The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories concern the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of Nehwon. In ''The Swords of Lankhmar'', the duo is hired by the city of Lankhmar to protect its grain fleets, which have become prey to a mysterious threat. A sea serpent ridden by an explorer from another world is encountered, but the true foes prove to be legions of intelligent rats. Returning to Lankhmar, the protagonists find the whole city besieged by the rats. The Mouser, magically shrunken to rat size, spies out their plans, but the rats' victory appears certain until an intervention by the Gods of Lankhmar and the rats' own ancient enemies occurs.

The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories concern the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of Nehwon. In ''Swords and Ice Magic'' the duo face a series of challenges from Death of greater or lesser subtlety ("The Sadness of the Executioner", "Beauty and the Beasts", "Trapped in the Shadowland" and "The Bait"), the pique of deities they formerly worshiped whose names they now rarely even use in vain ("Under the Thumbs of the Gods"), a voyage to the strange equatorial ocean of Nehwon ("Trapped in the Sea of Stars"), and recruitment to succor Nehwon's Iceland, the legendary Rime Isle, menaced by Sea Mingols and a pair of refugee gods ("The Frost Monstreme", "Rime Isle").

The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories concern the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of Nehwon. In ''The Knight and Knave of Swords'' the duo has settled permanently on Rime Isle with their new wives, their followers assuming the role of peaceful traders. The first two stories concentrate on this settling-in process, while the final two deal with various magical curses and afflictions suffered by the protagonists.

The film is set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1912 and follows the story of two lighthouse attendants, one young and one old, who swear to abstain from women, until two women arrive for their summer vacation.

It is based upon ''The Woman Haters: A Yarn of Eastboro Twin-Lights'' (1911) by Joseph C. Lincoln.

Long ago, Norvia, the Goddess of Creation, descended from the heavens. Using the Holy Vessel, a divine chalice charged with all Force (the spiritual energy in the universe), she created life and the Divinities, shepherds of existence. After some time, Delgaia, the God of Destruction, brought about a great calamity known as the Gods' Remorse. He intended to return all Force to the Holy Vessel, returning Berge to the void. The Divinities sacrificed themselves to defeat Delgaia, delivering Berge from doom and sealing the God of Destruction away deep within the earth.

As Berge lay in ruin, a result of its bitter war, Norvia made a covenant. She would restore Berge to its former beauty on one condition. An Hour of Judgment would eventually come to pass, then the world would have to decide its ultimate path: creation or destruction.

The game revolves around two main protagonists: Cecilia, a young cleric from the Holy Temple of Palfina, and Levant, a Member of the elite Cerulean Knight of Rosenbaum Kingdom. Cecilia's mission is to find all the Monoliths scattered all around Berge, while Levant's mission is to find the culprit behind the war between Halbmenschen (half-Humans) and Humans. Both travel their separate ways though they cross paths on their journeys.

''Geronimo Stilton'' is about the titular character, a mouse journalist and head of the Geronimo Stilton Media Group. He searches New Mouse City and places around the world for new scoops while having adventures along the way with his nephew Benjamin, cousin Trap, sister Thea and Benjamin's friend Pandora Woz. Most episodes share no story connections and are generally self-contained, though some episodes feature ties and characters from others.

Vanessa, a beautiful young lady has been having an affair with Eric, a married, high-ranking politician. She finds herself in deep trouble when Eric suddenly dies after an argument erupts between them and she is forced to go on the run, which means that her affair with Eric was part of her work for a Government agency. Trouble really begins when her boss deserts her, and her only ally is the taxi driver taking her to safety.

Thomas Montgomery (screen name: marinesniper), a 47-year-old married man, pleaded guilty to murdering his 22-year-old co-worker Brian Barrett (screen name: beefcake). The two men were involved in a love triangle with "Jessi", who they thought to be an 18-year-old girl with the screen name 'talhotblond'. While both men knew each other from work, neither had ever met "Jessi" in person.

In the beginning of their online relationship, Thomas presented himself as an 18-year-old man named "Tommy" who was in basic training and later deployed. His wife later discovered the affair and revealed the truth to "Jessi", but the two continued to chat.

However, while "Jessi" was a real person, Thomas had been chatting with her mother, Mary Shieler, posing as her daughter online. Jessi was unaware of her mother's actions until after Barrett was murdered and her mother's role in the case became public.

Danny (Bryan Burke), is a young student in middle school. He starts to develop feelings for his best friend, Julie (Michelle Trachtenberg). However a new student by the name of Archie (Michael Galeota) comes in and sweeps Julie off her feet. Danny flees to the graveyard where his father is buried and talks to him about his problems. He soon comes across Hubbie the Ghost (Ralph Macchio), who helps Danny with his girl problems. As a former living person from the 1930s, Hubbie, gives Danny his advice. The advice repeatedly backfires, always leaving Danny depressed. Danny soon learns that Hubbie once had a former lover before dying in an accident. Danny and Julie end up together at a school dance and Hubbie re-connects with his former love with the help of Danny.

Talented Canadian photographer Clélia (Sophie Marceau) lands a lucrative job in Paris with a tabloid called ''La Verite'' run by scandal-mongerer Rupert MacRoi (Michel Subor). Clélia's mother once dated MacRoi years ago while working as a cabaret singer. Once she became pregnant with Clélia, she stopped seeing MacRoi and married Clélia's father. Accompanying her daughter to Paris, she tells Clélia that her strongest principle was honour, and encourages her to get married and settle down.

In Paris Clélia gives a television interview and talks about her two successful books of photography: a "study of absence" showing empty streets and deserted landscapes, and a study of fashion models without showing their faces. While walking the Paris streets taking photographs, Clélia meets Clève (Pascal Greggory), a bumbling middle-aged children's book publisher who is preparing to marry MacRoi's wealthy daughter to bolster his flagging publishing house. Clève is immediately attracted to Clélia and invites her back to his office where they make love. Afterwards, she meets Clève's brother Bernard, a Catholic bishop, and their father.

At the ''La Verite'' offices, Clélia finds most of her co-workers to be disillusioned and perverse—all knowing that they "earn their keep on dirt." At her first assignment covering a hockey team that MacRoi recently purchased, Clélia finds herself in the team's locker room surrounded by naked players celebrating their victory. MacRoi is there and after teasing her about her taking photos of the naked players asks if she'll join his family for a dinner party. Before she leaves, Clélia has sex with one of the players.

At MacRoi's dinner party, Clève loudly declares his love for Clélia before his entire family, including his fiancé, Genièvre MacRoi, the sister of Rupert MacRoi. Genièvre responds by calling off their wedding and hitting him. Later that evening, following MacRoi's announcement of the purchase of Clève's publishing company, Clève's father collapses and dies while his son and Clélia look on. Clève asks Clélia never to leave him. At the funeral, Clève confides in Clélia his fears that MacRoi will not respect his family's publishing house now that he owns it, saying, "He massacres all that is upright and inneficient, delicate and noble." Soon after, Clélia and her mother move into Clève's house. He gives her his mother's engagement ring. In bed she reads lines from a W. H. Auden poem, "This like a dream keeps other time, and daytime is the loss of this, for time is inches and the heart's changes, where ghost has haunted lost and wanted. But this was never a ghost's endeavor, nor finished this, was ghost at ease, and till it pass love shall not near the sweetness here nor sorrow take his endless look."

Clélia's first portfolio of photos for ''La Verite'' creates a sensation and she is congratulated by her colleagues—all except Némo (Guillaume Canet), a sexy young photographer who promptly propositions her upon their first encounter. In spite of her sexual attraction to Némo, Clélia marries Clève in a ceremony marred somewhat by the presence of ''La Verite'' photographers and reporters, including Némo. After the wedding, Némo leaves his girlfriend, Ina (Edéa Darcque), a former African princess and Parisian prostitute whom he met investigating the illegal organ trade. He delivers his wedding photos to Clélia's home, handing them to her mother. Upset at the intrusion, and suspecting her daughter is having an affair, Clélia's mother collapses and soon dies.

Némo continues to follow Clélia, even taking photos of her in her house making love to her husband. Later she learns that Némo was given this assignment by MacRoi who is looking to find dirt on Clève. Although she continues to see Némo, Clélia resolutely keeps to her wedding vows in the face of her suitor's continued advances. She travels by train to Normandy to attend a motorcycle event in which Némo is a participant. During the race Némo crashes, and Clélia rushes to his side, revealing her feelings for him. At the celebration afterwards, Némo gets drunk and loud, talking about his investigation into the illegal organ trade and the shady International characters involved. Later that night he and Clélia take the train back to Paris together.

After Némo is attacked by a gang hired by the illegal organ traffickers, Clélia asks him to show her the world he is investigating—a dark world of brutal human fighting to the death. Throughout their time together, Némo continues his advances toward her, but Clélia resists. When she returns to her home, Clève is convinced she is having an affair, despite her promises that she's never lied to him and will never be unfaithful to him. After learning that his brother the bishop has run off with a married woman, Clève says he will join his brother in Plougastel-Daoulas in Brittany at The Happy Inn. After they make love Clève writes on the bathroom mirror, "Oh but what worm am I the victim of that you then unabashed did what I never wished confessed another love and I submissive, felt unwanted and went out?" After he leaves, Clélia calls the offices of ''La Verite'' to inform them of Bishop Bernard's "love-nest" in Brittany, and soon the scandal erupts in the news. Clélia watches the television coverage of his public humiliation. Clève does not return to his wife, and after sleeping with a transvestite prostitute, he calls ''La Verite'' asking that they track his wife who he believes is two-timing him.

Meanwhile, Clélia comes to Némo's house, where assassins hired by the organ traffickers blast the place with gunfire, but Némo and Clélia are able to defend themselves and escape. Soon after, Clélia attends a publicity session with MacRoi and a new partner. MacRoi presents Némo with a new expensive motorcycle for his work covering Clélia. During the session, assassins again attempt to kill Némo, and during the attack both Némo and Clève are injured. MacRoi is killed by a shard of glass in his eye. After the funeral, MacRoi's daughter reorganizes the company, intending to continue the scandal-mongering. She also fires Clélia, who later begs her husband to come back to her, but he will not reconsider. On their way out of the building he falls down a flight of steps and dies on the way to the hospital, with Clélia at his side. At the funeral she avoids Némo's advances and leaves Paris. Sometime later, Némo is interviewed on television and talks about his new portfolio dedicated to Clélia, who has disappeared.

A few years later, while taking photographs in a monastery, Clélia by chance sees the beginning of an English-language MacRoi Production film called ''The Princess of Cleve'' about her life, directed by Némo. She laughs as she discovers Némo's first name, Fernand, revealed in the opening credits. Before leaving the monastery, she places her wedding rings on a tree branch, while the ghost of her late husband looks on. Clélia can only say, "Forgive me." He smiles and retrieves the rings while she weeps.

A story of relationships, ''Happythankyoumoreplease'' deals with the struggles facing several pairs trying to find their way in the big city. The film centers on Sam (Radnor), a writer who is trying (unsuccessfully) to get his first novel attempt into print, and Rasheen (Algieri), a foster care child, whom Sam meets when Rasheen is abandoned on the subway. The film also involves Sam's best friend Annie (Åkerman), a woman who has the autoimmune disorder alopecia (which has caused her to lose her hair), who is trying to find a reason to be loved; Sam's cousin Mary Catherine (Kazan) and her boyfriend Charlie (Schreiber), and Mississippi (Mara), a waitress/singer who is trying to make it in the city. Mary Catherine faces the prospect of either moving to Los Angeles with Charlie (to a new job offer) or staying in her familiar New York, which would mean ending their relationship. When Mary finds she is pregnant, the moving situation becomes more complicated.

Sam's attempt to return the young Rasheen to the proper authorities fails when the boy is determined not to re-enter the foster care program. Sam subsequently tries to adopt the boy, but botches the application process in a fashion that ends in his (brief) arrest. Rasheen is finally placed with a new foster family, but Sam keeps tabs, including providing the boy with drawing materials when he learns of his artistic abilities. Sam also works on bringing Mississippi into his life, with several setbacks, but at movie's end it appears that their relationship is in place.

2004 (flash-sideways timeline)

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) is a successful businessman and philanthropist. His mother sets him up on a blind date, but instead of his intended date, he meets Libby Smith (Cynthia Watros), who tells him that they already know one another. Libby is led away by her doctor (Bruce Davison), who explains that she is a resident at a psychiatric institution and has wandered away from a group trip. Later, Hurley meets Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), who encourages him to believe Libby, and to find out why she thinks she knows him already. Hurley then visits the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, where Libby tells him that she remembers them meeting following a plane crash on an island. Hurley is unable to remember, but asks her on a date regardless. They share a picnic, and when Libby kisses him, Hurley begins to remember. Desmond observes their date from a distance, before driving off and visiting the school at which Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) and John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) teach. Desmond sees Locke in his wheelchair, and after a short conversation with Ben, he runs Locke over with his car and drives off.

2007 (original timeline)

While visiting Libby's grave, Hurley is visited by Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), who warns him that if the group follows through with their plan to blow up the plane on Hydra Island, many people will die and it will be Hurley's fault. Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson) collects four sticks of dynamite from the ''Black Rock''. As Hurley voices his concern, Ilana puts down her bag, containing the unstable dynamite, too hard causing it to explode, killing her. Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) leads the group to collect more dynamite. Hurley sneaks off ahead of them and blows up the ''Black Rock'', destroying the dynamite supply, as well as the ship. He claims that Jacob has appeared to him and told him to take the group to The Man in Black. Richard does not believe him, and remains intent on destroying the plane. He takes Ben and Miles (Ken Leung) with him to the Barracks to collect explosives, while Jack (Matthew Fox), Frank (Jeff Fahey) and Sun (Yunjin Kim) remain with Hurley. Hurley confesses to Jack that he did not really see Jacob, but Jack says he already knows, and is willing to follow Hurley anyway. The group hears whispers from the jungle, and Michael appears again, explaining that the whispers are the voices of deceased island inhabitants who are unable to move on. He apologizes to Hurley for killing Libby.

Meanwhile, Sayid presents Desmond to The Man in Black, who takes him to an old well. The Man in Black explains to Desmond that people built wells looking for the source that made compass needles spin at points like this location. The Man in Black then throws Desmond down the well. Upon returning to his camp, Hurley's group arrives to talk to the Man in Black.

Davy Mitchell is an introverted writer struggling on tour to promote his unpublished short stories. His lonely nights heat up when Davy receives a seemingly random phone call from a woman named Nicole. The sultry stranger seduces him into an intense session of phone sex, sparking an erotic and intimate relationship that is based entirely around the phone calls that she initiates. Davy wants to make it work, but he becomes frustrated when she refuses to give out her number. Fed up with her games, he determines to meet Nicole in person. That is, if she ever calls again…

The story revolves around a teenage boy named Al Haddin, nicknamed "Aladdin", who is living with his widowed mother Janet and his alcoholic grandfather Jeremiah in Miami, Florida. He and his family live in poverty since his father's untimely demise; his mother slaves away in the nightclub of Monti Siracusa, a local mobster boss who runs a citywide protection racket. Jeremiah aggravates this situation by blowing the little money Janet makes on alcohol and horse races. Al has to work part-time in an antique shop to support his family as best he can.

One day, Al's boss brings an old lamp, which a fisherman acquaintance of his has just salvaged from the ocean, to the store and orders Al to polish it. As Al rubs on the lamp, a genie - the very one from Aladdin's tale - suddenly appears before him and proclaims him his new master. After recovering from his first shock, Al begins to use the genie's power to fulfill some of his most eager wishes: beating up a bully and his gang, winning the affection of Patricia, his long-time crush, and riding in a real Rolls Royce, something his late father had always dreamed of. More importantly, Al begins to view the Genie as a friend and asks him only for his most fondest wishes without overindulging himself.

The presence of the Genie and his powers, however, gradually begin to draw unwanted attention. Patricia's father, Police Sergeant O'Connor, takes an unwelcome interest in the brand-new Rolls Royce cars Al suddenly gets out of nowhere; the Genie interferes with Siracusa's illicit business, which frustrates the mobster to no end, and is arrested twice for driving without a license, which earns him two temporary stints in prison (although he escapes once Al summons him again). In addition, his powers only work during the day, as they have to regenerate overnight, which proves a bit problematic at times, such as when Al is kidnapped by a band of child snatchers and has to wait come morning before the Genie can overcome the gangsters. In due time, the Chief of the Police learns of the Genie's mysterious abilities and orders his superintendent to bring the Genie to him.

Eventually, Siracusa abducts Janet and Jeremiah and begins to brutally question them about the Genie. Although it is night when Al summons him, the Genie's physical strength proves more than enough to finish Siracusa's gang by himself, and the gangsters are arrested. Under a false pretense, the Genie is taken away to be dissected, but Al, fearing the worst, finds him before this deed can be executed and manages to convince the Police Chief that he is not an alien but a real-life genie. The Chief then asks Al to have the Genie disable the entire world's military arsenal - all except of his own private army, so that he can seize control over the world. The Genie, however, refuses to fulfill this wish, as it would seriously upset the balance of power, and he and Al make their escape on the Chief's office carpet converted into a flying carpet.

The pair proceeds to the Bermuda Triangle, where the Genie prepares to sink the lamp into the depths of the sea to prevent his powers from being abused. Al, however, unwilling to let his friend go, asks for one final wish, which is fulfilled. With the reward money from Siracusa's capture, the Haddins buy the nightclub and celebrate its reopening, with the Genie staying with them as a normal human being.

The first ''Lost Planet'' begins in the year of the game T.C. -80 where the Earth has become too hostile for human life. A company named NEVEC (Neo-Venus Construction) tries to start colonization on the planet E.D.N. III. Upon arriving on the planet, NEVEC discovers an alien race called Akrid and are forced off the planet, momentarily stopping colonization efforts. Returning to E.D.N. III with an army prepared to fight, they find that the Akrid can only function because their bodies contain reserves of thermal energy (T-ENG), humans must also carry supplies of thermal energy to survive on E.D.N. III. NEVEC builds the first Vital Suit (VS), a mecha powered by T-ENG, to fight the Akrid. Meanwhile, civilian colonists and bands of E.D.N. III military personnel continue to seek out a nomadic existence as "snow pirates", harvesting T-ENG from fallen Akrid.

The story of the sequel takes place back on E.D.N. III, 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The game centers on a civil war to gain T-ENG. Player(s) can assume control of several different groups of soldiers, called Snow Pirates, and battle the Akrid. The Akrid have expanded their armies and return much more powerful in ''Lost Planet 2''.

''Lost Planet 3'' is a prequel to the first two games in the series, following the story of Jim Peyton on E.D.N. III.

In the late 1930s, Mary Colbrook is the widow of Reginald Colbrook, Sr. She has four children: Muriel, a young adult; teenagers Gwendolyn and Reginald, Jr.; and, the youngest, Bill. Mary has financial difficulty in maintaining the home. Bill befriends Adelaide Crosby, an elderly woman, who considers Bill a nuisance after he accidentally broke her window with a thrown football. However, Bill's concern for Mrs. Crosby eventually endears him to her.

The late Reginald Sr.'s sister, "Aunt" Caroline Colbrook arrives. She criticizes Mary's parenting in front of the children, and says that Mary squandered her brother's money which resulted in their current financial strife. Caroline insists on the three oldest children living with her, insinuating that Bill is not her brother's son. Now angry with their mother, the three oldest children agree to live with Caroline who is more financially able to fulfill their desires. Caroline moves into Mary's house when Mary's lease expires and kicks Bill and Mary out. Bill and Mary take up residence with Mrs. Crosby.

Bill sells newspapers to help raise money for his mother, and is assisted by local banker, John C. Rudlin. Soon, Caroline's strict demands on the three oldest children cause them to have a change of heart. They write a letter to Mary asking for forgiveness. Mrs. Crosby dies, and leaves her entire estate to Bill. Bill is surprised Mrs. Crosby's estate includes not only her house, but also the house where his family lives. Bill returns to his home, now as its owner. Mary joins him and accepts her children's forgiveness. Caroline returns, and it is revealed that Reginald, Sr. was just as mean as his sister, and Mr. Rudlin was always Mary's true love. However, Mary remained loyal to her husband out of financial necessity; and, he fathered all four children. Rudlin says he still loves Mary. Caroline is kicked out of the house and the Colbrook family is restored.

Anna (Michelle Williams) is a young woman in an American suburb in the early 1950s. She is disturbed by her family’s rejection of her brother, a World War II veteran who comes home shell shocked. The impressionable girl is lured into a relationship with Billy, a local mob boss. When Anna’s brother dies and she witnesses Billy murder a local nightclub owner, she is driven to the edge of sanity. She develops a fixation with mental health that drives her to seek out a transorbital lobotomy. Anna learns about the procedure through sensational newspapers and Life magazine, which advertises the operation as the new vogue in American medicine. Also, her small town is buzzing about it when Dr. Harold Ashton, the foremost practitioner of this brand of lobotomy, comes to town. He starts performing the “icepick lobotomy” on alcoholics, veterans, and other troubled outsiders.

Billy is concerned with his girlfriend's obsession. He directs his girlfriend to a fake clinic fronted by Tom, a Korean War veteran on Billy’s payroll who masquerades as a neurologist. Tom convinces Anna to delay the procedure and visit him that night. Tom and Anna share their traumas with one another and grow closer. Billy finds them together and sets off a final conflict that draws the film to a close.

Jay (Ed O'Neill) asks Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) for legal advice for Gloria (Sofía Vergara) who had been involved in a car crash. While Mitchell thinks that it is not Gloria's fault, Manny (Rico Rodriguez) informs him that it was his mom's fault since she is a terrible driver.

Mitchell tries to bring up the possibility that it was her fault but Gloria gets mad accusing him of being stereotypical. She leaves saying that she does not need him as a lawyer anymore. A little bit later, she comes back to apologize and to ask for Mitchell's help again for a second car crash. This time she crashed into a restaurant while she was attempting to leave.

Claire (Julie Bowen) is going to meet with an old friend from work, Valerie (Minnie Driver). While they are talking, Claire realizes that Valerie pities her for quitting her job to raise a family. Claire wants to prove to her that this was not a bad decision and she brings her home to meet her family. Things at the house though are not as perfect as Claire was hoping.

In the meantime, Jay goes to the gym with Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) to play racquetball. A disturbing moment at the locker room though, that Cameron names "moon landing", is enough to make Jay not be able to concentrate at the game. Also, Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Dylan (Reid Ewing) break up and Dylan tries to win her back by standing outside her window playing music on his iPod.

A string of serial murders from 19 years ago have started up again. The player takes the role of J, an agent of the FBI and sole survivor of the murders. J has a special ability called "past vision" to solve puzzles, which he uses as he investigates the murders committed by the serial killer known only as "Providence".

The story begins when Harumichi Bōya transfers into the second year at Suzuran High School. Suzuran is notorious for its delinquent students who are nicknamed 'Crows' because of their dark uniforms and inauspicious nature. Quickly enough Bōya meets a group centered around Hiromi Kirishima who are trying to challenge the school boss Hideto Bandō. From there the story follows the exploits of Suzuran students and the teen-aged delinquents of various surrounding schools and gangs.

In 1991, behind-the-scenes network politics embroil television executives responsible for NBC's late-night programming. Johnny Carson has hosted ''The Tonight Show'' for decades, but he and his audience are both growing older, leaving NBC to anticipate the day when a new host will be needed. Carson's permanent guest host, Jay Leno, and the host of the show that follows Carson's each night, David Letterman, both vie for Carson's job. It is widely assumed that Letterman is the hand-picked heir apparent whom Carson favors, but NBC executives privately speculate that Leno could be more popular with audiences in the 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT) slot, as well as easier for the network to control. They also would not have to deal with Letterman's stipulation for ownership rights to the show.

Leno's manager, Helen Kushnick, secures the spot for Leno with negotiating tactics that could be construed as either shrewd or unethical. Leno is concerned that her methods might alienate Carson, but does not wish to be disloyal as he believes that she has been responsible for his success; in addition, he had promised to take care of her after her husband's death. Kushnick harshly instructs Leno to just keep telling jokes and leave the business end to her. Surely enough, Kushnick secures the producer's position for herself at ''The Tonight Show'', on the condition that no public announcement will be made. Letterman continues to believe he is still in contention for the position.

In the spring of 1991, Carson unexpectedly announces his retirement, effective in one year. NBC executives inform an angry Letterman they have selected Leno to replace Carson. Leno takes over in May 1992, but Kushnick's bullying manner angers his colleagues, potential guests, and others to the point of interfering with network airtime and relationships. NBC executives warn the mild-mannered Leno that they are going to fire Kushnick and, if he sides with her, he will be let go as well. Kushnick is dismissed by NBC and barred from the studio lot. Despite Kushnick's pleas to keep his promise to take care of her and her daughter, Leno is angry because she nearly cost him a dream job. After a heated argument, Leno fires Kushnick and ends their friendship. Later, Leno eavesdrops on an executive meeting in which NBC executives discuss the possibility of replacing him with Letterman.

Letterman, devastated at being passed over, hires Hollywood superagent Michael Ovitz to negotiate on his behalf; Ovitz promises that not only will Letterman be offered an 11:30 p.m. show, he will be offered it by every network. True to Ovitz's word, Letterman is courted by all the major networks and syndicates. He provisionally accepts an offer from CBS that gives him an 11:30 p.m show, but continues to hold on to his lifelong dream of hosting ''The Tonight Show.'' Per Letterman's contract with NBC, the network still has several months to either match CBS's offer or present an acceptable counteroffer to keep Letterman. Producer Peter Lassally, close to both Carson and Letterman, finally convinces NBC to offer Letterman the ''Tonight Show'' position. However, NBC's offer is substantially weaker than CBS's and would force Letterman to wait until May 1994 to take over the show. Lassally, disappointed at NBC's offer, makes it clear to Letterman that the ''Tonight Show'' job is now "damaged goods" and Dave would be working with the very people who passed him over and may yet double-cross him. In addition, Lassally warns Letterman that he will be vilified in the press for forcing Leno out.

Taking Lassally's suggestion, Letterman calls Carson to ask for advice; Carson says he would probably leave NBC if he were in Letterman's position. Letterman rejects NBC's counteroffer and accepts CBS's offer to host his own 11:30 show beginning in the fall of 1993. Letterman and Leno ultimately go head to head at 11:30, with Letterman initially winning in the TV ratings in the beginning, before Leno firmly re-establishes ''The Tonight Show'' s dominance.

Anderson Lake is an economic hitman for the AgriGen Corporation, working in Thailand. He owns a factory trying to mass-produce a revolutionary new model of ''kink-spring'' (the successor, in the absence of oil or petroleum, to the internal combustion engine) that will store gigajoules of energy. But the factory is a cover for his real mission: discovering the location of the Thai seedbank, with which Thailand has so far managed to resist the calorie companies' attempts at agro-economic subjugation. He has heavily delegated the running of the factory to his Chinese manager, Hock Seng, a refugee from the Malaysian purge of the ethnic Chinese. Hock Seng was a successful businessman in his former life and he plots to steal the kink-spring designs kept in Anderson's safe.

When Emiko, an illegal Japanese "windup" (genetically modified human) girl stuck in bonded servitude in a sex club, reveals to Anderson information she has learned about the secret seedbank; he in return tells her about a refuge in the north of Thailand where people of Emiko's kind (the "New People") live together. From then on, she becomes determined to escape to this place by paying off Raleigh, the club's owner.

Meanwhile, Jaidee Rojjanasukchai, a zealous and honest captain of the White shirts (the armed, enforcement wing of the Environment Ministry, which is charged with preventing illegal imports, unauthorized energy use, and the incursions of bio-engineered viruses), intercepts and destroys a dirigible containing a great amount of illegal contraband. Anderson and others in the foreign trading community (known as "farangs") pressure Akkarat to make Jaidee back off.

To make him fall in line, they kidnap Jaidee's wife. When he learns of this, he submits and is sentenced to nine years in a monastery. Later, realizing that his wife will never be returned to him and has likely been murdered, he escapes and is caught and killed while trying to assassinate Akkarat. The other White shirts declare him a martyr and rise up against the Trade Ministry.

At the same time, Hock Seng learns that factory workers are falling victim to a new plague originating from the kink-spring factory. He has the bodies disposed of surreptitiously. As the White shirts take control of Bangkok, he escapes from the factory into hiding. Anderson discovers Hock Seng's flight and also goes into hiding.

Jaidee's replacement (and former protégé), Kanya, discovers the new plague and sets about trying to contain it while dealing with guilt of being Akkarat's mole and betraying Jaidee. She reluctantly seeks help from Gibbons, the scientist at the heart of the Thai seedbank, who is revealed to be a renegade AgriGen scientist. He identifies the new plague and gives clues to Kanya that lead her to Anderson's factory.

Anderson meets with Akkarat and the Somdet Chaopraya, who is the regent to the young Thai Queen and the most powerful person in all of Thailand. Anderson offers to supply a new strain of GM rice and a private army from AgriGen to repel the White shirts in exchange for access to the seedbank and lowering of the trade barriers. To seal the deal, knowing of the Somdet Chaopraya's addiction to sexual novelty, he takes him to Emiko's club. When the Somdet Chaopraya and his entourage later sexually humiliate and degrade her, Emiko snaps and kills them. She escapes and seeks refuge with Anderson. Akkarat accuses General Pracha of orchestrating the Somdet Chaopraya's assassination and uses this as a pretext for to fight Pracha and the White shirts. The capital is plunged into civil war.

Having failed to steal the kink-spring designs, Hock Seng tries to capture Emiko for ransom. However, Anderson makes a deal with him: Hock Seng would be patronized by AgriGen and Emiko would remain with Anderson.

In short order, Pracha and most of the top Environment Ministry men are killed. Akkarat, now all-powerful, appoints his spy Kanya as the new chief of the Environment Ministry. He also opens up Thailand to the calorie companies, and grants Anderson and AgriGen access to the seedbank.

Kanya, accompanies the "calorie men" to the seedbank, where she reneges and executes the AgriGen team. She then directs the seedbank's monks to move the seeds to a pre-arranged secure location. With the hidden military arsenal in the seedbank, she orchestrates the destruction of the levees around Bangkok, flooding it.

Bangkok's people and the capital relocate to the site of Ayutthaya. Akkarat is stripped of his powers and sentenced to servitude as a monk. Anderson dies of the plague originating from his factory while he is in hiding with Emiko. Emiko is found by Gibbons, who promises that he will use Emiko's DNA to engineer a new race of fertile New People, thus fulfilling her dream of living with her own kind.

When Vince is paroled after five years in prison for a heist gone wrong, his dangerous and controlling former boss, Kranski, forces him back into a life of crime. Working for Kranski as a car thief, Vince finds solace in welding sculptures out of metal and old car parts in Kranski’s chop shop. When Vince’s raw and evocative sculptures are discovered by calculating art dealer Belinda, his chance for a new life as an artist emerges, as well as romantic complications with Belinda’s gallery assistant, Kristen. Caught between the pressure from Kranski and the demands of the art world, Vince has to cleverly maneuver his way out to become his own man and his own artist.

The storyline begins by revealing that MODOK is a part of a loose-knit cabal of scientists called Intelligencia (consisting of the Leader, Doctor Doom, Mad Thinker, Wizard, Egghead, and the Red Ghost). They have gathered the knowledge that MODOK eventually uses to create the Red Hulk. The group makes it explicitly clear that they are out to kidnap the world's eight smartest people. The Intelligencia's plan has yet to be revealed in its entirety but already has a wide influence on the Marvel Universe as a whole.

Red Hulk fights and kills General Thunderbolt Ross apparently at the behest of Bruce Banner, with whom he has formed an alliance. Betty Ross and Glenn Talbot (both thought to be dead) come to Ross' funeral. Lyra is later seen in the company of Red She-Hulk and MODOK and has joined their ranks for unknown reasons.

Red Hulk has been running missions in the alliance with Banner — including a trip to a secret A.I.M. base which houses not only cloned bodies of MODOK, but the Cosmic Hulk automaton as well. While trying to destroy the Cosmic Hulk, he accidentally powered it with a small charge of his own cosmic energies. The Cosmic Hulk made quick work of both A-Bomb and Red Hulk before being called off by the Leader. Red Hulk and Rick return to Banner, reporting on the events that occurred, and Red Hulk reveals to Bruce that Bruce has a daughter.

After telling him Lyra is Thundra's daughter, he remembers telling Thundra about Intelligencia and told her to accept their offer but to secretly be in contact with him. He recalls how she saved him from Samson and how they forced Wizard and his allies to stand back and how they went to Castle Doom to steal his time machine. In the present day after being attacked by vampire creatures in Castle Doom they teleport one day into the future and to the desert where Red Hulk hides the time machine and sends Thundra home after sharing a kiss with her. But he is being watched by A-Bomb.

He is then attacked by A-Bomb, who leaves having managed to obtain what he wanted to know: the agents that took him to an ambulance were not S.H.I.E.L.D. but A.I.M. working for The Leader and MODOK, how Red Hulk killed Abomination to get his blood, how Marlo was the one to release him from the base, and how a mental message was left in his mind by Doc Samson to kill Bruce Banner. It is then shown that Bruce Banner was the one who told him to attack Red Hulk and after a discussion of why he cannot change back to Rick Jones, the Red Hulk arrives in anger. However, he then revealed why he was attacked. They then trigger Rick's mental message by having Red Hulk beat Banner. Rick manages to overcome the message when Bruce tells him he is not angry for Rick's involvement in Bruce becoming the Hulk, and that it was not Rick's fault.

In a flashback, Red Hulk tells the Intelligencia that their plan will fail, which causes MODOK to attack him. Later, after their calculations end in Banner killing The Leader, they use the time machine of the desert to see a future that they control.

Lyra attacks her mother, Thundra, in the desert where her mother is searching for water. After revealing details about the future, Thundra fights back and beats her. Later, she is approached by Wizard, who was sent by the Intelligencia. They had watched her fight with her mother. Lyra then battles him and the Frightful Four, her future team members, until Red She-Hulk arrives and beats her until Wizard stops her. Wizard and his allies leave, offering her a place on the team. She later accepts, but, once she has gained their trust, she searches for Jennifer Walters, eventually finding her in stasis.

Lyra, after having her intelligence increased four levels by Bruce Banner, releases Jennifer Walters and explains that she joined the ranks of the Intelligencia in order to find her. Bruce contacts Lyra through the remains of her technological watch, and tells her to wait for his strike on the base. Jennifer talks to Lyra about her childhood with Bruce and her origins, to which Lyra revealed in her time they believed she transformed in order to avenge her mother at the hands of male soldiers. Jennifer says it was told that way to give hope. Lyra then speaks of her confrontation with her mother and how she believes Thundra to be evil. They are then attacked by Red She-Hulk and afterwards Jennifer tries to convince her to join them, believing she was being manipulated by the Intelligencia; however, she throws them off the Hellicarrier base.

After assisting the Fantastic Four in defeating the Moloids in New York City, Skaar is proclaimed a hero and the city holds a parade in his honor. During the parade, Uatu the Watcher appears. Banner sees his supposedly deceased wife in the crowd. Convinced his wife has come back, Bruce teleports to speak to his secret partner, the Red Hulk, warning him that he had better not have had anything to do with his wife's return. The Red Hulk then proceeds to insult Banner, saying he hardly considers him a threat, baiting him and making him angry enough to begin his transformation into the Hulk, but Banner teleports away to Latveria near Doctor Doom's castle, supposedly to transform in private. Next, the Green Hulk smashes into Doctor Doom's castle and begins battling the Doctor. The two duel for a bit before Doom finally bests the Hulk with magic. Skaar (using Banner's teleporter) appears on the scene and takes on Doctor Doom, not to save his father, but to make sure he is the only one that will finally get to kill him. However, Doctor Doom quickly overwhelms him with spells and reverts Skaar to his 5-year-old non-powered form. Doctor Doom then explains that the "Hulk" he was fighting was actually a robot powered with cosmic energy (which Doctor Doom consumed to help defeat him and bolster his own power) sent by the Leader and taunts him that his "rescue" and approaching death at Doctor Doom's hands is all for nothing.

Just before Doom strikes the final blow, Banner teleports in and saves his son. Doctor Doom uses this opportunity to try to kill both of his now-vulnerable foes, but Banner disables his technology. Deciding to use his magic instead, Doctor Doom begins to succumb to a "poison pill" that was laced into the cosmic energy he absorbed from the Hulk robot, causing him to rapidly lose his intelligence and be unable to remember the spells he would need to kill them, or even how to use his armor. The Leader then reactivates the Hulk robot, who carries Doctor Doom off. Finally getting to meet his son in his mortal form and mind (Skaar's alter-ego is much like the Hulk's in that it is an alternate personality from his powered form) he tries to connect with him, but Skaar spurns his father's affection, stating that Banner cares for nothing other than getting his wife back, no matter the cost, and that Banner set up Skaar to find his teleportation tech to follow him to Latveria, regardless of what might happen to him or what danger he might have been in. He then reiterates his desire to someday kill him, whenever he finally transforms back into the Hulk. A flashback shows that Red She-Hulk prevents Jennifer Walters from escaping from A.I.M. custody. During this battle, Red She-Hulk brutally beats Jennifer and snaps her neck with a cable. In the last panel, Jennifer appears to be dead with the Red She-Hulk standing over her body.

Red Hulk travels to the Baxter Building to ensure that no casualties occurred during the Intelligencia's abduction of Reed Richards. Red Hulk battles the Thing, while trying to convince Grimm of his impending doom. Red Hulk finally convinces Ben that they need to reseal the Negative Zone portal into which the Trapster had knocked Ben. Red Hulk tries to absorb some of the negative energies to buy Ben some time, but the energies burn him and make him weaker. He loses his grip on the Thing, but saves him at the last minute. Meanwhile, Lyra takes her position in the Frightful Four (now consisting of her, Klaw, Wizard, and Trapster) to attack the Baxter Building following Thundra's betrayal. She is able to defeat the Human Torch on her own, although her clothes are burned off in the process. She takes a red Fantastic Four uniform and meets the Wizard. The mission is a success and Mister Fantastic is captured.

The two then head off to help the Avengers, who have been caught up in a struggle with the Red She-Hulk as she is attempting to abduct Henry Pym for the Intelligencia. Banner is attempting to rescue Pym from abduction, but Henry Pym has done a bit of research as the Scientist Supreme and can read Red Hulk's energy signature on Banner's cellular structure — proving that he and Red Hulk have met several times recently. Since Henry Pym doesn't trust Banner, he fights off his attempts to pull him out and goes toe-to-toe with the Red She-Hulk, who poisons him with another neural anesthetizer. Red She-Hulk has been ordered to bring Henry Pym in alive but the anesthetizer is killing him, so Banner convinces her to team up for a few minutes to help save Henry Pym. Banner tosses Amadeus Cho at War Machine in the chaos and Amadeus Cho hijacks his armor to create a defibrillator pulse, bringing Henry Pym back to stable condition. Henry Pym tries to turn into Giant Man but the anesthetizer forces him to shrink instead, giving Red She-Hulk the opportunity to grab him and teleport back to the Intelligencia, leaving only three more to capture, including Bruce Banner. After Pym's abduction, Banner meets with the New Avengers, demanding their cooperation with his plan, since they interrupted Pym's rescue and were responsible for his abduction. Banner is now the 'smartest good-guy on the planet.' Banner gets an Avengers quinjet and hand-picks a group composed of Korg, A-Bomb, Namor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Amadeus Cho. He tells the group that he has chosen them because they all know what it is to lose someone they care about. Their mission is to rescue Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Hank McCoy, T'Challa and Betty Ross (who Bruce now reveals to the group as alive). His personal mission is to save Betty, no matter what the cost, and along the way, save the world from the Intelligencia.

While trying to save T'Challa from abduction by the Red Ghost and his Super Apes, Red Hulk is attacked by members of the X-Men (thinking he is the enemy), which thwarts his rescue attempt. Red Hulk gets some unexpected assistance from the Red Ghost's Super Apes before they are turned against him, too. He kills Mikhlo the Gorilla, enraging the Ghost who then crushes Red Hulk's heart. When he awakens later, he finds out that not only did the Red Ghost make off with T'Challa, but he managed to abduct Hank McCoy as well. Red Hulk returns to report in to Banner, and the two have a confrontation about Red Hulk's actions and attitude. Bruce Banner tries to convince him that the Intelligencia are playing him, making him act more like the old Green Hulk.

Bruce Banner and Red Hulk separately attack the Intelligencia's Helicarrier, while Amadeus is trying to take Betty from Talbot. During the battle, Banner and Skaar are attacked by Lyra. However, much to Skaar's shock, Banner is working with Lyra and launches her four levels up. Banner then informs Skaar that he has been using Skaar and the other heroes to save the day and his wife. Banner promises Skaar that he will get what he wants from him, which Skaar tells Banner is a lie. They are then attacked by Red She-Hulk and Skaar fights her while Banner releases the captured heroes. Skaar is wounded by Red She-Hulk but survives as Banner attacks her. Meanwhile, Amadeus Cho tries to get Betty from Talbot but she fights back, defending Talbot and rebukes Banner. Talbot puts Betty in a safe before he vanishes. Amadeus Cho then tries to free her while Banner defeats Red She-Hulk. Since Red Hulk has been used as power source, the Intelligencia plan is successful, transforming several heroes, soldiers and people in Washington into Hulks (including Amadeus Cho). An explosion occurs which launches Skaar from the Helicarrier, while Banner is defeated by the "Hulkified" heroes and put with the captured smart heroes, who are trapped in a fantasy world.

It is revealed that Banner and Red Hulk led them there. MODOK, Cosmic Hulk, and Mad Thinker's Gammadroid capture Red Hulk when he enters Intelligencia's Helicarrier. MODOK uses Red Hulk as part of a system to create a small army of Hulks, who are sent on a mission to take over the USA. In the process, several super-heroes are similarly exposed and turn into "Hulkified" versions of themselves. Deadpool is the first to be "Hulkified" when he successfully frees Red Hulk before they can completely drain him.

