making out, but she runs off before he can confess his love. Later he texts her while she is at therapy saying he still loves her and would wait for her. At prom, Lilly tells Mia that J.P. only dated her in sophomore year to get closer to Mia, and that they had slept together, contrary to his claims that he is a virgin. She also told Mia that JP was always calling the paparazzi on them so he could be more famous. Mia breaks up with him, puts a cease-and-desist on his play, and she and Lilly become friends again. Michael arrives at midnight to talk to Mia, and they go to his apartment, where it is implied that they have sex.

At her graduation party the next day, Mia learns that her father won the election by a landslide, and she announces to her parents and Grandmère that she has picked Sarah Lawrence College (which was the college grandmère had wanted for Mia to go to). She finds a publisher for her novel on her own merits, and she and Michael resume their relationship.

The plot starts off with an introduction by Malerick, the antagonist in the story. Speaking in patter to his imaginary 'Revered Audience', he introduces the first trick he shall perform, The Lazy Hangman. The first victim is first cuffed at the hands and a cord is slipped over her neck. The other end of the cord is tied to her feet, and as the victim's legs tend to straighten over time, the cord around her neck is tightened and the victim strangles herself. However, Malerick is caught after committing the act by two patrol officers and flees the scene. The officers corner him in a locked room where he claims to have a hostage. They hear a gunshot, but when they charge in they find that the room is empty. Lincoln Rhyme is pulled into the case by Lon Sellitto, and through their combined effort, discovers that the killer had escaped from the scene much earlier, using a quick-change technique used by magicians (among other performers). The remaining evidence at the scene also points to a professional magician, hence Rhyme decides to rope in yet another civilian consultant: Kara, an aspiring magician.

Kara helps the team with some insights on the tricks performed by Malerick, and decides to stay on with the investigation. At the same time, Malerick has tracked down his next victim for his next trick, Sawing a Woman in Half. He escapes the cops closing in using another quick-change. The victim was found with a watch smashed at exactly 12 noon. (Earlier, a watch was found beside the first victim, the time displayed is 8 a.m.) This leads the police to believe that the next victim would be at four in the afternoon, but Kara tells them about misdirection: leading the audience to believe one thing when the performer intends to do another. Rhyme investigates the trace evidence found at the scene and believes the next victim will be at Central Park.

Meanwhile, another case is introduced parallel to the running plot. Charles Grady, an assistant district attorney who specialises in convicting criminals. Grady is involved in prosecuting Andrew Constable, who leads an extremist movement called the Patriot Assembly. Grady had received death threats for his involvement in this case, and Roland Bell has been brought in to secure his safety until the trial is over.

At about 2 p.m, the police and ESU surround Central Park, closing in on Malerick as he performs the Water Torture Cell on his next victim. He fakes a gunshot and escapes into a fair. Sachs gives chase with Kara, and as Sachs searches for Malerick, Kara is believed to be stabbed, causing a commotion in the crowd. Malerick escapes the fair and is chased by another police officer. Kara is revealed to be alive, faking her own stabbing to flush the killer out. Malerick gets to his stolen getaway vehicle and Sachs gives chase, getting the left front fender of her Camaro smashed in the process. However, the car Malerick was driving was run into the Harlem River. The police believe Malerick to be dead.

At eight p.m that night, Charles Grady is scheduled to attend his daughter's piano recital, but Rhyme had discovered that there will be a hitman coming for him then. An arrest is made when a reverend with connections to the Patriot Assembly approaches Grady's car with a pistol. After a relatively successful day, Thom demands that Rhyme rests. During this period, Malerick slips into Rhyme's room using an officer's uniform he obtained earlier and sets fire to Rhyme's room. Rhyme survives via the timely arrival of the fire department. Malerick mentions the name of his final trick, the Burning Mirror, to Rhyme. Kara traces the trick to Erick Weir, a magician whose wife died in a circus fire some years ago. Weir himself survived with severe burns, which fit the profile given by earlier witnesses.

The team learns that the circus Cirque Fantistique is performing in New York over the weekend. The owner, Kadesky, owned the circus which got Weir's wife killed. The team believes that Malerick may be targeting Cirque Fantistique's show over the weekend, but dismisses it as misdirection as Weir is arrested breaking into Grady's apartment. Weir is locked up in a detention centre, but escapes yet again, faking his own killing by firing an officer's gun.

Yet another hitman from the Patriot Assembly is sent for Grady's life, but his attempt backfired. Constable awaits for Malerick's arrival, believing that the Patriot Assembly had hired him to rescue him. However, the misdirection is finally revealed as Rhyme exposes Malerick's plan to set fire to the Cirque Fantistique performing that night. Malerick is arrested in his apartment, where he is revealed to be Erick Weir's former apprentice, Arthur Loesser. The fire that destroyed Erick Weir's life also changed that of his apprentice; Weir died shortly after the fire and Loesser has been planning revenge ever since. He has been leading the police to believe that Weir committed the crimes.

Towards the end of the novel, Rhyme pulls off a short performance in front of Kadesky with Kara, requesting that she be allowed to join Cirque Fantistique by pretending that she was Loesser's accomplice so that she could demonstrate her own skills. Sachs, having excelled at trying for the rank of sergeant earlier in the novel, is suspended from duty by Congressman Victor Ramos, who was forced away from the Harlem River crash by Sachs when he was allegedly trying to rescue anyone in the car despite Sachs arguing that nobody was inside (it is all-but-explicitly acknowledged that Ramos would be up for re-election soon and may have attempted the 'rescue' for publicity). She is reinstated shortly after, and is promoted to Detective Third Class. The end of the novel introduces Sachs' decision to get her car painted red, which is featured in the subsequent novels.

''Stolen'' tells the story of five Aboriginal children, who go by the names of Sandy, Ruby, Jimmy, Anne, and Shirley.

Sandy has spent his entire life on the run, never having a set home to live in. ''Stolen'' tracks his quest for a place to be, a place where he doesn’t have to keep hiding from the government (even though they are no longer after him), and a place he can call home.

Ruby was forced to work as a domestic from a young age and was driven insane by the abuse of her white masters. In the latter part of the play, she spends a lot of her time mumbling to herself, whilst her family desperately try to help her.

Jimmy was separated from his mother at a very young age, and she spent her entire life looking for him. He spent a lot of time in prison, and on the day he finally got out, he was told about his mother’s search. As he went to meet her, she died, and he committed suicide. Jimmy was led to believe that his mother was deceased as any letters written to him were taken away by the institution.

Anne was removed from her family and placed in a Caucasian family’s home. She was materially happy in this home, a lot happier than many of the other characters.

Shirley was removed from her parents and had her children removed from her. She only felt, safety, and comfort when her granddaughter was born, and not removed.

Edna May Oliver plays a widowed woman with two daughters (Helen Chandler, Rochelle Hudson) who attempts to revive her career as a vaudeville performer. Her wealthy father-in-law, who believes that a vaudeville performer is not fit to bring up children properly, forces her to choose between her daughters or her career. In the end, all is forgiven and the father-in-law asks Fanny to sing one of her songs.

Yu-jeong (Lee Na-young) has now attempted to commit suicide three times. Her disdain for her mother and indifference to the rest of the world isolates her from any chance for happiness. Yu-jeong's aunt Sister Monica is a nun, and she often goes to the prison to visit death row inmates. Sister Monica meets a new death row inmate who asks if he could meet her niece. Yu-jeong reluctantly agrees.

Yu-jeong and the death row inmate do not open up to each other immediately. Yu-jeong comes from a wealthy family and is a professor at a university. Yet, she has never known happiness since the age of 15 as a result of a sexual assault at the hands of her cousin. The inmate that she meets, named Yun-soo (Gang Dong-won), has had an even more traumatic childhood experience. He was abandoned by his parents at an early age and has had to live on the streets while caring for a younger brother. Eventually Yun-soo ends up involved in the criminal world and gets convicted for murder. With their disparate backgrounds, Yu-jeong and Yun-soo are still able to connect with each other, because both people have encountered grief like few others could possibly know. As they both regain the will to live through their weekly meetings, they must now deal with their feelings for each other and come to grips with the short amount of time they have together.

The late Anthony Gonsalvez, a young music enthusiast, composed an original album entitled "Crow Music." This album became very popular, much to the dismay of his competitors. He was tortured to death by his rivals. He is fondly remembered by his wife Julia and daughter Maria and his pet crow Prince still sits on his tombstone to mourn his death.

Whenever innocent people are subjected to injustice, Prince cries out, loud and shrill, in the graveyard. The air trembles, the clouds thunder, lightning flashes, and the dead man Anthony rises out of his grave to render the justice.

An elderly woman and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend a summer together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland exploring, talking about life, nature, everything but their feelings about Sophia's mother's death and their love for one another.

The play is set in the cafe "chez Francis" in the Place de l'Alma in the Chaillot district of Paris. A group of corrupt corporate executives are meeting. They include the Prospector, the President, the Broker and the Baron, and they are planning to dig up Paris to get at the oil which they believe lies beneath its streets. Their nefarious plans come to the attention of Countess Aurelia, the benignly eccentric madwoman of the title. She is an aging idealist who sees the world as happy and beautiful. But, advised by her associate, the Ragpicker, who is a bit more worldly than the Countess, she soon comes to realize that the world might well be ruined by these evil men—men who seek only wealth and power. These people have taken over Paris. "They run everything, they corrupt everything," says the Ragpicker. Already things have gotten so bad that the pigeons do not bother to fly any more. One of the businessmen says in all seriousness, "What would you rather have in your backyard: an almond tree or an oil well?"

Aurelia resolves to fight back and rescue humanity from the scheming and corrupt developers. She enlists the help of her fellow outcasts: the Street Singer, The Ragpicker, The Sewer Man, The Flower Girl, The Sergeant, and various other oddballs and dreamers. These include her fellow madwomen: the acidic Constance, the girlish Gabrielle, and the ethereal Josephine. In a tea party every bit as mad as a scene from ''Alice in Wonderland'', they put the "wreckers of the world's joy" on trial, and in the end condemn them to banishment—or perhaps, death. One by one the greedy businessmen are lured by the smell of oil to a bottomless pit from which they will (presumably) never return. Peace, love, and joy return to the world. Even the earthbound pigeons are flying again.

''Panama Lady'' is a cleaned-up remake of the 1932 Helen Twelvetrees film vehicle ''Panama Flo''. Lucille Ball essays the old Twelvetrees role as Lucy, a nightclub "hostess" stranded in Panama by her ex-lover Roy (Donald Briggs).

Victimized by a shakedown orchestrated by tavern owner Lenore, oil rigger McTeague (Allan Lane) holds Lucy responsible. To avoid landing in jail, Lucy agrees to accompany McTeague to his oil camp as his housekeeper. Assuming that she has been brought to this godforsaken spot strictly for illicit purposes, Lucy eventually realizes that McTeague's intentions are honorable: All he wants is his money back, and he expects our heroine to work off the debt on her feet.

Ultimately, Lucy and McTeague fall in love, but not before the scurrilous Roy re-enters her life.

Club 9 centers around a young country girl named Haruo Hattori who is attending university in Tokyo, Japan. She initially lives in her college dorm, but due to circumstances has to move out to an apartment and find a job. When a friend gives her a job as a club hostess at a posh Ginza hostess bar (Club 9), she finds herself getting more attention than she initially wanted.

The novel begins in November 1999, with Rosemary Woodhouse waking up in a long-term care facility. She has lain in a coma since 1973. Wholly unharmed, Rosemary soon learns that her coma resulted from a spell the coven cast on her when they discovered that she planned to run away with her young son, Andy (who was 7 years old at the time). In her absence, Andy was raised by Minnie and Roman Castevet, the leaders of the coven. Rosemary recovered only after the coven's last member died.

Rosemary finds that Andy, now 33 years old, is the popular and charismatic leader of an international charitable organization. Mother and son are reunited, and Rosemary instantly becomes world-famous both for her remarkable recovery and as Andy's long-lost mother. Rosemary is also struck and puzzled by a repeated reference to "roast mules", an anagram that many people continually mention.

Andy assures his mother that he has rebelled against the coven's evil influence. He says he uses his powers to achieve world peace, but a long chain of deadly events leads Rosemary to believe that her son has unwittingly become the Antichrist and is ushering in the end of the world. Her fears are proven when a candle-lighting event that Andy has organized to celebrate the new millennium unleashes a deadly virus that destroys all human life. In the wake of the destruction, Satan returns to Earth and drags Rosemary into Hell.

Rosemary abruptly awakens to find that it is 1965 again and that she is still married to Guy Woodhouse. The events of the entire first book and that of the second book up to that point have all been Rosemary's vivid dream. Rosemary and Guy receive a call from Rosemary's friend Edward "Hutch" Hutchins (who died in her dream), who offers the couple a rent-free apartment in the Dakota Apartments (the model for the Bramford, their apartment building in the first book) for one year. The couple is delighted at the offer, until Hutch makes a remark about lighting candles and "roast mules" that causes Rosemary to regard her dream as a possible forewarning of future events.

Eriko Tamura is the only daughter of Yuusuke Tamura - chairman of renowned music company Tamura Productions - and former idol singer Minako Tamura. Having had a talent for singing since birth, she has always loved her parents’ media world. Then one day tragedy strikes when her parents get into a horrible car accident, which kills her father and leaves her mother in a coma. Now Eriko must take the path of singing, a path her parents did not want her to pursue. Things get worse when her uncle sets out to destroy her career. But in spite of all the hardship, she becomes an idol and wins hearts all over Japan.

The Bearkillers

Mike Havel is a former United States Marine, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, and bush pilot. On March 17, 1998, at 6:15 pm PST, Havel is flying over the Bitterroot Mountain Range in Idaho during a mysterious event that become known as "The Change". His passengers are business owners Kenneth and Mary Larsson and their three teenage children, Erik, Signe, and Astrid. After the plane's engine and electronics are disabled, Mike makes an emergency landing. Everyone survives, although Mary is injured.

The party hikes across mountains to a ranger cabin. Mike and Erik hike out onto the highway in hopes of finding help. After they get to the highway, they encounter white separatist survivalists who have Will Hutton (who is black) and his family prisoners. After a tense conversation with the survivalists, Mike and Erik attack them. During the battle, they manage draw the survivalists away, unfortunately leading them up the trail to the cabin with the rest of the Larsson family. Mike and Erik pursue them catching up to them after they re-captured Will and control the cabin. Mike and Erik attack the survivalists to free Will and the Larsson family. Prior to the fight, the survivalists murdered Mary Larson and were about to rape Astrid and Signe. All three survivalists are killed.

The Huttons, equine breeders and trainers, join Mike's band. The group elects Mike as their leader, then the group decides to travel from Idaho to 'Larsdalen', the Larsson estate in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon. Along the way, Astrid injures a black bear with an arrow from her bow, provoking it into attacking Mike. It injures Mike, then they kill it. The event gives the group their name – the Bearkillers.

On the journey, the Bearkillers recruit other survivors. The Bearkillers are hired as mercenaries by a group near a Nez Perce Indian Reservation to deal with a cannibal band snatching people along the road to Lewiston. The Bearkillers eliminate the cannibals and rescue their prisoners.

Signe is attracted to Mike, although she keeps him at arm's length, haunted by memories of her near-rape at the hands of the survivalists.

After their mercenary army is larger, Mike takes two companions to scout west. In Portland, Mike meets Norman Arminger, leader of the Portland Protective Association. Arminger, a university professor of medieval history and member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), is re-instating feudalism by recruiting gang members and former SCA members, then eliminating anybody he does not need. Arminger offers the Bearkillers positions as Protectorate nobles, but Mike declines.

After leaving Portland, Mike and his companions rescue Juniper Mackenzie and her friends from another band of cannibals. Mike and Juniper have an instant attraction and have unprotected sex that night before the two groups separate; Juniper becomes pregnant.

After Mike and his companions return to their group, the Bearkillers are hired by Sheriff Woburn to fight "Duke Iron Rod"; he is later revealed to be in league with Arminger to break the people of the Camas Prairie region and bring them under protectorate rule. The Bearkillers ambush one of Iron Rod's raiding parties. While they are away, a traitor helps a second group enter and attack the Bearkillers' camp. In the fighting, Ken Larsson loses his left hand and eye, but Mike and his men return in time to rout the attackers and capture Iron Rod. After reaching Larsdalen, the Bearkillers with the Clan Mackenzie and some ranchers raid a Protectorate castle Arminger constructed to control an important route (Highway 20) over the Cascades.

After the battle, Mike and Signe become engaged.

Clan Mackenzie

The parallel story of the formation of Clan Mackenzie begins with Juniper Mackenzie, a folk-singer and Wiccan priestess. Juniper is performing in a restaurant in Corvallis during The Change. She, along with her deaf teenage daughter Eilir, and their friend Dennis Martin, assist survivors of an airliner crash in the city. After looters realize guns no longer work, they attack a former government agent. Dennis and Juniper go to help and Juniper kills one. The others flee, and one of them, Eddie Liu, vows to avenge his dead friend. Liu becomes one of Arminger's barons.

Juniper, Dennis, and Eilir gather supplies, collect Juniper's horses and wagon from a friend's farm, then head for Juniper's cabin in central Oregon. On the way, refugees attack them, and Eilir shoots a woman with her bow. The woman's companions flee, but the wounded woman and her son join the group. Some of Juniper's coven members go to Juniper's cabin after rescuing children on a bus.

Juniper's Clan farm the land. While hunting, Juniper and Dennis rescue Sam Aylward, a former British army special forces soldier, superb archer and bowyer after he was entangled in an accidental fall.

Juniper leads scouts around the area. They arrive in Corvallis, Oregon, and discover that Oregon State University professors have taken over the town. They escape the trap but are then ambushed by cannibals. Mike and his Bearkillers save them. Juniper and Mike have unprotected sex; Juniper gets pregnant.

The Clan has a successful harvest, but nearby Sutterdown is occupied by Protectorate troopers. Juniper leads the Clan against the troopers, and drives them out of the town.

Sam Aylward leads a group of Mackenzie archers to aid the Bearkillers' raid against a Protectorate castle, then force the surrender of a second castle.

Juniper gives birth to a son named Rudi in memory of her late handfasted man. During Rudi's wiccaning, Juniper is overcome by inspiration, causing her to give Rudi the craft name of ''Artos'', proclaiming a prophecy declaring him "the Sword of the Lady."

Ellen Creed, a proud spinster fallen on hard times, has spent the past two years as housekeeper and companion to her old friend Leonora Fiske, a wealthy retiree who in her youth had been a chorus girl "of easy virtue". Ellen receives a letter threatening that unless she can tame her two peculiar sisters, the police will be called and the sisters will be evicted from their lodgings for outlandish behaviour. Leonora allows Ellen to invite her sisters to visit.

One day when Ellen is away, handsome young stranger Albert Feather appears, claiming to be Ellen's nephew. Leonora lends him money, but Albert makes her promise not to tell Ellen about either his visit or the loan.

Ellen returns with her sisters, who quickly wear out their welcome, proving to be a burden to Leonora and her maid Lucy. Leonora complains to Ellen, pointing out that two days have turned into six weeks and that the sisters are destroying her possessions and fraying her nerves. Leonora finally orders them out but Ellen pleads with Leonora, afraid that her sisters will be sent to an institution. In a rage, Ellen then strangles Leonora to death.

Ellen tells visitors and Lucy that Leonora is traveling. She tells her sisters that she bought the house and makes them swear that they will never talk about Leonora or that she sold the house.

Some nuns living nearby visit the house in a terrible storm to borrow something. After Ellen sends Lucy to the shed, Lucy is surprised there by Albert, with whom Lucy had a flirtation the first time that he was at the Fiske home. He flirts with her again and asks her to promise not to tell Ellen that he has been there before or that he is in the shed. Instead, he visits through the front door, telling Ellen that he needs help and a place to stay because he is a wanted thief. Ellen refuses to allow Albert to stay and buys him a boat ticket out of the country and says that she will give him some money to make a new start.

Albert and Lucy find evidence that Ellen is hiding something about Leonora. They find Leonora's wig, wondering why she did not travel with it. Albert intercepts a letter from the bank asking why Leonora’s signature on a check is much different than the one that they have on file. Albert reads the blotter after Ellen writes back to them about a "sprained wrist." Lucy is not able to figure out what is happening, but Albert is putting the pieces together.

Albert seduces Lucy and tries to steal the hidden money, but fails to find it. He has Lucy sit at the piano, playing Leonora's favourite song and wearing a wig with her back to Ellen, who screams at the sight of her and faints. Albert forgoes his trip in order to stay and blackmail his aunt so that he can have an easy life in the country. He confronts Ellen and she confesses, and he talks about his own crimes. Lucy overhears them and flees the house, and the neighbour nuns come to the door and Albert hides. The nuns tell Ellen that the police are looking for a man who fits Albert's description. Albert comes out of hiding and takes the ticket and money from her and leaves. Ellen's sisters return from their walk and tell her that they saw Albert playing tag with two men. Ellen smiles, dons her coat and hat, tells the sisters she’s going to see some men, kisses them goodbye and departs into the fog.

At the beginning of the story, a community of obese space pirates inhabit the planet Spiegel, but periodically raid other planets for fattening food. At a feast celebrating their raids, the pirates' supreme commander 'Sargon the Great' initiates a new expedition for the three greatest cooks in the galaxy; at the conclusion whereof, the three finalists and their assistants are brought to a grand festival on Spiegel, and ordered to satisfy all the pirates in a contest of their skills, of which the winner's prize is the lifelong position of chief cook to the pirates themselves. Among the finalists are Steve Nickleson (the protagonist of an earlier book) and his assistant Norman Bleistift, whereof Norman serves as first-person narrator of nearly one-half of the text. Ultimately, Steve and Norman win the second prize of 600 pounds of Spiegelian blue garlic and transport home, which Steve later uses to create a "bright blue" pizza. The first place winner is forced to cook for the pirates forever.

Narration

The story is told partly in Pinkwater's own narration, and partly by his characters: chiefly Norman Bleistift and Sargon the Great, but secondarily various others including civic officials, flying saucer enthusiasts, and radio-commentators on Earth, and a subordinate of Sargon's on Spiegel.

When the brother of his girlfriend Paula Sanders is accused of murder, reporter Nick Green tries to clear him.

He suspects gangster George Costain of the crime. Nick steals a satchel of Costain's policy racket receipts, placing his life and Paula's in great danger.

White Genesis

A teenager's pregnancy is beginning to show. This causes her mother much grief, as the girl will not name the father. Suspicion in the village rests on a navetanekat, or migrant laborer. He denies any involvement. Nevertheless, one of the brothers of Khar Madaiagua Diob (the expectant mother) tramples the laborer's crops. An angry mob searches for the navetanekat for a few days. Eventually, the girl tells her mother the truth: her own father is also the father of her child.

The Money-Order

''The Money-Order'' centers on an illiterate, middle-aged Senegalese man named Dieng. Dieng has been unemployed for some time, and he has two wives and several children. Dieng receives word that a money-order is waiting for him at the post office. Dieng wants the money, but he faces much difficulty in obtaining it. He doesn't have proper identification, and he even must pay a translator to read him the message with the order. Compounding Dieng's troubles is the fact that Dieng's neighbors are learning of his recent windfall. Enter Mbaye, a so-called "New African". Effective in his business dealings, Mbaye owns a villa on the other side of town. With a flourish of generosity, Mbaye promises to help Dieng cash the money-order.

James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson) is a Metro-Dade vice detective who has just lost his partner Eddie Rivera (Jimmy Smits) due to a car bombing while they were trying to arrest a small-time drug dealer. He also is in the middle of an ugly divorce, since his wife can't stand the stress of having a husband working undercover with criminals.

