Kit Innes is a high school student living with her mother and stepfather. As she retrieves a sweatshirt from her father's house, she is approached by her disheveled ex-stepmother, Dusty. Kit is stunned when Dusty hands her a newborn baby and a diaper bag before driving away, not even bothering to tell Kit his name.

To the best of her ability, Kit tries to care for the baby, who she names Sam. The doorbell rings, so she opens the door. She finds a shabby looking man standing before her, looking for Dusty. Kit denies any knowledge of Dusty's baby and claims that she hasn't seen Dusty in a while. Kit shuts the door, but she suspects that the man is trying to look into the windows. Feeling threatened, she grabs a disposable camera and takes a picture of his license plate. Finding nothing, the man leaves.

Kit decides to bring Sam back to her mother's house when Rowen Mason, Kit's potential boyfriend, arrives in tow with his nine years old sister, Muffin. Kit then receives a call from a lady named Cinda, who explains the whole situation. Apparently, Cinda and her husband, Burt, were supposed to adopt Dusty's baby, and the man who came to Kit's house earlier was Dusty's cousin. Kit is reassured by Cinda and promises to deliver Sam to her.

Cinda and Burt's house is located in a wooded area with no neighbors. Burt tries to grab the camera out of Kit's hand when she starts taking pictures. Meanwhile, Muffin has to go to the bathroom. With all the adults preoccupied with Sam, she ventures into the house and is shocked to find the house in a mess with pizza boxes on the floor and no soap in the bathroom. Muffin accuses Cinda of not knowing how to properly care for a baby. Kit also senses that something is not right. Taking Sam from Cinda, she tells them that they should all wait for Dusty to come back before doing anything.

At her father's house, Kit leaves a voice message for her father about Dusty. Dusty and her cousin, Ed, enter the house and agree to spend a night before sorting things out in the morning. As Kit runs upstairs to grab a flannel blanket, Dusty and Ed run out with Sam. Rowen and Muffin follow their car. Dusty and her cousin both stop at a house, and Muffin tries to rescue Sam. Ed catches Muffin and instructs Rowen to throw his car keys into the woods. After Rowen does, Ed takes off with Muffin and Sam.

In the meantime, Kit unknowingly opens the door to Burt and Cinda, who imitated Muffin's voice. At home, the answering machine goes off with Kit's father telling her that he called the police. Burt and Cinda freak out at the mention of the police, and Cinda grabs a kitchen knife. They put Kit in a car, where Cinda tells Kit of her mastermind plan. She, Burt, Dusty, and Ed were part of an ATM scam. They would use fake ATM's to collect the bank card numbers, and then Dusty would redraw money from the bank accounts. Kit is rescued by a policeman, but Cinda refuses to tell them where Sam is.

Rowen, without his car, runs to the nearest truck and tells them everything. Muffin, stuck in the car with Ed, carefully uses Morse code to signal SOS to another car. In the end, Dusty, Burt, Ed, and Cinda are all under arrest, and Sam is put under foster care.

Following the multiple-Aema theme started in ''Madame Aema 6'', this entry in the series has two women named Madame Aema. Both women are dancers, and are friends who differ in their thoughts on marriage. One believes in remaining single, and the other believes in marriage, and does so. After being disappointed with her husband's cheating and gambling, she leaves him. They are later reconciled after the husband repents of his behavior.

Aema is a bored housewife married to a successful, workaholic businessman. She begins an affair with Jean, a business associate of her husband's. Her husband suspects and begins tormenting Aema, while not letting on that he knows, to protect a business deal. Aema leaves her husband, but is persuaded to return after heeding advice from a friend.

This time in the ''Madame Aema'' series, Aema leaves her husband, tired of his demanding ways. She moves to Jeju Island and lives with her friend, Young-ju. She begins having an affair with a member of a ''Samul nori'' group. Shocked by Young-ju's lesbian advances, and persuaded by her boyfriend, Aema returns to her husband.

In this episode in the ''Madame Aema'' series, Aema is married to a respected scholar who is preoccupied with his research and unable to satisfy her sex drive. Aema's husband becomes the target of a Japanese businessman with ties to the yakuza. Seeking to take his research, the Japanese businessman blackmail Aema's husband by taping him in a compromising position with a young woman he has sent to seduce him. Meanwhile, Aema is indulging in an affairs of her own.

There's something really primal about the idea of being a rookie—it hits that horrible, eternal sense of feeling like a fraud, like a kid dressed in grown-up clothes, trying to pretend you know what you're doing. And I thought, what if you were feeling just like that—but with a gun? :—Tassie Cameron, Executive Producer

Set in Toronto, the series follows the lives of five rookie cops from fictional 15 Division who have just graduated from the academy. Training's over, life begins. They must learn to deal with not only their duties as police officers, but also the problems and expectations of family, friends, and romantic attachments at the office. They are first responders who are about to learn that no amount of training prepares you for life.

"To serve, protect, and..." is usually used in the parade room before shift starts by the cop leading the parade. It always has a significant meaning in the context of the episode plot. More often than not, however, they use "to serve, protect, and don't screw up".

''Rookie Blue'' has been described as the ''Grey's Anatomy'' of the world of rookie cops.

This is a story about two people who, over the course of a winter, help each other grow and finally give up the imaginary friends that they each created for themselves from very young ages. Although initially they seem like very different people, they discover that in fact they do have this one thing in common and develop an almost father-daughter relationship.

Richard is a failed novelist who still talks to his imaginary superhero friend, Captain Excellent. At the urging of his wife Claire, Richard has moved to a Long Island beach community for the winter season in order to overcome his writer's block.

There, Richard meets 17-year-old Abby, who he sees while riding his rustic bike around town. He sees her light a fire in the trash can for no apparent reason. He decides to follow her. She confronts him, and Richard, trying not to appear as a pervert, hires her as a weekly babysitter, even though he has no children. Friday night she comes over to watch his "children" but he reveals to her that he has no children. Abby seems completely fine with it and Richard decides to spend his time at the pier, talking to Captain Excellent, who insists that Richard can never make a correct decision without his help. After returning from the pier, Richard comes home to find that Abby has made soup while he was away. He is awed by the fact that she has made this with her hands, as he has been having trouble in using his hands to make anything. He hires her again for the same time next week, though Captain Excellent states that it will only lead to bad things but Richard decides to ignore him. Their tenuous friendship is sparked by Richard's awe over Abby's youth and innocence and Abby's enjoyment of Richard's writing. They eventually grow so close that their relationships seems to be similar to that of a father and daughter. Abby tells Richard about the death of her twin sister, Amy, while Richard confides in her about his failing marriage. Meanwhile, Christopher, Abby's imaginary friend since Amy's death, watches her relationship with Richard grow, and though he feels neglected by Abby, all he wants is for her to be happy, no matter what that means for him. In the end Richard and Abby must face the reality of their lives, with Abby standing up to her loutish boyfriend and Richard bidding goodbye to Captain Excellent once and for all.

The story is narrated by Olive Penderghast, a 17-year-old high school girl living in Ojai, California, speaking into her webcam.

Olive lies to her best friend, Rhiannon Abernathy, about going on a date in order to get out of camping with Rhiannon's hippie parents. Instead, she hangs around the house all weekend listening to Natasha Bedingfield's 2008 song "Pocketful of Sunshine" from a musical greeting card her grandmother sent her. The following Monday, Rhiannon presses Olive until she lies about losing her virginity to a college boy. Marianne Bryant, a devout Christian whom Olive considers to be prudish, overhears her telling the lie and it soon spreads throughout the school. The school's church group, run by Marianne, decides to "save" Olive from her supposed promiscuity. Olive confides the truth to her friend Brandon, who is bullied by other students for being gay. Brandon asks Olive to pretend to have sex with him at a party so the other students will believe he is straight, to which she agrees.

After a fight with Rhiannon over her new reputation as a "dirty skank", Olive decides to counteract the harassment by embracing her new image as the school tramp, wearing more provocative clothing and stitching a red "A" onto her clothing, inspired by Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter''. Boys who have had no previous luck with girls beg Olive to increase their popularity by saying they have had sex with her, which she does in exchange for gift cards to various stores. Things get worse when Micah, Marianne's boyfriend, contracts chlamydia from sleeping with Mrs. Griffith, the school guidance counselor, and blames Olive. As Mrs. Griffith's husband, Mr. Griffith, is Olive's favorite teacher, she accepts the blame to spare their marriage.

The church youth group, which now includes Rhiannon, begins harassing Olive in an attempt to get her to drop out of school. Olive gets asked out on a date by Anson, Rhiannon's crush, which ends badly when Anson bribes Olive to actually have sex with him and not just pretend that she did. Olive later reconnects with Todd, her former love interest, who tells her he does not believe the rumors because she lied for him when he was not ready for his first kiss years ago. Olive decides to ask everyone she lied for to help her by telling everyone the truth, but nobody is willing to relinquish their newfound popularity. When Mrs. Griffith also refuses to tell the truth, Olive threatens to expose her affair, but Mrs. Griffith says no one would believe her. Out of spite, Olive immediately tells Mr. Griffith, who subsequently separates from his wife.

After talking with her open-minded mother, Olive comes up with a plan - she does a song-and-dance number at a school pep rally to get people's attention and tells them to watch her webcast later that night, promising an online sex show with Todd when in reality, it is the webcast that has served as the narrative device for the film. As she is finishing up her webcast, Todd comes by her house riding a lawn mower. She signs off by saying that she may lose her virginity to Todd sooner or later, but proudly declares that "it is nobody's goddamn business." Olive texts Rhiannon and apologizes for lying to her. She goes outside to meet Todd and the two share a kiss before riding off on the lawn mower.

In Apartheid South Africa, white boy Rhino Labuschagne and Zulu Mashebela were best friends until Rhino, pressured by his American girlfriend, Rowena, shoots a can off Zulu's head, abruptly ending their friendship. 25 years later, Zulu has become a car thief in New York, picking up an American accent but not forgetting his roots as "the champion mud slinger of the world". The prison's warden gets Zulu deported back to Africa by the Threatened Immigrants Right-wing Defence, or TIRD.

TIRD is a fascist organization run by a German named Gen. "Diehard" who is now dating the glamorous Rowena. Rhino has become a game farmer with a black daughter named Tinkie. Rhino is losing money due to his ex-wife Rowena's divorce settlement. Diehard personally transports Zulu, who easily escapes with Diehard's winning lottery ticket. Zulu by chance reunites with Rhino and they head to Sun City and split the jackpot fifty-fifty. In Sun City, Tinkie befriends Prince William, son of Prince Charles of the United Kingdom. Rhino manages to win R500 000. They are then relentlessly pursued by Diehard and Rowena, but get a make-up artist, Antonio to make Zulu into a white, neo-Nazi TIRD, Baron von Mauchausen-Klarks, and Rhino into a black manservant named Moses. Zulu cannot resist going to Rowena's TIRD party in order to pickpocket.

At the party, Diehard and Rowena recognize them after some slapstick antics, but Zulu sets off Diehard's intricate security system. They try to flee but are captured by Rowena. Zulu gives Rowena one half of the jackpot cheque, but Rhino has given the other to Tinkie, who has fled. The duo are imprisoned and they settle their differences by re-enacting the tincan incident, only vice versa. Diehard and Rowena take the two to a cliff called "Crocodile Gorge" and put them on a plank supported by an elephant.

Tinkie and Prince William use booby traps to defeat Rowena and severely injure Diehard. Rhino reveals to Zulu that he is Tinkie's biological father from Thandi, Zulu's late childhood friend. Rhino then tells Zulu that he legally adopted Tinkie after Thandi died. The two talk the elephant into setting them free. The psychotic Diehard tries to execute Tinkie on a cliff, but Zulu uses his mud-throwing skill to knock out Diehard, sending him plunging off the cliff to his apparent death.

Zulu, Rhino and Tinkie then reunite while William heads off back to his father. In an epilogue, Diehard is seen climbing out of a river muttering "they do not call me 'Diehard' for nothing!". His elephant then sits on him apparently squashing him to death.

It is 11 o'clock at night at a lighthouse on a small island, and the clock's pendulum is intermittently deflecting the light from the beacon into a mouse-hole downstairs, keeping the resident mouse wide awake. The baggy-eyed rodent crawls out of bed, climbs the steps to the beacon, and yanks the plug out of the outlet to turn it off. Polly the parrot immediately flies into the light-keeper's bedroom squawking "Light's out! Light's out!" The lightkeeper wakes up shouting, "Grrrreat Scott! It's that crrrrazy moose (mouse) again!" Consequently, a cargo carrier named ''Australia'' crashes into the rocks on the shore of the island, causing several wooden crates to spill overboard. The frustrated captain admonishes the light-keeper to keep the beacon lit, and the light-keeper and Polly apologize for the mishap. Hippety Hopper, a baby kangaroo intended for delivery to a city zoo, is inside one of the fallen crates, and after the ship departs, he hops off within the crate until it breaks apart against the rocks, setting him free.

While all this is going on, Sylvester is downstairs sleeping. The light-keeper abruptly wakes him up, rebuking, "While you sleep, that crrrrazy moose is loose in the hoose (house)!" (which Polly repeats), then orders him to go upstairs to catch him and to "Hurrrry up, now, hurrrry up, now" (which Polly also echoes). Sylvester tells Polly he can catch the mouse in a matter of seconds, and Polly starts counting the seconds.

Hippety then hops into the lighthouse and follows Sylvester up the stairs. Sylvester sets a mousetrap and attaches a string to said trap. When he hears a snap, he pulls on the string and sees he has caught Hippety, whom he thinks is a giant mouse, which makes his jaw drop to the floor and then fall into pieces. Sylvester then shoots like a bullet down the stairs as Polly keeps counting ("542...543..."), and dashes to the bathroom, thinking he must have "lighthouse eyes" or "stigmatism". He puts in eye drops, then, grabbing a bottle of vitamins, gulps them down and showers himself with them.

Meanwhile, the mouse frees Hippety from the trap, and Hippety returns the favor by pulling the plug out of the wall. ("Lights out! Lights out!") Sylvester runs out of the bathroom, tells Polly to "Keep counting, buster" ("3,685...3,686...3,687"), runs upstairs, puts the plug back in and pounds a few nails over it to prevent Hippety and the mouse from pulling it out again. He then prepares to knock Hippety out with a club and swings at him when he sees what appears to be Hippety's shadow approaching, but misses and sees that it is only the mouse wielding a mallet, which he uses to slam Sylvester's foot. The mouse then zips behind the elevator door. Sylvester pounds on the door, and Hippety kicks him into the wall. Sylvester then sees Hippety and the mouse behind the door playing a back-and-forth switcheroo, making him think he must be hallucinating. Sylvester then charges back toward the elevator and Sylvester, the mouse, and Hippety get into a scuffle, which ends with Hippety sending Sylvester tumbling down the stairs. By this time, Polly has counted more than 70,000 seconds (which in reality is most of a day (19.444... hours)), but the punch-drunk feline goes back for more, assuring Polly he will get the mouse "quicker than you can count up to Jack Robinson".

The mouse cuts the extension cord in two places with a pair of scissors, putting the lights out again, and the furious light-keeper stalks Sylvester with a Shillelagh (a traditional Irish club/walking-stick) threatening to "fix that good-fer-nothin' pussycat.". Seeing this from higher up the stairs puts Sylvester in a panic and runs up the stairs and attempts to reconnect the cord by stretching it but to no avail; as the light-house keeper approaches the room, Sylvester improvises a temporary solution by using himself as a conductor between the cut parts of the cord and gets a massive electric jolt, which turns the lights back on ("Lights on! Lights on! Lights on!") and spares him a beating...for the moment.

As Sylvester tapes the cord back together ("I'm a pussycat, not an electrician!"), the mouse rigs a dynamite stick with the cord wrapped around it. It explodes, completely destroying the cord beyond any chance of repair. Immediately, the light-keeper runs back up the stairs and pummels Sylvester with not his Shillelagh but a big club.

In the final scene, the light-keeper, Polly, Hippety, and the mouse are sleeping happily while Sylvester is serving as the beacon, hooked up to a battery with the light projecting through his eyes. To this, he laments, "I never thought just being a pussycat could be so complicated!".

It takes place in year 1404, where King George's land suffers from drought and famine. Aware of the distress of his citizens, he decides to remedy the situation by sending his two sons, William (Kevin Howarth) and Edward, to explore new fertile territories that could produce enough goods to satisfy his people. Despite being brothers, both sons have very different personalities; where Edward suggests fighting to collect the resources they need, his brother William offers a more peaceful approach, suggesting they explore new and unsettled lands to the south.

With the agreement of his father, William heads south, where he discovers the Oriental culture. He befriends the locals and, in return, they teach William new technologies and secrets to take back to his father's kingdom. However, the Sultan is suddenly kidnapped, and his aggressive sister takes over control of the Orient. She cuts all friendly relations with George's empire and expresses a desire to attack. Having not totally met his needs for resources, George sends both of his sons abroad to procure more goods for his empire in whatever manner possible, in order to be prepared for imminent battle.

The action takes place during the summer holiday at the Black Sea. The plot confronts an influential surgeon and a carpenter accused to have stolen the doctor's personal belongings from the beach. The neurotic doctor involves himself in the inquiry, ultimately directing the interrogation. The burglary victim, Theodor Hristea, a surgeon at the peak of his career and social life, self-confident and well connected (played by Victor Rebengiuc, a major Romanian actor), his girlfriend, Cristina (played by Carmen Galin) and their common friend, Stefan (played by Marin Moraru) - find themselves on holiday near the summer resort of Mamaia. The doctor has a detective passion and accuses – just on account of a physical resemblance with the real thief - a young carpenter ("The Kid", played by Gheorghe Visu) who happens to come at the same beach the day following the burglary. The police are summoned, a long inquiry follows, declarations are taken, and The Kid is sent to trial. The doctor plays an active part in the investigation. Although the doctor's girlfriend and his friend doubt the identity of the accused, the surgeon insists in being right and succeeds in sending the innocent young man to prison.

The accused, totally irrelevant on the social scale, is fired due to his unexplained absences from work during the long dragging period of the investigation that failed to produce any proof, as well as his several months in prison. And still, up to a certain point, the young carpenter proves to be, psychologically, the strongest. He gets back to life, gets married, continues to work, although more introverted than before, circumscribed to his sad destiny. Obsessed by his need to be always right, the doctor goes to meet the young man again and make him confess the theft that he in fact has never committed. Infuriated, the young man starts shouting to be left alone, and more as a self-defence stabs the neurotic doctor in the stomach with the tool he happened to be working with at that moment. The film ends with a scene showing both men running on the beach: The Kid to escape from being caught, and the doctor, badly wounded, to persuade the young man to accept a theft he has never committed.

Author John Dykstra, who writes under the pen name Rick Hardin, has had too much beer to drink at his mystery writer's group meeting and desperately needs to find a rest stop on his return from Jacksonville to Sarasota. There is only one other car at the rest stop, and he overhears its occupants in the ladies' bathroom. He hears a woman's and a man's voice coming from the bathroom, and the sounds of domestic abuse.

Dykstra is too timid and frightened to act, but he assumes the mentality of his alter-ego, Hardin, and attacks the man with a tire iron. Hardin calls the police and orders the woman to leave the scene in the car, and much to her protest, Hardin smashes the man's glasses to ensure the man doesn't follow him on the road in retaliation.

After some time, Hardin mentally reverts to Dykstra, who begins to vomit out the side of his vehicle when the adrenaline rush of the incident wears off. He stops at a gas station and thoroughly searches to make sure the man has not followed him. Upon returning home, Dykstra locks his doors and activates his burglar alarm system.

A widow answers a phone call from her husband who died two days earlier in an airplane crash. He is presumably in an afterlife. The husband predicts two tragedies which later come true and helps his wife avoid death herself.

Curtis Johnson, a middle-aged gay gentleman, is lured to a deserted construction site by his neighbor, Tim Grunwald, with whom he has been having legal disputes involving property rights and Curtis's beloved dog, Betsy, who was killed by Tim's electric fence. He is confronted by Tim who forces him into a portable toilet, locks him in, and tips it down an embankment, leaving him trapped there in the heat of a Florida summer day to die. With no way to get help, Curtis must figure out how to escape or die. Eventually, after a long night asleep in the Port-O-San, Curtis discovers he can crawl through the toilet and into the tank where he can unscrew the bolts using Betsy's old dog tag. After a brief struggle, he gets out and makes his way to the house of Tim, who is lounging in his hot tub. Curtis surprises Tim by throwing an old, unplugged hair dryer into the tub. He then jumps into the hot tub with him and gives him a “baptismal dunk,” almost drowning him. Then, he lets him know that not only is he alive, but if Tim ever tells anyone, Curtis will simply tell them Tim tried to kill him first. Two days later Curtis hears a gunshot from Tim's house and figures Tim killed himself, but he continues to work. He then tells his maid he's thinking of getting a new dog.

A spoof of gory slasher films, along the lines of ''Friday the 13th'' or ''Halloween'', Splatter Theatre features thirteen characters, all clichéd horror movie characters—the high school jock, the virgin, the class jerk, the bimbo, the nerd—killed in various creatively disgusting ways.

The stage itself is freshly painted white, and the actors wear white costumes, allowing the red blood to stand out for the audience.

Part 1

The episode begins with a woman leaving a briefcase behind, seemingly deliberately, at Wayne Enterprises. That night, it grows a camera and a set of mechanical limbs and makes its way to the research and development department. Once there it produces a laser cutter and breaks into a safe, where it begins stealing microchips. An alarm goes off, alerting Bruce, who changes into his Batman costume and investigates. He struggles with the robot, eventually chasing it to the roof, where it fires a rocket with the microchips into the sky. Batman takes a hang glider from a rooftop storage unit and pursues it until it is recovered by the woman from the beginning of the episode, who is able to shoot down the glider and escape.

The next day, Bruce begins to investigate the stolen microchips. He tells Alfred these microchips are a technology called 'wetware', the first stage in the development of computers with intuition and a will of their own, and among the most advanced in the world. Lucius Fox tells him that the only other company who could compete with Wayne Enterprises in that field is Cybertron Industries, run by the reclusive Karl Rossum (voiced by William Sanderson, who played the genetic designer J.F. Sebastian in ''Blade Runner'', as a tributary nod to that film and its replicants, which are genetically engineered organic robots). Bruce goes out to Cybertron to meet Rossum, who shows him a giant, prototype supercomputer called H.A.R.D.A.C. (a tribute to the HAL 9000 computer A.I. of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', replete with a large red television camera "eye", reminiscent of that classic film), as well as introducing him to his assistant, Randa Duane. Unable to find out more, Bruce makes a date with Randa and leaves. Once he is gone Duane speaks to H.A.R.D.A.C., who scolds her not getting design specifications that it needed. H.A.R.D.A.C. is then shown building a humanlike robot, its face is not revealed but Randa reveals herself to be the woman.

At the Gordon residence, Barbara Gordon is doing her homework while Commissioner Gordon reads the newspaper. The doorbell rings and a robot version of Gordon appears, tasering him unconscious and attempting to replace him, though Barbara is immediately suspicious. In the meantime, Randa picks Bruce up from Wayne Enterprises and they go to Wayne Manor, though she manages to leave her makeup compact behind. Like the briefcase before it, the compact grows legs and begins stealing files from a computer. When Bruce is alerted to the theft he abruptly leaves his date with Randa, who is likewise alerted by H.A.R.D.A.C. that the theft has been unsuccessful, and that the files that it wants are at Wayne Manor. She knocks Alfred unconscious and, using specialized goggles, locates the Batcave and informs H.A.R.D.A.C. of the fact that Batman is Bruce Wayne.

Bruce returns home, discovers the unconscious Alfred, and immediately dons his Batman costume and proceeds to the Batcave. When he attempts to use the Batcomputer it goes haywire, and suddenly the mechanical arms which previously supported his hang glider descend upon him, dragging him up into the darkness while screaming.

Part 2

Barbara soon discovers something's wrong with her father. She turns to Batman, who broke free from the mechanical arms. Bullock appears and fights with the Dark Knight. Batman fights back and pushes him against the bat signal. It is revealed that Bullock is an android and that the real Bullock has been kidnapped. Batman leaves to find Gordon and Bullock at Cybertron Industries. Barbara decides to go to Cybertron Industries to find and save her father on her own. Meanwhile, Batman frees Bullock and Gordon but is intervened by a robot run by H.A.R.D.A.C.. Barbara arrives at Cybertron Industries, but a robot captures her and takes her to the supercomputer. Batman manages to free himself and fights the robots only when he is stopped by H.A.R.D.A.C. who activates the detonations program. Batman and the others manage to get out just in time before the whole place is blown up.

Terrans Cato Chapman and Celia Zorn, respectively a salesman and model affiliated with the fashionable summer wear firm Greenfarb's of Hollywood, embark on the ''Viagens'' starship ''Camões'', bound for the planet Osiris. They hope to create a market for Greenfarb's styles among the reptilian Osirians, who natively wear nothing but body paint.

Chapman and Celia quickly discover they have rivals on board; Jean-Jaques Bergerat and Anya Savinkov, representing Tomaselli's of Paris. Amid interesting interplay with the other passengers, including both Terrans and alien Osirians and Thothians, the voyage becomes a double exercise in industrial espionage as Chapman and Bergerat each attempt to sabotage the other. Bergerat succeeds in spoiling Chapman's samples, but is caught and incarcerated due to Chapman's machinations; the latter thereupon appropriates Bergerat's own samples as replacements.

On Osiris, Chapman, Celia and Anya hold a fashion show, their products become wildly popular with the Osirians, and they secure a contract for Greenfarb's. Chapman and Bergerat end their dispute on the return voyage and each becomes involved with (and marries) his former rival's business partner. As the interstellar voyage between the Solar System and the Procyon system harboring Osiris takes five months subjective time (and over ten years objective time) each way, there is ample opportunity for such bonds to form.

Back on Earth, a surprise awaits them; Osirian body paint has become the rage there during their nearly two dozen years' absence, and both Greenfarb's and Tomaselli's have gone out of business!

The action of "Summer Wear" takes place in the years 2104-2128 AD.

Autumn 1944. Yellow star, ghettos, Arrow Cross terror. The inhabitants of Hungary's capital, Budapest, await the tragic fulfilment of their fate with helpless resignation. However, above one of the city's villas, once a week in the evening the stars of hope sparkle, if only for a few minutes. This short time gives fresh heart to those hiding here and kindles hope in their tortured souls to live for another day. This mysterious power is none other than a beautiful song that can be heard at such times from the villa's tower room. Géza Halász, the villa's always jovial caretaker, believes no Jew has reason to fear while the owner of the voice, Imre Rose, the world-famous opera singer and a Jew himself, remains in Budapest and does not flee from the country in spite of his American, British, Swiss, Swedish and Vatican connections. Halász visits the singer every Friday to dine with him. After a while the marvellous, hope-inspiring concert starts, which is listened to by the hiding inhabitants of the house with enraptured faces through the villa's open dumb waiter. Already in the "palmy years of peacetime" Rose had competed with Csortos, the famous actor, for the title of "Budapest's Greatest Misanthrope". Thus it does not surprise anybody that the eccentric singer never, not even once, tries to make contact with his fellow Jews who took refuge in his house. And when Halász recounts that the singer swore within an hour of the Arrow Cross's seizing power that he would not utter a single word nor cross the threshold of his tower room until "Andrássy Avenue has been purged of this Arrow Cross scum", even the slightest suspicion about Rose's "invisibility" vanishes. Only a fourteen-year-old boy, Tommy, the caretaker's son, listens to the weekly song with curiosity combined with suspicion, and tries to find out about the secret of the tower room. As a result of the adolescent's persistent and undaunted inquiries, the opera singer's mystery is unveiled. Meanwhile, however, almost unnoticed, the events of the calamitous days, filled with excitement and cheerfulness, turn the boy into a truly adult man. The story of THE SONGS OF RÓZSA is based on true events.

Set in the context of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and their battle with the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in 1979, Mexican-American Vietnam vet Eddie Guerrero (Robert Beltran) was sent to help U.S. Special Forces train Contra rebels. Eddie falls for a local girl, Marlena (Annette Charles). However, when her father is killed by the Contras, things change.

Con man Darius Koshay, stranded in the Uranus spaceport fleeing an arrest warrant from Earth, falls in with promoter Moritz Gloppenheimer, who hopes to open a dude ranch on the planet Osiris. Plying him with drink until the promoter loses consciousness, Koshay steals his identity, papers and scheme, leaving his victim to be arrested as "Koshay". After the voyage to Osiris he puts Gloppenheimer's plan into action, forming a syndicate with Shishirhe, Yathasia and Fessahen, the three Osirian mayors of Cefef Aqh, for the purpose. Within a Terran year, the ranch is operational and all is going well for Koshay, aside from some unwelcome attention from Afasiè, a female Osirian besotted with both the ranch and its operator. Then he discovers that the vengeful Gloppenheimer has followed him to Osiris and is starting a rival operation, the "Cefef Aqh Hunt Club".

Soon one of the ranch's round-ups gets mixed up with one of Gloppenheimer's hunts, and the Terran enemies come to blows, with Koshay's gun accidentally discharging. Two of the Cefef Aqh mayors, disaffected from Koshay and present with the hunting party, promptly try and convict him on the spot for the attempted murder of Gloppenheimer; Koshay's patron Shishirhe protests but is outvoted. Afasiè, whose uncle is a Provincial Inspector, summons aid in time to save Koshay from being hanged. The case is transferred to the Provincial Court of Appeals, where the whole truth comes out. The two Terrans are both ordered deported, and as the native spacecraft that will transport them has but one compartment for non-Osirians, they will have to share a cell all the way back to the Solar System!

The action of "Git Along!" takes place in the years 2135-2148 AD. One of Koshay's earlier operations is the subject of the story "The Animal-Cracker Plot" set on the planet Vishnu.

During a mission in Brazil, Optimus Prime spots Create-A-Bot crashing on Earth. After defending him from Decepticon forces led by Starscream, Optimus sends Create-A-Bot to meet with Ratchet, who has him scan one of three vehicles to use as an alternate form, and teaches him how to drive, before having him work with Ironhide and Bumblebee to destroy several Decepticon drones in the area, including the Create-A-Bot from ''Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Decepticons''. Afterwards, Ratchet has Create-A-Bot transferred to one of the Autobot bases and assigns him his first mission in Eastern Europe: to help scan several NEST data vehicles to prevent the Decepticons from locating an AllSpark shard. He is then transferred to England, where he is ordered to destroy several turrets and the Decepticons guarding them, as well as disarm a bomb.

Meanwhile, Breakaway and Bumblebee help NEST defend their base and factory located on an oil rig in the Atlantic Ocean from a Decepticon attack. After Bumblebee fails to shut down the factory, he is rescued by Breakaway before it explodes. In Rome, Italy, Create-A-Bot helps NEST defend against Decepticon forces, ultimately fighting and defeating Grindor. Afterwards, he travels to Siberia to rescue several NEST troops taken as hostages by the Decepticon Sideways, before being transferred to another part of Asia to help place some supplies into an aircraft before the Decepticons can steal them. Create-A-Bot is next sent to Japan to defend Ironhide while he activates several generators in order to fend off an incoming Decepticon attack, before also going to Shanghai to stop the Decepticons from blowing the place up using bombs. After disarming the bombs, he is attacked by Sideways, whom he pursues and ultimately defeats.

Create-A-Bot later goes to Mexico to protect a communication transport from the Decepticons until the communications are re-established and backup arrives. He also travels to Canada to assist an Autobot in destroying several generators before the entire area is destroyed, and to Area 51, which he defends from a Decepticon attack. Once he is transferred to New York City, USA, Create-A-Bot is ordered to scan Energon radiation hot spots, allowing Ratchet to triangulate the source's location. He then locates and defeats Starscream, in the process saving Jetfire, who reveals himself as an ancient Seeker, formerly serving The Fallen. He also tells Create-A-Bot about the Primes and how The Fallen, a former Prime, became the first Decepticon after betraying his brothers and built a Sun Harvester, which can only be activated by the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and can absorb power from the Sun and transform into Energon, destroying the Sun and, therefore, all life on Earth in the process. Create-A-Bot then takes Jetfire back to the Autobot base so that he could share this information with them as well. During this time, the Decepticons manage to retrieve the body of their deceased leader Megatron from the Laurentian Abyss, and revive him using a shard of the AllSpark.

The Autobots later travel to Arabia to gather intel about information transmitted by the Decepticon Soundwave by scanning several satellite dishes, allowing them to hack into the Decepticons' communication for several seconds. The information reveals an upcoming attack on a NEST base in South Africa, so Create-A-Bot is sent there to thwart it and manges to protect several newly armored NEST vehicles from the Decepticons. He then goes to Sahara to help the NEST troops defend their base there from Decepticons, before heading to Egypt to recover the Matrix of Leadership and prevent The Fallen from using it to activate his Sun Harvester and, therefore, doom Earth. Learning that a Decepticon stole the Matrix, Create-A-Bot pursues him, while the massive Decepticon Devastator is unleashed to uncovers the Harvester from within the pyramid. Create-A-Bot manages to re-activate a Space Bridge and is teleported to the final confrontation between Optimus, The Fallen, Megatron, and the Decepticon who stole the Matrix.

Optimus instructs Create-A-Bot to pursue Megatron and retrieve the Matrix, while he battles The Fallen. After overcoming several obstacles, including the Decepticon Scorponok, Create-A-Bot faces Megatron inside the pyramid where the Harvester is located and defeats him, recovering the Matrix and contacting Ratchet afterwards to inform him of the success of his mission. Ratchet then also patches Optimus through the transmission, who reveals that he has killed The Fallen with Jetfire's help and congratulates Create-A-Bot for his bravery, saying that he has earned his respect. Optimus then states that, even though The Fallen has been defeated, the Decepticons remain a threat and the Autobots' mission on Earth is far from over.

In the year 2088 CE. a negotiating team for the World Federation, World-Manager Chagas, First Assistant Wu and Minister of External Affairs Evans await the arrival of the Osirian ambassador to learn if he will accept their terms for a proposed interstellar treaty. Privately, they feel he is entitled to better terms, but if they offer them, the Althing or world parliament will not ratify the treaty. His decision will decide if there will be an Interplanetary Council to keep peace between star systems. Wu and Evans have an argument; Wu, of Marxist persuasions, feels the ambassador will choose on wholly rational grounds, while Evans, who regards the Osirians as sentimentalists, demurs. The ambassador duly arrives, and notes that his people will find some provisions of the proposed treaty objectionable, but rather than going over them, chooses to tell a story, which comprises the body of the narrative:

In 2054, in the early days of interstellar travel, Hithafea, a young Osirian, enrolls in Earth's Atlantic University and pledges the Iota Gamma Omicron fraternity. His Terran friend Herbert Lengyel successfully sponsors him over the protests of the snobbish John Fitzgerald. Hithafea accept the bid, on the grounds that Lengyel was the first person on campus to treat him well, and that the early interstellar explorer de Câmara, founder of the ''Viagens Interplanetarias'' and the first Earthman to visit Osiris, had been an Iota.

In Hithafea's initiation Fitzgerald hazes him savagely, but is thwarted by the alien's strength, stamina and equanimity. Finally he suggests Hithafea be assigned the task of retrieving from the campus museum the false teeth of the Osirian Chief Inspector Ficèsaqha, brought back to Earth by de Câmara and donated to the college. Soon after, Hithafea's roommate Frank Hodiak is surprised to find the alien hurriedly packing to leave early for Christmas vacation, and is given the distinct impression he will not be coming back.

Subsequently, Fitzgerald is arrested for stealing the inspector's teeth from the museum, and Lengyel receives an explanatory note from the Iotas' missing pledge. Tempted by the notion of recovering the artifact de Camera had stolen from Osiris, Hithafea had hypnotized Fitzgerald to do the dirty work, and is now on his way home. While regretting not being able to finish his studies or to become an Iota, he takes satisfaction in the honor his deed will receive on his home planet – not to mention getting even with Fitzgerald and helping out Lengyel by giving him "a clear field" with the bully's girl Alice Holm, whom he knows his friend admires. The ambassador's story within a story ends here.

Concluding, the ambassador, now revealed to the reader to be Hithafea himself, explains he is signing the treaty as it stands out of sentiment for the welcome extended him by Atlantic, the Iotas and Lengyel during his youth.

The player assumes the role of Alan "The Bear" Westmoreland, a United States Marine Corps Sergeant. The story begins with a deadly Viet Cong raid, where Westmoreland is left to survive of his own accord. The player must deal with various firefights, ambushes, booby traps, snipers, air strikes, anti-personnel mines, and more in order to finish their way to the end of each level.

The player is placed in the center of the Vietnam War in 1966, playing as Westmoreland, who is a very deadly and highly trained U.S. Marine. Westmoreland is under the command of the Central Intelligence Agency and has undergone genetic engineering to become a super human war machine. He is given standard military orders, and is usually placed alone or with small teams, pitted against overwhelming odds. To prove himself a successful experiment, he must survive several tours of duty in order to show that the side effects of the serum can be overcome.

Salem is an insane asylum inmate after being forced to take an insanity plea when wrongly convicted of murdering his farmhand. Salem escapes confinement from the fortress-like asylum in the dead of winter. Driven insane from being institutionalized for the last two years, he reaches his family farm, now run by his younger sisters Emma and Ester and the latter's husband Dr. Anton Jenks, who accused Salem of the murder.

As revenge, Salem kills the people he believes responsible for his unfair conviction and subsequent confinement. He starts with Emma, arranging the murder to appear that Anton is the killer. A local police inspector begins to see foul play and resolves to uncover the truth of the murders and Salem's conviction.

Salem has barrister Mr. Clemens as his next target. Following a visit from the inspector, the bedridden Clemens calls Anton to his home and confronts him about certain inaccuracies during the trial. Anton leaves after giving Clemens a sedative, and Salem enters his lawyer's room and kills him in his sleep with a lethal injection.

Salem proceeds to the farmhouse where he acquires a fur coat, biding his time as Ester called the inspector. Salem reveals that Anton murdered the farmhand when he caught him and Emma attempting to burn down the farmhouse which they could not sell because of Salem. After the police leave, Ester is cornered and hacked to pieces by Salem when she attempts to flee. Anton arrives as Salem proceeds to wipe the blood on the doctor's clothes before running back to the asylum. Broken, Anton confesses his crime to the inspector as he hurries to the asylum.

Salem manages to return to his cell before being discovered. But his alibi is ruined in a completely unexpected, spectacular way. This bang also forms the final punch line of the film.

The book opens with Henry's desiring to do "something important." His older friend Scooter McCarthy rides by on his paper route, and he asks Henry if he knows of any boys who might be interested in delivering papers. Henry eagerly volunteers, but Scooter points out that all paper boys must be 11 years old. Henry is ten and a half, but Scooter still refuses.

Henry decides to visit Mr. Capper, the manager of the local paper routes, and ask him for a job. On the way, he stops at a rummage sale and ends up buying some kittens. These cause him some embarrassment when he visits Mr. Capper, who tells him he's not old enough for a route. In an attempt to impress Mr. Capper and get the job, Henry decides to sell subscriptions to the newspaper. He offers the kittens as free gifts to new subscribers. This idea doesn't work out, and he gives the kittens to the local pet store. Henry ends up buying back one of the kittens - with his father's permission - and names it Nosy. Henry is worried how his dog Ribsy will react, but Ribsy actually takes to Nosy quite well.

During the school's paper drive, Scooter asks Henry to take over his route for an afternoon. Henry uses Scooter's newspapers to advertise for the paper drive. Scooter, enraged at Henry's stewardship of his route, makes it into a competition. However, Henry, with his friends' help, wins the Paper Drive for the school. Unfortunately, it's a bit too successful for Henry's taste, and he vows not to advertise the following year.

Henry soon turns eleven years old, and later discovers that Scooter has caught chicken pox. Scooter once again asks him to take over his route; as a result, he and Henry become good friends again. Henry then learns that one of the older boys will be giving up his route soon, and Henry hopes to take it over. In the meantime, he meets a new neighbor named Murph, whom he suspects is a genius.

Henry is later dismayed to learn that he doesn't get to take over the older boy's route; it's been given to Murph instead. Eventually, though, Murph gives up the route because he doesn't know to handle Ramona Quimby, who is taking the papers off of each customer's lawn and throwing them onto random lawns because she too wants to be a "paper boy".

Murphy lets Henry have the route, and at first Henry is worried that he might lose it because of Ramona's antics. He eventually outsmarts Ramona, though, and continues with his new route.

Drafted from the solar system's best and brightest young people, Titan Force Five once defended the capital of Saturn's moon Titan using the heavily armed Mecha Titan Maximum. However, the team was disbanded due to budget cuts after a series of escalating incidents caused by Titan Force Five. Two years later, after the team members have long separated and gone to ground in civilian jobs (one of them, Spud, has even died in an accident), their former teammate Gibbs returns as a villain who wants to conquer the Solar System with an army of monsters. Now the three remaining Titan Force Five members have to reform the team to stop him. Along for the ride are Palmer's younger brother Willie (a nerdy mechanical genius) and Leon (their silent monkey janitor), who take on the former roles of Gibbs and Spud, respectively.

Taking place in between ''Shinkenger'' Acts 24 and 25, the Shinkengers battle the newly revived Kusare Gedoushu Aburame Manpuku and his army for three days. The wounded and tired Shinkengers nearly lose, had the Kusare Gedoushu not needed to regain energy by soaking in the Sanzu River. As their wounds are treated, Jii reveals that he has found the Secret Disk used by the first Shinken Red to seal Manpuku at the Genryu Temple, which lies in the middle of Kusare Gedoushu territory. Using Ryunosuke and Kotoha's plan to sneak in disguised as members of the Nanashi Company, Takeru gets the Founding Secret Disk only to see that it is actually a cryptic message left by the first Shinken Red Shiba Retsudō of obtaining power when facing it. Unable to decipher the riddle, the Shinkengers lose hope until they overhear children praying and decide to face the Kusare Gedoushu without the Disk. The next day, the Shinkengers confront the Kusare Gedoushu once more. The vassals hold off the Kusare Nanashi Company members as Shinken Red battles Manpuku. Elsewhere, not wanting his quarry to die by another's hand, Juzo attempts to join the fray as Genta intervenes and becomes Shinken Gold to fight Juzo. Losing to Manpuku, Shinken Red realizes the meaning behind Retsudō's message as he uses the Secret Disk to break the seal Retsudō placed on Manpuku's body to restore the Disk's full power. This turns it into the Kyoryu Disk and turns Shinken Red into Hyper Shinken Red, and his Shinkenmaru into the Kyoryumaru. With these newfound powers, Hyper Shinken Red single-handedly defeats the Kusare Nanashi before slaying Manpuku. Reviving into giant size, Manpuku opens up into his true form which overpowers Tenku ShinkenOh until the Kyoryumaru transforms into the Kyoryu Origami and bites off the Kusare Gedoshu's snake head before combining with ShinkenOh to form Kyoryu ShinkenOh to destroy Manpuku once and for all.

On June 30, 1997, assassin Reginald "Reg" Cameron enters a club and assassinates a high ranking People's Liberation Army officer, General Wu. Fearing revenge against him, several friends and colleagues urge him to flee Hong Kong. To add to the troubles, at midnight, the Chinese army will begin to enter the city as British rule expires on July 1. He must escape to avoid any further attempts on his life.

After escaping multiple assassination attempts against himself, his colleagues Simon and Jack drop him off at a safe house, Chun's Martial Arts School for the time being while they attempt to find out who is trying to kill him. Chun's is owned by Reg's ex-girlfriend Katie and her grandfather Master Chun. Katie reveals to Reg that her grandfather defected from Red China during the Cold War and will be wanted once Chinese rule goes into effect by the government. They plan to flee on a flight to Malaysia just before midnight. While Master Chun is delighted to Reg again but Katie eagerly dismisses him when Simon calls with information about his would-be assassins.

On his way to meet Simon and Jack, more would-be assassins attempt to kill Reg. He is intercepted by Simon and Jack in a car where they explain that Triad gangs are attempting to kill him due to the high price put on his head for his earlier assassination. Knowing he must finally flee, he decides to meet with Katie and Master Chun for their flight to Malaysia. On the way he explains why he is such a successful assassin. He does not care about anything caught in collateral damage as he had to witness his parents being murdered in India when he was 11 years old.

At the airport, Reg prepares to part ways from Simon and Jack by giving his guns to Jack, whom the latter had no idea he was an assassin at first. However, as Chun, Katie and Reg are about to board the plane, more assassins converge on the airstrip. Jack decides to finally use a gun and starts shooting at the assassins, killing some. However, he eventually is shot and killed, which Reg witnesses and deeply affects him. While fleeing the airport on a motorboat, Chun is shot in the arm. Reg's protégé and lover, Li, arrives at the port to assist in their escape. However, she is killed and her death affects Reg even more than Jack's death. Knowing they need medical attention, they stop at a Chinese checkpoint as troops are rolling in from the mainland for assistance. Katie is skeptical due to Chun being a defector but reluctantly accepts help from the guards. Chun receives treatment for his wounds and tells the others to meet him at Kennedy Port in the morning.

They eventually travel to Reg and Simon's company to call off the hit on Reg's head so it will be easier for them to flee the country. Going through a shootout to the main computer, they are able to mark Reg as being dead and the bounty collected by Simon. But before they can escape, a colleague of Reg and Simon, Malcolm Goodchild, appears and reveals that it was he who placed the bounty on Reg, knowing that he would be labeled as a national hero for killing an assassin of a Chinese General. Reg and Malcolm fight on an elevator and as Malcolm gains the upper hand, the door opens and Katie shoots Malcolm.

That morning, the four escape Hong Kong via boat from Kennedy Port along with Chun, who meets them there as promised.

In 1984, civilisation has been ravaged by world war, civil conflict, and revolution. Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain) is a province of Oceania, one of the three totalitarian super-states that rule the world. It is ruled by "The Party" under the ideology of "Ingsoc" (a Newspeak shortening of "English Socialism") and the mysterious leader Big Brother, who has an intense cult of personality. The Party brutally purges out anyone who does not fully conform to their regime, using the Thought Police and constant surveillance through telescreens (two-way televisions), cameras, and hidden microphones. Those who fall out of favour with the Party become "unpersons", disappearing with all evidence of their existence destroyed.

In London, Winston Smith is a member of the Outer Party, working at the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to conform to the state's ever-changing version of history. Winston revises past editions of ''The Times'', while the original documents are destroyed after being dropped into ducts known as memory holes, which lead to an immense furnace. He secretly opposes the Party's rule and dreams of rebellion, despite knowing that he is already a "thought-criminal" and is likely to be caught one day.

While in a prole (Proletariat) neighbourhood, he meets Mr. Charrington, the owner of an antiques shop, and buys a diary where he writes criticisms of the Party and Big Brother. To his dismay, when he visits a prole quarter he discovers they have no political consciousness. As he works in the Ministry of Truth, he observes Julia, a young woman maintaining the novel-writing machines at the ministry, whom Winston suspects of being a spy, and develops an intense hatred of her. He vaguely suspects that his superior, an Inner Party official O'Brien, is part of an enigmatic underground resistance movement known as the Brotherhood, formed by Big Brother's reviled political rival Emmanuel Goldstein.

