Alan Hook is a highly-strung and often unfortunate individual, constantly getting frustrated with the endeavours of his father Brian, and forever venting his anger at the world around him. His long-suffering wife Beryl tries her best to keep her husband calm, though this proves difficult due to Brian, who, without meaning to, is always getting on his son's nerves with his over engineered ideas, and old fashioned ways.

Then there is Alan's own son Vincent, a typical moody teenager who Alan seems to be forever embarrassing.

In 1975, bodybuilders are preparing for the upcoming Mr. Universe amateur competition and Mr. Olympia professional competition in Pretoria, South Africa. The first part of the film documents the life of Mike Katz, a hopeful for the title of Mr. Universe. Katz was bullied in his youth for being Jewish and wearing glasses, which spurred him to become a pro football player; when his career with the New York Jets was ended by a leg injury, he became a bodybuilder. His psychological balance is thrown off by a prank by fellow contender Ken Waller, who steals Katz's lucky shirt before the competition. Waller wins Mr. Universe and Katz comes in fourth. Fighting back tears, Katz cheerfully appraises the situation before calling home to check on his wife and children. He then congratulates Waller.

The film then switches focus to the rivalry between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, professional bodybuilders competing for the title of Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger, at this point a ten-year veteran of bodybuilding, has won Mr. Olympia for five consecutive years and intends to retire after a final competition. Ferrigno, who at a height of 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) and 275 lb (125 kg) is the largest bodybuilder to date, is determined to be the man to finally dethrone Schwarzenegger. The film contrasts each man's personality, home environment, and training style: Schwarzenegger is extroverted, aggressive, and works out with other bodybuilders at Gold's Gym and Muscle Beach, whereas the quiet, reserved Ferrigno—who went partially deaf after a childhood ear infection—trains with his father in a dimly lit, private, basement gym. While Ferrigno surrounds himself with his family, Schwarzenegger is accompanied wherever he goes by other bodybuilders, reporters, and beautiful women.

In between interviews and workout demonstrations with Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger, the latter explains the basic concepts behind bodybuilding. Although he emphasizes the importance of physique in bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger also stresses the psychological aspects of competition, crediting his use of psychological warfare for his numerous victories. The film briefly looks at Schwarzenegger's training partner, Franco Columbu, a favorite to win the under-200 lb division at Mr. Olympia. A former boxer from the tiny village of Ollolai, Sardinia, Columbu returns home to celebrate a traditional dinner with his family, who still adhere to old world values and are skeptical of the overt aggression of boxing and bodybuilding. Nevertheless, Columbu impresses his family with a display of strength by lifting up the back end of a car and angling it so it can escape a tight parking spot.

In South Africa, Schwarzenegger wages his psychological warfare on Ferrigno, befriending Ferrigno and then subtly insulting him over breakfast with Ferrigno's family. Schwarzenegger later attends the judging for the under-200 lb class to scope out who his competition will be for the overall Mr. Olympia title, jokingly disparaging Columbu. The appearance of Ed Corney stuns Schwarzenegger, who praises another bodybuilder for the only time in the film, openly admiring Corney's physique and posing prowess. Columbu places first and he moves on to compete against the winner of the over-200 lb category.

Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno, and Serge Nubret prepare to go onstage and compete for the over-200 lb category. In the locker room, Schwarzenegger engages in some last-minute intimidation of Ferrigno, who is visibly shaken onstage and subsequently ends up placing third behind Nubret and Schwarzenegger, who is declared the winner. Schwarzenegger and Columbu engage in a posedown for the title of Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger uses his stage presence and intimidating looks to unnerve Columbu, and is declared Mr. Olympia. In a post-victory speech, he announces his official retirement from professional bodybuilding. Later, at an after-party for the competitors, Schwarzenegger celebrates his victory by smoking marijuana and eating fried chicken. With the competition over, he wishes Ferrigno happy birthday and leads the other competitors in singing "Happy Birthday to You" as a cake is revealed. The film ends with Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno, and Ferrigno's parents riding together to the airport, with Schwarzenegger saying he is returning back home to Austria to celebrate with his family.

The Wise Little Hen of the title is looking for someone to help her plant her corn for the winter. Peter Pig and Donald Duck both feign belly aches to get out of the chore since they would rather play than work. So, with help from her chicks, she plants it herself. Harvest time comes; again, Peter and Donald claim belly aches, but the hen sees through this when boards of their clubhouse fall off showing their little act when they shake hands with each other for evading responsibility. Upon wising up to their ruse, she and her chicks wink at each other upon knowing what to do with Peter and Donald later. She cooks up a tantalizing assortment of corn dishes, and heads over to Peter and Donald to help her eat them, but before she can open her mouth, they already fake their belly aches. Once she ask them to help her eat the corn, they snap out of their façade and are excited to eat, but all she gives them is castor oil. As the hen and her chicks eat the corn themselves, Peter and Donald repent with all their might by kicking each other in the rump.

The gigantic, cylindrical generation ship ''Vanguard'', originally destined for "Far Centaurus", is cruising without guidance through the interstellar medium because long ago, a mutiny killed most of the officers. Over time, the descendants of the surviving loyal crew have lapsed into a pre-technological culture that is marked by superstition and forgotten the purpose and nature of their ship. Since they come to believe the "Ship" is the entire universe, "To move the ship" is considered an oxymoron, and references to the Ship's "voyage" are interpreted as religious metaphor. They are ruled by an oligarchy of "officers" and "scientists." Most crew members are simple illiterate farmers, seldom or never venturing to the "upper decks," where the "muties" (an abbreviation of "mutants" or "mutineers") dwell. Among the crew, all identifiable mutants are killed at birth.

The 1951 Dell printing of "Universe" The story centers on a young man of insatiable curiosity, Hugh Hoyland, who is selected as an apprentice by a scientist. The scientists ritualistically perform the tasks required to maintain the Ship, such as putting trash into its energy converter to generate power, and remain ignorant of their true functions.

On a hunt for muties, Hugh is captured by them. He barely avoids getting eaten by the microcephalic dwarf Bobo and instead becomes the slave of Joe-Jim Gregory, the two-headed leader of a powerful mutie gang. Joe and Jim have separate identities, but both are highly intelligent and have come to a crude understanding of the Ship's true nature.

Having become convinced of the Ship's true purpose, Hugh persuades Joe-Jim to complete the mission of colonization since he notices that there is a nearby star that Joe-Jim has observed growing larger over the years. Intent on the mission, he returns to the lower levels of the Ship to convince others to help him, but is arrested by his former boss, Bill Ertz, and sentenced to death. He is viewed as either insane or a previously unrecognized mutant; he was a borderline case at birth, with a head viewed as too large.

Hugh persuades an old friend, Alan Mahoney, to enlist Joe-Jim's gang in rescuing him. He shows the captured Bill and Alan the long-abandoned command center and a view of the stars. Convinced, Bill then enlists the captain's aide, Phineas Narby, to Hugh's crusade.

Inspired by one of Joe-Jim's favorite books, ''The Three Musketeers'', they manufacture swords superior to the daggers that everyone else has. They overthrow the captain, install Narby in his place, and embark on a campaign to bring the entire Ship under their control.

However, Narby never believed Hugh and played along only to gain power. Once in control, he sets out to eliminate the muties. Joe is killed in the fighting, but Jim sacrifices himself to hold off their pursuers long enough for Hugh, Bill, Alan, and their wives to get to a highly automated lifeboat. Hugh manages to land on the habitable moon of a gas giant. The colonists disembark and uneasily explore their alien surroundings.

The Maiden

Tess Durbeyfield, a country girl of sixteen, is the eldest child of Joan and John Durbeyfield, a haggler. When the local parson tells John that "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D'Urberville", and that he is descended from an ancient Norman family, John celebrates by getting drunk. Tess drives to market in her father's place, but falls asleep at the reins; the wagon crashes and the family's only horse is killed. Feeling guilty, she agrees to visit Mrs d'Urberville, a rich widow, to "claim kin", unaware that the widow's late husband, Simon Stoke, had merely adopted the surname to distance himself from his tradesman's roots.

Alec d'Urberville, the son, is attracted to Tess and finds her a job as his mother's poultry keeper. Tess resists Alec's manipulative attentions, but her youth and inexperience obscure from her the real threat to her virtue. One night, on the pretence of rescuing her from a fight, Alec takes her on his horse to a remote spot and it is implied that he rapes her.

Maiden No More

The following summer, Tess gives birth to a sickly boy that does not survive long. She names him Sorrow.

The Rally

Some years later, Tess finds employment as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy, where her past is unknown. She falls in love with Angel Clare, an apprentice gentleman farmer who is studying dairy management.

The Consequence

Angel's father, a clergyman, is surprised that his son wishes to marry a milkmaid but makes no objection, understanding Tess to be a pure and devout country maiden.

Feeling she has no choice but to conceal her past, Tess is reluctant to accept Angel's marriage proposal, but eventually agrees. She later tries several times to tell Angel of her history, but he says that they can share confidences after the wedding.

The couple spend their wedding night at an old d'Urberville mansion. When Angel confesses that he once had a brief affair with an older woman, Tess finally tells him about Alec, sure now he will understand and forgive.

The Woman Pays

Angel is appalled. Tess is not the pure maiden he took her for and, although he concedes she was "more sinned against" than sinning, he feels that her "want of firmness" amounts to a character flaw. The couple separate after a few days, with Tess returning home and Angel travelling to Brazil to try farming there.

Tess's family soon exhaust the funds Angel has given her and she is forced to take field work at the starve-acre farm of Flintcomb-Ash.

The Convert

Alec d'Urberville continues to pursue Tess although she is already married. When Tess learns from her younger sister 'Liza-Lu that her parents are ill, she rushes home. Her mother recovers but her father dies, and the destitute family is evicted from their home. Alec tells Tess that her husband will never return and he offers to house the Durbeyfields on his estate. She refuses.

Angel's farming venture fails, he repents of his treatment of Tess, and he decides to return to England.

Fulfilment

After a long search, Angel finds an elegantly-dressed Tess living in a boarding house in the fashionable seaside resort of Sandbourne, under the name of "Mrs d'Urberville". In anguish, Tess tells him he has arrived too late. Angel reluctantly leaves.

Tess and Alec argue, and Tess leaves the house. Sitting in her parlour beneath the d'Urbervilles' rented rooms, the landlady notices a spreading red spot – a bloodstain – on the ceiling. Tess has stabbed Alec to death in his bed.

Tess chases after Angel and tells him of the deed. The couple find an empty house and stay there for five days in blissful and loving seclusion before being forced to move on to evade capture. In the night they stumble upon Stonehenge. Tess asks Angel to marry and look after 'Liza-Lu when she is gone. She sleeps on an ancient stone altar. At dawn, while Tess sleeps on, Angel sees they are surrounded. Tess's final words on waking are "I am ready."

The novel closes with Angel and 'Liza-Lu looking down at 8 a.m. from a nearby hill over the town of Wintoncester (Winchester) as a black flag signalling Tess's execution is raised over the prison. Angel and 'Liza-Lu go on their way hand in hand.

Set in 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution, Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French actress, is married to wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, baronet. Before their marriage Marguerite took revenge upon the Marquis de St. Cyr, who had ordered her brother beaten for his romantic interest in the Marquis' daughter, with the unintended consequence that the Marquis and his sons were guillotined. When Percy found out, he became estranged from his wife. Marguerite, for her part, became disillusioned with Percy's shallow, dandyish lifestyle.

