From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== The Gorgon's Gaze takes place after the events in Secret of the Sirens, and follows the story of Connie and Col. Mallins Wood is under danger, and it is home to the only gorgon left in the world. Connie might be able to help, but she has been taken away by her great-aunt Godiva. Connie's parents have asked Godiva and her brother Hugh to stop their world travels to take Connie away from Evelyn and "wean her off of the Society." Thus, Connie is now living in the town of Chartmouth with Godiva and Hugh, where she's denied contact with any mythical creatures. Meanwhile, Col is introduced to the Gorgon, his mother's companion species. On his second visit, Col is taken over by a mysterious creature - one who appears to be a Pegasus, but does not feel like one. Col finds himself to be the property of Kullervo, an evil shapeshifter. Connie must go to save her friend, while remaining safe herself and not letting her great-aunt know she is gone. ===== Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down is a western that spans some three centuries of history and references locations from across the United States landscape. Through the three colorful protagonists, Chief Showcase, a Native American, Drag Gibson, a white land capitalist, and the Loop Garoo Kid, an African-American cowboy, Reed criticizes the hypocrisy of the American Church, the warping of history to degrade the portrayal of African Americans, and ways the "white man" attempts to destroy the "black man". ===== Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down jumps into the narrative of the main protagonist, Loop Garoo, a black, silver tongued, circus cowboy, who represents the devil to the white men. The circus troupe heads into Yellow Back Radio, a sparsely populated ghost town overtaken by a child population in Indian garb. The circus troupe and the children are massacred by the adults that were chased out by the children, while Loop Garoo escapes with his life and a desire for vengeance. Drag Gibson, a homosexual and influential land-owner who is head of the city, is also introduced. As Drag deals with the problems from a deteriorating city, Loop Garoo is saved from being eaten by wild animals by Chief Showcase, a Native American who fights his oppressors through suave and underhanded means. Loop begins his Hoodoo curses on Drag, giving him the retroactive itch and other inconveniences, as the conflict builds. Drag murders his sixth wife and orders his seventh through the mail-order service. Her name is Mustache Sal, a nymphomaniac who seeks to murder Drag to inherit his vast fortunes. She proceeds to have sex with just about every main and minor male character, showing a complete lack of discrimination. As Drag continues into a progressively more deteriorating state of mind because of the uncontrollable loss of power and influence around him, Loop Garoo continues to gain influence through his appearance in town, soundly whipping the marshal and pushing the Preacher into the brink of insanity. Mustache Sal's attempt to poison her husband fails and she is fed to the iron-jawed pigs. Drag then brings in John Wesley Hardin, a sharp-shooting racist who kills black people out of pleasure. When Loop Garoo quickly kills him, Drag's health quickly deteriorates until his savior, the Pope, arrives riding on red bull. He describes to the city's citizens the Hoodoo Loop Garoo is putting on them and proceeds to capture Loop with no difficulty. However, when the Pope fails in persuading Loop to return to Rome with him, he leaves in defeat. Drag sets the execution of Loop up but fails to execute him; instead through the sudden appearance of children with new technology, Amazonian women, and Field Marshal Theda Doompussy Blackwell's Raygun wielding detectives, Drag falls into the pit of pigs and dies. ===== In 1947 Hollywood, Orson Welles had a divorce from Rita Hayworth. When he travels to Rome for the lead role in Black Magic, an actor is murdered on set and Welles finds himself allured by the deceased's beautiful stepdaughter (Paz Vega). Soon he becomes embroiled in dangerous political games as the run-up to post- war elections surfaces. ===== The play opens with a Manhattan party, where Clea, an attractive twenty-something Ohio native, is conversing with two men, Charlie, a middle-aged washed up actor, and Lewis, his best friend. Clea chatters (in her valley girl-esqe way of speaking) on about how "surreal" New York City is - advertising herself as the gorgeous but dumb girl. She rambles about how she doesn't drink, due to genetic alcoholism, but later accepts Lewis's vodka offer. After drinking down the vodka, Clea goes into a rant about this new job she took is absolutely empty, referring to it as a void. She also rants about her boss, Stella, calling her an infertile "Nazi Priestess" who is obsessed with her job and her current baby adoption process. It is revealed that Stella is Charlie's wife. Stella, Charlie, and Lewis are drinking at Stella and Charlie's apartment, listening to Stella's rant about Clea, calling her an idiot who can barely speak English but looks good from the back. Lewis is sent out to get drinks and Stella complains about how miserable she is at work. Charlie then goes on a rant about the party. Stella asks Charlie if he spoke to Nick, Charlie's arch-nemesis. Nick and Charlie went to high school together Clea first dates Lewis, soon moving to Charlie. His wife catches them in the act, and Charlie is unable to clear the situation. He loses his wife – Lewis is happy to console her – Clea drops him and moves on, and all he has left is his bottle and his misery. ===== The story follows the paleontological director of Hilltop Station, a research center set in the late Cretaceous period. It begins as Hilltop Station throws a fund raising ball and the director must keep patrons happy as well as prevent employees from illegally using their knowledge of the past for profit. When the director engages in unethical activities, he is forced to cover his tracks with complex time paradoxes and visits from his future self. ===== The Scoundrel's Wife tells the story of a woman suspected of being a saboteur, who struggling to raise two children in a small village during World War II. The film is a period drama which takes place in Louisiana at the beginning of U.S. entry into World War II. A certain military is looking for the Germans who are sinking America's ships off the coast and fishermen who are trading goods. ===== The year is 1529, and Brian Duffy, a world-weary Irish mercenary soldier, is hired in Venice by the mysterious Aurelianus to go to Vienna and work as a bouncer at the Zimmerman Inn, former monastery and current brewery of the famous Herzwesten beer. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turkish army under Sultan Suleiman I has achieved its most advanced position yet in their march into Europe, and is prepared to undertake the siege of Vienna. With the Turkish army travels the Grand Vizier Ibrahim, a magician who intends to use horrific spells as part of the siege. Duffy spent time in Vienna years ago, and as he returns, he is haunted by memories of past events, and also finds himself having visions of mythical creatures and being ambushed by shadowy people and demonic monsters. Upon arriving in Vienna, Duffy reconnects with Epiphany Vogel, a former girlfriend, and her father Gustav, who is working on a painting he calls "The Death of St. Michael the Archangel". It seems the painting is never quite complete, and the elder Vogel is continuously adding additional detail to the work, causing it to gradually become more and more obscure. Then Duffy finds himself not only drafted into the city's defensive army, but also led by Aurelianus down mystical paths from the surprisingly old brewery to even more ancient caves beneath the city, in search of defenses against the approaching army and clues to Duffy's very nature. As it turns out, Aurelianus knows more about Duffy and his past than Duffy himself knows, and his real purpose in hiring him is to protect the hidden Fisher King, secret spiritual leader of the western world, and to defend him and the West against the Turkish advance. And the real reason that Vienna must not be captured by the Turks is that it is the site of the Herzwesten brewery. Its light and bock beers are famous throughout Europe, but the dark beer, produced only every seven hundred years, has supernatural properties and must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Meanwhile, others are drawn to Vienna in anticipation of significant events. The so-called "dark birds", magically sensitive individuals from far flung corners of the world, arrive in the city hoping for a sip of the Herzwesten dark, and a small group of middle-aged Vikings have improbably sailed their ship down the Danube River to Vienna, having sensed that the prophesied final battle of Ragnarok will take place there. ===== The mysterious Green Knight appears before King Arthur's court in the New Year and demands the head of Sir Gawain as the prize in a bizarre game. Given a year's grace, Gawain sets off in search of the Knight for a rematch. ===== In the final days of the Old West, a former desperado, Harry Holland (Kirk Douglas), only wants to leave Bell City with money he won fairly at a poker game. However, his way is barred by Reggie Bell (Derek McGrath), a gambler who lost most of the money, the sheriff and a deputy, Wally Blodgett (Graham Jarvis). In the subsequent shoot-out, the sheriff is killed and Holland and Bell are wounded. Holland takes refuge in a hotel along with a 'hostage' - Bess, (Alexandra Bastedo). The townsfolk decide the only thing to do is hire an ex-sheriff, Sam Starret (James Coburn), to 'face down' Holland. But he is now a drunk - can he beat his long-time nemesis? ===== When Josh's contract is due for renewal, Jack enters negotiation mode. Jack is looking to save money with the negotiations outcome, so Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) warns Josh to be careful. Later, thinking Josh is ill, Liz goes to order some soup and on her way, sees Josh. He meets with a producer from The Daily Show, which angers Liz, who decides to help Jack negotiate. When Josh and his agent return to negotiate, believing that an offer from the Daily Show was on the table, Jack promptly reveals that he was able to get the offer from the Daily Show pulled and thus leave Josh with no negotiating power. Jack then offers Josh the same terms as his previous contract, but Liz, upset that Josh was not made to suffer for his "betrayal" by speaking with another show, orders Josh to start doing the worm. Meanwhile, Jenna gets into trouble after she is misquoted in Maxim magazine, allegedly saying that she hates the troops. This happened due to Jenna mishearing the interviewer and thinking he meant theater troupes. The resulting outrage prompts Jack to get her an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews to clear up the confusion over her comments. During the interview, Jenna confuses Osama bin Laden and then-Senator Barack Obama, who was running for the Democratic Party nomination for president. A further attempt to clear Jenna's name backfires when swastikas are accidentally brandished on the TGS with Tracy Jordan stage. Tracy allows Kenneth into his entourage, but in the process discovers that Grizz (Grizz Chapman) and Dot Com (Kevin Brown) have been allowing him to win at things such as Halo, Trivial Pursuit, and basketball. Tracy "fires" Grizz and Dot Com from the entourage, but the union between Tracy and Kenneth does not jell. Grizz and Dot Com come to the rescue after Tracy is surrounded by a mob outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which is protesting against the controversy caused by Jenna. ===== After dispatching Catwoman in an unseen battle, Batman and Robin return to the Batcave to revert to their mild-mannered roles of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, in preparation of attending an opera this evening. As a planned surprise, Commissioner Gordon arranges a date between his pretty daughter, Barbara Gordon, with Bruce Wayne. While arriving at her midtown apartment, after work from the Gotham City Library, Barbara is kidnapped by the Penguin while she is in the lift by being hooked up by his umbrellas. The Penguin binds her to a chair, gags her, and hides her in the apartment next to hers, which is being redecorated. Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, Bruce and Dick all arrive at Barbara's apartment a few hours later, only to realize that Barbara is missing. As they try to find out what happened to Barbara, Penguin calls Barbara's line and speaks to Commissioner Gordon about the kidnapping. Bruce tells Penguin that he will pay any price as ransom, however Penguin's demands are not about money but marriage instead; his marriage to Barbara. As proof of the Penguin's intentions to marry Barbara, he puts a marriage announcement in the Gotham Times. Wayne tells Commissioner Gordon the reason for the Penguin's marriage is to gain immunity from prosecution because he would be the son-in-law of the police commissioner. Penguin ungags Barbara and when she refuses his offer, he threatens to kill the commissioner if Barbara does not marry him, demonstrating this by having his henchmen fire at a cut-out of the Commissioner. Barbara reluctantly agrees to marry him. Bruce and Dick immediately change into Batman and Robin and head back to Police Headquarters. Meanwhile, two of Penguin's henchmen interrupt a meeting between Alfred and his minister, needing a clergyman to marry the Penguin and Barbara, and kidnap Alfred, believing him to be the minister after he says he is to protect the real minister. Alfred uses a distress tracking signal, however, to alert Batman. As Alfred is dumped into a room where Barbara is held, Barbara escapes through a window, warning Alfred not to reveal her true identity. Barbara heads back to her apartment where she changes into Batgirl, through a hidden room behind her bedroom. Batman and Robin follow Alfred into the Penguin's hideout, where they meet Batgirl who helps them defeat the thugs. But after she leaves Penguin gasses them with his umbrella, then places them (and Alfred) in purple bags, and throws them onto a truck below with a bag he thinks contains Barbara. He takes them to a different location. The Penguin ties Batman and Robin up in the bags and hangs them above a vat of hot acid. However, Batgirl follows the group on her Batgirlcycle and crashes the Penguin's party. Alfred frees Batman and Robin from the deathtrap, and they join Batgirl in defeating the Penguin and all five of his henchmen. Batgirl is angry at Alfred, claiming he faked being a Minister, but when he reveals why he did so she apologises. She tells Alfred not to reveal to anyone, not even Batman and Robin, that she is Barbara Gordon; he initially seems reluctant but then promises. Batgirl then disappears before Batman and Robin finally bag the Penguin and his henchmen. They open a bag and find Barbara inside. Alfred tells them Batgirl left a few minutes ago & The Dynamic Duo didn't expect the last of Batgirl, ending up questioning "Who is this Batgirl?". Afterwards Bruce provides Dick with a new car. The car, a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible with the name plate removed on the side, is what Bruce gives to Dick as a present for passing the road test and obtaining a driver's license. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara receive a threatening call from the Riddler, the villain appearing in next week's episode. The episode concludes with Dick driving Bruce in his new car back to Wayne Manor, with Bruce reminding him, "Remember, this is not the Batmobile." ===== A financially strained, aging Los Angeles private detective named Ira Wells isn't a well man and is barely active in the business. He is a loner who doesn't much care for company or small talk. When his ex-partner Harry Regan shows up at Ira's boarding house one night, mortally wounded while on a case, Ira feels it's up to him to get to the bottom of it. The trail leads Ira to a small-time fence named Birdwell, whose young bodyguard Lamar is only too happy to rough up the old man when Ira pays a call. But they make a mistake in intimidating and underestimating Ira, who ends up paying Lamar back in kind as well as tracking down Birdwell's missing wife. Meanwhile, a would-be client named Margo Sperling is introduced to Ira by a mutual acquaintance, Charlie Hatter, a tipster. Margo is a quirky individual who acts as an agent for a singer, sells marijuana on the side and wants to hire Ira to find not a murderer but just her missing cat. As they get to know each other after a rocky start, Ira and Margo hit it off to the point that she offers to become his new partner. But first they need to deal with a dangerous confrontation in Margo's apartment.allmovie ((( The Late Show > Overview ))) ===== Ford's Theatre, April 14, 1865. The fate of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln hangs in the balance, as a result of the meddling of Doctor Robert Knox. ===== The film is about a TV company that is planning on making a new Reality TV show called Real TV. The show they are working will have the contestants living in an uninhabited part of Norway without any help. In an effort to create bonds between the members of Real TV's production team, Gunnar, the boss, decides that they should try it for themselves. Gunnar takes the crew to an old cabin in the woods, far from any contact. To make sure that the crew are living with the same conditions as the real contestants will have, Gunnar takes away all of their cellphones and cigarettes. While scouting out the area around the cabin, Lasse (Kristoffer Joner) and Per stumble upon an abandoned camp site. Near the site, Per finds the body of a dead woman in the depths of the lake. After telling Gunnar about the dead girl, he pressures them to keep their mouths shut, so that they don't scare the other team members and ruin the whole trip. After they head back to their cabin and night sets in, things become even creepier. ===== In pre- Revolutionary France, Voltaire champions the oppressed commoners and tries to warn King Louis XV (Reginald Owen) about the growing unrest among his subjects. The writer has a powerful ally in Madame Pompadour (Doris Kenyon), Louis' mistress, but the Count de Sarnac (Alan Mowbray) opposes him for his own ends. When Voltaire pleads for the life of Calas, unjustly accused of treason, Louis is inclined to pardon the man, but Sarnac persuades him that it would be a sign of weakness, and Calas is swiftly executed. As a reward, Sarnac gains the wealthy man's estates. Voltaire invites Calas' daughter and rightful heiress, Nanette (Margaret Lindsay), to shelter in his home. Meanwhile, Sarnac tries to persuade the King that Voltaire is a traitor, citing his well-known friendship with Frederick the Great and claiming that it is he who is betraying French secrets to the Prussian ruler. Louis is not entirely convinced, but does banish Voltaire from his royal court at Versailles. As a result, Madame Pompadour becomes reluctant to aid Voltaire further, until he arranges it so that she can overhear from Sarnac's own lips his ambition to replace her as Louis' paramount adviser. Then, she persuades the King to allow Voltaire to stage a new play at Versailles. The production is a thinly disguised portrayal of Calas' execution and the aftermath transposed to an exotic setting. Voltaire hopes to open the King's eyes to his danger. Voltaire recruits Nanette to portray the part of herself. The King is sympathetic to the theatrical Nanette's plight, not recognizing himself as her despised oppressor until Sarnac points it out. Then Louis orders the play stopped before the explanatory final scene and orders that Voltaire be sent to the Bastille. However, hearing of a rich present given to Sarnac by Frederick, Voltaire unmasks the count as the real traitor. Sarnac is arrested, and Nanette's estates are restored to her. ===== Leyendas de Guatemala is made up of a series of short stories, which transform the oral legends of popular culture into relevant textual manifestations.Anadeli Bencomo, 2000, p.655 ===== In this docudrama, Jackie Burroughs stars as Maryse Holder, the ill-fated feminist author who met an untimely death in Acapulco. Her behavior toward Mexican men was to regard them as subjects for the pursuit of sexual and romantic adventure. Her own pursuits of sex and booze and love lead to her death at the hands of one of her many macho partners.http://www.allmovie.com/work/a-winter-tan-140892 ===== The story begins in Novgorod in 1680, where Frol Skobeev, a poor nobleman and legal clerk known locally as a cunning rogue, has designs on marrying Annushka of the prominent and well-placed Nadrin-Nashchekin family. Annushka's father is described as a stol'nik, meaning he was a ranking official in the Tsar's court and probably one of the richer and more influential members of the Russian aristocracy. Knowing that there is little chance of meeting Annushka in person, or of her father agreeing to their marriage, Frol concocts a devious plan to meet with her. He gets acquainted with Annushka's nurse, offers her money – asking for nothing in return at first – and from her learns that Annushka will shortly be having a Christmas party. He arranges to get his sister invited to the ball, and disguises himself as a noblewoman and comes with her to the party. There, he bribes the nurse to get close to Annushka. The nurse orchestrates matters so that the disguised Frol and Annushka are together in her chambers, and tells him to play a game of ‘bride and groom’. Frol reveals himself to Annushka and takes her virginity. While Annushka initially resists him, she quickly finds pleasure in their relationship and keeps Frol in her home for three days under cover, during which time he remains disguised as a woman. The Nadrin-Nashchenin family, including Annushka, then relocate from Novgorod to Moscow. Frol follows them and again devises a plan to outwit Annushka's parents with the aid of the nurse. This time he sends a carriage to the family home and pretends Annushka is to be taken to her aunt, who is a nun in a local convent. In reality, Annushka elopes with Frol and they marry shortly afterwards. When Annushka's father discovers she is missing, he publicly campaigns for the return of his daughter and threatens to punish ruthlessly anyone involved in her disappearance. After reflection and taking counsel from a friend, Frol decides to come forward, confess and ask for Nadrin-Nashchekin's mercy. His ingratiating attitude persuades Nadrin-Nashchekin not to punish him. Frol and Annushka also manage to wangle money and valuable items from them. Annushka feigns an illness and her parents send a bejeweled icon; they also begin to send carriages with money and food on a regular basis. Finally, Nadrin-Nashchekin offers Frol Skobeev a large estate, three hundred rubles and Frol secures a position as his heir. The story concludes by telling us that Frol also managed to arrange a propitious marriage for his sister, and that he and Annushka lived happily after ever. ===== In a Louisiana city, near a bayou, a plague of genetically mutated bats begin to kill the people, then Dr. Maddy Rierdon and her students from colleges work together to kill the bats before the whole city is destroyed. The film begins with an abandoned house, inhabited by a group of vampire bats, which seem to be mutations of the local population. Later, in the forests nearby, people begin to find many dead corpses of deer and local animals, with multiple bites on their bodies and their blood completely drained. While the corpses are studied, one student from the class of Physician/Doctor Maddy Rierdon (Lucy Lawless) gets chased in the forest by something that knocks him down and kills him. When he is found, his blood has been drained. Police suspect two of his friends of being the killers and put them under arrest. The case attracts Maddy's attention, as she wants to prove her students' innocence. She soon finds out that her dead student must have been killed by something that moves in a pack and is very fast. At night, two more fishermen are attacked and killed while fishing on their boat. The next morning, police find the drained bodies and, with Maddy's presence at the scene, they are able to recognize some excreta of bats. They then change their opinion and started to believe that bats were the cause of these deaths. The police send out many agents to search around the city for signs of the vampire bats. After several negative events, including a teenage girl who gets bitten by a bat during sleep and acquires rabies, and a party on board a ship, which is attacked by the bats, Maddy begins to think that the bats have mutated somehow, which she reports to group of agents she is working with. She states that the bats could have been affected by some artificial environmental impacts. To verify her statement, she arrives at the river where the fishermen were killed to set a trap with the help of some of her students. They successfully capture some bats using nets, and Maddy realizes that this population of vampire bats has developed eight upper-jaw fangs instead of two, which makes them hungrier for blood and able to drink more blood every time they bite. They bring the other trapped bats back to the lab, where Maddy informs the police of this mutation. Suggestions are given as how to exterminate these killer bats, and one of them is to spray poisons over the captured bats and release them after sticking GPS locators onto their bodies, letting them fly back to their habitats; the bats will infect each other by licking and grooming. The plan works successfully, but it only kills a small group of them. The other groups remain unaffecteded. Meanwhile, one more student is killed in the pool by the bats. Maddy rushes to find a solution while learning that the bats' mutation is an indirect result of toxic waste that contaminated the local water source, creating mutations in the deer that the bats feed on, thus making the bats too mutants. Meanwhile another group of bats is found in a church (yet still not the whole population). Maddy's students accidentally find out that the bats are attracted to loudspeakers or anything that emits sounds similarly, as they mistake those sounds as reflected ultrasounds. They decide to set a trap in the underground basement of their school, intending to lure the bats in and heat them to death by sending in all the heat from the school's exhausts. As the plan commences, the bats are lured to the area by loudspeakers. A problem is encountered as Maddy is attacked in the underground by one of the policeman, who turns out to be an agent working for the company which has been contaminating the water sources and is therefore responsible for the bats' mutation. He tries to kill Maddy in order to eliminate witnesses of his company's work, but Maddy knocks him out instead and escapes when the bats fly into the underground; they devour the agent just before they get heated to death. Three months later, Maddy is married and sitting with her children in front of the house where they eliminated the first population of the vampire bats. She suddenly looks nervous and seems to be scared by something, but she quickly turns back to play with her kids. ===== ===== Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Masayuki Mori) retired from the throne of the Tang dynasty, gazes at a statue of the woman he loved who has died. He sadly reminisces about their relationship. Recently widowed, a depressed Xuanzong is uninterested in governing or affairs of state. He spends his days playing his lute, composing music, and enjoying life's pleasures. His ministers have tried unsuccessfully to interest him in the most beautiful women in the kingdom without success. They hope that a new concubine will help him to get over his depression over the late empress. The Yang family offers their daughter to the emperor who barely notices her. General An Lushan (Sō Yamamura) happens upon a serving girl Yuahan Kwei- Fei/Yang Guifei (Machiko Kyō) in the kitchen who he realizes is a great beauty who resembles the late empress. When he finds out she is a relative of the Yang family, he intrigues with the Yangs to dress her in fine robes and present her to the emperor. Instead of a new concubine, Lushan imagines that she will become a new empress. Both he and Kwei-Fei's family plan to use her to gain power and money in the kingdom. After sending her for training at the same place the former empress had studied, Kwei-Fei finally meets the emperor who notices her resemblance to his late wife and asks her to leave. She plays a song on the lute that the emperor had written and impresses him. They begin spending time together and she quickly gains his favor. As time passes, the emperor promotes members of the Yang family to ministerial positions. The emperor's reign has been marked by very high taxes and noticeable corruption. When the Yang family begins openly living decadently and corrupt officials such as Kwei-Fei's cousin Yang Guozhong (Eitarō Ozawa), begin lining their pockets at the empire's expense, the people protest and call for death to the Yang family. An Lushan visits Kwei Fei asking her to help him obtain a government position. By now, Kwei-Fei is considered an official consort of the emperor. She refuses. When Kwei-Fei discovers the people's unhappiness with her family, she pleads with the emperor to strip her family of their government positions and allow her to go back to her former life. She feels this is the only way to protect him and the people of the empire. He brushes off her concerns and reminds her that the punishment for imperial concubines interfering in matters of state is death. Angry and hurt that she wishes to leave him, Xuanzong banishes Kwei-Fei to his harem with other out-of- favor concubines. Kwei-Fei returns home instead. Meanwhile General Lushan, still angry that he was unable to procure a government post and disgusted at the corruption of Yang Guozhong, leads a revolution against the emperor. He rallies his troops with calls to destroy the Yang family, and plans to usurp the throne. Calling himself Emperor Taien, he marches on the capital at Chang'an. When she hears of Lushan's plans, Kwei-Fei rushes to Emperor Xuanzong's side so they can face their fate together. They flee the capital and wind up in a remote village. They spend the evening reminiscing about their first meeting. The Imperial Guards kill Kwei-Fei's sisters and Yang Guozhong who they blame for the rebellion. Emperor Xuanzhong is told that the people are still loyal to the him, but only if he authorizes Kwei-Fei's death. After trying to change their minds, he finally authorizes her death. Kwei-Fei is hanged by the Imperial Guard. The rebellion is crushed, but the emperor is unable to return because his son had already usurped the throne. He dies a lonely, broken man dreaming of Kwei-Fei and staring at her statue. He welcomes death as a return to his true love. ===== Five female sex workers are employed at Dreamland, a licensed brothel near the Sensōji Temple in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who is now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently to pay her debt and get out; she also has a suitor who wants to marry her, but she has other plans for him. Miki seems the most nonchalant, until her father comes from Kobe to bring her news of her family and ask her to come home. ===== Jake and Hawkins go to Cheyenne, where they tell Grey to go home to Jericho. Grey says that the whole constitutional convention is a sham. He and a fellow convention attendee had just discussed the removal of the Second Amendment from the Constitution being written at the convention for the Allied States of America. Beck arrests Heather after he discovers that she had removed information from an aerial scan for radiation. When he asks why she did it, she says that she believes that Cheyenne is corrupt, accuses him of working for a fraudulent, illegitimate government, and challenges him to "open his eyes". Hawkins contacts the only other member of his team, Cheung, who comes to Gray's hotel room, where Hawkins and Jake are waiting. They soon discover that the nuke will be transferred using an ambulance, in order to not attract attention. Hawkins, Jake, and Cheung go to a hospital that had been evacuated because of a "gas leak." They find an EMT with a gun and soon after, an ambulance. Cheung doesn't trust Jake so he stays behind. While securing the nuke, one of the ambulance drivers pulls out a gun and kills Cheung and the other driver before he shoots Hawkins. The driver then speaks and reveals himself as John Smith; the mastermind behind the attacks finally revealed in person. More soldiers, as well as Beck arrive at the Richmond Farm. Beck tells Stanley that he is sorry for their loss and then tells the Rangers that they are free to leave. When Eric asks why, Beck explains that he told his company commanders twenty minutes earlier that he no longer recognizes the ASA government's right to lead. He says that he considers Cheyenne to be corrupt and that most likely by the end of the day he will be arrested and sent to Cheyenne to be court- martialed for treason. However, until that happens, he is still in charge and he is letting the Rangers take their time. At the army headquarters in Jericho, Beck sits in a chair drinking scotch when Heather comes in. He tells her that she is free to leave and she asks what the other officers are doing in Beck's office. He says that he told them to look at Hawkins's laptop and to decide what they will do to him. The officers then come out and tear the ASA flags off of their uniforms, asking Beck for orders. Beck tells his men to spread the word to prepare for a fight. In Texas, Chavez comes and tells Jake that after the bomb is authenticated, Texas is siding with the old US government based in Columbus, Ohio, which will lead to the Second American Civil War. Texan soldiers load the nuke into a truck as Hawkins is loaded into an ambulance. ===== Emm Luther is a planet ruled by a single, worldwide theocracy. It is evenly populated, and a couple of railroads run up and down the coasts of the largest continent. Earth sends secret agent Sam Tallon to Emm Luther to infiltrate the theocracy and extract the coordinates of the "null-space" (hyperspace) jump points of a newly discovered colonizable world, a closely guarded secret. When the religious secret police discover that he has false credentials and has entered their world under false pretenses, a frantic chase and flight ensues. He is captured in his hotel room. A high-ranking officer named Cherkassky tries to render Tallon harmless by erasing his memory of the jump data, using a device called a "brain brush". He thinks that he has succeeded, but Tallon is equipped with a gadget that can sequester certain memories. Cherkassky enjoys tormenting people, and he is known for destroying most of the memories of prisoners who annoy him. He begins by erasing Tallon's memory of a loved one; the sense of loss enrages Tallon, and he attacks Cherkassky in a bid for escape. He is blinded when Cherkassky shoots him in the face with a dart gun, destroying his eyes. He is taken to a secret prison complex in the southernmost tip of the most distant continent to convalesce. While he is there, he enlists the aid of the scientific elite among the other political prisoners there, and together they design a pair of electronic "sonar" eyes. The headgear delivers different tones to distinguish various objects. Later, they make another breakthrough: they make a device that can sense and interpret the nerve signals of the eyes of nearby living things. Tallon can now see, but only through others' eyes. After they develop and test this device, Tallon and his partner Winfield try to break out, but Winfield is shot during the attempt. Tallon must flee alone, depending on encountering local animal life in order to see. Tallon escapes and travels across the continent, reaching his secret contact after much difficulty. When he has a chance to escape the planet, though, he is delayed by trying to bring a new lover with him. Later, when he does try to depart, he finds that his ship is filled with police. Battle ensues, and he seems to be the sole survivor. He boards the ship and starts a null-space jump to a random point in the universe. Now blind since there isn't anyone in the ship, he must somehow master the intricacies of the "jump stick," a form of jump drive via portals to null-space (a hyperspace parallel universe, through which FTL space travel is achieved). However, further trouble arrives in the form of Cherkassky, who also survived the battle for the ship. They fight, and Cherkassky is killed. Tallon finds a mouse to function as his eyes. He solves the mathematical problems concerning null-space travel by discovering that he can also see through the eyes of people in other ships traversing various routes through null-space. He gains knowledge of the structure of null-space that will be invaluable to space travelers, since the complexities of null- space had theretofore never been adequately mapped. He eventually reaches home with his enemy (and some loved ones) dead, but his new knowledge helps bring about greater peace. Category:1967 British novels Category:Novels by Bob Shaw Category:Religion in science fiction ===== In Madrid, during the bombing of November 1936, in the Spanish Civil War, the Republican Government decided on the evacuation of paintings from the Prado Museum. Manuel (played by Gabino Diego), a 28-year- old security guard, finds a self-portrait of Goya abandoned in one corner. He hides the painting and flees the bombing of his house. ===== Cover art from the first edition of the retitled and revised version, Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria, Berkley Books, 1969. The tale of Thongor of Valkarth, barbarian warrior in the prehistoric continent of Lemuria, who becomes humanity's champion in their pivotal struggle against the Dragon Kings who had previously dominated the world. As the serpent men device a plan in restoring their empire, all that stands in their way are the courage of Thongor, his comrades, and the magic of the wizard Sharajsha. ===== Chen Jun is the leader of Shao He Triad, which has a number of illegal businesses operating in Malaysia and Singapore. He is retiring from the Triad and money-lending business. He is succeeded by a young lady, Wang Lihua, who tries to restructure the "Ah Long (loan shark) system" with as little use of violence as possible while making debtors pay back. Lihua and several of her subordinates start implementing a series of creative methods to attract people to borrow money. They also practice hilarious methods to pressure debtors to repay in a way that is anti-violent. However, this restructuring is met with opposition from the majority of the "elders" in both her own and rival triad (the Qinglongs). Lihua is pressured by her mother to get married. Lihua decides to force Mr Fang, an effeminate dance instructor, to marry her. Mr Fang agrees to the proposal, wanting to prove his masculinity. Subsequently, Mr Fang offers to help Lihua out by introducing creative ways to reduce violent methods of debt collection. Chen Jun is opposed to these less-violent ways of debt collection, but appears to have a change of heart. However, Lihua and her gang members get embroiled with a fight with a rival triad, whose head, it is later revealed, is acting under Chen Jun's instigation. Lihua and Fang go on the run with the Malaysian police and three gang members on their heels. Chen Jun, Lihua and Fang get caught by a number of street urchins, who turn out to be children of debtors who were killed after failing to pay back Chen Jun's gang their loan money. Finally, the Malaysian police nab Chen Jun, Lihua and her company for their illegal dealings. They are sentenced to jail terms (except Chen Jun, who was executed). Mr Fang fetches Lihua on the day of her release, and surprises her by bringing her to an office dealing in legal business, run by former members of the Shao He Triad (whom some of them once had terms of 8–10 years). Lihua finds the drive to lead again after being in jail for 10 years. ===== The story follows Sakura 'Penguin' Nankyoku and her friends Kujira Etorofu and Nene Kurio through their daily lives, which are often corrupted by either Penguin herself, her economic rival Mary Whitebear, or other people who have interest in the Nankyoku family. Sakura Nankyoku is a total otaku. Due to a fluke, she gets elected as her class' student council president. Everything takes off from there into a series of crazy misadventures revolving around Sakura, her family, and her classmates. ===== Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) is a grand old theatre actor who receives the shocking news that his wife, daughter, and son- in-law have been killed in a car accident. As time passes, Valence busies himself with his daily life in Paris, turning down unsuitable roles in low- brow television productions and looking after his 9-year-old grandson. When an American filmmaker (John Malkovich) miscasts him in an ill-conceived adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses, Valence finds himself compelled to make a decision about his life.Artificial Eye DVD release 222 cover text ===== The plot of Get Lost! concerns the disappearance of Jim Threadgold (Brian Southwood), husband of English teacher Judy Threadgold (Turner). Aided by her colleague, woodwork teacher Neville Keaton (Armstrong), Judy sets out to find out what has happened to her husband. Judy and Neville soon discover the existence of a secret organisation dedicated to assisting people who want to escape the mundanity of their lives and families and just disappear. Although Judy eventually finds her missing husband, she is none too enthusiastic about taking him back and allows him to seek a new life running a fish and chip shop. Her adversarial relationship with Neville blossoms into a love affair. ===== Sathya (Arun Kumar) is a very good artist and is known for his art. He paints pictures and sells them on the road where he meets a lot of trouble, that's where he gets to know of Thilottamal over the phone. He starts searching for her, but to no use. In between, Nimmi (Rambha) comes as a model and falls in love with Arun, but he declines it for Thilottamal. He even thinks Meena is as mentally disturbed as Thilottamal, but she is not. Finally, Thilottamal writes a letter to Arun that she is going to die as she is so horrible to see and that she does not deserve his love. Arun runs all the way to the cremation ground to see her at least once, but by that time they have cremated her. Arun goes to the beach and sits with tears in his eyes. ===== When he was a young boy, Padmanabhan (Prabhu Ganesan) was driven out of his house along with his parents by an evil-hearted money lender (Nizhalgal Ravi), who gave him a condition: if by a stipulated time period Padmanabhan could raise enough money to buy back the house he could reclaim it as his own. Since then, Padmanabhan has been living a very thrifty life, always counting the cost of his daily expenses. Even after marriage to Ramya (Ramya Krishnan), he still focuses on his finances, at times to the detriment of his personal relationships with his wife and relatives, who all live together in a small house. In a sub-plot, Padmanabhan hires a housemaid (Mumtaj), who turns out to be the estranged and separated wife of his boss's son(Karan). The story focuses on Padmanabhan's attempt to raise the money to buy back his house and his struggles to adapt with changes in his life, including Ramya giving birth to triplets. But he gradually learns about the importance of relationships and human values and how some things in life are more important than money. In a final twist to the story, after raising the money, Padmanabhan realises that it has been stolen from his motorcycle. In despair he is about to give up and officially hand over the house to the money lender, but then his boss's son helps him out by providing him the money just in time. The earlier delighted money lender is now shocked at realising that he must give up the house where his family members have long since settled, and orders his relatives to pack up and leave. He drags his two children out of the house and they burst into tears at the prospect of having to leave because they do not wish to do so. The weeping boys then plead with Padmanabhan to let them stay and promise him that they will buy him a much bigger house when they grow up. Padmanabhan, moved to tears, recalls his own heartbreak at being dragged out of his childhood home and agrees to let the family stay until the children have grown up. This puts the money lender to shame and contrition, and he admits having arranged for Padmanabhan's money to be stolen because he knew that he would raise the money eventually. He returns the money and asks for Padmanabhan's forgiveness, having realised the strength of his adversary's moral character. At the end of the film, the housemaid Omana, who had since reunited with her long lost love, gives birth to triplets of her own in hospital. ===== Ganesh (Prabhu Deva) has the job of collecting travelers for the lone bus run by Padmavathi Bus Service in the town of Cuddalore. His high-energy people- gathering tactics are considered the reason for the crowds on the bus, and he earns commission for the same from the owner (Nassar) of the bus service. Though Ganesh earns quite enough, he does not buy new things and eats very late and little. No one knows why he is saving so much money. The bus owner was, a young cleaner at Venkatesa bus service, but he fell in love with the owner's daughter and eloped with her. Then after much hardships, he becomes the owner of four buses and very rich, in the same town, while his father in- law's bus company failing. He and his family still maintain no contact with the mother's family. Ganesh is pursued by lottery ticket seller Saroja (Roja), who dreams of marrying him, though he receives no response from him. A final- year medical student named Kousalya (Kausalya), the daughter of Ganesh's boss, slowly falls for him after seeing his good-heartedness. One day, the bus owner's father-in-law falls very sick, and after much reluctance, he and his wife go to see him. The old man proposes a marriage between Kausalya and his other grandson, to which the bus owner says that he needs two days to decide. That evening, Kousalya is mistakenly locked in her class, and the owner beats Ganesh upon believing that the duo eloped. Though the owner apologizes, Ganesh is heartbroken. Later, Kausalya visits a small suburban area colony for the vaccination campaign, where she is shocked when she sees Ganesh being accused by a mentally ill woman named Thulasi (Suvalakshmi), as being responsible for destroying her life and killing her brother. Kausalya finds that three years ago, Thulasi's family moved to Cuddalore. However, Thulasi came two days later and was lost in the bus stand as her brother did not come to pick her up. Ganesh saw her and left in her in the area police station for safety at night. There, she is brutally raped by the inspector. Thulasi berates Ganesh and comes home. She attempts suicide by poison; however, she is saved but loses her mental stability. Her brother, unable to bear her pain, commits suicide, leaving his pregnant wife. Later, Ganesh saves enough money, and Thulasi is back to normal. Kausalya finds out that Ganesh has organized a marriage and rushes to save her love. She imagines whether Ganesh will marry her, Roja, or Thulasi. However, it is seen that the wedding is for Thulasi, and that inspector has changed into a good man. When Thulasi's sister-in-law is unable to perform rites as she is a widow, Ganesh marries her, and then the duo performs the rites for Thulasi as brother and sister-in-law. Later, the bus owner gifts Ganesh a brand new bus and tells him that he is also an owner, to which Ganesh replies that he is still a worker in heart. ===== James (Prabhu Deva) and Pandu (Parthiban) are porters. Though they were inseparable friends before, there is no love lost between them now. James is in love with Renu (Renu Desai), while Kausalya (Kausalya), a mute, has feelings for Pandu. A chit fund company owner (Nizhalgal Ravi) hires James to 'steal' a bag of money from himself so he could abscond with the money, but his manager (Thalaivasal Vijay) hires Pandu to steal the bag from James. When James and Pandu lay their hands on the money, they become friends again and decide to split the money. However, the company owner is found murdered, and they become the prime suspects. In the climax, Mouli comes to court and tells the truth that he killed the company owner because the latter would cheat many people. James and Pandu are proven innocent. ===== Parvathi (Latha) is a rich and arrogant woman who leads her life with her three sons – Kandha (Prabhu), Kadamba (S. Ve. Shekher) and Kathirvela (Vivek). The sons are very obedient towards their mother and they run a restaurant in Chennai. Parvathi also had a daughter named Mallika (Bhuvaneswari) who is married to Vadivelan (Vadivelu), a barber following which Parvathi disowns her daughter. Vadivelan decides to teach a lesson for Parvathi. He understands that Parvathi's sons are in love with girls from an economically backward community and sets a plan to get them married against Parvathi's wishes. Kandha is married to Rupini (Roja), Kadamba to Rohini (Kovai Sarala) and Kathir to Ragini (Nirosha). Parvathi has originally planned to get her sons married to a rich family from London with a hope of getting hefty dowry and she hates her daughters in law as they are poor. Also, her sons support their wives which angers her further. Parvathi sets a plan to separate her sons from their wives by staging a drama. She pretends to be affectionate towards her daughters in law and persuades them to stay away from their husbands. She also brings a new maid to their home and creates a fear in the minds of her daughters in law about their husbands having an illegitimate affair with the new maid. Parvathi succeeds in her plan and her daughters-in-law leave her home following a misunderstanding with her sons. Now, she plans to convince her sons to divorce their wives and make them marry her choice. But the maid (appointed by Parvathi) threatens her and demands a sum of Rs. 5 crores for not revealing the truth. Parvathi is kidnapped by the maid and her men. But her sons along with their wives come and save Parvathi following which she understands the real nature of her daughters-in-law and accepts them. She also accepts her daughter and Vadivelan. ===== Kandasamy (Sathyaraj) is an illiterate man working in a textile shop with his friend Chinnasamy (Goundamani). He is married to the illiterate Alamelu (Rambha) and the couple has a son named Sakthivel (Kaushik Sundaram). Kandasamy wants his son to study in a renowned school where the parents are required to be graduates. Saraswati (Kausalya), a young and educated woman, then starts to work in the textile shop and Kandasamy asks her to act as his child's mother. In a flashback, his father Kunguma Pottu Gounder (Sathyaraj) was a kindhearted and a rich man who helped the needy but he was illiterate and he didn't send his son to school. One day, he lost all his wealth because of his lack of education. Kunguma Pottu Gounder then died of shock but before dying, he asked his son Kandasamy to not make the same mistake as he did and begged him to send his son to school. Saraswati finally accepts to act as his child's mother and his son joins the school. Everything goes well as Kandasamy's planned until Saraswati's lover Shiva (Karan) and Kandasamy's wife Alamelu find out about the cham. ===== Maayi (Sarathkumar) is a well-respected, do- gooder in a village. He considers women in the village as his sisters and even helps financially to conduct their weddings. He is a man who is ready to kill his father Irulandi (Vijayakumar) when he learns that he had a second wife. But the father opts to kill himself rather than face his son and so, Maayi brings his stepsister Lakshmi (Suvalakshmi) to live with him. A local MLA (Rajan. P. Dev) comes to Maayi to get his support during the upcoming election, but he refuses and the MLA loses the election. But his son (Anand), who admires Maayi, marries Lakshmi. Meanwhile, Bhuvaneswari (Meena), Maayi's distant relative's daughter comes to the village from Bangalore and she initially misunderstands Maayi by seeing his looks but later realizes her mistake after knowing about Maayi's hard work and his help towards improving the village. Maayi has built free hospital, day care center, college etc. to help the villagers. Bhuvaneshwari is attracted towards Maayi and proposes him but Maayi does not accept her love. But Bhuvana remains confident about marrying Maayi following which he tells his flashback. Maayi was born into a very poor family where his mother (Sabitha Anand) was infected by leprosy even before Maayi's birth. Due to poor financial condition, his mother could not be treated in hospital and instead was kept alone in a room. She was not allowed to touch her son Maayi fearing chances of the disease being spread. Maayi has never seen his mother right from his childhood as she always stays in a closed room. When Maayi was 8 years old, his mother gets frustrated more as her disease prevents her to show her affection towards Maayi and she commits suicide by drowning in a river. This shocks Maayi and he decides not to marry any woman as he does not want any girl to touch his body which was even untouched by his beloved mother. Maayi convinces Bhuvaneshwari to marry someone else. Also, Maayi comes to know that his step sister Lakshmi is being tortured by her husband and it was all a plan to take revenge on Maayi for not supporting the local MLA during elections. Maayi beats up Lakshmi's husband and says that he will never support criminal activities even if it impacts his family. On the day of Bhuvaneshwari's wedding, the bride groom's family misunderstands that Maayi and Bhuvaneshwari are lovers seeing Maayi's dhoti in her room and stops the marriage. Bhuvaneshwari's friend discloses the truth that Maayi gave his dhoti to safeguard her when her dresses were washed away in water sometime back. Manorama who also belongs the village shouts at the groom's family for their cruel thoughts and she requests Maayi to marry Bhuvaneshwari as that would be the right thing. Maayi obeys Manorama's words as his mother's and marries Bhuvaneshwari. ===== Sunil (Prabhu Deva) is one of the leading heart surgeons in the country. He lives with Ganpat (Mouli), who is also a doctor and is loved by everyone in the family. Sunitha (Jaya Seal) arrives with a kid who has a heart problem to the hospital. But she is shocked seeing Sunil there and lashes out when she learns he is the doctor who is about to treat the kid. The movie goes for a flashback. Sunil's brother Balaram (Sarathkumar) is a thug but does not want his brother to follow his footsteps, therefore sends him away to study. Sunitha and Sunil are classmates in a medical college and they both fall in love. Sunil expresses his wish of marrying Sunitha to Bala, for which he accepts. Meanwhile, Sunitha goes back to her village for her sister's child's ear piercing ceremony. Her sister's husband is money-minded and tries to get Sunitha married to a rich man in return for money. Sunitha is not interested in this alliance as she is in love with Sunil and calls him, asking him to come and rescue her, but he doesn't come. Sunitha's sister commits suicide to stop the marriage. Sunitha is angered on Sunil as he didn't come to save her, which also resulted in her sister's death. Sunitha takes her sister's child and leaves. Sunil tries to meet Sunitha and convey the reason for not coming to save her, but Sunitha is not ready to listen. Sunil is worried and decides to leave to Canada, accepting a job offer there. Finally, Sunitha understands the truth: her sister's husband had killed Bala on the day of the marriage; therefore, Sunil wasn't able to come on time to stop the wedding. Sunitha finds out and tries to find and stop Sunil, who is going to Canada. In the end, she finds him and they reunite. ===== The two people in focus are Srinivasan (R. Parthiepan) and his good friend Dharan Viswanath (Ranjith). Seenu is a loving husband of Shanti (Divya Unni), and Dharan is Shanti's ex-lover. Life is going great for Shanti and Seenu until Seenu loses his eyesight in an accident. One day, Srinivasan and Dharan find that Shanti has died by hanging herself in their house. The police close the case as a suicide. Evidence surfaced which point to Dharan's guilt, but he resolutely maintains that he is innocent, while Srinivasan too believes him. It keeps the suspense alive successfully: with respect to Dharan's innocence and the reason behind the happenings. Srinivasan seems convinced that his wife has been murdered. One day, Dharan discovers that Seenu is not blind after all. Who murdered Shanthi? Or was it suicide? Why did Seenu pretend to be blind? The answers to these questions form the rest of the story. ===== The kingdom of Dasarna has a brave and able army chief by the name Vikrama Simha (Krishna). Princess Alakananda Devi (Jayapradha) is in love with him. The chief minister contrives to dethrone the king and procure the throne for his son. But as long as Vikrama Singha is present, his plans cannot bear fruit. So he traps Vikrama Singha by getting false witnesses to testify that he has tried to kill the princess. Vikrama Simha is exiled. Meanwhile, the neighbouring kingdom of Avanti has the crown prince Aditya Vardhana (Krishna), who looks exactly like Vikrama Singha, who is very jovial and tries to spend his time with Jaswanthi (Radha), a dancer who dances in the kingdom. The Queen of Avanti is not happy with this behavior of Aditya Vardhana and she tries to change his behavior and she succeeds in that. She always wanted Aditya Vardhana to marry Alakananda Devi. But when Aditya Vardhana went to hunt in the forest, he finds Chandana or Vishakanya (Mandakini) and falls in love with her. Chandana also loves him. Later after some incidents, Chandana learns that she is a Vishakanya. She tries to commit suicide, but later is saved by Vikrama Simha. He changes Chandana. Aditya Vardhana convinces Vikrama Simha to rule his kingdom till some problems in the kingdom are solved. Vikrama Simha accepts to that and later returns the throne to Aditya Vardhana. The Raja Guru of Avanti contrives to procure the throne for his son. Aditya Vardhana marries Chandana. Vikrama Simha finally foils the chief minister's plans to acquire the throne of Dasharna. Vikrama Simha marries Alakananda Devi. ===== Surya (Arjun) a farmer's son from Madurai, J. Prakash (Prakash Raj) the only son of a billionaire industrialist and Priya (Abhirami) an Ooty-based tea estate heiress board a train to Delhi as strangers, in the Chennai central station. They get seats next to each other and introduce themselves to one another. As a coincidence, they get to know that all 3 of them have passed the UPSC exams with high ranks, and are going to Delhi for phase-4 of their Civil Service training and become friends. During the course of the training, Surya loves Priya, whereas Prakash lusts after her. While Surya's dad Manivannan and Priya's family visit the trio in Agra, Prakash reveals to Priya's mom about his desire to marry Priya. At the same time, Surya's dad asks Surya to marry Priya. During the last days of training, Priya also falls in love with Surya. During the results of Phase 4, Priya gets selected as cadre-I IAS officer, while Prakash misses the cut-off and becomes Cadre-II IPS officer, because he had spent 2 minutes of the final exam thinking about Priya. At the same time, Surya's results are held back by the UPSC board, because of an FIR in Surya's name. 3 years earlier, Surya was a village farmer. During harvest, the local tasildar refused to pay the farmer's demand and started to forcefully take their cane crop to government stores at a cheaper price. Surya protested against this, and he hits the tasildar as the tasildar hit his father. Surya is arrested and placed in police custody. The villages continue their protest at the police station, prompting the District Collector Lakshmi IAS to come to the station the next day. She studies the situation, and causes the government to pass a GO in favor of the farmer's demands. While she asks the police to release Surya after knowing that he is a post-graduate, they refuse, as an FIR has been filed on him, and Surya must be presented before a magistrate. Shocked by this development, the Collector, in her right as District Magistrate cancels the FIR and lets Surya go free. This power of an IAS officer led to Surya taking up the UPSC exams. After Surya's explanation, UPSC agrees to let him go, but holds his result pending an inquiry. Surya and Priya then visit Lakshmi IAS, who is now deputy-Home secretary in Chennai, asking her help. After that they propose to one another, and start their one-month vacation. Surya refuses to go to his village, as he had promised that he will return only as an IAS officer. So he visits Priya's family in Ooty. Priya's mom and sister happily accept Surya as prospective groom for Priya. After a month, Priya leaves for her job as Assistant Collector in Chennai. While all goes well, it is revealed that months ago, a rich newspaper owner son Arun has tries to harass Priya's sister Pavithra during her way to school and Pavi had him imprisoned for that. Arun, in an act of vengeance, blocks Pavi's public exam number in all newspapers on the result day. Due to power failure, no news of results reaches Priya on the correct time, and Priya's mother assumes that she has failed her exam due to playfulness. Hurt, Pavi commits suicide. During her funeral, news agencies come to reveal that Pavi had come as first rank in the state. Adhi and his friend also come to the funeral. Adhi's friend reveals Adhi's misdeeds to the public and Surya pushes Adhi against a tree, in a fit of rage. Adhi gets a head injury and dies. Surya is arrested on murder charges and sent to Chennai prison for remand. At the same time, Prakash joins as an IPS officer, and begins his duty in Chennai Jail. It is revealed that Prakash is to serve for 24 hours to fulfill his father's wishes and then resign to enjoy his life as a billionaire. At the same time, Surya is brought to Prakash's jail. Prakash is initially shocked at Surya's state, but decided to use it to his advantage. He cancels his resignation plans and makes multiple attempts as Surya's life through the inmates. He also asks Surya to convince Priya to marry him. Surya agrees, and Prakash takes him out on Parole to meet Priya. There, Surya reveals that he knows that Prakash informed the UPSC about his FIR incident, and Surya will not give up Priya. This makes Prakash even angrier. Days later, Prakash receives telegram that Surya's dad is dead, but he refuses to let Surya go for the funeral. Surya is aided by a constable Alex, and he escapes via a tunnel. It turns out that Alex is on the payroll of Prakash. Within minutes of Surya's escape, Alex is killed by Prakash, and he frames Surya for that murder. He conspires with Arun's father to publish headlines that Surya has been shot dead for the murder of Alex. Surya is received by an impostor at the end of the tunnel, and realises the folly. Surya comes back to the jail by daybreak, beats Prakash black and blue, and reseals himself in his cell. The arriving officers realised Prakash's crimes and arrest him. The public outcry for Surya causes the high court to acquit him of the accidental murder, and thus Surya joins the State government as an IAS officer, and makes his dad proud. He also marries Priya. ===== Vijay (Kunchako Boban), a rich guy meets a girl Geethu (Kavya Madhavan) in Coimbatore railway station while travelling to Chennai to join engineering and it is love at first sight for Vijay. Ajith (Dileep) also studies in same college where Vijay joins and initially both Vijay and Ajith develop clashes. Geethu is the sister of Ajith and without knowing that Vijay meets Geethu on a few more situations in Chennai and conveys his love towards her but Geethu does not reciprocate and keeps distance with Vijay. One day, Vijay saves Ajith’s life from a few thugs and this makes the two get close to each other and become best friends. Ajith’s mother does not like any of Ajith’s friends visiting their home and once insults Vijay when Ajith has invited Vijay to his home. Later on his mother gets to know about Vijay’s good character and apologizes to him and also invites to their home. Now Vijay comes to know that Geethu is Ajith’s sister and feels bad that he is in love with his best friend’s sister. But Vijay’s friend tells him that there is no harm in it as Vijay started loving Geethu even before he met Ajith. This makes Vijay to continue his efforts to woo Geethu. Geethu after a point starts developing affection towards Vijay realizing his true love for her and also gets attracted by his character. Meanwhile, Ajith gets furious while encountering a guy on a few more occasions. One day, Ajith informs Vijay about a problem that had occurred in Ajith’s family a few years back. Ajith had one more sister (Indhu) and she eloped with his then close friend on the day of her marriage which made Ajith’s family to abandon her. Ajith felt betrayed by his close friend. Now Vijay feels bad about his love towards Geethu and decides not to betray Ajith and his family by disclosing his love towards Geethu as he trusts his friendship more than love and starts avoiding Geethu. Geethu understands that Vijay keeps distance with her now. Ajith arranges for Geethu's wedding but she meets Vijay and requests him to marry her for which Vijay refuses as he does not want do the same mistake done by Ajith’s friend before as he values friendship more and decides to leave to Coimbatore. Suddenly Vijay gets a phone call from Ajith saying that Geethu has consumed poison and has been admitted in the hospital. Vijay rushes to hospital along with his friend where he tells everything to Ajith and his family. Ajith feels proud about Vijay’s value for friendship and agrees for their marriage. ===== The story is set in the middle-class home of Madhavan (Prabhu), a budding lawyer who works for Visu. His retired and irresponsible father (Delhi Ganesh) is more interested in playing cards than looking for grooms for his two unmarried daughters. Circumstances force Madhavan to marry Abhirami (Abhirami), even before his sisters are wed, a situation quite unthinkable in middle-class homes. Meanwhile, Madhavan's sisters find their match in an auto driver named Kuzhandaivelu (Vadivelu) and an unemployed man named Manimaran (Vivek), who claims to have a royal background. Madhavan then conducts the weddings of both his sisters, but in the struggle to keep the rest of his family happy, he and Abirami are unable to enjoy even the basic pleasures of married life. How they unite with each other and convince their family about it (sometimes with comical results) forms the rest of the story. ===== Chellaiya (Prabhu) has two missions in life. The first is to remove the taint on the family name and expose the man behind his family's misfortunes. The second is to make his younger sibling a lawyer so that it will help him in achieving the first mission. The villain of the piece is Chellaiya's uncle Masilamani (Alex), who had turned the villagers against Chellaiya's father Singaperumal (Napoleon). Humiliated by the same people who had revered him once, Singaperumal dies of shock soon after (a laborious death scene). A few decades have passed since the incident, but Chellaiya seems nowhere near to fulfilling his mission, nor has Masilamani given up his wicked ways. In fact, Masilamani is stronger now, what with his two sons grown up and matching their father step-to-step in his villainy. The trio has no redeeming qualities. Many clichéd scenes later, Chellaiya fulfills his mission and redeems his family's reputation. ===== Selvarasu (Sarath Kumar) is the head of his family, and his two brothers Thangarasu (Murali) and Chinnarasu (Manoj Bharathiraja) are ready to give up their lives for him. The three brothers are very fond of their sister Rasamani (Kaveri). A rich man from the neighboring village (Pyramid Natarajan), Chinniyampalyam Zamin Rangarajan, feels insulted when Thangarasu mishandles his son Aakash (Akash) during a temple festival, and to take revenge, he comes with a wedding proposal to make Rasamani his daughter-in- law. At the time of the wedding, the groom's family demands the entire wealth of Selvarasu to be transferred to Rasamani as the dowry, for which Selvarasu and his brothers agree. The brothers are insulted at every opportunity, while Rasamani is also ill-treated by her husband and father in law. Selvarasu is married to Lakshmi (Abhirami), while Thangarasu is married to his cousin Durga (Sindhu Menon) and Chinnarasu is in love with his classmate Priya (Monal). Rasamani gets conceived but still undergoes the torture of her family. Chinnarasu's wedding is arranged with Priya, and the brothers eagerly await for the arrival of Rasamani for the wedding. However, Rasamani is locked up in a room by Aakash, who is not permitting her to attend the wedding. Aakash also injures her feet while she tries to escape from her house with plans of attending the wedding. The brothers come to Rasamani's home requesting her to come for the wedding and are shocked to know that she is hurt and locked in a room. The brothers fight Aakash's goons. Rasamani gets furious and decides to end her relationship with Aakash. She removes the thaali and throws on the face of her husband and decides to go with her brothers. In the end, Aakash and his father reform and accept Rasamani and her brothers. ===== A man calling himself Ryder and his accomplices – Bashkin, Emri, and former train operator Phil Ramos – hijack Pelham 123, a New York City Subway 6 train, at 77th Street. Uncoupling the front car of the train below 51st Street, they take the passengers hostage. Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee Walter Garber, working the Rail Control Center as a train dispatcher, receives a call from Ryder, demanding $10 million in cash to be paid within 60 minutes. Ryder warns that every minute he waits past the deadline, he will kill a hostage. Bashkin kills a suspicious New York City Transit Police officer, and all the passengers not in the front car, except the motorman, are released. Garber reluctantly negotiates with Ryder as Ramos and Emri set up Internet access in the tunnel. On his laptop, Ryder watches the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge nearly 1,000 points in response to the hijacking. A hostage's laptop also connects to the Internet, and its webcam allows the control center to observe Ryder and Ramos. Lieutenant Camonetti of the New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit takes over negotiations, which infuriates Ryder, who kills the train's motorman to force Camonetti to bring Garber back. Camonetti learns that Garber is being investigated for allegedly accepting a $35,000 bribe over a contract for new Japanese subway cars. Ryder also discovers the allegations online and forces Garber to confess by threatening to kill a passenger. To save the hostage, Garber claims that he was offered the bribe while deciding between two companies, using the money to pay for his child's college tuition, and insists he would have made the same decision regardless. The mayor agrees to Ryder’s ransom, ordering the police to deliver it. En route, the police car is involved in an accident and fails to deliver the money in time. Garber attempts to bluff Ryder that the ransom has arrived, unaware he has been monitoring events on his laptop. Ryder threatens to execute a child's mother, but another hostage, a former soldier, sacrifices himself and is killed. A brief gunfight erupts after an Emergency Services Unit sniper is bitten by a rat and discharges his weapon, killing Ramos. Based on clues from Garber’s conversations, the police discover that Ryder is Dennis Ford, a manager at a private equity firm who was sentenced to prison for investment fraud. Ford had agreed to a plea bargain to serve three years, but received ten years instead. One of the mayor's aides mentions the extreme drop in the major stock indexes, and the mayor deduces that Ryder is attempting to manipulate the market via put options. Ryder demands that Garber deliver the ransom himself, and Garber is given a pistol and flown to the terminal. Ryder brings Garber aboard and orders him to operate the train down the tunnel below 33rd Street, where Garber and the hijackers exit, rigging the train to go on without them. Garber manages to separate himself at a railway crossing and follows Ryder to the Waldorf Astoria hotel. Ryder parts from Bashkin and Emri, who are shot dead after being surrounded by police and provoking deadly force in an apparent suicide-by-cop. The train comes to a halt safely just before Coney Island, and the police discover Ryder is no longer on board. Ryder hails a taxi, followed by Garber, and finds that his scheme has amassed $307 million. He reaches the Manhattan Bridge's pedestrian walkway, where Garber holds him at gunpoint. Ryder gives him a 10-second ultimatum to pull the trigger, and in the final seconds, pulls out his own gun and forces Garber to shoot him. Telling Garber, "You're my goddamn hero", Ryder collapses and dies (as Garber solemnly looks on while Camonetti observes approvingly from a chopper). The mayor thanks Garber and assures him the city will "go to bat" for him over his bribery admission. The film concludes as Garber returns home to his wife with groceries he had promised to pick up. ===== Indu and Chandru (Rambha and Karthik) fall in love. Indu does the disappearing act and Chandru gets engaged to Rekha (Mumtaz). Indu re-appears after three years with a little girl, who she claims is Chandru's daughter. Chandru vehemently denies it and finding Indu's presence an embarrassment tries to ferret out the truth. After many scenes of forced comedy, we learn that the girl is the illegitimate daughter of Chandru's much-married brother, who had seduced Indu's sister. After his brother's futile attempt to play the villain, Chandru latches on to Indu fast enough with no apology to Rekha. But it is not really Chandru's fault. For Rekha had done the disappearing act from the scene early enough without any explanation either. ===== Thavasi is an influential do-gooder landlord in a small village, who commands respect from the village. Thavasi and his wife arrange for their son Boopathi's marriage with Priyadarshini. Sankarapandi, who tortured and killed Thavasi's sister after marrying her, wants to marry his daughter (whom he had with his second wife) to Boopathi. Thavasi, since he doesn't want his son to marry his daughter, insults Sankarapandi. Sankarapandi instead to save his prestige, engages her daughter with Maragathammal's son Thangarasu, who is present there. Boopathi's engagement is done with Priyadarshini, with both of them liking each other after many chance encounters. Thangarasu is accused of stealing temple owned jewels, and Thavasi judges him to be guilty. The next day Thangarasu commits suicide. It is implied that Thangarasu is innocent and took his own life since he couldn't live with the blame. Later a mute person is arrested as the person who stole the jewel. Hearing this Thangarasu's mother Maragathammal questions Thavasi's judgement, which was said to be never wrong. Thavasi decides to give away his own son Boopathi to Maragathammal, for his injustice to her son. Maragathammal hates Boopathi and treats him like dirt, though he tolerates it. Sankarapandi wants his daughter to marry Boopathi, who is now the son of Maragathammal, as engaged. Boopathi, unknown to Maragathammal, saves Thanagarasu's dumb sister from Maragathammal's brother Kottai Perumal's sexual assault and also reforms Karmegam, who is the brother in law of Thangarasu, who constantly tortures his wife for due dowry. In a chance encounter before his marriage with Sankarapandi's daughter, he meets the mute thief and realises that he acted as a mute. He captures him and makes him confess that Sankarapandi was responsibe for theft of Temple's jewel and Thangarasu's murder, who made it look like suicide. In the end, Boopathi marries Priya. ===== Anbu (Prabhu Deva) is a small-time mimicry artist living with his only sister Bharathi (Deepa Venkat). Anbu falls in love with Bharathi’s close friend Jyothi (Anjala Zaveri), who hails from a rich family. Jyothi visits Bharathi’s home frequently, but Anbu does not have the courage to propose to Jyothi. When Anbu makes up his mind to propose to Jyothi, suddenly there comes Gautham (Karthik) from the US, who happens to be Jyothi’s family friend. Anbu understands that Gautham and Jyothi are in a relationship and that their families plan for their wedding. A heartbroken Anbu decides to keep his love within himself. One day, when Gautham and Jyothi are out for shopping, they meet with an accident where Gautham passes away and Jyothi loses her vision. As per the doctor’s advice, Jyothi’s parents decide to hide the truth about Gautham’s death to Jyothi as that would put her into mental trauma. When Jyothi asks for Gautham, suddenly Anbu steps in and speaks in Gautham’s voice to make her believe that Gautham is fine after the accident. Jyothi undergoes treatment, and a surgery is planned after a few weeks, following which she could get back her vision. In the meantime, Anbu acts as Gautham to Jyothi until she gets her vision back. Anbu gets an offer to perform mimicry in a show in Australia, but he turns it down as he wishes to be with Jyothi. At the same time, Anbu feels guilty that he has missed an opportunity to perform in the Australian show, which could have helped him earn some money for Bharathi’s wedding plans. Jyothi undergoes surgery and gets back her vision and she asks for Gautham. However, her parents convince her, saying that Gautham has gone to the US for some urgent work. Anbu, unable to bear his love failure as well as his inability to earn money for Bharathi’s wedding, decides to commit suicide as Bharathi would receive some relief fund from mimicry association which could be used for her wedding. Anbu writes a letter and leaves his home with poison. Bharathi finds out about Anbu’s decision and searches him. Meanwhile, Jyothi watches her friend’s wedding video which she attended when she was blind along with Anbu and understands that it was Anbu who was in place of Gautham. Jyothi cries upon knowing about the fate of Gautham. Bharathi comes to Jyothi's house in search of Anbu and informs her about Anbu’s love and his sacrifice. Anbu goes to a stage show to meet his friends before committing suicide. Jyothi and Bharathi also reach the show where Jyothi speaks on stage thanking Anbu, hoping that he might see it from somewhere. Jyothi also proposes to marry Anbu. Anbu hears this and feels happy. Finally, Anbu and Jyothi are married. ===== Mahesh (Dhanush) is the son of a poor fisherman (Thalaivasal Vijay). He grows up seeing his parents always having sex or fighting. Pooja (Sherin) is the daughter of an orthodox and very strict businessman (Pyramid Natarajan), who is always suspicious about her. Vishnu's (Abhinay) father neglects his mother and instead has his maid servant as his paramour. Anitha's (Shilpa) parents live abroad, concentrating merely on their work and business, having no time for their daughter and always neglecting her. Harish (Ramesh) is regularly beaten up and mistreated by his sadistic father. These five people and another girl named Divya (Gangeshwari) are high school students and best friends. When they find out that Anitha is addicted to drugs, they decide to run away from their homes along with Mani (Ramesh Khanna), a pavement bookseller and an older friend of theirs in order to rehabilitate her, but also as a result of their discontent and feeling of alienation from their respective families. However, their attempts are a waste. They struggle to survive in the outside world. Being young and immature, their daily life becomes hell for them. They reside in a hotel and get caught by the police who mistake them to be doing illicit activities. Rescued by Mani, they roam the streets and seek shelter in abandoned places. They try to make money for themselves after the cash they brought with them is taken by the inspector. Contacting their parents make their situation worse. All of them realize that their parents do not care about them at all and wouldn't even bother to worry if they are dead. Feeling disappointed they continue on their journey. Pooja and Mahesh, at a stage, get intimate much to Divya's shock. When she questions Ramesh and scolds Divya, neither of the speak a word. Vishnu soon realizes that the remaining money he had went missing, and Anitha too is no where to be found. Suspecting her to have been going behind drugs they start looking for her. Late at night, Vishnu, Mani and Mahesh go look for Anitha while Pooja and Divya stay with Harish. They spot Anitha being brought by a man to be sell her as prostitute and Harish fight them, only to get stabbed. Realizing that they have no other way to survive 'safely' in this world, they decide to return home. They finally return to their school, where the principal (Vijayakumar) lectures the students' parents, blaming them for the students' escape attempt and misbehavior. Hearing the principal's words and her father scolding her, Pooja consumes an unnamed acid from her school Lab while hearing that, Mahesh jumps from the second floor. Both are rushed to the hospital where fortunately, they survive. Ignoring the parents, the rest of their class and batch mates get into the ICU to meet them. Happy that they are save, they start laughing and mocking each other. The principal tells the parents that they are not worried about what happened and are happy. Feeling ashamed, the parents leave the children alone. All these are told in a flashback where Mahesh, now in military, comes back to his school and recalled the memories. He had not disturbed Pooja after that and has no idea where his friends are now. Assuring himself that they would have been well off as he is now, he gets interrupted by the principal. But the principal does not recognize Mahesh and walks off. Mahesh tells himself that the principal does not remember him as he would have seen many students in all these years. ===== Vanchinathan (Vijayakanth) is naturally the supercop who has been transferred from Gujarat. He is someone who is not averse to using the law in his own ways by killing someone and picking a suitable alibi, as long as the person is evil and will not be punished by the law. Chidambaram (Prakash Raj) is a newspaper magnate who thrives on chaos and confusion which will help him boost sales of his paper. Their enmity becomes personal when Chidambaram challenges Vanchinathan to arrest him when he cleverly commits a murder in broad daylight in front of Vanchinathan's own eyes. ===== Sanjay (Vineeth) and Anitha (Divya Unni) are married couple living in Coimbatore but on the verge of getting divorced. Vijay (Arjun), a friend of Sanjay understands the situation and decides to patch them together. Vijay travels to Sanjay's home and stays with the couple for a few weeks. During their conversations, Vijay keeps describing about his wife Seetha (Sakshi), two kids and his joyful marriage life. Slowly, Sanjay and Anitha understands each other and like to lead a happy life similar to Vijay and Seetha. Finally it is revealed that all the stories told by Vijay are just his imagination, so that it would inspire Sanjay and Anitha. Actually, Vijay was in love with Seetha, but Seetha accidentally passes away before their wedding and Vijay lives with the memory of Seetha. However, he ensures that Sanjay and Anitha do not get to know the truth. In the end, Sanjay and Anitha are united. Vijay leaves to his home in Chennai with the satisfaction of solving Sanjay's problems.. ===== The story revolves around Vinod (Jiiva), who aspires to become a businessman after completing his bachelors. His parents keep nudging him to find a job. He also works part-time as a private detective. He is assigned a detective job to follow a girl and find out her general activities and also if she is in love with anyone. While doing this job, he eventually falls in love with the girl Brinda (Sharmelee) and quits his detective job. Brinda, who is the daughter of a rich gold seller Sankaranarayanan (Nasser), has a policy to not love anyone as her sister eloped with a guy in the past and her father had suffered a heart attack. But eventually Brinda falls in love with Vinod. Vinod and Brinda come to an agreement that both should prioritize their goals first and they should never meet unless their goals are met. Vinod aspires to start a business of his own while Brinda aspires to complete her college degree with high scores. Vinod starts an apparel showroom and grows big. He is also made the secretatary of traders association for which Sankaranarayanan is the president. Vinod gets into good books of Sankaranarayanan due to his hard working nature and good manners. Similarly Brinda finishes her education with flying colours and awards. Sankaranarayanan arranges Brinda's wedding with his friend Srinivasan (Anandraj), an IPS officer's son. But Srinivas with the help of a detective Ravi (Ravi Mariya) understands about Brinda's love for Vinod and their intention to prioritize family and goals first. Srinivasan reveals this to Sankaranayan and he feels proud of Brinda and he agrees to get her married to Vinod. Finally Vinod and Brinda are united. ===== Ashok (Raghava Lawrence) is a good for nothing youth spending most of his time with his friends. Despite coming from a middle-class family, Ashok neither has an urge to earn money nor improve the standards of his life. One day, Ashok meets Priya (Anu Prabhakar) and falls for her impressed by her beauty and character. Ashok proposes Priya and threatens that he would commit suicide if she does not accept his love. Priya, although not interested in Ashok, convinces him saying that he should first achieve something in life and then propose her. This marks a change in Ashok's life. After many attempts, he finally decides to start a mobile fast food restaurant which becomes a good success. Ashok develops his business gradually with the help of financial aid from Arvind (Kunal) who happens to be a bank manager. Actually Arvind and Priya are in love as well which Ashok does not know. Ashok's business expands into hotels, supermarkets, real estate etc. and he becomes one of the leading businessmen in the city. During an interview for a TV channel, Ashok mentions about his love which has been the driving force behind his success. Priya gets shocked hearing this and informs to Arvind as well as Ashok's friends who promise that they would settle down the issue. However, Arvind and Ashok's friends could not disclose the truth to Ashok fearing that Ashok could still decide ending his life. Ashok builds a bungalow and wants his wedding to happen there. Arvind convinces Priya to marry Ashok. Priya although not interested, agrees to marry Ashok. On the day of wedding, Ashok overhears the conversation between Priya and Arvind and understands all the truth. He cancels his wedding and decides to unite Priya with Arvind. In the end, Priya and Arvind are united. Ashok thanks Priya for making him understand the value of life and become a successful person. ===== Ezhumalai (Arjun) leads a peaceful life as a dance master in the village. Anjali (Gajala) falls in love with him before learning that he has a son and that his wife Lakshmi (Simran) is dead. She wishes to marry him but faces competition from Lakshmi's sister Sandhya (Mumtaj), who also wishes to wed him. Anjali is the daughter of Nagalingam (Ashish Vidyarthi), who is from a neighboring village. When she reveals this fact to Ezhumalai, she learns he and her father are sworn enemies and that her father killed Lakshmi. ===== The story focuses on five friends, Prabhu, Elango, Sundar, Indra and Priya at the Madras Institute of Technology, who want to remain friends throughout their lifespan and hope to join the same company after graduation. During a vacation Elango, goes home where he is forced to marry his old-fashioned cousin, Eshwari, by his tough disciplinarian father. Once back to college he hides the fact about his marriage to his friends but later the marriage becomes public when relatives of Eshwari come to visit Elango. While their dream to work together becomes true, Elango alone gets a transfer to Bombay. The friends fight but later reunite. Before Elango goes Bombay the friends force him to visit his wife and put him on a train. But Elango manages to get off the train and from there loses touch with his friends and family in the village. The friends part and six years later Prabu and Sundar come back to join Priya and Indra in Chennai. On the train journey back, Prabu meets Elango's wife Eashwari. Prabu falls in love with Eashwari without realizing who she is. Eventually he along with his friends finds out the truth about Eashwari, who is waiting with hopes of her husband to return. The four friends decided to help Eshwari find the whereabouts of Elango. One day Prabu finds out that Elango might be in Switzerland. Prabu decides to go to Switzerland. One fine day he finds Elango but to his shocks Elango has a kid and is married to a Swiss woman. Meanwhile, in India Elango's father kills himself. Prabu goes back to India and learns that everyone knows about Elango's marriage. Eshwari decides to marry again and move on with life rather than thinking about Elango. Her village people decides to marry her off to one of her relative but she threatens them telling them off that she would decide her own life and no one is going control her life anymore. The story ends with all four friends and their husbands and wife along with Eshwari enjoying a day at the beach. ===== Hari (Shaam) and Raji (Sneha) are cousins. Hari gets a job in Chennai. He then comes to Chennai and instead of staying at Raji's home he rents an apartment with his colleague Subbu (Vivek). Raji doesn't like this and refuses to come to Hari's house until he visits her place. But they meet and catch up with each other now and then. Meanwhile, Hari meets another girl, Swapna (Jaya Re), who plays pranks on people just for fun. During one such prank Hari and Swapna end up becoming friends. They both work in rival Ad agency. While doing a project Hari selects his cousin Raji's photo (of her eyes) over Swapna's which makes her upset. But to reconcile their friendship Hari sends Swapna's pics to Miss Chennai competition which she eventually wins. After a few days Hari, Raji and Swapna coincidentally meet in shopping place where Hari ends up fighting with a person who misbehaved with Raji. Raji gets angry and walks away. Hari drops off Swapna to her house where she proposes to Hari, to which Hari refuses. But he thanks her for making him realise that he is actually in love with his cousin, Raji. Hari apologises to Swapna. Raji goes to attend her childhood friend's marriage and when she comes back brings along her friend's brother and also her friend, Bharath (Rajiv Krishna). Bharath had proposed to a girl and when she rejected him, he took to drinking. To make him forget his grief Raji brings him to Chennai. Hari first mistakes that Raji is in love with Bharath. On his birthday, he asks her if she loves Bharath and when she clears off his misunderstanding, he immediately proposes to her. She rejects him. Over the days, Raji and Hari behave in a very normal and usual manner which confuses Hari's friends. They confront him to which he replies that just because she doesn't love me, doesn't mean that I should snub her or treat her badly or take to drinking or some such means, that means that my love was never true. Love is not business or deal in which it is to be given only when you get it in return. Hari's friend, Swapna, who had earlier proposed to him joins his office and rebukes him, saying she doesn't talk to people who don't like her. One day she falsely complains to their boss about Hari misbehaving with her, for which Hari gets a warning from his boss. Hari never behaves badly with Raji or snubs her, in fact he goes out of his way to help. During one such incident when Raji gets injured during a festival, Hari carries her all the way to hospital and takes care of her. One evening Raji calls Hari saying that she and Bharath had gone to the beach and he drank so much that now he is sick and puking all over. She asks Hari to come and help her. Hari comes to the beach, in spite of the fact that he has a very important meeting to attend. Meanwhile, Raji calls again at Hari's office since it was getting late, which is answered by Swapna and Raji blurts out that Hari is coming to help her and will not be able to attend the meeting. Swapna assures Raji that Hari need not go for the meeting, she will attend it herself. On hearing this, Hari gets suspicious, which makes Raji think over and apologises to him for talking to Swapna and revealing that Hari is not going for the meeting. He tells her to not worry, and also takes Bharath to his flat and advises him to handle the love failure in a practical way. The next morning, Hari is sacked, since he did not attend the meeting which cost the company a very important project. Hari vigorously goes to Swapna's house and explains her that she should not waste her life on harassing him and should instead should find peace within. Bharath, Hari and Raji set off to attend Bharath's lover's marriage. Despite Hari's consoling advice, Bharath commits suicide in the train. Hari does not attend his funeral. When Raji questions him, Hari replies by saying that Bharath took a wrong step and he doesn't like such people. Raji realises that Hari is a very good guy. In spite of she rejecting him, he has always helped her and is still in love with her. She falls for him. Hari is stabbed by some goons with whom he fought earlier. He is hospitalised. But at the same time Raji's parents are preparing for her match making. Raji confesses to her father that she wants to marry Hari. At that moment, she gets a call from a hospital informing her about Hari's accident. Raji rushes to the hospital where the doctor (Ramya Krishnan) informs her that Hari will be treated for his stab wounds, but he cannot be treated for his cancer, which is in the last stage. Raji cries over his sick bed, finally accepting his proposal. To this Hari smiles mischievously and the doctor reveals that he does not have cancer, they just played a prank to tease her. Hari and Raji hug each other. ===== Deepak is a budding filmmaker trying to get his first production out. He meets and falls in love with Geetha, and decides to take his relationship with her further once his first film is made. Misunderstandings lead to their separation, and her eventual marriage to Rajiv, a struggling actor who is looking for a role in Deepak's next film. ===== Kamarasu (Murali) hails from a village and is employed as a driver with an industrialist Latha (Srividya) who treats Kamarasu as her own son. Kamarasu is very affectionate towards his widowed mother (Vennira Adai Nirmala) and takes care of her. Kamarasu falls in love with Vasanthi (Laila), who also hails from his village. Kamarasu is kind towards everyone and earns the love of villagers. Kamarasu's mother passes away which shatters him. However, Kamarasu comes back to normal with the help of Vasanthi's love and affection. A few days later, Vasanthi also passes away due to a lightning strike which makes Kamarasu worry a lot. Kamarasu decides to spend rest of his life serving the needy people as he has lost both his mother and lover. Latha takes care of Kamarasu and Kamarasu sees Latha as his mother. One day, Latha and her daughters meet with an accident and is admitted in a hospital with multiple organ failure. The doctor (Chandrasekhar) informs Kamarasu that Latha needs a heart transplant immediately while her daughters need other organ transplants such as liver, eyes etc. Kamarasu requests the doctor to take his organs thereby saving Latha and her daughters for which the doctor does not agree. Kamarasu jumps out of the window killing himself, so that his organs can be donated to Latha and her daughters. The doctor performs the transplantation which saves Latha and her daughters. Knowing this, Latha feels sad at the same time proud about Kamarasu's sacrifice. The movie ends with a message about organ donations. ===== Gopikrishna (Murali) owns an old bus which was received as compensation for his father's road accident. Gopi now faces many consequences due to the bus's pathetic condition. He had sold many valuable things to maintain this bus, and his friend Azhagu (Vadivelu) was his only companion and the bus's cleaner. A mouse had eaten Azhagu's passport and spoiled his chances of going abroad. Some part of the film's comedy involves Azhagu running behind the mouse for revenge. A live TV show in which Gopi insults the City Traffic Commissioner (Vinu Chakravarthy) lands him in more trouble when the latter commands Gopi to leave the city with the bus. His other friends, advocates, and well-wishers try to help him with a bank loan to run a mobile kitchen (Tattukada) from his bus. The plot took a turn when a girl named Vasanthi (Radha) enters the bus as a nomad, but she was actually Gayathri, the daughter of an influential and politically powerful minister (P. Vasu) in Puducherry. Her father forced her to join politics, which made her leave home. Initially, Gayathri declines to leave the bus, despite Azhagu's and Gopi's constant efforts. The police traces her and takes her back to her father's custody. Her father was making arrangements for her marriage with someone else. Meanwhile, Gopi realized that he could not live without Gayathri. Gopi and Azhagu secretly entered her house, and finally, all ended well by winning the heart of Gayathri's father. ===== Vikram (Kunal) is a happy-go-lucky guy who finds pleasure in playing pranks on people. He is a Casanova, who works in an advertising agency. He is in love with Swetha (Monal), who is very possessive about him. In one of the many practical jokes played by him, he tells Swetha one day that he is already married. He even introduces her to Priya (Mamtha) who is a model working for him and she convinces Swetha that they are married. Swetha is heartbroken and decides to marry a boy whom her parents chose. When Vikram comes to know this, he comes back and tells her that everything was a planned joke. But to his shock Priya who was his college mate turns against him and continues to tell Swetha that she is Vikram's wife. Priya has an axe to grind against Vikram, because of whom her father had to commit suicide while they were in college. Finally, all ends well. ===== The film begins with SJ Arts and Science college student, Swetha getting murdered in her car, on a highway. No one hears from her since. She had a group of friends from her college. It consists of Jeeva, the college magazine editor, Anjali, Bharath, Vinod, the college prankster, Meera, a drug addict and Anjali's roommate, Sharmi, operator at the college radio station and Maya, the RJ at the radio station. Jeeva and Anjali are lovers whereas Maya has a crush on Jeeva. The college is famous for the stories of a serial killing entity Naga, a hoax, as said by many. But Professor Pannerselvam still believes it. There is an old laboratory behind the college which was first built with the college. But a fire that happened in 1987, has killed all the occupants. Since then, the old lab is rumoured to be Naga's secret residence. Maya and Anjali have a bet and go to the abandoned place at night and encounter Vinod, who pranks them. Professor Panner then lectures to the student about Naga. The name Naga(Nagammal, shortly Naga). Nagammal and a British soldier fell in love with each other thus, her own brother kills her by burying her alive. A temple was built over it and the college was built after demolishing the temple. Since then, Naga is rumoured to be murdering people around. Vinod later tries to trick people but after he gets tricked on by black magic but it turns out that he actually faked it. Yet, Professor Panner is sceptical about it. Swetha's death comes to light but it is framed as an accident. Anjali strongly thinks it's no accident as Swetha is an excellent driver. Inspector Syed suspects it must be one of Swetha father's business rival. Vinod brings Anjali to an abandoned woods behind the college and tries to make a move on her. Anjali rejects as she is in love with Jeeva. Soon Vinod is killed by getting hanged. It happens to be Naga and Anjali freaks out. She runs back to the hostel and brings Baji, the hostel watchman to the site. But to her horror, Vinod wasn't there, nor was his car. It seems like hardly, there were any struggle or murder. Devastated and confused, Anjali confines in here friends. No one actually believes her as Vinod is known for his pranks. Still skeptical, Anjali gets more confused. In between all these things, Professor Panner and Jeeva are shown to be acting suspicious. Anjali goes to the library and discovers a book on Naga. She sees some illustrations which are exactly the same as how Vinod died. Maya and Sharmi joins her and they tease her. Sharmi realizes that Vinod was the last one to borrow the book and it is obvious, that he played a prank on Anjali. That night Meera gets attacked in her room by Naga. Anjali comes there and she hears Meera moaning as the killer had covered her mouth, she thinks she is only using drugs. She doesn't switch on the light and leaves to take a shower. When she comes out, Anjali sees Meera dead and screams. Inspector Syed comes there once again to investigate. It is then revealed that Meera had a very depressing life and that is why she got addicted to drugs. Anjali then moves to Sharmi's room. Later, Jeeva comes there with an old magazine about the laboratory fire incident. They both find out that Professor Panner was the only survivor there. They, together with Maya, break into Professor Panner's room to have a look. When they hear someone coming, the 3 of them hide inside a secret room behind the shelf. All wait patiently for the person to leave. When they hear the doorknob lock, they relax. Suddenly Anjali screams. Jeeva and Maya realize she screamed because of the Naga outfit behind them. They see a mask with a snake embroidery, black cloak and an axe. Anjali said that a similar axe was used to kill Meera. All their suspicion falls on Panner. When they leave the place, Panner is shown to be there and he warns them. Vinod's mother comes to the college and creates a chaos when she realizes that her son is dead. Frustrated, Jeeva tarnishes Panner in the college magazine. As a result, the principal suspends Jeeva for one week while a shocking truth about Anjali is told. Anjali has a police record from her school days. When Jeeva asks her, she refuses to tell him and they break up. Jeeva starts to doubt her. Later on, he has an argument with Proffessor Panneer in the bar where they blame each other. Maya confides in her friends that all the murders that have happened and whatever Anjali said was true. It was indeed according to the illustrations in the book. They figure out that the next murder can happened anywhere in the college. Anjali freaks out when a figure looking similar to Naga is seen near a swimming pool where Maya is swimming. But it turns out that it is just a garbage man. When Maya asks her, Anjali reveals that she suspects that the murders might be related to an incident that happened in her school days. During Anjali's school days, all of them in their group, except for Maya and Jeeva, went to the same school. During the school carnival on their final year, Whistle Day, all of them ragged a junior student named Sarawathi. Anjali's friends pretended like they have taken a nude picture of Sarawathi. Embarrassed, Sarawathi hangs herself in the classroom much to the others' shock. Due to their age, the 6 of them get the least punishment of 6 months. When Anjali finishes, she tells Maya that 3 of them are dead and she is scared. Jeeva listens to them and leaves. It is revealed that he has Sarawathi's picture in his book, which arises the suspicion. During the college annual day function, Barath is locked in the men's toilet and killed shortly afterwards. His disappearance starts bothering the group. Soon Professor Panner is also killed. Maya and Anjali go to Jeeva's home, where they discover Panner's dead body. When Jeeva finds them, Anjali hits him on the head and informs Inspector Syed. They flee the place. When Syed comes there, both Jeeva and Panner are not in the site. Maya and Anjali are confident that Jeeva is the killer. They wait for Sharmi that night and Sharmi says she sees Jeeva in the Radio Station. But before Anjali and Maya can warn her that Jeeva is the killer, Sharmi is killed by Naga, right in front of them. They flee the place but get separated. Anjali goes to the burnt laboratory and there, she discovers, Vinod, Panner and Barath's dead bodies. She later sees Maya tied to a bed but Maya wakes up and ties Anjali to the bed. At the same time, Jeeva and Syed fight and Jeeva reveals that there are two Nagas. It is revealed that there are indeed two Nagas, Maya and Baji, who have been committing the murders. Maya tells Anjali that Sarawathi is her younger sister and her parents passed away after hearing the news that Sara died. Baji was their house servant and raised and supported Sara from when she was young. Both of them joined the college to take revenge and that they had to kill Panner as he found out the truth. Baji and Maya then plan to bury Anjali alive just like Nagamma. But Jeeva comes and rescues her. Baji is killed and Maya is shot by Syed. Years later, a new group of college students are studying once again about Naga. Some of the students do not believe in Naga's story and when asked who still believed the myth, It is revealed that Maya, who comes to the site, says that she generally Believes in the myth of Naga and also states that all the naga stories begin like this. Indicating that she is going to kill the group of students who do not believe in the story. ===== An extended family consisting of a grandfather, Mahendra Bhoopathy (M. N. Nambiar), and a grandmother, Vishali (Manorama), live in a grand mansion, near Kanyakumari with their sons, daughter, and grandchildren. They have two grandsons: Cheenu (Shaam) and Shiva (Yugendran). They both have a grudge towards each other from childhood as Cheenu is always first in whatever he does, and Shiva is jealous of it. Vishali (Sharmelee), the couple's granddaughter, walks in with her parents. This creates further rifts among the cousins as Cheenu falls in love with her. All these lead to the elders quarrelling among themselves, and finally, Cheenu sacrifices his love for his cousin, the dog unites the lovers. The whole extended family lives happily ever after. ===== Pandiyan (Manivannan) and Cheran (Vinu Chakravarthy) are stepbrothers who are constantly at loggerheads, and their daughters Manju (Ramba) and Anju (Abhinayasree) continue their enmity. They are always trying to prove to each other that one is better than the other and are always bickering. When Cheran sees his daughter's suitor Ravi (Livingston), who comes to see her in hopes of finding a future bride, Cheran insults Ravi for not having as much money as he did and questioned his mother if she had other husbands. Hearing this, Ravi's father suffers a heart attack. In anger, Ravi, wanting to make Cheran lose his properties and come to the streets, arranges to have a petty thief named Paramu (Prabhu) pose as a rich man and wriggle his way in as Pandiyan's son- in-law. Paramu and his friend Sivam (Kalabhavan Mani), who is also a thief, are always competing against each other to be better than the other and to become a millionaire before the other. This leads to a lot of comic rivalries, but Paramu mistakenly enters Pandiyan's house because the gate of Cheran's house had been recently been painted over. Manju begins falls for Paramu. Meanwhile, Sivam enters Pandiyan's house, posing as a cinema director. Madhavan (Abbas) helps them both since he is in love with a poor girl and is pretty sure that his father Chidambara Udayar (P. Vasu) will oppose his wedding. Paramu and Sivam make a deal with Madhavan that if he helps them become rich, then Paramu would adopt Shenbagam (Monica), the poor girl that Madhavan loves, so that they would be equal in prestige and stature. This way, Udayar would agree to their marriage. Paramu and Sivam pose as Udayar's sons. Things went worse when Paramu's father-in-law Pandiyan takes them to Madhavan's house. The film revolves around how Paramu, Sivam, and Madavan deal with the situation and how everything comes to be known to both families and Madhavan's family forms the crux of the story. ===== Muthu (Vijayakanth) lives in a village with his sister Maragatham (Uma). Muthu is very fond of his sister and ready to do anything for her. Pavazham (Soundarya) is an orphan who lives in the same village. Muthu and Pavazham have a liking towards each other. Ponnambalam is the local baddie who tries to molest Pavazham when she is alone. However, Muthu comes for rescue and takes Pavazham along with him to his house. Maragatham is married to Sundaram (Prakash Raj). Sundaram’s sister Gowri’s (Swathi) wedding is also arranged. But on the day of Gowri’s wedding, her fiance passes away which makes the villagers believe that Gowri is unlucky. Sundaram’s family members want Muthu to marry Gowri, but Muthu refuses as he is in love with Pavazham. Angered by this, Sundaram’s family members kick out Maragatham from their house as a means of revenge. Maragatham comes back to Muthu’s house. Muthu tries hard to get Gowri’s wedding fixed again, but in vain. He meets Akash with a wedding proposal, but is turned down by his parents. Meanwhile, Maragatham is conceived. Sundaram understands Muthu’s situation and visits Maragatham frequently without informing his family members. Finally, Sundaram finds a bride groom for Gowri and their wedding is arranged. Sundaram also brings Maragatham to his house and the families are united. One day, Akash and his family members are about to meet with an accident, however Muthu spots them and saves them. Akash’s family members understand the good nature of Muthu despite them humiliating him when he came with a marriage proposal with Gowri. On the day of Gowri’s marriage, it is revealed that the groom is a cheat and is set by Ponnambalam with plans of trapping Muthu. Ponnambalam wants Muthu to give him Pavazham, so that Gowri’s wedding will go as planned. Else, he threatens that the wedding will be cancelled which might hurt Gowri again. Muthu fights Ponnambalam and decides to sacrifice his love. Muthu agrees to marry Gowri as he does not want Gowri to be disappointed again by cancelling her wedding. However, Akash’s family members, now agree to get Akash married to Gowri. Akash and Gowri are married. Finally, Muthu and Pavazham are also married. ===== Raghavan (Sarathkumar) and Velu (Vadivelu) work as cooks in a non-veg hotel. Raghavan loves Geetha (Kiran) who is the daughter of a rich man (Vijayan), but her father is against this love and insults him as a poor man. Raghavan challenges that he will be rich in a year. There is a subplot in the story, for Meenakshi (Sharmili), a daughter from a rich family; she is the apple of the eye of the family. Meenakshi ran home with her lover Raju, who worked as a driver to her house. He tells that his friend Dinesh will help them. However, Raju escaped because he had a bad dream where he is killed by her family as if it will happen in reality. Due to that he vanishes. Raghavan understands her plight and helps her. Suddenly he comes to a place where all call him "Duraisingam". Raghavan does not know who Duraisingam is. Manorama explains to him that Raghavan is the grandson of Duraisingam. The flashback is Duraisingam (Sarathkumar again) is a do-gooder who helps poor people, and he has a clash with Kaathavaraayan (Jaya Prakash Reddy), a big rowdy. Duraisingam could not kill him because he promised to his wife that she will never become a widow. In the clash, Duraisingam's two sons are killed, and the baby (the son of Duraisinggam's older son) is lost. The baby happens to be Raghavan. Duraisingam surrenders himself to the police. After the flashback, Raghavan visits the jail only to know that Duraisingam had died a few years back. Kaathavarayan kidnaps Raghavan and Meenakshi. Meenakshi's father and relatives bash Raghavan but leave him after knowing the truth. Raghavan leaves Kathavarayan and says that he should live as a reformed man. Meenakshi marries the groom selected by her parents, and Raghavan unites with Geetha. ===== Satya (Silambarasan) is the son of a police constable. He gets into fights and ends up in jail where his own father gets him out on bail. While he is returning home from a party drunk, a group of college students beat him up. That is when Suchitra (Rakshitha) comes and takes him to the hospital and gives blood. She is the daughter of a police commissioner. Later, Satya falls in love with Suchitra. That leads to several problems which are faced bravely by Satya in the later part of the film. Finally, all goes well, and Satya also receives the letter confirming his selection for IPS. ===== Julie Ganapathi (Saritha) is a staunch fan of a popular television show Manga. Over the years, Julie grows to identify herself obsessively with the main character of the show. The author of the series, Tenkasi Balakumaran (Jayaram), leaves his home for a few days to be alone to write the final few episodes of Manga. On his way back home after completing his work, his vehicle gets into an accident which leaves him seriously injured and crippled. Julie rescues Bala and takes him home, but she is revealed to be emotionally unstable, and deliriously obsessed with the character in Bala's story. Julie asks Bala to allow her to read the scripts for the concluding episodes that he has just completed. Over the next few days, she reads the story and finds the ending not to her liking. She forces Bala to rewrite the ending by various means, forcing him to escape his captor's clutches before it is too late. Soon after, Bala becomes aware of how Julie has not informed anyone of his situation and is not at all planning to release him anytime soon. As a result, he tries to escape her home. In this, he is caught and suspended to remain in his room. She also disables him from getting up. Afterwards, a policeman investigating Bala's disappearance decides to go to the house of Julie since she has made her love for Manga known around the village. When investigating her home, he discovers that Bala was in fact being kept there. Julie then draws a weapon and kills him. She then informs Bala that they will then die together. Just to get him some time he uses the excuse of having to finish his new version of the final Manga script. With that, he finishes, tricks Julie into getting him a weapon, and with a fight, manages to kill Julie and escape. The film forwards to Bala with his family, discussing with the press his experiences, stating that she was in fact an inspiration to him. ===== The film is about a brave woman who is battling against untouchability in a village. Casteism is a curse for Veeralakshmi (Simran) and her ilk, who undergo unbearable torture on account of their being Dalits. However this time it is not from the upper castes but from a brutally inhuman police force. It is a village where the inspector of police is the feudal lord. He beats up the poor men and rapes their women — and the rest of his menials in the force enjoy the leftovers. Subjugated to an unbearable extent, Veeralakshmi rises in revolt. ===== Chinnu and Anuradha (Anu) are childhood friends who live in a village. They always enjoy singing, dancing, playing and having fun with each other. Anu's father (Devan), who is a rich government official, gets transferred and relocates to another place with his family, which makes Anu lose contact with Chinnu. Before Anu leaves the village, she gifts a nice and beautiful musical watch to Chinnu as a token of her remembrance. Chinnu's mother passes away suddenly, and he is left alone. Chinnu is adopted by Chandramohan's (Nassar) family and gets renamed as Venu. Venu (Jiiva) is very attached to his adopted parents and looks after Chandramohan's music shop. Venu is in love with his childhood friend Anu, despite losing her contact with the hope of meeting her someday. Meanwhile, Anu's another name is Renu (Sridevi Vijaykumar), and she too is in love with Chinnu with the same hope. Venu still preserves the musical watch gifted by Anu. Renu writes a story about her life (called Thithikudhe) in a weekly Ananda Vikadan magazine with the hope that Chinnu might read it and come to her. Sruthi (Shrutika), a press reporter and the daughter of a magazine editor Sivaraman (Madhan Bob), is Venu's friend and she also falls in love with him. One day, Venu's sister's engagement was cancelled due to a misunderstanding, so Venu and Chandramohan go for a drink. Venu asks Sruthi to help them to get home. Sruthi sees them but drops Venu at home only. As Venu is drunk, he unknowingly gifts the musical watch to Sruthi, thanking her. The next day, Renu comes to a store and gets surprised upon seeing the watch with Sruthi. Renu feels happy that her hope of finding Chinnu is going to come true. Sruthi says that the watch was gifted by her lover Venu, which shocks Renu. Now, Renu comes to know that Chinnu is none other than Venu, but she feels bad that he has forgotten her and has decided to love Sruthi. Venu realizes that he has missed the watch as he does not remember giving it to Sruthi. When he comes to know about this, he meets Sruthi and apologizes, asking her to return the watch as it is preserved by him as a memory of his childhood friend Anu. Sruthi is worried upon knowing that Venu is indeed in love with Anu. During their next meet, Sruthi informs this to Renu, and Renu is excited upon now knowing that Venu is also sharing the same feeling as her. She found Venu at a TV stage show where she saw him singing their friendship song, 'Mainave Mainave'. However, Renu does not disclose that she is none other than his childhood friend Anu. She instead tries to befriend Venu as Renu and love him slowly. Venu's sister is a very big fan of Renu's story that comes in the magazine. Venu gets introduced to Renu with the help of Sruthi as a writer. Knowing this, Venu requests Renu to visit his home and meet his sister so that she will feel excited. Renu agrees and comes to Venu's home. There, she meets Venu's adopted family and gets close with them. Meanwhile, Anu's wedding is fixed with a minister's son by her father. Anu informs about her love to her father, for which he pretends accepting. However, he has other plans of stopping it. Venu's sister's wedding, who is Chandramohan's biological daughter's wedding, is also fixed during that time. One day, Venu reads the Thithikudhe story that has published in the Ananda Vikadan magazine and understands that Renu is, in fact, his childhood friend Anu. As Anu is away for a function, he waits for her return to propose his love towards her. However, Anu's father meets Venu before that and asks him to go away from his daughter or else he will cause trouble during Venu's sister's wedding. Venu fears that his sister's life should not be spoiled because of him. He decides to sacrifice his love for his sister. When Anu arrives back, Venu meets her and hides his love and the real reason by lying that he is in love with another girl Renu, and there is no point in waiting for his childhood friend Anu. Anu, who was Renu, is shocked to hear this. On the day of Venu's sister's wedding, Shruti records the real reason and tells Anu. She now knows that Venu knows that Renu is Anu before meeting her and obeyed her father to go away from her for the well-being of his sister, thereby understands that Venu's love for her was true. She now rushes to meet Venu. A few goons sent by her father and the minister also follow Anu, which results in a fight between Venu and the goons. Venu gets stabbed by a rowdy and is admitted to the hospital with severe injuries. Anu takes the idol of their favourite lord, “Hanuman”, to the hospital and prays for Venu's recovery. The musical watch falls from Venu's shirt pocket. Venu hears the watch's music. Then, he wakes up and sees Anu, whom he loved in his childhood days. Venu's adopted family and friends and Anu's family accept their love. They both reunite in the end. ===== Rammohan (Harish Raghavendra), after five long years of saying 'no' to getting married, agrees to wed Gowri (gayathri raghuram) after seeing her picture. But he gets a shock on his wedding night when Gowri turns out to be the exact opposite of what he has imagined her to be. While he had thought she would be a traditional, homely girl, Gowri turns out to be an ultra-modern gal who even drinks. On the other hand, Kaveri(Uma), who Rammohan hires as his secretary at work, is the kind of woman he wished for as his wife. Meanwhile, Rammohan rubs Selvakumar(Arun Pandiyan), the new policeman in town, the wrong way and Selvakumar itches for a chance to get back at him. The time comes when Rammohan gets into an accident. ===== A carefree youth Arivumani (Murali) loses his wife in an accident. Later, he finds a child 'Ice Kutti' and takes care of her, what all he went through and how he solved the child's issues forms the rest of the story. ===== Four boys from various parts of Tamil Nadu come together while being involved in the making of a movie. The story is about how their lives are transformed when a girl gets involved. ===== The film opens with a flashback showing the family feud between the families of Sundaralingam Prabhakaran (Vijayakanth) and Bhavani Easwaramurthy (Indraja). Prabhakaran and Bhavani are in love. The murder of Bhavani's father Easwaramurthy (Rajeev) is wrongly accused on SP's father Sundaralingam (Lal). Prabhakaran starts to help Bhavani's family and mortgages his own house to finance her factory with the intention of making it up to them as he still believes that it is his father who killed Bhavani's father. However, Bhavani is now trying to take revenge for her father's murder. SP's mother is now on her deathbed. While in the hospital, his mother tells how his father had a different wife and he should ask them forgiveness. Prabhakaran storms into Bhavani's house and accuses her uncle (who really killed Bhavani's father), also trying to make her understand the truth, but she does not believe him. Then, Prabhakaran says that he does not love her anymore and vows that he will never trust a woman by remaining a chronic bachelor forever. Then the film comes to the present time, showing a legal battle between Prabhakaran (now called SP) and Bhavani. Bhavani becomes furious when SP wins the legal battle to get back his house. She threatens to destroy SP. From here, the story moves to the day-to-day life of SP and falls into a comic track throughout the first half. SP is now a successful businessman. He has a stepsister named Parvathi (Swarnamalya), who is his father's daughter from his other wife. He now lives for her, but she does not know that SP is her brother, although she stays next door to him. Mayilsamy (Vadivelu) is SP's aide, and he too is a bachelor. Gowri (Namitha) comes to stay in the hostel where Parvathi stays and tries to win SP's heart, but SP considers her a nuisance. SP agrees to take care of Kannan (Prabhu Deva). Kannan is the son of Manivannan, his uncle who had helped SP become a successful businessman. Kannan is a flirt and womanizer, so his mother wants SP to take care of him and change his behaviors for the better. However, what SP and his mother do not know is that Kannan has only agreed to stay in the house when he comes to know that Parvathi lives next door to SP in order to woo her. Comical scenes recur throughout the movie, where Mayil, who does not like Kannan and his friend Cheenu (Pandiarajan) staying with them, tries to get them out of the house. Gowri comes to know that SP is sponsoring Parvathi's studies and confronts him. SP tells her that Parvathi is his sister. Gowri then asks Parvathi to call SP for her birthday party. SP then gets upset and confronts Gowri. Gowri then reveals that her sponsor was SP all the while. During the birthday party, Bhavani comes and takes Gowri away. Then, it becomes clear that Gowri is Bhavani's sister. Rivalry arises between Gowri and Bhavani. Parvathi starts showing affection towards Kannan but says that it is wrong and walks away. At this time, Bhavani's brother Durairaj (Anandaraj) and his gang come to kidnap her. While rescuing Parvathi from Durairaj, Kannan decides to bring Gowri back too. Then, Gowri's family members come to take her forcefully, but they are stopped by Kannan. When told off by SP for doing so, he tells Mayil that he will sponsor the girl that loves SP like how SP sponsors the girl that he loves. That is when SP asks Parvathi to move to his house. Kannan and Cheenu are moved to the guest house. Parvathi shows affection to Kannan. One day, SP and Mayilu catch Kannan trying to reach Parvathi through the balcony. That is where SP knows that both of them love each other. He tells Kannan to promise that he will never look at another girl in his life, and she (being Parvathi) should be the only one, which Kannan agrees to wholeheartedly. He fixes the marriage of Kannan and Parvathi. He transfers everything that he has to Parvathi's name because Kannan's family thought that Parvathi was an orphan. SP tells everything to Kannan's parents, which is overheard by Parvathi, who runs home crying. SP upset runs to comfort her, where he explains how he will live his life as an apology to her mother's curses. However, Parvathi tells that her mother loved him and told her to ask forgiveness if she sees him. Now, Parvathi and SP reunite as siblings. During the marriage festivities, Bhavani and Durairaj come to prevent the celebrations. Along with them comes the elder brother of Parvathi, Veerapandi (Lal). He challenges SP, saying that he has more right over Parvathi as he is her brother, while SP is just a stepbrother. Veerapandi then claims all of SP's property, which SP is willing to give, provided that Parvathi lives happily and marries Kannan. Bhavani's household members use Veerapandi to take advantage of SP; first by trying to snatch his company and then trying to snatch his home. In the brawl, SP vows that Parvathi will marry Kannan and he will wipe off everyone who stands in the way. Bhavani then tells SP that Parvathi will be married off to Bhavani's brother. Veerapandi supports in the name of revenge. Parvathi, torn between two brothers, comes running when the brothers fight among themselves on the account of whom Parvathi will marry. She says that she wants to be happy with both her brothers so to stop fighting. Parvathi has been emotionally forced to marry Durairaj. She is rescued by Kannan, Mayil, and Cheenu. SP goes and pours kerosene on Bhavani to get her husband to tell the truth, and he finally admits that it was him and his father. He says how his father has done it for the money but he had done it because he loved her and she was his life. Bhavani realizes her mistakes and goes to SP's house to apologize, but she tells SP that the only thing that she can now offer is the marriage proposal of her sister Gowri to SP. SP initially refuses when Kannan tells that he will also remain bachelor if SP does not marry. SP finally agrees and tells everyone to go inside with Gowri. ===== Arjun (Shaam) heads a dance troupe and Priya (Roshini), one of the dancers in the troupe is in love with him. Their aim is to be the permanent fixture at the hotel of Giriprasad (Richard), a millionaire. They lose the competition but still see their dream realised when the lead dancer in the winning troupe dies. Soon, Giriprasad falls for Priya and his sincerity makes her reciprocate his feelings. ===== Surya (Arjun), assisted by Baby (Laila), is a conman whose services can be bought by anyone for the right price. His tricks result in the dismissal of both the Assistant Commissioner (Ilavarasu) and his brother, the Police Minister (Raj Kapoor). So they seek the help of Pasupathy (Shobaraj), another dada in Madras. When Pasupathy is recruited by a goon from Calcutta to kidnap the Kancheepuram collector, Surya decides to foil his plan and save the collector. When saving the man, he finds that the collector Jai Anand (Arjun) is a spitting image of himself. Jai's fiancée Priya (Chaya Singh) tells Surya about Jai's past as the collector in Calcutta. ===== Surya (Arun Kumar) is an angry young man who is a post-graduate student looking for a job. His girlfriend is Sruthi (Priyanka Trivedi). She always tries to control his rage as he fights against injustice in society. Once, Surya fights for a friend, Ganesh (Charle), who is a gold medalist but does not get a job as he is not able to get a loan from a bank because he does not have any collateral to pledge. Another gold medalist friend dies in an accident after running helter-skelter hunting for a job. All this changes Surya’s life, especially after he meets a well-known writer and intellectual Udaya Murthy (Raghuvaran), who urges him, along with others, to start a movement against corruption and injustice in society. They start an Unemployed Graduate Association which rubs the local politician and don Muthukaruppan (Ashish Vidyarthi) the wrong way. The idealist Surya turns into a raging force after Murthy is shot dead by police and he is jailed. In jail, he is brutally tortured by the police as he becomes a rallying point for the youths who are fighting unemployment. ===== Venkat (Parthiban) finds himself in a spot when suddenly a young, modern, good-looking Madhumita (Madhumitha) follows him everywhere, proclaiming her love for him. He knows that she's too big a catch for him and even tells her so, but when she goes on in a romantic vein, he yields to the temptation. And that spells his doom for it has been a charade all along. The shock is too much for the mild mannered Venkat. The affected, cobwebbed mind begins to develop schizophrenic tendencies. ===== Gurumoorthy "Guru" (Silambarasan), is a new admit at a College of Arts and Sciences. Anjali (Ramya), goes to the same college. Guru, who is from a middle-class family, falls in love with Anjali, but she doesn't reciprocate. Anjali, is the only daughter of a rich and powerful gangster Veerabahu (Kalabhavan Mani). Veerabahu's assistant suspects them to be lovers after he finds them dancing. Guru gets beaten up badly. Irritated by this, Guru is challenged to win Anjali's love. After few attempts, she falls in love with him. Anjali warns Guru to stay away from her. Veerabahu's men again try to beat him up, but now Guru proceeds to beat up a few thugs and proves his bravery. Veerabahu goes to the farthest attempt to separate them. But, Anjali and Guru manage to elope and get married. The story takes a few turns before it ends in a happy note. ===== Sathya (Sathyaraj), an junior artiste manages to get an chance to act as a hero in a movie. His popularity increases, as he becomes a superstar. Arivanandham (Vasu), a corrupt politician and the leader of a major political party requests Sathya to contest in the assembly elections, to which Sathya accepts. Arivanandham makes Sathya the Chief Minister candidate. Arivanandham's party receives a brute majority due to Sathya's popularity and wins the assembly elections. Sathya becomes the CM. After becoming the CM, he jails all the ministers including Arivanandham. Sathya orders many raids into the houses of ministers and acts weird. The story then moves to a flashback. Muthu (Manoj), an diehard fan of Sathya loses his right hand, in a clash between two actors' fans. This leaves an huge impact on Sathya, who learns from this event that how much his fans had been devoted to him. Sathya begins to care for Muthu and the two become close. Some days before Sathya's oath taking ceremony, Arivanandham is plotting to kill Sathya and become the CM himself. Arivanandham plants bombs in the marriage hall of Muthu's wedding. Fortunately, Sathya escapes the blast but Muthu dies. Sathya desires revenge for Arivanandham and decides to put it in good use, as the flashback ends. The rest of the film Sathya introduces many reforms in the government. During the end, he dismisses all the corrupt ministers and selects many youngsters as ministers. He resigns and names Devika (Mallika), an IAS officer who has done much service as the Chief Minister and walks away, as the film ends. ===== The story begins in Kerala. Vignesh is the four year child of a Doctor (Rajeev). Vignesh has two elder sisters. On his Vignesh's fourth birthday the Doctor was late for the celebration; but he gives Vignesh a trumpet which he likes very much. The same night while they were celebrating, a Kabooli (Manivannan) comes with a child who was suffering from fever to the doctor. The doctor doesn't treat the child and ask him to take the child to hospital. A call comes at midnight saying that the Kabooli's son is serious. The doctor rushes to the hospital and he takes his son with him. Vignesh is very much attached to the music played by the Kabooli. Kabooli's son Madhavan dies in the hospital and he runs away from the hospital with Vignesh. After 15 years the story shifts to Chennai, where we see Kannas (Thangaraj) and Kadalas (Ilavarasu) who are street boys. They stay with Amminiamma (Sabitha Anand) and they are in love with her daughters. One of her daughters steals some valuables from the house where she does household work. In order to save them, Kannas and Kadalas go to prison. When they return, they find both are married and move out of the house with sorrow. Madhavan (Ramana) comes in search of Kannas and Kadalas because they went to prison for stealing the trumpet which was at stake. Kannas and Kadalas