''TGS'' head writer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), along with producer Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), decides to take the show's staff to Miami for a week, due to Liz's hate of the cold weather and the staff's case of "winter madness". Her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), decides to take them to Boston instead, so he can see Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore), a woman Jack ponders having a possible romance with. He learns that Nancy's husband has left her as a way of getting her to ask for a divorce, but Nancy refuses to do so, fearing what others might think. Jack admits his true feelings to Nancy and insists that the two talk. She suggests that they should say four words to each other as a way of putting their relationship on hold; Jack says to her "I'll wait. Not forever", while Nancy tells him "I'll try. Wicked hard."

Meanwhile, the ''TGS'' staff—Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), Sue Laroche-Van der Hout (Sue Galloway), Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden), and Danny Baker (Cheyenne Jackson)—vent their anger at Liz; they complain that Boston is colder than New York, and they do not like sharing an office with the all-male staff of Boston Bruins fans who write for the ''Bruins Beat''. Liz gets a tip from Jack to find a common enemy in the Boston affiliate of NBC. Liz comes up with the name "Dale Snitterman", and tells the staff that Snitterman is causing all of their problems, not realizing until later that she had seen the name somewhere and did not make it up. At that point, the staff finds Snitterman (Ray Bokhour) and harass him.

At the same time, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) goes on Boston's Freedom Trail. He tells the actor playing John Hancock (Kevin Meaney) that his character did not actually set all Americans free. When he tells him "Patriots suck!", he inadvertently says it near a group of New England Patriots fans. At the end of the episode, Hancock brings in the Crispus Attucks character and tells Tracy he does have black friends. When Hancock says he met Attucks in 1775, Tracy is able to one up him as he knows that Attucks was killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770.

The movie follows Hajime Hanaoaka as he struggles with his impending retirement from his administrative job at Tokyo Co. Ltd. He plans to retire on his birthday, December 25, after 34 years of service to the company. The film opens with Hanaoaka boarding a train to work. He goes through the motions of his daily schedule, looking troubled and sad. Hanaoaka is realizing, now that he is about to retire, exactly how much of his life was dedicated to his work, and how much he will lose when he has to leave it. When his coworker asks Hanaoaka to write a reflection on his 34 years of work at Tokyo Co., Hanaoaka writes, "It wasn't just my job. It was my life.... I spoke more with my staff than with my own son."Kaisha monogatori: Memories of You, directed by Jun Ichikawa. 1988. Japan: NTV, Shochiku. To cope with his sadness, Hanaoaka turns to jazz music. He had played the drums in his past, but hadn't done so in a very long time. When some of his coworkers reveal that they, too, can play instruments, a group of them decide to form the Tokyo Co. Swing Band. This puts Hanaoaka in much better spirits, and he and his fellow musicians spend a lot of time together rehearsing and discussing jazz up until their final performance at Hanaoaka's retirement party.

The film also focuses on Hanaoaka's young female coworker, played by Yumi Nishiyama. The audience sees her struggle with romance, becoming engaged to another office worker, but she breaks it off when he continues to see other women behind her back. She seems to connect with Hanaoaka, and the audience hears her voiceover in the beginning and ending of the film. She says as the credits roll, "I'd watch him work, and my faith in people would be restored." At the beginning of the film, while Hanaoaka is acting very down, their other coworkers gossip about their lack of desire to throw Hanaoaka a retirement party. Hanaoaka learns of this and sends out a newsletter to the office telling everyone to not worry about throwing a party, since he doesn't want to bother anyone. Nishiyama then sends Hanaoaka a private letter to invite him to a personal retirement party for just the two of them. They have dinner, and the two connect, though not romantically.

The film ends with Hanaoaka playing with his jazz band at his retirement party that ended up being planned for the sake of the jazz band's performance. His coworkers seem to be more friendly with him after the formation of the band.

The movie opens with Jerry (Lyle Talbot), a doctor, comforting Sheila (Joyce Compton) at the bed of her dying father. Jerry's father (H. B. Warner), Daniel, also a doctor, enters and tries to help. There is nothing that can be done for the man, and he quietly dies. Sheila, distraught, runs from the room, and Jerry learns from his father that the man has died. Jerry tells his father he has married Sheila. Clearly this displeases Daniel and we learn that Sheila is the gardener's daughter. Realizing the woman who Jerry had been dating, Jane (Lila Lee), must be told, Daniel visits her and her mother. Jane's mother is horrified at the outrage, but Jane takes the news in stride, if not very hurt.

Sheila and Jerry move into his father's home and Sheila tries to meet people. However, no one will have anything to do with her. Sheila meets the neighbor Alex, (Ivan Lebedeff) at the next door tennis court and they spend a great deal of time together. Thinking that Sheila is not so bad and just a poor lonely girl, Daniel decides to take her to a dance at the club one evening that Jerry has to work. The crowd snubs Sheila, but Jane decides to be hospitable and invites Sheila and Daniel to join them at the table with her and Alex. Later, we discover that Sheila has borrowed a great deal of money and bought a house in order for Alex and Sheila to have their trysts. Sheila continues to throw herself at Alex, and eventually Jerry discovers that she owes a great deal of money. Daniel offers to repay the money, but he also checks up on the house that Sheila has purchased and learns that the woman who hads taken care of Sheila's father during his last illness (Beryl Mercer) is living at the house as a housekeeper. The housekeeper tells Daniel what has been going on at the house, and that Sheila is no good and has been no good all her life.

Heartbroken, Daniel returns home and to confront Sheila, and tells her that he has ordered Alex to leave town. Sheila is horrified at losing Alex and drives to his house. Alex is getting ready to go, and lets Sheila know the affair is over. Jane enters the home during this conversation. Sheila exclaims that if Alex is through with her, she will kill herself, and runs from the house, speeding off in her car. Worried, Jane runs after her and follows Sheila in her own car. Sheila rounds a sharp curve and drives off a bridge, dying in the accident. The police state it is clearly an accident, but Jane and Daniel know it is really suicide and that Jerry should never know.

The play takes place in Raven's Head, an old mansion on a deserted island off the coast of North Carolina. A spoof of murder mysteries and classic movies from the 1920s and 30s, the plot follows the regular stereotypes of classical murder mysteries, such as the reading of a will at midnight, enigmatic and curious-looking house staff, secret passageways, and an old detective working on his first-ever case.

Long Xiang is a 13-year-old boy who likes dinosaurs very much. One day he wore a bracelet in his grandpa’s Box. A singular phenomenon occurred. He was taken to Hai Long Wan of pangea and just in time to save …Long Xiang learned that he could return to the earth with the power of dragon god and calling a dragon god needed to find four dragon crystal. So he start his adventure of looking for dragon crystal in the pangea.

During the journey, Long Xiang met three companions, Feng Ling, A Guo and Yu. All of the three companions were seeking dragon crystals. But their purposes are different. Feng Ling wanted to get money through seizing baby dinosaurs. A Guo wanted to realize his grandpa’ wish and Yu wanted to obtain mighty force. Each of them had one baby dinosaur and can evolve to get greater combat power.

At first, Feng Ling often wanted to cheat Long Xiang of Bao Bao. He changed his mind after got along with Long Xiang for some time and find dragon crystal wholeheartedly. A Guo was once Pirate Boss and dissolute the Pirate gang and join them after he knew that Long Xiang was finding dragon crystals. Long Xiang and the other two met difficulties in the process of an adventure. Yu appeared at this time and save them all. Yu also joined them after some conversation.

When they found the first dragon crystal in the Lu Bu La regional, they met Hai Li Ba who is a tyrant. Hai Li Ba had a Ji Bei dragon who can issue petrochemical rays. He built the dam to disconnect the resource of water of the village that was below the dam and made the villagers tribute goods with the threat that he would release the hydrops to break the village. He also force miner uncle Da to surrender the location of ancestral treasure house. When he inquire that Long Xiang and the other ones are looking for the dragon crystals following the map, obtaining the dragon crystals became his burning desire. Long Xiang and his companions overcame Hai Liba at last and helped the villagers destroy the dam and protect Xi Meng’s treasure house and get the first dragon crystal from the treasure house.

Across the Lu Bula regional, Long Xiang and his companions entered into enchanted forest. The main energy hub of enchanted forest is the eudemon of tree of thousands of years, who had been controlled by Lily now. The eudemon of tree of thousands of years has no power to sustain the life force of the whole enchanted forest. So the green place turned into desolation and the local water became dead lake in this forest. There were variational creatures everywhere or residents whose minds have been affected. The reason why Lily controlled tree eudemon was that she wanted to get dragon crystals. She also imprisoned her own and Yu’ teacher Xian Yi and wanted to obtain skills to make Su Long evolve ultimately. Her ultimate purpose was to make herself more powerful. Long Xiang and his companions defeated Lily and restored tree eudemon’s life and power and found the dragon crystal protected by eudemon of tree of thousands of years.

After got the dragon crystal protected by eudemon, they came to Xi Ya country. The old king was critically ill and wanted to find the princess had been separated for many years. It was said that the princess has the ability to make plants grow just like her mother. The story opens following the cue. Coincidentally, Feng Ling was just the missing princess. More coincidentally, there was a dragon crystal for which Long Xiang and his companions were looking on the king’s scepter.

But things were not that easy. The Guo Shi of Xi Ya country had early forethought and wanted to seize the throne. He detained the queen to find the princess by one conspiracy after another. After the king’s loyal woman general met Feng Ling, she protected her long-missing princess fight to death. After the probes of Guo Shi knew the things about dragon crystals, they rounded up Feng Ling and her companions with all their strength and wanted to get the three dragon crystals and find the fourth one with their map. At that time, they would own the power of god of dragon and can conquer the whole continent.

It is up to Long Xiang and his friends to save and protect the continent.

'''''The Sound of Thunder''''' describes the progress of the Second Boer War through Sean's own actions, first in harrowing missions in the front lines for the British Guides, then as the leader of a commando designed to fight the Boers on their own terms – guerrilla combat in the veld.

Sean and his son Dirk finally leave the wilderness and discover that a war is brewing between the English and the Boers. He meets and falls in love with a woman called Ruth and they conceive a daughter during a thunderstorm. Ruth runs away to return to her husband who is a soldier in the Boer War, but later, after Sean won many victories in the war, he befriends Saul, Ruth's husband. Saul is killed in battle and Sean, although feeling guilty, finds Ruth and marries her.

The commander of the Boers is Sean'sbrother-in-law, Jan-Paulus Leroux, brother of Katrina who died in “When the Lion Feeds”. Sean and Jan-Paulus fight but eventually decide to leave each other alone.

The peace which follows finds Sean with hopes of marriage, settling down to develop new land by planting wattle. But it is at this point in the novel that the hatred borne him by his twin-brother Garrick really comes into the open: Garrick, who has been forced to live in the shadow of his twin's superiority since childhood, and who has vowed to pay him back for it.

Sean's daughter, named Storm, grows up to be pretty and bright but Sean's first-born, Dirk has become evil with jealousy for his father's attention. The book ends with Sean's brother Garrick forgiving him and Dirk running away, promising to ruin the Courtneys.

Impoverished and alone, fine artist Mary Daas (Deborah Pollitt) braves a blizzard with her toddler son, Nello, to reach the remote forest home of her father Jehaan Daas (Jack Warden). The journey has brought Mary close to death. Mary asks Jehaan to promise to care for Nello after she is gone. Jehaan keeps the promise, helping his grandson to become an intelligent and sensitive young man.

As the two live a very poor existence, Nello (Jesse James) and Jehaan make ends meet delivering milk to the nearby city of Antwerp, where they are welcomed and respected by the community. One afternoon on their way home, they encounter a Bouvier des Flandres dog beaten and left for dead in the woods. Taking him home, Jehaan and Nello nurse the dog back to health, with Nello naming him Patrasche; the boy and his new friend are inseparable thereon. With Jehaan's guidance, Nello hones his skill as an artist with Patrasche as his subject; his artwork comes to closely resemble that of his mother.

Nello soon introduces Patrasche to his lifelong companion and artistic muse Aloise (Madylin Sweeten), daughter of the local mill owner Nicholas Cogez (Steven Hartley). Meanwhile, Nello and Jehaan struggle to appease their wicked, heartless landlord Stephens (Andrew Bicknell). Despite this plight, Nello sets his hopes on winning a famous art contest to gain respect from the art world. Aloise wholly supports her friend in this endeavor, as does the gregarious local blacksmith William (Bruce McGill). Nello gains a mentor when he meets artist Michel La Grande (Jon Voight) by the statue of Peter Paul Rubens outside the Cathedral of Our Lady. After defending the boy against Patrasche's vagrant first owner, Michel brings him into his study and begins his tutelage, though he leaves for business in Rome soon afterward.

As the years pass, Nello (Jeremy James Kissner) stays close with Aloise (Farren Monet Daniels) and they become engaged during their visit to a gypsy circus. Nicholas, disapproving of the match, forbids Nello from ever seeing Aloise again, despite protestation from his wife Anna (Cheryl Ladd). Nello finds some comfort in Michel, who has returned from Rome to help his pupil continue his education.

Not long thereafter, Stephens accidentally burns down Nicholas' mill; visiting with the Cogez's servant Millie, he had been smoking a pipe in the nearby shed and fell asleep. The next morning as the town inspects the damage, it is discovered that Nello had secretly visited Aloise the night before, to give her a birthday gift. Stephens uses this as evidence of Nello's guilt of committing an act of revenge. Furious, Nicholas believes the lie and smashes Aloise's gift and blames Nello for starting the fire while Jehaan comes to Nello's defense. Thereafter, Stephens takes advantage of the town's new distrust of the boy by taking over his milk delivery route. After Jehaan suddenly dies, Nello and Patrasche are evicted from their home by Stephens. Though William (who still trusts the boy) offers the two a place to stay, Nello insists that he has work to do.

On Christmas Day, Nello eagerly awaits the results of the art contest to be announced by Michel, but he loses to Robert Kessler (Julien Bosman), son of the Mayor of Antwerp (Fred Van Kuyk). Nello and Patrasche then find themselves back in the cold in the midst of a blizzard, just like Mary once was. As they wander along a dirt path, Patrasche sniffs out Nicholas' wallet buried in the snow; it contains a vast sum of money. Nello returns the wallet to the Cogez Mill and departs before Anna can offer him a meal, leaving Patrasche behind so that he might have a comfortable future. Nicholas then returns to the mill, distraught that he has lost his family's life savings. He becomes enraged upon seeing Patrasche until Anna explains what happened. At dinner, the family is quietly pensive until Millie reveals the truth of what happened to the mill. Horrified, Nicholas bands together his family and neighbors to find Nello. Patrasche runs ahead of the group and disappears into the storm.

Meanwhile, Nello returns to Antwerp and seeks shelter in the Cathedral just as Patrasche approaches. The two lie down to rest in front of the Rubens painting The Descent from the Cross. Nello dreams of him and Patrasche dying and being brought to the next life by Rubens himself where they rejoin Jehaan and finally meet Mary. Witnessing his own funeral, Nello is torn between staying with his family and returning to life. Mary insists that it is not yet time for him to pass on and that she will always love and be with him.

Awakening, Nello is greeted by the search party; Aloise had realized that Nello would have gone to the Cathedral to see the Rubens. Nicholas falls to his knees and begs the boy's forgiveness for the accusations made against him. Michel then enters, having seen the villagers running for the Cathedral, and presents Nello with the medal he won in a previous edition of the art contest. Nello then remarks how (as his dream reveals) Michel knew his mother, to whom Michel referred as his "gifted student". Michel is shocked, at which Anna explains that Mary never told anyone that Michel was Nello's father, for fear of a scandal. Michel and Nello embrace as Michel thanks God for finally bringing father and son together. Outside the Cathedral, a star shines brightly.

The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories follow the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of Nehwon. In ''Swords Against the Shadowland'', our two heroes return to Lankhmar, the city in which they met and in which their first loves, Ivrian and Vlanna, met their deaths. There, haunted by their lovers' ghosts, they combat a sorcerous plague cast on the city by a rogue wizard named Malygris.

Chronologically the story falls between the first and second volumes of the complete seven volume edition of Leiber's collected stories devoted to the characters. The story is a direct sequel to "Ill Met in Lankhmar", the last story in ''Swords and Deviltry'', and covers some of the same events as "The Circle Curse", the first story in ''Swords Against Death''.

Because she married a circus performer, Judge Foster (Erville Alderson) casts out his only daughter. Just before her death a few years later, she leaves her little girl Sally (Carol Dempster) in the care of her friend McGargle (W. C. Fields), a good-natured crook, juggler and fakir. Sally grows up in this atmosphere and is unaware of her parentage. McGargle, realizing his responsibility to the child, gets a job with a carnival company playing at Great Meadows, where the Fosters live. A real estate boom has made them wealthy. Sally is a hit with her dancing. Peyton (Alfred Lunt), the son of Judge Foster's friend, falls in love with Sally. To save him, the Judge arranges to have McGargle and Sally arrested. McGargle escapes, but Sally is hunted down and brought back. McGargle, hearing of Sally's plight, steals a Flivver, and after many delays, reaches the courtroom and presents proof of Sally's parentage. The Judge dismisses the case and his wife takes Sally in her arms, but Peyton's claim is stronger and she agrees to become his wife. McGargle is persuaded to remain and is found an outlet for his peculiar talents in selling real estate.

Prologue

Marcial (John Estrada) and Mercedes (Vina Morales) are a young married couple living in Cebu, who pray for children of their own, but have none. After five years, Mercedes becomes pregnant, but is diagnosed with a heart defect, making her pregnancy high-risk. Marcial went to church praying for guidance. While in church, Criselda Barrameda (Dimples Romana) had an epileptic seizure and Marcial, a doctor, brought her to his clinic.

Resting in the clinic, Criselda told Marcial of Father Guido, her uncle, who was a priest in her hometown. With his deep faith in God, he was able to perform miraculous healing. People would not listen when Guido claimed it was the work of God and instead began to worship him. Angered, Father Guido left, telling no one of his destination. It was speculated that he was staying in the mountains. It was Father Guido whom Criselda sought for healing.

A few months later, while at the church, Mercedes felt extremely thirsty and stole the jar of ''agua bendita'' (holy water). Afterwards, she craved ''agua bendita''. Marcial learned Mercedes was carrying twins, one of whom inherited Mercedes' heart condition. Marcial prayed to God for help with his wife's desire for stolen ''agua bendita''.

One day, a group of men rush a weakened old man into Marcial's clinic, Father Guido. Nearing the end of his life, Guido instructed Marcial to give the bottle of ''agua bendita'' to Criselda. That night, Mercedes bled, almost having a miscarriage; Marcial gave her Father Guido's ''agua bendita'' in order to save her and their babies. Marcial later dreamt of the late Father Guido, who told him that if he would not ask for Criselda's forgiveness, there will be consequence to his stealing. Marcial kept his dream from Criselda, but one of daughters was sealed: Agua, the younger sister, was born in water form.

Chapter One

Fearing for Agua's safety, Marcial hid her with his assistant Tonyang, telling Mercedes that Agua is stillborn. Agua was kept in a huge aquarium inside a hidden room in the Cristis' house.

Bendita, Agua's twin, was spoiled by her grandmother, Doña Amalia, the mother of Mercedes, while Agua became humble and content in Marcial's supervision. When the family learned of Agua's existence, Mercedes loved her, but Bendita and Doña Amalia hated Agua, usually punishing her by giving her hard chores. At one point, they abandoned Aqua in a park, where she met Tod, Criselda's crippled son. She healed him with her tears, and he reunited her with her family.

Criselda and Baldo, her husband, discovered Marcial's theft of ''agua bendita'', and they took revenge on his family by kidnapping Bendita, mistaking her for Agua. The family travels to Manila to save the child they believe is Agua. Marcial discovers Agua's healing abilities, and used it to cure patients. The cures attracted media attention and the family had to flee on Doña Lisa's yacht. While at sea, Doña Amalia accidentally threw Agua overboard, letting the family think she drowned. Criselda and Tot stayed at the Aguirre household as maids to spy on the Cristis. Agua was found by Ben and Rosy, who raised Agua as their own daughter. They try to return Agua to her family, but learn that they moved to the United States, where Mercedes meets his colleague Luisito, who in turn offers him a job. Bendita once again feels loneliness within her family, and the couple decides to have their marriage annulled.[http://www.abs-cbn.com/Weekdays/article/6476/aguabendita/Agua-Bendita.aspx Agua Bendita on ABS-CBN] . ABS-CBN. Retrieved April 20, 2010

Chapter Two

Ten years later, Bendita is a sassy spoiled teen, while Agua is a rural girl who only wants to be reunited with her family. Marcial is continuing his medical mission until Divina fell in love with him, which is why Mercedes started arranging their divorce. While staying in the Philippines, Agua befriended Dolly, a dolphin, and Otep, Dolly's pet clownfish. Ronnie falls from his sailboat, causing his blindness, and is saved by Agua. The two became close friends, until Marcial discovers Agua. The family reunites, despite Marcial and Mercedes' divorce. After years in America away from Agua, Bendita is unused to Agua. Bendita falls in love with Ronnie, who still loves Agua. Doña Amalia, on the other hand, struggles with debts, and steals the money intended for the hotel Ronnie's mother Solita is planning. Ronnie is reunited with Solita, and his blindness is treated. When he first saw Agua, he was shocked by her looks, causing Agua to run away to a deserted island by herself. On that island, Agua meets Paco (Tod), who befriends her. After a while, Paco brings Agua to Criselda and Baldo, who are now working for Señor Lucas, a fake healer. The group uses Agua's healing powers to benefit themselves.

Chapter Three

Agua escapes the fraudulent healers with Paco's help. Bendita causes Solita's head trauma. The twins exchange appearances on different places; Agua turning normal at the seaport, while Bendita turns blue in the forest. Bendita tries to return to their household, but is kidnapped by Baldo, who thinks she's Agua. Agua returns home, but no one believes she is Agua as she still appears to be Bendita; she experiences Bendita's life, friendships and school, but eventually others come to believe she is who she claims to be.

Mercedes' relationship with Luisito ends. Solita discovers Doña Amalia's betrayal, and fires her. Doña Amalia discovers the true Bendita, and makes a truce with Criselda and Baldo in exchange for Bendita's life. The police pursue the couple, leading to Baldo's escape and Criselda's imprisonment. Doña Amalia continues to hide Bendita in exchange for a truce with Luisito. To learn Bendita's location, Mercedes agrees to marry Luisito. Marcial tries to stop them, but Luisito had a change of heart and freed Mercedes.

Chapter Four

Solita files charges against Bendita, not knowing it is Agua. Ronnie frightens Bendita by faking a marriage contract with Agua, when Bendita arrives. Envious of Agua, Bendita steals some ''agua bendita'' from Criselda, and uses it to become a fake healer, but Baldo traps Bendita in a freezer.

That night, Agua as Bendita celebrates her debut. Doña Amalia's ice sculpture for Bendita's debut arrives; unknown to everyone, the sculpture is Bendita herself in Agua's form, now frozen. Paco and Agua discover what happened to Bendita, while Doña Amalia almost breaks Bendita's ice sculpture. Marcial, Ben, Ronnie, and Paco carry Bendita to the pool to thaw her, but Agua finds a little amount of ''agua bendita'', and drinks it which allows her to switch forms with her twin and regain her healing powers. Bendita thaws, but retains her fluid form; she is brownish while Agua is blue. Bendita blames Agua for what happened, worsening her misdeeds. She began to experience vomiting, abdominal pain, nausea, and finally lung cancer and a brain tumor. As Bendita continue to struggle with her sickness, the Cristi family searches for help. They found some of Criselda and Baldo's agua bendita but while this does not heal Bendita, Agua's is successful.

During the preparations for Marcial and Mercedes' wedding, Mercedes is shot by Baldo and is hospitalized. That night, Agua dreams of Padre Gido, who warns her that if she heals her mother, those will be her last healing tears. Bendita calls Baldo to offer the spring water in exchange for her sister. Once freed, Agua goes to the hospital and heals her mother. Dona Amalia helps Criselda escape by leaving a hair pin to unlock the handcuffs fixing her to the hospital bed. Marcial spots Baldo waiting outside the hospital for Criselda; during their struggle for the gun, it goes off, killing Baldo. Paco goes to see his father's body in the hospital morgue and starts to feel anger. Criselda abducts Bendita, but Bendita texts Marcial the license plate number and the police chase Criselda's car. Paco finds Bendita and they embrace. Amalia falls into water; as she cannot swim, Agua saves Doña Amalia's life. Criselda shoots the LPG Tank, causing the boat to explode.

Epilogue

Criselda gets life imprisonment for her crimes, and she and Paco say a tearful goodbye to each other. Mercedes and Bendita visited Dona Amalia, who is now in a mental institution after the explosion. Agua disappeared, thinking to hide from her family, but realizes that her family needs her and so she returned, revealing herself in public without fear of being judged by her appearance. After suffering and trauma, the Christi family finds a peaceful life; Solita accepts Agua as her son's love, and Agua continues to heal those in need. After all the suffering and extreme experiences, the Cristi family managed to live a normal and peaceful life.

The game revolves around five characters from original games: Taokaka, Ragna, Rachel, Jin, and Noel, presented in chibi forms. They battle on smaller arenas inspired by the BlazBlue stages, while competing in last-man-standing and capture-the-flag matches.

''Let My Babies Go!'' features the Rugrats—Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, his twin sister Lil, and Angelica—as they are trapped in an attic with Tommy's grandfather Boris. Boris explains to them the story of Passover to pass the time; as he does so, the Rugrats imagine that they are the characters featured within the story. Tommy is portrayed as Moses, as he rebels against the Pharaoh of Egypt (Angelica). Through casting various plagues upon Egypt, Moses is able to free the Hebrews from slavery and they flee across the Red Sea.

An incarcerated bank robber, Julian Goddard, escapes from prison. He is rescued in the desert by Johnny Destiny, a bizarre, possibly supernatural character. Destiny takes Julian to Las Vegas and the Marilyn Motel, owned by Harry Thoreau, who was Julian's partner in crime. Julian searches for his girlfriend, Lucille, and the proceeds of the heist.

However, Destiny has taken the money and Lucille is pregnant and shacking up with Tuerto, a mob kingpin. Her agent has convinced a record label to send a talent scout to hear her lounge singing act, but Julian's arrival upsets her plans. As they are hunted by both the police and Tuerto's henchmen, Destiny toys with their fate.

Charlie O'Brien, a circus owner, encounters an elderly man named Jacob Jankowski, who is separated from his nursing home group. Jacob reveals he had a career in the circus business and was present during one of the most infamous circus disasters of all time.

In 1931, when Jacob was a 23-year-old veterinary medicine student taking his final exam at Cornell University, he learns that his parents were killed in a car accident. After the bank forecloses on the family home and in the midst of the Great Depression, he jumps onto a passing circus train. Jacob meets Camel, an employee with the Benzini Bros., who agrees to help Jacob obtain a job. Jacob meets ringmaster August, who after learning of Jacob's veterinary background, hires him to care for the animals. Jacob meets August's wife, Marlena Rosenbluth, and informs her that their star show horse has laminitis.

August instructs Jacob to keep the horse performing as long as possible, but Jacob takes it upon himself euthanize it. August is furious and he threatens to throw Jacob off the moving train to scare him into submission. However, August later expressed gratitude to Jacob for potentially saving Marlena from being injured by the sick horse. August soon procures Rosie, an Asian elephant, and assigns Jacob to train her. He invites Jacob to dinner with him and Marlena, and Jacob learns that August is possessive of her. After August passes out from drunkenness, Jacob and Marlena share a dance and nearly kiss.

Jacob attempts but fails to train Rosie, and August beats her with a bullhook when she fails to follow orders. After Rosie runs off and nearly injures Marlena during a show, August savagely beats her. Jacob, with help from Marlena, Camel and his roommate Walter, clean her wounds and give her buckets of whisky to numb her pain. They unexpectedly learn that Rosie understands Polish commands. Rosie begins to perform beautifully and the circus enjoys a short period of success.

Jacob and Marlena grow closer, and after escaping a prohibition raid at a restaurant, they kiss. Marlena expresses regret and Jacob considers quitting but can't bear to leave Rosie with August. When August later observes their chemistry, he abuses Marlena and cruelly taunts them. Marlena discovers that August plans to throw Jacob from the train and they run away together, hiding in a local hotel. They have sex but are ambushed by August's henchmen who drag Marlena away and beat up Jacob.

Jacob covertly returns to the circus train, finds Marlena, and nearly kills August with a knife while he sleeps. Marlena tells Jacob that Camel and Walter were thrown from the train and killed and that several circus employees have become fed up with August's murderous cruelty and betrayal. The following day, they unlock all of the animal cages while an audience watches Marlena and Rosie's performance. Jacob attempts to find Marlena in the chaos, but August attacks him. Marlena tries to save Jacob from being beaten by August, but this causes the latter to turn his fury on her. August strangles Marlena while Jacob fights with August's lead henchman. Two circus employees save Jacob, and Rosie hits August on the back of the head with an iron stake, killing him and rescuing Marlena. The Benzini Bros. circus is officially shut down, and no one is charged with releasing the animals.

Back in the present, Jacob explains to O'Brien that he and Marlena took Rosie and got jobs with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Jacob finished his degree and worked as a circus veterinarian while Marlena continued to perform with Rosie. They purchased a farm, married, had 5 children, and kept Rosie until her death. He took on a job as a vet at the Albany zoo and after many happy years together, Marlena died peacefully. Not wanting to return to the lonely nursing home, Jacob asks for a job as a ticket taker, and O'Brien agrees.

Starting at the North Pole, a sea captain and his explorer crew encounter Dr. Frankenstein and his creature trying to kill each other. The doctor is saved. As he warns the captain of danger, he tells how he made his creature in the Switzerland of 1818 by way of chemical and biological construction which the creature is a clone (of sorts) of Frankenstein himself, establishing a psychic bond between Creator and his Creation.

Like the book, the film is set in an alternative-history version of nineteenth century England where packs of wolves roam the countryside.

Bonnie Green is the spoiled daughter of Lady Willoughby, who live at the country estate of Willoughby Chase. Lady Willoughby is ill, and her father plans to take a convalescence to the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, in London, Bonnie's cousin, Sylvia, is leaving her Aunt Jane to keep Bonnie company while her parents are away. While travelling on a train, she meets a mysterious man named Grimshaw. At Willoughby Chase, a beautiful middle-aged woman arrives, revealing herself to be Bonnie and Sylvia's fourth cousin and their new governess, Letitia Slighcarp. The following morning, Bonnie sneaks into the carriage meant to pick up Sylvia, taking with her a rifle. When the train arrives at the station, Mr. Grimshaw is knocked unconscious after wolves attempt to attack the train. Bonnie and Sylvia take Mr. Grimshaw with them back to Willoughby Chase. Not long after, Bonnie's parents leave for their convalescence aboard the Thessaly.

The next day, Bonnie and Sylvia go out on a sleigh and are almost attacked by wolves until they are rescued by Simon, a boy who lives in a cave and raises geese. The girls return in the night to discover that Miss Slighcarp has dismissed all of the servants except for James and Pattern. During dinner, Miss Slighcarp refuses to give an explanation on the servants' dismissal, gives the girls porridge instead of their usual feast and harshly reprimands Bonnie after she accidentally spills a glass of milk on her father's farewell letter; thus Bonnie begins to suspect her governess's true cold and evil nature.

The day after, Bonnie and Sylvia catch Miss Slighcarp in Lady Willoughby's best dress. Bonnie demands she take it off and eventually throws a pot full of water on Miss Slighcarp yelling, 'I hate you!' Miss Slighcarp then locks Bonnie in a wardrobe in the schoolroom, and Sylvia sees that Miss Slighcarp has ordered James to rid of all the toys. Sylvia steals the key from Miss Slighcarp, who is bathing (and is actually bald), and frees Bonnie. They discover a secret passage and overhear a conversation in which Miss Slighcarp reveals she has forged a copy of Lord Willoughby's will (with Mr. Grimshaw's help, as he is a master forger as well as her ally) and prearranged the sinking of the Thessaly ship by paying the captain in an attempt to claim the Willoughby fortune. Mr. Grimshaw throws the real will into the fireplace but Bonnie and Sylvia rescue the remaining part of it. Bonnie pretends to have gone manic after being in the cupboard too long, in an attempt to lure Dr. Morne to rescue them. The plan fails as Sylvia is caught by Mr. Grimshaw, and Miss Slighcarp burns the letter addressed to Dr. Morne.

To get them out of her way Slighcarp rides a carriage with the girls aboard and takes them to an orphanage in the industrial town of Blastburn, run by the widowed Gertrude Brisket (an old friend of Slighcarp's) and her teenage son Rupert, where they are forced to work in a laundry with dangerous machinery that keeps breaking down from improper maintenance; on one such case, a small boy named Joey tries to help Sylvia when she is about to fall, but is prevented to do so by Bonnie for his own safety, and she saves her cousin. Some time later, Joey dies due to asphyxiation with a bed sheet after he accidentally falls into one of the laundry tubs. Meanwhile, Miss Slighcarp gets a newspaper from Blastburn with the headline, 'Thessaly Sunk!' thus she decides to return to Blastburn. During the journey, Simon sneaks into the carriage unnoticed. In Blastburn, Slighcarp tells Brisket she will be able to join her in Willoughby Chase after inheriting Lord Willoughby's fortune, and that they will have to dispose of the girls.

Bonnie and Sylvia are locked in a coal room, and Simon attempts to help them. When they are discovered trying to escape, Rupert and Miss Slighcarp chase Bonnie and Sylvia through the entire facility, but in the process Rupert falls into two rollers meant for clothing and gets crushed to death. Slighcarp informs Brisket of the girls' escape and of her son's death. Brisket is deeply grieved by losing her son, and weeps, but Slighcarp simply retorts 'You can mourn later, they've escaped!' Simon and the girls escape in the carriage Slighcarp travelled in and when they finally arrive at the grounds of Willoughby Chase, they use a horse-drawn sleigh. But Miss Slighcarp and Brisket follow in a motorized sleigh, as well as a pack of ravenous wolves. Brisket is killed when Slighcarp accidentally pushes her off the sleigh and she is eaten by wolves. Slighcarp then loses control of the sleigh which explodes due to overheating of the mechanism causing her to fly out; thus she is presumed dead.

James is informed that the Willoughbys have been saved, and he and Pattern capture Mr. Grimshaw as he attempts to escape. Bonnie and Sylvia return to the Chase where they eat some food and afterwards change into clean dresses. Unfortunately some wolves infiltrate the household and begin to chase the girls through the manor. When they try to escape, in order to arrive at Simon's cave, Miss Slighcarp unexpectedly emerges from the back kitchen door. Incredibly she has survived the sleigh's explosion, but her once beautiful face has now become horribly disfigured by serious burns and her elegant clothes have become charred rags. She threatens to drown Sylvia in a basin and tries to stab Bonnie with kitchen knives, but she is bravely attacked back by Bonnie who pushes her into the stove and sets her dress on fire, causing her to flee the house shrieking in panic. Just after, Lord and Lady Willoughby return from their recuperation, having survived the sinking of the ship and being stranded on a tropical island. Slighcarp, exhausted, wounded and defeated, is devoured by wolves near the grounds.

A short time later, Grimshaw is arrested after trying to steal all the estate's silver, amazingly showing no resistance and saying joyously that it is a miracle. Lord Willoughby decides to give Aunt Jane the mansion's East Wing, so that she has a place to live and Sylvia does not have to leave her cousin behind.

When his son is kidnapped by a rival gang, Johnny teams up with his estranged father (Johnny's mother was murdered by his father's enemies) to rescue the kidnapped child.

Angela Whitaker (Hope Drown) is a young unknown who comes to Hollywood to become an actress, and brings her grandfather, Joel Whitaker (Luke Cosgrave). At the end of the first day, she has not found work, but her grandfather has.

Claire (Jean Seberg), a young Englishwoman, lives in Paris with her staid husband, Georges (François Périer), a government archivist, and their two small children. One day, while attending a fashion show mounted by her friend Madeleine (Micheline Presle), a couturière, Claire meets a lighthearted young Frenchman, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Cassel). Despite the fact that he is being kept by Madeleine, Claire responds to his advances and returns with him to his luxurious bachelor apartment. Before long she is visiting him five afternoons a week; evenings and weekends are reserved for Georges and the children. Madeleine, strong-willed and possessive, learns of the affair and decides to meet the situation directly by inviting Claire and Georges, as well as Antoine, to the same party. The desired effect is achieved when it becomes apparent that Claire is tiring of Antoine and has no intention of seeing him again. Only Georges, quiet and gentle, understands that nothing has really changed. It will not be long before Claire will once more embark on her quest for chance lovers.

In 626 during the Tang dynasty, Li Shimin, the Prince of Qin, assassinated two of his brothers, Li Jiancheng, the Crown Prince, and Li Yuanji, the Prince of Qi, in a palace coup historically known as the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Two months later, he ascended the throne in Chang'an and changed the era name to "Zhenguan" to mark the start of his reign. Shortly after he became emperor, Li Shimin had to deal with the threat posed by the aggressive Tujue in the north while consolidating power and solidifying his control over the Tang Empire. Under Li Shimin's rule, China flourished in various aspects and the Zhenguan era is considered one of the golden ages in Chinese history.

The protagonist, Nora, is a girl who lives in an apartment building of about 200 people in New York with her little brother Teddy and her parents. Although she has lived there all her life, she doesn't know all the residents' names so she asks everyone she meets what their name is and receives the moniker of 'Busybody'. One time Nora accidentally becomes a babysitter for a day and later she and Teddy prepare for their dad's birthday. Another day her grandparents visit and her grandfather talks about how he knew Jack from the beanstalk tale. Finally Nora arranges for a building party as a way to persuade one of the resident's daughters, who lives in Ohio, that New York is a safe and friendly place for her mother to live.

Ray is a former ice hockey player who is convicted of drug charges for smuggling drugs following his first game in the NHL. After he comes back to his Newfoundland home, his wife Lillian leaves to seek fame in Hollywood with another man. Ray is left with his daughters, high schooler Ruby and her 11-year-old sister Rose. Ray pursues a homosexual relationship with gym teacher James, while avoiding the advances of Jennifer. After Ruby catches her father with James, she explores her sexuality with newly arrived American student Will, her best friend Laura, and Ray's best friend Stuart. Stuart is a paraplegic, shot in a hunting accident by Ray (causing Ray to import the drugs to help Stuart make money). The drama examines the dynamic of the strained and uncertain relationships of all parties.

Drifting and down on his luck cowboy Ted Daniels captures a beautiful wild horse, names her Bess and teaches her a variety of tricks. Ted loses his ranch hand job from spending so much time with Bess. Ted thinks his luck will change by winning a large prize in a local rodeo, but the unscrupulous carnival owner, who wants Bess to appear in his show, has one of his stooges cover the horns of the steer Ted is to bulldog { wrestle] with slippery oil breaking Ted's leg in the process. Ted is laid up, and Bess comes to look for Ted. She causes damage, to a man's car when someone tries to catch her.

Having no money, Ted is forced to let Bess get sold at auction to pay for the damages. The traveling carnival owner has bought her and she is mistreated and forced into performing in the show. As Ted recovers he plans to reunite with Bess.

In Washington, D.C., Edgar and Alan Frog interrupt a half-vampire Senator who is killing a Congressman to finish his transformation. In the ensuing chaos, Alan is forced to drink vampire blood, which will make him a half-vampire.

Five years later, in San Cazador, California, Edgar faces eviction from his trailer and tries to raise funds by selling his collection of old comic books to his friend Zoe, who works at a local comics shop. While there, a famous blogger named Johnny Trash enters; Zoe explains that Johnny is there for a rave that's going on in the town.

Back at his trailer, Edgar is approached by Gwen Lieber, a writer of romantic vampire novels, whose brother Peter was kidnapped during a rave in Ibiza, Spain, and she suspects vampiric activity. She gives him a vial of a drug called "The Thirst" which is given to people at raves hosted by a person known as "DJ X"; he determines that it is vampire blood. Gwen offers him a large sum of money to rescue her brother, but he turns it down.

DJ X and his associates are transporting Peter—bound and drugged—in a small plane. DJ X and three others jump from the plane in flight, landing safely to meet Johnny Trash for a live interview. DJ X mauls Johnny afterward since the blogger had served his purpose in promoting the rave online.

Edgar visits Alan, who is now a half-vampire and satisfies his thirst for blood by feeding on animal blood acquired in his job as a taxidermist. Edgar tries to enlist Alan's aid in stopping DJ X from raising an army through his raves, but he refuses, having lost all hope that he can be saved and believing that the whole Alpha Vampire theory is just a "never-ending pyramid scheme."

Edgar resolves to take the job alone, remembering his youthful days with Alan and Sam Emerson. But Gwen introduces him to Lars Van Goetz, a former reality TV star hoping to use the mission to make him famous again; Edgar reluctantly accepts his help.

After a visit to the grave of Sam Emerson (whom Edgar was forced to kill when he turned into a vampire), in which Edgar returns to Sam the ''Batman'' #14 that Sam had boasted having when they met, Edgar finds that Alan has left him a book of vampire history to help in his mission. Edgar gives the book to Zoe to research. A vampire attacks her, but she and Edgar defeat it, and she explains what she has learned about a ritual sacrifice during a Blood Moon, such as the one that will occur the night of the rave.

Congressman Blake, now Edgar's weapons designer (for a fee) outfits Edgar and Zoe for battle. After fighting off an attack on Blake's house, they meet up with Gwen, Lars, and Claus, and set off for the island where the rave is taking place. Leaving Gwen behind for her safety, the remaining four go inside in search of Peter. Lars finds him, but thinking that the whole thing is staged, leaves Peter to rescue him at a more dramatic time. As they fight various vampires, Lars has his heart ripped out by one of them and Edgar is injured by Lily, but rejoins Gwen, Claus, and Zoe in returning to the building.