Meanwhile, the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel", a secret society of twenty English aristocrats, "one to command, and nineteen to obey", is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the daily executions of the Reign of Terror. Their leader, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his '''nom de guerre'' from the small, wayside red flower he draws on his messages. Despite being the talk of London society, only his followers and possibly the Prince of Wales know the Pimpernel's true identity. Like many others, Marguerite is entranced by the Pimpernel's daring exploits.

At a ball attended by the Blakeneys, Percy's verse about the "elusive Pimpernel" becomes an instant success. But Marguerite is being blackmailed by Citizen Chauvelin, the wily new French envoy to England: Chauvelin's agents have stolen a letter proving that her beloved brother Armand is in league with the Pimpernel. Chauvelin offers to trade Armand's life for her help against the Pimpernel. Contemptuous of her seemingly witless and unloving husband, Marguerite does not go to him for help or advice. Instead, she passes along information which enables Chauvelin to learn the Pimpernel's true identity.

Later that night, Marguerite finally tells her husband of the terrible danger threatening her brother and pleads for his help. Percy promises to save him. After Percy unexpectedly leaves for France, Marguerite, in a twist, discovers to her horror (and simultaneous delight) that ''he'' is the Pimpernel. He had hidden behind the persona of a dull, slow-witted fop to deceive the world. He had not told Marguerite because of his worry that she might betray him, as she had the Marquis de St. Cyr. Desperate to save her husband, she decides to pursue Percy to France to warn him that Chauvelin knows his identity and his purpose. She persuades Sir Andrew Ffoulkes to accompany her, but because of the tide and the weather, neither they nor Chauvelin can leave immediately.

At Calais, Percy openly approaches Chauvelin in the ''Chat gris'', a decrepit inn whose owner is in Percy's pay. Despite Chauvelin's best efforts, the Englishman manages to escape by offering Chauvelin a pinch of snuff, which turns out to be pure pepper. Through a bold plan executed right under Chauvelin's nose, Percy rescues Marguerite's brother Armand and the Comte de Tournay, the father of a schoolfriend of Marguerite's. Marguerite pursues Percy right to the very end, resolute that she must either warn him or share his fate. Percy, heavily disguised, is captured by Chauvelin, who does not recognise him so he is able to escape.

With Marguerite's love and courage amply proven, Percy's ardour is rekindled. Safely back on board their schooner, the ''Day Dream'', the happily reconciled couple returns to England. Sir Andrew marries the count's daughter, Suzanne.

A long time ago, Kamek, a Magikoopa, attacks a stork delivering baby brothers Mario and Luigi. He succeeds in kidnapping Baby Luigi, but Baby Mario falls out of the sky and onto the back of Yoshi, the friendly dinosaur, on Yoshi's Island. Yoshi and his friends relay Mario across the island to reach Luigi and rescue him from Kamek, who is in the service of the young Bowser. Bowser wanted to abduct the brothers when Kamek foresaw that they would foil his plans in the future. Yoshi defeats Bowser, saves Luigi, and the stork successfully delivers the brothers to their parents in the Mushroom Kingdom.

By late 1944, as the Allies march toward the Rhine, it is obvious that Germany will lose the war. American Colonel Devlin (Gary Merrill) leads a military intelligence unit that recruits German prisoners of war to spy on their former comrades. "Tiger" (Hans Christian Blech), a cynical, older thief and ex-circus worker, is willing to work for the winning side. On the other hand, "Happy" (Oskar Werner) is a young idealist who volunteers to spy after his friend is killed by fanatical fellow prisoners for voicing doubts about the war's outcome. Monique (Dominique Blanchar), a former French resistance operative, trains Happy and the others in espionage techniques; she takes a liking to the young man despite her hatred for the Germans.

One day, Devlin receives word that a Wehrmacht general is willing to negotiate the surrender of his entire corps. Naturally, this is given top priority; because of the importance of the mission, an American officer is sent along. Devlin selects Lieutenant Rennick (Richard Basehart), a newcomer who dislikes and distrusts the German turncoats. Tiger is chosen because he is the only one who knows the area, but he is under suspicion after returning from his last mission without his partner. Happy is assigned the related task of locating the (fictitious) 11th Panzer Corps, which might oppose the wholesale defection. They parachute out of the same plane into Germany, then split up.

In the course of his search on bus and train rides, in guest houses and taverns, and in military convoys braving Allied air raids, Happy encounters Germans with differing attitudes towards the war, some still defiant, such as Waffen-SS courier Scholtz (Wilfried Seyferth), and some resigned, like the young war widow turned hooker Hilde (Hildegard Knef). Happy locates the 11th Panzer by stroke of luck. Posing as a medic returning to his unit, he is commandeered to treat Oberst von Ecker (O.E. Hasse), its commander, at his castle headquarters. Choosing military discipline over sentiment, Von Ecker orders the execution of a loyal officer who had deserted to help his bombed-out family. Von Ecker has a heart attack, and Happy has the opportunity to inject him with a lethal overdose of medicine, but refrains from doing so.

Afterwards, Happy narrowly escapes being captured by the Gestapo. He makes his way to a safe house in the ruins of the heavily bombed Mannheim, where the other two agents are hiding out. Meanwhile, Tiger and Rennick have learned that the general whom they were to contact has supposedly been injured, but the hospital where he has been taken is under SS guard; without him, the other German officers cannot and will not surrender to the Allies.

As their radio has been knocked out, Happy, Tiger, and Rennick are forced to try make their way to the banks of the Rhine River, where they hope to swim across to get to the American-held lines on the west side. At the last moment, Tiger loses his nerve and runs away, forcing Rennick to shoot and kill him, lest the details of their mission and the turncoat German spy program be revealed. Rennick and Happy then swim to an island in the middle of the river. When they are about to start for the other shore they are spotted. Facing torture and being shot either for deserting or being a spy, Happy nonetheless bravely draws the German troops' attention away from Rennick by surrendering. His sacrifice enables the lieutenant to make it to safety, with a changed attitude about some Germans.

The book explores the aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus through the experiences of the Roman tribune, Marcellus Gallio and his Greek slave Demetrius. Prince Gaius, in an effort to rid Rome of Marcellus, banishes Marcellus to the command of the Roman garrison at Minoa, a port city in southern Palestine. In Jerusalem during Passover, Marcellus ends up carrying out the crucifixion of Jesus but is troubled since he believes Jesus is innocent of any crime.

Marcellus and some other soldiers throw dice to see who will take Jesus' seamless robe. Marcellus wins and asks Demetrius to take care of the robe.

Following the crucifixion, Marcellus takes part in a banquet attended by Pontius Pilate. During the banquet, a drunken centurion insists that Marcellus wear Jesus' robe. Reluctantly wearing the garment, Marcellus apparently suffers a nervous breakdown and returns to Rome.

Sent to Athens to recuperate, Marcellus finally gives in to Demetrius' urging and touches the robe, and his mind is subsequently restored. Marcellus, now believing the robe has some sort of innate power, returns to Judea, follows the path Jesus took, and meets many people whose lives Jesus had affected. Based upon their experiences first Demetrius and then Marcellus becomes a follower of Jesus.

Marcellus then returns to Rome, where he must report his experiences to the emperor, Tiberius at Villa Jovis on Capri. Marcellus frees Demetrius, who escapes. However, later on, because of his uncompromising stance regarding his Christian faith, both Marcellus and his new wife Diana are executed by the new emperor, Caligula. Marcellus arranges that the robe be given to "The Big Fisherman" (Simon Peter).

The action occurs between 2 and 29 December 1170, chronicling the days leading up to the martyrdom of Thomas Becket following his absence of seven years in France. Becket's internal struggle is a central focus of the play.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one takes place in the Archbishop Thomas Becket's hall on 2 December 1170. The play begins with a Chorus singing, foreshadowing the coming violence. The Chorus is a key part of the drama, with its voice changing and developing during the play, offering comments about the action and providing a link between the audience and the characters and action, as in Greek drama. Three priests are present, and they reflect on the absence of Becket and the rise of temporal power. A herald announces Becket’s arrival. Becket is immediately reflective about his coming martyrdom, which he embraces, and which is understood to be a sign of his own selfishness—his fatal weakness. The tempters arrive, three of whom parallel the Temptations of Christ.

The first tempter offers the prospect of physical safety.

The second offers power, riches, and fame in serving the King.

The third tempter suggests a coalition with the barons and a chance to resist the King.

Finally, a fourth tempter urges him to seek the glory of martyrdom.

Becket responds to all of the tempters and specifically addresses the immoral suggestions of the fourth tempter at the end of the first act:

The Interlude of the play is a sermon given by Becket on Christmas morning 1170. It is about the strange contradiction that Christmas is a day both of mourning and rejoicing, which Christians also do for martyrs. He announces at the end of his sermon, "it is possible that in a short time you may have yet another martyr". We see in the sermon something of Becket's ultimate peace of mind, as he elects not to seek sainthood, but to accept his death as inevitable and part of a better whole.

Part II of the play takes place in the Archbishop's Hall and in the Cathedral, 29 December 1170. Four knights arrive with "Urgent business" from the king. These knights had heard the king speak of his frustration with Becket and had interpreted this as an order to kill Becket. They accuse him of betrayal, and he claims to be loyal. He tells them to accuse him in public, and they make to attack him, but priests intervene. The priests insist that he leave and protect himself, but he refuses. The knights leave and Becket again says he is ready to die. The chorus sings that they knew this conflict was coming, that it had long been in the fabric of their lives, both temporal and spiritual. The chorus again reflects on the coming devastation. Thomas is taken to the Cathedral, where the knights break in and kill him. The chorus laments: “Clear the air! Clean the sky!", and "The land is foul, the water is foul, our beasts and ourselves defiled with blood."

At the close of the play, the knights address the audience to defend their actions. While the rest of the play is in verse, their speeches of justification are in strikingly contemporary prose. They assert that while they understand their actions will be seen as murder, it was necessary and justified, so that the power of the church should not undermine the stability of the state.

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by name of Sleepy Hollow ... A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere.|sign=Washington Irving|source="The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen known as Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its ghosts and the haunting atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. Some residents say this town was bewitched during the early days of the Dutch settlement, while others claim that the mysterious atmosphere was caused by an old Native American chief, the "wizard of his tribe ... before the country was discovered by Master Hendrik Hudson." Residents of the town are seemingly subjected to various supernatural and mysterious occurrences. They are subjected to trance like visions and frequented by strange sights, music, and voices "in the air." The inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow are fascinated by the "local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions" on account of the mysterious occurrences and haunting atmosphere. The most infamous spectre in the Hollow, and the "commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air," is the Headless Horseman. He is supposedly the restless ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head had been shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the Revolution, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head".

The "Legend" relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut. Throughout his stay at Sleepy Hollow, Crane is able to make himself both "useful and agreeable" to the families that he lodges with. He occasionally assists with light farm work, helping to make hay, mend fences, caring for numerous farm animals, and cutting firewood. Besides his more dominant role as the Schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane also assists the various mothers of the town by helping to take care of their young children, taking on a more "gentle and ingratiating" role. Crane is also quite popular among the women of the town for his education and his talent for "carrying the whole budget of local gossip," which makes him a welcomed sight within female circles. As a firm believer in witchcraft and the like, Crane has an unequaled "appetite for the marvelous," which is only increased by his stay in "the spell-bound region" of Sleepy Hollow. A source of "fearful pleasure" for Crane is to visit the Old Dutch wives and listen to their "marvelous tales of ghosts and goblins," haunted locations, and the tales of the Headless Horseman, or the "Galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they sometimes called him." Throughout the story, Ichabod Crane competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy and local hero, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of wealthy farmer Baltus Van Tassel. Ichabod Crane, a Yankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth. Brom, unable to force Ichabod into a physical showdown to settle things, plays a series of pranks on the superstitious schoolmaster. The tension among the three continues for some time, and is soon brought to a head. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the Van Tassels' homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated, as he fails to secure Katrina's hand.