Crockett is investigating a Colombian drug dealer, named Calderone (Miguel Piñero), when he meets a New York police detective named Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). Since they are having problems approaching Calderone due to a traitor (leading Tubbs to say "You've got a leak in your department the size of the East River"), Crockett and Tubbs team up, after a suggestion from the former's lieutenant Lou Rodriguez (Gregory Sierra) to work together, even though they don't like each other.

Crockett is also dating a colleague, Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago). But he is not very fortunate, since he whispers his wife's name to Gina, while they were in bed. Gina and her colleague Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) still help Crockett for all job matters, and they discover that Rafael Tubbs is actually a dead New York officer. Crockett confronts "Rafael" and discovers that he is Rafael's brother Ricardo who wants to catch Calderone, his brother's murderer.

Crockett and Tubbs agree to still work together and it pays off, discovering that the traitor is Scott Wheeler (Bill Smitrovich), a DEA agent who works closely with the vice squad. After being confronted and assaulted by Crockett (his former partner), Wheeler is then arrested. Soon afterwards, Calderone himself is arrested, but within a matter of hours gets a judge to sign his release on $2 million bail. Sonny and Rico arrive just in time to see Calderone get into a seaplane and fly off. Crockett and Tubbs decide that they like working with each other after all, and Tubbs decides to transfer to Miami.

as Kitty Foyle Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers), a saleswoman in a New York boutique owned by Delphine Detaille (Odette Myrtil), faces a life-changing decision: marry her fiancé, a poor doctor named Mark Eisen (James Craig), or run away to South America with a rich man she has loved for many years, the married Wyn Strafford (Dennis Morgan), who is about to leave his wife and young son. She is on the verge of choosing Wyn, but as she wrestles with her choice, the film flashes back to her youth in Philadelphia.

As a teenager, Kitty gawks at the city's elite "Main Liners" in a parade that precedes their annual Assembly Ball. Her father (Ernest Cossart) warns against getting carried away with her fantasies. Ironically, Kitty meets the embodiment of her dreams in an acquaintance of his: Wynnewood Strafford VI, the scion of a wealthy Main Line family. Wyn offers her a secretarial job at his fledgling magazine. The two fall in love, but when the magazine folds, he does not have the will to defy his family's expectations by proposing to a woman who is far beneath him socially.

With the death of her father and no prospect of marriage to Wyn, Kitty goes to work in New York for Delphine. One day, she presses the burglar alarm button by mistake at Delphine's fashion store. She pretends to faint to cover her blunder and is attended to by Dr. Mark Eisen. Mark, aware that she is faking unconsciousness, playfully blackmails her into a first date.

Wyn finally breaks down, finds Kitty in New York, and proposes to her, presenting her with a family heirloom ring. She agrees to marry him on the condition that they not live in Philadelphia. When he introduces her to his family, she gets a chilly reception. She also learns that Wyn would be disinherited if he does not remain in Philadelphia and work in the family banking business. Though Wyn is willing to give up his inheritance, she decides that he is not strong enough to deal with poverty. She walks out, and they are divorced.

Kitty returns to New York, where she takes up with Mark again, but she soon discovers that she is pregnant with Wyn's child. Wyn arranges to meet her, raising her hopes for a reconciliation, but they are dashed when she sees a newspaper announcement of Wyn's engagement to someone of his own social standing. She leaves without seeing him and receives a further blow when their baby dies at birth.

Five years later, Kitty reluctantly agrees to open a Philadelphia branch store for her friend Delphine. By chance, she waits on Wyn's wife and meets their son. Kitty takes the opportunity to entrust the secret return of the family heirloom ring to the boy, prompting Wyn to visit and woo her one final time. The film returns to the dilemma Kitty faced at its beginning. When she decides to marry Mark rather than Wyn, her life takes a new and more promising course.

Ali, who is ice cream salesman in Muğla, tries to survive in the face of fierce competition from the big ice cream brands. While trying to promote his ice cream, he tours the village with his brand new yellow ice cream motorbike. However the naughty boys of the town who are chasing him to have free ice cream, steal the motorbike while he is away. Still repaying the debts for the loan on his motorbike, Ali becomes furious and accuses the big ice cream brands of stealing the car in order to destroy him. He starts investigating the theft of his motorbike asking one by one to the sellers of the big brands, while all along the naughty boys are enjoying their free ice cream.

Annabelle Fritton, an uptight daddy's girl, unwillingly transfers to St Trinian's from the distinguished Cheltenham Ladies' College at the request of her father, Carnaby Fritton. Annabelle is clearly different and doesn't fit in, telling her father that the school is "like Hogwarts for pikeys". She is taken around the school by Kelly Jones, the head girl, who introduces her to the various cliques within the school.

On her first night, Annabelle is pranked by the girls, resulting in her being poured in slime and pillow feathers, the temperature of her shower water being tampered with, and a video of her running around the school naked and wet being broadcast live on the internet leading to her getting knocked unconscious after slipping on wet floor and slides into the doors. She calls her father to pick her up, but Carnaby pretends to have bad phone reception so he can stay at a bar. Annabelle is drafted to the hockey team when she hits her phone with her hockey stick, smashing a statue. The girls of St Trinian's are involved in business with spiv Flash Harry, who pays them to make cheap vodka. Flash is shown to be romantically interested in Kelly, who initially turns him down.

The Cheltenham Ladies' College hockey team arrive at St Trinian's, along with Education Minister Geoffrey Thwaites. Thwaites is shown to have romantic history with the headmistress of St Trinian's, Camilla Fritton. Annabelle is forced to face her former bullies, including captain Verity Thwaites. The hockey match is violent, ending in Kelly shooting a winning goal for St Trinian's, which is followed by a brawl between the two schools. As the match is being played, Thwaites inspects the school, finding the illegal vodka-making business and the chatline being run by the Posh Totty clique.

The following morning, a banker arrives at the school and serves Camilla with a foreclosure notice, as the school owes the bank in excess of £500,000 and has ignored six previous final demands. A subsequent meeting between Camilla and Carnaby is watched by the girls using hidden cameras, in which Carnaby confesses his distaste towards his daughter. Annabelle is clearly upset, despite Camilla defending her. Carnaby encourages Camilla to turn the school into a boutique hotel, telling her that "when this school closes down, you'll have lost everything. More importantly, so will I."

Kelly and Flash work with the students to devise a plan to save the school. They must get into the final of ''School Challenge'', a TV quiz show held in the National Gallery in London, as a cover for stealing Vermeer's ''Girl With a Pearl Earring''. Chelsea, Peaches and Chloe (the Posh Totty clique) are chosen as the ''School Challenge'' Team. By cheating in every round, they make it to the grand final. As the final is being filmed, Kelly, Taylor and Andrea manage to steal the painting, with help from the Geeks, as well as Annabelle and Camilla.

Camilla paints an exact copy of the painting and has Flash, posing as a German art dealer, sell it to Carnaby in a black market deal. The school then receives a further £50,000 reward for returning the real painting to the National Gallery. The loans are able to be repaid and the school is saved.

The serial is set on a remote island near the Mexican border, where the island's ruthless owner Carter Collins (Walter Miller) holds half of an antique treasure map leading to a cache of gold hidden somewhere on the island. Reporter Larry Kent (Don Terry) arrives on the island in search of another reporter who had gone missing. Local postmaster Toni Morrell (Gwen Gaze) is summoned by Captain Tom Faxton (Warner Richmond) who, on his deathbed, gives Toni the other half of the treasure map, left to her by her father—but Faxton expires before he can divulge the identity of Toni's father. Larry and Toni, besides being opposed by Collins, are threatened by a hoodlum named Gridley (Grant Withers), who disguises in a skull mask and pirate clothing. When the disguise fails, Gridley resorts to desperate means to grab Toni's map, including kidnapping, bombing, vehicular homicide, and attempted murder. Master of the island Collins is equally determined to get the map, using death threats, cannon fire, swordsmen, and enforced suicide. The mysterious Captain Cuttle (George Rosener), an old salt with a hook for a hand, has his own reasons for investigating Captain Faxton's death, and guides Larry and Toni toward the solution of the mystery. Carter Collins finally gains the missing half of the map and locates the "secret of Treasure Island," while the vengeful Gridley sets off explosives to destroy the island's underground tunnels.

In 1840 New Hampshire, Jabez Stone, a poor kindhearted farmer, is broke and plagued by bad luck. After a series of mishaps, he impulsively declares that he would sell his soul to the devil for two cents, and moments later the devil appears, calling himself Mr. Scratch. He appears to offer Jabez a bargain: if he will sell his soul, he will reap seven years of good luck and prosperity. Scratch tempts Jabez by magically revealing a hoard of Hessian gold coins, causing Jabez to sign the contract. He begins his new life with hope, paying off his debts and buying new tools and supplies. While the women are shopping, Jabez meets and becomes friends with the celebrated congressman, lawyer and orator Daniel Webster, a friend of his wife's family, and a beloved figure who champions the cause of the poor farmers. Webster is also being tempted by Mr. Scratch to sell his soul in return for fulfilling his ambition to become president of the United States.

As time passes, Jabez's increasing wealth begins to change him. He ensnares his desperate neighbors with onerous financial contracts, and he slowly alienates his devoted wife Mary and his pious mother. Later, as the townspeople celebrate the harvest in Jabez's barn, Mary gives birth to their first child, whom they name Daniel in honor of Mr. Webster, but minutes later, Jabez discovers that the local girl whom they had hired as a maid has vanished. In her place, he finds the beautiful and sinister Belle, who has been sent by Mr. Scratch. She bewitches Jabez, driving a wedge between Mary and himself. As Daniel grows, he too falls under Belle's influence, and she turns him into a spoiled, disobedient brat.

In a few more years, Jabez is one of the richest men in the country. He has built a lavish mansion and throws a huge ball, but it ends in disaster. After a nightmarish dance between Belle and Miser Stephens (whose ruthless standards of debt repayment were a driving force in Jabez's decision to accept Scratch's offer), Jabez finds Stephens dead on the floor. He, too, had signed a pact with Mr. Scratch and his time was up. Now desperate and realizing that his own time is almost up, Jabez tries to erase the deadline that Mr. Scratch burned into the tree outside the barn, but Scratch appears and again tempts Jabez, offering to extend his deal in return for the soul of his son. Horrified, Jabez flees and chases after Mary. He begs her forgiveness and pleads with Webster to help him find some way out of his bargain with the devil. Webster, the most renowned lawyer in the country, agrees to take his case. Mr. Scratch again offers an extension in exchange for Jabez's son, but Jabez declines. He then begs Webster to leave before it is too late, but Webster refuses to go.

When Mr. Scratch appears to claim his due, Webster must wager his own soul before his opponent will agree to a trial by jury. Mr. Scratch chooses the jury members from among the most notorious personalities of American history (including Benedict Arnold and Stede Bonnet) with John Hathorne (one of the magistrates of the Salem witch trials) as the judge. Webster begins by stating that he envies the jury because, as Americans, they were present at the birth of a nation, but they were fooled like Jabez Stone, trapped in their desire to rebel against their fate. Webster explains that it is the eternal right of everyone, including the jury, to raise their fists against their fates. They took the wrong turn, just as Stone did, but Stone's soul can be saved.

Hathorne asks the jury for its verdict and in response, the foreman tears up the contract, releasing Jabez from his deal. Webster then kicks out the now-powerless Mr. Scratch, but, as he is ejected, the fiend promises that Webster will never fulfill his ambition to become president. Scratch, who has stolen a pie from the Stone kitchen window, sits alone eating it, resignedly thumbing through a notebook. He puts it away and then breaks the fourth wall, looking straight ahead and pointing wordlessly "you’re next" at the viewer.

An orphaned 13-year-old girl named Catherine ‘Cat’ Royal lives in the Theatre Royal, after the owner, Mr. Sheridan, who named her after the theatre, found her as a baby. She knows well the Theatre and its surroundings, later 18th century England. One night Cat overhears Mr.Sheridan and his colleague Marchmont, discussing a valuable diamond hidden in the theatre. Cat is intrigued, but she promised to protect it for Mr. Sheridan after he tells her that nobody can know about it as it is difficult to know whom to trust with this secret.

Cat befriends an African boy violinist, Pedro, who arrives to be the musician's apprentice. Cat also meets the aristocratic Avon family, the duke and duchess of Avon, and their children, Lord Francis and Lady Elizabeth, who are not as arrogant as other wealthy people, and actually want to be Cat's friends.

She also meets Johnny, the new prompt with a rather unmistakable talent for art, specifically controversial political cartoons, and a mysterious past of which he does not speak much of, other than the fact he ran away from home at a young age. She learns that Johnny is the "Captain Sparkler" accused of treason for the cartoons against the King of England. Cat soon also finds out that Johnny had had a romantic past with Lady Elizabeth, and would possibly be bidding for her in the marriage market if his situation was different.

Pedro is told of the diamond by Cat, which she later regrets when she finds him looking for it in Mr Sheridan's office hoping it will give him payment for a boat to his homeland in Africa, where he can escape the grasp of slave traders. This is before Cat learns that the diamond is not a real diamond, but is a metaphor used by Johnny's friends to refer to him as to avoid giving away valuable information to those who might hand him over to the court. He is of value, because of the reward for his capture.

However, a street gang led by Cat's enemy Billy "Boil" Shepherd ("Boil" being a reference to the boil on his nose), learns about the diamond, and assumes it is a real diamond. He breaks into the Theatre to steal it, bringing a few members of the gang with him. Cat and Pedro manage to evade him, but Cat is arrested for having money that was supposed to be for smuggling Johnny out of England where he will be safe. The money was really pawned jewels from Elizabeth, which she had given Cat permission to take to the pawn brokers, but the people who arrest her do not believe this. Billy is also arrested for stealing the money, although it was not actually him who stole it, but two members of his gang. Johnny's father Lord Fitzroy, however, knows the true reason to why Cat had the money in the first place, and arranges for her to be set free. Unfortunately, Billy is also set free later on, and the two gang members replace him in prison.

Johnny eventually gets out of England, with the help of Frank (Lord Francis), Lizzie (Lady Elizabeth) and Cat. Cat is reunited with her theatre and everyone in it. In the end, Mr. Sheridan tells her that there was no real diamond, which Cat is already aware of. Cat feels ashamed for not realizing it earlier, but Mr Sheridan reminds that in fact Johnny never was the so-called "diamond" and that Cat is the true diamond of the Theatre Royal, and the theatre would be nothing without its "Cat."

The short story “Neighbors" by Raymond Carver has a plot that follows the exploits of Bill and Arlene Miller who are left to take care of the Stone’s apartment. The plot is chronological and despite a few memories of the characters, the action begins when the Stones leave for their trip and ends after the Millers have gone through their apartment. It is clear that there is a close friendship between the two couples and it is also apparent that Bill and Arlene find their lives less exciting than that of their neighbors. When the Stone’s leave for their vacation, Bill goes over to the apartment to water the plants and feed the cat.

As time progresses in “Neighbors", Bill becomes increasingly interested in his neighbor’s possessions, almost as though he is living through them simply by eating their food, drinking their drinks, and trying on their clothes. He even takes time off of work to spend time in their apartment, almost as if it has a magical quality that makes time fly by. It is also worth mentioning in this summary that Bill’s sex drive increases as he spends more time at the neighbor’s apartment, as does Arlene. Like her husband, Arlene too spends a great deal of time at the Stone’s apartment, rifling through their possessions.

Millions of years ago, Earth was inhabited by a race of anthropomorphic giant monsters that can grow tentacles. Following an ecological disaster, the Earth's atmosphere had started to become inappropriate for their cellular respiration and they migrated to the planet Quasar PHL-5200. Nevertheless, they did not forget about Earth and have started to send successive vanguards. Referred to as Demon Beasts by the Interplanetary Mutual Observation Agency operatives that try to stop them, the aliens are seeking to create a race of human/alien hybrids which would adapt to the Earth's atmosphere and to rule the Earth by proxy.

The story is centred on Muneto Ungyōsai and Kayō Asakura, two college students living in Tokyo. Maitreya is presented as an eschalotogical opponent to the end-days to be brought by the alien invasion.

Throughout his adventures, Bod learns supernatural abilities such as Fading (allows him to turn invisible, but only if no one is paying attention to him), Haunting (which allows Bod to make people feel uneasy, though this ability can be amplified to terrify them), and Dreamwalking (going into others' dreams and controlling the dream, though he cannot cause physical harm).

How Nobody Came to the Graveyard

The story begins as the man Jack murders three members of a family (later revealed to be the Dorian family), but fails to kill the youngest child, a one-and-a-half-year-old boy. Unknown to him, the toddler has climbed out of his crib to explore. The child crawls out of the house and up a hill to a graveyard where ghosts find him. His mother, as a ghost, asks them to protect the child, and they argue about whether to do this until the Lady on the Grey (implied to be the Angel of Death) appears and states "The dead should have charity". The ghosts accept, and Mrs. Owens (the ghost who first discovered the baby) and her husband, Mr. Owens, become his adoptive parents. The baby is named Nobody Owens (since Mrs. Owens declares "He looks like nobody except himself") and is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard, which allows Nobody to pass through solid objects when in the graveyard, including its gates. The caretaker Silas (subsequently implied to be an ancient and formerly evil vampire, now reformed) agrees to act as Nobody's 'guardian', providing for and protecting him. The man Jack is persuaded by Silas that the toddler isn't there, and leaves.

The New Friend

As a young child, Nobody (often called Bod) begins learning to read and write, and befriends a girl called Scarlett Perkins, whose parents regularly bring her to play in the graveyard. It is with her that Bod discovers a creature called the Sleer, who has been waiting for thousands of years within a prehistoric barrow for his "Master" to come and reclaim him along with the treasures he guards (a knife, a goblet, and brooch respectively). The Sleer initially attempts to scare the two away with a ghostly projection, but Bod sees through the ruse and the Sleer relents. Scarlett's parents believe she has gone missing during this adventure. Shortly afterwards, the family moves to Scotland.

The Hounds of God

Silas temporarily leaves the graveyard 'to obtain some information', and Miss Lupescu arrives to take care of six-year-old Bod in his absence. She brings Bod home-made food and tutors him, as Bod grows a distaste for Miss Lupescu's strictness and unique cooking. Bod is then tricked by the Ghouls, a race of corpse-eating creatures that live in an alternate dimension accessed by a special grave called a Ghoulgate. After being brought through a Ghoulgate and finding out the Ghouls true intent to either convert him into one of their own or eat him, Bod is forced into a sack and carried to the Ghoul city Ghûlheim. After cutting his way out of the sack with a loose nail, Bod is subsequently rescued by Miss Lupescu, discovering she is a Hound of God (i.e. a werewolf). The two's relationship improves after the event, and Bod asks a returned Silas if Miss Lupescu could come teach him again in the future.

The Witch's Headstone

Bod befriends Elizabeth 'Elsa' Hempstock, the ghost of an unjustly executed witch buried in an unmarked grave. Liza's grave is located on the other side of the fence where suicides, criminals, and witches are buried separate from the main Graveyard grounds. Bod attempts to pawn the Sleer's brooch to buy Liza a headstone after learning her story. He is kidnapped by the pawnshop owner, Abanazer Bolger, who is one of the Man Jack's contacts, but escapes and returns the brooch to the Sleer's altar. He gives Liza a homemade headstone made from a paper weight instead, marking it "E.H. We Don't Forget".

Danse Macabre

In a short story based on the allegorical Danse Macabre, Bod observes the preparation of and participates in a folk dance with the dead inhabitants of the graveyard and the living inhabitants of the local area. He meets the Lady on the Grey, who promises him that one day he will ride on her horse with her: "Everyone does." After the dance ends and the living and dead return to their homes, the ground is covered in small white flowers that had been handed out by the mayor: "It looked as if there had been a wedding." Later, Bod wants to discuss the experience with his undead friends, but learns that it is considered a 'forbidden' subject.

Nobody Owens' School Days

Every Man Jack

On Bod's 14th year at the graveyard, Scarlett and her mother come back to the town, and she and Bod reunite. Scarlett has also made friends with a historian called Mr. Jay Frost who is living in a house not too far from the graveyard. Researching the murder of Bod's family, Scarlett learns that the historian lives in the house that Bod's family once lived in. Bod visits the house, to learn more about his family. When showing Bod the room he lived in as a baby, Mr. Frost reveals that he actually is the Man Jack; Jack Frost is his full name.

Bod is chased by the Man Jack and four other members of the Jacks of All Trades. Bod and Scarlett escape to the graveyard where Bod can defeat each Jack separately, except for Jack Frost. Jack Frost takes Scarlett captive in the chamber of the Sleer but is then tricked by Bod into claiming to be the Sleer's master. The Sleer engulfs Jack Frost in an "embrace", and they disappear into the wall, presumably "protecting him from the world", forever. Silas returns, and it is revealed that he and Miss Lupescu are members of the Honour Guard, devoted to protecting "the borders between things". With two other supernatural beings (the Ifrit Haroun and the winged mummy Kandar), they have fought the Jacks of All Trades throughout the novel. Though they succeed in destroying the society, Miss Lupescu is killed in battle, to Silas and Bod's great sorrow.

Scarlett is shocked and appalled by the events of the night and Bod's ethically questionable actions in the course of defeating Jack Frost. Silas suggests the best course is to remove most of her memories of Bod and what happened that night. Bod disagrees with Silas, but Scarlett ends up with her memories taken anyway. Silas uses his power of suggestion to convince Scarlett and her mother to return to Glasgow.

Leavings and Partings

In the final chapter of the book, Bod is "about 15" and is slowly losing the Freedom of the Graveyard and even his ability to see ghosts. At the end of the book, Silas gives Bod some money and a passport. Bod says his good-byes to his ghostly family and friends and leaves the graveyard to embark on the rest of his life.

The title refers to a pub landlord's last call and the final wishes of a dying man, in this instance Jack Dodds (Michael Caine), a south London butcher who greatly influenced four men over the course of his flawed but decent life. The quartet gathers to scatter Jack's ashes in Margate, where he had hoped to retire to a small seaside cottage with his wife Amy (Helen Mirren), a dream that was never fulfilled.

The four are: professional horse race gambler Ray Johnson (Bob Hoskins), aka Lucky, who fought beside Jack during World War II and has been his best friend since; former boxer Lenny (David Hemmings), who is always ready to settle an argument with his fists; undertaker Vic (Tom Courtenay) who acts as a buffer of sorts; and Jack's son Vince (Ray Winstone), a dealer of used luxury cars, whose relationship with his father never quite recovered when, as a young boy, he learned his real family perished in a wartime bombing and Jack and Amy took in the orphaned infant and raised him as their own.

As the quartet journeys from London by car to honour Jack's request, with stops at Canterbury Cathedral, the Chatham Naval Memorial, the hop farm where Jack and Amy met and a couple of pubs, they reminisce about their friend.

Amy is on a journey of her own to visit their daughter, June (Laura Morelli), who has learning difficulties and was institutionalized shortly after her birth fifty years earlier. Over the years Jack barely acknowledged her existence but Amy faithfully visited her weekly, even though June had no idea of who she was or why she visited.

Through frequent flashbacks that stretch across six decades, the stories of the events that brought these people to this point in their lives slowly unfold, ultimately revealing the importance of friendship and love.

In ancient Baghdad, poet Omar Khayyám wanders the streets in search of his friend, Sinbad, the son and namesake of Sinbad the Sailor, and finds him outside the Khalif's palace. Although the Khalif has offered a reward for his capture, the roguish Sinbad ignores Omar's warnings and nonchalantly sneaks into the palace. Spouting Omar's poetry, Sinbad romances Nerissa, one of the Khalif's harem girls, but is exposed by a slave.