DJ X is distributing The Thirst to the crowd, and preparing to sacrifice Peter. Edgar takes on DJ X, and is narrowly saved by the timely arrival of Alan. The vampire hunters rally, and Edgar impales DJ X with a resin spike grenade (a weapon stolen from Area 51 by Congressman Blake) before he and Alan finish him off with swords through the heart.

To their surprise, the death of DJ X doesn't cause the half-vampires to revert. They discover that Peter was the real alpha vampire, whose power DJ X was attempting to extract (and that Gwen and Peter are actually lovers, not siblings). Gwen's rescue mission was also a ruse to bring Edgar to Peter, who wanted him to become his personal vampire hit-man, to keep other vampires under control. Peter kills Gwen instead of turning her like she wanted, and orders the other vampires to kill Edgar and the rest. Peter attempts to use his partial control over Alan against Edgar, but Edgar douses Peter with water which he simultaneously blesses into ''holy'' water, destroying Peter and returning everyone else to normal.

Later, as Alan enjoys getting his first suntan in years, Zoe and Edgar reflect on their adventure. Edgar wonders about her knowledge that vampires were real, which she dismisses as "a hunch". Edgar comments about something he's just read about female werewolves being able to transform at any time, and the film ends with Zoe's face as she becomes a werewolf.

The film begins with a chronicle of Hind Husseini's effort to establish an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Deir Yassin Massacre, and the establishment of the state of Israel. In Jerusalem in 1948, on her way to work, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) comes across 55 orphaned children in the street. She takes them home to give them food and shelter. Within six months, the number of children grows to almost 2,000, and the Dar Al-Tifel Institute is born.

Miral (Freida Pinto) is sent to the Institute by her father in 1978, at the age of 5 following her mother's death. Brought up safely inside the Institute's walls, she is naïve to the troubles that surround her. Then, at the age of 15, she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she is awakened to the reality of the Palestinian refugees. When she falls for Hani, a militant, she finds herself torn between the First Intifada of her people and Mama Hind's belief that education is the road to peace.

A group of explorers go hiking in the forests of northern California. They stumble upon an old mine and take a large amount of gold that they find. They do not know that the gold belonged to a miner named Jeremiah Stone (Vernon Wells), who died in the mine. He awakens from the dead and begins killing anyone who gets in the way of his gold.

The Geotech Company has set up a large Antarctic base to drill for oil. The facility is staffed by Dr. Monica Kelsey (Alexandra Kamp-Goreneveld), Nelson Schneider (Goetz Otto), and six workers. During a raging storm, a research team arrives by helicopter, forced to land due to an even worse storm approaching, sent by Geotech to investigate the death of a worker named Lenny (Robert Axelrod), the disappearance of workers Carl and Lippski, and mysterious tremors hitting the area, hoping to learn the cause of these events before the arrival of a United Nations investigation team who might shut down the base. The team's leader, Professor Ted Jacobson (David Millbern), has romantic ties to Dr. Kelsey. The rest of his team are four post-grad students: Arianna (Karen Nieci), Tom (Howard Halcomb), Update (David Lenneman), and Curtis (Allen Lee Haff). A giant black trilobite makes its appearance and attacks Dr. Kelsey. One by one, the rest get picked off by the monster.

The film centers around three families celebrating Sinterklaas in Amsterdam. The first one is a couple who just divorced. The second one is a family who has a teenage son going through puberty and who badly reacts to everything. In the third family they have problems celebrating the feast inside their own home.

A young man named Richard visits Beverly, a local prostitute, and runs into her boyfriend, a police officer named Ryan, on the way into Beverly's home. Richard and Beverly get into an argument, which ends with Richard accidentally shoving Beverly through a window, killing her. Richard cleans up the scene, evades Ryan when he returns from running errands, and hitchhikes to New York City after disposing of Beverly's body.

Richard acquires a room in a dingy motel, gets a job at a bottling company, befriends a neighboring drug dealer named Candice, and spies on Nancy, a prostitute who lives across from Candice. Intoxicated by what he felt during Beverly's death, Richard murders a woman named Lucy, torturing and humiliating her beforehand. Ryan, suspicious of Beverly's disappearance, heads to New York in search of her, enlisting the aid of the local police, and passing photographs of her around at clubs and bars. During the course of his investigation, Ryan spots Richard in a restaurant, and hears a broadcast announcing that Beverly's remains were uncovered. Concluding that Richard probably killed Beverly, Ryan finds out where he is staying, and heads there.

At the motel, Richard gets into a fight with Candice and kills her and her dog. Ryan finds Candice's corpse, and sees Richard at Nancy's through the window Richard broke when he threw the body of Candice's dog out it. Richard attacks Nancy, but she fights him off with the help of a straight razor, and a pair of pimps. Ryan happens upon the scene, grabs Richard, and throws him out a window to his death.

Journalist Matt Nash's (Dylan Walsh) investigations always get him in trouble. He is shot during his research in the drug scene and survives due to a bulletproof vest. The journal's editor-in-chief plans to fire him to preserve the good reputation of ''The Examiner''. She gives him one last chance and charges him with a seemingly harmless job of finding three missing environmental activists. This trio previously penetrated into the headquarters of the power company known as Saturn Energy and stole data on a secret project. Here, the three activists are discovered and killed by employees of the company under the leadership of the security chiefs Clemens (Tobin Bell).

Matt makes contact with the group and is given access to a secret entrance to the company's premises outside the city. There he discovers that the company is searching for an alternative energy source. A trial operation quickly acquires access to the grid of Los Angeles, explaining the blackouts which have been affecting the town. The technique, however, has one major drawback: the production of energy creates a tremendous amount of heat that must be dissipated. It is conducted on the premises in the ground. In the ground beneath where the site is located, however, a crack develops, which leads to an uncontrolled discharge of the heat. An employee of the company finds out that in this way the chances are increased for an earthquake in town. He wants to warn the public of the experiments, but dies in an explosion.

Meanwhile, Matt has managed to win the trust of Gabrielle St. John (Alison Eastwood), a manager of the company. With their help, he discovers the crimes of the three environmental activists. Preparations for a last experiment in the research facility are in full swing. For the first time, the plant will continue at full speed. However, this threatens a massive earthquake that could destroy the entire city. Matt and Gabrielle again give access to the research site. They manage to sabotage the plant and destroy it. The ex-minister, Clement, and his staff are arrested.

As described in a film magazine review, having submitted to a medical treatment which restores her youth and beauty using a rejuvenating glandular treatment and X-ray surgery, Madame Zatianny, formerly Mary Ogden of New York City, leaves Austria for the United States. Young playwright Lee Clavering meets the rejuvenated Mary and, taken by her perfect poise and serene beauty, falls in love with her. Janet Oglethorpe, an animated and precocious flapper, is also in love with Lee but he has not yet taken notice of her. Mary and Lee make plans to marry. One of Madame's former lovers, Prince Rohenhauer, arrives and convinces her of the folly of this match. In a final meeting, she makes a break with Clavering and returns to Austria. In the end, Lee discovers happiness with Janet as they ride away in a taxicab.

U.S. Army pilot Captain Colter Stevens wakes up on a Metra commuter train going into Chicago. Stevens is disoriented, as his last memory was of flying a mission in Afghanistan. However, to the world around him – including his friend Christina Warren and his reflection in the train's windows and mirrors – he appears to be a different man: a school teacher named Sean Fentress. As he expresses his confusion to Christina, the train explodes whilst passing by another train, killing everyone aboard.

Stevens abruptly awakens inside of a dimly lit cockpit. Communicating through a video screen, Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin verifies Stevens' identity and tells him of his mission to find the train bomber before sending him back to the moment he awoke on the train. Believing he is being tested in a simulation, Stevens finds the bomb in a vent inside the lavatory but is unable to identify the bomber, trying to defuse it before the train explodes again.

Stevens again reawakens in his capsule and after demanding to be briefed, learns that the train explosion actually happened and that it was merely the first attack of a suspected series. He is sent back yet again, eight minutes before the explosion, to identify the bomber. This time, he disembarks the train (with Christina) to follow a suspect. This turns out to be a dead-end, the train still explodes in the distance, and Stevens is killed by a passing train after falling onto the tracks whilst interrogating a suspect.

The capsule power supply malfunctions as Stevens reawakens. He claims to have saved Christina, but Dr. Rutledge tells him that she was saved only inside the "Source Code". Rutledge explains that the Source Code is an experimental machine that reconstructs the past using the dead passengers' residual collective memories of eight minutes before their deaths. Therefore, the only thing that matters is finding the bomber to prevent the coming second attack in Chicago.

On his next run-in, Stevens learns that he was reported as killed in action two months ago. He confronts Goodwin, who reveals that he is missing most of his body and is on life support and hooked up to neural sensors. The capsule and his healthy body are "manifestations" made by his mind to make sense of the environment. Stevens is angry at this forced imprisonment. Rutledge offers to terminate Stevens after the mission, and Stevens eventually accepts.

After numerous attempts, including being arrested by the train security for trying to obtain a weapon, Stevens identifies the bomber through a fallen wallet, a nihilistic domestic terrorist named Derek Frost. Stevens memorizes Frost's license and vehicle registration plates. He discovers a dirty bomb built inside a van owned by Frost, as Christina follows him and both are shot dead by Frost. Outside Source Code, he relays his knowledge to Goodwin, which helps the police arrest Frost and prevents the second attack. Stevens is congratulated for completing his mission. Rutledge secretly reneges on his deal to let Stevens die, as he is still the only candidate who can enter Source Code.

Being more sympathetic to his plight, Goodwin sends Stevens back one last time and promises to disconnect his life support after eight minutes. This time, he sets a date with Christina, defuses the bomb, apprehends Frost, and reports him to the police. He calls his father under the guise of a fellow soldier and reconciles with him, and sends Goodwin an email. After eight minutes, Goodwin terminates Stevens' life support.

As the world around him continues to progress beyond eight minutes, Stevens confirms his suspicion that Source Code is not merely a simulation, but rather a machine that allows him to create alternate timelines. Christina and he leave the train and go on a date. In the same (alternate) reality, Goodwin receives Stevens' message. He tells her of Source Code's true capability and asks her to help the alternate-reality version of him.

A killer who may be a vampire leaves her victims with smiles on their faces.

Manny (Jim Baker) coaches soccer for the fashionable Creighton Hall school, but is relieved of duty because he is "not a good match" for the school. He finds a job at a Catholic home for orphans, where he forms a new soccer team, with the help of one very good player, Pepe, who turns out to be a girl. Pepe is the sister of one of the orphans, who comes to the all-boy orphanage posing as a boy, because her former foster home was an abusive environment.

Along the way, Manny has incurred a gambling debt, his creditors begin to lean on him, and the boys find out. They set up a soccer game and stake the outcome against Manny's debt. If they win, then the debt shall be forgiven.

"A wild team of misfits think that they can make it big. What's a coach to do with a chronic nose-picker, a flatulent fielder, an out of control pitcher, a juvenile delinquent and the prettiest girl in the state? Turn this bunch of losers into a winning team! When their new coach enlists an unusual new teammate, it's a whole new ballgame as they band together to win their first championship, determined to prove that losers can be winners, too."

Television producer Karen Webber has built her career on her ability to create top-rated primetime television, but as house mates and crew start turning up dead on the network's hit show, ''XCU'', Karen and her cast of instant celebrities cannot possibly anticipate just how extreme their reality show is about to become.

After wrapping up their latest mystery, Velma gets a call from her mother asking she check on her younger sister Madelyn, who attends a college for magicians. The gang heads to the Whirlen Merlin Magic Academy, located in an old Irish castle. Once they reach the castle they meet the owner, Whirlen Merlin, along with his brother Marlon, who acts as cook and butler, and Crystal, Whirlen's former stage assistant. The gang learns a giant griffin has been scaring away the students and staff.

Later that evening, Madelyn, who has had a crush on Shaggy for years, takes him on a romantic walk to in the gardens and show him an ancient sun-dial. Madelyn explains the gryphon was meant to protect the school, but then the gryphon chases them from the garden. The rest of the students leave, so the gang starts taking classes themselves. Meanwhile, Calvin Curdles, a powerful ice-cream guru, continually offers to buy Whirlen's castle from him. The gang promises to investigate to see if Curdles is behind the Gryphon.

Velma and Daphne stumble on a secret passageway leading to the attic of the school, where they discover Alma Rumblebuns, the school's head maid, used to date Calvin Curdles. Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby discover the special effects room of the castle, where they are discovered by Ms. Rumblebuns and knock over some chemicals, creating a fog. Madelyn then finds a book about the ancient staff of O'Flannery, the original owner of the castle, which is said to control the gryphon. Even though Amos warns them the island where the staff rests is haunted by a Banshee, the gang travels to O'Flannery's crypt and recover the staff, but they are chased away by the Banshee and narrowly escape.

Afterwards, the gryphon quickly appears again. As the gang runs to the castle, Shaggy and Madelyn bump into Amos and misplace the staff with Amos' pitchfork. When Madelyn runs outside to recover the staff, she is kidnapped by the gryphon. Meanwhile, the gang finds out that Amos has been secretly working for Calvin Curdles to try to get Whirlen to sell the castle. While the gang goes to rescue Madelyn, Calvin tries to convince Whirlen to sign over the castle.

They get into the tower with the staff, but they are separated in the process when the gryphon attacks. Shaggy and Scooby are left alone while the others get help, and Shaggy discovers the staff is a key to the roost where they rescue Madelyn. But, their reunion is quickly cut short again when the gryphon attacks, but they are able to escape. Shaggy also throws the staff at the gryphon during the process, causing it to go out of control. Everybody else rushes outside including Curdles. The gryphon crashes to the ground, where they discover it is actually a giant puppet, controlled from a blimp hidden by a fog machine run by Whirlen's brother Marlon. He had discovered Lord O'Flannery had mechanical devices imitating a gryphon's beak and talons hidden in the Gryphon's Roost, hoping it would make everyone think a real gryphon lived there. Marlon fixed them, and used the devices to scare trespassers away. He was also behind the banshee, which was only a hologram.

Tired of doing all the real work but getting none of the credit, Marlon decided to use his puppets and illusions to become a famous magician himself, but he needed money to start and the only way was to get Whirlen to sell the castle. So, Marlon had his gryphon puppet scare everyone away. He apologizes for trying to make Whirlen fail, knowing how much the school meant to him, not wanting to take away his dream. Whirlen forgives Marlon, and all is well. Velma reveals Amos found Marlon rebuilding the Gryphon and told Curdles about it. Curdles reveals he wanted to buy the castle to win back Alma's heart.

Alma accepts him back and they become a couple again. The Merlin brothers decide to make Madelyn their apprentice and soon after Calvin Curdles sponsors the reopening of the Merlin Brothers' Academy of Magic, where Madelyn performs with Daphne Blake acting as her assistant.

Marge and Homer's plans for a romantic date night fall through when Homer is forced to stay longer than expected at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to fix a leak in one of the plant's nuclear processing pipes. Looking for a romantic activity after walking out of a movie starring Ben Affleck, they find an ice rink and decide to do some skating. However, they are unable to rent skates because it is curling night. They decide to try it and discover their innate talent for the sport, particularly Marge, who has years of experience sweeping floors. Agnes and Seymour Skinner notice and invite Marge and Homer to join their mixed-doubles team. It is announced that mixed-doubles has been added to the Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport, and the Skinner-Simpson team qualifies for the United States curling trials. Agnes cautions Marge not to let emotions get in the way of winning, relating how a fetal kick by an unborn Seymour foiled her chances at winning gold in the pole vault at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, even though in the episode The Principal and the Pauper, it is revealed that Seymour is not her biological son. At the trials, Marge's talented sweeping earns the team a win and a trip to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, at the trials, Lisa is given an Olympic mascot pin, which she attaches to her dress. She decides that it "looks lonely" and buys another, but her interest in the pins quickly spirals out of control. The Simpsons arrive in Vancouver, where Agnes insists that Homer be cut from the team. Marge refuses and insists she can compensate for his weak throws, but Homer accidentally overhears the exchange and feels terrible. Marge continues to perform superbly, but she injures her right shoulder while sweeping to secure a win in the semifinals. She is told that she will never curl again and that the American team must forfeit the gold-medal match to Sweden, leading her to briefly and hypocritically lash out at Homer. Lisa's pin collection grows, and when she runs out of money, she trades her pearl necklace to a vendor in exchange for a pin from the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. Bart discovers Lisa busking on a street corner, having relinquished her dress in favour of wearing her pins at all times, and offers to help her kick her pin-collecting addiction. Cutting the lower portion of Homer's face from his driver's license and making it into a pin, Bart creates "Fatov", a phony mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He trades the pin to the vendor in exchange for Lisa's necklace.

As Marge prepares to leave Vancouver, she reveals to Homer that she is left-handed, but has always used her right hand to avoid seeming unusual. She has become cross-dominant, with enough dexterity to change Maggie's diaper and dress her one-handed. Homer and Marge return to the rink just in time to stop Seymour from forfeiting the match and go on to defeat Sweden for the gold. Agnes softens her attitude of unyielding contempt toward her son after he breaks his broom and has to drop out, and Marge and Homer agree that they had a great date night.

A recent ex convict named Leo Grainer lives secluded on Fog Island with the daughter of his murdered wife. Seeking to learn who murdered her, and to exact revenge on those who framed him and destroyed his business, he invites his former associates to his creepy island mansion on the pretext he may share a hidden fortune with them.

Prior to their arrival he rigs the mansion with secret passages and a trap. Then, once his guests arrive, he gives each a clue, including his step daughter and butler. This successfully pits everyone against the others and plays on their greed. What then transpires is conflict, revealed mysteries, sudden death, and an unlikely resolution.

A tilted figure, consisting largely of right angles at the beginning, grows by accretion, with the addition of short straight lines and curves which sprout from the existing design. The figure vanishes and the process begins again with a new pattern, each cycle lasting one or two seconds. The complete figures are drawn in a vaguely Art Deco style and could be said to resemble any number of things, an ear, a harp, panpipes, a grand piano with trombones, and so on, only highly stylized. The tone is playful and hypnotic.

An adaption of the Dylan Thomas classic, ''A Child's Christmas in Wales'', and filmed in the small mining town of Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, has Owen Rhys reminiscing on Christmas-past (1983, 1986 and 1989). Every Christmas, Owen's uncle Huw (Steve Speirs), a successful and divorced man, his son, Maurice, and Uncle Gorwell (Paul Kaye) come to Owen's family house to stay. As we follow the family through the 1980s, the boys grow into teenagers, whilst Owen's father Geraint (Mark Lewis Jones) and his uncles seem to regress into childish behaviour and sibling rivalry. Geraint and his brothers bicker and undermine each other and Owen's mother Brenda (Ruth Jones) tries to stop everything falling to pieces. Despite all the petty rows and rivalries, eventually the members of the family learn to appreciate each other and realise Christmas wouldn't be the same without each other.

Edwina Nearly finds life difficult to handle. She is happy when she enters the painting of The Garden of Earthly Delights and meets Janus. But everything goes wrong when Janus decides to visit her world and gets out of the painting. There he becomes a monster, and it is Edwina's responsibility to lure him back into the Garden.

• 1986 — Thomás is born with his eyes closed, and he does not open them for several weeks following the birth. Julieta, his mother, is unconcerned, believing that when Thomás is ready and wants to open his eyes, he will. These events instill a strong belief in free will in young Thomás. Two weeks after his birth, Thomás opens his eyes, apparently to look directly at his five-year-old half-brother Francisco.
• 1992 — Julieta is a wife and a loving mother, working in a hospital emergency department. Her free-spirited youngest son, Thomás, is the product of her marriage to her second husband Alexandre. Pedro, her first husband and father of her eldest son Francisco, lives in Argentina. Pedro and Julieta remain good friends. During childhood, Francisco and Thomás are very close, perhaps too close according to Pedro, with whom they spend a Christmas holiday in Buenos Aires. Julieta is aware of their close relationship and tries to remain understanding. Not long later, Pedro dies.
• 2008 — Years later, when Francisco is 27 and Thomás 22, Julieta dies. The brothers become lovers and a love story ensues. Thomás is invited to live and train in Russia for a few years in preparation for the Olympics. Though it is the first time they will be apart, Thomás leaves. Francisco struggles without Thomás. He meets a woman in a club and though he tries to pursue a relationship with her, they both realize he is dedicated to someone else. Unable to be apart any longer, Francisco travels to Russia and the brothers happily reunite.

In 1890, Granny and Tweety are riding through the desert in their wagon, to the tune of "Oh! Susanna", when they are ambushed by one hundred Indians (who bear remarkable resemblance to Sylvester). They are forced to hole up in a fort, where Granny begins to shoot them down while Tweety counts ("Ten Little Indians"). On the tenth, one nearly takes Tweety, but is shot down just in time.

More attempts include an archer and a battering ram, both foiled. One archer almost drags Tweety out again ("Granny! Help! A Mohican got me!") but Granny surprises him with a bomb instead. The cats' attempts continue like this, all of them backfiring or being foiled; usually the cats are blown up or shot. In one instance, Chief Rain-In-The-P-P-Puss orders the actual Sylvester to sneak into the fort; Sylvester emerges later with the top of his head having been scalped off by Granny ("Ya got any more bright ideas?").

Finally, Granny and Tweety disguise themselves as a fellow Indian, and lead the cats into the powder house. When one asks for a match, they kindly oblige, and the powder house explodes, causing all the one hundred cats to erupt into the sky and then fall. Remarks Tweety: "Oh my goodness!" Tweety comments, "It's raining putty cats!"

Tweety stumbles into Sylvester's house looking for shelter and Sylvester hesitates, wondering if he saw a tweety bird in the same manner Tweety wonders if he saw a 'Putty Tat'. Sylvester snatches him inside but has to hide Tweety in a vase covered by books when Granny appears. While Hector remains bedridden, having injured himself while chasing Sylvester, the cat causes whatever diversion he can to stop Granny from spotting Tweety, making Granny give multiple doses of medicine to him. Despite the injury, Hector keeps getting in Sylvester's way from eating Tweety, saying he'll have to get him over his dead body. Sylvester tries to arrange that by dropping a refrigerator on top of Hector, but he miscalculates his aim and the fridge falls on him instead. Now, with Sylvester having injured himself from the refrigerator accident and being bedridden with Hector, Tweety spikes Hector's medicine resulting in Sylvester ingesting the disgusting stuff.

A vote in the United Nations is deadlocked. The deciding vote goes to the tiny, obscure European Republic of Concordia. Its president, known as the General (Peter Ustinov), abstains from voting. To remedy the issue, ambassadors from the United States and Soviet Union attempt to win the General's favor.

Juliet Moulsworth (Sandra Dee) and Igor Romanoff (John Gavin) meet at a party, not knowing that Juliet is the daughter of the American ambassador and Igor is the son of the Soviet ambassador. They instantly fall in love and spend the whole night talking. Before they part the next morning, they are distressed to discover each other's parentage.

Juliet's fiancé, Freddie, writes to say he's coming to visit her in Concordia. Panicked, she confesses to her parents that she's not in love with Freddie, but rather with Igor. Her parents are shocked and horrified. Meanwhile, Igor is informed by his parents that they have arranged a marriage for him and the prospective bride will soon arrive. Igor informs them that he has fallen in love with Juliet and they react in a similar manner as Juliet's parents.

Otto, an adviser to the General, fears that their small nation will be invaded should they continue to abstain from voting. Lacking any formal military, the two of them make an unconventional plan to save Concordia. They begin by intimidating the larger nations with a fake atomic bomb detonation. They follow this up by putting together a volunteer army out of patriotic civilians, complete with fake air raids and chaotic, nonsensical military exercises.

A Soviet spy informs the General that Igor will kill himself if he cannot be with Juliet. The General hurries to Igor and stops the young man by promising he will see his beloved within the hour. The General goes to Juliet, who tells him she can't be with Igor for the sake of her parents. The General counters that she must listen to her own heart's desires.

The General presides over a celebration of Concordia's history with the American and Soviet ambassadors and their wives in attendance. A seemingly fake marriage ceremony turns out to be a real one between Juliet and Igor, who have disguised themselves. They are wedded on the steps of a church by a Concordian priest.

The General asks the ambassadors if they are ready to surrender to the inevitability of love, which they refuse. The General pretends to order a firing squad on the parents, only to reveal that Concordia has never made nor purchased ammunition. Dancing in the streets ensues. Igor asks the General how they can thank him. The General replies he should be thanking them, as they've proven love cannot be defeated. He will go to the United Nations to report on Concordia's victory.

Joaquin Shannon (Barton MacLane), a fisherman, takes the blame for a crime to protect his brother-in-law Joe Fenderson (Edward Pawley), who died from injuries from a mugging. He is sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime. Joaquin asks Joe's sister and his girlfriend Jean Fenderson (Glenda Farrell) to wait for him, expecting to be paroled in one year for good behavior. However, in prison, he battles with Red Kincaid (Ward Bond). Joaquin's repeat altercation with Red causes him to fail his parole examination and his prison sentences are lengthened. Later, when Joaquin helps to stop a prison break which was led by Red, he is immediately released from prison.

Joaquin reunites with Jean. However, because of his criminal record and prison sentence, he is shunned and dismissed by employers. In a bar, he meets Soapy (Paul Hurst) a fellow ex-convict. Soapy convinces Joaquin to smuggle someone out of the country, who is actually Red and has escaped from prison. When Red and Soapy show up at the boat, they force Joaquin to navigate the boat. A dying Soapy who was shot by the police, tells Jean that Red killed her brother. After finding out the truth, Joaquin fights Red and knocks him out so he can be delivered to the police, hopeful his name will be cleared in the process.

Again on the eve of his wedding, Captain Hugh Drummond (John Howard) has more pressing concerns when he sets off from London for Spanish-Morocco, because his fiancée Phillis Clavering (Heather Angel) has seen Colonel Nielsen (H.B. Warner) from Scotland Yard being kidnapped by an international criminal gang. Their intent is to force him to reveal the secrets of the British Empire's latest military technology. With his fiancée (Heather Angel), chum 'Algy' (Reginald Denny), & valet 'Tenny' Tennyson (E.E. Clive) in tow, Bulldog outwits Scotland Yard's bureaucratic blundering, flies his own plane 1200 miles only to find more bureaucratic blundering by the local British Consul ordering him home without delay. Drummond and his friends aren't easy to get rid of, however; they soon mount a rescue plan, eventually liberating Colonel Nielsen and throwing the villainous ringleader to his own pet lions.

The game begins with Max, a young boy, arriving on an island and discovering a scepter among a pile of bones. After following a bull-like creature, he stumbles upon the village of the Wild Things, a group of fearsome looking monsters. The Wild Things attempt to eat Max, who cries "Be still!" causing them to jump back in fear and knock over the village. Impressed, they introduce themselves and invite Max to stay with them.

The game then goes through a series of events with Max helping out the Wild Things, or exploring the island with them, all the while investigating the appearance of strange black gunk and the "shadow creatures" emerging from it. Tensions rise in the group, however, causing some of the Wild Things to try to get rid of Max. But Max saves them from the shadow creatures and rescues them from Nowhere, a strange dimension accessed by portals on the island, causing the Wild Things to crown Max their king for his bravery. They throw a wild rumpus to celebrate.

Douglas, a bird-like Wild Thing, soon realizes that the moon is falling to Earth and will destroy the island. After a bid to find a new island fails, Carol, a third Wild Thing, proposes that they escape ''to'' the moon by building a tower to reach it. Upon its completion, the Wild Things and Max climb the tower, battling the shadow creatures and avoiding the rising gunk, and successfully reach the top. Max jumps and almost doesn't make it, but is rescued by the Wild Things.

As they celebrate in their new home, Max's scepter begins to shoot fireworks into the sky. The Bull, who decided to stay behind in Nowhere, sees this and smiles. He lies down happy in his new home, as the camera pans up to show the moon, back in the sky in its rightful place.

When cash strapped brothers Francis and Douglas discover their wealthy grandmother has bequeathed the family fortune to distant cousin Toni, a French maid, they immediately start plotting. When Toni visits, both men attempt to woo her, but when their efforts fail, they decide on murder as their likeliest option to acquire the money.

While waiting for their flight in a bar of an airport, the writer Donovan Miller tells the story of his best-seller to a stranger to kill time. In Salt Lake City; Violet Madison, Austin Walker, Emma Scarlett and Jared Roth are good friends. After going together to a bar, Jared comes wounded to Austin's apartment in the late night and confesses that he is gay and has just killed a man in his apartment. He asks his friends to help him to vanish with the body of the victim. The group agrees, and after many incidents, Violet stresses, jeopardizing the group. When Violet is found, having hanged herself in her house, many secrets are disclosed.

Ma and Pa Kettle have lived in a broken-down ramshackle farmhouse for twenty-five years in rural Cape Flattery, Washington. The Kettles' arch-nemesis, Birdie Hicks, organizes a town council meeting to condemn the Kettles' "garbage dump" farm. In order to receive a new tobacco pouch for entering a contest, Pa Kettle writes a slogan for the King Henry Tobacco Company.

During the council meeting to condemn the property, Alvin, the town's mailman, calls about a telegram declaring Pa Kettle the winner of the contest's grand prize of a new "house-of-the-future". Mayor Dwiggins is delighted and cancels the meeting in order to deliver the telegram personally to Pa. All of the council members arrive at Ma and Pa's farmhouse but are greeted by the 14 youngest Kettle children who thinking they are defending their home from condemnation, attack them with slingshots and toy guns.

The Kettles' oldest son Tom, on his way home after graduating from college, meets easterner Kim Parker on the train and shows her his plans to improve a chicken incubator to make it more affordable for farmers. Kim is a young writer full of theories on the advantages of modern living, but when Tom learns of his family's windfall, he objects to the characterization that his upbringing had been one of "abject" poverty.

The family move into their large house-of-the-future. After Pa suffers a sunburned face from a heat lamp while shaving, he alone moves back to their old house to further avoid such troublesome gadgets. The jealous Birdie Hicks accuses Pa of plagiarizing his prize-winning slogan from traveling salesman Billy Reed, who has a similar one on a calendar. The bad publicity threatens Tom's chances for financing his incubator.

When Pa is disqualified from winning the prize, Ma and the kids have to literally fight off authorities trying to evict them from the modern house while Kim digs up proof that Pa thought up the slogan himself. Billy explains that he got his slogan from Pa, not vice versa, and they keep the house. Tom gets financing to manufacture his improved chicken incubator and marries Kim. At the ceremony Pa receives a telegram advising him that he has won another slogan contest, this time winning a free trip to New York.

A new Sodor Search and Rescue Centre is being built for Harold the helicopter, Rocky the crane, and Captain, a new lifeboat. Jobi wood from Japan is needed in order to build it. All the engines want to help deliver the Jobi wood. Thomas the Tank Engine inadvertently insults Diesel for being a diesel engine, so Diesel tries to prove himself by taking the Jobi wood, resulting in a chase between him and Thomas, and all the Jobi wood being lost in the sea after Diesel almost falls off an unfinished bridge. Thomas saves Diesel and is rewarded with visiting the rescue centre on the mainland. Being told there is no room on the boat, Thomas asks to be carried on a raft behind the boat. However, along the way, the chain to the raft snaps and, after falling asleep, Thomas wakes up only to find himself landing on a nearby island, Misty Island.

Thomas explores the island and soon finds it to be inhabited by the "Logging Locos", consisting of a large engine named Ferdinand and two small twins, Bash and Dash, who were sent to the island after causing trouble on the mainland. As Thomas continues exploring the island, Sir Topham Hatt receives a call telling him Thomas is missing, prompting him, Harold and Captain to send out a search party to find him.

After seeing the entire island, Thomas discovers a logging station which the Logging Locos are running and learns that Misty Island is the only place other than Japan that grows Jobi wood. He and the others decide they want to go back to Sodor with some of the wood and use a tunnel that connects Misty Island to Sodor. However, as they are halfway through the tunnel, the tunnel caves in on both sides, causing them to get stuck. At the same time, the Logging Locos run out of oil. Thomas finds a hole in the ceiling of the cave which gives him an idea: he can puff smoke out through the hole and alert his friends of his location. The smoke soon alerts the rest of the engines of Thomas's location, convincing his best friend Percy and the garbage dump engine Whiff to go into the tunnel. Percy alerts Thomas of his presence, convincing Thomas he should break through the caved-in rocks himself. However, Whiff sternly corrects Thomas, saying he knows the tunnel more than he does. Thomas is soon convinced, allowing Percy and Whiff to break through. The three then haul the Logging Locos out of the tunnel and take them to be fixed up. However, Sir Topham Hatt, Edward, James, and Gordon have all sailed to Misty Island in order to find Thomas, so Thomas rushes back to Misty Island and finds them just in time. Once he does, the Logging Locos are all welcomed to Sodor and there is a big celebration for the opening of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre.

In a post-credits scene, Diesel 10, the main antagonist of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, watches the engines from above the rescue centre and vows that he will have revenge on Thomas for insulting Diesel, foreshadowing the events of the following film ''Day of the Diesels.''

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Kozue Hiyoki is visited in her dreams by a man who steals her heart- literally! Determined to find him and retrieve her stolen heart, Hiyoki enrolls in the S-Hall dormitories of St. Nazareth Academy, but quickly realizes that its residents are not at all like she expected... for starters, they are all guys.

The film begins with Lightfoot test flying across the Pacific Ocean. After he saves himself with a parachute, Lighfoot finds an alien who hatches into something strange. Shortly thereafter, the alien dies and Lighfoot is killed by a mysterious spider.

Months later, Loren Mercer is required to be the pilot of a medical expedition organized by Samuel Leon and assistant Susana Gabriel, after having received a native from an island who recently died from an unknown virus transmitted by a bite. The expedition is led by Levy Valentine, accompanied by soldiers Bear and Reyes, arachnologist Henry Capri, native guide Toe Boy and two natives. Once they reach the island, the plane begins to explode and they are forced to land on a nearby sea. However, after the ticks burrow into Reyes, Loren is also in trouble: she gets trapped in a hobbit hole and is pulled down by a trapdoor spider. Levy and Bear pull her up, and they suspect that she lost one of her boots.

Next morning, they reach the village. Bear settles in. But something is getting worse. Reyes tries to remove the ticks. Capri wants one of the ticks, but then, Bear shoots Reyes to death and then the bugs.

That night, Loren decides to investigate for herself when the group is suddenly attacked by a giant centipede, killing one of the natives. Loren then finds some of her brother's clothes and confesses to Valentine that she is still looking for her brother. However, Capri finds out that it is a major probelm. Valentine decides that they all will leave the island the next morning, although Loren and Capri do not agree to leave.

Next day, Valentine tells Loren he will help her find Lighfoot, once they get everyone off the island but Capri is not in the village. Bear is sent to the mountains with a native to find a radio signal for help. As they walk down the river, a wolf spider throws acid in the native's face, killing him. Capri finds the centipede dying. Then the giant spider shows up and grabs him. The rest of the group keep looking for Capri until they find the remains of a body stuck with a spider web in a tree, which turns out to be Lighfoot. Loren buries his remains and reports to whoever did this to her brother. Later, they find Capri trapped in a spider web and bitten by the spider so that his insides can feed her eggs. Capri asks himself to be killed by his followers and they do it so Susana stops suffering. The spider reaches them and Samuel flees while the others shoot the spider, but they end up running away. While doing so, Susana is trapped in spider webs, but Loren and Valentine help her by breaking the webs with Capri's liquid nitrogen. At the same time, Samuel is caught by the spider who kills him by melting his eyebrows with her acid.

The three enter a military bunker when they realize that Toe Boy has disappeared. With little ammunition, the spider attacks them through one of the windows. Valentine throws himself on the spider and attacks her with a sword, but the spider cuts him off with one of her fangs. Susan keeps losing her plan more and more. She thinks the spider is gone and opens the door. Then, the spider devours her. The spider tries to enter the room, but Loren and Valentine are able to tear off one of the legs by closing the door. Then they escape through a trapdoor that gives access to underground tunnels. As they go outside, they both fall asleep and Loren has another nightmare in which her brother turns into a tarantula. Next morning, Bear and Toe Boy find Loren and Valentine, and agree to kill the tarantula.

On the way to the spider's nest, Valentine decides to stay behind as he is affected by the venom. Loren, Bear, and Toe Boy arrive and find a tarantula changing her skin and breeding in a silk cocoon over a spider egg sac. Loren plans to knock the tarantula down and have Bear shoot her to death, but she awakens early and attacks Bear. As Loren is trapped in a spider web, Toe Boy throws a vial of black widow poison to her and hurting it. The spider chases Loren but upon stumbling, the spider traps her in her own web. When the spider is about to kill Valentine, he appears shooting at her while Toe Boy throws numerous darts. While the spider tries to flee, Loren manages to pull the spider web thread, causing her to fall off the ceiling on a stalagmite, killing her.

While Mercer, Valentine, Bear and Toe Boy walk the jungle, another tarantula watches them from an overhead cliff.

Randy Quaid plays a Zen taxi driver whose passenger is trying to dispose of his date's dead dog Jasper. The driver is respected by the peculiar groups he interests in the dog's corpse and effects, and the one-gloved heroine becomes more interested in him than in her date.

Setting

The story of ''Abyss of the Sacrifice'' takes place in an underground facility called . It is not clear why the facility was built and there is no longer anyone above the ground that knows of its existence.

Characters

There are five main characters in ''Abyss of the Sacrifice''. is a Japanese girl who is good at sports and was originally aiming to become a high jumper but due to an injury she received during a practice, she has given this up. is a Russian girl who appears before Miki covered in blood. is the daughter of a famous doctor and an honours student. She is familiar with some basics regarding medical treatment. is a very intelligent German girl and is skilled at cracking into computer systems. is a Slav who is able to see other people's pasts in her dreams.

Thanassis Trikorfos (Vengos) is a polite and compassionate electrical appliance dealer, who helps and serves worldwide, even when he himself is in difficulty. He hires the graceful Stella (Fonsou), who needs the money since her card player friend Alekos (Ploios) ends up betting away everything she earns.

Thanassis, who has been unhappy, becomes fascinated with Stella's shrewdness and good heart. He falls in love with her, and his happiness returns. Stella feels the same way, but has to conceal it for fear of her boyfriend's reaction.

When the kind and trusting Thanassis learns the woman he loves is already engaged, his wounded heart hardens and he becomes distant. From a gallant shop owner he becomes a shrewish, domineering and demanding merchant.

Meanwhile, two of his friends (Takis Miliadis and Giorgos Velentzas) are attempting to persuade him to cooperate with secular businesswoman Margaret Kerani (Ipsilandi), whose ultimate aim is to take over the shop.

Stella, who overhears the conversation and discovers the "good friends" preparing to set the trap for Thanassis, frustrates their plans at the last moment. Because of this behavior, her love for Thanassis is finally revealed.

The film blends comedy with emotional elements and ends happily.

This story is narrated by the story's main character, Homer P. Figg, an orphan in Maine living with his older brother Harold P. Figg under the cruel treatment of their mother's sister's husband, Squinton Leach. After Harold beats up Leach for abusing them for the time, that was the last straw and so Leach and a bunch of other guys draft Harold into the Union army illegally and Leach lies about his age saying he was 20 but in truth was only 17. Homer is thrown into a root cellar and starts thinking about how to save him. Homer escapes by making a tunnel and on a horse called Bob at night but gets intercepted by two bad guys named Stink and Smelt who forced him to investigate a suspected underground railroad person named Jebediah Brewster who owns a gemstone mine. Homer then ends up in his home and is treated well by the quaker Mr. Brewster who understands the situation Homer is in. Mr. Brewster then advised him to tell the truth, but instead Homer almost gets killed by lying but is saved by a fellow prisoner named Samuel Reed (Homer saved his life earlier by saying he was worth more alive). Homer and Reed return to the Brewsters and Reed leads the fugitive slaves back on their way to freedom. Mr. Brewster then gives Homer a young Methodist clergyman whose name is Reverend Webster B. Willow to act as his guardian. Unfortunately when they board a ship to find his brother, Mr. Willow is seduced by a lady and her brother tricks him to give them the money and Mr. Willow asks the steward to throw him into the cargo deck with a bunch of pigs. Once the ship docks, Homer is tormented by the crowd as a “pig-boy” until a man named Professor Fleabottom rescues him and invites him to join his medicine show as the amazing “Pig-Boy”, one night, Homer accidentally sees Professor Fleabottom handing a man on a black horse a leather satchel. While they are running away from a colonel who sent a squad after them but Fleabottom bribes them with silver coins but are still running when they come across a rogue balloon with a man inside yelling for help, Homer and another member of the show help but are nearly killed when a bunch of Union soldiers and a captain come to arrest them for treason. During the encounter, Homer discovers professor Fleabottom is actually a Rebel spy by the name of Reginald Robertson Crockett. Homer escapes being arrested in a balloon but crash lands into Confederate territory and is thrown into custody in a barn with a reporter. Homer then escapes again on the back of a stolen pony right through the battle of Gettysburg and then lands this time in Union territory. Homer meets Reverend Webster B. Willow who saw his brother and informs Homer that Harold wasn't in the fighting yet and will presumably arrive tomorrow in the Maine regiment. Homer waits to intercept the Maine regiment and finds them but discovers that Harold was sent to the rear as a mutineer for slamming his officer into the mud, just like what he did to Leach because he didn't say anything nice. The general in charge, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain sends all men available, including the prisoners to reinforce the hill they are guarding. Harold goes to war but Homer begs him not to go but he goes anyway, Homer is right in the fighting as a “support unit” but then shoots Harold in the leg accidentally ( it was actually a shard of rock of a rock Homer somehow hit with a revolver that hit Harold's leg) both Homer and Harold live when the battle is over and spend the 2 years after that working on farms and small factories for money (oh yeah, Prof. Fleabottom was KIA when he bribed the guards with his gold buttons and set out for war) Mr. Brewster then located them in their wandering and was made their legal guardian and named them his kin and heirs, unfortunately, Harold lost his leg due from an infection and Mr. Brewster asks Homer to write the story.