Following his rejected suit, Ichabod rides home on his temperamental plough horse named Gunpowder, "heavy-hearted and crestfallen" through the woods between Van Tassel's farmstead and the farmhouse in Sleepy Hollow where he is quartered at the time. As he passes several purportedly haunted spots, his active imagination is engorged by the ghost stories told at Baltus' harvest party. After nervously passing a lightning-stricken tulip tree purportedly haunted by the ghost of British spy Major André, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider at an intersection in a menacing swamp. Unsettled by his fellow traveler's eerie size and silence, the teacher is horrified to discover that his companion's head is not on his shoulders, but on his saddle. In a frenzied race to the bridge adjacent to the Old Dutch Burying Ground, where the Hessian is said to "vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone" before crossing it, Ichabod rides for his life, desperately goading Gunpowder down the Hollow. However, while Crane and Gunpowder are able to cross the bridge ahead of the ghoul, Ichabod turns back in horror to see the monster rear his horse and hurl his severed head directly at him with a fierce motion. The schoolmaster attempts to dodge, but is too late; the missile strikes his head and sends him tumbling headlong into the dust from his horse.

The next morning, Gunpowder is found eating the grass at his master's gate, but Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from the area, leaving Katrina to later marry Brom Bones, who was said "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related". Indeed, the only relics of the schoolmaster's flight are his discarded hat, Gunpowder's trampled saddle, and a mysterious shattered pumpkin. Although the true nature of both the Headless Horseman and Ichabod's disappearance that night are left open to interpretation, the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom (an extremely agile rider) in disguise, using a Jack-o'-lantern as a false head, and suggests that Crane survived the fall from Gunpowder and immediately fled Sleepy Hollow in horror, never to return but to prosper elsewhere, or was killed by Brom (which may be unlikely, since Brom was said to have "more mischief than ill-will in his composition"). Irving's narrator concludes the story, however, by stating that the old Dutch wives continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means", and a legend develops around his disappearance and sightings of his melancholy spirit.

In a Postscript (sometimes unused in certain editions), the narrator states the circumstances in which he heard the story from an old gentleman "at a Corporation meeting at the ancient city of Manhattoes", who didn't "believe one-half of it [himself]."

In 1984, an Amish community outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania, attends the funeral of Jacob Lapp, who leaves behind his wife Rachel and eight-year-old son Samuel. Rachel and Samuel travel by train to visit Rachel's sister, which takes them into Philadelphia. While at 30th Street Station waiting for a connecting train, Samuel goes into the men's room and witnesses the brutal murder of an undercover police officer.

Detective John Book and his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter, are assigned to the case. They question Samuel, who is unable to identify the perpetrator from mugshots or a line-up. Samuel then sees a newspaper clipping in a trophy case of officer James McFee receiving an award, and points him out to Book. Book investigates and finds out that McFee was previously responsible for a seizure of expensive chemicals used to make black-market amphetamines, but the evidence has now disappeared. Book surmises that McFee sold the chemicals to drug dealers, and that the murdered detective had been investigating the theft. Book expresses his suspicions to Chief of Police Paul Schaeffer, who advises Book to keep the case secret so they can work out how to proceed. Book is later ambushed and shot in a parking garage by McFee and left badly wounded. Since only Schaeffer knew of Book's suspicions, he realizes Schaeffer is also corrupt and tipped off McFee.

Knowing Samuel and Rachel are now in danger, Book orders his partner to remove all traces of the Lapps from his files, and drives the boy and his mother back to their community where he passes out in front of their farm. Book insists that going to a hospital would allow the corrupt police officers to find him and put Samuel in danger. Rachel's father-in-law Eli reluctantly agrees to shelter him.

Book slowly recovers in their care and begins to blend into the community. He then goes into town with Eli to use a payphone to call his precinct, and learns that Carter has been killed. While in town, a group harasses the Amish. Book retaliates, breaking with the Amish tradition of nonviolence. The fight is reported to the local police and eventually gets back to Schaeffer.

The next day, Schaeffer, McFee, and another corrupt cop, Ferguson, arrive at the Lapp farm, taking Rachel and Eli hostage. Book tricks Ferguson into the corn silo and suffocates him under tons of corn, then uses Ferguson's shotgun to kill McFee. Schaeffer holds Rachel and Eli at gunpoint but Eli quietly signals to Samuel to ring the farm's bell. Book confronts Schaeffer who threatens to kill Rachel, but the loud bell summons their neighbors. With so many witnesses present, Schaeffer gives up and Book arrests him.

Book says goodbye to Samuel in the fields and Eli wishes him well "out there among them English," and Book departs.

In May 1914, when World War I is imminent in Europe. Richard Hannay returns home to London after living in Rhodesia. One night, his neighbour, an American who claims to be in fear for his life, visits Hannay. The man appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilise Europe, beginning with a plan to assassinate the Greek Premier, Constantine Karolides, during his forthcoming visit to London.

The man, named Franklin P. Scudder, is a freelance spy, and reveals that he has faked his own death. Scudder claims to be following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone who are trying to steal British plans for the outbreak of war. Hannay, convinced of his honesty, lets Scudder hide in his flat. Police discover the fake suicide and suspect nothing, but Hannay finds Scudder murdered in his flat a few days later nonetheless. Feeling now part of the plot, Hannay takes up Scudder's encoded notebook and escapes his apartment by disguising himself as the milkman one day.

Hannay takes a train leaving from London to Galloway, in south-west Scotland, believing it sufficiently remote to hide in until the fateful 15 June (a date noted by Scudder relevant to the anarchist's plot). Hannay lodges in a shepherd's cottage and reads in a newspaper that the police are looking for him in Scotland, suspecting him of Scudder's murder. Hannay boards a local train heading east, but jumps off between stations to confuse his trail. He eventually finds an inn where he stays the night. He tells the innkeeper a modified version of his story, and the man is persuaded to shelter him. While staying at the inn, Hannay cracks the cipher used in Scudder's codebook. The next day two men arrive at the inn looking for Hannay, but the innkeeper sends them away. When they return later, Hannay steals their car and escapes.

By this time, Hannay is being pursued by an aeroplane, and a policeman in a remote village tries to stop him as he drives through. He decides to stay off the main roads, but not knowing the area, nearly gets into a crash. To avoid it, he ditches the car, which falls off a cliff. The other driver, Harry Bullivant, a local landowner and prospective politician, takes pity on him after seeing his dirty clothes and takes him home to clean up. When he learns of Hannay's experiences in Africa, he invites him to address an election meeting that afternoon. Hannay's speech impresses Harry (and is far better than Harry's own), and Hannay feels able to trust him with his story. Harry writes an introductory letter about Hannay to a relation in the Foreign Office to thank him for his speech and help him with the plot.

Hannay leaves Harry and tries to hide in the countryside, but is spotted from the aeroplane. Soon he spots a group of men on the ground searching for him. Miraculously, he meets a road mender out on the moor, and swaps places with him, sending the workman home. His disguise fools his pursuers, who pass him by. On the same road, he encounters an acquaintance from London (whom he hates) named Marmaduke Jopley. He takes his clothes and drives his car several miles away before leaving Jopley.

Now back on foot, his pursuers find Hannay, and he runs off. He finds a cottage and enters, desperate for cover, and the occupant excitedly welcomes him. Unfortunately, the man turns out to be one of the enemy, and with his accomplices he locks Hannay into his storage room. Fortunately, the room in which Hannay is locked is full of bomb-making materials, which he uses to break out of the cottage. Without cover or means to escape cars or the plane, Hannay hides on top of a building until nightfall, then runs off.

Hannay returns to and retrieves his possessions from the helpful road mender and stays for a few days to recover from the explosion. He departs by train to meet Harry's relative at the Foreign Office, Sir Walter Bullivant. As they discuss Scudder's notes, Sir Walter receives a phone call to tell him that Karolides has indeed been assassinated. Sir Walter and his cohort return to London with Hannay, where they clear his name at Scotland Yard and release him, apparently free of involvement in the plot. Hannay feels agitated and unfulfilled; he runs into Marmaduke Jopley again and starts a fight. With the police after him again, he flees to Sir Walter's home, where he finds him in a meeting with several officials, including the First Sea Lord. While Hannay waits for the meeting to end, the First Sea Lord leaves. They briefly make eye contact and Hannay is certain the man is one of his pursuers in disguise. They call the real First Sea Lord's home, where a servant informs them he is asleep in bed.

Desperate to stop the imposter from escaping with their secrets, Hannay and the officials comb Scudder's codebook. They reason that the phrase "the thirty-nine steps," along with the date and tidal information (high tide at 10:17 PM) must indicate the location of the escape point for the conspirators. With the help of a coast guardsman, they set off for a quiet middle-class location by the sea. They find an area with several sets of steps, one of them having 39, and an anchored yacht called ''Ariadne''. They approach the yacht posing as fishermen and discover the officer on board is German. Hannay watches three men in a villa who match the description of his pursuers, but their normal behaviour causes him to doubt their involvement.

Despite his doubts, he confronts the men. A subtle gesture assures him that they are his pursuers, and his men enter to arrest them. Although one escapes, bound for the boat, Hannay reveals they have already taken the boat, and all three men are arrested. The United Kingdom enters World War I three weeks later, her secrets intact, with Hannay commissioned captain.

Traditional plot structures are rarely a consideration in the Theatre of the Absurd. Plots can consist of the absurd repetition of cliché and routine, as in ''Godot'' or ''The Bald Soprano''. Often there is a menacing outside force that remains a mystery; in ''The Birthday Party'', for example, Goldberg and McCann confront Stanley, torture him with absurd questions, and drag him off at the end, but it is never revealed why. In later Pinter plays, such as ''The Caretaker'' and ''The Homecoming'', the menace is no longer entering from the outside but exists within the confined space. Other Absurdists use this kind of plot, as in Edward Albee's ''A Delicate Balance'': Harry and Edna take refuge at the home of their friends Agnes and Tobias because they suddenly become frightened. They have difficulty explaining what has frightened them:

:HARRY: There was nothing … but we were very scared. :EDNA: We … were … terrified. :HARRY: We were scared. It was like being lost: very young again, with the dark, and lost. There was no … thing … to be … frightened of, but … :EDNA: WE WERE FRIGHTENED … AND THERE WAS NOTHING.

Absence, emptiness, nothingness, and unresolved mysteries are central features in many Absurdist plots: for example, in ''The Chairs'', an old couple welcomes a large number of guests to their home, but these guests are invisible, so all we see are empty chairs, a representation of their absence. Likewise, the action of ''Godot'' is centered around the absence of a man named Godot, for whom the characters perpetually wait. In many of Beckett's later plays, most features are stripped away and what's left is a minimalistic tableau: a woman walking slowly back and forth in ''Footfalls'', for example, or in ''Breath'' only a junk heap on stage and the sounds of breathing.