One day, Julia secretly hands Winston a love note, and the two begin a secret affair. Julia explains that she also loathes the Party, but Winston observes that she is politically apathetic and uninterested in overthrowing the regime. Initially meeting in the country, they later meet in a rented room above Mr. Charrington's shop. During the affair, Winston remembers the disappearance of his family during the civil war of the 1950s and his tense relationship with his estranged wife Katharine. Weeks later, O'Brien invites Winston to his flat, where he introduces himself as a member of the Brotherhood and sends Winston a copy of ''The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism'' by Goldstein. Meanwhile, during the nation's Hate Week, Oceania's enemy suddenly changes from Eurasia to Eastasia, which goes mostly unnoticed. Winston is recalled to the Ministry to help make the necessary revisions to the records. Winston and Julia read parts of Goldstein's book, which explains how the Party maintains power, the true meanings of its slogans, and the concept of perpetual war. It argues that the Party can be overthrown if proles rise up against it. However, Winston feels that it does not answer 'why' the Party is motivated to maintain power.

Winston and Julia are captured when Mr. Charrington is revealed to be a Thought Police agent, and imprisoned at the Ministry of Love. O'Brien arrives, also revealing himself as a Thought Police agent. O'Brien tells Winston that he will never know whether the Brotherhood actually exists and that Emmanuel Goldstein's book was written collaboratively by O'Brien and other Party members. Over several months, Winston is starved and tortured to bring his beliefs in line with the Party. O'Brien reveals that the Party "seeks power for its own sake."

O'Brien takes Winston to Room 101 for the final stage of re-education, which contains each prisoner's worst fear. When confronted with a cage holding frenzied rats, Winston betrays Julia by wishing the torture upon her instead. Winston is released back into public life and continues to frequent the Chestnut Tree Café. One day, Winston encounters Julia, who was also tortured. Both reveal that they have betrayed the other and no longer possess mutual affections. Back in the café, a news alert celebrates Oceania's supposed massive victory over Eurasian armies in Africa. Winston finally accepts that he loves Big Brother.

Stork is a 6-foot 7 hypochondriac who dreams of revolution and works at General Motors Holden. He is sacked from his job after doing a strip tease at work and goes to live in a share house in Carlton with his friend Westy and two trendy young men, Tony and Clyde, who share the same girlfriend, Anna. Stork loses his virginity to Anna and falls in love with her.

Anna falls pregnant and Clyde decides to marry her. Stork interrupts the wedding.

The novel is about The Hon. Bertie Cecil (nicknamed ''Beauty of the Brigades'').

In financial distress because of his own profligacy and the loss of an important horse-race on which he has bet extensively, and falsely accused of forgery, but unable to defend himself against the charge without injuring the "honour" of a lady and also exposing his younger brother (the real culprit), Cecil fakes his own death and exiles himself to Algeria where he joins the ''Chasseurs d'Afrique'', a regiment comprising soldiers from various countries, rather like the French Foreign Legion.

After Cecil's great childhood friend and the friend's beautiful sister show up in Africa, and after a series of melodramatic self-sacrifices by Cecil and by the young girl Cigarette, a "child of the Army" who sacrifices her life saving Cecil from a firing squad, the main conflicts are resolved and the surviving characters return to England to fortune, title, and love.

In the city of Horne, a 14-year-old boy named Brandt must present himself to the king as a custom of entering manhood. Upon arriving, Brandt finds the King distraught and is told to go find Princess Aire and save her from the Witch of the North, Louhi. On the way, Brandt is joined by his friend Jusqua and the princess's bodyguard Yunita, who help him rescue Princess Aire and slay Louhi. However, when they return to town, everyone's been turned to stone by the witch's curse and the king is nowhere to be found.

While Brandt and Yunita attempt to restore Horne's people, Jusqua prefers to flee and takes Aire to the city of Liberte. Brandt and Yunita meet a man named Krinjh in the desert, who helps them find the Merkmal to find Guera, the kingdom of magic. King Guera asks them to slay the Sand Demon, who is actually a girl named Ariadne who Krinjh disappears with. Aire meets a fairy named Lilibelle who reveals a hidden treasure in Liberte, which transforms Aire into a cat. Leaving Jusqua, Aire finds Brandt, who's left Yunita, as the two head to Arbor forest. Due to the Queen's distrust of humans, Brandt is turned into a plant, forcing Aire, with the help of a mouse named Torte, to obtain an Animal Staff, which turns him into a dog.

Arbaroc, Guardian of Arbor, forces the party to defeat him in combat. The Queen of Arbor thanks them by making the Animal Staff into the Transformation Staff so they can regain their forms while telling them that Rolan of the floating island of Spelvia may know the way to solve their problem. However, only Aire makes it across while Brandt plummets back into Arbor. Meanwhile, mistaking a normal cat for Aire, Jusqua travels to the city of Urbeth and finds both Yunita and a sorcerer who offers to lift the animal hex for 10,000 gil. Jusqua learns the sorcerer is a con artist as he escapes into the night towards Invidia, and leaves Yunita behind and pursues the sorcerer on one of the merchants' boats. He is reunited with Brandt before learning Aire was with Brandt the whole time.

Once Brandt and Jusqua arrive at Invidia, they meet a young girl named Rekoteh who assists them in getting the Dragon's Harp, allowing them to summon a dragon, which flies them to Spelvia. By that time, the island is over Urbeth and Yunita chooses to climb up the Tower to the Sky in order to reach it. She soon meets Aire as the two arrive into town, finding its ruler, Rolan, locked away in solitude with his bitterness towards humans influencing the Golems to attack any human. As a result, Yunita and Aire travel into Rolan's subconscious with the help of the Witch of the Sky. They destroy the monsters that are controlling Rolan but this causes him to unleash the darkness locked away inside him and warp reality itself by the time the girls are reunited with Brandt and Jusqua, sending them all several years into the past. As a result, the 4 children must embark on an epic quest to find the Weapons of Light to save not only their home of Horne, but even the world from the Dark Lord that Rolan had once sealed away.

In Guera's past, Krinjh is a servant to the previous king. This king is actually Asmodeus, demon of lust, in disguise and uses Krinjh to earn the trust of Ariadne and get a seedling from Arbor to become all-powerful and then attempts to break them apart. Yunita prevents this by using the Merkmal to reveal Asmodeus and the groups defeats him. In return, Krinjh gives them the Shield of Light. Krinjh becomes king and creates diplomatic relations between Guera and Arbor. In Liberte's past, an artist, Pione, is attempting to create the most beautiful piece of art and incorporates Lillibelle into it. However, a group of pirates steal the work and Aire wants to do everything it takes to stop them. It turns out the entire pirate crew was being possessed and after freeing them, the group awakens Cetus, the ancient whale and uses him to help defeat Leviathan, demon of envy.

In Urbeth's past, a plague ravages the city and the only cure costs absurd amounts which leads to Urbeth to go from a city of faith to a city of commerce. Town leader Thauzand's daughter is unfortunately one of the victims. However, Jusqua is determined to prevent this and finds a vial of the cure. It is revealed that the apothecary in town is causing the plague and selling the overpriced medicine. The group reveals him to be Beelzebub, demon of gluttony, and defeats him. In return, Thauzand gives the group the Cape of Light and Urbeth becomes a town of the perfect balance of faith and commerce. In Arbor's past, Torte, as a human, releases Belphegor, demon of sloth, in trying to obtain the spell Lux. As punishment, he is turned into a mouse and it is decided that no humans would be allowed in Arbor. In the meantime, Belphegor is trying to possess Arbaroc and destroy Arbor. In the original history, he succeeds in the possession, but thanks to the intervention of Torte and the group, he is defeated instead and the group is rewarded with the legendary white magic Lux.

In Invidia's past, there is a winter that threatens to destroy the town. In response, Rekoteh's father, who expects her to be as strong as her brother, Rolan, despite being much younger, asks her to retrieve the Dragon's Mark which Brandt decides to go get for her. They give it to her and when she shows it to her father, he asks the group to take it and stop whatever is going on at the Sun Temple. The group arrives and defeats Mammon, demon of greed. Upon their return, Invidia is finally hit with spring, and Rekoteh's father apologizes to his daughter and gives the group the Armor of Light. In Spelvia's past, the group arrives just before it's too late to save Rolan from the darkness. They delve into his soul again and defeat Lucifer, demon of pride, freeing Rolan's soul from darkness and giving him the confidence he needs to be a hero. He gives them the Sword of Light.

In Horne's past, a drought has caused the popular vote to go towards asking Louhi for help. Beneath the castle, despite this being the date of Aire's birth, the king is contacting Louhi for help. In exchange for Aire, Louhi agrees to break the seal on the legendary black magic. It's the group's eventual defiance of this deal by saving Aire and killing the witch that causes the curse. The group is appalled that their king would do such a thing and travels to Louhi's mansion. There, Rolan shows up and tells Louhi to break her agreement with the king and advises the group to get the Lamp of Truth. With the lamp, they reveal the king to actually be Satan, demon of wrath, and defeat him. Brandt's parrot shows up and uses the Lamp of Truth to turn into the real king. In the beginning of the game, they were actually tricked into serving Satan meaning they were actually on the side of evil since Louhi also works for Rolan. This also implies that Satan was planning to betray Louhi and violate the contract for a long time. In thanks, the king gives the group the legendary black magic Desolator.

At this time, the Dark World opens and with the help of Cetus, the group enters, and defeats Asmodeus, Leviathan, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Mammon, Lucifer, and Satan again and then faces off against Chaos, the Dark Lord. In the final fight after the crystal (which has granted them numerous powers throughout the game) appears to heal the group, Chaos destroys it and still manages to lose to the group despite them losing their major source of power. The group then travels the world returning all seven of their recently obtained items. Now that the world is returned to normal, everyone remembers them and all they have done for them.

Andy Davidson comes across a girl in a river as he patrols. As he helps her, the girl screams at him before running off, leaving Andy confused. He comes across the girl again as he attends to a dispute between her and a shopkeeper who claims she shoplifted. The shopkeeper accuses the girl of holding a gun, but when it's revealed to Andy, he notes that it looks more like a radar gun. When the girl is unresponsive, Andy takes her to the police station.

At the Hub, Jack Harkness practices knife throwing while Gwen Cooper has troubles operating the Rift database. While Jack teases Gwen's annoyance at both the database and himself to Ianto Jones, Gwen receives a phone call from Andy regarding the girl.

Jack, Andy and Gwen watch the girl and a police woman talk. The girl is still unresponsive, but via interior monologue, the girl recalls memories of being bullied at school and being called a 'Ghostie'. Jack states that she will go with Torchwood as she and the gun are connected, though Andy protests that she is his case.

As Gwen talks to her, the girl remembers her mother crying. She becomes disorientated as she tells Gwen her name is Freda, and speaks with a Welsh accent. Gwen proceeds to take blood tests while Jack and Ianto return to the Hub with the gun. In the SUV, Jack toys with it and they realise the gun has the power to immobilise security systems and in particular, the traffic. Using a motorbike, Jack and Ianto speed away to the Hub while the city remains gridlocked.

Gwen and Andy take Freda to a safe house while Jack and Ianto run the appropriate tests. Gwen tells Andy that Freda is now Torchwood's responsibility and they're keeping Freda safe. While Gwen attends to a burn on her arm, Freda recalls a house fire as well as a Cardiff address and the name of a woman. She asks to go to the address as it may help jog her memory, and Gwen and Andy argue about the decision.

While Freda bathes, Gwen receives a phone call from the Hub stating that Freda came through the Rift and has the potential to control what comes through. Gwen tells Jack about the address and contact, and Jack warns her to stay focused. At the safe house, Andy pesters Gwen about mentions of the Rift until Freda interrupts them. Gwen decides to give Freda a haircut and clothes to help her blend in while Andy remains in a state of disbelief as he comes to the realisation that Freda is in fact, from the future; as her gun is actually a future form of personal debit machine. In the Hub, Jack's investigation into Freda's contact, Moira Evans draws up the conclusion that she is a resident of the address Freda provided, but doesn't exist. Ianto remarks that Freda's immune system prove that she is not human.

At the safe house, Freda exhibits more signs that her memory is returning as Gwen cuts her hair. Freda tells Gwen that she fell out of the sky after being trapped in a fire. Gwen then tells Freda about the Rift and how she wound up in the river in 2009, instead of her own time, 2069. Jack rings Gwen's phone and upon receiving orders to take Freda back to the Hub, Andy confronts Gwen about Freda's results. Andy chastises Gwen for not letting him know about Torchwood and refuses to let her take Freda into isolation. Gwen blurts out that Freda is an alien, which is followed by Freda jumping out of the window and running away.

As they drive after Freda, Andy relays his disbelief and surprise about Torchwood and what Gwen is involved in. Gwen manages to calm him down enough to make Andy drive sanely. They reach Freda at the address she provided earlier and try to calm her down and bring her in. Freda becomes hysterical toward Andy and Gwen, stating they wanted to imprison her; while Andy misjudges her completely. Freda reveals she is half human, that Moira Evans was her grandmother, and begins to remember the house fire once before exclaiming that people like Gwen and Andy killed her mother.

Jack arrives, ordering Freda to surrender; to which Freda challenges him before using the motorbike to escape once again. Andy suggests he drive and the three of them chase after Freda. In the car, Gwen and Jack discuss ways of subduing Freda, with use of grenades and stun guns. Horrified, Andy abruptly stops the car and chastises the both of them for treating Freda like a monster. Jack remarks that she is an alien on the run, but Andy points out that Freda is also half human and the only reason she's running is because she is scared and people like Jack and Gwen are planning on shooting her. He asks to speak with her first before they use the stun gun, and Jack reluctantly agrees.

They reach the river where Freda came from, and Andy finds Freda about to jump off a bridge. Andy tells her he's sorry about her mother and that he feels alienated like she does some of the time and that makes them both equal, no matter their species. Andy helps Freda back over the edge and they return to the Hub. Freda explains to Gwen that her grandmother's species sought refuge on Earth and that the memories of the fire are too much for her to remember. She tells Gwen she was saved by a man who opened a space for her in the roof. Gwen offers to retcon her so she can start anew, but Freda denies it; stating she doesn't want to forget her mother entirely. Gwen asks Freda the name of the man who saved her from the fire, to which Freda drowsily replies 'Torchwood', before falling asleep.

Gwen returns to the group and Andy offers to sit in with Freda. Gwen explains Freda's story to the others and Jack is still adamant in isolating her as her future knowledge is too dangerous. Ianto remarks that Jack is being hypocritical and that perhaps the future Torchwood has sent Freda to them for their benefit. Gwen and Ianto come to the realisation that they need to take responsibility for the good things that come through the Rift, like Freda and prompt Jack to introduce an asylum policy.

As Andy sits in with Freda, she awakens suddenly, asking for her mother. Andy calms her down and gets her back to sleep after explaining she's had a bad dream. He promises her that she will be fine, and Freda's closing monologue describes her fall into sleep as calm, and not being alone.

Season 1

While she is still human, Jessica is brought to a vampire trial. At this trial, the Magister (enforcer of vampire law) is reviewing the case of Bill Compton, who murdered another vampire that was trying to kill his girlfriend Sookie Stackhouse. The Magister decides that as a punishment for his deeds, Bill is sentenced to replenishing their numbers by converting Jessica. Bill is reluctant but willingly goes along with the sentence as the Magister would torture her and make him watch, draining the struggling Jessica of all her blood and burying her underground with him for one night. This process transforms Jessica into a vampire successfully, but she is under the reign of her "maker", Bill, to which she does not take kindly. Jessica at first is saddened at the fact she can never go back to her family and live a normal life but immediately cheers over her new-found freedom and enhanced abilities. Bill teaches her to drink synthetic blood, as opposed to human blood, but Jessica doesn't like the synthetic blood. Eventually, she becomes such an obstacle to Bill that he leaves her to his vampire sheriff, Eric Northman (who she is attracted to), excited at the fact that she gets to feed off humans and spend time with him she agrees. However, Eric grows tired of her as well and once again leaves her with Bill.

Season 2

Sookie befriends Jessica and they bond over the grief they feel after having lost their family. Jessica feigns sympathy, and convinces Sookie to take her to see Jessica's family, but Jessica enters her old home, going against what she promised to Sookie, and confronts her father when he prepares to strike her with his belt in retaliation for being away for so long. Jessica states that her family is sick and that she desires to kill her father, but Bill intervenes and saves Jessica's family from harm, later erasing their memories and realizing her human life is over. After this, Jessica gradually begins to understand how to be a good vampire and starts a relationship with a human from Bill's hometown, Hoyt Fortenberry. At the Carmilla Hotel, both admit they are still virgins and Hoyt covers the bed with rose petals before the two finally make love. Later in the series, as Jessica starts to have sex with Hoyt, she realizes her hymen has regenerated to its virginal state and she will always be a "vampire virgin". They break up briefly because of a conflict between Jessica and Hoyt's overbearing mother, Maxine, who is prejudiced against vampires, but eventually reconcile.

Season 3

Jessica drains a trucker, killing him. She quickly regrets it and tries to heal him, but it doesn't work. Jessica is confronted by a vampire named Franklin Mott, who pulls the trucker's severed head from a paper bag. He tells Jessica he will help keep the corpse a secret in exchange for information on Bill. Jessica is hired by Sam as a hostess at Merlotte's. While working, Jessica runs into Chip, an old classmate from Bible study. He is stunned to see her alive since her parents have been telling people she is dead. Jessica glamours Chip and convinces him that he never saw her. After a fight with Arlene, Jessica glamours all her customers not to tip her. She later regrets it and glamours the last customer into giving Arlene a big tip- after Jessica successfully feeds on the woman, without harming her.

After Bill returns to Bon Temps, he releases her as her maker. Jessica not wanting to be alone however, declines to leave. The two reconcile and Bill trains Jessica to fight vampires and werewolves. Later that night, Jessica and Bill fight two werewolves in Sookie's house. After one escapes outside, Jessica follows him. She's captured by Russell, who bites her in front of Bill. He convinces Russell to let her go. Jessica captured the werewolf and drank from him. Hoyt shows up at Merlotte's with his new girlfriend Summer, and the couple are seated by a visibly upset Jessica. Hoyt tells Jessica he still has feelings for her and doesn't like Summer. Jessica becomes emotional, and Tommy Mickens only sees the end of the conversation which adds to his hatred of Hoyt. Hoyt tells Jessica that he loves her before he leaves Merlottes. As he leaves, he is attacked by Tommy (who has shifted into his dog form). Jessica comes to the rescue, telling Hoyt she loves him too. Injured, Hoyt drinks from Jessica so his wounds will heal.

After Russell's appearance on TBBN, humans burn a cross on Bill and Jessica's front lawn. Jessica wants to hunt them down, but Bill convinces her that now is not the time for revenge. Jessica and Hoyt get back together. They tell each other how badly they missed one another. When things start getting serious, Jessica tells him about killing the trucker. She explains she's not going to stop drinking human blood and Hoyt immediately offers his own neck. Jessica goes right for it and Hoyt seems to like the experience. At the end of the season she is seen moving into a small house with Hoyt. The camera pans away to show a small voo-doo like doll on the floor. Maxine and Summer are also seen purchasing guns and wooden bullets at a nearby gun shop.

Season 4

Jessica and Hoyt are seen living together for over a year. After working all day, Hoyt becomes angry with Jessica for not cooking him dinner, and really doesn't like how dependent Hoyt is toward her, but he reminds her that she lives in his home and she feeds on him. The brief fight ends with the two laughing over a plate of uncooked eggs. Later, Hoyt brings Jessica to Fangtasia for a date night. Jessica flirts with other men which Pam describes as "you've been eye-fucking every fang-banger in the place."

Jessica has the urge to go back to Fangtasia. She leaves to buy Hoyt some Advil, but after seeing a sign to Shreveport, she heads to Fangtasia. As soon as she enters, she approaches the young guy she saw while there with Hoyt. She feeds on him in the bathroom. Sookie, who is also there, confronts Jessica. She quickly tells Sookie to mind her own business.

Feeling guilty for biting another human, Jessica goes to Bill for advice. She returns home to tell Hoyt the truth. Hurt and angry, Hoyt and Jessica argue before she decides to glamour him into forgetting.

In a later episode, Hoyt and Jessica find Jason passed out and injured on the side of a road. Jessica quickly helps him by giving him her blood, healing him. Because she gave him her blood she is able to sense him and how he is feeling. In episode 6 of season 4 Jessica finds Jason in the woods panicked about turning into a werepanther (which he doesn't turn into in the end). She helps calm him down and talks to him for a while. The two part ways some time later but it is obvious that there is something going on between them, unspoken tension. Jessica later breaks up with Hoyt and moves back into Bill's house. Jason later comes by to drop off a box of Jessica's things from Hoyt's, and they end up having sex in the back of Jason's pick up truck.

On Halloween night, Jessica shows up on Jason's doorstep dressed in a sexy Halloween costume and the two make love but not form a relationship, though Jason boosts her confidence.

Season 5

Jason is glamoured into listening to newly vampire Steve Newlin's story: he is gay and claims to be in love with Jason, who wants nothing to do with Newlin. Angered, Newlin attacks Jason and tries to bite him. Jessica then appears and threatens Newlin by saying that she has claimed Jason. Later, while partying with College students, when Jason comes in, still having feelings for her. After playing Guitar Hero, Jason tries to make a move on Jessica, but she rejects him, and makes out with a college guy, making Jason jealous. Jason then brings one of the girls with him to have sex, but instead takes her to her home, while Jessica watches him leave, wordless. Jessica develops a personality similar to Pam's such as dressing sexy, talking down to others and hitting on as many guys as she can, relishing at the fact that she is the Princess Of Louisiana and all the privileges that come with it. Jessica tries to befriend the newly turned Tara, however the two come to blows over Tara's attempt to go too far drinking Hoyt, who has become a "fang-banger."

While at Fangtasia another night, she is seduced by a young man and leaves the bar with him. She is then captured by a human supremacists group who have been responsible for the recent killings of super natural beings. Hoyt, who unknowingly became friends with members of the group, is brought in to kill Jessica for breaking his heart. They are locked in a room together with a guard outside; making it impossible to escape unless Hoyt kills her. There Jessica admits she no longer loved him when she cheated on him with Jason and might never love him again. Hoyt shoots the gun so that the guard will open the door, and Jessica is able to break the guard's neck. Hoyt goes to get help, as Jessica cannot leave during the day and she thanks him for not killing her, and Hoyt threatens to kill her for real if he sees her again. After both Hoyt and Sookie are rescued from the hate group, Hoyt tells Jason and Jessica that he plans to move to Alaska to start a new life, but wants Jessica to glamour him first. Tearfully, Jessica erases all of Hoyt's memories of his friendship with Jason, and their relationship as well. She then goes back to Bill's house.

Season 6

After invading the Authority's hideout, Jessica returns to Sookie's home with Bill, now with Lillth's blood in him waiting for them, after torturing her into summoning her, he attacks Eric, only for Sookie to stake him to no prevail, but Bill claims to come in peace, and Sookie unhinged tells him to stay away from Jessica if he is being genuine. To their surprise, Jessica sides with Bill, kicks them out, and agrees to become his advisor. Shortly afterwards, Bill has visions of Lilith and goes into a trance as he talks to her. Jessica, thinking Bill is comatose, tries to get him something to eat by calling a female prostitute, Veronica, so Bill can feed from her. Jessica can only watch in horror as Bill telekinetically contorts the woman's body in unspeakable ways, then siphons her blood through the air from her mouth until she is nothing more than a withered husk, at which point he goes comatose again.

After some coaxing and pleading, Bill lets Jessica help him with his plans by having her abduct Hido Takahashi, a college professor who is rumored to have been the creator of Tru Blood, as well as Andy Bellefleur's faerie daughters. Jessica attempts to entertain the four halfling daughters, but the girls quickly grow restless and bored. They tell Jessica they want to leave, but she tries to hold them there, knowing that Bill still needs their blood for synthesizing. One of the girls tries to push past Jessica, but Jessica stops her. The close proximity of the faerie blood causes Jessica to become insane with bloodlust, and she ends up killing three of the four. Horrified by what she's done, Jessica runs to Jason. Unbeknownst to her, Jason has been sleeping with Sarah Newlin, who arranges for Governor Burrell's LAVTF to capture Jessica and throw her in his vampire concentration camp.

Upon arrival, Jessica unintentionally almost causes a riot by refusing her vial of Tru Blood during feeding time. Tara stands her ground and defends Jessica, but the frenzy subsides when a woman who obviously holds power in the unit orders the other girls to leave Jessica alone. Later, she is sent to a room where she must have sex with another vampire, James, under Sarah's orders while Jason watches but he ultimately refuses and gets zapped with UV light and gets his fangs removed. Jessica is thankful to James and they have consensual sex, during which she unintentionally spouts out Sarah's plan to exterminate the entire vampire race through poisoning the TruBlood. Sarah finds out and sends Jessica to the white room to meet the sun. Bill saves her and the other vampire prisoners at the last moment with his new ability to daywalk, and supplies them with faerie blood to keep them alive, at the cost of his own powers.

Mason is summoned to the Laxter mansion in the dead of night to write granddaughter Wilma out of invalid Peter Laxter's will, to keep her from marrying suspected fortune hunter Doug. Peter dies in a mysterious fire and Laxter's two grandsons, Sam Laxter and Frank Oafley, inherit his estate on the condition old caretaker Schuster and his cat Clinker are kept on. When cat-hating Sam threatens Clinker, Perry steps in and learns Laxter's death was suspicious and the family fortune and diamonds are missing.

Set in 1751, ''Measure for Pleasure'' uses classic farce, including mistaken identities, mismatched lovers, deception and wordplay.

Theater critic Anthony Del Valle summed the plot as follows:

The series focuses on inner city crime life in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. Ex-criminal Michael O'Connor (Dougray Scott) comes back to Ireland to live with his new pregnant partner Anna, free from his past life of crime. Michael was arrested and spent years in prison, leaving his wife Lynne and son Séan (Reece Noi) on their own. Three days later his wife Lynne was murdered, leaving Michael devastated, and he quickly turns his back on crime. He returns to Ireland, leaving his son Séan behind in the care of Lynne's sister Connie. Connie and Séan live in a gang-ridden Manchester suburb. Séan distances himself from the gangs, and their culture of violence. But it's not long until gang leader Jacob King (Dwayne Scantlebury) disturbs the peace. However, with the unfolding of unexpected events, Séan is arrested for a murder which he did not commit, and is imprisoned. These events lead his father Michael back to Manchester to help free his son from prison. Manchester, however brings back painful memories for Michael, as it was here his wife was murdered, and comes to terms that his past involvement in crime resulted in Lynne's death.

Perry is asked by an Australian Bishop to take the case of a woman who was falsely accused of manslaughter 22 years ago. During his investigations Perry gets involved in another murder for which Ida, the woman he is supposed to free, gets arrested.

United States Air Force flyers Rick Williams (Ron Hagerthy) and Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson) attempt to meet Nell Wayne (Janice Rule), a (fictitious) film star performing in a star-studded musical in San Francisco. Rick and Nell were both from the same small town, but had never met. Mike attempts to convince both the staff and cast members at the theater that Rick and Nell are best friends and are extremely close. Ruth Roman takes pity on them and takes them to meet Nell. However, the men first meet with Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, who are rehearsing the song "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal."

When they find that Nell is not there, and that if she were, she would reveal that she did not know the boys, Mike claims that they are both shipping out to the Korean front that night. This makes Ruth and Doris feel guilty, and they invite the boys to lunch. When Nell does arrive, not knowing him, she attempts to make their visit brief. Doris and Ruth had already guessed that the two didn't know each other, but still let him meet Nell.

Waiting for Nell had made the boys late for their bus to return to base so Doris, Ruth and Nell offer to drive them back to Travis Air Force base, all the while wearing fur coats and ball gowns for that night's movie premiere. Instead of being shipped to the front lines in Korea however, the boys operate routine transport flights to Honolulu, Hawaii. While at the base they go to the transport terminal, where many of the soldiers are waiting for their flights to be called. Doris gets on stage to dance and sing "'S Wonderful", while Nell and Ruth go out to the runway to kiss Rick goodbye. Nell gives Rick a good-luck charm from her charm bracelet. As they watch the aircraft take off, their driver, the colonel, suggests that they greet some wounded soldiers at the hospital, where Doris sings a medley of "You Oughta Be in Pictures" and "You Do Something To Me."

After making their appearance at the Air Force Base, the three ladies return to San Francisco to perform in the show ("What Is This Thing Called Love?"). When an aircraft with wounded soldiers arrives with Rick and Mike in it, unwounded, and fresh from Honolulu, Nell is furious for Rick lying to her about going to the Korean front lines. However, she keeps up the love act for gossip columnist Louella Parsons which allows the "Operation Starlift" celebrities to perform at Travis Air Force base. The next morning they sing and dance while the aircraft leave ("Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)").

That night the cast performs for the base ("God's Green Acres of Home," "It's Magic"). The next day the Warner Bros. president arranges for several other Warner Bros. actors to perform at the base that night. While visiting her parents Nell finds that Rick's parents are at her home...and so is Rick. After dinner the Waynes take the Williams out for a movie leaving Nell and Rick in the house alone together. They quarrel and Rick gives Nell back the charm from her bracelet. The next morning when the Williams arrive, Nell finds that Rick was sent overseas ahead of schedule. She rushes to the base but his flight had already left.

Meanwhile, the Starlift, the aircraft containing the film stars, had arrived, containing Virginia Mayo and Phil Harris ("I May Be Wrong (but I Think You're Wonderful)", "Noche Caribe (Caribbean Night)"). Phil Harris purposely loses $750 to a soldier while playing Gin Rummy before performing "Look Out, Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger."

Rick's aircraft arrives but he runs away from the hangar where Nell is waiting. While writing a letter to be given to him, Nell sees Rick enter the cafeteria and runs in after him. Without him realizing it she takes over for the waitress and makes him the chocolate malt he orders, just the way she did back in Youngstown, where her family had a malt shop. They drink the malt together, and they forgive each other. The next day, when Rick is finally shipped out, Nell is there to kiss him goodbye.

Queen Sakura, sovereign of the European kingdom of Vespania, is killed while out hunting. All indications suggest that she was accidentally shot by her son, Prince Gill, who immediately commits suicide, overcome by guilt. The title of heir to the throne of Vespania passes to Princess Mira, a girl who rejects the throne because she thinks that she's not the rightful heir. The coronation ceremony is threatened by a growing popular movement that believes Princess Mira is unfit to govern. Duke Keith, the chief of Commons, makes Daisuke Jigen, former trainer of Vespania's regular army, a personal guard of the princess. Simultaneously, Arsène Lupin III reaches Vespania; his and Jigen's plan is to get their hands on the crown for the Queens of the Realm.

To increase the princess' popularity, a trip around Japan is organized. A festival is held at the Grand Hotel West City Tama, which Kogoro Mouri and Conan Edogawa attend. At the party, Conan exposes an attempt to poison the princess. The princess wants nothing more than to escape from her condition, so in the confusion that follows, she sneaks away. Conan notices this, and follows her.

The Princess meets Ran Mouri, who is returning from evening classes. She notes an uncanny resemblance in their appearance, and decides to trade places with her. Ran, dressed as the princess, goes back to the hotel and explains what happened. Duke Keith, to avoid a diplomatic incident with Japan, forces Ran to continue to play the role of Mira. Duke Keith breaks his promise to return Ran after a press conference at the airport, and brings her to Vespania. Conan, who noticed what Duke Keith was doing, boards the plane, and is saved from hypothermia by the Duke. Desperate to save his daughter, Kogoro is aided by Inspector Megure, who calls in a fellow police academy graduate, Koichi Zenigata. Since it has been learned that Lupin has traveled to Vespania, Megure arranges for Kogoro to officially accompany Zenigata as his assistant to apprehend the master thief.

In the meantime, Mira is collected by Fujiko Mine, who knows her identity and offers to take her around Japan. Conan tracks the princess and chases the pair on his skateboard, but Fujiko loses him and disappears. Meanwhile, hidden beneath the kingdom is a mineral that thanks to its "complete stealth powers" may be totally invisible to radar. Using dowsing rods, Lupin locates the mineral and appropriates a piece of it to help him facilitate his theft of the crown.

Princess Mira has since returned to Vespania. Fujiko was hired by Duke Keith to remove the princess from court life to make her feel, at least for a while, the typical teenage experience, which helped her overcome her earlier cynical, fatalistic attitude. Mira, after visiting the place where her brother and mother died, decides to assume her duties as future queen, and agrees to return to the palace. Lupin later enters the vault of the building, and finds out that the crown has already been stolen by Fujiko. He is forced to give up and flee the building with Goemon Ishikawa XIII's aid when it is surrounded by police after an alarm sounds.

After meeting with Ran and Kogoro, Conan begins to investigate the murder of the Queen with the involuntary help of Jigen. After Conan and Kogoro have concluded their investigation, Conan tries to put Kogoro to sleep with a tranquilizer needle, but fails to hit Kogoro (who is actually Lupin in disguise), and hits Zenigata instead, who wakes up again after only a few seconds. Lupin reveals his secret identity to Conan, and helps resolve the case by pretending to be the true Kogoro. Together they reveal the truth: The murder of the queen is the work of Duke Gerard Musca Vespaland, Queen Sakura's own brother and the Prime Minister of Vespania. Gerard had also killed the prince, making the case seem to be a murder-suicide. His plan was to ascend to the throne himself, and to get rich from selling the ore the Queen had forbidden to mine, due to its potential to be used in war and her love for nature, which would have been destroyed if excessive mining had taken place.

Thanks to Conan and Lupin, Vespaland is apprehended, and Princess Mira becomes the new queen of Vespania, after Lupin returns the Queen's crown to her. Ran and Kogoro are welcomed as saviors of the kingdom, and Zenigata yearns for yet another fight with Lupin. Conan is taken in a car by members of the Japanese embassy, who are really Lupin and his gang, who have decided to help Conan return to Japan due to Conan's lack of a legal identification. Lupin explains that he returned to Vespania to honor a promise he made to Queen Sakura. He knows the true identity of the young detective, calling Conan Shinichi Kudou, while Conan promises them that if one day they cross paths again, he will definitely arrest them all. The film ends with Conan and Fujiko taking a ride on a borrowed submarine back to Japan, during which Fujiko begins to very closely "investigate" the effects the APTX-4869 had in transforming Shinichi Kudo into Conan Edogawa.

The Green and Tan armies are once again at war, this time by air. Players can select either the Huey, Chinook, Super Stallion or the Apache. In addition to the Tan Army are hordes of insects that players must also fight off. Players must protect tanks, trucks, other helicopters, a train, a teddy bear, and a UFO.

The players pilot one of four helicopters through the treacherous terrain of the backyard, picnic areas, and nearby beaches, engaging in Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground combat with enemies ranging from battleships to butterflies. They can utilise the unique abilities of each airship to capture giant Teddy Bears, blow up sand castles, and save Sarge from being melted by kids with a magnifying glass. The main character is a Green Air Cavalry pilot named Captain William Blade. This game has over 12 missions with three extra choppers to unlock. The first helicopter is a Huey, then a Chinook, a Super Stallion, and finally an Apache. There are also three extra co-pilots to unlock. The first pilot is 'Woodstock', then 'Rawhide', next is 'Hardcore', and lastly Sergeant Hawk. Captain William Blade, the leader of the newly formed Alpha Wolf Battalion, does battle against the Tan empire in both the real world and plastic world.

An extra co-pilot, ‘Bombshell’ (addressed as Felicity in-game) can be unlocked after beating the game's campaign.

We are introduced to the six-pack of ''Metropolis'' as they leave Leeds University. Cut to five years later. The three women, Charlotte (Louise Lombard), Sophie (Flora Montgomery) and Tanya (Emily Bruni) are, respectively, a junior financial hackette on a magazine, a researcher for the Conservative Party and an agony aunt. Only one of the men, Frank (Kris Marshall), works and he feels compelled to turn the tables on his insurance company employers. As an implausibly idealistic loss adjustor, he is disgusted by the company's scams to avoid pay-outs. He fiddles the claims in favour of the claimants. Matthew (Matthew Rhys) and Alastair (Jason Barry) have remained dope-smoking slackers. Ambitious Charlotte lives with indolent Matthew. Charlotte acts like a junior Sue Ellen Ewing – many lip gymnastics and soulful stares.

Mind you, unlike the richter-scale efforts of Texan Sue Ellen, Charlotte's lip tremors are tiny English quivers. Anyway, she cheats on Matthew and takes up with sixty-two-year-old billionaire lecher Milton Friedkin (James Fox). He feeds her career-enhancing stories and she feeds him her twenty-seven-year-old nubility. Primed by her sugar daddy, she gets her "first official byline". Meanwhile, Tanya is in a car crash. When she wakes up in hospital, a stalker, Nathan (James Purefoy) is managing, quite successfully and utterly unbelievably, to convince her that he is her boyfriend. The crash must have caused selective amnesia, he tells her. Fancying the nutter, she goes along with it in spite of the warnings of Sophie. As an agony aunt, she'd better write a letter to herself pretty quickly, because this one looks like it's going to end in tears if not worse.

After arguing with his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer seeks solace from his friend Huck Finn, who tells him about a mysterious cure for warts that requires them to visit the local cemetery at midnight. While there they witness a murder committed by Injun Joe, who convinces Muff Potter, who also was there but in an inebriated state, that he is guilty of the crime. Tom and Huck promise each other they will not divulge what they have seen.

When Tom is caught lying about stealing his half-brother Sid's crabapples, his Aunt Polly punishes him by making him whitewash the fence on a Saturday morning. The boy leads his friends to believe he is enjoying the task, and before long they are giving him their treasures in exchange for the privilege of joining in the fun.

Together with Huck and Joe Harper, Tom runs away from home to become a pirate. The three set off on a raft to Jacksons Island in the Mississippi River, where they remain for three days. Upon returning home, Tom discovers it was thought the three had drowned, and the boys attend their own funeral service at the church.

At Muff Potter's trial, Tom admits the truth about the murder, but Injun Joe manages to escape. While attending the school picnic near a cavern, Tom and Becky decide to explore it and get lost. As they try to find their way out, they stumble upon Injun Joe and a chest of gold. While angrily pursuing the two children, he falls into a crevasse and is killed. Huck finds Tom and Becky and leads them to safety, together with the treasure.

In the 1930s, Sorrowful Jones is a gloomy, cantankerous bookie who is confronted by Carter, a gambler who cannot pay a $10 debt. Carter gives his six-year-old daughter to Sorrowful's gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When Carter loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with the girl on their hands. Sorrowful's nervous assistant Regret is concerned about the legality of the arrangement, which might violate kidnapping statutes.

In the interim, a crime boss named Blackie coerces his longtime rival Sorrowful into financing a new gambling joint. It is opened in the stately home of Blackie's girlfriend, the widowed Amanda Worthington, who needs money to repurchase her family property. Amanda is also counting on her racehorse Sir Galahad to ride to her rescue. While the girl's personal needs inconvenience Sorrowful, a father-daughter relationship develops and they become inseparable.

The story begins with the team in Delhi, India, with Ianto watching packages being delivered to find anything suspicious. He finds out that the packages are addressed to Captain Jack Harkness. An energy field is being spread across Delhi, and while Gwen and Ianto try to remove the crowds from the city, the energy spike hits and everybody disappears except the Torchwood team. Jack seems to think that the people were marked before the spike hit, and suddenly Jack remembers a building that he had shut down 80 years ago that shouldn't exist. The building is Torchwood India.

There, Jack, Gwen and Ianto meet a secretary, Mr. Daz, who remembers Jack and find that the members of the Royal Connaught Club are still alive and have not aged a day. The Duchess, Eleanor, Duchess of Melrose, arrives with a shotgun and starts to shoot Jack, although Jack manages to convince her to stop shooting by explaining the situation. Torchwood India was founded by Queen Victoria to gather all alien artefacts in India, but on 28 February 1924 Captain Jack Harkness had everything shipped to Britain from Delhi.

The team split up to search the club, and while George Gissing takes Gwen and Ianto through the basement, he mentions that he knows that there used to be heaps of artefacts in Torchwood India. When Gwen claims that thousands of people just vanished before her eyes, Gissing does not believe her. Jack continues to talk to The Duchess, and she claims that the radiation from the residual energy of the alien artefacts has kept the three of them young and alive.

The Duchess, having had a fling in the past with Captain Jack, continues to toy with Jack and wishes to know why Torchwood India was shut. Jack replies that the Empire was coming to an end and would have to have been shut down in India, but if he could do it again he would have chosen differently and kept the branch open. Mr Gissing and Mr Daz take Gwen and Ianto hostage when they become too close to the artefacts, while The Duchess explains that she still had one artefact left – a time store which has kept 24 February 1924 every day until present day as they refused to embrace the changes happening in India and the closing of Torchwood. The power needed to sustain an entire club for 80 years is enormous, but the Duchess claims that it is now powered by people of India to keep the time store going, as India has a surplus of commoners according to Gissing.

The Duchess has plans to consume the entire earth to take them back to 24 February 1924 by buying wireless under Jack's name and using it to boost the energy field to change the world again, firstly by starting with Winston Churchill to stop the idea of independence. Eleanor has become insane during the time that she has spent in the club and sends Jack into the room which will feed them into the time store, but due to the fact that he cannot die the time store is feeding off him continuously and he tries desperately to save Gwen and Ianto from the same fate as the many innocent people of India. Jack manages to turn off the time store and the mast and has to get as many people out of the club before the club explodes from the time store. The time store ruptures, and everybody inside since 1924 refused to leave the club and are now frozen in time, marking the end of Torchwood India.

The book opens as a group of sea serpents have nearly finished their long journey upriver to encase themselves so they might hatch into dragons. It is late in the year and the serpents are older than is normal to make the journey. The last known dragon, Tintaglia, is overseeing this journey in the hopes that dragons will be reintroduced to the world. The Rain Wilds Council has agreed to help in exchange for her helping the Rain Wilds people in their war against Chalced. Sisarqua, a queen serpent, struggles to finish her casing and is assisted by Tintaglia.

The captain of the Tarman, Leftrin, comes across a piece of wizardwood, an encased dragon that has been washed away by the river. At first he thinks to sell it for an immense profit, but then decides to use it for his ship to protect it against the acidic river.

Thymara, an 11-year-old girl with claws and scaling, consistent with Rain Wilds defects from birth, goes with her father to watch the hatching of the dragons. She is shocked to find that the new hatchlings are weak and malformed. She communicates with one when her father is almost killed and eaten. Sisarqua has turned into a dragon, naming herself Sintara, and is distraught to realize that her proportions are all wrong and she is not what she should be, and will likely never fly.

Alise Kincarron is a plain, freckled young woman, past the prime age for marriage and suspecting spinsterhood. Most of her time is consumed by her passion for dragons and her studies thereof. She is unsure of the attention she is getting from a handsome local Trader, Hest Finbok. When finally confronting him, he admits that he is not in love with her, but is wishing for a marriage of convenience for both of them. If she can provide him with an heir, he will fund her fancies, including her research of dragons, including a trip to study the hatchling dragons since he had caused her to miss a trip she had already planned to watch them hatch. Agreeing, Alise begins to hope for a real marriage to her handsome suitor, but is desperately disappointed on her wedding night. She learns that the marriage was suggested by her childhood friend, Sedric. She ultimately decides that if she sold herself, she would demand a high price, and begins to use Hest's money freely to pursue her studies of dragons and Elderlings.

With some time having passed on the Tarman, the work with the wizardwood is finished. Captain Leftrin wants to give a lifetime contract to all of the workers to protect the secret of their illegal use of the forbidden substance. The only remaining man to sign is Swarge, who admits that he is betrothed and does not want to be separated from his new wife-to-be. Leftrin agrees to give a contract to Swarge's wife so that they may be together and Swarge signs the contract. Some time later, Captain Leftrin is blackmailed by a Chalcedean man, Sinad Arich, for passage to Trehaug. Leftrin hopes that he will never hear from the man again.

Meanwhile, Alise has given up on all efforts to make Hest attracted, or even interested in her, as they have all been met with failure or worse. Hest is displeased with Alise's inability to produce an heir and comes for another one of his unpleasant attempts to impregnate her. When she is unwilling, he rapes her. After the shame of this event, she accuses him of being unfaithful to her, in the hopes of ending their marriage contract, and provides proof in certain things she has noted, such as his luxurious perfumes and a second house that he rents. Hest is furious and demands that Sedric, his secretary and constant companion, confirm his fidelity. Sedric confirms, though it is later revealed to be a lie, as Sedric is, in fact, Hest's lover.

Four years have passed since the hatching and Sintara is sad and tormented by the dragon memories that she is filled with. The dragons are weak and unable to feed themselves, relying on hunters to provide them with a limited amount of food. As the more feeble dragons die off, the stronger ones consume them to claim their ancestral memories. Tintaglia has gone missing, not having been seen for some time. It is rumored that she has found a mate and no one, including the young dragons, believes that she will return. The dragons begin to yearn to find their way to the lost Elderling city of Kelsingra, or die trying. Mercor, who lacks in size what he makes up in wisdom, makes a plan to convince the Rain Wilds Council that it is their idea to transport the dragons toward the lost city using their ancestral memories as a guide.

Alise confronts Hest about the promise he made on their marriage contract that she would be allowed to go on a trip to study the newly hatched dragons. Hest is furious but when she threatens to spread the fact that he has put very little effort into conceiving a child on her, thus damaging his reputation, he agrees. in his anger, he sends Sedric with her, furious that Sedric took her side in the argument. Alise and Sedric travel to Trehaug on the liveship Paragon, a ship made of wizardwood that has gained sentience due to the wizardwood from which it was made. She learns about the truth of the malformed young dragons and how they are not like the dragons of old, and she begs Paragon to tell her of his dragon memories to make up for the disappointment. The liveship refuses, claiming that he has accepted his fate and that he does not want to recall those memories of what he could have been.

Though she has questioning resolve, Alise decides to visit the dragons regardless, and arranges to go from Trehaug to Cassarick to arrange to speak with the dragons. She and Sedric, much to his chagrin, are taken aboard the Tarman and Captain Leftrin is immediately infatuated with Alise. She is surprised by his attention but finds him charming and enjoys his company. He is summoned to the Rain Wilds Council to be a part of the voyage, carrying supplies and providing a safe place for the keepers. Alise agrees to join the expedition as a dragon expert in the place of the Eldering, Malta, who is with child and unable to go herself. Alise is simultaneously thrilled and terrified by the idea.

Captain Leftrin soon finds a message from Sinad Arich, terrified to realized that his blackmailer is not completely out of his life. The Trader tells him to keep an eye out for someone that he should recognize, and Leftrin hopes that it is not a hunter hired to help feed the dragons that he is acquainted with.

As the dragons' plan succeeds, Thymara is offered a job as a dragon keeper, to select a dragon and tend to it and hunt for it on the journey towards Kelsingra. Her father, who loved her enough to save her from being abandoned as a child (as per the norm for disfigured infants), refuses to let her go. Thymara, with high hopes for adventure and a life of her own, convinces him to let her go. Her friend, Tats, a Tattooed slave who had moved to the Rain Wilds when they were freed, also joins the expedition. Thymara notes that he is the only one not bearing Rain Wilds taint, and that he was discouraged from going, leading her to believe that the trip will be dangerous and that the council is intending to risk the lives of only those who are unworthy of life in the Rain Wilds, others bearing extensive taint like herself. She signs the contract and says farewell to her father, giving him the first part of her payment in the hopes that he will use it if her family has any financial troubles. When they go to meet the dragons, she selects Sintara as the dragon she wants to look after, though their introduction does not seem to go as smoothly as everyone elses'. It is hinted that Thymara is possibly immune to the dragon's glamour. Though Thymara is initially thrilled by the new companionship in the group of keepers, Greft tries to assert himself as leader, leading her to distrust him and his strange advances. Tensions continue to build as Thymara kills an elk and Greft claims part of it for himself and two others.