A stage version debuted at the Kennedy Center in 2012.

When the Griffin family decide to go for a hike in the local woods, Chris and Stewie get lost while chasing after a floating butterfly. As a result, they go missing for several days, with only limited supplies. As Lois is at her wits' end, she decides to see a psychic medium who assures her of the children's safety and well-being. Eventually the boys are found and rescued by Bruce, and returned to their home in Quahog which only furthers Lois' psychic obsession to the annoyance of a skeptical Brian. In defiance of Lois' assertion that extrasensory perception exists, Brian has Peter perform a cold reading on a passerby in the park in order to demonstrate that psychic readings are purely an act, and not real. However, Peter is struck by his success as a medium, convincing himself that he actually has extrasensory perception, and decides to capitalize on it by opening his own psychic readings business and performing in front of a live audience. Soon after, Peter's bluff is finally called when Joe requests his help in a frantic search for a missing person who has been strapped to a bomb. Peter stalls for time during the search (as he just wants to feel the victim's daughter's breasts), eventually resulting in a gruesome death when the bomb explodes, prompting Peter to flatly admit that he actually has no psychic powers whatsoever.

Meanwhile, during the time when Chris and Stewie were lost in the woods, Chris promises to ask out Ellen, a classmate of his who has Down syndrome. After their rescue, Stewie helps prepare Chris for a date by dressing him up, and instructing him on how to act through a prolonged musical number. During the date, however, Ellen turns out to be pushy and demanding, and the relationship quickly goes wrong. Chris admits that he had bought into a stereotype of people with Down syndrome being different, and she breaks up with him. Stewie consoles Chris by congratulating him for demonstrating courage, in asking her out on a date, as he had promised to do.

The film begins with a man running for his life through the forest, obviously in a panic he hides behind a tree, trying to spot what was following him. As he looks around, something comes up from behind him, throwing him up into the air and back down again. The man screams as something begins eating him, and as the man dies, the camera turns to a pair of dog tags that are slowly overtaken by a small river of blood.

John Hickman (Travis Aaron Wade) and his girlfriend Brooks (Tina Huang) are a pair of San Francisco residents who invite their friends, self-proclaimed tough guy and wannabe soldier Ben (Howard Johnson Jr.), his close friend Wayne (Rajiv Shah), as well as chef Quincy (Trevor Bullock) and his dog Wolfgang, to a weekend of hunting, drinking and fun and camping near John's uncle's cabin, in a remote mountain area. Ben and Wayne can't stand Brooks, and the feeling is mutual — they spend much of the trip getting on each other's nerves. En route, they stop at a gas station/general store for directions and encounter a van of hippie women and their cult leader, the Hippie Stranger, (Bryonn Bain) who live in a commune in the woods, presumably raising emus for meat. From the store owner, they learn about a local legend called "The Ripper," a legendary killer hog which supposedly weighs several thousand pounds. After obtaining some supplies and directions, they make their way to the cabin, passing through a hillbilly homestead belonging to the Tibbs clan, all of whom drop what they are doing to watch them pass by. One young boy is perched in a tree, and drops a dead animal carcass on the hood of their car as they pass underneath. When they get to John's uncle's cabin, they find it has been vandalized and is uninhabitable, though John maintains the rednecks down the road weren't responsible. The group pitches their tents and camps outside.

The next morning, they encounter methamphetamine-addicted hillbilly brothers Jake (Jason Foster) and Ricky Tibbs, (Nick Tagas) cousins of John's, who are interested in joining them on a wild hog hunt. An old feud still exists between John and Ricky, who is a Gulf War veteran showing signs of drug addiction and mental illness. His brother Jake appears to be the only person maintaining control and keeping Ricky from flying off the handle. Quincy, who is eager to get to know them, is obviously inexperienced in any sort of outdoor activities, and Ricky accuses Wolfgang of being a "pet" not a "dog" seeming equally oblivious to hunting as well. When Jake Tibbs sets up some targets to see how well the others can shoot, boastful Ben makes a fool of himself, not being able to hit the target even once, while Wayne hits it not more than a couple of times. Brooks outshoots both men, to their surprise and chagrin — she impresses Tibbs by hitting the target with every shot.

As the group makes their trip through the woods, they encounter an area called the Big Wallow, and, using a piglet call as a lure, they manage to attract several pigs to their location. One of them rams into Wayne's leg at full charge giving him a compound fracture at the kneecap and incapacitating him. Wolfgang goes charging after the boars while Brooks shows off her marksmanship talents and kills one of them. Ricky calls Jake to come look at something disturbing he's observed while skinning and dressing the hog they killed. Though adult-sized, it has no protective armor over its shoulders — it is not a full grown animal as they had thought, but a piglet — a very, very big piglet. Just as everyone is beginning to wonder about the truth of the Ripper legend, Quincy reappears, very excited. While looking for his dog Wolfgang, he had encountered a large crop of marijuana plants and now leads the others to it, leaving Brooks with Wayne.

A conflict emerges when John objects to Jake and Ricky taking the plants for profit, as they are growing on his property and he wants no part of it. There is also a strange and disturbing sign posted near the plants, which leads John to think that the hippies that he thought were raising emus are actually growing pot instead. During the ensuing argument, Ricky snaps, and holds John at bay with a crossbow. John and Jake Tibbs are trying to gain control of the situation, when Ben arrives on the scene, thinks Ricky is about to kill John, and shoots him. Jake flees to tell his clan, and the others return to Wayne and Brooks. Quincy and Ben start making their way back to the cabin while Brooks and John leave Wayne to find something to make a stretcher with so they can carry him out of there and get back to the cabin and their vehicle. Shortly after their departure, Wayne is attacked by something we don't see, and manages to fire off a single round. Brooks and John circle back and find him missing, as well as Ricky's body.

Meanwhile, Ben and Quincy make their way back to the cabin. They find Wolfgang's mutilated body, and determine he was killed by the Tibbs clan. Ricky and Jake's clan make their appearance, Ben manages to kill his pursuer and escape, but Quincy is knocked out of the vehicle he was attempting to escape in, and is executed by a single gunshot to the back of the head. At the same time, John and Brooks run into the mysterious Hippie Stranger as they hide in the forest; he is carrying a cattle prod, and tells them that he is looking for an escaped animal, and that they can contact the police from his commune. He helps them beat off an attack by the murderous Tibbs clan, and several hillbillies are killed. In the meantime, Ben has found the commune, where he is given drugs by several beautiful hippie women, and led into an enormous, muddy pen. He encounters a dying Wayne, who says that something has been eating him. Ben turns in shock as something approaches him from behind, and screams.

The remaining Tibbs clan members have reached the woods around the commune. They are stalked and killed, one by one, by the murderous hippie women — all except one man, who is seized by something else — something horrifying that we don't see. Brooks and John arrive at the commune with the Hippie Stranger. When John questions why Ben's equipment is there, but not Ben himself, they force him into a cell while the leader takes Brooks out into the pen. At last, we are shown what has been attacking people throughout the movie — it is the legendary Ripper, who is carrying the remains of one of the redneck clan in his mouth. Meanwhile, Jake makes his way into the commune, and is confronted by some of the women. He shoots a couple of them, and forces one of the women to let him into John's cell. As Jake sees the Ripper out in the pen and freezes in shock, the hippie woman he brought with him attacks, stabbing him in the eye with her boar's tooth necklace before John kills her. Jake dies from his wounds while the Hippie Stranger prepares to sacrifice Brooks to the boar, whom he and his followers have for some bizarre reason been worshiping and feeding unwary people to. Brooks gets a hold of the Stranger's cattle prod and pokes him with it, causing him to cry out, attracting the Ripper's attention. The creature eviscerates him, and Brooks remains as quiet as possible as John forces his way from the cell. Using a crossbow, he fires an arrow up under the boar's jaw, killing it. As Brooks and John make their escape, they come face to face with a young, wild member of the Tibbs clan — the feral little fellow who was sitting in a tree at the beginning of the movie.

Lauralee Curtis is introduced to a Navy lieutenant, pilot Sam "Stony" Gilchrist, at her 20th-birthday party. It is love at first sight. Two days later, they are husband and wife.

Stony's next base will be in Honolulu, Hawaii, but at the last minute, he receives orders to drop everything and fly to Washington, D.C. He kisses his new bride goodbye and she boards a ship to Honolulu by herself. On board, Lauralee encounters an admiral's daughter, Rosalind Furness, who treats her coldly. The admiral explains that everyone had assumed Rosalind would be the one to marry Stony.

By the time the ship reaches port, Rosalind has made it abundantly clear to Lauralee that she is standing by in case the marriage does not work out. Lauralee becomes lonely in Honolulu until she runs into an old friend, Greg, and begins socializing with him.

Complications ensue until Lauralee ultimately believes she must leave Stony because she is harmful to his career. When she and Greg are aboard a sailboat, Stony buzzes them in his plane and ends up in a military courtroom, his career at risk. Rosalind gloats that now Stony can be hers, but he goes after Lauralee and all ends well.

Maisie hides aboard a West African steamer after she discovers that she cannot pay her hotel tab. She winds up in a hospital on a rubber plantation, which she must save from a native attack.

Maisie Ravier, a fast-talking showgirl with a heart of gold, is stranded in an African village when she slips out of her hotel window to beat her bill, and stows away on a Congo riverboat in hopes of reaching another town where a job awaits her. On board, she meets the boat's only other passenger, Dr. Michael Shane, a doctor-turned-rubber planter, and the ship's captain Finch, who offers her the dubious privilege of sharing his cabin. When the boat blows a boiler, Maisie and Shane find refuge at a rubber company's medical station manned by Dr. John McWade, the doctor who succeeded Shane, and McWade's wife Kay. At the station, Shane denounces his former bosses at the rubber company for their indifference to the health of the natives, and he urges McWade to leave the shelter of his laboratory and make contact with the natives. Kay, who is lonely and homesick, is on the verge of succumbing to Shane's charms when Maisie intervenes to save the McWades' marriage. After John falls gravely ill, Maisie intercedes once again to save his life by persuading Shane to perform an emergency appendectomy. Soon afterward, all their lives are threatened when the witch doctors incite the natives to rebel. The fast-thinking Maisie quells the uprising by donning her sequined dress and performing a series of magic tricks, which are highlighted by a rain storm that proves her "power" to the natives. Having fallen in love with Maisie, Shane then agrees to take over the medical station with her at his side. Thus McWade and Kay are free to return to America to begin life anew.

Bill Baker (Bill Williams) has recently returned from war service as an aerial gunner in the Pacific where he had been hospitalized for mental illness. On his way to New York he meets a group of new characters on the train: painting artist Vickie North (Barbara Hale) and her brother Jamie (Lanny Rees), plus Louie (Sam Levene), an ex-convict. Louie mistakes Bill for a fellow gangster when he says he has "just got out" and offers him to come work for his gangster boss, Tiny McBride (Nestor Paiva). Bill talks to Louie about his numerous dizzy spells and his severe case of hypochondria. Later on the train, Bill is accidentally knocked unconscious when a case falls down from a shelf onto his head.

Bill wakes up again in a hospital in New York. When he hears two doctors speak about the fatal heart condition of the patient, he mistakenly believes it is him they are talking about, and that he only has two weeks left to live.

With nothing to lose, Bill decides to get a little excitement. He finds Tiny's place and try to get the gangsters to fight him, but they see no reason to, so instead he goes to a nearby bridge to jump off it. Because of his severe vertigo, he is unable to jump, but gets dizzy. Vickie happens to pass by and convinces him to come down. Bill is smitten by Vickie and kisses her, but is knocked unconscious again by a truck driver who thinks he is harassing the girl. This time he wakes up in Vickie's apartment in the Village. Bill sees Vickie's paintings on the walls and encourages her to sell them. She puts them on display at an exhibit, but they fail to attract enough attention, even though both Bill and another man smitten by Vickie, Phil Bright (Dan Tobin), do their best. Discouraged Vickie gives up, but lacks the money to go back home to Wisconsin. Phil asks Vickie to marry him, but she rejects him.

Bill goes to Tiny and asks him for a loan of $5000 in exchange for making him sole beneficiary on his life insurance policy. He also tells Tiny about his heart condition. Tiny refuses, since the insurance money would be paid in small amounts over several years. Instead he suggests Bill get another policy from another agent, which will give the beneficiary $100,000 if Bill dies. Bill reluctantly agrees. Phil, who is an insurance salesman, gets the commission, promised to get his share of the money.

To make Vickie happy, Bill gets Louie to play the part of a faux art dealer and buy some of her paintings for the money he received from Tiny. The sale makes Vickie decide to stay in New York after all. Plagued by bad conscience, Bill tells Vickie about his deception, and she realizes she should go back to Wisconsin after all. She wants Bill to come with her, but he declines without explaining further even though he is in love with her, believing that he is dying. She is hurt by his rejection.

Tiny grows tired of waiting for Bill to die, and arranges a boxing fight between Bill and Smoky, one of his enormous goons. Bill, still believing he has nothing to lose, wins the fight, to Tiny's surprise and dismay. Further attempts by Tiny to exhaust Bill to death fail, and Bill is forced into examination by a doctor. The truth about Bill's health is revealed, and he is brought before Tiny to have his future decided. It turns out Tiny has put Vickie's paintings on his walls and likes them immensely, as they make his customers at the bar buy more drinks.

Vickie and Jamie, who have received a letter from Bill explaining that he is dying, have followed Bill to the bar. When Vickie learns about Tiny's use of her paintings she steals them back and rushes to the train station. Bill runs after Vickie, but is once more knocked unconscious when she hits him in the head with her paintings case. He wakes up in the hospital and immediately proposes to her. After learning that Tiny will make her the beneficiary in Bill's insurance policy if she marries Bill, she accepts the proposal and they seal the deal with a kiss on their way back to the train station from the hospital.

When Homer is outraged by the family's high electricity bill, they attend an alternate energy expo and purchase a wind turbine. At first the turbine produces an excess of electricity which the electric company leeches, so Homer decides the family will live off the grid so the company can't use "their" electricity. They soon discover that they have no electricity when there is no wind. Homer tries to power the turbine with fans plugged into Ned Flanders' house, but Ned angrily disconnects them. One evening Bart is manually turning the turbine so Lisa can watch ''House'', and when he prays for wind, a severe storm blows through town. The next morning Lisa and Bart bike through town to survey the damage and discover a beached blue whale.

Lisa immediately bonds with the whale and names her Bluella. She appeals to her parents for help returning Bluella to the sea, but Marge fears Lisa will be let down because the outcome for beached whales is usually poor. Still, Homer rallies the townspeople and they unsuccessfully attempt to move Bluella. As night falls, Lisa decides to stay with Bluella and starts reading her excerpts from the poem "The World Below the Brine" from the poetry collection "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. She dozes off and awakes to the Marines rescuing Bluella with helicopters. Bluella happily swims away but when she leaps into the northern lights (a reference to the animation of Respighi's ''Pines of Rome'' in Disney's Fantasia 2000), Lisa awakes, realizes she was dreaming and discovers Bluella has died.

Homer tries to comfort a heartbroken Lisa, while Bart and Milhouse, who plan to poke Bluella with a stick, return to the beach and discover the police are going to blow up the whale carcass, as it cannot stay on the beach. The results are disastrous and blubber is everywhere, prompting the townspeople to use Bluella's remains for products such as corsets and perfume. Lisa sadly walks through town, where every squeaky noise reminds her of Bluella. She winds up at the beach, where she spots two whale calves — presumed to be Bluella's offspring — surrounded by sharks. Homer suddenly appears with a boat (which he had apparently offered to test drive) and a harpoon and they rush to the rescue, only to be stopped by two eco-activists, who caution Lisa that being an eco-activist means supporting all forms of life (including sharks but excluding cockroaches). Lisa agrees and stops Homer from shooting the sharks, but he inadvertently falls overboard. The eco-activists advise Homer to hit the sharks on the nose with a steel pail, which will either cause them to retreat or make the sharks devour Homer faster. When the eco-activists throw the pail to Homer, it strikes him in the head causing him to bleed and even more sharks arrive and circle Homer. Fortunately, the whale calves' father appears and rescues the young whales and Homer, driving the sharks away. In the end, the Simpson family watches the three whales swim out to sea, confident that they will thrive. Homer assumes that the whale will marry a "sexy lady octopus", and that a "little whale-upus is on the way!" Marge then suggests that they draw pictures of that tonight. Over the ending credits, the song "La Mer" plays while the pictures the Simpsons drew are shown.

Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey. After spending two years detained in a British immigration detention centre, Little Bee is illegally released after a fellow refugee performs sexual favours for a detention officer. She travels to the home of Sarah and her husband Andrew, whom she met two years previously on a beach in the Niger Delta. Sarah is initially unaware of Little Bee's presence, until Andrew, haunted by guilt of their shared past, commits suicide. Little Bee reveals herself to Sarah on the day of Andrew's funeral, and helps her to care for her four-year-old son Charlie.

Through a mutual reflection on their past, it is revealed that Sarah and Andrew were on holiday at the time of their meeting with Little Bee. The trip was an attempt to salvage their marriage after Andrew discovered Sarah had been unfaithful to him, embarking on an affair with Home Office employee Lawrence Osborn. While walking on the beach one morning, they were approached by a then 14-year-old Little Bee, and her older sister Nkiruka. The girls were being pursued by soldiers who had burned down their village and intended for there to be no witnesses left alive. The soldiers arrived and murdered a guard from the O'Rourkes' hotel, but offered to spare the lives of the girls if Andrew would amputate his own middle finger with a machete. Afraid, and believing the soldiers would murder the girls anyway, Andrew refused, but Sarah complied in his place. The soldiers took both girls away, leaving the couple in doubt as to whether the soldiers would leave one girl alive in response, as they promised.

Little Bee explains that although Nkiruka was gang raped, murdered, and cannibalised by the soldiers, she was allowed to escape, and stowed away in the cargo hold of a ship bound for England. Sarah allows Little Bee to stay with her, intent on helping her become a legal British citizen. Lawrence, who is still involved with Sarah, disapproves of her actions and contemplates turning Little Bee in to the police. When he informs Little Bee that he is considering this, she responds that allowing her to stay would be what is best for Sarah, so if Lawrence turns her in, Little Bee will get revenge by telling his wife Linda about his affair. The two reach an uneasy truce. After spending several days together, Sarah, Lawrence, Little Bee and Charlie take a trip to the park. Charlie goes missing, and Little Bee calls the police while Sarah searches for him. Although he is quickly found, the police become suspicious of Little Bee, and discover that she is in the country illegally.

Little Bee is detained and quickly deported back to Nigeria, where she believes she will be killed. Lawrence uses his Home Office connections to track Little Bee's deportation details, and Sarah and Charlie are able to accompany her back home. Sarah believes that Little Bee will be safe as long as she is present, and together they begin collecting stories for a book Andrew had begun, and which Sarah intends to finish on his behalf, about the atrocities committed in the Nigerian oil conflict. During a trip to the same beach where they first encountered one another, soldiers arrive to take Little Bee away. Despite being captured, Little Bee is not dispirited, and instead is ultimately hopeful at the sight of Charlie playing happily with a group of Nigerian children.

During the late Ming dynasty, the imperial court is plagued by corruption and the reigning emperor is incompetent. The Embroidered Uniform Guard (''jinyiwei'') consists of orphans trained in cruel, clandestine combat since childhood and they serve as the Ming government's secret service. Qinglong, a ''jinyiwei'' commander, is given a mechanical box of 14 blades to help him in his duties. Jia Jingzhong, an imperial eunuch close to the emperor, secretly plots a rebellion with the emperor's uncle, Prince Qing, who has been exiled after an unsuccessful rebellion.

Jia Jingzhong orders Qinglong to retrieve a safe box in the possession of the imperial councillor, Zhao Shenyang, whom he accuses of planning a revolt; Qinglong is told that the box contains proof of the councillor's treason. However, Qinglong soon discovers that the box actually contains the Imperial Seal, a symbol of the emperor's authority, which Jia Jingzhong needs to legitimise Prince Qing's authority. Qinglong is betrayed by his fellow ''jinyiwei'' and his brother-in-arms, Xuanwu, who has secretly pledged allegiance to Jia Jingzhong. Prince Qing's adoptive daughter, Tuo-Tuo, a deadly warrior, arrives to lend her assistance on receiving news of Qinglong's escape. Qinglong, now a fugitive and unable to leave the city until his wounds heal, finds his way to the Justice Security Service, a private security company whose fortunes are dwindling. The owner eagerly accepts Qinglong's offer to pay him handsomely for safe passage in hopes of revitalising his business. By coincidence, the owner's daughter, Qiao Hua, is engaged to be married, and the security service hides Qinglong within her wedding carriage as a means of getting past the checkpoints and leaving the city.

When another group of ''jinyiwei'' arrives to arrest Qinglong, he fights and kills them but unknowingly reveals his identity as a former ''jinyiwei'' himself. Fearing more trouble than they bargained for, the owner offers to return Qinglong's money and asks to be left in peace. However, Qinglong is determined to fulfil his duty to the emperor so he takes Qiao Hua as a hostage. The pair arrive at Yanmen Pass, where Qinglong hopes to gather information. He discovers that his enemies intend to sell three provinces to fund their cause. While Qinglong investigates and plots his next move, the duo encounters the Heaven's Eagles Gang, a group of bandits led by the self-proclaimed "Judge of the Desert". The leader is a strong warrior who fights Qinglong, proving that they are evenly matched. Qinglong proposes an alliance to raid the outpost at Yanmen Pass; the gang will get their full cut of the booty while Qinglong gets to satisfy his personal objectives. Standing in Qinglong's way are Jia Jingzhong's henchmen and his former ''jinyiwei'', who have come to broker a deal with the gang. Before the raid is executed, Jia Jingzhong is betrayed and killed by Xuanwu, who intends to directly serve under Prince Qing.

Qinglong and the Heaven's Eagles Gang successfully raid the outpost and kill most of the soldiers. Qinglong overcomes Xuanwu in combat, but the latter escapes by yielding the Imperial Seal. Tuo-Tuo kidnaps Qiao Hua and demands the seal in return for freeing her. Qiao Hua is doubtful that Qinglong will make the trade, but Qinglong gives up the seal. However, he also makes it clear that he intends to take Qiao Hua to her fiancé. Duty-bound to recover the seal, Qinglong leaves Qiao Hua. Qinglong fights Tuo-Tuo at a tavern and he witnesses her striptease tactic. Qinglong reunites with the Justice Security Service and they catch up with Qinglong, offering to assist with their superior knowledge of the roads. Separately, the Judge of the Desert realises the importance of the Seal and leaves his gang to pursue the seal on his own.

Intercepting Tuo-Tuo, Xuanwu and Prince Qing's men arrive at the ruins of the ancient Sky Wolves City. Qinglong draws Tuo-Tuo into chasing a disguised Qiao Hua. Subsequently, Xuanwu and Prince Qing's men are split up and lured into an ambush set by the Justice Security Service and are defeated by Qinglong and the service. Xuanwu plays on Qinglong's guilt and mercy to escape execution but then attempts to kill Qinglong when his back is turned, forcing his hand. Tuo-Tuo eventually catches up with Qiao Hua and tells her Qinglong set her up to die for him, but the Judge of the Desert intervenes. Realizing he is no match for Tuo-Tuo, the Judge sacrifices himself in combat to enable Qiao Hua to escape. After reuniting with Qinglong, he gives the seal to her and instructs her to bring it to the authorities to alert them of Prince Qing's conspiracy. Qiao Hua tells Qinglong she has declined her wedding proposal, suggesting she wants to be with Qinglong, but he believes he is likely to die; he tells her they will meet again if she rings a bell bracelet he had previously given her. Qinglong and Tuo-Tuo duel to the death in an abandoned temple. The fight intensifies and Tuo-Tuo strips down to her last robe. After Tuo-Tuo stabs Qinglong, Qinglong grabs hold of Tuo-Tuo and uses his box of 14 blades to kill both Tuo-Tuo and himself.

In the aftermath, Prince Qing's rebellion fails. He mourns Tuo-Tuo's death and commits suicide before being brought to trial. Qiao Hua's father passes away and she inherits the Justice Security Service. During her travels, she frequently detours along the desert roads to remember her adventures with Qinglong. On one such foray, while looking across the desert with her spyglass and ringing her bell, she sees a man who appears much like Qinglong in the distance.

Cuddy rises early in the morning to find Lucas is not in her bed. She quickly goes about her morning of tending to a sick Rachel as she tries to get ready. The nanny Marina arrives to deal with the baby, and Cuddy is about to leave for work when Lucas arrives after an all-night stakeout. Although she's late, stressed, and tired, she agrees to a morning quickie. Lucas "finishes" before she does and so now Cuddy is late, stressed, tired, and frustrated.

When Cuddy arrives at the hospital, she rushes to deal with a problem in the pharmacy. Then she goes to check into the O.R., where Dr. Hourani, mid-surgery, complains that House had bribed the plant to turn up the air conditioner to hurry him up so House's diagnostic team could use the O.R., and subsequently, he threatens to file a charge if it harms his patient's well-being.

Cuddy arrives late to her meeting with insurance executive Eli Morgan, and presents the hospital's final offer. Eli rejects it and Cuddy plays hardball by claiming to terminate their contract with his company. She gives him until 3 p.m. to accept her offer.

Cuddy goes into the hospital board meeting and gives them the news that she does not have a contract with the insurance company. The board members are unhappy, but she defends her decision. She is confident that Eli will give in, but it is made clear that she will be fired if her plan fails.

When a doctor does not show up for clinic duty, Cuddy fills in. She deals with a cancer patient whose oncologist will not give him a prescription for breast milk, which he is sure has cancer-fighting qualities, so that he can get his reimbursement. Cuddy refuses, and the patient walks out calling her a bitch. When finished with this unpleasant encounter, Nurse Regina tells Cuddy that the vascular surgeon called in a replacement with no privileges.

A lawyer waiting in Cuddy's office alerts her that he is suing the hospital and Chase because of Chase's unauthorized reattachment of his client's thumb. Cuddy checks in with Chase, who says that, although his patient wanted the cheapest option, he performed the reattachment surgery anyway, noting that the thumb is a vital digit, and the patient, being a carpenter, would have been worse off without it.

Cuddy confronts Gail, the pharmacy technician who was stealing the ephedrine to lose weight. She apologizes for forging pharmaceutical orders and begs for a second chance. Cuddy does not report the crime to the DEA, but fires Gail.

At lunchtime, Cuddy asks Wilson for his advice on the insurance company, and Wilson suggests she consult House, who is, according to Wilson, the "master manipulator who always gets what he wants." She brings her salad back to her office but House is there. He wants to treat his cancer patient with malaria because he claims it is the cheapest way to deliver hypothermia.

Lucas visits Cuddy at the hospital and lets her know that Rachel does not have a fever. Cuddy goes to a restaurant where the CEO of the insurance company is having lunch. She appeals to him about PPH's proposal and she threatens to defame his greed in front of the press. The CEO does not budge.

The hospital's pharmacist lets Cuddy know that pharm tech Gail had stolen ten cases of ephedrine. Cuddy realizes that this was not about losing some weight. Eli comes to Cuddy's office on orders from the CEO, who has agreed to an eight percent increase. She demands the twelve she asked for, but Eli says they will never agree to such a preposterous number. He suggests she take the deal on the table.

Cuddy sits in a stairwell alone to think. When she emerges, House is waiting at the door. Cuddy finally asks House's advice about taking the insurance company's reply with eight percent. He questions why she would put her job on the line to prove a point.

Cuddy sees that it is now three o'clock, the deadline she gave to the insurance company. There is still no counter offer. She addresses the gathered hospital board members and doctors about terminating the contract. PPH will no longer accept patients from the insurance company. The room fills with buzz.

Foreman announces that they have a liver match for their patient. Yet House does not want to use Dr. Hourani for the surgery. House wants Chase to do it in order to prove to the doubting Dr. Thomas that Chase was his department's best surgeon. Cuddy interrupts House's massage and orders him to get his department under control.

Cuddy tries to rationalize with the lawyer and his client with the reattached thumb. She proposes that if they drop the lawsuit, the hospital will resubmit the claim and pay half his deductible. The man says he cannot pay. He thinks he would be in better shape without his thumb and its medical bills. Cuddy explains that her doctors do good work and deserve to be paid. The lawyer threatens to go to court. Cuddy refuses to back down and retaliates by threatening that the hospital would counter-sue and get paid, even if it means taking the man's house.

Cuddy gets paged to the pre-op area where Foreman and Thirteen are trying to break up a fistfight between Chase and Dr. Thomas. She makes them stop and summons them to her office, but she deals with the duplicitous pharm tech first. Gail is no longer the sobbing victim. Gail is prepared to lie to get out of her crime.

Exasperated, Cuddy is sitting in her car in the parking lot when House comes. Cuddy confesses that she thought the insurance company was the one who was bluffing. House knows she will not quit because the hospital matters to her. He also says he thinks Gail is a sociopath, and that he had said nothing about it to Cuddy because he thought she might come in handy one day, which gives Cuddy an idea.

Cuddy appeals to Gail to admit the truth. Gail calls her an idiot, and says that she began stealing six months after she was hired. Cuddy takes the flower that was sitting on her desk and hands it to Nurse Regina. She explains that Lucas gave her the hidden microphone inside of it, and instructs Regina to pass the recording of Gail's admission to the DEA. With one victory today, Cuddy goes to turn in her resignation to the board.

Marina finally calls to tell Cuddy that Rachel is better, causing her to miss the elevator. The insurance representative arrives, but this time he gives a shocked Cuddy her twelve percent increase from the insurance company with congratulations, which makes her shout with joy.

As Cuddy packs up for the night, she sees a check on her desk. The thumb replacement patient has delivered the first installment of his payment for the surgery. Cuddy rips up the check with a smile. The final cut shows Cuddy lying in bed with Rachel and Lucas, apparently reflecting a moment of peace in her busy day. Suddenly, Cuddy's pager starts to beep.

Convinced that his fiancee (Brittany Murphy) is cheating on him, a man (Danny Pino) follows her to a hotel and calls his best friend (Mike Vogel) to help him avoid a calamity.

Despite a dark secret, 14-year-old Jessika (Elisa Schlott) fights to keep her broken family together. When Jessika's father (Michael Lott) loses his job, their family life becomes an impossible struggle. While her parents try to repair their already off-balance relationship and her sister Caro (Sina Tkotsch) becomes increasingly obsessed with boys, Jessika is left to her own devices. The lack of communication between the parents and their incapability to manage their off kilter situation, culminates in a horrifying event, that Jessika is forced to witness. In the face of her parents delusional denial, Jessica begins to fall into a deep self-destructive depression. To save herself from her family's dark abyss, and despite her parents continuous attempts to hold her back, Jessika decides to take her future into her own hands and takes a very courageous step….

Walter Vanangamudi (Vishal) and Kumbudren Saamy (Arya) are half-brothers who constantly fight and try to outdo each other. Both brothers are petty thieves and get encouragement from their respective mothers. Walter's mother Maryamma (Ambika) encourages her son to steal and continue their "family tradition". However, Walter, an effeminate aspiring actor, is rather interested in arts than committing crimes.

The Zamindar, Thirthapathi (G. M. Kumar), referred to as "Highness" by the community, takes an affinity towards Saamy and Walter and treats them as his own family. He constantly encourages Walter to take up acting seriously and be friendly towards his brother. Walter is smitten by Police Constable Baby (Janani Iyer), from whom he attempts to steal after being dared by his brother to prove himself. She finds him completely amusing and eventually falls for him. He returns several stolen goods from his home and from Saamy to rescue her from being dismissed and goes to great lengths to impress her. Saamy falls for a college student named Thenmozhi (Madhu Shalini), who is initially intimidated by his rough ways but eventually reciprocates his love.

One day, a police inspector (Chevvalai Rasu) who had insulted Thirthapathi is tracked down and punished by Saamy and Walter. While Walter takes the police truck and dumps it in the forest, Saamy is caught by the police inspector. He acts like he swallowed a blade so that he can see Thenmozhi once before going to jail. He is rushed to the hospital; on the way, he does see her and fools the entire police force, although Baby is quite suspicious. Saamy tries to bribe the doctor to lie, but she tells the police constable, who only pleads with him but later gives up and releases him. Actor Suriya attends a school function in the town to promote educational awareness through his Agaram Foundation. Just as he is about to leave, Thirthapathi requests him to stay and witness Walter's acting skills, who shows off his depictions of the nine emotions (Navarasas) and impresses everyone, especially Saamy, who is moved to tears by his performance. During drunken revelries later, Saamy reveals to Thirthapathi that he actually does love his brother, and that all the anger and hate is just an act.

Meanwhile, Thirthapathi exposes the illegal activities of a cattle smuggler (R. K.). The smuggler loses his animal farm and is taken into custody by the police. Saamy brings Thenmozhi to Thirthapathi's house to introduce them to each other. Unfortunately, Walter recognizes Thenmozhi as Thirthapathi's enemy's daughter, although Saamy was unaware of this. When Thirthapathi tells him to break up with her, Saamy refuses and attacks him verbally. He tells him that he would not understand, having no family of his own, and that no one loves him. An angered Thirthapathi throws out Saamy. Walter defends his brother and is also thrown out. Thirthapathi gets extremely drunk.

Later that evening, both brothers make up with Thirthapathi and invite him to their home. Thirthapathi even willingly signs over his land to Thenmozhi's father, who has been trying to get a hold of it. He also organizes their marriage. A few days later, the smuggler returns, kidnaps Thirthapathi, strips him naked in the rain and flogs him into unconsciousness before hanging him to death from a tree. Walter and Saamy are devastated. While Saamy fails in his attempt to take revenge, getting flogged and injured severely, Walter manages to bash up the smuggler and his men. During Thirthapathi's cremation, we see that the smuggler has been tied down under the platform carrying Thirthapathi's body. He is burnt alive along with Thirthapathi's body, while both brothers dance madly.

Freddy and Fredericka are a British royal couple similar to Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. The two are sent to America on a comic adventure to fulfill a quest to achieve Freddy's destiny.

Sara invites her ex-husbands and their new families to celebrate Christmas with her and her husband Janne. Sara has always wanted to have a baby with Janne, and at the dinner table she reveals the news: she's pregnant. The only problem is that Janne had a vasectomy two years ago, without Sara knowing it. The secret starts to spread among the guests, and in no time everyone knows but Sara. The party heads for a complete disaster. Who's the real father?

A trio of escaped criminals hide out in a woman's home as they wait to catch a ferry.

Act 1

It is Ramadan. Daoud comes home and talks with his brother Abdullah. Soldiers of unknown background have abducted their younger sister Noor. Daoud is angry and blames Americans for this and most of the world's other woes. Abduallah urges calm and compassion. Ali returns and recounts the abduction of Noor and his own detention. Aggressive soldiers break into the house to search it, then leave. About Noor, Abduallah proposes consulting a Sufi sheikh. At the same time, Ali recommends he use his connections in a government ministry, and Daoud implies an act of violence would be the best response.

Act 2

Scene One

In search of Noor, Abduallah consults a Sufi sheikh and Ali speaks with a government minister. Neither approach produces results.

Scene Two

Auntie Fatima, Noor's aunt and mother of Noor's finance Rahman, expresses concern that in detention Noor's "honor" may have been violated and has come to call off the engagement. The three brothers defend Noor and try to point out she loves Rahman and that love itself should triumph, and their father goes to talk to his sister Fatima. To bring back Noor, Abduallah prays, while Daoud blames "the Crusaders" and urges violence; they disagree about the true nature of Islam. Noor returns. She is strong and wise, and brings peace to the three brothers' disagreements.

Two best friends with dreams of becoming professional wrestlers start wrestling in underground backyard events.

Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes), and Karen (Megan Mullally) are celebrating Will's (Eric McCormack) birthday at a restaurant. As a present, Grace gives Will a gift certificate from a psychic. During the dinner, their waiter Lenny (Robert Romanus) is rude to them, particularly to Grace. She complains to the manager which ultimately leads to the dismissal of Lenny. Guilty of the result, Grace hires Lenny as her new office assistant, much to the displeasure of Karen, her other assistant.

Meanwhile, Will visits Psychic Sue (Camryn Manheim) at her home. Psychic Sue begins Will's reading which leads her to tell him that she is sensing a "trip", not for him, but intended for someone close to him, and that she is "getting" China. Will is puzzled to hear that a "strawberry blond hair woman, with brown eyes" still loves him, and he reveals to Psychic Sue that he is gay. Will tells Grace of what occurred with Psychic Sue, which leads to Grace "tripping" over the steps in the kitchen, and her saying "I just broke my grandmother's China." Will reacts to what Psychic Sue told him. He also learns that his parents send him a package containing photos of his deceased dog, Daisy, who had "thick coat of strawberry blond hair." Will revisits Psychic Sue with the intention of knowing about his future love life. She tells Will that the man he will end up with is named "Jack". Will tells Grace about his return visit to Psychic Sue and how he will end up with someone named "Jack". Will is frightened of the idea that he and his friend Jack, also gay, will end up together. Will finally tells Jack what the psychic said, which horrifies Jack, but Will and Jack realize they are meant to stay together, just in the non-romantic relationship they have always had.

At Grace Adler Designs, Lenny promises Grace clients, but instead he has clients whom he sells cannabis to. Grace discovers what Lenny is doing, and fires him for taking advantage of her. Meanwhile, Jack carries a Cher doll, an adoration he has for the singer. He begins to annoy his friends with the doll, mainly having a booster seat for the doll at a restaurant. At the same restaurant, Jack encounters Cher, who tells him it is strange that he talks to her doll. Jack, however, believes that Cher is a drag queen. Annoyed, Cher starts to leave, but returns to sing "If I could turn back time" to convince him that she is indeed Cher. He does not believe it, which leads Cher to slap him and finally Jack realizing that it is Cher.

A support group takes a van to visit a 33-year-old man named Geirr who was in a car accident that made him a paraplegic two years prior. Geirr is paralyzed and impotent from the waist down and gets around with assistance from his wife, a motorized stair climber, and a wheelchair. He tells his loving and devoted wife, Ingvild, how terrible his life is and is drenched in bitterness, spending his time drinking booze, smoking marijuana, and watching films based on the Vietnam War.

In an attempt to get her husband to look more favorably on his life and to save their marriage, Ingvild signs Geirr up for a positivity group meeting. All the members of the group have different disabilities, and with the help of an enthusiastic group leader Tori (who has no disability) they are forbidden to say anything negative and encourage each other to see things more positively. The group includes Marta, who is a quadriplegic as a result of a climbing accident; Gard, Marta's self-absorbed boyfriend who feels guilty for accidentally causing the climbing accident; Asbjørn, a stroke victim full of suppressed anger; Lillemor, an old divorced woman who complains often.

Tori does her best to get Geirr to appreciate his life. The rest of the group helps her by offering sympathy and encouragement. Tori tells Geirr to focus on solutions and not problems, while Geirr rebels. With irreverence he promotes the view that there are no solutions at all. Eventually he turns the group to his side by having them acknowledge and revel in their problems, dropping the facade of positive thinking and happiness.

As Geirr gradually takes control of the group he initiates arguments about who is the worst off with the most serious problems, and who is malingerering or does not belong. After dramatic emotional breakdowns, the group members discover solidarity and emotional release by being honest and dropping the facade they have built around themselves. They become familiar with each other, they become friends, and they learn the art of thinking negatively.

The main character, Sintel, is attacked while traveling through a wintry mountainside. After defeating her attacker and taking his spear, she finds refuge in a shaman's hut. He asks her why she is traveling, and she confesses that she is looking for a dragon, leading into a flashback. Sintel was a homeless loner, looking for food when she discovered an injured baby dragon. She nursed him back to health and named him Scales, and the two quickly formed an emotional bond. One day, while Scales was flying, he was captured by an adult dragon. Determined to get him back, she began the long and dangerous journey that led her to the shaman's hut.

Sintel is ready to give up when the shaman tells her that they are in dragon lands, showing her the glyph on her attacker's spear as proof. She finds the tree pictured on the spear, and near it a cave with an adult dragon and his baby. The baby runs away upon seeing Sintel, and the adult dragon attacks. After a brief battle the adult dragon pins Sintel to the ground, but freezes when he recognizes her scent. Sintel takes advantage of this momentary pause and stabs the dragon in the heart. As she is about to land the killing blow, she notices the scar on his wing is exactly the same as her old friend's. Sintel discovers in a moment of horror that she has just killed Scales.

Scales bleeds out rapidly, and Sintel stares in shock at her reflection in a pool of blood. It is revealed that she is significantly older than she has appeared throughout the film. She has much gray hair, worn and wrinkled skin, and several scars on her body. The long search for Scales had lasted many years, and she had never realized that Scales would have grown up. Her single-minded quest to get back her friend, and to take revenge on the large dragon who took Scales away, contributed to her mistaking Scales for the small dragon. The cave begins to collapse as Scales gives his last breath, and Sintel runs for the entrance.

After mourning over the friend she killed, Sintel leaves, heartbroken. Scales' baby, having nowhere else to go, follows her.

The sequel picks up shortly after the end of ''Daemon''. Sobol's distributed AI has already infiltrated the computer systems of numerous companies and governments. Many companies have surrendered, either out of fear of annihilation or because they have been converted to the fairer and more efficient system using a kind of government by algorithm. While the Daemon is a technological creation, much of the work is carried out by human beings, compelled by the Daemon to change the world, according to the vision of Matthew Sobol.

Connected by the "Darknet", the human followers, using Sobol's game engine (for his award-winning game "The Gate") as a base, have created their own ranking system and economy. Online identities mimic an MMORPG, with operatives doing tasks to gain levels and gaining access to new technologies and help from the Daemon in an effort to advance their communities. Numerous towns have slowly joined the Daemon's network as a means to improve their own situations and their society as a whole.