The plot may also revolve around an unexplained metamorphosis, a supernatural change, or a shift in the laws of physics. For example, in Ionesco's ''Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It'', a couple must deal with a corpse that is steadily growing larger and larger; Ionesco never fully reveals the identity of the corpse, how this person died, or why it's continually growing, but the corpse ultimately – and, again, without explanation – floats away. In Jean Tardieu's "The Keyhole" a lover watches a woman through a keyhole as she removes her clothes and then her flesh.

Like Pirandello, many Absurdists use meta-theatrical techniques to explore role fulfillment, fate, and the theatricality of theatre. This is true for many of Genet's plays: for example, in ''The Maids'', two maids pretend to be their mistress; in ''The Balcony'' brothel patrons take on elevated positions in role-playing games, but the line between theatre and reality starts to blur. Another complex example of this is ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead'': it's a play about two minor characters in ''Hamlet''; these characters, in turn, have various encounters with the players who perform ''The Mousetrap'', the play-within-the-play in ''Hamlet''. In Stoppard's ''Travesties'', James Joyce and Tristan Tzara slip in and out of the plot of ''The Importance of Being Earnest''.

Plots are frequently cyclical: for example, ''Endgame'' begins where the play ended – at the beginning of the play, Clov says, "Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished" – and themes of cycle, routine, and repetition are explored throughout.

In Yokosuka, Japan, 1986, the teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki returns to his family dojo to witness a confrontation between his father Iwao and a Chinese man, Lan Di. Lan Di easily incapacitates Ryo, and threatens to kill him unless Iwao gives him a mysterious stone artifact known as the dragon mirror. Iwao tells him the mirror is buried under the cherry blossom tree outside. As his men recover the mirror, Lan Di mentions a man he claims Iwao killed in China. He delivers a finishing blow and Iwao dies in Ryo's arms.

Swearing revenge on Lan Di, Ryo begins his investigation by asking locals about what they witnessed. As he is about to run out of leads, a letter addressed to Ryo's father arrives from a Chinese man named Zhu Yuanda suggesting he seek the aid of Master Chen, who works at Yokosuka Harbor. Through Chen and his son Guizhang, Ryo learns that the mirror taken by Lan Di is one of two. He locates the second, the phoenix mirror, in a hidden basement beneath his father's dojo.

Chen reveals that Lan Di has left Japan for Hong Kong. Ryo borrows money to buy a plane ticket from a disreputable travel agency; when he goes to collect the ticket, he is ambushed by Chai, a member of Lan Di's criminal organization, the Chi You Men, who destroys his ticket. Ryo learns that the Chi You Men is connected to the local harbor gang, the Mad Angels, and takes a job at the harbor as a forklift driver to investigate. After he causes trouble, the Mad Angels kidnap his schoolfriend Nozomi. Ryo rescues her and makes a deal with the Mad Angels leader to beat up Guizhang in exchange for a meeting with Lan Di. Ryo realizes the deal is a trap and teams up with Guizhang to defeat the Mad Angels.

Ryo arranges to take a boat to Hong Kong with Guizhang. On the day of departure, they are attacked by Chai. Ryo defeats him, but Guizhang is injured and urges Ryo to go without him, saying he will meet him in China later. Chen advises Ryo to seek the help of a martial artist in Hong Kong named Lishao Tao. Ryo boards the boat and leaves for Hong Kong.

The first person narrative begins on 11 September 2001, and Banks uses the protagonist's conversations - both on the radio and off - to discuss the consequences of the terrorist attacks in the United States on that day. Ken Nott is at a loft party in London at the crucial moment.

The reader hears many of Nott's shock-jock lines ("Guns for nutters only; makes sense.") and sees him described as a sexually promiscuous party animal fuelled by alcohol and other drugs. His politics are left-wing and libertarian, and he rants at every chance.

Nott's various girlfriends (including Jo, who does public relations for an indie band called Addicta), his long-suffering radio show colleague Phil, and his black DJ friend Ed are described. Apart from the expected difficulties associated with being a politically controversial radio DJ, everything is going smoothly for Ken until he meets Celia (or "Ceel"), a gangster's wife, whom he falls in love with. An indiscretion with a mobile phone and an answering machine leads him into some difficult and frightening situations.

An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. After discovering a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Assyrian demon), a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which, unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Africa.

Meanwhile, in Georgetown, a young girl named Regan MacNeil is living with her famous mother, actress Chris MacNeil, who is in Georgetown filming a movie. As Chris finishes her work on the film, Regan begins to become inexplicably ill. After a gradual series of poltergeist-like disturbances in their rented house, for which Chris attempts to find rational explanations, Regan begins to rapidly undergo disturbing psychological and physical changes: she refuses to eat or sleep, becomes withdrawn and frenetic, and increasingly aggressive and violent. Chris initially mistakes Regan's behavior for the result of repressed anger over her parents' divorce and absent father.

Coupled with these events are disturbances at the local Holy Trinity Church which has been desecrated on several occasions potentially linked to Black Mass and is causing local concerns about occult activity.

After several unsuccessful psychiatric and medical treatments, Regan's mother, an atheist, turns to a local Jesuit priest for help as Regan's personality becomes increasingly disturbed and the doctors still cannot find a source. Father Damien Karras, who is currently going through a crisis of faith coupled with the recent loss of his mother, agrees to see Regan as a psychiatrist, but initially resists the notion that it is an actual demonic possession, pointing to advances in science which can explain what was previously assumed to be possession. After a few meetings with the child, now completely inhabited by a diabolical personality claiming to be the devil, he turns to the local bishop for permission to perform an exorcism on the child.

The bishop with whom he consults does not believe Karras is qualified to perform the rites, and appoints the experienced Merrin—who has recently returned to the United States—to perform the exorcism, although he does allow the doubt-ridden Karras to assist him. The lengthy exorcism tests the priests both physically and spiritually. When Merrin, who had previously suffered cardiac arrhythmia, dies during the process, completion of the exorcism ultimately falls upon Father Karras. When he demands that the demonic spirit inhabit him instead of the innocent Regan, the demon seizes the opportunity to possess the priest. Karras heroically surrenders his own life in exchange for Regan's by jumping out of her bedroom window and falling to his death, regaining his faith in God as his last rites are read.

Sarah Bailey, a beautiful but troubled teenage girl with unusual abilities, has just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father and stepmother. At her new school, she forms a friendship with a group of girls who are outcasts for various reasons and are rumored to be witches. Bonnie Harper bears burn scars from an auto accident, Nancy Downs lives in a trailer with her mother and abusive stepfather, and Rochelle Zimmerman is a Black student who is subjected to racist bullying by a group of popular white girls. The girls worship a powerful deity they call "Manon".

Sarah becomes attracted to the popular Chris Hooker. When Bonnie observes Sarah levitating a pencil in class, she and the other outcast girls are convinced that she can complete their coven as "the fourth", completing an air-water-earth-fire circle and making them all powerful. When Sarah is harassed by a vagrant with a snake (whom she had encountered before in her new house), he is immediately hit by a car. The girls believe their combined will caused it to happen, which strengthens their bond. It is also revealed that Sarah once attempted suicide.

After a date with Chris, Sarah is upset that he spread a false rumor that they had sex and she was terrible in bed. When Sarah confronts him, he treats her disrespectfully in front of his friends. Sarah casts a love spell on him. Rochelle then casts a revenge spell on racist bully Laura Lizzie. Bonnie casts a spell for beauty, and Nancy a spell for power. The spells are successful: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah, Bonnie's scars on her back miraculously heal. Rochelle's bully, Laura, begins losing her hair. Nancy causes her stepfather to have a fatal heart attack, enabling her and her mother to cash in on his life insurance policy and move into a luxurious high-rise apartment.

Nancy becomes power hungry and encourages the others to join her in a rite called "Invocation of the Spirit," despite being warned against the spell by Lirio, the owner of a local occult shop and practicing witch. Upon completion of the spell, Nancy is struck by lightning. The following morning, the other girls see Nancy walking on water, with beached sharks and other dead animals littering the shore. In the days that follow, Nancy becomes increasingly devoid of empathy and engages in risky behavior that endangers her life and those of others.

The spells the girls cast eventually lead to negative consequences, as Bonnie becomes aggressively narcissistic, Rochelle finds Laura traumatized by her baldness and sobbing hysterically, and the obsessed Chris attempts to rape Sarah after she rejects his continual advances. In supposed retaliation, Nancy uses a glamour spell to make herself look like Sarah and attempts to fool Chris into having sex with her at a party. She is interrupted by the real Sarah, who tells Nancy to leave with her, but it becomes obvious that Nancy's desire to control Chris is mixed with unrequited feelings. Upset at being fooled, Chris says Nancy must be jealous, angering her, and she uses her power to kill Chris by throwing him out of a window.

Sarah attempts a binding spell to prevent Nancy from doing more harm, but it does not work and the coven turns on Sarah. Sarah seeks out Lirio, but changes her mind and leaves before Lirio can offer help. They invade her dreams, torment her with visions of swarms of snakes, rats, and insects, and make her believe that her family has died in a plane crash. The rest of the coven then try to induce Sarah to commit suicide, and Nancy cuts Sarah's wrists herself. Although initially terrified, Sarah successfully invokes the spirit and is able to heal herself and fight back. She scares off Bonnie and Rochelle by showing them glamours in a mirror of Bonnie with her face scarred and Rochelle losing her hair like Laura. Sarah then defeats Nancy and binds her, preventing her from causing harm forever.

Bonnie and Rochelle, finding their powers gone, visit Sarah to attempt reconciliation, only to find that she wants nothing to do with them and that Manon took their powers because they abused them. They scornfully mutter that Sarah must have lost her powers too but Sarah then makes a tree branch nearly fall on them. She warns them to be careful not to end up like Nancy, who has been committed to a psychiatric hospital, delusional and stripped of her powers, and strapped to her bed as she desperately insists she can fly.

''The Sweet Hereafter'' is a multiple first person narrative depicting life in a small town in Upstate New York in the wake of a terrible school bus accident in which numerous local children are killed. Hardly able to cope with the loss, their grieving parents are approached by a slick city lawyer who wants them to sue for damages. At first the parents are reluctant to do so, but eventually they are persuaded by the lawyer that filing a class action lawsuit would ease their minds and also be the right thing to do.

As most of the children are dead, the case now depends on the few surviving witnesses to say the right things in court. In particular, it is 14-year-old Nichole Burnell, who was sitting at the front of the bus and is now paralyzed from the waist down, and whose deposition is all-important. However, she unexpectedly accuses Dolores Driscoll, the driver, of speeding and thus causing the accident. When she does so, all hopes of ever receiving money are thwarted. All the people involved know that Nichole is lying but cannot do anything about it. Only her father knows why, but he is unable to publicly reveal his daughter's motives.

The novel captures the atmosphere in a small town suddenly shaken by catastrophe. Fathers take to drinking; secret affairs are abruptly ended; whole families move away. Only the reader/viewer knows that Mitchell Stephens, the lawyer, has himself effectively lost his own child—his estranged, drug-addicted daughter informs him over the phone that she has just tested HIV positive.

Martin Lynch-Gibbon is a well-to-do 41-year-old wine merchant whose childless marriage to an older woman called Antonia has been one of convenience rather than love. It never occurs to him that his ongoing secret affair with Georgie, a young academic in her twenties, could be immoral. Martin is shocked when his wife tells him that she has been having an affair with Palmer Anderson, her psychoanalyst and a friend of the couple. Antonia informs Martin that she wants to divorce him and marry Anderson.