have buried the trumpet in the ground and now there is a circus tent around it. While trying to take it out; the trumpet is taken by Rani (Kutti Radhika) the daughter of the circus owner. Madhavan asks for the trumpet and she refuses to give it. They fight with each other and in the process Madhavan tries to prove that Rani has an illicit relation with him. Her father Meesaikarar (Anandraj) is furious and he tries to kill Madhavan. But before that Madhavan tells him that he did all this for his trumpet and he has no relation with his daughter. Meesaikarar asks Rani to return the trumpet. Madhavan plays the same music which the Kabooli used to play. All in the circus tent are shocked to hear it and it is revealed that Madhavan is Meesaikarar's nephew. All in the circus tent accept him wholeheartedly. Madhavan ignores Rani and she tries to commit suicide. Madhavan confesses his love for her. While romancing he plays the same music and the doctor who was passing by hears it and he comes with his daughters and sons-in-law and they forcefully take him. Madhavan tries to leave but is given sedation. One of the sons-in-law is a police officer and the other is a doctor and they are able to arrest Meesaikarar who comes to release Madhavan. The doctor shows the photograph of dead Madhavan and the newspaper articles reporting the kidnap of Vignesh to the people in the circus tent. Meesaikarar is released under the condition that they would leave the city within 48 hours. Meesaikarar is also furious and says that he will marry off his daughter within 48 hours and his son would curse him for being his father. Kannas and Kadalas come to Madhavan's house and she stops them. She requests Kannas and Kadalas not to take her son back to the streets. Kannas and Kadalas reveal the love between Madhavan and Rani and also tell her that Madhavan would be happy only with Rani. The doctor also decides to leave the city the next morning. Madhavan sees the door of his bedroom opened. He is successful in getting out of the house through the back door, but is shocked to see her there. She tells him that she was the one who opened all doors for him because she couldn't see him sad. She asks him to run with his Rani. The mother blesses her son and he leaves. But when he reaches the circus tent he is badly beaten up by Meesaikarar and party. Rani is not allowed to leave. Kannas and Kadalas take Madhavan from there and they help Rani run away with Madhavan. But Meesaikarar finds them. He tries to kill Madhavan, but can't. After getting accepted by both families, Rani and Madhavan are getting married that day and all are invited to the marriage. When Kannas and Kadalas and their gang reach for the marriage they are stopped at the gate. When they try to reach to Madhavan, they are stopped by his relatives. Kannas and Kadalas bid a tearful farewell to Madhavan saying that their place is in the streets and they leave. While leaving they leave a gift with the watchman for Madhavan. Madhavan's brothers- in-law stop the watchman, open the gift and find it is the trumpet. They throw the trumpet away and it falls in front of Kannas and Kadalas. They take the trumpet and play the same tune. Madhavan comes from the house and he is welcomed to his marriage. He scolds his relatives for those kindnesses. Kannas and Kadalas then take their bag where they put waste materials and leave the place. ===== Subramani (Dhanush), known as Sullan among his friends, is the son of a corporation garbage lorry driver named Mani (Manivannan). A first-year college student, his only objective in life is to have fun with his friends. He has a few unexceptional run-ins with Soori (Pasupathy), a moneylender who charges atrocious rates and then goes after those who fail to pay him back, but when Soori's actions touch his own family and friends, Sullan is forced to strike back. ===== Devanathan IPS (Nassar), a retired JCP of Chennai, begins a new life with his family, which includes his brother Shekar (Thalaivasal Vijay), sister-in-law Viji (Kanchana Mendis), and their children. Devanathan buys two large tea estates in Ooty and moves in with his family there. Devanathan's daughter Anitha (Kutty Radhika) is a teenager who wants to become a sincere IPS officer like her father, and his son Ashwin (Anand Samy) is a brilliant yet troubled and antisocial young man. One morning, a young man named Daniel (Srikanth) arrives with a recommendation letter from a recently dead priest, Father Andrews, who is a schoolmate of Devanathan, to apply for a job as a tea estate manager. Daniel slowly becomes a favorite of the family with his good nature, music skills, and along with the fact that he saves Devanathan's life from criminals, and wins the family's heart. One night, Ashwin scares Devanathan by dressing himself as a stalker. Ashwin got chased by Devanathan and revealed his identity to him, while laughing insanely and madly at Devanathan. The next day, Ashwin drives too fast, almost kills the family from getting hit by a train, frightening them. He then gets into an argument with Devanathan and goes to Daniel's office. Daniel, while acting insanely, inflicts wounds on himself and blames it on Ashwin. Ashwin attempts to confront Daniel over this scene at the hospital that Daniel is recovering from. Daniel created a scene that fabricated Ashwin attempting to murder Daniel for presumably having an affair with Anitha. Ashwin was captured by the ward boys and guarded in the hospital. Daniel was discharged and stayed alone at Devanathan's house. Ashwin escapes his hospital room by locking Shekar, who was guarding him in the washroom, and confronts Daniel again at his home. Daniel starts a fire in the cabin, where all of Devanathan's awards and medals, blaming all of that on Ashwin. Ashwin attempted to stop and expose Daniel but was unsuccessful and is taken to a mental hospital. Daniel disguises himself as Devanathan by wearing his cap and black coat while spying on Viji when she is bathing. She thinks it was Devanathan, and the friction between the brothers starts, which grows to an end level when Shekar leaves the house. One day, while riding her scooter, Anitha discovers Daniel's jeep and is shocked to see him performing Hindu rituals for a woman named Abhirami (Sadha). Daniel reveals himself to be Shakthivel, raised up by his elder sister Karthiga (Saranya Ponvannan) and brother-in-law (Nizhalgal Ravi). He was academically very brilliant, but when his brother-in-law suffered from paralysis, he voluntarily gave up his school studies and became a painter. He and his sister's daughter Abhirami are in love. Abhirami enrolled herself in a medical college to become a doctor as her wish, while Shakthi covered the expenses and fee payments. Abhirami's parents plan their marriage after Abhirami finishes college. On Devanathan's last day in service, a junior officer, ACP Prabhakaran IPS (Ajay Rathnam), requests him permission to perform an encounter operation on a famous rowdy called Royapuram Guna (Riyaz Khan). Unbeknownst to anyone in particular, Devanathan is under Guna's payroll. Though Devanathan refuses permission, the chief minister overrides him, and the operation is carried out near a bus stop, where Abhirami was standing. Guna escapes due to Devanathan's prior given information to him, but Abhirami is killed in the crossfire of the shootout between Guna and his gang against the police. To save their names, Devanathan places Guna's photo inside Abhirami's work folder and fabricated her as like his lover. Shakthi is innocently arrested and sentenced for about six months in imprisonment for beating up policemen who came to question him and Abhirami's parents for Guna's whereabouts, while Abhirami's parents commit suicide over humiliation of the false fact of Abhirami being Guna's lover. Devanathan retires with honors. Prabhakaran was guest visiting the prison that Shakthi was imprisoned in and revealed to him the truth when confronted by Shakthi and apologizes to him over being unable to do anything to reveal the truth, due to the fact that Devanathan was his superior officer and higher official. Anitha could not believe it at first, but Shakthi forcibly took her to the guest house that Devanathan brought and showed her him chatting on a escape plan for Guna and his friend, who were hiding in Ooty by Devanathan to escape from the authorities. She was shocked to learn that her father is a murderer and ran away from Shakthi. Guna and his friend are about to escape to Ooty in a vehicle driven by Devanathan himself to avoid unnecessary checking. Shakthi chases them, and when they are about to cross a check post, he shoots at the car. Guna and his friend mistakenly thought it was police firing, so they came out and start firing, which triggers the actual and real police to come to the spot and kill Devanathan and the criminals in the shootout. Shakthi revealed his identity to Devanathan before he died, while stating that having him killed in the same way Abhirami was killed is Shakthi's punishment to him. At the film's end, Shakthi is seen sitting in a bus leaving Ooty reading an article on a newspaper of Devanathan's death, with Anitha revealing the truth about her father being a criminal to the entire world written in it. ===== James (Sathyaraj) and Mr. White (Vadivelu) work in a call centre in Chennai. James witnesses the murder of Krishnamurthy (Ajay Rathnam), a labor union leader. He promises the police to identify the murderer. In order to crack the case, a police inspector Soundarapandian (Raj Kapoor) urges the lady informer Aishwarya (Sunitha Varma) to act as James's wife and stay in a house opposite to Krishnamurthy's. Upon coming to the house, the couple tries to crack the case. In this regard, they befriend the family, but soon, Krishnamurthy's father is also murdered. Towards the interval, one comes to know that the actual murderer is James. In order to avenge the murder of his parents by Krishnamurthy and his brother Ramamurthy (Raveendran) a few years ago, James stays in the house opposite to theirs. With knowledge of his motive, Aishwarya promises to help him in bumping off Ramamurthy, who returns from Australia. ===== Brinda (Sindhu Tolani) is an employee of a medical company. She is not ready to be treated as a doormat, and she is against the exploitation of women and atrocities caused by men. She tracks men who have committed rapes and kills them using potassium cyanide. A businessman (Yugendran), Police Commissioner (Sekhar), and Chief Minister (Vijayan) have fallen victim to her. She has taken these actions after her life was made miserable and her husband was killed by her lecherous boss (Kazan Khan). ===== Dhinakar (Jai Akash), hailing from a middle-class family, and Nancy (Madhumitha), a software engineer and sole breadwinner for her family, are neighbors who are in love with each other. However, their dreams of getting married are shattered when their self-centered parents decide on proposals of their own choice. Notwithstanding the overbearing parental pressures, Nancy marries Victor (Prakash Raj), a multi-millionaire businessman, while Dhinakar marries his cousin - but not before the lead pair enters into a sly pact. Dhinakar and Nancy contrive to marry the spouses chosen by their parents, only to officially dissolve their unhappy unions later and thereby pave way to their union. After a sequence of events, Nancy successfully convinces Victor about her unreserved enthusiasm for her past love, gets her divorce, and takes the first step towards making a fresh start, but events overtake her in an unexpected final act. ===== The film opens with Mr. Moto in disguise as a street salesmen and selling goods to passers-by. He sees a man leaving a shop with a tattoo of the British Flag on his arm. Moto enters the shop to sell a rare diamond to the owner. However, Moto sees a body stuffed into a wicker basket in the store, and using his mastery of judo takes down the shopkeeper. Later, he reserves a berth on a freighter headed for Shanghai. Also on the freighter is Bob Hitchings Jr., son of the owner of the freighter. Before leaving, Hitchings Sr. gives his son a confidential letter for the head of the Shanghai branch of the company. Hitchings and Moto become friends (Moto notices the letter), and Moto helps Hitchings cure a hangover. Hitchings complains to Moto that he has not met any beautiful women on board. After a stop in Honolulu, a beautiful woman named Gloria Danton boards the ship, and she and Hitchings fall in love. But Gloria is a spy for Nicolas Marloff, who runs a smuggling operation out of Shanghai. She periodically sends him notes and leaves without saying goodbye to Hitchings. Moto finds a steward looking for Hitchings’ letter and confronts him, knowing he was the person who killed the man in the wicker basket, as he wears the tattoo. Moto throws the man overboard and takes the letter. At Shanghai, Hitchings meets with Joseph B. Wilkie and gives him the letter, but later learns that it is a blank sheet of paper. He calls his father, who tells him the letter said to watch out for smugglers. Hitchings is determined to find Gloria, and he learns from an unknown person that she is at the "international club". Both he and Wilkie go there, as well as Moto and his date, Lela Liu. Hitchings finds Gloria performing at the club and goes to her dressing room. However, the club owner Marloff discovers them together and, knowing that Hitchings knows too much, locks them both up. Moto tells Lela to call the police, and seeks out Marloff. Posing as a fellow smuggler, he tricks Marloff into leading him to Gloria and Hitchings. Lela is shot while contacting the police, but manages to tell them where she is. Wilkie finds Marloff, and demands that Gloria and Hitchings be released. Marloff finds out that Moto is not a smuggler, then Moto apprehends him. Moto tells Wilkie to get Marloff's gun, the gun explodes as Wilkie tries to grab it, killing Marloff. Police storm the building, and Moto tells them the Wilkie headed the smuggling operation. Wilkie replaced the letter and shot Lela. Moto gave Wilkie the opportunity to kill Marloff, who knew he was in on the plot, and he did. Wilkie is arrested, and things go back to normal. ===== Searching for the cure for cancer, a scientist creates a chemical that promotes cell growth. After being visited by a drug addict, the drugs and the cure are mixed up and misused by him and several prostitutes. They become zombified and begin biting people nearby. A small group of exotic dancers team up with the prostitutes' former pimp to defend their strip club, the Grindhouse, against a horde of blood-thirsty zombies. Four strippers in a nightclub, after their dance routines are over and the club is closing for the night, walk over to a nearby cafeteria for breakfast, when some hookers turn into zombies and attack them. Except for one stripper Pandora, played by Juliet Reeves, who couldn't make it till the end, the other 3 ladies manage to fight and decimate all the zombies and survive through it all. The prettiest and tallest of the 3 surviving strippers is Dakota, played by Playboy playmate Jessica Barton. She is the most popular (and most tipped) stripper of the club, but that comes with quite some attitude. During the course of the movie, she gives a lap dance to one of her lovers, but then he gets bitten and turns into a zombie. Dakota has to blow this lover-turned- zombie (as well as her boyfriend cop-turned-zombie) with her gun. The second stripper is Dallas, played by Miss Oahu Lyanna Tumaneng. She is clearly the most courageous of the trio, as she braved zombie attacks to get the zombie antidote from the laboratory. The male lead Chris, played by Sean Harriman, was on the same mission alongside Dallas and managed to inject himself with the zombie antidote that they found in the lab. Eventually, Chris falls in love with her. The third stripper is Chris' sister Harley, played by Playboy playmate Hollie Winnard. She is a single mom of a little daughter and they stay with Chris and their grandmother. This was Harley's very first night at the club, where she plays a nervous rookie and she performs a quick but funny tease. During the beginning of the film the strippers have a difficult time identifying themselves to each other. They awkwardly introduce each other by their stage name, and their real names. Their indecisiveness in their career lead to differences in how strippers should be treated by themselves, others, and of course zombies. As the battle between the zombies and the remaining survivors heats up, the zombies start to get the upper hand. Though the survivors are locked inside a safe room, the buxom hooker-turned-zombie named Pamela, as played by Stephanie Miller, manages to get inside. In the skirmish, Chris loses to her strength, as Pamela bites him and takes a chunk off his forehead. But thanks to the zombie antidote in his blood, Pamela is soon blown to smithereens. Harley and Dakota do not understand what happened, so Dallas explains that exposing Chris' blood to the zombies is a sure way to destroy them all. To test the idea, Chris offers his right hand to a zombie outside the door, and upon biting Chris, that zombie is blown apart as well. Seeing the plan work so well, Dakota suggests that they should let 2 zombies into the room. The plan works well for the first couple of times, as 2 zombies are let into the room at a time, and after biting the shoulders of Chris, they are blown apart. But soon, a very weakened Chris collapses on the floor. Hell breaks loose, as all the remaining zombies manage to break into the room and attack them. With no other option to save the 3 girls, Chris gets up for his final action. He requests his sister Harley to take care of her daughter Jenna, whom Chris used to babysit back at home. He then gives a farewell kiss to his love interest Dallas. Chris offers himself to the pack of zombies, with the girls making no effort at all to stop him from doing so. At the outset, the zombies cut through Chris' ribs and eat up his heart, as the girls look on. Within a very short time, the zombies finish him off and then blow themselves apart as expected. The devouring of Chris by the zombies happens at a pretty high speed, instead of his arms, legs, torso, etc. being chomped step-by-step. Finally, all that is left of Chris are just some blood and flesh splattered on the club floor, along with that of the exploded zombies. With all zombies finally eliminated, the 3 girls wipe the goo off their hair and walk out of the nightclub in supermodel catwalk style, smiles of victory writ large on their face. Their outfits are still smeared with flesh and blood of zombies and Chris alike. Out in the open daylight, Dallas smilingly comments to Harley that they had a rough last night. Harley replies that it wasn't as much fun as she had hoped. ===== The show was an online dramedy centered on the lives of four main characters called the "In Town Roommates" and four secondary characters called the "Out of Towners". The primarily female cast members are recent college graduates in LA ready to begin their lives as adults. A reality show producer has made a deal with a social blogging video site to document their journey. The characters believe that they will be able to maintain their extremely codependent relationships like they had in college. The Roommates videotaped their pranks and hook-ups during their dorm years throughout their off-campus house adventures with carefree abandon. But when the pressures of professional careers and artistic aspirations mix with the voyeuristic documentary cameras; the bonds of committed friendships are severely tested. A combination of raw and voyeuristic "reality show" segments, confessionals, and college flashback footage drive the real-time story. Interactive chats and events were used to involve the audience and affect the direction of the story. ===== The story begins with Hank and Drover spending the day at Slim Chance's bachelor cabin on the north side of the ranch. During their stay, an old buddy of Slim drives by for a visit, bringing a Rottweiler named Bruiser. Bruiser chases after a deer fawn, and Hank stops him from killing the fawn but in the process makes himself a new enemy. Once Bruiser's owner ties him up, Hank begins to insult the rottweiler. Later that night Hank and Drover are forced out of the house for goofing off. In a fit of rage, both decide to run away to the barn. On the way, they are confronted by Bruiser, and are made to sleep on the woodpile, while the rottweiler sleeps on the porch. The next day, Slim captures Bruiser and turns him over to his owner and then drives to the pastures to check on the cattle, taking Hank and Drover along. During this time, one of the tires on Slim's truck pops, and he drives into town to get it replaced. Later on, Hank and Drover are in a car-part shops when Bruiser attacks Hank, but then a large Siamese cat jumps on Bruiser, and Hank recalls to when he first met Bruiser, his owner said he was afraid of cats, the cat drives Bruiser away. ===== While Hank and Drover are asleep at the gas tanks, the cowboys at the ranch decide to move a group of cattle down to the corrals to be shaken to town and sold. Thus, Hank and Drover wake up to find themselves surrounded by steers. They escape to the machine shed. While Hank fumes over the cowboys starting a roundup without consulting him, a cattle truck pulls up to the ranch to take the steers into town. The dogs at first plan to put the truck under "total lockdown", but later Hank decided to help load the cattle into the truck. In the process, he gets trapped on the truck himself. Hank is finally able to get off the truck once it reaches town, where he discovers a trash can full of French Fries. He knocks over the can and begins eating the French Fries but unfortunately this attracts the attention of the Dogcatcher, who locks Hank into the back of his truck and drives off towards the pound. In the truck Hank meets a basset hound named Ralph, an old friend of Hank's and the Dogcatcher's pet. When the Dogcatcher stops the truck for a coffee break, Ralph knocks open the door, explaining that when business is slow the Dogcatcher lets Ralph escape to liven up the day. The two dogs escape from the truck and head off on what Ralph calls a "Fling", which apparently involves stopping traffic, hiding from the Dogcatcher and sneaking into people's yards to steal steaks. On the last count the dogs run into some trouble; not only do they find weenies on the grill instead of steaks but the yard is guarded by a huge black dog named Attila. Hank steals the weenies but is surprised by the owner of the house. Ralph escapes with the weenies while Hank confronts Attila. To his surprise he discovers that Attila is a coward who only fights to keep up his reputation. The two dogs stage a pretend fight that works until Hank insults Attila's mother; this infuriates Attila and he hurls Hank into a rosebush. Hank then leaves and finds Ralph, who tearfully tells him that the weenies were stolen by town dogs. Hank believes him. Just then the Dogcatcher pulls up, and Ralph hops back into the truck. After the truck leaves, Hank heads back towards the ranch on an all-night hike. In the middle of the night he suddenly finds himself surrounded by coyotes, and to escape them he scrambles up into a large tree. To his surprise he finds that the tree is the local buzzard roost, and among the buzzards roosting there are Wallace and Junior. The coyotes demand that the buzzards send Hank down to them. Instead, to get them to go away, Wallace throws up on the coyotes, which sends them fleeing in terror; a buzzard's typical menu does not bear close inspection. Next morning Hank returns home, but on the way back he suddenly realizes that Ralph ate the weenies himself, and that there were no town dogs. This leads him to a valuable piece of advice: Never trust your lunch to a jailbird. On this note the story ends. ===== The case starts on a subplot in the evening when Loper comes home from ranch work early to cook dinner for his family. Meanwhile, Pete the cat has convinced Hank that he should enter the yard and try Pete's cat food. Hank enters the yard, but is quickly distracted by the smell of the steaks that Loper is cooking on the barbecue grill. He, Drover and Pete get into a tugging match in the yard with one of the steaks, and are saved only when Little Alfred comes along, takes it back, and throws them all out of the yard, then puts the steak back with the others. Angry at losing the steak, Pete tricks Hank into running off into the pasture on a wild goose chase: trying to find the pot of chicken at the end of the rainbow. By the time Hank and Drover realize there is no chicken, they are far out in the pasture and have been captured by the coyote brothers Rip and Snort. Hank manages to get Rip and Snort into the Deadly Ha-Ha Game with him, in which they take turns saying "ha", "ha ha", "ha ha ha", "ha ha ha ha" and so on until one of them starts laughing. Soon the coyotes are laughing so hard they cannot stop, and Hank and Drover run away. Back at the ranch, with night fallen, Hank and Drover play the Ha-Ha Game themselves, and soon both are laughing- poor timing, as it turns out, because Rip and Snort have stopped laughing and soon reappear, more angry than ever. Hank and Drover hide in the machine shed and, when pursued by the coyotes, escape again and run to the yard, finally getting away from the coyotes by diving through Little Alfred's bedroom window. (By this time Hank has discovered that the Ha-Ha Game fails to work on Rip and Snort anymore.) The coyotes threaten to sit outside the window all night and wait for the dogs to come out but Loper arrives and drives them off. After he has gone to bed again, Little Alfred grabs a plate of steak leftovers and sets them in the backyard to get Hank and Drover out of the house. Hank leaves but runs into Pete again. Rather than fighting him for the scraps, he decides to beat him with "superior intelligence" and play the Ha-Ha Game with him. Predictably, Hank loses this time, but presumably still manages to leave the yard and return to his bed. ===== Bangai-O Spirits has very little story line, and is not part of the same continuity as the previous game. The two new pilots are called Masato (boy) and Ruri (girl). The campaign mode is limited to a brief set of tutorial stages. Upon completing all of the stages under "Treasure's Best" in free mode, a brief cutscene will play, with one of the characters saying "We're only here because the fanboys would throw a fit on the internet if the game didn't have an ending." ===== Young demons Rara Yamabuki and Bibi Kurosawa come to the human world in order to do evil deeds and become full-fledged demons. Rivals in love, they search for the legendary demon, Hiroshi Akusawa, in order to win his heart though they do not even know what he looks like. While Rara is standing on the roof, classmate Retsu Aku mistakenly believes she's going to kill herself and grabs her, "flying" down with her to safety. With that, and hearing him called "Aku," Rara believes him to be Akusawa, but later learns he is just a normal human and that Akusawa is not nearly as desirable in person. When she uses her power of flight to aid Retsu, which causes her to lose the power forever, Rara realizes she has fallen in love with him. As the series progresses, Rara learns that Retsu has had the power to see ghosts since last summer. One ghost begins stalking Retsu to take over his body. Rara tries to protect Retsu, using her power of invisibility, but in doing so accidentally kisses him. After Retsu learns about the ghost, he is able to identify the ghost and remind him of his past, allowing the ghost to move on to the afterlife. Rara, however, has lost so many of her powers helping Retsu that her mother and other demons warn her that if she does not kill Retsu, she will soon disappear "into the darkness." Rara is unable to do it after Retsu confesses his own love for her. They skip school to spend the day together, and Rara decides she will enjoy whatever time she has left with him. Bibi, unwilling to let her "rival" disappear, traps Rara, then disguised as Rara tries to kill Retsu herself. Retsu sees through her and Rara is able to catch up to them in time to warn him that Bibi wants to kill him. Before leaving them alone again, Bibi explains to Retsu about their being demons and that Rara is going to disappear because of her love for him. Retsu tells Rara to kill him so she can live, but she refuses. She kisses him, using the last of her powers to take away his ability to see ghosts, then disappears. Instead of going into darkness, she begins going to the light. Retsu promises to find her wherever she ends up, and tells her not to forget him. Later, Retsu is shown having forgotten what happened, though left with a feeling he is missing someone. Bibi uses her own powers to walk by him disguised as Rara and whispers "don't forget me" unlocking his memories. In a hospital, a girl named Sara wakes up from a six- month-long coma, having been stabbed in a street fight with a guy. Beside her is Retsu, who tells her that he is her boyfriend. A delinquent, she threatens to kill him, but he hugs her and says she cannot, and that he knows the real her. ===== Zach is an aspiring young artist living in San Pedro, California. He has put off his dreams of going to art school in order to work and help his older sister Jeanne, his disabled father, and his five-year-old nephew Cody, whom he cares for most of the time as the irresponsible Jeanne spends her time partying. Working as a short-order cook to make ends meet, Zach uses his free time to paint, surf, and hang out with his on/off girlfriend Tori and his best friend Gabe. When Gabe's older brother Shaun comes back home from Los Angeles for a few weeks, Zach and Shaun develop a close friendship as they go surfing together. Shaun, who is a published writer, encourages Zach to take control of his life and pursue his ambition of going to CalArts, a large arts university. One night after drinking, Zach and Shaun kiss. However, Zach is not prepared to give in to his feelings immediately and struggles with whether or not he may be gay. Soon, however, he goes to Shaun's house and the two start making out and spend the night together. Following this, Jeanne reveals her boyfriend Alan is heading to Portland for a job interview and she wants to go with him for the weekend so she needs Zach to look after Cody. Zach is reluctant, but agrees. When Shaun invites him over, he tells him to bring Cody along and the three have a great time together. Zach and Shaun's relationship begins to blossom, while at the same time Shaun builds a strong bond with Cody. Zach feels uncomfortable when both Gabe and Jeanne learn about his relationship with Shaun. Although Gabe is supportive, Jeanne reveals her homophobic opinions and tells Zach that she does not want Cody hanging around Shaun because he is gay. She insists that since Cody's father is no longer in the picture, she needs Zach to be a positive influence and role model for Cody. At a party later that night, Zach becomes conflicted and ends things with Shaun, reasoning that he is not like him. Shaun tells him that it is obvious what he wants and calls him a coward for being too afraid to deal with it. Shaun secretly submits Zach's art school application and Zach is eventually accepted on full scholarship. When Alan gets the job in Portland, Jeanne wants to move there with him permanently but does not want to take Cody. She wants to leave Cody with Zach for the time being. Zach is again forced to decide between putting others first and neglecting his own dreams, as he has always done. Later, he tries to tell Tori about his relationship with Shaun, only to find out she already knows and is supportive. After Zach decides to finally move forward with his art career, he goes to see Shaun and confesses that he had been accepted into the school in the past, but put it off to look after his family after his mother died. Now determined to finally go for what he wants in life, he re-affirms his love for Shaun and the two reconcile, making plans to move in together near the school. He then goes to see Jeanne who is preparing to leave with Alan. Zach boldly walks up to her, hand in hand with Shaun, and gives Jeanne an ultimatum. If she wants to leave Cody with him then she will have to accept that Cody will be living with him and Shaun. Jeanne tries to guilt Zach, but he reminds her that she is the one who is abandoning her son, not him. He tells her that Shaun is a good guy who cares about him and Cody, and that a life with them is what is best for Cody. He tells her that he plans on finally making the life he really wants for himself. Jeanne relents, accepting what is truly best for Cody, and leaves him in the care of Zach and Shaun as she goes off to Portland with Alan. The film ends with Zach, Shaun and Cody happily playing on the beach together as a family. ===== The novel is divided into chapters each covering the same few months but centring on the life of one of seven working class women living the area of Union Street in northeastern England. The characters range in age and circumstance, Alice Bell is in her seventies and dying whereas Kelly Brown is eleven, but all of them face struggles and poverty. The book begins with the character of eleven-year-old Kelly Brown and deals with her rape and the response of Kelly and her community to the rape. When the people on the street find out about her rape they will not deal with it openly with her; instead, they react with general sympathy, in the way they would have if she had been ill, but both the adults and children talk about the incident behind her back. Kelly becomes increasingly isolated, distrustful of adults and no longer feeling at home with the other children; she spends an increasing amount of time by herself at night in the neighbourhood. As time passes Kelly's silence turns to anger, responding to the trauma of the events with acts of rebellion and violence, such as cutting her hair short and breaking the windows of a school. ===== The Fifth Doctor arrives on earth, to discover that Cuddlesomes – pink, vampire, hamster-like toys from the 1980s – are attacking people. He meets Angela Wisher, whose boyfriend (John Dixon) was attacked by his old Cuddlesome, and they investigate at the "White Elephant", the warehouse in which the Cuddlesomes are made. The Doctor discovers that a journalist, Miranda Evenden, has turned into a kind of Tinghus hybrid. The Tinghus is the one behind the attacks, and he destroys Ronald Turvey's Cuddlesomes and makes new, American-voiced, evil Cuddlesomes (Mark 2s). The Doctor, Angela, Ronald and the just recovered John try to stop the Cuddlesome plan. With Ronald's new army of Cuddlesomes and the Tinghus's Cuddlesomes, a war starts. ===== A courtroom-drama about a dead Captain whose memory is publicly accused by a historian on TV, twenty years after his death. The story follows his widow's struggle to prove that he was not a murderer and did not practise torture while he was leading a ground unit during the Algerian war. She decides to sue the man who accused him of being a torturer and thus begins an investigation which retraces the Captain's last two weeks, day by day. The film uses numerous flashbacks depicting battle scenes in Algeria. ===== Set in 1968 New York City in an alternate universe to the Dryco universe of the previous five iterations of the series, Going, Going, Gone nevertheless disposes of several of the series' characters in its closing chapters. Its protagonist is Walter Bullitt, an egocentric expert in psychoactive substances who freelances for various branches of the increasingly Nazi-influenced United States government spy apparatus. Though he passes for white, Bullitt is in fact of African-American descent in an USA where, as revealed in previous novels in the Dryco series, the American Civil War never took place. As a result, racial relations in this version of the USA have been much more fraught, with almost all full-blooded African Americans interned and used as slave labor during World War II before being disposed of, and by 1968 even black music has been culturally marginalized. Walter becomes subject to increasingly strange experiences, hearing voices and seeing ghosts from a parallel New York almost a century more advanced than his. Walter is taken to this alternative New York (the primary locale of the previous five Dryco novels) which, after flooding due to the Greenhouse effect, has been moved north, is populated by all races and features in its collection of futuristic wonders television, which never caught on in his world. The novel ends with the two epistemic worlds converging into a New York which is, in the words of critic Paul Dukes a "morally better place than either of the two which composed it". ===== Ajith Thomas (Dileep) is an acclaimed investigative television anchor and producer with a leading channel 'Calcutta News', and is the son of a former footballer who grew up in Kolkata. His team at the channel includes news assistant Smita (Vimala Raman), and anchors Aruna (Manasa) and Sheela (Brinda). Ajith is a lovable guy who lives in a flat with his mom and sister and is active member of the Malayalee Samajam led by a comical president (Innocent) and his wife (Bindu Panicker) One day Ajith bumps into a newly married Malayalee couple while on work in a tram, but the guy is hostile when he tries to introduce himself as a Malayalee. However, while editing the news, he is shocked to find that an unidentified body found near Kalighat resembles the rude guy he met in the tram. Ajit's investigative nature comes into the fore as he goes about finding the mystery behind the brutal murder of the guy. The guy was Hari (Indrajith), who had married an orphan Krishnapriya (Meera Jasmine) from Pattambi and brought her to Kolkata, before his brutal murder. Krishnapriya is unaware of her husband's job or what he does for a living and is shattered to know about his death. However, just before Hari is killed, Krishnapriya had come to known that Hari had only married her with the intention of delivering her, a young virgin, to his boss. Krishnapriya is both relieved that she is safe from sex racket she almost fell into, as well as desperate and sad because Hari had been the only person she knew or could go to. She couldn't return home and had nowhere to go. She attempts suicide but fails. Hope floats into her life after Ajith sort of becomes her protector and also gets attracted to her for her innocence and their mutual love for music. Krishnapriya moves in with Aruna and Sheela but cannot forget her past. When she comes across a psychic at Ajith's office she decides to approach him to know the exact cause of Hari's death. The psychic communicates with Hari's spirit and Krishnapriya come to know of who killed Hari. Ajith becomes concerned about Krishnapriya's obsession with the details of Hari's murder and the strange behaviour she exhibits sometimes. He takes the help of a psychologist to help her forget the painful memories, and she begins to live a normal life teaching music to children. The henchmen of the racket are meanwhile on the hunt for her, as they had already paid Hari for a new girl. The one-armed bearded guy (Kathal Krishnamoorthy) who operates from Sonagachi, the largest red-light area in eastern India, looking for Krishnapriya also wants to settle a score with her, because it was in the fight with Hari to get her that Hari had cut off his arm. On a tip off they trace her to the music school and kidnap her. Ajith tries to get the help of the police but they refuse to register a complaint without any proof. He is forced to go after his love all alone. When he enters the red-light area Ajith is shocked at the abuse and neglect the women are facing. He begins to record what he sees on his cell phone. The goons there find him inside and beat him up severely. He is now trapped deep in the red light area with goons out to kill him. In the mele, his cell phone falls out of his hand and is found by a little girl. The child is fascinated by the video recording going on and follows Ajith everywhere recording whatever happens to him. Eventually when she returns the phone to Ajith, the entire fight has been recorded on it. Ajith transmits it to the studio which airs it live along with his plea to rescue the women and himself. Police battalions arrive and free everyone including Ajith and Krishnapriya. ===== From a small rural village, Eashwaran (Srikanth) goes to the bigger city of Chennai with his father (Murali), seeking medicine to treat an illness. While in town, they live at the home of Eashwaran's brother (Shyam Ganesh), who is caught up in a dangerous web of corruption involving a thug Aditya (FEFSI Vijayan). As Aditya continues to head dirty deals with local officials, Eashwaran is in over his head and may need his brother's help. ===== Karthik, is from a middle-class family and is doing his MCA final year. He is an outstanding student with high ambitions. He works part-time in a courier company and takes care of his expenses. He also yearns for beautiful classy girls. Anbu Selvi is from a rural landlord's family and is doing her B.Com in Trichy. Her pranks and her outgoing personality makes her father Rathnam fear that she might bring disrepute to the family name and so he decides to give her in marriage to his friend's son, Karthik. Both the youngsters try to resist marriage but are compelled to agree in the end. The unwilling couple make an agreement on the first night that they will play according to the elders' tune for a while and once they are capable of taking care of themselves, they can part their own ways. Anbu is also admitted to the same college as Karthik and the turn of events makes Anbu realize the importance of a good married life and how she has to make her husband like her. In spite of her attempts, Karthik remains elusive and after some frames he also realizes the meaning of a good wedded life. When he is about to expose his love, turn of events separate the couple. But the couple stay determined to unite despite the stubborn stance of both their fathers. After much drama they unite happily. ===== It is a story of a boy who kills his sibling born to his mother because he thinks that his parents show the love only to that baby and not to him. ===== Arumugam (Srikanth) comes to Ooty for a job and falls in love with Pooja (Aarthi Agarwal). However, Pooja already has a fiancé Gautham (Vikramadithya), who isn't as good as he appears to be. What happens to Arumugam's love is the rest of the movie. ===== Elangovan (Thangar Bachan) is a school teacher in Chidambaram who is a jack of all trades but master of none. He spends time with friends boozing, gambling, and trying out new businesses that always fail. His wife is Thenmozhi (Navya Nair), and they have two daughters. Elangovan's father (Pyramid Natarajan) and father-in-law (R. Sundarrajan) try to make him responsible towards his family, but he refuses to take up anything serious in life. On everyone's advice, Elangovan goes to Sabarimala after taking Vrath but returns to continue as Sanyasi without being the least bothered about his duties towards his family. Fearing his wife and relatives, he decides to join a mutt, but there also he is unable to sustain. In the meantime, Thenmozhi works hard to educate her children. She is mentally prepared to live without her husband when he returns and pleads with her as usual. This time, she is not willing to pardon him and ignores him. What happens then forms the climax and message of the film. ===== Jeeva (Vikramaditya Shukla) who takes up residence in Sujata (Suji) (Shivani Singh)'s neighbourhood, falls for her ample charms. Jeeva's attempts to woo Suji misfires, landing him on the wrong side of her father (Vinu Chakravarthy), a retired military man. Enters into the scene Surya (Kunal). Surya's smooth talking ways and pleasing manners charm Suji and her family. In the game of one-upmanship and misunderstandings, who finally gets the girl forms the finale.http://tamilo.com/new-movie-list/46-tamil-movie-nanbanin- kadhali-2007.html ===== The film starts with Thamizharasan (Sathyaraj), a reformist who enters a village with the intention to unite a couple and help a young girl named Sandhya (Madhumitha), who aspires to be a singer. Bala (Siva Balaji) is in love with Sandhya. There, Thamizharasan faces the anger of Sandhya’s father (Dhandapani), a strong believer of older ideologies. Sandhya hates Thamizharasan, and the reason for that is told in a flashback, which starts with Thamizharasan's wife Maheswari (Namitha) aspiring to be a sports champion. Thipori Thirumugam (Vadivelu) is Maheswari's uncle. Thamizharasan helps her. Due to some family problems, Maheswari kills herself after making her husband promise to help her sister to become a popular singer. The rest of the film is how Thamizharasan fulfills Maheshwari's promise and helps unite Bala and Sandhya. ===== The movie is all about Iyer (Sathyaraj), a Deputy Commissioner of Police who is an encounter specialist. He comes across a Muslim woman named Nasreen (Sanghavi), whose father is killed by gangsters. Out of pity, he marries her much against his parents' opposition. While delivering a baby, Sanghavi dies. Meanwhile, Jenniffer (Megha), a scribe, comes to know of a fake encounter organized by Iyer to bump off a known rowdy. She follows him from then, blackmailing him, but Iyer, who thinks that evil forces do not deserve a chance in the court, does not change his style of operations. Elsewhere, a gangster named Venkatachalapathy (Sathyaraj again), who lands up in prison after being apprehended by Iyer, vows to kill him. Coming to know of his son killing people in the name of encounters, Iyer's father decides to take cudgels against him. He falls in to the vicious trap of Venkatachalapathy, and the rest is about how Iyer embarks on a mission to rescue his family and put an end to Venkatachalapathy's shenanigans. ===== Bhaskar (Srikanth) and Archana (Gopika) are childhood friends who grew up in the same village. Bhaskar receives a marriage invitation card from Archana. Only then does he realizes his love for her, but he still decides to attend the marriage. The day before the marriage, Archana finds out that her fiancé is not a good man and decides to call off the wedding. Her mother (Vanitha Krishnachandran) helps her escape with Bhaskar. The couple begins to live in a small house owned by Sivaramakrishnan (Vivek). Bhaskar, a research scholar in chemistry, succeeds in coming out with a prototype of a desalination plant which he wants to give to the government and solve a water crisis. He gets discouraged by the government authorities and State Minister. Because of this, he decides to set up his own desalination plant based on methods of his research. Along with Archana, he runs from pillar to post for a loan. Bhaskar is hesitant to express his love towards Archana as she may misinterpret his intentions for helping her, but she soon realizes his love for her. Madhan (Prithviraj) is a college mate of Archana. He gets acquainted with their family. Coming to know of their troubles, the rich Madhan volunteers to help them and lends money. However, Madhan is a '"business consultant" who lends money to companies, corporates, and individuals at exorbitant rates of interest and uses his might to recover them. In Bhaskar's case, he fakes the bond papers that Bhaskar has signed and begins to trouble them, demanding his money back and threatening to take over Bhaskar's research works with which he aspires to make a huge sum. When everything goes out of hand for Madhan, he sets a bomb in Bhaskar's research plant, but Bhaskar thwarts the plan. The video records that Bhaskar had recovered earlier from Madhan's office showing his cruel side was released to the press, and an arrest warrant was issued for him. The film ends with Bhaskar getting recognized for his research work, while Madhan was shown roaming aimlessly around as a mentally affected person. ===== The film begins with Rahul (Vikranth) coming from the US to India to see his grandparents for the first time. He helps a girl (Diya) who was going to commit suicide due to her upcoming marriage. He also performs comedy with Ondippuli (Vadivelu) and falls in love with Anjali (Lakshmi Rai). ===== Krishnamoorthy (Jai Akash), known as Kicha in his youth, is the District Collector who returns to his childhood city of Nagercoil to demolish an old school, which he recognises as his former school. His reminiscences of his school days in Nagercoil form the main theme of the film. The film then transitions to when Kicha (Manikandan) is a 16-year-old boy. After Nirmala (Simran), a teacher whom Kicha has a crush on, becomes the headmistress of their school, Kicha, who often teases people around him, becomes very well-behaved towards Nirmala. Because of this, he often garners her support. However, Kicha, being his usual self, begins leading a group of errant boys who perform various misdemeanors around their town. This includes stealing and selling dishes from the school and eating in hotel restaurants without paying the bill. Kicha and his friends are finally caught when they attempt to escape after not paying a hotel bill. The hotel owner thrashes them so thoroughly that the other boys inform the owner on Kicha and claim that he taught them to do such things. When the boys' parents are notified of this, many become angry, claiming that Kicha has misled their children and made them wayward. Soon after, Kicha acts up toward a girl in the neighborhood. After she makes his bad behavior public, Kicha travels out of embarrassment to Madurai with his elder brother. However, Kicha's schoolmates steal from the school in his absence and accuse Kicha of having done so. The headmistress, Nirmala, who has a good opinion of Kicha, summons him from Madurai for enquiries. After Nirmala decides that Kicha is guilty, she feels deeply let down and curses him for never being up to any good. Kicha returns to Madurai, studies with a vengeance, and eventually returns to Nagercoil as the Collector. In Nagercoil, Kicha travels to Nirmala's home to visit her but finds that she is out of the country and is expected to return after six months. Kicha plans to marry Subbu (Sujibala), who had been in love with him. After Kicha arrives at Subbu's house, she is very enthusiastic to see him again and leaves with Kicha. Nirmala is portrayed as an ideal headmistress: she is strict towards her students when required and lenient when being so is appropriate. ===== The movie is about Ilangovan, aka Ilango (Parthiban), a middle-class youth who dreams to get his sister Kavitha (Mallika) married to a millionaire. He is very keen on becoming rich and falls in love with Roopa (Lakshmi Rai), daughter of a rich industrialist Nandhu (Amruth Kalam). Now and then, Ilango comes across Chellappa (Vadivelu), a petty thief, and takes him for a fun ride. A sequence of events makes Ilango realize that money is not everything in life. He, with Chellappa's help, finally works to get his sister married to the boy that she loves. ===== The movie begins with Jeeva (Prabhu), running away from his village to Chennai fearing a possible marriage with the daughter of a local chieftain (Radha Ravi), arranged by his father. He joins his old-friend Velu (Vadivelu), who runs an eatery in the city. Meanwhile, he saves a youth (Mahanadi Shankar), a henchman of a local goon Singam (Karthik) from some gangsters. Thus he gets the acquaintance of Singam. Meanwhile, Singam come across Abi (Flora), a research scholar and Jeeva meets Divya (Manya). Both fall in love with them. Enters another goon (Raj Kapoor), who leaves his stolen money with Singam. He runs behind Singam to get the money back. Meanwhile, Radharavi and his men come down to Chennai in search of Jeeva. Following a mishap, Jeeva admits Singam and an old woman Lakshmi (Latha) in a hospital. Mistaking Jeeva to be their missing grandson, father of Latha (Vijayakumar) and his relatives take him to Kodaikanal. Fearing the Nattamai, Jeeva decides to go to Kodaikanal and acts as their grandson. Comes Singam with a plan to murder Vijayakumar. However he manages to win the heart of the family members and they arrange for Jeeva and Singam's wedding with Vijayakumar's grand daughters Abi and Divya. Raj Kapoor and Radharavi enter the scene and all confusion begins. The rest is all but how both Jeeva and Singam succeed in walking away with Abi and Divya. ===== The story revolves around Maya (Sonia Agarwal), a college student, who always wants to triumph in all her endeavors. She comes across a middle class youth, Cheenu (Srikanth), a happy-go-lucky-youngster, who strives to work hard to get his sisters married well. A few encounters (Maya and Cheenu) result in wordy duels between them leading to Maya challenging Cheenu that she will make him fall in love with her. Her further course of action to achieve her challenge leaves Cheenu frustrated and he decides to take revenge on her by pretending to fall in love with her. Maya, who starts to spend more time with Cheenu comes to know of his kind heart and his good nature and eventually develops an honest love towards him. She even helps him in setting his own business house. Slowly Cheenu too comes to know of Maya's nobleness and generosity and falls in love with her. Trouble comes in the form of her brothers who threaten Cheenu of dire consequences. Cheenu resolves to earn more and become rich and then hold the hands of Maya. But Maya has plans otherwise. Whether the couple ends up getting married forms the rest of the story. ===== Venu is a middle- class young man who lives in a middle-class area. His life revolves around his mother, sister, neighbor and friends. He has an inferiority complex because of the scar on his face. One fateful day, Venu decides to have plastic surgery to remove the scar. In order to raise money for his operation, he takes up part- time jobs. He becomes harsh and cold and starts to behave strangely with his family and friends. This new Venu shocks everyone around him. The rest of the story is about what he realizes in the process of getting his new face job. ===== After the death of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ganapathy (V. S. Raghavan), the ruling party chooses Narayanan (Sayaji Shinde), a corrupt politician and ex- rowdy, as their new party leader and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Ponnusamy (Alex), a party member who wants to become the chief minister, tries to stop it but Narayanan plants a bomb in his car and Ponnusamy dies. Narayanan's right-hand man is Ragavachari (Krishna) and advises him on all matters whereas the minister Ramasamy hates Ragavachari and wants to become Narayanan's right-hand man. Sudesi (Vijayakanth) is a jobless man who has a master degree in political science and lives with his mother (Sangeetha) in the city. For the village festival, Sudesi returns to his village and his relative Selvi (Ashima Bhalla) who loves him tries to win his heart. Back to the city, Sudesi's servant Kamala informs Sudesi that her son went missing and his dead body is later found in a drain by the police. Sudesi finds out the culprit: a school teacher (Thalaivasal Vijay). That day, the school teacher sent the schoolboy Ganesh to his house for doing housework. At the police station, the police inspector (Mansoor Ali Khan) promises Sudesi that the school teacher will be in jail for a long time. Later that day, the police inspector Sudesi receives bribes from the school teacher and Sudesi takes the issue to the court. One day, a beggar steals the handbag of Shruti (Shruti Malhotra) who is Ragavachari's mistress on the street and Sudesi goes after him. Ragavachari then kills Shruti for her inadvertence while Sudesi brings the handbag to his house. With his henchmen, Ragavachari meets Sudesi in his house and plants a bomb to destroy all the evidence. The bomb explodes killing his mother and an injured Sudesi is admitted to the hospital. At the hospital, Selvi brings him the handbag she had taken with her that day and he finds a CD inside. Sudesi then absconds. The private detective Thilak (Manoj K. Jayan) is assigned by Raghavachari to find Sudesi and the CD. Thilak eventually finds him and Sudesi shows him the video in the CD. The video shows Narayanan killing the chief minister Ganapathy in the hospital and it was Ragavachari who recorded it with a hidden camera to blackmail Narayanan later. Thilak surprisingly decides to support Sudesi. Sudesi and Thilak then kidnap Raghavachari. Sudesi starts to blackmail Narayanan using the CD and uses him effectively for the betterment of society. Narayanan gets praised by the public for his good work and he wins the Legislative Assembly election hands down. Narayanan then thanks Sudesi for changing him into a good politician and he will continue his work under Sudesi's guidance. ===== Krishna (Yuva Krishna) works at an eatery owned by Vivek (Vivek) while Gayathri (Ankitha) is a radio jockey. They are neighbours and both their families begin to quarrel. Their families then start to like each other and become good friends. They decide to arrange the marriage between the young couple but they both refuse and Vivek tells them the reason. Krishna and Gayathri fell in love with each other in college. From time to time, they were involved in small quarrels but the couple made it up every time. One day, it was the "straw that broke the camel's back": Yuva told his friends about being close to Gayathri and described her, she got angry and they split apart. After finishing college, Gayathri's family moved into a house opposite to that of Yuva. Their families and Vivek try their best to rejoin them but her relative Sri (Sriman) tries to win her heart and Gayathri even accepts to marry Sri. For the marriage of their friend in their college, Krishna and Gayathri return there. Vivek and their collegemates try to convince Krishna and Gayathri to be together again. Krishna has a change of heart, he convinces her with a song and they eventually reconcile. ===== Vetrivel (Sathyaraj) is a businessman who lives with his wife Kamatchi (Khushbu Sundar), son Sakthivel (Sibiraj), daughter Selvi (Bharathi), and brother-in-law (Kamatchi's brother) Thandapani (Vadivelu). Sakthi wanted to become as an IPS officer, but his father denied it and made him work in his shop. Selvi gets married and lives happily, while Sakthi falls in love with Manju (Nikita Thukral). It turns out that Manju is the daughter of Vetri's sister, who eloped with someone. Since Vetri has lost touch with his sister, Manju came into their lives to reunite the siblings. Meanwhile, Selvi finds out that her husband, father-in-law (Thambi Ramaiah), and the latter's wife are culprits and smugglers. Before she can tell someone about it, she is killed, and her child is kept. Sakthi goes to visit his sister and finds her dead. Sakthi takes vengeance on his sister's murderers and goes to jail, while Manju's mother reunites with her brother Vetri. After having served his jail sentence, Sakthi marries Manju and lives happily ever after. ===== Surya, the school-going 15 -year old boy finds himself attracted towards his classmate Raji. Later he gets infatuated with a model Manasi (Kiran Rathod). Finally, his lust grows for a call girl Swarna (Lakshmi Priya). As Swarna's husband is a pimp, she also shows some interest towards Surya. Surya and Swarna elope. But towards the end Swarna turns to preach. She advises Surya to be a good role model student and also to return to his parents. ===== Jayaram alias Jerry (Jithan Ramesh) is a man who takes risks and hates love. He is challenged by his friends to make three women love him. He makes a police inspector and his classmate Janaki (Shruthi Raj), an actress Janani (Mumtaj), and a police officer Jeeva (Meera Vasudevan) fall in love with him. Whether the three girls find out and whom he unites with forms the crux of the story. ===== Kannan (Prithvirajan) is in league with his father (Manivannan) in duping the people in his village. He comes across Kausalya (Sruthi), a timid, schoolgoing Brahmin girl and falls for her immediately. From his grandfather, he learns that Kausalya's mom is his father's sister and becomes even more determined to wed her. Kausalya begins to like him too but asks him to mend his ways before they can get married. ===== The film starts with Justin (Richard Rishi) getting released from jail while his friend Natty (Natarajan Subramaniam) is waiting for him. A writer who witnesses this decided to write a biography on them. Justin and Natty are friends since childhood. They first met during the death of their respective parents. Both work as henchmen to Nair (Nassar). They are his loyal servants and are prepared to lay their lives for him. However, a sequence of events results in Nair developing mistrust and hatred on the two. He employs another youth, Adi (Aditya Srivastav), in their place and plans to bump them off. Eventually, Justin ends up in prison, and Nattu loses his leg thanks to Nair's plans. After three years (when Justin completes his jail term), Justin, along with Natty, decides to stay away from violence and lead a peaceful life. Charu (Madhumitha), a girl-next-door, falls in love with Justin, and both decide to marry. Meanwhile, a reformed Nair seeks an apology to both Natty and Justin before his death. However, when things go smooth in their lives, a previous enmity leaves Nair's henchmen making an attempt on Justin's life, which eventually claims Charu's life. In the climax, Justin stabs Aditya, while Justin himself gets stabbed and dies. The film ends with Natty carrying Justin and both jumping into the sea and dying. ===== The movie begins with Kannan (Jithan Ramesh) falling in love with Geetha (Gajala), a girl living in his neighborhood. Her father Viswanathan (Thilakan), a government employee, comes to know of Kannan's crushes on his daughter and plays all tricks and prevents Kannan from reaching out to his daughter. Anjali (Namitha) also resides in the same locality. Ashok (Vincent Asokan), a dreaded gangster and Anjali's uncle, makes plans to marry her. He ends up bashing all those who try to propose Anjali. The turn of events results in Anjali mistaking Kannan of loving her. This results in Ashokan's men go behind Kannan's trail. Meanwhile Kannan manages to meet Geetha and opens his heart-out. Coming to know of this, Anjali manages to kidnap Geetha and threatens Kannan to marry her. ===== The story is about a scientist who stays at Kollimalai Hills to find ways and means to tackle the rocks that are to fall from moon and destroy the earth. The problems that he encounters in his mission form the crux. It is a convoluted story that makes you to leave reasoning and logic in cold storage. Narendran (Nassar) as usual, is good at his role. Charumadhi (Swarnamalya) gets an opportunity to show her acting talent. Unfortunately, Rishi (Richard Rishi), who had a good outing in Naalai, recently just plays a second fiddle. Charuhasan has nothing much to do. The movie begins with Professor Narendran, who finds out that rocks from lunar craters would fall on earth and destroy the world soon. Narendran and his assistant Charumadhi choose to keep it as a secret and decide not to create panic in the earth. They are joined by a group of students which include Rishi and Boys Manikandan in accomplishing their mission. They come across a different problem. Charumadhi's father (Charuhasan), led by a group of men, forms a cult. They decide to die and plan to take revenge on the humans for polluting the world. Narendran and his team come to know of their plans. The rest is how they tackle both the problems. ===== Muthiah (Arvind Swamy) and his wife Visalakshi (Gouthami) are a loving couple, and they come across Saroji (Ranjitha) who with no one to go for, takes refuge in Muthiah's house. Muthiah and Saroji develop soft corner towards each other. The rest is what transpires between the trio, exploring the nuances of an extra-marital affair. ===== The movie starts off with the Nasser losing his wife at the birth of his second son. He starts to hate his son and even leaves home with his first child. The child grows up into Siva(Gemini) and he lives with his grandparents who love him so much. Siva's brother's Krishna(M Thoufeeq) marriage gets fixed up. At this time, Siva meets his father again. His father still hates him and barely talks to him. This really hurts Siva. He tries to not keep it in his mind and just goes along. At this point he meets Aishwarya(Lakshmi Rai), who is his brother's sister-in-law. These two lock horns with each other right in their first meeting. As time goes by, Siva and Aishwarya develop feeling towards each other. At the same point, his father also starts to like him. Unfortunately, Siva's marriage gets fixed up with another girl, chosen by his father. Now, Siva is scared to tell his father, that he loves Aishwarya, because he doesn't want to break his father's trust in him. Siva's grandfather Nagesh knows about the love between Siva and Aishwarya and even tries to convince his son to get them both married, but Nasser refuses. Now, Siva is stuck between his father and his love. But fate has some other games to play. When both Siva and Aishwarya were travelling in a train, they come to know that bomb is fixed in a train. All the passengers had come out, the train gets crashed which makes Siva think that Aiswarya is dead while Aiswarya assumes that Siva is dead, they both fall unconscious and admitted to the hospital. It is revealed that Siva's mind has damaged (doctor reveals that since his mother died his mind has become emotional) and he is under the wrong impression that Aiswarya is dead. The film ends with Siva's father and Aishwarya taking care of Siva but it is revealed that Siva's mind will become normal only after four or five months. ===== Sivaji is a director whose dream project is to make the love saga of Salim and Anarkali. After a long search for an apt girl to fit into the role of Anarkali, he finds it in a beggar girl (Nalini). He starts the movie with Nalini as Anarkali. K. R. Vijaya, wife of Sivaji starts suspecting Sivaji and Nalini's relationship and this results in a mess inside their family. Nalini comes to know of this and feels that because of her, her mentor's life should not be in a mess, she leaves them without notice. Sivaji stops the project. Years pass by... Sivaji has a son now... Prabhu, who is into spirituality and wishes to lead life as a bachelor. Sivaji on one occasion, watches a dance by Bhuvani and jumps in glory that he has again found his Anarkali in that danseuse. He comes to know that the girl who danced was none other than Nalini's daughter. Nalini's daughter (Bhuvani) is now chosen as Anarkali and Prabhu is selected as Salim. Prabhu and Bhuvani fall in love in real life too. As the drama unfolds, finally Prabhu and Bhuvani die by taking poison in a touching climax. ===== Karuppusamy (Karan), is a happy go lucky guy in Madurai who is a small time contractor for a cycle stand. He also takes part in stage shows with his friends during temple festivals. Raasathi (Meenakshi), is a first year medical college student who meets Karuppusamy frequently while parking her cycle in the stand