Both Sinbad and Omar are caught and brought before the Khalif for sentencing. Also on trial are Greek scholar Simon Aristides, and his daughter Kristina, Sinbad's childhood friend, who has been wrongfully accused of stealing. After the Khalif orders that Sinbad and Omar be executed, his advisor, Jiddah, persuades him to meet with Murad, the ambassador to Tamerlane, a Tartar leader whose forces are threatening to invade Baghdad. Murad boldly informs the Khalif that the Tartars will soon be storming the city and demands that he and his men be entertained in the meantime.

Anxious to save Kristina, Sinbad reveals to the Khalif that Simon possesses the formula for an explosive called "Greek fire" and will share it with the Khalif in exchange for Simon's, Kristina's, Omar's and his freedom. The Khalif refuses to release Sinbad and Omar, but while they are incarcerated in the dungeon, Simon and Kristina give the ruler a private demonstration of Greek fire.

As protection, Simon has entrusted the formula to Kristina, who can recite the instructions only while hypnotized. In front of the Khalif, Simon hypnotizes Kristina, who then gives her father directions for mixing the various bottled ingredients. Unknown to them, Jiddah is in cahoots with Murad, and both men are eavesdropping on the proceedings. Although Jiddah and Murad can hear Kristina telling her father how much of each item to use, they cannot ascertain the chemicals being poured by Simon.

Meanwhile, the Khalif, ecstatic about the explosive, agrees to Simon's demand that Sinbad and Omar be freed in the morning. That night, Kristina confides in Ameer that she wants to marry Sinbad and asks her to tell him about his imminent release. Although jealous, Ameer delivers the message to Sinbad, but when she returns to Kristina's chambers, she finds Kristina gone and Simon murdered. Ameer sees Murad fleeing with Kristina and Simon's chemicals and sends a message via carrier pigeon before being caught by Jiddah.

While torturing Ameer to reveal the bird's destination, Jiddah notices that she has a Forty Thieves tattoo on her shoulder. Although the Thieves, a band of raiders once led by Sinbad's father, are now dead, Ameer admits that their heirs have banded together, and Jiddah deduces that the message went to them. At dawn, Sinbad and Omar learn that their execution is to proceed as scheduled, but they escape the dungeon and fight their way to the Khalif's chambers. There, Sinbad offers to retrieve Kristina in exchange for his and Omar's freedom, some gold and a promise that he will be made second in command in Bagdad. The Khalif agrees and Sinbad rides off with Omar, unaware that Jiddah, having heard his exchange with the Khalif, is alerting Murad of his plan.

Later, while resting in the desert, Sinbad and Omar are joined by Ameer, who reveals that Murad and his men are traveling in disguise with a caravan of merchants and that the Forty Thieves will attack them at first camp. Omar and Sinbad ride to the camp ahead of the caravan, and Sinbad has Omar bury him in the spot where he thinks Kristina's tent will be placed. Breathing through a reed, Sinbad remains buried in the Tartars' camp, far from Kristina's tent, until Murad unwittingly plucks his reed from the sand. Sinbad is forced to surface but manages to sneak into Kristina's tent and free her.

As Sinbad, Omar and Kristina ride off, the Forty Thieves, who are all women, attack the camp and reclaim Simon's bottles. Omar, Sinbad and Kristina then go to the Forty Thieves's cave and, using the cry "open sesame," signals a donkey named Sesame to open the "door." After arranging with Ghenia, the raiders' leader, Sinbad reunites with Ameer, but when he refuses to have "eyes only for her," Ameer rejects him. Just then, Murad's men advance on the cave, and Sinbad quickly hypnotizes Kristina, who has fallen in love with Omar, and concocts some Greek fire using Simon's chemicals. Hurling torches coated with the explosive, the Thieves, Sinbad and Omar cripple Murad and his men. Sinbad then defeats Murad in a sword fight, and victory is declared. Later, Sinbad convinces the women to go with him to Bagdad and make peace with the Khalif. At the palace, the Khalif waits for Sinbad with Jiddah, whose duplicity he has yet to realize, preparing to execute him for failing his mission.

When Sinbad appears with Kristina and a bevy of beautiful raiders, however, the Khalif embraces him and orders Jiddah to be de-tongued. At Sinbad's behest, Omar is made the royal poet, the Thieves are pardoned, and Sinbad is installed as second in command. Then as a final request, Sinbad asks Ameer to be his bride.

In the opening sequence, Marge talks about Halloween being "last week" and suddenly various logos for other Fox shows pop up on the screen, including the mini logos for ''American Idol'', Fox Sports, ''Prison Break'', ''Cops'', ''House'', and ''24''. Marge winds up killing several miniature characters that pop up from the logos (except the Prison Break one, which has the characters running away from the scene) and bakes them into meatloaf, which she serves to her family. When she cuts it, the other characters' body parts are shown to spell out the title of the episode and the opening credits (Homer eats the piece with the "developed by" credit, says "Mmmmmmm, developed by", and drools).

E.T., Go Home

In a parody of ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', Marge tells Bart to get butane from their "butane storage shed" in the back yard. As he does so, he finds Kodos there. Kodos states his desire is to return home and that he had come to Earth in peace, though he hints that he was really sent there to destroy mankind. Bart, however, is oblivious to this, and decides to help him return home. Lisa arrives and is happy with the alien in their home and decides to help Bart and Kodos obtain a list of devices (including two tickets to see ''Avenue Q'', Uranium, and "7 billion body bags") that he can use to contact his home planet, though this appears to be part of his diabolical plan. Homer discovers Kodos when the two accidentally share a shower, but he and Marge decide to let the kids help Kodos anyway, after Kodos hints it would be racist to turn him away (He said that they did not want him in the house because he was Jewish). When NASA agents arrive at the Simpsons home, Homer distracts them by dressing as Abraham Lincoln while Bart sneaks Kodos out. However, when Kodos kills several agents along the way, Bart begins to think Kodos's intentions are not as friendly as he was led to believe. Finally, Kodos reveals that the devices he had the Simpsons collect were for a portal-generating device so that others of his planet can come to Earth and wipe out the human race and eat their heads. When the aliens (including Kang) invade, the rest of the Simpson family shows up, along with the military. A brief war is waged, and Earth ultimately overpowers the aliens (the massive heads of Kodos' species make them easy targets for attack helicopters). When Bart is given the option to board a helicopter and shoot Kodos, Bart, seeing Kodos' smile, decides to spare him. However, Homer shoots Kodos several times. In the end, Earth emerges victorious and the world is saved. The Simpsons are invited to see Kodos's dissection, where they reflect that since Kodos was an evil-looking alien who turned out to be bad, it must be good to judge a book by its cover. It is revealed that Kodos is still very much alive, as he points what is happening is actually vivisection, only to be suffocated with a pillow by Homer.

Mr. & Mrs. Simpson

In a parody of ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'', Homer and Marge are at a marriage counseling session, recounting a brief moment of tension between them.

In the flashback, when arriving home, Homer locks himself in the bathroom and communicates on a hidden flat screen television, where it is revealed Homer is an assassin assigned to eliminate news reporter, Kent Brockman, by order of Homer's boss, Mr. Burns. Although the bathroom is locked, Bart somehow got in and is sitting on a Mortar, which was the toilet. Before he leaves, he tells Marge he will be coming home late from "Midnight Monkey Madness." Marge also states that she is busy turning over wheelbarrows. When Homer prepares to shoot Brockman at his rooftop party from a faraway platform, a woman with large blonde hair stabs Brockman in the chest. After Homer attempts to repeatedly shoot the woman (ending up with several civilian deaths), he manages to shoot the wig off her head, revealing her to be Marge.

Arriving home, the two avoid each other's eyes, and Marge makes an excuse for the blonde wig. Unfortunately at dinner, Homer is unable to control his anger. which leads the two attempting to kill one another with various weapons such as grenades, rifles, and a minigun, all the while arguing why the other was an assassin, end up destroying most of their house, and killing Grampa. After Chief Wiggum interrupts with a complaint from an "anonymous neighborino", Marge shoots him with a crossbow, killing him (even though he states he would have taken a bribe). The two then realize they are more attracted with one another when they kill someone together. For this, they soon begin making love over Wiggum's body and, back to where the episode started, they both realized that they did not need any marriage counseling, but to kill people together. In the end, it turns out that the two were called into Principal Skinner's office to discuss Bart's misbehavior on the bus, with Skinner wondering why the two thought they were in a marriage counselor's office. The two promptly shoot Skinner.

Heck House

Bart (dressed as Frankenstein's monster), Lisa (dressed as a witch), Milhouse (dressed as an astronaut) and Nelson (dressed as a hobo) become frustrated when Agnes Skinner refuses to give them candy on Halloween night and instead spits into Milhouse's plastic pumpkin full of candy. Deciding that pranks are more fun than candy, they begin to focus on the 'trick' part of "trick-or-treat," and begin to play tricks on some of the town's population. Soon, however, their pranks shift into vandalism (and even thievery when they tie up Lenny and steal his TV), and their victims gather at the Simpson house to complain. Homer tried to calm the crowd by characterizing the pranks as childish mischief until he is himself "pranked" by the kids on the roof above him, who drop a live pig which lands on his head. Sideshow Mel exclaims that "those monsters must be stopped", prompting Ned Flanders to offer his help. He decorates the local church to look like a haunted house called Heck House, which lures the children in.

It is revealed the haunted house is actually a morality play in disguise (a "Hell house"). Ned Flanders tries to scare the children into righteousness through the use of crude theatre performed by Principal Skinner, Reverend Lovejoy, and Ned's two kids Rod and Tod. However, the pranksters scoff at his attempt, causing Ned to angrily turn to the heavens and ask for the power to "psychologically torture" the kids into loving God. Lightning flashes and Ned is transformed into the Devil (reprising his role from "Treehouse of Horror IV" though lacking goat legs), and then sends the kids to Hell. There he produces an enormous crystal ball which reveals Springfield to be full of sin, specifically the Seven Deadly Sins. The crystal ball shows:

Gluttony: Homer slurps his spaghetti too fast, and ends up being turned into spaghetti himself. Wrath (called Anger here): Groundskeeper Willie kicks his tractor in frustration and ends up decapitated by it after it transforms into a robot. Pride: Doctor Hibbert gets crushed by a truck (driven by Hans Moleman) after putting a "My Child Is An Honor Student" bumper sticker on his car and taking pride in it. Sloth: Homer is killed again (despite pointing out that he already died from eating the "magic spaghetti") when he slides through the mesh of a hammock and gets cubed to pieces *Lust, Greed, and Envy: Moe drools over a stripper dancing for him, steals her money, and envies "the crotchless" after getting kicked in the groin.

A wider view of Hell is then shown, with various citizens of Springfield being punished for their sins on Earth, in a reference to the Inferno section of Dante's Divine Comedy. The children are terrified and promise never to sin again and to only "pray and fight in wars"; they are then sent back to Earth while Ned transforms back to his standard human form. The episode ends with Ned telling the viewers that they will go to Hell for watching Fox, as well as FX, Fox Sports and "our newest devil's portal", ''The Wall Street Journal'', which he welcomes to the "club".

The film begins with a Hollywood legal adviser giving dictation to his secretary that the stage show property ''Louisiana Purchase'' is unfilmable, unless strong disclaimers are made that it is a total work of fiction. The next scene features a musical number declaring that information.

Louisiana State Representative Jim Taylor is told by his fellow partners of the Louisiana Purchase Company who have engaged in misusing Federal government funds for their own avarice that a Republican Federal Senator Oliver P. Loganberry is arriving in the State during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The Senator will conduct hearings to establish evidence of their corrupt conduct with Taylor's cronies deciding Taylor he will be the fall guy. Taylor has one chance to avoid imprisonment; lure the Republican Senator into a honey trap. Searching for a woman, Taylor's friend Madame Yvonne Bordelaise recommends the visiting European woman Marina Von Minden who is desperately seeking money to obtain a visa for her mother to leave Europe.

Marina initially goes along with the scheme and poses for incriminating photo when the Senator is tricked into getting drunk. She has a change of heart and decides to explain the photographs by saying the Senator Loganberry has proposed to her. Taylor has fallen in love with Marina and avoids the Senator making his charges in the Legislature by doing a filibuster for three days, with Taylor explaining that he has the express permission of James Stewart.

It tells the story of a rich young man, Cristobal, and his friends throwing a house party over the course of a weekend at his parents' home in Tepoztlán. It is implied through murmurings that his father is in Europe trying to settle finances and avoid corruption charges. At the beginning of the film, he is driven to the house by one of his Indian servants. They drive through a group of protesters without ever really wondering what they are protesting about. His hippie sister, Elisa, has already invaded the place with her drug-addled friends hailing from places such as Brazil and Japan. The two groups seem disparate but it's nothing that can't be resolved through sharing alcohol and marijuana. Already at the house is a family who work as the groundskeepers and Adan, also a twenty-something who has grown up with them but works for them, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere as Cristobal barks out orders.

Cristobal and Adan vie for the attention of Dolores, an Argentine girl at the party whose family has also escaped Argentina due to financial problems. Cris also struggles with his girlfriend, Mafer, constantly phoning him and finding out that he didn't get into Harvard University, where his father wanted him to go. When he finds out that Adan did get into a university in the United States, their rivalry grows even greater. During a football match in the garden, Cris purposely fouls Adan, showing his bitterness.

Cris and Dolores grow close and begin kissing, only to be interrupted by one of Mafer's phone calls. That night, a rave is held. Elisa, on an ecstasy trip, wanders into the garden and finds Adan sitting in a tree on the perimeter, as he had returned to observe their antics after he had already left. She kisses him, but then begins to overdose. She calls for Cristobal and he takes her into the house and blames Adan for what has happened. Cristobel starts a fight with Adan but is overpowered, and in frustration calls Adan an Indio, as a derogatory, deeply hurting Adan and reinforcing their differences. Elisa insists that he should not take her to a hospital. He finds she has been given three pills by one of the boys and the guests are asked to leave. Mafer then turns up, furious that he has been flirting with other women while she was trying to get to the party (Cris having ignored her phone call asking to come and pick her up). Cris receives a mobile phone call, which he can see is from his father, but he doesn't answer it and bursts into tears. The day saw him rejected from Harvard, lose his girlfriend (and Dolores) and his sister overdose on ecstasy, with the rift from his parents firmly entrenched and the differences between Adan perceived

Raised in the Northeastern Pennsylvania mining town of Nanticoke, Pete Gray loses his right arm while still a young boy. But through the encouragement of his immigrant parents, Antoinette and Peter Wyshner, Sr., and the constant coaching of his older brother Whitey, Gray never gives up on his dream of playing professional baseball. Driven by anger, he finally makes it to the big leagues. But it isn't until he agrees to meet handicapped youngster Nelson Gary, Jr., who idolizes him, that Gray finally comes to terms with several life realizations.

On the northern side of the Mexico–United States border, Sergei "Polack" Kowalski, a well-groomed, greedy mercenary, attends a circus performance where he recognizes the show's lead rodeo clown as Paco Roman. During the performance, Kowalski reminisces on how he and Paco fought together as revolutionaries against the Mexican Government.

Prior to the start of their partnership, Paco, a peon working in a silver mine owned by Elias Garcia, rebels against his boss and humiliates him and his two brothers, including Colonel Alfonso Garcia. He is soon captured, but saved from execution by his friends. Meanwhile, Kowalski makes a deal with Elias and his brother to take their silver safely across the border. Curly, Kowalski's flamboyant American rival, sees the three men talking and tracks down the brothers to find out what they hired Kowalski for, after which Curly kills the two.

When Kowalski arrives at the mine to meet the Garcias, he meets Paco and his revolutionaries instead. Colonel Garcia's troops arrive to attack them, and Kowalski agrees to help Paco fight them for money. With the help of Kowalski and his Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun, the revolutionaries drive Colonel Garcia's forces away. Kowalski then leaves, but he is soon ambushed by Curly. Paco's group arrives and kills Curly's men. Although Curly swears revenge, they let him go after stripping him of his clothes. Paco then hires Kowalski to teach him how to lead a revolution.

The revolutionaries travel from town to town robbing money, guns and horses from the army. They also release a prisoner named Columba, who joins the group. Columba at first resents Paco's violent methods and his over-reliance on Kowalski, but both soon begin to respect each other. After Paco stays in one town to protect the people, despite Kowalski telling him that they can not match the army sent to capture them, Kowalski leaves the group again. Paco's group admits defeat and returns to Kowalski. Kowalski doubles his fee, but he and Paco make another deal. After the revolutionaries take over a town by defeating a whole regiment, Paco, realizing the unfairness of the financial burden Kowalski has placed on him and Columba, imprisons Kowalski, confiscates his money, and marries Columba. When Colonel Garcia's army, along with Curly, attack them, Paco realizes he can not manage the situation on his own and decides to set Kowalski free, but finds himself locked up while Kowalski escapes. Columba frees Paco, and the two escape before Curly can find them.

In the present, Kowalski notes that it has been six months since Paco betrayed him. After the performance ends, Curly and his men capture Paco. Kowalski shoots Curly's men and gives him and Paco both a rifle and a bullet, so that the two can have a fair duel. After Paco kills Curly, Kowalski takes him prisoner and heads to the headquarters of the 51st Regiment to collect the reward offered for his head. Columba, witnessing Kowalski's capture of her husband, rides to the 51st's headquarters with two members of Paco's troupe and meets with Colonel Garcia, pretending to betray Paco by telling him where the two are.

When the army troops find the pair, Kowalski also finds himself arrested as there is now an even bigger reward for his head. The two are then sentenced to death by firing squad. However, Columba executes her plan, and holds Garcia at gunpoint while the circus performers create a diversion. Using two machine guns, Paco and Kowalski kill most of Garcia's troops, and they escape with Columba and the performers. The group splits up; Columba and the performers leave to spread the word of Paco's return to Mexico, Paco prepares to lie low before reuniting with Columba, and Kowalski, who has been given a share of his own reward money, prepares to leave Mexico. Kowalski suggests to Paco that they should team up as a mercenary pair, but Paco assures him that his "dream" is in Mexico. As the two friends part ways, Colonel Garcia and four soldiers prepare to ambush and kill Paco. Kowalski cuts them all down with his rifle from a nearby hillside. Before leaving, he yells, "Good luck, Paco! Keep dreaming, but with your eyes open!"

Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Barney find out that Robin never goes to malls and refuses to explain why. Marshall posits that Robin was married in a mall in Canada, because whenever asked about Canada, Robin only talks about her friend who got married way too young. Barney, however, believes that the secret is related to pornography. They agree to a slap bet, where the winner of the bet slaps the loser as hard as he can, and appoint Lily as the slap bet commissioner. Barney then starts working his way through hours of Canadian porn, which he finds both depressing and tedious.

Ted begins to worry that Robin is married. Ted pesters Robin to reveal if she really got married in Canada. After trying to avoid the issue, Robin tells Ted that she got married in a mall, after which her husband moved to Hong Kong without getting a divorce. Ted promises to keep it a secret but tells the gang after Lily begs him, so Marshall slaps Barney.

To try and help Ted, law student Marshall searches a legal database and he reveals that there is no record of a marriage license for Robin in Canada. After asking her various questions about her wedding, Ted confronts Robin and she admits she is not married but finds out that Ted told Marshall her supposed secret. She is angry and tells him that she was testing him to see how long it would take him to tell the rest of the gang. She refuses to tell Ted the true reason she avoids malls. Marshall tells Lily that Robin is not married and Lily, as the slap bet commissioner, must allow Barney to slap Marshall three times (one for the lie, two for being premature).

Barney reveals that he has uncovered a video of Robin and asks her if the name "Robin Sparkles" sounds familiar, which worries Robin. Ted tries to stop Barney from playing the video but Robin lets Barney play it. The beginning of the video shows Robin, dressed as a schoolgirl, seductively pleading with a teacher not to give her detention. Barney, supposedly for the sake of Robin's dignity, pauses the video and slaps Marshall. Robin is surprised to learn that the others think that it is porn, and plays the rest of the video: A 1980s-style bubblegum pop music video where a teenage Robin (referred to as "Robin Sparkles") sings "Let's Go to the Mall". Robin repeatedly sang the Canadian hit on a lengthy tour of malls around the country, causing her to develop a phobia of malls.

Lily points out that Barney slapped Marshall without having won the bet and without the permission of the slap bet commissioner. Lily gives Barney a choice: He can be slapped ten times immediately, or five times at any moment Marshall chooses. Barney picks the five slaps. Robin tells Ted that she is glad Ted knows her secret now. They kiss and Marshall suddenly slaps Barney, proclaiming "That's one".

The episode ends with the group, excluding Robin, dancing to her music video.

A young woman removes her right arm and gives it to a man (the protagonist) to keep for the night. The story follows his thoughts and actions as he takes it home. He talks to and caresses it, and then decides to replace his own arm with it. The "relationship" the man has with the severed arm serves as a portal into the landscape of memory and emotions.

It is 1813. The First Battalion of the South Essex Regiment has suffered terrible losses in the fighting in Spain and the entire regiment is in danger of being disbanded as a result. Major Sharpe (Sean Bean) and Sergeant Major Harper (Daragh O'Malley) are sent back to England to find out why replacements have not been sent. Sharpe is told that the Second Battalion of the South Essex is drawing pay for over 700 soldiers, but when he arrives at the Second Battalion's barracks, he finds only eleven men, even though there is regular recruiting for the regiment. Sharpe is determined to get to the bottom of things.

During an audience with the dimwitted Prince Regent (Julian Fellowes), Sharpe is introduced to Lord Fenner (Nicholas Farrell), the man responsible for the regiment's troubles. Fenner insists that the Second Battalion exists only on paper as a means of paying troops who have been scattered for various reasons until they can be placed into a proper unit. Fenner sends Lady Anne Camoynes (Caroline Langrishe) to sleep with Sharpe and ascertain his intentions. When he finds out, he sends assassins to solve his potential problem, but Sharpe and Harper dispose of them instead. Their bodies are tossed into the river, and Sharpe sees to it that rumours are spread that it was he and Harper who have been killed.

Meanwhile, the two men "enlist" in the Second Battalion to find out what happens to the recruits. They are trained by the brutal and effete Lieutenant Colonel Girdwood (Mark Lambert) and then auctioned off to other regiments by Sharpe's old enemy, Sir Henry Simmerson (Michael Cochrane), with Fenner getting a kickback. Simmerson's niece, Jane Gibbons (Abigail Cruttenden), helps Sharpe and Harper escape afterwards.

Sharpe goes to Horse Guards to see the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the Duke of York, but learns that the Duke is not in London. Sharpe sees his old friend, Sir William Lawford, in whom he confides. Lawford, on his own initiative, approaches Fenner and proposes a solution—the South Essex gets its men and Sharpe is given command of a rifle battalion and sent to North America. Lady Camoynes overhears and contacts Sharpe. She tells him that he needs proof of the sales and tells him that she wants to ruin Fenner, who gets sexual favors from her as a way of paying off the debts of her late husband, whom Fenner ruined.

Sharpe and Harper return to Girdwood's training camp and take over, placing Girdwood under arrest, but they are unable to find any paperwork documenting the sales. Sharpe instructs Harper to complete the necessary paperwork, officially making the recruits part of the South Essex.