Martin moves out of their London house in Hereford Square. Before officially moving, Martin visits his brother Alexander's home near Oxford. While there he learns that Antonia has already written to Alexander about the divorce, leaving Alexander quite shaken. Later Martin returns to Hereford Square, where Antonia, now acting as a mother figure for him, tries to set up his new accommodation. After arguing with Antonia, he goes to the station to pick up Palmer's half-sister Honor Klein, a lecturer in anthropology who is visiting from Cambridge.

Martin still does not want to publicly acknowledge his affair with Georgie, let alone become engaged to her. A few days later, Martin finally visits Georgie. While Georgie wants to publicize their affair, Martin refuses because he believes it will "hurt" Antonia. However, they decide to go to Hereford Square so that Georgie can see the house. While Martin is showing her around, they hear someone arrive at the house. Assuming it is Antonia, Martin rushes Georgie out the back door, despite her protests that she wishes to meet Antonia. The unexpected visitor turns out to be Honor, who notices Georgie's handbag that was left behind in her rush out the door. After the event, Martin tries to contact Georgie but is unsuccessful and soon returns to the house. There he finds out that Palmer and Antonia know about his relationship with Georgie. Martin finds Georgie and learns that Honor Klein has exposed their secret. Soon after Georgie meets Antonia in an awkward situation.

Later, after a breakfast with Antonia, where they decide that Martin should take a short vacation, Martin calls on Georgie, only to discover his brother Alexander there. Martin is made even more furious when he discovers that Honor Klein was the person who introduced them to each other. After drunkenly returning to Hereford Square, Martin gets into a fight with Honor. After writing apology letters and waiting two days, Martin tries to find Antonia and Honor, only to find out that Antonia has gone and Honor is back in Cambridge.

Around this time, Martin also realizes that he is now madly in love with Honor. He follows her to Cambridge and, in the middle of the night, breaks into her house, only to find her in bed with her half-brother Palmer. Even though Martin doesn't tell Antonia of this incestuous encounter, Palmer believes he has, and begins to act strangely around Antonia. Antonia decides that she should be with Martin instead, causing Martin to cut off his affair with Georgie. A few days later, Alexander comes by to inform Martin that he has become engaged to Georgie, rekindling Martin's feelings for her and making him very upset.

After an angry confrontation with Palmer, who announces that he and Honor will be travelling abroad, Martin receives a package of hair from Georgie. Martin discovers an unconscious Georgie, who has attempted suicide, and is joined by Honor while waiting for the ambulance. After a scene in the hospital where everyone is gathered, Martin confesses his love to Honor. Honor says she knows but it does not matter because she is going away. Shortly afterwards, Antonia confesses to Martin that she has also been sleeping with his older brother Alexander ever since he introduced them, and that they will be getting married. In the end, Palmer and Georgie go away together, Alexander and Antonia are together, and Honor stays in England with Martin.

The themes of the book are nostalgia, the folly of trying to go back and recapture past glories and the easy way the dreams and aspirations of one's youth can be smothered by the humdrum routine of work, marriage and getting old. It is written in the first person, with George Bowling, the forty-five-year-old protagonist, who reveals his life and experiences while undertaking a trip back to his boyhood home as an adult.

At the opening of the book, Bowling has a day off work to go to London to collect a new set of false teeth. A news-poster about the contemporary King Zog of Albania sets off thoughts of a biblical character Og, King of Bashan that he recalls from Sunday church as a child. Along with 'some sound in the traffic or the smell of horse dung or something' these thoughts trigger Bowling's memory of his childhood as the son of an unambitious seed merchant in "Lower Binfield" near the River Thames. Bowling relates his life history, dwelling on how a lucky break during the First World War landed him in a comfortable job away from any action and provided contacts that helped him become a successful salesman.

Bowling is wondering what to do with a modest sum of money that he has won on a horserace and which he has concealed from his wife and family. Much later (part III) he and his wife attend a Left Book Club meeting where he is horrified by the hate shown by the anti-fascist speaker, and bemused by the Marxist ramblings of the communists who have attended the meeting. Fed up with this, he seeks his friend Old Porteous, the retired schoolmaster. He usually enjoys Porteous' company, but on this occasion his dry dead classics makes Bowling even more depressed.

Bowling decides to use the money on a 'trip down memory lane', to revisit the places of his childhood. He recalls a particular pond with huge fish in it which he had missed the chance to try and catch thirty years previously. He therefore plans to return to Lower Binfield but when he arrives, he finds the place unrecognisable. Eventually he locates the old pub where he is to stay, finding it much changed. His home has become a tea shop. Only the church and vicar appear the same but he has a shock when he discovers an old girlfriend, for she has been so ravaged by time that she is almost unrecognisable and is utterly devoid of the qualities he once adored. She fails to recognise him at all. Bowling remembers the slow and painful decline of his father's seed business – resulting from the nearby establishment of corporate competition. This painful memory seems to have sensitised him to – and given him a repugnance for – what he sees as the marching ravages of "Progress". The final disappointment is to find that the estate where he used to fish has been built over, and the secluded and once hidden pond that contained the huge carp he always intended to take on with his fishing rod, but never got around to, has become a rubbish dump. The social and material changes experienced by Bowling since childhood make his past seem distant. The concept of "you can't go home again" hangs heavily over Bowling's journey, as he realises that many of his old haunts are gone or considerably changed from his younger years.

Throughout the adventure he receives reminders of impending war, and the threat of bombs becomes real when one lands accidentally on the town.

Oedipus, King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. Creon returns to report that the plague is the result of religious pollution, since the murderer of their former king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for causing the plague.

Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. Tiresias admits to knowing the answers to Oedipus' questions, but he refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Angered by the seer's reply, Oedipus accuses him of complicity in Laius' murder. The offended Tiresias then reveals to the king that "[y]ou yourself are the criminal you seek". Oedipus does not understand how this could be, and supposes that Creon must have paid Tiresias to accuse him. The two argue vehemently, as Oedipus mocks Tiresias' lack of sight, and Tiresias retorts that Oedipus himself is blind. Eventually, the prophet leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered, he shall be a native of Thebes, brother and father to his own children, and son and husband to his own mother.

Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed; however, the chorus persuades him to let Creon live. Jocasta, wife of first Laius and then Oedipus, enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. As proof, she recounts an incident in which she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. The prophecy stated that Laius would be killed by his own son; instead, Laius was killed by bandits, at a fork in the road (τριπλαῖς ἁμαξιτοῖς, triplais amaxitois).

The mention of the place causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. Jocasta specifies the branch to Daulis on the way to Delphi. Recalling Tiresias' words, he asks Jocasta to describe Laius. The king then sends for a shepherd, the only surviving witness of the attack to be brought from his fields to the palace.

Confused, Jocasta asks Oedipus what the matter is, and he tells her. Many years ago, at a banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's son. Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead of answering his question directly, the oracle prophesied that he would one day murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this, Oedipus resolved never to return to Corinth. In his travels, he came to the very crossroads where Laius had been killed, and encountered a carriage that attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued, and Oedipus killed the travelers—including a man who matched Jocasta's description of Laius. However, Oedipus holds out hope that he was not Laius' killer, because Laius was said to have been murdered by ''several'' robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus will be in the clear.

A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Polybus, who raised Oedipus as his son, has died. To the surprise of the messenger, Oedipus is overjoyed, because he can no longer kill his father, thus disproving half of the oracle's prophecy. However, he still fears that he might somehow commit incest with his mother. Eager to set the king's mind at ease, the messenger tells him not to worry, because Merope is not his real mother.

The messenger explains that years earlier, while tending his flock on Mount Cithaeron, a shepherd from the household of Laius brought him an infant that he was instructed to dispose of. The messenger had then given the child to Polybus, who raised him. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows the identity of the other shepherd, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the same shepherd who witnessed the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, realizing the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions. When Oedipus refuses, the queen runs into the palace.

When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. However, Oedipus presses him, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius' own son. In fear of a prophecy that the child would kill his father, Jocasta gave her son to the shepherd in order to be exposed upon the mountainside.

Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and following this, a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened inside. Jocasta has hanged herself in her bedchamber. Entering the palace in anguish, Oedipus called on his servants to bring him a sword, that he might slay Jocasta with his own hand. But upon discovering the lifeless queen, Oedipus took her down, and removing the long gold pins from her dress, he has gouged out his own eyes in despair.

The blinded king now exits the palace, and begs to be exiled. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out and Oedipus laments their having been born to such a cursed family. He begs Creon to watch over them, in hopes that they will live where there is opportunity for them, and to have a better life than their father. Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.

On an empty stage, the chorus repeats the common Greek maxim that "no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead."

''Thundarr the Barbarian'' is set in a future (c. 3994) post-apocalyptic wasteland of Earth divided into kingdoms and territories, the majority of which are ruled by wizards, and whose ruins typically feature recognizable geographical features from the United States, such as New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, San Antonio and its Alamo, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cape Canaveral, and the Grand Canyon. Other episodes with recognizable settings are set outside the United States, and include Mexico and London, UK. Another notable feature of this future Earth is that the Moon was broken in two pieces. The shattered moon and the ruins of the former human civilization were caused by the passage of a runaway planet between the Earth and the Moon in 1994, which, from scenes shown in the opening sequence, caused radical changes in the Earth's climate and geography. However, by the time period in which the series is set, the Earth and Moon seem to have settled into a new physical balance. Earth is reborn with a world of "savagery, super-science, and sorcery" far more chaotic than "Old Earth" (the show's name for the preapocalyptic world).

The hero Thundarr (voiced by Robert Ridgely), a muscular warrior, and companions Princess Ariel, a formidable young sorceress, and Ookla the Mok, a mighty lion-like biped, travel the world on horseback, fighting injustice. Their main adversaries are evil wizards who combine magical spells with reanimating technologies from the pre-catastrophe world. Some of these malevolent wizards enlist the service of certain mutant species to do their bidding.

Other enemies include The Brotherhood of Night (a group of werewolves who could transform others into werewolves by their touch), the cosmic Stalker from The Stars (a predatory, malevolent cosmic vampire), and various other mutants. Intelligent humanoid-animal races include the rat-like Groundlings, the crocodile-like Carocs, and talking hawk- and pig-like mutants. New animals that existed include fire-shooting whales, a giant green snake with a grizzly bear's head, and mutated dragonflies and rabbits.

Thundarr's weapon is the Sunsword that projects a blade-like beam of energy when activated, and can be deactivated so that it is only a hilt. The Sunsword's energy blade can deflect other energy attacks as well as magical ones, can cut through nearly anything, and can disrupt magical spells and effects. The Sunsword is magically linked to Thundarr and as such, only he can use it; however, this link can be disrupted.The episode "Master of the Stolen Sunsword" details events where the Sunsword needs to be recharged, and viewers learn it becomes linked to whoever does the charging.

Comic book writer-artist Jack Kirby worked on the production design for the show. The main characters were designed by fellow comic book writer-artist Alex Toth. Toth, however, was unavailable to continue working on the show, so most of the wizards and other villains and secondary characters that appear on the show were designed by Kirby. He was brought onto the show at the recommendation of comic writer Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier.