managed by Karuppusamy. Raasathi is very fond of her mother who passed away when she was young. Raasathi gets attracted towards Karuppusamy as his acts reminds her of her late mother. Raasathi proposes Karuppusamy and requests him to be with her, so that she feels that her mother lives with her in the form of Karuppusamy. Karuppusamy, although reluctant at initial stages, agrees to Raasathi. Parallel narration is the comedy track of Padithurai Pandi (Vadivelu). Meanwhile, there is Sakthi Kumar who frequently follows Raasathi, but she gets furious seeing him. Raasathi’s father finds out about her love for Karuppusamy and gets furious. Now, all her family members are united after a long gap citing this love issue. It is revealed that Sakthi Kumar is Raasathi’s cousin brother. A small flashback is shown where, Raasathi’s uncles were ruthless money lenders in Madurai. As they were very strict in money lending, they had a huge list of enemies as well. One of such enemies wanted to take revenge on Raasathi’s family and in the event, Raasathi’s mother gets accidentally killed. This makes Raasathi’s father abandon his family and moves alone with Raasathi. Coming to present, Raasathi’s family members are now united and they oppose her love for Karuppusamy. Karuppusamy meets Raasathi’s father and tries to convince him, but in vain. Raasathi’s family members lock her up in a room and decides to stop her education. Karuppusamy gets furious and requests them to send her to college, as he wanted her to continue her passion of becoming a doctor. Raasathi’s family members agree to send her to college but with a condition that Karuppusamy should never meet her. Karuppusamy agrees and Raasathi resumes her education now. But secretly, Raasathi’s family members plan for her wedding and her wedding is arranged without her knowledge itself. When Karuppusamy finds out this, he gets angry and goes to Raasathi’s house. He bashes all the goons and takes Raasathi with him. Karuppusamy scolds Raasathi’s family members for not keeping up their words. Karuppusamy also promises that he will support Raasathi’s education and help her fulfill her dream. Raasathi goes with Karuppusamy. ===== The novel takes place in New York City, where a chemical truck gets into an accident and spills its contents on the street. Curiously, the trucker has fake identification, and no one seems to have heard of the company name on the truck: "Ladies, INC." Later that evening, Tom Braun and his family go to a party. Tom gets into a shouting match with his wife, Susan, which their son, Andy, overhears. Andy retreats to his room to pack for a scout camping trip. After Tom leaves the apartment for the night, the women of New York who inhaled the spilled chemicals (including Susan) begin to have severe headaches. Within a short time, the women are overcome by a desire to have sex with any man they can find. Finally, the women begin attacking those who have not been similarly affected by the spilled chemicals. In increasingly gruesome scenes, women kill their children, husbands, brothers, etc., and the seemingly few unaffected women of the city. As Tom works with a small band of men to make it home to Andy, Susan first tries to mate with her son, then tries to kill him. Andy hides in a bathroom until an unaffected woman unknowingly saves his life by knocking on the door. The woman is subsequently attacked by Susan and other crazed women. Tom is wounded on his journey home, but manages to severely injure his wife before she can kill their son. Susan then kills Tom, whereupon Andy shoots his mom with several arrows (which he had for his camping trip) to make sure she is not able to recover from her injuries. ===== The story follows three genetically modified humans who work as guards for a large mining conglomeration in a far future Montana. It begins with the three of them being called out to track down an intruder on their employer's property. When they finally corner it they realize it is nothing more than a dog. Fascinated by the fact that it could still survive in their day and age they decide to keep it as a pet, and then constantly struggle to keep it fed, clean, healthy and alive. ===== Tokidoki is a Japanese high school student who, when he fails his history class, is sent to a high-tech history museum that virtually recreates the Edo period to do make-up work. However, what was supposed to be a simple school project becomes much more complicated when he's attacked by two supernatural beings known as "the nue" and "the yakou" and loses the vision in his left eye. After he's saved from the nue by a girl named Kuchiha, he realizes that he's no longer wearing the simulation goggles, and is trapped in the virtual Edo. Meanwhile, in the real world, Sensai Corporation, the virtual reality company who made the virtual museum Tokidoki is trapped in, is seen throughout the story. ===== Fred Simmons (Danny McBride) is a fourth-degree black belt in Taekwondo who runs his own dojang in a small North Carolina town. He styles himself a big shot, driving a Ferrari and extolling the virtues of Taekwondo to potential new students, but loses his confidence after he discovers that his wife, Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) gave her boss a handjob after a drunken office party. In order to restore his confidence, he attends a martial arts expo. He meets his idol, B movie action star Chuck "the Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), who in reality turns out to be a dirty and drunken mess. After nearly brawling with Chuck's seedy friends, Fred persuades Chuck to make an appearance at his upcoming Taekwondo belt test and then parties with his friends and students in Chuck's hotel room. Fred returns home and sells his Ferrari to pay Chuck's $10,000 appearance fee. Shortly thereafter, Suzie returns to Fred after losing her job. On the night before the belt test, Fred catches Suzie having sex with Chuck on his own couch. Fred challenges Chuck to a fight, but is eventually beaten and driven off. The next morning, Suzie once again asks to be taken back, but Fred rejects her and urinates on his wedding ring. Fred arrives at the test late, battered and bruised, but with his confidence restored. When Chuck arrives for his appearance, Fred challenges him to a martial arts demonstration of board breaking, which he wins. At the following belt ceremony, Fred reads a new student pledge that he has written, which outlines the goals and responsibilities of Taekwondo. ===== Rosie Forrest, known as "Auntie Roo", is a kind-mannered and children-loving American widow who resides at her English mansion, Forrest Grange, which she inherited from her British husband, an internationally acclaimed magician. Each year, she throws a lavish overnight Christmas party for ten of the best-mannered children at the local orphanage. Despite her warm demeanor, Rosie is in fact demented and mentally-ill, and keeps the mummified remains of her daughter Katharine in a nursery room in the attic, singing lullabies to her and trying to contact her spirit with the assistance of charlatan psychic Mr. Benton. On Christmas Eve, after the orphans are put to bed, Benton fools Rosie into believing that the voice of Clarine, one of the servants, during a staged séance is that of Katharine. Christopher and Katy Coombs are an orphaned brother and sister. Christopher has a wild imagination, telling stories about dragons and witches that frighten the other orphans. When he and Katy are not included in the list of ten orphans for the Christmas party at Auntie Roo's mansion, the two sneak into the car of Inspector Willoughby, who transfers the orphans to Forrest Grange, and are warmly welcomed by Auntie Roo. Auntie Roo is surprised to see the resemblance of her daughter Katharine to Katy and grows swiftly obsessed with her. After Christmas Day, Katy goes missing as the party ends and the other orphans leave. Auntie Roo promises to find her and send her back. Christopher soon suspects that Katy has been kidnapped by Auntie Roo. Meanwhile, Albie, the young, sadistic butler, discovers that Auntie Roo has Katy locked in the nursery room. He blackmails her into giving him £2,000 by threatening to reveal her secret to the police unless she pays to keep him quiet. After this, he and Clarine depart from the mansion and leave her alone with Katy. When no one believes Christopher about seeing Auntie Roo singing lullabies to the mummified Katharine, or that she has abducted Katy, he runs away to the mansion, but ends up trapped inside too. Auntie Roo wants to replace Katy for Katharine, but in Christopher's mind, he thinks Auntie Roo is really a witch wanting to devour him and his sister. Auntie Roo prepares a dinner for the coming New Year, while Christopher assists her. He steals the key to the nursery room. After Christopher frees Katy, Auntie Roo chases them to the kitchen, where Christopher tries to protect them with a knife. Knocking it from his hand with a piece of wood, Auntie Roo corners them in the pantry and locks the door. Auntie Roo hears in her mind her daughter shouting for her and runs to her coffin in the attic. When she tries to touch the corpse's face, it disintegrates to dust. Auntie Roo returns to the kitchen in a highly agitated state yelling "I have nothing, I have nothing." She turns the hourglass over to time her cooking and starts chopping potatoes with a large cleaver. She then hears the children from the pantry calling to her to let them out, but she resists listening to them. Katy then says "Please, Mommy", touching the heart of Auntie Roo. Completely lost in her delusions, she opens the door to embrace Katy ("Katharine"). Christopher knocks things from the high shelf, causing Auntie Roo to fall. The children lock the door, but Auntie Roo begins hacking at it with a cleaver. Christopher and Katy place the firewood that he had been fetching at the door and set it on fire with paraffin (kerosene). Smashing through parts of the door with the cleaver, Auntie Roo sees the fire and it comes into the pantry, surrounding her. Auntie Roo, deep in her psychosis, falls in a corner. The children emerge from the smoked-filled building, carrying the almost-forgotten teddy bear that belonged to Katharine (into which Katy and Christopher have placed all of Auntie Roo's jewelry), while Auntie Roo, surrounded by fire, shouts at Katy to come back to her. Outside, the orphans meet Auntie Roo's butcher, Mr. Harrison, who is delivering a whole piglet by horse-cart. He sees the smoke inside and drives off to call the fire brigade. Katy realizes that she was to cook the pig, but Christopher says that they were to be eaten after it. When he leaves, Christopher quips, "Bloody good fire", while inside, the whole cellar goes up in flames. The fire brigade arrives and puts out the fire, but are unable to rescue Auntie Roo. Inspector Willoughby will take the children back to the orphanage. Still outside Auntie Roo's mansion, Dr. Mason comments "Poor little devils, they'll probably have nightmares till the day they die". Christopher and Katy smile at each other, departing from the burned mansion, with Christopher ending the tale by saying "Hansel and Gretel knew that the wicked witch could not harm anyone else and they were happy. They also knew that with the wicked witch's treasure, they would not be hungry again. So they lived happily ever after." ===== Like many games that I Wanna Be the Guy parodies, the game's plot is straightforward and does not heavily impact gameplay. The player controls "The Kid", who is on a mission to become "The Guy". The entirety of the plot is given in a message during the opening credits, a parody of bad Japanese translations and broken English in early Nintendo Entertainment System games. At the end, The Kid reaches The Guy, who reveals that he not only killed "Former Grandfather The Guy", but that he is also "The Father" to The Kid. A battle between the two takes place ending with The Kid becoming "The New Guy". ===== A cocktail party is in full flow at the Kensington home of James and Pam Brent when there is a phone call. Mrs. Lamb, the Brent's housekeeper fetches James and the operator puts the call through. He hears a slightly ethereal voice that claims to be that of a woman called Fay. James is shocked and angry and demands to know who the caller really is. She repeats that she is Fay, she is at Newton Abbot railway station and that she is waiting for him. Pam comes into the hall from the party and James, shaken, slams the phone down but refuses to say who the caller was. He sends her back to look after his guests and rings the operator to find out where the call came from. He is stunned to find out that no call has been put through to his house today. Pam comes back from the party again, suspicious about what is going on. James tries to reassure her that there is no problem. Pam tells him that she has invited two friends who she hasn’t seen for a long time to come round and play bridge tomorrow. At a railway station a woman asks a porter where the telephone kiosk is for long-distance calls. After she has been pointed in the right direction, the porter turns to his colleague and tells him that she reminds him of someone – someone connected with the matter of a dead woman. James and Pam are playing bridge with Evan and Mary Curtis when another call comes through. After James has gone into the hall to take it, Pam confesses to Mary that she is worried as yesterday's call upset him so much. Mary suggests she listens in on the bedroom extension. Pam does so and hears as "Fay" speaks to James again. He demands to know who she is and where she is ringing from. For confirmation, she opens the door of the kiosk and he hears the guard's cry announcing Newton Abbot railway station. Fay asks if he has noticed the time – it is 7.15pm and she tells him that she is waiting for him. Again, James slams the phone down. His friends notice his shaken condition when he returns to them and he tells them he has a headache. They decide to leave him, promising to see James and Pam again after their trip to France, which starts the day after tomorrow. They go and soon after Pam asks who Fay is and confesses to listening into the call. James tells her that Fay was the name he called his first wife, despite the fact that Pam knew her name to be Florence and that she died a year ago. James tells her the death was an accident. They were at Newton Abbot station and Fay, suffering a dizzy spell, fell under the path of an oncoming train – at 7.15pm. James tries to dismiss the incident of the spectral phone, looking forward to their trip to France. The next day, Pam receives a phone call from Mr Enderby, their lawyer. He has seen to the matter of their will as arranged and now wants to know if he should retain it or should he send it on to their bank. Pam tells him the bank and Mr Enderby concludes the call by wishing her a pleasant and relaxing holiday and he hopes that she will recover from the dizzy spells she has been suffering from that James had told him about. Shaken, Pam thanks him and finishes the call – she hasn’t been suffering from any dizzy spells but before she can puzzle the matter out, she receives a second call. The ghostly caller announces herself as Fay Mortimer and tells Pam not to travel to France in a train with James. After the call is finished, James comes home and Pam asks him who Fay Mortimer is – she thought his first wife's name was Garland. James is furious but Pam is determined to go to Newton Abbot the next day and to be there at 7.15pm to see what is happening. If James will not go with her, she will go alone. The next day the two are at the station at the appointed time. Pam makes James talk through the sequence of events of what happened the year before and James tells again of Fay's dizzy spells. Pam uses this prompt to tell James of Mr. Enderby's comments on the phone yesterday. James is annoyed but before the conversation can progress, Fay herself walks along the platform towards them, saying that she has been waiting for him since he pushed her under the train the year before. Shocked and panicking, James backs off and falls into the path of a train passing through. Pam faints. She comes to in the office of the station master with Inspector Narracott of the police bending over her. He tells her that her husband is dead. It is fortunate for her as he has little doubt that she would not have survived the trip to France. James has murdered three wives before in the same fashion: one in Scandinavia, one in Wales and the last one here at Newton Abbot a year ago. She is introduced to "Fay" – it is, in fact, the dead girl's mother who, her voice sounding similar and made- up to look younger, agreed to help the police trap the murderer of her daughter. The first time she rang she was in London, the second time was in Newton Abbot but no one was in the third time she called. Pam tells her she was mistaken – she spoke to her and warned her not to travel by train with James. Fay's mother tells her that it is she who is mistaken. She has never spoken with Pam before. Pam is more disconcerted than ever – who did she speak to? ===== After a brief courtship, a man marries an enchanting woman, and then things begin to go terribly wrong. During their honeymoon on the foggy Oregon coast, he discovers her shocking secrets as those around them begin to die horrible and violent deaths, one by one. He soon learns that you really don't know someone until you marry them. ===== The story commences in 1939. Alex Schottland, a Colonel in charge of supplies in the German Army, is actually a long-entrenched British agent who was planted in Germany toward the end of the First World War. He is growing weary of being a spy, but is urged to continue by his friend and fellow British agent, Cornaz, who is posing as an antique dealer. In 1941, Schottland passes on information that Germany is about to invade the Soviet Union. Captain Reinisch, a Gestapo agent and Schottland's suspicious aide, discovers that Schottland has changed his original name and is of British ancestry. However, his superiors already know about Schottland's past and scoff at the possibility that he is a spy. To deflect suspicion and boost his own credibility as a loyal Nazi, Schottland claims at a staff meeting that "defeatists" inside the German high command have leaked military information to the enemy. Cornaz is arrested after their courier to the British is intercepted. Schottland, as a customer at the antique shop, is summoned to headquarters for questioning. There Schottland is forced to watch as Gestapo officer Müller tortures Cornaz in a scene in which a fire hose is used to force water into Cornaz's bowels. This kills him, so there is little actual evidence to incriminate Schottland. Though he is arrested, the General is soon released on the intervention of a high-ranking Nazi, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who had been convinced of his sincerity when Schottland seemingly damaged his own position with his accusation of defeatism among the General Staff. Cornaz's replacement as a relayer of military information to the British is the attractive singer Lili Geyr. Though drawn to each other, they agree not to get involved emotionally, but Schottland pretends to be having an affair with her while actually passing on information. The pretence further antagonizes Reinisch, who is in love with Geyr himself. Schottland wishes to pass on news of the attempt to break through Allied lines in the Battle of the Bulge, but Geyr no longer has means of communicating the information to the British. When Schottland is ordered to the front, he drives off the main road and tries to contact the Allies via a radio transmitter, but is forced to shoot a corporal who interrupts him. Schottland returns to Berlin and, now unable to transmit vital news, decides to sabotage the German war effort by tricking Hitler into making strategic military blunders. He does this successfully by catering to Hitler's vanity and deluded sense of the realities of the military situation. With the war nearing its end, Schottland sends Geyr to cross over to the Allies. The plan is that once safely behind the lines she is to stay there, and after the war she and Schottland will re-unite in London and live together, at last acknowledging the strength of their relationship. Geyr is intercepted by Reinisch, who follows and shoots her, in the process getting his hands on incontrovertible evidence of Schottland's involvement in giving away German military secrets. Reinisch does not immediately act on what he has learned, however. His attempt to contact his superiors in the Gestapo fails because the communication network is in chaos. When he finally confronts Schottland the next morning at Schottland's home, they fight, struggle for a dropped gun, and Schottland kills Reinisch. He then requests an immediate meeting with Hitler, where he implicates capable German generals as defeatists so that they will be relieved of their duties, and also casts suspicion on Müller, who as a result is also arrested. Having volunteered to contact a missing general to assist in the defence of Berlin, Schottland is driven along an autobahn. Orders are received to pursue him, but he cuts across the forest towards the Allied lines. Camouflaged troops capture him, and on realising they are British his face breaks into a relieved smile. ===== A real estate developer (Eric Roberts) sells out his partner in order to clear the path for the construction of a hotel in the Malibu hills. However he slowly discovers that all those he's plotting with to build the hotel may have recently escaped from local insane asylum. ===== In the Imperial China of the Qing dynasty, there are five brothers who "all looked exactly alike." They each possess a special talent: one can swallow the sea, one has an unbreakable iron neck, one can stretch his legs to incredible lengths, one can survive being burned, and one can hold his breath forever. One of the brothers, a fisherman, agrees to let a young boy accompany him on his fishing trip. He holds the entire sea in his mouth so that the boy can retrieve fish from the seabed. When he can no longer hold in the sea, he frantically signals for the boy to return to shore, but the boy ignores him and drowns when the man releases the water. The man is accused of murder and sentenced to death. However, one by one, his four brothers assume his place (by switching roles through the ruse of convincing the judge to let them return home briefly to bid their mother goodbye) when subjected to execution and each uses his own superhuman ability to survive beheading, drowning, burning and suffocation. Finally, the judge decrees that since the man could not be executed, he must have been innocent. The man is released, and all the brothers live happily ever after with their mother. ===== The book opens with a scene of a seabird flying through the clouds. It falls out of the sky with exhaustion and crashes through a window, dying, where it is found by a strange golem-like creature. Then later that day in the other side of Orokos in the ghettos, the two protagonists, Rail and Moa, are sent on a mission to steal from the hideous creatures called Mozgas. They sneak through a large building and find a small box with different sorts of treasure within. Rail also finds an artifact that is known to be Fade- Science. They manage just to escape from the Mozgas and report back to the obese thief mistress Anya-Jacana. Rail debates about whether to give her the Fade Science but chooses not to. They depart and leave for their small living place. Anya-Jacana sends a small group of boys, led by her favorite, Finch, to get the artifact off them. They arrive soon enough and Rail and Moa are trapped. Moa then puts the artifact on her hand and manages to fall through the wall behind them. She pulls Rail through just as the gang enters. They discover the artifact can open 'doors' though solid objects. As Rail and Moa escape, they meet a golem named Vago. He had escaped from his own master after getting beaten. The three proceed to discover the truth behind their unjust society.. ===== Fanny (Phyllis Calvert) finishes at boarding school in 1880 and returns to London, where she witnesses Lord Manderstoke (James Mason) fight and kill her supposed father. She soon learns that her family has run a brothel next door to her home and (on her mother's death) that he was not her real father. She goes to meet her real father – a respected politician – and falls in love with Harry Somerford (Stewart Granger), his advisor. Manderstoke continues to thwart her happiness. ===== The Maasai people become aware that a global crisis is approaching. Malevolent, unearthly creatures called shetani, which inhabit another dimension the Maasai know as the “Out Of” (because all things, such as humans, animals and plants, originally came "out of" it), are finding their way into the world. They are fomenting trouble between the superpowers, intent on causing mischief up to and including war. If not prevented, the barriers between the two dimensions will be breached and uncountable hordes of shetani will overrun the world, destroying all life. Olkeloki, a Maasai elder, comes to Washington, D.C. to warn the US President and seek help. He encounters Joshua Oak, a disenchanted FBI agent, and Merry Sharrow, a shy and unfulfilled call centre worker. He is convinced that they are the key people he has been seeking, and his persuasion, coupled with several dangerous encounters with shetani, convince them to return with him to Africa, where they join in Maasai attempts to hold back the shetani. Eventually, Olkeloki takes Merry and Oak into the Out Of, where, with their help, he performs a ritual which seals the breach between dimensions, sacrificing his own supernatural powers in the process. All three return to this world, where the shetani’s tricks have ended and the diplomatic crisis is receding, and Oak and Merry realize they have found what they have been looking for in each other. ===== Europe 1944: Fragile Fox is a company of the US National Guard staging in a Belgian town near the front line implying it was from Texas, but the Texas National Guard's 36th Infantry Division never fought in Belgium. They are led by Captain Erskine Cooney (Eddie Albert), who appears to be better at handling red tape than combat. Cooney freezes under fire and cannot bring himself to send more men into battle to reinforce those already under attack. The increasing and unnecessary loss of life caused by Cooney's actions is lowering unit morale and trying the patience of platoon leader Lieutenant Joe Costa (Jack Palance). The executive officer, Lt. Harold Woodruff (William Smithers, in his first credited screen role), is the "voice of reason" who tries to keep the peace between Cooney and Costa. Woodruff tries to get Cooney reassigned to a desk job. It is well known that Cooney owes his position to the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Clyde Bartlett (Lee Marvin), who has known the Cooney family since he was a 14-year- old clerk in the office of Cooney's father, a politically powerful judge. The judge's influence could be very useful to Bartlett's post-war political ambitions. When the Germans launch the Battle of the Bulge, Bartlett orders Cooney to seize the town of La Nelle. Unsure whether the Germans are there or not, Cooney overrules an all-out attack and decides that Costa should lead a reconnaissance mission. Costa agrees, provided that both Cooney and Woodruff promise to send reinforcements if necessary. As the platoon approaches La Nelle, the men come under fire - the town, as it turns out, is strongly held by German troops backed up by mortars and tanks. Most of Costa's platoon is killed or wounded. He and the survivors (Platoon Sergeant Tolliver, Private First Class Bernstein, Pfc. Ricks and Pvt, Snowden) take refuge in a farmhouse. When Costa calls for reinforcements, Cooney ignores his request and begins drinking. Costa and his men capture a German SS officer and a soldier. But when tanks start shelling the house, he has no choice but to retreat. He furiously tells Woodruff over the radio to warn Cooney that he's "coming back!" Lee Marvin as the manipulative colonel Lee Marvin and Eddie Albert In the confusion Costa goes missing in action. The rest of the men manage to get back to town, though Ricks (James Goodwin) is killed. The men show their contempt for Cooney. Bartlett reprimands Cooney for failing to send in his entire company to take La Nelle. As a result, the Germans are advancing on their position; he tells Woodruff and Cooney that they must hold. Bartlett threatens to arrest Cooney if he falls back, as it would leave another company unprotected and the Germans would be able to "roll up the entire front line". When Cooney begs to be reassigned, an enraged Bartlett strikes him. Woodruff threatens Bartlett saying he will tell the commanding general, Gen. Parsons, the whole story. With the pressure building up inside him, Cooney turns to drink again, but Woodruff smashes the bottle. After that, Cooney has a mental breakdown. Feeling sorry for him, Woodruff tells him to sleep it off and is about to assume command when Costa suddenly reappears, determined to kill Cooney. As they argue, they are told by Corporal Jackson (Jon Shepodd) that the town is being overrun. Costa disables an enemy tank with a bazooka, but is gravely wounded when another tank he disables drives over his arm. Woodruff, Tolliver, Bernstein, Jackson and Snowden (Richard Jaeckel) take refuge in a basement, followed shortly afterward by Cooney. Bernstein's leg is broken when a beam falls on it. They try to get out, but the way is blocked. Costa suddenly appears. With only minutes to live, he appeals to God to give him enough strength to kill Cooney, but collapses and dies. Cooney suggests surrendering, even though they have not been discovered. Woodruff warns him that he will shoot him if he tries. When Cooney does, Woodruff kills him. Woodruff insists that Tolliver place him under arrest, but he and the other GIs reject this. They then take turns shooting Cooney's body themselves, all except Snowden, who has gone to see if the Germans heard the shots. American reinforcements arrive, and the Germans retreat. Told by the men that Cooney was killed by the Germans, Bartlett-who has figured out that it wasn't the Germans but Cooney's own men who killed him-puts Woodruff in command. Bartlett gives him a field promotion to captain, but then announces that he is going to nominate Cooney for the Distinguished Service Cross award. Outraged, Woodruff accuses Bartlett of orchestrating the whole thing in order to get rid of Cooney and gain favor with his powerful father. Bartlett remarks that Woodruff has too much to lose if he makes the whole affair public, but as the film ends, Woodruff calls the commanding general, Gen. Parsons, on the radio to file a full report. ===== In Miami, Florida, the sadistic and vacuous retired heavyweight boxing champion Cleon Salmon owns the critically acclaimed sports-themed restaurant The Slammin' Salmon. His staff comprises of manager Rich, socially inept Nuts, callous Guy, pre-med Tara, ballet student Mia, bit player Connor, and chef Dave with his busboy twin brother Donnie. Cleon orders Rich to make $20,000 for the night to pay the yakuza, whom he owed said amount after losing a bet hunting albino in Japan; otherwise, the yakuza would take the restaurant. Cleon explains that he is strapped for cash as he just bought "some land on the moon next to John Travolta". Rich reluctantly agrees, horrified that if he refused his order, Cleon would get beat up and decapitated as what he did to his dead boxing opponents. Rich makes only $2,000 in the beginning of the shift, and notices that his staff is slacking at work. An hour and a half later, Rich incentivizes them with a "prize" of a four-day, three-night stay at a resort hotel in Key Largo that he booked by imitating Cleon's intimidating voice via phone call. Although the staff profits from selling their expensive cod meal, Connor, Nuts, and Mia all get into trouble while serving. Rich accidentally swallows an engagement ring that buried into a brownie and belonged to Connor's table, Nuts begins acting strange while serving, and Mia suffers a first-degree burn after Guy slips and accidentally spills a hot soup onto her. Consequently, the ring's owner becomes livid, and Mia's burnt face affects her ability to coax male customers into buying their specialty. Cleon is disappointed when the staff made only $12,000 for the final hours. As a result, he incentivizes them with a cash prize of $10,000 for the top-selling waiter and a "broken rib sandwich" to whoever is in last place. When Rich argues that giving away $10,000 would be counterproductive to collecting his debt, Cleon retorts that he "ain't a number's man. I punch people for a living." The staff become determined to win the prize and avoid Cleon's beating, and some attempt to one-up the other. Guy grows impatient with a bibliophile man who has not ordered a meal since he sat. It causes him to relinquish his table to Donnie, whom Rich recently promoted to waiting tables on the spot. Due to his inexperience waiting and his clumsiness, Donnie gets into trouble with a table occupied by British men and attempts to escape from work with the fear of disappointing Cleon, only to be thwarted by him on the street. Tara then sees Donnie crying in the cold storage room and tells her that he is afraid will get beat up by Cleon if he finished last. She then uplifts Donnie and offers one of her tables that she claims, and offers a great tip and good check for him. Meanwhile, Nuts fails to take his medication on time and transforms into his bizarre split personality Zongo who then force-feeds a cod meal into a customer's mouth while being bottomless underneath his apron. This causes Cleon to punch him in the gut and fall unconscious. Rich consumes a laxative and successfully defecates the ring. Guy is frustrated when Donnie outranks him on the scoreboard. He then fabricates a lie that the Alaskan king crab had spoiled in an attempt to sabotage a table Donnie is waiting at, causing Donny's customers turn at Guy. Meanwhile, Mia causes a table to puke and bail out after strands of her bloodied hair Guy blew fall in a customer's drink. Tara does not earn a tip from a greedy customer, but Connor does even though it come from an estranged TV producer he once worked with. At closing time, the bibliophile man gives Donnie a $1,000 tip; he explains that he is dying of a terminal illness and Donnie was the only waiter content to let him read his copy of War and Peace quietly. After bidding Donnie farewell, however, the man gets rammed by a horse to death. Later, Rich announces the top-seller as Tara, whom Donnie boosted to victory by giving her his huge tip to repay hers kindness when they were in the cold storage together. Cleon is disappointed at Rich when the staff made only $19,000 the whole night. When Cleon takes the staffs' tips to supply the missing amount, Rich toughens up and confronts Cleonm who then realizes that he only owed 20,000 yen ($170) and shares the takings with the staff. Since Guy is the lowest-selling waiter, Cleon beats him before paying the yakuza. ===== The Three Little Pigs become the target of a special-ops team of wolves. The wolves' plan to finally infiltrate the impenetrable house of bricks by leaving a tiny wolf cub on the unassuming pigs' doorstep. The pigs take the baby in and raise him as their own. The newest addition to their family, Lucky, grows up into his teens not knowing his history, his role in the wolves' plan or the difficult choice he will have to make about the family that raised him."3 Pigs and a Baby" on DVD Today!. March 4, 2008. ===== After losing, the hare challenges his rival the tortoise to a hike. ===== Goldilocks, a spoiled television star, moves in with a family of three bears to be filmed in a Big Brother-style reality TV show. ===== Andrea Richler (Paule Baillargeon) is a well-known director who returns to her home town of Montreal to film a high-budget musical drama. At her hotel, she has a brief but unsettling encounter with a suicidal elderly woman named Estelle (Louise Marleau). This is briefly forgotten until later when she meets the old lady again and with mounting incredulity Andrea discovers that the actual events in the woman's life mirror the fictional events in the director's film. ===== In her first appearance, "Bad Day at Black Rock", Bela Talbot hires two crooks to steal a cursed rabbit's foot from a storage container owned by the deceased John Winchester, a hunter of supernatural creatures. Anyone who touches the foot is granted good luck, but will die within a week if the foot is lost. She intends to sell it and shows no concern for the fate of the thieves. John's sons, series protagonists Sam and Dean, retrieve the foot but are cursed by it. Bela interferes when they attempt to destroy it, and shoots Sam in the shoulder. Dean, however, tricks her into touching it. She gives the foot up for destruction to save herself, but manages to steal $46,000 in winning lottery tickets from Dean that he had purchased using the foot's granted luck. She next appears in "Red Sky at Morning", an episode in which the Winchesters track down a ghost ship responsible for local deaths. Bela fools them into helping her again, with the three of them working together to steal the precious and magical Hand of Glory. The Winchesters plan to destroy the artifact to end the curse, but Bela steals it from them to sell to a client. However, Bela then witnesses the ghost ship, which only appears to those who have spilled the blood of a family member. Condemned to death, she turns to the Winchesters for help. Dean is prepared to leave her behind to die, but Sam comes up with a plan to save Bela's life. This time, Bela gives them $10,000 as a "thank you" before she leaves because she does not like being indebted to others. In "Fresh Blood", hunter and recently escaped felon Gordon Walker tracks Bela down and threatens to kill her unless she reveals the location of the Winchesters, as he plans to kill Sam. Bela agrees to find out their location in exchange for his priceless mojo bag, and has an unsuspecting Dean disclose their whereabouts to her. After Dean threatens to kill her, she uses a Ouija board to placate him by obtaining information on Gordon's location so the Winchesters can neutralize the other hunter first. In "Dream a Little Dream of Me", Bela returns when the Winchesters contact her for help in saving fellow hunter and family friend Bobby Singer after he falls into a mystical coma. They need dream root to enter Bobby's dreams and find out what is keeping him asleep. She claims nothing from them in compensation, explaining she is helping them in order to repay a debt to Bobby. However, the Winchesters discover after Bobby awakens that she was lying, having helped them only in order to gain access to the Colt, a mystical gun capable of killing any being. Enraged at the theft, Dean and Sam attempt to track her down in "Jus in Bello", but instead are led into a trap she has set up; police arrest the Winchesters and place them in jail. Though the demonic overlord Lilith sends her forces, Sam and Dean eventually make their escape. In "Time Is On My Side", Dean discovers Bela no longer has the Colt. He later gets her criminal record from England and learns her true name is Abbie. Almost ten years prior, when she was 14, she had her parents killed in exchange for her soul as part of a ten-year deal made with a Crossroads Demon; though Dean believes that she killed them to inherit their fortune and Bela supports this story, the audience is shown a flashback that suggests that she had actually agreed to the deal to escape abuse from her father. Now desperate because her time is running out, Bela tries to kill the Winchesters, but they anticipate her and escape ahead of time. Dean then calls her a few minutes before her deal is up and she confesses to him she tried to get out of the deal with the Crossroads Demon by trading the Colt. Once she gave it up, however, the deal changed so that she had to kill Sam as well. Though Dean refuses her pleas for help, she reveals to him that the demon Lilith holds all the contracts brokered by Crossroads Demons, including his own, hoping that Dean can kill Lilith. Bela's death and her soul's resulting descent into Hell is inevitable, but not shown with the hellhounds heard barking outside of the room she is in. In season 5's "The Real Ghostbusters," Becky Rosen reveals to Sam that in Chuck's book version of "Time Is On My Side," Bela had lied about giving the Colt to Lilith. Instead she had given it to Crowley, Lilith's right-hand man and possibly her lover. Learning who Bela had really given the gun to gives the Winchesters their first real lead on where to find the Colt. ===== A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five women in Ethiopia who are ostracized by their family and villages due to their suffering from obstetric fistula, a serious medical condition caused by failed childbirth under conditions of insurmountable poverty and inadequate health care. These women live in isolation with a sense of loneliness and shame due to rejection by their own. Each of these five women chose to reclaim her life by taking the long and exhausting journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, so she could receive the medical treatment available only there. Upon arriving at the hospital, the women are treated free of charge, resulting in new beginnings. Not every patient can be cured, but each woman takes her own journey toward becoming an independent and productive member of her community once again. ===== The film follows Ibro (Emir Hadžihafizbegović) and his son Armin (Armin Omerović), who travel from a small town in Bosnia to a film audition in Zagreb, hoping to land a part for Armin in a German film about the war in Bosnia. On their way to fulfilling the boy's dream, they encounter a series of disappointing setbacks — their bus to Zagreb breaks down and they are late for the audition. After Ibro convinces the director to give the boy a second chance, they soon realize that Armin is too old for the part anyway. As it becomes obvious that Armin's dream of playing a part in the movie will never happen, he feels increasingly disheartened, while Ibro's determination to help his son grows. Finally they do get another chance, but Armin buckles under the pressure and experiences an epileptic seizure. As they get ready to head back to Bosnia, the film crew makes an unexpected offer, but when Ibro refuses, Armin at last realizes how much his father really loves him. ===== The opening scenes give you an indication of how the movie is going to shape up. NRI Krishna returns to his village with his wife and child to work for the upliftment of the village folk. However, when the family, along with his old father, is on its way home with the money, PR Pothuraju (Prakash Raj) betrays everyone by killing them and running away with the money, leaving his wife and son behind. Pothuraju is the head of a huge empire and is known for his nefarious connections and illegal dealings. He is supported at every step by his friend and partner Seshu (Ashish Vidyarthi). Enters our hero Kantri (Jr. NTR), who flexes his muscles, shakes his leg, and gets into Pothuraju's gang to earn money for his orphanage where he grew up (he is orphaned at a very young age). Kantri falls in love with Varalakshmi (Hansika Motwani), who is such a lucky girl that she wins a foreign trip, house, and household gadgets for her family. However, she initially does not like Kantri. An ambitious Kantri rises up pretty fast in life and meets Pothuraju in Hong Kong. However, an issue comes which makes Kantri separate from Pothuraju's gang. He takes money from Das (Sayaji Shinde) to kill Pothuraju. Before he has his chance to do so, he is told that Pothuraju is actually his father. The hatred becomes attached, and Seshu's daughter Priya (Tanisha Mukherjee) falls in love with Kantri. However, some differences arise between PR and Seshu. How Kantri puts an end to all this and clears the confusion forms the rest of the story. This movie has some stylish fights and good action sequences. ===== Joe Meek was one of Britain's premier independent record producers of the late fifties and early sixties, renowned for his pioneering recording techniques and for the futuristic sound of the records he produced, but notorious for his eccentric personality. His biggest success was the production of the Tornados' 1962 worldwide #1 hit "Telstar". After a long struggle with debt, paranoia and depression, he killed his landlady Violet Shenton and shot himself on February 3, 1967. The documentary was shown as a work-in-progress on the opening night of the 2008 Sensoria Music & Film Festival in Sheffield, on April 12, 2008. Sensoria 2008: A Life in the Death of Joe Meek Retrieved August 11, 2012 Later in 2008 it was shown at the Cambridge Film FestivalCinebeats, 12 September 2008: A Life in the Death of Joe Meek Retrieved August 11, 2012 and the Raindance Film Festival in London.Raindance Festival 2008: A Life in the Death... Retrieved August 11, 2012 A North American premiere of the film opened the Chattanooga Film Festival on April 3, 2014.Chattanooga Film Festival Announces Feature Music Documentary For Opening Night Retrieved May 20, 2014 The documentary contains over 60 interviews with Meek's family, close friends, associates, musicians and pop culture movers and shakers. ===== Peter Standish is an American atomic scientist who is working in a nuclear laboratory in London. His co-worker Roger Forsyth, who is worried about Peter's lack of social activities, takes him to a house in Berkeley Square he inherited. It is there that Peter announces his wishes of living in the 18th century among the high-class family Petigrew he has studied the last years. Because of a lightning strike, he is brought back to 1784, where he is thought to be the first Peter Standish, the American cousin of the Petigrews who, according to history, will soon romance and marry Kate Petigrew. Peter falls for Kate, but he is more interested in her sister Helen, of whom he has never found any records. Over the next few days, Peter makes several bad impressions on the family by using modern day language and revealing information he could not have known if he had actually grown up in the 18th century. Helen, however, is the only one not suspicious of Peter's presence and falls in love with him as well. Peter admits to her that the 18th century is not what he thought it would be. The narrow-minded people, the poverty and the dirt irritate him. Furthermore, he admits that he is from the future and shows Helen his hidden laboratory in the basement with modern inventions. Rather than being afraid, Helen becomes even more interested in Peter. They fall in love, despite Peter's awareness that he has to marry Kate in order to not change history. Helen begs him not to say things which makes him look odd, and that night, at a formal party, Peter tries to impress the famous Duchess of Devonshire, but he accidentally talks about her as if he is talking about her legacy, which makes her uneasy. Kate is fed up with Peter and announces that she will not marry him. Rather than trying to court her somehow, Peter is drawn to Helen, who is interested on finding out more about the future. Things start to look bad for Peter when his laboratory is uncovered. He is committed to the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Before being brought away, he rushes to Helen's room, where she places a crux ansata to remind him of her love for him. While he is being taken away, lightning strikes again and Peter is back in present life. There, Forsyth tells him he has been acting like a mad man for the past seven weeks. Peter is shocked when he meets Forsyth's sister Martha, who resembles Helen. He rushes out to the graveyard in front of his house, where he not only discovers Helen's grave, but that she died of grief shortly after he was taken away to the asylum. ===== Dirt Merchant is a young man who struggles finding a job after getting fired from the mailroom at a record company where he dreamed of becoming assistant director. Eventually he becomes a summons server but gets in trouble when a rock star overdoses and he is framed for murdering him. He has to solve the case and deal with his feelings for his ex-girlfriend Angie while also dealing with the rock star's porn star girlfriend Holly So Tightly. ===== In 1931, a Missourian meat heiress is robbed by three men, who panic after murdering her boyfriend and kidnap her. At their hideout, the three are ambushed and killed by Eddie Hagan, who happened to witness the crime, and the rest of the notorious Grissom Gang. Barbara Blandish is held captive by the gang, including Slim Grissom, a mentally handicapped thug who falls in love with her. Ma Grissom, the gang's boss, sends a ransom note to the girl's father, John P. Blandish, demanding a million dollars for her return. But she has no intention of returning Barbara, and the plan to kill her meets the disapproval of Ma's husband Doc. Private detective Dave Fenner is hired by Barbara's father as weeks go by. After at first insulting Slim as a "halfwit" and repelling his advances, Barbara realizes that the only thing keeping her alive is his desire for her, Slim vowing to kill any gang member who harms her. She reluctantly becomes Slim's lover. Nightclub singer Anna Borg has no idea what became of her boyfriend, one of the kidnappers who got killed. She pulls a gun on Eddie, who lies that Anna's boyfriend ran off with another woman. Anna allows herself to be seduced by Eddie, who then murders two men with knowledge of the crime. Months go by. Fenner, out of ideas, poses as a theatrical agent who can help Anna's singing career. He gets her talking about past criminal associations and learns where the missing girl might be. A furious Eddie kills Anna, then goes after Barbara only to have Slim stab him to death. Ma uses a machine gun to fight police and kills her husband Doc when he tries to surrender. Slim dies in a hail of bullets, but when Barbara weeps over him, her disgusted father walks away. ===== The day before the fourteen-year-old Arthur "Artie" Kipps leaves to begin a seven- year apprenticeship in a draper's shop, he asks his friend's sister, Ann Pornick, to be his girl. She gladly agrees. They split a silver sixpence and each keeps half. Kipps goes to work for Mr. Shalford (Lloyd Pearson). Years pass and Kipps grows up into an unremarkable young man. One day, he attends a free lecture on self-improvement presented by Chester Coote (Max Adrian) and decides to take a course. Coote, disdaining Kipps' lower class origins, steers the young man away from the literature class he wants to take to a woodworking class taught by Helen Walshingham (Diana Wynyard), a member of the local gentry. Kipps is soon smitten with his lovely teacher, but she is mindful of his social inferiority and ignores him. One night, actor and playwright Chitterlow (Arthur Riscoe), riding a bicycle, collides with Kipps and tears his trousers. He takes Kipps back to his lodgings to repair his clothes. They get drunk together, while Chitterlow tells Kipps about his latest play, a comedy involving a beetle. By coincidence, one of Chitterlow's characters is also called Kipps, a name the writer got from a newspaper advertisement. When Kipps shows up for work late, he is sacked for breaking one of Mr. Shalford's strict rules of conduct. Then, Chitterlow tells Kipps that the advertisement was about him. It turns out Kipps has inherited a large house and a fortune (£26,000) from a grandfather he had never met. Chitterlow talks Kipps into investing £300 in his new play for a half share. At the bank, they run into Mr. Coote. Coote suggests Kipps employ new solicitor Ronnie Walshingham (Michael Wilding) to look after his fortune. When Kipps finds out the man is Helen's brother, he becomes interested. Soon, Coote and the Walshinghams have manoeuvred the naive Kipps into an engagement with Helen (though no encouragement is required), but he cannot handle her attempts at his self- improvement. Then, Kipps meets Ann, now a parlour maid, on her day off. His feelings for her resurface and he kisses her. Later, when he and the Walshinghams attend a party, Kipps is mortified to find the front door opened by Ann. During the gathering, Ann overhears the news of his engagement to Helen and rushes away. Kipps finds her and tells her he loves her. They sneak away to get married. The newlyweds clash over Kipps' insistence on maintaining his lofty social position. Then, Kipps receives a request to go to Ronnie Walshingham's office. Dreading a breach-of-promise suit, Kipps is surprised to meet Helen, rather than Ronnie. She has terrible news for him. Ronnie has lost all Kipps' money and fled. The good-natured man reassures Helen that he will not set the police on her brother. Just when all seems blackest, Chitterlow shows up in the middle of the night and informs Kipps that his play is a great success, and Kipps has a half-share in the profits. It is enough for Kipps to set up a bookshop and live comfortably with Ann and their baby son. ===== The book starts off with Hank watching Slim and High Loper working on the machine shed. Later on Hank and Drover are sleeping under the gas tank when Pete the local barn cat comes around and begins playing with Hank's tail. Pete then begins talking to Hank in his sleep and Hank wakes up and gets angry at Pete. Later on a Chevy pickup truck comes up and on the back is the collie, Beulah, and her boyfriend the English pointer, Plato. Plato is here to sniff out birds such as quail and pheasants so the humans can shoot them. With Plato scaring up birds, Hank tries to scare up birds as well, but he decides that quails and pheasants are too small. So he scares a group of turkeys and while most of the turkeys go running, one fights with Hank. Sally May then gets angry at Hank for scaring up the turkeys. Later on Plato comes to Hank and says that Beulah has been captured by a coyote or as Hank usually calls them 'cannibals'. He and Plato go off into the wilderness and find that Beulah has been taken captive by the coyotes, Scraunch the Terrible, who has a half-scarred face. Beulah says that Scraunch jumped her while she was getting a drink. Scraunch then says that he's going to make Beulah one of his wives. So, Hank via song tells Beulah that once he's done singing he'll punch Scraunch. He and Scraunch get into a fight while Plato and Beulah run. In the end the humans come in time to find Scraunch walking away after stuffing Hank into a log. ===== Devin Ratray is a musician and besotted admirer of Condoleezza Rice, 'Condi,' who travels across America, learning more about Rice from those who knew her. He speaks to her childhood friends in Birmingham, Alabama. In Denver, Colorado, he performs at Red Rocks, where he meets some of her former teachers, and the one man to whom Rice has been engaged, Rick Upchurch. Upchurch tells Devin that Rice made an oath to God not to have sex before she got married, and deduces that her continued single status and her enduring Christianity confirm that she is still a virgin. Ratray follows Rice's rise to Provost of Stanford University, where he discovers that, while in that position, she departed from the practice of applying affirmative action to tenure. In Los Angeles, he is given courtship advice by Adrian Grenier and cult comedian Jim Norton and is presented with a power ballad to send to Condi from Oscar nominated songwriter Carol Connors. When he arrives in Washington, D.C., he is assisted by Republican strategist Frank Luntz and is counseled by Newsweek editor Eleanor Clift. Ratray also learns from various people he meets along the way about Rice's controversial statements to the 9/11 Commission. Through interactions with and clips featuring Colin Powell's Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson, 9/11 Commission investigator Richard Ben-Veniste, and Congressman David Price, Ratray gets a fuller picture of how Rice's political positions and political philosophy developed and changed over the years. Finally, Glenn Kessler, a Washington Post reporter and author of a book about Rice and the Bush Administration, discusses Rice's involvement with the government's use of torture during the War on Terror. ===== During the First World War, Lieutenant Richard Saville, a young Royal Navy officer on five days' leave, and Miss Lucinda Bentley, a merchant's daughter from Portsmouth, get talking on the train up to London. Halfway through their journey, they miss their rail connection and spend a romantic holiday in the countryside of southern England. When Saville proposes, she accepts, but on the day they are due to go back to Portsmouth, she changes her mind, asking Saville to realise that neither he nor she could bear being parted for the long periods he would be at sea. They part, seemingly forever. Saville serves out the First World War and the inter-war years and, by the first years of the Second World War, he is in command of a squadron of three cruisers on convoy duty in the Pacific. He receives a message from a British merchantman just before it is sunk by the German raider Essen, but HMS Stratford, the flagship of Saville's squadron is too low on fuel for pursuit and the convoy cannot be left unguarded. Saville decides to remain with the convoy while his other two ships - HMS Amesbury and HMS Cambridge - chase after the raider. Cambridge then has to stop to pick up survivors from the merchantman, leaving the Amesbury on her own. Amesbury finds and attacks the Essen, scoring a major torpedo hit on the Essen’s bow, but is sunk with the loss of all but two hands, Petty Officer Wheatley and Signalman Andrew 'Canada' Brown. Brown is the son of a mother keen on the navy and thus knows more about naval tactics, strategy and gunnery than most of his rank. The Essen picks up the two survivors. Meanwhile, news of the Amesbury’s fate reaches Saville in the Stratford. Saville decides to take a risk and go after the Essen with Cambridge. While the Essen is anchored in a rocky lagoon for 36 hours to carry out repairs, Brown manages to escape to the heights around the lagoon with a rifle, Having won marksmanship prizes, he proceeds to pick off sailors working on the repairs, leading the Essen’s captain to use his ship's AA guns and then big guns in a vain attempt to dislodge Brown. Finally, he sends a party of marines to hunt Brown down, but just as they are about to kill him, they are recalled and the Essen departs. Brown collapses, seriously wounded. As the Essen leaves the lagoon, she is caught and sunk by Saville's force. One of her survivors informs the British of Brown's exploits, which delayed repairs for 18 hours, thus enabling the British to catch up with them. A landing party is sent ashore from Saville's force to find him. ===== Martial arts champion Andre Lima's fighting days ended with his wife's death. The past nine years Andre has struggled to rebuild his world around his two children. When his daughter's health suddenly fails, his finances collapse. Returning to the ring to save her life, Andre finds himself in a fight to save his own. ===== While Hank is spying on the turkeys, Slim arrives in a gloomy mood and he and Loper deposit their checks to the IRS at the mailbox, leaving Hank to wonder what "IRS" means. Later on Hank tries to get steak bones from Little Alfred and Pete the local cat comes along and argues over them. While Hank chases Pete up a tree, someone (presumably Drover) steals the bones. Hank finds Drover with his bones and asks him if he stole them; Drover says that a Bone Monster stole them from Hank but manages to get out of explaining how he then got them. When Drover falls asleep, Hank steals the bones back and buries them in Sally May's garden, observed by Slim. He then tells Drover that the Bone Monster has stolen the bones again! Later on a truck comes up the road and in the back is the basset hound Ralph, Hank's long-time friend. The gorgeous beagle, Miss Scamper, also arrives, and Hank tries to impress her. Later, after she has left, Ralph's owner starts to drive away, and Ralph falls out of the back. Wallace and Junior the buzzards fly down and say they can help Ralph, but Wallace pronounces him dead. Just then Ralph wakes up, and after the buzzards fly off, says he's a chipmunk and he's in love with a beaver disguised as Miss Scamper the beagle. After Ralph returns to normal, he and Hank discover that the bones buried in the garden have disappeared and been replaced by sausage cans. He decides that the Bone Monster must have stolen them. Night has fallen, and Hank and Ralph run to the gas tanks and hide under a gunnysack while Drover keeps watch. Drover convinces himself, and then the other dogs, that they are under attack by dozens of Bone Monsters. They run for their lives to hide on the porch. The next morning Sally May yells at Hank and throws him off her porch, Drover and Ralph having returned to the gas tanks during the night. Ralph leaves, and Slim arrives, grinning at Hank and eating sausage from a can. Thus the mystery is solved, and Hank denies ever believing in a Bone Monster in the first place. ===== Capt. Anthony Nelson (Larry Hagman) is on a rocket, on a space mission. When his final stage misfires, his one-man capsule, Stardust One, is unable to maintain orbit and he has to make an emergency landing on a desert island in the South Pacific. There, while gathering items on the beach to form a giant "S.O.S." in the sand, he finds an old bottle that seems to move. When he opens it, smoke pours out, and a 2000-year-old beautiful blonde- haired girl named Jeannie (Barbara Eden) appears, dressed in harem clothing and speaking in Persian (in the unaired version of the episode, her first words to him are translated on screen as,"Your wish is my command, Master"), and gratefully kisses him. Tony, shocked at first, realizes she's a genie, and that she can get him off the island. However, the language barrier between them is such that he can't get Jeannie to understand what an airplane or ship is, "blinking" up a falcon and an ancient galley ship instead. Frustrated, Tony idly wishes she could speak English...and she does begin to speak English ("Somehow, I must find a way to please thee, Master!"). She makes it quite clear that she is a genie and that Tony is her new master. He can wish whatever he wants and she will make that wish come true. Tony tests her, again wishing a helicopter would appear to rescue him from the island. This time, she gets it right. After it lands nearby, Tony realizes he can't take Jeannie with him; not only can't he explain her presence logically, it's left unsaid she would also complicate matters with the fiancee he is about to marry, Melissa Stone (Karen Sharpe), the daughter of his commanding officer. Tony tells Jeannie she's free of her obligation to serve him as a genie, explaining to her, "I rescued you, you rescued me - we're even". He says goodbye, and heads for home; but he doesn't see that the girl, smoking inside her bottle, rolls it into his duffel bag and returns to Cocoa Beach, Florida with him. Upon his return to Cape Kennedy, Tony is debriefed by the base psychiatrist, Col. Alfred Bellows (Hayden Rorke). When Tony tries to explain to the doctor about seeing Jeannie, Bellows believes Tony suffered hallucinations while stranded on the island, and that the image of the "beautiful girl on a desert island" was, in his opinion, actually that of his mother. "My mother's in Salt Lake City", Tony points out. "I'm a psychiatrist", Bellows insists. "I know a mother when I see one". After dismissing Capt. Nelson, the doctor, worried about Tony's mental health, immediately phones his superior, Gen. Wingard Stone (Philip Ober). In the meantime, Tony arrives home with Melissa. On hearing the shower in his bedroom, she wonders who could be using it. Tony doesn't know...until he sees the duffel bag with the bottle sticking out nearby. He tries to shove Melissa out, but it's too late - Jeannie appears in his bedroom doorway, clad only in his shirt. Naturally, Melissa doesn't believe Tony's explanation that "she's not a girl", yelling, "It's a GIRL!!", as she storms out. Tony insists that Jeannie leave, but she won't. "Thou hast set me free. That means that I am free to please thee", she explains. "And I am going to please thee very much...". He finally has to trick her back into her bottle to get her out of the house. Before he can release her outside, a car with Gen. Stone, Dr. Bellows, and Tony's fellow astronauts, Army Capt. Roger Healey (Bill Daily) and Navy Lt. Pete Conway (Don Dubbins), pulls up. Tony quickly dumps the bottle into a nearby garbage can as they approach him. Bellows brings up the matter of Tony's hallucination, claiming he can't reinstate him for active duty until he's certain he's "completely normal". While Tony tries to convince them he is normal, a garbage truck pulls up, and the contents of the can are dumped into it - along with Jeannie's bottle. In a panic, Tony quickly races to the truck, offers the garbage men $10 for the contents, and fishes out the bottle. Bellows and the others gently steer Tony back into his house, convinced he isn't normal. He tries to coax Jeannie out of the bottle to prove her existence, but she won't budge. Just as Dr. Bellows is about to phone for an ambulance, Tony suddenly giggles, telling them the whole incident was "just a gag", that he was just getting back at Roger and Pete for what they did to him while in training. "You really had me worried, Tony", Gen. Stone nods, accepting his explanation. "I wouldn't want a son-in- law who went around seeing genies, would I?". Tony nervously agrees, as they leave, allowing him to rest after the long day he's had. But it's not over for him, as Jeannie smokes out of her bottle, boiling mad {"I trusted thee! What manner of master art thou??"}. Tony tries to explain that she's not part of the air force, and "there's just no room for you in my life". But after floating in the air next to Jeannie, his living room briefly transformed by her into a sultan's den (complete with exotic furniture and dancing girls) — just as Gen. Stone and Melissa arrive — his nervousness as Jeannie takes on Melissa's appearance and mimics Melissa's every move and word {"Get out of that dress", Tony hisses to Jeannie, as Melissa gasps, "What??"