Girdwood escapes and goes to Simmerson's estate, where he collects the incriminating paperwork, and then heads to Simmerson's London house. Sharpe arrives at Simmerson's house too late to stop Girdwood, but he sees an invitation to a party hosted by the Prince of Wales. Sharpe also learns from Jane that Simmerson regularly beats her (her father was a lowly saddler), and Sharpe rashly proposes marriage as a way of enabling her to escape Simmerson's abuse. Jane agrees to try to steal the paperwork from Simmerson's house. Sharpe forms up the recruits of the Second Battalion and takes them to London, where they march in on the Prince of Wales's party, with Sharpe bearing the eagle he took at Talavera. The Prince gleefully claims them as his own, making the regiment the Prince of Wales Own Volunteers, instead of the South Essex.

Sharpe confronts Lord Fenner, but does not have any proof, as Simmerson gave the paperwork to Fenner, who ordered it burnt. Just in time, Lady Camoynes shows up with ledgers—which she saved from the fire—detailing the crimes and uses them for blackmail for herself and for Sharpe. Simmerson, due to his influential friends, once more escapes prosecution. To shelter Jane from Simmerson's wrath, Sharpe becomes engaged to her.

Thanks to Lady Camoyne's blackmail of Fenner, Sharpe gets the men he came for and goes back to fight in Spain, saving the regiment from being deleted from the army list. The regiment is now under the command of Colonel Girdwood, which Sharpe also specifically requested. In Spain, Girdwood has a close encounter with a French artillery round during an attack on the French border and suffers a mental breakdown as a result. He is invalided home, and Sharpe takes command of the Prince of Wales Own Volunteers, leading them on to victory.

The film begins with a sleepover of children. They prank call people while playing the game Seventy Five. Meanwhile, their parents are in the other room having drinks. The rules of the game are that you must keep a random person on the line for 75 seconds, and they must believe what you’re saying. As the night goes on, the kids go to bed, and a man whom the kids recently called calls back, before jumping from a closet and attempting to kill one of the kids before a parent jumped in front of him. The killer goes on to killing the parents in the house with an axe. As the children hide in the bedroom, the killer opens a closet to discover some of the kids and attempt to murder them. Before he can, one of the kid’s mother jumps on him and is then choked to death by the killer. He then hears police sirens and flees. He is never caught.

Ten years later, Chuck (Josh Hammond) is murdered in his house by an unknown figure. Two detectives, Detective Anne Hastings (Gwendoline Yeo) and Detective John Criton (Rutger Hauer) discover Chuck was one of the children involved in the Waley murders 10 years previously. They begin an investigation and find more of the survivors have been murdered. Meanwhile, Brandon (Jonathan Chase) is throwing a party at his fathers secluded mansion. Brandon invites his ex-girlfriend, Karina (Judy Taylor), so he can try to get back together with her, but she insists that her group of friends also come, including Marcus (Brian Hooks), Roxy (Cherie Johnson), Shawn (Germán Legarreta), Kareem (Antwon Tanner), Scott (Wil Horneff) and Jody (Aimee Garcia).

As the group arrive and the party starts, Brandon and his friend Cal (Austin Basis) show everyone around, revealing that the house is filled with cameras which can be monitored on screens in the monitoring room, due to the house previously being used as a reality show set. While the party is happening, Criton and Hastings are looking for the children from the Waley murders. They locate Melissa to find that she has been killed and later find out that a male has also been killed in a different scene. After a few hours of partying, Marcus suggests a game of Seventy Five. Various people take part, until one caller murders someone for the group to hear. They all decide to not answer the phone and continue with their night. As the party finishes and most people leave, Karina and Brandon reconcile. Becky (Ellen Woglom) and Julie (Soraya Kelley) stay up partying with two boys. However, the killer soon arrives at the house and decapitates Becky, before killing the boys and Julie. The killer proceeds to decapitate a boy in the hot tub before drowning his girlfriend. Kareem sees the bodies in the pool and rounds up Roxy, Marcus and Anna (Denyce Lawton) to leave. The group split up to warn the others. Marcus and Anna find Jody and Cal, however they are soon attacked by the killer who murders Anna, while the others flee into Brandon and Karina's room. After Kareem and Roxy arrive with an unconscious Scott, who Kareem accidentally knocked out, the group lock themselves in the room. Brandon blames Marcus for the murders, causing a fight to break out.

After a while of waiting, Brandon and Karina leave to retrieve keys for Brandon's car, while Marcus and Kareem search for Shawn. The killer soon attacks Brandon and Karina, and Brandon is eventually axed in the back, killing him. The killer then throws Karina off the balcony, however she survives and runs into the monitor room to hide. Marcus and Kareem hear someone calling for help and return to the room only to find Scott with a dead Roxy. Meanwhile, Cal goes outside to try and hot wire a car. As he succeeds, the killer appears and beats him to death, although he does manage to summon help to the house. Marcus and Kareem manage to overpower the killer and pin him to the ground. As Kareem urges Scott to kill him, he instead murders Kareem. After confronting Scott and then being attacked by Scott, Marcus hides in the monitor room with Karina, watching in horror as Jody and then Shawn are murdered.

Scott soon comes to the monitoring room, with his accomplice (Kyle Turley), who is revealed to be an inmate from the mental hospital they both recently escaped from. He goes on to reveal that he is, in fact, Scott's twin brother, William, and that he murdered Scott before they left for the party. William tells Marcus he blames him for the deaths of his parents all those years ago as he was the one that wanted to play Seventy Five. William then turns on his accomplice, stabbing him, before a fight breaks out between him, Karina and Marcus. Eventually, William stabs Karina to death. While Marcus swings the axe to kill William, Detectives Anne and John arrive and shoot Marcus, believing he is the killer. As Anne and John comfort William, the accomplice rises with an axe and swings it towards the detectives.

In this story, a team of explorers and scientists on Mars encounter an alien base, in which there is a still-functional device, possibly for communication with gravity wave oscillation. One scientist (who previously made a silly and potentially fatal mistake with his space suit) believes at the center of the device is contained a micro (tiny with low mass) black hole, but his superior does not believe him and ridicules him at every opportunity. Tension mounts as the superior claims to not believe such black holes even exist and gleefully teases the scientist's flustered attempts to explain such things. During a heated argument with his superior, the scientist evidently turns off a containment field, releasing the black hole downward. The hole drops right through the superior, fatally injuring him with tidal forces and an incredibly small 'tunnel' it creates through his entire body as it falls towards the center of the planet. At a group meeting the scientist claims to have done so accidentally, not understanding the alien controls.

Later privately, the scientist defends himself against talk of murdering the man with a most unusual murder weapon; several of the team including the superior had forcefully pronounced that the device could not possibly contain a black hole. Also that any conviction in a trial would require convincing the jury that such a thing could exist, that one was inside the machine, that the scientist understood the controls, that it was foreseeable that the black hole would be released and would harm the man, and intended murder. The story ends with scientist speculating the possibility whether the black hole will endanger the explorers as it consumes Mars, or whether danger will occur many years later, but possibly still during the lifetime of the scientist.

Protagonist/narrator Ronald Donald Almondotter, having accepted an internship under his maternal grandfather, Seumas Finneganstein, finds this interrupted by Sir Charles Pelicanstein, his grandfather's friend, and accompanies both from America to Tanzania, in search of an intelligent earthworm documented by gemstone-collector Gordon Whillikers. In Tanzania, they are joined by tour-guide Hassan Kapoora and cook Ali Tabu. At the advice of general-store owner Baba Pambazuka, they pursue intuitively the intelligent earthworm's habitat in the extinct volcano Kukumlima, without set directions. Finding Kukumlima accidentally, they discover Gordon Whillikers a prisoner of the earthworms (now identified with gigantic size), required to annually collect the tiny elephant mice used by the worms to purposes unknown. Having explored Kukumlima, and identified the worms' vocalizations (attributed earlier to ordinary earthworms) as means of contact, they escape the volcanic crater during an eruption partly stimulated by themselves, and return to America, where Seumas patents an adhesive sap used in the escape.

In the distant future, an elderly Bruce Banner wanders a barren and irradiated landscape. He is recorded by a Vidbot, a floating camera hovering at a constant distance of 10 feet away from him. The Hulk's radiation immunity, healing factor, and ability to eat anything have granted Banner an extended lifespan, leading him to believe that he is over 200 years old. The Hulk emerges at night or whenever Banner is agitated, and revels in the fact that all his enemies are dead, but longs for the day that he can finally be free of Banner. Having spent over a century exploring the entirety of North and South America, Bruce is able to confirm that he is the last human on Earth. Apart from the occasional bird or animal, the only other organisms known to have survived are swarms of giant mutated cockroaches that often attack the Hulk and try to consume him. The attacks leave the Hulk severely disfigured and eviscerated, and Banner has made a habit of viewing the attacks and the Hulk's subsequent recovery on playback via the Vidbot.

Banner happens upon the "Costumed Adventurers Memorial Park", where the remains of several superheroes had been laid to rest before the world spiraled into nuclear holocaust in their absence. While the Hulk was easily able to survive the barrage of nuclear weapons, the noise of the explosions and cries of dying people eventually came to bother him. The Hulk returned to his birthplace in New Mexico and sealed himself in a cave with a massive boulder, trapping Banner inside with him for many years. One day, the boulder was shoved aside by a Recorder, an extraterrestrial robot sent at the request of several races – including the newly aligned Kree and Skrulls – to document the demise of humanity. The Vidbot was left by the Recorder to chronicle Banner's final days.

Any attempt by Banner to commit suicide is thwarted by the Hulk, who remains obsessed with proving himself to be the strongest. One night, Banner dreams of making love to a woman within a paradise. When the woman whispers to him that they would be "like gods", he violently awakes to a burning sensation in his chest. Banner, in sudden realization, draws a comparison between the Hulk and the Titan Prometheus; just as Prometheus was condemned to stay forever alive even while animals devour him for the crime of introducing fire to man, Banner speculates that the Hulk, as the embodiment of the "nuclear fire" that destroyed humanity, has been sentenced to the same fate. Banner recognizes that his own body is finally failing, further comparing his impending death to the mercy Prometheus was eventually granted. He spends his final moments hallucinating his deceased friends and loved ones, and pleads with the Hulk to let him go. The Hulk, refusing to die, proclaims his desire to be left alone.

The next morning, the Hulk somberly sits outside the cave, realizing that Banner has died. Acknowledging that he would also die if he changed back into Banner, the Hulk can only sit and wait, reflecting on that fact that he had finally achieved his wish to be alone.

Category:The End (comics) titles Category:Post-apocalyptic comics

When Tara Hawrami is returning from school one day, she witnesses Iranian troops shoot a mullah and an innocent boy reading a newspaper in broad daylight, it sight changes her thinking forever. However, when she returns home she is stunned when her mother, Teriska Khan shows a very muted reaction; Teriska Khan reveals that she and Tara's father have been concealing the horrors of the ongoing war between Iraq and Iran from Tara, including shootings like the one Tara had witnessed. That night, an injured intruder enters Tara's house, who turns out to be her Uncle Rostam, a Pesh Murga resistance fighter. The following morning, Tara's father, Kak Soran, suddenly returns with Tara's brother, Ashti, and her grandmother from Baghdad. Tara's life changes quickly and drastically from that moment on.

When Rostam and Ashti leave to join the resistance fighters, the pesh mergas, Kak Soran is soon forced to go into hiding as well when the authorities suspect he has been indirectly supporting the pesh murgas. Tara's apprehension only grows when the rest of her family must escape into a village in the mountains soon afterward. Life in the mountains is peaceful, but boring for Tara until the area ends up being bombed repeatedly, injuring Tara. When Ashti arrives in the village after being injured, Kak Soran and Teriska Khan plan a risky escape to Iran through the mountains all the way to Iran where they wind up in a refugee camp for several months. Ashti, fearing conscription into the Iranian army, runs back to Iraq while Teriska Khan becomes very ill and sad as her son does not return for many months. Gradually Teriska Khan does recover after Tara finds a friendly neighbour willing to help. Tara has to care of her mother and younger sister Hero, until Teriska Khan recovers. Kak Soran's connections eventually come through and Tara's family manages to find help in the form of Kak Soran's cousin. However, with no available jobs in Iran, the family realizes that they must escape the country to become refugees in another country. Using the last of their savings, the family manages to arrive in London, where they apply for refugee status.

In London, Kak Soran manages to get in contact with a family friend (Latif), who offers them a place to stay. In every place that Tara has been displaced to, she has experienced culture shock and needed to adjust quickly; At first the family has a hard time getting used to the new language and the new lifestyle. Tara's English gradually improves and despite the traumatic experiences she has endured, she manages to make some friends at her new school. Her family is overjoyed they hear that Ashti will soon arrive in London after several years apart. Though their new life is difficult and less comfortable than their old home in Iraq, Tara learns not to take anything for granted. The family gets back together and begins to live a better, new life.

Teenage Boyson Oates (played by Jordan David) conflicts with his demanding father (played by Jack Moore). After an unsuccessful attempt to follow his father's orders, Boyson runs away from home, but is lured back for a reconciliation by one final parental act of appeasement.

Harper and Elliot, two 23rd-century investigative journalists, have joined an organisation called the Alterian Corps in order to further their careers. They have been sent on a mission to the planet Rigel V which is in a state of war with one region holding out against the Federation troops attempting to conquer it. The Rigellians claim to possess a Doomsday Machine which will enact a terrible revenge if the Federation refuse to withdraw from the planet. Elliot has been smuggled in by the Alterian Corps in the guise of a Rigellian trooper with a mission to locate the whereabouts of the Doomsday Machine and report to Harper who is to follow one week later. Harper has instructions to meet Elliot at night in a certain backstreet in the occupied sector of the town.[ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/r/RigelsRevenge.txt]

In 2011, a civil war breaks out in Russia between its government and Ultranationalists. Meanwhile, a separatist group led by Khaled Al-Asad, who holds anti-Western views, seizes power in an unnamed country in the Middle East through a coup d'état. In response, the United States invades the country. A platoon of U.S. Marines from 1st Force Recon Co, led by Lieutenant Vasquez, fail to capture Al-Asad and later engage in urban combat in a nearby city with support from an M1 Abrams tank.

Meanwhile, new British Special Air Service operator Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish is recruited into Captain Price's team, which conducts two operations; the first leads them to infiltrate a cargo ship in the Bering Strait. Neutralizing the armed Russians on board, the team secure a nuclear device labeled in Arabic. Enemy MiGs scuttle the ship, but the SAS escapes by helicopter.

The second operation tasks the SAS with rescuing an ally, a Russian informant named Nikolai working within the Ultranationalist party. Assisted by Russian loyalist forces, Price's team extracts Nikolai. However, their helicopter is brought down, forcing the team to make their way through enemy territory with support from an AC-130 gunship before they are extracted. Intelligence gathered from these two missions indicates that Al-Asad may be in possession of a Russian nuclear device.

The U.S. launches a full-scale assault on Al-Asad's presidential palace, aware of the possible nuclear device. As SEAL Team 6 raids the palace, the USMC engage Al-Asad's ground forces. However, the assault ends in catastrophe when the nuclear device suddenly detonates, wiping out most of the city along with everyone in it.

Refusing to assume Al-Asad dead, Price's team supported by Russian loyalists raids a safe house in Azerbaijan where they locate and capture Al-Asad. During the interrogation, Price answers Al-Asad's phone before executing him, revealing that the caller was the leader of the ultranationalists: Imran Zakhaev. Price reveals that in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zakhaev profited from nuclear proliferation and used his new wealth to lure Soviet Army soldiers to form his ultranationalist party. Price and his superior Captain MacMillan were ordered to assassinate Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1996, where Price fired upon Zakhaev with a sniper rifle from a hotel; however, the shot only severed Zakhaev's arm. Price and MacMillan barely escaped Zakhaev's forces.

Following Al-Asad's death, Price's team hold off against Ultranationalist forces who arrive to avenge him. A joint task force composed of the SAS, Force Recon, and the loyalists then attempt to capture Zakhaev's son, Victor, to learn Zakhaev's whereabouts. After ambushing him, Victor flees but is cornered on the roof of an apartment building. Refusing to surrender, he commits suicide. Enraged, Zakhaev retaliates by taking control of a nuclear launch facility.

An operation is launched by the task force to take back the site. However, Zakhaev promptly launches nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, with the potential of causing 41 million casualties. The SAS and Force Recon manage to breach the facility and remotely destroy the missiles over the Atlantic Ocean. They escape in military trucks with Zakhaev's forces in pursuit.

An ultranationalist Mi-24 Hind helicopter destroys a bridge and traps the joint force. In the ensuing fight, a tanker explodes, and many of the group are either killed or injured. Zakhaev himself arrives and begins killing wounded soldiers when arriving loyalists in a Mi-28 Havoc destroy his Mi-24 Hind. Distracted, Zakhaev turns to the loyalists and Price gives a pistol to Soap, who kills Zakhaev and his escort. Loyalist forces start tending to the wounded immediately.

In the epilogue, the missile incident and the ultranationalists' support of Al-Asad are covered up, prompting further events.

The Doctor arrives in the future at a huge dumping site for old computers. Scavenger ships scour the discarded materials for valuable data: one of the ships is from the borderline illegal Lonway Clinic, which specialises in personality surgery. The Doctor investigates the death of one of the clinic's researchers, and realises that what the clinic is searching for here should perhaps remain lost.

A wrong telephone number on 1974 Earth has strange consequences.

The episode is set on an Earth colony in the future. Terraformers suffer frequent attacks from a native species, the Farakosh, and rely on robots to protect them. Ultimately the Doctor discovers that the robots are cyborgs, using the minds of soldiers presumed dead, connected together telepathically, and that their presence is what had been disturbing the Farakosh in the first place.

In an expensive restaurant on Earth, three gourmets plan the death of the Doctor.

In the not so distant future, the world is faced with a global catastrophe. A biological contaminant is released into the atmosphere and over the following years, decimates nearly ninety percent of the world's population. Fleeing the poisoned planet, humanity relocates to a space station orbiting the Earth. It is there that life continues with the hope of one day returning to Earth.

The film unfolds during the probate hearing determining the disposition of assets of the estate of Abel Edwards beta, the clone of the founder of the Edwards Corporation (EC), the most successful entertainment conglomerate of the 20th Century. The EC included an enormously successful film and television studio and the Abel Edwards' Fantastic Wonderlands Theme Parks based on the characters populating Abel Edwards' animated films.

The EC has an extensive animatronic background and has morphed into a manufacturer whose significant product is the humanoid robot; their market share has fallen sharply and sales have softened. They understand the need to develop a new market, but after several failed attempts, recognize they lack the intuition and imagination necessary for the success of such a bold course change. As a last-ditch effort, their marketing department develops a plan to clone their dead genius founder, Abel Edwards. They will grow a genetic replica, and they will infuse him with the same life-altering experiences that shaped the original man. Nature plus nurture, or something like it.

Upon his 25th birthday, Edwards takes the reins of the company and rides a 20-year wave of success with every passing day. When the potential rival of the status quo career politician abruptly drops out of the race, Edwards sees his chance to expand beyond his defined boundaries and bring the 'Edwards Standard of Living' directly into people's living rooms, rather than maintaining a park to give them a transitory experience. When Edwards moves from a 'Celebrity Politician' to a front-running candidate, the power struggle reaches its breaking point.

The Anti-Reality Organizations finally have their scapegoat. He loses the Senate race in a landslide. Edwards has lost his son, the Senate seat and his position as CEO of the company. Edwards commandeers a space shuttle and heads for the site of the original Able Edwards Fantastic Wonderland beginning a journey of no return.

In 1913, Sherlock Holmes, virtually in retirement, is persuaded by Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard to take on a baffling case. Three dead bodies have been found in London's East End, all with no discernible cause of death, but the expressions on their faces suggest that they all died in a state of terror.

Holmes, accompanied by Dr Watson, begins an investigation, but before he can make any real progress he is visited by the British Home Secretary and a German Diplomat, Count Udo von Felseck, who tell Holmes that a German envoy, on a secret mission to Britain, has disappeared from Felseck's house in Buckinghamshire. Unless Holmes can track him down, war between the two countries will become imminent. Holmes considers the possibility that the two matters are related and that someone is not telling him the truth.

''Most'' is the story of a single Czech father who takes his eight-year-old son to work with him at the railroad drawbridge where he is the bridge tender. A day before, the boy meets a woman boarding a train who has a drug problem. Back at the bridge, the father goes into the engine room, and tells his son to stay at the edge of the nearby lake. A ship comes, and the bridge is lifted. Though it is supposed to arrive an hour later, the train happens to arrive early. The son sees this, and tries to warn his father, who is not paying attention and thus unaware of the oncoming train. Just as the oncoming train approaches, the son falls into the drawbridge gearworks while attempting to lower the bridge, leaving the father with a horrific choice to either kill his son or allow the train to crash. The father chooses to lower the bridge, the gears crushing the boy. The people in the train are completely oblivious to the fact that a boy died trying to save them, other than the woman the boy had met the day before, who happened to look out her train window. The movie ends, with the man wandering a new city and meeting a woman, holding a large baby.

In old Baghdad, an impoverished poet (Howard Keel) is abducted and brought to the desert tent of Jawan (Jay C. Flippen), an elderly thief, having been mistaken for a man who cursed Jawan fifteen years ago. As a result of the curse, Jawan's beloved son was kidnapped, and Jawan longs to find him again before he dies. The Poet asks for one hundred gold pieces to reverse the curse; Jawan agrees, and returns to Baghdad to look for his son.

In Baghdad, the Poet's daughter, Marsinah (Ann Blyth) meets and falls in love with the young Caliph (Vic Damone), who has been traveling incognito. They arrange to meet again that night.

The Poet is arrested when he begins spending his hundred gold pieces because his purse carries the insignia of a wealthy family that was robbed. At the Wazir's (Sebastian Cabot) court, he defends himself against the charge of robbery, but also curses the Wazir. Jawan, brought before the Wazir on another charge, angrily confirms the Poet's story, and then notices a familiar amulet around the Wazir's neck. In this way, Jawan discovers his long-lost son.

The Caliph announces that he plans to take a bride that night, discomforting the Wazir, who has a badly needed loan riding on persuading the Caliph to marry a princess of Ababu. The Wazir, fearing that the Poet's curse had something to do with it, offers to make the Poet an Emir if he reverses the curse. The Poet happily accepts, and when the Wazir leaves him alone with his favorite wife Lalume (Dolores Gray), the two realize they have similar temperaments.

The Poet orchestrates an elaborate "curse-reversal" scheme that enables him to sneak out of the palace; he finds Marsinah and convinces her that he will be killed unless they flee Baghdad. Despite Marsinah's protests—she wants to wait for her rendezvous and see the Caliph's wedding procession—they flee. Word spreads that the Caliph's bride was not there when the Caliph came to claim her. Since the "curse reversal" seems to have worked, the Poet leaves Marsinah and returns to the palace.

The Poet tells Lalume that he is worried about Marsinah, and Lalume suggests that she come to live in the palace. Marsinah arrives and confesses that she has fallen in love but does not know her beloved's name. Lalume hides Marsinah in the harem for her own protection, but there the Caliph sees her and believes her to be a wife of the Wazir. When the Wazir privately congratulates the Poet on bringing the Caliph's true love into the Wazir's own harem, the Poet realizes that the Caliph is Marsinah's beloved.

At a ceremony planned to choose a new bride, the Poet tricks the Wazir and (almost) drowns him in front of the Caliph and the crowd. The Poet is sentenced to death, but Lalume saves the day as Marsinah is revealed to be the Poet's daughter and the victim of the Wazir's scheming. The Caliph sentences the Wazir to death and the Poet to exile. The Poet agrees, but asks to take the soon-to-be-widowed Lalume with him. Thus the Poet weds Lalume and the Caliph weds Marsinah—all in the course of a single day.