The series was the creation of Steve Gerber. Gerber and friend Martin Pasko were having dinner in the Westwood area one night during the time Gerber was developing the series. Gerber commented to Pasko that he had not yet decided upon a name for the wookiee-like character the network insisted be added to the series, over Gerber's objections. As the two walked past the gate to the UCLA campus, Pasko quipped, "Why not call him Oo-clah?" Pasko later became one of several screenwriters also known for their work in comics, such as Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, to contribute to the show. After writing several scripts, singly and in collaboration with Gerber, Pasko became a story editor on the second season. Other writers included Buzz Dixon and Mark Jones.

Writer Gordie Lachance reads a newspaper article about a man stabbed in a restaurant. He recalls a childhood incident when he, his best friend, Chris Chambers, and two other friends, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, journeyed to find the body of a missing boy near the town of Castle Rock, Oregon, during Labor Day weekend in September 1959.

Twelve-year-old Gordie's parents are too busy grieving the recent death of older brother Denny to give Gordie much attention. While looking for money that he buried beneath his parents' porch, Vern overhears his older brother Billy talking with his friend Charlie about finding the body of the missing boy, Ray Brower, outside of town. Billy does not want to report the body because it could draw attention to the fact he and Charlie recently stole a car.

When Vern tells Gordie, Chris, and Teddy what he heard, the four boys—hoping to become local heroes—decide to go looking for the body. After Chris steals his father's pistol, he and Gordie run into local hoodlum "Ace" Merrill and Chris's older brother, "Eyeball" Chambers. Ace threatens Chris with a lit cigarette and Eyeball steals Gordie's Yankees cap, which was a gift from Denny.

The four boys begin their trip. After stopping at a junkyard for water, they are caught trespassing by owner Milo Pressman and his dog, Chopper. They escape over a fence, and Milo calls Teddy's mentally ill father a "loony". An enraged Teddy tries to attack him but is restrained by the other boys.

The four continue their hike, and Chris encourages Gordie to fulfill his potential as a writer despite his father's disapproval. When they cross a railroad bridge, Gordie and Vern are nearly killed by an approaching train, but jump off the tracks and escape serious injury.

That evening, Gordie tells the fictional story of David "Lard-Ass" Hogan, an obese boy who is constantly bullied. Seeking revenge, he enters a pie-eating contest and throws up deliberately, inducing mass vomiting among contestants and the audience (which Gordie dubs a "barf-o-Rama").

That night, Chris confides to Gordie that he hates being associated with his family's reputation. He also admits to stealing milk money at school, however, he tells him he later confessed, returning the money to a teacher. Despite this, Chris was suspended, and the teacher did not turn the money in. Devastated by the teacher's betrayal, Chris breaks down and cries.

The next day, the boys swim across a swampy river, discovering it is filled with leeches. Gordie faints after finding one in his underwear. After more hiking, the boys locate Ray Brower's body. The discovery is traumatic for Gordie, who asks Chris why his brother Denny had to die and claims his father hates him. Chris disagrees, asserting that his father simply does not know him.

Ace and his gang arrive, announce that they are claiming the body, and threaten to beat the four boys if they interfere. When Chris insults Ace and refuses to back down, Ace draws a switchblade. Gordie gets the gun, fires a warning shot, and stands beside Chris with the gun pointed at Ace. Ace demands the weapon, but Gordie refuses to give it to him and calls him a "cheap dime-store hood". Ace and his gang retreat, vowing revenge.

The four boys, realizing that it would not be safe for anyone in this case to claim credit for finding the body, agree to report it to the authorities via an anonymous phone call. They walk back to Castle Rock and part ways.

Back in the present day, adult Gordie is writing a memoir of the journey. He states that Vern and Teddy drifted away from him. Vern married after high school, had four children, and became a forklift operator. Teddy tried to get into the army several times but failed due to his eyesight and his ear; he later ended up in jail and started doing odd jobs around Castle Rock as part of his parole.

Chris chose to take the college prep courses with Gordie in school and, although he struggled, he made it as a lawyer, with the two eventually drifting apart. However, while attempting to break up a fight in a restaurant, Chris was stabbed to death. Despite not having seen Chris in over a decade, Gordie adds that he will miss him forever.

Gordie ends his story with the following words: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

A cosmic entity called the Beyonder observes the mainstream Marvel universe. Fascinated by the presence of superheroes on Earth and their potential, this entity chooses a group of both heroes and supervillains and teleports characters against their will to "Battleworld", a planet created by the Beyonder in a distant galaxy. This world has also been stocked with alien weapons and technology. The Beyonder then declares: "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"

The heroes include the Avengers (Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the She-Hulk, Thor, the Wasp, and the Hulk), three members of the Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Mister Fantastic and the Thing), solo heroes (Spider-Man and Spider-Woman) and the mutant team the X-Men (Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, and Lockheed the Dragon). Magneto is featured as a hero, but immediately becomes non-aligned when the Avengers question his presence. In 2015, ''Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars'' revealed that Deadpool was also a chosen hero, but the Wasp accidentally caused the other characters to forget his involvement.

The villains include the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang the Conqueror, Klaw, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Titania, Ultron, Volcana, and the Wrecking Crew. The cosmic entity Galactus also appears as a villain who immediately becomes a non-aligned entity.

The heroes (the X-Men choose to remain a separate unit) and villains have several skirmishes. Before everything, Ultron is drained of energy by Galactus, who tries to confront the Beyonder with Doctor Doom, but both are easily defeated. When everyone else reaches Battleworld, Magneto leaves the heroes feeling rejected and Kang blasts Doctor Doom to the heroes' base when he tries to rally the villains. The heroes win the first skirmish causing the villains to fall back, only to be assaulted by Ultron, having been rebuilt by Doctor Doom. The heroes then attack Magneto, but he captures Wasp and takes her to his fortress where they are trapped by the weather; the X-Men decide to join Magneto. Doom creates villainesses Titania and Volcana, then he leads an assault on the heroes' base with the remaining villains, the base is destroyed, and the heroes are crushed by a mountain. Thor and the Enchantress weren't there at the time, and when they return, Thor vanishes trying to fight the villains, Doom also has Ultron kill Kang as payback for earlier.

When the X-Men arrive to Magneto, they form an alliance but Wasp leaves. The Hulk is revealed to have saved everyone from the mountain, Thor also returns having hid his escape with lightning. The heroes find a village brought to Battleworld where Galactus has summoned his ship, Taa II, so he can consume the planet. Everybody fights him, while Doom's faction returns and attacks the heroes, he sneaks himself onto Galactus' ship where he finds Klaw and has him join the villains. Professor X has the X-Men fall back and then attack the villains who are attacking volcanoes which Cyclops sets off, in the meantime Colossus falls in love with an alien healer named Zsaji. Meanwhile, Wasp befriends the Lizard but is gravely wounded by the Wrecking Crew before being returned to the heroes. The second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter, is also introduced to them, having been brought there on pieces of Battleworld rather than being transported.

The X-Men win another battle against the villains, by this time Galactus notices the volcanoes and tries to fix the planet after sending Doom back to his base. Professor X tells Captain America to fight the villains while they take care of Galactus. After the heroes win again, Mr. Fantastic puts those injured in healing factors and those not in cells, Zsaji manages to revive Wasp. In the villain's base, Spider-Man finds and wears his black costume for the first time, but it was there that Galactus begins to devour the planet. Mr. Fantastic suggests they let him, then the Beyonder will take away his eternal hunger, but Captain America and everyone else convinces him against it. Back at the heroes' base, Doctor Doom and Klaw escape, the former uses the latter's body to create a machine that absorbs Galactus' power, even after he absorbs his own ship instead. With his newfound power, Doctor Doom temporarily steals the Beyonder's power.

Molecule Man brings the villains to Volcana's apartment on Battleworld then takes the suburb of Denver back to Earth. Doom summons the heroes to his new "Tower of Doom" where he revives Kang and sends him back to own time in front of them and reveals that Galactus was taken away by Nova. He kills all the heroes with a bolt when they refuse to join him and attack. Zsaji revives them at the cost of her life, and they battle Klaw and monsters he created, including Ultron, while Doom's powers go out of control thanks to Klaw convincing him to use them again. While Wasp destroys Ultron and the others take care of the rest, the Beyonder, who had possessed Klaw, takes back his powers and teleports Doom and Klaw away. After Zsaji's funeral, everyone finds out that the energy from the Beyonder that was released have turned Battleworld into a place where wishes are granted. Soon Mr. Fantastic builds a portal that can take everyone home. However, the Thing, having gained the ability to revert to his original human form of Ben Grimm at will, chooses to remain on Battleworld and explores the galaxy for a year.

The next issues of series tie-ins with ''Secret Wars'' open right after the return of the Marvel combatants. Immediate developments include: the Thing replaced by the She-Hulk in the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man has a new costume initially unaware that it is actually an alien symbiote (the symbiote would subsequently bond with journalist Eddie Brock, giving birth to the villain known as Venom), Colossus ending his romantic relationship with a heartbroken Kitty Pryde, and the Hulk has an injured leg from Ultron and the savage side is re-emerging (to culminate in a totally animalistic, inarticulate and mindless Hulk in #299–300).

In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Suffering from writer's block with a new comedy, ''Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter'', Shakespeare attempts to seduce Rosaline, mistress of Richard Burbage, owner of the rival Curtain Theatre, and to convince Burbage to buy the play from Henslowe. Shakespeare receives advice from rival playwright Christopher Marlowe, but is despondent to learn Rosaline is sleeping with Master of the Revels Edmund Tilney. The desperate Henslowe, in debt to ruthless moneylender Fennyman, begins auditions anyway.

Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealthy merchant, who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as a man named Thomas Kent to audition. Kent gains Shakespeare's interest with a speech from ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'', but runs away when Shakespeare questions her. He pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with her nurse, asking Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose.

Shakespeare sneaks into a ball at the house, where Viola's parents arrange her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an aristocrat in need of money. Dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless. Confronted by Wessex, Shakespeare introduces himself as Christopher Marlowe. Wessex ejects "Marlowe" and threatens to kill him. Shakespeare finds Viola on her balcony, where they confess their mutual attraction before he is discovered by her nurse and flees.

Inspired by Viola, Shakespeare quickly transforms the play into what will become ''Romeo and Juliet''. Rehearsals begin, with Thomas Kent as Romeo, the leading tragedian Ned Alleyn as Mercutio, and the stagestruck Fennyman in a small role. Shakespeare discovers Viola's true identity, and they begin a secret affair.

Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Wessex. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her nurse's female cousin, and anonymously persuades Wessex in public to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlain's Men. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter.

Burbage learns Shakespeare has seduced Rosaline and cheated him out of payment for the play, and starts a brawl at the Rose with his company. The Rose players repel Burbage and his men and celebrate at the pub, where a drunken Henslowe lets slip to Viola that Shakespeare is married, albeit separated from his wife. News arrives that Marlowe has been murdered. A guilt-ridden Shakespeare assumes Wessex had Marlowe killed, believing him to be Viola's lover, while Viola believes Shakespeare to be the victim. Shakespeare appears at her church, allaying Viola's fears and terrifying Wessex, who believes he is a ghost. Viola confesses her love for Shakespeare, but both recognize she cannot escape her duty to marry Wessex.