}, her passionate kiss after the Stones leave, and his insistence that she disappear from his life by the time he wakes up in the morning, Jeannie makes it quite clear she's not leaving. After he chases her out of his bedroom when she tries to sneak under the locked door as smoke, she glances at us...and blinks the picture off. The episode is over, but not the battle of the sexes between her and Tony, as he reluctantly accepts the fact he's now "master" of a beautiful but stubborn genie who knows what's best for him. ===== In 1856, ambitious freight company and store owner Logan Stuart agrees to escort Lucy Overmire home to the settlement of Jacksonville, Oregon, along with his latest shipment. Lucy is engaged to Logan's best friend, George Camrose. The night before they depart, however, Logan has to defend himself from a sneak attack in his hotel room; though it is too dark to be sure, he believes his assailant is Honey Bragg. Later, he explains to Susan that he once saw Bragg leaving the vicinity of two murdered miners. Despite Logan's unwillingness to accuse Bragg (since he did not actually witness the crime), Bragg apparently wants to take no chances. On their journey, Logan and Lucy become attracted to each other. They stop one night at the homestead of Ben Dance and his family. There, Logan introduces Lucy to his girlfriend, Caroline Marsh. In Jacksonville, Logan tries to get George to stop playing poker with (and losing to) professional gambler Jack Lestrade, even giving him $2000 to pay off his debts, but George is more interested in the prospect of getting rich quick without hard work. What Logan does not know is that George has been stealing gold dust left in his safekeeping by the miners to pay some of his losses. George also has a secret he is keeping from Lucy; he keeps propositioning Lestrade's wife Marta, though she shows no interest in him. Meanwhile, the burly Bragg keeps trying to provoke Logan into a fight. Finally, he succeeds. Logan wins, but does not kill his opponent when he has the chance. A humiliated Bragg tries to ride Logan down on his way out of town. George decides to move away to make a fresh start and finally gets Lucy to agree to marry him. Logan then proposes to Caroline and is accepted, much to the disappointment of Vane Blazier, Logan's employee, who is in love with Caroline himself. Lucy decides to accompany Logan to San Francisco to pick out a wedding dress. Along the way, they are ambushed by Bragg. Though their horses are shot dead, they get away and return to town, only to discover that George is in grave trouble. When a miner appears months earlier than George had expected and informs him that he wants to get his gold the next day, George kills the drunk man late that night. However, his crimes are traced to him; shopkeeper Hi Linnet saw him stealing some gold, and the miner's lucky gold nugget is found in George's possession. The locals, led by Johnny Steele, find George guilty of murder and lock him up, intending a late-night lynching. However, when one of the settlers rides in with the warning that the Indians are on the warpath after Bragg killed a woman, Logan helps his friend escape in the confusion. Logan organizes a party to fight. When Bragg seeks their protection, Logan drives him off, to be killed by the Indians. They are then driven off by Logan's men. Afterward, Logan and Lucy learn that George was found and killed by one of the townsfolk. Caroline also has second thoughts about marriage to a man who is away so frequently on business; she breaks their engagement and accepts Vane. Logan and Lucy are free to follow their hearts. ===== Harry and Anne Wilding return to civilian life after service in the army. They have trouble readjusting, and Harry eventually quits his council job and goes into business, selling food from a mobile canteen. Anne becomes jealous of the daughter of Harry's backer. Anne gives up her job to concentrate on her marriage.Something Money Can't Buy Picture Show; London Vol. 59, Iss. 1533, (Aug 16, 1952): 5-6, 10 ===== Three things happen to Kinsey Millhone on her thirty-third birthday: she moves into her remodeled apartment, which has finally been finished; she is hired by Irene Gersh, a sickly Santa Teresa resident, to head out to the Slabs in the Mojave Desert and locate her mother; and she gets the news that Tyrone Patty, a particularly dangerous criminal she helped the Carson City Police Department track down a few years back, has hired a hit-man to kill her. After her first night in her new place, Kinsey heads out early the next day in search of Mrs Gersh's mother, Agnes Grey, who lives in a trailer in the desert. Agnes isn't home, and the trailer seems to be occupied by two teenage runaways; but Kinsey eventually tracks Agnes down at a local convalescent hospital, where she has been since being taken suddenly ill on a trip to a local town sometime before. Agnes, 83 years old, has not been a model patient; and the hospital staff are delighted to hear that she has relatives who can take responsibility for her. Irene makes plans to transfer Agnes to a facility in Santa Teresa. But Agnes seems terrified of going there and tells Kinsey a confused story about a number of people from the past, including Lottie and Emily, who died. Kinsey makes plans to come home, but before she can do so, a man in a pick-up truck deliberately runs her off the road, seriously injuring Kinsey and totaling her treasured VW automobile. Kinsey recognizes the driver as a man traveling with his young son she has seen a couple of times on the journey to the Slabs, and realizes she needs to take the death threat against her seriously. She hires Robert Dietz, the PI who helped her briefly on an earlier case, as a bodyguard. His vigilance initially frustrates Kinsey, who is used to making her own decisions; but they soon begin an affair. Dietz discovers the hitman is Mark Messinger, who absconded with his son, Eric, eight months previously. He arranges a meeting with the child's mother, Rochelle, who is desperate to get her son back, and offers to help her. Meanwhile, Agnes goes missing only a few hours after getting to Santa Teresa. She is soon found, yet she dies of fright within a day. Kinsey and Robert Dietz suspect she was kept prisoner somewhere before her death. Irene suffers a serious panic reaction when she sees a tea set Kinsey found among her mother's possessions, and Kinsey suspects this has triggered a buried childhood memory. Further anomalies occur when Irene tries to fill in the paperwork relating to the death: Kinsey realizes that Irene's birth certificate is faked and that Agnes Grey is a pseudonym. It's Kinsey's CFI colleague Darcy who points out Agnes Grey is the name of a novel by Anne Brontë, which seems to link to the names Emily and Lottie (Charlotte) Agnes had mentioned. Kinsey tracks down a family called Bronfen, who match the circumstances Agnes described, and surmises that the surviving brother of the family, Patrick, murdered Lottie and Emily. She is convinced that when Patrick killed Irene's mother, Sheila, Agnes Grey was Anne Bronfen, a third sister, who took off with Irene to protect her, changing their identities and posing as the young Irene's mother. The three daughters were presumably named for the Brontë sisters, which explains the alias Anne chose to use. Patrick faked Anne's death in order to gain sole possession of the family property. Kinsey is convinced that Patrick is responsible for Agnes's death, to cover his past crimes, and discovers evidence of further killings at his home. When she confronts Patrick, she is interrupted by Messinger, who kills Patrick. Dietz and Rochelle have managed to get Eric away from Messinger, and Messinger's stated intention is to use Kinsey as a hostage to exchange for Eric. As she drives Messinger to the airport at gunpoint to intercept Rochelle, Kinsey is convinced Messinger will kill them all; and he succeeds in killing Rochelle's twin Roy, who was attempting to help her escape with Eric. However, Rochelle outsmarts Messinger and kills him first. In the epilogue, the third contract killer hired by Tyrone Patty is apprehended; and Patty himself dies as a consequence of a jail altercation. Dietz leaves to pursue his plan of providing anti-terrorism training on military bases. ===== These are troubling times for California Fidelity, the insurance company for whom Kinsey Millhone does occasional freelance work in return for office space. First, a recent employee and friend of Kinsey's, Parnell Perkins, is shot and killed—and the police investigation seems curiously lacking in results. Second, in the wake of poor profit figures, company troubleshooter Gordon Titus (or 'tight-ass' as he is immediately nicknamed) arrives to shake things up. The informal arrangement with Kinsey seems high on his list of targets. In the new mood of nervous efficiency prevalent at CFI pending Titus's arrival, Kinsey is passed the claim file of Bibianna Diaz to investigate for possible fraud. Kinsey assumes a false identity as Hannah Moore in an attempt to befriend Bibianna, who, by co- incidence, is in a relationship with a former schoolmate and police-academy associate of Kinsey's, Jimmy Tate, recently relieved of police duties on the grounds of corruption. Bibianna has problems too, it seems: her former boyfriend Raymond Maldonaldo, of whom she is—rightly, as it turns out—terrified, is the jealous type and is hunting her down. Kinsey realises that a CFI colleague has inadvertently given away information on Bibianna to Raymond's gang, and things come to a head while she is out drinking with Bibianna and Tate. Raymond's brother Chago and his girlfriend Dawna accost Bibianna; and in the fracas that ensues, Tate shoots and kills Chago. Bibianna is taken into custody, Kinsey deliberately sticking to her in order to cement their relationship. Kinsey's enforced overnight stay in the police 'tank' is interrupted by Lieutenant Dolan, who has a job offer for her: Raymond is the head of a huge insurance fraud gang, and the police want Kinsey to use her new position as Bibianna's confidante to get the evidence they need; there seems to be a leak somewhere in the police department, and they need someone unconnected whom they can trust to bring Raymond to justice. Kinsey withdraws her initial gut refusal when Dolan tells her Raymond killed Parnell but that they have been stalling the murder investigation in order not to jeopardize the longstanding fraud case. Kinsey agrees to help out of a sense of duty to Parnell; but the police plan to have Kinsey wired for her own protection goes awry, and she is left to fend for herself. Thus begins a dangerous and stifling few days for Kinsey, undercover and up to her neck in a criminal ring headed by a deluded killer. Raymond effectively keeps both Kinsey and Bibianna under house arrest in Los Angeles, with the aid of his second in command, Luis. Raymond can't accept Bibianna's rejection of him and is determined to force her into marriage. The snag in the plan, which Bibianna doesn't dare confess, is that she has actually just married Tate. Tensions run high, while Kinsey learns much about the car insurance fraud business, keeps her eyes open, and eventually establishes the leak is a clerk at the County Sheriff's office, whose father is a crooked doctor heavily involved in Raymond's ring. Matters come to a head when Bibianna escapes and is pursued almost to her death by one of Raymond's henchmen. Visiting her in the hospital, the doctor inadvertently lets slip to Raymond that Bibianna's next of kin is her husband, Jimmy Tate. Enraged, Raymond shoots Jimmy. Kinsey sets off in hot pursuit and receives unexpected help from Luis, who turns out to be an undercover LAPD cop. Kinsey makes it back to Santa Teresa in the nick of time for her friend Vera Lipton's wedding. Both Bibianna and Tate survive; but despite her success in wrapping up the insurance fraud claim, Kinsey is fired from CFI by Gordon Titus. ===== As a child, in 1974, Young Skeeter Bronson was promised by his father Martin "Marty" that he would be the manager of the family motel, the Sunny Vista Motel. Twenty-five years later, in 1999, the motel has been bought and rebuilt into a bigger hotel by the hotel chain Nottingham Hotels, and was renamed the Sunny Vista Nottingham Hotel, due to Marty being in debt and bankruptcy, and Skeeter is stuck as its handyman. The manager, CEO, and founder of the hotel chain, Barry Nottingham, plans to build a new hotel, named the Sunny Vista Mega Nottingham, and appoints another man, the snotty Kendall Duncan to become the new manager, simply because Duncan is dating his daughter, Violet. Skeeter's sister Wendy asks him to watch her children, Patrick and Bobbi, because the school at which she is the principal is being closed and she is looking for a job in Arizona. The first night, Skeeter tells a bedtime story, in which an underdog peasant is passed over for promotion. The children add that he gets a chance at the promotion, and that it starts raining gumballs. The next day, the entire story miraculously comes true: Barry gives Skeeter a shot at the manager position, and on his way home, gumballs rain on Skeeter from a truck crash on an overpass. The next night, at the hotel, Skeeter tells another story in which he is given a Ferrari, but it doesn't come true. He saves Violet from an obnoxious paparazzi and spots a Ferrari car, but Violet drives away with it. Skeeter realizes that only the children's additions to the stories come true. The night after that, Skeeter tells the children about a Greek chariot-riding stuntman, and the next day he ends up falling for his sister's friend and colleague Jill. On Skeeter’s last night with the children, he tells them a story in which he triumphs over Kendall, but the children add that someone kills him with a fireball. He learns from Kendall that the new Nottingham Hotel will be at the location of the closing school. Skeeter wins the manager position, but Barry fires him for his paranoid antics protecting himself from fire. He gets the hotel moved to Santa Monica, and then with Jill is able to avert the demolition, saving the school and his nephew and niece. Some time later, Skeeter marries Jill and establishes a motel named after his late father. Kendall and his accomplice Aspen are demoted to the motel's waiting staff. Violet marries Skeeter's best friend, hotel room service waiter Mickey, giving him control of the Nottingham Empire, becoming CEO, & the ninth richest man alive. In the meantime, Barry quits hotel management to become a school nurse and newlywed Skeeter and Jill have a baby. ===== Mike is a struggling artist who draws the Brenda Starr comic strip for a newspaper. When Brenda comes to life and sees how unappreciated she is by Mike, she leaves the comic. To return her to her rightful place and keep his job, Mike draws himself into the strip. Within her fictional world, Brenda Starr is an ace reporter for the New York Flash. She is talented, fearless, and smart, and she is a very snappy dresser. The only competition she has is from Libby Lipscomb, the rival newspaper's top reporter. Brenda heads to the Amazon jungle to find a scientist with a secret formula, which will create cheap and powerful fuel from ordinary water. There, she must steal the formula from her competition and foreign spies. ===== Kamylk-Pasha buries his fortune The secret of the final island at last discovered 1799: The French campaign in Egypt and Syria. At Jaffa, General Napoléon Bonaparte ruthlessly orders the killing of 4,500 Turkish prisoners of war. A Breton sea captain attached to the French force notices a still living young Turkish soldier among the piled bodies, and saves his life. The Turk, who would later rise to great wealth and prominence in Cairo, will not forget his saviour. 1831: The wealthy Egyptian Kamylk-Pasha buries his treasures in the rock of an unknown islet, to save them from the greed of his family. 1862: In Saint-Malo, Pierre Antifer, an impulsive and gruff Breton sea captain, meditates on a document bequeathed by his father – a letter sent by Kamylk-Pasha, whose life the father had saved. This document mentions the latitude of the island where the treasure is hidden, with the longitude to be communicated to Antifer once upon a time. Antifer's nephew, Juhel, thinks only of his coming marriage with his beloved Enogate and fears the consequences of a possible trip. The Egyptian notary Ben-Omar – accompanied by Saouk, the last heir of the Pasha – arrives at Saint-Malo and reveals to Master Antifer the long desired longitude. The impulsive seaman immediately embarks, drawing with him his friend Gildas Tregomain and poor Juhel, whose marriage was put off indefinitely. The islet is located in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Muscat in Oman. Alas! Instead of the expected treasure, the travelers discover a second parchment, indicating a new longitude, and referring them to the Maltese banker Zambuco, who once helped Kamylk-Pasha and thus deserves a share of the hidden treasure. Zambuco has the latitude, and the new location turns out to be another islet – off the African coast, in the Gulf of Guinea. There, they find a new message, including a small diamond to defray their mounting travelling costs, a new longitude and the name of a new treasure-colleague residing in Scotland. However, when arriving in Edinburgh, they find that the Reverend Tyrcomel is an advocate of the complete abolition of wealth: he has no interest in finding the treasure himself nor in helping others get it, and obstinately refuses to hand over the latitude in his possession. Saouk, violent and unscrupulous, resorts to brute force: coming back in the night, undressing and tying up the unfortunate Tyrcomel – and discovering the required information tattooed on the Scotsman's body, put there by his late father who had once traveled to the Orient and helped Kamylk-Pasha. The brigand would not benefit from his violent deed – Saouk ends up in a British prison, but the rest of the treasure hunters know where to head to next. Antifer, equipped with the new latitude, charters a ship for Spitzbergen, where a third islet is located. He discovers only a half-illegible document, and is unable to identify the final location of the jackpot. Sick and tired with frustration, he returns to Saint-Malo and Juhel can finally marry Enogate. Unintentionally, it is the young woman who will provide her husband (and his uncle) with the solution of the enigma, enabling him to interpret the recalcitrant parchment: the treasure is hidden off Sicily, at the exact center of a circle described by the three divergent islets which they visited. Everybody hurries there – to find only an empty sea. Julia Island, of volcanic origin, had emerged from the depths of the sea in 1831 and was used to bury the treasure – but unfortunately, it returned to the depths shortly after its emergence. Adieu, then, to Kamylk-Pacha's gold and precious stones! Antifer, cured permanently of his dreams of opulence, is able to laugh off his misadventures – to the great relief of his family. ===== ===== According to series creator Eric Kripke, the archangel Lucifer "twisted and mutilated" the human Lilith's soul into the first demon "to prove a point to God...that human souls were...inferior to God and the angels". Having been freed from Hell in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two", Lilith (Rachel Pattee) debuts in the final moments of the third season episode "Jus in Bello" as the current leader of an army of demons also unleashed from Hell; the first half of the season had established that after the death of the army general and previous series antagonist Azazel created a power vacuum, leading to power struggles between demonic factions, which is resolved when Lilith ultimately emerges as the victor. In her "Jus in Bello" appearance, she searches a police station for the series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers who hunt supernatural creatures. Having just missed them, she proceeds to torture everyone in the station for nearly an hour after destroying the station in a massive explosion. The Winchesters' demonic ally Ruby explains that Lilith sees Sam as a rival, as he has demonic abilities and was intended--but unwilling--to lead Azazel's demon army. Lilith orders Sam's death in order to secure her position as the army's general, even tricking the thief Bela Talbot into making a failed attempt on Sam's life with the promise of releasing Bela from her Faustian deal, only to go back on her word and let Bela get dragged into Hell. With Dean having also sold his soul as part of a Faustian deal--one he made to save Sam's life--the brothers spend part of the season searching for the entity that holds the contract to Dean's soul and eventually learn from Bela that the demon in question is Lilith, who holds the contracts to all deals. In the third season finale "No Rest for the Wicked", the Winchesters track her down in New Harmony, Indiana, where she is holding a family hostage in the guise of their daughter (Sierra McCormick). Before Sam and Dean can attack her, Lilith secretly takes over Ruby's host body (Katie Cassidy) in order to catch the brothers off-guard. She has a hellhound kill Dean and bring his soul to Hell to be tortured by Hell's chief torturer Alastair as part of her plan to begin breaking the 66 mystical seals keeping Lucifer imprisoned in Hell. Lilith then tries to kill Sam as well by blasting him with destructive white energy, only to find that she is powerless against him. Horrified, she escapes before he can retaliate with Ruby's demon-killing knife. Throughout the fourth season, Lilith orchestrates the attacks by the forces of Hell on the 66 seals. They are opposed by angels, who resurrect Dean to assist them. Lilith eventually finds out that her death is the final seal that needs to be broken to free Lucifer. Reluctant to sacrifice herself, Lilith (Katherine Boecher) proposes a deal to Sam in "The Monster at the End of This Book": she will stop breaking the seals in exchange for his and Dean's lives. He rejects the deal and tries to kill her instead. She quickly overpowers him, but is forced to flee before she can do anymore when Dean tricks an archangel into coming to the location. In the season finale "Lucifer Rising", Sam kills Lilith under the impression that her death will prevent the final seal from breaking, and in doing so inadvertently breaks the final seal, releasing Lucifer. In the fifteenth season, Lilith is resurrected by God from the Empty where demons and angels go after death. Possessing a young woman named Ashley Monroe, Lilith poses as the witness of a werewolf attack to get close to the Winchesters as part of God's plan, putting Dean to sleep and purposefully allowing herself to be captured by the monsters. Lilith's deception is revealed when she trips and is impaled on a set of deer antlers, but she is unable to kill Sam and Dean due to it not being part of God's plan. Having sacrificed herself to release Lucifer and begin the Apocalypse, Lilith is shown to be bitter and vengeful over her sacrifice being in vain and claims that Sam was only able to kill her because Lilith allowed him to do so. Lilith reveals that God intends for Sam and Dean to kill each other and destroys the Equalizer, the gun God created to kill the Nephilim Jack with and which Sam had used to wound him. Lilith then departs after promising to see Sam and Dean again. She later attempts to take the recently-escaped Michael to God, but the archangel refuses. When Lilith continues to insist, Michael smites Lilith who vanishes in a flash of white light, once again killing her. ===== :"Mr. Leadbetter is in holy orders, and for more years than he cares to remember has led a virtuous, worthwhile and very dull life. After drinking a little more than is good for him whilst on holiday, he rashly decides to commit a crime. It has consequences he could never have imagined - he ends up on the other side of the world."Diversity Website - Lance Sieveking Radio Plays. Accessed March 9, 2008 ===== Sarah Paulson portrays Acey Rawlin, a teenage girl who gets pregnant after spending the night with a man she just met. Acey's only friend, a fisherman named Bob, may be imaginary. And when Acey tells her mother Anna about her problems, Anna chooses this moment to tell Acey that she's adopted, which causes her to search out her birth mother. ===== The story begins in Westport, Connacht, with the wandering puppeteer Thornpipe demonstrating his puppets to the destitute populace. After the mechanism animating the puppets unexpectedly goes off, the onlooking public with a priest among them discovers that the mechanism was operated by a tortured, hungry, pale boy of scarcely 3 years, concealed in the cart, whom the master spurred with a whip, claiming that the mechanism was operated by a dog. Revealed later to be abandoned while only 6 months old, the boy does not know his proper name; being the protagonist, he is known only as Lit'l Fellow (P'tit-Bonhomme) for the remainder of the story. The public confronts Thornpipe and stands up for the boy, driving Thornpipe out of town. With no local family able or willing to raise the foundling, he is given to an orphanage known as Ragged School in the neighboring town of Galway. Neither O'Bodkins, the principal of the school, nor his assistants (with the exception of the 16-year-old Grip) care much about the well-being of children, let alone their conduct or education, and Lit'l Fellow continues to suffer, now at the hands of his peers (particularly Carker, the leader of the gang) for honesty and dignity which he has begun to show at such early years, and hence refusal to follow the gang's ways of theft and panhandling. Lit'l Fellow recalls what he remembers of the early years of his life to Grip (who has become a close friend of the boy), mentioning an evil woman Hard and a compassionate girl named Sissy--the only person who cared for him in his early years, and whom he indeed came to think of as an elder sister. After the death of yet another child who lived with them, Lit'l Fellow ran away from Hard's hut, only to be found by Thornpipe. This chapter of Lit'l Fellow's life ends when he finds a bottle of vodka, which he decides to bring to the orphanage in order to consult with Grip regarding how to return it to the owner. Unfortunately, he is noticed by Carker, who proceeds to appropriate the bottle, lock up Grip and Lit'l Fellow in the attic, and throw a drinking party. In the orgy that ensues, the drunk boys set the school building on fire, and Grip, without any way out of the attic, in desperation throws Lit'l Fellow off the roof to the ground, where the latter is caught by the onlookers. Lit'l Fellow is then noticed by the young and popular actress Anna Waston, who happened to travel through Galway when the Ragged School building caught fire. She immediately adopts the boy, much to the dismay of her middle-aged servant Elisa, who knew the pretentious and emotionally unstable nature of her master too well. At first, Anna takes care of the boy and shows promise of being a good foster parent, but Lit'l Fellow's hopes of a good childhood again meet an end when the boy travels with Anna to Limerick, where the actress decides that her newly found "angel" would make a good actor, and drags him into playing a role in a popular performance. But the boy, only 5 years old at the time and not yet able to tell reality from a show, takes the play literally and ruins the performance. Offended, Anna dumps the boy in Limerick and leaves Ireland, never to return. The boy is found at the steps of a cathedral near a local cemetery by the visiting farmers, Martin and Martine MacCarthy, a middle-aged couple with 3 grown-up children. The family shelters Lit'l Fellow to live with them on their Kerwan farm in County Kerry, Munster, where the boy spends the next 4 years of his life. Having proven himself to be hardworking and honorable even before settling on the farm, Lit'l Fellow now desires to be of help in the household, occupying himself on par with the rest of the family, altogether 5 people: Martin's elderly mother, known simply as Grandmother; Martin and Martine themselves, their younger son Simeon, their elder son Murdock with his wife Kitty. Absent was the couple's second son, Patrick, who entered the service as a seaman. Becoming a good farm worker, Lit'l Fellow requests only one thing for his payment--a small rock for every day he would spend in service of the family. But after becoming an integral part of the MacCarthy family, getting a formidable secular and religious education (the family being devout Roman Catholics), even becoming the godfather of Kitty's newborn daughter Jenny and saving her life from a wolf who dug its way into the house during the family's absence, Lit'l Fellow again sees his hopes of a good life reduced to naught when, after a year of natural disasters and poor harvest, the family is left with no money to pay the rent and is evicted from the farm by the landowners. Murdock is imprisoned for half-year due to his participation in the nationalist movement for home rule, supported by Martin and Simeon by the circumstances which led to their eviction. The Grandmother, severely ill at the time, meets death at the hands of the landlord's manager and police guards come to evict the family. Lit'l Fellow, who was absent at the time walking several miles to a neighboring village trying to obtain a medicine for the dying Grandmother, arrives to see the family gone and the farm demolished. Burying a pot containing all the little pebbles earned during his 4 years on the farm under a fir tree which he planted on Jenny's birthday, the boy leaves for Limerick, where the family was supposedly taken. After nearly perishing in the freezing cold, Lit'l Fellow is saved by the family's shepherd dog, Birk, who was driven away at the time of eviction. Birk, however, leads Lit'l Fellow away from Limerick and into Newmarket, County Cork. There, Lit'l Fellow happens to find a briefcase lost by a local landlord, marquis Piborne. After returning the briefcase containing £100 to marquis' residence, Trelingar Castle, Lit'l Fellow is invited to serve in the castle as a groom to marquis' son, count Ashton. The boy accepts and serves in the castle for several months, once again suffering constant ridicule from other servants and antics of the spoiled Ashton. Birk, being at odds with Ashton's dogs, cannot be taken by the boy into the castle and has to be taken care of in secret either by him, or (in his absence) by his only friend in the castle, the aged laundress Kat. But the boy must yet again hit the road when Birk, roaming the surroundings, encounters one of Ashton's dogs. The latter attacks Birk, who defends himself and kills Ashton's dog. When Ashton learns whom the attacker belongs to, he sets up a hunt on Birk, and Lit'l Fellow, having rescued his dog, has nothing else to do than leave while still in one piece. An illustration by Léon Benett Now 11 years of age and having earned around £4 while in lord Piborne's service, the boy with his faithful dog decide to make their way into the city of Cork, but on their way Birk rescues another boy out of a river. It is revealed to be Bob, a 7-year-old whom Lit'l Fellow once saved from Ashton's whip, risking his position of a groom. Together, the boys make it into Cork. This is where Lit'l Fellow's merchant inclinations, first become manifest while still at Kerwan farm, are finally put to practice as he sets up a newspaper kiosk--a small trolley dragged around the streets by Birk. Prior to their departure from Cork, the boys already own £30. The city of Cork is also where the boys reunite with Grip. After barely surviving the fire at Ragged School which separated the friends, Grip settled as a fireman on a steam vessel Vulcan, making regular trips between Dublin and the United States. Grip, foretelling Lit'l Fellow to become a successful merchant, advises him to move to Dublin, where he also appears regularly. Lit'l Fellow agrees, and soon after he and Bob leave for Dublin. Instead of spending money on the journey, they decide instead to earn more along the way, and continue to operate the kiosk as they take on a 250-mile journey on foot. When 2 months later they make it into Dublin, they again reunite with Grip. Having earned £150 at this point, Lit'l Fellow decides to start his own business. After renting a few rooms from an old retired businessman, O'Brien, he opens the collectible store "Thin Purses" by Little Boy & Co. The store quickly becomes popular among the residents of the city, earning the 12-year-old businessman a fortune of £1000 by the close of the first year. Grip, now a regular customer and assistant during the times free from his duties as a fireman on board Vulcan, is reluctant to join the business despite Lit'l Fellows' and Bob's pleas. Kat, however, is invited by Lit'l Fellow as well, and arrives from Trelingar Castle on a short notice. With poverty left behind, now only one thing troubles Lit'l Fellow--the fate of people dear to him; of those who, at one point or another, were a family to him. With the help of O'Brien he learns that MacCarthy's family has left their homeland and migrated to Australia, but no further information could be obtained at the moment. At some point, Lit'l Fellow leaves to visit Belfast in order to negotiate over an issue with his supplier; negotiations having been successful, he prepares to leave but is caught in a thick crowd during a worker strike, when he notices a young female worker calling for help shortly before collapsing of weakness. It was Sissy, now 18 years old, barely recognized by the young merchant. Without hesitation the boy takes Sissy to the train and leaves for Dublin, where the girl becomes a gladsome addition to the store personnel, marrying Grip some time afterwards. Thus, the young merchant was able to repay his first debt, tearing from the clutches of poverty the first person who ever did a service to him--his adoptive sister. Only one thing disturbs the boy's peace of mind now--the MacCarthy family. One day O'Brien finds out that, having met no better luck in Australia, the family was returning home on a sailing vessel. The trip was taking a long time, while the boy, having himself nearly perished during a tempest on board a cargo vessel for refusing to abandon the cargo (into which he invested most of his fortune), perseveres in his trade and earns a capital of £20000. When MacCarthy family finally arrives, Lit'l Fellow, having offered them a sum of £100, anonymously invites them to meet him and his friends at the ruins of the Kerwan farm. Following the unexpected reunion, Lit'l Fellow instructs his goddaughter Jenny, now 8 years of age, to dig up from under the fir tree the pot of pebbles he earned during his stay at the farm. The old farmer is then stunned to find out that the pebbles, of which there were 1540, are now returned to his family as pounds sterling--enough for them to buy their familial land off the landowners and reconstruct the farm. This was the manner in which the young merchant, now 16 years old, repaid his debt to the family which had sheltered him in the time of need. ===== Alexis Smith from the trailer Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) and Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) escape from prison, although Moore is seriously wounded in the breakout. They meet up with a confederate, a mute named "Dummy" (Frank de Kova), and hide out in a ghost town. Along the way, they pick up several hostages, Kay Garven (Alexis Smith) and her lover Arthur Ashton (Robert Paige), reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes), dancer Dorothy "Dottie" Vail (Jan Sterling), and the town's sole resident, Asa Tremaine (Arthur Hunnicutt). Sam calls Kay's husband Neal (Richard Eagan), a doctor, and threatens to kill Kay if he does not come and help Bart. Larry warns the gangsters that the government is going to conduct an atomic bomb test nearby the next morning, but Sam does not believe him. When Arthur causes trouble, Sam kills him without a qualm. To Kay's surprise, Neal still loves her enough to show up. He successfully operates on Bart, but warns Sam that moving his friend too soon will kill him. When Sam finally realizes that Larry was telling the truth, he still waits as long as possible to give Bart time to recuperate. Unknown to everyone, the test has been moved ahead an hour due to favorable weather conditions. When the five-minute warning sounds earlier than expected, Sam and Bart hurry to Neal's car and a desperate Kay persuades Sam to take her along. Larry overpowers Dummy, but the others drive away. Asa leads Dottie, Larry and Neal to safety in a nearby mine. Sam, Bart and Kay are killed by the explosion, but the others emerge unharmed. ===== After murdering a lover, and crashing his car while fleeing the scene of the crime, a ruthlessly "successful" man is transported to an unknown island (called Ata) whose location is never revealed, the implication being that it doesn't physically exist in our world. The island is inhabited by people he gradually learns are a deceptively primitive. Every aspect of their waking lives is governed by their dream life. Initially in conflict with their ways, the unnamed protagonist, according to Bryant, "is dragged kicking and screaming to his own salvation." He gradually comes to realize that the people of this island support and maintain the real world through their dreaming, and that he needs to incorporate this world view so he can successfully return to his former life. It can be read as an allegory of spiritual growth, and shows the influence of modern anthropological writings on indigenous peoples and the writings of psychologist Carl Jung. ===== While being moved from their regular prison to a newer prison, situated near the Rio Grande, the wagon containing the Dalton gang is hijacked by the infamous Mexican bandit Emílio Espuelas and his men. The two gangs team up to kidnap the local mayor, disguising the Daltons as mariachi musicians. Meanwhile, the Mexican ambassador to The United States of America has threatened with decreased diplomatic relations and, ultimately, war, unless the Daltons are returned to the US. Lucky Luke departs to Mexico by direct order of the president. Ultimately the grand scheme is foiled by Lucky Luke switching places with the mayor and Averell revealing the Daltons plan of double-crossing the Mexicans while drunk on tequila. Back across the border Luke is awarded a medal and Averell flaunts his new expression: "¿Cuando se come aqui?". ===== Convinced that they will find firewater among the palefaces, blue-foot (like the Blackfoot) Indians besiege the town ... Lucky Luke will see all the colors! The original from Amazon.fr: Alerte aux pieds-bleus : Persuadés qu'ils trouveront de l'eau de feu chez les visages pâles, les Peaux-rouges aux pieds- bleus assiègent la ville... Lucky Luke va en voir de toutes les couleurs ! In Rattlesnake Valley, Arizona, Pedro Cucaracha is causing a stir by defrauding the locals in poker. Lucky Luke, who had stopped there by chance, catches him playing against the city's peacekeeper, Sheriff Jerry Grindstone. Thanks to his dexterity with regard to persuasion by arms, the cowboy has no trouble scaring the cheater of Mexican origin who runs away quickly. To take revenge, he appeals to the Bluefeet, an Indian tribe of the valley, for compensation in kind (alcohol). The latter besiege the city, which they eventually lose, trying to attack as the cavalry arrives to settle the situation. ===== The book centers on the battle of wits and the ambiguous relationship developing between U-boat ace Otto Kruger, leader of the captured Germans, and Ian Fleming in his real-life World War II role as an intelligence officer which would later inspire the James Bond books. It ends on December 1941, with an open-ended conclusion clearly leaving the possibility of a sequel. However, for many years afterwards Follet wrote on other subjects, only in 2004 coming up with the long-delayed sequel A Forest of Eagles - followed immediately by a final volume of what became a trilogy, Return of the Eagles. ===== The setting of Brown Girl in The Ring is dystopic in nature. The story takes place in the city core of Metropolitan Toronto (Downtown Toronto) after the economic collapse. Riots of the past have caused the inner city of Toronto to collapse into a slum of poverty, homelessness, and violence. While the elite and city officials have fled to the suburbs, children are left to fend for themselves and survive on the streets which are ruled by Rudy Sheldon and his posse of criminal thugs. As a consequence of the Riots, Toronto is isolated from other satellite cities in the surrounding Greater Toronto Area (North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke) by roadblocks and Lake Ontario has become a mudhole. Disappearances and murder are not uncommon, and everyone is left to either fend for themselves or bind together to provide support for each other. In the twelve years since the Riots, the city is now ruled by a criminal mastermind, Rudy Sheldon. Rudy is commissioned to find a heart for the Premier of Ontario, who needs a heart transplant. Normally, the Porcine Organ Harvest Program is used, but the adviser of Premier Uttley encourages her to deem the program "immoral" and make a public statement of preference for a human donor instead. Hopkinson then introduces the heroine of the story, and a very different perspective of life in the outskirt of the city is seen. Ti-Jeanne, the granddaughter of Gros-Jeanne, is struggling with different problems than street survival. Having recently given birth to a baby boy, Ti-Jeanne is forced to move back in with her grandmother to care for her child as a single mother; the child's father, Tony, suffers from addiction and is a member of the posse. While she loves her Mami, she has difficulty seeing the importance of her grandmother's spiritualism and medicinal work, and is frightened by her visions of death. Gros-Jeanne has gone to great lengths in the past to share her culture with her family, but has continuously been pushed away by her daughter and granddaughter. In the community, she is a well-respected apothecary and spiritualist who runs an herbal and medicine shop. Paths begin to cross when Tony is called upon by Rudy. Hopes of leaving his criminal life behind and reconnecting with his love, Ti-Jeanne, are shattered when the threats from the posse leader begin to loom over him. Tony must perform a horrific murder in order to obtain a heart that will save the life of one of the city's elite. The situation only gets worse when he involves his relationship with Ti- and Gros-Jeanne with his business with the posse. He arrives on Gros-Jeanne's doorstep asking for protection, and Ti-Jeanne convinces her to help him flee the city without harm. The magic comes alive for the rest of the novel when Tony seeks help from the spiritualism of Gros- Jeanne. In attempts to save Tony, Ti-Jeanne performs the rituals alongside her Mami and accepts her father spirit. When plans go awry, Tony makes a rash decision that forces Ti-Jeanne to be the one to save herself and the city from Rudy's evil spiritual acts. Later in the novel, Rudy is revealed to be Ti- Jeanne's grandfather, Gros-Jeanne's husband. It turns out that Rudy was an abusive husband and Gros-Jeanne kicked him out and found a new lover, named Dunston, and since Rudy has been vengeful. Meanwhile, Rudy summons the Calabash Duppy spirit and commands the duppy to kill Gros-Jeanne, Ti-Jeanne and Tony, who was sent to kill Gros-Jeanne and take her heart for Premier Uttley. It's revealed that the duppy is Mi-Jeanne (Ti-Jeanne's mom). In the CN Tower, Rudy sets the Calabash spirit on Ti-Jeanne who has come to confront him after Tony killed Gros-Jeanne. Ti-Jeanne is trapped and injected with Buff, a drug that paralyzes her. While in a state of paralysis, Ti-Jeanne slips into an "astral" state or spirit state, and she calls upon the ancestor spirits to help her. They kill Rudy by allowing the "weight of every murder he had done fell on him." Meanwhile, Premier Uttley's new heart (Gros-Jeanne's heart) attacks her body. Eventually, it takes over her spirit and when she wakes up from the surgery, she has a change of mind about human heart donorship and declares that she will make an attempt to help Toronto return to a rule of law by funding small business owners. On Gros-Jeanne's Nine Night event, all her friends arrive to help out, and so does Tony. Ti-Jeanne has trouble forgiving him for killing Gros-Jeanne, but Jenny tells her "he wants to do penance." She lets him into the event to say goodbye to Gros-Jeanne and is surprised that Baby doesn't cry around him anymore. It ends with Ti-Jeanne sitting on her steps, thinking of what she'll name Baby, who is possessed with the spirit of Dunston, Gros-Jeanne's former lover. Ti-Jeanne's personal growth throughout the novel is evident in her attitude toward her elders, culture, and outlook on life. Through acceptance of her ancestry and culture, she finds power and support to overcome steep odds and end the horrific violence of the posse and their heinous leader, despite her personal connection to the man who took her mother away from her at a young age. The story closes with hope, Ti-Jeanne's victory is monumental, and the stolen heart possesses the power to permanently change the city of Toronto for the better. ===== It is Christmas Eve on the ranch on which Hank the Cowdog and his assistant, Drover, live. It starts off with them running to see a truck that is coming down the road. Out comes the ranch hand, Slim, and Slim puts down a package that Hank thinks is for him. Slim then trips over the local cat, Pete. In the end the package turns out to be for the ranch's owner, High Loper. High Loper then gives Slim the job of taking his son, Little Alfred, to the Christmas Parade in town. While driving to town, the turkey vulture, Wallace, suddenly goes flying through the windshield. Slim wants to leave him on the ground next to the road but Alfred wants to keep it, so they put Wallace in a bag and put it in the back of the truck. Once they reach town, Hank notices a little poodle making fun of him. He in the end scares the poodle, but the poodle's owner hits Hank with her bag. Later, after a long day of shopping, Alfred opens the bag that Wallace is in. Wallace is walking around the back of the truck and yells out at four stray dogs who were walking around. The stray dogs are led by Buster, who is mostly German Shepherd, and his second-in-command a bulldog named Muggs. Wallace insults the dogs and they go after him. At the same time the parade begins. Buster says "go after that turkey!" which is what he calls Wallace. Hank tries to protect Wallace. The four dogs begin to beat on Hank and he ends up in a huge amount of pain but he was still able to walk. Junior, Wallace's son, goes running out into the street and makes the horse that pulls Santa Claus's sleigh jump. Hank meets face to face with Buster. The horse begins to jump every which way. And then Slim comes out and stops the horse from causing to much chaos, and saving Santa Claus. The stray dogs then run away. In the end they send Wallace off into the wilderness with his son, Junior. ===== Mu-hoon, a gangster in Busan, is the half brother of Ha-young, a successful photographer. When Mu-hoon is caught having an affair with his boss' mistress Eun-ju, the two run off with their organization's money. They are soon caught, but although Mu-hoon escapes, Eun- ju is given a scar on her cheek as punishment, and sold into prostitution. A year later, Mu-hoon finds a photograph of Eun-ju in Ha-young's studio, but although he is able to rescue her, he is eventually tracked down by the mob. Threatened with Eun-ju's death, Mu-hoon accepts a job to kill a man, only to discover that his target is in fact his old gang friend Man-cheol. ===== Following a car accident, in which he believes he killed a boy, Arthur Seligman (José Garcia) falls into a coma for several hours. While in the coma, he pronounces incoherent sentences. At his awakening, he does not remember what happened before the crash, and he does not know the meaning of the words he pronounced while unconscious. The nurse who assisted him, Isabelle Kruger (Marion Cotillard), recorded them in a notebook, which she gives to him. Arthur then tries to understand what happened, what those sentences mean, and begins to lose his grasp of reality. ===== Apanage prince Paul () is much disturbed as a guileful snake has gotten into the habit of visiting his wife, disguising itself as the prince. His wife finds out that the only one who can destroy the snake, using a magiс sword, is Paul's brother, Peter (). Peter kills the snake but its blood spills over him and his body becomes covered with painful scabs. No doctors are able to help but then Peter hears of Fevronia (), a wise young peasant maiden, who promises to heal him. In reward he agrees to marry her. However, once healed he does not keep his promise but instead sends her rich gifts. Soon Peter's body is again covered with scabs. Fevronia heals him once more and this time they get married. Soon after this Prince Paul dies and Peter and Fevronia come to reign in Murom. The boyars are unhappy to have a peasant woman for princess and they ask Fevronia to leave the city, taking with her whatever riches she wants. Fevronia agrees, asking them to let her choose just one thing. The boyars find out that the wise maiden's wish is to only take her husband so Peter and Fevronia leave Murom together. Because the city no longer has a prince, a power struggle begins among the boyars, leading to havoc in Murom and finally Peter and Fevronia are asked to return. They reign wisely and happily until their last days, which they spend in separate cloisters. Knowing that they will die on the same day they ask to be buried in the same grave. The Russian Orthodox tradition does not allow for a monk and a nun to be buried together but the bodies are twice found to disappear from the original coffins and finally remain in a common grave forever. ===== The show mainly revolves around the misadventures of Bryn Coch United, a fictional village football team, which is based on Pontrhydfendigaid Football Club. The running of the team is handled by a mix of uncapable committee members; quick-to-anger manager Arthur Picton, the slightly dim- witted linesman Wali Tomos, and Tecwyn Parri (the team's goalie and captain), arguably the most normal on the committee. Part of the cast outside of the football committee is Mr Picton's daughter, Sandra, and her boyfriend (later husband) and member of the football team, George Huws - a leather-clad punk rocker from Caernarfon. Most plots were derived from the team's attempts to win their weekly games, as well as other events held in the village, and the main characters' relationships with their families. The many long-running jokes included Wali's intolerance of his mother, Lydia, Tecwyn's constantly angry wife Jean, and the fact that Arthur's (first) wife, Elsi, was almost never seen on screen - with many excuses being made for her absence. One ongoing sub-plot was Arthur Picton's dislike of his daughter's relationship with George Huws. However, Sandra was the only one who could put both her father and George in their place whenever she was unwittingly caught up in their feuds and ambitions. Later series focuses more on expanding the families of established characters, such as introducing Arthur's brother into the show, the birth of Sandra and George's twins, the death of Arthur's wife, Elsi (after appearing on screen for only one episode), and eventually seeing him re-marry in series 5. ===== After a car accident, Sandra is in hospital, and the Bryncoch crew are working hard to fulfill Sandra's dream of helping and giving presents to an orphanage in Azerbaijan. But the trip is full of turmoil, with Tecs trying to keep the peace between Arthur and George. ===== Christopher Hatton owns the country estate, Moderlaine. While Hatton's son Barney has a romantic tryst with Dilys Helmar, Hatton loses his estate in a game of decide to Dilys' father Nick. The Hattons are forced to move to a cottage in a nearby village. One day Barney sees some villagers attacking a young woman, whom he rescues. She is Jassy Woodroofe, daughter of Tom Woodroofe and a gypsy mother. Jassy has the gift of second sight which causes the villagers to regard her as a witch. Mrs Hatton hires Jassy as a domestic servant. Meanwhile, blacksmith Bob Wicks whips his daughter Lindy so badly she becomes mute, despite Tom Woodroofe coming to her rescue. Nick Helmar and his family move into Moderlaine. Nick allows Christopher Hatton to continue gambling. When Hatton is caught cheating, he kills himself. Nick finds his wife has been having an affair and asks for a divorce. Tom Woodroofe leads a crowd of villagers to march on the Helmars, who are now their landlords, to demand better pay and conditions. Back in the village, Jassy senses something bad will happen and asks Barney to help. A drunken Nick confronts Tom and accidentally shoots him. Jassy and Barney become close which worries Barney's mother. She sends her to a ladies' finishing school where she becomes friends with Dilys Helmar. Dilys sneaks out for a romantic tryst one night and when Jassy covers for her, Jassy is sacked. Dilys takes Jassy home with her to Moderlaine. Nick tells Jassy that he killed her father. Dilys and Jassy go to see Barney. Dilys and Barney resume their romance, which upsets Jassy, who still loves Barney and knows that Dilys is also seeing Stephen Fennell. Nick offers Jassy the job of running Mordelaine. Jassy restructures of the staff, hiring the still mute Lindy at the recommendation of Mrs Wicks, but firing almost all the female staff. One day, Jassy catches Dilys and Stephen together. Nick horsewhips Dilys, who runs out into the arms and carriage of Stephen. Barney goes to see Stephen and finds that he and Dilys are engaged. Nick proposes marriage to Jassy, who agrees on condition he gives her Mordelaine as a wedding gift. They marry, but Jassy insists on living separately as their legal agreement says nothing of sleeping together. In a fury, Nick goes out riding and has an accident. He is brought back to Mordelaine, where the doctor prescribes a strict diet and no alcohol, which Jassy enforces, even though Nick is increasingly violent towards her. When Jassy goes to visit Dilys and Stephen, Lindy decides to poison Nick for what he's done to Jassy, slipping rat poison into a bottle of brandy. Nick drinks it greedily. Nick's murder is sensed by Jassy, who cries out that he's dead. Stephen thinks that this means that she has murdered him, and has her arrested along with Lindy. At the trial, despite Jassy's alibi, both she and Lindy are found guilty, but the shock goads Lindy into speech. She confesses to the murder, exonerates Jassy, and drops dead. Jassy signs over Mordelaine to Barney, its rightful heir, and explains she only married Nick to get the estate back to him, and the reunited couple kiss. ===== It is set in the Western Isles of Scotland, and the long and murderous grudge between two clans there, the Macraes and McFarishes. Patricia Roc plays a serving girl, whose arrival to work for the Macraes reinflames the conflict and causes an internal power-struggle between two brothers in the Macrae clan (played by Maxwell Reed and Duncan Macrae). ===== While visiting Vienna incognito, Russian Grand Duke Peter (Robert Young) is lured away from a masquerade ball by the beautiful Maria (Maureen O'Sullivan), only to find himself the prisoner of Polish nationalists. Peter is made to write a letter to his father, the Czar of Russia, offering to exchange him for Maria's father, who has been sentenced to be executed. Because their previous petitions for clemency were intercepted and never reached the Czar, the Poles task secret agent Baron Stephan Wolensky (William Powell) to deliver the letter. Meanwhile, Colonel Pavloff (Frank Reicher), head of the Russian secret police, assigns his own agent, Countess Olga Mironova (Luise Rainer), to take to Russia documents incriminating Wolensky as an enemy agent, along with an order for his arrest. Since he is already going to Saint Petersburg, Wolensky's friend, Prince Johann (Henry Stephenson), asks him to deliver a pair of ornate candlesticks to a princess. Each of the candlesticks has a secret compartment, so the baron secretly places the letter in one. Later, when Prince Johann amuses Countess Mironova by showing her the candlesticks' unusual feature, she puts her documents inside the other, and persuades the prince to entrust the pair to her. When Wolensky is given the news, he sets off in pursuit. A complication arises when Mironova's maid, Mitzi Reisenbach (Bernadene Hayes), and Mitzi's lover Anton (Donald Kirke) steal her jewelry and the candlesticks. As they trace the candlesticks, first to Paris and then to London, Wolensky and Mironova admit to each other that they are on opposite sides, but this does not prevent them from falling in love. Finally, the candlesticks are put up for auction. The countess places the winning bid, but since only cash is acceptable as payment, she does not have enough to pay for them. The baron solves the problem by offering to pool their resources, each getting one candlestick. Wolensky chooses what he believes is the one with his letter, but he picks the wrong one. He finds and reads his own death warrant. When Mironova tries to exchange candlesticks, Wolensky declines. She then offers to deliver both sets of documents, while Wolensky remains safely outside Russia. He does not trust her, but knowing the price of her failure, offers to give her back her papers once he has safely delivered Peter's letter. Meanwhile, the Polish patriots become restless at the long, unexplained delay. Korum (Douglas Dumbrille) favors killing Peter, but Maria persuades the others to wait until they hear from Wolensky. Peter eavesdrops and is pleased. The Czar pardons and releases Maria's father in exchange for his son. In St. Petersburg, Pavloff arrests Miranova at her mansion. When Wolensky shows up there with her documents, she tosses them into the fireplace. Pavloff takes them both before the Czar. The ruler of Russia graciously frees the loving couple, who decide to marry. ===== World Off Bathia Category:Communes of Aïn Defla Province ===== After learning that her husband is a bigamist who already had a wife, new mother Lily Gardner (Patricia Roc) resolves to raise her baby, Jimmy, on her own under her maiden name of Lily Bates rather than give him up for adoption. Each day Lily leaves Jimmy at a day nursery while she works as a shopgirl at a department store, and then cares for Jimmy herself at night. Frances Norman (Rosamund John), a middle- class married woman who works at the day nursery to be around children after losing her own baby, is drawn to Jimmy. When Lily, under stress from her demanding schedule, becomes ill with flu, Frances persuades Lily to let her and her husband look after Jimmy temporarily. When Lily recovers, she visits Jimmy at the Normans' comfortable home. Seeing that Jimmy is happy and is receiving better food and care than she was able to manage, Lily agrees to let the Normans raise Jimmy, although she refuses to sign any legal document formally allowing them to adopt Jimmy. Lily eventually gives up on staying in touch with the Normans and drops out of Jimmy's life, although she misses him. The Normans do not tell Jimmy he is adopted and he regards them as his parents. Eight years pass, during which time Lily rises to the level of manager at the department store and falls in love with a kind shopkeeper, Bill Collins (Bill Owen), who marries her and is willing to accept Jimmy as his own. Lily visits the Normans to reclaim Jimmy, now that she has the resources to take care of him, but the Normans refuse to give him up since Lily has not been part of Jimmy's life and he does not know he is not the Normans' natural child. A legal battle ensues, and the court awards custody of Jimmy to Lily due to the lack of any formal adoption agreement. Jimmy goes to live with Lily and Bill, but has trouble adjusting to life in a working-class household, and runs away in an attempt to return to the Normans, whom he considers his true "mummy and daddy". Bill, seeing that Jimmy is unhappy, persuades Lily to let him return to the Normans. Lily and Bill then have a baby of their own and are shown happily celebrating his birthday, while Jimmy celebrates his birthday with the Normans. ===== In 1943 Italy, nuns hide and protect Jewish children who have escaped from a concentration camp. The Italian camp has been taken over by German forces with a colonel (Albert Lieven) and his sadistic lieutenant (Peter Arne) in command. When the colonel and lieutenant threaten to execute some of the nuns, including Mother Katharine (Lilli Palmer), for helping the Jewish children to escape, the Italian soldiers block the execution and shoot the Germans dead. The Italian soldiers then leave the camp to join Italian partisans in the nearby hills. ===== Rustlers rob horses belonging to wealthy Wyoming rancher Jeremy Rodock and shoot him. He is found by young cowboy Steve Miller, who digs out the bullet, saves Rodock's life and is offered a job at the ranch. Rodock believes in lynching rustlers personally without arrest or trial. His wrangler McNulty describes it as "a hanging sickness" to Rodock's woman, Jocasta Constantine, a former dance-hall girl ashamed of her past. McNulty makes a pass at Jo. A jealous and suspicious Rodock sees them leave a barn together and jumps to the wrong conclusion. He fires McNulty, then beats him viciously before ordering him off the ranch. Rodock sets out to find the men who stole his stock and murdered Whitey, a ranch hand. He rides to former partner Peterson's spread and demands to know if Peterson and son Lars were involved. They deny it, but Rodock soon comes to believe that Peterson and partners Hearn and Barjak are the thieves. He kills Peterson and hangs Hearn. Lars vows to avenge his father. He joins up with McNulty and Barjak and plan to steal every horse Rodock owns. Steve is sickened by watching a man hang and Jo urges him to speak with Rodock about his vigilante ways. Steve has fallen in love with her and begs her to leave with him, but she will not. Valuable horses are stolen and McNulty files down the hoofs into bloody stumps. Rodock catches up to the three thieves, makes them dismount and remove their boots. At gunpoint, he forces them to walk to jail through sand, rock and cactus. Barjak ultimately passes out and McNulty begs for mercy. Rodock comes to his senses. He lets the other rustlers go and returns Lars to the Peterson ranch, where he offers to make restitution. Upon returning home, he finds that Steve is leaving forever and taking Jo with him. Rodock cannot blame either, but when he rides out to bring her some jewelry she left behind, Jo has a change of heart and stays with Rodock after all. ===== The story is based on the lives of two grandsons of a Punjabi family (the Singh's) from Delhi, who marry girls who are culturally and geographically poles apart from each other. One hails from a small town in Punjab while the other is an NRI who has been brought up across the seven seas. The story takes many turns, romantic, emotional, dramatic and purely funny when the two girls start living under the same roof. Abhay is the son of Ranveer (the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Singh, manipulative and coldhearted) and Rama (humble and respectful of her elders, fears her husband), he returns home for his grandparents' anniversary, after being in the US. His father makes a surprise announcement that, Abhay will marry his friend's daughter, Lajwanti (Lamita). However, Abhay has already fallen in love with his then girlfriend and now wife, Lisa. Abhay and Lisa eventually marry, causing Abhay to be disowned by his own father. Uday is the son of Ranjeet (the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Singh, Ranveer's brother. Often disrespected by his wife and brother) and Rekha (malicious and takes pleasure in destroying the happiness of her family), he decides to marry Lajwanti (Lamita) at Rekha's dismay, to bring peace in the family. With so many failed attempts to stop the wedding, Uday and Lajwanti (Lamita) get married after her father undergoes a heart attack. Rekha refuses to accept Lajwanti (Lamita) as Uday's wife, unless Ranveer accepts Lisa. Ranveer reluctantly brings Abhay and Lisa home to Rekha's surprise. The two daughters-in-law are given a warm welcome in the Singh Family. Rekha vows to get rid of Lajwanti (Lamita) and Ranveer has the same motives with Lisa. Rekha and Ranveer go head to head trying to stop each other from each of their motives. Lisa (a very beautiful, intelligent, modern girl, respectful, yet sassy) and Lajwanti [Lamita] (illiterate, cultured village girl, humble and respectful) are two different girls, who develop a very powerful, strong and unbreakable bond much to Ranveer and Rekha's surprise and dismay. Rekha tries to break Lisa and Lajwanti's relationship, but to no avail. Lisa becomes aware of Rekha's plans to get rid of Lajwanti and does everything to stop her. Rekha then decides to get rid of Lisa by bringing Lisa's old friend Vikrant to live with them. Vikrant causes many problems in Lisa's marriage, the final straw was when Vikrant at Rekha's orders made Lisa sign Uma (Abhay's little sister)'s abortion papers as hers, with Vikrant as the father. Lisa is thrown out of the house. With Lisa gone, Lajwanti faces many difficulties alone. Rekha causes many problems for her as well, including getting her (Rekha) sister Jax to poison Ranveer and Lajwanti is falsely accused. Lajwanti too is thrown out of the house. With help of a woman named Saraswati, Lisa and Lajwanti fight for their place in the Singh family. With so many failed attempts to expose Rekha, Lisa manages to gather enough evidence against Aunt Rekha. The truth eventually comes to light during Puja ceremony, after Lisa took a gunshot ordered by Rekha for Lajwanti. Rekha is arrested and Ranveer finally accepts Lisa. ===== In Eastern Europe, a group of US college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride. The students are participating in a wrestling championship; they include Todd (Derek Magyer) and his girlfriend Alex (Thora Birch), Sheldon (Kavan Reece), Claire (Gloria Votsis), and young assistant coach Willy (Gideon Emery). After a hard match, they sneak away from their hotel to an underground club. However, the next morning, they return too late for their train to Odessa. Coach Harris (Todd Jensen) has stayed behind to wait for them. At the station, a woman named Dr. Velislava (Koina Ruseva) approaches and explains that train tickets are normally purchased after one has boarded. The coach and team members join her in boarding the train. Two workers from the train take their passports, and later burn them. In the dinner car, the coach is joined by the doctor, who flirts with him. They go to his room to have sex, but she injects him with a tranquilizer. In the following scene, the coach is seen in a torture chamber, screaming as he is stitched in the abdomen. Meanwhile, the 4 students and the assistant coach drink and play a game truth or dare. Todd gets dared to run down to the end of the train and back in his underwear. He reaches the end of the train and is found by one of the workers who charges at him and captures him. Todd is strung up, has his ribcage broken open, spine severed and eyes removed. Dr. Velislava is then seen fetching a mother who has a son with what appears to be severe glaucoma in his left eye. The next morning, upon finding Todd still missing, the remaining students and assistant coach Willy start looking for the missing members of their group. While searching, Sheldon is attacked by the two demented workers, who drag him to the torture car. Dr. Veliskava