As the first few days pass, Sedric's attempts to convince Alise to give up her journey and go back fall on deaf ears. She continues to find herself more and more infatuated with Leftrin, despite his differences from the posh traders she has grown up around. She tries to speak to Sintara, who basks in her compliments and enjoys making Thymara fight to get her attention away from Alise. Alise finds it hard to get any real information from her.

Two of the weaker dragons don't have keepers. Thymara, Tats, and a young girl named Sylve, try tending to the wounds on the weak silver dragon's tail. Sedric comes to help with the hopes of getting some valuable dragon items, keeping some pieces of festering flesh. He thinks back on how Hest slowly took over his life. He befriends Thymara so that she will translate for him when Alise speaks to the dragons, as he cannot understand them when they speak. Later on he sneaks out at night to take some scales from a copper dragon, near death, and gets some blood from it as well, which he tastes. When the keepers realize that the dragon will not last much longer, there is an argument as to what should be done with it, where Greft thinks that they can use the dragon. Mercor arrives to tell them that dragons belong only to dragons and he will watch over the copper with Sylve until it dies. It is uncertain at this point if they realize that Sedric had stolen body parts from it. Sedric goes on to tell Alise that they must leave because he fears that the obvious attraction between her and Captain Leftrin will make her unfaithful.

The book closes with the last letter between the pigeon keepers, revealing Alise's father's concern about her agreement to travel up the Rain Wilds River with the expedition.

In the early hours of the morning, Professor Stella Courtney receives a phone call from Ianto Jones. Confused as to why she is being called, Ianto reveals that Captain Jack Harkness needs Professor Courtney's help as he is dying.

At St. Helen's hospital, Gwen Cooper leads Stella to where Jack's body lay. She remarks that Jack cannot die, to which Gwen remarks that what Jack is suffering through is worse than death itself. Upon seeing the body and meeting Ianto, Stella comes to the conclusion that Jack is more entranced than comatose; as his monitor is still relaying faint signs of activity. Stella is told that there are twenty other people in the hospital in the same condition as Jack, and it all started two nights ago when a man named Bob Roberts received a phone call in the middle of the night.

Two nights prior, Bob Roberts and his wife Jan are awoken by a phone call. Bob answers the phone at the urging of his wife, only to find a strange ticking sound on the other end. Assuming it is a prank call, Bob chastises the caller; only to collapse on the floor. By the time the Torchwood team are alerted, seven more cases across Cardiff have been recorded.

Gwen and Jack go to the Roberts' household to investigate and are met by a distraught Jan. While she attends to a phone call, Gwen and Jack examine the telephone used by Bob the previous night. Jack notes the vintage appearance of the phone while Gwen's scans reveal that there are faint signs of residual Rift energy. She concludes that if something alien is in the phone network, the whole of the city could be endangered. After promising Jan they'd do their best to return Bob to health, Gwen and Jack take the phone back to the Hub.

Gwen phones Rhys at work, warning him against using phones and rejoins Ianto and Jack inside the Hub, where Jack has accumulated all the phones involved in the cases across Cardiff. Gwen notices that all the phones are the same and Jack remarks that they're from the seventies, recalling his life back then. He mentions a junior doctor he dated back in 1975, Stella Courtney, and that he still checks in to see if she's okay. Jack remarks that the phone number which called all the victims was the same and that the number is '2059'. Intrigued as to why a phone number from thirty years previous is ringing people in 2009, Jack phones the number but gets no reply. Suddenly, the retro phones all ring simultaneously; and ignoring the pleas of Ianto and Gwen, Jack answers. He collapses upon hearing the strange ticking noise on the other end.

At the hospital, Jack's monitor signifies change in his brain activity. While Ianto stays with Jack, Stella and Gwen observe the other victims; Stella suggesting that their brains are all connected somehow, as the patients' monitors are reacting in unison. Gwen begs Stella to do her best in healing them as she leaves to investigate the cause behind the phone calls.

Upon meeting Rhys, who had been waiting at Roald Dahl Plass for her, Gwen relays the events to him and becomes emotional. Whilst eating breakfast, Gwen notes that everybody with a mobile phone is in danger and is effectively carrying a bomb. Rhys volunteers his help to Gwen though she initially opposes to it, only relenting after Rhys reminds her that he's helped Torchwood and Jack before.

Stella and Ianto muse over what could be connecting the victims together. Stella suggests that there is nothing physically wrong with Jack to cause his condition, that an electrochemical reaction to what came down the phone line is what has entranced him and the others. She also points out that whatever has done this to Jack and the others needs them alive for another purpose.

Gwen and Rhys, meanwhile, drive to the last residence holding the phone number ringing all the victims; an abandoned building society house, Maddock House. After breaking in, Gwen and Rhys discover masses of copper wiring and a dead body holding a phone. They confiscate the phone and contain it in a special crate kept in the SUV. They head to Swansea, where the Cardiff and West Building Society now stands in order to find out more about Maddock House.

As Ianto sits by Jack's bedside, he begins to talk to him like people would to loved ones in a coma. He tells Jack that when he wakes up, never to repeat what he is saying. Ianto proceeds to tell Jack about the times where he's watched him sleep and dream, and that he wonders what a man like himself could dream about. He goes onto admitting that he knows there will be a day when Jack would not come back to him but they would not have to worry about that problem as long as they work for Torchwood as no member lives to old age. Ianto tearfully refers to himself as a 'blip in time' to Jack, and because he hasn't left yet, he knows Jack will return to him.

In Swansea, Gwen and Rhys meet with Mr Tyler, who runs the Cardiff and West Building Society. He feigns ignorance about the telephone and after being pressured, asks Gwen and Rhys to follow him to a nursing home the company owns. There, Tyler introduces Gwen and Rhys to Jillian, who lies in the same state as the other victims. Tyler reveals that Jillian had been in that condition for 33 years, and that there have been others. Maddock House had been hit by a thunderstorm in the seventies which caused the phones to ring; and upon answering, people collapsed. The Cardiff and West Building Society took care of these people because they did not know how to explain the condition. Tyler reveals that the monitors at the nursing home reacted in the same way as the ones of the victims in Cardiff.

When Gwen and Rhys return to the hospital, more cases of people collapsing are occurring, and after regrouping with Ianto and Stella; they devise a way to combat the problem. Ianto links Gwen's PDA up with the Hub's computer system and rigs it up to an MRI scanner in the hospital. Using the phone retrieved from Maddock House, Ianto breaks the connection and brings the victims out of their trances.

When Jack and the others awaken, they have no real effects except for no memory of what happened. After a brief reunion with Jack, Stella says her goodbyes and leaves with Gwen. Alone, Ianto asks Jack if he remembers anything about his trance. Jack replies that he didn't and asks Ianto if he spoke to him while he was unconscious. Ianto says he did but not much as he is not a big talker. Jack accepts this, seemingly to Ianto's relief, before stating that Ianto will never be just 'a blip' in time for him.

In an interview with Rennie in 2008, the show's plot was described as a police procedural drama, following the adventures of an ex-cop, Kyle Loggins, traumatized by the murder of his family. According to this interview and press releases, the trauma triggered a dissociative identity disorder, wherein the victim manifests multiple personalities. In the pilot, Kyle's personalities include Jack, his brash alpha-male alter ego; Hal, the teenage nerd who personifies Kyle’s analytical and introverted side; and Tyler, the quiet little boy who surfaces when he is at his most vulnerable. Kyle teams up with rookie policewoman Madeline Maguire who exploits Kyle’s unique investigative abilities.

After the events in Marshad (at the end of the previous book) Roger and his marines manage to cross the Hadur region with little incident and begin ascending the mountains dividing the continent seeking a way through them. They awaken one morning to discover that the temperature has dropped to a pleasant 23 degrees and that the air is no longer humid. While the humans revel in the pleasant weather (for them) and brake out the coffee, the Mardukans are found to be nearly comatose. After they warm up, Pahner convenes a council of war to determine how to proceed. Cord, being honor-bound to Roger, must continue and can survive with the use of ''dinshon'' exercises (which he can teach to his partially trained nephews). D'Len Pah and his tribe of mahouts, however, are not so trained and cannot continue. This poses a problem for the marines since the ''flar-ta'' pack beasts are owned by the mahouts. After some negotiations the marines decide to buy all but one of the beasts from D'Len Pah and his clansmen, who part ways with the marines and return to the lowlands with one Cord's nephews. Shortly afterward, the marines spot a large city in a mountain valley, but are attacked by a herd of wild ''flar-ka'' before getting there. While they manage to kill the herd, casualties are high and Pahner decides, upon reaching the city (called Ran Tai) that it's time for a respite. Having bought the pack-beasts from the D'Len Pah, the marines are seriously strapped for cash and Roger offers to take a squad of marines and look for some relatively low-risk but high-paying job. While Pahner is appalled at the idea of turning his troops into mercenaries, he reluctantly agrees that they have little choice if they hope to reach the coastline with enough money to charter or build a ship.

Roger soon finds a high-paying job: a local mine-owner has had his mining operation taken over by "barbarian" squatters from the lowlands and offers a month of output in gold to whoever manages to evict them. At night, Julian leads a team up the mountain behind the mine (an area too cold for the Mardukans to survive in) and scales down the mountain face, straight into the camp around the mine and manages to subdue the few guards with zero casualties for either side. Roger then awakens the leader of the squatters, Rastar Comas T'Norton, at gun point, telling him to pack up and leave, a "request" Rastar reluctantly agrees to. However, when asked where the gold from the mine is (being the payoff the marines were supposed to receive), Rastar laughs and tells them they found no gold either. After a search of the mines yields nothing, Roger and his squad return disheartened to Pahner, who orders them to get a drink at the local taverns. Kosutic realizes the Captain is up to something and follows him to the mine, where they find the previous foreman of the mine pumping out a flooded shaft where he had hidden the gold, prior to the squatters' arrival. Though he tries to buy off Pahner and Kosutic, Pahner refuses to let leave with the gold and Kosutic is forced to shoot him dead when he pulls out a pistol. As they pack up their gold, Pahner wonders how to tell Roger that his mission wasn't a failure after all and Kosutic advises him not to tell Roger just yet (as part of his learning experience).

The time Ran Tai, turns out to be profitable in other ways as well. Doc Dobrescu discovers that a local fruit called ''targhas'' (dubbed an Apsimon) contains a Vitamin C analogue that could be converted by the marines' and Roger's nanites. Pahner, realizing that the original survey of the planet was woefully incomplete, orders to Dobrescu to test every food they encounter for their other trace dietary needs. Pahner also discovers the ''Bisti'' root, a spicey plant that is chewed by the locals, which replaces the chewing gum he's run out of. The down time also allows several romances to flourish (strictly against regulations), most significantly between Julian and Kosutic and between Roger and Nimashet. Unfortunately, Roger, being very drunk after the raid on the mine, mangles an attempt to tell Nimashet that he doesn't "fool around", insulting her in the process and souring the atmosphere between them.

The humans eventually depart Ran Tai at the head of a large caravan headed to Diaspra and are soon attacked by the Boman tribesmen. While the Mardukan guards caravan fall apart in the attack, the marines manage to hold their own with a wall of shields and swords, but not manage to break the attack. Help however, comes from an unexpected source, when the troops they kicked out of Ran Tai charge to their rescue. After the attackers are routed and killed, Rastar approaches Captain Pahner with an offer: his troops will join the caravan as guards in exchange for payment in gold and food for the troops and civilians. After some haggling an agreement is reached and the Vasin join the humans in defending the caravan against additional attacks by the outriders of the Boman invasion. The Vasin turn out to be well-organized troops who are used to fighting in groups on ''civan'' backs and they integrate well with the humans. They eventually manage to arrive at Diaspra, fighting their way to the city gates and being greeted quite well by the locals, who are entirely too happy to see them.

At Diaspra, Rastar finds several thousand Vasin cavalrymen who are pitifully happy to see him and their families and who immediately transfer their loyalty to him, giving him a seat on the ruling council. However, that is all the good news to be had as Gratar, the Priest-King of Diaspra, tells them that the Wespar tribe of the Boman has encircled the city, preventing any to approach to the barley-rice fields. Even worse (from the marines' perspective), the main Boman horde is between them and the sea, making the journey there all but impossible. At the council meeting, emotions run high between the Vasin commanders and the Diaspran members of the council, over past grievances and the current situation, forcing Pahner to intervene and tells them that they must decide whether or not they wish to survive. When Gratar expresses their desire to survive, Pahner says that to achieve this, they will have to make many uncomfortable decisions and forget the niceties of normal business. To that end, he instructs the council to set guards on the city's privately owned granaries, dole out food at fixed quantities and prices, begin training local forces and conscripts in the new techniques of the humans and force an engagement with the Wespar at a time and place of their choosing. The council members are skeptical of the humans' promises that their techniques can win this war but eventually agree and General Bogess, Diaspra's military commander, requests that the Laborers of God be drafted as soldiers. Many on the council, including Gratar, are not happy with this request since it would mean no one will be available to maintain Diaspra's flood defenses just as the seasonal Hompag Rains are about to begin. Roger, in turn, points out that in such evil times, Diaspra will have to choose between greater and lesser evils and that although maintaining the "Works of God" is important, the damage to them can be repaired, but only if the city survives. Gratar relents and releases the Laborers of God to Bogess.

The marines immediately begin training the new recruits, first in how to be soldiers and finally in pike and shield combat techniques. At the same time, the Vasin cavalry train with the Diaspran regulars while the Marines ride roughshod on the Diaspran artisans and businesses to produce the materials and weapons they need for the battle to come. However, the marines find their efforts to fight the Boman threatened by certain political factions who are trying to get back to "business as usual" by placating the Boman. Grath Chain, representing these groups, petitions the priest-king to offer the Boman some of the wealth of Diaspra so that they might leave to city alone. Roger, who is caught unprepared by this challenge at the petition ceremony, manages to answer nonetheless by stating that "once you pay the Danegeld, you will never be rid of the Dane". If Diaspra chooses to buy off the Boman, they might just decide to stay, demanding more and more gold until none is left, at which point they'll finish the city off anyway. Fearing that internal political problems could endanger the whole war effort, the marines decide to bug the city's council members. What they discover points to a long existing conspiracy, whose members all answer to "the creator" and who are very security conscious and secretive, all of which hampers the marines ability to discover their agenda.

As the day of battle draws nearer, Roger is summoned to Gratar, who is seriously conflicted over which course of action to take regarding the Boman. Looking over that torrential Hompag Rains and the immense power of nature, Gratar is unsure which enemy to placate: the God of the Torrent or the Boman. Roger repeats what he stated at the audience about buying off the Boman and further points out that even if they were left alone by the Boman, they would lack the funds to pay for the repairs to the Works of God. He then tells Gratar of the ancient city of Angkor Wat, who was also ruled by priests, who had failed to lead the city against barbarian invaders. Roger tells him that those priests had failed to accept the reality that their world had change and that they needed to change with it and in doing so, failed in their responsibility as rulers of their people. A heavy-hearted Gratar tells Roger that he will announce his decision at the traditional "Drying Ceremony" at the end of the Hompag Rains. The marines, who continue their surveillance efforts, discover a message at a dead drop which states that the cabal will attempt to approach the marines and gain their support.

Shortly before the ceremony however, Roger is approached by Rus From who offers to arrange a meeting with "the creator". Roger agrees, after notifying the two marines with him who in turn, notify Pahner, who orders the meeting be monitored. As the marines set up the equipment Roger and his guards are led underground where they are told to remove their helmets and pass through a waterfall so as to defeat any listening devices (though From is unaware of the Toots and their transmission capability). Roger and his guards comply and pass under the waterfall, finding themselves in a cavern on the other side. There they find several hooded Mardukans who From identifies as the "dark mirror" of the council. The hooded figures and From explain that they desire a change in the direction Diaspra's going because they fear Gratar is leading them into ruin. With his single-minded focus of the Works of God, less and less young Diasprans are inclined to become artisans. In addition, the group already feared that other city-state were eying them greedily and would have attacked had the Boman not moved in first. From also feels frustrated as a "creator" of things, since all he can build are pumps, pumps and more pumps. As such, the group wants the humans to turn the "New Model Army" into the city after the battle and take the temple. The marines, who have monitored the conversation, manage to identify every hooded figure who speaks and find that most of the council and several prominent merchant are members of the cabal (O'Casey commenting that it is "Quorum of the Senate of Rome"). Roger tips his hand and tells the cabal that he knows who they are, that it's not their objective to fix every problem in their society and that they need to win the battle at hand and not start off a civil war. He further points out that they need to get to the drying ceremony quickly or else their absence will not go unnoticed.

As the rains subside and the Drying Ceremony begins, the marines suit up and prepare to use all their operational suits (despite the fact that it would mean using up their last spare parts for them) and listen to Gratar's speech in rapt anticipation. However, their worries are for naught: Gratar opts to fight the Boman. It is then that the recon teams report that the Boman are on the move.

The New Model Army and the Wespar tribe meet each other outside the city and the Boman begin posturing to dishearten the city defenders. Though the Diasprans manage to hold their calm, Roger loses his composure and, ignoring Pahner's furious calls to him, marches Patty across the No Mans Land between the two forces and meets the Wespar chieftain, Spear Mot, one-on-one. Despite the risk, Roger quickly manages to defeat and kill the chieftain, which disheartens the Boman, but raises the moral of the Diasprans who begin chanting Roger's name. Some minutes later, the Boman manage to regain their balance and march towards the Diaspran line. Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Diasprans hold the line for hours while many of the Boman die upon their pikes. The stalemate continues until the marines' recon team uses their advanced weaponry to hit the Boman from the rear. As the Boman in the rear turn to face this new threat, the pressure upon the Diaspran line eases, and Pahner orders a general advance. Yet the Boman front ranks still manages to hold, and Pahner orders Julian's armored squad to hit the Boman flank. The Boman line finally breaks and Vasin cavalry - along with Roger riding on Patty - pursue the Boman mercilessly, leaving very few survivors.

After the battle, Pahner is summoned before Gratar, who tells him that Grath Chain (who is present as well) has informed him of the plot against him and that the humans knew about it. Pahner admits this and that the marines would have supported the coup had he Gratar opted to appease the Boman. Gratar is both saddened and angered by this and says he will have the heads of the conspirators, yet Pahner points out that most of the council, including the now-victorious war leaders, were in on it. He further points out that most of the conspirators (not including Grath) were motivated, not by hatred of Gratar or the God, but by their opposition to the redundant Works of God and the stagnation of the city. He then advises Gratar on how to deal with all the changes and challenges he now faces in the wake of this battle and the conspiracy. The Laborers of God who desire to return to their old jobs should be allowed to return while those who have developed a taste for warfare should be allowed to remain in the army. The New Model Army should be sent off to K'Vaern's Cove as a relief force, to convince Diaspra's neighbor that they intend to be helpful neighbors in these troubled times and to remove it from the equation as Gratar grapples with the internal problems he faces. Pahner also suggests that he send Bogess and From along with them, not as a reward, but as exile from Diaspra, thus removing the two most prominent wartime leaders without whom the rest of the conspirators on the council will lose all legitimacy and attack each other as they are given the task of dealing with the displaced Laborers of God. But it is Pahner's advice about reducing the Works of God entailed in losing so many of the Laborers of God that most disturbs Gratar as he fears the Wrath. Yet Pahner points out that much of the canals and dikes are redundant. Finally, Pahner advises him to use Grath as agent to destabilize any city-state that might threaten Diaspra and that for his service in exposing the conspiracy he should be given "30 pieces of silver".

The Marines depart Diaspra with the relief force and the Vasin cavalry and head to the Nashtor Hills, where they quietly seize control of the mines (as a precaution), purchase all the wrought iron the miners have there with From guaranteeing payment by Gratar (a parting shot on From's part), and notify the foreman that some of the troops will stay behind to protect them. From there they travel to the K'Vaern's Cove, where they are greeted at the outer gates by the enormous Bistem Kar and his deputy Tor Flain, who are astounded to see Rastar and the Vasin alive, happy for all the iron brought by the column and very curious about the humans. On their way into the city proper, Kar reveals that the situation in the city is not as sanguine as Rastar had initially believed: the war with the Boman caught them by surprise like everybody (so they hadn't stocked up), that they too had been sabotaged by the Tyrant of Sindi and that they have been burdened with caring for all the refugees from the fallen city-states in the region. Kar also inquires into the humans' involvement in this war and Roger tells him their intention to cross the ocean to get a continent on the other side to get back home. When he hears this Kar tells that none who attempted to cross the ocean have returned while a single shipwreck with a lone, crazed survivor arrived from the other side, claiming that his ship was ripped apart by some sea monster.

The humans and the Diasprans are brought before the K'Vaernian Ruling Council to give an account of the Battle of Diaspra and to present their intentions. General Bogess' account of the battle is met initially with stunned silence and then derision and disbelief. From then addresses the council and the citizens in the gallery, chastising them for being so close-minded, when their city was known for its acceptance of new ideas and concepts and offering the council assistance of their troops as training cadre and the iron for weapon-manufacturing. Finally, Roger speaks for the humans, stating that they need to get back home within a limited time frame, by crossing the ocean. He offers the K'Vaernians advancements in seafaring technology (piquing the interest of local shipping mogul Wes Til), their institutional knowledge in tactics and designs for new weapons for the war against the Boman. The council is still somewhat skeptical of all this, telling Roger that such a voyage would be both risky and costly. In a meeting afterwards, Portena returns with the bad news: the K'Vaernians' ships are unsuitable for deep-water travel which means they'd have to design new ships from scratch which will take time. Kostas then delivers his bad news: they only have enough dietary supplements for another four and a half months at most, even with the Apsimon fruits, leaving them with no margin for error. The meeting is interrupted by the arrival of many messengers from various powerful or influential Mardukans in the city with various dinner invitations for the Prince. Rastar informs them that securing the necessary political support will depend more on the success of these dinner parties than on anything else.

While O'Casey tries to decide which dinner invitation are the most important and whom to send to them, Roger dumps the job of getting the necessary clothes for all the marines attending on Costas with barely a day's notice. In retaliation, Kostas asks to join O'Casey to dinner she plans to attend, which leaves Roger with Nimashet as his escort. Roger, despite the discomfort of being around a very well-dressed Nimashet and the Mardukans' questions about human sexuality and his relationship with her, manages to conduct himself well at the dinner with Wes Til and Tor Flain. O'Casey and Kostas also have a successful dinner engagement with Fullea Li'it and Sam Tre, who press for the humans' support for the retaking of D'Sley and are eager to here O'Casey's opinions on how to secure the necessary capital to rebuild and reorganize a new government. After all the dinners are concluded, the marines and their Mardukan allies meet to decide on how to proceed. Everyone agrees that they need to help K'Vaern's Cove fight the Boman to secure the necessary political capital and physical materials to build the ships they need. It also becomes clear that being on condition red for several months now is wearing down the troops. Despite this, everyone is in favor for fighting the Boman for different reasons and Pahner decides to lend their assistance to the K'Varenians in exchange for building the ships they need as quickly as possible. After the meeting is concluded, Pahner asks to speak to Roger in private for a 'professional development' counseling session. He points out to Roger that while he has all the traits of a good leader (caring for the troops, not undercutting his NCOs and leading from the front), both to the marines and the Mardukans, he personally cannot put himself out on a limb since everybody will be trying to protect him as he does so. He also points out that his pursuit of barbarians gains little and risks too much and that he needs to let others do it. Roger understands this and reluctantly agrees.

Wes Til and Turl Kam meet to discuss the humans' terms and agree to them, bringing the rest of the council around and the city is thrown into frantic preparations for war. O'Casey begins her propaganda campaign by sending Mardukans into the local taverns to spread around silver and tales of loot from the Battle of Diaspra (to encourage the K'Vaernians to sign on) and generally causing fights (mostly by accident). Rus From teams up with Dell Mir to design and produce the necessary weapons and equipment the marines have sketched out while Julian, Krindi, Erkum and their squads keep an eye on the manufacturers to ensure decent quality (and threatening some of them when necessary). Kar teams up with Bogess to introduce the New Model Army's combat techniques (fighting with some conservative officers along the way) while some of the marines are sent off on reconnaissance missions against the Boman and others are sent to start training the K'Vaernians on the new weapons as they come out and oversee their production. Portena completes his "technology demonstrator" ship and awes the local shipwrights with its performance and begins construction of the actual ships needed for their voyage and recruits locals for the voyages. As the troops prepare to ship out, Turl Kam voices his innermost concerns to Pahner about the upcoming campaign and Pahner does his best to allay those concerns. Finally, when all is ready, the troops, with the assistance of Fullea Li'it and her organized sealift, embark on boats towards D'Sley and set up camp there and begin transferring the timber and ore still left in the city back to K'Vaern's Cove. The command staff assembles for the last time before moving out to discuss the latest intel regarding the Boman, the next stages of the operation and the role Roger's reserve force will play. Finally, Pahner orders them all to get as much sleep as possible since "there won't be much from here on out".

The operation begins with a group of several hundred Vasin arriving at the gates of Sindi, who begin to taunt the Boman to come out after them. While the Boman Supreme Leader, Kny Camsan, smells a trap and wishes to ignore them, his most trusted ally, Mnb Trag, points out that if he fails to deal with them himself, the other Boman warriors will believe him to be weak and likely kill him before replacing him. Nor can Trag go out himself since without him, Camsan is unlikely to survive. Camsan relents and takes out a force of over 32,000 warriors to chase the Vasin. As he predicted, the several hundred Vasin they chase join up with 4,000 other Vasin who are all equipped with the new pistols and some of the new rifles, all of which fire far better and reliably in a Mardukan downpour. The front rank of the Boman quickly disintegrates under the Vasin's fire, with the survivors either fleeing or getting cut down by lances. The Vasin then turn tail and retreat through a narrow jungle track and are pursued by the Boman. The track, however, has been lined with crude claymores and directional mines that are detonated once the Boman are inside. Over six hundred die in a single instant and the Boman charge falters. The shock of the explosions causes the warriors to question Camsan's decision to pursue the Vasin, but Camsan kills the one chieftain who truly challenges his authority then chastises the other Boman for their timidity in the face of mere cleverness and after they had "whined" for months that they should go after the K'Vaernians. Camsan then orders messengers to summon all the other Boman clans and orders a general chase after the Vasin.

The allied forces then move in on Sindi, assembling outside the city's walls and setting up wagons loaded with 12,000 crude rockets, which are then fired into the city. The confused defenders, who've never seen such weapons and therefore continued to stand in the open, are decimated by exploding fragmentation warheads and blast weapons, including Mnb Trag. Then Julian's armored squad moves in and starts blasting their way into the city with plasma fire, opening it to the rest of the army. Kar, who is stunned by the power of the marine's weapons, asks Pahner why hasn't ordered their use to clear out the city, since they're likely take losses clearing out the city. Pahner comes clean about their ultimate objective and their need to preserve as much of their limited supply of ammunition for a battle against ''their'' enemies, who are equipped with similar weapons (a concept that terrifies Bogess). From's engineering teams then start repairing the D'Sley-Sindi road in order to better transport the truly enormous amounts of loot that the Boman had hoarded in Sindi (including desperately needed food).

The Vasin continue to evade the Boman chasing them by continually splitting off into smaller groups in the jungle, which makes Camsan even more suspicious. Roger briefs his forces near a stream, who are awaiting orders to move out. However, tragedy strikes when Matsugae, who is filling up Roger's camel bag in the stream, fails to pay attention to the water and is subsequently attacked by a damncroc. Roger's troops manage to kill the creature but not in time to save Matsugae's life. As Roger prepares to conduct a short ceremony over Costas' body, Pahner comms in and orders his troops to move further down South. Roger scraps the ceremony reluctantly and orders Costas' body cremated. Roger's forces return to the Sindi-D'Sley road to assist in securing the laborers working there, but Roger himself isn't paying attention to anything because of Matsugae's death and simply turns over command to one of his subordinates. Upon hearing about this, Pahner decides to violate every regulation in the book to get Roger to function properly and sends Nimashet to speak to him. While Roger initially doesn't want to speak to anyone, he eventually opens up to Nimashet. He admits that his initial rejection of her was due to his awareness of his position in the succession and his determination not to bring into the world a bastard just like him, so he never "fooled around" (and hasn't had sex in over 10 years) and that only Costas had guessed why he acted this way and that he feels responsible for his death and the death of all the other marines he fell along the way. He also confesses his love for Nimashet. Nimashet, who knows she loves Roger as well, tells him that they are willing to die for him, now more than ever because they all knew the risks when they signed on. She also makes him promise to have sex with her when they aren't in the middle of a battle for their lives, but Roger instead promises to marry her when they get home. With Roger tracking again, Pahner orders him and his units to stay put and secure the rear while the Vasin continue to draw out the Boman in pursuit as they head back for Sindi. The city and its surrounding areas are made ready for the final stage of the operation.

The Boman eventually manage to cut off the Vasin's escape route and Pahner sends out skirmishers to retrieve them. Down to the South, Roger's battalion finds itself under attack by waves of Boman. Krindi Fain finds himself promoted to an officer when his company commander displays a serious lack of leadership. He then goes on to lead one of the teams of skirmishers sent into the jungles. The Vasin manage to retreat towards Sindi, with Kar's troops forming square around them and holding off the Boman's advances. Roger and his troops, despite being outnumbered, manage to defeat wave after wave of Boman. They too eventually retreat to Sindi, and the stage is finally set for the last phase of the operation.

As the Boman assemble in sight of Sindi, they are astounded to find the Sindi under the control of their enemies. Kny Camsan opts to decides to assemble all of the Boman's troops and besiege the city, but his decision is challenged by Tar Tin, who believe that the only way to defeat the enemy (and retrieve their women and children) is to storm the city through the gaps left in the walls. Camsan fears this approach after witnessing the effectiveness of the weapons that were used by the Vasin, the losses they've already suffered and the thought of what could've made those holes in the walls to begin with. Tin, however, is not willing to try any more of Camsan's "better ways", challenges him for the leadership position and kills him. He then orders an immediate charge to overwhelm the city and its defenders.

The Boman enter the city amid heavy rifle fire that slows their approach. The defenders then begin a well-prepared retreat south towards the Great Bridge of the city until finally most of the Allied forces are on the southern bank in the houses surrounding a large plaza specifically broadened so as to lure as many Boman into it. As Tin orders his troops across the bridge, another series of claymore mines is detonated while 400 riflemen and 300 cavalrymen open fire leaving no boman alive or unwounded on the bridge. Then another explosion rocks the bridge and for a moment Tin believes that they have managed to destroy the bridge, but as the smoke clears he sees that the bridge stands firm and orders his troops across again. The explosion however, allows the Allies rearguard to disengage from the enemy for enough time to retreat behind the gates of the bastion set up when the plaza was enlarged. Once the Boman fill the plaza, Eva orders the artillery to open fire and the riflemen and cavalrymen all open fire as well. Within minutes thousands of his warriors die under the onslaught and the Boman attempt to retreat across the bridge. Unfortunately for them, Julian's armored squad, which managed to evade them while staying on the other side of the bridge, opens fire into the retreating forces. The tidal wave of flechettes, cannon beads and plasma bolts finally breaks the back of the Boman's morale. Tar Tin, realizing the gross mistake he committed and the massive defeat suffered because it, commits suicide by throwing himself and his ax of office into the Tam River.

The Allies return victoriously to K'Vaern's Cove and the humans prepare for their transoceanic journey. However, the marines pick up on some radio chatter that might indicate that someone has gone in to investigate their abandoned shuttles. O'Casey and Cord manage to translate the log found aboard the shipwreck, which only confirms what Kar had told them about the ship being torn asunder by some sea monster. As the K'Vaernians celebrate the victory and the human's impending departure, Roger sits on the docks watching the sunset and scatters some of Costas' ash into the sea, before being called back by Nimashet.

The story opens in the restored city of Voitan, where a human search and rescue team (really an assassination squad) is examining the remains of the marines who were interred there after the battle against the Kranolta. Temu Jin, a Commo-Tech serving as translator for the team, repeatedly questions the local leaders as to the marines' purpose and fate, who in turn repeatedly state that all the marines died during the battle or shortly afterward. While Dara, the team's leader is content with their story, Jin remains privately suspicious because of several glaring clues that Dara, in his stupidity, has failed to notice. Between the physical evidence (pointing to people with marine nano-packs), the reticence of the king of Q'Nkok (who allowed only limited questioning and always while under supervision), the inconsistencies in T'Leen Targ's story (that the Kranolta took all the marines' weapons and gear), the Mardukans' atypical body-language of nods, open-mouthed smiles and handshakes (all indicating acculturation to humans) and the fact that the bodies were all stripped of clothing, jewelry and even tattoos (making their identification impossible without a DNA database), Jin becomes convinced that the locals are covering for the marines who are headed almost certainly, to the spaceport. As he's about to finish his scans, Jin notices a bronze earring with the word "BARBARIANS" on it. Deftly snatching it without Dara noticing, he then passes it on to T'Leen in a handshake, and tells him that he might want to melt it down "so nobody else finds it".

Upon the Western Ocean from K'Vaern's Cove, a flotilla of seven ships carries Prince Roger, his marine bodyguards and around 300 Diaspran riflemen and Vashin cavalrymen who have sworn their allegiance to him and the Empire of Man. The long voyage across the ocean towards the far sub-continent has given the troops time to wind down after the intense battle against the Boman, train upon their new gunpowder rifles and for Roger to mourn the loss of his valet and friend, Costas. However, the idyllic journey is violently disrupted by the sudden arrival of a giant sea creature which proceeds to bite off half a ship before being gunned down by a well-placed shot of Roger's, an extremely lucky shot from Sgt. Erkum Pol, several harpoon shots and many depth charges. The fish turns out to be a giant ''coll'' fish and its attack ends up costing them a whole ship, half its passengers and three marines and the troops gleefully feed most of it to the ''civan'' and Dogzard. To avoid similar attacks, Krindi Fain recommends mounting a cannon at the rear to fire at any other sea creatures that might show up and Pahner orders that all their radios be shut off to avoid detection as they are nearing the spaceport. He also orders the troops to begin practicing on entry tactics in preparation for their assault on the port, which they and Roger do together.

Shortly afterward, the flotilla spots a series of volcanic islands, and then, the sails of one ship being pursued by 6 other pirate ships. Roger and Pahner decide to risk contacting the ship under pursuit, despite their ignorance of what is going on, and Roger is sent across (against Pahner's better judgment) with Cord, Despreaux, Kosutic and Poertena. They make contact with the captain of ''Rain Daughter'', Tob Kerr, who is initially taken aback by Roger's use of the "High Krath" language, used by the Fire Priests whom all fear but who permits them to come aboard. After managing to get a hold on the language, they are told that ''Rain Daughter'' was part of a Guard convoy from the mainland (called Krath) headed to the Island of Strem, but was jumped by Lemmaran raiders. Roger also tells Kerr their cover story of travelling across the ocean to the Krath to establish trade relations. Kerr advises them to head for Strem but Roger states they are headed for the mainland of Krath and contemptuously snorts at the possible risk the Lemmaran ships might pose to their flotilla. Returning to their ship, Roger and the command staff discuss the problem and, despite all the unknown variables, decide to engage the 6 pirate ships.

Pahner admits that he does not have any experience in a sea battle and turns effective command of the engagement over to Roger (though still keeping an eye on him), who orders five of their remaining six ships (the heaviest and least maneuverable is left behind to guard ''Rain Daughter'') to engage the pirates by crossing between the pirates' six ships. The pirate commander, Cred Cies, while confident of his numerical advantage, is still suspicious about the ships that are so conveniently coming right at him. A sudden deluge conceals all of the ships from each other and when it clears the K'Vaernian ships, though scattered, are upwind of the pirates' formation and closing fast. Despite this, Cies is still confident that they can close in on them and rake their decks with swivel guns. This turns out to be a mistake as the K'Vaernian artillery mounted on the sides of the ships and are capable of far heavier broadsides then Cies guesses. The pirates manage to score a few shots on a single K'Vaernian ship, causing it to lose its foremast and then the K'Vaernians open fire. The massive roll of gunfire decimates the pirates while sharpshooters take out many of the Lemmaran gun grews on deck and the marines off-world weapons add to the carnage. The end result of the engagement is that one Lemmaran ship is sunk (thanks to a plasma cannon shot), three others get boarded and most of another single ship's crew dead and completely dismasted. Only Cred Cies' vessel manages to retain enough rigging to escape the initial engagement and Roger's ship closes with it so as to board it. Despite his immense losses, Cies still refuses to surrender and the ''Ima Hooker'' eventually closes upon it and launches a boarding action.

Krindi Fain's company leads the assault on the Lemmaran vessel and quickly manages to overwhelm them. However, Cord notices that the Lemmar are attempting to kill their helpless prisoners who are chained to the deck and leaps across to save them. Roger, astounded that his ''asi'' would abandon him at a time like this leaps onto the Lemmaran ship after him followed by Dogzard. Between the three of them, the surviving prisoners are protected from the Lemmar trying to kill them. Pahner, however, is furious that Roger broke his promise not to put himself out on a limb and boards the Lemmaran ship to castigate him while Denat does the same for Cord. Roger, after shouting down everybody yelling at him first demands that Cord explain why he jumped over in the first place. Cord explains that just as his life was saved by Roger, he is obligated to help others in need and that Roger should not have followed him at all to the pirate ship. Roger suddenly finds himself put upon by the irony of the situation while Pahner and the other commanders are hard pressed to laugh. Roger then proceeds to the cut the chains binding the prisoners when the first prisoner, a female who had killed two guards during the battle while being chained to the deck, tries to kick him when he pulls out his monomachete. She is stopped by Pahner and once Roger conveys his intentions to her in a hash of the local languages, she relents and allows him to free her and the other two surviving captives. It soon becomes apparent to Roger, that the female prisoner, who has been trained as a warrior, is also in charge of the other captives, two things that come as a surprise to him since they had rarely encountered any Mardukan societies where women enjoyed any status or had been warriors. She soon approaches Roger and Cord, to speak of "the Way of Honor, of the Way of the Warrior" and declares that she is now bonded to Cord as a ''benan'' for saving her life (much like Cord is bonded to Roger). Her statement leaves Cord seriously discomfited and perplexed (since only his people recognize such bonds).

Back aboard the ''Ima Hooker'', O'Casey explains that there is a great deal in common between Pedi's people, the "Shin", and Cord's people, the X'Intai, as can be seen in many linguistic similarities between their two languages. She surmises that both peoples originated from the Krath sub-continent but that the X'Intai had somehow managed to travel eastward towards the large continent. O'Casey then states that it would be highly beneficial to recapture the other ships of the convoy and return them to the Krath, so as to get started on the right foot with the locals. Julian then proceeds to brief the command staff about Pedi's people and the local political conditions that might affect the marine's journey to the spaceport. O'Casey then elaborates upon the political conditions among the main polity, the Krath, and points out that is a highly regimented theocracy that is slavery based. Julian then points out that the reason the Shin and the Krath do not get along is that the Krath see the Shin a source for more slaves. Roger points out that since Cord is obligated to follow and protect Roger and Pedi is now obligated to follow and protect Cord, they need to find some way to conceal her Shin identity. They decide, that Pedi will be dressed as a Shadem female, who are always heavily clothed (with their faces covered as well)—a decision Pedi finds repulsive. The rest of the Mardukan troops will also have to be found clothes, since the cultures of the sub-continent have strong body modesty taboos, a concept Cord finds equally repulsive. They then decide on a battle plan to take the other prize ships. They flotilla then goes after each of the captured ships in turn, sending over a boat with Rastar, Roger (despite Pahner's extreme displeasure) and two others who under the pretense of wishing to trade goods, manage to surprise each crew and retake the ship. They then proceed to Kirsti, the main port of the sub-continent.

As they approach the enormous city of Kirsti, Roger and Pahner are both uneasy since they both realize they and their troops are seriously outnumbered by the locals who might be in contact with the spaceport. The latter concern is confirmed when they are met by a delegation from the local government, led unofficially by Sor Teb, who has encountered humans before, and who is greatly interested in the purpose of these new and unusual humans. The marines and their Mardukan troops are granted permission to enter Kirsti, though the locals impose many restrictions upon them and isolating them to a limited area of the docks. While the ships' captains begin seeking out local trade partners and resupplying their ships, the humans await the local leadership's decision on whether or not they can leave the city and continue their trek to the spaceport.

Julian, Portena and Denat go around about town, teaching the locals Canasta (it being a card game Portena inflicts on those he does not like), looking for supplies to purchase and gathering intelligence on local conditions. They report their findings along with O'Casey at a staff meeting held later and the situation is not good. Sor Teb, who was previously believed to be a minor functionary, turns out to be one of three members of the satrapy's military high council and the one most likely to succeed the dying high priest, and it becomes clear that they will not be permitted to leave Kirsti without his say-so. Pahner decides to try to recruit Teb and his slave raiding forces for the humans' objectives but should that not work out within a week, to prepare for a forceful exit. He orders Julian to prepare a battle plan on the local forces in and outside of the city and, upon hearing Portena's report on the high price of food in the markets, to find local storage facilities that could be raided for supplies. Roger is surprised by this and Pahner admits that the locals' passive hostility is making him nervous. Kosutic mentions her own concerns about something else: the Krath religion. The locals have been remarkably secretive about it and she wonders what exactly they are trying to hide. While Pahner feels they still have a week or two to sort things out, O'Casey mentions the possibility that the Krath might get word to the port sooner than that with teams of runners. Her concern turn out to be well founded (though she is not aware of it yet) since the Krath have sent word to the spaceport about the humans' presence. However, Temu Jin, after returning from the aborted "rescue mission", arranges things at the port so that he will receive any communiques from the Krath satraps to the Imperial Governor first and switches out the message about Roger's presence with a bogus message.

As the days go by for Roger and his company in Kirsti, Cord and Pedi finally manage to go shopping for weapons and other items Pedi requires. Cord discovers that those other are clothes and cosmetics which make Pedi look entirely ''too'' attractive. After a training session with Pedi, Cord senses certain "parts" of him surging and he fears the coming of his biannual "season". Denat also grows increasingly ill-tempered (for the same reason), causing Portena and Julian to be concerned about his strange behavior. Things begin to change when the local volcano erupts and the entire city suddenly shuts down as the priesthood sees the eruption as a bad omen. The humans suddenly receive a message from the High Priest indicating that he's willing to meet with Roger. Along with O'Casey, Pahner orders that Roger be accompanied by Kostutic, Despreaux, a fire team from her squad (who are all to be armed with bead rifles) plus a squad of Mardukan infantry and cavalry. He decides that they be ready to leave at a moment's notice and schedules an inspection to coincide with the time of the audience.

Roger meets the High Priest, who is accompanied by Sor Teb and many guards at the High Temple of Kirsti, located near the city walls. He presents himself as Seran Chang, Baron of Washinghome (one of his minor titles) to the aged High Priest and asks about their petition to travel to the spaceport. The High Priest, however, wishes to speak about a far more important "needs of the God" and states that the humans have "avoided Service to the Fire Lord" for too long. Roger infers that the Krath are requiring a "Servant of God" from among the humans and begins to consult with the others. While Roger and the other humans are willing to leave a volunteer behind (provided that they be treated properly) Pedi is emphatically against it but her explanation as to why is lost upon them. They conclude that there must be a problem with their translation of Krath language and request a recess to discuss the matter with their colleagues but Sor Teb politely refuses, stating that the Servant must be gathered now. His response causes the entire human company to tense and Roger decides to dump the translation of Krath from his "toot", loads Cord's language as a baseline and orders Pedi to speak in Shin. It soon becomes clear that a "Servant of God" is really a ''sacrifice'' to the God, who will then be eaten by the body of the Fire God's worshippers. Sor Teb confirms this, and when Roger asks to decline this invitation, Teb points out that he has more guards than he does and that they can either choose to hand over a single human sacrifice or that all of them will be sacrificed as he intends to make sure all Krath know that it was he who finally brought the humans to the God. It is then that Roger and company open fire on the guards and Pedi immediately tosses off her robes and goes for the High Priest whom she decapitates. Unfortunately, Sor Teb manages to escape the carnage. Roger and Kosutic risk a com signal to Pahner and notify him quickly about what transpired with Roger ordering him to make for the gates (which is where they are headed to as well). After killing the few Krath guards who attempt to storm the camp at the docks and ordering the ships to head back to K'Vaern's Cove, Pahner orders the troops to head for the gates.

Outside of the spaceport, Temu Jin meets with a Shin chieftain with whom he's been in contact and tells him about the humans who arrived at Kirsti. While the chieftain is somewhat reluctant to assist him any further because of mounting pressure from his tribe's warriors, he is intrigued when Jin mentions that some of the humans are marines and agrees to help. Back in Kirsti, Roger and his guards manage to shake off any pursuit by the Krath guards and end up in the nave of the temple where they witness the horrific site of "Servants" being dragged to an altar and then killed and butchered by richly-clad priests while the upper-class of Kirsti chant in the background. The guard in the nave notice and begin to advance and Roger orders a single volley and then cold steel. After dispatching the guards, the priests and a handful of brave worshippers, Roger allows for 3 minutes of looting and then orders the troops to move out. In the streets, Pahner and the troops manage to reach the city gates but find that they were closed ahead of time. Roger and his guards continue to fight their way towards the gates, incurring serious casualties in the process, including Cord who is seriously wounded when he interposes himself between Roger and a spear that had been thrown at him. They eventually manage to make it to the gatehouse and take out its armaments, allowing the Vasin and Portena to storm the gatehouse. Portena places a satchel charge blowing the doors for the gatehouse allowing the Vasin in, find the gate room, raise the gate and jam the controls. Roger and company then exit the city and manage to disengage from the Krath guards pressing upon them by dumping the oil in the gatehouse into the passage and then throwing a couple of white phosphorus grenades that sets the Krath guards aflame and much of the temple district on fire. The humans and their allies then head for the hills.

In Kirsti, Sor Teb finds himself in the proverbial doghouse when his colleagues on the military high council, Werd Ras and Lorak Tral, chastise him for his idiocy in endangering the High Priest, doing so with too few guards and then abandoning him to be killed by a Shin. Teb is informed that a quorum of the full council has granted plenipotentiary authority to Lorak to bring the humans to ground and, if necessary, the Shin as well, should they decide to aid them. Sor is skeptical about Lorak's forces being able to contend with the Shin (as they haven't had much luck in the past) but Lorak is confident because he intends to guard his line of supply, something that wasn't done in previous punitive expeditions. Werd supports Lorak's plan, particularly in light of the evidence that nothing short of a prepared assault will be enough to contend with the humans. Sor is then told that with the exception of a few Scourge personnel who will serve as guides for the army, he and his forces are confined to their barracks. Meanwhile, Roger and Pahner, after discussing the matter with Pedi, decide to take the Shesul Pass towards Pedi's hometown of Mudh Hemh, rather than the easier path through the Valley of the Krath, which would entail dealing with two fortifications. They also receive Dobrescu's report of the casualties: most of the injured have either expired or else will survive, with Cord by far, the most heavily wounded and who is still not out of the woods.