While Virginia, Alice, and Rose have gone to Paris, Richard, James, Georgina, and the servants go to stay in a house owned by Lord Berkhamstead in Carnachy in the Scottish Highlands. First to arrive are Hudson, Mrs. Bridges, Daisy and Ruby, only to find that there is no electricity, their grocery order has not yet arrived, and there is no wood for the fire. On the first evening Roderick McKay, Lord Berkhamstead's head gillie, arrives and tells the servants the story of how the former laird died at the house after being injured at the Battle of Culloden. McKay says that the laird returns as a ghost on a handcart during the night. That evening Ruby hears a cart. When she hears the same sound a second night, she screams.

The following morning, James gets ready to go fly fishing until McKay tells him that there are no fish in the river. Richard goes to stay with a friend for a few days; while he is away James tells Georgina of his love for her. However, Georgina says that she does not love him in that way. James then leaves privately very early the following morning for London. Meanwhile, while looking for the generator Hudson finds a room that has recently been used to prepare fish. During the night he sees McKay and others poaching fish. McKay and Hudson then come to a "gentlemen's agreement" that McKay will ensure there are fish for James, and the electricity and hot water also soon start to work. McKay also reveals that the noises Ruby heard were made by him.

When they get back to London, Richard and Georgina get a telegram from James saying he has gone to Liverpool, en route to visit Elizabeth in New York.

''The People of the Mist'' is the tale of a British adventurer seeking wealth in the wilds of Africa, finding romance, and discovering a lost race and its monstrous god.

The penniless Leonard Outram attempts to redress the undeserved loss of his family estates by seeking his fortune in Africa. In the course of his adventures, he and his Zulu companion Otter save a young English woman, Juanna Rodd, together with her nursemaid Soa, from slavery. Leonard and Juanna are plainly attracted to each other, but prone to bickering, and their romance is impeded by the watchful and jealous Soa. The protagonists seek the legendary People of the Mist, said to possess a fabulous hoard of jewels. On finding them, they immediately become embroiled in the turbulent political affairs of the lost race, which is driven by a power struggle between its king and the priests of its giant crocodile god. The heroic Outram can do little more than react to events. The action climaxes in a hair-raising escape by tobogganing a large flat stone down a steep glacier.

The book begins with a brief chapter detailing the traversing of a section of the Kalahari Desert by a group of four Europeans, led by the experienced guide H. A. Ryder. The text tells of how they survive the desert thanks to Ryder's skills, but are being pursued by more than one hundred of the Herero King's best men, due to the Europeans stealing their hard-won diamonds. The chapter ends with the Europeans meeting with their escape ship, HMS ''Rove'' only to find it stranded on the coast. Simultaneously, the Herero attack the ship, killing the Europeans (presumably) while a massive sandstorm rages around them, reshaping the coastline and burying the ''Rove'' under hundreds of feet of sand, lost for eternity.

The story continues with the ''Oregon'' (a high-tech modernized ship carrying heavy weaponry but usually masquerading as a dilapidated freighter) meeting with the leader of the Congolese Army of Revolution, Makombo. They 'agree' to trade 500 AK-47's, 200 RPGs, fifty RPG launchers and 50,000 rounds of Warsaw Pact 7.62mm ammunition in return for a quarter pound of rough (blood) diamonds. These weapons are then stolen by the rebels after double-crossing Cabrillo before the ''Oregon'''s crew had the chance to do the same to them.

After narrowly escaping from those individuals, the Oregon begins to track the location of the weapons in the hope that they can seize them once again. In addition to this they also hear that a billionaire with a controversial product has been kidnapped. They take up the quest to free him. During this operation Juan is nearly stranded in the desert, but manages to travel by parasurfing his way back to civilization.

After rescuing the billionaire, they find out that his former partner is planning to dump millions of litres of toxic crude oil into the ocean in order to enlighten the world about the environmental effects that our continued ignorance is causing. Luckily, the ''Oregon'' and crew do battle (oddly enough it's the Congo revolutionaries) with the bad guys and save the planet.

The conclusion involves giving the rightful owners billions of dollars worth of diamonds that will allow them to free Zimbabwe from the evil regime that is currently in place.

The story begins ''in medias res'' in the winter of 1847, when HMS ''Terror'' and HMS ''Erebus'' have been trapped in ice, 28 miles north-northwest of King William Island, for more than a year. The weather has been much colder than normal, the ships' tinned provisions are dwindling, often putrid, and tainted with lead from soldering. Further, the sea ice and landmasses are mysteriously devoid of any wildlife that can be hunted. In addition to the natural dangers, the crews are being stalked and attacked by a monster resembling an immense polar bear.

In a flashback to 1845, Sir John Franklin is assigned by the Admiralty to lead an expedition into the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage. Franklin's second in command, Captain Francis Crozier, joins the expedition as a means of distracting himself after being rejected as a suitor by Franklin's niece. Although the expedition begins auspiciously enough, three men die of disease during their first winter in the ice, and soon afterward, Franklin makes the fateful decision to travel around the northwest coast of King William Island, which results in ''Terror'' and ''Erebus'' becoming trapped.

In the spring of 1847, Franklin sends out parties to search for open water. One of the parties encounters a pair of "Esquimaux" on the ice, a young woman and an old man. They accidentally shoot the man, whereupon they are set upon by the monster, which kills the expedition's fourth in command, Lieutenant Graham Gore. When the party returns to the ships, the girl follows them. Crozier names her "Lady Silence", as her tongue appears to have been bitten off, rendering her mute. After the man dies aboard ''Erebus'', the monster begins stalking the crews. Although the monster shows signs of intelligence, the men initially assume it is merely an unusually aggressive polar bear. Franklin is killed in a botched attempt to bait the creature, and a number of other crewmembers are killed as the months progress.

Crozier assumes command of the expedition, with Commander James Fitzjames assuming the role of executive officer. Despite some initial tension between them, they gradually become friends as they attempt to deal with the conditions facing their men. An ill-fated New Year's Eve ''carnivale masque'' ends with a large number of the expedition, including three of the four surgeons, being killed by the monster and friendly fire from the expedition's Royal Marines detachment. Crozier subsequently orders Caulker’s Mate Cornelius Hickey (for wearing a white polar bear costume) and two other men (for unbecoming behavior) to be given fifty lashes. Hickey begins to plot against the officers.

As the spring of 1848 approaches, ''Erebus'' is eventually crushed and sunk by the relentless ice. Its remaining crew decamps to ''Terror'' until Crozier finally orders the ship abandoned. The survivors relocate to ‘Terror Camp’, a tented refuge on King William Island. After ruling out an attempt to reach the far side of the Boothia Peninsula, Crozier and Fitzjames conclude that their best hope is to man-haul the lifeboats of both ships south to Back's River and then take the current to an outpost on Great Slave Lake, an arduous journey of several hundred miles. Before they can set out, Hickey murders Lieutenant John Irving and lays the blame on a band of Esquimaux whom Irving had in fact befriended; the Esquimaux are attacked and massacred in revenge. From this point on, the crews fear and avoid the native population.

The trek across the island is brutal, and many men die from exhaustion, exposure, and disease including Fitzjames. The monster appears with deadly frequency, at one point slaughtering an entire boat crew as they explore an open lead in the ice. With no other options, the men continue to press south and eventually reach a position on the southern shore that they name ‘Rescue Camp’. From there, the survivors splinter into several groups. Hickey and his faction declare their intent to return to Terror Camp, while another group opts to return to ''Terror'' herself. Crozier agrees to let them go, but later he and Surgeon Harry Goodsir are lured away from the camp and ambushed by Hickey's men. Crozier is shot and apparently killed by Hickey, while Goodsir is taken hostage. The remaining crew, led by Mate Charles Des Voeux, reluctantly decides to keep marching south.

All three groups eventually meet with disaster. Hickey's group, despite resorting to cannibalism, begin to either starve or freeze to death in a blizzard; the remainder are murdered by Hickey, who has begun to suffer delusions of godhood. Goodsir poisons himself, ensuring that any of Hickey's crew who eats his body will die. The monster delivers a death blow to Hickey, but pulls away and does not consume his soul. A later vision relayed to Crozier suggests that the monster will eventually become sick and die from consuming the souls of the explorers. The other groups' fates are not revealed, but it is implied that they all die as well, rendering Crozier the expedition's sole survivor. Crozier is rescued by Lady Silence, who treats his wounds with native medicine and brings him with her on her travels.

As he recovers from his injuries, Crozier experiences a series of visions which finally reveal the true nature of the creature. It is called the Tuunbaq, a demon created millennia ago by the Esquimaux goddess Sedna to kill her fellow spirits, with whom she had become angry. After a war lasting 10,000 years, the other spirits defeated the Tuunbaq, and it turned back on Sedna, who banished it to the Arctic wastes. There, the Tuunbaq began preying on the Esquimaux until their most powerful shamans discovered a way to communicate with the demon. By sacrificing their tongues to the beast and promising to stay out of its domain, these shamans were able to stop the Tuunbaq's rampage. Lady Silence is revealed to be one of these shamans, and she and Crozier eventually become lovers. He chooses to abandon his old life and join her as a shaman.

Tamaki Kasuga is a teenage girl who revisits a small village she remembers from her childhood and gets caught up in her family's history and the supernatural dangers surrounding it. While walking along the hillsides waiting for the person who her grandmother sent to fetch Tamaki to the village, Tamaki comes across a small, white round object which has sticks for limbs and can talk. It runs off soon after with Tamaki chasing after it. Soon Tamaki finds herself in a place where it does not feel like the world she came from. She gets attacked by three slime creatures, and a mysterious man comes charging in to save her tells her to be quiet. After the young man, recognized as Takuma Onizaki, saves her, he walks her to the village where her grandmother is staying. Soon after her arrival she meets with her grandmother. It is later explained that she has to continue the role of the ancestor Tamayori Princess to seal the sword Onikirimaru with the help of her five Guardians.

Set in an unspecified year during the third millennium, the player takes the role of an astronaut sent to infiltrate and destroy a space station orbiting near the Earth that is actually the secret base of an alien empire known as the "Balangool".

In 1985, engineers involved in an industrial project to irrigate the Gobi Desert accidentally unearth a mysterious and apparently artificial "spool". When found to be made of a material unknown on Earth, the spool is circumstantially linked to the Tunguska explosion of 1908. The spool is seized on as evidence that the explosion, originally blamed on a meteor, was actually caused by an alien spaceship.

Professor Harringway deduces the craft must have come from Venus. The spool itself is determined to be a flight recorder and is partially decoded by an international team of scientists led by Professor Sikarna and Dr. Tschen Yü. When radio greetings sent to Venus go unanswered, Harringway announces that a journey to Venus is the only alternative. The recently completed Soviet spaceship ''Kosmoskrator'', intended to voyage to Mars, is now redirected to Venus, a 30-to-31-day journey. During the voyage, Sikarna works diligently to translate the alien message using the spaceship's computer.

When their spaceship nears Venus, radio interference from the planet cuts the crew off from Earth. By then, Sikarna's efforts lead to a stunning discovery: The spool describes a Venusian plan to irradiate the Earth's surface, with the extermination of mankind being the prelude to their invasion. Rather than containing a "cosmic document", as had been expected, the spool bears a cold-blooded message of destruction. With this new information the crew decides to transmit this information to Earth, believing that the information would be of service to mankind. Harringway, however, convinces the crew to press on towards Venus rather than return to Earth with revelations that could panic mankind, leading to unknown consequences.

With the ship's robot, Omega, German astronaut Brinkman pilots a one-man landing craft through the Venusian atmosphere. On the surface, he comes upon an industrial complex and finds small information storage devices that look like insects. Brinkmann's landing craft is destroyed in an explosion when it accidentally lands on high-tension power lines. The rest of the crew lands ''Kosmoskrator'' to investigate the explosion. The crew splits up, some staying near ''Kosmoskrator'' to study the storage devices. The others follow the power line to try and find the Venusians, but they find no life forms. Instead, they discover a large golf ball-like structure that Arsenjew suggests may be a giant transformer or a force-field generator. Following the power lines in the other direction, they find the remains of a deserted and blasted city centered around a huge crater. There are clear signs of a catastrophic explosion so intense that the shadowy forms of the humanoid Venusians are permanently burned onto the walls of the surviving structures.

The Venusians are gone, but their machines remain functioning, including the radiation-bombardment machine intended for use against the Earth. One of the scientists accidentally triggers the weapon, leading to a frantic effort by the team to disarm it. Tschen Yü lowers Talua, the ship's communication officer, into the Venusian command center. When Tschen Yü's spacesuit is punctured, Brinkmann ventures out to save him. Before he can reach Yü, Talua succeeds in reversing the weapon. Unfortunately, this also reverses Venus' gravitational field, flinging ''Kosmoskrator'' out into space. Brinkmann is also repelled off-planet, beyond the reach of the spaceship to save him, while Talua and Tschen Yü remain marooned on the devastated Venus. The surviving crew members must return to Earth, where they warn humanity about the dangers of atomic weapons.

Winter AD 79. The Saturnalia, a pagan festival where anything can happen. When a Roman widow begins to show an interest in Captain Geminus, Flavia takes it upon herself find out if the woman really loves her father or is just after his money.

A story of mystery, adventure, danger, romance and an escaped lion!

A combined naval and infantry force is sent 100 miles up the coast from the British foothold in France to capture a seemingly weakly defended fortress. Major Richard Sharpe is given command of the land forces, primarily two rifle companies, one of them led by his friend, Captain William Frederickson. Colonel Wigram and Royal Navy Captain Horace Bampfylde, the naval commander, also want to incite a monarchist rebellion in Bordeaux, only 25 miles away, based on rumours of unrest. However, army Colonel Elphinstone dismisses the rumours. He informs Sharpe in private that the goal is to capture three dozen ''chasse-marées'' sheltering under the fortress's guns to use to construct a boat bridge (over the Adour River) and orders Sharpe to avoid any advance on Bordeaux. The Comte de Maquerre, a member of the ''Chasseurs Britanniques'', joins the expedition at the last minute. Sharpe fears his wife Jane is sick with fever, as she has been regularly visiting his good friend Lieutenant Colonel Hogan, who is dying of it.

Bampfylde changes plans without warning, ordering Sharpe to set up an ambush on the road to Bordeaux, while he reserves the supposedly easy capture of the fortress for himself and his Marines. Sharpe, however, spots an ambush by American sailors under the command of American privateer Cornelius Killick. Sharpe then gains entry to the fortress by a ruse, accompanied by Regimental Sergeant Major Harper and Captain Frederickson; his men follow and defeat the stronger-than-anticipated garrison. They also capture some of the Americans, including Killick. Bampfylde decides to hang the Americans as pirates, despite Killick presenting him his letter of marque, but Sharpe releases the Americans after obtaining Killick's oath not to fight the British. Sharpe then marches inland with a company of Royal Marines led by Captain Palmer to set up an ambush, while Bampfylde writes an official report wherein he claims all of the glory and does not mention Sharpe at all.

Sharpe ambushes a French column, using surprise to rout an inexperienced force three or four times larger than his own. As the French regroup, he retreats back to the fortress. There, de Maquerre claims Bordeaux has risen in open rebellion and insists that Sharpe march his men there to support it, showing him a document make him a "Major General" in the "Royalist Army". Sharpe refuses, distrusting him, but de Maquerre reaches the fortress first and informs Bampfylde that Sharpe's force has been destroyed, that Sharpe himself has been captured, and that a strong French force is rapidly approaching. De Maquerre is an agent of French spymaster Major Pierre Ducos. Bampfylde strips the fortress of supplies, spikes the guns, damages the defences and blows up the main arsenal. He then sails away.

Hours later, Sharpe returns to a partially ruined and deserted fortress. Ducos, having arranged for his longtime nemesis Sharpe to be stranded, orders General Calvet and his demi-brigade to capture the fortress. Killick, who is reluctantly working for Ducos, warns Sharpe beforehand and gives him a hint about piles of burned oyster shells (quicklime) nearby. Sharpe's men are outnumbered ten-to-one and are short of ammunition, but manage to hold off several assaults, dumping the quicklime onto their enemies, blinding them. Ducos orders Killick to break his oath and use his ship to bombard the fortress in coordination with another attack. Sharpe has an idea; he meets secretly with Killick to arrange an escape in exchange for releasing Killick from his oath. The next morning, Sharpe surrenders to him. Calvet rejects the surrender and personally leads an attack, but Sharpe fights a delaying action, and he and his men manage to board the American privateer. Killick lands Sharpe close to British lines.

Sharpe reaches the newly completed floating bridge, exposes Bampfylde as a liar, and kills de Maquerre. To his relief, he finds out Jane only had a cold. However, Hogan has died.

As a child in 1953, Johnny Smith falls unconscious while ice-skating, then mumbles a prophetic warning to an adult who later suffers an accident. In an unconnected incident, a young, emotionally troubled door-to-door Bible salesman named Greg Stillson vindictively kicks a dog to death.

By 1970, Johnny is a high school teacher in the small town of Cleaves Mills, Maine with a new girlfriend named Sarah. After winning repeatedly at a carnival wheel of fortune, Johnny is involved in a car accident and falls into a coma. Waking up over four years later, Johnny finds that he has suffered a neural injury, with one part of his brain seriously damaged, making it a "dead zone." As if to compensate, other parts of the brain now show heightened activity. As a result, Johnny sometimes experiences clairvoyant visions when touching people and objects. After helping various people, Johnny becomes frustrated by sensationalistic media reports of his supposed psychic talents. After Johnny rejects a lucrative offer from tabloid reporter Richard Dees to run fake predictions under his name, Dees' paper denounces him as a fraud. Relieved, Johnny hopes to resume a normal life as a teacher despite ongoing, severe headaches. The community fears him but Sarah visits. She and Johnny consummate their romance, but Sarah then makes it clear that she has a new life with a husband Walt and their child. Sheriff George Bannerman of Castle Rock asks Johnny to help catch a local serial killer. After a nine-year-old girl is murdered, Johnny investigates and reluctantly identifies the Castle Rock Strangler as Bannerman's deputy Frank Dodd, who commits suicide after leaving a confession. As Johnny feared, the incident reignites the public's interest in his power and he is seen as too controversial to return to teaching.

Greg Stillson, now a successful businessman and mayor of Ridgeway, New Hampshire, threatens to kill the people he bullies if they reveal his actions or don't aid him. In 1976, he wins a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as an independent, having blackmailed a local businessman into raising funds for him. Johnny becomes a private tutor to a teenage boy in Ridgeway and develops an interest in politics. He meets Stillson, and is horrified to see a vision of an older Stillson, now President, causing a worldwide nuclear conflict. As Johnny's health worsens, he contemplates Stillson's presidency, comparing his dilemma to someone with the ability to time travel having the opportunity to kill Hitler in 1932. Rather than assassinate Stillson to ensure the vision does not come true, Johnny procrastinates because of doubt in his vision, his abhorrence of murder, and his belief that there is no urgent need to act immediately since he has met an FBI agent investigating Stillson as a possible threat.

The FBI agent is killed by a car bomb. Meanwhile, Johnny's warnings that a disaster will occur at his pupil's graduation party are ignored by some, leading to several deaths. Now believing he must take more decisive action to prevent nuclear war, and learning his headaches are the result of a brain tumor, Johnny buys a rifle to kill Stillson. At the next rally, Stillson begins his speech and Johnny shoots from a balcony. He misses and is wounded by guards. Stillson grabs a young child and holds him up as a human shield. A bystander photographs Stillson's act. Unable to shoot a child, Johnny is shot twice by the bodyguards. He falls off the balcony, mortally wounded. Dying, Johnny touches Stillson a final time. He feels only dwindling impressions but knows the terrible future has been prevented. When published, the picture of Stillson using a child as a shield ends his political career.

An epilogue intersperses excerpts of letters from Johnny to his loved ones, a "Q & A" transcript of a purported Senate committee (chaired by real-life Maine Senator William Cohen) investigation of Johnny's attempt to assassinate Stillson, and a narrative of Sarah's visit to Johnny's grave. Sarah feels a brief moment of psychic contact with Johnny's spirit and, comforted, drives away.

Having cast aside his Kingdom of the Night a thousand years ago, the vampire king Strauss wanders the lands in search of the place where his queen was sealed. Dogged by the dhampires who are out to kill him, Strauss is fighting against time as he must continuously face humanity's curse, the Black Swan.

Initially, the story focuses on introducing Strauss and his quest for the seal, while fighting against the Black Swan and the dhampires. The main plot, which gradually emerges after volume two, revolves around repelling an alien invasion. The humans plan to use Strauss' powers and Adelheid's powers to repel the invaders before having the Black Swan finally dispose of them.

Bridget, Strauss, and Adelheid use flashbacks to convey their perspective on the events a thousand years ago. The writer, Kyo Shirodaira, indicates that this method of deriving different truths from the same set of facts was inspired by Christianna Brand's storytelling techniques.

Little Princess starts off many years after where ''Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure'' left off. Cornet, having saved Prince Ferdinand in Rhapsody, is now the ruler of Marl Kingdom. They have one daughter, Kururu, named after Cornet's fairy puppet friend/mother. Now twelve years old, Kururu, joined by her best friend Crea Rosenqueen, wants to go on a journey to find her own knight in shining armor.

While taking a walk through the forest, Kururu and Crea are attacked by a dragon and saved by a mysterious boy named Cello, much like how Cornet and Ferdinand met years before. Kururu does not immediately fall in love with Cello (mostly because he calls her "Pumpkin Pants," after her taste in clothing), and initially hates him. Over the course of her quest he repeatedly appears out of nowhere to help her.

Elsewhere, a battle is brewing between the two families of witches—the Marjoly Family (the villains of the first game) and the Akurjo Family. The Akurjo Family is attempting to steal the Shadow of Beauty, a wish-granting gemstone that Marjoly has always treasured (as it is a memento of her first love, Keeldear). To keep the Akurjo Family from taking the jewel, Marjoly breaks it into pieces and scatters the shards across the country. Both of the witch families then begin searching for the shards, each trying to complete the gem first. Kururu, Crea, and Cello are soon involved with the search as well, as Cello needs the Shadow of Beauty to heal his mother's illness. As they work together, Kururu realizes that she is falling in love with Cello.

Once the pieces have all been collected, Kururu gathers the courage to confess her feelings to Cello. The moment she does, it is revealed that Cello's mother is Akurjo, who subsequently teleports away with him.

Kururu, determined not to give up on Cello, battles her way through Akurjo's castle to find Cello. Upon meeting him again, Cello tries to fight Kururu, but finally admits that he loves Kururu as well. He then collapses. Marjoly uses her magic to let Kururu enter Cello's heart to heal him. In this way, Kururu gets to experience his tragic past firsthand.

After the final battle with Akurjo, everyone (including the Marjoly Family) wishes together on the Shadow of Beauty for Akurjo to be healed of her illness. This succeeds, but Akurjo retreats into the Netherworld, saying she needs to cool her head (though Marjoly points out that Akurjo wants to say "thank you", and is just too stubborn to do so). Cello decides to go to the Netherworld to look after his mother, but promises Kururu that he will someday return to her.

Four years later, Kururu and Crea take a walk in the forest (just as they did at the beginning of the game), and again, Cello appears to save them from a dragon.

The game ends there, and its story continues in the second chapter of Tenshi no Present.

The book begins with Dick sitting in gaol, with just under one month before his scheduled execution for his crimes. He is given writing material, and begins documenting his life's story.