opens the window to the torture car and allows a middle-aged man to view Sheldon's genitalia, upon his approval, Sheldon's genitalia are cut off without any anesthesia which causes him to blackout. In the next scene he is shown passed out as he is being stitched back up. Claire reaches the end cart and finds the burnt remains of the passports. She is caught looking for more information and is hooked by the mouth and dragged to the chamber. Willy and Alex find the torture chamber where Todd is vivisected and Sheldon is alive in a cage. They free him and when they see Todd is still breathing, Sheldon kills him out of mercy. Just then, the torturer arrives dragging in Claire. Willy and Alex escape, chased by the torturer, but Sheldon and Claire are left behind. Alex and Willy are caught by the doctor; they realize all the other passengers are transplant patients, and tourists are being harvested for organs. Back in the torture car, Claire is still alive despite having a huge iron hook driven through her jaw. She, Alex, and Willy watch in horror as Sheldon is vivisected and his heart pulled out. While the captors go to another car to perform the transplant, Alex manages to escape and hide in a sleeper compartment. The next morning, at a military checkpoint, the conductor drags Claire off the train to give to the platoon as a bribe. The passengers (including Alex) watch the platoon take Claire (who, to judge by her screams, is being sexually assaulted) as the train pulls away. That night the train reaches what appears to be a huge medieval hospital. Alex, disguised, sneaks off into the building, and soon finds Willy, horribly injured but still alive, chained to a bed. They escape into the woods. In the morning, Alex leaves Willy behind briefly, but then from a distance she sees him brutally murdered by the torturers from the hospital. Now determined, she returns to the train, still parked near the hospital and about to pull away to its next destination. Alex kills each of her torturers, douses the train with gasoline and sets it ablaze, and decouples the last car, which slows to a stop. As she stops to look over the bridge, she's attacked by one of the surviving torturers. After a struggle, she manages to subdue him. When he wakes up, he finds himself strapped to the train tracks. Moments later, a train runs over him. Alex escapes down the tracks, and in the last scene, we see her some time later, about to enter a wrestling match with grim confidence. ===== After a battle, the Nightlord Steel Brightblade finds Palin Majere, nephew of the famed mage Raistlin. He allows him to return with the bodies of his two brothers, slain in the battle, to their parents, Caramon and Tika. The Knights of Takhisis visit an island where the hidden race of Irda make their home. The Irda hide themselves with an illusion, pretending to be primitive humans, and the knights leave. This fearful encounter causes the Irda to believe that another invasion will come, and convinces them to break open a magical item known as the Greygem of Gargath. The Irda did not know that the Graygem holds the entity known as Chaos inside it, long thought too dangerous to dabble with, which sets in motion the Chaos War. Among the Irda is Usha, an orphaned human girl they had raised among them. They believed while their kind would be immune to the effect of the Greygem, that she, being a human, might be affected by it. So they decided to send her away, giving her a message to deliver to Lord Dalamar, master of the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas. After she is gone, they crack open the Greygem and release the god Chaos. ===== In 1835, a ship crewed by Russian fur hunters and Aleuts come to an island off the coast of Southern California to hunt sea otters. They make a deal with the Nicoleño people living in the village of Ghalas-at for permission to hunt on their lands, but later try to leave without paying. The hunters are then confronted by the village chief and respond with violence. In the ensuing skirmish most of the Nicoleños are slain, forcing the survivors to flee the island. Young Karana, realizing that her 6-year-old brother, Ramo, has been left behind, returns to the island. Karana and Ramo are left alone, menaced by a pack of wild dogs. The most ferocious of the dogs kills Ramo, and Karana teaches herself archery and hunts the dog. She puts an arrow in its chest but then takes pity on the animal and nurses it back to health. She and the dog, whom she names Rontu, become fast friends. When another group of hunters come to the island, Karana hides, and although Tutok, a girl in the group, finds her and tries to befriend her, Karana refuses to trust anyone. Years pass, and Rontu dies of age. Karana finds a wild dog, that looks like Rontu, and names him Rontu-Aru which means son of Rontu. Later, a boat carrying a missionary arrives, and this time Karana decides to trust the strangers. Taking her animals, Rontu-Aru and some wild birds she has taught to never leave her, she leaves the island. ===== Krik? Krak! contains nine stories as well as an epilogue. The stories take place in Port-au-prince, Haiti, Ville Rose, and New York. The stories are about women trying to understand their relationships to their families as well as Haiti. The Epilogue, "Women like Us", suggests that these women have a relationship with one another. The epilogue's unnamed narrator recognizes the similarity between herself and her mother as well as her female ancestors. These women all cook when they feel the need to express their sorrows and pain, but the narrator chooses to write despite her mother's disapproval. Her mother feels that she could be killed because that is often the case with Haitian writers. The narrator keeps her female ancestor's history alive through her stories. ===== With the help of their friend Spiller, the Clock family have relocated to the miniature village of Little Fordham, where everything is perfectly scaled to Borrower size. However, they are soon discovered by Miss Menzies, a kind but eccentric human woman, who reveals their existence to the village's creator, Mr Pott. Miss Menzies and Mr Pott agree between themselves to keep the Borrowers a secret, while they also prepare a special, functioning miniature cottage for them. Meanwhile, the Platters, a married couple who own a rival model village, learn of the Borrowers' existence. Fearing their own model village will be ruined, as they cannot compete with a model village with live occupants, the Platters kidnap the Clock family and keep them in an attic, planning to show them after building a see-through, escape-proof miniature house in which to display the tiny family. The Clocks are horrified at their fate, but escape seems impossible. Imprisoned through the winter, Arrietty amuses herself by reading old newspapers. After Arrietty discovers a series of articles on hot-air balloons, she and her father race the clock to build a functional Borrower-size balloon before they are trapped forever. With their balloon, the family escapes the attic, but, realizing they cannot return to Little Fordham, they again strike out in search of a new, safe home. ===== A Pakistani feudal lord (zamindar), ChaudhryThe name Chaudhary also means a feudal lord. Hashmat rules his fiefdom, Sikandarpur with an iron grip. Along with his son Chaudhry Yaqub and two grandsons Chaudhry Anwar Ali and Chaudhry Niaz Ali (sons of his deceased son, Chaudhry Ghulam Ali), he struggles to hold on to his land, (Sikanderpur) which is the proposed site for a dam. The two grandsons are constantly at loggerheads. The younger one, Chaudhry Anwar Ali is a prodigal scion of a feudal family. He is also ruthless, like his grandfather, Chaudhry Hashmat. The older one, Chaudhry Niaz Ali wishes to escape to the big city, Lahore, but is trapped in the feudal web. There is vicious intra-family feudal politics at play. Chaudhry Yaqub is eyeing the entire estate of his father Chaudhry Hashmat by attempting to pit Chaudhry Anwar Ali against his older brother Chaudhry Niaz Ali. His machinations are carried out by Mauladad, who is an employee of Chaudhry Anwar Ali. Mauladad is a tough, wily guy employed by Chaudhry Anwar Ali to carry out hit-jobs, abductions, etc. Fateh Sher is an unknown guy, his identity will reveal at climax. Fateh Sher fled to Sikandarpur with his wife Zohra. Zohra was originally engaged to the older nephew of the Chaudhry of Ahmadpur, Hayat Muhammad. Another lead character, Dilawar is the younger nephew of Hayat Muhammad. Zohra's marriage with Fateh Sher causes strife in the village and they have to run for their lives. After moving to Sikandarpur, they start a new life and Fateh Sher assumes a new identity. Meanwhile, a blood feud ensues between the families of Hayat Muhammad and that of Fateh Sher. In rural Punjabi culture, it is a huge insult for a man, if his fiancé marries someone else. To avenge this grave insult, Dilawar's older brother launches a failed attack on Fetah Sher's village, where police were lying in wait in anticipation of an attack. To save his older brother, Dilawar gives a false statement to the police saying he launched the attack and not his brother. For this (false) acknowledgement, Dilawar is sentenced to ten years in prison. While Dilawar is serving his term, his older brother goes out to seek and kill Fateh Sher. But before he can get to Fateh Sher, Fateh Sher kills him. These events catalyze a deep rage and hatred in Dilawar against Fateh Sher. Upon his release from prison, he only has one purpose in life - to seek out and kill Fateh Sher. Fateh Sher was last spotted in Sikandarpur, the fiefdom of Chaudhry Hashmat. It is very difficult for any outsider to come to Sikandarpur without attracting the scrutiny of Chaudhry Hashmat and his servants. To get to Sikandarpur, Dilawar starts working as a servant for Chaudhry Yaqub in Lahore. When Chaudhry Hashmat visits his son Chaudhry Yaqub in Lahore to purchase a high-pedigree dog (Crystal) from Saulat Mirza, the latter turns down all offers, infuriating Chaudhry Hashmat who is not used to taking no for an answer. Seizing the opportunity to earn Chaudhry Hashmat's favor, Dilawar steals the prized dog, Crystal, from Saulat Mirza and brings it to Chaudhry Hashmat. This act endears Dilawar to Chaudhry Hashmat and lets Dilawar into Chaudhry Hashmat's inner circle of confidants and servants. Chaudhry Hashmat takes Dilawar with him to Sikandarpur. Ironically, the first and only true friend Dilawar makes in Sikandarpur is Mauladad, who in reality is his nemesis Fateh Sher - the person Dilawar is seeking to find and kill. ===== Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll (Lewis Stone) decides to pass the time by attending the coronation of his distant relation, King Rudolf V of Ruritania (also played by Stone) . He encounters an acquaintance on the train there, Antoinette de Mauban (Barbara La Marr), the mistress of the king's treacherous brother, Grand Duke 'Black' Michael (Stuart Holmes). The day before the coronation, Rassendyll is seen by Colonel Sapt (Robert Edeson) and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim (Malcolm McGregor). Astounded by the uncanny resemblance between Rassendyll and their liege, they take him to meet Rudolf at a hunting lodge. The king is delighted with his double and invites him to dinner. During the meal, a servant brings in a fine bottle of wine, a present from Michael delivered by his henchman, Rupert of Hentzau (Ramon Novarro). After Rudolf tastes it, he finds it so irresistible that he drinks the entire bottle by himself. The next morning, Sapt is unable to rouse him; the wine was drugged. Sapt is afraid that if the coronation is postponed, Michael will seize the throne. The country is dangerously divided between the supporters of Rudolf and of Michael. The colonel declares that it is Fate that brought Rassendyll to Ruritania; he can take Rudolf's place with no one the wiser. The Englishman is less certain, but he tosses a coin, which lands in Rudolf's favor, and Rassendyll goes through with the ceremony. Afterwards, he is driven to the palace in the company of the universally adored Princess Flavia (Alice Terry). Later, when Rassendyll returns to the lodge to switch places with the king once more, he and Sapt find only the corpse of Josef (Snitz Edwards), the servant left to guard the king. Rassendyll is forced to continue the masquerade. With Rudolf guarded by a handful of trusted retainers at Zenda Castle, Michael tries unsuccessfully to bribe Rassendyll into leaving. In the days that follow, Rasssendyll becomes acquainted with Flavia, and the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Rupert tries to alienate Antoinette from Michael by telling her that Michael will marry Flavia once Rudolf is out of the way. However, it has an unintended effect; Antionette reveals Michael's plans and Rudolf's location to von Tarlenheim. A dwarf assassin (John George) in Michael's pay tries to garrot Rassendyll, but Sapt interrupts him before he can finish the job. The would-be killer mistakenly signals to an anxiously waiting Michael that the deed is done, and the duke hastens to Zenda to quietly dispose of the real king. However, Rassendyll was only rendered unconscious. When von Tarlenheim arrives with his news, the three men chase after Michael. Sapt and von Tarlenheim split up to find a way into the castle, but when Antoinette lowers the drawbridge, Rassendyll goes inside alone. Though outnumbered, he manages to kill Michael in a sword fight. Then Sapt and von Tarlenheim come to his aid. When Rupert is cornered by the three men, he chooses death over a waterfall rather than execution for treason. In the aftermath, Rudolf resumes his rightful position, while Rassendyll hides out at the lodge. By chance, Flavia stops there to speak with Colonel Sapt. Despite Sapt's attempt to shield the princess from heartbreak, a servant girl blurts out that the "king" is staying at the lodge. Rassendyll is forced to tell his beloved the bitter truth. When he tries to persuade her to leave with him, her sense of honour and duty to her country compel her to stay, and Rassendyll departs alone. ===== The story begins in the immediate aftermath of the successful Mongolian conquest of Bagdad by Hulagu Khan (Kurt Katch). The caliph Hassan (Moroni Olsen) has escaped captivity, together with his young son Ali (Scotty Beckett), and prepares to regroup the remnants of his troops. While staying at the mansion of Prince Cassim (Frank Puglia), Ali and Cassim's daughter Amara (Yvette Duguay), fearing that they will not see each other again, betroth themselves via blood-bond. As the caliph prepares to leave, Cassim stops him at the last moment. This, however, is the initiation for an ambush by the Mongols, to whom the cowardly prince has sworn allegiance; the caliph and his retinue are massacred, and only Ali escapes. Alone and lost in the desert, he comes across a mountainside where he sees a group of riders exiting a hidden cave. Deducing its opening phrase, he enters the cave and finds it filled with treasure. When the 40 thieves return, they find the boy asleep in their hideout. Upon learning that he is the son of the caliph, and impressed by his courage and determination, the thieves allow him to stay, and their leader, Old Baba (Fortunio Bonanova), adopts him as his son, Ali Baba. Ten years later, the band of thieves have become a group of Robin Hood-style resistance fighters, raiding the Mongols and giving to their poor and downtrodden people. One day, they learn of a caravan bearing the new bride for the Khan to Bagdad, which seems to be rich pickings because it is apparently only loosely guarded. However, Ali Baba, now a grown man (Jon Hall), is suspicious and decides to scout the caravan first, along with his 'nanny' Abdullah (Andy Devine). The bride turns out to be Amara (Maria Montez), Cassim's daughter, who is to be wed to the Khan in order to solidify Cassim's somewhat shaky standing with the Mongols. In the meantime, Amara decides to take a bath in the oasis, where Ali encounters her (they do not recognize each other, however). Taking her for a mere servant girl and passing himself off as a traveller, he asks her about the caravan, then more about herself. But then it turns out that the caravan is in fact heavily guarded; Ali is ambushed and captured, while Abdullah narrowly escapes. Upon learning that the 'servant girl' is the bride of the Khan (her name is not mentioned), Ali curses her for her supposed treachery. Hurt by his words and in growing admiration for him and his cause, she asks her servant and bodyguard, Jamiel (Turhan Bey), who hero-worships the 40 thieves, to give Ali some water for the trip. In Bagdad, Ali is presented to the Khan, though he is not recognized as the leader of the 40 Thieves, and bound to a pillory in the palace square for public execution the next day. Cassim visits him in private and discovers Ali's true identity, but keeps the knowledge to himself. Soon afterwards, the thieves mount a rescue, but Old Baba is mortally wounded; Amara, who went to see Ali to clear the misunderstanding between them, is kidnapped, and Jamiel personally cuts Ali loose from his bonds. The thieves retreat into Mount Sesame. The next day, the thieves capture Jamiel, who was tracking them. Ali recognizes him as a friend, and Jamiel, who swears allegiance to Ali Baba, is assigned as a spy in the palace. His first task is to deliver a ransom note to the Khan: in exchange for his bride, Hulagu Khan is to surrender the traitor Cassim. The thieves proceed to Cassim's mansion to await the traitor's arrival. When Amara walks into the garden, Ali recognizes her as his lost love, and with his re-awakened feelings for her he decides to release her without waiting for her father. This initially arouses the anger of his band, but they still remain loyal to him. When Amara returns to Bagdad, her father confesses Ali's true identity to her and the Khan. Hulagu Khan decides to hold the wedding immediately; Amara refuses, but the sight of her father being tortured (actually, a ruse) forces her to give in. Jamiel brings the news to Ali, who decides to free his love. In order to reach the palace unnoticed, he devises the plan to pose as a merchant from Basra who brings forty huge jars of oil as a wedding gift. Jamiel returns to the palace to relay the plan to Amara, but they catch one of her servants eavesdropping. The girl then relays the news to Cassim and the Khan, who decide to welcome Ali in a fitting manner. At the wedding day, Ali does appear as the merchant and is admitted as a guest. During an interlude, sword dancers appear, who first perform their routine and then suddenly plunge their weapons through the jar covers – but the jars contain only sand. Upon discovering the exposure of the original plan, Ali had decided to make a few changes: most of the thieves came disguised in the crowd; some others were hidden in jars which were not brought before the Khan. Hulagu Khan kills Cassim for his failure and announces Ali's execution, but then Jamiel opens the revolt by dispatching Ali's guards with his throwing knives. While the thieves attack the palace guards, he and Amara open the gates for the mob, which storms in and overpowers the Mongols. Hulagu Khan is killed by Abdullah while preparing to finish Ali, and as a sign of victory Jamiel hoists the Arabian flag atop the palace's highest tower. ===== This series follows a group of firefighters in Norway. The show has been described as an intense and realistic story about a group of people who save lives. The episodes follow their professional lives as firefighters and their personal lives as their tough job takes a toll on their relationships. ===== The Viscount Medardo of Terralba and his squire Kurt ride across the plague- ravaged plain of Bohemia en route to join the Christian army in the Turkish wars of the seventeenth century. On the first day of fighting, a Turkish swordsman unhorses the inexperienced Viscount. Fearless, he scrambles over the battlefield with sword bared, and is split in two by a cannonball hitting him square in the chest. As a result of the injury, Viscount Medardo becomes two people: Gramo (the Bad) and Buono (the Good). The army field doctors save Gramo through a stitching miracle; the Viscount is "alive and cloven".Calvino, Italo, The Cloven Viscount in Our Ancestors (London: Vintage, 1998), p. 10. With one eye and a dilated single nostril, he returns to Terralba, twisting the half mouth of his half face into a scissors-like half smile. Meanwhile, a group of hermits find Buono in the bushes. They treat him and he recovers. After a long pilgrimage, Buono returns home. There are now two Viscounts in Terralba. Gramo lives in the castle, Buono lives in the forest. Gramo causes damage and pain, Buono does good deeds. Pietrochiodo, the carpenter, is more adept at building guillotines for Gramo than the machines requested by Buono. Eventually, the villagers dislike both viscounts, as Gramo's malevolence provokes hostility and Buono's altruism provokes uneasiness. Pamela, the peasant, prefers Buono to Gramo, but her parents want her to marry Gramo. She is ordered to consent to Gramo's marriage proposal. On the day of the wedding, Pamela marries Buono, because Gramo arrives late. Gramo challenges Buono to a duel to decide who shall be Pamela's husband. As a result, they are both severely wounded. Dr. Trelawney takes the two bodies and sews the two sides together. Medardo finally is whole. He and his wife Pamela (now the Viscountess) live happily together until the end of their days. ===== Paul Callow (Mackenzie Crook) accidentally runs a man over with his underground train, after the man is pulled on to the tracks by his dog. After a week off he kills a second passenger who falls onto the tracks after having a heart attack. Before taking time off for the second accident his colleagues tell him about a little-known 'rule' at London Underground that no-one talks about: three 'under' within a month, and you lose your job - earning yourself ten years' salary in one lump sum. But being off for the next week means that Paul needs to find someone willing to kill themselves by the following Monday. Paul sets about trying to find someone prepared to die under his train – and after hearing a report about Holborn Viaduct he comes across Tommy Cassidy (Colm Meaney) attempting to jump off. He grabs his hand and pulls him up but far from being grateful Tommy is angered by Paul's interference and moans about how "do gooders" will not just mind their own business, however upon hearing a police siren he agrees to get in Paul's car. While in a bar Paul explains to Tommy that he will pay him if he is willing to jump in front of his train. Tommy is scornful asking what good will the money do him if he has to die. Paul says that he can have one last weekend of fun. Tommy however wants to do something meaningful. Tommy agrees to his proposal and decides to spend his last weekend making amends with his estranged family. Tommy hires a car and they travel to Liverpool. While there they find that Tommy's wife Rosemary (Imelda Staunton) and daughter Frances (Gemma Arterton) have moved to the Lake District. Paul tags along to protect his investment. While in the Lake District Tommy meets with resistance from his wife and daughter. He reconciles with his wife, who reveals she has found a new man. Paul meets the daughter at a local pub and the two get drunk and sleep together. On the Sunday morning Tommy tries to talk to his daughter and sees her in bed with Paul, then chases him over some hills before having a mild cardiac attack and being taken to hospital. Tommy and Paul leave to go back to London. Paul tells Tommy he does not want to kill him and Tommy insists that he go through with it. On the Monday morning Paul is told by his colleagues that the "three and out" rule was a joke, and that there is no pay off. When the time approaches Paul sees Tommy on the tracks and stops and reports an "animal on the tracks". However, crying and recalling "a deal's a deal", Paul accelerates towards Tommy, who recites William Butler Yeats' poem Lake Isle of Innisfree as the train kills him. Distraught, Paul sits at home then begins to write and changes the title of his novel to Three and Out, we see Frances receive a copy of the novel along with £10,000 which Paul had promised to Tommy. Hidden behind the cheque is the dedication "In Memory of Tommy Cassidy". Realising her Dad has died, Frankie breaks down in tears. She travels to London and meets Paul, they go deep sea diving with Great White Sharks, Tommy's last wish. ===== The novel is set in the far future, where interplanetary and alternate-dimension travel is possible. In addition, an Internet-like information system, known as "Granny Nanny", dominates daily life, with each person being injected with nanomites that allow mental access to Granny Nanny at birth. This access takes the form of an eshu, a mental voice within the head that provides information upon request and operates as a sort of sixth sense. The use of Granny Nanny is so widespread that the word has somewhat of a religious overtone (characters will often swear to Granny Nanny, for example). The story is eventually revealed to be narrated by Granny Nanny, speaking to Tan-Tan’s child as he is being born. The book’s protagonist is Tan-Tan Habib, a seven-year-old girl living in Cockpit County on the Carib- colonized planet of Toussaint (named for Toussaint Louverture), with her father Antonio and mother Ione. The story begins on Jonkanoo during Carnival season, of which the highlight for Tan-Tan is the Robber Kings: performers who dress up as the mythical figure of the Robber King and tell exaggerated, boastful tales of their adventures. Antonio (an adulterer himself) discovers that Ione has been having an affair. After driving out the lover and separating from Ione and Tan-Tan (who becomes distraught over the incident, blaming herself for Antonio’s abandonment), he then challenges his wife’s lover to a duel for her honor during Jour Ouvert. During the duel Antonio ends up killing the lover with a poisoned machete blade, causing him to have to escape Toussaint; he takes Tan-Tan with him. The two take a shift portal to New Half-Way Tree, an alternate universe version of Toussaint that serves as a place of exile for convicts. They are met by Chichibud, a douen (one of several alien species on New Half-Way Tree), who takes them to the nearest human settlement, Junjuh Village, run harshly by One-Eye the sheriff and his deputy Claude through a system of punishment (being locked in a tin box for several hours at a time) and death (hanging). Tan-Tan eventually adjusts to life in New Half-Way Tree, growing familiar with the other locals of the town such as Michael and Gladys the local blacksmiths, and Janisette, her father’s new wife. She even befriends the local boy Melonhead, and together the two plan to move to Sweet Pone together, a better settlement on New Half-Way Tree. As Tan-Tan grows older, her father slowly slides into alcoholism and depression until he takes to beating and raping Tan-Tan on a regular basis. On her sixteenth birthday, Tan-Tan kills him in self-defense and, pregnant with his child, flees into the forbidding bush that surrounds their small settlement with the help of Chichibud, who takes her to live among the Douen in his village tree. The Douen, concerned about letting a human into their home tree and learning their secrets, reluctantly allow her to live with them. Tan-Tan struggles and fails to adopt to the Douen lifestyle, although she does end up likewise befriending Abitefa, Chichibud’s daughter. She eventually hears of and visits a human village, looking for a doctor to abort her baby. While there, she defends a man being abused by his mother, assuming the persona of the Robber Queen as she does so. Over time, she returns to the village night after night in the persona of the Robber Queen, seeking to right wrongs and make up for the guilt she feels over killing her father. She is finally found by Janisette who, with a car and rifle built by Michael and Gladys, has been looking for her and seeking vengeance for Antonio’s death. In the process of running away, she inadvertently leads Janisette and the other two to the Douen tree, forcing them to destroy it and move on to other trees. Tan-Tan and Abetifa are left behind to fend for themselves. The two take to wandering through the bush, looking for a town for Tan-Tan to live in, as she is still being hunted by Janisette. Tan-Tan visits the villages they pass in the night under the guise of the Robber Queen, seeking to do good for others. As the two travel on, she hears stories being told about her exploits, both real and imagined. After some traveling, she arrives in Sweet Pone. She runs into Melonhead, who is now the local tailor, and the two strike up their friendship once again. Tan-Tan becomes torn between her desire to stay with Melonhead and her fears of Janisette, all the while still feeling guilt over her father’s death and disgust at her still-unborn child. She ultimately stays for Sweet Pone’s carnival, dressing up in the Robber Queen costume Melonhead makes for her, until Janisette arrives in a tank, demanding Tan-Tan’s return to Junjuh village and her revenge. Tan-Tan finally confronts her face to face, accusing her of knowing that Antonio was raping her all those years and admitting to both herself and to Janisette that she killed Antonio out of self-defense. Janisette, ashamed, leaves while Tan-Tan, relieved from her guilt and sensing the oncoming delivery, returns to the bush. There, accompanied by Melonhead and Abitefa, she gives birth, accepting her son as her own and naming him Tubman. ===== Elana belongs to a peaceful, technologically advanced, space-faring civilization called the "Federation" the third planet in the sun , which monitors worlds which are still "maturing", allowing them to grow without any sort of contact or intervention. Elana stows away on a ship in order to accompany her father on a mission to Andrecia where intervention has been deemed necessary because a technologically advanced empire (The Imperial Exploration Corps) has invaded the planet in order to take advantage of its resources. In order to lead a young woodcutter (a native of that planet) against the Corps (without exposing him to the truth about either alien civilization), Elana takes on the role of an enchantress. She trains him and his brother in psychokinesis in an effort to get the Imperial Corps to leave Andrecia peacefully. She also gives him various tools, leading him to believe that they are magical. ===== The plot is set in Britain at the end of the 21st Century and dissolves around an experimental type of robot that can think for itself, EGR3 (called Eager). Eager learns by experience as a human does, is intellectually curious and capable of emotion. He can feel wonder, excitement and loss. His inventor sends him as an assistant to an old-fashioned robot, Grumps, who acts as butler to the Bell family. Though much-loved, Grumps is running down and can no longer be repaired. Mr. Bell works for the all-powerful technocratic corporation, LifeCorp, who supply the robots which cater to every human need. His children Gavin and Fleur learn of an underground group which opposes LifeCorp, and there is danger of a robot rebellion brewing. The ultra-high-tech, eerily human BDC4 robots are behaving suspiciously and the Bell children and Eager are drawn into a great adventure. Eager's extraordinary abilities are tested to the limit and he tries to find out the answer to the question: what does it mean to be alive? ===== Virginia (Ginny) Blackstone, a seventeen-year-old girl who is on summer break before her final year of high school, has received 13 blue envelopes from her self-proclaimed "Runaway Aunt" Peg, who has passed away. Ginny is told that she is about to leave for several weeks and will travel to foreign lands. Her aunt leaves her four rules to follow: she can only bring what fits into a backpack, she cannot bring any kind of journal or foreign language aid, she cannot bring extra money of any kind, and she cannot use or bring anything electronic with her. Ginny is only allowed to open the next envelope once she has reached the destination or has completed the task set in the previous letter. The envelopes lead her to London, where she meets a "starving" artist/creep named Keith, and Aunt Peg's best friend and roommate, Richard. She realizes she has a crush on Keith, and they go to Scotland to meet her aunt's guru, artist Mari Adams. After she has an argument with Keith, they part ways, though they meet again briefly in Paris. Later, she encounters a horrible hotel in Amsterdam and finds shelter under a very hyperactive family. Following the letters, she goes to Denmark and meets four Australian students, Emmett, Bennett, Nigel, and Carrie. Together they form the "Blue Envelope Gang" and follow the second-to-last envelope to Greece. On the way, the 12th envelope tells her she can open the last one whenever she feels ready. While in Greece, her backpack is stolen, along with the 13th envelope. She enlists Richard's help to return to England as she discovers her bank card is out of balance. Upon arriving there, Richard tells her that he and Peg were married during her final days with her fatal illness, which makes Richard Ginny's uncle, even though they both thought the other was marrying for the insurance for the aunts illness. This last bit of information completely unsettles the already-distressed girl, who runs to Keith's house for the night. Returning to Richard's apartment the next day, she manages to discover a trove of her aunt's final paintings in the attic of Harrods, a large department store in London, which her aunt used as a private art studio. The painting collection is sold at auction, and the proceeds become her inheritance. While wondering if selling the paintings was the right decision or not, a conversation with Keith makes her realize that Peg wanted Richard to know that she loved him. She writes a letter to her aunt, letting her know that even though she never read the 13th envelope, she knows what it said. Ginny finally makes her way back home to New Jersey, after leaving half the inheritance to Richard. ===== The film opens with a young, blonde- haired woman outdoors during a rainstorm. She is seen struggling on her knees, and she manages to stumble into a home. The occupants, learning that the pregnant woman is about to go into labour, make preparations for her birth. With some difficulty, the unnamed woman gives birth to a baby boy (played by Joseph Shiner), with the assistance of a midwife, known as Mrs. Corney (Ann Tirard). The woman, barely able to speak, asks to see her son. When he is given to her, she smiles weakly at him and kisses the baby's forehead before she collapses and dies. Witnessing the woman's birth is Mr. Bumble (Timothy West), a hard-nosed man in charge of the local orphans workhouse. With no information on the mother's identity, he gives the boy the name Oliver Twist. Like the other boys in the workhouse, Oliver lives a hard life of endless labour and schooling, with only a bowl of gruel for supper, while Bumble and Corney sits above them feasting on food such as leg of lamb. After seeing his half-starved friend Dick devour his bowl and still wanting more, Oliver, in a gesture of compassion, offers the lad his own, then goes up to Bumble and asks for more, unaware of the consequences. His request angers Bumble, who hires him out to work for Mr Sowerberry, a local undertaker. Sowerberry exploits Oliver's pathetic features by using him as a silent mourner, present at burials for the dead who are without family or friends, many of them children. Oliver's situation is not much different than the workhouse, as he is given a workbench to sleep on and scraps that Sowerberry's dogs refuse to eat for food. Oliver also becomes the object of Noah Claypole's (Philip Davis) hatred. Claypole, a teenager, has been assigned to supervise Oliver. He gives Oliver harsh tasks and becomes further resentful when Sowerberry decides to use Oliver instead of him for silent mourner duties. Claypole taunts Oliver one day, making fun of his dead mother. The insulting remark angers Oliver, who delivers a surprisingly powerful blow to Claypole's face, breaking his nose. Sowerberry rushes in and after learning what caused the fracas, takes Claypole's side and tells Oliver he will be returned to the workhouse the following day. Unwilling to return to the workhouse, Oliver waits until later that evening and then sneaks out. He roams the streets that evening until he arrives in the market town of Barnet (near London), where he is met by the Artful Dodger (Martin Tempest). Aware of Oliver's plight as he too is an orphan, the Artful Dodger offers Oliver lodgings from his benefactor. Oliver agrees, unaware of what he has got himself into. Oliver is now part of a band of thieves, overseen by Fagin (George C. Scott), a kindly Jewish man of dark features. Among Fagin's group are Bill Sikes (Tim Curry), a drunk who oversees the orphan thieves, and Nancy, an attractive young woman often used for sexual favors, and frequently abused by Bill. She takes a liking to Oliver and tries to help him, but for this, she is eventually viciously murdered by Bill. Oliver is made aware of his true purpose with Fagin when he is expected to work as a pickpocket. Sikes forces Oliver to help him burglarize a home in the countryside. The boy is shot in the process. An elderly man, Mr Brownlow, along with his niece Rose Maylie and housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin, take pity upon him and nurse the boy back to health. He finds both a newly found happiness and joy with them. Mr. Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin notice a close resemblance between Oliver and a lady's portrait on the wall, leading them to eventually discovering the boy's true identity. Throughout all of this is the obsession of one man bent on destroying Oliver and his reputation, even going so far as to try to have him murdered. Monks (Oliver Cotton), who has a distinguishing red birthmark over his right eye, has learned that although he and Oliver are born of different mothers, they are of the same father. Monks learns that their father has disinherited him in favor of Oliver, though he inherited what should have been Oliver's inheritance after his mother's death. Though Monks is legitimate, he also has aspirations of wealth and stature that his inheritance would provide. Thus, he also sees the relationship between them as socially scandalous. His efforts prove unsuccessful in the end, however. When Nancy's body is discovered, an angry mob descends upon the gang and captures Fagin. "Filthy Jew!" shouts one man who strikes him in the face. Fagin rails against the crowd as he is led away. "If you need money, I am the clever Jew! If you need my help I am the kind Jew! You all sicken me!" Bill, fleeing after Nancy's murder, tries to kill his pet dog, but the dog escapes and leads the mob straight to Bill, who accidentally hangs himself after trying to flee over a rooftop and hallucinating that he sees Nancy's bloody ghost. Brownlow is revealed to be a friend of Oliver's father, Philip ("Edwin" in the novel). Monks' real name is revealed to be Edward Leeford, and Philip's marriage to Edward' mother had been an unhappy one. Having separated from her, Philip moved to the country where he met and fell in love with Oliver's mother, revealed to have been named Agnes Fleming. Leeford never told Agnes of his marriage, nor did she tell him when she became pregnant with his child (Oliver). He left for London to ask Edward's mother for a divorce so he could marry Agnes, but died before he could do so. Already having had a premonition that he was going to die, Leeford wrote a will in which he left a small inheritance to Edward and his mother, but the rest to Agnes. Feeling abandoned and ashamed, Agnes ran away and disappeared, leading up to the events at the beginning of the film. Before he went to London, Leeford left both the will and a portrait he had painted of Agnes with Brownlow. Brownlow does some investigative work on his own to bring justice to his friend's young son. He learns of the cruelty and inhumane conditions at the workhouse, and also learns of Bumble's theft of workhouse funds for his own benefit, money which has been intended to properly feed and clothe the orphans. Bumble immediately blames his wife, Mrs. Mann (to whom he proposed marriage at the start of the film) for the misappropriations and claims to love Oliver as he does the other orphans. After receiving a locket Mrs. Bumble had stolen from Agnes's corpse and revealing to everyone the boy's true identity, Brownlow tells Monks that he will be going to prison. Then, not fooled by Bumble's charade, Brownlow informs him that under British law, a husband is accountable for his wife's misdeeds, prompting Bumble's famous reply "If that's the eye of the law, then the law is a ass." Brownlow then tells Bumble that he will use his influence to see to it that he and his wife lose their workhouse jobs and may even face criminal charges. The film ends with Monks going to prison and Brownlow and Rose assuring Oliver that he is no longer a foundling, but now has a true identity of his own. Everyone then climbs into Brownlow's coach and they make the journey back to Brownlow's estate. ===== The story begins as the present unfolds along with scenes from the past about Edna, a woman in a hospital who each day writes down her memories. She is a devoted housewife, an excellent cook, and in love with her husband Harry who often compliments her on her cooking, fills their conversations with his life at work, and they seem quite normal if perhaps a little boring. Edna's attitude towards herself suddenly changes resulting in her ending her 20-year marriage by stabbing Harry with a kitchen knife. Edna cannot (or will not) talk to her doctor, and nurses have to take care of her basic needs. Edna's hospital surroundings give way to the bright colours of her home life as her memories of her past life surface as she writes. ===== The story opens with a diary entry from an eleven- year-old Corinne von Nordhoffen, heiress to a large orthopedic supply company. The young girl laments at the fact that, while others have offered her gifts for her birthday, the real present she wants is Raymond Ford. On the night of her birthday, she waits in vain for him to show. Her driver is directed to head to Ford's house, across town. When they arrive at the address, all they see is a closed restaurant but realize that in fact Ford lives upstairs, with his mother. Corinne talks with Ford briefly as he suddenly exits the apartment with his mother, who chides him for being slow. He is carrying a large suitcase and when asked where he is going he says "I don't know ... goodbye." At seventeen Corinne was a beautiful but naive student attending Wellesley College. After graduating she goes to Europe and meets many men. One boyfriend dies in a car accident, and Corinne moves to New York City to a "darling, overpriced apartment in the East Sixties." She gets a job after contacting an old friend from college, Robert Waner (who we learn is narrating the story). Waner sets her up as an editor at a magazine. He proposes to her and she rejects him. After some months of working for him, Waner introduces her to the work of a poet (specifically a book of poems called The Cowardly Morning) whose works are "Coleridge and Blake and Rilke all in one, and more." The first poem is the title poem; Corinne reads it and "felt sorry for the poet for having her as a reader." She reads through it again and begins to appreciate the symbolism: Not a wasteland, but a great inverted forest/with all the foliage underground. Corinne is floored by the poem, calls Waner and tries to get more information on the poet. His name is Ray Ford, twice winner of a prestigious fellowship and an instructor at Columbia University (the same college Salinger's Seymour Glass teaches at). Corinne arranges a meeting with Ford, where he tells her what happened to him. As a young man he worked at a smoky race track, running bets for people. He is befriended by a woman who begins to write poems he must read on scraps of paper. Following her advice, he reads them (using her library), then memorizes them, until he has a volume of poetry in his mind. His vision impaired, Ford writes his own poems at this point, with large block lettering. Ford explains that the poetry emerged from him slowly, and with the pain of his life at that time. Corinne is mesmerized by Raymond Ford and initiates a romantic relationship. The two of them meet regularly at a Chinese food restaurant and talk. She invites him to a party. Reluctantly, he accepts. While there he is quiet until he starts on a poet he admires and impresses the academics at the party without showing off his genius. Soon after she and Ford are married, Corinne receives a letter in the mail. It is from a Mary Croft, who had noticed the wedding announcement in the New York Times and who wants Ford to read some of her poetry. Corinne invites Croft to their house. When she arrives Ford dismisses her work and asserts "a poet doesn't invent his poetry—he finds it." Ford and Corinne's relationship begins to crack under the stress of the poet's dedication to his work and introspection. Ford leaves Corinne; later, following a lead from a man who turns out to be Croft's estranged husband, Corinne finds Ford living with Croft. Among other things, Croft's husband reveals that his wife is older than she appears (a woman of 31, not a college girl of 20, as she'd claimed to be), and the negligent mother of a ten-year-old son. Ford lives with Croft in a large Pennsylvania city, in a dilapidated apartment bereft of literature. He is drinking a highball when Corinne shows up to see him. His senses dulled, and his creative output stymied, Ford is a prisoner of "the Brain." This, he explains to Corinne, is his mother: The insensitive and cruel person who had first introduced him to the world of the ignorant and dull. Corinne pleads with him to come back but he doesn't. Instead, Ford, the genius who sees what others can't, closes his eyes to the world of beauty by drowning his perceptions in ether and making himself dependent upon a woman who reincarnates his dead mother. ===== Private investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired by Beverly Danziger to locate her missing sister, Elaine Boldt, whose name is needed on some paperwork regarding an inheritance. Elaine was last seen getting into a cab with the intention of flying down to Boca Raton, Florida, where she spends her winters, but appears to have disappeared along the way. It seems a relatively straightforward matter, so much so that Millhone is not sure Beverly needs a PI; but she agrees to take the case. Things are not as easy as they seem, however, as Millhone can find no trace of Elaine anywhere in Florida, although she does find a woman called Pat Usher, who claims Elaine agreed to let her sublet the Boca Raton apartment where Elaine lived while she was off travelling. This claim rings false, since no one but Pat Usher has received a postcard from Elaine on her supposed trip. Millhone secures the able assistance of Elaine's elderly neighbour, Julia, to keep an eye on things in Florida while she goes back to California. Millhone suspects there is a link between Elaine's disappearance and the death of her Santa Teresa neighbour, Marty Grice, who was apparently killed by a burglar who then set fire to the Grice home a week before Elaine left. Someone breaks into the home of Tillie, the supervisor of Elaine's Santa Teresa apartment complex, apparently on the track of some of Elaine's bills that Tillie was holding ready to forward to her. Someone also searches the detective's apartment, and Millhone realizes the thief is after Elaine's passport. Gravely concerned for Elaine's safety, Millhone suggests to Beverly that Elaine's disappearance should be reported to the police; but Beverly objects so violently that Millhone terminates their relationship and starts working for Julia instead. Kinsey reports the disappearance and meets Jonah Robb, a recently separated cop working on missing persons. A visit from Beverly's husband Aubrey complicates matters further, as it turns out he was having an affair with Elaine, which Beverly had discovered. This raises suspicion around whether Beverly could have had a hand in Elaine's disappearance. Millhone is increasingly convinced that Elaine is dead and that Pat Usher is involved. Pat disappears after totally trashing the Boca Raton apartment. Eventually, Millhone discovers that Pat Usher has applied for a driving licence in Elaine's name, thus proving Pat's involvement. Marty's nephew Mike, a teenage drug dealer, confesses that he was at the Grice home the night of the murder; and from the discrepancy in times between his account and what was told to the police, Kinsey realises that it was Elaine who died in the Grice fire, not Marty. Marty and her husband killed Elaine to steal her identity (which Marty assumed) and her money. They then passed Elaine's dead body off as Marty's by switching the dental records. Marty departed for Florida as Elaine and arrived as Pat Usher, with some cosmetic surgery to help. Unable to find Elaine's passport, she and her husband were forced to wait for a new one to come through before they can skip the country. Kinsey returns to the Grice home to look for the murder weapon; but while she is there, the Grices find her. Marty Grice is shot in the left arm during the fight that ensues, but Kinsey manages to detain the two criminals and calls for help. ===== The novel begins with Kinsey at the gym, rehabilitating herself from injuries sustained at the end of B is for Burglar. While there, she meets Bobby Callahan, a twenty-three-year-old who was nearly killed when his car went off the road nine months ago. Bobby is convinced that the car crash, which killed his friend Rick, was an attempt on his life. He suspects that he may still be in danger, so he hires Kinsey to investigate. Having lost some of his memories and cognitive faculties as a result of the crash, he can only vaguely articulate why he thinks someone wants to kill him, referring to some information in a red address book that he can no longer locate. Kinsey takes the case despite little information, having taken a liking to Bobby. She meets his rich but dysfunctional family: Glen, his mother is an heiress on her third marriage to Derek Wenner, whose daughter Kitty is a 17-year-old drug user and is seriously ill with anorexia. Glen has spared no expense in seeking treatment and counseling for Bobby. He is depressed further due to Rick's death, his own injuries, and the loss of his prospects at medical school. A few days later, Bobby dies in another car crash, which is attributed to a seizure while driving. Kinsey thinks this is the delayed result of the first crash and thus a successful murder. Kinsey investigates several people: Kitty stands to inherit 2 million dollars from Bobby's will; Derek insured Bobby's life for a large sum without Glen's knowledge; and Rick's parents blame Bobby for their son's death. However, Kinsey looks elsewhere for the solution: a friend of Bobby's gives her Bobby's address book, which shows Bobby was searching for someone called Blackman. Bobby's former girlfriend thought Bobby ended their relationship because he was having an affair with someone else, and she thinks Bobby was helping a woman who was being blackmailed. Kinsey eventually finds out that the woman with whom Bobby was involved was his mother's friend, Nola Fraker. She confesses to having accidentally shot her husband, a well-known architect named Dwight Costigan, during a supposed struggle with an intruder at their home years prior. She has a blackmailer, who is in possession of the gun with Nola's fingerprints on it. Trying to investigate further, Kinsey realizes that 'Blackman' is code for an unidentified corpse in the morgue. She finds the gun concealed in the corpse. However, while she is at the hospital, she finds the recently murdered body of the morgue assistant and realizes the killer is at the hospital. It is Nola's current husband, Dr. Fraker, a pathologist from the hospital, who is also the blackmailer. Bobby found out what Fraker was up to; but Fraker rigged the first car accident before he could do anything about it, leading Bobby to eventually put Kinsey on the trail. Soon after, Fraker cut Bobby's brake lines, leading to his fatal crash, and falsified the autopsy results to point to a seizure. Fraker traps Kinsey and gives her a disabling injection, but she manages to cosh him and escapes to a phone to call the police. In the epilogue, she describes finally discharging the debt she feels she owes to Bobby and concludes with a wish that he is at peace. In a side plot, Kinsey's landlord and friend Henry begins a personal and business relationship with Lila Sams, newly arrived in Santa Teresa. Kinsey, rubbed the wrong way by Lila, discovers her to be a fraudster with multiple identities and turns her over to the police just as Lila is preparing to decamp with Henry's money. ===== Kinsey Millhone receives a contract from ex-con Alvin Limardo to deliver a cashier's check for twenty-five thousand dollars to a fifteen-year- old boy named Tony Gahan. According to Limardo, Tony helped him through a tough time in his life, leaving Limardo indebted. However, when the retainer check Limardo made out to Kinsey for four hundred dollars bounces, she learns that Alvin Limardo is actually John Daggett, a man known by all and liked by few, and recently released from a local prison. He is also a bigamist. His first wife Essie's fanatical religious views have kept her married to Daggett, while Daggett, in disregard of his marital status, underwent a second marriage to Lovella on his release from prison, whom he has subjected to domestic abuse. In her search to find Daggett and get her money back, Kinsey discovers that he was found dead on the beach only a few days after hiring her. Through Daggett's daughter Barbara, Kinsey learns that Tony Gahan was the sole survivor of a family killed in a car accident caused by Daggett, for which he received a conviction on charges of vehicular manslaughter. Tony's been a wreck since the death of his family, rarely sleeping and doing poorly in school. He now lives with his uncle and aunt, Ramona and Ferrin Westfall. Also killed in the accident was a friend of Tony's young sister, and a boy called Doug Polokowski, who had hitched a ride in the car. Kinsey tracks down an ex- con friend of Daggett's, Billy Polo, now living in a trailer park with his sister, Coral. Billy introduced Lovella to Daggett. Kinsey finds out that Doug Polokowski was Billy and Coral's brother. There's no shortage of people with a motive for Daggett's death, but the police are classifying it as an accident. Kinsey discovers that shortly before his death, Daggett was staggering about drunk at the marina in the company of a blonde woman in a green outfit. Kinsey sets out to discover which of the numerous blonde women in the case might be the killer. She also suspects that Billy Polo is not giving her the full truth about his involvement with Daggett, a suspicion confirmed when Coral finally levels with Kinsey and reveals him to be blackmailing someone he suspects of Daggett's killing. The blackmailer murders Polo at the beach, using Kinsey's own gun, stolen from her car a few days earlier. Coral also admits to scheming with Billy and Lovella to rob Daggett of money he had come by illicitly in prison, not knowing that Daggett had given the money to Kinsey to pass on to Tony. The police investigating Billy's murder discover a home-made silencer used in the killing. Kinsey immediately recognizes the toweling used for padding as coming from the Westfall household, and Ramona jumps to the top of her suspect list. This means confronting Tony, who has given Ramona an alibi for the time of Daggett's death. In pursuing Tony, Kinsey realises Tony himself, dressed as a woman in his aunt's wig, was actually the killer. He was also the one who stole her gun and killed Billy Polo, who had recognized Tony at Daggett's funeral. Killing the man who killed his family has done nothing to ease Tony's torment, however; and he commits suicide by throwing himself off a building in front of Kinsey, despite her best effort to talk him down. ===== The tale begins with a variation on the story of Adam and Eve before introducing the reader to a nameless youth who, having reached "the age of discretion," receives counsel from his parents. His parents advise him not to attend feasts, drink too much, be tempted by beautiful women, fools, or riches, visit taverns, steal or rob, deceive or lie, and last but not least, not to disobey his parents. The youth, ashamed to submit to his father and mother... goes out into the world and ends up gaining much wealth and many friends. One day, a friend of his tempts him to a tavern and convinces him to drink mead, wine, and beer, promising the youth that he will watch over him and make sure he gets home safely to his parents. The youth drinks the mead, wine, and beer, falling into a drunken slumber. When he wakes up toward night time, he realizes everything he had, including his clothes, have been stolen. He is covered with tavern rags, at his feet lay ragged sandals, and under his head is a brick serving as a pillow. Being ashamed to return home or to his former friends in such a condition, he travels to another town and comes across a feast. He approaches the merry guests, who welcome him to their festivities. Upset over what has transpired, he is not enjoying himself and the guests notice and ask him what is wrong. After telling them what happened to him, they offer him practical advice and he sets off to another town with their counsel in mind. He begins to live wisely and acquires even greater wealth than before. At a feast he has organized himself, he begins to boast about his success. Woe (a personification-"spirit") overhears him and threatens the youth not to boast anymore, appears in two of the youth's dreams, and convinces him to spend all his money on drink. Ending up yet again with nothing, he is again ashamed and moves on to the next town. He comes across a river, and despite Woe's taunting, manages by virtue of a song he sings to have the ferrymen take him across. When the youth decides to return home, Woe gets in his way. The youth then transforms into several different life forms and ends up being able to protect himself from Woe only by entering a monastery, which he does, leaving Woe at the holy gates. ===== Twin sons to Prince Arutha, the Princes Borric and Erland have lived a life of relative luxury. Though well educated and talented swordsmen, they spend their time brawling, gambling, and disrupting their father's court. After the twins show no sign of maturity after a year stationed at the Kingdom's northern border, and with Borric being Heir Presumptive to the throne in Rillanon after the drowning of King Lyam's only son, Arutha decides that his two sons cannot afford the luxury of youth anymore. He sends them as ambassadors to the Empire of Kesh for the Empress' 75th birthday jubilee. Baron James ("Jimmy the Hand") and Baron Locklear accompany the twins, their presence made all the more vital after an assassination attempt on Borric before their departure is narrowly averted, and the assassin is found to be of Keshian nobility. On the way to Kesh, the emissaries stop at Stardock. There James meets Gamina, Pug's adopted daughter, and they fall in love on first sight. James and Gamina wish to marry but James must seek Arutha's permission as a member of his court. Along with granting permission, Arutha promotes James to the rank of Earl, and the two are married. Gamina then joins the group as they continue their journey south. Upon entering Kesh, the party is attacked during a sandstorm, and Borric is captured by slavers. His companions scout the slavers' camp, but are unable to locate the prince, and certain that he has been killed, continue onward to the capital, grief-stricken. At the capital, the embassy is introduced to imperial customs and meet the various people who form the Empire, and begin to gather information on the plot against Borric and the political unrest within the Keshian government. Erland enjoys an affair with the Empress' granddaughter, Princess Sharana, while Locklear also pursues a relationship with the Empress' daughter, Princess Sojiana, rightful heir to the throne. Later, after expressing unease about some of the things he has learned, Locklear suddenly disappears and is accused of the murder of Sojiana. Meanwhile, Borric manages to escape from the slavers, and with the help of a beggar boy, a mercenary named Ghuda Bule, and a trickster named Nakor, makes his way to Kesh, learning more about the plot against him and the Empress on the way. Eventually, the plot is uncovered, the Empress' life is saved, and the conspirators are revealed and punished for their treasonous acts. The brothers and their companions, happy to be reunited, but mourning the loss of Locklear, who was found murdered by the conspirators, return to Krondor. ===== Just after Christmas, Kinsey Millhone discovers that five thousand dollars has mysteriously been credited to her bank account. She flashes back a few days to when she was asked to investigate a fire claim at a factory in Colgate as part of her informal office space rental arrangement with California Fidelity Insurance. The business in question, Wood/Warren, is owned and operated by the Wood family, whom Kinsey has known on a personal level since high school. Company founder Linden Wood is dead. His son Lance now runs the company, and his four other children—Ebony, Olive, Ash and Bass—all have a stake. Ash is Kinsey's former schoolmate; and Bass was an acquaintance of her second ex- husband, Daniel Wade. Olive is married to Terry Kohler, Lance's second-in- command at the company. After a solitary Christmas, with Henry away visiting relatives and Rosie's Tavern shut down until the new year, Kinsey writes off the fire as an industrial accident. Upon submitting her report to her boss, she finds that significant papers have been removed from the file and others substituted, giving an appearance that Lance Wood has bribed Kinsey not to label the fire as arson. In the middle of protesting her innocence, the five thousand dollar credit takes on a sinister significance. Temporarily suspended from California Fidelity, Kinsey takes up her own investigation to prove her innocence, aided (unwillingly at first) by CFI administrator Darcy. Darcy is united with Kinsey in her dislike of claims manager Andy Motycka, who is Kinsey's chief suspect in the set-up. She is at a loss and cannot imagine for whom he could be working. Kinsey reconnects with the Wood family and learns some of their dark family secrets: that Ebony, the oldest sister, wants control of the business and that Lance was practically a criminal in high school. She also learns that a former Wood/Warren employee, Hugh Case, committed suicide two years before, although the suspicious disappearance of all the lab work on Hugh's body seems to support his widow Lyda's claim that it was murder rather than suicide. Kinsey remains unconvinced by Lyda's conviction that Lance was Hugh's killer but can't seem to find any other leads. Her spirits are at a low ebb, and it's the worst possible moment for Daniel to show up (eight years after leaving without a word). Kinsey finds it hard it cope with but eventually agrees to store a guitar for him while he sorts himself out. On her way to a new year party at Olive and Terry's home, Kinsey is almost killed when a bomb, disguised as a gift left on the doorstep, explodes. Olive is killed, and Terry is badly injured. Kinsey does her best to resist Daniel's attempts to nurse her, and her distrust is proven right when she finds out the guitar she has been storing for Daniel is bugged and that he has been reporting on her investigation to Ebony and Bass Wood. She discovers Daniel and Bass are lovers—Bass is the person for whom Daniel left her. Shortly afterwards, Kinsey finds Lyda Case's dead body in a car outside her apartment. Forcing answers from the Wood family, Kinsey learns an even darker family secret: that Lance had an incestuous affair with Olive when they were teenagers, leaving Olive emotionally and sexually scarred for the rest of her life. Kinsey's suspicions immediately jump to Terry Kohler; and when the police identify fingerprints on the car Lyda was found in as belonging to an escaped convicted bomber called Chris Emms, she realizes Terry and Emms are the same person. Unfortunately, Emms has anticipated her solving the case and is waiting at her apartment with another bomb. Before it explodes, he explains he killed Hugh Case because Hugh had realized his true identity; and he killed Lyda because she had belatedly found Hugh's records of that. He engineered the fire at Wood/Warren and set up Kinsey (with the aid of Andy Motycka) to get revenge on Lance after Bass spilled the family incest secret to him. Kinsey manages to shoot Emms and disables him sufficiently to get out of the bathroom window just as the bomb explodes, killing Emms and destroying her garage apartment. After Daniel leaves with Bass, the only loose end is the five thousand dollars Emms put in her account; and on the advice of Lieutenant Dolan, Kinsey keeps it. ===== Henry Pitts is having Kinsey's garage apartment rebuilt after it was destroyed in the events of the previous novel. Royce Fowler wants the detective to exonerate his son of the murder of Jean Timberlake, seventeen years before, in Floral Beach, California. Bailey Fowler pleaded guilty to killing Jean, his sometime girlfriend, and escaped from prison soon afterwards. He has apparently been living the life of a model citizen under an assumed name. He is recaptured and is claiming his innocence. Kinsey heads to Floral Beach, a tiny local community, to pursue the cold trail; and she stays with the Fowler family at their motel. Royce is dying of cancer; his wife Oribelle is sick with diabetes; and their daughter Ann, Bailey's senior by five years, has taken leave of absence from her job as a counselor at the local high school to provide care for her parents. Bailey's lawyer, Jack Clemson, fills her in on the details of the case: Jean, 17 when she died, was a problem child who was doing badly in school and engaged in numerous sexual encounters with the local boys at school—and some of the local men, as well. She was pregnant at the time of her death. Everyone knows everyone in Floral Beach, and Kinsey acquaints herself with a number of the locals in pursuit of the truth: Pearl, the local bar-owner, whose son's evidence put Bailey on the spot at the time of Jean's death; Tap Granger, who was Bailey's accomplice in several robberies before the murder; the local pastor, Reverend Haws, and his wife; and Dr. Dunne, whose wife Elva has a violent objection to being questioned. The high school principal at the time of the murder, Dwight Shales, offers some help. Attention is