John Webster, an unpleasant boy who hangs around the theatre, spies on Shakespeare and Viola making love and informs Tilney, who closes the Rose for breaking the ban on women actors. Viola's identity is exposed, leaving Shakespeare without a stage or a lead actor, until Burbage offers his theatre and the heartbroken Shakespeare takes the role of Romeo. Following her wedding, Viola learns the play will be performed that day, and runs away to the Curtain. She overhears that the boy playing Juliet cannot perform, his voice having broken, and Henslowe asks her to replace him. She plays Juliet to Shakespeare's Romeo to an enthralled audience.

Just after the play has concluded, Tilney arrives to arrest everyone for indecency due to Viola's presence, but the Queen reveals herself in attendance and restrains him, pretending that Kent is a man with a "remarkable resemblance" to a woman. Powerless to end a lawful marriage, she orders Viola to sail with Wessex to Virginia. The Queen also tells Wessex, who followed Viola to the theatre, that ''Romeo and Juliet'' has won the bet for Shakespeare, and has Kent deliver his £50 with instructions to write something "a little more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night".

Viola and Shakespeare say their goodbyes, and he vows to immortalize her, as he imagines the beginning of ''Twelfth Night'', in character as a castaway disguised as a man after a voyage to a strange land.

In Chicagoland, the month before graduation, high school senior Ferris Bueller fakes illness to stay home. Throughout the film, Ferris breaks the fourth wall to comment on his friends and give life advice. His parents believe he is ill, though his sister Jeannie does not.

Dean of Students Ed Rooney is determined to expose Ferris's repeat truancy. Ferris persuades his best friend Cameron Frye, legitimately absent due to illness (though Ferris sees through his hypochondria), to help excuse Ferris's girlfriend Sloane Peterson from school. Pretending to be Sloane's father, Cameron calls Rooney and says that Sloane's grandmother died. To complete the ruse that Sloane's father is picking up his daughter from school for a fictional family emergency, Ferris borrows Cameron's father's prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder. Cameron is dismayed when Ferris wants to take the car on a day trip in downtown Chicago. Ferris promises they will return the car as it was, including preserving the original odometer mileage.

After leaving the car with parking attendants, who promptly go on a joyride, the trio explore the city including the Art Institute of Chicago, Sears Tower, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Wrigley Field; their paths occasionally intersect with those of Ferris's father, Tom. Cameron remains worried. Ferris attempts to cheer him up by joining a parade float during the Von Steuben Day parade and spontaneously lip-syncing Wayne Newton's cover of "Danke Schoen", followed by a rendition of the Beatles' cover of "Twist and Shout", which excites the gathered crowds.

Meanwhile, attempting to prove Ferris's truancy, Rooney prowls the Bueller home, getting into several pratfalls. At the same time, Jeannie, frustrated that the entire school blindly supports Ferris, skips class and returns home to confront him. Surprised by Rooney's presence there, she knocks him unconscious. As Jeannie phones the police, Rooney gains consciousness and goes back outside accidentally leaving his wallet behind. When the police arrive, they are unconvinced and arrest Jeannie for making a false report. Waiting for her mother at the police station, she meets a juvenile delinquent friend of Ferris who advises her to worry less about what Ferris does and more about her own life.

Upon collecting the Ferrari and heading home, the friends discover many more miles on the odometer than they realistically could have added themselves. Cameron becomes semi-catatonic from shock, but wakes up after falling into a pool. Ferris is forced to save him, much to Cameron's amusement. Back at Cameron's house, Ferris jacks up the car and runs it in reverse to rewind the odometer. This ploy fails and Cameron snaps, letting out his anger against his overbearing father. Repeatedly kicking the car causes the jack to fail and the car races in reverse through the plate glass window and into the ravine below. Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron declines the offer deciding to finally stand up to his father. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bueller arrives at the station, upset about having to forgo an important real estate sale only to find Jeannie kissing the delinquent.

After walking Sloane home, Ferris realizes his parents are due home imminently. As he races on foot through the neighborhood, he is nearly hit by Jeannie who is driving their mother home. Jeannie notices him, and races him home so his mom will catch him; she does this by driving recklessly and arguing with her mother in the car.

Ferris makes it home first, but finds Rooney there. Seeing Ferris through the window and remembering the advice of the delinquent, Jeannie has a change of heart. She thanks Rooney for helping return Ferris home safely after "he tried to walk home from the hospital" and presents Rooney's wallet as proof of his earlier intrusion. As Rooney flees from Ferris's Rottweiler, Ferris rushes back to his bedroom to await his parents who are coming to check in on him. Finding him sweaty and overheated (from his run), they suggest he might want to take tomorrow off as well. As his parents leave, Ferris reminds the audience "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

During the end credits, a defeated Rooney heads home and is picked up by a school bus where he is further humiliated by the students.

In the post-credits, a surprised Ferris tells the audience the film is over and to go home.

Peter, Ender's brother, is now Hegemon of Earth. Accepting a tip from inside China, where Achilles is held prisoner, Peter had planned for Bean to operate the mission, but at the last minute (because he doubted Bean would cooperate) assigns Suriyawong, a Battle School student from Thailand, to rescue Achilles in transport. Peter believes that he can spy on Achilles, take over his network, and then turn Achilles over to some country for trial, since Achilles has previously betrayed Russia, Pakistan, and India.

Achilles is known to kill anyone who has seen him vulnerable. Bean and his friend Petra, who also served under Ender and who is travelling with Bean, have both seen Achilles so and immediately go into hiding, preparing for a future confrontation. Bean believes Peter has seriously underestimated Achilles, and that he himself is not safe unless he is hidden. During their travels, Petra convinces Bean to marry her and have children with her by taking him to Anton, the person who Anton's Key (Bean's Condition) was named after. Bean is reluctant to have children, as he does not want his Anton's Key gene to be passed on. He finds Volescu, the original doctor who activated the key in his genes, and has him prepare nine embryos through artificial insemination. Volescu pretends to identify three embryos with Anton's Key and they are discarded. One of the remaining six is implanted into Petra, while the rest of them are placed under guard.

At the same time, a message is passed to Bean that Han Tzu, a comrade from Battle School, was not in fact the informant in the message sent to Peter about Achilles. Realizing that it had been a setup, Bean gets a message to Peter's parents, and they flee with Peter from the Hegemon's compound, located in Brazil, which Achilles takes over. Bean narrowly escapes an assassination attempt himself, and escapes to Damascus. There they find that another Battle School comrade, Alai, is the unrivaled Caliph of a nearly unified Muslim world. Meanwhile, Bean and Petra's embryos are stolen; Bean expects Achilles to use them to bait a trap for them.

Peter and his parents escape to the colonization platform in space that used to be the battle school, relying on the protection of Colonel Graff, the former commander of the school, now Minister of Colonization. Shortly after they arrive, however, a message is sent betraying their presence. Faking their departure from the space station, Peter and his parents discover the traitor, one of the teachers at battle school. The unmanned shuttle sent as a decoy is shot down over Brazil.

In the previous novel, China had conquered India and Indochina. Alai plans to liberate them by invading first China in a feint, and then India once China has withdrawn its armies to defend the homeland. His invasion is successful, and in the midst of realizing their danger, the Chinese government disavows Achilles, providing evidence that he stole the missile launcher that destroyed the decoy space shuttle. Left with nowhere to turn, Achilles contacts Bean and offers the embryos in exchange for safe passage.

Bean and Peter return to the Hegemon's compound. Achilles expects Bean to be so distracted with the idea of retrieving his children that he can be killed with a bomb in the embryo transport container. When Bean sees through that trap, Achilles offers up fake embryos in petri dishes, expecting to lure Bean into a vulnerable position. However, Bean sees through the deception. He pulls out a pistol and shoots Achilles in the eye - a similar fashion to Achille's first victim, Poke, whom he killed with a knife to the eye in Ender's Shadow.

The novel ends with Peter restored as Hegemon, Petra reunited with Bean, a Caliph in command of the world's Muslims, a China severely reduced in territory and forced to accept humiliating surrender terms, and the embryos still lost.

The Key to Time tracer points the Fourth Doctor and Romana to the cold and boring planet of Calufrax, but when they arrive they find an unusual civilisation that lives in perpetual prosperity. A strange band of people with mysterious powers known as the Mentiads are feared by the society, but the Doctor discovers that they are good people but with an unknown purpose. He instead fears the Captain, the planet's leader and benefactor. After meeting the Captain on the bridge he learns that they are actually on a hollowed-out planet named Zanak, which has been materialising around other planets to plunder their resources.

After repairing Zanak's engines, which were damaged when the planet materialised in the same place as the TARDIS, the Captain plans to take Zanak to Earth. The Doctor finds the true menace controlling the Captain is the ancient tyrant Queen Xanxia, disguised as the Captain's nurse, who uses the resources mined from planets in an attempt to gain immortality. Her physical body sits between Time Dams, devices that hold back the ravages of time, as she is old and near death, and a younger version of her is projected via a solid 3D device. Despite the Captain's apparent insanity, he is a calculating person who plans to destroy Xanxia. The Mentiads learn that their psychic powers are strengthened by the destruction of entire worlds beneath their feet. As the people on the planets die, their combined psychic force gives the Mentiads their power.

Throughout Zanak, the Key to Time locator has been giving odd signals that seem to indicate that the segment is everywhere. Once the Doctor and Romana see the Captain's trophy room of planets, they conclude that Calufrax is the segment that they are looking for. The Captain's plan is to use the gravitational power of all the crushed worlds to essentially drill a hole through the time dams, bypass its fail-safe mechanism, and let time move forward so the queen dies. They use the TARDIS to once again disrupt Zanak's materialisation around Earth while the Mentiads sabotage the engines. Xanxia kills the Captain when he finally turns against her. His plan fails. As Calufrax is not a real world, its mass is different. The Doctor, Romana, and the Mentiads destroy Zanak's bridge and Queen Xanxia, ending the devastation caused by Zanak's travels. The Doctor rigs the system to drop the crushed worlds into the centre of Zanak where they'll expand and fill it, except for Calufrax. He sends it off into the time/space continuum where they pick it up later.

While in Paris, the Doctor and Romana sense a time distortion. They observe the Countess Scarlioni using an alien device to scan the security systems housing Leonardo da Vinci's ''Mona Lisa'' at the Louvre. The pair meet Inspector Duggan, who suspects the Countess to be involved in an ongoing art theft scheme with her husband, Count Scarlioni. Duggan joins the Doctor and Romana in investigating the Scarlioni mansion. There, they find equipment used by Dr. Kerensky to experiment in time, the source of the time distortions, as well as six exact copies of the ''Mona Lisa''. The Doctor instructs Romana and Duggan to continue investigating while he returns to the TARDIS to visit Leonardo, a good friend of his. After the Doctor leaves, the Count returns after successfully stealing the ''Mona Lisa'' and captures Romana and Duggan. Learning that Romana is familiar with time, he kills Dr. Kerensky and forces Romana to continue the tests.

In the past, the Doctor arrives at Leonardo's home but is captured by Captain Tancredi, who is Count Scarlioni. Tancredi reveals he is really Scaroth, a member of the Jagaroth race. They had arrived on Earth 400 million years ago, but due to an explosion in their craft, all of the others died and his own body was fragmented across time. Collectively, the fragments of Scaroth have manipulated humanity so that by the 20th century, they will have technology that will enable him to go back in time to stop the explosion. Tancredi is currently employing Leonardo to create copies of the ''Mona Lisa'' in order to finance Scarlioni's work. After Tancredi leaves, the Doctor knocks out his captor, marks the blank canvases with a felt-tip pen with the phrase, "This is a fake", and leaves a message to Leonardo to paint over his writing before returning to the present.