The convoy first arrives at the town of Srem, where Rastar subtly threatens the mayor into resupplying them and providing them with some intel on the Shesul Pass. They then head into the pass, where the climb becomes impossible with all the carts they're carrying, and they are forced to double up the ''turom'' on every cart and abandon half their supplies midway. Scouting parties of Vasin manage to reach the curtain wall that Pedi told them about and discover a very large fortress. They set up a hidden camp in front of the fortress and await the rest of convoy and report the difficulty of taking such a fortress, but Roger has a plan. He sends Julian, Gronningen and Macek to approach the fortress from the adjacent mountain ledge. They are surprised when they encounter no resistance upon the walls and proceed cautiously into the fortress. They are even more surprised when they find all the Krath guardsmen huddled around a fire in the semi-hibernation torpidity that extreme cold induces in their species. After tying up the sleeping guards, they open the gates for the rest of their party and Pahner decrees two days to recuperate, as the company is on its last legs. However, Julian finds an imperial Zuiko tri-cam in the Krath commander's office, indicating that the fortress has had contact with the port and then Gronningen finds a human locked up in one of the cells in the fortress.

The human, Harvard Mansul, turns out to be a member of the Imperial Astrographic Society and he astonished to see Roger and his marines alive at all and tells Roger and the marines about his circumstances. He had come to Marduk to write a story about the locals but his arrival at the spaceport was not viewed kindly by the governor who took him for an imperial spy and started to worry about getting killed in some "accident". It was then that he was contacted by someone in the port who offered to smuggle him out and into a small enclave of humans under the protection of a Shin warlord called Pedi Gastan, which the marines immediately identify as Pedi's father (making them wonder why Pedi had never seen humans before). Mansul also tells them that he was smuggled out through gaps in the security perimeter, a point that the marines find very interesting. It is then that Portena arrives and tells them that he needs Doc Dobrescu because something is very wrong Denat who seems to be going crazy. When Dobrescu arrives, Denat eventually gets him to open up and he explains that he is "in season", a point that is then relayed to a bemused Pahner and Roger. When Pahner wonders about the rest of the Mardukan troops Dobrescu explains that being from different regions, those Mardukans will have different "seasons". But Roger then realizes that Cord is also from Denat's region, which Dobrescu believes is the reason for the strange readings he's been getting from him. Unbeknownst to them, Pedi recognizes the signs of the Season in Cord while tending to his wounds and decides to alleviate the strain on his body by mating with him.

The marines depart the fort and head for Pedi's home at Mudh Hemm, where they see the Krath present in strength and the Shin gathering for battle. They are brought before the Gastan, Pedi's crafty father, who is none too pleased to hear his daughter as a ''benan'' or see the humans after the events in Kirsti. Though initially hostile towards them because of the loss of his only son Thertik along with 400 of his warriors and telling his daughter that she has fallen into the company of ragged mercenaries and thieves, he quickly changes his tone when Roger abandons his pretense and tells him who he truly is and relies to him what the Krath had demanded of him in Kirsti. He takes the head of the dead High Priest of Kirsti from his daughter, climbs to the walls of the citadel and mounts it on a pike, telling the Krath arrayed outside the fort his "answer" to their demand of the humans by spitting on the High Priest's head. He then tells Roger and Pahner that his daughter's allies are now his but that he expects them to help him out of "this mess".

The Gastan reveals to Roger and Company that he has been in contact with an undercover IBI agent at the port and tells them what they already guessed, that the governor has "sold his soul" to the Saints who are frequently in the system. The governor has allied himself with the Krath and has already assisted the Son of the Fire near the spaceport. Since it is only a matter of time before he will assist the Krath in destroying the Shin, the Gaston has chosen to assist Temu Jin by helping Roger, in the slim hope of defeating the governor. Roger states that once the governors are brought to the Empire's attention, they would have to intervene to stop him. He also pledges upon the honor of his house to end the Krath depredations. But the Gastan then drops a "bombshell" on Roger and his Marines: there was a coup attempt against his mother. While his mother survived the attempt, his brother John and John's children did not and his sister Alexandra was killed when her ship was destroyed in an ambush. The Gastan also reveals that the Empress has laid the blame for the attempt against the throne on none other than her youngest son, Roger.

Roger and the marine command group meet privately to discuss these dire developments. With so many of the Empress' loyalists in the fleet and IBI dead (along with the entire Empress' Own, save the few who are with Roger) and replaced with individuals whose loyalty is far more questionable coupled with the fact that the Empress has been seen in public accompanied by Prince Jackson Adoula and Roger's father the Earl of New Madrid, it seems obvious that all is not well in the empire. Julian concludes that the "coup attempt" actually succeeded and that the Empress is now under the control of Prince Jackson, and that Roger's father and General Gianetto, the new High Commander for Fleet Forces (and a long acquaintance of Pahner's) are in on it. But it is also clear that the conspirators' control over the empire is not complete, as at least one sensitive position in Home Fleet has been filled by a person whose loyalty to the Empress is unquestionable. What's more, there's no way the conspirators can continue to control the Empress indefinitely without being discovered and Roger and Pahner conclude that the conspirators have a legitimate heir gestating in a uterine replicator. Once the child is born and confirmed to be of the Empress' own genetics, she'll be killed and Jackson will we named regent for the child, placing him in ''de facto'' control of the empire. As the coup occurred two months before, they only have seven more months to attempt a rescue of the Empress and only after dealing with their own immediate problems.

As Roger and his troops contemplate various ways to defeat the Krath (with Mansul avidly recording every meeting) and Cord recovers from his wounds, Julian and O'Casey go over the intelligence provided by Temu Jin. It soon becomes clear that the defenses of the spaceport have been severely compromised and Julian is unsure whether the governor is a "complete and total idiot—or else subtly brilliant". But when he mentions that his name is Ymyr Brown, the Earl of Mountmarch, O'Casey can barely contain her laughter as she explains the depth of his incompetence and how he probably ended up on Marduk. Taking the port is deemed to be a "cakewalk" but what the marines can do afterward is far more problematic, as it seems obvious that the conspirators have managed to convince the public that what they're saying is true while anyone claiming that the Empress is being controlled is obviously a crank who believes in conspiracy theories.

Roger's troops launch a number of spoiler raids in an attempt to break the Krath's will to fight but are unsuccessful due to the Krath army's sheer size. Roger's commanders and the Gastan lean towards a prolonged battle of attrition to break the Krath's will to fight but Roger says they need a decisive battle. As he contemplates the Shin Valley's geology, he's struck with a moment of inspiration on how to defeat the Krath outright and humiliate them in the process. In a command conference held that night in the Gastan's primary bathhouse, Roger explains that the Valley of the Shin had once been blocked at one end, creating a lake at the valley's end. Roger proposes to use heavy explosives from the spaceport (to be acquired by Temu Jin) to blow off a large chunk of the adjacent mountain and dam up the valley, recreating the lake that used to be right where the Krath army is camped out. The rising waters will force them out into the open and surrender or remain up to their groins in cold water. The Shin chieftains agree to the plan. After the conference ends, Roger and his people, along with the Gastan, remain in the bathhouse to discuss their concerns over the war. The Gastan fears that with so many warriors killed, the Shin population will decline severely (for the same reasons the Kranolta were on the decline). Krindi suggests co-opting the Krath to move to the Shin Valley to solve this problem and to require them to renounce Mardukan sacrifice. Kosutic is perplexed over this since Mansul noted that the sacrifices had to be a recent change in the theology and the humans reason out that it is the result of deliberate cultural contamination by the Saint presence. Roger and Despreaux are eventually left alone in the hot tub and have a discussion about their relationship. Despreaux, having seen too much intense combat on Marduk, feels that she can't continue with Roger. There's a big fight looming on the horizon to save the Empress and Despreaux has seen too much death already. Even if their successful, Roger will become emperor now that he is his mother's only remaining child, and Despreaux doesn't want to be Empress, or worse, relegated to a royal concubine because of dynastic calculations. Roger tries to plead with her stay with him but she only agrees to stay on until they reach Earth and rescue his mother and that they'll discuss the matter then.

Temu Jin comes through on the high yield explosives the marines ask for, along with some additional ammunition and spare parts for their off-world weaponry. Despreaux, along with Julian and his team, set up the charges and return to Mudh Hemh. The Krath however, do not remain idle at seeing the humans up to something on the mountainside and launch another large scale attack on Nopet Nujam. They begin a full-court press just as the charges are detonated and, as predicted, the river begins to rise rapidly, flooding the Krath encampment. However, just as the Krath begin to get off the walls of Nopet Nujam, a ''second'' attack by Krath and Shadem raiders, led by Sor Teb, attacks Mudh Hemh. Roger, in full battle armor and armed with a bead cannon, goes out to "remonstrate" with Teb and point out the foolishness of the attack. Teb, aware of Roger's true identity, is unfazed by Roger's threats, as his position in Kirsti has become untenable. He simply intended to kill as many Shin in Mudh Hemh as he can and escape to the Shadem. He then surprises Roger with a "one-shot" (an off-world, anti-armor weapon, designed to kill the person inside it by a ricocheting scab) which he throws at Roger. The Scourge raiding party then storms the battlements and Teb himself fights against an enraged Pedi. Teb succeeds in injuring Pedi's shoulder who then drops to one knee and impales Teb on two of her swords while Dogzard finishes him off by ripping his throat out. Fearing for Pedi's life, Cord professes his feelings for Pedi and begs her to hold on for him until Dobrescu can arrive while Pedi admits that she is pregnant with his children and feels the same way about him. Roger is found to be alive, having managed to turn just enough so that the one-shot failed to lock onto his armor properly, with only a few broken ribs and bruises to show for it. Pahner personally brings him up to speed both about the Krath surrender and the situation between Cord and Pedi (much to Roger's gleeful delight).

With Temu Jin's information and assistance on the inside, Roger, his marines, his Mardukan retainers and 2000 Shin warriors manage to storm and take control of the spaceport with few casualties and Pahner personally (and with immense satisfaction) locates Governor Mountmarch (who's found with a naked 10-year-old boy in his quarters) and places him under arrest for treason and pedophilia. Roger and his marines then begin preparations for seizing a ship. All the marines trade in all their chameleon suits for newer (and less torn up) suits and replace all of their weapon from the port armory (Portena forcing them all to first clean out all their old weapons). Julian and Kosutic begin fitting out the Basik's Own with their own chameleon suits and weapons (even though it is agreed that they and Roger will only be used to back up the marines and only if there's no other choice) while O'Casey takes, Mansul, Denat, Cord, Pedi and a squad of marines and Mardukans on a shuttle trip to backtrace their trek across the planet, visiting every place they had been to assess the impact the marines visit had on the population and to cover up any evidence they may have left behind. Denat is left in Marshad while Cord is taken back to his village where he introduces his soon-to-be wife to his family. They then reach their long abandoned shuttles and, having refueled them, fly back to the port, picking up Denat along the way with T'Leen Sena who has accepted his marriage proposal. In the meantime, Temu Jin assists the marines in gaining access to Mountmarch's private files where they discover a wealth of evidence against him, indicating his treason began long before his exile to Marduk. The Mardukans practice with their new weapons and are given a brief course in shipboard combat as they await the arrival of a ship they can safely commandeer. Once such a ship arrives, Pahner orders all weapons-training to cease to avoid detection and to get their "war faces" on. As they await the ship's entry into orbit Roger arranges a huge banquet for the troops, complete with various "awards" being handed to every member of his party (such as a silver pitchfork for Kosutic, a set of four bronzed bead-pistols for Raster and "little pocking wrench" for Portena) and gives Pahner the Order of the Bronze Shield while Pahner, in turn, gives Roger the Combat Infantryman's Badge for having "walked into the fire again and again, and come out not unscathed, but at least, thank God, alive". As the dinner winds down, Despreaux propositions Roger again but he turns her down because she still won't marry him.

As the ''Emerald Dawn'' enters into orbit, Temu Jin asks to conduct a customs inspection as a cover for the shuttle carrying the marines but the ship captain is suspicious since this is the first time such an inspection is conducted (despite Temu Jin's assurances that it is because of an upcoming inspection on them). He sends Commander Amanda Beach and two highly dangerous crewmen to greet Temu Jin at the airlock. As Temu Jin meets with Beach and her goons he drops to the ground as the Marines blast through the airlock behind him, but it becomes clear that the battle plan is a bust almost immediately as Beach and one of her guards manage to escape the marines initial attack with the ship's crew resisting far more forcefully than the crew of any tramp freighter. The marines begin to sustain fatalities as the crew counterattacks with plasma rifles while Jin's hacking of the ship's computers reveals, to everyone's horror, that they are aboard a Saint special ops insertion ship and are up against a full company of highly dangerous commandos, commanded by the infamous Colonel Fiorello Giovannuci, a real Saint fanatic. Pahner is forced to call in Roger and the Mardukans to get his marines out, while the Saint-John twins disable the ship's anti-ship defenses (at the cost of John's life). Roger (having identified himself to the ship in his demand that they surrender), Mansul, the navy pilots and the Mardukans arrive and begin spreading throughout the ship, causing serious damage to it in the process (the Mardukans, not being accustomed to shipboard combat, use far more firepower than necessary). The reinforcements turn the tide in the marines' favor and Giovannuci decides to activate the ship's self-destruct rather than surrender and demands over the internal comm that they withdraw immediately. Realizing that he's serious and that they have no way to deactivate the self-destruct without the cooperation of at least one of the ship's command staff, Pahner immediately orders a withdrawal. Portena then reports that he has Amanda Beach, the ship's executive officer, who does have the override codes for the self-destruct but who demands asylum from Roger who can grant it upon the Imperial family's honor. With his identity revealed and too few marines remaining, Roger agrees and manages to reach the bridge and breach its defenses. There he and Pahner find Giovannuci, the senior NCO, and several other bridge personnel who refuse to surrender and deactivate the self-destruct. Roger orders Beach be brought there and tells Giovannuci that they have his exec who is willing to cooperate. Giovannuci and the senior NCO then pull out from the back of their uniforms one-shots and hurl them at Roger who manages to kill the senior NCO and stop the one-shot he throws from activating but fails to stop the one Giovannuci uses. Pahner however, manages to shove him aside and place himself between Roger and the second one-shot, which manages to lock on and activate properly on Pahner's armor, critically wounding him. Roger furiously orders Giovanucci and everybody else removed from the bridge then goes to one knee next to the dying Pahner, swearing that he'll get the mission done and save his mother and bidding his chief bodyguard and father figure farewell as Pahner finally dies.

The story concludes with Roger explaining to the Beach their predicament as he is now a wanted traitor, a situation she has no choice but to accept. He also asks Nimashet to stay with them at least until they rescue his mother. She agrees, but she still refuses to marry him.

A feared gunfighter named Nevada (Gary Cooper) breaks his friend Cash Burridge (Ernie Adams) from the Lineville jail. When they reach the town of Winthrop, the two men decide to take respectable jobs on a ranch owned by Ben Ide (Philip Strange), an Englishman they rescued from Cawthorne's gang of cattle rustlers. Fearing the rustlers, Ide hires Nevada to protect his sister, Hettie (Thelma Todd), angering the ranch foreman, Clan Dillon (William Powell), who is in love with Hettie.

The villainous foreman spreads a rumor of his rival's dark past to the sheriff, and soon Nevada and Cash join up with Cawthorne's gang in order to escape the sheriff. Unknown to Nevada, Cawthorne's gang takes its orders from Dillon, who is the leader of the rustlers. During a raid, Dillon shoots both Cash and Cawthorne, but Nevada learns of his treachery from his dying pal. Later in a confrontation, Nevada is wounded by Dillon but is saved by the arrival of the posse and the evidence given by the wounded Cawthorne against the leader. With his reputation restored, Nevada is free to marry Hettie.

After a rough divorce, farmer Stephen Landis (Tom Selleck) lives a normal life living on his ranch in Idaho with his girlfriend Leah (Anna Gunn) and her daughter, Roxanne (Tegan Moss). But life once again gets complicated for Stephen when his daughter Dulcie (Maggie Grace) comes for a summer visit after having a fight with her mother (Wendy Crewson). Stephen's absence as a father and failed marriage with Angela left Dulcie in a rebellious state as a troubled teenager. Stephen's ex-wife attempts to warn him of their daughter's disruptive behaviors, but combined with his feelings of guilt, the relationship threatens to ruin his present relationship and life with Leah. Dulcie and her father try to begin to heal their problems, but the damage may be too great to resolve and jeopardizes the chance of a bright future for either of them.

''The Trojan Women'' was one of a trilogy of plays dealing with the suffering created by the Trojan Wars. Hecuba (Katharine Hepburn), Queen of the Trojans and mother of Hector, one of Troy's most fearsome warriors, looks upon the remains of her kingdom; Andromache (Vanessa Redgrave), widow of the slain Hector and mother of his son Astyanax, believes that she must raise her son in the war's aftermath; however, Talthybius (Brian Blessed), the messenger of the Greeks, comes to the ruined city, and tells them that King Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus have decreed that Hector's son Astyanax must die — the last of the male royalty of Troy must be executed to ensure the extinction of the line. Cassandra (Geneviève Bujold), Hecuba's daughter who has been driven insane by the ravages of war, waits to see if King Agamemnon will send her into concubinage, while Helen of Troy (Irene Papas), waits to see if she will live.

When Finnula Crais, a beautiful yet feisty huntress who wears braies and is one of the late miller's daughters in Leesbury, discovers one of her sisters, Mellana, has become pregnant by a troubadour and spent all the money for her dowry on ribbons and trinkets for her other sisters' weddings (Including Finn's), she agrees to Mellana's insane idea that they could hold a rich man for ransom to pay for her dowry. Hugo Fitzstephen is twenty-five, and is Lord of Stephensgate (From which Finn is poaching the land and giving it to the servants, who are starving to death by Hugo's cousin, Reginald Laroche and his daughter, Isabella), and has a mighty way with women and wears a beard, but after his mother, elder brother and father dies, returns from the Holy Land to hold his rightful place after ten years he has been a soldier, stays at an inn. The innkeeper, the brother of one of Finn's sisters' husbands, tells a short summary of "Fair Finn" after she walks into the inn to talk to the innkeeper, since Hugo seems to have a strong attraction for her, yet he's seen woman more beautiful than her and she is wearing braies. Finn, hearing of Hugo's wealth from the innkeeper, but not knowing he was from those lands, decides that he would be a good man to hold for ransom, and lays out her trap. Hugo's squire, Peter, has his life threatened when two men at the inn want money from Hugo, not knowing that who he was, either, but Finn saves them both by pinning both of the men to the walls and threatening to do worse. She later walks off, leaving Hugo and Peter at the inn. They both try to look for her to say their gratitude, but they just stop and continue their journey, not knowing that she is following them, planning the next step.

Lord Hugo then goes to the springs for a swim, when he sees Finn, naked, going in, too. He stares at her, not knowing that this was her plan, and when she goes to the woods to dry up, he decides he will wait until she reappears to tell her that it is not a good idea to go around undressed when taking a dip. Then all of a sudden, Finnula comes out, as stealthy as a cat, and puts a knife to his throat and ties him up. He learns that she knew he was there and was waiting for a good time to kidnap him. She says that she got Peter too, by tying him up on a tree branch, not checking if he had a weapon. Peter then comes out of nowhere, crashes into Finn on her rib, causing her to become unconscious. Hugo then yells at Peter for crashing into Finn. Hugo makes Peter fetch water to wake Finn up. Finn, fully awake now, holds her knife to Hugo's throat again, and tells Peter to run now, go to where he's headed and to tell Hugo's friends and family that unless they pay ransom, he will never be seen again, and if he tells anyone he has seen the culprit, Hugo will die. She later reveals that it was a lie, since she can't truly kill a person without guilt following her, and Hugo, realizing she isn't dangerous at all, begins to tease her.

Hugo decides to lie to Finn about his wealth and says his name is Hugh Fitzwilliam, and he is a wealthy knight just returning to Leesbury. After having issues with keeping his hands off Finn, whom he has become attracted to, she unbinds him and instead carries his most valuable prize, an emerald, around her neck. On their first night during their two-day trip to Leesbury, they rest inside a barn and Finn hunts for food, since she has become infuriated with Hugo's teasing of her. Later that night, after another round of arguing, Hugo kisses her, and, knowing that if she lets him go to far, she will lose her maidenhood and end up like Mellana, rips away from him and argues with him again. After insulting Mellana after finding out both that she is poaching his property and the reason she kidnapped him, she declares him released and gives back the emerald. He refuses, though, and gives her the emerald again, since he sees Finn as someone who needs protecting from crueler human beings who would've definitely taken advantage of her and her innocence. Finn eventually forgives him and has him be her prisoner again.

After some chain of events, Finn gets a kirtle and with a cloak, disguises herself as Hugo's wife and, on the second night of the journey, they pay for a room at an inn and Finn is surprised that all her friends that work there do not recognize her a bit, partially because she is wearing a dress. They both get cleaned up, as Hugo shaves and bathes and Finn bathes and looks at herself in the only "looking glass" (mirror) in the inn, and realizes she looks rather pretty in the kirtle. When she goes to her room, she does not believe that it is Hugo since he looks decades younger than what she thought, and is very attracted to him. She reveals that she was once married, though it only last one night, for he died on their wedding night, though she didn't love him. She then says she does not wish to marry again, saying it wasn't for her. This upsets Hugo and he goes to do the dishes right after she says this. In the end, they sleep with each other, and they both enjoy it. They sleep with each other again the next morning, and after traveling, they finally make it to the village, where they meet Robert, Finn's brother, the sheriff, and other people from the town, where Hugo states he wishes to marry Finn, and Hugo's and Finn's full secrets are revealed: Hugo is not Hugh Fitzwilliam, but Hugo Fitzstephen, Lord of Stephensgate, and the person Finn had married but had died on their wedding night was Lord Geoffrey, Hugo's father.

The sheriff then explains to Lord Hugo how Lord Geoffrey and Finn met, what had exactly happened between them, what to deal with Hugo wishing to marry Finn, while one of Finn's sisters, Camilla, had been eavesdropping on the conversation and was explaining it to the sisters, while Finn was angry at Hugo for lying to her. After finding out all this, Hugo ''still'' wishes to marry Finn. When he and Robert argue and he eventually tricks him into giving his blessing, and Sheriff called a toast to celebrate the wedding. When Hugo came upstairs, he told Mellana that he'll give her a proper dowry and reveals, since the other sisters did not know, that he knows she is pregnant with the troubadour's child. Finn told him about how Geoffrey was crazy, since he thought she was his dead wife, Marie, and always called her Marie. She was very happy when he died, but that did not mean she was the one who killed him. Since the marriage was not valid, and Hugo was most likely going to die in war, the estate went to Reginald Laroche to take care of, at least until Lord Hugo arrives and claims the land. The strange part of Geoffrey's death was that Reginald had been at first keen on accusing Finnula of murdering the old lord, but when the marriage was declared void, he stop with the accusations.

Hugo arrives at the Fitzstephen Manor and the first thing he does is to order Reginald Laroche and his daughter, Isabella Laroche, out of the manor by the next day. Isabella, in desperation, tries to seduce Hugo but Hugo says tomorrow he is to be wed with Finnula. Isabella, in outrage, storms out of Hugo's room. That morning Robert saw Finn trying to make run for it, for Hugo had warned that Finn might flinch and ditch it. Finn asks him for some advice on how to be more ladylike. He said no more braies, stand still, and look pretty, and not to say anything witty. Then, at the wedding, Lord Hugo stood at the aisle, waiting, and then came Finn, looking like a lovely young maiden. Everyone in Shropshire came, to see the new Lady, and after came the wedding party.

The next day Hugo awakens to find that his new wife is already taking control of the estate. Finnula is outside in the meadow where all of Lord Geoffrey's belongings are being piled to be burned with the entire village in attendance as a show of how things will be changing with the new earl. Soon Hugo meets with the sheriff, John de Brissac, to discuss the Laroaches. In this meeting a part of the tower they had been standing under falls off and nearly kills Hugo. The men go to investigate and find evidence that it was purposefully made to fall on Hugo. Of course, the earl ignores this and instead goes with Finnula to the mill house to have lunch.

Here Finnula sees her newest brother-in-law, Jack Mallory, and is quite dissatisfied with how he has changed her old room. At one point she goes outside to get away from everyone and talks with Peter who has come to discuss a domestic issue with her. They part ways and eventually Hugo and Finnula prepare to leave. However, Skinner, Hugo's trusted horse, tries to buck him off when he sits down on him. It is discovered that a burr had made its way underneath the saddle. Peter now makes his reappearance with the news that someone is trying to kill Lord Hugo. Finn asks what Peter is talking about, as Hugo tried to hide the earlier assassination attempt from her. After they go, Peter talks with Robert's fiancé Rosamund and suggests that Finn is the one trying to kill Hugo and that she also killed Geoffrey. He laments that he will not be able to prove it, but Rosamund says she will take care of it.

At the manor Hugo is furious to find everything missing from his room, but Finn has had everything moved to Geoffrey's room. They go to the bonfire and Hugo forgives all the vassals their past-due taxes and Finn lights the fire. Hugo shocks and angers Finn by throwing her braies on the fire and she shouts at him before storming off. Hugo is suddenly shot in the shoulder with one of Finn's arrows and Finn returns, shocked, and cries out Hugo's name before he loses consciousness. Peter accuses Finn of trying to kill Hugo, which infuriates Robert, but Rosamund's father, the mayor, backs Peter up, which upsets Robert. Finn's sister Patricia accuses Mayor Hillyard of framing Finn so that Robert and Rosamund will not be married, but Hillyard reveals that Rosamund was the one who told him of her suspicions of Finn and Robert chooses to end their engagement. Sheriff de Brissac refuses to send Finn to jail, as she is still the lady of the manor, and instead takes her to his home and Finn's hunting dog, Gros Louis, follows.

Hugo is rushed back to the manor to be treated and Jamie stands guard at the door to protect his father, as he saw who pushed the stone and knows who is trying to kill him. Peter tries to enter Hugo's room, but Jamie stops him. Peter realizes that Hugo acknowledged that Jamie is his son and says they can't take any chances, chasing after Jamie as he runs away.

Hugo wakes up and the sheriff tells him what happened that he and Finn suspect Laroche, though Finn is in custody at his home. He tells Hugo that Peter accused her but has since disappeared, as have the Laroches, as they never arrived at Reginald's sister home where they were headed. The sheriff believes that they are all working together to try to kill Hugo. Hugo asks about Jamie and the sheriff realizes that no one has seen him in some time and Hugo orders him to find him.

Sheriff de Brissac's mother bosses Finn around to make her into a better wife but Finn cries in secret over her concern for Hugo. Finn's sisters visit her and reveal that Jack Mallory disappeared in the middle of the night, presumably never to return to Mellana. The sheriff tells Finn that they have not yet found Jamie, as the dogs keep losing the scent of his tunic, but he will not allow Finn to track Jamie with Gros Louis. Finn hatches a plan with the sheriff to announce that Hugo has died and Finn is to hang for it to draw the Laroches out, but the sheriff does not believe that Hugo will go along with it but leaves to inform Hugo of the plan while Finn sneakily steals Jamie's tunic. She sneaks out of the house with Gros Louis and goes to the forest where the other dogs lost Jamie's scent. She gives Gros Louis the tunic and begins to follow him.

The sheriff arrives back at the manor and Hugo refuses to go along with the plan. The sheriff realizes that Finn used her plan to steal the tunic and go after Jamie. Hugo insists on going after her, even though he is still gravely injured.

Finn realizes the trail is leading toward Wolf Cave where she sees the Laroches, Peter, and Jamie, who is still alive. She plans to turn back and get the sheriff, but Gros Louis goes after a rabbit and the Laroches hear him and recognize him as Finn's dog. Reginald Laroche threatens to kill Jamie if Finn does not reveal herself so she reluctantly steps out. Isabella says they should kill Jamie anyway, but Reginald soliloquizes, admitting his guilt in Geoffrey's death and in attempting to kill Hugo. Finn asks them to spare Jamie, as he is only a child, but Reginald insists that both of them will hang. Finn insists that the sheriff is close behind her, but Isabella taunts her. Finn punches her in the face, breaking her nose, as Gros Louis barks and Hugo suddenly rides into the clearing.

On his way into the forest, Hugo ran into Gros Louis and realized they must be at Wolf Cave before rushing there. As he arrives, Laroche grabs Finn and holds a knife to her neck. Hugo asks Laroche to duel, but he refuses, so Hugo puts up the manor as the reward for the winner. Peter insists that everything has gone to far, as he could never follow someone who would kill a woman and child in cold blood. Hugo and Laroche begin to duel and the sheriff and his men arrive in the clearing. Hugo is becoming weary from his injury as they duel, but he suddenly taps into his reserves of strength and overtakes Reginald, though Finn cries out and begs him not to kill him. Hugo releases Laroche into the sheriff's custody and Hugo asks Finn if she forgives him for burning her braies. She says she does and asks his forgiveness for kidnapping him, which he says she doesn't need to apologize for.

Six months later, Mellana has given birth to a boy and Finn believes that the sheriff will propose to her when his mother finally passes away. Laroche has been tried and hanged, while Isabella and Peter disappeared into Scotland after Finn had Hugo bribe the men holding them to let them escape. Hugo has become a well-liked earl, and Finn is visibly pregnant. While at the manor, Mistress Laver lets in some men that are friends of Hugo's from the crusades. One of the men hits on Finn and wraps his arm around her before she draws a secret knife and holds it to his throat. Hugo comes in with Jamie behind him and tells Finn that he has been to visit Robert, who says hello, and that he saw Rosamund there and the two of them will probably be engaged again soon. Hugo sees that Finn has a knife to one of the man's throats and tells the men that he sees they have met his wife.

The film follows a group of young adults who come together to play a fantasy role playing game, while working at a costume rental store. One of the players is a young man named Adam (Thom Haverstock) who is the descendant of a long line of men who are all cursed by the devil. While working at the community college theater performance a strange magician appears and puts a curse on Adam, forcing him to remember the fate of his ancestors and to make him believe that he really is a warlock.

Increasingly Adam is unable to determine the difference between fantasy and reality and believes that, as a warlock, he is on a quest to kill various people. As the bodies pile up, the local police are baffled and no one suspects that Adam is a deranged serial killer being commanded to kill by the devil.

After playing the role playing game with instructions to kill all the members of the Apostles of Hell before they kill him, Adam attends a costume party hosted by a man named Dr. Evil, who wants Adam to join his cult and also kill most of the party guests. When the police figure out that Adam is the killer, they corner and shoot him in a factory, but his body disappears and leaves a puppet in its place.

At the end of the film, the surviving players are playing a game with a suit of knight's armor seated in Adam's place. The armor comes to life and kills their dungeon master. Upon looking at the body, they learn that their dungeon master was Dr. Evil, and by extension, the devil.

The series centered on four guys who meet every day with their dogs in a Los Angeles dog park. Among those shown were Jeremiah, a chef, Clay, Jermiah's best friend, Eric, a surfer, and Royce, who didn't have a dog but thought the dog park was a good place to meet girls.

Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city, moves to Ikebukuro to attend Raira Academy with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, whom he has not seen since he was young. After the two meet at the train station, they set out to explore the streets of Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns Mikado about people he does not want to cross in the city such as the violent and superhumanly strong man Shizuo Heiwajima, the information broker Izaya Orihara, and the mysterious gang known as "The Dollars." After running into some of the side characters, Mikado sees a local legend called the "Black Rider" who rides around Ikebukuro on a black motorcycle that occasionally neighs like a horse and who is rumored to have no head under her helmet. The "Black Rider's" real name is Celty Sturluson; she is an Irish dullahan who is in Ikebukuro looking for her stolen head while working as an underworld courier. The narrative follows all of the characters equally, showing how their lives intersect and create a greater plot line from each character's knowledge about a common incident.

The story is told from the perspective of approximately eleven of the main characters and changes every episode in the anime, sometimes even more often. One of the few constants given in every episode is that the narrator gives his own opinion on the current situation that he is in as well as what things that make him tick and keep him going in Ikebukuro: a city with a large underbelly that is the medium for the majority of both the plot's development and random violence throughout the series.

The series follows four stories. Rhys, Hannah and Josh Ashworth head off to a music festival. Whilst there, Rhys and Hannah are tempted by love interests Imogen and Jamie, however the pair are not as nice as they seem. Jacqui McQueen and Darren Osborne try their best to convince Tony Hutchinson and Cindy Cunningham not to get married, and Cindy is less than pleased at the appearance of former best friend Savannah. Theresa and Michaela McQueen set off to London where Theresa has an interview with a modelling agency. As they face living on the streets of London, Theresa decides to visit her mother. Jealous Lydia Hart follows girlfriend Sarah Barnes on a camping trip where she finds her getting closer to Zoe Carpenter. Her jealousy leads to a chain of events and the death of one of the group.

''Razorjack'' tells the story of three college students who inadvertently create an opening into an alternate universe - known by its inhabitants as The Twist Dimension - and consequently become a target for the evil Razorjack.

Police officers Ross and Frame investigate the results of Razorjack's killing spree and are drawn into what is potentially the ultimate battle between good and evil.

Two brilliant young aesthetes, Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan, strangle to death their former classmate from prep school, David Kentley, in their Manhattan penthouse apartment. They commit the crime as an intellectual exercise: they want to prove their superiority by committing the "perfect murder".

After hiding the body in a large antique wooden chest, Brandon and Phillip host a dinner party at the apartment, which has a panoramic view of Manhattan's skyline. The guests, who are unaware of what has happened, include the victim's father, Mr. Kentley, and aunt, Mrs. Atwater; his mother is unable to attend because of a cold. Also present are David's fiancée, Janet Walker, and her former lover, Kenneth Lawrence, who was once David's close friend.

Brandon uses the chest containing the body as a buffet table for the food, just before their housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson, arrives to help with the party.

Brandon and Phillip's idea for the murder was inspired years earlier by conversations with their prep-school housemaster, publisher Rupert Cadell. While they were at school, Rupert had discussed with them, in an apparently approving way, the intellectual concepts of Nietzsche's Superman, as a means of showing one's superiority over others. He, too, is among the guests at the party since Brandon, in particular, thinks that he would approve of their "work of art."

Brandon's subtle hints about David's absence indirectly lead to a discussion on the "art of murder." Brandon appears calm and in control, although when he first speaks to Rupert, he is nervously excited and stammering. Phillip, on the other hand, is visibly upset and morose. He does not conceal it well and starts to drink too much.

When David's aunt, Mrs. Atwater, who fancies herself a fortune-teller, tells him that his hands will bring him great fame, she refers to his skill at the piano, but he appears to think this refers to the notoriety of being a strangler.

However, much of the conversation focuses on David and his strange absence, which worries the guests. A suspicious Rupert quizzes a fidgety Phillip about this and some of the inconsistencies raised in conversation. For example, Phillip vehemently denies ever strangling a chicken at the Shaws' farm, although Rupert has seen Phillip strangle several. Phillip later complains to Brandon about having had a "rotten evening," not because of David's murder, but because of Rupert's questioning.

As the evening goes on, David's father and fiancée begin to worry because he has neither arrived nor phoned. Brandon increases the tension by playing matchmaker between Janet and Kenneth.

Mrs. Kentley calls, overwrought because she has not heard from David, and Mr. Kentley decides to leave. He takes with him some books Brandon has given him, tied together with the rope Brandon and Phillip used to strangle his son.

When Rupert leaves, Mrs. Wilson accidentally hands him David's monogrammed hat, further arousing his suspicion. Rupert returns to the apartment a short while after everyone else has departed, pretending that he has left his cigarette case behind. He asks for a drink and then stays to theorize about David's disappearance.

He is encouraged by Brandon, who hopes Rupert will understand and even applaud them. A drunk Phillip, unable to bear it anymore, throws a glass and accuses Rupert of playing cat-and-mouse games with him and Brandon.

Rupert seizes Brandon's gun from Phillip and insists on examining the chest over Brandon's objections. He lifts the lid of the chest and finds the body inside. He is horrified and ashamed, realizing that Brandon and Phillip used his own rhetoric to rationalize murder.

Rupert disavows all his previous talk of superiority and inferiority and fires several shots out the window to attract attention. As the police arrive, Rupert sits on a chair next to the chest, Phillip begins to play the piano, and Brandon continues to drink.

Henry MacMorrow, a junior partner in the law firm of Parsons, Hilton, Trent and MacMorrow, is assigned the task of obtaining the signatures of various members of the Pemberton family so that a piece of property they own can be sold. While en route by train to the Pemberton home in Aiken, South Carolina, he meets Junior Pemberton, an obnoxious ten-year-old prodigy whose behavior prompts Henry to kick him in the pants when they arrive at the station, much to the dismay of the boy's sister Toni.

Henry arrives at the Permberton home before Toni and Junior, and the rest of the family mistakes him for her fiancé Howard Rogers. She quickly corrects the misunderstanding and soon finds herself liking the amiable lawyer, despite their unpleasant first meeting. Mistakenly believing the millionaire Henry is impoverished and the sole support of his widowed mother, Toni promises to help him financially, but Howard convinces the family Henry is a fraud. The attorney returns to New York City, where he promptly is fired.

Anxious to find Henry, Toni convinces the Pembertons their town is being quarantined, and the entire family travels to New York. When Toni learns Henry has lost his job, she vows to help him get it back. She urges her family to sign the documents allowing their land to be sold, and then she and Henry go to the country to obtain the signatures of her Aunts Pitty and Patty and Uncle Goliath.

Howard, still certain Henry is a con artist, decides to assess the Pemberton's property and discovers oil, unaware it's leaking from his own car. Believing the land is worth a fortune, he persuades the family to sell it to him for $125,000 and convinces them Henry was trying to scam them. Thinking Henry was deceiving her, Toni ends their relationship.

Howard discovers the oil was from his car and tries to get his money back, only to discover the Pembertons already have spent it. When he decides to sell the land to Henry, Toni tries to warn him, but he refuses to speak to her, until Pitty and Patty reveal Toni and Henry spent the night in their barn, and Toni pretends he took advantage of her. Her family storms Henry's apartment and demands he make an honest woman of her, and he willingly agrees to marry Toni.

A worm, wielding a knife and fork, rushes to dine on a large apple that has fallen to the ground when he is immediately chased by a hungry black crow. The crow pursues the worm until he is confronted by a cat. The cat runs after the crow, only to find itself in the sights of a vicious dog. The dog harasses the cat until he is suddenly set upon by the local dog catcher. He is stopped in his tracks by his wife (armed with a rolling pin) who professes that she is not "scared of man nor beast". A nearby mouse informs her that he is a beast and snarls, setting her off running and screaming. Her husband, in a Jimmy Durante voice, watches the woman tearing away, chased by the mouse, and says, "Everybody wants to get into the act."

From there, the various protagonists continue their pursuit of each other - all stemming from the worm still attempting to get the apple. The crow makes an intellectual decision that, within this busy group, he must help the dog. He reasons that: Dogs chase cats...Cats chase birds...I'm a bird...Therefore: I gotta help the dog.

A series of scenarios plays out during which each character goes after their prey while being harried by their own nemesis. An encounter with a skunk who may or may not be Pepé Le Pew unites them all in self-preservation and escape. Throughout, the dog catcher's wife continues to run away from the mouse.

At the conclusion of the cartoon, an unseen narrator asks the worm if he must go through this routine every day just to get something to eat. The worm says, "Eat it nothing - this is the last furnished apartment in town." Whereupon he opens a door in the apple upon which hangs a "Vacancy" sign. As the short fades out, the worm exits his new home wearing a robe and carrying a towel, heading for a nearby second apple with a door, presumably containing shower facilities.

The film follows Terry, a suicidal voyeur who doesn't seem to be able to kill himself. While preparing for jumping off a bridge, he meets Nick who ends up saving his life. Terry discovers that Nick is terminally ill and doesn't have much time left. Scared by the lack of time, Nick offers Terry a deal he can't refuse: Terry will become the beneficiary of Nick's life insurance or, since money doesn't matter to Terry, Nick promises to kill him before he dies. All Nick asks is Terry's help to realize a few fantasies before dying.

Taylor has claimed that the film is loosely autobiographical. Taylor himself once spent six years traveling around the country with a friend. In one interview, Taylor claimed: "When I was 19, I contemplated suicide and attempted to hold up a drug store."

A former delinquent, Petter (HP) becomes a policeman. He is so involved when he is infiltrated that he sometimes forgets that he is a cop. His mission is to arrest a drug dealer Marco.

''Warbreaker'' tells the story of two Idrian princesses, Vivenna and Siri. Vivenna was contracted through a treaty written before she was born to marry the God King of rival nation Hallandren. However, King Dedelin sends his other daughter Siri to meet the treaty instead.

Vivenna follows her to Hallandren in the hope of saving Siri from her fate. Upon arriving in Hallandren, Vivenna meets with Lemex, one of her father's spies in the city, but he has taken ill and dies shortly thereafter — though not before bequeathing his large sum of BioChromatic Breath to her (which is considered heretical by the Idrians).

Vivenna joins up with Denth and Tonk Fah, mercenaries that were under Lemex's employ, and together they begin making guerilla attacks against Hallandren's supply depots and convoys that will hopefully give the Idrians an advantage in the seemingly inevitable war.

Siri, after spending many terrified nights waiting for the God King to procreate with her, finds that he is not actually the menacing, frightening God that she thought, but has actually had his tongue cut out by his priests, making him nothing more than a figurehead. Though he is intelligent, he possesses a childlike outlook because his education was withheld. Siri teaches the God King to communicate by writing, and over time they learn to care for each other and fall in love. However, Siri believes that the priests are secretly plotting to kill her and the God King if she produces an heir, and fears that Hallandren will soon launch a war against Idris. Siri finds a potential ally in the unorthodox god Lightsong, who is plagued by nightmares of war and is struggling to discover his purpose.

Back in the city, Vivenna discovers that Denth and Tonk Fah are not working for her but against her, having been hired by an unknown third party to instigate the war with Idris, and she barely escapes their custody with her life. After hiding and living destitute in the Idrian slums of Hallandren for weeks, Vivenna is taken in by Vasher, a mysterious man who can use his BioChromatic Breath to Awaken objects, an art at which he is incredibly skilled. He wields a sword called Nightblood, a weapon created in a Biochromatic experiment and which possesses sentience. Together, Vivenna and Vasher work to undo the damage done by Denth and avert the war.

Vivenna convinces Vasher to try and save her sister Siri from the God King's palace. However, Vasher is captured and tortured by Denth, who is revealed to have been working for the God King's Pahn Kahl servants, who are trying to incite war between the Idrians and Hallendren so that they can take the city for themselves.

The Pahn Kahl servants capture Siri, kill many of the God King's priests, and throw the God King in the dungeon. Lightsong and many of the other gods are taken captive as well. The Pahn Kahl, having gained the Commands to control the city's undead Lifeless army, send them to attack the Idrians and start the war. However, Lightsong, imprisoned in the dungeon alongside the God King, sacrifices himself by giving the God King his BioChromatic Breath. This heals the king, giving him his tongue back and allowing him access to his godly cache of BioChromatic power. The God King uses his magic to save Siri from the Pahn Kahl servants just as she is about to be murdered. Meanwhile, Vivenna uses her own budding BioChromatic powers to break into the God King's palace and free Vasher, who kills Denth.

Vivenna and Siri are reunited. However, even with the God King's near unlimited power, the Lifeless army cannot be stopped. Vasher then reveals that he is actually one of the Five Scholars — ancient beings who originally discovered the Commands for using BioChromatic Breath — and bestows upon the God King the code to awaken the city's secret army of nearly indestructible D'denir Lifeless soldiers, which have been hidden in plain sight throughout the city as statues. These soldiers are sent to destroy the Lifeless army before it can reach Idris.

While Siri and the God King begin a new rule and life together, Vivenna joins Vasher as he sets out on another quest to a distant land.

Awakening

The book uses a system of magic, "Awakening", which allows Awakeners to bring life to objects as well as provide benefits directly to the mages while they hold "BioChromatic Breath", the source of their power, such as perfect pitch, perfect color recognition, perfect life recognition, and agelessness.Sanderson, Brandon. ''Warbreaker''. New York: Tor, 2009. pg. 589 June 6, 2010 http://www.brandonsanderson.com/drafts/warbreaker/Warbreaker_hardcover_1st_ed.pdf . Use of Awakening drains the colors from surrounding objects and the less colorful an object is, the more difficult it is to apply Awakening to it. The system has been praised as a unique and original magical system.

When a man is hanged for murdering his wife, their three small children go into social care. Bill (Max Bygraves) is an electrician with the local care home, and is introduced to the children and their social worker, Ann (Barbara Murray). Growing ever fonder of the kids, he and Ann take them out on trips and picnics, to try and bring some happiness back into their lives. However, events spiral out of control when a child gets hold of a loaded gun.  

During the Second World War, Lieutenant Ogleby (Ian Carmichael) is the officer in charge of a number of soldiers assigned to a searchlight and gunnery unit, somewhere in England. Ogleby visits only occasionally to check up on the unit. In his absence Lance Bombardier Tomlinson (Victor Maddern) is in charge, but he struggles to maintain some kind of order over the other men and he frequently turns a blind eye to their lack of discipline and even their local thieving.

Camp comic Syd McGaffey (Benny Hill) tries to keep up with the romantic antics of his younger brother Eric (Tommy Steele) who comes back from a short leave and announces that he has got married. He soon takes up with a local girl and gets her pregnant, falling foul of her father. Ted Green (Sydney Tafler) is a widower with a son serving overseas and he eagerly maintains a correspondence with him. Leslie Smith (Johnny Briggs) is lovesick and unhappy over a misunderstanding with his girlfriend and eventually goes AWOL to get to see her. Roland Kenyon (Harry Locke) is the unit's cook and a father of six children. He has ambitions to get a posting to a catering unit.

Taking place approximately three years after the events in ''Friends,'' ''Paul and Michelle'' resumes the story of Paul Harrison (Sean Bury) and Michelle Latour (Anicée Alvina) after they are reunited. Paul, having successfully completed prep school in England as the head boy, returns to France to study at the Sorbonne and to locate his lover Michelle and their three-year-old daughter Sylvie. He is directed to Nice where Michelle had taken a job, only to find that she left the job due to an unpleasant situation with her boss, and is now living in a comfortable apartment with Garry (Keir Dullea), an older American airline pilot. Michelle had written to Paul many times, but his stepmother failed to give him the letters. Paul and Michelle discover that they are still in love, and return with Sylvie to Michelle's cottage in the Camargue for an idyllic summer. Garry is unhappy about losing Michelle and tries to get her to change her mind and stay with him, but accepts her choice to be with Paul.

When the Sorbonne term begins, Paul obtains a small, inexpensive apartment near the school and brings Michelle and Sylvie to live with him, and the two befriend some of Paul's classmates. Then Paul's father finds out Paul is living with Michelle and Sylvie, and cuts off Paul's allowance, causing both Paul and Michelle to have to go to work. Michelle also discovers she is pregnant by Garry, and feeling unable to afford or manage another child, she obtains an illegal abortion with the help of medical student friends, without telling Paul until she returns home visibly ill. Garry visits Michelle to tell her he will be moving to New York City and invites her to join him, but she chooses to stay with Paul. Tired from the demands of work, child care and Paul's studies, the couple begin to bicker, culminating in a major argument when Michelle returns from work and finds Paul taking a break at a cafe with an attractive female friend. During the argument, Sylvie wanders away from the apartment and Paul and Michelle frantically search for her before finding her unharmed later that night.

Michelle decides that their living arrangement is not working, and that she and Sylvie should return to the cottage until Paul finishes school and gets a good job and a nicer apartment. She will get a job in Arles to support Sylvie, and Paul can visit for holidays. Paul accepts her decision, reasoning that they survived a three-year separation before and can do so again. In the final scene, Paul puts Michelle and Sylvie on the train to Arles and sadly waves goodbye as it pulls away.

Six naive British and American volunteers arrive on kibbutz Kfar Ezra for a working holiday, exchanging their labour for the opportunity to experience first-hand its unique collective lifestyle. When Mike (Sam Robards), a young medical student, falls in love with Gila (Joanna Pacuła), the Israeli girl who is organising the volunteers' work and accommodation, he must choose between a life with her and returning home.