He starts with his childhood, with a father (Ben) who is prone to violence, particularly when he has been drinking; his mother, his sister (Aileen) and brother, Jim. He documents his first exposure to his father's crimes, the theft of a red calf, and the disapproval of this crime by his mother, who says she thought he had given up stealing since the theft which led to his transportation as a convict from England. Dick's first active involvement in crime, comes where the brothers choose to go cattle duffing (stealing), even though an offer of solid, honest work had been made with neighbour and friend, George Storefield. The divergent lives of the brothers to that of George is a recurring theme of the book from this point forward, as they continue to meet up at different points throughout the story's course. This first theft includes their introduction to Captain Starlight, his Aboriginal assistant, Warrigal, and their hideaway, Terrible Hollow.

Further thefts follow, leading up to the brazen theft of 1000 head, driven overland to Adelaide with Starlight. After the success of this adventure, the brothers "lie low" in Melbourne, where they meet the sisters, Kate and Jeanie Morrison. The brothers return to home for Christmas, leading to incarceration and trial of Dick and Starlight. (The magistrate chooses to refer to Starlight only by this nickname, at the Captain's request). Warrigal helps Dick and Starlight escape to Terrible Hollow. The gang later has its first stage holdup.

The brothers then move to the Turon goldfields. Their prosperity through honest, hard work gives them the chance for escape from the country to start a new life overseas. Jim is re-united with Jeanie Morrison and marries her. Dick meets Kate Morrison again, but her tumultuous nature leads her, in an angry mood, to alert the police to their presence, and they narrowly escape capture and return to the safety of Terrible Hollow.

Seeing no alternative to crime, the gang joins forces with a soon- to- be rival Dan Moran and his friends to stage a major hold up of the armed, escorted stagecoach leaving the goldfields. The robbery is a success, with the members splitting up after sharing the gold takings. Starlight's crew hears word of Moran's planned home invasion of a police informant named Mr Whitman, at a time when Mr Whitman was known to be absent. Marston and Starlight intervene, forcing Moran and his men to leave, thus preventing further harm to the women present and the home being burnt down at the end of the night.

At the height of their infamy, the gang attend the Turon horse race, where Starlight's horse, Rainbow, wins. The same weekend, they attend the wedding of a publican's daughter, Bella Barnes, where Starlight fulfils his earlier promise to dance, unrecognised, with her at her wedding, despite the presence of the entire town, including the goldfields commissioner and other dignitaries. Ben Marston is later ambushed and wounded by bounty hunters. Moran, nearby, releases him, and shoots all four bounty hunters in cold blood, again highlighting the different honour codes between the two gangs. Ben returns to Terrible Hollow, and is nursed by his daughter, Aileen. Aileen and Starlight begin a relationship, and arrange to marry.

Despite the animosity between the rivals, they team up again to rob the home of the Goldfield Commissioner, Mr Knightley, but are met with more resistance than they expected. One of Moran's associates is shot in the skirmish, and Moran is keen to kill Knightley when they later have him face to face. Starlight turns the tables by giving Mr Knightley one of his own pistols. He them proceeds to arrange for Knightley's wife to go to Bathurst and withdraw some cash, and meet Moran's men by "the Black Stump", outside of Bathurst town. Starlight passes the time gambling with Mr Knightley, sharing his food, drink and company. Starlight loses money in the gambling, and arranges to repay by direct payment into his account, as well as paying for the horse he is offered when leaving.

Throughout the book, there have been chance meetings with Dick's childhood friend and neighbour, George Storefield who, in contrast with the Marston boys, works hard, keeps within the law and thrives financially. Dick starts to hold up George, now a successful grazier, businessman, magistrate and landholder, before realising who it was. George offers the brothers safe haven and cattle mustering work, which would allow Dick, Starlight and Jim safer travel to Townsville in Queensland, from where they plan to leave to San Francisco. They accept the offer, but are caught, partially due to betrayal by Warrigal and Kate Morrison along the way, and Starlight and Jim are shot dead. Dick is wounded and brought to trial, bringing the story to where it began, with Dick expecting to be hanged shortly.

In a surprise ending, Dick's sentence is reduced to fifteen years imprisonment due to petitions from Storefield, Knightley and other prominent people. He serves twelve years, is visited occasionally by Gracey Storefield, whom he marries shortly after his release, before moving to a remote area of Queensland to manage a station for her brother, George Storefield.

Patriotic student Demachy enlists in the French army in 1914 at the start of World War I. He and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.

Karen Angelo is an ambitious, enthusiastic worker for Open America, a liberal citizen's lobby in Washington, D.C. Karen is assisted in finding (and uncovering) corrupt managers by Dale Busch, the cantankerous founder of Open America (played by Denver Pyle in the pilot episode, Charles Lane would later play the role).

Sixteen-year-old Susannah 'Suze' Simon is a mediator, which means she can see and talk to ghosts. Suze spends a lot of time directing the usually unhappy dead to the afterlife. However, her job is not easy, as not all ghosts want to be guided. Every day, she is haunted by the fact that they will not leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living.

Suze, whose father died when she was six, moves from New York to Carmel, California after her mom's second marriage to Andy Ackerman, a carpenter. She gets three stepbrothers, Jake, Brad, and David, whom she nicknames Sleepy (a senior), Dopey (a sophomore like Suze), and Doc (a seventh grader). However, when Suze arrives at her new home, she finds a handsome, archaic ghost named Jesse de Silva sitting on her window seat. Irritated, she tells Jesse to move on or find some other house to haunt, as now she is living there, but he refuses.

Suze hopes to start fresh in California, with trips to the beach instead of the cemetery and sunbathing instead of tending to lost souls. On her first day at the Junipero Serra Mission Academy, however, she is immediately faced with the angry ghost of Heather Chambers, the student whose place she took: Heather had committed suicide when her boyfriend Bryce Martinson broke up with her. Father Dominic, the school principal and a fellow mediator, is surprised to learn that Suze uses physical violence to subdue ghosts like Heather, and insists that she should use friendlier, more peaceful methods of mediation. Suze refuses, saying that she has done this job her whole life and is not going to change.

When Heather's old friends - including Bryce - begin to show interest in Suze, Heather claims Suze is taking over the life she had, and ignores all attempts to placate her. One night, after Heather attempts to kill Bryce, Suze sneaks out to the Mission to try and talk her into moving on, but Heather misconstrues her meaning, harbouring the false hope that she might get her life back. When Suze tries to explain that this is not the case, Heather enters a rage and tries to use her ghostly powers to kill Suze, who narrowly escapes with the help of Jesse.

The next day, Father Dom is unhappy with Suze's attempt to deal with Heather alone and the damage it has caused to the school grounds. She tries to explain that it was going to work, but that Heather's strength has reached unexpected levels. Several days later, Heather attempts to kill Bryce again, and is barely stopped by Father Dominic; both men are injured in the process. Furious, Suze returns to school that evening - ignoring Jesse's warnings - and performs a voodoo exorcism, successfully sending Heather to the afterlife. However, as she is exorcised, Heather causes the school breezeway to collapse on Suze, who is knocked unconscious and barely saved by Sleepy and Doc.

The next day, Suze learns that she has been elected vice-president of the sophomore class, replacing Heather. Although Father Dom is glad that the ghost is gone, he remains unimpressed with Suze's mediation techniques. He also informs her that Bryce has transferred to another high school, much to her dismay, but reminds her that it is for his safety. In her spare time, Suze researches Jesse's past, and, with Doc's help, she discovers that Jesse died 150 years ago under mysterious circumstances on his way to marry his cousin Maria. Suze later talks to Jesse, and while they set out some ground rules regarding his presence, she remains confused about her feelings towards him.

The game's opening sees Ringford holding the Cauldron and its controlling ring Titrel, having been given Titrel by Ingway as part of his vengeance against Odin. Elfaria is ultimately killed by Odin, who takes Titrel from her. Velvet steals it in turn and gives it to the dragon Wagner, hoping that this would prevent the Cauldron being used. Her lover Cornelius is meanwhile changed into a Pooka by Ingway and thrown into the Netherworld, escaping with the aid of his grandfather Gallon. He learns that the people of Valentine share his curse, and is embroiled in both the Pookas' efforts to collect wish-granting coins to reverse their condition and his attempts to save Velvet from danger. The Three Wise Men are attempting to fulfill the prophecies of the Armageddon — all but one Wise Man are killed during the course of the story, while the third Beldor is afflicted with the Pooka's curse and gains subsequent immortality. Cornelius rescues Velvet from their clutches, and despite his fears she reaffirms her love for him in his new form. Several characters also encounter King Valentine, who continues to be tormented by memories of murdering Velvet's mother in a rage — as part of his scheme to trigger the Armageddon, he hatches the dragon Leventhan.

Gwyndolyn's story focuses on the time after her sister Griselda is killed in battle — having always come second in her father's eyes, Gwyndolyn tries hard to impress him, but must ultimately defy him when his general Brigan attempts to undermine him. Gwyndolyn is placed in an enchanted sleep for her defiance, to be woken and fall in love with the first man who kisses her. After being spirited to the lands of Onyx by the Three Wise Men, Gwyndolyn's story becomes intertwined with Oswald's. Oswald is involved in an attempted coup against Mercedes by Melvin and is taken by Odette as payment for the power Melvin infused into Oswald's psypher. He is then used by Odin to take Titrel from Wagner by force, but ultimately rebels and rescues Gwyndolyn from Onyx after learning that Odin did not enchant her, giving Titrel to the awoken Gwyndolyn as a gift. Gwyndolyn, initially defiant, begins to fall in love, but is tricked into giving Titrel to Odin. Broken hearted and believing Gwyndolyn despises him due to her love being solely due to Odins spell, Oswald allows Odette to take him. Mercedes' story runs parallel to the others, chronicling her efforts to become queen in the wake of her mother's death and Melvin's attempted coup, aided by Ingway after he is turned into a frog by the Three Wise Men. With the help of the dwarf smith Brom, she refashions her psypher into a weapon powerful enough to destroy Odin's psypher, winning a battle against him and taking Titrel. She also breaks Ingway's curse, and the two grow attached to each other. Titrel is subsequently stolen by Gwyndolyn, who uses it as a bargaining chip to rescue Oswald from Odette, who is killed by Gwyndolyn. Initially torn between love for Oswald and duty to Odin, Gwyndolyn defies her father and leaves with Oswald and Titrel, which now acts as a symbol of their love. Odin is then accosted by Ingway and Velvet; Ingway transforms into a monster in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Odin, then Velvet and Ingway are rescued by Cornelius.

The sixth book shows the advent of Armageddon — King Valentine activates the Cauldron and uses it to absorb phozons from the land to feed the growth of Leventhan. Ingway attempts to destroy the Cauldron using his cursed form, but he falls under the control of Beldor, who has also led the monstrous Gallon and the Netherworld army into Erion. In the ensuing chaos, Odin is killed, and Onyx decides to destroy Ringford to avert a prophecy of his death at the "World Tree". The story then divides between the main characters' battles in the wake of these events, with different endings playing out depending on who is matched with which battle; Erion's rebirth or absolute destruction depending on whether or not the choices are correct. In the canon series of events, Cornelius defeats Ingway and Beldor and is rescued by Velvet, who learns from the dying Ingway that the Cauldron can be used to reverse the destruction; Oswald defeats Gallon, learning that he is Gallon's grandson by his banished son Edgar and thus Titanian royalty; Mercedes, whose true name is "Yggdrasil" (World Tree), finds Ingway's corpse and dies in battle after fatally wounding Onyx; Velvet stops the Cauldron without destroying its core, but King Valentine curses the Cauldron before waking Leventhan and killing himself by jumping into its path; and Gwyndolyn kills Leventhan before it can destroy Erion, losing her wings in the process.

Having finished the books, Alice finds a magical coin on the front cover of the sixth book. Called downstairs by her mother, she misses seeing Cornelius and Velvet, both in Pooka form, take the coin and leave a seventh book. In this book, Gwyndolyn is rescued by Oswald, who carries her to the Cauldron before collapsing. Velvet and Cornelius are there, and Velvet finds Titrel on Gwyndolyn's hand. Using Titrel, Velvet turns their psyphers back into phozons to power the Cauldron and revives the land, turning into a Pooka due to Valentine's curse. Oswald and Gwyndolyn bear witness to the rebirth of the land, and become the ancestors to the new humanity; Mercedes is reincarnated as its World Tree. In a special ending set thousands of years after the events of ''Odin Sphere'', Cornelius and Velvet have successfully gathered all the coins and use their combined power to break their curse. A post-credits scene shows an unseen author, who is writing a book called "''Odin Sphere''", talking with a merchant while the main characters pass by. A new scene in ''Leifthrasir'' shows Ingway's spirit resting within the World Tree's roots, reunited with the reincarnated Mercedes.

The movie is set during the Cold War.

A television news journalist aboard the American aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz explains the scenario of current fleet exercise of the U.S. Navy in the central Pacific Ocean. During a live broadcast from the bridge of the Nimitz, the correspondent points out a fleet of "Russian" (Soviet) warships on the horizon commanded by Vice Admiral Chernov.

At the same time, a plainclothed man, later identified as a CIA operative, meets U.S. Army Major Jack Hessalt, a crazed Vietnam War veteran, who is suffering wartime flashbacks and seems ready to dispatch on his own private crusade against the Soviets. The CIA man employs Hessalt to gain control over the U.S. missile facility in the Central Pacific and launch a false flag attack on a third-party ocean liner, sink it, and make it look like the Soviets have done that.

While the American and Soviet ships track each other in the Pacific, a Soviet frigate with a detachment of Soviet Naval Infantry aboard, under command of Major Shatokhin, is 1,500 miles to the south and prepares to return to their home base from a detached mission (independent steaming exercise).

After arriving at the U.S. military base, Hessalt receives a secret order to launch a missile with a conventional warhead at a passenger cruise ship. A group of CIA and military officers goes golfing together with influential American military industrialists and plans this operation as a part of conspiracy to frame the Soviet Navy with the sinking of a civilian liner. The aim of the operation is to derail an upcoming Soviet-American disarmament summit in order to assure continued profitability of certain U.S. defense contractors.

After Hessalt finds out that he and his men are actually expendables most likely to be assassinated immediately after the completion of their mission, he goes ballistic and takes full control of the base, arming a cruise missile with a nuclear warhead instead of conventional one, and prepares to strike the Soviet squadron so he and his henchmen could escape from the island and disappear among the ensuing chaos.

Meanwhile, an American hipster-lookalike couple, local airline pilot and his wife, spends honeymoon on the island near the missile base, Hessalt orders his men to eliminate the unnecessary witnesses. Woman has been killed, but the man managed to escape, shortly thereafter teams up with the Soviets to punish the villains.

After the Soviet Chief of Naval Staff found out that Hessalt acts on his own, he orders Major Shatokhin and his detachment to proceed upon a search and destroy mission, find and neutralize the missile launch site. The Soviets face the difficult task to prevent possible World War III.

Japan D.O.E. Agent, Tetsuya Terasaki, having just completed a difficult hunt for a fugitive alien, is ordered to investigate a local alien disturbance. Expecting resistance, he has his SPECTER armor sent to him. Arriving at the site, he finds aliens torturing two scientists, trying to extract information from them. He fights off the aliens and powers down to make a report to Command.

While Terasaki checks in with headquarters, one of the scientists accidentally activates a device on the dead alien. The device resurrects the alien and enhance its powers. He kills one scientist and kidnaps the other. Tetsuya chases after them as the alien takes the scientist down into tunnel and towards his spaceship. Tetsuya follows the pair and recovers the scientist. The alien no longer needs the hostage, though, as he has his ship to eliminate Tetsuya. Tetsuya attempts to destroy the ship with his guns, but it's too well armed.

The D.O.E. commander sends down a particle cannon to help Tetsuya win. After Tetsuya fires it, he grabs the scientists and they make their way to the surface out of the tunnel, when suddenly Tetsuya realizes the alien is still alive. He shoots the alien one more time and gets the scientist to safety. Once back in civilization, the scientist demands an explanation for everything, but Tetsuya erases her memories. Afterwards Tetsuya travels home for a well-deserved rest, despite an alien "crab" attacking the US. His commander tells him to let the US Division handle it.

In the late 1980s a few kids in the small, sleepy Southern town of Little Rock, discovered punk rock and the DIY ethic that drove it. Unlike other towns, Little Rock's punk scene was composed almost entirely of junior high and High School kids. Over the next decade, they would book their own shows, start record labels, open record stores, play with national acts and formulate a collective set of ideals. In 1992, they released ''Towncraft'', a compilation album and zine that documented their scene.

''Towncraft'' focuses on the roots of the Little Rock scene, how it changed the lives of those involved, the DIY ethos that has shaped the scene for the past 20 years and how the scene continues to thrive outside of the mainstream.

''Moo'' contains over a dozen overlapping plot lines and multiple protagonists and is therefore very difficult to summarize. The following summary includes the plot lines that are clearly resolved in the end of the novel.

Book One

Chapter one of ''Moo'' introduces Old Meats, a building at the center of the campus of Moo University no longer in use. However, Old Meats is home to a huge hog named Earl Butz whose only purpose in life is to eat as much as he would like in order to grow as large as possible as part of an experiment conducted by Dr. Bo Jones. Bob Carlson, a sophomore at Moo U, cares for Earl.

Chapter two introduces the Dubuque House, a large residence hall on campus and four of its newest residents Mary, Keri, Sherri and Diane. It is move-in day, and each of the four girls briefly reflects on what has brought her to Moo University and their hopes for their college careers. Timothy Monahan, a professor of English, is returning to the campus for the beginning of the school year. He meets one of the new faculty members, Spanish professor Cecelia Sanchez, when their classes end up being in neighboring rooms.

Marly Hellmich is an adult woman who works in the university cafeteria and lives at home caring for her elderly father. Marly also volunteers at her church, where she meets Nils Harstad, the dean of the agricultural extension. Later in Part One, Nils decides that what he needs to complete his life is a wife and a large family of small children. He decides that Marly would be the perfect mate and proposes to her. Marly contemplates the engagement and decides to accept on the basis that a life with Nils, a successful and economically stable older man, would offer her all of the things that she would not be able to have on her own; she believes she will become a kind of Cinderella.

Book One continues with a lecture given by economics professor Dr. Gift on Costa Rica and the economic gains to be found there. The lecture is well attended by students and faculty but during the lecture Chairman X, the chairman of the Horticulture department, becomes outraged and attempts to point out how detrimental Gift's pursuits will be to Costa Rica's environment.

Later, Ivar Harstad, provost of the university, meets with Elaine Dobbs-Jellinek, the associate vice-president, and Arlen Martin, CEO of the Trans National corporation. Arlen, a wealthy but not a moral businessman whose emphasis is on agricultural projects, is aware of the university's budget constraints and attempts to make a deal with them. He offers to give them money if they would devote some of their research facilities and faculty to help him on a project.

Another important aspect of Book One is the introduction of Loren Stroop, a local farmer and a paranoid old man who is so suspicious of the big agricultural companies and the CIA that he wears a bulletproof vest every day. This fear is promoted by the fact that Stroop is building a machine that he believes will revolutionize agriculture. Stroop meets with Nils to speak about the machine and the two men set up a future meeting for Nils to come to the farm and see the machine. At the close of Part One, though, Stroop suffers a stroke.

Joy Pfisterer oversees the university's fleet of horses and is also the girlfriend of Dean Jellinek. Joy is introduced while teaching a class in which Bob Carlson is a student. After class, Joy reflects on her relationship with Dean, one that is strained because of Dean's constant obsession over his calf-free lactation project and his failure to tend to Joy and their relationship.

Smiley closes Book One with a chapter entitled “Who’s in Bed With Whom” in which she lays out some of the intimate details of relationships occurring between various students and faculty including Mary and Hassan, a graduate student, Nils and Marly, Bob and Diane, Tim and Cecelia, Chairman X and Lady X, and Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Lake.

Book Two

Book Two, the shortest section of the book, opens with a news article detailing Governor Early's budget cuts, which include severe reductions for the university. The chapter also contains a series of memorandums within the university detailing the likely impact of the proposed cuts.

One of the most significant developments is the relationship between Cecelia and Chairman X. The two meet one day in the library where Cecelia is reminiscing about her former life in Los Angeles. She recognizes Chairman X from Dr. Gift's lecture. They strike up a conversation and surprisingly have sex on the library floor.

Meanwhile, Keri is failing Dr. Gift's economics class. She reflects on her family's experiences on their farm. When one of her uncles buys out the other, it causes a deep family division that ruins the family dynamic, and Keri blames her uncle's selfish drive for fortune and prosperity and his disregard for the family.

Chairman X and Cecelia continue their relationship. Cecelia fabricates a story about her uncle Carlos and his farm in Costa Rica and her childhood that she spent there. By telling the story she manages to convince X to stay longer and spend more time with her rather than returning home to have dinner with his family and take his children to a movie.

Book Two closes with a visit to Loren Stroop in the hospital after his stroke. His neighbors, the Millers, come to visit him and reassure him that they have taken care of everything around the farm except for visiting the shed where he keeps the machine locked up. He nods to try to tell them that they should look in the shed and tell someone about the machine but they fail to understand this since he cannot talk.

Book Three

The section opens with Dr. Gift reflecting on a report he wrote supporting the gold mine under a virgin cloud forest in Costa Rica. Mary, Keri, Sherri, and Diane are spending more time together. Mary is sick with a virus. Gary Olsen revises a short story, but is disappointed with the end result. After a night at the library, Diane decides to follow Bob in hopes of learning the mystery of his work-study job and she meets Earl Butz. Tim and Cecelia have an unhappy date. Multiple characters discuss the fall of and importance of Eastern European communism.

Helen hosts a Thanksgiving feast with Ivar, Nils, Marly, and Marly's father. Marly's father and Nils debate Marly and Nils future, after Nils announces to everyone that “God’s plan” is that he and Marly have six children and live in Poland. Joy sets goals for her future, including marriage and a child.

Tim Monahan's third novel is accepted for publication. Helen, Dr. Garcia, Dr. Gift, and Dr. Cates consider Monahan's promotion to full professor. Dr. Gift says Monahan's writing is salacious, and Helen disagrees. Monahan's promotion is only given lukewarm approval. At the meeting, Helen distributes copies of Dr. Gift's paper to everyone at the meeting, revealing the virgin cloud forest mining project much to Gift's chagrin. Gary Olson and Lydia go out. Lydia suggests Gary should kick out Lyle, his roommate, so she could come over more often.

Margaret gets Tim to call Cecelia by giving him a copy of Dr. Gift's memo which she had secretly kept. A grant saves Old Meats, but it would have to be a chicken museum, which was not what Dr. Bo Jones requested. The book concludes with Mary being the victim of bigotry and feeling unable to discuss her experience with Keri, Sherri, and Diane. Gary continues to struggle with his writing.

Book Four

The main connection between characters in this section is the holidays. It is Christmas time, and Cecelia decides not to return to Los Angeles for the holiday because of Chairman X. However, she changes her mind the following day and goes to LA. A friend of Bob's comes to care for Earl Butz, and Earl notices and is shaken up by the change.

Drama unfolds in the X's household. Chairman X spends the holiday at home with his family. He admits to Lady X that he is having an affair with Cecelia. As they fight, they both make accusations and blame the other for their unhappiness.

Mary spends Christmas with her family. She is worried about her grades and somewhat disappointed she did not stay back at school. Joy is talking to Dean and becomes upset with their conversation. She goes outside, runs, and remains outside until she is nearly frozen to death. When she returns home Dean has to take care of her until an ambulance arrives.