turned to Jean's single mother, Shana, whose friendship with Dwight is causing raised eyebrows around Floral Beach. She is struggling with longstanding alcohol problems, is less co-operative, and refuses to identify Jean's father. Nobody seems convinced that the killer could be anyone but Bailey. At Bailey's arraignment, Tap Granger stages a hold-up, allowing Bailey to escape once more. Tap is himself killed in the escape. Kinsey gets confirmation from Tap's widow that Tap was paid to do it—for the first time providing concrete evidence that someone wants to keep Bailey discredited. Someone breaks into Kinsey's motel room at the motel, and she receives threatening calls in the middle of the night as she pursues the case. Oribelle is murdered following the adulteration of her insulin, medication that is administered regularly by Ann. Kinsey establishes that Dr. Dunne is Jean's unknown father. Shana is murdered when she sets out to keep a rendezvous with him. Kinsey runs from the cops herself after she finds the body and seeks refuge with Dwight Shales, who confesses that he, too, was having an affair with Jean and was probably the father of her child. Kinsey realizes that Ann Fowler is jealous of anyone who comes into contact with Dwight. She searches Ann's room and finds evidence that Ann supplied Tap with the hold-up gun and made the anonymous phone calls. Unfortunately, she also finds Ann waiting for her, armed with a shotgun. Jean had confided in her, as school counselor, that Dwight was the father of her child. Motivated by jealousy, Ann killed her; and being equally jealous of her brother's position as favored child of their parents, Ann was happy to see him take the rap. Her plan is to use the money she will eventually inherit from her parents to tempt Dwight into marriage. She killed her mother to hasten the plan along. She also killed Shana, Jean's mother, because she was jealous of her friendship with Dwight. Before Ann can kill Kinsey, she is interrupted by Royce, who wrestles the gun away from Ann, shooting her in the foot accidentally in the process. Ann, injured, is arrested for the murders of Shana and Oribelle. Though there is insufficient evidence to prove her to be Jean's killer, the circumstances are sufficient to ensure that Bailey is cleared of the murder. ===== After being unceremoniously fired by California Fidelity Insurance, Kinsey has found herself new office space with her attorney, Lonnie Kingman. Lonnie has a case with which he wants Kinsey's help. Six years earlier, David Barney was acquitted of killing his estranged wife, talented but insecure society house-designer Isabelle Barney, by shooting her dead through the spy hole of her front door. David's desperation to rebuild the marriage after the split netted him an injunction for harassment; so he was the obvious suspect—particularly since he inherited Isabelle's multimillion-dollar business—but the prosecution could not make it stick. Now Isabelle's previous husband, Kenneth Voigt, is trying again in the civil courts in an attempt to secure the fortune for his and Isabelle's daughter Shelby; and Lonnie needs some evidence. The previous PI on the case, Morley Shine, has just died of a heart attack. Lonnie asks Kinsey to step in. Kinsey agrees and, knowing Morley of old, is surprised to find his files in a mess, with crucial witness statements missing. One new witness has come forward: Curtis MacIntyre, a habitual jailbird who shared a cell with Barney for a night and claims that Barney confessed to his guilt just after the acquittal. Kinsey is very doubtful of this story, especially when she finds out Curtis was in custody on another matter on the date in question. In trying to fill in the other blanks, she uncovers more evidence in Barney's favor than against him, not least that Barney appears to have a cast-iron alibi; he was the victim of a hit and run whilst out jogging at the time of the murder some miles away. Kinsey tracks down both the driver—Tippy, the daughter of Isabelle's best friend Rhe Parsons—and a witness who can swear that she knocked down Barney. Kinsey also finds out that Tippy, drunk and in her father's pick-up truck, was the perpetrator of a previous and fatal hit-and- run on the same night, the victim being an elderly man named Noah McKell. Kinsey realizes Morley was on the same track and begins to have suspicions about his death. She eventually establishes that Morley was poisoned by a pastry left at his office, a pastry made with lethal mushrooms. She also finds out that Kenneth Voigt has been paying Curtis 'expense money' for years, which casts further doubt on his testimony. Curtis comes up with an alternative story: according to him, the confession was actually made some time after the acquittal during a drunken evening at Barney's home. This sounds even more unlikely to Kinsey's skeptical ears. She begins to suspect that someone else from Isabelle's immediate circle might be the guilty party—Isabelle's sister Simone, Ken Voigt's new wife Francesca, or Isabelle's former business partner Peter Weidmann and/or his wife Yolanda. Meanwhile, at home, Kinsey’s octogenarian landlord, Henry Pitts, is entertaining his hypochondriac elder brother William. Both Henry and Kinsey are astonished to find romance beginning to bloom between William and Rosie. Rosie is the proprietor of Kinsey's local Hungarian tavern, which has recently been taken over as a favorite haunt by some local sports fans. Rosie charms William with her acceptance of his imagined illnesses. Back on the case, Kinsey has a sudden flash of inspiration after looking at the time gap between Tippy’s killing Mr. McKell and knocking down Barney. Tippy admits that, panic-stricken after the first accident, she went to confess what she had done to her 'aunt' Isabelle but did not get an answer at the door. Kinsey realises Barney's alibi is worthless: having just killed Isabelle, he could have hitched on Tippy's pick- up and then rolled off it later at an appropriate time in front of witnesses, to establish his alibi miles away. Kinsey's train of thought is interrupted by a call from Curtis, asking her to meet him at the bird refuge. He sounds terrified, and Kinsey suspects he has been taken hostage. She arranges for Jonah, her ex-boyfriend cop, to provide back-up and calls in at the office to pick up her gun on the way. Barney has anticipated that she would do this and is waiting for her, along with Curtis's corpse. They play a cat-and-mouse version of Russian roulette with their respective guns until Kinsey, in possession of a gun with an extra round in the chamber, emerges victorious, having shot and killed Barney. ===== July 1984 contains two surprises for Kinsey Millhone, both connected to her past. First, California Fidelity Insurance reappears in her life in the form of Mac Voorhies, who wants her help with a case some seven months after his boss Gordon Titus terminated Kinsey's loose employment relationship with CFI. Secondly, in the course of the investigation, Kinsey makes a shocking discovery about her own past when she learns she has a family about which she previously knew nothing. The case Mac hires Kinsey to investigate is that of Wendell Jaffe, assumed to have died five years previously when his boat, the Captain Stanley Lord, was found drifting off the Baja coast. He left behind a suicide note, a number of creditors who had invested in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, and a family: a wife, Dana, along with sons Michael and Brian. It seemed certain Jaffe had killed himself to avoid the disgrace and jail sentence, which fell instead to his business partner, Carl Eckert. But with no body to prove death, CFI made Dana wait the full statutory five years to presume death before paying out on Jaffe's half-million insurance claim; and she has been making ends meet by working as a wedding planner. Michael, now 22, has coped reasonably well with suddenly being the man of the house and is a new husband and father himself. Eighteen-year-old Brian, on the other hand, is in a mess, currently residing in juvenile hall. Two months after the insurance money was finally paid, a former colleague of Mac's has spotted a man he is convinced is Jaffe in Viento Negro, Mexico. Mac hires Kinsey to go there and check it out. After a little hotel room breaking and entering, she finds Wendell is now known as Dean DeWitt Huff, travelling with a woman called Renata Huff, who has a residence on the quays in Perdido, near Santa Teresa, as well as a boat of her own. Before Kinsey can prove his identity, they skip out; on the same day, Brian is arrested in the middle of a botched escape attempt in which a female motorist, as well as his three conspirators, are killed. Kinsey is convinced Wendell will be heading back to California to reconnect with his son. Doing a door-to-door back in California, Kinsey is astonished to be asked if she is related to the Burton Kinsey family of Lompoc, as she looks so like them. Kinsey denies the connection but undertakes a little detective work on her behalf and is amazed to find her mother's father was indeed Burton Kinsey. Far from being family-less, Kinsey has cousins, aunts and a grandmother living less than an hour away. Her cousin Liza shows up to tell her the family scandal: Kinsey's mother was cut off from her family for marrying Kinsey's father. Kinsey is aghast that no one has tried to track her down in the 29 years since her parents were killed and is resentful of any intrusion into her solitude at this late date. Her thoughts are dragged back to the case at hand when through an apparent police clerical error, Brian is suddenly released from prison. Kinsey is certain Wendell has engineered it and is planning to slip through her fingers again with Brian. Renata catches Kinsey red-handed searching on her property but when Kinsey turns the tables (and her own gun) on her, Renata admits Wendell is visiting Michael. At last, Kinsey has tracked Jaffe down, but her success is short lived when someone takes potshots at them both and Wendell escapes once more. The day after, the Captain Stanley Lord, where Eckert has been living for the past few years, also goes missing while Eckert is away; and when it's found drifting uninhabited a few miles off-shore, there's a distinct sense of deja- vu about Wendell's disappearance. Nevertheless, it's enough for CFI: Kinsey has proved Jaffe didn't die and therefore the insurance money can be reclaimed from Dana. But Kinsey is dissatisfied—she wants the truth and is prepared to pursue it on her own time. She finds Brian, and also finds out from Eckert that there was three million dollars from their fraudulent business scheme on board the missing boat. Renata confesses that she killed Wendell, dumped his body at sea, and then set the Lord adrift, making her way back to shore in her own dinghy. She then wades out into the sea to kill herself, and Kinsey is unable to stop her. Renata's story is apparently confirmed when Jaffe's body washes up on the shore. But Renata's never does, leaving Kinsey wondering if she has managed to fake her own death just like Wendell. ===== A beautiful American socialite, Diana Standing (Myrna Loy) and her ascerbic companion, Miss Powers (Louise Closser Hale), arrive at the train station in Cairo, Egypt, where they are met by her wealthy British fiancé Gerald Hume (Reginald Denny). Their plan is to be married in the city in a few weeks' time, once Gerald's mother arrives. At the station, she is noticed by Jamil El Shehab (Ramon Novarro), a handsome good-natured Egyptian dragoman who enjoys romancing a bevy of women tourists, in exchange for a hoard of their jewelry as love tokens. Jamil is immediately captivated by Diana, but is rejected by Gerald when he offers them his services. Undaunted, he snatches up her little laptog, Mitzi, when he sees she is unattended. Back at the hotel, Powers, who asks if everyone in Egypt is a Shriner (their official headgear is the same fez, or tarboosh, worn by Egyptian men), is upset to find Diana's wedding regalia didn't travel well. (Powers' role is that of comic relief, and her negative experiences with, and suspicion of, everything Egyptian is a running joke. Only the efficient Jamil meets with her approval.) This is forgotten when Diana realizes Mitzi is missing, but her panic is alleviated when Jamil appears with her dog, claiming credit for saving her from being hit by a train. Diana initially plans to send him away with a tip, but when the attractive Jamil again suggests she hire him as her guide, Diana pleads with a reluctant Gerald to indulge her. Born in Cairo of an Egyptian mother, but only now returning to it for the first time since she was a baby, Diana is apparently accepted by the British upper class despite her parentage. She is dismissive when Gerald asks her if the country feels like home to her, laughingly asking him if he expects her to break into a snake dance. She is not passionately in love with Gerald, and while they view the city from the hotel balcony, she gently rebuffs his attempts to present her with "romance, poetry and all that sort of rot," telling him her desire is instead to have a "civilized" life with him, albeit one that will be regimented and strictly scheduled by his mother. Jamil interrupts them and begins to serenade them with an Arabic song of love, while casting several sidelong glances at Diana that are returned. Much to Gerald's irritation, Diana quickly starts to fall under its spell. While touring the Pyramids at night, Jamil manages to separate Diana from the rest of the party by climbing one with her and leaving the others behind. He then romances her with the same love song which everyone below, including an infuriated Gerald, can hear. The next morning when Jamil enters Diana's hotel bedroom under the pretext of returning Mitzi from her walk, he spies her in her lingerie, humming the same love song he sung to her the night before. When Jamil discloses he is not only a dragoman, but a prince of Egypt, Diana scoffs at the notion. Meanwhile, Diana is also being wooed by Pasha Achmed, her fiancé's unscrupulous Egyptian business associate. In order to arrange to be alone with Diana, Pasha persuades Gerald to leave Cairo and inspect the aqueduct they are building together. When Jamil learns of the deception, he blackmails his countryman to remain silent about the reason for Gerald's absence. Bringing Diana orchids sent by Pasha, he again enters her bedroom the following morning and scatters them on her as she sleeps. Diana is outraged at this second intrusion, but when Pasha and Cecil knock at her bedroom door to announce they will wait outside for her while she dresses, she is even angrier at being forced not only to conceal Jamil's presence, but to have to ready herself while he makes personal comments. Jamil declares that if she were of his race she would know not to be offended, and that hers doesn't value the art of love. As he describes his hope that the man she chooses will recognize and inflame her romantic nature, Diana becomes increasingly agitated and distracted. When Jamil kisses her in a moment of passion, Diana initially returns his kiss, then pushes him away, exclaiming "A servant!" at this affront. She angrily dismisses him, even though she had previously refused to fire him when a jealous Gerald demanded it. Jamil then leaves by the balcony, further infuriating Diana because she hadn't thought of it at the outset. Diana and Powers then set out on a caravan across the desert with a new guide. Diana does not discover until nightfall that Jamil, undaunted by her rejection, has followed them and forced the new dragoman to leave, leaving her with no choice but to let him stay. Once again Jamil's romantic singing has its effect on Diana, but when he pulls her into his arms and kisses her again, she is outraged and strikes him with his own whip. Still believing him to be nothing more than a servant, she is taken aback at the uncharacteristic expression of anger on his face, then regains her composure and demands to return to Cairo immediately. Jamil angrily organizes the caravan, but sends it, along with Powers, on a different route, leaving Diana to discover, too late, the is alone with Jamil on a longer, scenic, route. Spying an oasis retreat, Diana abandons Jamil and rides toward it, where she is initially pleased to be treated lavishly by servants. Newly bathed and dressed, she is taken to a private room, where she is horrified to see Jamil spraying the air with perfume. When she tries to flee, she finds all the exits locked. When Pasha unexpectedly enters, she greets him as a rescuer, unaware that the house is his. He, in turn, assumes she is there for a tryst, since he received a message from Jamil asking him to meet her at his retreat. When Diana flatly denies it, Pasha confronts Jamil with what "the white woman" told him. Jamil assures him that all Occidental woman deny their true emotions, and that Diana paid him to bring her to Pasha. He then hands Pasha the same whip Diana struck him with and escorts him to her. Jamil tries to ignore Diana's cries as Pasha forces himself on her, but when she cries out his name he hammers on the locked door until Pasha comes out. Jamil confesses to Pasha that he really brought Diana to his home for food and shelter, and that he will need to be paid off before Pasha goes any further. When Pasha leaves Jamil to fetch his price, Jamil escapes with Diana. As they ride away, Jamil muses aloud, in a pleased manner, that she called for him. When Diana offers to pay him £1,000 to return safely her to Gerald in Cairo, Jamil repeats it. Pasha's guards soon catch up to them in the desert; in the ensuing fight, Jamil kills them but loses his horse. Surveying the guards' corpses in disgust, Jamil brusquely orders the barefooted and barely-dressed Diana off her horse and rides off, forcing her to catch up and walk alongside him. That night, at a desert oasis, he forces her to wait while he and the horse drink first. Weakened by thirst, hunger, and humiliation, Diana snatches his discarded dagger and hides it. She again offers him everything she has to return her to Cairo safely, then threatens that he will pay for his actions if he doesn't. When Jamil picks up his whip, she recoils, but he assures her that he wouldn't whip her since it would mar her beauty. As he approaches her, Diana tries to defend herself with the dagger, but Jamil quickly disarms her, then rapes her. Soon afterwards, he quietly tells an unresponsive and tearstained Diana that they need to travel a good distance before the sun is high. When she numbly prepares to walk next to the horse, he stops her and instead puts her up on it, while he leads them on foot. They arrive at his tribal village, where Jamil reveals his true identity is indeed that of a prince who worked as a humble dragoman as part of his royal training. When Jamil declares his love and proposes monogamous marriage to her, Diana passively accepts. But at the ceremony, she throws the water from their ceremonial cup in his face, humiliating him in front of his father and his tribe. Devastated by her rejection, Jamil furiously strikes her three times with his whip. When Diana neither flinches nor takes her eyes off his face, Jamil cannot meet her gaze and looks away. He then tells her she is free and provides her with an escort to return safely to Cairo. The escort flees when they encounter an army troop, along with Gerald and Cecil, that was dispatched to rescue Diana. Diana declares she wants Jamil dead to pay for what he has done, making it clear to Gerald that Jamil has violated her. The army is sent to find and apprehend Jamil, dead or alive. On the day of the couple's wedding, Jamil is still at large. Just before the ceremony, Diana's prospective mother-in-law asks Gerald just how far Diana's "adventure" went; he replies that he's trying to forget it and that he can't call off the wedding. Mrs. Hume worries that Jamil's capture will result in a scandalous charge of rape against Gerald's soon-to-be wife, but her son assures her that usurping a caravan is piracy, and that charge alone will carry a death sentence. She then goes to dress Diana for her wedding, criticizing her servants, her departure from the traditional Hume bridal bouquet, and how she proposes to wear the family veil. She goes on to speculate whether Diana really will be a worthy and responsible enough wife for her son, and advises her that she will have to curb her adventurous personality in order to fit in with the Hume family. Even Powers makes a thoughtless remark about Diana's bridal virginity before she leaves to take her place downstairs. Left alone, Diana is startled to hear the familiar song of love, and finds the fugitive Jamil on the balcony outside. Jamil places his life in Diana's hands, offering his death as a wedding gift if she rejects him again. Diana tells him she doesn't want him dead, and as he hands Diana her bridal bouquet, Jamil tells her the choice is hers; she will be taken by another man, and he will be taken by the troops. But as he takes her hand to kiss it in farewell he instead pulls her into a passionate kiss, which she returns. As Cecil, who has come to take her to Gerald, pounds on the locked bedroom door, Diana pleads with Jamil to flee, but he refuses to go without her. She tells him he is crazy, to which he responds that so is she, and that they are exactly alike. Realizing that she truly loves him, Diana escapes with Jamil on horseback into the night, as Powers thwarts the Humes' attempts to go after them. Some time later, as they drift down the Nile together on a felucca, Diana contentedly caresses Jamil's head in her lap as he hums his melody of love to her. When Diana asks him if he knows that her mother was an Egyptian, he blissfully tells her that he wouldn't care if she was Chinese. As they kiss, the boat drifts out of frame to reveal an exhausted Powers reclining on a pile of cushions in its stern, holding Mitzi and dressed in Egyptian harem pants and a fez. ===== Kinsey Millhone is hired by Janice Kepler to investigate the death of her daughter, Lorna Kepler. Lorna had been found dead and badly decomposed ten months earlier in her lonely cabin home. The police at the time suspected it might have been a murder case, but from lack of evidence as to cause of death, the official line was that Lorna died naturally, as a result of an allergic reaction. Now someone has sent Janice a tape of a porn movie Lorna apparently made before her death, and Janice, who has coped badly with her daughter's death, wants Kinsey to find out the truth. Mace, Janice's husband, and her two surviving daughters, Berlyn and Trinny, seem less keen on the investigation, and Mace and Berlyn, in particular, become positively hostile to Kinsey as she sets out to find out what happened to Lorna. With some help from Officer Cheney Phillips, Kinsey quickly learns that Lorna, who was a receptionist at the water treatment plant by day, had accumulated a modest fortune as a high class prostitute by night. Lorna was a beautiful loner, but had some friends - mainly people who like her tended to be up and about at night. Kinsey finds herself having to abandon her usual day-time routine in order to get herself into Lorna's world. Lorna's body was found by Serena Bonney, night-shift nurse and estranged wife of Lorna's boss at the water treatment plant, Roger Bonney. Serena's father, Clark Esselmann, is a powerful business tycoon with a number of enemies. She also befriends Danielle, a teenage colleague of Lorna's in her night-time occupation, who obliges Kinsey by giving her a badly needed haircut. When Danielle is savagely attacked in her home, Kinsey becomes convinced there's a link to Lorna's death, and her quest to discover the truth becomes more personal. Meanwhile, Kinsey has a terrifying Mafia-style encounter with a man describing himself as an attorney for a Los Angeles man to whom Lorna was engaged. He asks Kinsey to keep him abreast of any developments in the case by giving her a telephone number. Kinsey soon uncovers a variety of secrets: Berlyn actually discovered Lorna's body, but kept quiet about in order to lift some of Lorna's money, and also sent her mother the porn video. Leda had bugged Lorna's cabin because she was worried (needlessly, as it turned out) that Lorna and JD were having an affair - and still has the tape. With the help of Lorna's friend, late-night radio DJ Hector Mereno, Kinsey transcribes a phone conversation Lorna had before her death which seems to have upset Lorna, but she can't make sense of it until Clark Esselmann is electrocuted in his swimming pool. Kinsey realizes that the conversation on the tape is someone telling Lorna the plot - and surmises that having objected to it, Lorna was killed so that the plot could still be carried out. Her suspicions turn to Stubby Stockton, a business opponent of Esselmann's, and to Roger Bonney, since Kinsey now knows, from Berlyn's admission of the discovery of the body, that Lorna was already dead when Roger claimed he spoke to her for the last time. He is also the one with the necessary knowledge and access to his father-in-law's pool to have set up the electrocution. The final link in the chain is when Kinsey, in the course of cleaning up Danielle's trashed apartment while she's still in hospital, finds a photo of Lorna and Danielle with Stockton and Bonney. Kinsey talks to Cheney about her suspicions of Roger, but he points out there is no evidence. Frustrated that Bonney is likely to get away with murder, Kinsey is further infuriated by learning that Danielle has died in hospital. Impulsively, she phones the secret number and reports that Bonney is the killer. Overcome with guilt, she immediately tries to warn him, but he misunderstands, thinking she has come to confront him with the murder, and stuns her with a tazer. While Kinsey lies powerless on the floor, the Mafia types arrive and escort Bonney away. In the epilogue, Kinsey discusses the enormity of what she has done, disclosing that Roger Bonney was never seen again. She ends on an existential note, wondering if she can return from the "shadows" she has strayed into. ===== Kinsey is asked by her landlord Henry Pitts to help out Bucky, the grandson of their recently deceased neighbor Johnny Lee. Bucky is trying to ensure his grandfather has a military burial. Ray Rawson and Gilbert Hays, old acquaintances of Johnny Lee, turn up unexpectedly and are interested in the meager contents of Johnny's garage apartment. The two are at cross-purposes, seeking the proceeds of a bank robbery they committed together with Johnny forty years ago. Gilbert, a violent psychopath, pursues Ray, Kinsey and Laura Huckaby (Ray's daughter and Gilbert's common-law wife) from Santa Teresa to Dallas, TX to Louisville, KY, in search of the money buried in a secret location by Johnny before his death. Catching up with them in Louisville, Gilbert takes Laura hostage to force Ray and Kinsey to piece together Johnny's clues and find the stash. Gilbert, intending to double-cross Ray after it is found, finds himself double-crossed by Ray, who had surreptitiously disabled his firearm. Shooting Gilbert dead to avenge all the deaths he is responsible for, including their associates from the heist, Ray escapes into hiding with Laura after she knocks Kinsey unconscious to keep her from following them. A subplot concerns Kinsey's cousin Tasha reaching out to her in the hope of having a family reunion at Thanksgiving. Kinsey initially rebuffs her, but decides to ask her for assistance at the end of the book, when she is stuck in Louisville with no funds and no means of returning to Santa Teresa. ===== In January 1986, Tasha Howard hires her cousin Kinsey Millhone to find an heir of the wealthy Malek family. When patriarch Bader Malek died, everyone assumed his $40 million estate would be split between his sons: Donovan, who runs the Malek construction empire; Bennet, a would-be entrepreneur; and Jack, a playboy. However, the will also names the supposedly disinherited second son Guy, the black sheep of the family who left home 18 years ago and whom the family has not seen or heard from since. His unlikeable brothers do not want him back in their lives, nor do they want his taking a cut of the inherited millions. Kinsey sympathizes with the story of Guy's exile from his family, as she struggles to deal with her own family troubles. With illicit help from Darcy Pascoe, a friend at California Fidelity Insurance, Kinsey tracks Guy to the small town of Marcella near Santa Teresa. After being rescued by local pastor Peter Antle and his wife Winnie, Guy has become a devout Christian and turned his life around. Kinsey finds him the nicest of the Malek brothers. Despite Kinsey's warnings, Guy agrees to return to his childhood home. Ugly family scenes ensue. Kinsey's worst fears for Guy are exceeded when he is found brutally bludgeoned to death at the family home. Feeling guilty for his death, Kinsey tries to find his killer. At the same time, Kinsey deals with her own personal problems, including the reappearance of Robert Dietz, a private investigator ex. We also learn that Kinsey's ex-boyfriend Jonah Robb, the investigating officer on Guy's death, is back with his wife Camilla, while also pursuing a fling with a police colleague. Eventually, Kinsey and Dietz resume their relationship, albeit on a transient basis; and Dietz helps her with the case. Initial physical evidence implicates Jack Malek in Guy's murder; and his attorney, Lonnie Kingman, hires Kinsey to investigate further for Jack's defense. Kinsey believes the crime's motive lies in the past but can't reconcile Guy's misdemeanors with the character of the man she knew. She decides Guy was a scapegoat for crimes he didn't commit: for example, Guy supposedly swindled widow Mrs. Maddison out of a fortune in valuable historical documents, alongside getting daughter Patti pregnant. Kinsey discovers that Bennet and his university friend Paul Trasatti completed the crime under the name Maxwell Outhwaite, a pseudonym constructed from two adjacent books, after the fashion of Conan Edogawa. She also connects the name to the murder to the Maddison family; but since Patty Maddison's mother, her sister Claire, and other family have died, this appears to be a frustrating dead end. Dietz discovers that the story of Claire's death has been faked. Meanwhile, Enid reports that Myrna has disappeared from the Malek home in circumstances suggestive of foul play. Kinsey realizes that Myrna is actually Claire, having bided her time to get revenge on the Malek family and Guy in particular. Claire tries to escape on foot; but Kinsey catches her and confronts her with her crime against Guy, the blameless brother. After confessing to destroying the will that disinherited Guy and confessing to the murder itself, Claire commits suicide. In a post-script, Kinsey explains that Tasha used a note Guy wrote to Kinsey as evidence of testamentary to ensure his share of the Malek millions goes to Peter and Winnie's church. The book ends with Kinsey's reconciling her grief at losing Guy, just as she once had to do with her deceased parents and aunt. ===== The story takes place mainly in the small-town mountain community of Nota Lake, California (population 2,356, elevation 4,312), where Kinsey has inherited a client named Selma Newquist from her periodic boyfriend Robert Dietz. He is temporarily out of action back home in Carson City, where Kinsey has been taking care of him following knee surgery. Selma's brief is vague: she fears her husband Tom, a sheriff's officer who died of a heart attack a few weeks before, had something on his mind at the time of his death; and she wants Kinsey to find out what it was. With very little to go on, Kinsey finds the residents of the insular community are not forthcoming. She finds Tom was held in high respect, while reactions to Selma range from tolerance for Tom's sake to downright dislike. Tom's colleagues in the sheriff's department, including Tom's partner Rafer LaMott and brother Macon Newquist, close ranks around his memory, though their respective wives, as well as Selma's 25-year- old son by her first marriage, Brant, are slightly more friendly and helpful to Millhone, as is CHP officer James Tennyson, who found Tom's body. A frustrating search of Tom's home office reveals nothing more than some doodling and a list of phone numbers; but it seems someone is worried about what Kinsey might find when she is first threatened by a masked driver, then attacked in her temporary accommodation, the dismal Nota Lake Cabins run by Tom's elder sister Cecilia Boden. Retreating to Santa Teresa to lick her wounds (two dislocated fingers and a beaten-up jaw), Kinsey follows up leads from the phone numbers she found in Tom's office, from which she finds Tom was interested in the case of a petty criminal, Alfie Toth, whom he had traced to a hotel in Santa Teresa before Toth died in what might have been a murder or a bizarre suicide. Toth's unusual death has curious similarities to that of a prison associate of his, career-criminal, child-abuser, and rapist Pinkie Ritter, who died 5 years earlier but whose body only came to light near Nota Lake shortly before Toth was killed. Following up more of Tom's recent phone calls, Kinsey traces local sheriff's department officer Colleen Sellers, who had been in love with Tom, who reluctantly assists with information that Tom was suspicious that someone close to him was responsible for the deaths of both Toth and Ritter. When she also finds out that one of Ritter's daughters, Margaret, worked for Tom at the sheriff's department, Kinsey reluctantly realizes she has to return to Nota Lake to wrap up the case. Now enduring open hostility in the town and a sinister atmosphere of danger and unsure whom she can trust, Kinsey discovers that Rafer's daughter Barrett has had Tom's missing field notes since his death—but they are in code. Belatedly, Kinsey cracks the code and realizes that the threat comes not from one of Tom's colleagues, but his step-son, Brant, who had himself been sexually abused by Ritter, killed him in retaliation, and then killed witness Toth later when he found out through Tom's investigation where Toth was. It was the realization that Brant had committed murder, and that Brant had found Toth through him, that was causing Tom's anguish before his death. Despite being unwittingly drugged by Brant in a final showdown, Kinsey manages to subdue him, much to Selma's horror. ===== Kinsey's curiosity is roused when she receives a call from a man who has bought some of her possessions at an auction of defaulted storage locker items. She recognizes the box as stuff which she left in the possession of her former husband, Michael Magruder – whom she met and married during her time on the Santa Teresa Police Force at the age of 21. She walked out after eight months in 1972. Mickey had asked her to give him a false alibi when he was accused of violence against a recently returned Vietnam veteran Benny Quintero, who later died. Kinsey refused to lie, assuming his guilt, and left him. As well as high school and police academy memories, she finds in the box a letter written to her 14 years before, shortly after she left Mickey, which never reached her. It is from Dixie Hightower, barmaid at an old haunt from that era called the Honky-Tonk, saying that Mickey was with her the night he was accused of killing Benny. While shocked to find out her husband was cheating, Kinsey realises she did Mickey an injustice thinking he killed Benny and sets out to find out what has happened to him. The trail leads her to Shack, a former colleague of Mickey's, and to Tim Litenberg, the son of another colleague, who is running the Honky-Tonk, as well as to Dixie herself, living in new-found luxury with her Vietnam vet husband Eric. Kinsey finds out Mickey had been frequenting the Honky-Tonk and is suspicious of his motives, sensing that he had uncovered some sort of illegal activity. She also contacts Mark Bethel, Mickey's lawyer on the Quintero manslaughter charge, another veteran now running for political office. Two LAPD officers shock Kinsey with the news that Mickey is in a coma, having been shot with a gun registered to her, a present from Mickey she abandoned along with him. She is disconcerted to find this puts her high on the suspect list, especially since her assurances that she hasn't spoken to Mickey in years are belied by a record of a 30-minute call from Mickey's number to her apartment in recent weeks. Illegally breaking into Mickey's apartment in search of answers, Kinsey finds a stash of weapons, false IDs, and evidence of a trip Mickey made to Louisville, Kentucky, but her search is interrupted by a biker called Carlin Duffy, looking for Mickey, and who has been a frequent visitor in recent months according to Mickey's neighbor Wary Beason. Duffy, a habitual criminal, turns out to be Benny Quintero's half brother, and like his brother, hails originally from Louisville. Clearly he and Mickey shared an interest in finding the truth about Benny's death. From Duffy, Kinsey learns that Mickey was interested in Benny's connections to a young Louisville journalist called Duncan Oaks, who was killed in Vietnam. Benny had Duncan's press pass and dog tags, which Duffy passed to Mickey, and which Kinsey assumes have been stolen from Mickey’ s apartment, though she later find she has them herself, sewn into a jacket of Mickey's she took from the apartment as a souvenir. Kinsey follows Mickey's trail to Louisville. She discovers that Oaks was injured in Vietnam but disappeared in transit for medical treatment, and also that he was a classmate of Mark Bethel's wife Laddie. She deduces that Duncan and Laddie had some sort of affair, giving Mark Bethel a motive for Duncan's disappearance in Vietnam. Back in Santa Teresa, the LAPD detectives reappear and confirm they have traced Bethel's fingerprints in Mickey's apartment, searching for the missing press pass, and suspect him of shooting Mickey. They compare notes and conclude that Bethel must have pushed Oaks out of the medical helicopter, witnessed by Benny Quintero. When Quintero headed for California after the war and presumably tried to blackmail Bethel, Bethel killed him and set Mickey up to take the rap. Years later when Mickey finally uncovered the truth, Bethel shot him, implicating Kinsey. Kinsey is reluctantly persuaded by the detectives to attempt to trap Bethel into a confession, an operation which goes badly wrong, and she ends up a target. However Duffy, now understanding Bethel to be the one responsible for his brother's death, decapitates Bethel with a digger, saving Kinsey. Meanwhile, Kinsey has uncovered the truth at the Honky-Tonk: it is being used to manufacture fake IDs, as Mickey had discovered. He reports the scam, and having exonerated Mickey on all fronts, is with him when he dies without regaining consciousness. ===== Kinsey Millhone is hired by Fiona, the first wife of Dr. Dowan Purcell, to move along the stalled investigation by police of his disappearance. He disappeared nine weeks earlier, on September 12, 1986. The first wife is more concerned than present wife Crystal. Fiona, embittered by the breakdown of her marriage, is convinced that Dow has engineered his own disappearance, as she alleges Crystal is having an affair and admits that Dow has gone missing a couple of times before. In support of this, his passport and thirty thousand dollars seem to be missing. In contrast, Crystal, a former stripper Dow met on a trip to Las Vegas, is convinced he is dead. Not impressed either with Fiona's haughty personality or the chances of turning up something on a cold trail, Kinsey accepts the case with misgivings. She soon finds evidence that there has been fraudulent Medicare/Medicaid activity at Pacific Meadows, the care home at which Purcell worked as medical director following his retirement from general practice. Opinions vary amongst his former colleagues and associates as to whether Purcell could have been responsible, whether deliberately or through administrative incompetence; but since he is missing, he is certainly a convenient scapegoat for any blame that might be assigned by the ongoing official investigation. Kinsey meets an old acquaintance in the form of Dana Glazer, formerly Dana Jaffe, now married to wealthy businessman Joel Glazer, co-director of the management company that owns Pacific Meadows. By coincidence, Kinsey's landlord Henry adds to the evidence of fraud when sorting through the finances of Rosie's recently deceased sister, Klotilde, who had stayed at Pacific Meadows. Kinsey struggles to work out whether Dow did a runner with some illegal gains, killed himself having realized he was going to be implicated, or was entirely innocent but murdered by the real perpetrator of the fraud. In a sub-plot, Kinsey has decided it is time to leave her current rented office space at Kingman and Ives and finds her dream office space up for rental by brothers Richard and Tommy Hevener. After snapping it up with a big advance rent payment, and starting to date the attractive Tommy, Kinsey receives a shocking visit from one Mariah Talbot, who explains that the Heveners are suspects in the murder of their parents in Texas some years before. Given Kinsey's blossoming relationship with Tommy, she is hoping Kinsey will help her entrap the brothers. Kinsey is in a dilemma; ultimately, Henry carries out the entrapment himself to protect Kinsey after failing to persuade her to steer clear of it. After a dangerous showdown with the Hevener brothers, in which Richard kills Tommy with Kinsey's gun, Kinsey finds out that she was duped by Mariah Talbot; she is really the sister of the Heveners' hired accomplice, whom they are also suspected of murdering. Meanwhile, Kinsey has become embroiled in Purcell's complex family; and a search for Crystal's tearaway teen daughter Leila leads to Kinsey's discovery of Dow's car in a lake near Fiona's property. When the car is pulled out, Dow's body is in it. Kinsey has technically done her duty to Fiona, but she still wants to know how and why Dow died. She finds that Leila was behind the missing thirty thousand dollars and that Crystal is innocent of the affair Fiona had alleged. Kinsey establishes that it is Joel Glazer and his business partner who are responsible for the Pacific Meadows fraud; Dow Purcell had uncovered it. They are not the killers, however: a bullet hole at Crystal's property implicates her. In the absence of Kinsey's usual explanatory epilogue, the motive is implied; Crystal is in a relationship with Leila's school counsellor, Anica. ===== Private detective Kinsey Milhone is hired by a retired sheriff's deputy and a local police lieutenant to help them open up a Jane Doe murder case from almost two decades earlier. Their research takes them to the fictional Quorum, California, near the Arizona border, where a second murder takes place. ===== Kinsey Millhone agrees to escort Reba, the daughter of Nord Lafferty, out of prison to the Lafferty mansion and watch over Reba until she is settled into her life out of prison. Reba was serving a sentence for embezzlement, though she had not embezzled funds; her boss had spent the funds on bribing municipal officials for the construction of a shopping mall with office space in the center of Santa Teresa. Lieutenant Cheney Phillips encounters Kinsey at the office of the probation officer for Reba Lafferty, as he is the local investigator in a multi-agency operation to arrest Reba's boss, Alan Beckwith. Several federal agencies are pursuing him for laundering funds for a Colombian drug dealer. Reba pled guilty because she was in love with Beckwith, a married man. While Reba was in prison, Beckwith slept with her replacement in the office. Kinsey has known Cheney for a couple of years; now, she is smitten with him. For this arrest, he and the whole team of investigators want Reba to provide evidence of the money laundering, an inside witness for their case. They decide that Kinsey, now building rapport with Reba, should ask her to take this on. Unwillingly, Kinsey does so. Kinsey's landlord, Henry, meets with Mattie Halstead, a woman he met on a cruise ship trip taken with his older brothers. His brothers interfere with each visit between the two, which is upsetting the normally calm Henry and upsetting Kinsey, who thinks she might be good company for Henry. Reba goes to a support group meeting for alcoholism but, within days, is drinking again. She had stopped smoking in prison and takes up smoking again. Even with Kinsey's company, Reba cannot handle freedom. As she realizes that Beckwith has no intention of keeping the promises he made to her, Reba makes plans to get back at him. First she tells her former colleague and comptroller for Beckwith's company, Marty, about the federal investigation, recommending he leave the country. He acts slowly, not sure whether to believe her. Touring the new offices in the development completed while Reba was in prison, Reba and Kinsey find the room where Beckwith bundles cash in small bills to carry out to Panama, where he owns a bank. He either flies on his own jet or sails his own ship to carry the heavy bundles without close examination by customs. Reba at first thinks the cash belongs to Beckwith and steals a packet worth $25,000. Beckwith learns of the theft when his Colombian dealer tells him the cash is short. Reba then understands from Kinsey that the cash was being laundered for the Colombian. Reba goes to Reno to meet her friend from prison, Misty Raine. Besides her profession as a stripper, Misty makes false passports and driver licenses; she makes a set for Marty. Reba has already seen that Beckwith had a set of false papers for his trip to leave the country, as he is aware of the pressure building from the federal investigation. Kinsey has some pleasant evenings with Cheney. She buys more flattering clothes with Reba to look nicer for Cheney; and Cheney cuts her hair to be more stylish, a talent of his. Kinsey pursues Misty in Reno when Reba disappears from her family home. Her hunch is good, and she finds Reba with Misty. Reba agrees to drive back to California with Kinsey, aware that she has broken the terms of her parole by leaving the state. The two meet Marty in a hotel in Beverly Hills. Abruptly, a couple of goons grab Marty in the hotel lobby where they talk and beat him up. Reba tells the hotel they need help and she flees, while Kinsey pursues Marty in hopes of helping him. Kinsey hits one goon hard with a chair, but she is then knocked unconscious. She revives in the presence of Beckwith and his goons, solving the question of who sent those men to beat up the comptroller. Reba lets Beckwith know that she has the computer and the data discs that he uses to back up his business affairs, including the money laundering. Beckwith threatens Kinsey so that Reba will bring the computer and the discs to him. She does so. In the office, Marty lies dead. Beckwith claims the man had a heart attack; the beating did not kill him. Presented with the computer and the discs, Beckwith carefully pours a strong acid over them so they cannot be read. Reba reveals that she switched the computers with Marty's aid. Behind Beckwith, the team of police, led by Cheney Phillips, arrives with guns out. Reba feels she does better in prison, where she cannot do wrong, which is where her theft of the cash lands her. The federal case against Beckwith is strong, and he is convicted. Kinsey is optimistic about her and Cheney and remarks how sometimes, she feels she is an actor in someone else's story. ===== In the year 16 BCE, the people of Jerusalem are awaiting the birth of the son of Imran. Instead of the much-anticipated "Messiah", a girl is born to Imran and Anna. The latter names her Mary, which means "Servant of God". At the age of six, Mary is presented at the Temple, and remains there under the protection of the priest Zechariah until she turns sixteen. While in seclusion, Mary spends all of her time in labour and prayers, and is harassed by the Jewish priests. She achieves such holiness that the angel Gabriel appears to her, foretelling that she will bear a holy man. She later gives birth to Jesus. ===== The plot of Twilight at the Well of Souls is a direct continuation of the plot of The Return of Nathan Brazil. As that novel concludes, guards at the South Zone of the Well World have killed Nathan Brazil. Or have they? As Twilight at the Well of Souls opens, it turns out that Brazil is not killed so easily. Yet another being carrying Brazil's appearance is shot down by the guards, and the leader of Zone, Serge Ortega, is informed that the latest victim is the 27th of the current day. Ortega reveals that he has deduced that Brazil had actually entered several weeks before, even arriving prior to his companions Mavra Chang, Marquoz, and Yua (all of whom had been led to believe that Brazil had not yet journeyed to the Well World). Marquoz has been busy in his short time on the Well World. After awakening as an armored war-lizard in Hakazit, he immediately insinuates himself into the local government. He learns that the government is a sort of a dictatorship, but one in which anyone who assassinates the current leader is elevated to that position themself. Marquoz does not wish to take overall leadership, but he does assassinate and supplant the head of the secret police. He leverages this position and the Hakazit lust for war and combat to raise an army to fight on Brazil's behalf. In contrast, Yua finds what seems like a hopeless situation in Awbri. The society there is dominated by the males, because every month the females go into heat (referred to as the Time) which can only be relieved by mating with a male. Just as Yua is despairing of being able to do her part to assist Brazil, she receives instructions which had been planted subconsciously by Obie. These instructions give Yua the recipe for making a hormonal replacement that will prevent the Time from occurring. Fortified with the means to gain control from the men, Yua sets about raising her own army. Mavra prefers to begin in Dillia by journeying to the neighboring hex of Gedemondas. She recalls that during her previous visit to the Well World, she had seen that the inhabitants there had amazing mental powers, with the ability to control the thoughts of others. She believes that the Gedemondans would be powerful allies, and she wants to do something more than just sit and wait until she is called. Mavra is able to catch on with a hunting party headed by Colonel Asam, as Asam has heard the stories of Mavra's previous visit to the Well World and is also very interested in meeting a Gedemondan. Their party is waylaid near their first overnight rest stop in Gedemondas. Although they succeed in fighting off the attackers, several members of the party perish and Mavra is critically injured by a blow to the head, putting her in a coma for three days. After turning the other wounded members of the group over to a rescue party, Mavra and Asam travel further into Gedemondas. At one of their rest stops, the Gedemondans arrive to meet them. Holding Mavra and Asam in thrall, the Gedemondans heal their wounds, then discuss the mission to repair the Well. Mavra asks for their assistance, but is not told whether it will be offered. The Gedemondans inform her of a council of war that will soon be conducted in the empty Gedemondan embassy in South Zone, and Mavra suggests that the fastest way to get there is via the Gedemondan Zone Gate. The Gedemondans take her and Asam there, though they do not allow either traveller to remember anything of the journey. At the council, the three conspirators are reunited, and they learn of one another's new forms. The last member of the council is Gypsy, who inexplicably retains the same appearance as he had before arriving at the Well World. Gypsy informs the rest of the council of Brazil's early arrival on the Well World, and discusses the plan for misdirection of the search for Brazil. Gypsy demonstrates that he has the ability to morph into the same appearance as Brazil, capable of fooling any observer not aware of the switch. He informs the group that he will join their army at some point in the future in the guise of Brazil, with the intention of drawing attention away from the approach of the real Brazil to the Well. ===== In 1953, Violet Sullivan vanishes after going out for a Fourth of July party in the small town of Serena Station, California. The exact reason for her disappearance is unknown, but rumors abound that she ran off with a lover or was murdered by her jealous husband. 34 years later, Kinsey Millhone is hired by her family to help seek closure and try to find some explanation for Violet's disappearance. The plot differs from other novels in the "Alphabet Mystery" series in that it switches perspective between Violet and Kinsey, and switches the period between 1953 and 1987. Grafton would again use this narrative device in the next instalment, "T" is for Trespass. ===== Kinsey's cantankerous neighbor Gus is badly injured in a fall and hires Solana Rojas, a private nurse, to help him while he recuperates. Kinsey becomes suspicious when Gus becomes isolated and withdrawn. She finds out that Solana is a con artist who engages in identity theft. What Kinsey does not know is that Solana is a dangerous sociopath with an accomplice and a history of clients who died under her care. Kinsey works with other neighbors and friends to rescue Gus and expose the con-artist without rousing her suspicions. At the same time, Kinsey investigates a case of possible insurance fraud involving a student who drove into another car. The female passenger in the other car had extensive injuries and she and her husband are suing the student and the insurance company. Kinsey must track down a reluctant witness and use her rather rough charm to get him to come forward. Unlike previous books in this series, this book alternates between two perspectives: that of Kinsey and that of Solana. ===== The story is about Fujiwara Sunao, a high school student often mistaken as a boy because of her dressing up like a boy. Sunao also has the ability to control and manipulate water at will. She appears to be the uncaring type of heroine but quickly befriends the crossdressing school nurse Mr. Shizuki and the perverted Kureha among many others. Sunao is a heroine that acts as a counselor to help people that have problems and saves them from themselves and their painful pasts. ===== The story is about Terry Teo the skateboarding schoolboy who is the hero of the story. Along with his martial arts expert sister Polly, he takes on the notorious gunrunner Ray Vegas and his henchmen, Bluey and Curly. The bright colours and crazy sets help to recreate the story's comic book origins. ===== Elizabeth Allen is a spoiled girl who is an only child. She becomes very upset and outraged when she learns that she is being sent to a boarding school. When Elizabeth joins Whyteleafe School she is determined to misbehave so that she will be expelled and able to go back home as soon as possible. She is surprised to find that the children run the school through weekly community meetings, and that her behaviour will be judged by her peers. It is a portrayal of children's restorative justice, and is based on A. S. Neill's school, Summerhill.Blyton, Gillian, Introduction to ‘The Naughtiest Girl in the School’, Blyton, Enid, Hodder Children's Books, 2007, At Whyteleafe Elizabeth discovers a new world. Because of her mischief she is first disliked by her fellow students and she puts out eleven things on her chest of drawers, instead of the permitted six and when Elizabeth refuses to put any away Nora confiscates five of the things, which includes photos of her family. The next morning, she refuses to get out of bed so, with Ruth's help, she strips all the bedclothes off her and then tips her out of bed. Elizabeth fumes at Nora, but loses some of her defiance when she threatens to spank her with a hairbrush. One day, Elizabeth hears about the village and the shops there, but nobody will go with her so she goes alone which is not allowed. She meets Rita and she tells her that a girl in her class – Joan Townsend – is not happy, as her parents neglect her, and Elizabeth promises to try to make friends with Joan, and she finally wins her over, and soon they become best friends and Joan talks about how much she loves her mother and how hurt she is by her mother's neglect. Joan knows that her mother will not send her any birthday presents or cake. Elizabeth is soon reported at the meeting by her schoolfellows who are sick of her and she loses a lot of privileges. After that meeting Joan convinces her that misbehaving to be expelled is a bad idea, and advises her to be good, and to ask the heads of the school to tell her parents that she is unhappy and to ask them to take her away, but not in disgrace. Elizabeth accepts this suggestion, and her behaviour improves a lot. She also makes good progress at her piano lessons and secretly longs to play at the function held after the half-term break, though she knows this will not be possible if she goes home at half term. One day, Elizabeth plays a trick on Harry and he retaliates by pinning a note on her that says 'I'M THE BOLD BAD GIRL! BEWARE! I BARK! I BITE! I HATE EVERYBODY!" and everyone laughs except Elizabeth who slaps Harry in the face and calls him a cheat. Nora comes along just then and points out that that behavior is not acceptable and orders her to apologize to Harry. Elizabeth initially refuses, but when Nora explains things to her she agrees to, even though she is sure Harry will not accept the apology and it'll make everything worse, but Harry accepts the apology graciously and everyone is friendly again. Elizabeth receives a pound from her uncle and decides to use it to purchase a large cake, a handbag, Joan liked and cards to be sent to Joan for her birthday, as if from her parents. Nora finds out and says "Elizabeth! Why didn't you hand that money in?" "I forgot," says Elizabeth and Nora reports her at the meeting. Elizabeth still won't say what she used the money for and finally it is decided to leave the matter until she receives a reply from Mrs Townsend. Soon Joan's birthday comes and she is overjoyed at the presents, but when she writes to her mother to thank her, her mother replies that she did not send anything. Joan is distressed, wanders off in the rain, and becomes very ill. Elizabeth writes to Joan's mother to confess her role in making Joan ill. Joan's contrite mother arrives to visit Joan, and explains to the heads that her neglect of Joan stems from a resentment that Joan survived an illness years before, while her more loved twin brother died. Joan and her mother reconcile, and Joan becomes happy again, while Miss Best explains to William and Rita that the money was used for a very kind cause, and so they summon Elizabeth up to their office and explain to her that she did a right thing in a wrong way and that they will just tell the meeting they are satisfied with the explanation. Sometime later, John grumbles about nobody helping him in the garden except her and she's no use because she's leaving in a week. Elizabeth sits on the swings and says "Elizabeth Allen, you really are cutting your nose off to spite your face! You are perfectly happy here and you have a friend who will miss you when you leave and you want to play the piano at the concert at the end of this term. You really should change your mind and decide to stay.", and at the next meeting, everyone is amazed as Elizabeth decides to stay at Whyteleafe School for many years to come. ===== In 1965, a mysterious beam of blue light came down from space and overlooked Northern California. This light had extraterrestrial powers that caused whomever the beam touched to die, go mad, or acquire a special unique power. This power is defined as full actualization of humankind, with strengths, understandings and communication abilities that exceed our normal capabilities. The people touched by the light in the novel were soon referred to as "Blues" and were segregated from society because of their new and improved super human powers. Soon after this discovery, they came together to try to find their purpose in the universe. As they look for their calling in life, an evil force, the "Gray Man", emerges, setting the stage for a battle later on in the novel between good and evil. The Gray Man is Horace LaFontaine, a character in the novel who was struck by the light at the moment of his death. He was revivified as a demon sent to kill all of the "blues". Once the "blues" discover this nemesis, they take refuge in the forest outside of Northern California. Soon, the Gray Man finds out where they are hiding from inside sources and the "blues" come to a consensus in which they are going to confront their enemy and declare war with the Gray Man. This epic battle takes place at the ending of the novel and has an extraordinary finish. The "blues" all use their powers that they were given to destroy the Gray Man. They soon reside in the small cities of Northern California and live normal lives with the people of California. ===== The film tells the story of Tom, a young man from Pennsylvania who travels to Los Angeles to start working for an ambulance company. There, he is paired with an utterly self-assured veteran named Jimmy who has apparently gone through many partners in his time. In the beginning, Tom is overwhelmed by Jimmy's competence to deal with the high- pressure job, but slowly but surely he discovers that Jimmy is not the cool and collected man he thought he was. While Jimmy seems to have everything under control on the surface, he gets through the traumatic effects of the job by heavy use of drugs and avoiding commitments. Before long Tom finds himself pulled into the same world and has to come to a decision about what direction he wants to take in his life. ===== A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California, and the book is about two "lusty" gay lovers from Los Angeles named Nick and Jeff who at the beginning of the novel were having passionate sex when two "wildly homophobic cops" break in on them. They fight back and while trying to defend themselves, they take one cop as hostage. A SWAT team shows up and accidentally kills the cop hostage and blames the two lovers. After that incident the two are on the run from the authorities throughout Los Angeles on the way to Mexico. ===== Dia (Madhuri Dixit) is a choreographer who lives in New York with her daughter Radha. One day she receives word that her old dance teacher, Makrand, is dying. She returns to her hometown Shamli with Radha, to find that he has already died and left her the responsibility of saving the deserted dance theatre, Ajanta, which is to be demolished to make way for a shopping center. Shamli has changed a great deal since Dia left. Her parents left the town in shame a decade ago, after she eloped with an American photographer Steve, (later they divorced) and their house is now owned by the strict Mr. Chojar and his wife. Her childhood friend Najma (Divya Dutta) is married to Farooque (Irrfan Khan), a successful businessman. Both of them greet Dia coldly. The only ally she has left is her old friend Doctor Saab (Raghubir Yadav). To save Ajanta, Dia goes to petition the local MP Raja Uday Singh (Akshaye Khanna). He issues her a challenge; if she can put on a successful performance using only people from Shamli, he will cancel the demolition. That night Dia dances in Ajanta and afterward calls on the people to help her put up a performance of the famous Laila-Majnu play. Jeering at her, they leave the theatre one by one, but Raja remains behind, reminding her of the challenge. Refusing to accept defeat, Dia goes out into the street the next day to scout for talent. When she returns to the theatre she finds that a group of thugs is burning the set, after being ordered by a local election candidate, Chaudhary Om Singh. Instead of being angry, she is intrigued by the ring-leader, Imran (Kunal Kapoor), and makes a deal with Chaudhary – she will help him win the next election, if he will support Ajanta and if Imran plays Majnu. He agrees and Imran is forced to take on the role. After finding out about the casting of Imran, many girls flock to the theatre for the part of Laila. Among them is Anokhi (Konkona Sen), a tomboy who is in love with Imran. She begs Dia, who is reluctant because of her rough appearance and lack of talent but agrees in the end, thinking that her love for Imran will make her the ideal Laila. Other parts in the play go to Mr. Chojar, who wants to prove to his wife that he is not boring, Chaudhary who plays Laila's father and Dia's former fiancé Mohan, who is able to overcome his bitterness towards her. With one month to put the show together, Dia struggles to get Imran and Anokhi to work together. With Dia's support, Anokhi changes her attitude and appearance to get Imran to take her seriously and soon their relationship deepens. A few days before the show, Farooque pays Chaudhary to abandon Ajanta and makes Najma spread hurtful stories about Dia. Chaudhary tries to get Imran to give up his part, but Imran is aware of Chaudhary's political intentions and refuses, leading him to be attacked by Chaudhary's men while Anokhi tries to protect him. With the whole town against her, Dia loses hope until Najma arrives to apologise and asks to be in the show. On the night of the show, Dia is amazed to find that the entire town has come to Ajanta. The troupe put on a performance that amazes and excites the audience, including Chaudhary who is moved to tears. Farooque is stunned to see his wife playing the part of Laila's mother and Mrs. Chojar is shocked and thrilled when her husband appears singing and dancing on stage. In the end, the audience cheers loudly as the cast return to the stage for an encore. The night is a success and Ajanta is saved. After Dia says her farewells to Shamli, she and Radha leave to find her parents in another part of India. Imran and Anokhi go on to teach dance classes at Ajanta with Doctor Saab's help and dance becomes an inherent part of Shamli once again. Raja is seen watching Dia dance and it is implied that they develop a romance. ===== Harper (Stephen McNally) is a bank robber posing as a traveling salesman. He arrives in town, soon to be joined by sadistic benzedrine addict Dill (Lee Marvin) and bookish Chapman (J. Carrol Naish). Boyd Fairchild (Richard Egan) is manager of the local copper mine, troubled by his philandering wife (Margaret Hayes). He considers an affair with nurse Linda Sherman (Virginia Leith), though he truly loves his wife. His associate, Shelley Martin (Victor Mature), has a happy home life, but is embarrassed that his son believes that he is a coward because he did not serve in World War II. Subplots involves a peeping-tom bank manager, Harry Reeves (Tommy Noonan), and a larcenous librarian, Elsie Braden (Sylvia Sidney). As the bank robbers carry out their plot, the separate character threads are drawn together. Violence erupts during the robbery. Fairchild's wife is slain and bank manager Reeves is wounded. Martin is held hostage on a farm with an Amish family. With the help of the father (Ernest Borgnine), he defeats the