Set in 1945, Thomas Patrick Noonan (Tommy Noonan) is a radio station page who receives an Army induction draft notice on the day World War II ends. He insists he should fulfill his military duty, and a mistake at the Pentagon results in a decommissioned stateside military facility being kept open to accommodate his basic training.

Sgt. Peter Marshall (Peter Marshall), who is in charge of shutting the camp down, is angry he has to remain in the Army, since he was planning to marry his girlfriend, movie starlet Lili Marlene (Julie Newmar). Tommy falls in love with Lili, and her press agent devises a publicity stunt for Lili to return the emotion and plan to marry him. The sergeant, who is furious about losing Lili, attempts to sabotage Tommy's basic training, but his scheme backfires and the two men find themselves stationed in Japan. Lili follows them, and through complicated circumstances the trio wind up stranded on a desert island that is soon visited by two Japanese sailors who are unaware the war has ended.

New York lawyer and playboy Clay "Dal" Dalzell (William Powell) is asked by old friend Tim Winthrop (Leslie Fenton) to locate his girlfriend Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in Chicago a year ago. Winthrop cannot stop thinking about her and believes she is in New York.

Along with Donna Mantin (Ginger Rogers), who has romantic designs on him, "Dal" attends a hit stage show called "Midnight" that stars a masked actress, Mary Smith (Bess Flowers), who vanishes in mid-performance when Winthrop recognizes her and blurts out the name Alice.

Gossip columnist Tommy Tennant (Russell Hopton) claims to have discovered a vital clue to the mystery, but before he can reveal it, he is shot in Dal's suite. Dal is the main suspect, but Inspector Doremus (J. Farrell MacDonald) does not believe him to be guilty, and gives the resourceful lawyer the freedom to investigate on his own.

Dal negotiates with gangster Kinland to retrieve letters embarrassing to Donna. When he gets them (using a bit of blackmail), he is annoyed to discover that they actually belong to a friend of Donna's.

Dal runs into an old flame, Jerry (Vivien Oakland), now wed to a lawyer named Classon (Ralph Morgan). Classon, it turns out, is also searching for Alice; she can provide an alibi for his client, convicted of a murder in Chicago.

Dal sets up a trap in a Greenwich Village apartment, pretending to have located the missing Mary there and notifying each of the suspects that she is leaving there to meet him at his suite. He reasons that those who are innocent will go to his suite, while the murderer heads to the apartment to silence Mary.

The killer indeed turns up, in disguise, putting Dal and Donna in grave danger. Fortunately, Dal and Inspector Doremus are able to subdue the culprit. It is Robert Classon. It turns out that Jerry had carried on affairs, first with the Chicago murder victim, then with his accused killer. Robert Classon killed one of his wife's lovers and tried to frame the other. To achieve the latter, he also needed to silence Alice, unaware that she had fled to avoid testifying. She hated the convicted man for ruining her father.

With everything wrapped up, Dal finally gives in and marries Donna.

Story

Set in an alternate history, the game follows the journeys and tribulations of a group of young fighter pilots involved in aerial dogfighting using propeller-driven fighter planes. Although the world is at peace, in order to ease the tension of a populace accustomed to war and aggression, private corporations contract fighter pilots to stage combat operations against each other for show across the skies of central Europe, with various place names in Japanese.

In the game players control Lynx, a rookie pilot who joins a team of privately contracted pilots, the Sky Crawlers. The first mission, he joins the Rostock ace air force team, the Cougar Squad, which includes Captain Mutsuga Yamazaki and the hot-blooded Masami Kaida. The squad is managed by Colonel Kayaba. The first mission involves destroying enemy jamming aircraft in a war with rival corporation Lautern. Following the success of this mission, Cougar Squad is deployed to Ubasama, to rendezvous with new additions to the Squad, revealed to be kildren, artificial human clones who stay young indefinitely and can only die violently. Among these new recruits are Maumi Orishina, a female kildren who later becomes obsessed with fighting Lynx, and Ko Ukumori, an elitist pilot who has strong views on the strong and the weak. Soon after this, Cougar Squad is sent to Kiriki, to defend the production site of a new flying battleship, ''Wolfram''. Several Cougar Squad pilots are killed in this operation and another mission on the Yaura River, where Captain Yamazaki sacrifices himself to defend Ukumori from an unexpected Lautern attack. After Yaura, Lynx is made Captain of Cougar Squad, renamed Cheetah Squad, by Tochika Mozume, Rostock's Deputy Chief of Intelligence, while Kayaba is reassigned to another base.

Shortly after this reorganization, Mozume sets up a mock battle between Lynx and Orishina to test a new aircraft that is interrupted by enemy forces, frustrating the latter. After several operations, including destroying unauthorized Lautern power plants previously discovered in a nearly botched recon mission in the Baruka Mountains and destroying Lautern's prized Glacier Fleet, an operation to destroy Fortress Shikibo goes disastrously wrong when Lautern's Amoebic Rail Cannon, which was said to be non-operational, downs several Rostock pilots, including two Cheetah squad pilots. Ukumori insults these pilots, including Captain Yamazaki, enraging Kaida into attacking him. Mozume then orders Cheetah to destroy Kaida, who harbors no ill will towards Cheetah, but Mozume bars the combat-eager Orishina from assisting Cheetah. Soon after, she goes missing, and turns out to have defected to Lautern under Mozume's suggestion, after he sees high interest in a confrontation between her and Cheetah.

Not long after the squadron successfully defends the ''Wolfram'' from a desperate Lautern attack, Kayaba warns Cheetah that he has discovered Mozume carrying out a revolt against Rostock, seizing ''Wolfram'' and persuading Ukumori and two other kildren to defect to Lautern. Cheetah then shoots down the three defectors in a fierce battle over Ubasama, then proceeds to Kiriki to battle the ''Wolfram'', under Mozume's control. While aboard the battleship, an increasingly deranged Mozume reveals that he has a personal agenda to destroy both Rostock and Lautern and create his own new world, dissatisfied with the "lies" that fuel the war. Cheetah then destroys ''Wolfram'', forcing its crew to evacuate as it crashes down to earth, but they abandon Mozume to die on the ship, who then spends his last breath cursing Cheetah just as ''Wolfram'' explodes. Following the destruction of ''Wolfram'', Kayaba commands the squadron to engage in one final air battle over Karasu Bay, where the seemingly abandoned Lautern fortress Togakuten sits on a small island in the middle of the water. Cheetah easily shoots down many enemy planes, before they all flee to make way for new Lautern ace Orishina, whom he engages in a decisive one-on-one duel that is disrupted midway by the fortress' anti-aircraft guns unexpectedly coming online. Cheetah eventually defeats Orishina, who dies satisfied that she got a fight with him despite losing it. The final cutscene has an unnamed female Kildren, believed to be Kusanagi from the movie, arrive at the base, referring to Cheetah as Teacher.

Characters

Lynx/Cheetah

The main character of the game. His face is never shown nor does he ever talk. It appears Lynx is his callsign, as the squad chooses to use them during missions. Lynx's name is changed to Cheetah by his squad mates after he takes over as captain. Cheetah is considered a superior and quite feared ace by the enemy, nicknamed the Black Cat because of the black cat painted on the back of the planes he rides. At the end of the game, Cheetah is called Teacher, suggesting that he is the character of the same name from the film.

Maumi Orishina

She is the only girl in the Cougar Squad, later renamed the Cheetah Squad after Lynx is made captain and renamed Cheetah. She is a Kildren, cloned children who never age to be used as soldiers, and she loves to fly more than anything else. After a mock battle to test new planes against Cheetah, Maumi becomes obsessed with fighting Cheetah to have the ultimate aerial battle she desires. She takes this to the point of even defecting to Lautern to force Cheetah to fight her in a final duel. In the end, Cheetah is forced to shoot her down, but she is seen at the end of the game. Whether she is the same Maumi or a clone of her is unknown, but she respects Cheetah as her superior and calls him Teacher, implying she could be the film character Suito Kusanagi after her death in the game.

Kō Ukumori

Ukumori is a white haired Kildren, codenamed Sprite, that believes in strength alone. He commonly looks down on the fallen, suggesting they were weak, much to the anger of others. Ukumori sees himself as the best of everyone, and commonly makes challenges to others, verbally insulting their skills as well. At the end, Ukumori defects with Mozume in the idea with Rostock's successes, victory had to be given to Lautern to balance the war. As he battles Cheetah. He shows a severe jealous streak of Cheetah, claiming all his fame and recognition should be his instead. However, he is killed when Cheetah shoots him down. It was unknown if Ukumori was recloned afterwards.

Masami Kaida

A serious and often made fun of member of the Cougar/Cheetah Squad who idolized Captain Yamazaki. He apparently shares a second in command role with Ukumori after Cheetah is promoted to captain. Kaida often is at ends with Ukumori, disliking his attitude about the fallen. Eventually, Ukumori pushes Kaida too far after two of their squadmates are killed and he insults not only them, but the fallen Captain Yamazaki once more. Kaida attacks Ukumori, intending to shoot him down, making Mozume order Cheetah to shoot him down. Cheetah is forced to shoot down his friend, but Kaida shows no hatred as he falls. He just says goodbye to his old friend with a smile before dying in the explosion.

Mutsuga Yamasaki

The serious and hard-nosed leader of the Cougar Squad. He continually tells his squadmates about their shortcomings to keep them improving, and cares about the safety of them. Yamasaki is killed when he shields Ukumori's plane from gunfire; ironically, Ukumori continues to insult Yamasaki throughout the game even though his sacrifice saved his life. After Yamasaki is killed in action, Lynx is promoted to captain and renamed Cheetah, thus renaming the squad the Cheetah Squad.

Tochika Mozume

The Deputy Chief in charge of Rostock's operations and the antagonist of the game, apparently being also one of people involved in the introduction of Kildren. He takes full command after Yamazaki's death, promoting Lynx/Cheetah to captain. Mozume acts like he cares about the well-being of his pilots, but in truth, he is a manipulative opportunist who seeks to gain power for himself. Mozume is the one who manipulates Maumi to defect, though not explaining why (it may have been he wanted her to get rid of Cheetah who he started seeing as a threat). He is also the one who makes the Kildren, aside from Hiroto and Niya, defect against Rostock, stealing Wolfram, a gigantic battleship, for Lautern. As you battle the Wolfram, Mozume reveals his true nature, declaring that he will remake a new world when he gains the power he needs. It was suggested Mozume would eventually turn on Lautern when he got what he wanted from them. In the end, Mozume's plans are brought to end by Cheetah when the ace pilot destroys Wolfram's chimneys, causing an internal fire that damages it from inside, as well as its powerful cannons. As the Wolfram is falling, Mozume's madness makes his own men abandon him to die. Mozume states that Cheetah will one day succumb to old age and that his battles will be for naught. Before the Wolfram crashes and kills its mad creator, Mozume curses the world, most likely Cheetah most of all.

Miscellaneous

'''Colonel Kayaba''': An esteemed colonel of Rostock who manages Cougar Squadron and makes every effort to stay at Hariyu Base. He provides the briefing for the first and last several missions of the main campaign, and has expressed suspicion and concern for Mozume's agenda. After Yamasaki's death, Mozume reassigns Kayaba to another base, giving him false assurance that the squadron would manage well in his absence. After the ''Wolfram'' is secured, Kayaba warns Cheetah of Mozume's evil plan taking shape and urges him to take immediate action to stop it. '''Major Ushio''': An aide to Mozume who also briefs in certain missions in the middle of the campaign while Kayaba is away. He is easily manipulated, and is implied to be aboard a gunboat nearby where Cheetah's battle with ''Wolfram'' ended, which the player can destroy as a special enemy to unlock a new upgrade part. *'''Hiroto''': One of the few kildren who remained loyal to Rostock. He is killed when the ''Wolfram'' shoots him down with a spotlight-aimed cannon.

The commercial space tug ''Nostromo'' is returning to Earth with a seven-member crew in stasis: Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash, and engineers Parker and Brett. Detecting a transmission from a nearby moon, the ship's computer, Mother, awakens the crew. Per company policy requiring any potential distress signal be investigated, they land on the moon despite Parker's protests, sustaining damage from its atmosphere and rocky landscape. The engineers stay on board for repairs while Dallas, Kane, and Lambert investigate the terrain. They discover the signal originates from a derelict alien ship and enter it, losing contact with the ''Nostromo''. Ripley deciphers part of the transmission, determining it as a warning, but cannot relay the information to those on the derelict ship.

Meanwhile, Kane discovers a chamber containing hundreds of large, egg-like objects. When he touches one, a creature springs out, penetrates his helmet, and attaches itself to his face. Dallas and Lambert carry the unconscious Kane back to the ''Nostromo''. As acting senior officer, Ripley refuses to let them aboard, citing quarantine regulations, but Ash overrides her decision and lets them inside. Ash attempts to remove the creature from Kane's face, but stops when he discovers that its extremely corrosive acidic blood could hurt Kane and potentially damage the hull. It later freely detaches and is found dead. The ship is partially repaired, and the crew continue their journey back to Earth. Kane awakens with some memory loss, but seems to be otherwise unharmed. During a final crew meal before returning to stasis, he suddenly chokes and convulses. A small alien creature bursts from Kane's chest, killing him, and escapes into the ship, with Ash dissuading the rest from killing it.

After ejecting Kane's body out of an airlock, the crew attempts to locate the creature with tracking devices and capture it with nets, electric prods, and flamethrowers. Brett follows the crew's cat, Jones, into a landing leg compartment, where the now-fully-grown alien attacks Brett and disappears with his body. After a heated discussion, the crew decide the creature must be in the air ducts. Dallas enters the ducts, intending to force the monster into an airlock, but it ambushes and seemingly kills him. Lambert, realizing that the alien intends to aggressively kill the crew one by one, implores the others to abandon ship and escape in its small shuttle, but Ripley, now in command, explains it will not support four people and insists on continuing Dallas' plan of flushing out the alien.

Accessing Mother, Ripley discovers the company has secretly ordered Ash to return the alien, with the crew considered expendable. She confronts Ash, who tries to choke her to death. Parker intervenes and clubs Ash, knocking his head loose and revealing him as an android. He, Ripley, and Lambert reactivate Ash's head, and they learn that he was assigned to ensure the creature's survival. He expresses admiration for the creature's psychology, unhindered by conscience or morality, and taunts them about their chances of survival. Ripley cuts off his power and Parker incinerates him.

The remaining crew decide to self-destruct the ''Nostromo'' and escape in the shuttle. However, Parker and Lambert are ambushed and killed by the creature while gathering life-support supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence but finds the alien blocking her path to the shuttle. She retreats and attempts unsuccessfully to abort the self-destruct. With no further options, she flees to the shuttle, carrying Jones, and narrowly escapes as the ''Nostromo'' explodes.

As Ripley prepares for stasis, she discovers that the alien is aboard, having wedged itself into a narrow space. She dons a spacesuit and uses gas to flush the creature out. It approaches Ripley, but before it can attack, she opens an airlock door, almost blasting it into space. However, it hangs on by gripping the frame. Ripley shoots it with a grappling hook, but the gun catches as the airlock door closes, tethering the alien to the shuttle. It pulls itself into an engine exhaust, but Ripley fires the engines, blasting it away into deep space. After recording the final log entry, she places Jones and herself into stasis for the trip back to Earth.

Twelve years before the action of the play, Prospero, formerly Duke of Milan, had been usurped by his treacherous brother Antonio, aided by Alonso, King of Naples. Escaping by boat with his infant daughter Miranda, Prospero had fled to a Mediterranean island where he has been living ever since, using his magical powers to keep the island's only inhabitant, Caliban, as a slave, and a local spirit Ariel as a servant.

When a ship carrying his brother Antonio passes nearby, Prospero conjures up a storm and the ship is destroyed. Antonio is shipwrecked, along with Alonso, his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian, and the courtier Gonzalo.

Prospero is determined to regain his dukedom. Using magic he separates the shipwreck survivors into groups on the island: * Ferdinand, who is found by Prospero and Miranda. It is part of Prospero's plan to encourage a romantic relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda; and they do fall in love. * Trinculo, the king's jester, and Stephano, the king's drunken butler; who are found by Caliban. These three will raise an unsuccessful coup against Prospero, acting as the play's 'comic relief' by doing so. * Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and two attendant lords (Adrian and Francisco). Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and Gonzalo so Sebastian can become King; at Prospero's command Ariel thwarts this conspiracy. Later, Ariel, in the guise of a Harpy, confronts the three nobles (Antonio, Alonso and Sebastian), causing them to flee in guilt for their crimes against Prospero and each other. * The ship's captain and boatswain who, along with the other sailors, are asleep until the final act.

Prospero intends that Miranda, now aged 15, will marry Ferdinand, and he instructs Ariel to bring some other spirits and produce a masque. The masque will feature classical goddesses, Juno, Ceres, and Iris, and will bless and celebrate the betrothal. The masque will also instruct the young couple on marriage, and on the value of chastity until then.

The masque is suddenly interrupted when Prospero realizes he had forgotten the plot against his life. He orders Ariel to deal with this. Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano are chased off into the swamps by goblins in the shape of hounds. Prospero vows that once he achieves his goals, he will set Ariel free, and abandon his magic, saying: :I’ll break my staff, :Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, :And deeper than did ever plummet sound :I’ll drown my book. Ariel brings on Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian. Prospero forgives all three. Prospero's former title, Duke of Milan, is restored. Ariel fetches the sailors from the ship; then Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano. Caliban, seemingly filled with regret, promises to be good. Stephano and Trinculo are ridiculed and sent away in shame by Prospero. Before the reunited group (all the noble characters plus Miranda and Prospero) leave the island, Ariel is instructed to provide good weather to guide the king's ship back to the royal fleet and then to Naples, where Ferdinand and Miranda will be married. After this, Ariel is set free.

In an epilogue, Prospero requests that the audience set him free—with their applause.

Reggie's sister disguises herself as a boy to prove to her brother and sweetheart that a vamp is only vamping them.

Set in a world where all chicken and other bird meats are illegal, after a catastrophic outbreak of the bird flu that killed 23 million Americans, ''Chew'' centers on Tony Chu, a police detective who is a cibopath (pronounced "see-bo-path"). Tony becomes a vice cop with the Philadelphia Police Department, and when on assignment, trying to find people smuggling chicken, he enters a black market chicken restaurant on invitation from the U.S. FDA. He has a bowl of chicken soup only to find he gets a psychic impression of the cook killing people and putting them into the soup. He goes to bust the cook, only for the cook to kill himself outside the restaurant. Chu eats a bite of the cooks tongue to find out the names of the rest of the victims. He is fired from his job after the Philadelphia PD catches him eating the cook and gets hired on to the FDA by an agent named Mason Savoy, who is also a cibopath.Chew #1

The first case that Tony and Savoy are assigned to is finding out what happened to a Health Inspector named Evan Pepper, based on a finger found inside of a hamburger at a fast-food restaurant. During the investigation, Tony has a hit put out on him by a business man named Ray Jack Montero.Chew #2 It is eventually discovered that Mason Savoy killed Pepper and when confronted about it, bites off Tony's ear to use as leverage in case Tony ever comes after him. Savoy runs off to discover what really caused the so-called Bird Flu, and banned all chicken consumption.Chew #5

Tony takes some time off and flies with his brother to an island called Yamapalu. Chu is there to investigate a certain plant called a Gallsaberry which tastes exactly like chicken. Chu meets with a United States Department of Agriculture agent, who tells Tony that she will tell him all she knows about Gallsaberry, but unfortunately she's murdered and Tony is framed.Chew #7 Tony has his FDA credentials checked and is released only to find out by biting another prisoner that another murder has taken place, over a rooster named Poyo, a cockfight champion. After confiscating the rooster, Tony goes to the morgue to find out more about Gallsaberries. During this time, the chief of police steals Poyo. Tony than eats a Gallsaberry raw and finds out that it is from outer space.Chew #8 Tony sneaks on the base where Gallsaberries are grown, evacuates several people that are imprisoned there only to find out that the entire crop of Gallsaberries are burning.Chew #9 It turns out that Ray Jack Montero is burning the plants to remove any competition, with a little help from some residents of Yamapalu, who are rebelling due to the capture of Poyo. Tony is shot at by an employee of Montero, but is missed, and has a confrontation with a person known as The Vampire who is also a cibopath.Chew #10

Tony finds out that Poyo had been moved to America, so he retrieves him and shuts down a cockfighting ring.Chew #12 It is revealed that Ray Jack Montero had been changing Frog DNA to make them taste (and look) more like chickens, creating a creature called Frickens, or Chogs and packaging their meat and calling it Poult-Free, a chicken substitute. It is also revealed Montero knew that the bird-flu outbreak was going to happen before it did, so Mason Savoy had his partner, Caesar, go undercover inside of Montero's company. Caesar was the one who shot at Tony in Yamapalu and intentionally missed. Montero is captured, and Savoy is surrounded by the FDA when they were watching one of Montero's buildings.Chew #13 Savoy has a confrontation with John and escapes. Amelia finds a toe that was in Tony's fridge, given to him from an old girlfriend.Chew #14 Savoy eats Tony's ear and learns more about him, specifically that Tony has a daughter by the name of Olive. Tony brings Amelia and John with him to his family's Thanksgiving. We meet his friendlier twin sister Toni. While giving grace, there is a 2 car pile-up outside and alien writing in the sky.Chew #15

A week later, the FDA is making the writing in the sky a priority over the chicken ban. Tony teams up with Mason's old partner Caesar to look for a former FDA agent named Migdalo Daniel who is a Voresoph, Migdalo attacked the agents and accidentally killed himself. A Kentucky Fried Chicken imitation restaurant called Mother Clucker's reopens selling chicken.Chew #16 Tony and Colby investigate a food fight that resulted in several students killing each other at Francis Bacon High School. It turns out that a student named Peter Pilaf has a new food related power. After detaining him, Tony finds out that Pilaf had sent a recipe to astronauts on the Fisher-Okroshka International Space Station which exploded shortly afterwards. It turns out that a servant of The Vampire on the Space Station caused the station to explode and escaped with some computer files and a Gallsaberry.Chew #17 While on a mission with the USDA in North Korea, Tony and Colby find out that the FDA are using Poyo as a secret weapon.Chew #18 Tony is transferred to NASA for the day to work with his sister, Toni. They go to Area 51, Area 51 has pieces of the Space Station including the body of an astronaut. Tony bites the astronaut and discovers The Vampire's involvement.Chew #19 Mason drinks Migdalo's blood, and tells Caesar that there is a connection between people with abilities and the writing in the sky. Caesar then informs Mason that the writing disappeared four days ago. Mason decides to kidnap Olive. Tony and Colby are sent to investigate an egg worshiping cult that predicted the disappearance of the sky writing to the minute. They go undercover and sneak inside the church, and while trying to steal their holy book, the other members of the church drink poisoned Kool-Aid to absolve their sin of eating chicken. The cult's book is not written in English and Tony and Colby are fired from the FDA.Chew #20

Tony is transferred to the Municipal Traffic Division. His new boss seems very excited to have him there. Tony then helps to arrest a gang of bank robbers.Chew #21

''Chew'' #27

''Note: After Chew #18, the story then leaps to Chew #27 showing the reader events taking place a year later. It then returns to issue 19.''

Tony is in the hospital after being injured in some way. Toni goes to visit him and after chatting with Caesar who came to wish him well, heads back to work. An old friend of Toni's shows up, he had gotten his hands on some Chogs (AKA Frickens) that had been bred with some psychoactive frogs he had. He tries to sell them, but D-Bear shows up and steals all of them. Toni and her supervisor, Paneer, go to D-Bear's restaurant to confiscate the Chogs. D-Bear tries to escape but Toni, who had a gun already in her hands, jumps and bites him in the shoulder. She then lets him leave, D-Bear is then hit by a truck and is taken to the hospital. Later, Tony has a mysterious visitor.

Chew #27 went on sale May 11, 2011. A second printing, subtitled "2nd Helping Edition", went on sale June 20, 2012 between the release of issue 26 and issue 28, and included a bonus short story titled "A View to a Pill" which had previously only been published in the ''Hero Comics 2011'' anthology from IDW Publishing. "A View to a Pill" was not included in the trade paperback releases of the series.

The plot involves a wealthy society matron who leaves her considerable fortune to her nephew on condition he divorce his chorus girl wife. In order to collect his legacy, he decides to comply with the terms and then remarry her after he receives the money. Since divorces are granted only for adultery, a Philadelphia hotel employee named Lucille Jaynes-Smith arranges for him to be found with a woman who is not his wife. He registers at the property as John Smith, and comic complications ensue when he discovers there are more than three dozen other John Smiths registered there as well.

Samurai Princess takes place sometime, somewhere in an alternate universe version of feudal Japan, where people live together with highly developed mechanical dolls called "Mechas". However, excessively developed mechanical dolls start causing harm to human society, leading to ghastly bloodshed happening all over the place. Under the circumstances, Kyoraku, a mad scientist, creates a female ninja mechanical doll. Equipped with eleven types of built-in weapons, the ninja doll is also infused with the souls of eleven of her fallen sisters. She uses their combined power to take down anyone who stands in her way. Virtually indestructible, the ninja is on a quest to save humanity.

Nai searches for someone important to him, with only an abandoned bracelet as a clue. Gareki steals and pick-pockets to get by from day to day. The two meet in a strange mansion where they are set up, and soon become wanted criminals by military security operatives. When Nai and Gareki find themselves desperate in a hopeless predicament, they encounter none other than the country's most powerful defense organization, "Circus".

An unnamed dog based on John Barrymore (who also appeared in ''The Goofy Gophers'') is reading a book and decides to seek wild game, which happens to come in the form of the Goofy Gophers. After trying to get them through simple chasing, only to see the gophers dive into their hole and then overrun the hole and off a cliff, the dog (upside down, hanging off a tree) looks through his book and discovers four ways to get a gopher: * '''No. 1: The canny hunter will remember that gophers possess an enormous curiosity concerning strange or unfamiliar objects''': To this end, the dog places a spring with a punching glove attached to it in a chest. When the Gophers, after deciding to ignore the "Do Not Open until Xmas" sticker, open it, they "see" jewelry in it and take the chest with them. The dog takes the chest away from the Gophers and opens it, only to be punched below his chin, as he bounces like a pogo stick. * '''No. 2: Gophers are quite fond of fresh vegetables which can therefore be used as bait that would attract them''': The dog, knowing that the gophers are vegetarians, plants a row of radishes in the ground along with a turnip at the end of the row that is booby-trapped to an overhanging rock tied around a nearby tree, which the dog tests with a ball, triggering the trap successfully. Naturally, the Gophers pick up all of the radishes, and after initial trouble, take the turnip—but the trap is not triggered this time. The dog then holds the string, but triggers the trap and says to himself "Oh,No." before he is crushed. * '''No. 3: The gopher is a sentimental little creature whose feelings may be played upon to your advantage''': The dog, calling himself Snookie, places himself in a booby-trapped carriage, with his cries quickly noticed by the Gophers. After discovering the booby trap under the dog (which includes a handgun, rifle, bomb, and grenade), the Gophers push the carriage up a hill, and then release the carriage with the dog in it down the cliff on the other side, leaving the dog howling as he goes over several hills (we see a sign that reads "Next time try the train") and vertically down a second cliff, where he crashes. As the dog claims that the Gophers missed his inner strength, the dog then falls down, stiff as a board. * '''No. 4: If all else fails (and it has), you must utilize the gophers' love of music''': The dog begins playing what amounts to a one-man band of music, drawing the Gophers' attention as they start dancing to the music. The dog unsuccessfully tries to crush them with cymbals and a banjo that also doubles as a gun, but does drag them to the drums using a trumpet. As the dog tries to crush the gophers on the drums, they evade him and the dog and Gophers end up in the piano, where the Gophers have the dog "trapped like a rat in a trap", as the Gophers then hop all over the piano keys. Hammers attached to various keys hit the dog in his rear end as the cartoon concludes with the dog regretting having ever read the book.

At breakfast, the family watches a promo for a teen talent competition show; Candace is inspired to audition at the mall. The boys are also curious, specifically about artists who only release one successful song, then its all over. Their mother explains the concept of "one-hit wonders" to them and reminisces about her days as one named "Lindana". While the boys work on becoming one-hit wonders by writing a "meaningless" song, Candace tries on outfits for the audition - including her mother's Lindana outfit- all rejected by her best friend Stacy.

At the audition, she is set to perform with the new band "PFT", which she discovers is "Phineas and the Ferb-Tones" (''PFT'' for short), consisting of Phineas (main vocals and guitarist), Ferb (drummer and keyboardist), and their friends, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and Fireside Girls, Adyson Sweetwater, Gretchen and Milly (as back-up singers "the Ferbettes"), whose song "''Gitchee Gitchee Goo''" has topped the charts, making them one-hit wonders. Instead of joining them, Candace tries to expose them to their mother as usual. She mistakes the on-stage silhouette of an anthropomorphic rabbit playing a blender as his instrument for her brothers and her mother takes her to get glasses.

Meanwhile, Perry enters Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lair, which is in a different building to usual, wearing groucho glasses; confusing him for a temp, Doofenshmirtz explains his plan to terrorize the "entire Tri-State Area". After Perry removes his "disguise" the entire building transforms into a giant robot (thanks to Doofenshmirtz buying up huge numbers of construction toys).

Oblivious to Candace's threat, the boys go to "Huge-O-Records" to discuss a record deal. Meanwhile, trying to show their mom the band's poster on a building outside, Candace hurries their mother from a store whilst inadvertently carrying a jacket she has not paid for. The security guard recognizes the mother as Lindana, but insists she goes back inside to pay. During the delay, the poster is destroyed because it was on a building scheduled for demolition. (Ironically, her mother would have witnessed it being destroyed by Doofenshmirtz's robot if Perry had not changed its direction.) At the record company, Phineas, inspired by his mother's story, throws a diva tantrum and leaves, unaware that the CEO Ben Baxter plans to use a videotape of the band's performance to carry on its legacy.

Meanwhile, a seemingly victorious Doofenshmirtz traps Perry and offers him a deli platter. Perry requests he pour a large amount of pepper onto it, causing the robot building to sneeze. The pair are sent flying into the record office, taking the PFT tape with them. Perry uses it to latch himself safely on a flag pole, while Doofenshmirtz lands on a mattress on top of a parked truck belonging to a folding mattress company. He is immediately crushed, first by the mattress and then by his own robot.

Back at the mall, Candace, having failed to bust her brothers, is downtrodden until Jeremy tells her the boys' fun shouldn't ruin her good time and that she should sing anyway. She joins the band in singing their hit song in a reunion concert. Thinking she has finally made it, Candace is devastated when the band announces its retirement. Everyone else leaves the closing mall, leaving her in the dark alone, but nobody pays attention to Candace still standing on the stage, just because it's convenient to the plot. Neither does her friends who were exiting the auditorium.

The telenovela starts with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Manuela Sáenz (Ana María Trujillo) and Germán Rico (Luigy Aicardi) marriage; they have two daughters, Andrea (Margarita Muñoz) and Juliana (Luz del Sol Neisa). As the party goes on, Germán and his secret lover, Catalina (Martha Restrepo) —who turns out to be Manuela's best friend—, decide to escape together. When Manuela realizes this, it is too late: Germán has abandoned and ruined her and their daughters, since he had some debts and made obscure movements with the finances of the company he was running.

Manuela decides to rebuild her life. She meets Sansón (Mijaíl Mulkay), who comes to take possession of one of the houses he bought from Germán, while still owing him. This is why Manuela ends up sharing the house with Sansón's family. Manuela and Sansón fall in love with each other, but he has a relationship with Yuri (Majida Issa), who makes anything she can to keep him by her side and pushing him away from Manuela.

In an interview with Anime News Network, Kon talked about the film :-

The film would have centered on three characters, Ririco, Robin and King – all robots.

On sweltering summer day, a gang of high school delinquents rove through Shinjuku. One, Jirō Sugita, harasses one of the girls, leading to an argument. Jirō leaves the group and returns home, where he lives with his single mother, Misayo. Misayo is the mistress of Keigo Nanbara, a businessman, and Jiro's disapproval of their relationship and feelings of jealousy leave him constantly at odds with both of them. Jirō gets in a fight with Nanbara, tears violently through the house, and steals money from Misayo. Toshimi Tani, a girl from the gang, acts on her crush on Jirō and the two initiate an intimate relationship, though Jirō is decidedly cooler towards the affair than Toshimi. At Misayo's request, Nanbara lectures Jirō about his disreputable lifestyle and tries to set him straight, but is met with mockery.

The following day, Nanbara and Misayo and Jirō and his friends go separately to the same Zushi beach resort. Etsuko, a college student who desperately needs money for an abortion, leads Nanbara to an empty summer home under the pretense of connecting him with Jirō, who he has been searching for in order to make peace. When they arrive, she strips to her undergarments and reveals her real motive was to sell herself to him to obtain money to pay for the abortion. The kindhearted Nanbara refuses her advances but gives her the money she needs. At that moment, Jirō bursts in with his mother in tow and gleefully exposes Nanbara as a philandering liar. However, though Misayo is upset, her genuine love for Nanbara is unshaken, and she begs him to stay with her instead. Enraged and wracked with guilt, Jirō and Toshimi flee and steal a car. Nanbara pursues them; Etsuko leaves with the money, but is waylaid by a group of delinquents who steal it from her. Nanbara finally catches up to Jirō in a hotel room, where he continues to try and reason with Jirō even as the boy alternately mocks him and kisses Toshimi in front of him. When Nanbara is undeterred, Jirō explodes and brutally assaults him with a wrench. Believing he has killed him Jirō and Toshimi escape in the car, and with the police in pursuit, Jirō begins driving at reckless speed until Toshimi screams in fear, begging to be let out of the car. He seems to have a change of heart, but then deliberately drives into the path of an oncoming truck. The moment before he dies, he screams out "Mom!"

Distraught and in pain, Etsuko collapses at the entrance to the subway and falls down a staircase. She is taken to the same hospital as Nanbara, who survived the assault, and even in his gravely wounded state begs the police to forgive Jirō for his actions. Etsuko also survives, but has a miscarriage. The next day at a local bar the youngsters frequented, a journalist for a disreputable paper tells the owner that Jirō is dead. He is disheartened with the current youth culture, but knows that the salacious details of the story will be eaten up by the public. Musing over how he will write the story, he considers starting it with "Today, goodwill between people can't exist anywhere. Everything goes wrong."

Hélène, an anesthetist working in Biarritz, while driving home one night nearly hits a pedestrian. The two go for a coffee and end up spending the night in a diner so that she can file a report, but Gilles Tisserand, the pedestrian, has fallen in love with her by the next morning. He asks her for a date, and while she accepts, she remains coldly indifferent toward him.

Unfulfilled and aimless, Gilles has recently come back from a trip to New York, bringing with him, Bernard, a friend he met there. Bernard is an unemployed aspiring musician and would-be serial seducer whose only real occupation is to enjoy the moment and spend time with his steady girlfriend, Colette, a cheerful post office clerk worker. Gilles’s mother runs the ''Hotel de la Gare'' with his younger sister, Elise. This fact makes life uncomplicated for the two friends who live for free at the hotel. Bernard would like to seduce Elise, a heavy reader who never goes out and repeatedly turns him down.

Keen about his developing relationship with Hélène, Gilles invites her to a restaurant at the local casino with Bernard and Colette. The occasion ends up in discord. Hélène clearly dislikes Bernard’s attitude and Gilles confronts her. Bernard is his friend and Gilles is disappointed with her air of superiority. He backs off from the relationship suspecting that she could never really love someone less well off than her. Gilles’s disenchantment has the opposite effect on Hélène and she is unable to let him go. Hélène looks for him and they eventually sleep together in his mother's hotel, initiating a serious relationship.

Gilles finds a job as a tourist guide and paints Hélène beachfront apartment. However, her past comes to haunt their relationship. She is still mourning the death of her former lover, an architect who drown in Biarritz more than a year ago. It was in fact his tragic death that brought her to Biarritz, where she has few friends: Jacqueline the waitress at the cafe by the station where she had her first encounter with Gilles and Rudel, an older surgeon and who like Jacqueline is a frequent gambler at the casino. Many years ago Hélène and Rudel were lovers and he introduced her to the architect. Hélène has inherited ''La Salamandre'', a big abandoned house outside town, where the architect was planning to live. The house is still in disrepair, but after taking Gilles there he insists on leaving the beachfront apartment and move to ''La Salamandre''.

Bernard had an argument with Gilles about Hélène. Cruising at night in a park, Bernard encounters Luc, Collette’s gay friend, and coworker, who attempts to pick him up, but he is assaulted by Bernard, as a result. A subsequent police investigation discovers stolen items in Bernard’s hotel room. Bernard is arrested and has to spend some time in jail, to Colette’s dismay.

Moving to ''La Salamandre'' proves to be a bad idea as the place is cold and far from town. Living there only complicates the relationship. As Hélène starts to warm up to Gilles over time and opens up her personal life, he becomes increasingly temperamental, displaying a possessive and unpredictable personality that threatens to drive them apart just as they are getting closer. He proposed to make a trip to London but backs down at the last moment. Moody and unstable, Gilles gets drunk and makes a scene by the beach. While Hélène, is looking after him, he slaps her. This furthers Hélène's disillusionment towards Gilles. She decides to leave Biarritz behind and return to Paris. Once on the train, she tears up a photo of Gilles, but she is unable to bring herself to throw it out the windows.

Gilles has once again dreams of leaving town with Bernard, who has been released from jail and wants to leave Biarritz. The ''Hotel de la Gare'' has been renamed ''Hôtel des Amériques'' by its new owner. At the hotel"s reopening party, Colette ends in tears when Luc tells her that Bernard has left town with some money he gave him after he forgave him for the beating. Also at the party, Elise meets Rudel, they start to chat and she gives him a kiss. Gilles learns from Elise that Hélène has returned permanently to Paris. He runs to the train station but he has to wait for the next day to catch the next train to Paris to see Hélène again. He spends the night rehearsing what he would tell her while tears wet his face.

Kang Hye-na, the only successor of Kang-san Group, is the owner of the ‘Lady Castle’ and lives a ‘princess-like’ life with her servants. Hye-na's parents died from a plane accident and her grandfather brought her up. Hye-na is strong-headed and selfish, whose world revolves around her because she could not experience the warmth of a family whilst growing up. One day, she comes across Dong-chan when she is carelessly driving and knocks into Dong-chan's truck in which he is shipping flowers. She knocks out a bunch of flowers from his truck so Dong-chan goes to complain. She refuses to apologise but just gives him money. She drives away although Dong-chan isn't satisfied. He chases after her and eventually cuts her of at the end of a road. Kang Hye-na ignores this and just drives straight into his truck. As a consequence of this he makes Hye-na do community service, kidnaps her, and appears in front of her as the new household manager. Hye-na makes every effort to throw him out from the Castle, but Dong-chan refuses to budge.

The game takes place in the year 2026 in a fictitious version of Area 51. The main character is explosives expert Jake Burton of the Marine division, voiced by Bruce Campbell. His father worked at this top-secret military base when Jake was nine years old. He had "died in a plane crash on his way to work 15 years ago, along with 10 other scientists." After Jake's father's death, the government denied any existence of Area 51. Jake got orders via telephone from a man who would not give his name, but said he knew Jake's father very well. Jake was deployed and the game begins.

Jake's mission is to defuse explosives set on levels one and two of the base. A scientist named Fitz demands "two million dollars in unmarked bills, a private jet, and a televised interview" and the timer starts counting down at 20 minutes. A platoon of six Marines, led by the sinister Marine commander Black Dawn, whose orders are to "clean things up after you complete your mission."

The first bomb, located in the men's bathroom on Level 1 for reasons untold, is defused. The automated guns on Level 2 are deactivated in the Satlink. Jake heads down to Level 2 and defuses the second bomb. Jake is then given orders to hold his position and Black Dawn is given orders to kill him. A mysterious man who wants to help Jake tells him of Black Dawn's orders. A strange field surrounds the base, preventing radio contact from outside the base. From here, the player has four choices on how to complete the game.

Plot 1

Jake meets a reporter who gives him a satellite link (satlink) amplifier. He is also given a key for an express elevator up to the Satlink. The amplifier is installed and the strange man tells him of Project Broken Helix and gives him the password to access the file. Jake acquires the file about Broken Helix from the Level 3 Lab and gives it to Fitz in the Command Centre on Level 4. Black Dawn and his team enter the command centre and Fitz is killed. Jake meets up with a scientist named Reese on Level 6 and finds out why his father was murdered. Reese leads him down to Level 7, where he shows Jake what Broken Helix actually is. "Their DNA is unraveling at an alarming rate, causing strange mutations to occur. Freezing them was the only way to stop them until we find a cure."

Jack finds out that Project Broken Helix was an experiment for biological warfare. It turned humans into hybrid aliens, but an unintentional side-effect made them see humans as enemies, and therefore, kill them. For this reason, the military wanted to shut it down because it had gone too far. Reese did not want the aliens to die, so he locked up the elevators to Level 6 so he could find a cure that would reverse the effects of Broken Helix. Jake's father had found this cure, and was killed for this reason.

Jake is told to get a force field device from Level 10, bring it back to Reese, and set up an explosive on a fusion reactor droid on Level 9. However, someone lets Black Dawn into Level 6 and Jake has to activate a teleporter. Jake kills three of the remaining Marines, as two were killed on their way down to Level 6. Jake sets the explosives and he and Reese get down to Level 10 to activate the droid. They head across the level to activate a force field device to contain the explosion. On their way, they meet up with Black Dawn and a traitor named Jenkins. Jake blows up Black Dawn with the other detonator and they activate the force field device in an alien ship. Jenkins meets up with the two in the ship and Jake finds out that he was the one who killed his father. Reese is knocked out by Jenkins and the alien queen eats Jenkins alive. The alien queen is then killed by Jake. Jake and Reese head out of range of the force field so they do not get blown up with the aliens.

Jake and Reese exit the base only to be confronted by a sergeant. The strange man gives him new orders to let them go and Jake is evacuated. Jake and his wife retire. As for Reese, he disappeared two days after the Area 51 incident and Jake never saw him again.

Plot 2

Jake acquires a key from a stunned scientist. He uses this to open one of the gas chambers, talks to one of the hybrids and is given another key that looks something like a blue flame. Jake uses this on the gas chambers and a hybrid gives him a blue jewel. When on Level 8, he goes into a side passage and uses this gem to get into a room. The alien queen telepathically talks to Jake and tells him she needs his help. He uses the gem on a pillar and turns into a spider-like hybrid. A door blows open and a bunch of Marines are freed. Jake is told by the alien queen to get an alien warrior to follow him to the queen's ship (she wants to go to her home world, and the warrior has the co-ordinates). On the way, he runs into Black Dawn and Psyches. He kills them, moves on and enters the ship with the alien warrior.

The alien queen insists Jake comes with her so he does not get killed. Jake helps pilot the giant ship and readies himself for his new life.

Plot 3

On Level 2, Jake meets a reporter that was supposed to interview Fitz, but her cameraman died on his way down to the command center (Fitz' hideout).

Plot 4

A mortal woman named Faye had a dream in which the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith, was casting a dream spell upon her Town of Wish, and making every resident fell into a magically deep sleep. Strangely, Faye could hear her husband Fidget trying hopelessly to awaken her somehow. Waking up from this dream, Faye cannot believe that those things that have occurred in her dreams are happening in reality as well: Lilith has already abducted Fidget. However, before being abducted, Fidget used his remaining power, removed the sleep spell from Faye, and left a path for her to follow in his precious diary. Faye decides to check her little daughter Lyra. Unfortunately, Lyra is falling into the sleep spell like every other resident in the town. Faye starts her journey in hope of finding Fidget, but is constantly hindered by Lilith's magical obstacles. It is not long before Faye discovers the secret that the in-law family has tried to keep from her so long: Fidget and his parents are Fairies. Faye soon learns more about the in-law family's fairy heritage and their secret past. She acknowledges that all marriages are arranged in the Fairy Realm, and the concept of love was unknown until Fidget's parents, Aeval and Tangle, fell in love. Fidget was to marry Lilith, but his parents chose to raise him in the mortal world, so he could marry a mortal for love too. Lilith believed that her marriage to Fidget would strengthen her powers as the Fairy Queen of Dreams. She already had the power to watch and monitor the dreams, daydreams, and imaginings of mortals, but she wanted the power to control their dreams. Since Fidget married Faye, Lilith has hatched an evil plan to make sure that Fidget will become hers. Fidget reveals these secrets to Faye through his diary, which makes Faye feel confused and frustrated. She soon accepts the truth when she discovers a talking, carnivorous plant named Herbert who, according to Fidget, is his mother's best friend. After leaving the comfort of her in-laws’ home, Faye crosses the street and tries to open the main gate of the Town of Wish. She ventures outside but quickly gets lost in the forest when the moon rises. Luckily, a sign found in the dark shows Faye directly to Lilith's mansion where she thinks Lilith is keeping her husband. Faye finds Fidget there and is able to reunite with him momentarily. Lilith soon appears to separate the couple again, taking Fidget with her and casting another sleep spell upon Faye. Faye falls into another deep sleep and hopelessly sees Lilith taking Fidget in front of her.

Gloria follows sailor boyfriend Bobby to India. After she is kidnapped by the sultan, who wants her for his harem, Bobby must come to the rescue.

As described in a film magazine, the Honorable Billy (Desmond), through his love for Vi Challoner (West) and its attendant expense, finds himself in financial straits and is deserted by the cause of his trouble. In his plight he is approached by Phyllis Clyne (Swanson), who wishes to be introduced into society and is willing to pay for the deception. Honorable Billy seeks to break the agreement when Phyllis apparently becomes enamored with Lord Sheldon (Prior), whose affairs are the subject of gossip. She refuses him his liberty and accuses him of jealousy. After an automobile crash in which Lord Sheldon is killed, she confesses to Billy that he was her father. She then convinces Billy that their engagement should be permanent.

As described in a film magazine, after her sister Inah (Forrest) is betrayed by a dissolute young millionaire, Phyllis Dunbar (Swanson) seeks the aid of her fiance Bobbie Warner (Foss), but is refused. In desperation she turns to Martin Rankin (Sherry), her employer, who previously had proposed to her but had been refused, with an offer of marriage if he will see her sister through her trouble. Martin finally agrees and the ceremony is performed. Martin assures his young bride that they will live together for one year as pals, and if he does not win her love in that time he will give her the freedom to marry Bobbie. After a visit to a dance hall by Bobbie dispels any remaining love between the two, Phyllis returns to her home and gives her love freely to Martin.

Lorenzo, an astrophysicist, has inherited a house in Sicily. He has it restored by Salvatore, an introverted carpenter. Salvatore starts the job with help of his handicapped son. Since work seems to be slow Lorenzo goes and checks on them. He finds out Salvatore has turned the house into a therapeutic community for troubled people. At first Lorenzo is angry but then his good heart prevails.

As described in a film magazine, when Jim Manning (Hill) is rebuked by his wife Kitty (Swanson) for failure to secure a promotion that will take them away from Cybar, an isolated spot, he replies in kind, and the strained relations lead to Kitty running away with a musical comedy company. She meets Stephen Morton, president of the railroad, who becomes fascinated with her. He wishes to free himself from his wife and marry her, and Kitty promises an answer within a month. While returning to the city, she is held overnight at a small railroad station and memories fill her with remorse. She learns that lightning has destroyed a bridge on the train line, and after a wild ride on a gasoline handcar is able to save the limited. Morton and her husband Jim are both on the train, and a reconciliation between the couple is effected.