The rest of the world believes the Daemon is still a hoax, due to the efforts of the US government (and its allies) to appear to the general public that they are still in charge. In truth, the American political and economic system is collapsing, with the price of fuel and the unemployment rates both skyrocketing.

As with the first book, the interweaving stories follows specific characters:

'''Detective Sebeck''', now acting as an unwilling Daemon operative, has been sent on a "quest" by the avatar of the late Matthew Sobol, one in which will to determine the role of freedom to the human race. Using special glasses to see online Darknet items and threads, Sebeck is joined by a Daemon operative, Laney Price, and he soon learns that his quest is being monitored by the entire Darknet community.

Sebeck begins his quest meeting another operative named Riley, who introduces him to the newly growing Daemon communities, dubbed Holons, which are based on being self-sufficient, using natural energy sources and technologies, and avoiding the military-industrial complex opposed to the type of freedom that the Daemon communities want. Riley teaches Sebeck how to navigate the Darknet and to use it to his advantage. With Laney in tow, Sebeck journeys around the country, always witnessing important events in the history of the Daemon. Sebeck reunites with Jon in a town called Greely, Iowa.

It is one of several Midwestern towns chosen by the elite powers for invasion and destruction. Sebeck's Darknet quest thread returns, and he and Laney follow it through enemy lines, only to discover that it is a trap laid by the Major, who has developed a means of infiltrating the Daemon mainframe and make slight alterations. After being bound and interrogated by the Major, who offers to give him his former life back as a detective, husband, and father in return for his cooperation and information, Sebeck refuses. As he and Laney are taken to be executed via a wood chipper, Loki arrives with a pack of Razorbacks, killing their captors, and Moseley arrives to rescue him and Price. Reuniting with other Darknet faction members, Sebeck participates in the attack on the Sky Ranch that results in the destruction of the corporate monopoly and the Daemon research team.

After the fighting, Sebeck resumes his quest and travels with Laney, Jon Ross, and Natalie Phillips to Morgan's Point Cemetery in Texas. The 3D avatar of Mathew Sobol reveals his intentions and desires for a world in which all are equal. Having seen both sides and the war that followed Sebeck makes the choice that the Daemon is not a threat and allows the world now forming to exist. Then, Sebeck is rewarded with an online message from his son Chris, who forgives him for all that has happened, and Sebeck happily heads home to be reunited with his family.

'''Jon Ross''', fearing both the established authority and the actions of people like Loki, has joined the Daemon community to help shape it into a thing for good. He travels to China to recruit an old friend (and former spy) Shen Liang, but Liang refuses to believe that the Daemon network is real. Using Daemon technology that cloaks his image on CCTV cameras, Ross escapes before he can be taken into custody. Ross attempts to convince Natalie Phillips to join the Daemon community, but she rebuffs him. Ross then heads to Greely, meeting Hank Fossen, awaiting Sebeck's approach. The reunion is short-lived when they learn that Greely is surrounded by private security forces.

Ross joins several other townsfolk to defend Greely, but they are outnumbered and outmatched by the heavy weapons and armored fighting vehicles of the private security forces. They are almost killed, but the virtual Darknet avatar of Roy Merritt, a Level 200 champion, rescues them and defeats the private security forces with airborne laser drones after they refuse to surrender. Worried that Natalie will be in danger from Loki's machines during his impending attack on Sky Ranch, he travels there to give her a Darknet Amulet of Protection. After the battle is won, he and Natalie join Sebeck in the last leg of his quest, preparing for a life together.

At the funeral for Roy Merritt, '''NSA Agent Natalie Philips''' is approached by Loki who informs her that the Daemon operatives attending are there to honor his memory. Merritt has become a folk hero of the Darknet, known as "The Burning Man" by the Darknet users, who respect him for his tenacity. Loki tries to show her that she is working for the wrong side, but instead, she attempts to warn the authorities. Loki, in response, attacks a number of funeral attendants but only members of the private military contractor employed by the Major, Korr Security International.

Following the funeral, Phillips is made a scapegoat and relieved of her duties at the NSA. Ross attempts to convince her to join the Daemon community, but she refuses. Phillips has a plan to stop the government from taking control of the Daemon by destroying it. To that effect, Phillips allows herself to be recruited by the Major and a man named General Johnston. Flown to the Sky Ranch, the remaining base of operations for the ani-Daemon forces, Phillips is informed of their plan to seize control of the Daemon in a worldwide operation code, named Exorcist. After reading over a detailed report of Operation Exorcist, Phillips is highly suspicious of the relatively simple exploit in the Daemon's code that is described.

With the defeat of the General's offensive against the Daemon communities, Phillips is reunited with Ross, and together, they realize that Johnston's true plan is to allow most of the world's corporations to be destroyed by the Daemon (while protecting their own assets) and using the inevitable chaos to seize control of key facilities around the globe and declare a new world order with them in control. The General has no real use for Phillips other than to testify to the world the orthodox details of how the Daemon was supposedly defeated from the bogus report that she was given after the operation itself was over. However, they soon learn that Sobol had intentionally left fake errors in the Daemon's code and that the Daemon was many steps ahead of the private corporations, broadcasting their attempt to take over the world to the public and eliminating the personal wealth of everyone in charge. Declaring her love for Ross, together, they head off with Sebeck to witness him finish his quest and prepare for their future together.

'''Brian Gragg''' ("Loki Stormbringer") is the most powerful known human Daemon operative in existence, a Level 56 Sorcerer. Working with only his personal contingent of Razorbacks along with advanced weapons and armor, he scours America looking for the Major. Though he is well known, his rankings is low for his antisocial behavior and his rude, spiteful disposition. Heinrich Boerner, the 3D avatar of the Nazi soldier Gragg defeated to gain the attention of the Daemon in the first place, offers to become his ally because of Loki's extremely high power level, offering to commit any act or execute any order upon the conditions of the said order being met, including taking revenge for Loki if he were to be killed. Loki quickly accepts this offer.

Loki's first attempt to kill the Major fails when the Major escapes across water, where he is safe from Loki's machines, but eventually, Loki gains a lead that allows him to track the Major to a roadside motel. After using his Razorbacks, AutoM8s, and 'Angel Teeth' (guided spikes dropped from above) to kill the private security team guarding the Motel, he enters to find not the Major but an attractive girl, being held hostage. She claims that she is a low-level Daemon operative captured on a mission to deliver a valuable Darknet power ring. When Loki puts the ring on in an attempt to steal it, the ring injects Loki with a paralytic serum; he kills the girl with a blast of lightning before falling to the ground. Before falling unconscious, he sees several more men enter the room and destroy his Razorbacks, which he is unable to control, and he is finally captured by the Major.

Brought to a stable, Loki is stripped nude and tortured by the Major and removed from the Daemon's network. All biometric markers are cut off including his tongue, eyes and finger tips. However, it is later revealed that he was eventually rescued by the avatar of Boerner and implanted with cybernetic eyes, fingers, and a hypersonic speech module. He rescues Sebeck from being killed and then uses his Darknet power to dispatch an enormous army AutoM8's and Razorbacks to level Sky Ranch, hellbent on killing the Major.

After defeating the perimeter guard, his brutal assault on everyone at the Sky Ranch (including civilians) incurs the ire of the entire Daemon community. After being a large amount of negative ratings, the avatar of Roy Merritt arrives and attempts to reason with him to stop the killing, but when he refuses, Merritt uses his power to demote Loki to just level 10. Emotionally ruined and with all of his power taken away, Loki collapses, but his fellow Daemon members reach out to help him.

'''Hank Fossen''' is a third-generation farmer from Greely, who is recruited into the Daemon network by his daughter Jenna. Fighting a nuisance lawsuit against a company Halperin Organix, which has been illegally planting seeds on his property to create patent violations, Hank learns of Jenna's participation with a suspicious group in town. Jenna reveals the concept of the Daemon to Hank and promises that Halperin Organix's lawsuit will be dismissed now that they have gained "level 4 legal protection."

An assault on their farm, by hired mercenaries, is thwarted by Ross and other Daemon operatives, but upon learning about the impending assault on Greely, Hank sends Jenna and his wife to a predetermined shelter and then tries to help make a stand with Ross and the local Sheriff. Hank is shot and killed in the assault, but his sacrifice is not in vain. Using a community-created 3D avatar of Roy Merritt to coordinate a counterattack, the holon of Greely is able to defeat the assault force.

'''The Major''' is now the most wanted man in the Daemon community for his numerous crimes including the murder of Roy Merritt. An old hand at suppressing third worlds, the Major continues to make plans against the Daemon. He ruminates about his past as a heavy for the big corporations, killing people who have threatened their exploitation of foreign countries. He escapes an attempt on his life by Loki, but the experience makes the Major realize that he may not win this war.

In battling the Daemon, the government has been forced into a difficult alliance with private corporations employing the Major, giving rise to private armies who use the cover of night and corporate propaganda to create a state of fear. Intensifying his efforts the Major has dispatched foreign bought mercenaries and uses the corporate media to lie to the general public.

Developing a way to penetrate the Darknet by recruiting homeless teenagers, he eventually ambushes Loki taking him prisoner. He tortures Loki both for revenge and so that the Major can steal his identity within the Darknet. He later heads the Midwestern offensive from the Sky Ranch while simultaneously capturing Sebeck. After a speech in which he notes that the general population needs to be controlled by a ruling class, he orders Sebeck to be killed to keep the cover story of his past "execution".

After his plans collapse, the Major hides in a secret bomb shelter at Sky Ranch and awaits a chance to escape. Ten days after the defeat of his forces, the Major heads above ground now using Loki's stolen identity, only to discover that he is surrounded by both Razorbacks and the 3D avatar of Boerner.

The book ends with his inevitable death and the start of a new world.

A surreal excursion into a young man's subconscious as he searches for the words to a tune that his mother may have sung to him as a child. The dreamlike images culminate in a scene of a girl's naked body covered with calligraphic characters.

Baghdad in the year 809. The city is ruled by the Caliph, Haroun-al-Rashid, to whom the beautiful and spiritual Scheherazade has been promised. Ambassadors of Charlemagne arrive in Baghdad to ask the Caliph for free access to the Christian holy sites. Among these envoys from the west is the knight Renaud Villecroix, who falls in love with her. The grand vizier, enemy of the Caliph, ambushes a traveling party and takes Scheherazade prisoner, threatening to cut off her head. Renaud saves her and flees into the desert with her.

A man who dislikes stable work environments has been away for too many years when he finds out that his wife had divorced him and is planning to remarry. He comes home to confront her, trying to persuade her not to get married, aided by their daughter, who loves him despite his wandering ways. The couple finds out they still have feelings for each other but must decide how best to handle the contradiction of their lifestyles.

The show revolves around Lauren, who is trying to find her mom, her step-mom, her bossy sister, her aging grandmother, and her boyfriend.

A man whose wife has deserted him winds up saving a beautiful girl from the clutches of a murderous bandit on a Nicaraguan coffee plantation.

Aeneas leads escaped survivors of the Trojan War to new land in Italy. Based on Virgil's ''The Aeneid''.

Pixxi De La Chasse is a spoiled, self-centered celebutante heiress of a wealthy Los Angeles family. After countless tabloid scandals, her parents disinherit her, and tell her she must find a real job in order to regain her part of the fortune. When her car is repossessed, a member of her entourage suggests she get a job as a repossessor, a booming industry among widespread credit collapse.

She is immediately successful at her new job, to such an extent that the veterans are threatened. Gainfully employed, she tries to reconcile with her family, only to find they have given her part of the inheritance to charity. Out of revenge, she asks co-worker Lola to hack their credit and leave her family destitute and homeless.

Pixxi notices a wanted poster promising a $1,000,000 reward for the successful return of an antique train. She finds the train as it is departing with several prominent figures on a supposed tour of a proposed energy pipeline. Pixxi talks her way onto the train, and the hosts, intrigued by Pixxi's celebrity stature, oblige.

As the tour proceeds, the hosts reveal themselves to be eco-terrorists. The caboose of the train contains six nuclear bombs left over from the Cold War, which the terrorists threaten to use to destroy Los Angeles unless the sport of golf is banned nationwide and all members of the federal government become vegan. Pixxi, at various points, manages to escape for long enough to place calls to her co-workers and members of the military. She is asked to put the train on another track, but cannot from within the train. She calls her co-worker Arizona Gray and asks him to reach the switch. He arrives just in time, but collapses before throwing the lever.

Pixxi's call to Gray is picked up by Rogers, her father's manservant. Rogers, now homeless with Pixxi's family, insists that Pixxi must agree to reconcile with her family before throwing the switch. He does, and the train is redirected to Arizona, where Predator drones are deployed to take the train out. The drones crash as the train enters the tunnel, as Pixxi dupes her captor into freeing her, allowing her to free the other hostages and bring the train to safety.

When Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale and her pet dog Toto are swept away to the magical Land of Oz in a cyclone, she fatally flattens the Wicked Witch of the East, liberates a talking Scarecrow, meets a Tin Woodman, a Cowardly Lion and is hailed by everyone as a great sorceress! But all Dorothy really wants to know is: how does she get back home again?

On the Caribbean island of Puerto Nueva, a disparate group of individuals await a Boeing 314 Clipper, the Caribbean Clipper that will take them to Miami. Tony Bronson is the new purser for the flight who disrupts the robbery of New York journalist Jim Halsey at their hotel.

Halsey is a passenger on the same flight, flying to the U.S. to begin an assignment for his newspaper that will ultimately have him stationed in the Orient. Having some money left, Halsey arranges a double date for Tony with two entertainers in a sister act, Ann Howard and Peggy Morton. The women have learned that their show in New York has been canceled and are stranded in Puerto Nueva without the fare to leave. Ann tries to manipulate Tony into arranging free passage for them on the Clipper. Tony falls in love with Ann and Jim proposes to Peggy.

Among the other passengers are Madden, Ryan, Desser and Professor Carter, their ringleader and a former pilot who flew Clippers for the airline. Their plan is to hijack the aircraft in mid-air, rob the passengers and steal a shipment of $500,000 from the plane's safe. Carter will then land in a remote area of the Caribbean Sea, where the gang and their loot will be collected.

When they take over the aircraft by killing the navigator and copilot, Carter locks the passengers in their quarters and the crew in the cargo compartment. After landing, although the gang has the money stolen from their captives, the safe is locked and only Tony can open it. Ryan is ordered to force the purser to open the safe, but in a struggle for Ryan's gun, Tony shoots him and escapes, jumping from the aircraft. Swimming over to the cargo hold, he frees pilot Hank MacFarland and the rest of the crew, then returns to the cockpit where Carter threatens to burn the Clipper. Tony overpowers him, and holding the rest of the gang at gunpoint, he allows MacFarland to regain control of the aircraft. Jim and Tony are finally reunited with their sweethearts as the Clipper heads to Miami, where the police are waiting to apprehend the gang.

Danny Aiello stars as Harry Stone, an NYC film director who has been living in Paris, France for the past ten years. Despite the fact that he still has a loyal fan base, his last three films were flops, and he returns to New York to hear a pitch from a studio executive. The movie turns out to be ''The Pickle'', a science fiction film with an absurd storyline, but when the executive offers him "a ton of money," Harry immediately sells out his better judgment and agrees to direct the picture.

Aside from a few flashbacks to Harry's childhood, and to the events leading up to the making of ''The Pickle'', most of the story takes place on the day of the new film's premiere. Harry is reunited with his agent, publicist, son, daughter, mother, and ex-wives (both of whom are still on good terms with Harry), and the movie explores these relationships in various combinations; Harry's Parisian girlfriend also plays a major role. Despite Harry's stress about the upcoming premiere—he regrets selling out to make ''The Pickle'', and fears that it will ruin his career—the director spends time to enjoy the people in his life.

Harry's Career

Dialogue establishes several details about Harry's career: His biggest success was a Western called ''Blue Sands''; his most recent film, ''Paradise Jack'', was a hit with his fans, but trashed by the critics and a disappointment at the box office. Harry had ambitions to make cinematic adaptations of ''Anna Karenina'' and ''Huckleberry Finn'', but funding fell through after the box office disappointment of ''Paradise Jack''. His dream project is to direct an epic about Cortez and Montezuma starring Dustin Hoffman (despite his admission that Hoffman is too old for either role), but he angrily balks when a studio executive suggests updating the story to a present-day L.A. barrio. The success of ''The Pickle'' leads the executive to greenlight the Cortez/Montezuma film, but Harry instead pitches a drama with a storyline loosely mirroring the events of his own return to New York.

The Movie Within the Movie

The movie featured within the movie—also called ''The Pickle''—involves a group of farmers who grow a pickle to gigantic proportions and convert it into a spaceship, which they fly into outer space. They land on a planet nearly identical to Earth, where one of the farmers (played by Ally Sheedy) develops a romance with an advisor to the President of the United States. (The President is played by Little Richard as himself, and performs an impromptu rendition of "Good Golly, Miss Molly".) The romance is ended when Sheedy decides that, as a vegetarian, she cannot live on a planet where all food is made out of flies.

''Pig'' opens with a scene of the black-garbed killer preparing to leave a small house. The individual places several items into a brief case, appearing among them a deck of cards, a notebook, and a copy of the children's novel ''Mr. Pig and Sonny Too'' — an actual publication written in 1977 by the American author Lillian Hoban.

The individual closes up his brief case, standing upright and turning to reveal on camera the bleeding, half-naked body of another man lying prostrate on the floor. The living man kicks aside the corpse of the dead one and continues downstairs, placing his belongings into a black car and driving away along a deserted road.

The driver continues through the outstretched desert with power lines lining the side of the dirt trail. His vehicle passes an outcrop of rocks with an inscription painted on its face. Although perhaps being unintelligible, it appears to read either as "ELLE" or "ELLIE". Another sign crops up immediately after, written in black, reading Dead Man’s Point though this is almost unreadable.

The film cuts to another individual, the unidentified man (Hollan), masked in white bandages covering his head. He wanders through the desert until reaching a telephone pole and sitting down, cross-legged.

The driver's car pulls up to the side of the road, and the masked figure enters on the passenger's side. The two drive down another path and stop at a small house. Upon exiting the vehicle the film continues to a shot of the driver/killer leading the masked figure by a rope which binds his wrists, all the while carrying his brief case. The dilapidated doorway to the house is shown to have the number "1334" laid out in small bones at the top, otherwise adorned with dominoes, a crucifix, caution tape, a glove, a knife, and various photographs of someone's arms and head being bound.

As the camera zooms onto the door frame, the scene cuts to the victimized masked man's arms being tied with gauze tape, and then finally at the bottom of the doorway a box of dominoes opens up to reveal a keyhole. Through the keyhole a pig mask can be seen sticking through a broken wall. It is revealed that the killer is wearing the mask and pacing about the house.

The scene cuts again to a corridor in the house—the word "Look" is graffitied along the wall where the masked man is bound at the wrists to a rope connected to the ceiling. The camera spins around the room before showing the two men outside again, this time the masked victim being led by his rope into a cellar. There the victimizer empties his entire brief case, among his things a deck of pornographic cards, a large metal key, a wig, a black die with a chaosphere engraved on one side, a bondage mask, gloves, a chain, a bowie knife and other assorted cutlery, a cleaver, a pair of pliers, papers, at least two pairs of scissors, a plastic funnel with a feeding tube, and (perhaps most importantly) a book entitled ''Why God Permits Evil'', among other items.

The captor places his hand on the head of the now once-more bound-to-the-ceiling victim and pulls part of the bandage-mask from his eye, exposing his darting gaze and sense of fear. A collection of pliers, knives, scissors, syringes, and other instruments from the briefcase can be seen below.

In the next scene the killer is turning through the pages of ''Why God Permits Evil'', revealing strange, graphic art and religious quotes. The camera then cuts to the victim, his head still gauzed, with the feeding tube in his mouth. The killer pours what appears to be blood through the funnel, into victim's mouth, causing him to gag and choke, spitting it up onto his naked torso.

While working on a genealogy assignment, Lisa discovers a diary written by her great-great-great grandaunt, Eliza Simpson. She reads it, hoping to discover a Simpson in her family tree that was not an alcoholic, criminal, or sexual fetishist. At first she believes through reading the diary that, to her dismay, Eliza was a slaveowner, but she soon learns that she and her mother Mabel were part of the Underground Railroad in 1860. Eliza sneaks into a ball hosted by Colonel Burns (later said to be the father of Monty Burns, again making fun of his age) to meet a slave named Virgil, but as the two make their escape, they are spotted by a mounted patrol. Unfortunately, the diary is too disintegrated for Lisa to read on, and she cannot bear not knowing if Virgil escaped.

Lisa and Marge discover a cookbook at the local library written by Mabel, made decades after Eliza saved Virgil. In it is an anecdote that tells how Eliza and Virgil evaded capture by donning disguises at a traveling circus with a Krusty-type clown. They make it back to the Simpson household, but Eliza's father Hiram is suspicious of Virgil's presence. Virgil makes him "wheel cakes" and Hiram swears to keep Virgil's whereabouts a secret. As the story continues on, it becomes like ''The Color Purple''.

Lisa believes Eliza to be a hero for helping Virgil escape, and tells this story at a Black History Month presentation at Springfield Elementary. Milhouse, however, challenges her story and suggests that Eliza was a coward. He reads from the journal of his ancestor, Milford Van Houten, who witnessed Colonel Burns bribe Hiram with "a pleasant surprise", a new pair of shoes in exchange for giving up Virgil. Eliza does not stand up against the Colonel and Lisa is crushed to think her ancestor was a coward. Milford said he was so disgusted he could never look at Eliza again (Milhouse adding it did not help that he went blind the next day after drinking bad well water). Milford Van Houten's account is substantiated when Lisa views a 1950s oral history archival film interview with an elderly Eliza, where she indicates this cowardice as being the one regret of her life. In the film, a wedding portrait behind the wheelchair bound Eliza shows she married Milford Van Houten, thus creating a family link between the Simpsons and the Van Houtens and making Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and Milhouse distant cousins.

To help raise Lisa's spirits, Homer threatens Grampa Simpson to get him to tell the rest of the story by turning the thermostat down a few degrees. Grandpa Simpson then tells how Mabel threatened to castrate Colonel Burns with a shotgun blast and then escaped with Virgil to Canada. There, she divorced Hiram and married Virgil. She also got one shoe from Hiram, but he kept the shoelaces to himself. Grampa reveals that Virgil and Mabel's son Abraham was his great-grandfather, and therefore Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are th black, to which Lisa then claims is the reason for her jazz musical ability, Bart believes that it is the reason for him being so cool, and Homer sees as why he makes less money than his white co-workers. When questioned why he kept this secret, Grampa hesitates to explain to which Lisa attributes to his generation being racist. Marge then notes that her father was French, to which Homer claims as the cause of his drinking, and drinks wine from a bottle. Marge points out that he is not of French ancestry, but Homer dismisses this and continues drinking while the French national anthem is played in the background.

It follows a radio celebrity couple with a morning show, similar to "Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick" and Tex and Jinx. This time the show is fictional "Breakfast with Les and Bess". The show follows them on- and off-air with their radical son David and strange daughter Shelby in 1961 in a Central Park South flat. Also appearing, a lost interview with Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and the new rock-music that threatens to change their way of life.

At the conclusion of ''Ma and Pa Kettle'', Pa receives a telegram stating that he has won another jingle-writing contest, this one from the Bubble-Ola Company. The prize is an all-expenses paid trip to New York City. Ma tells Pa that they can't go because they have no one to look out for the kids. Meanwhile, fleeing bank robber Shotgun Munger has a flat tire and crashes into the old Kettle Farm. Pa comes along and after Munger convinces Pa that he is an eccentric poet "Mr. Jones", he agrees to stay and watch over the kids for the Kettles (he is trying to hide from the police) if they will deliver a bag to his "brother" Louie in New York.

Ma and Pa Kettle go by train to New York City, where their son Tom and daughter-in-law Kim live while Tom is trying to finance his chicken incubator (from the first movie). The bag Pa agreed to bring to New York, containing $100,000 from the bank robbery, was not with their luggage when they checked into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, having been stolen while they were distracted at the busy station. He buys several new bags to give to Louie, but each time the empty new bag is stolen by one of Louie's confederates, who believe Pa is also a crook trying to keep part of the cash. Finally Pa agrees to meet Louie by the monkey cage at the Central Park Zoo with yet another bag.

Pa is mistaken by the police for a maniac poisoning monkeys at the zoo and arrested. Tom convinces the police of Pa's innocence and helps them unravel the mystery of the bags and the identity of "Mr. Jones". The missing bag is found in the luggage of a rich investor who invites the Kettles to his home for a party, where the police are able to round up the entire gang with the bag of money as evidence. The investor makes a deal with Tom to finance his invention. The Kettles return home to discover that the harried "Jones" has been overwhelmed by the 14 wild Kettle children and hogtied in a game of "cops and robbers", then turned over to police rushing to the house to "protect" them.

Aging shipbuilder Sam Griggs (Frank Morgan) is near the end of his career because of health problems. With the help of his friend Tom Carter (Cecil Kellaway), he has invested all of his family's money in a shaky real estate venture which he hopes will provide a large return. The rest of his family is happily unaware of the deal, preoccupied with their own future prospects.

Sam dies and meets the youthful ghost of his father Ben Griggs (Keenan Wynn), eager to shepherd his son into the afterlife. Sam insists on lingering to help his family as best he can, first persuading Ben to use his supernatural power to cause storms to help along a romance between his daughter and an oblivious lodger, and then to aid the success of his investment by impressing the potential buyer.

Having discovered his death and their own financial situation (but not the nature of his venture), Sam's wife Amy (Gladys Cooper) encourages her children to remember their father fondly. Tom arrives at their home to give the grieving family Sam's share, but succumbs to greed after writing the check and attempts to leave without informing them of their new inheritance.

Though Sam invisibly berates his faithless friend, he and his father seem helpless to prevent the betrayal. However, one last storm cast by Ben leads to Tom dying from a lightning strike. Knowing that the authorities will find the check on his body, Sam and Ben finally leave for the afterlife with Tom in tow.

In July 1950, Ma and Pa Kettle come home after their fun and exciting trip to New York City only to find out that they're going to become grandparents. Tom's wife Kim is expecting a child. As Tom frets about the pregnancy, the whole Kettle household is happy with the family's newest addition. Right in the middle of their breakfast the Kettles receive a telegram delivered by Alvin, the Western Union delivery boy, from Jonathan and Elizabeth Parker (Kim's parents) declaring that they will soon arrive at the Kettle house to see the newborn.

Ma hushes everybody, but to her surprise the in-laws have just arrived and are waiting for them outside. Ma goes out to greet them but the Kettle children fight over the Parkers' luggage which they're supposed to bring into the house. The Parkers are refined Bostonians and their first impression of the Kettles leaves them astounded. Ma and Elizabeth don't get acquainted very well—which is the reason why the Kettles leave their ultra-modern house to return to their beloved ramshackle farmhouse.

While Pa and his Indian friends, Geoduck and the mute Crowbar, go to work blasting a new well, two shady men searching for uranium deposits find evidence of the ore in the farm soil. Soon after, Pa falls into the well, and when he climbs out he finds that he can generate electricity spontaneously. Mr. Parker, a retired mine owner who, unlike his wife, appreciates the Kettles' hominess, deduces that Pa's radioactivity must be due to uranium-rich soil in his coveralls pockets. He informs the Kettles that they are about to become very rich. They then discuss with Geoduck, Crowbar and their friend, local salesman Billy Reed, how they would like to share the profits among them all.

While they talk, however, Tom arrives and despondently tells them that Mrs. Parker has talked Kim into leaving him and taking the baby from the hospital, where it is staying because of a cold, back to Boston. That night, Billy, Geoduck and Crowbar sneak into the hospital and attempt to steal the baby back for Tom. Each man, however, grabs a girl baby instead of little Jonathan. When the sheriff arrives, Ma and Pa have to trick him into taking the babies back without pressing charges. The next day, the two shady men inform Ma and Pa that they have bought the farm by paying the back taxes owed on it, but Mr. Parker brings in a uranium expert to convince them that the land is useless, and the men agree to give Pa the deed to the farm and ten dollars. As soon as they leave, however, the expert reveals to Parker that the land really is barren, and Mr. Parker realizes that the only radioactive element on the property is Pa's coveralls, which his nephew wore during overseas atomic bomb tests.

As the Kettles celebrate the payment of their back taxes, Tom announces that Mrs. Parker and Kim have boarded a train to Boston, causing Mr. Parker, Tom, Ma and Pa to give chase. They manage to stop the train, and when Tom stands up to Kim and Mr. Parker rebukes his wife for the first time, Mrs. Parker realizes the error of her ways. She and Ma, however, do not disembark in time, and are forced to stop the train in the middle of a field and use a railroad hand car to get home. By the time that Pa, Mr. Parker, Tom and Kim return to the house, Ma and Mrs. Parker have prepared dinner for the whole happy family.

The player assumes the role of a young private investigator named Martin Mystere, who is currently investigating a brutal murder of a respected scientist named Professor Eulemberg.

The book begins with a burglary at Unicorn House, the dwelling of the Bagthorpe family. This burglary causes Grandma to decide that she needs to have her family around her, so she organizes a family reunion. When their very talented, fastidious, and religious cousins come to visit, all the Bagthorpes go on quests to obtain immortality, hoping to best their talented relatives. Meanwhile, Daisy has the wrong idea about suitable presents for Grandma.

Main plot

After Shaw is trapped in a museum vault attempting to steal a golden mask of Alexander the Great, Sarah and Casey call in Chuck to hack into the museum's systems to release him. Hannah tags along, and after successfully freeing Shaw and restoring the system, the two are invited by the museum curator to attend the gala for the unveiling of the mask that night to monitor the computer systems. Under Shaw's instruction, Chuck agrees. At Castle, Shaw briefs the team with their belief that the Ring is using the mask to smuggle a chemical weapon through customs. That night, Chuck and Hannah watch the gala from the control room, while Shaw and Sarah attend as a couple in order to make their way into the vault and swap the mask for a duplicate. However, Chuck flashes on a Ring operative named Nicos Vassilis, and leaves Hannah alone to warn Shaw and Sarah. Shaw is forced to withdraw, as the man knows him, so Chuck takes over to break into the vault with Sarah. Chuck causes a server crash to prevent the vault from opening, which Hannah is left alone to fix.

As Chuck lowers Sarah into the vault through an overhead hatch to make the switch, he is interrupted by one of Vassilis's henchmen, who throws him down the hatch, pulling Sarah back up. Sarah deals with the first henchman as well as a second who arrives during the fight while Chuck steals the real mask and swaps it out with the fake. Meanwhile, Hannah attempts to fix the server crash while Shaw uses a back-door connection through Chuck's laptop (where Hannah is working) to keep it down until they can finish. Sarah pulls Chuck back up and Hannah restores the system just in time. The team returns to Castle where Sarah and Shaw analyze the mask looking for the weapon. Vassilis, aware of the switch, misidentifies Chuck as head of the operation. He believes Chuck used Sarah and Hannah to gain access to the vault, and uses Hannah as bait to force him to return the real mask. He lures her to the museum and locks her in the vault, where she begins to suffocate. Vassilis contacts Chuck at the Nerd Herd desk and demands he return the mask in exchange for her life.

Back at Castle, Sarah and Shaw inadvertently trigger the weapon, which fills the lab with a chemical identified as cyclosarin and forces a lockdown to prevent further outbreak. Chuck arrives to update Shaw and Sarah only to find them trapped, and flashes on the gas's chemical composition and discovers that there is a counter agent that will reverse the effects if used within an hour. Reasoning that Vassilis would not have moved the weapon without the counter agent, he calls in Casey to assist with swapping out a second fake. To force Vassilis to give them the counter agent as well as release Hannah, they rig it with a smoke grenade to simulate the effects of the gas. At the museum, Chuck confronts Vassilis and smashes the mask and triggers the grenade. In a panic, Vassilis reveals the counter agent is in one of the vases, but does not know which. Chuck flashes on the correct vase, smashes it over Vassilis's head, and gives the counter agent to Casey while he frees Hannah from the vault. Meanwhile, Shaw and Sarah have been released from containment, and arrive at the museum where the antidote is administered. Vassilis sees Shaw and slips away.

In debriefing back at Castle, Shaw tells Chuck that he, Sarah and Casey are only his "training wheels," and one day soon he will be on his own. Vassilis meets with his superiors where he alerts them to Shaw's presence, before he is executed for his failure to recover the mask.

Chuck and Hannah

Hannah begins trying to approach Chuck at the Buy More, when he is called away to the museum by Sarah and Casey. She follows him when he calls it a "Nerd Herd emergency" and (unknowingly) helps him free Shaw from the vault. That night at the gala, Hannah approaches him directly and they begin to kiss, before Hannah sees his "ex" on the monitor. She is angered when Chuck leaves to greet her and then leaves her to deal with the crash that he secretly causes himself (see above). Chuck tries to explain afterwards but she walks out on him. Hannah is later lured back to the museum by Vassilis and trapped in the vault. She begins to suffocate as the air is pumped out and passes out. She reconciles with Chuck after he frees her, and later that night, the two make out in the Home Theater Room.

Sarah and Shaw

Shaw begins hitting on Sarah, first by bringing her coffee and a swizzle stick, noticing that she chews on them, and later at the party by making advances, ostensibly for cover. Sarah later confronts him over this and demands he back off, although Shaw denies it. Later, while under the effects of the cyclosarin, Shaw admits that he was indeed coming on to her, and Sarah admits that she somewhat enjoyed it. Sarah nearly succumbs to the gas and Shaw carries her to the museum where the counter agent is administered. Later, Chuck and Sarah agree that it is ok for them to pursue other relationships. That night at Castle, Shaw and Sarah stay behind after Chuck and Casey leave. Sarah notes that what they're doing is dangerous, but Shaw reassures her he's safe.

Morgan and Ellie

Morgan and Ellie are still disturbed over Chuck and Devon's strange behavior. Morgan admits that he overstated Jeff and Lester's stalking skills, and the two discuss how to determine what is happening themselves. Initially Morgan suggests an intervention, but chickens out when an opportunity presents itself. Morgan continues to display an interest in Hannah, and uses the events at the museum the night before as a means to approach her. However, his effort is thwarted when Hannah is lured into a trap at the museum by Vassilis. Later that night, Ellie meets him at the Buy More where they attempt to corner Chuck and force him to come clean but instead find him making out with Hannah. Ellie is satisfied that Chuck has been secretly seeing Hannah, but Morgan is crushed.

Through a business misadventure, the European Axel Heyst (Willem Dafoe) ends up living on an island in what is now Indonesia with a Chinese assistant Wang (Ho Li). Heyst visits a nearby island where a female band is playing at a hotel owned by Mr. Schomberg. Schomberg attempts to force himself sexually on one of the band members, Alma (Irène Jacob). Alma is about to be sold to Schomberg by the corrupt leader/director of the band who has enslaved the women for prostitution. She begs Heyst to help her. Having sworn off close relationships because of his past, he is challenged by her request, but agrees to help her. He escapes from the island with Alma, and they go back to his island and eventually become lovers. Schomberg seeks revenge by attempting to frame Heyst for the "murder" of a man who had died of natural causes and later by sending three desperadoes Pedro, Martin Ricardo (Rufus Sewell), and Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) to Heyst's island with a lie about treasure hidden on the island. Upon their arrival at the island, much intrigue ensues. In a climactic scene, Jones kills Pedro and then Ricardo; Alma is also shot and dies in the arms of Axel. After burning his compound and burying Alma, Axel disappears from the island but is rumored to have later been seen as a drifter in San Francisco and other ports of call. Alma's victory, in death, is having saved Axel's life in that he has again made connections with others.

Ruby and Claude Montgomery are a very insecure and jealous couple, who must help when Claude's Uncle Hazel is jailed for attempted murder. The Arkansas family reunites as they travel with Ruby's older sister Rose, with whom Claude had a previous relationship, and Ruby and Rose's mother Jewel, who continuously talks about Rose and Claude's past relationship, which irritates Ruby.

Claire Bennet and her father Noah realize that their attempts to dig out of the trailer Samuel Sullivan has trapped them in will only use up their limited air supply quicker. Noah accepts his death as inevitable, telling Claire that Samuel has trapped them there so she can watch him die (Claire cannot suffocate as her lungs will continue to regenerate). Claire, however, is unable to accept her father's death, even as he tells her his dying wish is for her to hide herself as a normal human after Samuel exposes his powers to the world. As Noah begins to run out of breath, Tracy Strauss arrives through a water channel in the dirt surrounding the trailer and is able to bring both Claire and Noah back to the surface alive, where they meet up with Lauren Gilmore. Lauren has called a helicopter to take the three of them to Central Park, where Samuel and his carnival are setting up for "the greatest show on earth," while Tracy has disappeared for unknown reasons.

Meanwhile, at Matt Parkman's house, Sylar and Peter, now freed from the nightmare in Sylar's mind, stop Eli from killing Matt by knocking the original Eli out. Peter reads Eli's mind and learns of Samuel's devastating plans. Matt refuses to let Sylar go with Peter, even after Sylar asks him to look inside his mind and decide for himself whether or not Sylar's intentions are noble. Although Matt still does not fully trust Sylar's mind, he grudgingly gives him a chance to prove himself on Peter's plea to trust them. As the two leave, Matt approaches the unconscious Eli and instructs him to return to the carnival.

In Central Park, as the carnival sets up, Emma Coolidge confronts Samuel, who confirms Peter's dream is true. As Emma refuses to comply, Doyle emerges from Samuel's trailer and puppets her into playing, which quickly attracts a large crowd as well as media attention. Peter and Sylar arrive and split up; Peter looks for Samuel as Sylar goes to save Emma. Upon finding her, he too is controlled by Doyle until Emma, noticing a momentary gap in attention, blasts Doyle with her synesthetic sound manipulation ability. Sylar telekinetically pins Doyle to the ground as he begs for mercy, telling Sylar that he is not a good guy. Sylar responds defiantly that, "I'm a hero." He is later shown to have tied up Doyle with a string of lights rather than simply kill him, another sign to prove his change into a new person.

At the hospital, Hiro Nakamura awakens from his hallucination and tells Ando that he is fully healed. As they prepare to leave, a nurse gives Hiro a note from a woman in another hospital room. The note reads, "Is it really you?" and is accompanied by a small origami swan. Hiro rushes to the room to find Charlie Andrews on the bed, now an 85-year-old woman. Hiro is shocked as she explains that at the Burnt Toast Diner, Arnold took her back to Milwaukee on January 26, 1944, where she lived her life, getting a job in a war factory. Hiro, after talking with Ando, explains that he can "fix this" by time-traveling to 1944 and bringing her back so they can live a life together. Charlie admits the idea is tempting, but explains that she has lived a life, marrying and having four kids and seven grandchildren, one of whom Hiro meets, named Sally. Hiro realizes he cannot take this life away from Charlie for his own personal happiness just as Ando receives an urgent call for help from Noah. Hiro transports himself and Ando to the carnival after saying a final goodbye to Charlie.

Meanwhile, Noah and Claire have also shown up and split ways; Claire to convince the carnival specials to leave, and Noah to find Samuel. However, Noah is quickly captured at knifepoint by Edgar, who pulls him aside and reveals that he also wants to stop Samuel. Claire finds Samuel's people and attempts to convince them of Samuel's evil intentions, telling them of Samuel's ability to grow stronger with more superhumans around him. No one listens to her until she reveals that Samuel killed his brother Joseph. The crowd finally believes her when Noah arrives with Edgar, who backs up Claire's claim, explaining that Lydia told him everything before she was killed. Eli also arrives, having been brainwashed by Matt Parkman, and tells everyone how Samuel had him kill Lydia. As everyone leaves Samuel, he attempts to get them back, but eventually screams, "Run as fast as you can! You'll never get far enough!" Afterward, he goes out to address the large crowd, and begins to use his powers to shake the earth. However, Peter flies into him, taking his ability, and they enter into a battle in Samuel's tent in which they're both equally matched. Hiro and Ando arrive and Hiro, after being supercharged by Ando, transports all the carnival superhumans away from Central Park, rendering Samuel powerless and allowing Peter to defeat him in hand-to-hand combat. Peter throws Samuel on stage and he collapses on the ground, hopeless and alone. Noah remarks to Peter, "I gotta say, I never liked carnivals" which Peter agrees with.

Volume Six: ''Brave New World''

As Samuel is taken away by the reformed Company, Lauren speaks with the press, feeding them a cover story to hide the truth of what went on there that night. As the press turn to question Claire and Noah, Claire gets them to follow her as she climbs to the top of the Ferris wheel. Sylar notes to Peter that while he wanted to kill Doyle, he choose not to and saving Emma felt good. As they notice Claire climbing, Peter states that she will change everything and Sylar declares, "It's a brave new world." Claire leaps off of the Ferris wheel with the press watching. With the cameras in her face, she relocates her arm and the cut on her face heals. She says, "My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number...I guess I've kinda lost count."

The story is set in the year 2036 and revolves around a special forces team led by Major Agatha Doyle (Farrell) formed from death-row prisoners and their ensuing mission.

Captain Aldrich is a former war hero convicted and on death row who is offered the chance at a pardon if he will join the team and undertake their mission to infiltrate an enemy facility. Once they have gained access to the base they are confused by the apparent lack of resistance and upon further inspection they find their enemies bodies piled up in a storeroom. Their state of mind is weakened when they are attacked and some of them are killed without seeing the perpetrator. After finding a computer disk holding information they listen to the account given by the enemy team commander about how events unfolded leading to their enemies demise. Finally it dawns on them that the unknown killer that picked their enemies off one by one is now stalking them. The surviving members of Doyle's team have to try to destroy the demon enemy before it destroys them.