It is time to ring in the New Year. Chairman X writes a flyer opposing the destruction of the virgin cloud rain forest and revealing Gift's role in the scheme. The media reports on the issue and tries to unravel the controversy. As word spreads of the mining plan, chaos occurs. Dean Nils Harstad is attacked by Chairman X. Tensions run high between Mary, Keri, Sherri, and Diane in Dubuque House until they hear about the riot at Lafayette Hall and leave to go there.

Book Five

Book five opens with Dr. Margaret Bell arriving at a conference in Florida where she is to present a paper. Her senses seem to awaken through this mini get-away, and she indulges in the experience. When the conference is abruptly cancelled, Margaret ends her vacation and receives a large bill.

Back on campus, Dr. Gift reflects on Arlen Martin and the collapse of Seven Stones Mining. A memo is sent out announcing more proposed cuts in the budget, resulting in threats of layoffs. Another setback for the university occurs when Elaine Jellinek breaks the news to Dr. Bo Jones that there is no longer a grant for the chicken museum. Dr. Jones does not seem very disappointed and decides to take a trip to Kirghizia to research wild boars.

Loren Stroop has moved home and maneuvers around on his own to the best of his ability. Although his physical stamina has diminished, his quirky personality still remains. Feeling the need to check up on his invention, Loren attempts to travel out to his barn during a snowstorm. He struggles against the winter wind and falls into the heavy snow, never reaching his destination. He perishes in the storm.

The announcement of a future McDonald's takes the campus by surprise and forces Marly to contemplate her existence on campus. She decides to leave her job as well as abandon her relationship with Nils. In the end, Marly chooses to run off with her truck driver boyfriend. Another major event at the university occurs during the destruction of Old Meats. This pivotal scene showcases Earl Butz as he is trapped inside the building during the demolition. Bob realizes that Earl is in danger but is unable to stop the destruction process. Earl is aware of his dire situation. Instinct takes over, and Earl takes off running, making his way across campus. As Bob tries to catch Earl, Mrs. Walker, Chairman X, and Keri all witness Earl's rampage through the university. Earl eventually stops from exhaustion and falls dead at the feet of Keri. His death makes front-page news.

Dean and Joy work on their couple's therapy. Dean immerses himself in helping Joy out of her depression, which she finds exhausting. Cecelia continues to struggle with finding her place in the Midwest and Moo University, and considers returning to California. As the cutbacks continue to stress the faculty, Mrs. Walker realizes that her job is on the line as a result of leaking Gift's memo as well as the discovery that she has transferred funds from the athletic budget to the library. Mary, Keri, Sherri, and Diane seem to be heading their separate ways as the school year closes out. For the following year, Sherri makes plans to room with friends from high school, and Mary decides to return to Chicago. When some of the future plans fall through, Mary and Keri decide to reside together again. As the university's future appears bleak, Ivar reflects on how he originally viewed the university and how things have changed since he and Nils were first students at Moo.

Just when the university seems doomed, Joe Miller arrives with a sense of hope by carrying out Stroop's wishes to donate his invention to the university. Ivar, Nils, Bob Brown, and the president all assemble to begin a frantic search for the blue prints for Stroop's machine. Coincidentally, Dr. Cates acquired these blue prints from a student, and thinking they were a work of art, Cates calls Mrs. Walker in effort to discover who the artist might be. At the same time, the committee contacts Mrs. Walker to discuss Stroop's donation. Gaining power with this information, Mrs. Walker not only connects the missing prints to the hands in need, but saves her own position.

The discovery of the machine uplifts everyone's spirits and causes the governor to reverse the budget cuts. The campus atmosphere starts to lighten. Marriage comes into play towards the end of the novel when several characters contemplate their relationships and their plans for the future. Dr. Gift and Elaine Jellinek dine together and day-dream about the possibility of a life with each other, but in the end, they each discard the thought. Marriage is not in the cards for Nils and Marly, but Nils and Marly's father reach an understanding and decide to reside with one another due to Marly's absence.

The biggest turn-around occurs between Chairman X and Lady X as they resolve their disputes and reunite their family. Chairman and Lady X have a small wedding which attracts the curiosity of the neighbors and close friends. The marriage upsets Cecelia, who has decided to stay, but Tim convinces her that this is for the best. The book then closes as Chairman X and Lady X embrace in a “legendary” kiss.

The first major segment of the film introduces the poor Mancuso family (headed by the widowed Salvatore, Vincenzo Amato), from Sicily, Italy, at the turn of the 20th century residing in a rural mountainous region, who decide to emigrate to the United States after receiving a sign from God in the form of American postcards depicting giant produce and chickens. Their dreams about the land of opportunity where giant vegetables are grown, people swim in milk, and coins fall from the sky propel their decision, which gives the viewer insight into the unrealistic expectations that many immigrants held about America. Salvatore takes his family consisting of his two sons as well as his old mother, Fortunata, who we learn is the village folk healer and involved heavily in mystique (Aurora Quattrocchi). The dramatic scene that opens up the next segment of the film, the boat trip, visually depicts a sea of people being separated , those on the dock and those on the boat metaphorically representing the departure of the old and the new world respectively.

While aboard the ship to America, a red-headed British woman named Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who is traveling alone, stands out as both an attractive and elusive woman, catching the attention of the men for her beauty and the women for her classiness and independence. Salvatore is immediately smitten with this woman throughout the journey. Upon arrival at Ellis Island, Lucy asks Salvatore to marry her purely for administrative reasons, as being a woman she is unable to enter the United States alone. He agrees; he understands that she is not in love with him yet, but expects that will come with time. Their complex relationship highlights the troubling dynamic of the time, as women must still submit to male authority in the new world in order to even hope for the lesser freedom they so desire.

At Ellis Island, the final major segment of the film, the family join the rest of the immigrants on board to undergo extensive and humiliating physical and psychological examinations and questioning. The value of class that separated the immigrants on the ship becomes irrelevant in this final segment, as all of the immigrant's places in the new world are not guaranteed; they are all deemed equal. The ending of the movie reveals a surprising transfer of power between Pietro and Fortunata, as Pietro voices to Salvatore that his grandmother wishes to return home. After the tests are conducted, Salvatore is informed that Pietro (Filippo Pucillo) is about to be sent back for being mute, and Salvatore's mother for insufficient intelligence. The viewers are then left with the dilemma of whether Salvatore chooses to return home with his family or enter the United States.

When a corrupt prince arranges for the theft of a highly valuable jade antique the emperor dispatches his best men to retrieve it. The only problem is that the prince has hidden the antique in the infamous 'house of traps' from which no man has ever made it out alive. Royal investigator Yan Chunmin and his men mount a daring raid on the prince's birthday which results in the usual mayhem expected from a Venoms film.

André Arnel (Gérard Depardieu), a Frenchman divorced from his wife, takes his teenage daughter, Nicole (Katherine Heigl), on vacation with him to The Bahamas. She is desperate to appear as a woman and not a girl, so in order to impress a local boy Ben (Dalton James), she makes up more and more ridiculous stories, starting with André being her lover and leading to some bizarre assumptions by the rest of the community.

André is desperate to make Nicole happy (especially as she is increasingly upset by his relationship with girlfriend Isobel) and so plays along with her crazy games, and the stories they make up get increasingly bizarre.

The story begins with the exile of a young boy who grows up to meet his destiny as a great warrior. After his father, a Han loyalist and hero, is betrayed by the Emperor and sentenced to death, Yuan Chengzhi is spirited away to the reclusive master of the Lung Yau school of martial arts. Having grown into a righteous young man of considerable martial skill, Yuan sets out on his own. He discovers the hideout of a long-dead martial arts master known as Golden Snake Xia Xueyi and lays claim to his buried martial arts manual, sword, and collection of darts. He also discovers the whereabouts of a lost treasure and instructions to deliver a portion of it to a certain woman. Cheng-chih sets out to find her in order to honor the dead man's wishes and ends up meeting a spoiled and not-so-cleverly disguised young woman posing as a man named Wen Qingqing. It's enough to fool the naive Yuan Chengzhi, who befriends Wen after she takes a liking to him. She brings him into her household, which is home to a wealthy clan of martial artists known for their mastery of the Five Element Array. Yuan's stay grows unsettling, first when jealous quarreling sparked by his presence erupts between Wen and her cousin. Things get a lot more complicated when a trio of angry martial artists storm the household and accuse Wen of theft. It turns out that they are members of Yuan's school and just as the situation threatens to turn into a full-scale battle, he intercedes in order to find a peaceful solution. As a result of his intervention, Yuan's skills draw the attention of the master of the house, who recognizes the kung fu techniques of his arch-enemy. As hidden truths about the Wen clan and their dark part are revealed through flashbacks, Yuan finds himself forced to fight their infamous Five Element Array in order to complete his quest and escape in one piece.

The film is about an American accountant bombarded with cable news and the media's obsession with terrorist plots in the post 9/11 world, who receives a jolt when an unattached Islamic graduate student moves in next door.

A coming of age story set in the mythical "golden age" of Spain. The titular character is excluded from the inheritance of the family castle on the grounds that given his expertise with sword and mandolin he should be able to win his own estate and bride. Setting out to achieve his place in the world, Rodriguez quickly acquires a Sancho Panza-like servant, Morano, and goes on to experience a series of extraordinary adventures that lead him into the heart of fantasy in the mythopoeic Shadow Valley.

It tells the story of a young man named Hu Fei, as he escapes the rain with his uncle. Whilst they're undercover and Fei is looking after his sick uncle, a group of men walk in that Fei's uncle recognizes. He then tells Fei the story of how is father was killed. So, Hu Fei decides to seek revenge on those people.

David Coleman (Ben Gazzara) is a young doctor hired by a hospital's pathology department. The head of the department, Dr. Joseph Pearson (Fredric March), sees Coleman as a rival, and they fight over many medical issues. Coleman falls in love with Cathy Hunt (Ina Balin), a student nurse at the hospital, who develops a tumor in her knee. Pearson believes that the tumor is malignant and that the leg should be amputated, but Coleman disagrees. Coleman orders three blood tests on Mrs. Alexander (Phyllis Love), an expectant mother whose baby may have hemolytic disease, but Pearson believes that the tests are excessive and cancels the third test. Mrs. Alexander is married to a young intern at the hospital (Dick Clark), who, along with Coleman, tried to push for the third test. When the baby is born seriously ill, Dr. Charles Dornberger (Eddie Albert), Mrs. Alexander's OB/GYN, berates Pearson and conducts a blood transfusion to save the baby's life. Pearson's future at the hospital becomes uncertain, and he resigns. Coleman has changed his mind about Cathy's tumor and agrees with Pearson's decision, while Pearson says that Coleman reminds him of himself when he was young and urges him not to let hospital bureaucracy wear him down.

In Poland, approximately 70 years before the present, the 10-year-old Polish-Jewish Leopold (Leo) Gursky falls in love with his neighbor Alma Mereminski. The two begin a relationship that develops over the course of 10 years. In this time, Leo writes three books that he gives to Alma, since she is the only person he deeply cares about. Leo promises he will never love anyone but her.

Alma, now 20, is sent to the United States by her father, who feared the alarming news concerning Nazi Germany. Leo does not know that Alma is pregnant and dreams of going to America to meet her. A short time after, the Germans invade Poland and Leo takes cover in the woods, living on roots, small animals, bugs and what he can steal from farmers' cellars. After three and a half years of hiding, he goes to America and finds Alma but is shocked to hear she thought he had died in the war and had married the son of the manager of the factory she works at. He is devastated when he finds she has had another child with her husband. He asks her to come with him, but she refuses. She tells him, however, about his son Isaac who is now five years old. Heartbroken, Leo leaves, and later becomes a locksmith under the guidance of his cousin. Leo regularly watches Isaac from a distance, wishing to be part of the boy's life but scared to come in contact with him.

In the present day, Leo is a lonely old man who waits for his death, along with his recently found childhood friend, Bruno, and Alma has been dead for five years. Leo still keeps track of his son, who has become a famous writer, much to Leo's enjoyment since he believes Isaac inherited the talent from his father. Leo's depression deepens when he reads in a newspaper that his son has died at the age of 60, and Leo develops an obsession with finding his place in his son's world, to the extent that he breaks into Isaac's house to see if he had read ''Words for Everything'', a book about his life that he recently wrote and sent to Isaac.

Zvi Litvinoff's perspective is introduced. In the past, a younger Leo wrote a letter to his old friend Zvi, asking for his manuscript of ''The History of Love'' to be returned to him. Leo had given Zvi ''The History'' before they parted, years ago. However, his wife Rosa informs him that the book was destroyed in a flood, choosing to hide that her husband did not write ''The History of Love''. Zvi also describes an event where Leo fell gravely ill in Poland and wrote his own obituary, after which Zvi stole it in the hope that it would keep his friend alive.

Unknown to Leo is that the book had been published in a small printing of two thousand copies (and re-published upon the supposed author's death) in Spanish, but under the name of Zvi Litvinoff, who copied the book thinking Leo was killed in Poland. Zvi felt so guilty for copying his book that he added his friend's stolen obituary as the last chapter, telling the publisher that including the obituary was conditional to printing the book, although doing so did not make sense with the plot. Zvi died later without telling the world about the real author of ''The History of Love''.

In a parallel story, a 15-year-old girl, Alma Singer, named after the Alma in ''The History of Love'', her parents' favorite book, is struggling to cope with the loss of her father due to cancer. Her mother becomes distant and lonely, escaping into her work of book translation. Her younger brother Bird, so called for jumping from the second story of a building hoping he could fly, seeks refuge in religion and believes himself to be one of God's chosen people, thus distancing himself from reality. Alma finds refuge in one of her father's hobbies: surviving in the wild. Alma also bears a crush on her Russian pen friend Misha, who has moved to New York. The two become a couple but they break up because of Alma's incertitude.

One day, her mother receives a letter from a mysterious man named Jacob Marcus who requests that she translate ''The History of Love'' from Spanish to English for $100,000, to be paid in increments of $25,000 as the work progresses. Alma's mother finds the sum suspicious, but the stranger confesses that his mother used to read the book to him when he was a child, so it has a great sentimental value. Alma sees this as an opportunity to help her mother recover from her depression and changes her mother's straightforward letters to Jacob Marcus into more romantic versions. When the letters stop before her mother completes the translation of the book, Alma decides to find the mysterious client.

She starts by noting down what she knows about Jacob Marcus in her diary, and concludes that the Alma in the book was real and proceeds to find her. She struggles in her search for Alma Mereminski, but succeeds when she realizes that Alma could have married and finds her under the name of Moritz. She is disappointed to hear that Alma has been dead for five years. However, she finds out that Isaac Moritz is the first of Alma's sons and a famous writer. When she starts reading his bestselling book, she finds that the main character's name is Jacob Marcus and realizes that Isaac Moritz had hired her mother to translate the book. Isaac is dead, however, which explains why his letters had stopped coming to their home. To be sure about her suspicions, Alma leaves a note on Isaac's door asking who the writer of the novel is.

In the meanwhile, Bird finds Alma's diary and misinterprets the names Alma Mereminski and Alma Moritz as being his sister's real names, and believes they had different fathers. Isaac's brother calls Alma, after reading the note and the original manuscript of the book, to tell her that Gursky is the real author, but Bird answers the telephone and it confuses him even further. He now suspects that Leopold Gursky is Alma's real father. To cleanse his sin of bragging and to regain the status as one of the chosen ones, he decides to set up a meeting with Alma and Gursky, thus doing a good deed without anybody knowing except God.

When the two receive the letter regarding their meeting, both are confused: Alma tries to discover which of the people she met during her searches could have sent her the note, while Leo comes to believe it was Alma who sent him the note, despite her being dead.

Leo settles himself on a park bench, waiting a long while for Alma to appear. He ponders his life, key moments from his past, the loss of his love, and what it means to be human. He imagines that he will die while he is waiting there, his own death and mortality being one of his preoccupations in the novel. When Alma finally appears, he and she are both confused, although at first Leo believes that she is his Alma from the past and that she is really just in his imagination. After he realizes that she doesn't look like his Alma, and he gets confirmation from a man walking by that the Alma who is there is actually real, Leo talks to her briefly about Bruno and Isaac, while Alma starts piecing together the puzzle of who Leo is. When Alma asks him if he ever loved a girl named Alma Mereminski, the old man finally feels a sense of transcendence in being recognized at long last, and instead of being able to respond to Alma's questions with words, he keeps tapping his fingers twice against her. She puts her head on his shoulder and hugs him, and he is finally able to speak again, saying her name three times and giving her her own feeling of transcendence at finally being recognized, too.

(Some readers believe that Leo has a heart attack and dies at this point, possibly because of Leo's earlier assumption that he is about to die, and also because he says during this meeting with Alma, "I felt my heart surge. I thought: I've lived this long. Please. A little longer won't kill me." A more compelling case can be made that the novel, for all its poignancy, simply ends with this mutually transcendent moment for these two characters.)

The last chapter is entitled "The Death of Leopold Gursky" and is identical with the last chapter of the book inside a book ''The History of Love'', both being the self-written obituary of Leopold Gursky. By ending the novel this way, Krauss is richly alluding to earlier parts of the novel and to her theme of how words keep people alive for us, indeed, make people in danger of becoming invisible, visible. Zvi Litvinoff carried Leo's self-written obit in his pocket for years, as a talisman guarding against Leo's death. Litvinoff, when preparing ''History of Love'' for publication, insists that his editor include the Leo Gursky obit at the end, his way of ensuring that Leo will continue to "live" in the hearts of all readers of the book. And finally, Nicole Krauss includes the same obit at the end of her novel, as a way of urging all readers to keep this Leo, and all Leos, alive.

While the manga follows multiple plot threads, the film adaptation consists of most plots shown in the manga.

The film follows two orphans, and , as they attempt to keep control of the streets of the pan-Asian metropolis of Takaramachi, once a flourishing town and now a huge, crumbling slum fraught with warring between criminal gangs. Black is a violent and streetwise punk, considering Takaramachi to be "his town". White is younger and appears to be mentally impaired, out of touch with the world around him and often living in a world of illusions. They call themselves "the Cats". Despite their extreme differences, they complement and support each other, similar to the Chinese Taoist principle of yin and yang.

During one of their "missions", they take on thugs and Black ends up beating up three Yakuza gang members who are menacing a street gangster friend of his. The Yakuza work for , the head of a corporation called "Kiddy Kastle". Snake plans to tear down and rebuild Takaramachi as a theme park to fit his own goals and dreams. When Black interferes once too often, Yakuza are sent to kill him, but fail. Angered, Snake then sends the deadly "three assassins" known as Dragon, Butterfly, and Tiger, near-superhuman hitmen, to finish the job.

In order to save Black and himself, White has to kill the first assassin Dragon by tipping gasoline and setting it alight, burning him alive. The second assassin Butterfly pursues White and stabs him with a samurai sword. White is then sent to the hospital. The police, who have been watching both Snake and the two youngsters, decide to take White into protective custody "for his own good", while Black watches White go knowing he would be too hard to look after while being hunted. Black later falls into a depressive state.

Alongside the children's narrative is a story is told through the eyes of , an average man who gets caught up in the Yakuza, leading him to have a violent encounter with Black. Eventually, Kimura is forced by Snake to kill his former boss and mentor, , to remove possible competition. While Kimura fulfills his mission, he is deeply shocked by having murdered his mentor. Summoned once again by Snake, Kimura rebels and kills the Yakuza boss, before attempting to flee with his pregnant wife from Takaramachi. He is gunned down in a drive-by shooting by Snake's men.

While the police feel it is for the best for White to remain with them outside Takaramachi, White feels empty without Black there for support. In parallel, without White, Black soon begins to lose grip on reality and allows his violence to consume him. He soon develops a split personality, with his dark side manifesting as the "minotaur". Things reach a climax when White is brought back to Takaramachi by one of the officers and taken to a local fair. There, a delusional Black is trying to show people that "White", in reality a mocked-up doll, has returned to life. When Black is attacked by Snake's two remaining assassins, the doll is damaged and Black flies into a murderous rage, killing the assassins. It is then that he is confronted by the real White, and is forced to fight the "minotaur", who wishes to completely consume him. Black manages to triumph over his dark side and reunites with White, last seen playing in the beach.

John Perry and Jane Sagan, the former Ghost Brigade clone of Perry's dead wife, are offered positions as leaders for the new colony of Roanoke, which will comprise human settlers from the first ten established human colonies. After deliberating, they decide to accept and go with Zoe to the new colony. In tow are Zoe's Obin protectors, named Hickory and Dickory, who view her with almost religious awe due to her father's success in giving the Obin consciousness.

Upon arriving, the colonists quickly realize they are not at Roanoke. They are approached by a member of the Special Forces of the CDF, adapted to live in space, who had attached himself to the exterior of their craft. He informs them they have no option but to land and begin the colony anyway. The ship has been irreparably damaged to prevent the craft from leaving orbit, and all the colonists are considered quarantined from the rest of the Colonial Union. The Conclave (a group that wants to stop humanity's expansion) was aware of the original position of Roanoke, and therefore was waiting to annihilate them. He further tells them that to isolate them fully, they are forbidden from using any advanced technology. This is offset by the presence of the Mennonites, an Amish-like group of colonists who are familiar with the large amount of basic machinery that the CDF had given the colonists.

The colony proceeds with surprisingly little initial difficulty. Several colonists are killed by stone-age-level werewolf-like creatures who view them as potential prey, but otherwise begin to settle into the colony. After a certain length of time, they are again visited by Special Forces, who inform them that the plan has partially succeeded, and the initial restrictions on technology have been lifted. The Union attempted to destabilize the Conclave by making them appear incompetent, due to their inability to find a single colony despite a year's worth of searching.

After a brief interlude when their location is leaked to the Conclave, they are visited by the Conclave fleet, consisting of a single ship from every member race of the Conclave. The Conclave leader, General Gau, begs John to either give up the colony or secede from the Union and join the Conclave. John refuses, and asks General Gau to surrender. Baffled, the General tells John to make his peace, and orders the Conclave fleet to open fire. Almost immediately, the entire fleet is annihilated. Special Forces members, during the prior year, had methodically tracked down every ship in the Conclave fleet and attached an antimatter bomb to the hull. The officer who accompanied the erstwhile Roanoke colonists then waited for every Conclave ship to arrive before detonating the explosives, save the leader's craft. This shatters the Conclave into multiple factions, several of which swear vengeance on the Union. Jane staves off an attempted attack from one faction, remotely controlling the colony's defense lasers, although some people are killed.

After the attack, John is arrested for almost ruining the plan to destroy the enemy fleet by asking General Gau to surrender. He is eventually released, and after speaking with Special Forces again, returns to New-Roanoke. He realizes that New-Roanoke is a sacrificial pawn. If New-Roanoke is destroyed, enlistment in the CDF will spike using the destruction of the colony as a rally cry, allowing for a more aggressive campaign against the other alien races. This however will cause humanity's eventual extinction through a war of attrition.

John abdicates the leadership of New-Roanoke and joins the Conclave, after being awarded a ship by them as his sovereign domain, with help from the Obin. Together with the other members of the Conclave, he visits (forbidden, isolated) Earth to reveal what has been occurring in the rest of the universe and to update them on the Conclave's level of technology.

The Colonial Union is thrown into disarray, with enlistment plummeting and potential colonists demurring, but the end of the book suggests that bringing Earth into the Union properly will allow for more diplomatic solutions and cooperation between species.

Due to a past catastrophe on Earth, humanity was forced to live amongst the stars for several centuries, resulting in the creation of the S.D. calendar and the birth of the Aria Federation, an empire whose influence extends from Earth to Saturn. In S.D. 1478, an embassy located within the empire's capital on Earth's moon was seized by terrorists, and forces deployed by Aria's Special Space Service ended in disaster as the terrorists triggered a self-detonation device, killing themselves and several civilians in the process.