As described in a film magazine, Jim Wheeler (Peil), believing himself hopelessly crippled, stifles his love for Patricia Reynolds (Swanson), the belle of society's favorite summer colony. A number of thoughtless flirtations have resulted in a few of the young men falling desperately in love with her. One of these attempts to force his love on her, but she leaps from his automobile. On the way back to the hotel she rescues Jim from drowning, the method he had chosen to end his life. She promises to keep his secret and, when accused of being in a roadhouse by the social leaders, she is unable to explain her whereabouts on the night in question. To protect her name, Haston Carson (Richardson) says that she was with him. In the meantime Jim has left with a medical specialist, to be cured or killed. He returns a well man just in time to save Patricia from social ostracism from her supposed indiscretions.

As described in a film magazine, when the will of Jonathan Rhodes (Pearce) was read, a third of the estate was left to a woman unknown to his family. This revelation had no effect on Mrs. Rhodes (Langdon), whose iron rule in the home had been his means of seeking other company. She insisted upon regulating the affairs of her married daughter's life with the result that Frank Emerson (King), the young husband, soon became involved in an affair with Delia Marshall (West), a designer. Edith Emerson (Swanson) then began a battle to win her husband that was finally successful, but not before she asserted herself and lets her mother know that her presence in the household was no longer welcome.

As described in a film magazine, Marcia Grey (Swanson), a struggling artist, is accused of theft by Heinrich Von Holtz, and is sent to Blackwell's Island for ninety days. Out in the world again, she joins the Salvation Army. John Stanford (King), a wealthy philanthropist, gives an outing to poor children in her care. He tells her that he loves her and they are married. Five years of married life pass and the Great War breaks out. Stanford becomes a secret service agent. Heinrich Von Holtz, now a spy, visits the Stanford home in the guise of an Englishman. He recognizes Mrs. Stanford and tells her that she must obtain a government document from her husband or be exposed. She consents and goes with him to the enemy headquarters, carrying the document. The document proves spurious and Marcia, laughingly defiant, declares she would not betray her country for any price. Secret service men break in just as Mrs. Stanford's life is threatened. John Stanford, who had been compelled to suspect his wife of treachery and infidelity, learns that she has been in the secret service as well as himself. The film ends with the couple reunited and Marcia holding her secret.

As described in a film magazine, Senator John Calhoun Rand (Sherry), a confirmed old bachelor, marries Sally Carter (Swanson), a young small town woman many years his junior. Washington society is amazed as the Senator had been regarded as the prize catch of the capital. While the society women gossip, secret service agents trace a leak back to the Senator's home. Suspicion points to Mrs. Rand. An investigation proves that she is blameless and that a trusted matron, close to the confidence of the Senator, is an agent of the Kaiser's and has been learning the nation's secrets. Humiliated by the thought that he had mistrusted his wife, John apologizes and Sally takes him back.

Based upon a review in a film magazine, Gretchen (Lederer) has reclaimed husband Dale Barker (Mestayer) from a drinking habit, and he has become a lawyer working with the Department of Justice in hunting down German propagandists. Before their marriage, Gretchen had been involved with propagandists and cannot now extricate herself, and she fears discovery by her husband. She is jealous of Sylvia Hamilton (Swanson), Dale's stenographer, and plans on bringing her under suspicion. When arrested as a spy, Sylvia turns over a mass of evidence, some of which incriminates Gretchen, placing Dale between love of country and loyalty to his wife.

As described in a film magazine, Deborah (Swanson), the second wife of intolerant and bigoted Boer farmer Simeon Krillet (Simpson), first learns of kindness from the Englishman Robert Waring (Hamilton) who comes to study farming from her husband. When her husband threatens to beat her for reading one of the Englishman's books Deborah tells him, to save him from the young man's wrath, that she is to become a mother. He desists and his cruelty turns to kindness. The disclosure of her fabrication brings renewal of his wrath and a determination to kill her. While attempting a rescue, the Englishman kills the husband. Subsequent complications are disposed of which allows a happy ending.

As described in a film magazine, Cullen Dale (Reid) becomes engaged to Marian Westover (Swanson), and when explaining various photographs showing him intimately juxtaposed between divers young women, spreads a network of falsehoods which promise to involve him in subsequent difficulty. One photograph shows him with Jessica Ramsey (Cumming), a sportswoman who calls her men friends "pals." Learning of Cullen's engagement, she courts his company so consistently that the piqued Marian precipitates a secret marriage. The honeymoon is interrupted by a quarrel which terminates with Cullen's departure for Jessica's hunting lodge. Here Jessica's love-making becomes obvious and the arrival of wife Marian and their mutual friend Harvey Gilroy (Dexter) finds Cullen ready to patch up their differences. After a suitable delay, Marian allows him to do so, with a happy ending ensuing.

Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) prepare to interview Risley Tucker (Moses Gunn), an elderly arabber. Bayliss is convinced Tucker murdered 11-year-old Adena Watson, but Pembleton is less confident. Since they have already interviewed Tucker multiple times, the court will not allow him to be bothered anymore if he does not confess after this interview, and the detectives have only twelve hours to elicit a confession before Tucker walks free. Pembleton starts off acting friendly while Bayliss, who has taken the Watson case very personally, is more aggressive. Adena used to work for Tucker, taking care of his horse. Pembleton brings up Tucker's alcoholism, but Tucker said he gave up drinking because he used to black out, insisting he hasn't had a drink in sixteen months. Tucker also insists he hadn't seen Adena for three days before she died, but Bayliss shows him she had soot on her skirt that matched soot from Tucker's barn, indicating she was there the day she was killed.

During a moment of anger, Bayliss nearly presses Tucker's face against a hot pipe on the wall, but Pembleton stops him. Tucker still angrily insists he did not kill her, and he agrees to submit to a polygraph test. When Bayliss leaves, Pembleton speaks to Tucker in a soft and comforting tone, trying to get Tucker to trust him. Pembleton suggests Tucker had a drink and blacked out the night he killed Adena, and he seems close to getting a confession before Tucker once again insists he is innocent. With four hours left before the deadline, Bayliss returns and says Tucker failed the polygraph test. Bayliss and Pembleton then aggressively team up on Tucker, talking quickly and intimidating him with repeated questions. They bring up a previously dropped statutory rape charge against Tucker involving a 14-year-old girl, then suggest he attempted to have sex with Adena and killed her because she resisted. They confront Tucker with gruesome crime scene photos of Adena and ask him if he is sure he didn't kill her, to which a frightened and confused Tucker replies, "Not right now, I'm not."

With less than an hour left and still without a confession, the detectives are exhausted, and Tucker turns the table on them. He claims Pembleton has the attitude of a man trying to distance himself from his African American heritage because he is ashamed to be black. Tucker also accuses Bayliss of hiding a "dark side" inside him that he is afraid to embrace. Eventually, Tucker admits he harbored pedophilic feelings for Adena, and feels shame that the "one great love of my life was an 11-year-old girl". He breaks down and cries, but still insists he did not kill her. The 12-hour time limit elapses and the detectives fail to get a confession. Tucker is released and Bayliss is miserable he was unable to close the case. Pembleton, who has a new respect for Bayliss, tries to comfort him by saying he is now convinced Tucker is the killer, but Bayliss is no longer so sure.

As described in a film magazine, the Berkeleys are prominent in New York City society, with James (Holmes), a man who bluffs at wealth, using the famed beauty of his new wife Lois (Swanson) to further his business interests in obtaining loans and other favors from capitalists. In the sudden acquired wealth of his old college chum Allan Franklyn (Wayne), who has been absent in Mexico for some years, James sees his big opportunity. The three go to Mexico where the intended catch Allan demonstrates his love for Lois. When she learns that James has been using her solely for his own financial gain, she openly declares her affection for Allan. A bandit (Burton) raids the hacienda and pursues Lois. Her husband is killed while escaping and Allan, the man she loves, carries her across the Rio Grande river to safety and the prospect of happiness.

A romance about a dancer seeking love and fame from Paris cabarets to New York society.

Captain Fitzgerald (Alec B. Francis), a retired guardsman on a modest pension, has to support three daughters: Theodora (Swanson) and her older half-sisters. Theodora's sisters pin their hopes on her marrying a wealthy man.

One day, Theodora goes out on a rowboat off the coast of Dorset and falls into the water. She is rescued by Lord Hector Bracondale (Valentino). He is young, handsome and wealthy, but "not the marrying kind". Out of a sense of duty to her beloved father, she reluctantly agrees to wed the middle-aged, short, stout Josiah Brown (Robert Bolder), a former grocer's assistant who is now a multi-millionaire.

They honeymoon in the Alps. By coincidence, Bracondale stops at the same inn. Rich American widow Jane McBride (Mabel Van Buren) persuades the young bride to accompany her on a climbing excursion. Theodora slips and dangles precariously by her safety line over a cliff. Bracondale appears and climbs down to her, but they are too heavy for the others to pull up. Bracondale has them lower him and Theodora to a ledge below. While they wait for more help to arrive, Theodora tells Bracondale (who does not initially recognize her) where they last met.

They meet a third time in Paris, and finally acknowledge their love for each other. However, Theodora refuses to run away with Bracondale.

Bracondale strives to do the right thing. He asks his sister, Lady Anningford (June Elvidge), to befriend Theodora. Lady Anningford invites the Browns to her country estate. Bracondale, however, cannot stay away. He tries once again to persuade Theodora to change her mind, without success. Meanwhile, Josiah is persuaded by another guest, renowned explorer Sir Lionel Grey, to fund his dangerous expedition. Bracondale leaves, and Josiah is called away on business. Theodora writes a letter to each; to Bracondale, she declares her love, but stresses once more that it cannot be fulfilled. Morella Winmarleigh (Gertrude Astor), who desires Bracondale for herself, secretly opens the letters and, after perusing them, switches them.

After Bracondale reads the message meant for Josiah, he rushes to stop Josiah from reading his, but is too late. Josiah accuses Bracondale of stealing his wife, but the nobleman denies that Theodora has been unfaithful.

After further consideration, Josiah decides to put his wife's happiness ahead of his own and joins Grey's expedition to Northern Africa. His death makes it possible for the young lovers to be together.

Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints and Conduct Department of Lothian and Borders Police, members of which are invariably treated with suspicion and hostility by regular police officers. Fox and his team are tasked with investigating Detective Sergeant Jamie Breck, suspected of being a member of a child pornography ring. However, Breck is in turn investigating the death of Vince Faulkner, who was in an abusive relationship with Fox's sister. This brings Fox into direct contact with Breck, and as he develops both a friendship and a working relationship with him he begins to doubt the validity of his assignment. Despite his personal connection to the case, and against protocol, Fox gets involved in the investigation into Faulkner's death. This brings him into conflict with Breck's superior officer, who harbours a dislike of Fox for investigating a corrupt officer under his command.

Eventually, Fox and Breck are both suspended and Fox himself is placed under investigation. However, they continue to investigate Faulkner's death, discovering that he had links to a bankrupt property developer who appears to have committed suicide. This leads to further links to members of the criminal underworld, and in turn to a senior member of the police force, who is found to be responsible for having Breck framed and for having Fox placed under investigation.

As described in a film magazine review, Lance Bellew likes his mistress better than his wife Betty. This is resented by Jerry Woodruff, a friend of the family. Lance becomes suspicious of the relations between Jerry and his wife, and in a fight he shoots Jerry. A clever lawyer, by working on her love for her little son, gets Betty to testify for her husband. Lance is acquitted on the basis that the killing was justified. To humiliate her, Lance divorces his wife and obtains custody of the child. Mrs. Bellew finds how hard it is to get along with a ruined reputation. With a new friend who is a constant help to her, she overcomes her difficulties and her child is restored to her.

The return of "it girl" Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) to the Upper East Side serves as the first season's focal point. Shrouded in mystery and scandal, Serena's disappearance and sudden return are announced by the omniscient blogger Gossip Girl. The news reaches Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) whose life is torn apart when the secret behind Serena's leaving is revealed: Serena was seduced by Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), the Golden Boy of the Upper East Side and Blair's boyfriend, the night she left town. Nate announces his feelings for Serena a number of times and a series of battles ensue between the former Queen Bee Serena and her heir, Blair. However, the rift resolves in reconciliation between the two and temporary peace follows. Meanwhile, siblings Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), Brooklyn residents, are attracted by the opulent wealth of their classmates. Young Jenny becomes a cunning protégée to Blair while Dan enters a relationship with Serena. It is revealed that their relationship resembles the one between Dan's father Rufus (Matthew Settle) and Serena's mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford) in their youth.

As a subplot, Blair and Nate suffer problems in their relationship when the dangerously seductive Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) conquers Blair's fragile heart. The manipulative Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) arrives, creating a lot of trouble and revealing the real reason behind Serena's disappearance: a death Serena thought she was responsible for. When Georgina arrives on the Upper East Side she poses as a naive woman named Sarah in order to destroy Serena's newfound happiness. She succeeds in exposing Serena's deep-hidden secrets, taking Dan away from her and outing Serena's brother as gay. At the same time, Blair falls for Chuck, but as a price they both lose Nate. Not able to withstand the vulnerability a love relationship demands, Chuck leaves Blair.

In the midst of all these events, Dan greets Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) back to his life. Vanessa is a childhood friend of his and an outsider herself. She threatens his feelings for Serena, until he realizes the real love he has for her. At the end of the season, the Upper East Siders team up to banish Georgina from New York. Serena then leaves with Nate to the Hamptons, while Chuck abandons a heartbroken Blair. Dan reconciles with Vanessa and returns to his old life in Brooklyn. A disgraced Jenny departs Blair's clique and earns an internship as a fashion designer in a company owned by Blair's mother.

As described in a film magazine, Manuel La Tessa (Moreno), son of a wealthy South American family, meets Natalie Chester, a young Kentucky woman whose horse has won the race at a South American track. Manuel gives a party in her honor where she is insulted by one of the guest, and Manuel knocks down the offender. The offender, whose father is a powerful figure in the country's politics, challenges Manuel to a duel but also hires a man to hide in ambush and kill his opponent. Manuel is only wounded and Natalie nurses him back to health. His mother Donna Isabella La Tassa (Chapman) disapproves of the young American woman and asks her to leave. Natalie loves Manuel and seeks to uncover the mystery of the bullet fired at him during the duel. She finally locates the attempted assassin and with numerous bribes gets him to appear against the man who hired him to do it. This ruins the chance of the man from being elected a senator, and Manuel takes his seat. He tells all that he shall strive to do his best with the help of his American wife.

One of Jarry's 'pataphysical works, the novel relates the adventures of Dr. Faustroll and his companion, a lawyer named Panmuphle, on their travels in a copper skiff on a sea that is superimposed over the streets and buildings of Paris. Written in the first person by Panmuphle, the narrative describes the fantastic islands that they visit. The pair are accompanied by a monkey named Bosse-de-Nage, who perishes along the way, leaving Panmuphle wondering if he had imagined him or whether he had been real.

At the end of the novel Dr. Faustroll dies, and he sends a telepathic letter to Lord Kelvin describing the afterlife and the cosmos. The symbolism of the novel has imagination and language overriding the reality of the French capital, and the story is wryly comic and surrealistic in nature. The novel concludes with the line (in italics): "''La 'Pataphysique est la science...''"

Jarry wrote of the novel: "This book will not be published in full until the author has acquired enough experience to savour all its beauties". ("Ce livre ne sera publié intégralement que quand l'auteur aura acquis assez d'experience pour en savourer toutes les beautés".)

And indeed it was published only after Jarry's death in 1907.

Middle school history teacher Tom Robinson lives in Las Vegas with beloved wife Elizabeth. On a horse riding trip out in the desert one day, Elizabeth comes across a human trafficking deal gone bad, with gangster Jimmy Dolan executing the two Coyotes and one of the illegal aliens. Elizabeth is seen, however, and narrowly escapes Dolan's thugs firing at her. She drops her phone, which the thugs find and use to identify her. Soon afterward, a corpse with its lips sewn shut is left in Elizabeth's home, a threat to keep silent.

The Robinsons go to the authorities, and an official admits them into the Witness Protection Program. Elizabeth awakens one night, needing to vomit, which she takes as a positive sign that she is pregnant. Excited, she rushes out of their hotel to buy pregnancy tests, with Tom following her. When she tries to start their car, it explodes, killing her as Tom watches, stunned.

Devastated, Tom begins drinking, and eventually decides to seek revenge against Dolan. He purchases a handgun, a massive Smith & Wesson Model 500, and follows Dolan around town, eventually going after him one night. But before he can take the shot, a rival business of Dolan's pulls a drive-by, which fails because Dolan's Cadillac is revealed to be bulletproof.

Robinson continues to follow Dolan, who soon notices and learns his identity. The two meet at a rest stop in the Nevada desert, ending with a confrontation in which Dolan allows Robinson to live (albeit beaten up), believing life to be more painful for Robinson than death.

Undeterred, Robinson gets a job with a construction crew working on the roads Dolan often travels. After strenuous preparation, Robinson sets his trap: a giant hole deep in the road, large enough to trap a car but not so large as to allow Dolan to escape by opening the doors. When Dolan's car falls into the hole, the driver is killed and another passenger is injured. Dolan shoots him out of annoyance, as both his legs were broken and he constantly screamed in agony.

Once Dolan has been trapped, Robinson makes his presence known, telling Dolan that he is a motorist who witnessed what had happened. Dolan, however, eventually realizes that the motorist is, in fact, Robinson, and begins to beg Robinson to let him go. Robinson begins to fill up the hole with dirt, continuing to taunt Dolan with possibilities of his escape, none of which come to fruition.

The official from the Witness Protection program soon calls Robinson to tell him that Dolan had been on his way to a major transaction involving child sex trafficking, a crime that would have destroyed Dolan. Robinson does not care, however, and finishes filling the hole up. Robinson lays concrete blocks over the Cadillac, while Dolan screams from within the hole.

The official calls back and tells Robinson they now have enough for a conviction. Robinson drops the phone and laughs maniacally.

Freddy Merkle never finishes anything. He has a half-done painting, half a sculpture and a sonata he's been composing for quite a while. His aunt, Sophie, encourages him to finish something he starts, so he can marry his girlfriend. However Freddy, a delivery boy, can't find the inspiration.

Inside a pool room, Freddy runs into Duke, a fast-talking operator. When Freddie mentions a songwriting contest with a $2,500 first prize Duke becomes his "manager." At the coaxing of Duke and Ginny, the song is finally finished, but the sheet music blows away in the wind.

Freddy, forlorn as usual, decides to kill himself, but he can't even get that right. He's at the end of his rope when a kindly priest discovers the song, submits it to the contest and, sure enough, it becomes the winner.

Maxine Williams is a well-known and leading child psychiatrist, specializing in trauma and suicide, with three amazing children Daphne, Jack and Sam and a rich and glamorous ex-husband. Blake Williams, one of the richest men in the world has a glamorous life of globe travelling and dating beautiful women whilst Maxine stays in Manhattan looking after their children and pursuing the career she loves. Though divorced, both are extremely affectionate to each other.

Blake soon meets the beautiful Arabella and falls deeply in love. Meanwhile Max also starts dating a doctor, Charles West. But Charles is a bit uncomfortable with the children and even starts showing his irritation by suggesting that the kids should be sent to a boarding school. The eldest one, Daphne starts becoming possessive of both her parents and behaves rudely to both Arabella and Charles.

When a tragedy strikes in Morocco, Blake and Max join hands to help the victims and orphaned children. Blake transforms into a responsible man, much to Max's surprise. Blake throws Arabella out after she deceives him. Max and Charles plan to wed soon but Max finds herself happy only in Blake's company while Charles constantly hurts Blake by behaving rudely whenever he was around. After a series of hilarious events, Max and Blake marry again, much to the delight of their kids.

In the 22nd century year of 2172, long after the end of the Oil Age, the United States of America has become a neo-Victorian oligarchy, with the reintroduction of feudal indenture, a rigid class hierarchy, property-based representation in the federal United States Senate, de facto hereditary succession of the Presidency, establishment of the "Dominion of Jesus Christ" (premised on evangelicalism and organizationally based at Colorado Springs, Colorado) and the abolition of the Supreme Court. With the evacuation of Washington DC due to an unspecified cataclysm, Manhattan, New York has become the national capital. The United States has also annexed most of Canada and comprises sixty states, but is fighting German-controlled Mitteleuropa ("the Dutch") in the contested territory of Labrador. Climate change and peak oil have caused technological reversion, exacerbated by the Dominion's repressive social policies.

Deklan Comstock, the hereditary President, has already arranged the death of his brother Bryce. The latter's widow, Emily, sends her son Julian to the remote rural western boreal district of Athabaska, where the egalitarian and free-thinking young man befriends Adam Hazzard, a fledgling writer. The two travel east by railroad, but are press-ganged into the "Army of the Laurentians", and are sent to the campaigns in Labrador. Julian becomes a war hero and foils his uncle's machinations. During the celebrations in Manhattan that follow, his actual identity is disclosed. A coup d'etat deposes his uncle and Julian is appointed President. He proceeds to upset the ''status quo'' through liberalising censorship policy, rehabilitating the image of Charles Darwin (the authorities have suppressed the ideas of Darwinian evolution in this world) and reimposing separation of church and state as public policy. He also emerges as gay, falling for Magnus, a Unitarian-style minister.

Unfortunately, the Dominion and the armed forces revolt and Julian and Magnus catch "the Pox" and die alongside one another, but Adam and Calyxa, his equally free-thinking and feminist wife, escape to Mediterranean France, where Adam writes his friend's posthumous biography twenty years later, in 2192. Julian Comstock's life parallels that of Julian the Apostate, with the new America being modeled on the Roman Empire. The President is modeled on the Roman Emperor, with the military having significant power in the choice of President (as in the Roman Empire).

''What I Saw and How I Lied'' takes place right after WWII and follows the story of Evie Spooner and her family. A few weeks before fifteen-year-old Evie is supposed to head back to her school, Evie’s stepfather, Joe, who recently got back from the war, uproots Evie, and her mother, Beverly, from their home in Queens, New York to take them on a vacation to Palm Beach, Florida.

After a long, hot car trip Evie and her family finally makes it to Palm Beach, to find that it is the off-season and only one hotel is open. After checking in and getting settled they soon make the acquaintance of the Graysons.

Mr. and Mrs. Grayson are a graceful and well to do couple, who also come from New York City. They are at Palm Beach for a vacation, like Evie’s family. The two families quickly become friends.

One night, Evie finds out that a school dance is being held at the hotel and she decides to join in. While getting ready her mother and Mrs. Grayson catch her padding her bra, and Mrs. Grayson takes her under her wing. With the help of her mother and Mrs. Grayson, Evie gets ready for the dance.

At the dance Evie gets frustrated and goes outside where she meets Peter Coleridge. Peter is older, handsome, and asks her to dance. As it turns out Peter and Evie’s father has known each other in the war. Peter soon becomes a part of Evie’s life, and her family’s life. He joins them for dinner on a regular basis and begins to take Evie and her mother for daily drives.

As Evie’s relationship is progressing with Peter so is her father’s relationship with Mr. Grayson. Joe and Mr. Grayson decide to go into business together by buying the hotel where they are staying. However, the current hotel manager finds out that the Graysons are Jewish and asks them to leave.

Looking for clarity and comfort, Evie goes to Peter to understand what happened to the Graysons. Peter informs her that Palm Beach is a restricted community. As Peter and Evie continue their conversation Peter tells her that his connection to her father is stronger than friendship- in fact, they had stolen property that most likely belonged to Jewish families. Joe had promised to split the money with Peter but has been giving him the slip since they came back from the war. Peter followed Evie’s family to Palm Beach in an effort to confront Joe. Evie comforts Peter and the two end up kissing. Evie’s mom, Beverly, catches the two of them and Evie is told never to see Peter again.

The next morning Joe, Beverly, and Peter go out for a boat ride even though the weather looks stormy. Peter claims that he is familiar with boats and they convince the owner of the boat to allow them to go out. Evie is left behind.

Hours go by and the storm worsens. Palm Beach is evacuated and Evie is forced to leave the hotel and join the rest of the community to wait out the hurricane. Her parents and Peter have not yet returned.

A day goes by and finally Evie is reunited with her parents. However, Peter went overboard during the storm and drowned. Evie and her parents get ready to go home, but Peter’s body is found and the local police suspect foul-play. Joe and Beverly are called in for questioning and the case goes to trial.

Evie is then forced to relive the past few weeks looking at the situation from a different perspective and she doesn’t like what she sees. She alone learns the truth about the relationships between Peter, Joe, and Beverly. Evie makes the decision to save her parents by lying. Finally, they all go home.

Princess Lucia of the demon realm decides that she must have a child with Yuta, a normal human student, as the child born from their union would possess great power. However, two angels, Rie and Eru, are intent on keeping her from achieving her goal.

Having already achieved some level of notoriety for their first invention, four ambitious inventors form an exclusive club of MENSA wannabes known as the "Think Tank." The hangout of choice for these big-brained innovators is Jon's Pool Hall, a modest local gaming facility that is likely to be put out of business when the monolithic "Palace of Pool" opens its doors. Perhaps if these brainstorming geniuses can finally perfect the game of "frictionless pool" there may be a glimmer of hope for Jon's Pool Hall after all.

The scene of this novel is Paris, where the branch of a well-known London bank is being audited. A normally routine affair, this year's audit is different—the auditors have reason to believe that there may be fraud or embezzlement at play.

How do the auditors know this? A few indiscreet words overheard at a Paris nightclub.

Our attention is turned to each player, some major and many minor, the bank officials and overseers of the audit of course, but mostly to the underpaid, unhappy junior and senior auditors, each a prisoner of his own private conflicts and aspirations, and each seeing the discovery and proving of the fraud as his chance for promotion.

The novel makes the seemingly boring task of auditing understandable and delves into the hearts of those who make business their life's work.

Michael Holloway (Balthazar Getty) is a recovering addict working as a gas station attendant to support his pregnant wife, Chloe (Rebecca Gayheart). He is then drawn into the seedy underworld of Los Angeles by Stuart (Peter Weller), a mysterious and wealthy stranger.

Arima Teppei lost his parents in a traffic accident. His grandfather Isshin adopted him and ordered him to succeed the head of Arima Group Corporation. At Shuuhou Gakuen, a high school only for wealthy students, Teppei's new life as a celebrity starts.

A mysterious woman with supernatural powers (the game's boss) is captured by the government. Her powers are accidentally unleashed, bestowing various young women with magical powers.

Poppy Carew has just been dumped by her boyfriend, Edmund Platt, when her sick father dies, laughing (he couldn't stand Edmund). Poppy's father leaves her a large fortune and asks her to find him some "fun" undertakers for his funeral. Poppy is not a person who is used to make a decision about the direction of her life and suddenly she has her hands full. The two undertakers both fall in love with her, so does a guest at the funeral, and Edmund tries to get her back by kidnapping her from the wake. Bemused Poppy agrees to go with Edmund on a trip to North Africa where he has some business to attend to. Poppy spends most of her time in Africa in the half finished hotel while Edmund is out. Edmund, who can be violent when he is drunk, loses his temper in a quarrel with Poppy and she leaves. Willy the guest at her father's funeral rescues her from North Africa hoping to win her over. Safe back home Poppy begins to look out for the two handsome and single undertakers while Willy tries to awaken Poppy's interest.

World-famous actress Carole Barber has come to Paris to work on her new novel and to find herself. But on a cool November evening, her taxi speeds into a tunnel just past the Louvre, and into the fiery grasp of a terrible terrorist explosion causing her to be left unconscious and unidentified in a Paris emergency room for weeks.

Carole’s friends and family begin to make inquiries into her disappearance only to find that Carole is far from home and fighting for her life. Carole' family and friends swarm to the hospital and pray for her recovery to find she has amnesia and doesn't remember her own family.

Gradually, Carole slowly regains her memory, new friends and love along the way to begin to truly honor herself in this tale of survival and hope.

In the version by Charles Perrault, a fairy gives an ugly prince named Ricky the gift of conferring wit upon the one he loves the best. Prince Ricky of the Tuft comes to a kingdom with two princesses. The elder one is beautiful but unintelligent and the younger one is intelligent but ugly. The elder princess is saddened that her ugly but smart sister receives more attention than her. One day as the elder princess was going for a walk in the forest to ease her sorrow, she is approached by Ricky who had fallen in love with her after seeing portraits of her that circulated. Ricky asks how a person so beautiful as she can be so sad, to which she responds that she is sad because she is beautiful but lacks intelligence. Ricky then bestows the gift of intelligence on the elder princess for a promise of marriage. A year later, Ricky comes to marry her. She refuses on grounds that he cannot hold her to a promise made before she gained her wisdom. The princess then tells him that she was gifted at birth with the power to transform her lover into a beautiful person by the same fairy who helped him. The princess thinks of all the Prince's good qualities and at once the prince is transformed. The king has his daughter married to the prince who has already made preparations for the wedding.

Nathalie Stein, an embittered and exhausted young woman, is currently going through a bitter divorce from her husband Tim. A qualified attorney, she is doing her best to ensure that her two children, Jeremy and Elisabeth, never see their father again. Tim arrives to pick the children up for what is believed to be one last time. He fails to return with the children.

Nathalie's dog disappears under mysterious circumstances and she then discovers a piece of paper with the word "Dard" (the Persian word for "to inflict pain") written in blood in her house. Panicked, she calls the police, who cannot help without more evidence of a crime. She decides to meet Tim and the children in Chinatown, but they do not show up.

In the evening, Tim suddenly appears at the house, apparently badly injured. Before dying, he tells Nathalie that the children have been abducted. She immediately informs the police, but when the detective, James Gates, arrives, the body is gone and the site has been cleaned up leaving no evidence that Nathalie is telling the truth. Later a police officer, Phil Warren arrives to question Nathalie. Warren is revealed to be corrupt and overpowers Nathalie. Graphically depicted in flashback, he tells Nathalie that Tim had been hired by the Persian Mafioso Maho and had burst in on a drug deal organised by Maho, killing those present before running off with a million dollars in cash and the cocaine. Convinced that the drugs are hidden in the house, he tells her he has killed her son Jeremy with a chainsaw and will kill Elisabeth as well if he is not told where drugs and money are, Warren then tortures Nathalie in an attempt to get the information out of her, cutting off a finger and a toe with pruning shears. Nathalie eventually manages to break free and kills Warren with a broken bottle.

Then a mysterious man by the name of Daniel appears who informs her he had been following Warren. He offers to help her, tends to her wounds and calms her down. His story is somewhat different (also depicted in flashback) - that Tim had chanced upon a drug deal that had gone bad and that he had got hold of the two cases entirely innocently before disappearing. However, it is then revealed that Daniel's intentions are less honourable than they appeared - he drugs Nathalie and disposes of Warren's body. Daniel explains how he tortured and killed Nathalie's loved ones before torturing Nathalie herself with a hammer. Although under the effects of a local anaesthesia, she head-butts Daniel and is able to plunge a hypodermic into his eye before killing him with a knife.

Severely wounded, she clambers up the stairs when the phone begins to a ring. It is Detective Gates who is also corrupt. Gates sends her daughter Elisabeth in and points a sniper rifle at her head, ordering Nathalie to reveal the location of the money and drugs and to not move or he will shoot her daughter. Remembering their dogs disappearance, Nathalie suspects it has something to do with where the money is buried so Nathalie and Elisabeth attempt to come up with the answer through a riddle posed in one of Tim's old children's songs which reveals the location to them. As Nathalie bends to pick up a pencil however, Gates shoots Elisabeth in the shoulder. Nathalie picks up Daniel's pistol and shoots Gates as he enters the house.

Nathalie runs alone to the cornfield and meets Tim there, who has their son. The true story is revealed - Gates had employed Tim as an informer and was supposed to give him Moha. As Gates was one of the most corrupt cops in the precinct, Tim was ordered to kill Maha and bring him the drugs and money. Tim slipped some E 605 into the coffee at the diner killing the mafiosi and then shoots the other party when they arrive to make the deal. Nathalie was his last obstacle but, as Tim is about to shoot her, he is shot by his daughter Elisabeth from behind. Nathalie and the children begin a new life.

Annabelle Worthington was born into a life of privilege in the glamorous New York society set living on Fifth Avenue and in Newport, Rhode Island. In April 1912, everything changed when the Titanic sank, changing her world forever. Annabelle then pours herself into volunteer work, nursing the poor, igniting a passion for medicine that would shape the course of her life.

More grief is around the corner with her first love and marriage to Josiah Millbank, a family friend. Betrayed by a scandal undeserved, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, to lose herself in a world of helping others in the First World War field hospital run by women. After the war, Annabelle become a Parisian doctor and becomes a mother living happily until a coincidental meeting reminds her of her former life to which she returns stronger and braver than before, a new woman to fight against the overwhelming odds thrown against her in life.

The film takes the form of a mockumentary that follows Masaru Daisatou. Daisatou is an otherwise normal Japanese citizen except for an inherited ability to grow to a height of approximately 30 meters in response to the application of high voltage electricity. As both his father and grandfather before him, Daisatou has accepted the duty to protect Japan against various giant monsters while working for a sub-division of the defence ministry called the Ministry of Monster Prevention. The Battles with the monster are televised, and the ratings appear to drop or pick up depending on the event, most of the monsters have obscure abilities, and he generally defeats them. Despite his great powers, he increasingly finds himself mocked by his fellow citizens while struggling under the burden of living up to a heroic lineage that increasingly overshadows his own mediocre accomplishments as a monster fighter. To further complicate matters, he is deeply estranged from his own wife and child, who aren't living with him. Eventually, he encounters a particularly formidable monster, said not to be from Japan but from Korea. He runs away from it, which just results in more ridicule. Eventually, he receives assistance from some other monster fighters to challenge it.

The main character in the story is Jenny, a 14-year-old girl. Jenny and her sister are badly abused by their father.[http://www.bloggernews.net/112286 Book Review] The book is religion based, and is about how Jenny comes to know Jesus through her best friend Aurelia. At the time the book is based, 1950, many people would have frowned upon Jenny, a white girl, becoming friends with a black skinned girl.

Twenty-five years after Éclair and Lumière, (from the flagship ''Kiddy Grade'' series), rescued the galaxy from destruction's doorstep, the GTO (Galactic Trade Organization), created after the defeat of the GOTT (Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs), act on behalf of universal peace by combating criminal activity. Their special ES division mirrored after the GOTT's ES (Encounter of Shadow-work) force, now includes publicly acknowledged ES member candidates. The series follows three such trainees, Ascoeur, Q-feuille, and Di-air as they work their way to ES membership.

A woman named Jennifer goes to a park where she is raped and left for dead by four men. Five years later, Jennifer, now in law school, is exposed by her law professor when he reveals to the class her past. She was tried for murder, but pleaded not guilty. Angry, she decides to take a little vacation with her friend, Sam.

When they stop for gas, Sam is harassed by a strange local man named Tommy, who had previously murdered a woman who spurned his advances at a bar. Tommy is brushed off by the gas station clerk Dwayne, who playfully flirts with Sam. When Jen and Sam arrive at their cabin, Sam is disgusted by the place and takes a walk. When night falls, she is lost but quickly finds a cottage. She is surprised to find out Dwayne owns the place. Dwayne attacks and rapes her before Tommy, who is revealed to be a friend of his, shows up and stabs her to death.

The next day, Jennifer goes back to the gas station looking for Sam. Instead, she is greeted by Dwayne and Tommy, who tell her they know where Sam is. After taking Jennifer to their cottage, they reveal Sam's corpse. Jennifer escapes the cottage and runs into the woods, but is caught by Dwayne. After Dwayne rapes her, Tommy then stabs across the chest, leaving her for dead. Jennifer survives the ordeal, hitchhikes, and plans her revenge.

A little while later at the gas station, the sheriff questions Dwayne and Tommy about the missing women, but they deny everything. Dwayne is then told by a friend at a bar that a woman matching Jennifer's description recently bought weapons and has been asking about him around town. Dwayne later takes a walk in the woods and is attacked by Jennifer, who slices his head in half with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, Tommy is back at his cottage treating both Sam's and a woman's dead bodies as if they were alive. Jennifer chases him out of the cottage and shoots him in the groin with a shotgun and walks away, leaving Tommy to die in agony.

In New York, Ally is a student at New York University (NYU), and lives with her father, Neil, a New York Police Department detective. Tyler Hawkins audits classes at NYU and works at the university bookshop. He and his sister Caroline have a strained relationship with their workaholic businessman father, Charles. One night, Tyler and his roommate Aidan get involved in somebody else's fight, and are arrested by Neil. Aidan calls Charles to bail Tyler out, but he does not stick around to have a conversation with his father. Aidan sees Neil dropping Ally off, realizing that she is his daughter. He approaches Tyler with the idea to get back at the detective by persuading him to sleep with and dump Ally. Tyler and Ally go to dinner and continue seeing each other.

After noticing a tattoo on Tyler's chest reading "Michael," Tyler reveals to Ally that his brother Michael died by suicide years ago; Ally in turn reveals that her mother was mugged and fatally shot when she was young. Aidan turns up at Tyler's apartment and meets Ally for the first time, and convinces the pair to go to a party, where Ally drinks too much. The following morning, following a confrontation between her and her father, Ally flees back to Tyler's apartment, where the pair consummate their relationship.

Caroline, a budding artist, is featured in an art show, and Tyler asks his father to attend the show. When he fails to show up, Caroline is heartbroken and Tyler confronts him in a boardroom filled with people, accusing his father of willingly distancing himself from his children to avoid feeling the pain of losing another child, and father and son come to blows. Neil's partner recognizes Tyler with Ally on a train; so Neil breaks into Tyler's apartment, finds out his initial reason for meeting Ally, and violently confronts him, which forces Tyler to confess to a distraught Ally. Aidan visits Ally at her father's home to explain that he is to blame, and Tyler is genuinely in love with her.

Caroline is bullied by classmates at a birthday party where they cut a chunk of her hair off. Ally and Aidan visit Tyler's mother's apartment, where Caroline is sobbing. Tyler accompanies his sister back to school, and following further bullying, Tyler turns violent, and ends up in custody. Charles is impressed that Tyler stood up for his sister, and they connect. Charles asks Tyler to meet his lawyers at his office.

Tyler spends the night with Ally, and they confess their true love for each other. The next morning, Charles calls Tyler to let him know that he will be late, as he is taking Caroline to school; Tyler is happy that Charles is spending time with his daughter, and tells him that he will wait in his office. He looks on Charles's computer, featuring a slideshow of pictures with Tyler, Michael, and Caroline when they were younger. Caroline arrives at her classroom, where the teacher writes the date on the blackboard as Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Tyler looks out the window of his father's office, which is revealed to be located on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

A voice-over of Tyler's diary reveals that he loved Michael all along, and he forgives him for killing himself. Tyler is buried next to Michael. Some time later, Caroline and Charles seem to have a healthy father-daughter relationship. Aidan, who has since gotten a tattoo of Tyler's name on his arm, is working hard in school, and Ally gets on the subway at the same spot where her mother was killed.

French comedy about a local priest with a good mood who is sent to teach morals at a nudist colony with hilarious consequences.

Radio star Jerry Wade's program ratings are falling and he suggests to his sponsors a show that is different and he goes to Kentucky to find an idea. Caroline, a Kentucky girl in New York trying to crash into radio, learns of Wade's quest and takes her three friends, Harry, Jimmy and Al Ritz, also aspiring to show-business fame, to Kentucky with her, where Wade discovers them in beards, guns, feuds, moonshine and every cliché that fits the hillbillies lifestyle. He stages a broadcast from the hills, which is not heard because of technical difficulties. He takes the whole troupe back to New York with him.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh, Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a crewman, engineer and fisherman. During this time he traveled the world and eventually settled in the United States in 1988. Zeitoun met his wife Kathy, a native of Baton Rouge, with whom he founded their business, Zeitoun Painting Contractors LLC. Kathy converted to Islam.

In late August 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approached the city, Kathy and their four children left New Orleans for Baton Rouge. Zeitoun stayed behind to watch over their home, ongoing job sites and rental properties. Once the storm made landfall, their neighborhood (although miles from the nearest levees) was flooded up to the second floor of most houses. Zeitoun began to explore the city in a secondhand canoe, distributing what supplies he had, ferrying neighbors to higher ground and caring for abandoned dogs.

On September 6, Zeitoun and three companions were arrested at one of Zeitoun's rental houses by a mixed group of U.S. Army National Guardsmen, local police and police from out of state. They were detained in a makeshift jail in a Greyhound bus station -"Camp Greyhound" - for three days before being transferred to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in nearby St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Zeitoun was held at Hunt for 20 more days without trial, but he was given a bond of 75 thousand dollars and read his charges. He was interviewed by officers and later by ICE officials and put in segregated cells.

The cartoon depicts a tribe of cartoon Mickey Mouse-like mice who move and dance through a musical instrument workshop, while the song ''It's Got Me Again!'' plays on a dusty gramophone. When a hungry cat shows up and tries to eat the mice, most of them escape—but one mouse is trapped. However, he is not eaten, because the other mice attack the cat and save their companion.

The documentary chronicles the making of Emily Hagin's feature-length zombie film ''Pathogen''. The film, which took Hagin two years to complete and screen, was met with several setbacks during its filming due to elements such as theft of property. During the filming of ''Zombie Girl'', the directors noted Hagin's growth as a fledgling director, as she was twelve at the time ''Pathogen'' was made.

''Dragon'' described the novel's plot: "Five companions find themselves in the unenviable position of defending the soon-to-be ghost town against a rival possessing incredible power."

Three companions, Shal Bal of Cormyr, Tarl Desanea, a cleric of Tyr, and Ren o' the Blade are brought together in Phlan by circumstance and encounter various threats as they work to purge the city of civilized Phlan, the restored part of the destroyed city of Old Phlan, culminating in a faceoff with the Lord of the Ruins, Tyranthraxus.

In the introduction, the book summarizes how the Clans were formed. It then cuts to Leafpool introducing the warrior code to us, through the point of view of loners visiting the Clans to learn more about them. Each code starts with Leafpool giving a brief synopsis of the code. Some stories have additional stories that show the codes being enforced.

'''Code one: Defend your Clan, even with your life. You may have friendships with cats from other Clans, but your loyalty must remain to your Clan, as one day you may meet them in battle.''' Code one tells the story of Cloudberry of RiverClan and Ryewhisker of WindClan. Cloudberry is expecting Ryewhisker's kits and Ryewhisker believes the kits will end the territorial dispute between the two Clans. But instead, in a battle, Ryewhisker is killed trying to defend Cloudberry from his Clanmates. This leads to the creation of the first code.

'''Code two: Do not hunt or trespass on another Clan's territory.''' The story begins at the gathering when Brindlestar, leader of ShadowClan, complains about ThunderClan. ThunderClan accuses ShadowClan of stealing prey, and a fight starts to break out. The fight was interrupted when a branch falls between the two squabbling Clans to separate them, and no cats are hurt. It was a sign from StarClan, and it prompted the Clans to decide that no Clan cat may cross the border for leisure or hunting. (In a mini-story, White-eye and Dappletail try to catch a fish.)

'''Code three: Elders, queens, sick or injured cats and kits must be fed before apprentices and warriors. Unless they have permission, apprentices may not eat until they have hunted to feed the elders.''' Code three tells the story of Splashheart of RiverClan in a battle against ThunderClan for Sunningrocks. Splashheart is guided by a StarClan cat and RiverClan wins Sunningrocks. They celebrate by feeding the elders and kits, and StarClan hints that Splashheart will become leader of RiverClan one day. (In a mini-story, Longtail and Darkstripe go out hunting for the elders, but Darkstripe eats the fresh-kill intended for Poppydawn, a sick elder. Poppydawn dies from greencough, something she could have fought off if she had been well-fed, and Longtail regrets not speaking up.)

'''Code four: Prey is killed only to be eaten. Give thanks to StarClan for its life.''' The story starts when Driftkit and Fallowkit of ShadowClan play with fresh-kill. They are scolded by their leader, the deputy, and their mother. An owl then swoops into the camp and snatches the fresh-kill away. Lilystar says it is a sign from StarClan, and declares the fourth code.

'''Code five: A kit must be at least six moons old to become an apprentice.''' The story begins with a WindClan queen named Daisytail worrying that her son is too young to be in a battle. She and a queen from ShadowClan stop a battle and tell their leaders that their apprentices should still be kits until they are at least six moons old. (In a mini-story, during the battle to drive out WindClan, Flintfang watches as his apprentice, Badgerfang, (who is three moons old) dies.)

'''Code six: Newly appointed warriors will keep a silent vigil for one night after receiving their warrior name.''' The story starts with RiverClan's medicine cat, Meadowpelt, overhearing that some of the new warriors are going to try to jump the gorge on the full moon, as yet another one of their dangerous escapades. Meadowpelt goes to StarClan for answers, and is told that warriors should stand a silent vigil during their first night as warrior, in order to think about being a warrior. The new warriors are forced to sit a silent vigil, and because they are silent, they hear a fox attempting to break into the nursery, and are able to chase it off. (Squirrelflight tells us what do at a vigil in a mini-story.)

'''Code seven: A cat cannot be made deputy without having mentored at least one apprentice.''' Code seven tells the tale of Acorntail, who is chosen as deputy for WindClan. However, he keeps messing up on his duties, and tells Featherstar that she must choose a different deputy. Featherstar realizes that Acorntail hasn't had an apprentice, so he doesn't have leadership skills yet. Acorntail is then willingly demoted, and he is promised an apprentice to train in the future.

'''Code eight: The deputy will become Clan leader when the leader dies, retires, or is exiled.''' The story starts when Beechstar, leader of SkyClan, dies at the claws of a RiverClan warrior, and passes on the position of leader to his son, Mothpelt. Mothpelt wishes to avenge his father's death and leads an attack to RiverClan. However, the river was swollen due to a rainfall, and Robinwing and Maplewhisker, the deputy, have to save the Mothpelt from drowning. Mothpelt then decides to give up his position to Maplewhisker and form a new code. (In a mini-story, Tallstar talks to Bluestar about his choice in making Onewhisker deputy.)

'''Code nine: After the death, retirement, promotion (to a leader status), or exile of the deputy, the new deputy must be chosen before moonhigh.''' The story begins when the ShadowClan deputy dies from greencough soon after their leader died, leaving ShadowClan without someone to take the place of leader. Jumpfoot and Mossfire both want to be leader, so they fight each other for the position, which kills both of them. Redscar, the Clan's medicine cat, turns to StarClan for the answer. They tell him they must choose a new leader, and that the leader must choose a new deputy immediately after the old one cannot be deputy. Redscar chooses Flowerstem, Mossfire's sister.

'''Code ten: A Gathering of all four Clans is held at the full moon during a truce that lasts for the night. There shall be no fighting among Clans at this time.''' The story starts at a Gathering. All four Clans were attacked by ShadowClan, led by Ripplestar. As Ripplestar attacks Finchstar, leader of ThunderClan, StarClan sends clouds over the moon and kills Ripplestar with a bolt of lightning - a sign to all the Clans that fighting at a Gathering is wrong.

'''Code eleven: Boundaries must be checked and marked daily. Challenge all trespassing cats.''' The story begins when a SkyClan warrior named Poppycloud and her apprentice accidentally overstep the ThunderClan border and are caught. The leader of ThunderClan goes to the SkyClan leader to complain. Poppycloud explains that they could not smell the border because it was not freshly marked, which ultimately leads to the decision for Clans to mark their borders daily. (In a mini-story, Whitestorm teaches Firepaw, Graypaw, Ravenpaw, Sandpaw, and Dustpaw about border tactics.)