New York Police Sergeant John Kennedy once guarded Abraham Lincoln for 48 hours while he was campaigning for President of the United States, and came away deeply impressed by the man. Kennedy has infiltrated a cabal and discovered that an assassination attempt will be made as the president-elect makes his way by train via Baltimore to Washington, DC. His boss, Superintendent Simon G. Stroud, dismisses the threat as "hogwash", as does Caleb Jeffers, a militia colonel with whom Stroud is meeting. Kennedy resigns on the spot to try to foil the conspirators on his own. Having already sent a copy of his report to the Secretary of War, he sends a telegram to Lincoln, urgently requesting a meeting in Baltimore.

On February 22, 1861, he boards the train bound for Washington, where Inspector Reilly is to give him his train ticket. However, Kennedy cannot find his friend. Without a ticket, he is forced to get off by conductor Homer Crowley, and there are no more tickets to be had. As the train starts off, Kennedy sprints after it and climbs aboard anyway. Among the other passengers are Mrs. Charlotte Alsop, an anti-slavery writer; Lance Beaufort, a West Point cadet who plans to resign and enlist in the Confederate army; his sister Ginny; and their slave Rachel.

After much searching, Kennedy finally discovers Reilly's body on the exterior platform of a car, but the corpse slips off the train as he is reaching for it. When he returns to his berth, he finds an imposter claiming to be him and in possession of his ticket. Fellow passenger Jeffers vouches for Kennedy and gives him a spare ticket to share his compartment.

The imposter forces Kennedy off the train at gunpoint at the next stop, planning to kill him when the train whistle sounds. Kennedy grapples with him. The commotion attracts Jeffers' attention, and the colonel shoots and kills the conspirator. When they reboard, Jeffers offers Kennedy first use of the only bed in their compartment. While Kennedy appears to be dozing, Jeffers steals the derringer he had loaned the ex-policeman and shoots him. However, Kennedy had become suspicious (as Jeffers' first shot could have been intended for him instead of the conspirator) and had tampered with the bullet. Jeffers confesses that he is in the plot in order to protect his shares in Northern cotton mills, which would be adversely affected by war.

At the next stop in Philadelphia, Kennedy tries to have Jeffers arrested, but Jeffers obtains confirmation by telegram from Stroud that Kennedy is no longer a police officer, and it is Kennedy who is taken into custody by Lieutenant Coulter. Rachel tries to give Kennedy an urgent message, but is brushed off by Coulter. Kennedy manages to escape and get back on the train. Meanwhile, the exasperated conductor is ordered to hold the train until a special package is delivered. Passenger Mrs. Gibbons meets and takes aboard her ailing husband.

Kennedy runs into Rachel, who informs him that Beaufort is getting off at Baltimore, not Atlanta as he had claimed. Kennedy is taken prisoner by Beaufort and tied up in Jeffers' compartment. The plotters are disappointed, however, when they receive news that Lincoln has cancelled his speech in Baltimore, where Beaufort was to assassinate him.

Jeffers gets off, but as the train is pulling away, he remembers Mrs. Gibbons; he surmises her "husband" is actually Lincoln in disguise. Running after the train, he manages to alert Beaufort. Kennedy, however, frees himself and, in the ensuing struggle, sends the would-be assassin tumbling from the speeding train. Afterward, Mrs. Gibbons tells Kennedy that she is an undercover Pinkerton agent, and that his report to the War Department was read by Allan Pinkerton, who persuaded Lincoln to cancel his speech and travel incognito on the train as the ailing Mr. Gibbons. As the train reaches Washington, Lincoln muses, "Did ever any President come to his inauguration so like a thief in the night?"

Delusional mental patient Gunther Wyckoff (Marshall Thompson) escapes from a mental institution, intent on locating psychiatrist Dr. John Faron (Sam Levene), whose testimony sent him to the asylum. Wyckoff arrives by bus in Terminal City. As he disembarks, he is confronted by the bus driver for stealing his Colt pistol. Wyckoff uses it to kill the driver.

Wyckoff tries to locate Dr. Faron, first at his office and then at his home address – an apartment building – with no luck. As he leaves the building, it is a warm night, and he notices the Oasis Bar across the street. He goes into the bar and finds there is a good vantage point from which to observe the entryway to the apartment building. The bar is tended by Chuckles and his assistant/relief-person Skip (whose wife is in the hospital about to have a baby).

Chuckles, seeing a news flash story on the TV, notices that Wyckoff is one of his customers and tries, unsuccessfully, to reach a pistol he has stashed behind the bar. At this point, there are four patrons in the bar: the sluttish barfly Freddy; the young Helen, who is accompanied by an attentive older gentleman, Earl; and newspaper reporter Harrison D. Barnes. Chuckles then tries to telephone the police, but Wyckoff shoots him dead as he is placing the call. Wyckoff then orders the bar patrons to occupy one table, where he can keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, the gunshot and subsequent scream by Helen attracts attention. As a beat police officer approaches the bar, he is shot in the leg by Wyckoff. Bystanders rescue the officer, and a call is made for reinforcements to respond to a man barricaded in the bar.

The five hostages discuss what might be going on with Wyckoff. The relief barman, when asked, notes that the gun holds eight rounds, but while he is speaking, Wyckoff replaces the magazine with a new one. Wyckoff calls the police. He demands that the police stay away, but deliver Dr. Faron to the bar within 25 minutes or he will kill the hostages. It is revealed that Dr. Faron is the local police psychiatrist. The press sets up TV coverage near the bar as the crowd of onlookers grows.

As the police discuss tactics, Faron is found and brought to the bar. Being a newspaperman, Harrison reminds the others that Wyckoff's crime was a big local story three years before. As Faron pleads with the police to let him attempt to handle Wyckoff, they try to enter the bar undetected. Wyckoff becomes aware of the attempted breach and seriously wounds an officer. Faron again pleads with the police, saying, "I demand that you let me do my job!", which Wyckoff sees on the TV. The police captain resents Faron's success at getting Wyckoff a light sentence the first time around. The police prepare a breach en masse with two minutes left before Wyckoff's deadline, but Faron slips away and enters the bar. He tries to convince Wyckoff that he is delusional, but after some discussion, Wyckoff becomes agitated and shoots Faron dead.

The phone rings, and Skip knows it is the hospital calling about his wife. Desperate to answer, he struggles with Wyckoff; at the same moment, the police detonate an explosive charge and extinguish the lights. In the confusion, Freddy uses Chuckles' under-counter gun to shoot Wyckoff. In shock, he staggers outside and is cut down by police gunfire. As he kneels over Faron's body, the police captain rhetorically asks an officer, "How far does a man have to go to prove that he's right?"

''Disgaea 4'' follows Valvatorez, a vampire who was once feared as a tyrant until he promised a woman 400 years ago that he would not drink blood until he could instill fear in her, and she died before he could do so. He now has a menial job in Hades, where the souls of dead humans are sent to be transformed into Prinnies, alongside his loyal servant, Fenrich. When the Corrupternment orders the mass extermination of all Prinnies, Valvatorez and Fenrich put a stop to it and, disgusted by the government's actions, Valvatorez plots a rebellion.

Valvatorez and Fenrich battle across the Netherworld to win the support of the masses, and along the way, they meet several allies; Fuka Kazamatsuri, a young human girl who died and technically became a Prinny, but kept her human body due to a lack of resources; Desco, a monster created on Earth to be the 'Final Weapon', who was deemed a failure and cast to Hades; Death Emizel, the Netherworld President's only son, who was betrayed and declared legally dead by the government; and Vulcanus, a thieving angel who bears a striking resemblance to Artina, the woman from 400 years in Valvatorez's past, but has an entirely different personality.

Finally, Valvatorez and his allies assault the Corrupternment with the help of the support they have gathered, and defeat Netherworld President Hugo. Shocked at his weakness, they discover that the 'fear energy', the power source of the demons, has run dry ever since humans became less superstitious and began fearing each other more than monsters and demons. Furthermore, they learn that this situation was engineered by a human named Judge Nemo, who now runs both Earth and the Netherworld from behind the scenes, and plots the destruction of both.

Valvatorez and his allies travel to Earth to stop Judge Nemo's plan of destroying Earth. First, they defeat Des X, the 'final version' of Desco and Fuka's original killer. Next, they go to the moon, which Judge Nemo plans to crash-land onto Earth, and save Earth again with the help of Flonne (a cameo from the original game), who inadvertently reveals that Vulcanus is in fact Artina, reincarnated as an angel. Judge Nemo's plans are foiled, but his incredible malice triggers Fear the Great, a machine created by God in order to purge all life on Earth. It is revealed that Nemo desires revenge for the death of Artina, who saved him in the distant past, and he cannot realize she has become an angel due to his evil. The party travels into Fear the Great and defeats Judge Nemo, saving Earth once and for all. Judge Nemo's soul prepares to vanish entirely, but Valvatorez decides to have it sent to Hades so that Nemo can reincarnate as a Prinny and atone for his sins. Depending on certain criteria, such as the number of team attacks performed with specific characters, Valvatorez will share a final cut-scene with one of the major playable characters; by default, Artina's ending will play.

Three men decide to rob a bank, having devised a plan of retreat across the abandoned tracks of a no-longer used section of the Moscow Metro. The group is led by former infantryman Grom. However, the heist spirals out of control and the raiders are forced to take hostages. They hide in the tunnels of subway with the hostages. They soon come at the mercy of the Trackman. The Trackman is a giant, who had been living in the Metro's catacombs for years. The group is methodically picked off by the Trackman, who gouges out their eyes. Grom is forced to accept that he must confront him in a game of survival, in which there can be only one winner.

Siavash Roozbehan is a young man and he has lost his father after his mysterious suicide. His uncle is managing his father's wealth. He is in love with his cousin Mahtab whose father is his uncle's councilor. Siavash gradually realizes that his uncle is going to marry his mother. After some days he also sees a lot of similarities between his own life and of Shakespeare's Hamlet. He goes to Garo, his best friend, and they try to change the end of the tragic story.

The film opens with a group of Space Marines of the Imperial Fists Chapter under attack from an unknown enemy. A Space Marine by the name of Nidon is told to protect "the Codex" and races to obey his orders, just before a fireball engulfs them all. Elsewhere, aboard a Space Marine Strike Cruiser, Brother Proteus and Captain Severus of the Ultramarines Chapter spar in a training duel. Proteus manages to disarm Severus, however, he quickly escapes Proteus's grasp and in turn defeats him, proclaiming that a Space Marine never yields. The members of Ultima Squad are then shown a sacred weapon in their ship's reclusium, a Relic Thunder Hammer. The Captain and his right-hand man, Apothecary Pythol lead the initiates in a swearing-in ceremony on the Hammer. With the ceremony finished, Ultima Squad prepare themselves for their first mission—a sortie to the planet of Mithron.

In orbit above the planet, Captain Severus departs the cruiser with only the Ultima Squad, highly eager to prove themselves in battle, for support. En route to the planet's surface, Severus addresses the squad, informing them of the distress call received shortly before all contact with the planet was lost, and how it is still unclear whether it is automated or not. Soon they are on the tough and unforgiving surface of Mithron, and the only location of importance is a shrine guarded by 100 Imperial Fists. Ultima Squad quickly discovers that a terrible battle has taken place, with the garrison force annihilated and the planet's Imperial shrine desecrated. It is also evident that the forces of Chaos are responsible, and Severus decides they must continue the mission to search for any remaining survivors.

While approaching the ruins, the Ultramarines are ambushed by the Black Legion. Ultramarines Crastor, Lycos and Boreas are killed but the ambush is thwarted. The squad continues on, and in a dark passage of the shrine they are attacked by a Daemon Prince which kills Maxillius and grapples with Severus, and they both fall through the wall and down a ravine. With Severus gone and Crastor dead, command of the squad falls to Proteus who decides to continue with the mission. Progressing to the reliquary at the shrine's summit, they find Chaplain Carnak and Brother Nidon, the sole surviving Imperial Fists. They reveal they have been protecting the Liber Mithrus, an ancient sacred Codex given by The God-Emperor of Mankind himself. Ultima Squad agrees to help escort the book to safety, but Verenor and Proteus remain suspicious, questioning how just the two of them have managed to survive for so long. As Ultima Squad retreat to the extraction point, they are attacked by a huge force of Chaos Space Marines. During the fight they suffer heavy casualties, with Remulus being killed and Junor sacrificing himself igniting his flamethrower to thwart off the chaos marines. Just as they are about to be overwhelmed, Severus suddenly reappears and aids their escape.

Back on board, Proteus confides to Severus his suspicions of Carnak and Nidon, believing that they may have been tainted by Chaos. They confront the Imperial Fists, with Severus taking the book and discovering that it is blank. When Hypax enters with the Ultramarines standard, it ignites, indicating the presence of Chaos. Severus declares that Carnak has been tainted and kills him. Nidon becomes enraged and attacks Severus, but is easily thrown off and knocked unconscious. Hypax questions why the standard continues to burn with Carnak dead, and is clear that Severus was possessed by the Daemon that he fought. Hypax charges the daemon, and pushes it into the armoury. When Proteus and Nidon regain consciousness, they find both Hypax and Decius slain along with an injured Pythol. Accompanied by Nidon, the three confront Severus in the ship's reclusium. Severus assumes daemon form and reveals its plans to possess Proteus and infiltrate the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge. Pythol arrives in time to save Proteus, but is killed. Using the diversion, Proteus then takes the Thunder Hammer to kill Severus and banish the daemon possessing him. Later it is shown that Proteus is promoted to Sergeant, with Verenor as his second in command, and the final scene mirrors the opening one, showing the new recruits swearing on the sacred hammer.

Kawakami City is famous for its strong dedication to its samurai ancestors. A healthy fighting spirit is always valued and it is even an important factor for success at school. Our hero Yamato, a second year student from Kawakami Academy, is always with his close friends (three boys and three girls). They have all known each other since they were young and have done many things together. While they have many other friends, this group of seven is a close-knit, inseparable group. They even have a secret base where they meet. With the new semester, they welcome two girls into their group and shortly after things begin to change.

Mike and Gunther lead a boring life in Munich. Hanna, Mike's girl friend, wants to get married but he is not interested. The two friends get hold of a treasure map of the Rio das Mortes area and decide to set out to find it in Peru. They are looking for freedom and adventure. Against Hanna's opposition, the car is sold, and the two men try to raise money. Their ignorance and clumsiness seems to lead to failure, but eventually, by luck, they find a sponsor. In the final scene, at the Munich airport, a rejected Hanna is about to shoot them as they walk to the airplane.

Dean is a hopeless-romantic high-school dropout, working for a moving company in Brooklyn. Cindy is an aspiring doctor studying pre-med while living with her bickering parents and caring for her grandmother in Pennsylvania. She is dating a fellow student named Bobby and one day, the two have intercourse where he ejaculates inside her without her consent. This causes an angered Cindy to break up with him. Some time later, while Dean is delivering furniture to a nursing home in Pennsylvania, he runs into Cindy, who is visiting her grandmother. He gives her his number but she never calls; however, they coincidentally meet again on a bus and begin dating shortly afterwards. After discovering their relationship, a jealous Bobby violently assaults Dean. Cindy finds out she is pregnant and tells Dean he is unlikely to be the father. She opts for an abortion but changes her mind during the procedure. Dean then comforts and reassures her that they can raise the child together. Cindy and Dean soon get married.

Five years later, the couple lives in rural Pennsylvania with their daughter, Frankie, and family dog, Megan. Cindy is now a nurse at a clinic where her boss, Dr. Feinberg, had just offered her to join him at his new clinic in the near future. Meanwhile, Dean, unambitious and struggling with alcohol, paints houses for a living. After having gone missing due to Cindy leaving a gate unlocked, Megan is found dead by the roadside which further strains the couple's marriage. Despite Cindy's reluctance, Dean insists on a romantic getaway at a motel to relax and rekindle their relationship. Stopping by a liquor store, Cindy has an awkward encounter with Bobby, which causes an ensuing argument in the car between her and Dean.

At the motel, Dean repeatedly tries to seduce Cindy but she rebuffs him. Frustrated with Dean's lack of ambition, she questions him during dinner which leads to another argument. The two make up and get drunk but Cindy is displeased when Dean asks if she wants to have another child with him. They start fighting again and she locks him outside the bedroom. Early in the morning, Cindy is unexpectedly called in for work. She takes the car and leaves a note for Dean. At the clinic, Dr. Feinberg recommends that Cindy get an apartment near the new clinic instead of moving her family, suggesting that they could keep each other company if she is lonely which visibly upsets Cindy.

Back at the motel, an annoyed Dean finds the note and shows up drunk at the clinic where he has another heated argument with Cindy. Dean punches Dr. Feinberg when he tries to intervene who then fires Cindy and kicks them both out. While leaving, Cindy demands a divorce making Dean throw away his wedding ring but they both attempt to look for it later. Back at her parents' house, Dean tries to persuade Cindy to give the marriage another chance for Frankie. Cindy says she doesn't want Frankie grow up with parents who despise each other like she did. After Dean reminds Cindy of their vows, they both apologize and hug but she pulls away. Dean leaves the house while Frankie runs after him and begs him to stay. He tricks her to return to Cindy and then, continues walking away. The film ends with photos of Dean and Cindy in the early stages of their romance.

Violeta Madrigal is a beautiful girl who lives in a village with her parents, Amado and Antonia, and her brothers Julio and Daniel, and sister Lia. The family was the richest in town, but after losing their fortune they realized the hypocrisy of people who previously seemed to love and respect them. Justino Fregoso is the most powerful of the Madrigal family's former friends, who made his fortune through shady deals that ended the stability of the Copper Company, owned by the family Madrigal. This new situation benefits his wife Malena Fregoso, who enjoys their new rich position, and their daughter Mariela, who takes every opportunity to humiliate Violeta.

Glaucus, a centurion returning to his home in Pompeii after a spell in Palestine, arrives on the edge of town just in time to see Ione, the beautiful daughter of the city's Consul, lose control of her chariot. Glaucus saves Ione's life and then heads into town to see his father. On the way, Glaucus intervenes in defense of a thief named Antonius, who is being severely punished on orders given by Gallinus, a disreputable Praetorian Guard. On arriving at his father's house, Glaucus discovers that it has been looted and his father murdered by a band of ruthless hooded thieves who have been terrorizing the city, always leaving a cross painted on a wall as a calling card. Glaucus vows revenge against the killers.

In order to convince the Emperor that the mass murders are not a sign of trouble, Ascanius, the Consul of Pompeii, orders a citywide festival. In the streets, Antonius rolls a drunken soldier and steals his pouch. The pouch contains a ring that belonged to Glaucus's father and a black hood identical to that worn by the band of killers. Antonius brings the ring to Glaucus' friend Marcus, who follows the suspicious soldier to Pompeii's Temple of Isis. But before Marcus can tell anybody what he has discovered, he is killed by Arbaces, the High Priest of Isis, and his body is left to be found with a Christian cross carved into it.

During the festival Glaucus takes out his anger by getting drunk and crashes a party at Ascanius's house. There, Gallinus tries to rape Nydia, Ione's blind slave, much to the amusement of the crowd. Glaucus defends Nydia, easily defeating Gallinus in a fight. The next day Marcus's funeral is held, with Glaucus and Antonius in attendance. After the ceremony, Antonius reaffirms his anti-Christian prejudices. But Nydia is a Christian, and thinking she is addressing Antonius, says that he should attend a secret Christian gathering to find out how good the Christians really are, and tells him how to find it. However, it is Gallinus who hears her plea. Gallinus is in charge of persecuting Christians and, with this piece of information, that night rounds up and imprisons all the Christians. The leader of the Christians is tortured with his followers. They are condemned to death, accused of the crime wave that has affected Pompeii.

Glaucus and Ione have fallen in love, and convinced that the Christians have been falsely accused, he heads to Herculanum to intervene in their favor with Ione's father, who has left Pompeii. On his way, Glaucus is ambushed by the hooded men. He survives the attack, arriving injured at Ascanius's retreat. Meanwhile, Antonius follows Marcus's killer to the temple of Isis, discovering that the men in the hooded masks are working under Arbaces's orders. Antonius proceeds to Herculanum and informs Glaucus and Ascanius of his discovery; as proof, he tells them that the treasures stolen from the citizens of Pompeii are hidden in the temple of Isis. Once back in Pompeii, Antonius recruits the help of Helios and Caios, Glaucus's army friends.

At the temple of Isis, Glaucus fights off both Arbaces and Gallinus, but he is thrown into a secret ditch and finds himself in a waterlogged underground chamber wrestling with a crocodile. He wins the fight and escapes the trap. Julia, the Consul's Egyptian mistress, is in fact the mastermind behind the crimes of the black-hooded men and the dirty dealing of Gallinus and Ascanius. They are raising funds to finance an uprising against the Roman Empire. She confesses this to Ascanius and stabs him, blaming Glaucus for the killing. Accused of murder, Glaucus is imprisoned near the Christians. Ione tries to come to his defense, but since she has converted to Christianity, she is also sent to prison.

The Christians are tossed into the arena to be devoured by a lion, but Glaucus frees himself, slays the lion, and defeats two gladiators sent to kill him. A band of bow-men, who are actually Antonius and Glaucus' masked friends, arrive and open fire on the royal box, killing Gallinus. As the city troops arrive to stop them, Mount Vesuvius erupts. In the chaos, everyone tries to escape. Julia and Arbaces are crushed at the temple of Isis by the goddess' toppling idol while trying to retrieve their treasure. Nydia is mortally wounded by falling debris, and Antonius remains by her side as the city is buried in ashes. Glaucus swims through a burning harbor. With Ione, he survives Pompeii's destruction, sailing toward open sea.

Chuck McCann, the projectionist, is seen operating projection booth equipment followed by ''The Projectionist'' opening credits. The Midtown Theater, located in Midtown Manhattan is managed by Renaldi who continually insults and berates his employees. Spending hours in the projection booth, Chuck imagines himself as the superhero Captain Flash. When Harry, one of the ushers, enters the booth to complain about Renaldi, the owner of the theater, Chuck describes to him the beautiful woman he saw earlier, calling her "The Girl". Renaldi comes into the booth and rebukes Harry for disobeying his orders not to visit the projection area and criticizes Chuck for leaving a cigarette butt on the floor.

His mood spoiled, Chuck starts to rewind a film reel and listens to a radio broadcast, hearing, "the way I see things, I'm not very optimistic at all, I just don't think there's much hope for the future", followed by an on-screen trailer, "COMING SOON", ''The Terrible World of Tomorrow'' — "SEE man become the dehumanized slave of science" — "SEE Years of Racial Hatred Erupt in an Orgy of Blood-Lust" / "As One Half of The World Assaults the Other" — "SEE the Horror of Total Holocaust" — "SEE Man Destroyed by his Own Technology" / "and the World Explodes in a Blaze of Hellish Fury" — "SEE The End of Mankind in…" / ''The Terrible World of Tomorrow'', as the radio broadcast continues, "no.. how can we disagree with Doctor Masters… gentlemen… gentlemen… gentlemen… what we're missing is the point about..."

At the end of his working day, Chuck looks at movie star photographs on the booth's wall and cabinets and impersonates the voice and mannerisms of Humphrey Bogart with quotes of film dialogue from ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', ''The Caine Mutiny'' and ''The Maltese Falcon'' (for which he also does Sydney Greenstreet). He then imitates Wallace Beery in ''Min and Bill'', John Wayne in ''The Green Berets'', James Stewart in ''The Spirit of St. Louis'' and Clark Gable in ''Gone with the Wind'' (for which he also does Butterfly McQueen). Finally, McCann (who hosted, from 1960 to 1962, the New York City daily children's TV show ''Laurel and Hardy and Chuck'') glances at a photo of Laurel and Hardy and recreates their voices, "Say goodnight Stanley", "Goodnight Stanley" then, switching to Bogart, ends with, "so long, Fred C. Dobbs".

Bored with the lack of excitement and romance in his life, Chuck continues to fantasize about his adventures as Captain Flash and imagines Renaldi as a villain known as The Bat who has six henchmen and wants to possess the x-ray device invented by the aged European scientist who is in reality the old man who speaks with an accent and runs the theater's candy concession stand. The Bat kidnaps the scientist's beautiful daughter, takes Captain Flash prisoner and raves about ruling the world. The daughter, however, turns out to be skilled in karate and, with Captain Flash, defeats The Bat and dances with Captain Flash into a Busby Berkeley musical.

''TGS'' head writer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is assigned to solve a public relations problem caused by the show's stars, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), during their hosting duties of the St. Patrick's Day parade, in which Jenna passed out and Tracy cursed during the live television broadcast. To make things worse, Liz is summoned to jury duty and cannot avoid it despite claiming to be Princess Leia. When she leaves for jury duty, she does not leave anyone in charge and allows the staff to go without direction—until later when she puts NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) in charge after learning that the staff have gotten out of hand. Liz is on a court case about a woman, named Rochelle Gaulke (Jackie Hoffman), whose work life and frustrations parallel her own; the two both have employees named Tracy and Jenna, both believe their employees waste their time, and make their lives difficult.

Meanwhile, Jenna, worn out from working on ''TGS'' during the day and on her unlicensed Janis Joplin biopic at night, visits Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell) for help so she can work on both. He gives Jenna a military-grade experimental drug currently being tested on rats to stay awake. At the same time, Tracy believes that having enough money to pay FCC fines means that he can say anything on television, and he says to Liz, "I can even say what Ernest Borgnine whispered to me." As a result, Tracy curses on ''The Martha Stewart Show'', and after learning that the show's advertisers are pulling out, due to his actions, decides to sponsor the show. Meanwhile, Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric, Jack Donaghy, desperately tries to find a name for a pocket microwave oven that is not offensive in any language. With Liz gone, Jack assigns the ''TGS'' writing staff, Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), Josh Girard (Lonny Ross), and Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout (Sue Galloway), to this task. After their unsuccessful attempts, Kenneth suggests "The Funcooker" which Jack decides is the perfect name.

Back at the studios, the taping of ''TGS'' is interrupted by Dr. Spaceman who desperately forces Jenna to sleep because she might die like one of his test rats. Tracy creates a diversion by dropping his trousers and exposing his buttocks, which he refers to as the "Funcooker". Everyone realizes that this is where Kenneth heard the name. Fed up with the chaos, Liz sends the entire show's staff—including Kenneth and Dr. Spaceman—to her office. Liz ponders over a box of matches and thinks of the woman in court, in which she admitted to committing arson as a way of getting back at her out-of-control employees. She accidentally does start a small fire which is quickly put out but scares everyone out of their bad behavior.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) befriends a pregnant teen, Becca (Phoebe Strole). When she sees Becca reading adoption literature and that she is upset with the baby's father, Liz realizes this may be her chance to adopt a baby. Liz creates a job for Becca as the ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' youth consultant. Liz believes that encouraging Becca to follow her dream as a singer will lead her to give up her baby to Liz. However, when Becca's boyfriend, Tim (Christopher Nicholas Smith), comes to the 30 Rock building, Liz realizes that Becca and Tim should be together so that they can raise their child together, and tells them to make their relationship work.

Meanwhile, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) decides to spend time with the ''TGS'' writers, Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), and Josh Girard (Lonny Ross). At Jack's home, they watch the movie ''Harry and the Hendersons''. Jack and Frank bond over the fact that they both grew up with deadbeat fathers. Frank admits to Jack that he attended Fordham Law for a semester, but dropped out due to family issues. The next day, Jack decides to help him achieve his dream of becoming a lawyer by getting him a full-ride scholarship to Columbia Law School. In return, Frank invites Jack over for dinner. During dinner, while Frank is out of the room, his mother, Sylvia Rossitano (Patti LuPone), tells Jack that Frank's father is in hiding as he is a lawyer for the mob, and that she does not want her son to follow in those footsteps. For Frank's sake, Jack tells Frank to forget about becoming a lawyer, and to return to being a writer on ''TGS''.

At the same time, Jenna Maroney's (Jane Krakowski) birthday is approaching. NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) appeals to Jenna to allow Tracy Jordan's (Tracy Morgan) birthday celebration to be combined with hers, as Tracy has never celebrated a birthday. Jenna dislikes the idea, but plays along. On her birthday, Jenna, upset that no one pays attention to her, decides to fake an injury to get sympathy, to no avail. To get attention, Jenna is seen riding a wheelchair, but this fails, so she gets fed up with everyone. Tracy sees Jenna jumping out of a wheelchair to get attention and tells her that his birthday wish was that she get better, after seeing her wear a back brace at the birthday party.

Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) appears on ''Larry King Live''. During his appearance on the program, a breaking story interrupts his interview with show host Larry King—it is being reported that the Asian stocks are falling. Larry King asks Tracy's opinion on this story, which results in Tracy giving chaos-inducting views, including, "New York as we know it will no longer exist tomorrow" and he calls for panic, sending the people of New York into madness. At the NBC studios, the ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' staff, Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), and J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), try looking for money that Tracy has hidden in the building after revealing this on ''Larry King Live''. Pete calls the program asking Tracy where he stores the money. Tracy reveals that the safest place he has it hidden has "a hard top and soft bottom, no matter where it moves, the cash stays in the same place." This clue is of no help to Pete, Frank, Toofer, and Lutz.

Meanwhile, NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) escorts Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) to Queens to retrieve the cellphone she left in a cab. The taxi driver, Asif (Ajay Naidu), finds an adult picture of her and threatens to send it to everyone in her address book unless she pays him $2,000. While on their way to get the phone, chaos is happening around them, which prompts Kenneth to want to turn back. Trying to change his mind, Liz lies to Kenneth, telling him that her phone has sentimental value, although she later tells Kenneth the real reasons she wants her phone back. Feeling betrayed by Liz, Kenneth abandons her and returns to 30 Rock. Liz arrives at the taxi depot and tells Asif that she does not have the money to pay him because rioting children took her handbag. Then Kenneth shows up and they watch Tracy reveal his secret to the whereabouts of his money, prompting Kenneth to realize that the money is stored in his blazer. Kenneth pays Asif and Liz's phone is returned.

Finally, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) decides to be committed to his girlfriend, Elisa Pedrera (Salma Hayek), as Elisa wants to take their relationship to the next level. Jack persuades Elisa to cancel her annual trip to Puerto Rico so that the two can spend time together. As a result, Jack devotes a whole week to Elisa at exactly the same time as the economic crisis unfolds, forcing Jack to steer General Electric (GE) through the Asian market crash. After a video tape of GE CEO Don Geiss (Rip Torn) surfaces—taped in the event of a financial meltdown—Geiss says "it is the end, and love is all that matters", which makes Jack realize his love for Elisa. He proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. The day after, Elisa leaves Jack for Puerto Rico.

A painter plays erotic games over the telephone with a woman. Her body is found mutilated but it may not be hers after all.

After taking over a failing Miami hotel with her workaholic fiancé Elliot (Peter Scolari), Tracy (Colleen Camp) thinks model Monique Gabrielle is sleeping with him. She then tries to have an affair of her own, and arranges for hookers to become bellhops. Meanwhile, her father hires an arsonist to blow up the hotel.

Two down-on-their-luck film producers, Eastman and Kodac, decide to make a Western film with Duke Montana, a veteran cowboy star, in hopes that he will die and they will collect the insurance money.

The series opens with Marjorie's family moving from Franklin to Sanford at the beginning of her freshman year of high school. As a result, she is separated from her best friend, Mary, and enrolls at Sanford High School after the school year has already begun. Throughout her four years in Sanford, Marjorie makes loyal friends, including Constance Stevens, Geraldine Macy, Irma Linton, Susan Atwell, and Muriel Harding. She also spends the series battling snobbish, unfair students and teachers, most of whom are either jealous of Marjorie's beauty and skill at basketball, resentful of her democratic tendency to befriend disadvantaged girls, or need to overcome unjust assumptions. Her constant enemy throughout high school is Mignon LaSalle, who occasionally joins forces with an equally spiteful newcomer against Marjorie. Marjorie and her friends are frequently escorted to social events by local boys Hal Macy, Laurie Armitage, Danny Seabrooke, and "The Crane." Marjorie has a closer relationship with her parents, whom she calls "General" and "Captain," while they refer to her as "Lieutenant."

In the next four books, Marjorie attends Hamilton College with Jerry, Muriel, and Veronica Lynne, while Constance and other friends from Sanford study elsewhere. At Hamilton, Marjorie makes friends more easily than in high school, while battling the snobbery of a sorority called the Sans Soucians, led by Leslie Cairns. Marjorie succeeds in the end, and the Sans are eventually expelled for a number of offenses, including hazing.

After graduation, most of Marjorie's friends, now almost entirely included in a group called The Travelers, remain at Hamilton. Leslie continues to plot against them, meeting with no more success than she did as a student. Marjorie's main achievement is her friendship with Susanna Hamilton, the niece of Hamilton College's founder, Brooke Hamilton. Miss Susanna has a long-standing feud with the college board, which prevents her from commissioning her long-wished-for biography of her uncle. Marjorie wins her over, repairs her relationship with the college, and writes Brooke's biography. The Travelers also lead the construction of a new dormitory for students who cannot afford the campus houses. The series ends with Leslie's reform and most of the characters, including Marjorie, getting married.

''Pumzi'' begins with a teletype caption that places the film spatially in the Maitu community of the East African Territory and temporally 35 years after World War III or The Water War. In Kikuyu, the word "Maitu" stems from the roots 'truth' and "our," and in everyday usage, 'our truth' signifies 'mother.' A placard marks a seedpod of the Mother Tree, contained in a glass jar. The Maitu community contains open spaces, windows with cast cityscapes, and hallways that are well maintained and lit. Although only a small portion of the Maitu community is ever shown, as Asha walks through the hallway, she stops to admire the scenery. Portions of the community are visible through the window, which gives the sense that the community is large, though not how large or how extensive it is. Because of the harsh conditions, the lack of resources, and concerns about radiation, all citizens are confined within the walls of the community.

The Maitu community is powered by manual energy production machines: treadmills and rowing machines which produce no pollution. Each citizen is allotted a small amount of daily water, and they are meticulous in their conservation of water. For example, in the bathroom, urine and sweat are recycled and kept in a personal water bottle.

The curator of the Virtual Natural History Museum, Asha, receives an anonymous package that contains a small soil sample. She tests the soil and finds no radiation and a high level of moisture. She tests the sample with technology and uses her senses. When she takes a deep breath and inhales the smell of the soil, she is plunged into a vision, into a deep pool of water. Based on both the technical tests and her own biological dream and vision, Asha comes to believe life may have returned outside the community.

Asha meets virtually with the Maitu Council, three women. Maitu is a contained society; citizens are not free to leave. Whoever wants to leave must ask permission from the Council. She informs the Council members; they almost automatically deny that life is possible outside. To prove them wrong, Asha places her hand on a scanner, which projects her dream of the green tree from the opening sequence of the film and the pool of water from her vision. They dismiss the visions as a 'dream. Dreaming has been shown already as prevented by wake up alarms and the command to take medicine. Asha's vision fares no better. The Council' deny her visa, declare Asha sick and send in a security team that destroys all evidence. The enforcers haul Asha from the lab and compel her to produce energy on one of the machines; a darker side of Maitu''s self sufficiency.

With the help of a bathroom attendant, Asha breaks out of the compound into the sunlight. Even though she has never seen the outside world, which is full of, mostly plastic, garbage. She understands she has to make coverings for her feet and a head scarf to block sun and wind, for which she puts refuse to good use. Tellingly, we see bags of garbage ejected from the city into the landscape; Maitu has learned all lesson, after all. Asha struggles through the harsh elements following a compass to where the soil sample came from. She sees the tree of her dream: a mirage. Finding nothing alive, Asha digs a hole in the sand and plants the Mother Tree. As she pours the last of her water and wrings out the last of her own sweat onto the small plant, she lies down to protect and nurture the bud.

In a reverse of the opening scene, the camera pulls up. As the shot widens, we see a tree growing rapidly, apparently right out of Asha's body.

After the events described in ''Run, Spy, Run'', Carter is recuperating at home in New York City from another assignment (Operation Ice Pick), when he is assigned to be the personal bodyguard for Nikita Khrushchev during the Soviet Premier’s attendance at the opening session of the United Nations (dating the story to late September 1963). Carter foils two separate assassination attempts on Khrushchev. AXE and its Soviet counterpart (known here as SIN) believe the assassinations are linked to communist Chinese efforts to destabilize relations between the USSR and USA. Carter is sent to Japan to infiltrate a Chinese communist spy ring. He is assisted by a top Russian spy (Comrade Guren). They learn that a Chinese crime syndicate called CLAW, operating from the safety of the Forbidden City in Peking, is behind the destabilization plot. Their mission is to assassinate CLAW’s leader, known only as the Mandarin. Carter and Comrade (disguised as guardsmen of the Forbidden City named Lo Mei Teng and Hong Tu Lee, respectively) leave Japan by boat and arrive in China near Shanghai. They intend to walk to Peking. By chance en route they meet Yasunara (who is Chinese despite her apparently Japanese name), the chief concubine of the Mandarin. After saving her party from an airplane attack, they escort Yasunara by car back to the Forbidden City. Yasunara sees through the disguise and Carter and Comrade are drugged, captured and imprisoned by the Mandarin in an underground labyrinth beneath the Forbidden City. Carter and Comrade are to die by being eaten alive by huge turtles. Using a small concealed knife (Hugo Junior), Carter and Comrade escape, killing the Mandarin and feeding his body to the turtles. Yasunara is knocked out and taken hostage as Carter and Comrade wend their way through the underground maze to an exit near the river. The Mandarin’s second-in-command, Chou Chang, is lying in wait near the exit with armed guards. Prepared to die in the face of overwhelming odds Carter and Comrade make a final stand. Bluffing, they start to strangle Yasunara to trick Chou Chang into revealing his location in the dimly lit cavern. When Chou Chang reveals himself he is wounded by a thrown knife. In the confusion that follows, Carter uses a small poison gas bomb (cousin of Pierre) to overcome the remaining guards and escape. Yasunara stabs and kills Comrade but is herself choked to death by Comrade as he dies. Carter escapes the Forbidden City dons the clothing of a guard and makes his way down to the river, where he is rescued by Julia Baron (Carter's assistant in Run, Spy, Run) and two American agents in a waiting launch who take him to safety.

It is 1941. Tweed is at a radio outpost on Guam from where he expects to return to mainland America. His replacement, Roy, arrives with Vicente, a local. Shortly after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attack Guam by air, killing Vicente and Chief Schultz. The five survivors from the outpost run for the hills as Japanese troops garrison the island.

Using medical documents from American prisoners the Japanese realise the five men are missing. The Japanese send patrols to capture the men, starting a long cat-and-mouse sequence. With help from locals the five escape one Japanese patrol but their evasion is short lived. Roy, who has lost a shoe, steps on a scorpion, the toxins weakening him and slowing the escape party. Tweed hides Roy with some brush and gives him a pistol, promising he'll "be back for the gun". Turney decides to surrender with Roy, arguing the Japanese will care for Roy's foot and they will be unharmed as prisoners of war. Turney uses his white shirt to signal the Japanese but is promptly killed. Panicking, Roy kills a Japanese soldier, before being killed himself. Chico, another American radioman, attempts to shoot at the Japanese but Tweed restrains him so they can remain hidden.

The three surviving Americans meet Sus Quintagua on a copra plantation, who promises to take them to his boss Santos, who will know where they can hide. Smuggling the Americans past a Japanese roadblock turns fatal, however, when Chico is killed by a stray shot from a drunken Japanese officer. Quintagua reveals that he has hidden an old radio, which the two Americans repair. When the radio's battery dies, Quintagua and Sonnenberg travel back to their abandoned jeep to retrieve its battery. Meanwhile, Tweed escapes another searching Japanese patrol but not before discovering the bound and beheaded bodies of Sonnenberg and Quintagua.

Tweed, now the sole survivor, makes it to a leprosy hospital, where he is cared for by a priest and his assistant. Tweed is told the Japanese would not dare visit the hospital so he will be safe. The hospital has a functioning radio. Tweed uses a typewriter to relay news he hears on the radio into a makeshift newspaper called the ''Guam Eagle'', which is secretly shared among locals. The plan goes awry when the newspaper, meant to be read and then burned, incites locals to rebel against the Japanese. The Japanese learn of the ''Guam Eagle and'' Shimoda, reading one of the newspapers, smells medicine which leads them to believe Tweed is hiding in the leprosy hospital. When the Japanese search the hospital Tweed hides in the leprosy isolation ward, where Japanese soldiers do not search as they are too horrified by the patients. A fire starts accidentally and, despite efforts to extinguish it, the hospital burns down. The priest, suspected of distributing the newspaper, is taken away for questioning.

Tweed awakes to find the priest's assistant and a man named Antonio Cruz. Cruz fears for his family because the Japanese have warned anyone helping Tweed will be executed, but instead hides Tweed at the top of a large rock face where there is a cave. Antonio promises to bring supplies every now and then. Tweed meets Antonio's beautiful daughter Josephina, or "Joe", who brings supplies in her father's stead. A nearby Japanese patrol is alerted to Tweed's position by an alarm clock that Joe brought with her. Tweed converts the alarm clock into a warning signal should anyone approach his location. Frustrated at not capturing Tweed, the Japanese warn that if Tweed is not surrendered, dead or alive, after one month they will burn a farm in each district. Tweed, overcome with guilt, considers surrender but is stopped by Antonio and the priest's assistant. The two men take Tweed's dog-tags, stating they will "give him dead". Under the cover of night, the locals take the body of the recently deceased Shimoda to the sea, where his flesh is eaten by crabs, leaving only a skeleton with Tweed's dog-tags on it.

Antonio's family and the newly released priest and his assistant celebrate Christmas 1943 with Tweed, during which Tweed learns the Japanese military is reconfiguring forces in preparation for the US attack. Tweed discovers a Japanese gun position and, using a mirror, warns an American ship of the danger. Tweed asks Joe not to visit again because he fears it is too dangerous. Later that night, the American ship signals Tweed but inadvertently alerts the Japanese to his position. Tweed signals that he has vital information and manages to reach the safety of the ship, during which his Japanese pursuers are killed.