The actual game begins six years after this event, with the player assuming the role of one of eight characters who will become involved in a mastermind's scheme to take control of the Aria Federation's superweapon and use it for his own purposes.

''Toward the Terra'', a science fiction series created by Keiko Takemiya, has played a major influence for both ''Senko no Ronde'''s story and art style.

Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) is a kind, henpecked manager who strikes up a friendship with Mary Gray (Ella Raines), a young stenographer who had approached him looking for work. He gradually finds himself falling in love with her, but keeps the relationship platonic.

Marshall's wife Cora (Rosalind Ivan), who has also alienated their son with her shrewish ways, discovers the affair; when Marshall asks her for a divorce, explaining that they would both be happier apart, Cora refuses and instead threatens a scandal. In order to protect Mary's reputation, Marshall breaks off their relationship and cuts all ties with her; despite his best efforts to reconcile with Cora, their marriage does not improve. Cora later dies after a fall down the stairs at home; it is strongly hinted that Marshall murdered her, although the death appears accidental.

Inspector Huxley (Stanley Ridges) of Scotland Yard suspects that Marshall murdered his wife but is unable to prove it or establish a motive. Huxley follows Marshall, learning of Mary Gray, and interviews a number of the people in Marshall's neighborhood. When Huxley seeks to interview Mary directly, he is informed that she and Marshall were married earlier that day, making it impossible for Huxley to compel her to testify against her husband. Meanwhile, Marshall's drunken, wife-beating, spendthrift neighbor Gilbert Simmons (Henry Daniell) is interested to learn of the inspector's suspicions, and he relishes the chance to blackmail Marshall, whose respectability he envies. He threatens to invent a story about an argument between Marshall and his wife on the night of her death, which would substantiate that Marshall had killed his wife.

Marshall poisons his neighbor, using an overdose of anodyne drops from a bottle that Simmons' wife had shared with him. Marshall and Mary plan to move to Canada to follow Marshall's son, who has recently received a position there from his company. When the inspector hears of Simmons' death, he sets a trap in which he pretends to frame Mrs. Simmons for the murder. The success of the trap depends on Marshall's coming forward, rather than letting the innocent woman hang. The inspector believes that, in spite of everything, Marshall has never lost his innate decency. The film ends with Marshall's wife and son sailing to Canada while Marshall disembarks at the last moment, presumably preparing to turn himself in.

File:The-Suspect-3.jpg|Charles Laughton in ''The Suspect'' File:The-Suspect-1.jpg|Charles Laughton and Rosalind Ivan File:The-Suspect-2.jpg|Ella Raines and Charles Laughton File:The-Suspect-4.jpg|Charles Laughton and Henry Daniell

In ''Another Story'', a sorceress named Apsu arrives from the 30th century. She has formed a group of girls from Crystal Tokyo known as the "Opposito Guardians" and ordered them to alter the past in order to change the future to her liking, with the ultimate goal of attaining the Silver Crystal. Apsu and her followers succeed in changing the fates of the defeated villains from the first three-story arcs, bringing deceased villains back to life and turning reformed and healed individuals back to the darkness. With the advice of the ghosts of the Four Kings of Heaven, the Guardians set out to regain the Barazuishō (Rose Crystal), Tuxedo Mask's stone (which replaces the Golden Crystal in the game) in order to change Sailor Moon's destiny back and to save Crystal Tokyo.

It began with human researchers sending a semi-autonomous robot to the surface of Tenebra. The robot descended on rocket boosters until atmospheric pressure exceeded the pressure in the rockets' combustion chambers. Instead of generating thrust, the rockets began to overheat and melt themselves, so the controllers jettisoned the engines and the robot completed its descent under a parachute.

After acclimatizing itself to the dark world under Tenebra's thick clouds, the robot set out to explore. After months of mapping the territory and observing the plants and animals, the robot encountered a sentient native. The creature resembled a very large, scale-armored fir cone with four pairs of limbs; the lowest pair used for walking, the next pair apparently not used at all, and the upper two pairs used for prehension (used as arms and hands). A set of spines jutting from the top of the creature served as lensless eyes, making maximum use of the thin flow of photons seeping from the sky.

Unseen by the native, the robot followed it, stole ten of its eggs and good selection of stone knives that the creature had set out in booby traps, and then took its loot far from the caves in which the creature and its clan lived.

Sixteen years later Nick Chopper is on the run. Trying to elude the people he is certain are tracking him, he returns to the little hilltop village of huts that he shares with his nine siblings and the robot, now called Fagin (a reference to the character in Charles Dickens' novel ''Oliver Twist''). He reports that while he was mapping some new territory he had encountered, for the first time, creatures just like himself. He had stayed with them long enough to learn a little of their language. Through a diplomatic error Nick gains the enmity of the chief of the people, a nine-foot brute whose name translates into English as Swift. Fearing that Swift intends to bring his warriors to their village to murder him and his siblings, Nick dares, for the first time, to travel at night, using burning sticks (fire on Tenebra does not produce flames, but merely glows the bright yellow-orange of fresh embers) both to light his way and to fend off the raindrops that would knock him out if one enveloped him.

Before Nick, on Fagin's instructions, can go back down the trail to intercept Swift and make peace, Swift and his warriors arrive and attack the village. Using fire as a weapon, Nick and his siblings manage to fight Swift and his warriors to a stalemate. To avoid further violence, Fagin goes with Swift back to his cave village and Nick and his siblings prepare to abandon their village to find a safer place to stay.

Meanwhile, aboard the space station Vindemiatrix, Dr Helven Raeder, the current voice of Fagin, is interrupted by Amindebarlee, the ambassador from Dromm, a planet of Eta Cassiopeiae (19.42 lightyears from Sol, 21.92 lightyears from Altair), and his son Aminadorneldo. The presence of the Drommians, who resemble hairless ten-foot otters with five pairs of limbs and who have voices pitched much higher than human voices, reminds Raeder of something he can use to solve his problem with Fagin.

The humans have built a space-going bathyscaphe that they intend to use to descend to Tenebra's surface and then return to Vindemiatrix. Raeder conceives the idea of using the craft to rescue Fagin by using the bathyscaphe's grapplers to pick up the robot and then fly it away so that Swift and his people cannot track it. Then he will move Nick and his siblings far away to avoid the inevitable retaliation. Unfortunately for Raeder's plan Aminadorneldo and Easy Rich, the twelve-year-old daughter of Councilor Rich, have gone to tour the bathyscaphe. While the two are alone aboard the craft, the bathyscaphe suffers an accident that sends it onto a trajectory that will compel it to land on Tenebra. Worse, although Aminadorneldo looks like an adult Drommian, he is actually four years old, with the development level of a seven-year-old Terran boy.

The bathyscaphe lands safely on Tenebra, but the rescue team discovers that the electrolyzers do not work. Meant to use Tenebra's atmosphere as feedstock, they were intended to fill the bathyscaphe's flotation cells with hydrogen so that the craft would rise high enough into the atmosphere for its rocket engines to work and, in this case, to be intercepted by a shuttle that would stand on the thrust of its engines while an engineer finished connecting the circuits that would fire the bathyscaphe's rockets. In some desperation Raeder decides to ask Nick and his siblings to find the bathyscaphe and then, following his instructions, repair the electrolyzers.

Having piled as many of their belongings as they can on the little cart that they have used in gathering firewood, Nick and the others round up their livestock (which they call by the English word cattle), and set out on Tenebra's first ever cattle drive, heading for the coast. Once they have found a relatively safe place and set up camp, Nick goes back to the cave village to rescue Fagin while the others set out to map the area around their camp. Using fire to distract Swift's people, Nick takes off with Fagin and rejoins his siblings. Swift and his people are not far behind, but before a battle can erupt Fagin convinces the two groups to work together in finding the bathyscaphe.

Once the Tenebrites have found the bathyscaphe they must somehow send it high into the atmosphere. Rather than attempt to repair the electrolyzers, they use an alternative plan devised by Easy. They capture floaters, jellyfish-like creatures with stinging tentacles and hydrogen-filled flotation sacs. After hacking off the creatures' tentacles, they bring them to the bathyscaphe and squeeze their hydrogen directly into the bathyscaphe's buoyancy tanks. There's no shortage of floaters: a strange wind that has been blowing for many days keeps bringing more to the area. When the Tenebrites have put just enough hydrogen into the bathyscaphe's tanks the craft lifts off the ground and, in the other part of Easy's plan, the wind carries the craft to its source, the caldera of a wide and active volcano, whose hot updraft carries the bathyscaphe to its rendezvous with the shuttle.

Russell Harley travels to an isolated part of the American South-West to take possession of his inheritance, a ramshackle house known as Harley Hall, willed to him by his late uncle Sebulon Harley. Finding that the house is apparently haunted by a ghost, he flees in terror.

In a bar, he is accosted by a mysterious stranger known only as Nicholls, who persuades Harley to let him place magical paraphernalia in and around the house in an effort to control the ghost.

The ghost visits a lawyer, claiming to be the spectre of Henry (Hank) Jenkins who shared the house for many years and now claims squatters' rights. Despite attempts to mediate, the case comes to court.

Harley's lawyer disputes the claimed legal rights of the ghost and demands evidence that the ghost is actually who he claims to be. Under the pressure of the proceedings, Harley breaks down and admits that he did know of the presence of the ghost and therefore is willing to clear out of the house. The judge of course finds for the plaintiff.

At the conclusion of the case, Nicholls commiserates with Harley and his lawyer. He points out that the precedent now set means that ghosts in the state and the whole of the United States now have legal rights to haunt houses. Having said this, he simply vanishes - he was a ghost himself.

''Uprising'' s story begins after the events of ''Halo 2'', in which the alien collective known as the Covenant discovers the location of Earth and begins a full-scale invasion of their enemy's homeworld. The supersoldier Master Chief is stowed away aboard an ancient Forerunner ship. On a course set for Earth, he is overwhelmed by a Covenant strike force and rendered unconscious. In the next scene, Colonel James Ackerson is being tortured by Covenant forces on Mars, to whom he betrays the existence of something called "The Key of Osanalan." Ackerson admits the Key is located in Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, the narrative follows the point of view of a hotel concierge named Ruwan as the city falls under attack by Covenant forces. In the mayhem he meets a woman named Myras Tyla. Tyla remains calm even as Ruwan edges towards all-out panic. The pair are captured and with other residents herded into a sports stadium. The Covenant declare that the humans must give up the location of the Key to save their lives; Tyla is confused, but Ruwan states he knows exactly what it is.

On board the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief is captured and interrogated by Covenant forces, but manages to escape using a concealed weapon. On Earth, Ruwan and Tyla escape detection by the Covenant and appropriate a vehicle in an effort to escape. Ruwan reveals that the Key is in fact a fictional object that he and his brother James Ackerson made up as children; James told the Covenant about the Key in order to prevent the outright destruction of Cleveland. After fighting Covenant forces, Ruwan and Tyla are rescued by marines and leave the city. The Master Chief attempts to kill the Covenant's leader, Prophet of Truth, but is discovered as he takes aim; Truth escapes as the Chief is left to kill the Prophet's guards and find a way off the ship. Learning that there is no way to change the Forerunner ship's destination, the Chief jumps to Earth using a piece of the vessel as a heat shield.

After informing the UNSC about the true nature of the Key, Ruwan volunteers to "give" the Key to the Covenant. He is captured and brought aboard a Covenant ship. While the Covenant believe he is to be rescued due to a tracker embedded in him, Ruwan reveals he is actually a target. A coilgun takes aim at his position and destroys the ship. Upon learning that the Key is a fake, the Brutes on Mars behead Ackerson. In a relief camp, Tyla writes a song about Ruwan.

Alexander Villard is a former fencing champion who runs a highly competitive fencing school. One of his students describes him as "a freak who thinks he's living in the fourteenth century".

Max Suba is an ex-convict who introduces himself as a fencing instructor. Villard initially gives him a job as a janitor. With time, Suba recovers his lost form and shows that he can fence. Villard has Suba spar with an ambitious student to demonstrate a point. Villard is "arrogant but not unkind", and eventually gives Suba a chance to teach, assigning him the beginning students.

While Villard takes a ruthless approach, encouraging a student to injure an opponent to win, Suba takes a subtler approach, encouraging students to turn their own weaknesses into strengths. Following this advice, one of Suba's beginning level students scores against Villard's prize fencer during an in-school competition. Flashbacks further develop the conflict by revealing how Suba had killed Villard's father in a fencing duel. The film climaxes in a dramatic duel between Villard and Suba.

The TARDIS arrives on Tiermann's World. Professor Tiermann and his family live alone here in a futuristic, fully automated Dreamhome, protected by a supposedly impenetrable force shield. An enormous alien creature called the Voracious Craw is heading towards their home with the intent to devour everything. But the Craw is not the only enemy - outside sabre-toothed tigers roam a frozen landscape, and the Dreamhouse itself turns against its occupants.

The tutorial begins with Jack O'Hara clearing out a bunker, Sir Francis T. Woolridge killing a few German soldiers with his sniper rifle and Thomas Hancock destroying a Panzer III tank with explosives. The game then shifts to 21 February 1939, where René Duchamp and Paul Toledo infiltrate the German Embassy in London and steal documents from a safe.

Stalingrad

In the Battle of Stalingrad, Woolridge kills an elite German sniper, lifting the siege of a Soviet command post at the Barmaley Fountain. A General Franklin O'Donnell then arrives for a meeting with Soviet personnel, accompanied by Hancock and O'Hara. A massive German airstrike ensues followed by airdrops of the Fallschirmjäger. In an effort to protect the General, the commandos repulse waves of infantry attacks including a 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun. When the meeting ends, O'Donnell crosses behind German lines and boards a Junkers Ju 52, much to the commandos' confusion. When they too enter the aircraft, O'Donnell orders the Germans to arrest them.

While in an underground prison cell, O'Hara subdues a jail guard and frees Woolridge and Hancock, telling them of O'Donnell's betrayal. When they make their way through the sewers, they run into René Duchamp, who informs them that O'Donnell plans to reveal top secret information to the Germans. Unknown to the three, Duchamp tells them they are in Berlin. The player is then given three tactical ways to kill O'Donnell before a timer initiates, after which he would appear. After O'Donnell is assassinated, the four commandos enter a Kübelwagen and escape the capital.

Central Europe

In Saint-Avold, René Duchamp and Paul Toledo board an armoured train carrying stolen artwork but are discovered. The Germans warn the next station and they try to derail the train using explosives. Jack O'Hara discovers this and he single-handedly clears the area before boarding the train just as it passes. Together with Duchamp and Toledo, the three take control of the train. The Germans, however, destroy an incoming railroad bridge, forcing O'Hara to stop the locomotive. Duchamp and Toledo are captured and loaded onto a truck along with the artwork, while O'Hara hides in the back of another truck.

With the German convoy scheduled to pass through a small town in Forbach, Sir Francis T. Woolridge and Thomas Hancock eliminate the town of all German resistance, allowing American soldiers to fortify the area and prepare for their arrival. The convoy arrives escorted by Tiger I tanks, but are ambushed as they enter the town. The trucks carrying Duchamp and Toledo are freed and the artwork recovered.

Normandy

On June 6, 1944, the night before the Normandy landings, Hancock and Toledo infiltrate a German encampment serving as reinforcements near Caen. They destroy a fuel depot, munitions building and as many Tiger I tanks, Schwerer Panzerspähwagen armored cars and Sd.Kfz. 251 half-tracks. At daybreak, James Blackwood infiltrates a port in Le Havre, disabling two German E-boats using mines. As the landings commences, O'Hara joins the Americans as they converge on Omaha Beach. Together, they take out the coastal artillery and clear the bunkers of all German troops.

The game is split between three campaigns in France, Norway and the Soviet Union during World War II. The first campaign takes place in occupied France in 1942. The Strike Force commandos consist of the British sniper: Lieutenant William Hawkins, London's Green Beret: Captain Francis O'Brien and the German (But not Nazi) spy and leader: Colonel George Brown. The commandos assist the French resistance to secure a village, but are forced to evacuate when their positions are compromised by a double agent (O'Brien suspecting that it is Brown). Brown aids the resistance in a town by taking out all targets of opportunity and liberating a medical doctor.

The next campaign takes the commandos to occupied Norway, as they find out that the Nazis are attempting to win the race for Nuclear fission, so they fight through a port town and several guard posts in the water, in order for them to move the explosives required to destroy the secret facilities. Under cover of darkness, the commandos launch a surprise attack on the Nazi-occupied town of Shundein, as it was also part of the route the explosives truck must follow. After a long battle, the enemy is repelled from the town.

The last campaign brings the commandos to Stalingrad in order to retrieve a priceless Russian relic which the Nazis have seized. The Commandos are aided by the Soviet Commisar Salenkov and led to a sewer. Once in the sewers, Lieutenant Hawkins finds a platoon heading their way, so Brown has his teammates captured to allow himself to freely explore the garrisoned town and infiltrate the headquarters, where he rescues his teammates and retrieves the relic. During their exfiltration, Brown finds that the double agent and Nazi informer is none other than Salenkov, who had purposefully led them to the sewers as he knew they would be captured that way. Brown kills the traitor and drives the commandos out of the HQ. Hawkins and O'Brien take out various targets in the ruins of the town, then group up with a Red Army squad to repel several waves of Nazi invaders. Their victory ends with Brown reuniting with the commandos and celebrating.

Most of the stories of the series are of only one issue. Most issues start with Bankelal knowing a secret or something which he may use to kill king Vikram Singh and usurp the throne. Story develops further with the involvement of sages, yogis, Devi-Devtas and Rakshas, each of whom comes with incredible humorous twist to the story. In the end all the trickeries of Bankelal fail and Vikram Singh gets a lot of favor rather than harm.

Though there are some issues that are linked to each other like series in which Bankelal and Vikram Singh travel to different lokas (worlds). This series includes issues such as Bankelal Tataiyalok Me, Kankaallok Me, Dev Lok Me, Sarplok Me, Vanarlok Me.

When Tex Granger rides into Three Buttes, Helen Kent persuades him to buy the local newspaper office. However, loan shark Rance Carson appoints the bandit Blaze Talbot as town marshal to act as his enforcer and soon the town is in chaos. With fighting between rival gangs, Tex dons a mask to become "The Midnight Rider of the Plains" and bring the criminals to justice.

Liam Case (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is a garbage man whose life hasn't quite turned out the way he expected it would. In order to impress the girl of his dreams, Liam plans an elaborate bank heist that will culminate with him jumping in to save the day at the last minute. When the day of the heist arrives, however, the plan takes an unexpected turn and both the girl and Liam end up being shot by one of the robbers. After recovering from his injury, Liam kills the robber who shot him and the girl. He then realizes that the associates of the dead robber will not stop until they have avenged that death.

''Shockman'' takes about two years after the original ''Kaizou Choujin Shubibinman''. Arnold (Tasuke (太助) in the Japanese version) is no longer a student and works as a cook in a local restaurant. Sonya (Kyapiko (キャピ子)) remains a student. Since the fall of the Dark Skull, Doc has constantly suspected that another invasion was coming sending Arnold and Sonya on searches for the new invaders although never finding anything. However, one day, after Doc is kidnapped, Arnold and Sonya find out that an alien empire led by Ryo is planning to take over the world. Also, two other villains have appeared with similar powers to Arnold and Sonya. They are dark Shubibinman (シュビビンマン) named Jeeta (ベータ ''Bēta'') and Mue (ミュー ''Myū''). Arnold and Sonya must now rescue Doc, stop Ryo from taking over the world, and avoid being killed by Jeeta and Mue.

In Germany to settle World War II reparations, James Raison is plunged into the old conflict between Jew and Nazi.

Category:1968 British novels Category:Thriller novels Category:Novels set in Germany Category:Jonathan Cape books

An old Bedouin and two boys, one Jewish and the other Arab, have a miraculous adventure in the Israeli desert during the Six-Day War.

''The Blood Brothers'' follows two aimless bandits Chang Wen Hsiang (David Chiang) and Huang Chang (Chen Kuan-tai) who attempt to rob Ma Xinyi (Ti Lung). Unable to defeat him, they join forces and are soon thrashing hoodlums and even taking over a nearby group of bandits. But soon it becomes apparent Ma's ambitions far out reach those of his friends, he seeks a position in local government.

Having left them behind they meet again. Now a general, Ma still in not about to let anything stand in the way of his goals - which now include defeating the 'long hair' bandits and Huang's wife Mi Lan (Ching Li). The attraction is mutual, with her seeing potential of this ambitious man. Whilst Chang and Huang are off fighting the bandits Ma and Mi have an affair and he arranges for Huang to be assassinated rather than let his position fall into disgrace.

As Chang recounts his tale to the local Marshall, held for the murder of his blood brother, Ma, the inevitability of his fate is always clear. After Ma's men take their revenge, Mi Lan is left alone to reflect over the good times and, conversely, all the strife she's caused.

A young boy, Barry, explores a cave on the Cornwall coast and discovers a highly advanced subterranean civilization called Egon. Located somewhere deep beneath Earth's oceans, Egon is unknown and inaccessible to humans unless an Egonian chooses to bring them there. On all such occasions, the human being's memories of Egon are erased and replaced with false memories before being returned to the surface.

In Egon, the author imagines all of our social ills and fears have been quieted, health care and education have been vastly improved, and energy and other resources have been better managed. Egonian youth (who are about 100 years old) spend much of their time enjoying extreme sports, taking in intense immersive films, and studying to make their world a better place. Barry gets a tour from a boy named Dido who at first treats Barry like a dog — why can’t he just relax and enjoy things? — but later begins to understand Barry’s fear of pain and death.

Like Barry, the reader is ultimately left with a vision of what our lives could be if we didn’t spend all our time terrified of poverty, pain, and lost chances. It’s a statement in favor of pleasure, intimacy, and risk-taking.

The villainous 4th Prince plots to change a royal edict proclaiming himself as heir to the throne instead of the Emperor's favoured fourteenth prince. The Fourth prince gets the backing of Han loyalists by promising that the Manchu rule of iron will soften when he is in power however he fails to keep his promise and turns against those that helped him.

When chorus girl Janet Jones is late for rehearsal in Edinburgh, Bates, the chauffeur for B. G. Bruno, gives her a ride in Bruno's limousine, starting rumours that she is engaged to the wealthiest man in Scotland. American producer John Frost, her employer, has just had the star of his next show, ''Frolics to You'', walk out on him because of his desperate financial situation. He replaces her with Janet, hoping that Bruno will back his revue, or at least that he can use Bruno's reputation to fend off impatient creditors. Her dressmaker, Madame Amanda, gives her more clothes, and sends the bill to Bruno. Janet's roommate, Mae Thompson, convinces her to continue the deception.

When Bruno receives the bill, he goes to the theatre to investigate. Janet mistakes him for reporter Paul Tracy, who was supposed to interview her. Finding Janet very attractive, Bruno does not correct her error. The two fall in love. Bruno amuses himself by continually asking Janet about her relationship with the millionaire.

Finally, Bruno gives Frost a cheque for £10,000. When Janet finds out, however, she confesses everything. On the opening night of ''Frolics to You'', Bruno takes a box seat. Frost summons the police to have Bruno arrested as an impostor. In between performing on stage, Janet tries to make "Paul Tracy" hide or leave. During the hectic proceedings, Janet blurts out that she loves him. The police catch Bruno, but the inspector in charge recognizes him, much to the surprise of Janet and Frost, and all ends well.