'''Code twelve: No warrior can neglect a kit in pain or danger, even if the kit is from a different Clan.''' The story begins when the RiverClan medicine cat, Graywing, and a couple of warriors see WindClan kits fall into the gorge. Graywing says that it is only WindClan's loss and there is nothing they can do. Later that night, the kits, now dead and spirits in StarClan, come to Graywing in a dream, and tell her the importance of kits in a Clan. The next day, Graywing takes the kits' bodies out of the gorge and buries them. (In a mini-story, Tigerkit (Tigerstar) is saved by a couple of warriors from ShadowClan from a fox.)

'''Code thirteen: The word of the Clan leader is the warrior code.''' The story starts at the Gathering, where Darkstar, leader of SkyClan, gives a huge piece of territory to ThunderClan. His deputy, Raincloud, speaks out at the Gathering and tells him that he is wrong to do that. Darkstar then proposes a new code, to prevent leaders from being embarrassed by their warriors. (In a mini-story, Cloudstar speaks about a broken promise.)

'''Code fourteen: An honorable warrior does not need to kill other cats to win their battles, unless they are outside the warrior code or if it is necessary for self-defense.''' The story starts with the ShadowClan medicine cat, Mossheart, watching her Clanmates die in a battle skirmish. She and the other Clan medicine cats go to Moonstone together and are told that the unnecessary death must stop.

'''Code fifteen: A warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet.''' The story starts with Lionpaw following Pinestar to the Twoleg border. Lionpaw sees Pinestar interacting with a Twoleg. When Pinestar returns and catches Lionpaw, he tells Lionpaw that he was on a secret mission, and that what Lionpaw saw is absolutely confidential and he must not tell other cats. However, Lionpaw soon finds out that Pinestar wishes to live with Twolegs and Lionpaw pushes him to tell the Clan this. Pinestar thanks him and tells him that his future name will be Lionheart. (In a mini-story, Sandstorm speaks about her thoughts on Fireheart.)

In the end, Leafpool tells failed proposals for the warrior code, and says goodbye.

The cover shows (from left to right) Blackstar, Firestar, Tallstar, and Leopardstar. Below them, they are surrounded by a group of cats, so the picture presumably depicts a Gathering.

Tiny is the smallest of Quince's litter of three kittens, which also includes Socks and Ruby. His brother and sister constantly bully him because of his size. Later, humans come to adopt Socks and Ruby, but they leave Tiny. Ruby tells him that unwanted kittens like him are thrown into the river.

Tiny runs into the forest to escape being thrown into the river. He is met by a ThunderClan patrol consisting of Bluefur, Thistleclaw, and Thistleclaw's apprentice, Tigerpaw. Tigerpaw attempts to kill Tiny, but is stopped at the last second by Bluefur, who reminds him of the warrior code.

Tiny goes to the city and is laughed at for his collar. He finds a dog tooth, and attempts to rip his collar with it, but it ends up embedded in the collar instead. When other cats ask him about it, Tiny lies and says that he ripped it out of a dog's mouth after killing it, in an attempt to impress them. The story spreads, and soon two loners, Bone and Brick, come ask him to help get rid of a dog that is keeping the stray cats from a dumpster full of food. When Tiny confronts the dog, it is startled by Tiny's shadow, and runs away. Impressed, the cats congratulate him, and one asks what his name is. Tiny decides on the spot to rename himself Scourge, after recalling something his mother told him about forest cats being "a scourge on the name of all good cats".

Later, Scourge is asked to help drive away a gang of forest cats that are causing trouble for the strays. When the forest cats tease him because of his size, he kills one of them to show the cats from the gang as well as his own cats what he is capable of. The forest cats are shocked and decide to leave.

Scourge is treated as a sort of leader among the city cats after the incident, and he becomes more of a dictator to them, though he remains discontent. After a while, his littermates, Socks and Ruby, come to him for help because their owners abandoned them. He reprimands them for being mean to him when he was young, but ultimately allows them to eat something before banishing them from his territory. A few years later, Tigerpaw, now Tigerstar, comes to BloodClan, asking for their help in defeating his own enemies. Scourge agrees to help them so that he can take revenge on Tigerstar. He bides his time, and during a meeting with the Clans of the forest, Tigerstar attacks him, and he is given the opportunity to kill him. He does so, slicing Tigerstar open from chin to tail, with claws reinforced by dogs' teeth. Scourge is finally content with his victory over Tigerstar.

Naomi lives with her hippy mother Gina (Olivia Colman) and fifteen other people in a communal living arrangement. This is a source of annoyance to Naomi, whose privacy is invaded when she wakes up one morning, naked, to discover that a male hippy is sleeping in her bed. At college, she avoids Emily to meet with her politics teacher Kieran instead. In the students' common room, they are informed of the upcoming elections for Student President. Emily encourages Naomi to run for president, but Naomi refuses. She later comes across Cook, who tries to persuade her to have sex with him. She jokingly tells him that he has a better chance of winning the student elections, which he sees as a challenge and decides to register. Kieran walks her home at the end of the day and urges her to run in the elections, giving her a registration form. When she arrives at her house, she finds Emily waiting in her bedroom with another registration form. Emily starts to leave when Naomi is rude and standoffish to her—despite taking Emily's advice to enter the elections—but returns and confronts her. She coldly tells her that she is not obsessed with pursuing a sexual relationship with her, and Naomi suggests she stay the night with her.

The next morning, Naomi wakes up, with Emily asleep next to her. She is tempted to stroke her hair, but instead gets dressed and goes to college, leaving Emily in her bed. At college, she sees the massive presidential campaign staged by Cook and JJ (Ollie Barbieri). She launches her own campaign to rival Cook, but finds that most of her classmates' support is for Cook's anarchist ideas. She is doubly humiliated in front of the form when Cook ridicules her and Emily subsequently stands up for her. She flees to Kieran for comfort but leaves him, shocked and disgusted, when he kisses her. She goes home and, after finding a note from Emily in her bed, cries herself to sleep.

Naomi and Emily escape to the countryside later that evening and cycle to one of Emily's favourite places by a lake before sunset. After swimming in the lake, they light a campfire, and share a cannabis joint. An act of blowbacking the joint leads the two to share a kiss and they proceed to make love. Emily wakes up the following morning to find Naomi preparing to leave. She pleads with Naomi not to leave her a second time and tells her that she should accept that she needs to be loved. Naomi goes home to find Kieran in bed with her mother, and leaves for college, devastated. She sees her teachers rigging the election to prevent Cook from winning, and reveals this to the form when she is announced the winner. As his first presidential act, Cook starts a riot. In the ensuing chaos, Naomi forgives Kieran, encouraging him that if he likes her mother, he should tell her so. Naomi begins to have sex with Cook before she realises that it "isn't right". Surprisingly, Cook doesn't seem to mind, as he says that she must have a good reason not to follow through because she's clever. Naomi leaves, with her and Cook now sharing a better understanding of each other. That night, she visits Emily's house, but Emily refuses to open the door, not wanting Naomi to see her after she had been crying. They sit on opposite sides of the door, and Naomi admits that she does need somebody to love her. Emily offers her hand through the door's cat flap to Naomi, who finally reciprocates Emily's feelings.

18-year-old Zuzana must deal with leaving her friends behind, as her family moves from a palatial villa to a confining apartment. However, she will not miss Michal, the neighborhood bully. She prepares for her senior year at school and graduating at its end, when she learns she has a new classmate—Michal.

After the death of his family during a riot in Belfast, Niall Hennessy comes up with a plan to blow up the British Houses of Parliament.

While Toni and his men are still fishing, the women (Pasqua, Lucietta; Libera, Orsetta, and Checca) are sitting outside their houses talking. Toffolo, another boat owner, comes by and flirts with Lucietta (who is actually engaged to Titta-Nane), giving her some roast pumpkin, thereby exciting the jealousy of Checca. The men (Toni, Beppe and Titta-Nane) all get involved after they arrive and a fight starts with Toffolo's group. This is broken up by Vicenzo and his soldiers. The different sets of jealous Chioggia lovers quarrel amongst themselves, and Toffolo complains to the officials. The Adjunct Isidoro is sent to try to sort everything out. Eventually there is a happy ending and peace is restored. Lucietta marries Titta-Nane, Orsetta marries Beppe and Checca is married to Toffolo.

In late 1950s London an upper-class archeologist Mike Thompson (Tony Britton) by chance meets a mysterious German woman Ila Hansen (Nadja Tiller) in a bar; later they share a taxi and he takes her back to the house where

he lives with his parents. They embark on a torrid love affair during which she constantly lies and deceives him and threatens to ruin his long-term relationship with his fiancee, Margaret Goreham (Natasha Parry).

12-year-old Dre Parker and his widowed mother Sherry, are leaving Detroit travelling to Beijing after Sherry gets a job transfer at a car factory. Dre goes to a nearby park where he eyes a young violinist, Meiying, who reciprocates his attention, but a 14-year-old boy named Cheng, a rebellious Kung Fu prodigy whose family is close to Meiying's, holds a grudge against Dre and keeps them apart by attacking, teasing and bullying Dre every chance he gets. After a school field trip to the Forbidden City, Dre throws a bucket of dirty water over Cheng and his gang as revenge, enraging them. They chase and eventually corner him at a backstreet alley, and brutally beat Dre until he is saved by the maintenance man, Mr. Han, who intervenes and fends off the boys and reveals himself to be a Kung Fu master.

Mr. Han heals Dre's injuries using Ancient Chinese medicine methods of fire cupping while explaining that Cheng and his friends are not inherently bad, but made so by their teacher Master Li, who teaches his students to be merciless towards their enemies. Intrigued, Dre asks if Han could teach him Kung Fu. Han refuses and instead brings him to meet Li at the Fighting Dragon studio to make peace. Li harshly rebuffs the peace offer and challenges Han or Dre to a fight with Cheng. Mr. Han instead counters that Dre compete against Li's students one-on-one at the upcoming open Kung Fu tournament, requesting that his students leave Dre alone to train for the tournament. Li begrudgingly agrees to the terms as long as Dre shows up at the tournament, warning them that if they don’t show up, he will personally hurt them.

Mr. Han promises to teach Dre Kung Fu and begins to train him by emphasizing movements that apply to life in general. He conveys that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial art. He teaches this by having Dre perform repetitive motions using his jacket, though which Dre develops muscle memory. Han takes Dre to a Taoist temple in the Wudang Mountains. There, Dre witnesses a woman making a cobra reflect her movements and later drinks the water from an ancient Taoist well. After many weeks of grueling and laborious training, Mr. Han soon gives Dre a day off. Dre goes to see Meiying, persuading her to cut school for a day of fun. She is nearly late for a violin audition that was pushed up a day without her knowledge. Her parents thus deem Dre a bad influence and forbid her from ever seeing him again.

Dre heads to see Mr. Han, but finds him apparently drunk and depressed, smashing the car he was working on. A devastated Mr. Han tearfully explains to Dre that he crashed the same car years ago, and that his wife and 10-year-old son were killed in the crash. He fixes the car every year but smashes it to remind himself of what happened; this inspires Dre to train harder to help his teacher overcome his trauma and get past the incident. Mr. Han assists Dre in writing and reciting a note of apology in Mandarin to Meiying's father, who accepts Dre's gift and apology, promising that Meiying will attend the tournament to support Dre.

At the tournament, the under-confident Dre is slow to achieve parity with his competition but soon begins beating them and advances to the semi-finals. Cheng does the same by violently finishing off his opponents. Dre then beats Master Li's students, causing Li to order one of his students named Liang, Dre's semi-final opponent, to injure Dre. Liang reluctantly does so by delivering a series of crippling blows to Dre's leg, getting himself disqualified as a result. Dre advances to the final against Cheng but has limited time to return to the ring, or Cheng will claim the trophy by default. Dre pleads with Mr. Han to heal his leg via the fire cupping method. Mr. Han reluctantly does so when Dre tells him that he just wants to overcome his fear. Thus, Dre is set to face Cheng in the final.

The match goes back and forth with Dre gaining a 2-to-1 lead. On Li's orders, Cheng attacks Dre's injured leg with a powerful kick, thus causing Dre to lose balance. Tied at two points apiece, with the next point to determine the champion, Dre struggles but manages to get up and uses the snake stance used by the woman at the temple. The move is successful, and Cheng changes his technique and charges at Dre, who does a backflip and catches Cheng in mid-air with a kick to his head defeating Cheng and Dre winning the tournament along with the respect of Cheng and his classmates. Cheng presents Dre with the trophy and all of the Fighting Dragon students bow down to Mr. Han in respect, accepting him as their new master, leaving Li defeated. Ending the movie, Dre and Mr. Han walk off happily.

Alternate ending

In this alternate ending, Master Li raises his hand to slap Cheng for not beating Dre in the tournament (he uses this method to punish his disciples), but he is stopped and reprimanded by Mr. Han, who thought that Master Li's students had already suffered too much at his hands. This eventually leads to an epic Kung Fu fight scene with Mr. Han against Master Li, who end up facing off in front of a surprised audience, the frightened Fighting Dragons and a shocked, confused, and injured Dre, who even with a limp, tries to go where Mr. Han is fighting, without understanding what happened.

Mr. Han and Master Li face off in a Kung Fu showdown, which starts in the middle of the audience, goes to the stands (where Master Li knocks over a young boy and Mr. Han saves him from getting hurt seriously), they go back to the audience where Mr. Han asks the people in the audience to stay away so they don't get attacked by Master Li and it's where Master Li throws wooden benches at Mr. Han and some people from the audience. The two end up taking two wooden benches and fighting each other using these benches, in which Mr. Han ends up getting the best, knocking Master Li down with his bench and immobilizing him.

The Fighting Dragons (Master Li's team of fighters) try to get close to their master, but they end up pulling away after Mr. Han gives them a menacing glare. Thinking they had already finished, he removes Master Li's top bench, not knowing that he would attack again, which leads to the 2nd round of the confrontation, when Master Li kicks Mr. Han towards where there are some kung fu weapons, where the two hit each other, try to immobilize each other and try to knock each other out. This confrontation ends up going where an old kung fu master (and possibly organizer of this martial arts tournament) was sitting, who scared and shocked by this confrontation between Han and Li, ends up leaving as quickly as not to be in the middle of this crossfire. In a final blow, Mr. Han kicks Master Li off the stage where the old master was sitting and furious, leaps from the stage towards Master Li, pinning him down and with his fist raised says against Master Li in Mandarin with a menacing tone: "Do not stop when our enemy is down. No mercy. No mercy in studio. No mercy in competition. No mercy in life. Our enemy deserves pain".

Dre and the Fighting Dragons watch from afar. One of the members of the Fighting Dragons, who has had enough of Master Li's abuse, asks, angry, for Mr. Han to knock out Master Li. However, he is stopped by Dre, who says that Master Li has had enough of a beating. Then Dre hobbles down from the arena and he and Mr. Han are congratulated by Cheng and the Fighting Dragons not only for winning the tournament, but for teaching their abusive master a lesson. In the end, leaving the arena, Sherry (Dre's mom), along with Meiying, leave with the tournament trophy won by Dre, but not before punching Master Li for his students’ actions against Dre.

The tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman named Mortimer Judd finally drive a distraught man named Eugene Craig, whom he has forced into bankruptcy, to commit suicide. He constantly refuses requests for charity and treats his bedridden wife very badly. The businessman receives a copy of Dante's ''Inferno'' in the mail and reads it. In the story, a floating angel raises its sword and parts a legion of demons to allow Dante to pass, naked sinners burn in boiling tar and suicides are transformed into living trees in a forest in Hell. Judd is plunged into a frightening dream in which he is tried for murder and executed, and is afterward taken by demons to Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity. The nightmare teaches him humility and the importance of extending charity to those less fortunate than himself. He gets the chance to redeem himself by preventing Eugene Craig from committing suicide.

Season 1 (2010)

The aspiring surgeon María Alejandra Rivas (Verónica Orozco) is admitted to the program for interns at the Hospital Universitario of Santa María. Daughter of one of the most famous surgeons of her time, now Alzheimer's diseased, Maria Alejandra should bear the responsibility that gives her his last name. His group of new friends, Jorge Viana (Juan Manuel Mendoza), Cristina Solano (Natalia Durán), Isabel Henao (Sandra Hernández) and Augusto Maza (Juan Pablo Espinosa), will from now on become their new family. María Alejandra faces the loneliness helped by these new people and by the sentimental relationship that she establishes with Andrés Guerra (Rafael Novoa), one of the best surgeons of the hospital.

The story is set in the "in-between" time of a girl's life, when she is no longer a child and not yet a woman. The film opens with its heroine, Maeve, putting on her new snow white bra, and stepping out into the world as a young woman. She has an obsession with breasts and bras and can't help but stare at other girls and women, even the head nun doesn’t escape her gaze. Otherwise, her world revolves around her three friends, Ruth, Claire and Orla, who are more experienced in the ways of the world. They wear bras already (except Claire the feminist) and they have all had boyfriends. The new bra is a start but they really hope Maeve can find a fella, even offering kissing lessons to prepare her. What no one expects, least of all Maeve, is that she should snare the local sixteen- year old heartthrob.

Maeve is so smitten with him that she lets her friends down when they need her the most. In trouble with her friends and in school, she gets dumped by the heartthrob when she sneaks into the local dance with him and he leaves with another girl. Her parents find out and she ends up in trouble at home, where she takes on extra domestic duties. She does the laundry and even her bra has lost its former brilliance. Maeve realises what she has lost. Her friends rally round for her 14th birthday, Maeve returns to the fold a little older and a little wiser.

Cynthia Pilgrim (Betty Grable) is the top typewriting (i.e. typing) student of the first graduating class of the Packard Business College in New York City, and as such she is offered a position as a typewriter (i.e. typist) with the Pritchard Shipping Company in Boston. There, she finds an office of men overseen by office manager Mr. Saxon (Gene Lockhart). When Cynthia introduces herself to company co-owner John Pritchard (Dick Haymes), he tells her he thought all expert typists were male and his policy is to hire only men. Cynthia asks for an opportunity to prove she's as efficient as her male counterparts, but John refuses and offers her train fare back to New York.

John's Aunt Alice (Anne Revere), an avowed suffragist, has the controlling interest in the company and insists that Cynthia be given a chance. Cynthia finds lodgings at Catherine Dennison's (Elizabeth Patterson) boarding house, where she meets an eclectic group of tenants, including poet Leander Woolsey (Allyn Joslyn), artist Michael Michael (Arthur Shields), and musician Herbert Jothan (Charles Kemper).

John invites Cynthia to dinner but she prefers not to socialize with her employer. She does allow him to escort her to one of his aunt's rallies, where she impresses the other women, despite John Pritchard standing up from the audience and asking her some awkward questions about management and labor getting closer together. When John's mother asks her to dine with them on the evening of the Regimental Ball, Cynthia feels she won't fit in with the woman's social circle, so her rooming house companions coach her on how to behave unpleasantly, thinking the mother would be a snob. Cynthia is delighted to discover their efforts were unnecessary, because Mrs. Pritchard proves to be down-to-earth and a supporter of Cynthia's desire to be treated equally in the workplace.

John begins to date Cynthia, and eventually they become engaged. He tries to persuade her to give up her involvement in the suffrage movement, but she insists she cannot abandon such a worthy cause. They break their engagement and she is fired from her job, but none of the people hired by Mr. Saxon to replace her please Mr. Pritchard. He and John go, in desperation, to a local school to find yet another candidate for the position. There, John discovers that its general manager is Cynthia, and the two are reunited in business as well as in love.

Overview

Odawa enlists a gang of bogans (a type of fairy) to hunt down Grey, a cousin who accidentally blinded him many years earlier. Odawa has already killed Grey's wife and several of Grey's friends. But when the bogans murder Anwatan, the daughter of a cousin chief, the cold peace between fairies and cousins is threatened. Because Grey rescues an innocent bystander named Lizzie from the bogans, they assume —incorrectly— that she is romantically involved with him, and they begin stalking her, which leads her to talk to Jilly. The bogans attempt to kidnap Lizzie, but through a series of accidents, both Lizzie and Jilly end up in Jilly's ''croí baile'' or "heart home", a piece of the otherworld made up of people and places she unknowingly created out of her own memories.

The ''croí baile''

Mattie Finn, a physical manifestation of a character from a storybook Jilly read as a kid, hates Jilly because Jilly projected her child abuse experiences upon Mattie. This version of Mattie carries all the memories of Jilly's abuse as though they happened to her.

Mattie summons up a version of Jilly's abusive brother Del and a priest who also molested her. The priest banishes Timony, a magical little man accompanying them, from the ''croí baile'' before he gets a chance to explain to Jilly that she can take control of the place as long as she believes she can. Del transforms Jilly and Lizzie into little girls, then picks Jilly up and takes her to a nearby house. With her martial arts skills, Lizzie beats up the priest.

While traveling through the otherworld, Geordie loses his way and runs into Timony. Geordie realizes he needs Joe's help, so Timony asks him to focus his mind on Joe. Instead, Geordie begins thinking of Jilly, which causes him to be drawn into her ''croí baile''. Del immediately kills him. He continues to exist as a ghost unseen by the others, and he and Jilly finally realize their love for each other.

Joe finds the ''croí baile'', and the pitbull accompanying him manages to enter. Immune to Del's powers, the dog kills Del, giving them all the opportunity to leave. They eventually rejoin Timony, who brings Geordie back to life. Jilly decides to return to the ''croí baile'' and confront Del again, realizing it is the only way she can put the wounds from her past behind her.

She returns to the house where the dead Del is still lying, but he comes alive. In a moment of anger she manages to turn herself back into a full-grown woman and hit Del. He immediately changes her again into a little girl. But she realizes that in the moment when she hit him, she was focused, without uncertainty.

With her newfound power, Jilly draws her sister Raylene into the ''croí baile''. While surprised to be there, Raylene acts on instinct and beats up Del. Jilly changes herself into her adult form, then she explains to Raylene what is happening. The two sit down and discuss the different ways they have handled their experiences, and Jilly sends Raylene back home.

Confronting Del again, Jilly declares that anytime he thinks a "mean-ass" thought, he will shrink to half his size. Predictably, he immediately shrinks until he disappears. Leaving the house, she is met by many friendly characters from her childhood, who inform her that she is become the Conjurer (the one with power over the ''croí baile'') now that Del has been defeated.

She coaxes Mattie to read a piece she has written on her abuse experiences and how she recast them on Mattie. She then makes Mattie the Conjurer, a risky move, but Mattie is no longer angry at her. After Jilly leaves the ''croí baile'', the crow girls are able to repair her body at last. She and Geordie decide to get married, and she asks Raylene to be the maid of honor.

The fairy-cousin conflict

An army of buffalo spirits is planning an attack on fairies, as vengeance for Anwatan's death. Grey seeks the help of Lucius Portsmouth, supposedly the Raven who created the world. Confronted by Odawa outside Lucius's place, Grey persuades him to postpone their feud to deal with the buffalo problem. As soon as Grey knocks on the door, however, a guard apprehends Odawa because it turns out that Grey's murdered wife was Lucius's goddaughter. Lucius agrees to talk to Minisino, the cousin instigating the rampage.

The increasingly remorseful bogan Rabedy summons Anwatan's spirit, telling her that he was part of the gang that killed her, that he wants her help in talking Minisino out of the coming rampage, and that he intends to give himself up. She agrees to help, but does not believe he should sacrifice himself.

Minisino does not listen to the pleas of Lucius, Anwatan, or any of the others. Only Christiana has an effect, by informing the buffalo warriors that they will have no power outside the spirit world because most of them are ghosts. Angered, Minisino kills Joe, and Lucius kills Minisino. Anwatan meets Joe in the afterlife and agrees to bring him back on the condition that he protect Rabedy from harm.

On trial, Odawa faces either death or banishment. Grey proposes that he simply be freed on the condition that he will spend the rest of his days atoning for his crimes—and if he does not, he will be hunted down. He accepts the offer.

Aged General O'Leary is fatally injured while trying to jump a wall with his horse. On his deathbed, the beloved old Irishman bequeaths £1,000 each to his cousin and fellow landowner Major McGluskey and to Doctor Michael Flynn and cancels all debts owed to him. The rest of the estate goes to a distant relative, Jasper O'Leary, who has never before set foot in the hamlet of Rathbarney.

Jasper very quickly wears out his warm welcome, proving to be an unscrupulous cad who had been saved from marrying a rich but unattractive woman in Capri by his unexpected windfall. He is attracted to Serena McGluskey, a beautiful young widow who has just returned to Rathbarney following the death of her husband. Jasper confides his plan to Serena, "Once I squeeze the lemon dry, I'm off."

Jasper is so unpopular that some of the disgruntled locals gather in Dooley's pub and decide to participate in a secret lottery to see who will be assigned the task of murdering him. Dooley's assistant, Terence, faints when he is chosen. Lacking confidence in his ability, several groups (without each other's knowledge), decide to do the job themselves. However, working at cross purposes and sometimes just by being unlucky, none of them succeed.

Meanwhile, Doctor Flynn is still infatuated with Serena, despite having been jilted by her in the past. He is too blind to see that her sister Kathy is in love with him. Serena's interest in Jasper (and vice versa) eventually cures him. When Serena constantly turns down Jasper's repeated proposals of a dalliance, he asks her to marry him. She agrees.

Finally, on the night when supposedly the ghost of one of Jasper's ancestors walks the halls, all of the various plotters make another try, but once again interfere with each other. Jasper also takes the opportunity to try to burn down the ancestral mansion for the insurance. None succeed. Then, Father Cormac shows up and makes an announcement. General O'Leary had instructed him to open a letter on that day. The letter contains a new will, which is to go into effect if Jasper proved to be unworthy, leaving the estate to Major McGluskey. Jasper offers to depart if the others will hold off on their murderous attempts. To his surprise and delight, Serena asks to go with him.

The ballet is based on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, and the hero's encounter with the sorceress Medea. Jason, in order to regain his throne from his usurper-uncle Creon, ventures forth with his companion Argonauts to find the Golden Fleece. The precious object becomes his when a powerful sorceress named Medea helps him conquer the dragon guarding it. Jason has two children by Medea, but he abandons her for the nymph Creusa. Medea sends the nymph a poisoned mantle whose fire consumes her and then, in a jealous rage, kills her own children.

A crooked lawyer brings together some of the clients he's gotten off and schemes to rob a bank vault. However, after the robbery, he discovers that the "goods" he's stolen is actually a top-secret microchip that foreign powers are after, and they will stop at nothing to get it.

With the Cold War rapidly coming to an end, retired CIA operative Sam Boyd has taken up freelancing as a corporate spy for cosmetics giant Maxine Gray, only to find that his hands-on style of espionage is being rendered obsolete by the capabilities of younger computer hackers. Boyd is suddenly called back in to the CIA by his superior, Elliot Jaffe, for a seemingly straightforward prisoner exchange with the KGB overseen by Colonel Pierce Grissom. Jaffe and Grissom explain that they have to use Boyd instead of an active agent to keep the operation off-the-books, since the $2 million that the Russian side demanded in addition to their own agent is being supplied by a Colombian drug cartel as a favor. Boyd is tasked with chaperoning Pyotr Ivanovich Grushenko, a KGB mole who had been caught and imprisoned ten years earlier, and the briefcase containing the money to Berlin, where they will both be traded for Benjamin Sobel, a U-2 pilot who was shot down over the Soviet Union during the 1960s.

A resigned Boyd and a skeptical Grushenko depart from Dulles Airport and arrive in Berlin, where they bond at a bar over Grushenko's beverage of choice, Starka. During the handover in a closed stretch of subway tunnel the next night, Boyd recognizes Sobel as a man he noticed at Dulles and calls Grushenko back, triggering a shootout with the KGB. Boyd and Grushenko are forced on the run from both the KGB and Boyd's superiors; even though Boyd told Jaffe that the handover was a setup, Grissom insists that Boyd has gone rogue and orders Jaffe to hunt him and Grushenko down. Boyd and Grushenko decide their only option is go into hiding and live off the $2 million, but they first need to launder the cash since the CIA can track the serial numbers on the bills. After securing fake IDs and credit cards and evading a police dragnet, the pair go to Faisal, a Saudi arms dealer previously used by the CIA to support anti-communist movements, to see about the money, but find that the easing of the Cold War has left him practically impoverished.

With the CIA now working with the KGB to find Boyd and Grushenko, the pair make their way to Paris, where Grushenko claims to have a girlfriend who can handle their money problem. Grushenko also reveals to Boyd that the man in the subway really was Sobel, who had been turned by the Soviets after his capture and was living in America as a sleeper agent in the guise of an economics professor. Grushenko knew Sobel because they both had the same handler, a turncoat in the US military codenamed "Donald". Boyd concludes that the cash-strapped KGB had arranged the fake handover of Sobel with Donald's help to scam the CIA out of $2 million, but the botched trade had jeopardized Donald's cover. In Paris, Grushenko reunites with his apparent girlfriend, Natasha Grimaud, who is in reality his daughter and works at a Japanese corporation where she can wire their money to a Swiss bank account to be withdrawn as clean bills. While Grushenko travels to Switzerland to retrieve the money, the CIA/KGB kidnap Natasha to coerce Boyd and Grushenko into surrendering. Boyd concedes to their demands chooses the Eiffel Tower as the handover site. Boyd and Grushenko manage to free Natasha and then dodge the CIA/KGB, but find the tower's exits have been cut off. The two friends duck into ''Le Jules Verne'' to share one last bottle of Starka. After Boyd suggests that they should take up residence in the Seychelles if they somehow escape, Grushenko relates that he just called Donald, implied to be Grissom, and left a false message that Sobel had been a triple-agent for the CIA all along.

In August 1991, Communist military hard-liners attempted a coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup failed, and all its members were arrested; from the ashes of the old Soviet Union, the modern Russian Federation was born.

At the request of Russian president Alexei Petrov, whose daughters Anna and Yana are fans, pop sensation Venus performs a concert in Moscow. The concert turns bloody when armed men led by Oleg Kazov take the concertgoers hostage. It seems that Oleg has a personal vendetta against Petrov. Former biker gang member Joe, the drummer of CMF, the opening rock band, decides to fight the criminals. Back in the US, when Joe was still in the biker gang, Colombian drug dealers wanting to collect a debt went to Joe's apartment and fatally shot his brother. Joe hunted the men down and killed them, and ever since has tried to stay away from guns, because they remind him of his brother's murder.

Most of the civilians and staff, including Venus's manager and brother Enzo, are killed by Oleg's men. The sole survivors are Joe, Venus, news reporter Ali Connor, American ambassador Jim Bradley, Presidential Security Service agent Mikhail Kapista, President Petrov, and his two daughters.

It turns out that Oleg's father was Marshal Dmitri Kazov, a WWII hero in Stalingrad, and former Soviet Minister of Defence, who led the failed coup against Gorbachev in 1991. Oleg was part of the coup as well. After the coup failed, special forces raided the Kazov house; in the chaos, Dmitri killed Oleg's mother and then himself. Oleg, then a captain in the Russian army, immigrated to the United States, where he got arrested for petty crimes, and ended up returning to Russia three weeks prior to the concert. The prosecutor of Marshal Dmitri Kazov, Oleg, and other coup members in 1991 was a young Alexei Petrov, before he became the president of Russia. Oleg thus organised the attack to seek revenge on Petrov, because he blames Petrov for the special forces raid that ended in his parents' deaths; Petrov ordered the raid and followed the troops into the Kazov house.

It is up to Joe and Mikhail make their way through the arena, and bring down Oleg and his men.

A number of smaller hounds come out of a giant dog house, followed by a large fox hound (Willoughby, voiced by Freberg) who is excited by the prospect of the hunt, especially the moment where the fox's tail is to be cut off. The hunters and dogs then pass over Bugs' hole, waking him, with the large fox hound lagging behind. Once Bugs directs Willoughby to where the others went, Bugs dons a fox costume and begins to play tricks with Willoughby, leaving Bugs amazed at the dog's inability to recognise a fox. Once the large hound realizes the difference, he runs back to the tree where Bugs is now undressed. The bunny giggles at Willoughby's intelligence, saying that "I've seen better heads on a glass of root beer!" At this point, Bugs (with his fox costume back on) stamps fox tracks to mislead this hound, which lead to train tracks, which Willoughby continues to follow. Once Willoughby reaches Bugs and tries to get him, Bugs questions what kind of tracks the dog was following, which ends up putting Willoughby on the front of a locomotive, while Willoughby exclaims that he caught a train.

Meanwhile, the other dogs have caught up to Bugs in his costume and he tries to evade them, but to no avail. When he reveals that he is a rabbit, one of the dogs (also voiced by Freberg) declares that they are now after rabbits. After a short chase, which includes Bugs running through an open log, Bugs then runs back into the log, and while the dogs run into it, Bugs turns the log three times to ensure that the crowd of dogs always run off the cliff, with the crowd falling to the ground after the third turn. While Bugs is chuckling at their misfortune, Willoughby sneaks up behind Bugs with a pair of scissors, cuts Bugs' tail off, and runs away with it. Bugs shrugs to the audience, "Just call me Stubby!". He walks away, his cottontail missing.

During a chemistry experiment, Uncle Olivetti accidentally opens a portal to Dimension X, which unleashes a horde of monsters led by the evil Big D, who transforms Olivetti into a raven. Olivetti's nephew, Spud steps forth to defeat Big D, restore his uncle and save the world from the incoming horror.

Milo Boyd, a former New York Police Department detective is now a bounty hunter. His ex-wife, Nicole Hurley, is an investigative reporter who has been arrested for assaulting a police officer.

Nicole receives a tip on a story, an apparent suicide that may have been a murder, she skips her bond hearing to meet her informant, causing the judge to revoke her bail and issue a warrant for her arrest. Just before Nicole arrives, her informant, Jimmy is kidnapped.

Milo is ecstatic when Nicole's bail bondsman, Sid, offers him the job of bringing her to jail, for a bounty of $5,000. Nicole's mother Kitty inadvertently helps him find her at a race track in New Jersey. He throws her into his trunk and drives back towards Manhattan. Nicole escapes briefly before he catches up with her.

They are being stalked by two thugs sent by Irene, a bookie, because of Milo's gambling debts; Nicole by corrupt cop Earl Mahler, who is connected with the story she is investigating, and both by Nicole's lovestruck coworker Stewart, bent on rescuing her from Milo. Irene's thugs mistake Stewart for Milo and mistakenly kidnap him.

Earl tries to kill Nicole, but both Milo and Nicole narrowly escape. Milo is not interested in explanations until she tells him she's found evidence that implicates their mutual friend and Milo's ex-partner on the force, Bobby, indicating that he is involved with Earl. Milo decides to investigate with her.

Clues from Earl's car lead them to a country club, where they learn from a caddie that Earl owns a tattoo parlor in Queens, so they start to make their way there. Bobby warns them to stay off the road.

The nearest hotel is the bed and breakfast where they spent their honeymoon. They discover they still have feelings for each other and admit their mistakes. Coming out of the bathroom, Nicole overhears Milo telling Sid he may sleep with her, but he's still taking her to jail. She handcuffs him to the bed and goes to the tattoo parlor, finding Jimmy and freeing him before being captured by Irene's thugs.

Milo rescues her at a strip club. Then, they hear Bobby is heading to the police's evidence warehouse, which is being relocated to a new building. Bobby confronts Earl, a former friend who has used Bobby's name to gain access to the warehouse and steal a large amount of narcotics and cash. Bobby decides to arrest him, but Earl shoots him. Milo and Nicole enter the warehouse and Milo is ambushed, but Earl surrenders when Nicole points a shotgun at him.

Bobby explains Earl was using him, as well as the man who supposedly committed suicide, to gain access to the warehouse. There was no proof, so Bobby was waiting for Earl to make his move before arresting him. Milo proudly notes that Earl might have gotten away with it if Nicole hadn't picked up clues. He and Nicole appear to have reconciled. They concede that sometimes their jobs have to come first. Milo turns Nicole in to the police, so she can make her court hearing the next day.

On his way out of the precinct, Milo runs into a cop who insulted him earlier and punches him in the face. He is arrested and put in the cell next to Nicole's. He reminds her that it is their anniversary and they have to spend it together. Through the bars they admit their love and kiss.

The story starts in February 1960, by setting up the characters. Joan Trotter (Kellie Bright) is in an unhappy marriage with the lazy Reg (Shaun Dingwall), whose father Ted (Phil Daniels) has just moved in. Her 15-year-old son Derek, often shortened to Del Boy, (James Buckley) and his friends Boycie, Trigger, Jumbo Mills, Denzil (Stephen Lloyd, Lewis Osborne, Lee Long and Ashley Gerlach) are still in school, following an increase in the school-leaving age. Joan works at the local cinema with Trigger's aunt Reenie Turpin (Emma Cooke) and Raymond (Billy Seymour) for cinema manager Ernie Rayner (Robert Daws), and at the Town Hall as "a part-time filing clerk who sometimes makes the tea". Convicted thief Freddie Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) has just been released from Dartmoor Prison and returned to Peckham with explosives expert Gerald "Jelly" Kelly (Paul Putner).

At the Town Hall, Joan asks Mr Johnson (Colin Prockter) about applying for a flat in the new high-rise estate; she is told she is unlikely to get a tenancy, as preference will be given to those with young children. At the ''Nag's Head'', Freddie and Reg meet, and Reg invites him to his house to continue drinking. After meeting Joan and buying her a drink, Freddie realises that she is a Trotter, a family he has a dislike for. After they return to the Trotters' house, Freddie shows his affection for Joan.

At the cinema, Joan is promoted to part-time assistant manager and Rayner tells her that the safe sometimes contains over £2,000 at weekends. She later tells Freddie, after he goes round to her house to offer Reg some work (Reg was not at home as Freddie told him to meet him at the pub). They talk about art, and he invites her (and Reg) to his house-warming party.

In March, Joan has a Marilyn Monroe hairstyle and the safe at the cinema is broken into. Ahead of the party, Freddie gives Reg the use of his car, to return unused decorating materials to Guildford and he takes his father, Reenie and her boyfriend Clayton Cooper (Roger Griffiths) with him. They run out of petrol on the way, leaving Freddie and Joan the only ones at the party. They dance, and Freddie admits that he wanted to be alone with Joan so they could talk about art. They end the night by sleeping together.

In June, Reenie accompanies Joan to a pregnancy testing clinic, while the boys are on the Jolly Boys Outing to Margate (providing Freddie and Jelly the opportunity to burgle a jewellers). On their journey home, Reenie tells Joan about Freddie's time in prison and she realises he burgled the cinema. After Freddie tells Kelly he thinks he's in love with Joan, Reg announces her pregnancy in the pub. While Joan is completing a housing request form, Freddie goes to see her and she fails to acknowledge the baby is his.

The Trotters' housing application is successful in August, and September sees them view a flat in the new Sir Walter Raleigh House, which they have moved into in October. In November, Joan has her baby, which she calls Rodney (after the "handsome actor" Rod Taylor, and to the surprise of everyone else). The closing scene sees Joan enter the balcony of her flat with Rodney in her arms. After telling him that Del will be very rich one day, Joan sees Freddie on a balcony in a tower opposite; she shows him Rodney and nods her head, to his delight.

Throughout, the story tells of Del's strained relationship with his father and his affection for his mother; Reg's affair with the barmaid at the Nag's Head; Del and Jumbo selling goods from the docks out of the back of a van; Del and Boycie's attempt at dating Pam and Glenda (Jodie Mooney and Katie Griffiths); Joan fending off advances from her perverted boss and provides an introduction to Roy Slater (Calum MacNab) and Albie Littlewood (Jonathan Readwin).

Yiorgos (Yiannis Kokiasmenos) is released from prison after 14 years of incarceration for a murder he committed in his small Greek village. He spends his first night out in a cheap hotel in Athens. There he meets Strella (Mina Orfanou), a young transgender prostitute. They spend the night together and soon they fall in love. But the past is catching up with Yiorgos. With Strella on his side he will have to find a new way out.

Esther Kahn a Jewish girl in 19th Century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.

The musical starts with the busybody postman who reads everybody's mail, Hector (Walter Brennan), delivering mail to the Dana household and particularly to Cora (Helen Broderick), the maid he is in love with. Professor Oliver Dana (Robert Benchley) is the head of the household. The oldest sister is Sylvia (Anne Gwynne), an actress, and the youngest is Nancy (Ann Gillis), who is a bit of a flirt and has all the boys fighting over her. The middle sister Jane (Deanna Durbin), the "nice girl", makes her entry singing the song "Perhaps" to the rabbits she takes care of. Her father is trying to write a book about diet and is testing it on rabbits. Don Webb (Robert Stack) is her boyfriend, an avid car buff.

One day, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone) visits the Danas to study what Professor Dana is practicing with the rabbits. The three daughters are instantly enamored with him, and do all they can to impress him. The family gets together with Jane playing the piano and singing "Beneath the Lights of Home", accompanied by Oliver, Nancy, and Sylvia.

There is a Fourth of July celebration in which Oliver Dana gives a speech. After a bit of dancing, Jane sings "Old Folks at Home". Don lends Jane the car to take Richard to the train station, but she decides to stop being a "nice girl" and drives him to New York. When they get there, she changes into some clothes that belong to Richard's sister, and then plays a song on the piano, "Love at Last", while she sings, and Richard comes down and sees her at the piano. Richard quickly sees that she is trying to not be a "nice girl", but both of them realize that she is just playing a game and not really being who she is. So, she leaves his house and drives back home, still wearing Richard's sister's pajamas. She gets into town, but the car runs out of gas, and she manages to wake up the entire neighborhood. They all see that she is no longer a "nice girl", and rumors start to fly instantly. Jane locks herself in her room until her father gives her a telegram from Richard.

Jane decides to face the music and go to the benefit for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, but doesn't realize that everyone thinks that she and Richard are engaged. She sings "Beneath the Lights of Home" at the benefit. Everyone congratulates her afterwards about her engagement, but she thinks they are just fooling her. She goes to Don for comfort, and he agrees that it's all nonsense, and, of course, Richard wouldn't go for her. Jane gets angry at that and decides to show Don. She tells him that she is engaged to Richard, and Don storms off. Right at that time, Oliver and Richard come to the benefit. They congratulate Prof. Oliver (for the engagement of his daughter to Richard Calvert), but he is confused and thinks that they are congratulating him for getting his fellowship. Jane intercepts them, and tells Richard that everyone thinks they are engaged. They fake a big quarrel so that they can break their engagement.

Meanwhile, Don has enlisted in the army, and Jane goes to see him to explain what happened. When she goes, Don tells her that he loves her. They kiss (off-screen), and then she goes to a bandstand and sings the song "Thank You America" for the crowd at the Army base.

It was a talent that came out of nowhere. One day, Lindsay Scott was on the top of the world, the child star of a hit TV show. The next day her fame had turned into torture. Every time anyone said anything about her, anywhere in the world, she heard it: praise, criticism, back-stabbing… Lindsay had what looked like a nervous breakdown and vanished from the public eye. Now she’s sixteen, and a tabloid newspaper claims that her own father is holding her hostage. The truth is much stranger, but that tabloid article sets off a chain of events that forces Lindsay to finally confront who she really is.

The movie follows the life of Chicago burglar Kaspar Karr. In the introduction, Kaspar cases and robs a Mexican Grocery Store. He counts up his score and introduces himself. He refuses to answer certain questions. His next mark is another grocery owned by Indians. He shows his expertise in social engineering, stalking, and intelligence gathering and discusses his careful, meticulous planning cycles.

Soon afterwards, before the heist, he calls the camera crew to follow him as he cases another joint. The director is introduced as he interjects questions and worries about the new target. The night after, Kaspar and the crew break into the club. With no lay out or plan, Kaspar desperately ravages the owner's office until he finds a drawer full of money, at which point he begins to panic and tells the director to turn the camera off.

Two months pass and Kaspar contacts the crew to shoot once more. The local Cinemark in a suburban neighborhood is the new target. Kaspar succeeds in making a new plan and, after much staking out, pulls off the heist with no problems while the crew films him. Three days later the crew pass by Kaspar's warehouse to find the police in the parking lot. The crew learns that Kaspar Karr's car was discovered with a large amount of blood in and around it.

The film ends with speculation as to whether Kaspar was killed in retaliation by the owner of the club, or left the Chicago area to start his life over elsewhere.

Kasha spends his days playing pranks on the people of Zara-Petra and doing as little work as possible. After participating in a magic show, he finds himself transported to the strange world of Abadan. Upon his arrival to the royal city of Shirazan, he is proclaimed king. At first, Kasha enjoys being royalty, but soon discovers that there is more to being king than eating good food and enjoying his lavish surroundings. When Kasha attempts to take control of his kingdom's laws and policies, he meets with strong opposition from his Grand Vizier, Shugdad Mirza. Soon Kasha is forced to flee for his life and escapes the palace with the help of a slave girl and a public versifier.

Ralph is a successful screenwriter, charming, cantankerous, rude and a bully; in his time an avid womaniser and completely selfish. Now in his seventies and terminally ill, he has two final missions: to be reconciled to his long-abandoned son Michael and secretly to ensure he is not a burden to his younger, devoted and second wife Anna as he goes "into that good night". But when Michael arrives at the beautiful Tuscan villa for their first meeting in many years, Ralph wrecks all hope of reconciliation when he picks and loses a fight with Michael's beautiful girlfriend, Debbie. Later, alone, Ralph receives 'The Visitor' whose services he has hired to provide a painless ending, as he goes into 'That Good Night'. But The Visitor plays a devastating trick, causing Ralph to consider the damaged potential that life still holds for him.

After the events of the ''Sukeban Deka II'' TV series, the now 18-year-old Yoko Godai has abandoned her special agent Saki Asamiya name to return to her normal life and is studying for college entrance exams. However, she accidentally bumps into a young man named Kazuo Hagiwara escaping from a group of hitmen, and learns that he comes from Sankou Academy, a private school located in a remote island known as Hell's Castle. The school is ruled by the evil headmaster Hattori, a terrorist who is trying to brainwash students into his loyal agents. They are then attacked and captured in a bus driven by Sankou Academy henchmen, who proceed to submit Saki to electric torture, but they manage to escape.

Now knowing they are in danger, Saki enlists the help of her long time friend Kyoko "Marble Okyo" Nakamura, and all together they meet Megumi Kato, the sister of a friend of Kazuo, Kikuo, who failed to escape with him from Sankou. They are also joined by Yoko's own successor as Saki Asamiya, the plucky Yui Kazama from ''Sukeban Deka III'', who has been sent by the Dark Inspector. However, before they can do a move, they are attacked by a helicopter sent by Hattori, and Kazuo dies shielding Saki before she can destroy it with her old yo-yo.

After reuniting with Yoko's other friend Yukino Yajima, the group plans a raid in Sankou Gakuen to take down Hattori. They are contacted by Yoko's former caretaker Nishiwaki, who reveals Hattori is actually a former revolutionary leader, Jishu Kita, thought to be dead after the Dark Inspector defeated him five years before. Hattori has returned now supported by a mysterious political fixer, the Mastermind, and is trying to stage a fascist coup d'etat in Japan. Nishiwaki also gives Yoko an improved version of her weapon, a quadruple weighted yo-yo with 16 times the power of her previous weapon but also the risk to inflict irreparable damage to her arm.

The team successfully infiltrates the island through its shore, but they are captured when Megumi turns out to be a traitor, betraying them in return for the chance to see her brother Kikuo again. The girls are introduced to Hattori, who is revealed to be a cyborg when he defeats Saki in a duel with his in-built weapons. However, Megumi changes sides again upon discovering that Kikuo has been lobotomized and helps them to escape. The team fights their way through Gakuan Academy and its elite juvenile fighters, and Megumi sacrifices her life to save Saki from a lethal dart thrown by Hattori, making up for her betrayal.