After the battle ends with an American victory, Tweed re-unites with Antonio and his family, embracing Joe on top of the rock where Tweed had successfully evaded the Japanese for so long.

The film takes place in 1927 from April to October in the Soviet cities of Stargorod, Moscow, Vasyuki, Pyatigorsk, Vladikavkaz, Tbilisi, and Yalta.

The quiet life of registrar Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov is rocked by the sudden death of his mother-in-law Claudia Ivanovna, who admits that she sewed her diamonds into the seat of one of the twelve chairs belonging to their former living room set in order to hide it from Soviet forces, who had been confiscating treasures from everyone.

Vorobyaninov decides to track down the treasure. Before he can begin his quest, Ippolit Matveyevich meets a young swindler named Ostap Bender who coerces him into agreeing to help in the search in exchange for a percentage of the profit. Unfortunately, the town priest Father Fyodor also learns of Claudia Ivanovna's secret as part of her confession and decides to find the chair himself. Bender dreams of using the profits to move to Rio de Janeiro, which he believes to be the greatest place in the world.

The companions go on the hunt for the chairs across the whole country, encountering many unique and interesting characters, and competing against each other along the way. In the end, they find eleven out of the twelve chairs and return to Moscow without finding the treasure. Somehow, Bender manages to track down the last missing chair and informs Ippolit Matveyevich, whom he has taken to calling Kisa, about this before he goes to sleep. Because they have inspected all the other chairs and found nothing, both know that the treasure is hidden in this last chair. Kisa decides to seize the treasure for himself and kills the sleeping Ostap by cutting his throat with a straight razor. However, Vorobyaninov fails to retrieve the treasure because the Railroad Club caretaker had accidentally discovered the diamonds in the chair and "Comrade Krasilnikov", the club's manager, has already built a new club with the money.

Based on a real event, ''Looped'' takes place in the summer of 1965, when an inebriated Tallulah Bankhead needed eight hours to redub - or loop - one line of dialogue for her last movie, ''Die! Die! My Darling!'': "And so Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded rector has in literal effect closed the church to me." Though Bankhead's outsized personality dominates the play, the sub-story involves her battle of wills with a film editor named Danny Miller, who has been selected to work that particular sound editing session.

Neal Bannen is a charming con-man with a police chief for a father (Michael Ironside), a mob boss for an uncle (Robert Forster), and a weakness for fine women. He wants to turn his life around and leave the criminal lifestyle for the straight and narrow, but after gambling away the funds he had earmarked to pay off his final debts, Bannen must accept one more job working for his uncle, Mr. B, to retrieve a mysterious box. To complete the job, Bannen solicits the help of his college-aged, techy sidekick Zeke (Gabriel Tigerman), and Madison (Vanessa Marcil), a beautiful and street savvy thief.

A man, who is an immigrant from the Middle East, moves to the slums of Montreal, where he learns that he is stuck in poverty. When he tries to take his own life, a "man in a speedo" saves him. He is then sentenced to therapy, where he explains his horrid childhood and how he believes that he is a cockroach. He is also in love with a girl, Shohreh, and is friends/enemies with a man named Reza. He gets a job at a restaurant, and can't help but stare at his boss' daughter. He also steals from every rich man and poor woman. Throughout the book the man starts to slowly change, for better and worse.

Unmarried, sarcastic English literature and grammar teacher Connie Brooks (Eve Arden) arrives in a small Midwestern town to teach at the local high school. She meets handsome, athletic biology teacher Phillip Boynton (Robert Rockwell), and they begin dating. Boynton, however, is unwilling to commit to the relationship, and several years of platonic dating pass (to Miss Brooks' consternation).

When student Gary Nolan (Nick Adams) does poorly in her class, his father—wealthy local newspaper publisher Lawrence Nolan (Don Porter)—accuses Miss Brooks of being incompetent. Brooks convinces Mr. Nolan that he's working too hard and neglecting his son. Mr. Nolan hires Miss Brooks to tutor his son in English, and agrees to spend more time with Gary. As Gary becomes a better-adjusted youth, Mr. Nolan begins to romance Miss Brooks.

Meanwhile, high school principal Osgood Conklin (Gale Gordon) is criticized by Superintendent Stone (Joseph Kearns) for being a martinet. Conklin decides to seek election to Stone's job, and convinces Miss Brooks to manage his campaign. Miss Brooks convinces Nolan to support Conklin in his newspaper. This gives Nolan more time to romance Miss Brooks, causing Boynton to become jealous. Boyton's jealousy convinces Miss Brooks that he does love her after all, and she breaks off her budding romance with Mr. Nolan.

Conklin seems on the verge of defeating Stone in the next election, but withdraws from the race after learning how little the job pays. Miss Brooks overhears one half of a telephone conversation in which Boynton buys a home and tells the real estate broker that he will be sharing it with "Mrs. Boynton." Miss Brooks assumes that Boynton will soon ask her to marry him, and that he is buying the property as a home for them. But it turns out that Boynton is buying it for himself and his mother, whose loneliness is causing her to have psychosomatic illnesses. But everything turns out all right once Mrs. Boynton realizes how this is going to impact her son's relationship with Miss Brooks. She moves in with Miss Brooks' eccentric landlady, Mrs. Margaret Davis (Jane Morgan), instead.

As the film ends, Boynton finally proposes to Miss Brooks and gives her an engagement ring (which is promptly stolen by a chimpanzee at the zoo).

A compulsive gambler attempts to cure his addiction by moving from Las Vegas to Albuquerque and working at an auto insurance company, only to find old temptations cropping up once again when he's sent out to investigate a dubious car accident just outside Sin City.

After a string of bad luck at the tables, John (Steve Buscemi) decides to give up gambling and take a shot at a "normal" life. Arriving in Albuquerque and landing a job at an auto insurance company, John goes to work for Mr. Townsend (Peter Dinklage), who pairs him with the company's top fraud debunker, Virgil (Romany Malco), and sends them out on an investigation together. While John is eager to get a promotion, he's reluctant to go anywhere near Las Vegas, and before he leaves he strikes up a tenuous romance with his eccentric co-worker, Jill (Sarah Silverman).

On the road, Virgil and John encounter a series of offbeat characters including Ned, a nude militant (Tim Blake Nelson), Tasty D Lite, a wheelchair-using stripper (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and a carnival human torch (John Cho). But while Virgil is the one with the experience, John gradually begins to assert himself and soon his efforts begin to pay off as the case moves closer to conclusion. As John's confidence grows, he becomes increasingly aware of the fact that running away from his gambling problem is not the solution, and that he'll only be able to move forward by returning to Las Vegas to face his demons head on.

Transylvania, 1979: Hard times have fallen upon the House of Dracula, and to help pay the taxes on the ancestral castle, it has been converted into the Hotel Transylvania. The hotel manager is the beautiful and sensuous Nocturna (Nai Bonet), granddaughter of the original Count (John Carradine), who still resides in the crypt deep in the sub-basement of the establishment.

Nocturna books the American disco group Moment of Truth to entertain in the hotel's cabaret, The Claret Room, to increase business and the supply of fresh blood at the hotel. While listening to the group rehearse their music, Nocturna experiences strange sensations which she has never felt before. At the same time, she is attracted to a handsome musician in the group named Jimmy (Antony Hamilton). Soon they are having a passionate love affair, but the music that plays as they make love prevents her from making him another victim of her blood-lust. The music continues the strange transformation of Nocturna, who sees her reflected image for the first time while dancing. Deeply in love with Jimmy, she disregards grandfather Dracula's advice and runs away to America with him.

When they arrive in New York, she leaves the disappointed Jimmy and seeks out the crypt of Jugulia Vein (Yvonne De Carlo), an old love of Count Dracula's, who lives underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Nocturna goes to a disco to meet Jimmy, where she is transformed again by the soul-stirring powers of the music. All the other dancers join them in a fantastic erotic dance.

Meanwhile, back at Jugulia's crypt, Count Dracula has appeared with his henchman Theodore (Brother Theodore), and has placed Jugulia under a spell forcing her to disclose the whereabouts of Jimmy's apartment. He orders his henchman to bring back Nocturna and do as he wishes with her human lover. Theodore, who is hopelessly in love with Nocturna, captures her and brings her back to Jimmy's apartment tied inside a black bag. Theodore is about to take Jimmy's blood when Nocturna manages to rip through the bag, bare her fangs, and pounce upon the cringing Theodore.

Theodore drags his broken body back to Jugulia's crypt and informs his master that he has failed. Jugulia leads them to the disco, hoping to change Count Dracula's mind when he sees how happy his granddaughter is. However, the Count is infuriated when he sees Nocturna dancing with Jimmy. He places Jimmy under his evil spell, as well as all of the dancers in the disco. Nocturna agrees to leave with her grandfather and return to Transylvania to save her lover's life. Jugulia, a romantic at heart, releases Jimmy from his trance. He is determined to risk his life to save Nocturna and rushes out of the disco. Before Count Dracula can destroy him, he rips an electrically lit "T" from the sign of the disco and advances towards the infamous vampire with his improvised cross. Count Dracula shrieks in horror at the sight, transforms himself into a bat and flies off to the safety of Transylvania. Jugulia, who has other plans for the Count, also transforms into a bat and flies after him.

Nocturna feels that she is human now and decides to watch the sunrise for the first time. Although they both realize it may mean her death, they stand in each other's arms, awaiting the first rays of sunlight. The sun's rays illuminate Nocturna's anxious face. She smiles a warm human smile at Jimmy, and they tenderly kiss.

A giant time-space tear called the Fault had been created by Black Bolt's T-Bomb, killing both himself and the Shi'ar leader Vulcan. The Fault becomes an immediate concern for both the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Nova Corps. They sent Wendell Vaughn, the first Quasar, into the Fault to scout it, given that his energy form would be able to survive its treacherous storms. Quasar soon finds that the Fault is actually a tunnel, leading to another universe which reeked of corruption, ruled by evil organic masses that had consumed their universe like a cancer. It is described as a Cancerverse, where "Life has won, Death has lost." He is captured by that universe's Avengers (called the Revengers), who plan on imposing their Earth on his, to enable their gods, the Many-Angled Ones, to continue to spread.

Gloria Swanson narrates this documentary about the early life of Charlie Chaplin.

The film takes place in a small Pennsylvania town in 1973, and tells the story of a young boy (Joshua Ormond) and his family (Tara Reid, Faust Checho, Cloris Leachman, Bev Appleton) as they are terrorized by an unseen presence in the surrounding fields.

As a young boy, Steven deals with a very difficult home life, as his parents are constantly at odds. After a potentially dangerous incident, Steven's mother sends him to stay with his grandparents on their farm for a few weeks. Soon after he arrives, an unseen presence begins terrorizing the farmhouse, using the massive surrounding cornfields to remain hidden.

Caroline Ruthyn is the teenage niece of her elderly uncle Silas, a sickly and at one time unbalanced rake who becomes her guardian on the death of her father. The fact that Silas is broke and greedy and young Caroline is the heir to her father's vast fortune is reason enough for Caroline to be wary, but her fears increase when she meets Silas's brutal son, her cousin, and when she discovers that her fearsome former governess, Madame de la Rougierre, is working with her uncle...

In order to earn his wings, a Guardian Angel (Rooney) comes down from heaven to train Richard (Dixon) to be President of the United States. He wins the 1968 presidential election, which was, in reality, sponsored by a group of Irishmen on a bet.

Set in Vienna, the film focuses on Magda and Kitty, two young women who reply to a newspaper advertisement and are contacted by the two young owners of a parfume store. Because their replies were confused with that of a flirtatious stenographer, the two men have different intentions than the girls and complications ensue.

Scene One follows bipolar Leo, who is an obsessed fan of Al Pacino. His more mature friend Ricky and him are wannabe screenwriters. It also has them cooking up an elaborate plot that will appeal to Al. Leo obsession turns to insanity. Scene Two is several years later and Leo was released from the mental institution. It shows how the two friends' lives have taken turns, not necessarily unpredictable, but turns nonetheless. Scene Three is where Frank Rose Jr. enters, and is a nightmarish mirror of Leo's fantasy life. He is Mr. Pacino's bodyguard. Scene Four is the redemption, where friends and friends, and the optimism leaves you with the feeling something good is about to happen.

The lives of the Altamira family are changed forever. Their lives are engulfed by the events in the disappearance of Elisa (Vanessa Pose), the oldest daughter of Mariano Altamira (Gabriel Porras) and Dana Riggs Altamira (Sonya Smith).

Once she disappears, we begin to learn the secrets of every member of the family and friends; the paranoias start, histories from the past, themes that were supposed to be buried. Then the recriminations among family members start.

In the midst of family conflicts many suspects come to light, among them family members (Elisa's parents, uncles, cousins) fellow students, former and present Altamira employees, as well as friends that used to go to the same places that Elisa would frequent. Eventually, Bruno Cáceres (Roberto Mateos) will emerge as the kidnapper....

Despite the continual efforts to find Elisa, a more prominent theme is the disintegration of the Altamira clan. In the initial episode they look like a one big happy clan, but there are many problems beneath that surface which come to light. A major theme of the story is the consequences of hypocrisy.

Bart's fourth-grade class is merged with another fourth-grade class when teacher Mrs. Krabappel is absent. In the crowded classroom, Bart is forced to sit by a new student named Nikki. At first, they dislike each other, until Nikki admires Bart's artistic skills. Bart seeks romance advice from Homer, who passes him off to Grandpa Abe. After Grandpa advises Bart to kiss Nikki, however, when Bart does so after the two skateboard together, she recoils in disgust. Nikki's attorney's parents threaten to sue the school unless it is declared an "affection-free environment". Superintendent Chalmers causes a play in which Willie plays Nikki and Skinner plays Bart who was strangled by Homer after calling him a “Fatso”, meaning they are forced to kiss. Bart is confused at the outcome of this seemingly innocent action, and his confusion is later amplified when Nikki hides in his locker and kisses him again.

Meanwhile, Lisa becomes popular when she receives an F on a test, but becomes unpopular again when it is revealed that her test was mistakenly given to Ralph, as both tests were mixed up as the F grade was supposed to be given to Ralph who had written Lisa's name on his test. Angry about being ostracized for being an overachiever once again, Lisa blogs about it, and her post is noted by a mysterious blogger known as Flotus 1 who turns out to be First Lady Michelle Obama. Obama drops by Springfield Elementary to give a speech about the importance of academics and recommends that the students should be nice to Lisa and other overachievers like her friends, Martin Prince and Allison Taylor.

Bart and Nikki have been watching this speech from the roof, and Bart confesses to Nikki he does not understand her ever-changing moods. They argue and Bart stumbles, falling off the roof. Nikki says "I love you," but seeing that Bart is breathing treats him badly again. Bart stops breathing again, but the school's "no-touch" policy prevents anyone from performing CPR. Nikki defies the policy and revives Bart via mouth-to-mouth, thus setting off a montage of kiss scenes from various movies, some of which (such as Alien 3) never even had kiss scenes in them. When Bart awakes, Nikki's mood changes yet again and Bart remains in a state of complete confusion over female behavior. He tells her he does not care what happens between her and him, but then changes his mind and yells out "I love you!" after she kisses him once again.

Throughout the episode, Nelson Muntz has befriended a blind boy and teaches him how to laugh at the misfortunes of others. In the end, the blind boy tricks Nelson into believing that a punch he sustained after insulting Nelson restored his sight. When he reveals to Nelson that this was a prank and laughs at Nelson's signature "haw haw", Nelson is as impressed as he is touched by the achievement.

A famous jinn fights lawyer Naila Al-Jaidi, who is attempting to find out how her daughter died.

Upon finishing a prison sentence, a trio of crooks go in search of their one-time leader, known as "The Duke", who was supposed to safeguard their share of the money which was never recovered. However, the Duke's girlfriend Sara tells them the Duke is dead and the money is long gone. Later, the gang discover that she's lying, and that the Duke has set up a spa, the Hope Springs Nature Clinic, as a front. The Duke is planning a major heist with some criminal cronies.

The complex plot involves the police, the British Army, officers of the German army and a complicated deception by means of rail, with real German army officers being tricked into getting off the train one stop early, to be replaced by criminals in their guise. Leading the army group is Lt Vine who is successfully deceived by the whole affair (aided by Sara feeding him false information) and he has to bear the brunt of the blame.

When Russian revolutionaries overrun his country estate, Baron Nikita Krasnoff (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) barely escapes with his life by killing one of them and switching clothes. His story is suspicious, so the household servant Tanyusha (Nancy Carroll) is found and brought to identify him. To his surprise, she does not betray him, and they are released. He is even allowed to "loot" one of his own possessions, a sword with the fabulous Krasnoff pearl necklace hidden in a secret compartment in the scabbard.

Krasnoff sets off for Turkey; Tanyusha accompanies him, much to his puzzlement. To get past a checkpoint, they hide in a car. When they are discovered, Krasnoff offers to pay, exchanging a single strand of pearls at a time as their journey continues. When the couple falls asleep, the greedy car owner and his driver rob them and force them out of the vehicle. However, when the crooks try to run another checkpoint, they are killed by the guards. Krasnoff and Tanyusha continue on foot. The first night, Krasnoff tries to take advantage of his companion, but when she resists his advances, he desists. Eventually, they reach Constantinople, where Krasnoff gets a job as a dishwasher, while Tanyusha scrubs floors at a hospital. Krasnoff marries Tanyusha.

One day, restaurant patron Vera Zimina (Lilyan Tashman) is astonished to find her ex-lover Krasnoff working as a busboy. She enlists him for a moneymaking scheme. Tired of his wretched existence, Krasnoff goes off with Vera, telling his wife that he will send her money. However, his letters are intercepted by the landlady.

Vera has befriended the wealthy Mr. Murphy (Guy Kibbee). Krasnoff is assigned to romance Murphy's daughter Marjorie (Sheila Terry). Vera then gives Krasnoff an excellent imitation of the Krasnoff pearls to sell to the trusting Murphys. When he proves reluctant, she shows him a Turkish proclamation announcing that all unemployed Russians are to be deported back to the Soviet Union. It does not have the effect she intended though. Krasnoff, afraid that his wife will be sent back, confesses the truth to Marjorie and rushes off to find Tanyusha.

He cannot find her and is picked up by the Turkish police for deportation. He is reunited with Tanyusha, and together, they board the ship taking them to a grim future.

Declan Ross, accepting the British offer of pardons to pirates who would turn from their illegal trade, is now attempting to convince other pirates to do the same. Meanwhile, rumors have arisen that Bartholomew Thorne, formerly thought to have been killed in a flood, is alive and plotting.

Cat, who has been staying with a group of monks for a time, has been offered the task of commanding a ship full of fighting monks on a mission to hunt down the elusive Merchant. He accepts, and with Ross's permission, takes Anne on as quartermaster.

While Ross combs the sea for news of Thorne, Cat and Anne discover the Merchant's underwater lair. Eventually, they are separated from their comrades and, in the ensuing battle with the Merchant himself, Anne escapes the lair while Cat is captured. Anne is picked up by the ''Robert Bruce'' and Cat, trapped in a cell on the Merchant's ship, is faced with a choice: become the evil man's apprentice or die. The Merchant arranges a meeting with Thorne himself and offers to return Cat to his father for a price. Bartholomew, however, hatefully refuses.

Meanwhile, Lady Dolphin, Commodore Blake, and their young friend Hopper sail to an island where Thorne was reportedly last seen. There the two adults are captured by the Raukar, Viking descendants who are under Thorne's leadership. Hopper is able to rescue Blake but Lady Dolphin remains a prisoner. While in Bartholomew's captivity, he and she discover that Dolphin is Thorne's daughter, the child of Heather, the wife he lost in a fire. This news confounds the terrible pirate, who, while not fond of Dolphin, now cannot seem to stay away from her.

With a Viking army, Thorne sails to London and bombs it with a destructive and mysterious weapon of the Raukar: fire rain. With vengeful satisfaction, Bartholomew wipes out and cripples the British Navy and watches the British city in burning confusion. He then sails off to personally destroy the monastery Cat formerly stayed at.

Ross and Anne sail to defend the monastery as soon as they learn of Thorne's terrible work. There before the monks' home, they confront Bartholomew in a sea battle, which further intensifies with the arrival of the Merchant's ship and a hurricane. In the ensuing fight, Cat boldly escapes the Merchant's ship, that same vessel is soon sunk, Hopper and some of Ross's crewmen rescue Dolphin, and several Raukar ships are destroyed in the hurricane. In a final confrontation on Ross's ship, Declan, Cat and Stede together kill Thorne.

The battered ''Robert Bruce'' and its crew ride out the rest of the hurricane in its eye and then return in triumph to the monastery. As the story ends, London is struggling to recover and rebuild itself and Cat comes to Declan with a question.

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) decides not to search for his biological father, after it was revealed in the previous episode that the man he believed was his father was not. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), however, convinces him to find out who his real father is, so Jack contacts Lenny Wosniak (Steve Buscemi)—a private investigator—to search for his biological father. Lenny gives him an envelope containing the names of three individuals who could be his father. Jack tells Liz about the envelope, and she suggests they ''Mamma Mia!'' this and bring the three men to New York under false pretenses, to which Jack agrees. Jack meets the men, George Park, Fred O'Dwyer (Stuart Margolin), and Professor Milton Greene (Alan Alda). At meeting the three men, Jack comes to the realization that Milton is his father, as George Park is Korean and Fred O'Dwyer lost his genitals in a grenade explosion during World War II. He tells Milton that he is his son, after Milton admitted to sleeping with his mother, Colleen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch), around the time Jack was conceived. Milton is happy to have him as his son, and reveals to Jack that he is in need of a kidney transplant.

Meanwhile, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) introduces his illegitimate son, Donald (Michael Benjamin Washington), to the ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' staff. Liz and Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit) suspect that Donald is embezzling from Tracy as they do not believe that Donald is twenty-one years old, which Donald claims to be. Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden), Liz's assistant, obtains Donald's birth certificate and gives it to Liz and Pete; the two learn that Donald is forty years of age, thus confirming their suspicions about him. Liz tells Tracy about this, but Tracy knew all about Donald's scam, explaining he decided to go along with it because Donald was putting all of the money into a dojo and doing good for the community.

At the same time, Liz becomes jealous when her friend and ''TGS'' star Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) takes credit for "That's A Deal Breaker, ladies!" catchphrase, resulting in Liz not getting recognition as she wrote the sketch. As a result of this, Jenna is named the "Funniest Person in New York" by ''Time Out'' magazine, and seeing how Liz feels about this, Jenna decides to share the magazine cover with her. At the photo shoot, the photographer (Clayton Dean Smith) wants Jenna to use props for the shoot, but Jenna is reluctant to use any of them. Liz, however, decides to pose with the props, resulting in her being on the cover of ''Time Out'', much to Jenna's displeasure.

Liz (Tina Fey) invites her neighbor, Dr. Drew Baird (Jon Hamm), on their first date, accidentally scheduling it for Valentine's Day. At the suggestion of her boss, Jack (Alec Baldwin), Liz decides to have the date at her home. Many things go wrong during the date, including Liz exposing her breast and Drew seeing Liz on the toilet. The date gets worse when Drew's ex-wife drops off their daughter (Allie Trimm) at Liz's apartment. Later, Drew gets news that his mother (Marylouise Burke) is critically ill. The two visit her at the hospital and after Drew steps out, Liz is left alone with her. She tells Liz she is in fact not Drew's mother, but instead his grandmother, and that his sister (Laila Robins) is really his birth mother. Following the passing of his grandmother, Liz and Drew still decide to move forward in their relationship, and Liz telling Drew everything his grandmother told her.

Meanwhile, Jack's Valentine's dinner plans with his girlfriend Elisa (Salma Hayek) are postponed when they have to attend church. Jack calls his office assistant, Jonathan (Maulik Pancholy), telling him to hold his dinner reservations. Before they can leave church, Elisa tells Jack that they need to go to confession. After horrifying the priest (Zak Orth) with his admissions, Elisa becomes furious with Jack and breaks up with him. Later, however, she laments her fight with Jack. After finding a McFlurry coupon in the collection plate, she believes it is a sign from God because both she and Jack love the McDonald's dessert. The two reconcile their relationship as a result, and spend Valentine's Day together at a McDonald's.

Finally, Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) falls for a new staffer, a blind woman named Jennifer (Maria Thayer). Kenneth cannot bring himself to ask Jennifer out, so Tracy (Tracy Morgan) decides to help him. On their date, at the 30 Rock studios, Kenneth and Jennifer are joined by Tracy—who does all the talking. Jennifer believes Kenneth is black, but Kenneth reveals he is white and expresses his feeling for her, and admits to her that Tracy was doing all the talking. Jennifer tells him she does not mind of what has happened. However, after feeling Kenneth's face and comparing it to her own, she leaves, horrified at his appearance.

In an animated introduction a man hides in a nagamochi while playing hide and seek with neighboring children, but he is locked in and can hardly breathe. When his wife comes home he manages to make a noise and she opens the lid to the trunk, and instead shuts it again. We now then enter a live action world where Poe-inspired mystery writer Edogawa Rampo (Naoto Takenaka) has written a book about a woman who has killed her husband by locking him in a nagamochi. The book is banned by the government who claim the work to be too disturbing. He is asked to burn his manuscript. However, after burning his paper drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper story with an account of events just like his forbidden story. After spying on the woman concerned, who is labeled as a murderer, he decides to visit her store. Shizuko (Michiko Hada) offers him her own music box for free as he has showed interest in it. He later stalks her to a shrine where he admits following her and she asks him to go away. She later asks him to meet her at the shrine. She's sorry and has read his book and was impressed while he again excuses for his stalking behaviour. She is then picked up by a taxi and he avidly follows her with another taxi.
Here his younger literary alter ego Kogoro Akechi (Masahiro Motoki) picks up the story. Akechi finds out Shizuko has an affair with a marquis in a Dracula-like castle located at the sea on a cliff. He decides to pay this duke a secret visit by "experimenting" with parachute jumping. He lands in a pack of biting hunting dogs the duke directs at him. The duke sucks out his arm wound and then invites him home to treat the wound. They have dinner together and here he sees Shizuko serving him an aphrodisiac. Akeshi observes the marquis while he's horse-riding, cross-dressing and smearing his facial make up all over her naked back and projecting a stag film on her body. During an evening party he frightens the guests with a recital of a text of Poe - accompanied with images of war: the film gets stuck at the end of the text, burning the film depicting the face of a corpse. The next day he follows with another piece of "entertainment" by committing suicide with his white horse, running off the cliff.
Edogawa Rampo returns to the story as he finds out about the castle and tries to enter the room where Akeshi is willingly - he needs no instructions from his writer - entering the nagamochi Shizuko has opened from him. As Rampo navigates through the castle the layers of fantasy and reality start to merge into one cosmic flashback occurring before and after he gets into the room where Shizuko commits suicide before Akeshi can get out of the nagamochi. Rampo holds Shizuko in his arms.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is excited about her vacation week, until she gets a text message from her assistant, Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden), that the hotel she had planned to stay at was overbooked. Liz goes to see Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell) who is giving out flu shots at the 30 Rock studios. She learns that the shots are given to select few employees. Her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), asks her to let him know about the most important individuals in her staff that should receive flu shots. Liz does not agree with Jack that he should ration out health care, which results in Liz not getting a shot. Jack considers giving the show's page, Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), one of the remaining shots, as he is very ill with the flu, though Kenneth refuses. Later, Jack continuously asks Liz, but still refuses. This time, she displays her solidarity in front of ''The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan'' (''TGS'') crew who show her their appreciation. However, as she sees the crew getting sicker, as days go by, she panics and gets the shot.

Meanwhile, Jack wants to spend time with his girlfriend, Elisa (Salma Hayek), but her job as a nurse does not allow it. While taking care of an elderly man named Mr. Templeton (George Bartenieff), who suffers from dementia, Jack persuades her to spend time with him, to which Elisa gives in to, and results in the two bringing Mr. Templeton along on their dates. One day, as they prepare to go out again, Jack and Elisa are shocked when Mr. Templeton's son, Michael (Scott Bryce), visits unexpectedly. The elderly man tells his son about the late night escapades, though Elisa tells the son that his story is not true. As Elisa distracts the son, Jack tries to leave the apartment, until Mr. Templeton sees him. Jack explains his situation with Elisa to Mr. Templeton, which he understands, and promises Jack he will not tell his son anything more of the late nights.

At the 30 Rock studios, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) and Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), the stars of ''TGS'', decide they want to help the sick crew. They think about getting the crew soup but are too lazy to do it; instead they decide that laughter is the best medicine. Jenna and Tracy, dressed as clowns, put on a very unsuccessful show at the ''TGS'' stage where they end up throwing a pie on Liz's face. The crew stands up for Liz until they see the red dot where she received the shot. She confesses that she chose the vacation over the crew, as she later was told by Cerie that the hotel had rooms available, which results in the crew hating her for it.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) desires to have a baby, but her adoption process is taking a long time. She begins to act "baby-crazy" when she is around little children. While outside of 30 Rock, Liz pats a boy in front of her on the head, only to discover that it is not a child but a dwarf man, Stewart LaGrange (Peter Dinklage). To cover up, Liz lies to Stewart, telling him that the reason she pat his head was to get his attention, which he accepts and the two go on a date. During their date, Liz tries to pick Stewart up to stop him from touching fire. Stewart asks Liz if she first thought he was a child when they first met, and she admits this is true, displeasing him. The next day, she calls him to apologize and asks that he give her a second chance and meet her at the Brooklyn Bridge. At the bridge, however, Liz mistakenly thinks a boy is Stewart, which prompts him to realize this will never work between them.

In another storyline, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) hires a new nurse, Elisa Pedrera (Salma Hayek), to take care of his mother, Colleen (Elaine Stritch). Meanwhile, Jack helps Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) manage his money because his spending has gotten out of control. Jack recommends a "post-nup" agreement for Tracy and his wife, Angie (Sherri Shepherd), as Tracy fears that Angie might leave him if she ever were to have enough money to live on. Angie agrees to sign the agreement but promises Tracy that she will never leave his side, which moves Tracy and he stops her from signing the agreement. Later, Jack feels a lump in one of his testicles, and believing he has testicular cancer, he begins to look at life differently. He admits to Liz that he has fallen in love with Elisa after they spent some time together. When he gets his tests results, which come back negative, he has second thoughts about Elisa. In the end, however, Jack comes home to Elisa, and the two share a kiss.

Finally, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) learns that Sheinhardt Universal—the fictional owner of General Electric—is producing a biographical film on singer Janis Joplin, and she decides to audition for it. As a way to get the role, she goes into Jack's office in character. The plan works after Jack is easily convinced. Much to her dismay, Jenna learns that actress Julia Roberts and director Martin Scorsese are also making a Janis Joplin movie and that Sheinhardt Universal has yet to secure the song and image rights of Joplin. In order for the company to avoid legal problems, Jenna is introduced as "Janet Jopler" on ''TGS''—the show she stars in—and sings the song "Piece of My Heart" but with reworded lyrics.

Liz announces to the staff of ''The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan'' (''TGS'') that she is participating in a charity which provides gifts to underprivileged children who write letters to Santa. She buys far more than what is requested in the letter, wanting to see the children's happiness. When Liz delivers the presents to the apartment in the letter, however, the door is answered by two adults who take the gifts, and she believes she has been tricked. Receiving no help from the US Postal Service, who run the charity, she attempts to have it shut down. This upsets Kenneth who refuses to believe anyone would scam a Christmas charity. She takes Kenneth back to the apartment to prove she was right, but two children answer the door and Liz accidentally reveals to them that Santa Claus is not real.

Meanwhile, Jack accidentally backs into his mother, Colleen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch), with his car in Florida. Bedridden, she decides to stay with Jack, and her presence greatly annoys him. Jack reveals to Liz that after he hit his mother he waited eight minutes before calling 9-1-1, and is worried she will find out. Jack tries to stay away from his mother by having the cast and crew of ''TGS'' produce a last-minute Christmas special. However, Colleen discovers the secret, and confronts him with it. Jack responds by expressing his anger with her for her behavior at Christmas while he was a child. Ultimately, after talking with Liz, Jack realizes that Colleen was actually a caring mother, and reconciles with her.

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) brings Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) along to a dinner party hosted by his friend Gavin Volure (Steve Martin). Gavin becomes intrigued by Liz and invites her to spend the weekend with him, which she accepts. She wonders how the relationship between them will work, as he is agoraphobic. Gavin explains his daily routines to Liz, and also discloses that due to his phobias, he cannot be intimate with women. Liz starts to think that maybe a relationship with Gavin could work. As Liz gets ready to leave, Gavin admits to her that he is not agoraphobic, and that he is under house arrest for arson, fraud, embezzlement, and racketeering. This shocks Liz, and when she returns to New York, she tells Jack about it. Jack feels awful for investing NBC page Kenneth Parcell's (Jack McBrayer) money with Gavin, after Gavin told him he was forming a new company and interested Jack to be part of it. Later, Gavin escapes from house arrest and shows up at the 30 Rock studios. There, he tells Liz that he was on his way to the Canada–US border but came back to bring her with him. After Liz refuses to go with him, and not wanting to go to prison, Gavin climbs to the top of the ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' set and threatens to jump. Jack tries to talk Gavin out of jumping, distracting him in the process, resulting in Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) tackling Gavin down.

Meanwhile, Tracy begins to question the reason why his sons want to spend so much time with him. One day, Tracy sees a special about Lyle and Erik Menendez—the two brothers who became famous for killing their parents—which leads him to believe that his sons are plotting to kill him. As a result, Tracy buys a life-size Japanese sex doll that looks like him to use as a decoy to fool them. Eventually, Tracy realizes that he overreacted with his sons but warns his son, Tracy Jr. (Bobb'e J. Thompson), that if he were to die, that he and his brother will face jail time.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) await the arrival of their old Chicago roommate, Claire Harper (Jennifer Aniston). The two are not thrilled with her visit as they find her exhausting to be around. Immediately, their boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is attracted to Claire, but Liz tells him not to get involved with her. Jack, however, reveals to Liz that the two have already slept together. At a General Electric formal function, Claire surprises Jack by singing a sexy rendition of "Happy Birthday" to him, an allusion to Marilyn Monroe's performance for John F. Kennedy's birthday. He tells her that she needs to leave, so Claire loudly threatens to kill herself. To help Jack, Liz gets Claire to abandon her plans with Jack and instead go out nightclubbing with her and Jenna. At the club, Claire does not show up, which prompts Liz to call Jack to warn him about potential danger. He finds Claire inside his apartment and ends up sleeping with her again. When asked to choose between Liz and Claire, Jack chooses Claire, but Claire, thinking that the relationship has gotten boring, turns on Jack.

Meanwhile, NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) is not happy with the new page uniforms. Wanting to see Kenneth happy again, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) gets actors Harry Anderson, Markie Post, and Charlie Robinson from the television show ''Night Court'' to come to 30 Rock, where Anderson and Post agree to stage the wedding of their respective characters, Judge Harry Stone and Christine Sullivan. Kenneth is excited when he finds out that he can finally see the ''Night Court'' wedding, which never occurred before the show was canceled by the network. When a conflict between Anderson and Post ensues, it seems that the wedding will not take place. However, Anderson and Post make up and rehearse. As Tracy and Kenneth finish taping the final scenes of Harry and Christine's wedding, Harry declares it illegal to wear the new page uniforms and demands the old ones be brought back. Tracy tells Kenneth that he added that part in the script as he complained to Kenneth's superiors to bring back the old uniforms, which makes Kenneth happy.

Kayley has to rescue her mother, as well as Excalibur, from the evil knight, Ruber and along the way defeat enemies, bosses and meet new friends. As Kayley, the player sets out to avenge the death of her father and confront Ruber, the villain.

Homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer (Tracy Pollan) teams up with three other professional women to investigate a serial killer who targets brides on their honeymoon. While trying to solve the biggest case of her career, she finds herself falling for her partner (Gil Bellows) and battling a life-threatening illness.

In the near future, Earth's human population burgeons to the point where nations fight for scarce resources. The United States of America attempts to alleviate energy problems by launching SC-01 Providence, an O'Neil Cylinder space colony using a solar energy microwave transmitter to provide them with an alternative source. However, the government of the Russian Federation has been overthrown in a coup d'état by a section of the military, calling themselves the Order of the Russian Star. They capture Providence and use the microwave transmitter to devastate San Francisco. Victor Zaitsev (Marc Worden), a Russian Star agent, demands the American government to surrender or he will target New York City.

Elizabeth Winters (Lee Meriwether), the President of the United States, sends Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burns (Steven Blum) to infiltrate the station, along with the Bravo Company, an army of space Marines. They recruit Sam Gideon (Gideon Emery), a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) soldier equipped with the prototype Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS), a cutting-edge battlesuit outfitted with a vast array of functions, including jet boosters attached to his thighs. He is armed with the experimental Battlefield Logic Adaptable Electronic Weapon System (BLADE), which scans existing weapons and transforms into them. It stores only three scans at a time and can shapeshift between each on command. He is assisted by Elena Ivanova (Kari Wahlgren) aboard the SBC2 command ship. The mission gives DARPA the perfect chance to test the suit. Winters gives classified orders for Sam to rescue scientist Dr. Francois Candide (Benito Martinez), whom Zaitsev kidnapped. While Sam and Burns infiltrate Providence, Candide disables the microwave.

As Sam reaches the microwave station, Candide tells Sam that Burns and Winters have betrayed the United States, before being killed by Burns. Burns tells Sam that he will change the microwave's target to Moscow under Winters' orders, explaining the city's destruction as an "economic stimulus package." Sam defeats Burns, who orders him to escape. Burns uses a bomb in his bionic arm to kill himself and the remaining Bravo Company troops. Zaitsev tells Sam that Winters had secretly supported the Order of the Russian Star, but she betrayed them by using the coup as a pretext to declare war on Russia. He claims that she intends to use it to cement American hegemony worldwide and that the Order preemptively attacked the station as retribution. Sam defeats two slave units and learns that Zaitsev was controlling them remotely. Zaitsev activates a tactical nuke inside the remaining suit to destroy Providence and prevent anyone from reclaiming it. Sam boards an escape pod and survives the explosion, reuniting with Elena on their ship. Zaitsev escapes as well and is congratulated by his superiors for accomplishing the mission and being told to move on to the next phase of the plan. Winters commits suicide after realizing that Sam has enough evidence to make her being charged with high treason.

The novel begins with the discovery of a body hanging from a tree in the park. It doesn't take long to figure out that this is no suicide, as the person had been shot several times before the hanging. After a little investigation the body is discovered to be that of libertarian national talk radio and television personality Walter Weeks. Weeks was an influential man, and personal friend to the governor of Massachusetts, so when the media finds out, Jesse Stone finds himself hounded by the governor and the media, and leading a very high-profile case.

Stone begins his investigation by interviewing Weeks's ex-wives, manager, widow Lorrie Weeks, and bodyguard Conrad Lutz. Before long another twist is added to the crime when the body of Weeks's pregnant mistress turns up in the dumpster of a local restaurant. The medical examination discovers that this second victim was shot by the same gun, probably around the same time. As part of his investigation, Stone has Suitcase Simpson check to see if Weeks has any criminal convictions. The only one that turns up is an incident in Baltimore in 1987 where Weeks was found having sex in his car with a young woman. This seems unimportant at first, until Jesse discovers that the arresting officer was Weeks's bodyguard, Lutz. When questioned, Lutz confirms that he had busted Weeks while working as a Baltimore police officer, but that later he and Weeks then struck up a friendship which ended in Lutz becoming his bodyguard.

The plot thickens when further investigation determines that Lorrie Weeks was formerly Lutz's wife. Stone also learns that Weeks had planned on divorcing Lorrie and leaving his fortune to his new mistress and unborn child. After discovering this, Chief Stone and Suitcase Simpson head up to New York to stake out the widow's apartment. While there they see Lutz visiting her apartment during the day. They also witness Weeks's research assistant Alan Hendricks spending the night. This is interesting to Jesse because Alan was a frequent guest host, and the one writing most of the show's material by the end of Weeks's life. With Hendricks the heir apparent to Weeks's media empire and expected to continue Weeks's shows, it now appears to Jesse that Lorrie is trying to secure herself a new sugar daddy.

With the assistance of an NYPD officer, Chief Stone interrogates Lorrie in her apartment and records the interview. She confirms that she was once married to Lutz. Stone asks her if Lutz could have held onto resentment concerning this and led him to kill Weeks. She seems to ponder it and then confesses that she believes Lutz could be the killer. Back in Paradise, Jesse confronts Lutz with the tape of his ex-wife's accusation, and Lutz leaves the station without a word.

Lutz confesses everything over a glass of Jack Daniels to Jesse that evening in his apartment. He tells Jesse how after he busted Weeks, his wife convinced him to blackmail Weeks into giving him a job as his bodyguard. Later Weeks, a serial womanizer, took a liking to Lorrie. Once again, Lorrie convinced Lutz it would be for the best if they divorced and she married Weeks. Once she got his money, they could get back together and be rich. However, when she found out that he was going to divorce her and leave her with nothing, she convinced Lutz to kill him. So Lutz took Weeks and his mistress for a walk through of their new home on Stiles Island, near Paradise. While there he shoots and kills them both on the beach. He then drags the bodies to the house and stores them in the refrigerator for several days. Finally he hangs Weeks on the tree in the park, and dumps the mistress in the restaurant dumpster. He does this to confuse the police and also to mess up their calculation of the time of death. He was counting on a dumb small town sheriff not knowing what to do, but he got Jesse Stone. He then tells Jesse he is going to leave and will shoot Jesse if he tries to stop him. He pulls his gun on Jesse and Jesse shoots him dead, essentially committing suicide by cop. It was Jesse's revelation that Lorrie was now sleeping with Alan Hendricks and her taped accusation that leads him to do this.Parker, Robert B. (2007). ''High Profile''. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Annie and three friends play a game of "contacting ghosts". While they are playing, Annie's boyfriend Ming sees a ghost and immediately stops them. After the three friends die under mysterious circumstances, Ming's sister Cissy is worried that something will happen to Ming so she seeks help from her friend Fa-mo. In the meantime, Annie is possessed by a ghost, who tells Ming that Annie has three days to live.