crooks in a savage gunfight. In the aftermath, Martin becomes a hero to his son, and Linda comforts Fairchild as he grieves for his wife. ===== The story is about Margaret, an advertising executive in a large corporation. To prove her loyalty to the company, she undergoes bioengineering that will eventually transform her into a mosquito. The tale begins as she wakes up one morning to find that her tongue has changed into a stiletto and her hand into a chitinous comb. Throughout the day, she is distracted by odd insect-like cravings - such as the desire to suck her colleagues’ blood and encase her friends in wax. ===== The story is set in a small town near Naples early 1900. Baron Antonio Peletti is a stingy and cruel man who thinks only to spend the bare minimum needs for his son and future daughter-in-law, even if he lives in a luxurious house. The servant Contrado is forced to go hungry because of that miser, in fact every time that Antonio has to spend even a penny to buy something complained of unnecessary waste, exclaiming: "And I pay, and I pay!!" But one day his grandson who want to steal the box full of gold coins Antonio, hide under the bed has a way of revenge. But in order to steal the tape, the grandson needs the complicity of all higher institutions in the country, including the mayor, one of the most bitter enemies of Antonio. In fact, the man wants to build a primary school for the children of the village, but the cruel Antonio prevents the funding because they do not want to throw out a penny!. So the pharmacist really wants to deceive Antonio with a sleeping pill into believing that it gave him to drink a poison accidentally. Antonio bait this trap and believed to be in Hell, really desolate set up by the villagers, and then the hairs Baron finds a soul who persuades him to donate money to the mayor of the box to set up the school. Only then Antonio would be redeemed from their sins in the past and would go to the Paurgatory. However, during the operation something is wrong and Antonio realizes the trap of the villagers. The nephew not to lose money steals the cassette and runs away in a balloon with his girlfriend but Antonio joins him and the three hovering in the air. But due to a failure of the balloon starts to descend towards the sea and so must lighten it; Antonio will be forced into tears and throw away his box full of gold coins. He is now supposed to be sunk somewhere near Sardinia, but at the end of the story the baron, coming back from the island on a monkey in the very day of inauguration, eventually understands his mistakes and accepts to finance the project of founding the school. ===== Mark Whitacre, a rising star at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) office in Decatur, Illinois, during the early 1990s, blows the whistle on the company’s price-fixing tactics at the urging of his wife Ginger. One night in November 1992, Whitacre confesses to FBI special agent Brian Shepard that ADM executives--including Whitacre himself--had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, an additive used in the commercial livestock industry. Whitacre secretly gathers hundreds of hours of video and audio over several years to present to the FBI. He assists in gathering evidence by clandestinely taping the company’s activity in business meetings at various locations around the globe such as Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, and Hong Kong, eventually collecting enough evidence of collaboration and conspiracy to warrant a raid of ADM. Whitacre’s good deed dovetails with his own major infractions, while his internal, secret struggle with bipolar disorder seems to take over his exploits. The bulk of the film focuses on Whitacre's meltdown resulting from the pressures of wearing a wire and organizing surveillance for the FBI for three years, instigated by Whitacre's reaction, in increasingly manic overlays, to various trivial magazine articles he reads. In a stunning turn of events immediately following the covert portion of the case, headlines around the world report Whitacre had embezzled $9 million from his own company during the same period of time he was secretly working with the FBI and taping his co-workers, while simultaneously aiming to be elected as ADM CEO following the arrest and conviction of the remaining upper management members. In the ensuing chaos, Whitacre appears to shift his trust and randomly destabilize his relationships with Special Agents Shepard and Herndon and numerous attorneys in the process. Authorities at ADM begin investigating the forged papertrail Whitacre had built to cover his own deeds. After being confronted with evidence of his fraud, Whitacre's defensive claims begin to spiral out of control, including an accusation of assault and battery against Agent Shepard and the FBI, which had made a substantial move to distance their case from Whitacre entirely. Because of this major infraction and Whitacre’s bizarre behavior, he is sentenced to a prison term three times as long as that meted out to the white-collar criminals he helped to catch. In the epilogue, Agent Herndon visits Whitacre in prison as he videotapes a futile appeal to seek a presidential pardon. Overweight, balding and psychologically beaten after his years long ordeal, Whitacre is eventually released from prison, with his wife Ginger waiting to greet him. ===== A young Rasta musician falls in love with the gospel-singing daughter of a Pentecostal preacher, meeting her as they both sign up for a music contest in which the winner will get twenty thousand US dollars and a record deal. When they start falling in love her father forbids her from seeing him because he wants her to marry a church member. They face overcoming the preacher's disapproval as well as battling a corrupt record producer. ===== The great detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Dr. John Watson travel to New York City to investigate a recent threat made by Professor Moriarty. During their investigation, Holmes and Watson are reunited with their old acquaintance Irene Adler, now a popular music-hall singer, who reveals that Moriarty has kidnapped her son. Moriarty has also left a note for Holmes informing him that he will be approached by the police soon for aid in a crime, and should he not refuse – Moriarty also informing him that he should provide no reason for his refusal – the boy will die. Holmes is subsequently contacted by the NYPD regarding the recent apparent theft of the international gold exchange at the New York bank, with the entire vault of gold bars having vanished seemingly overnight, the theft only secret until a planned transaction between Italy and Germany in three days' time. To protect the child, Holmes refuses the case, but a chance comment by Watson inspires Holmes to shift his attention to finding Scott to remove the blackmail card. While Watson departs with Irene disguised as Holmes to draw away the agent Moriarty has assigned to watch him, Holmes determines that Scott was tricked into cooperating with the kidnapping as an apparent joke, allowing him to find the kidnapper. Investigating the vaults, and quickly ruling as impossible the actual removal of many tonnes of gold via a narrow tunnel in the time available, Holmes swiftly determines what has taken place; based on the speed of the lift's descent, it should take them 45 seconds to reach the vaults, but they stopped after only 42 seconds. From this, Holmes deduces that Moriarty had an empty, duplicate vault built a few meters above the real one, subsequently planting iron bars to stop the lift reaching the real vault. While everyone puzzled over how the bars of gold were stolen from the false vault, Moriarty would actually be stealing them from the real one below. In a final confrontation in New York's underground, Moriarty escapes. The case is solved. As Holmes and Adler say their goodbyes, Adler comments that her son has a keen intellect and a certain knack for solving puzzles, implying that Holmes may be his father. The two nevertheless part ways with Adler giving Holmes a picture of her son to keep. ===== The story begins in Athens, with Chara Chaska (Renia Louizidou), a single mother who works at an advertising agency. When her boyfriend and fellow co-worker steals her ideas for a campaign and gets promoted instead of her, she decides to quit her job and move with her 10-year-old daughter Valia (Effie Rassia) to the remote mountain village of Kolokotronitsi (Κολοκοτρωνίτσι, named after Theodoros Kolokotronis), in Arcadia, where she has just inherited some property. Chara's hopes for a peaceful life away from the cutthroat environment of the big city are quickly dashed when she meets the village's traditionalist and misogynist mayor Periandros Popotas (Περίανδρος Πώποτας), who has a pathological hatred of everything "modern" and views the very presence of an Athenian woman with an illegitimate child in his village as a threat to his idyllic community's motto of "Order and Morality" (Τάξις και Ηθική). A British-educated folklorist with a mysterious past, Periandros lives with his ten-year-old son Emmanuel, who develops a crush on Valia, and their housekeeper Tasia. Popotas is particularly outraged at Chara's plans to open a modern cafeteria (which she calls "To cafe tis Charas", literally "The cafe of joy", a pun on her name) and rallies the villagers to boycott her. The first season focuses on Chara's struggle to open her café against Periandros' machinations and follows her slowly winning the villagers over to her side, culminating in her attempt to unseat Popotas at municipal elections in the penultimate episode. The second season explores the protagonists' backstories, through the arrival in the village of various characters from their past. The third season has Chara and Periandros develop feelings for each other, and follows their doomed efforts to find a way to live to together despite their deeply contrasting beliefs. Season 4, set 14 years after the third season's cliffhanger ending, follows a now adult Valia returning to the village to investigate the cafés destruction in a mysterious fire. Other characters include Periandros' sister, Stavroula, her adulterous, lazy and linguistically challenged husband, Vangellis, who as the village's coffee house owner is also Chara's main competitor, the village idiot Trelantonis whom Chara takes in, the bakers, Lefteris and Kanella, who have a long-running feud with the greengrocers, Tasos and Chaido over a fig tree (only to have their feud resolved when their children, Billy and Gogo get together and eventually marry), the village's priest Papa-Triantafyllos and his gossiping wife Marika and Aglaia, the wacky teacher who is madly in love with Periandros and fantasizes about marrying him. ===== The story centers around Frances Benedetto (Mary Stuart Masterson), who desperately escapes from the clutches of an abusive marriage. After years of living under the increasing violence of her husband, Bobby (Anthony LaPaglia), Frances takes her son, Robert (Will Rothhaar), and flees from their New York home to a small town in Florida. After enrolling Robert in school there, she befriends her son's P.E. coach, Mike Riordan (Sam Robards). Several months pass, and the two fall in love, but with the unshakable fact that Frances still lives under the terrorizing thought that her husband will eventually find her. After she unknowingly appears on national television, her husband, an officer of the NYPD, is able to track her down. He attacks her in her home and kidnaps Robert from his school. Mike, after realizing that Frances, now under the alias of Beth Crenshaw, failed to pick Robert up, makes his way to her home and finds her pummeled and unconscious on the floor of her kitchen. Five years pass, and Frances has since never seen her son. She has married Mike and they have a daughter together. The film ends with Robert finding Frances's sister, and Frances receiving a phone call that implies that she will soon be reunited with her son. ===== When the Inter-Planetary Corporation's (IPC) crack liner, IPV Arcturus, took off on a routine flight to Mars, it turned out to be the beginning of an unexpected and long voyage. There had been too many reports of errors in ship's flight positions from the Check Stations and brilliant physicist Dr. Percival (“Steve”) Stevens is aboard the Arcturus on a fact- finding mission to find out what's really happening. He hopes to save the honor of the brave pilots of the space-liner Arcturus, and refute the implications of imprecision made by desk-jockeys in the Check Stations – "imprecision" being the nastiest insult one could cast at a ship's pilot. He and the pilots are right, it was the Check Stations that were out of position, not the ships. That, however, is a cold consolation. Before the Arcturus can reach Mars it is attacked by a small, mysterious, globe-shaped spaceship. The great liner is literally cut into pieces and the attacking spaceship begins to tow the pieces toward Jupiter. Stevens and a lovely young woman passenger named Nadia Newton end up together in a large, wedge-shaped piece of the dismembered ship and they work on repairing as much equipment as they can, and in gathering needed material from other pieces floating nearby. As the pieces of the ship near Jupiter, Stevens slowly eases the large piece they are in, which they have started calling The Forlorn Hope, out of the pack and succeeds in making a near crash-landing on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. Stevens and Nadia are now on Ganymede, which just happens to be Earth-like right down to the edible plants and some wildlife that's pretty tasty when cooked up right. They have a large section of the liner Arcturus which is made mostly of high grade steel, but with plenty of copper, plastics, and almost every other type of material. Also it is just chock-full of electric motors, wire, electronic equipment, tools, etc. that Steve has scavenged from the other pieces of the ship on the way to Jupiter. In short, everything Dr. Stevens needs to construct an ultra-radio set capable of reaching the inner worlds and calling for help. Before he can even start building the radio he needs power. The accumulators were discharged landing them on Ganymede and they must be recharged before anything else can be done. While Steve uses the ship for raw materials to build a hydro-electric power plant and a power beaming station to recharge the accumulators, Nadia explores the area around where they landed. She finds a world much like Earth. She goes out each day to gather plants and animals that they can eat and keeps the stew pot full so her man can have a hot meal when he comes home from a hard day of struggling to rebuild most of Earth's basic technology from the ground up. Needless to say, he succeeds in building a power plant and recharging the accumulators. He has also built the ultra-radio except for completing the high-power output tube. He can build most of the tube with what he has, but he needs platinum to make some parts of the power tube, and it must also be sealed in a vacuum. The only answer he can see is to take The Forlorn Hope back up into space and find a platinum-bearing comet that he remembers is in the vicinity of Jupiter at that time and get the platinum from it. Then he can seal the tube in space in an almost perfect vacuum. In their explorations of Ganymede Steve and Nadia eventually cross paths with the natives of that world. They have six limbs so they call them "Hexans". The Hexans are only at the bow and arrow stage, but they don't like these strange, four-limbed creatures invading their planet one bit. After a running battle back to The Forlorn Hope, Steve takes off to keep from being overrun by the Hexans. Since they are now in space and getting power from the power beam station he built in Ganymede, he starts running down the comet so he can finish the power tube and call for help. The comet is heading out, away from Jupiter, so it's a long chase to catch it. Finally they overtake the comet, and sure enough, it has platinum in it. Steve gets the metal he needs and starts building the parts he needs for the tube. Before he completes the task The Forlorn Hope is attacked by a ship just like the one that cut up the Arcturus and started their adventure. As the enemy ship begins cutting up The Forlorn Hope, suddenly there is someone else in the fight. Another small globular ship arrives, but this one has a mirrored surface instead of a dull one like the attacking ship. The attacking ship immediately turns its weapon on the newcomer, but the mirror surface reflects the beam. The new ship fires back with homing missiles and destroys the enemy ship. The people manning the mirror ship are human, but a strange type of human. They are very tall with barrel chests, and pale blue in color. Steve finds they are from Saturn's moon, Titan, and were exploring inward from home and have no idea why the other ship attacked them on sight. The Titanians live on a very cold world. They use ice as a building material and think of water as "molten ice". Their blood is not blood as we know it, but a mixture of substances that don't freeze even at Titan's temperature. The substance that make up their blood are also very inflammable, to the point that if they were to stand unprotected next to an earth human they would literally burst into flame. The ship from Titan has taken damage in the fight and must head for home. The Forlorn Hope is in pieces and at the end of its power beam, so the commander of the Titanian ship offers to tow the pieces back to Titan and help the people from earth rebuild their ship and get back to the Jupiter system. Steve and Nadia gladly accept, doing what repairs they can on The Forlorn Hope, and continuing to build the power tube on the long voyage to Titan. Upon arriving on Titan they find that one of the Titanian power plants has failed and their world is in trouble due to a lack of power. With great difficulty, due to the heat and gravity, the Titanians had built their power plants on the surface of Saturn. It would cost many lives to go back to the surface and do the repairs, so being better able to survive heat, Steve volunteers to repair the damaged power plant. Of course he succeeds, and with the help of the Titanians, the repaired and upgraded Forlorn Hope heads back to Ganymede. When they are nearing Jupiter again they are attacked by six of the enemy spaceships. The enemy ships had moved in close and started beaming The Forlorn Hope, not knowing that while being rebuilt on Titan the Hope had been coated with the mirror substance that reflects the enemy beams and loaded with homing missiles. Steve fires the missiles, and in short order, five enemy ships are destroyed. The sixth fights hard and does some damage to the Hope before it is destroyed. Steve finally gets the damaged ship back to Ganymede and lands next his power plant. He has finished the radio and has all the power he needs, so he starts sending out an "S.O.S." Soon help is on the way in the form of the IPV Sirius, an armed scientific vessel with two of Steve's scientist friends aboard. While the Sirius is on the way, Steve sends them all the information he has on the weapons of the enemy ships and of the Titanians, so the scientists aboard can start working on making improvements to them and finding defenses against them. The Sirius has a chance to try out her new weapons and defenses as she arrives on Ganymede to rescue the castaways. They are attacked by an enemy globe, but with their own weapons, and the improved weapons of the enemy, they destroy the enemy globe and pick up Steve and Nadia. It this point the story moves to the rest of the wreckage of the Arcturus, and the surviving passengers and crew. As the globe ship towing them nears Jupiter it is attacked by a human ship from the moon Callisto and destroyed and the passengers and crew rescued. They are told by the Callistonians that the Jupiter system is in the final stages of a war between the Hexans and the humans of Jupiter's moons. The four major moons had all produced both Hexan and human species and they had battled from the first meetings. The war had been going on for ages and the humans had been losing. A few underground cities on Callisto and Europa were all that remain of the human populations of the moons. The men of the inner planets, and the men of the Jupiter system, join forces and with the now superior weapons and defenses available to both sides they start taking back the moons from the hexans. During the war, the human's minor involvement is seen in a war between the Hexans and Vorkulians on the surface of Jupiter. The Vorkulians are a species completely unlike either hexans or humans. From the description of them, they could be the model for Worsel, the Velantian in the Lensman series. The story ends with the rebuilt Arcturus arriving on Mars only four hundred forty-six days, fifteen hours, eleven minutes, thirty-eight and seven-tenths seconds late. ===== A 16-year-old skateboarder who tries to fit in with the skater crowd accidentally kills a security guard while trying to board a train. Much of the plot concerns the character struggling to cope with what he has done while also trying to avoid being caught. The author has said that the book is a retelling of Crime and Punishment in a young adult fiction setting. The novel takes place in Portland, Oregon, United States. ===== The game takes place on a small island called Ripple Island, where humans and animals lived together in peace. However, one day, the evil emperor suddenly appears on the island and kidnaps the king's daughter. The king promises that he will allow whoever can rescue his daughter to marry her, and a young boy named sets off on a long journey to rescue the princess. ===== There are two extant fragments of this manuscript. This plot summary pertains to "The Museum Fragment (Muzejní Zlomek)." The play begins with Rubin approaching the Merchant and telling him that he will gladly serve him if the Merchant gives him a pot of barley porridge and three new spoons. The Merchant agrees to provide these goods if Rubin helps him find a place to set up a stall to sell his ointments. Rubin then starts to sing a song with Pusterpalk extolling the virtues of the Merchant's ointments, and continues after the song to praise the Merchant and his ability to cure sicknesses of all kinds. Rubin runs off amongst the people and the Merchant, not able to find him, calls for him repeatedly. When Rubin returns to him, the Merchant asks him to take out the ointments and enumerate them for him. Among these ointments is one that is "so precious that neither Vienna nor Prague has it: A young lady made it all out of gnat lard, she added a few farts to it so that it should not quickly spoil; that's the one all praise most keenly.""The Ointment Seller (The Museum Fragment)," transl. Jarmila Veltrusky in Mastičkář: A Sacred Farce from Medieval Bohemia (Ann Arbor, 1985), 341. The Merchant suggests after some time that they should set up their stall somewhere else since no customers are coming. Rubin then tells him that he has heard that there are three ladies in town seeking good ointments. The three ladies – all named Mary – are standing in the crowd and Rubin calls them over. The Marys ask for ointment to anoint their Lord Jesus Christ's body. At this point Abraham appears carrying his son Isaac and asks the Merchant to heal him and make him rise from the dead. The Merchant agrees but only if Abraham gives him gold and his daughter, to which Abraham agrees. The Merchant proceeds to pour feces over Isaac's backside. Isaac then rises and gives thanks to the Merchant for healing him. The Marys continue to request ointment to anoint Jesus Christ. The Merchant asks for two talents of gold instead of three as usual and the Merchant's wife then yells angrily at him for offering the ointment for less gold, blaming him for their poverty. To his wife's outburst, the Merchant exclaims: "I would advise you to stop, to let me be in peace. And if you do not stop it maybe you will rise and go away from me in tears. Busy yourself with your distaff at once, or I will punch you in the face!"The Ointment Seller (The Museum Fragment), transl. Jarmila Veltrusky in Mastičkář: A Sacred Farce from Medieval Bohemia (Ann Arbor, 1985), 353. Rubin and Pusterpalk then have a conversation about their lineage and get into an argument, whereby the Merchant tells the Marys not to pay attention to their fighting. This is how the Museum Fragment ends. ===== After serving prison time for manslaughter, Bobby Reynolds is released on probation from Rikers, and moves to the old apartment in East Village, New York, where his lonely mother lived and died while he was incarcerated. He finds a job as a mechanic at the Houston Auto Repair shop owned by the supportive Hector Rodriguez and tries to rebuild his life. However, he is deemed an outcast and his former friends and neighbors do not want to talk to him. He meets his former girlfriend, Alyssa, who works as waitress and studies in a design school, and they tentatively resume their relationship. Bobby begins hearing strange noises, finds blood in his apartment, and overhears an argument between Walter, an abusive police officer, his wife Gina, and their daughter Carly next door in Room 517. He finds bottles of pills in the bathroom and learns from the manager that his mother had locked herself in her apartment for a week prior to her death. When Bobby next hears an argument ensue in Room 517, he bangs on the door and tries to intervene. Walter comes to his door and tells him to mind his own business. On another evening, Bobby overhears Walter beating Gina next door, and sees Carly standing in front of his door. He invites her in and calls the police on the tenants next door. However, it turns out that Room 517 has been empty for several years. Bobby continues to hear things; his experiences affect his job performance, and his relationship with Alyssa starts to deteriorate, with her thinking he is crazy. Meanwhile, Joseph, another tenant who had been experiencing the same visions as Bobby, comes face-to-face with the ghosts in his apartment. His body is later discovered, with the police looking at Bobby as a possible suspect. The ghosts of Gina and Carly begin haunting other individuals who have connections with Bobby and the apartment building: Alyssa, as she is taking her design final; Hector, when he comes to Bobby's apartment in order to apologize for a misunderstanding. While interrogating other tenants, Bobby discovers that, years ago, Walter had beaten his wife to death when she tried to leave him, and dumped his daughter's body down the garbage chute. But although Gina had banged on other people's doors and screamed for help, no one had been willing to intervene (including Bobby's mother, who had then experienced the haunting), and the ghosts of the family continued to haunt the apartment. Hector, while looking for Bobby, dies by falling down a staircase after running from Carly's ghost. Alyssa, also haunted by the ghosts, runs to Bobby's apartment looking for him, but winds up being dragged to Room 517 by the ghost of Walter, mimicking the way Gina was murdered. Bobby hears Alyssa's screams of pain, and saves her. While tending to her back in his room, Bobby witnesses the scene as it had occurred those years ago; yet, this time, Bobby doesn't let the entire scene play out and rushes to intervene just as Walter is about to give the final blow to Gina. Gina then beats Walter to death with his nightstick and disappears along with her daughter. With the ghosts gone, Bobby comforts Alyssa as the police head towards the apartment. ===== Carreta in San Juan, Puerto Rico Act I takes place in an unidentified mountainous region outside of San Juan. The family—Doña Gabriela, Luis, Juanita, and Chaguito, are packing for their move to San Juan. There is a great deal of tension in this scene as the family remembers nostalgically its traditions as they break away from them. Don Chago, the grandfather, refuses to move, and unbeknownst to the family, intends to live out his days in the solitude of a cave. He is Marqués personified in his love of the land and his attitude against industrial development. He blames his deceased son-in-law for the family's inability to keep up with the mortgage payments and the subsequent loss of the farm. Luis, technically the head of the family now that his father has died, decides that a move to the city will bring prosperity to the family, and they unquestioningly follow out his wishes. In reality, Luis is the son of his father and another woman, but is accepted totally by Doña Gabriela, who cautiously guards this “secret” from him, not realizing that he indeed knows. Luis’ strong determination to secure a better life for his family in a mechanized world can be seen almost as overcompensation for the gratitude he feels as an undeserving stepchild who enjoys the rights and privileges of a blood-relative. Juanita is ambivalent about the move as a local farmer, Miguel, is now courting her. Her mother worries about the sexual implications of this relationship and is relieved to know that it will be severed by their move. Act II finds the family in a San Juan slum, ironically called “The Pearl”. They live alongside a noisy bar and Lito is introduced as a liaison between the family and this establishment. He infers that Luis is involved in gambling and in an illicit love affair with the owner's wife. By the end of this act, Luis has been unsuccessful in 5 factory jobs and ironically ends up as a gardener for a wealthy family, thus returning to the land he had hoped to flee. Chaguito has taken on all the influences of the street and his thievery results in incarceration. Juanita, reacting to a pregnancy resulting from rape, attempts suicide. Doña Gabriela is distraught with grief and accepts Luis’ suggestion of yet another move—this time to New York City as a solution to their problems. Act III develops in Morrisania, a Puerto Rican area of the Bronx. It is wintertime and they are suffering the bitter cold for the first time. Juanita is “working” (she has become a prostitute) and rents a room in another part of town. Luis is disgusted by her independence and wants her to move back so that he can support her. She refuses a marriage proposal by a Puerto Rican radio announcer who perceives her sensitivity beyond her citified facade. Doña Gabriela refuses to confront Juanita by not believing in the obvious source of her income. She is overwhelmed by the changes in the family and gradually loses her fiery spirit. She silently accepts her fate, continuing to accept whatever Luis plans for them. Luis is obsessed with his job in a boiler factory as he provides the family with the trappings of a “better” life. The play ends as the tragic hero succumbs to his flaw when the machine he idolizes causes his death. The family returns to Puerto Rico to bury him, again ironically, in the land which he fled. ===== The novel concerns the search for soil from a remote part of Asia for the cultivation of weird flowers that can destroy humanity. ===== Zoey is hiding in the stables with her horse, Persephone. After an internal debate she finally decides to talk with her friends. On the way to the cafeteria she feels the presence of Darkness and rushes inside. She tries to blend in and act normally but her friends ignore her and the situation degenerates with the appearance of a newly re-Marked Aphrodite, who chooses to sit with the 'nerd herd'. A confrontation is postponed by the arrival of new fledgling and famous archer James Stark. After lunch, Zoey meets Aphrodite and Stevie Rae in her room. She finds out that Stevie Rae is mostly normal now and the only differences she experiences is an intense aversion to sunlight, and that Aphrodite's Mark is fake – she has mostly reverted to a human teenager, except for her visions. Zoey casts the circle and asks for guidance. Nyx appears to tell them that she still loves Aphrodite, that she was only safekeeping the Earth affinity for Stevie Rae, and that she reverted to human because her own humanity was too strong. After the goddess' disappearance, they rush to a Council meeting. They find out that the Priestess of all vampyres, Shekinah, has come to the House of Night to reject Neferet's declaration of war on humans. She follows Zoey's advice to put Detective Marx on the case instead. Erik Night returns to the school and takes over Professor Nolan's drama class, much to Zoey's dismay. On her way back Zoey meets Stark and watches him practice. He confesses to her that he has a gift for archery – that he never misses a target – and it was discovered when he killed his mentor by mistake. Because he fears his power, he asks Zoey to use her powers to protect the others from him. Quickly after he confesses his gift, he starts to cough up blood. While he is dying, Zoey tells him about Stevie Rae and how he can come back to life. Zoey, Darius and Aphrodite go to Street Cats, a local cat shelter, as Zoey has been searching for a community activity for the Dark Daughters. The organization is led by nuns from the Benedictine Abbey. Their leader, Sister Mary Angela, astounds Zoey with the contrast between her beliefs and John Heffer's. At school she's late for drama class and Erik, the new teacher, makes her play Desdemona to his Othello in a Shakespeare improvisation. She's initially mad, but uses this as an opportunity to explain her feelings for him and kisses him just before the bell rings, but he storms off. Outside, she meets Darius who brings her to Aphrodite, revealing a gift for speed. Aphrodite has been having a vision of Sylvia Redbird's house and copies out a poem in her writing. Zoey calls her grandmother and together they uncover that the poem is a warning about an ancient Cherokee legend. The poem warns that Kalona, a fallen angel, will rise again throughout the help of the Tsi Sgili queen, a dark witch that uses pain. Her grandmother also warns her to beware the Raven Mockers, half-raven half-human offspring of Kalona. Zoey asks her to come to the House of Night to be safe. Zoey then goes to Shekinah, and is attacked by a Raven Mocker on the way. She escapes Aphrodite's second vision of death by calling for Damien, who sends Air to banish the creature. Outside the Council chambers she happens to eavesdrop on a discussion between Neferet and Shekinah. She incredulously hears how Neferet manages to twist all the problems she's faced since the beginning of her change and make it seem as if they were Zoey's fault. Back at school, Zoey begins a cleansing ritual at Shekinah's request. Zoey tries to introduce the red fledglings and Stevie Rae makes an appearance, but is interrupted by Neferet who brings an undead Stark and tries to frame Zoey. In the ensuing commotion, Neferet makes Stark shoot Stevie Rae, fulfilling another line of Aphrodite's poem. Her blood frees Kalona. Neferet reveals herself as the Tsi Sgili queen from the poem, and then kills Shekinah with her thoughts to prove it. ===== The story begins with a new English teacher Rahul Udyavar (Shahid Kapoor) joining Saraswati Vidya Mandir school, in the Mirpurkhas suburbs. He strikes instant rapport with students and teachers alike. When Rahul Udyavar unifies the teachers (Ayesha Takia and Sushant Singh) against the atrocities of the school's management, Principal Aditya Sahay (Nana Patekar) defends the management's decision. This comes as a shocker to the teachers as Sahay is known for his dedication as an educator for the last 32 years who has built the school's high reputation. The situation becomes graver as school management becomes overambitious with its growth and involves media planners in the extracurricular activities. This demands the involvement of students in TV reality shows and other media PR activities used for building the school's image in public which starts reflecting on the students' stress levels. The pressure on young minds increases incredibly, leading to unexpected and grim consequences. Caught in the web of commercialization, the students go on strike unable to take the pressure, and it becomes a hectic situation. When the media comes to the school, asking questions about strike, Principal Sahay explains the whole situation and resigns. All the students request him not to leave and he shows some signs indicating that he would return. ===== Vikramaditya Singh (Lucky Ali) is a teacher in a music school where he, with others, polishes every student's voice to make them stars. Although Vikramaditya is a famous singer himself, he is not satisfied with his creations; he is looking for a special person. His heart longs for someone so special that, if worked on, would be a masterpiece who would be known as the most worthy graduate and the world's most talented singer. He accidentally meets Tina (Gauri Karnik), who has a magical voice. He learns about her when she sings a prayer in church. Vikramaditya decides to take her to his school, where she can pay more attention to singing. As Vikramaditya improves Tina's talent, she falls in love with him. Slowly, he moulds her into a brilliant singer, and she emerges a star. In spite of Vikramaditya's dream coming true, he starts feeling jealous when he discovers Tina's success. He is not able to take in the fact that she is better than he is, so he starts competing with her. He starts breaking her confidence, then dominates and overpowers her. Later, Vikramaditya realizes his mistake and compensates for it by letting her sing at a concert that was dedicated to him. Tina performs at the concert dedicating her love for Vikramaditya, and the concert is a huge success. Later, Tina goes to meet Vikram at his house, and feels grateful to Vikram and expresses her desire to sing with him. But Vikram rejects her proposal, telling her that she should sing alone and that he wants her to become a big name in the future. A Heartbroken Tina leaves Vikram's house and continues her career, dedicating it to Vikram. ===== Returning to the planet Delta Vega, site of the deaths of Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise encounter a rift of psionic energy in space, through which travels a starship of Shi'ar design. The ship is quickly destroyed by the spatial anomaly, though not before Spock detects that it carried seven lifeforms of "near human" nature. A second, larger Shi'ar craft comes through the rift, which promptly fires an unusual projectile at the Enterprise: Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who warns the Enterprise away from the planet and drives his point home by striking the ship's deflector shields, causing some actual damage to the vessel as a result. (Kirk: "Did he just... punch my ship?")Star Trek/X-Men #1, Marvel Comics, December 1996, pg 9. Meanwhile, the seven crew members of the destroyed ship are revealed to be members of the X-Men - Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Storm, Gambit, and Bishop - who managed to transport to the Enterprise before their own vessel's destruction, though they are hiding to avoid detection. As Dr. McCoy discovers Beast and Storm sneaking Gambit into Sick Bay for medical attention, Spock has sensed the presences of the X-Men on board and confronts the remaining members, engaging Wolverine in combat and actually putting him under for a few moments with the Vulcan nerve pinch.Star Trek/X-Men #1, Marvel Comics, December 1996, pg 18. The X-Men and the Enterprise crew soon settle their differences and meet to discuss the purpose of the mutants' trip to what they presume is an alternate universe: both they and the other Shi'ar ship, commanded by the renegade Deathbird, are tracking the consciousness of the powerful reality-altering mutant Proteus, who has traveled through the rift to Delta Vega and has reanimated the corpse of Lt. Mitchell, who had developed similar powers in the days leading up to his death. Beaming down to the planet, the X-Men and the Enterprise command crew discover two things: first, that the surface had been transformed to resemble a Scottish village, and second, that Deathbird and the Imperial Guard beat them there, and offered Proteus/Mitchell the use of their ship in return for establishing an alliance. While Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Storm, and members of the Enterprise crew fight off the Imperial Guard and Proteus' physical form, Jean Grey and Captain Kirk psionically appealed to the remaining consciousness of Mitchell and determine that the only way to win was to, once again, kill Mitchell's physical form. Beast, Spock, and Mr. Scott construct a way to direct the Enterprise's phaser energy through Bishop's energy channeling powers, and that, combined with the crew's own phasers and the powers of the X-Men succeeds in ending the Proteus/Mitchell entity's existence. The battle over, the X-Men commandeer the Imperial Guard's starship and return home through the rift, expressing their happiness that after experiencing a multitude of alternate futures, they finally encountered one that seemed hopeful.Star Trek/X-Men #1, Marvel Comics, December 1996, pg 39. ===== A second generation British Asian accountant (Alfie Singh) wants to be a film producer. He has an idea for a film called Ealing Comedy, about an accountant turned film producer called Alfie Singh. Alfie will play himself and his real son, Paul, will play his son in the film. Unable to raise finance he decides to make the film himself. The film chronicles his life with his Irish wife and teenage son and his struggles to finance and make the film while keeping his family together. ===== Ptath is a god from Earth's far future when the landmasses have rejoined to form a single super-continent, now called Gonwonlane. Ptath ruled this planetary nation with his two goddess- wives; all of them having divine powers, his fueled by the prayers of women, the goddesses's by the prayers of men. Before the start of the novel, Ptath had chosen to journey back in time and incarnate as a series of mortals from Earth's history. While he is absent, one of his goddess-wives tries to usurp his power by imprisoning the other goddess-wife and forbidding women from praying, thus cutting Ptath off from his power source while keeping her own. She contrives to bring Ptath back to Gonwonlane in his immortal body but with the mind of his most recent incarnation - a just deceased 20th century tank commander. From Ptath's point of view he was killed in his tank and then immediately woke up (naked, walking down a road) in the far future. The story follows Ptath as he rescues his other wife, learns about his immortal body, mental powers, and makes war against his evil wife. ===== ===== The novel revolves around Edwin Fisher, a lecturer who takes a holiday at a seaside resort. The work takes place entirely within the mind of Fisher, with much of the book's development dealing with the painful realities of Fisher's mind and life. ===== The novel's main character is Norman Zweck, who is addicted to amphetamines and is convinced that he sees silverfish wherever he goes. ===== The novel centres on Colin, a young boy growing up in the Yorkshire mining village of Saxton during the Second World War and the postwar years. ===== The film opens with Caleb Sinclaire sitting in a diner, forlorn and smoking a cigarette. He begins to cry, but composes himself when his younger brother, Peter approaches the table. Peter is an idealistic college student on Thanksgiving break and Caleb is begrudgingly giving him a ride home. At school, Peter has found a new girlfriend, Emma Gainsborough, and Caleb immediately grills him for details. Emma and Peter met each other while Emma was on campus meeting some fraternity boys; while Peter says she's a good girl and nothing happened, Caleb immediately perceives her as a whore. On the way to get Emma, Caleb reveals that he hasn't slept in a week. Caleb is immediately antagonistic to Emma. Caleb drops them off at his father Donald's house, revealing to Emma that he and Donald do not get along and this will be the last time he will see them this weekend. Donald comes off as well-meaning, if somewhat flirtatious. Caleb meanwhile, has been trying to sleep, but keeps seeing images of his last girlfriend, Hannah, who behaves and looks strikingly similar to Emma. Hannah has continuously called Caleb, so he drops off pictures of himself having sex with a prostitute named Samantha at her doorstep, ringing the bell and fleeing. Caleb arrives at work and belittles fellow worker JT. Later, Emma and Peter go bowling and Caleb secretly watches them. In the bowling alley lobby, Caleb bumps into Emma. They have an awkward conversation and she asks him for cigarettes, revealing she secretly smokes. Caleb obliges; Emma asking him to promise not to tell Peter, and Caleb asking not to reveal he was there to Peter or Donald. Later Caleb runs into Emma. He ends up viciously physically and verbally attacking her, and threatens her not to hurt Peter, who is a good kid (and a virgin). Moments later, he breaks down, begging her forgiveness. Confused and outraged, Emma punches him, bloodying his nose and dropping him to the pavement. Caleb sits on the ground crying and apologizing. That night, Emma sneaks out for a cigarette and meets Caleb trying to sneak around the yard with a camera. Emma wants an explanation about what happened earlier. Caleb goes into his belief on what he heard about her at school, his girlfriend Hannah who cheated on him, and his lack of sleep, which has further muddled his actions and behavior. Caleb eventually leaves, feeling better after these confessions. The next morning, Donald and Emma go jogging together. Emma asks about Peter's mother, and Donald reveals that she died when Caleb and Peter were young. Donald also says that his wife cheated on him prior to being diagnosed with cancer and that no one came to visit her in the hospital the last four months of her life. At work, Caleb reveals he managed to fall asleep for a few minutes the night before. At a cheap restaurant, Caleb, Peter and Emma are together. Caleb and Emma get a few moments alone, and Caleb assures her that he doesn't have feelings for her. Caleb ends up forcibly kissing her. Emma says nothing about it to Peter. Caleb privately warns Peter to watch Emma carefully, because she's been eyeing him. Peter says he's in love with her and wants to give her his virginity, and Caleb laughs at the idea. Caleb apologizes for his ideas that she was a whore. While Peter and Emma prepare to have intercourse, Peter reveals that what Donald told her is true, except that Caleb was the only one to see their mother before she died, and Caleb and Donald haven't spoken to each other since. Caleb goes to see Samantha, and asks her if it's normal to be in love with a perceived image of someone, even if that's not who they really are (likening Emma to Hannah). Caleb asks Samantha if she was abused as a child, and Samantha is offended. Caleb loses his temper, then comes back and gives her a better tip, implying that his perception and treatment of women is evolving. Caleb tries apologizing to Emma for kissing her and says he'll try not to bother her anymore. Emma reveals she has accidentally locked herself out of the house, and Caleb manages to get them both inside through a window. Emma falls on top of Caleb, and they seem like they might be about to kiss. But she rebukes him and asks him never to see her again. Caleb leaves, and Emma returns to the place they embraced to masturbate. At a bar, JT asks Caleb if he's had sex with Emma yet, and he says no, but he wants to. He spots some men sexually harassing a woman and ends up fighting them, marking another change in him. Peter tries to have sex with Emma but ejaculates prematurely. Caleb drives over to see Emma, and this time, she doesn't rebuke him when he kisses her, and eventually, they end up having passionate sex in Caleb's old room. Emma asks why Caleb was the only one to see his mother before she died. He reveals he was hurt by her cheating, and shut her out of his life. However, he eventually discovered that Donald had been the one cheating until his wife finally left, never thinking that he would refuse to let her see her sons. Caleb never told Peter because he was only 12. Emma tells Caleb she was a virgin. Caleb leaves and reminds Emma that Peter is in love with her. On his way out, he runs into his father who deduces what happened and says he'll tell Peter. Caleb calls him a coward for erasing him out of his life; in the last 8 years, Donald never attempted to re-enter his life. They both hide quickly as Peter goes to Emma's room, and Caleb dictates to Donald that he won't tell Peter what he did, otherwise he'll tell him Donald's secrets and he'll lose both his sons. Peter and Emma sleep together, and he loses his virginity to her. The next morning, Donald drives them to the train station to go back to school. On the way, Peter tells Emma he loves her, but it causes Emma to cry. Donald confesses to Peter that he's made mistakes, and that sometimes, people know what they are doing is wrong but they do it anyway, because the right thing is painful. The two of them alone again, Caleb rings Donald's doorbell and Donald invites him in, their relationship beginning to mend at last. ===== "Swift death awaits the first cow that leads a revolt against milking," wrote Swedish Professor Peder Bjornsen just before he died of a heart attack in May 2015. Bill Graham, investigating the deaths of two scientists his agency has funded, discovers that over a dozen scientists who knew each other have died recently, either by heart attack or by suicide, after appearing to go insane. With the aid of police lieutenant Art Wohl, Graham searches out other scientists who knew the men in the group and finds that they are dying as well. He finally meets a scientist who explains what’s been happening. Professor Bjornsen had discovered a means of extending human vision into the far infrared and he discovered that the world is occupied by meter-wide spheres that appear pale blue in his new vision. The spheres, which he called Vitons, are sentient and mildly telepathic (they can read people’s minds if they get close enough); they also feed on the electrochemical energy of human emotions. If a Viton sucks too hard on a human nervous system, it causes a fatal heart attack, which is how the Vitons have been killing the scientists, in order to prevent Humanity from learning of their existence. That knowledge, including Professor Bjornsen’s formula, is quickly spread around the world. The Vitons react by triggering an all-out world war. They enjoy a world-wide feeding frenzy as they work to regain control over their “cattle”. Chased into a hospital by a pair of Vitons, Graham and Wohl discover that the phantom vampires shy away from a machine that emits short-wave radio energy. Given that information, researchers all over the world struggle to find a form of radio transmission that will kill Vitons. Graham continues to seek out clues, obtaining them from people that the Vitons kill. Eventually he gets the necessary information and a ray gun, built like an anti-aircraft gun, is set up and tested. Graham destroys dozens of Vitons before the gun is destroyed and he is nearly killed. All relevant information on the gun has been widely disseminated and more guns are built and put to use. Seeing Vitons being destroyed, people sober up and the war winds down. There’s a huge mess to clean up and plenty more Vitons to kill, but Humanity will prevail. ===== Set in a single day in suburban England, the book chronicles the minor victories and tragedies of a group of middle-class families. In the characters’ preparations for a dinner party, the book explores the thoughts and actions of each person. ===== A school shooting occurs at South Park Elementary resulting in a fatality, though the fourth grade teacher and her students are nonchalant when a S.W.A.T. member storms the classroom to secure it, attempting to ignore the disruption while reviewing the class's recent mathematics test. Eric Cartman is angry because having copied his answers from classmate Token Black, he failed the test, and believes that Token initially put incorrect answers on his own test paper in a deliberate ploy to cause Cartman's failure. Cartman becomes worried that Token was motivated by rumors that Cartman disliked the feature film Black Panther, whose success holds cultural significance for black Americans, but Token says he has not seen that film, spurring the paranoid Cartman to spend the episode attempting to resolve his suspicions. Ultimately, despite Token's repeated denial of ever having seen the film, Cartman concludes that Token saw it, and shares his own opinion that the film was not that good. After Cartman and Token successfully evade gunshots at yet another shooting at their school, Token allows Cartman to copy his answers on their next test. Sharon Marsh, the mother of Cartman's classmate Stan, is outraged not only at the school shootings, but at the lack of similar distress on the part of other townspeople, including her husband Randy, who comes to believe that her disposition is caused by either her menstrual cycle or the onset of menopause. He attempts to shower her with love in the form of a party at which he serenades her, but Sharon angrily informs Randy and their neighbors that she is not undergoing menopause, and storms off. She later apologizes to an astonished Randy for the pain and suffering they have been experiencing, admitting that she may have been overly emotional lately. They receive word that Stan was shot at another shooting at his school. Instead of panicking, Sharon exhibits a calm, nonchalant attitude like those of Randy and the others, and a relieved Randy lovingly embraces her. ===== After the events of the previous book, Dexter Morgan is eager to resume his hobby of stalking violent criminals, but 1st, he must endure a honeymoon in Paris with his unsuspecting wife, Rita. At an art gallery, the couple view an avant-garde performance piece in which the artist amputates her own limb. Upon returning home, Dexter finds that his relationship with his sister, Debra, has become strained since she learned of his murderous pastime. Debra, now a sergeant in the Miami-Dade Police Department's homicide unit, is torn between loyalty to Dexter & her duty as a police officer to arrest him. Dexter is called to investigate a gruesome tableau on a local beach, where a pair of bodies have been mutilated & arranged in a display that parodies the state's tourist trade. At home, Rita is concerned for her children, Cody & Astor, who appear withdrawn & different from normal children. Dexter knows that they share his pathology & has promised to train them to kill those who deserve it, as his adoptive father, Harry, trained him. Cody is enrolled as a Cub Scout, which Rita believes will help him to bond with normal children. Dexter believes that it will help him learn how to pretend to be normal. ===== The film portrays Todd (Bray) who arrives at a cafe for a blind date with Kelly (Cruz), whom he expects to be a girl. When Kelly turns out to be a gay man, Todd discovers that he has been the victim of a prank by his brother Barry (Silverman). Todd and Kelly decide to get revenge on Barry by pretending they are indeed now a couple. However, the joke soon goes further than they expected when Todd's family and friends all soon believe him to be gay. Despite his repeated attempts to prove otherwise, Todd soon finds himself doubting his own sexuality, and feelings toward Kelly.Michael D. Klemm article in CinemaQueer.com: Date films ===== The narrator is driving to London in his new BMW 1975 car when he picks up a hitchhiker. The narrator always used to pick up hitchhikers since, in early times, he also used to hitchhike and he knew how difficult it can be. The author described the hitchhiker as a small ratty- faced man with grey teeth.The man mentions he's going to the horse races, but not to bet or work the ticket machines. The narrator is intrigued and says he's a writer and tells him the trouble was that writers are terribly nosy. They get to talking about the car, and the narrator proudly states it can hit 129 miles per hour. The hitchhiker doubts that, so, once they hit a straight patch of road, the narrator steps on the gas. They're almost there when a cop on a motorcycle zooms past and signals them to stop. The cop is a bit of a bully and threatens to have the narrator thrown in prison. He takes down his address and also that of the hitchhiker. Then he gives them a ticket and leaves and they continue on their way. The narrator is worried about the ticket, but the hitchhiker says it will be fine. They begin talking about their careers again, and eventually the hitchhiker announces he is a "fingersmith". He is so skilled with his hands that he even manages to remove the narrator's belt without him noticing. He attends races and steals money from the winners. "That policeman's going to check up on you pretty thoroughly," the narrator says. "Doesn't that worry you a bit?" The hitchhiker responds no one will be checking up on him, as policemen have notoriously bad memories. "What's memory got to do with it?" the narrator asks. "It's written down in his book, isn't it?" The hitchhiker proudly announces he's stolen both books from the policeman. "Easiest job I ever done". They pull off the road to burn the books. Category:1977 short stories Category:Short stories by Roald Dahl Category:Works originally published in The Atlantic (magazine) Category:Hitchhiking in fiction ===== Van (Tierney) frequently visits his grandmother, Armen (Keklikian) who is living in a poor quality nursing home. There, he meets Aline (Khanjian), whose mother (Sabourin) is in the bed next to Armen. Aline's job as a phone sex worker does not pay enough to afford a better nursing home for her mother. Van and Aline get to know each other through their frequent meetings at the nursing home. Van's mother (Sarkisyan) disappeared years ago and his father, Stan (Hemblen), is reluctant to visit his mother-in-law. Stan does go to visit Armen once, but he first visits with a stranger because he does not even know what she looks like. When he finally sees Armen, she attacks him. Van tries to convince his father to allow Armen to live with them, but he refuses. Van also unsuccessfully tries to convince Sandra, Stan's live-in lover (Rose), to help him convince his father but she also refuses. Van discovers that Stan is re- using old home movies to tape himself having sex with Sandra. Van decides to switch the tapes for blank ones to save them, bringing them to the nursing home to show to Armen. When Aline is asked by a client to travel with him to Montreal, she asks Van to look after her mother while she is away. Aline's mother, believing that Aline is deserting her, commits suicide by overdosing on her medicine. Van switches the two elderly women so it appears that his grandmother has died, then tells his father that Armen has died and holds a funeral for Aline's mother before she returns from Montreal. Van tells her what he has done and shows her a videotape of the funeral, asking her to help him to get Armen out of the nursing home, as Armen's identity is now Aline's mother. Aline also agrees to put up Armen in her flat as long as the rent is shared and then agrees to allow Van to leave his father's house and move in too. Van's father helps him get a job in a hotel and Aline gets a job there, too. Van, while watching the tapes, discovers images of his mother being tied up by Stan as a part of their sexual activities. Stan discovers that Van switched the tapes and wants to get them back. Sandra visits Van to tell him that Stan, having seen Aline at the nursing home and putting flowers on what he thinks is his mother-in-law's grave, is suspicious and hires a private detective (Shafer). Van moves his grandmother to the hotel so she won't be discovered and puts her up in a part of the hotel which is not used out of season. Stan visits Aline and questions her about her mother without results. With the private detective's help, Stan tracks down the room where Armen is being kept. Before he can get there, Van finds out that the room is needed by the hotel and responds by reporting Armen as a homeless woman who has been staying in a storage area. As a result, Armen is removed by medical personnel and moved to a different and better nursing home. In the final scene, Van and Aline visit Armen and find her sitting and talking with Van's mother - her daughter. ===== The game is set in Trip World, a peaceful world where Yakopoo lives. He is a young member of the Shabubu race of bunny-like beings. Yakopoo lives with his grandfather, an old Shabubu, on the holy mountain known as Mount Dubious, where the Maita Flower is found. The named flower is the flower of peace and is deemed to have supernatural powers. Because of this, it is usually protected by Yakopoo's grandpa, so that it won't fall in the wrong hands. However, one day mysterious shadowy creatures appear, attack Yakopoo's grandfather and steal the flower of peace. Since the Maita Flower has been removed from its place, the peace is gone and the inhabitants of Trip World get mad and don't stop quarreling with each other. In order to save his world, Yakopoo sets out to find the thieves and to return the Maita Flower.The introduction sequence of Trip World shows parts of the described events without text In the game's last stage, Mirror Land, it turns out that the King of Mirror Land, a Shabubu himself, and his minions stole the flower. After Yakopoo defeats the King's minions and the King who fights Yakopoo in a robot, the Queen appears who hid with the Maita Flower during the fight. The King was actually possessed by a flower of unknown origin on his head which now disappears after his defeat. The King turns good again, Yakopoo's grandfather returns the flower to the holy mountain and the peace is back in Trip World. ===== Recent Radcliffe College graduate Caroline Bender is hired as a secretary at Fabian Publishing Company. She works for Amanda Farrow, a bitter, demanding, middle-aged editor who resents Caroline and suspects she wants her job. Caroline meets two other young women in the typing pool -- April Morrison, a naïve rube from Colorado, and Gregg Adams, a glamorous aspiring actress -- and the three women become roommates. April is assigned to work for the lecherous editor-in-chief Mr. Shalimar, who persuades her to work late one night in a ploy to sexually harass her. When she rejects him, he is undaunted and continues to pursue other young female employees. At an alcohol-fueled office party, an intoxicated Mr. Shalimar makes sexual overtures to Barbara Lamont while they are alone in her office. Sidney Carter, a coworker with whom she has an affair, intervenes to stop Shalimar after he hears Barbara yelling. Shalimar shows no remorse over the incident and suggests that, because Lamont has been married and divorced, she should expect such advances from male coworkers. Gregg is cast in a play directed by David Savage and the two become lovers. Gregg is demoted to understudy when she repeatedly flubs her lines. She becomes obsessed with David, whose affections turn to Gregg's replacement in the play. After David ends his affair with Gregg, she becomes mentally unstable and starts stalking him. While lurking outside his apartment, she is startled by a boisterous neighbor and panics. Gregg flees to a fire escape and falls to her death when her high-heeled shoe gets caught in the grating, causing her to stumble. April meets Dexter Key, a spoiled playboy, at a company picnic. They start an affair, but Dexter threatens to dump the romantic April unless she agrees to have sex. When April becomes pregnant, Dexter persuades her to ostensibly elope. Once they are en route, Dexter admits his marriage proposal is a ruse and he is driving her to a doctor for an abortion. Distraught at the idea of ending her pregnancy, April leaps from Dexter's moving car. She survives, but the impact causes a miscarriage and hospitalization. April becomes romantically involved with her attending physician. Caroline, upset after her fiancé Eddie Harris marries another woman, goes on a blind date with Paul Landis. The date ends awkwardly when Caroline spots a coworker, Mike Rice. After Paul leaves, Mike and Caroline get drunk, and she falls asleep at his apartment. At the office the next day, a badly hungover Caroline is worried she and Mike had sex, but he assures her nothing happened. While working for Amanda Farrow, Caroline adds her own editorial comments to the manuscripts submitted by writers. Shalimar takes notice of Caroline's comments and promotes her to the position of manuscript reader. When Caroline thanks Farrow for recommending her as a reader, Farrow admits she advised Shalimar _not_ to promote her. Later Mike disparages Caroline's ambition and advises her not to become career-driven, but to seek marriage instead. Mike and Caroline consider becoming involved romantically, but their plans are interrupted by Eddie, who dines with Caroline while in New York on a business trip. Thinking Eddie wants to leave his wife and rekindle their relationship, Caroline visits his hotel room; she leaves after Eddie reveals he has no intention of divorcing his rich wife and only wants Caroline to be his mistress. When Farrow quits her job to marry a man and move to St. Louis, Caroline takes her place at Fabian. Caroline relinquishes the position when Farrow returns to New York after her marriage fails. While leaving the office one day, Caroline bumps into Mike. She lifts the veil and removes the black hat she is wearing to mourn Gregg's death and locks eyes with him; they walk away together as the film ends. ===== The story is set in an alternative world wherein the Thirteen Colonies, after gaining independence from Britain, did not succeed in creating the United States, but instead developed into separate and mutually hostile nation-states which often fight bitter wars with each other. In the novella, the citizens of Pennsylvania speak a language they call "Pennsylvanisch", which a character describes as "[a] German dialect mainly derived from Swabian and with many English loan words, which a speaker of High German would find it difficult to follow". This language has a rich literary tradition of which the Pennsylvanians are proud; and they feel suspicious of, and threatened by the hostile English-speaking nations of New York to their north, and Virginia to their south. In that Pennsylvania, only the Quaker communities still speak English as their native language, and they are therefore recruited by the Pennsylvanian Intelligence Service as spies to infiltrate the territories of neighboring nations. The story's main conflict comes when a Pennsylvanisch officer encounters a man who claims to be from the United States as we, the readers, know it. The officer first regards the man as either truly mad, or feigning madness to cover his mission of espionage for an enemy such as New York, but soon becomes enamored and full of longing for the parallel universe described by the captive. In a brief part of the story, the time traveler's journal reveals that he has visited other worlds, including one with an Axis victory in World War II. =====