While the rest of her team prepares to blow up the island, Asamiya fights Hattori again, but this time the Sukeban Deka defeats him with her new yo-yo, almost crushing her own arm in the process, and kills him with electricity. The Sankou Academy is destroyed for good, freeing the students, and the Mastermind commits suicide to avoid being arrested by the Dark Inspector. At the end of the film, Yoko parts ways with Nishiwaki, who jokes this time it is really a goodbye, and walks away followed by Okyo and Yukino.

The game takes place at the Redondo Centre for Rejuvenation, a luxury spa where an unknown person has been detonating a series of bombs. Although the bombs aren't so far deadly, and the manager has successfully covered up the news to avoid scaring off guests, they do release messy materials, and he worries that guests will soon be scared off. He calls in Drew to investigate the bombings while posing as the new spa assistant. To solve the mystery, Drew must explore the resort's various rooms, including guest rooms, while also performing spa-related tasks. Settings within the spa include a "Jungle Room" for mud baths, a "Zen Room" with oriental furnishings, the reception area, the basement, and a bedroom suite.

The prologue takes place in the year 2062, 15 years after the Third Tiberium War (which led to the invasion and defeat of the Scrin), and 10 years after the end of ''Kane's Wrath'' (where Kane regained possession of the Tacitus). Tiberium has evolved and is spreading at such a rate that the whole planet is expected to become uninhabitable by 2068. Humanity is on the brink of extinction.

At this time, the leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane, heads directly to the headquarters of the Global Defense Initiative, in hopes of using the Tacitus and GDI's resources to construct a worldwide Tiberium Control Network. This network will allow the spread of Tiberium to be controlled and turn Tiberium into an inexpensive power source. Even though the idea of alliance has been met with hostility (which has sparked the brief Incursion War), the two factions have nevertheless united. The campaign itself starts 15 years after the formation of the alliance, as the Tiberium Control Network nears completion. The spread of Tiberium is finally stopped, bringing optimism to the world's remaining population. However, extremists from both factions start to cause unrest, which sparks the Fourth Tiberium War.

The player takes the role of Commander Parker, a GDI military officer who receives an optical implant after his battle wounds have caused him to lose his eyesight. The player is presented with the possibility to aid either Colonel Louise James's GDI extremists or Kane's Nod Loyalist forces in the Fourth Tiberium War.

The game's missions chronicle Kane's attempt to activate the Threshold 19, a tower constructed by Scrin aliens during the Third Tiberium War that functions like an interstellar portal. He claims to have used the Tacitus to help create both the Tiberium Control Network and the optical implants; these are, in fact, the keys to the activation of the tower. While GDI and Nod finally form an alliance, two groups of separatists desperately try to spark a war to stop (or punish) Kane. The radical Gideon leads the Nod separatists, while Colonel Louise James commands the GDI.

After the final battle for the Threshold 19, Kane is about to leave Earth using the Scrin tower. He convinces Commander Parker (the player) to activate it for him with the optical implant. The player is shot by Colonel James but nonetheless succeeds in activating the portal. In both campaigns, Kane enters the portal (in the GDI campaign, Kane promptly thanks the player before entering it). In the ending cut-scene, news channels announce that the Tiberium growth has receded following the complete activation of the Tiberium Control Network and all the Nod followers have entered the Scrin tower and disappeared.

Shy teenager Symone 'Sym' Wates is taken to Antarctica by her domineering 'uncle', Victor Briggs, who after the death of her real parent has elected himself her surrogate father. An obsessive believer in the hollow earth theories of John Cleves Symmes, Jr., Briggs is convinced that in Antarctica he will find the entrance to the Inner World and its inhabitants. He is ready to sacrifice Sym and others to prove his theory and increasingly puts her in danger until she finally sees the truth about him. She is then able to escape his plans for her. Briggs dies still pursuing his obsession while Sym returns to her own life with new freedom.

Bobby Ray Jacobs (Carlos Alazraqui), a Southern man, is the sole remaining Caucasian dishwasher in America, and is surprisingly famous for it. The dishwasher career is a legacy for his family, starting with his grandfather. The film depicts several interviews with Bobby Ray and many of his friends, including his agent Rudy Valentine (Lombardo Boyer) and his British girlfriend Tamara Swanson (Tara Strong), explaining how he got his job and how he got to be where he is today.

Emily, disguised as her twin sister Katie, arrives at college to take Katie's history exam. In reality, Katie is at home, with nine stitches to the head after being hit with a rock by their friend Effy Stonem, who has disappeared. Katie is embarrassed about how her injuries look, and miserable over the loss of her boyfriend Freddie McClair (Luke Pasqualino), who only dated her to spite Effy, his real love interest. She begins to take notice of all the hints in front of her, and realises that she can no longer hide from herself the fact that Emily is homosexual. At college, Naomi uncovers Emily's disguise (which had not fooled JJ or Freddie either) and tells her that she plans to spend the summer alone in Cyprus. When Emily tells Naomi that she will miss her, they kiss in an empty corridor and later find themselves at Naomi's house where they have sex. Afterward, Emily asks Naomi to the college ball, but Naomi, still crippled by insecurity over her sexuality, refuses, leaving Emily heartbroken. Emily leaves and at the bus stop meets Thomas Tomone (Merveille Lukeba), who offers her his shoes and jacket and is unconcerned when she tells him that she is gay. He tries to comfort her but admits that he believes it impossible to stop loving somebody, referring to his ex-girlfriend Pandora Moon (Lisa Backwell). Emily returns home and comes out to her family, telling them that she has been having sex with a girl named Naomi. Her father, Rob (John Bishop), dismisses it as a joke and her mother, Jenna (Ronni Ancona), is speechless, while Katie tries to deny it. She and Emily have a heated argument, leaving Katie crying.

The following morning, Naomi visits the Fitches' house, but Jenna answers the door. She confronts Naomi, convincing her that Emily is not gay and warning Naomi to stay away from her. Naomi too denies her own sexual orientation and leaves hastily. After waking up, Katie and Emily reconcile in their own secret language, and Emily reluctantly agrees to go to the ball with Katie. While shopping for ball gowns, they meet Pandora, who is returning a dress since Thomas has not forgiven her for her infidelity with their friend James Cook. The twins run into Freddie and JJ Jones (Ollie Barbieri) while trying on dresses. JJ reveals to Emily that he told Freddie that he had sex with her, and Freddie inadvertently tells Katie, who was unaware of this. She guilts Freddie into accompanying her to the ball and volunteers Emily to go with JJ. Later, she is furious with Emily for having sex with JJ without her permission, still insisting that Emily is "not gay, [just] stupid". Katie intercepts one of Naomi's phone calls to Emily and tricks Naomi into meeting with her, where she reveals Emily's affair with JJ and warns Naomi not to come to the ball.

As Katie, Emily, Freddie and JJ prepare to enter the ball, Naomi arrives, announcing that she knows about Emily and JJ's fling before she walks in. An upset Emily leaves. Katie starts a fight with Naomi. Unaware of Emily's presence, she admits her deceit and claims that Emily "deserved it." Infuriated, Emily attacks Katie, wreaking havoc through the entire ball. Emily finally overpowers her sister and raises a fist to punch her, but, after a moment's hesitation, reconsiders and instead helps Katie to stand up, declaring that she is "not her." In front of everybody, Emily tells Katie that she is her own person and that she is in love with Naomi. Katie accepts Emily's individuality and sexuality, and Naomi, no longer ashamed of their relationship, extends her hand to Emily. The couple leaves the ball hand-in-hand and Naomi tells Emily that she loves her too. Meanwhile, Pandora apologises again to Thomas and he forgives her, re-introducing himself.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, landowner Ptitsin (Nikolai Gorodnichev) tries to achieve with the help of bribes a favorable decision of his litigation concerning a neighbor. With swindler and blackmailer Yaryzhka (Sergei Gerasimov) he finds a functionary who is willing to take the money. Cautious Bashmachkin (Andrei Kostrichkin) to whom the briber comes, does not want to take on the dangerous enterprise, although he can not resist the charms of a beautiful female stranger (Antonina Eremeeva) whom he met on the Nevsky Prospekt. Later Akaky Akakievich finds out that the woman of his dreams is only an accomplice to swindlers. Fearing punishment, the frightened bureaucrat becomes even more reclusive, all the more carefully isolating himself off from people.

Years later, the already aged and decrepit titular counselor Bashmachkin is forced at the cost of enormous efforts, down to saving the last penny to order a new custom overcoat from tailor Petrovich (Vladimir Lepko). It represents for him so much that it is impossible for him not to fall in love with the tailor's creation. The old campaigner literally becomes rejuvenated when he tries on the new clothing with a warm fur collar. Fellow officers have arranged a little party in honor of the colleague, but that night poor Bashmachkin is robbed on his way home from the festivities. He tries to complain and goes with his trouble to the authorities. Nobody wants to listen to him and he is kicked out, and some time later heartbroken Akakiy dies peacefully, a senseless death ending a meaningless life.

The story of ''Anedoki'' is about the 13-year-old Kouta Ochiai, who meets a mysterious girl on his way home from school. She asks him if he was willing to share his ice cream and then called him a pervert after noticing and wondering what Kouta was thinking when she was eating. Shocked about the accusation, he runs away, dropping his student handbook by accident. Arriving at home the situation gets out of hand as his father gets transferred because of his work and if it was not enough being on his own, the mysterious girl he met before meets him again. By giving back his student book and the situation Kouta was in, she decides to repay the favor for the ice cream by taking care of Kouta while his father was gone. She introduced herself as Natsuki Hagiwara, a 17-year-old high school student who declared she would be his maid for the time he is left on his own. A sequel chapter was recently added, which is set four years later and contains four pages.

Lee Barton (Richard Harrison) rides into Rainbow Valley. A stranger in town, he is mistaken for Ward Cluster, a former resident believed to have been killed in the Civil War. When the residents mistake him for Cluster, they think he as come to get even with the Cherry brothers who are responsible for the death of his wife. Even Cluster's young son Sean (Loris Loddi), who has been raised by an Indian chief named Gray Bear, believes Barton is his father.

The worst of the three Cherry brothers, Tom Cherry (Gerard Tichy) is involved with various dealings with the Mexican army. He has a love interest in local townswoman Deborah (Eleonora Bianchi). Although Deborah is married to Ive, a local drunk, she has a dubious reputation.

Tom Cherry is searching for $100,000 that was hidden by a Mexican general. At one point, he captures and whips Barton. Eventually, Tom kills both Deborah and Ive.

Barton joins forces with a wandering sheriff from Tucson and ultimately kills Tom in a shoot-out. Barton finds the hidden money and plans a future with Sean.

Jeff Gordon is a financial agent of the FBI section that fights against counterfeiting of dollars. Gordon went to Paris to infiltrate and stop the tape forgers headed by Thomas the printer. His work is so perfect that counterfeits are difficult to detect. One of counterfeiters thinks he recognizes Jeff as a mobster who wants to take revenge on them ...

Saloon keeper Jennie Lee is fed up with Zack "The Snake" Williams trying to take over Clementine Hewitt's silver mine. She contacts her friend Wyatt Earp to bring justice to the Arizona Territory.

The film follows seven medical students who, while out partying one night, spike the drink of an unknowing and loner hospital janitor Kenneth, nicknamed "Freakdog". However, he has epilepsy and goes into a seizure before falling and hitting his head. His injury, combined with the alcohol and the drugs that he has ingested, causes him to fall into a deep coma. The students, not wanting to be involved or risk their futures for their crime, abandon his body on a road in front of the hospital and drive off as fast as they can, hoping someone will come across his body and help him. When they learn about his condition becoming fatal, one of the students (Arielle Kebbel) attempts to revive him using an experimental drug. The result has horrible and unintended consequences, leading to Freakdog having out of body experiences that allow him to possess the students who poisoned him and abandoned him. He exacts vengeance by possessing their bodies and through them, framing them for murdering each other while they desperately search for a way to stop him.

A cutscene from ''Naruto: Ninja Council 2'' ''Ninja Council 2'' is based on the anime series episodes 22 to 80, however it also features a new mission in which the three ninjas are asked to deliver a scroll. Orochimaru steals the scroll and while attempting to retrieve the scroll the player finds out that Orochimaru requested the scroll in the first place only to watch Sasuke.
The game's story is told via "cut-scenes". In these cut-scenes the character who is speaking is shown by a large picture of him on the top of the screen while the dialogue is presented as a text on the bottom of the screen. It also features two multiplayer modes which are played via GBA Link Cable: Versus and Co-Op.

The film is about Tegan, a 12-year-old student who finds out where meat comes from, and decides to become a vegetarian. She must contend with Elenore the Carnivore. The plot is based partly on the experience of the director, Marisa Martin, who became a vegetarian when she was 12 after visiting an abattoir.[http://www.eormedia.com.au/films/teganthevegan/teganthevegan_images/articles/Relax_Mag_Filmmakers_p4.pdf] Behind the Lens, The Canberra Times, 15 February 2009

Set in New Orleans following the Great Depression, the play focuses on the Berniers sisters, two middle-aged spinsters who have sacrificed their own ambitions to look after their ne'er-do-well younger brother Julian, whose grandiose dreams repeatedly lead to financial disasters. When he unexpectedly returns home accompanied by his emotionally unstable, childlike young bride Lily, her aloof, aristocratic mother Albertine, and an unexplained large sum of money, Carrie and Anna suddenly find that the position of power they have always held has become unbalanced, leaving their lives in chaos.

Florist Genevieve Gernier (Vardalos) believes that the best way to achieve romantic fulfillment is to never go on more than five dates with the same man. She is forced to reassess her philosophy when she meets Greg Gatlin (Corbett), a restaurateur who moves into her neighborhood.

The story centers on the relationship of the three main characters. Liuda and her husband, Kolia, live in a one-room basement apartment on Third Meschchanskaya Street, a petty-bourgeois neighborhood in Moscow. She is bored and resentful with the constant succession of household duties and the cramped living conditions in which she must cook and attempt to organize her clothes, even though there is no place to put them. She spends her days idly, mostly by reading magazines, notably the popular (at that time) Soviet film fan magazine ''Soviet Screen'' (''Sovetskii ekran''). Kolia works as a stonemason and is charming and good-natured, but also dictatorial and egocentric. When Kolia's old friend, Volodia, arrives in Moscow, he cannot find a place to live in the overcrowded city, due to a severe housing shortage which was still a major social problem ten years after the revolution. Kolia invites him to stay at their apartment, to sleep on the sofa.

The apartment, which was cramped to begin with, is all of a sudden much smaller, which understandably annoys Liuda, but she puts it off as just another sign of Kolia's disregard for her. Yet Volodia quickly wins her over by his helpful behavior, as well as bestowing her with gifts. There is a sexual tension between the two from his arrival, and when Kolia has to leave town for a job, Volodia takes advantage of his friend's absence by openly seducing Liuda. A climax of this seduction comes when Volodia takes Liuda on a plane ride over Moscow. It is the first time she has left the apartment since the beginning of the film.

When Kolia returns from his trip, he finds himself to be the one relegated to sleeping on the couch. Initially outraged, he calms down and the three settle into a polygamous, domesticated routine. However, now that Volodia taken over the role of "husband," he unfortunately begins acting like one, not at all as he had been when he was the outsider. In fact, he is even less sensitive and more dictatorial than Kolia.

Meanwhile, the two men are bonding, joking and playing checkers while Liuda pouts. She begins sleeping with both men (at different times). Eventually, the inevitable happens, and she becomes pregnant, and since no one knows who the father is, both men insist she have an abortion. The climax of the film comes when she is sent off to a private “clinic” to have the abortion. She waits for her turn with a prostitute and a young girl. As she waits, she is looking out the clinic's window, where she sees a baby in a carriage on the sidewalk below. Suddenly, Liuda decides to take control of her own life, to have the baby and also to leave the corruption of Moscow.

In the closing scene in the film, Liuda is seen on a train, leaving town. She is smiling, leaning out the train's window. This is cross cut with shots of Kolia and Volodia, her two erstwhile “husbands”, at first being annoyed with her departure, but then being relieved that they can now return to their carefree bachelor lives in their dingy basement apartment on Third Meshchanskaya Street.

The plot is set in ancient Rome and deals with the wooing of Lucrece, daughter of the Roman senator Fulgens, by , a patrician, and , a plebeian. They both plead their worthiness to Lucrece (and not to the senate, as in Medwall's source). Despite Publius' superficial charms, wealth, and noble background, Lucrece eventually chooses . He does not have a famous lineage like Publius but his honest love for Lucrece shows his true nobility.

The play also contains a comic subplot which appears to begin outside the play and then merges with it. In this subplot, the characters A and B discuss a play that they expect to see, and B relates the plot, which is actually the plot of '' ''. A and B later turn out to be servants of Cornelius and Gaius, and they try to win the love of Joan, a handmaid of Lucrece.

The comic subplot and Lucrece's final choice were additions by Medwall. It disrupts the flow of the story as the mischievous comic relief characters A and B steal the audience's attention with their gags and breaking of the fourth wall. Medwall ingeniously uses A and B to subtly mock the idea of class and lordship, with the play asking if nobility can be found in the common man? A and B also make references to their fashion with A mistaking B for an actor because of his fine clothing, suggesting that actors were gaining a greater status in England around that time.

This is considered to be the first inclusion of a subplot in an English Language drama, and thus, in many ways, exceeds the main plot in critical discussion.

The film opens with Mariana, a young lady in her early 20s. Mariana is coming home when her car breaks down, so she goes to a nearby to ask for help. A strange-looking lady opens the door and, not completely understanding what she is saying, lets her in. While they are inside, the woman acts completely cold and robotic, and asks Mariana to wait in a small living room till her husband arrives.

She waits there for a long time. The man finally arrives and while he is asking her about her problem they hear an argument between the woman and her daughter upstairs. He offers to go outside and see if they can find a solution for her problem, and when they are near the door he asks her to go ahead since he has to go get his tools first. As soon as Mariana grabs the door knob, she hears a strange noise, and the house starts to change. The lights go out, the walls burn down quickly and a lot of the furniture disappears. At the end, a big plank drops and hits Mariana in the face.

After she recovers, she tries to move the debris blocking the door but she cannot do it. She hears a little girl's laugh, and then that same voice asks her to go upstairs. Mariana has no choice but to go up, and as soon as she arrives she sees a figure running down the hall. Mariana follows it into a room, where she finds the woman, dressed in a big sleeping gown. Eliza, the little girl, comes from behind, and Mariana witnesses a small argument between the two. In that argument, it is hinted that the man is abusing the little girl, while the mother is willingly ignoring that situation. Both the woman and the little girl disappear, suggesting that they were in fact ghosts. A devilish-looking version of the little girl appears, and runs away while pushing Mariana to the side. Mariana again runs after her, going back downstairs. While she is downstairs she sees a light shining under one of the doors, and while she is checking it out the doorknob begins to shake. Then something starts hitting the door from the other side, so the scared Mariana runs away, hiding herself inside the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Mariana is trying to figure out a way to go out, since all exits are blocked. Suddenly, the man enters through the supposedly blocked back door. She asks him for help, and after a brief struggle he throws her onto the table and rapes her. The little girl appears and explains she wants her to go through the same pain her father would make her suffer. After that, the man throws Mariana to the floor and they both leave her there. The house falls apart, a lot of debris falling on her. Mariana opens her eyes, and a series of flashbacks are displayed, revealing she had a car accident in front of the house, and that everything she had seen since the beginning was in fact a near-death experience. She closes her eyes and the film ends.

In Encino, California, the French Narrator introduces the president of the SpongeBob SquarePants fan club, Patchy the Pirate (played by Tom Kenny), a live-action character who is preparing for Christmas, along with his "pet," Potty the Parrot (voiced by series' creator Stephen Hillenburg), a crudely made puppet with very obvious strings. Patchy receives a fan letter from a person, asking if SpongeBob likes Christmas as much as he does. Patchy explains that they did not always celebrate Christmas in Bikini Bottom, and decides to show how they were introduced to it, beginning the proper episode.

While heading to the treedome of Sandy Cheeks for a surprise visit, SpongeBob SquarePants is horrified to see her electrifying the tree with an arrangement of colored Christmas lights and perceives it as a house-fire. While attempting to extinguish the alleged travesty, Sandy chastises him by informing that she is simply preparing for the holiday season, to which SpongeBob is thoroughly oblivious. After having customary Christmas traditions explained to him and enchanted by the promise of a visit from Santa Claus, SpongeBob spreads the news of the holiday amongst the townspeople and assists them in preparing wish lists for Santa Claus. However, a dubious Squidward refuses to participate in the celebration of Christmas, doubtful to the existence of Santa and attempting to disprove a spirited SpongeBob's claims to no avail. Nonetheless, the anticipated Bikini Bottomites enthusiastically prepare for the upcoming holiday; however, their faith is shattered after Santa fails to arrive on Christmas Eve (this is mostly because the townspeople stayed up all night waiting for him, but might be explained that Santa did not come because he does not want to be seen while he is giving presents to people). Furious with SpongeBob, they reject him, and call "Santa" null and void. When Santa Claus still fails to deliver presents to the people of town, even SpongeBob's excitement is soiled as Squidward closes the blinds on a saddened SpongeBob, who now believes Squidward had been right all along. Seeing the error of his ways after being presented with an exquisite homemade gift from SpongeBob, Squidward tries to compensate for his rudeness by masquerading as Santa Claus to uplift his neighbor's spirits; however, he later winds up distributing his every possession among the residents of Bikini Bottom as Christmas gifts. After the excitement has settled, Spongebob visits Squidward and excitedly tells him about Santa before Squidward makes him leave, albert while he is still babbling. Squidward encounters a note from Santa Claus, graciously thanking him for his sacrifices, and soon sights his sleigh soaring overhead; however, he dismisses himself as being insane, and finishes the episode by going inside to play on his clarinet.

After the SpongeBob episode ends, Patchy's house is seen again, and Potty gives Patchy a little present. Patchy then steps under a mistletoe, hoping to be kissed by a woman, only for Potty to start chasing after him with the intention of kissing him. Seeing that Patchy is busy at the moment, the Narrator says "Goodnight, and Happy Holidays."

Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-law student, kills an old pawnbroker and her sister, perhaps for money, perhaps to prove a theory about being above the law. He comes to police attention through normal procedures (he was the victim's client), but his outbursts make him the prime suspect of the clever Porfiry. Meanwhile, life swirls around Raskolnikov: his mother and sister come to the city followed by two older men seeking his sister's hand; he meets a drunken clerk who is then killed in a traffic accident, and he falls in love with the man's daughter, Sonia, a young prostitute. She urges him to confess, promising to follow him to Siberia.

While investigating in Taiwan's gambling arcade scene, Captain Fong Kwok-fai (Andy Lau) of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's Tactical Squad discovers the mastermind to be Chow Chiu-sin (Tony Leung Ka-fai) leader of the Chung-lam Triad, who had decided to run as a member of the Legislative Yuan and bribes his way into office. Fong infiltrate one his arcades and prosecutes him for operating an underground casino, but Chow has bribed the presiding judge and is squirted. Fong then convinces Chairman Lam Ching-piu of Tak-cheong Construction Company, who has reported Chow for blackmailing him, to record evidence of Chow in bid rigging for the construction of Coastal Highway. Chow catches Lam and drags him on a fishing hook through a plantation and Fong and his squad give chase while evading Chow's attack dogs and manage to rescue Lam. Fong exposes Chow to the public, so the Kuomintang decides to nominate his rival, Ting Chung-shu, to run for the Legislative Yuan instead. Angered, Chow matches into Ting's press conference to announce that he is running for the Legislative Yuan without a political party. At this time, Fong is also suspended from his duties as his superior officer, Suen Ching-lim, is also corrupt.

As Chow and Ting rally, taxi drivers of rival companies, Country and White Cloud, who respectively supports Chow and Ting, fight each other for customers. With support of Country Taxi director Kwan, Chow turns the disputes into a riot. Chow instructs his wife, Miu-heung (Pauline Suen) to attend a ball where National Police Agency Commissioner Tung's wife is present so that Tung would plead Chow to stop the riot and Chow is touted as a hero to the public. However, Fong's father, who is a taxi driver, gets caught in the riot but Fong manages to save his father, narrowly escaping an explosion.

With the help of his journalist girlfriend, Ling Fei (Annie Wu), Fong convinces the Justice Minister Fung King-chung to reinstate his position and Fung fully supports him in combating corruption. However, Ting sends killers after Fong, who manage to take them down but one of his subordinates, Nicotine, is killed. Ting attempts to frame Chow for the murder of Nicotine, but Miu-heung manages to help her husband win public support. Afterwards, Chow hires a prostitute to seduce and murder Ting, while Chow is elected into the Legislative Yuan with 125,000 votes.

Fong later captured Sung Miu-tin, fraudant cult leader and drug trafficker in cahoots with Chow, and uses him to enter Chow's mansion while Fong and his squad are in disguise. As Chow meets other twelve members of the Legislative Yuan who are also triad leaders and suggests to start their own political party, Fong and squad takes down Chow's guards and take evidence of his crimes from his computer. Chow then kills Deputy Minister Hau of the Kuomintang, who has been taking advantage of him, before fleeing Taiwan with a thirteen-vehicle entourage. Fong intercepts him in a helicopter and fires two missiles, blowing up several entourage vehicles before Chow fires a rocket launcher at his helicopter, so Fong leaps off his helicopter and engages in a scuffle with Chow that is interrupted by an explosion which kills Miu-heung and Chow breaks down before being arrested. In the end, Chow was sentenced to death, while Fong resigns from the Investigation Bureau due to public pressure, but announces to run for Mayor of Taipei and marries Fei.

Bayliss (Kyle Secor) is the primary detective on the murder investigation of an 11-year-old girl named Adena Watson. A rookie detective on his first homicide case, Bayliss has difficulty informing the family, while the veteran Pembleton (Andre Braugher) remains detached from his emotional response. Much of the homicide department is dedicated to the case, and Bayliss works without the benefit of his own desk. When Bayliss acts weak and indecisive during a department meeting, Gee (Yaphet Kotto) angrily orders him to show more confidence. But when a news report by journalist Griselda Battel (Taylor Young) discusses Bayliss' lack of prior experience, Gee resists pressure from his superiors to replace Bayliss, insisting, "That rookie will surprise us all".

Munch (Richard Belzer) and Bolander (Ned Beatty) arrive at the scene of a dead man named Thomas Doohen (John Habberton), only to find that the man had only fainted and was still alive. When he wakes up, the man immediately starts arguing with his elderly wife Jessie (Gwen Verdon), who is unhappy with their 60-year marriage and wishes the man were dead. Later that same day, they respond to the same house to find the same elderly man dead from a heart attack. Medical examiner Blythe (Wendy Hughes) classifies the death as a murder because the widow dragged him into the basement and "prayed he'd stay dead", but Bolander, himself having recently left an unhappy marriage, defends the widow. Despite the disagreement, Bolander becomes smitten with Blythe, and seeks romantic advice from Munch.

Prosecuting attorney Ed Danvers (Željko Ivanek) tells Howard (Melissa Leo) that if she cannot find more evidence against Ralph Fenwick (Michael Sheldon), who is a suspect in a brutal murder, Danvers will have to plead to manslaughter. The next day, Howard tells her partner Felton (Daniel Baldwin) she was visited by the ghost of Fenwick's murder victim and told where the murder weapon was, but Howard cannot find it. Felton does not believe her, and Howard grows angry when he tells Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Crosetti (Jon Polito) about the ghost experience. The next day, however, Howard and Felton arrest Fenwick after finding the murder weapon based on advice Felton got from a tarot card reader.

The department continues investigating leads into the Adena Watson case, including an interrogation of a man who lived within walking distance of the scene and was previously charged with murdering a 14-year-old girl. All of the leads turn into dead ends. While investigating the Adena Watson scene, police find coagulated blood and hair on a piece of metal. Battel witnesses the find, but agrees to hold the information until police authorize it, as long as she gets the story first. She also tells Bayliss about a carry-out store owner who claims to know who the murderer is. The episode ends with an emotional Bayliss attending Watson's funeral.

Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) is a divorced Palestinian Christian mother raising her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem). She works for a bank in Ramallah, part of the West Bank, Palestinian territories. Each day after work, Muna picks up Fadi from school and crosses through an Israeli checkpoint in order to get to their home in Bethlehem. She lives with her aging mother and has occasional visits from her brother Samer. One day after arriving home, Muna discovers that she has been awarded an American green card through the lottery. Although she initially considered declining the offer, Muna reconsiders after she and Fadi are harassed at the checkpoint by Israeli soldiers.

They arrive in the United States shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq to stay with her sister's family in Illinois. After a difficult time with customs, Muna is reunited with her sister, Raghda Halaby (Hiam Abbass), physician brother-in-law Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda) and their three children Salma (Alia Shawkat), Rana (Jenna Kawar), and Lamis (Selena Haddad). Later, however, Muna discovers that a box of cookies was confiscated during the customs search and is horrified: the box contained all of her life savings.

Muna thus searches for work, but is disappointed to discover that her multiple degrees and work experience do not guarantee the kind of employment she is seeking. She finally takes a job at White Castle. Too ashamed to tell her family the truth, she pretends to have been hired by the bank next door to White Castle. She maintains the facade through the help of an employee of the bank next door to White Castle (Miriam Smith) and her blue-haired high school drop-out co-worker, Matt (Brodie Sanderson).

Meanwhile, Muna begins to discover that her sister's family has been experiencing difficulties in the Post-9/11 and Iraq war atmosphere of the United States. The family receives anonymous threats in the mail and Nabeel is continually losing patients from his medical practice. They are also behind on their mortgage and risk losing their home. The strain of living in this atmosphere becomes so severe that Raghda and Nabeel temporarily "separate" and Nabeel moves into the basement of the family home.

Later, when some of the students make derogatory remarks to Fadi, he gets into a fight and his mother is called to meet with the school's principal Mr. Novatski (Joseph Ziegler). Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Novatski sees Muna waiting for her sister and insists on driving her to work. He apologizes to her for the behavior of the students towards Fadi saying that they are influenced by the media's depiction of Muslims.

Muna is dismayed by the stereotypes he describes to her. She also informs him that she and Fadi are not Muslims, but are rather from a minority community. Embarrassed by his assumption, Mr. Novatski apologizes and says that he is a minority as well as an American Jew whose grandparents were Polish Jews. She is surprised to learn that he is Jewish. Muna asks him to drop her off at the bank but forgets her purse, an act which leads him to discover that she works secretly at White Castle. Deciding to have a meal there, they discover that they are both divorced.

On another day, local high school students make discriminatory remarks about Fadi to Muna while she is working in White Castle. She chases them out, only to slip on a drink one of the boys poured on the floor and falls flat on her back. Matt immediately calls her family who then discovers her secret. Furious over the incident, Fadi gets into a fight with one of the boys and is subsequently arrested. In addition to assault, ambiguous charges are also leveled towards him that are serious enough to prevent Muna from getting him released. Muna contacts Mr. Novatski who rushes to the police station and tells the officers that the accusations are without merit and that he will assume responsibility for Fadi. Fadi is thus released from jail. These events also lead Raghda and Nabeel to reconcile.

A little while later, Muna is working at White Castle and her family comes to take her to a Middle Eastern restaurant for dinner. While leaving she bumps into Mr. Novatski and invites him to join them for dinner. Raghda teases Muna when he enters the car and the evening ends with music and dancing.

Millennium Group consultant Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and Seattle Police Department detective Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich) are hiking across the North Cascades when Black receives an urgent page from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Travelling to the Behavioral Sciences Unit, Black learns that serial killer Ephraim Fabricant (Alex Diakun) has escaped from a hospital while donating a kidney to his sister. Fabricant was arrested and convicted due to the profile constructed by Black; although he was spared execution when Black asked for leniency in order to allow Fabricant's mind to be studied.

Fellow Millennium Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) informs Black that, before his escape, Fabricant had married a correspondent he met through a prison pen-pal service. Watts and Black interview the woman, Lucy Butler (Sarah-Jane Redmond), at her home. Butler is adamant she has not seen or heard from Fabricant since his escape. However, Black finds information on Butler's computer which he believes is linked to his own home address; and photographs of a judge who he recognizes as having been murdered.

Elsewhere, Fabricant is being operated on by a nurse whose face is hidden; she removes the staples from his surgical incision. Black and Watts return to Butler's home with a search warrant, having discovered that Butler's young son had been killed with cyanide, and she had been suspected of the murder; the judge had also been poisoned with the same substance.

Fabricant is found in a hospital emergency room, collapsing from his injuries. A doctor examines him and discovers his second kidney has been removed—without anaesthesia. Black's home telephone number is found on Fabricant's hospital bracelet. Back at Black's home, his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) finds a human kidney in her refrigerator. A strange man appears at the top of her staircase, and she runs to find her husband's gun, which is missing. Bletcher arrives, letting Catherine know that her daughter Jordan is safe outside with a colleague of his. He searches the house for the intruder, finding Butler instead. As a bolt of lightning illuminates the scene, her face has distorted into that of a demon. Giebelhouse (Stephen J. Lang) later discovers Bletcher's body hanging from a ceiling post, with his throat cut.

Meanwhile, Fabricant warns Black that he was taken from the hospital and operated on by the "sum of all evil"; Fabricant also warns that this entity knows who Black is and what he is capable of. Returning home, Black discovers that Butler was arrested elsewhere for a motoring offence, but was released without charge. Black takes his daughter Jordan hiking over the same North Cascades trail he and Bletcher had visited earlier.

''Mega Man 6'''s story takes place after the events of ''Mega Man 5''. To counter Dr. Wily's repeated attacks, the Global Robot Alliance was formed, and one year later the "First Annual Robot Tournament" is held in order to determine the world's strongest peacekeeping robot. The tournament is hosted by a man known only as "Mr. X," the leader of the mysterious "X Foundation" and many strong robots participate. Dr. Light, a pacifist, decides not to enter the competition, but sends the robotic hero Mega Man to supervise it. Before the event can begin, however, Mr. X announces that he has reprogrammed eight of the strongest contestants to do his bidding in taking over the world: Blizzard Man, Centaur Man, Flame Man, Knight Man, Plant Man, Tomahawk Man, Wind Man, and Yamato Man, and tells Mega Man he had been manipulating Dr. Wily from the beginning. Following this, Mega Man and Rush set out to put an end to Mr. X's plan. Mega Man destroys the eight Robot Masters, then makes his way to Mr. X's fortress. The villain is beaten and quickly reveals himself as none other than a disguised Dr. Wily. The evil scientist flees to a new fortress stronghold where Mega Man pursues and defeats him again. The game ends with Dr. Wily finally brought to justice and sent to prison.

Travkin, a kind and unassuming food chemist from a small Russian town, spends his time developing new carbonated soft drinks, and also sings in an amateur choir. But when a dentist discovers that Travkin has 33 teeth, he suddenly becomes a national celebrity. He is brought to Moscow as a medical phenomenon and studied by famous scientists; it is proclaimed that Travkin's 33rd tooth is unique, and may connect him to extraterrestrials from Mars. Travkin struggles with his celebrity status, is briefly confined to a psychiatric institution due to slander of a jealous man, and has to fend off gold digging women, sycophant men, and journalists. The only respite he finds is in his roommate at a hotel, who is a friendly, earnest industrial diver on a holiday. Finally, Travkin is selected for a space mission, to be sent to Mars via teleportation. After a heroic goodbye and a countdown, the entire celebrity plot turns out to be a dream. Travkin is immensely relieved and returns to his quiet and fulfilling life with renewed joy.

Cullen "Cubby" Greenwich has just released his sixth novel, ''One O'Clock Jump'' which is generally well received in the literary community. However, Shearman Waxx, considered to be a preeminent literary critic, writes a scathing, albeit somewhat inaccurate review of Cubby's latest work.

Against the advice of his wife, Penny Greenwich, a children's book author in her own right, Cubby attempts to gather some information about his new nemesis. Cubby learns that he and the critic share a favorite dining locale. Accompanying Cubby to the restaurant is his six-year-old prodigy son, Milo. A chance encounter in the men's room foretells the ensuing chaos when Shearman Waxx simply utters "Doom."

Upon arriving home, the residents of the house go about their daily business, when Shearman Waxx is seen walking the interior of the house. With Cubby yelling at him the whole time, he finally leaves. That night, they turn on security and alarms but are awakened in the night by Sherman Waxx in their room again repeating the words "Doom". Penny and Cubby are both tasered multiple times by the eccentric book critic. The electricity, which has previously been shut down, turns back on once Waxx leaves and the alarm system states that it is fully functional and undisturbed.

Receiving a fortuitous call from a fellow writer who had previously endured a similar slandering at the hands of Waxx, Cubby is told of the horrific manner in which the writer's family was murdered. The writer encourages Greenwich to abandon his home and flee.

Set into motion are a series of violent events, beginning with the destruction of the Greenwich home. All members of the family, rescued pup Lassie included, flee to the presumed safety of a friend's real estate investment project. After a sudden round of rifle shots into the living room, it is apparent that Milo is being solely targeted. When their moves are quickly countered by the escalating violence of their pursuers—as it is now evident there is more than one—it becomes apparent they need to seek armament and information.

The family seeks refuge with Penny Greenwich's apocalypse-fearing family who, having been warned ahead of time, are in their well-fortified bunker. Not content being forced into the role of reclusive prey, the family embarks on a journey of discovery to determine who it is they're dealing with and what can be done to stop him.

Their journey takes them to the hometown of two former artists in an attempt to digest the brutality with which they and their families were dispatched. Along the way, the family counters the rising tension and ever-present shadow of death with bits of sarcastic humor and Milo, by engrossing himself in his increasingly complex scientific projects.

The story continues to follow the Greenwiches through a series of tense and suspenseful events as they search for clues into the past of their tormentor and seek to discover his hidden motives. They work with a former sheriff named Truman who is also investigating Waxx. Two associates of Waxx suddenly arrive at the scene murdering Truman but gets killed by Cubby and his wife. While retreating they kidnap Waxx himself. They take him to his own house, and encounter his mother, Zazu, who reveals herself as the mastermind of an organization that seeks to control society by destroying those who create positive symbols of hope and happiness through their artwork.

Zazu orders her grandson, one of the pursuers, to make sure that Waxx is in the car. He stabs Waxx, killing him, and Zazu is enraged. She pulls out her gun which was hidden and kills her grandson, and then shoots Cubby. Cubby falls to the floor and dies. Previous examples of Milo's scientific endeavors activate. Time goes backwards and Cubby is saved, but Zazu dies.

The novel ends with the family traveling back to the bunker, seeing it as an oasis of protection from Zazu's organization and the world they intend to create.

The film takes place in a time warp from the first days of the Great Patriotic War and until the middle of the winter of 1941–1942, before the beginning of the Soviet counterattack near Moscow. Ivan Sintsov (Kirill Lavrov) is a correspondent with an army newspaper. The war starts while he is on vacation with his wife. He tries to return to his unit which is located in Western Belarus. However, it is impossible since the unit is overrun by the advancing Wehrmacht. Near the town of Borisov, he meets another officer also trying to reach his unit. They go on a road and try to get a car going in the direction they need. As the other officer stopped the car, a German air raid starts. The direct hit blows up the officer and the car he stops. Sintsov continues his journey alone. He is eventually assigned to one military newspaper, located in Mogilev and, later, another near Yelnia. The movie describes his work as a war correspondent during these trying times.

At the age of 19 Rose is in love with the passionate but penniless Mylo Cooper but agrees to marry Ned Peel. She doesn't love Ned, but it's the safe thing to do. Ned has inherited a country house called Slepe from an uncle, and the married couple move in shortly after the wedding. Rose immediately falls in love with the house and its garden, if not with its owner. During the war Ned is away from the house a lot and her real love, Mylo, starts visiting her at Slepe. They go on meeting each other secretly through all 48 years of Rose's marriage until her husband's death.

Shortly after Ned dies, Rose leaves Slepe, her beloved home for half a century (now her son's and not so beloved daughter-in-law's), taking only a few things with her. Temporarily installed in a hotel room, Rose starts looking back on her life. Her marriage was one of convenience; she was never passionately in love with her husband. However, on their wedding night she promised him that she would never leave him, a promise she could never break. Now at the age of 67 she is free, and doesn't know where she is going in life.

In Wyoming Territory in 1876, Duncan McKaskel, his wife Susanna, and their 12-year-old son Tom are travelling West to start a new life. They have left a cholera-stricken wagon train and arrive in a small, dilapidated town, where they meet villainous "Doc" Shabbitt and ask for directions. He suggests they stay in a deserted local building, but McKaskel senses danger, so they leave. Shabbitt steals two of their horses.

Con Vallian is chasing a mixed-race Indian, the latest recruit to Shabbitt's gang whom, it transpires, he has tracked for hundreds of miles for personal reasons. Vallian witnesses the homesteader's encounter with Shabbitt and arrives at the McKaskel's wagon during supper. He notifies them their horses have been stolen. Against Susanna's advice, Duncan rides into town and tries to reclaim the horses. An intense gunfight ensues when Vallian, who has secretly followed him, shoots some of the Shabbitt gang. When Doc Shabbitt finds that his son, who was about to shoot McKaskel in the back, has been killed, he vows to pursue the family and seek revenge.

Susanna, Duncan, and Tom flee in their covered wagon, trying to outrun their pursuers. Vallian continues to help protect them from Shabbitt and his gang. Vallian manages to kill the bandits one at a time, but a remaining four maintain their pursuit. Vallian is obviously attracted to Susanna, and she to him. Following a moment of high drama, she succumbs to his advances, and they share a passionate kiss. McKaskel never learns of the kiss, but several times he tells Vallian, who is critical of his apparent pacifism, to back off. In an encounter with Indians, Susanna learns that her brother, an army officer, has likely been killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Out hunting, Vallian is ambushed and shot by the Indian. McKaskel removes the bullet, but Vallian runs a high fever and falls on the trail. He is rescued and nursed back to health by Susanna.

Eventually, they arrive at the small cabin Susanna's brother had built for them, on the spread where they intended to raise cattle. The family begins settling in the house, but Shabbitt and his gang arrive for their revenge. A showdown ensues in which Vallian and the McKaskels triumph. Vallian bids farewell to the family and leaves to resume his solitary life.

Sakay was a carriage factory worker and stage actor from Tondo, Manila who joined Andres Bonifacio's revolutionary secret society, the ''Katipunan''. He fought during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and later in the Philippine–American War. Sakay remained in the field even after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo and the fall of the First Philippine Republic. He was captured, but was released during an amnesty.

Sakay then took to the mountains to revive the ''Katipunan'', together with Francisco Carreon, Julian Montalan, Cornelio Felizardo and other rebel leaders. He proclaimed himself General and President of the "Tagalog Republic" (''Republika ng Katagalugan''), and engaged the United States Army and the Philippine Constabulary in guerrilla warfare. On occasion, he was aided by talisman-wearing cultist warriors.

After years of fighting, Sakay was convinced to surrender by Filipino labor leader Dr. Dominador Gomez, who argued that the establishment of a Philippine National Assembly, instead of armed resistance, presented the soundest option towards attaining Filipino independence.

On the understanding that the American government offered amnesty, Sakay and his officers came down from the mountains. However, as a ruse, they were invited to a reception in Cavite and arrested by the Americans. Tried and convicted for brigandage, Sakay and Colonel Lucio de Vega were hanged while Montalan and others received life imprisonment.

Young mother Madylyn Mabry puts her daughter to bed while her husband Jack watches golf on television. After the child is asleep, she goes downstairs and announces she's leaving him. He runs upstairs to the bedroom and holds their daughter out the window, threatening to drop her if Madylyn leaves.

Years later, Jack and Madylyn Mabry return home from church for a quiet afternoon. He watches TV and drinks in an identical pose. Late that night a call wakes them. Jack picks up the phone and hears a woman's voice. Jack reports to work at a prison, where he is a parole officer. He is called into the warden's office. His upcoming retirement is brought up. Jack requests that he keep all of his inmates until he leaves, in order to see them through until review.

Jack has a new case in his office, named Gerald Creeson. The inmate insists that he likes to be called Stone. Stone asks Jack if he can help him get out early. They attempt to talk about each other's wives. Jack explains that he does not want to discuss his wife, and that they are there to talk about his case. Stone later phones his wife, Lucetta, from prison.

Stone and Jack hold several more meetings. Stone tells him he deserves to be free. That night Lucetta leaves a message on Jack and Madylyn's answering machine. She shows up at the prison the next day to meet Jack. Lucetta phones Jack again and they meet for lunch. They end up at Lucetta's home. After a few drinks, he sleeps with Lucetta. At prison, two guards arrive to escort Stone to the infirmary. While waiting for someone to see him, he witnesses another inmate being brutally murdered.

Jack soon goes to see Lucetta several more times for sex. Jack tells her no-one can know about their relationship. One day, he tells Stone that he sent the report recommending early release. The next morning, Jack asks the warden for Stone's report. The warden informs him Stone's parole hearing is in an hour and no changes can be made. Jack does not stay for the hearing.

Stone is informed that he will be released. Stone tells Jack that he knows about the relationship between him and Lucetta. That night, Jack goes home with paranoia and is awoken by a fire in his home. Later, Madylyn, her daughter and her granddaughter look through photo albums. Jack is now retired trying to determine his future.

In Tucson, Arizona in 1910, Emily Hefferen visits attorney Robert Hart to file for divorce from her husband Jim, citing his lack of support as grounds. When Hart expresses surprise, given the local hotel, laundry, and dairy bear the Heffernen name, suggesting the family is wealthy, Emily describes her family life for the past twenty years.

On their wedding day, Emily discovers Jim, vice-president of the bank, has either donated or lost all his money on bad investments. In order to make ends meet, she takes in another newlywed couple as boarders in their home on the edge of town. As time passes and each of Jim's new moneymaking schemes fails, his wife takes in new boarders in order to make the monthly mortgage payment.

Over the years Jim's time increasingly is consumed by his attention to various business ventures, including a hospital, laundry, restaurant, dairy, opera house, and hotel. Every time he starts a new business, Emily adds another room to the house to accommodate more boarders, in addition to their growing family.

At daughter Rosemary's high school graduation ceremony, Jim learns the bank is foreclosing the hotel, and Emily resigns herself to being the family's primary breadwinner. Jim decides to mine a nearby arroyo for copper, and when he learns new roomer Rita Kirby's abandoned husband George owns a New Jersey construction company, he invites the man to come to Tucson in the hope he'll invest in his latest project. George arrives with his inebriated mother-in-law, ex-vaudeville entertainer Minnie Moon, but he refuses to discuss any business propositions until he sorts through his personal problems, although he gives Emily a $250 check, which is enough money to pay off the mortgage on their home. When the owner of the arroyo threatens to close the mine unless Jim purchases the property immediately, he secretly takes out a new mortgage, hoping to buy it back after George invests in the venture. However, water instead of copper is found on the land, and all dealings with George end, and banker Sam Howell begins to repossess the Hefferen's furniture.

Having concluded telling Hart her story, Emily returns home and finds the furniture being returned, thanks to the kindness of Jim's friends, who paid off the loan. Jim, ashamed he has not provided for his family, prepares to leave. Rosemary reminds her mother that without Jim the town never would have had a hospital, laundry, restaurant, dairy, opera house, and hotel. Emily realizes her marriage is filled with the love required for a couple to overcome their trials and tribulations and urges Jim to stay.