After doing some research, Ming and Fa-mo travel to an abandoned village and find Lee Keung, an old man who grew up there. He tells them about Cho Yan-may, a Cantonese opera singer who was framed for adultery and killed by the villagers. In the three days after her death, Cho's vengeful ghost caused 66 villagers to die in unnatural ways.

While drinking from a freshwater pool near the village, they see Cho's ghost in the water and believe that Cho's remains have ended up in the pool. Fa-mo and Ming figure out that Cho's ghost can "pollute" the water in the freshwater pool with her vengeful aura and cause people who drink from it to experience hallucinations and kill themselves. They manage to stop Cissy's fiancé Jack, who is in a trance, from forcing Cissy to drink the water.

When Ming dives into the pool to find Cho's remains, he passes through a supernatural portal and finds her body, but she strangles him to death. Upon realising that Ming is dead, Fa-mo rushes back to Jack's home and drinks the "polluted" water so that he can see Cho's ghost and confront her. When he hugs Cissy, whom he has a crush on, she transforms into Cho. He realises that it is an illusion, so he embraces her tightly. Thinking that they truly love each other, Cho's ghost spares them and disappears. When Jack regains consciousness, he is unhappy to see Fa-mo embracing his fiancée. Cho's ghost suddenly appears beside him and he screams.

The game's opening details events one year past, when Dickson, Dunban and Mumkhar were fighting a Mechon army. Mumkhar deserts and, in the process of defeating the Mechon, the Monado paralyses Dunban's right arm. In the present, Shulk studies the Monado in Colony 9, where Dunban and Fiora live. Colony 9 is soon attacked by a group of Mechon, led by a special Face Mechon called Metal Face. Dunban is almost killed when he attempts to use the Monado again, prompting Shulk to use it: he wields it with ease, and receives visions of the future from it. While the Mechon are driven back, Metal Face proves immune to the Monado and kills Fiora before fleeing. Shulk sets out together with Reyn to pursue and kill Metal Face, and during their journey they are joined by Sharla and Dunban. Guided by a vision from Shulk and joined by Melia and Riki, the group travel to the High Entia capital to gain entry to Prison Island. Shulk also meets Alvis, who is revealed to share Shulk's ability to wield the Monado. Gaining entry, they encounter Zanza, a being who created the Monado and who offers Shulk the ability to destroy the Face Mechon, revealed to be humans inside Mechon mechs. Though Shulk accepts and the Monado is granted the ability to destroy humans, Zanza is killed by Metal Face and another Mechon called Face Nemesis during an attack on the capital. During the ensuing battle, Face Nemesis is damaged to reveal a recreated and amnesiac Fiora controlling it.

While initially disheartened by this, Shulk is rallied by his comrades and sets out in pursuit of Metal Face and Fiora. During a peaceful encounter with Fiora, Metal Face attacks them again, revealing itself to be Mumkhar. Egil then intervenes, spiriting Fiora away. On the way to the Mechonis, the party finally kill Mumkhar, then face off against Egil and Fiora. In the resultant fight, Shulk and Fiora are separated from the group. During their time together, Shulk successfully awakens Fiora's memories, and learns that another being was controlling her body. Reuniting with the group, they meet up with a friendly Machina named Vanea. She reveals that the Bionis and Mechonis were initially at peace, before the Bionis' god Zanza launched an unprovoked attack, possessing a friend of Egil who was imprisoned on Prison Island while his soul was trapped in the Monado. Since the battle a year before, Egil has been working to convert the life of Bionis into Mechon to render the Monado useless. Going to face Egil, Fiora is taken over by the other presence, the Machina goddess Meyneth. They reach Egil as he reactivates the Mechonis and begins an attack on the Bionis, seeking to prevent the Bionis from using its population as food and save Mechonis from another attack and the people of Bionis from extinction. Despite fighting him, Shulk manages to make him see that they both wish for a return to peace. At this point, Dickson appears and shoots Shulk, who throughout the journey has been possessed by Zanza, Dickson's master. Zanza uses the Monado to destroy Mechonis, stealing Meyneth's own Monado from Fiora's body and killing Meyneth; the party narrowly escape with Shulk's body, with Egil sacrificing himself so they can escape.

In the aftermath of the Mechonis' destruction, pure-blooded High Entia begin transforming into Telethia, beings whose one purpose is to purge Bionis of life. While the party is initially helpless before the Telethia, Shulk awakens and manages to defeat a Telethia raid on Colony 6, although Alvis is revealed to be a disciple of Zanza. Making their way to Prison Island, they defeat first a High Entia disciple, then Dickson. The party then travel to face Zanza, who declares the life of Bionis as simply his food and vessels, then offers Shulk the chance to become his disciple. Shulk rejects the offer, and during the ensuing battle produces a new Monado; prompted by Alvis, the spirit of the Monado, Shulk kills Zanza. Alvis then shows Shulk Zanza's origins: both Zanza and Meyneth were originally human scientists working to create a bubble universe from the Earth. The experiment ended in disaster, obliterating the universe and causing Zanza and Meyneth to be reborn as gods. Alvis was originally the artificial intelligence from the experiment station. After the new universe's birth, Zanza and Meyneth created life in their image, and Zanza created the cycle of Bionis out of fear that he would eventually fade from existence as his creations would forget him and seek life beyond Bionis. With the current universe threatened with death, Alvis asks Shulk to remake the universe. Shulk wishes for a world without gods, where everyone can decide their own fates. In the new universe, the survivors of Bionis and Mechonis build a new settlement and live peacefully together, Fiora is restored to a human form, and both her and Shulk look forward to Alvis' promise of endless worlds and races beyond their own world.

The ''Definitive Edition'' epilogue scenario "Future Connected" picks up one year later. With the world's restoration underway, Shulk and Melia set out together to the remnant of Bionis's shoulder after reports that the High Entia capital Alcamoth has reappeared, and are accompanied by two young Nopon stowaways, Kino and Nene. Their ship is attacked by an energy beam from a black fog on Alcamoth, and learn from a local High Entia outpost that the land is being attacked by the Fog King, a being from outside the current reality. Shulk and Melia help resolve ethnic tensions between the garrison and a local township housing Machina, while Melia makes her peace with Tyrea who is in the area doing research on the Fog King. Shulk and Melia eventually find a way to weaken the Fog King, aided by surviving Telethia, and reclaim Alcamoth. The scenario ends with Melia being crowned as Empress of the High Entia.

Seasons 1 to 3 revolve around Tyana Jones (Tatyana Ali), a recent young divorcee returning to southern California who is in search of new independence, a new career and a new chapter in her book of life. In Season 4, (Bresha Webb) is still working at Del-Jones Realty while Latrell (Alphonso McAuley) is continuing on jump-starting his stand-up comedian career. The new member of the cast is Jasmine Russell (Reagan Gomez); she is Delroy’s niece from Ohio, who relocated to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a sports reporter.

Three police officers (Li, Peanut and Cha-siu) attempt to nab a serial rapist but he escapes and flees to a construction site, where he is found dead later with his body dismembered. Cha-siu had also committed suicide by shooting himself. The mysterious deaths baffle Li, Peanut and their colleague Willis Tao. The case also attracts the attention of two reporters (Balm and Coffee) and Blue, a writer of supernatural stories. Balm encounters the rapist's ghost while secretly taking photos of the body parts and gets knocked down by a car. Peanut's cousin Ada blinds herself after watching ''A Wicked Ghost'', claiming that she saw a ghost similar to the one in the movie. Balm and Ada commit suicide later; Ada's sister Clever attempts suicide after seeing the ghosts of the twin girls she had aborted, but is saved by a blessed coin. Willis Tao goes into a trance after stealing a metal nail from the construction site and tries to kill his colleagues, but they subdue him and send him to hospital.

Blue retrieves a special sound recorder she gave to Ada earlier that can record sounds inaudible to the human ear. She plays it and hears a hoarse female voice calling out the name of Peanut's great-grandmother Hwa Yuet-may. She also learns that the construction site was previously the Hwa family residence. Peanut and Li also suspect that they might be the reincarnations of Peanut's great-grandparents after seeing the resemblance in an old photo. One night, Blue brings Peanut and Li to the construction site to hypnotise them and help them recall their past lives; Coffee and Clever join them.

Under hypnosis, Peanut and Li learn that her great-grandfather loved Tift, but was forced to marry Hwa, who was from a rich family. Hwa was so jealous of Tift that she hired thugs to kidnap Tift and rape her before chopping off her limbs. Peanut's great-grandfather could not bear to see his lover being tormented so he killed himself. Tift was ultimately stabbed in the head by Suet, her friend who betrayed her to Hwa. She became a vengeful ghost after death and sought vengeance on the Hwa family.

When Peanut recovers from her trance, she realises that Coffee is Suet's reincarnation. In the meantime, Tift's ghost has possessed Blue and she corners Peanut and Coffee and tries to strangle them to death. Just then, Clever manages to trap Tift by shining spiritual lights on her. At this critical moment, the ghost of Peanut's great-grandfather leaves Li's body and saves Tift. Tift gives up her desire for revenge after reuniting with her lover and they leave together.

The novel is largely set in and near the town of Dillsborough, in the fictional county of Rufford. The two principal subplots centre on the courtship behaviour of two young women.

The heroine, Mary Masters, is the daughter of an attorney, and has been raised as a gentlewoman. Her stepmother is from a lower social order; believing it best for Mary, she pressures her strongly to accept a proposal from Lawrence Twentyman, a prosperous young yeoman farmer with aspirations to gentility. While Mary respects Twentyman for his excellent qualities, she feels that she cannot love him as a wife should a husband. She admires Reginald Morton, whose cousin is the squire of Bragton and thus one of the two major landowners of Rufford. Reginald admires Mary as well; but for most of the novel, each is ignorant of the other's feelings: Mary, as a gentlewoman, cannot take the initiative in such a matter; and Reginald, misinformed that Mary loves another, is unwilling to make an offer and have it rejected.

The anti-heroine of the novel is Arabella Trefoil. Her father is cousin to the Duke of Mayfair; her mother was a banker's daughter. Her parents are unofficially separated, and living in straitened circumstances. Arabella and her mother, Lady Augustus Trefoil, have no fixed abode; they wander from place to place, visiting people who cannot refuse them without creating social awkwardness. At Lady Augustus's direction, Arabella has spent many years struggling to secure a rich husband who will give her and her mother high social standing, an assured income, and a house of their own. She has lately become provisionally engaged to John Morton, the squire of Bragton and a rising figure in the Foreign Office. He would be an adequate but not outstanding husband by her standards; and when the opportunity presents itself, she attempts to entrap the wealthy and titled young Lord Rufford, concealing these attempts from Morton so that she can accept his proposal should they fail.

John Morton falls ill and dies. Arabella, who is not altogether wicked, visits him at his deathbed despite the fact that this will assist Lord Rufford in escaping her toils. After Morton's death, she accepts an offer of marriage from Mounser Green, a Foreign Office clerk who is taking Morton's place as ambassador-designate to Patagonia. Like Morton, Green is not a brilliant match for her, but an acceptable one. John Morton's death makes Reginald Morton the squire of Bragton; at this point, when Mary Masters fears that he has moved too far above her in status, he confesses his love to her. A proposal ensues and is eagerly accepted.

The American senator of the title is Elias Gotobed, who sits in the US Senate for the fictional state of Mikewa. The guest of John Morton, Senator Gotobed is trying to learn about England and the English. Through his often-tactless remarks in conversation, through his letters to a friend in America, and through a lecture in London titled "The Irrationality of Englishmen", he comments on British justice and government, the Church of England, the custom of primogeniture, and other aspects of English life.

In London during World War One, a simple-minded slavey awaits her Fairy Godmother and her Prince Charming.

Set in the Coventry Mansion during the Victorian era, the wealthy family hires a young woman named Jean Muir to be the governess of sixteen-year-old Bella. When she first meets the Coventry family, Jean succeeds in charming Bella, Ned and Mrs. Coventry by having a fainting spell. However, Gerald and Lucia, son of the estate and cousin to the Coventry family, remain suspicious. They are skeptical with good reason, for when Jean retires to her own bedroom, she removes her costume (a wig and some fake teeth) to reveal that she is actually an actress of at least thirty years of age.

Acting the part of a harmless governess, Jean slowly but surely weasels her way into the hearts of the Coventry family. Eventually, all the male characters fall in love with her: first Ned, the youngest, followed by the skeptic Gerald, and gradually the unassuming uncle, John. She uses the love they bestow upon her to turn them against each other and eventually to secure the Coventry estate for herself. By the end of the story, Jean Muir has married John to become Lady Coventry.

Act I

Act I starts in 1451 in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis.

In the opening act, we find Gismonda, the widow of the Duke of Athens, and the mother of his child, a five-year-old boy named Francesco. Gismonda is the ruling power of the duchy as regent for her son, an absolute monarch. She is surrounded by a flattering court, among whom is a Venetian, named Zaccaria Franco, who loved the Duchess before she married the Duke of Athens. He is seemingly one of her strongest supporters, but is actually trying to seize power for himself. Zaccaria is in league with the Turks, who support him in his plotting against the duchy. Gismonda's young son Francesco, the heir to the duchy, stands between Zaccaria and his ambitions. So Zaccaria has conspired with an accomplice, Gregoras Drakos, to murder the boy.

In the opening scene, a cross stands in the center of the stage and a crowd is surging about it. Presently Agnello, a young nephew of the Duchess Gismonda, enters. He looks down at a tiger in a pit, preferring to keep his distance from it, and discusses a statue of Aphrodite, next to the cross, with some comrades. Zaccaria and his accomplice Gregoras appear. They plan to lure Francesco, Gismonda's son, to the edge of the pit, and shove him in, making it look like an accident. The excitement above has driven the captive tiger into a frenzy.

After a long scene, in which every detail of their scheme is arranged, Zaccaria and Gregoras are joined on stage by Gismonda, with Francesco and others. Gismonda says that she does not like the statue of Aphrodite. A bishop passes by, and he agrees that the statue is inappropriate. During this talk, Gregoras has taken Francesco to the edge of the pit to show him the tiger. With a quick jostle, Francesco falls in.

Gismonda sees her son fall into the tiger pit and screams. She does not see that Gregoras pushed him in. She beseeches someone—anyone—to save her son. She offers unlimited rewards but no one is willing to risk almost certain death to rescue the boy. At last a man takes a poignard and goes to the child's rescue. The tiger crouches ready to seize his prey and the man leaps into the pit.

Gismonda prays for help at the foot of the cross. The others describe the conflict in the pit. The man stabs the tiger in the eye. The point of the dagger goes through to its brain and the tiger dies.

Joyful, Gismonda hugs Francesco, and vows before God to marry and share her duchy with the man who saved her son. No one knows the man, who turns out to be Almerio, a commoner. When she hears this, Gismonda's gratitude begins to cool. Her child is safe, and she has no desire to marry a commoner. The bishop reminds her of her promise. Gismonda tells the bishop that he need not remind her of her oath; it is impossible to fulfill it.

The entire play revolves around this vow.

Gismonda kindly and patronizingly thanks Almerio, and begins to look for a loophole out of her promise. She decides to appeal to the Pope. Almerio, however, wants her to live up to her vow. Gismonda promises him whatever he wants, except herself and her duchy.

"Vous avez promis et j'insiste que vous tiendrez votre promesse (You promised and I insist that you keep your word)," Almerio says.

The curtain falls as Gismonda is hurrying away with her child.

Act II

The second act begins in the Convent of Daphne, where Gismonda has gone into a retreat with her son, Francesco. The boy is ill with a strange fever that comes on every evening and breaks every morning.

Rumors circulate, even in the convent, that during Easter week Gismonda will marry Almerio, the man who has saved the life of her son. A character tells how Almerio was treated for his injuries in the palace, and that the courtiers learned to admire the handsome, brave man. Almerio had been a falconer at the ducal palace and loved Gismonda long before she ever knew of his existence. Gismonda, meanwhile, is eagerly awaiting an answer from the Pope about whether her vow can be absolved.

Many calamities have fallen upon the people of Athens lately, and they have blamed Gismonda. In breaking a pledge made in the sight of God, it is said she is bringing disaster upon the country. Half of the lower part of the city is flooded, cholera is raging, a cross has blown off a church, and, worst of all, pirates have landed at Marathon.

A noble offered an estate and the title of duke to the man who will bring before him the head of the pirate leader. Almerio took two hundred men and marched on Marathon. He defeated the pirates and beheaded their leader. As a reward, Almerio became the Count of Sonla.

Gismonda fears all suitors. She thinks they are in love with her duchy, not with her. There is only one man she thinks, perhaps, she can trust—Zaccaria. At this point, Zaccaria enters. He pleads his love for Gismonda, in vain.

The bishop comes in and tells Gismonda that the Pope insists that Gismonda must keep her vow and marry Almerio, or else she must be the spouse of Christ, that is, a nun.

Almerio's triumphal approach is heard. The populace is bearing him, a conquering hero, to the convent. Zaccaria and the barons see that the gates are tightly closed against the approaching procession. Almerio and the barons all draw their swords. "Stop!" Gismonda commands, and orders Almerio to give up his sword. Zaccaria wants Almerio to be taken prisoner, but Gismonda forbids it, calling him sacred.

"Voilà un homme! (There is a man!)," she says, looking at Almerio with pride.

Act III

This act takes place in Gismonda's private apartment in her palace.

The Athenian populace is not pleased that their Duchess does not keep her vow. The sympathy of the people is with Almerio. The barons, Gismonda's followers, jeer at Almerio's presumption. Gismonda tells a doctor that she imagines she sees Almerio everywhere. The doctor thinks it is her conscience bothering her, and advises prayer rather than medicine.

The next day is a feast day and Zaccaria worries that the people, who support Almerio, might begin an uprising. The barons propose different ways that Almerio might be killed, but Gismonda rejects them.

Almerio is quietly brought to Gismonda's room. She notices that he is very handsome, but she still does not want to marry him. She offers him money and a barony, but Almerio says the only thing he wants is to marry Gismonda. He tells her that he did not save Francesco to become Duke of Athens, but just to win Gismonda's love. He offers to give up his dukedom and even his claim to marry Gismonda if he can become her lover. Gismonda agrees, and makes him promise to publicly absolve her from her vow.

Act IV

The act begins near Almerio's cabin. Gismonda has kept her promise to be Almerio's lover, and is leaving his cabin. Her maid, Thisbe, has followed here and confronts her. Thisbe asks if Gismonda has fallen in love with Almerio. "Oui, mon âme et mon corps sont à lui, et je me méprise pour ma folie. (Yes, body and soul, I am his; and I hate myself for it)," Gismonda confesses.

Gregoras and Zaccaria approach. Gismonda and Thisbe hide. Zaccaria wants Gregoras to kill Almerio in his sleep, but Gregoras hesitates.

"Un homme qui dort ne donne pas de peine (A sleeping man is no trouble at all)," Zaccaria urges.

"Il est plus facile de pousser un enfant dans un trou que de tuer un homme, grand et fort comme Almério (It is easier to push the child into the tiger's pit than to kill a big strong man like this Almerio)," Gregoras answers.

He drops his hatchet and runs. Zaccaria calls after him that he'll kill Almerio and the child, Francesco, himself. At this, Gismonda takes the hatchet and attacks Zaccaria, screaming, "Vous avez donné mon fils au tigre; je vous donne à l’enfer! (You sent my son to the tiger; I'll send you to Hell!)" Almerio wakes up and comes out, offering to deliver the coup de grace. Gismonda refuses, and, making sure Zaccaria can see and hear her, tells him that she loves Almerio as Zaccaria slowly and painfully dies.

The second scene of the last act takes place in a church.

The news comes of Zaccaria's death. The people of Athens are outside carrying palms, demanding that Gismonda announce her marriage to Almerio. Almerio enters sadly. He is about to fulfill his vow and give up the only woman he has ever loved. As he is absolving Gismonda of her pledge, Gregoras enters, accusing him of having murdered Zaccaria. Almerio takes the blame for the murder, lest Gismonda have to admit why she was at his cabin in the night, and the barons urge Gismonda to sentence Almerio to death. Gismonda, in turn, accuses Gregoras of having thrown her son to the tiger, at the order of Zaccaria, and of meaning to kill Almerio. Gregoras returns that he refused to kill the man, thus inadvertently betraying himself.

Gregoras is taken away, a prisoner. Gismonda fearlessly admits to having killed Zaccaria herself, and to her affair with Almerio. She recognizes Almerio's honor and bravery and asks him to forgive her and to become her husband. Almerio is only too happy to marry Gismonda, and to become father to Francesco and the new duke of Athens. The people praise their new leader and the organ plays "Gloria."

Back story

''Desperate Housewives'' focuses on the lives of several residents on the suburban neighborhood of Wisteria Lane. In recent episodes, Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) has encouraged a stripper Robin Gallagher (Julie Benz) to quit her job and turn her life around. Robin briefly lived with Susan, but moved out after Susan became jealous of Robin living in the same house as her husband, Mike Delfino (James Denton). Robin moved in with Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany) and revealed she was a lesbian, prompting the heterosexual Katherine to start developing romantic feelings for Robin. Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is pregnant, despite being a middle-aged career woman and already having four children. This has caused strain for Lynette and her husband, Tom Scavo (Doug Savant). Bree (Marcia Cross) is the ambitious owner of a catering company, and her son Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom) works as her personal assistant. Angie (Drea de Matteo) and Nick Bolen (Jeffrey Nordling) recently moved onto Wisteria Lane to escape circumstances in their old home of New York City that are yet to be fully explained. Gabrielle and her husband Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) overheard the Bolens arguing about their circumstances, and have grown concerned about their niece Ana (Maiara Walsh) dating the Bolens' son, Danny (Beau Mirchoff). As a result, they convinced Ana to leave Danny and pursue her modeling career in New York City, but Danny has secretly gone into the city to find her.

Episode

Still struggling with her growing feelings of lesbianism, Katherine has a dream in which she seduces Robin. Katherine's therapist suggests she stop living with Robin because she is interfering with her recovery. Later, while celebrating Robin's new job, she accidentally spills champagne on her top and takes it off, causing Katherine to blurt out that she wants her to leave because she has feelings for her. Robin agrees to leave, but Katherine follows her upstairs, and they end up in bed together.

Celia Solis (Daniella Baltodano), one of the Solis' daughters, comes down with chickenpox. Since Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) has never had the illness, she is forced to leave the house. She stays with neighbors Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm), where she enjoys partying and drinking with them so much she tries to prolong her visit. During a party, Gabrielle accidentally stumbles into a nursery, and learns Bob and Lee have been trying to adopt a baby. With a new appreciation for her children, Gabrielle returns home.

Distracted by her pregnancy, Lynette and Tom are horrified to realize they have forgotten their daughter Penny's (Kendall Applegate) birthday. Lynette tries to organize a last-minute party, but mistakenly has the wrong name written on her cake. Penny runs away and checks into a hotel room, where Lynette tracks her and apologizes. Penny said she is jealous of her unborn sister, but Lynette jokes the women will outnumber the men in the family when the baby is born.

One of Bree's employees, Tad (Eric Ian Colton), keeps making major mistakes, but Andrew defends him. Later, a mysterious man named Sam Allen (Samuel Page) visits Bree, insisting he understands her values and wants to work for her. Although initially hesitant, Bree is impressed and hires him. Later, Andrew gets upset when Bree plans to fire Tad, and Sam correctly assesses that Andrew is having an affair with him. Later, Sam hints to Bree that Andrew should be let go, then secretly drinks coffee from Andrew's "World's Greatest Son" mug.

Susan forced her elderly neighbor Roy (Orson Bean) to propose to his girlfriend Karen (Kathryn Joosten), and he does so after Karen indicates she wants to get married. Later, however, Roy laments to Susan about being put in the situation, and fears he will start lusting after other women now that he is engaged. Later, Karen learns she may have lung cancer. Roy tells Susan he is marrying Karen because he now realizes he does not want to lose Karen, and is sure she will beat the cancer.

Danny Bolen leaves a note claiming to be camping with his friend Eddie (Josh Zuckerman), but Angie runs into Eddie at a grocery store and realizes Danny has actually run off to New York City seeking Ana. Fearing a man from their past named Patrick will find Danny, Angie and Nick head to New York to find him.

''The Prehistoric Era'' – the cavewoman Brit is unable to attract a visiting trader until the wall painter Rak has the idea of making up her face. ''Roman Nights'' - in Ancient Rome, the emperor Flavius makes an excuse to leave the empress Domitilla and go with the poet Menippus to a brothel. There he meets a mysterious and beautiful woman who proves to be his wife. ''Mademoiselle Mimi'' - during the French Revolution, Philibert asks to visit Mimi and from her window watches an old aristocrat being guillotined, saying it was his childless uncle. Promising to pay her as soon as the lawyers have settled the estate, he disappears. ''The Gay Nineties'' – in Paris in the 1890s, Nini goes to bed with a lonely old man and, looking through his wallet once he is asleep, finds he is a partner in a major bank. Refusing to take any money, she says she is in love with him and in the end lets him marry her. ''Paris Today'' - Catherine, who has lost her driving licence, works from a car driven by her friend Nadia. When the car is impounded, they buy an ambulance instead. One night it is stopped by police, who depart when they discover that the client is a doctor. ''Anticipation'' - in the future, a man from a remote space outpost visits Earth and at the spaceport hotel is offered a prostitute for the night. He rejects the girl, Marlène, as she is ready for action but incapable of conversation. His hosts then find him another girl, Eléonore, who is full of charm and chat but reluctant to go further. He persuades her that the mouth she uses so well could have further uses.

At his uncle's newspaper where Larry Elliot (Jack Haley) works as a reporter specializing in chess, he is known to miss out on bigger stories to cover more trivial events of minor interest. Confronted with an ultimatum if he wants to keep his job, Larry is assigned to cover a big harvest festival held at a winery in Grape City.

Larry begins with getting off the bus at the wrong stop, Grape Center instead of Grape City. He has brought along his girlfriend Sally Warren (Ann Savage), who deals in antiques. Accidents rarely come alone, and the man sitting next to Larry on the bus is found murdered, holding a chess piece in his hand when the police find him. Of course Larry, who is a chess expert, is blamed for the killing.

All the bus passengers are held in custody at Grape Center awaiting the sheriff to start the murder investigation. Before he arrives, Sally finds a set of antique chess pieces she wants to acquire, and involves Larry in her quest to buy them. The set is said to have been the property of Kublai Khan in the 13th century, and brought to the West by Marco Polo. Unfortunately, the set is divided between Charles and Preston Waldeck (Lucien Littlefield), twins owning the winery, who have not spoken to each other in 10 years.

Sally manages to acquire the white set pieces from Preston. When Larry is about to get the black pieces from Charles, both he and Charles are knocked out by an unknown attacker, who also steals the black set pieces.

The sheriff arrives, and starts conducting his investigation. The prime suspect is convicted murderer Deacon Markham (Barton MacLane), who first sold the antique chess set to the Waldeck brothers, after stealing it from its rightful owner. The theory is that Markham now wants the set back to sell it back to the first owner and get the money he needs to escape the country.

Markham reveals himself when holding Larry at gunpoint in his hotel room to get the white pieces from the set. Markham and his accomplice Mink (George E. Stone) hide when Sally enters the room, telling Larry she hid the pieces in his room. Soon after, another guest, Flo Rosson (Veda Ann Borg), also enters the room and reveals that she is an insurance agent tracking Markham's gang to retrieve the chess set. She also reveals that the man killed on the bus was part of this gang of thieves.

Also at the inn is Preston's grandson, Oliver Waldeck (Buddy Swan), a precocious boy genius, and his mentor, Professor Wisner (Robert Emmett Keane). Oliver frightens Larry with scary antics, including a pronouncement that the corpse's head was chopped off, placing a cabbage adorned by a toupee in Larry's room. Oliver throws a smoke bomb into the room, and everyone is forced out into the corridor. In the ensuing commotion, the white pieces are stolen.

Snooping about the winery, Larry manages to find the black set, but is knocked unconscious in the wine cellar. When she finds the other part of the set, Sally is also knocked out by Oliver's tutor, Professor Wisner. Larry wakes up, unties himself and goes after the killer, who turns out to be Professor Wisner, and ultimately finds the dead body.

After Sally has found the complete set, the insurance adjuster Flo offers her a $1,000 reward for retrieving it. Larry phones his editor, explaining the events at Grape Center and how he caught the murderer. He then asks his editor if he should continue to the festival at Grape City or come back and get fired.

Confirmed bachelor Jud Parker (Larry Parks) likes his life the way it is. A talent agent, he goes to New Haven, Connecticut on a client's behalf and meets Anastacia "Stacie" Macaboy (Elizabeth Taylor), who owns a dance school.

Stacie then runs into him in New York when she goes to a convention. Jud takes her to a New York Giants baseball game and to dinner and dancing. Stacie falls in love, but Jud is furious when a story in the New Haven paper claims they are engaged.

Mrs. Levoy and her daughter, who run a rival dance school, sully Stacie's reputation and cause students to drop out. Stacie and Jud disagree on how to explain their relationship until Stacie ultimately bets everything on the outcome of the Giants' next game.

Floyd Hilstown is working in a circus as a clown with a comical lion act when he finds out he's a draft dodger. He is given a chance to enlist, instead of going to jail, but he doesn't want to leave his best friend. The friend is one Fearless Fagan, a lion which Floyd has raised since he was four days old. The circus owner Owen Gillman suggests he buy the lion, after which Fagan would be worked as an ordinary lion by the circus lion tamer Emil Tacuchnitz, which doesn't sit well with Floyd.

Floyd joins the army and hides Fagan somewhere on the base. All goes well until Abbey Ames, who is on the base to entertain the troops, stumbles on Floyd and Fagan playing in the woods. Frightened, she gives her word to keep Fagan's presence a secret, but soon appears in the woods with Colonel Horne and troops in search of the lion.

When Fagan is found Sgt. Kellwin, Captain Daniels and Colonel Horne try to help Floyd find the lion a home. After an exhaustive search a home is found with the Ardley's. By this time Floyd has professed his love to Abbey and she is starting to have feelings for him even though she believes him to be a bit touched.

Fagan escapes his cage and creates some humorous havoc along his way back to Floyd. After he is recaptured the Army gives Floyd the choice of selling Fagan to his old circus troop or euthanasia. When Emil comes to pick up Fagan he cracks the whip and is promptly attacked. The lion is wounded by a soldier and Floyd knows a wounded lion will kill so he takes a pistol and knows what he must do. Once he finds the lion he can't pull the trigger and is himself attacked but quickly calms Fagan down.

Floyd wakes up in the hospital to find Sgt. Kellwin, who tells him he's to receive a medal and a ten-day pass. He also tells Floyd that Fagan is alive and Abbey has taken him to Hollywood. Floyd arrives at Abbey's home and to his horror discovers a lion skin rug. Abbey then appears and leads Floyd to the outdoor pool where they find Fagan jumping from the diving board and swimming to safety.

Dante and his girlfriend Micky run a very profitable drug operation in a seaside town, aided and abetted by a host of teens who sell the smack at discos around town, as well as by Lucas, a corrupt cop who's on the take. Their downfall comes when they suspect one of the boys, Pep, of ripping them off, and his accidental death causes disloyalty among the teens, who suspect Dante offed them. All of this is perfect for the return of Gabriel, a one-time partner of Dante, who has just been released from jail, and has an almost angelic demeanor and the certainty that he can fix everyone's lives.

''Comeback Season'' is about two selfish men who are unable to appreciate what they have until it is gone. Together, they try to win it back before it is too late.

The movie begins with Walter's daughter, Chloe, getting engaged at a family dinner. After Chloe's fiancé says that he hopes to be half as good a man as Walter, Walter feels guilty and admits to everyone that he had an affair with his secretary. Walter subsequently loses everything—his wife kicks him out of the house, his daughters want nothing to do with him, HR fires him after finding out about the affair with his secretary, and all but his Sears credit card are denied.

Having no where else to go, Walter moves in with his equally selfish next-door neighbor, Skylar. Skylar is the town's egocentric high school football star who has just lost his prospective college scholarship after injuring his knee. Prior to his injury, Skylar perpetually mistreated others, especially the college football recruiters and his former flame Chloe (who happens to be Walt's daughter). Skylar's injury deepens his self-involved attitude and he spends his days wallowing in self-pity. Both in a slump, the men help each other appreciate what they had taken for granted for so long.

Walt quickly realizes that the only thing that ever mattered was his family; he just wishes it hadn't taken himself so long to realize that. For the remainder of the film, Walt unsuccessfully tries to win back his family through various scenes. When the family asks Walter to have a STI test, Walt realizes that by not putting his family first, he had irresponsibly put his wife's life at risk. Walt realizes that his selfish actions not only had life-altering consequences for himself but also lasting implications for his family. Disgusted by her father's indiscretions and his inability to live with his own actions, Chloe uninvites her father to her wedding. On Chloe's wedding day, Walter's family finally forgives him after he sends them a video on the camcorder his wife gave him before their separation.

While living together, Walt encourages Skylar to continue to train despite his injury, using at-home physical therapy techniques such as a weighted vest in a pool. After weeks of training Skylar goes to a University of Washington recruiter tryout and impresses the coaches when he hits his targets 60 yards away. This ultimately leads to a mascot scholarship with the potential to play after his surgery. Learning from Walt's missteps of not appreciating what he had, Skylar realizes his feelings for Chloe and asks her to Prom. Coincidentally, Skylar and Christine discover they are going to the same college in the Fall. The final scene shows Skylar and Christine driving to the University of Washington, hinting at a potential romantic future for the pair.

A black bird is ice skating over barrels until it trips on one and falls into a hole. A pig named Mr. Squeal (based on W.C. Fields) is ice skating with a cigar until it hears the bird cry for help. Soon, they both start calling for assistance. A Saint Bernard comes out of its doghouse, putting on a sign reading "Gone with the gin", and assists with the cries for help. The Saint Bernard gets out the bird (which is frozen solid in an ice cube) and thaws the bird out. The dog gives it a margarita and the bird warms up. Mr. Squeal is jealous and pretends to drown. The Saint Bernard makes a margarita but gives it to himself. Mr. Squeal then attempts to trick the Saint Bernard by using a magnet to attack a bowl of bones but the dog crashes into Mr. Squeal and the magnet hits a fish. The margarita comes out of the dog's barrel and the fish drinking it, only to get drunk. The fish swims around doing weird activities when the magnet attacks the roller skates on Mr. Squeal. The fish soon leads Mr. Squeal to an ice skating contest. The fish makes Mr. Squeal do amazing tricks. The judge declares Mr. Squeal is the winner of the ice skating contest and wins a trophy. Mr. Squeal is happy until the fish with the magnet attacks the trophy and swims away as the cartoon ends.

Erik Magnusson and his girlfriend Evelyn have a falling out, in part due to stress from Erik's dying, incoherent father. She leaves to live in a live action role-playing game whose characters such as Celts, elves and Vikings are derived from the Middle Ages. Murtagh, the leader of a group within the game, wants Evelyn to participate in the Wild Hunt, a ritual that, if successful, will give his players a significant advantage in an upcoming mass battle.

Erik pursues Evelyn only to disrupt the game's proceedings. Erik partners with his estranged brother Bjorn and other players and referees on a quest to find Evelyn. He rescues her from the Wild Hunt and the two are reconciled, despite Murtagh's efforts to persuade her to come back.

Having lost Evelyn and been humiliated by Erik, Murtagh snaps and ritually cuts off his gamer wrist band. He leads his followers in a vicious assault on the main camp, injuring people and killing Erik. Murtagh flees, witnessing Evelyn commit suicide as he escapes through the woods.

Days later, Bjorn breaks into Murtagh's home and beats him to death.

Teenage Jane is struggling with her sexuality. Her friends notice her lack of interest in boys. Jane becomes friends with a new girl named Taylor, who Jane sees as "different, smarter, wiser." Eventually, Jane and Taylor share their first kiss, and Jane wonders to herself if kissing Taylor made her gay and the two become an official couple. After Jane and Taylor have sex for the first time, Jane tells Taylor that "it was a mistake" and that she's not gay. Hurt, Taylor breaks up with Jane.

Jane meets with her English teacher/guidance counselor Ms. Walcott and confesses that she has lost her virginity, not mentioning that it was to another girl. Ms. Walcott suggests that Jane write Taylor a note to express how she feels and why she acted the way she did. Jane does. A few days later, Taylor shows up at her house and the two share a kiss, unaware of Jane's brother watching them through her partially open bedroom door. Jane's brother outs Jane and Taylor and the news spreads quickly. Jane comes out to her parents, who send her to therapy.

The sneaking around becomes too much for Taylor and she breaks up with Jane. Ms. Walcott stops to comfort Jane on seeing her crying. Ms. Walcott comes out to Jane as a lesbian and tells her the story of her first time falling in love and being dumped and Jane starts to feel better. However, during lunch at school, her old friends begin taunting her and Jane attacks one of them, causing her to get suspended.

Following the suspension, Janice hears a group of boys making homophobic remarks about Jane. Janice tries to confront her daughter and claims that what Jane is doing isn't normal. Jane angrily begins to rant that gay people are perfectly normal, unintentionally outing Ms. Walcott in the process. Janice confronts Ms. Walcott at the school, demanding that she stay away from her daughter and threatening to go to the school board if she doesn't.

When Jane's parents decide to send her away to boarding school, Jane runs away to Ms. Walcott's house. Jane apologizes to Ms. Walcott for outing her and tells her that she is considering suicide. Ms. Walcott goes to Jane's parents and tells them that Jane is considering suicide. Janice and Jane reconcile, despite Janice still being uncomfortable with her daughter's sexuality. They begin attending PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meetings and gradually, Janice learns to accept Jane for who she is.

The film ends with a dedication to Matthew Shepard and to "all the men & women who love differently".

Teenage boy Zack lives on a farm in Tellico Plains, Tennessee with his mother Frances, younger sister Alice, stern and pious old stepfather Nathan Crane and unpleasant, dim-witted stepbrother Cyrus. One night Frances sneaks out of the house while Nathan is asleep and begins having sex with Mike, a farm-hand who lives in a nearby shack. Suddenly a large meteorite crashes onto the property, emitting an eerie glow. Next morning, Alan Forbes, a physician who lives nearby, visits the crash-site, examining the meteorite which is a large sphere with a hard shell from which a noxious liquid oozes out. Before long, the object dissolves into glowing gelatinous liquid which seeps into the soil. Forbes wants to contact the authorities but is dissuaded by Charlie Davidson, local realtor and head of the chamber of commerce, who worries that the event will discourage the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from building a new reservoir in the area. Forbes' bored wife Esther also manipulates her husband into keeping quiet, worried their house will lose its value.

The mysterious liquid soon begins to affect the farm. The water from the well grows cloudy and tastes unpleasant, fruit and vegetables grow invitingly large but are rotten and inedible inside and the livestock begin to behave violently and show severe signs of infection. Alice is attacked and injured by infected chickens and Cyrus is nearly killed by a horse. Frances begins to have large boils growing on her face which soon grotesquely alter her features. She becomes mentally unstable, physically harming herself and attacking her own family. Believing the blight affecting his farm to be a punishment from God for his wife's infidelity, Nathan locks her in their bedroom, not allowing Zack to tell the doctor. Zack keeps himself and Alice free from the infection by consuming clean water and food he steals from Forbes' house.

Forbes secretly obtains a sample from the Cranes' well and has it analysed at a nearby lab. The water is found to contain a strange, unknown element which is altering its metabolic properties and molecular structure. Carl Willis, a TVA representative who is surveying the local area for the planned reservoir, enters the Cranes' house looking for a glass of water. Helping himself from the kitchen faucet, he has just started drinking when he is attacked and nearly killed by Frances, who has gone insane and is horribly mutating. Worried that Forbes is going to alert the authorities, Davidson and Esther arrive at the Crane farm looking for the doctor but are attacked by infected dogs who have turned feral. Esther is mauled to death and Davidson hides himself in the cellar only to be killed and seemingly devoured by Frances who had been locked in there by Nathan. As Nathan and Cyrus examine infected cows in the shed, the cows begin to decay, revealing maggots and worms inside. The cows explode, covering Nathan and Cyrus in insects.

By now Nathan and Cyrus are also infected and beginning to go insane. A guilt-ridden Forbes enters the house, hoping to rescue Zack and Alice but he is surprised and murdered by Nathan who then barricades the door. Cyrus attacks Alice but Zack fights him off, hiding his sister in a closet. Nathan corners Zack and is about to kill his stepson when he is stabbed by Willis who has just arrived. The ground begins to glow and heave beneath the house which starts to fall apart. Zack locates his mother just in time to see her mutated corpse dissolve into liquid. As Zack prepares to leave, Cyrus attacks him, but Zack knocks him off the balcony, seemingly killing him. Nathan is knocked out by a support beam as he attempts to stop Zack. Willis gets Zack and Alice out of the house before it collapses and a dying Nathan and Cyrus are both killed by falling debris. Willis drives away from the farm, taking Zack and Alice with him.

Some months later, a heavily-bandaged Willis lies in a hospital bed, having become infected more slowly because he only drank a small amount of the farm's water. He is watching a news report on how authorities are promising that the blight from the farm will be eradicated.

Later, at a location in the nearby countryside, ground and trees begin to heave and break apart at night, revealing more of the glowing alien liquid spreading onto the surface. A large amount of the substance appears, suggesting that the hostile mutagenic entity is still alive, planning to complete its invasion of Earth.