The Doctor learns Scaroth threatens to destroy Paris if Romana does not continue the work. He tries to gain the Countess' help by showing the Count's true form, but he kills her. Romana completes the work and Scaroth uses it to travel to the past. The Doctor ushers Romana and Duggan into the TARDIS, fearing that the ship's explosion was the spark that started the development of life on Earth, and if Scaroth should prevent it, humanity would not exist. They arrive in time for Duggan to knock Scaroth out before he can reach the ship. Scaroth returns to present Earth, where he is discovered in his alien form by his bodyguard Hermann, and they get into a fight which damages the equipment and sets the mansion on fire. Hermann escapes, but Scaroth burns to death. By the time the Doctor, Romana, and Duggan arrive, the original ''Mona Lisa'' and 5 of the 6 copies have been burned in the fire, but the last copy remains safe. Duggan argues that they've lost an invaluable piece of art, but the Doctor assures him that the copy, still done by Leonardo's hand, will go unnoticed, and that art is worthless if its monetary value is all that matters. The Doctor and Romana say goodbye to Duggan at the Eiffel Tower.

Characters and setting

The game world is set in a geographically diverse land, which includes mountains, forests, and bodies of water. Each region has distinct characteristics held by its inhabitants; Mushroom Kingdom is inhabited by Toads, Moleville is inhabited by moles, Monstro Town is populated by reformed monsters, Yo'ster Isle is where Yoshi and his eponymous species reside, and Nimbus Land is an area inhabited by cloud people. Bowser's Castle is another prominent location in the game, as it holds the portal to the main antagonist's homeworld.

As in most ''Super Mario'' games, the main protagonist is Mario, whose initial goal is to rescue Princess Toadstool from Bowser. Soon after the start of his journey, the Smithy Gang invades the world. While attempting to stop the group, Mario is joined by Mallow, a cloud boy who thinks he is a tadpole; Geno, a doll possessed by a celestial spirit from the Star Road; Bowser, whose armies have deserted him out of fear of the Smithy Gang; and Princess Toadstool, who was lost in the turmoil that occurred when the Smithy Gang arrived. The Smithy Gang is led by Smithy, a robotic blacksmith from an alternate dimension with aspirations of world domination.''Smithy:'' "Hurrumph! Better yet... Why don't YOU give me YOUR stars. Why, then I could easily conquer this world! Then we could get rid of all wishes, and create a world filled with...WEAPONS!!"

Story

Mario sets out to rescue Princess Toadstool, infiltrating the castle to which she has been taken and challenging kidnapper King Bowser. During the battle, a giant living sword named Exor falls from the sky, breaks through the Star Road (a pathway that helps grant people's wishes), and crashes into Bowser's castle, sending Mario, Princess Toadstool, and Bowser flying in different directions, as well as scattering the seven-star fragments. Mario lands back at his pad and meets up with Toad, who tells him he has to rescue Toadstool. Mario returns to Bowser's castle, but Exor destroys the bridge, preventing him from entering. Mario makes his way to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario encounters a "tadpole" named Mallow who has set out to retrieve a frog coin taken by the local thief Croco. After Mario helps him retrieve the frog coin, they return to the Mushroom Kingdom to find that it is overrun by the Smithy Gang, followers of the evil robotic blacksmith king named Smithy. Mario and Mallow enter the castle to defeat gang boss Mack, and subsequently find a mysterious Star Piece. Mallow accompanies Mario to Tadpole Pond so they can get advice from Frogfucius, Mallow's grandfather. He reveals that Mallow is not really a tadpole, and says Mallow should join Mario on a quest to find the seven Star Pieces as well as Mallow's real parents.

The duo travel to Rose Town where they meet a star spirit who has animated and taken control of a wooden doll named Geno. After battling the bow-like creature Bowyer, who is immobilizing residents of Rose Town with his arrows, they retrieve another Star Piece. Geno joins Mario and reveals to him the Star Piece is a part of the shattered Star Road, where he normally resides. Geno has been tasked with repairing Star Road and defeating Smithy, so that the world's wishes may again be heard. The trio eventually head to Booster Tower, the home of the eccentric amusement-venue owner, Booster, where they encounter Bowser, whose minions have all deserted him. Bowser reluctantly asks Mario to help him to reclaim his castle; Mario agrees, allowing Bowser to save face by pretending he is joining the Koopa Troop, and Bowser joins the party. The new team intercepts Princess Toadstool just before she is forcibly married to Booster, but it turns out that the wedding wasn't real; Booster, having no idea what a marriage actually is, just thought it was a fun party and abruptly returns home after devouring the cake.

After her rescue, the princess returns home to Mushroom Kingdom only to then decide to join the party while her grandmother takes her place in disguise. After gathering five star pieces, they search Nimbus Land. A statue maker informs them that Valentina has the rulers of Nimbus Land being held captive, and her sidekick Dodo is impersonating the prince. Dodo would make Valentina his queen. The statue maker recognizes Mallow as the true prince, then disguises Mario as a statue to infiltrate the castle. There they defeat Valentina and Dodo. The newly liberated king and queen, Mallow's parents, inform the group that they saw a star fall into the nearby volcano.

After traveling to Barrel Volcano to obtain the sixth Star Piece, Mario's party learns that the final piece must be held by Smithy in Bowser's castle. They battle their way through the assembled enemies to enter the castle, where they discover that Exor is actually a gateway to Smithy's factory, the place where Smithy mass-produces his army. Mario and company cross over, find the heart of the factory, and defeat Smithy, thereby stopping his army creation and causing Exor to disappear. The collected Star Pieces are used to repair the Star Road, Geno returns to the Star Road, Bowser rebuilds his castle with his newly reformed army, Mallow regains his rightful title as prince of Nimbus Land, and Mario and Princess Toadstool return to the Mushroom Kingdom to celebrate their victory.

In 2286, an enormous cylindrical probe moves through space, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of every ship it passes. As it takes up orbit around Earth, its signal disables the global power grid and generates planetary storms, creating catastrophic, sun-blocking cloud cover. Starfleet Command sends out a planetary distress call and warns all space-faring vessels not to approach Earth.

On the planet Vulcan, the former officers of the late are living in exile after the events of ''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''. Accompanied by the Vulcan Spock, still recovering from his resurrection, the crew take their captured Klingon Bird of Prey (renamed the ''Bounty'', after the Royal Navy ship) and return to Earth to face trial for their actions. Receiving Starfleet's warning, Spock determines that the probe's signal matches the song of extinct humpback whales, and that the object will continue to wreak havoc until its call is answered. The crew uses their ship to travel back in time via a slingshot maneuver around the Sun, planning to return with a whale to answer the alien signal.

Arriving in 1986, the crew finds their ship's power drained by the time travel maneuver. Hiding the ''Bounty'' in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park using its cloaking device, the crew split up to accomplish several tasks: Admiral James T. Kirk and Spock attempt to locate humpback whales, while Montgomery Scott, Leonard McCoy, and Hikaru Sulu construct a tank to hold the whales they need for a return to the 23rd century. Uhura and Pavel Chekov are tasked to find a nuclear reactor, whose energy leakage can be collected and used to re-power the Klingon vessel.

Kirk and Spock discover a pair of Humpback whales in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor at a Sausalito aquarium, and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Kirk tells her of his mission and asks for the tracking frequency for the whales, but she refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Scott and McCoy trade the formula of transparent aluminium for the materials needed for the whale tank, while Sulu secures the use of a "Huey" helicopter to transport them. Uhura and Chekov locate a nuclear powered ship, the aircraft carrier . They collect the power they need, but are discovered on board. Uhura is beamed out but Chekov is captured, and subsequently severely injured in an escape attempt.

Gillian learns the whales have been released early, and goes to Kirk for assistance. Gillian, Kirk, and McCoy rescue Chekov from a nearby hospital and return to the now recharged Bird of Prey. After saving the whales from whalers and transporting them aboard, the crew returns with Gillian to their own time. On approaching Earth, the ''Bounty'' loses power due to the alien probe, and crash-lands into the waters of San Francisco Bay. Once released from near-drowning, the whales respond to the probe's signal, causing the object to reverse its effects on Earth and return to the depths of space.

Later, the ''Enterprise'' crew stand judgment before the Federation Council. The Council acknowledges their part in saving the planet and drops all charges, save one against Kirk for disobeying a superior officer. Kirk is demoted to the rank of Captain and returned to the command of a starship. Kirk and Gillian part ways, as she has been assigned to a science vessel by Starfleet, while Spock's father Sarek finally accepts his son's earlier choice to enter Starfleet. The crew discovers they have been awarded the newly christened , and leaves on a shakedown mission.

In the Pride Lands of Africa, a pride of lions rule over the animal kingdom from Pride Rock. King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi's newborn son, Simba, is presented to the gathering animals by Rafiki the mandrill, the kingdom's shaman and advisor. Mufasa's younger brother, Scar, covets the throne.

After Simba grows into a cub, Mufasa shows him the Pride Lands and explains the responsibilities of kingship and the "circle of life," which connects all living things. One day, Simba and his best friend Nala explore an elephant graveyard, and are chased by three hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. Mufasa is alerted by his majordomo, the hornbill Zazu, and rescues the cubs. Though disappointed with Simba for disobeying him and putting himself and Nala in danger, Mufasa forgives him and explains that the great kings of the past watch over them from the night sky, from which he will one day watch over Simba. Scar, having planned the attack, visits the hyenas and convinces them to help him kill Mufasa and Simba in exchange for hunting rights in the Pride Lands.

Scar sets a trap for Simba and Mufasa, luring Simba into a gorge and having the hyenas drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede to trample him. Mufasa saves Simba but ends up hanging perilously from the gorge's edge; he begs for Scar's help, but Scar throws Mufasa back into the stampede to his death. Scar tricks Simba into thinking that the event was his fault and tells him to leave the kingdom and never come back. He orders the hyenas to kill Simba, but Simba escapes. Unaware of Simba's survival, Scar tells the pride that the stampede killed Mufasa and Simba and steps forward as the new king, allowing the hyenas into the Pride Lands.

After Simba collapses in a desert, he is rescued by two fellow outcasts, Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and warthog, respectively. Simba grows up with his two new friends in their oasis, living a carefree life under their motto "hakuna matata" ("no worries" in Swahili). An adult Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lioness, who turns out to be Nala. She and Simba fall in love, and she urges him to return home, telling him that the Pride Lands have become drought-stricken under Scar's reign. Still feeling guilty over Mufasa's death, Simba refuses and storms off. He encounters Rafiki, who tells Simba that Mufasa's spirit lives on in him. Simba is visited by the spirit of Mufasa in the night sky, who tells him that he must take his place as king. After Rafiki advises Simba to learn from the past instead of run from it, Simba decides to return to the Pride Lands.

Aided by his friends, Simba sneaks past the hyenas at Pride Rock and confronts Scar. Scar taunts Simba over his role in Mufasa's death and backs him to the edge of the rock, where he reveals to Simba that he is the one who caused Mufasa's death. Enraged, Simba retaliates and threateningly forces Scar to expose himself to the rest of the pride. Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, and the lionesses fend off the hyenas while Scar, attempting to escape, is cornered by Simba at a ledge near the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs for mercy and blames his actions on the hyenas; Simba spares his life but orders him to leave the Pride Lands forever, quoting what Scar said long ago. Scar attacks again, but after a brief battle Simba throws him off the ledge to the ground below. Scar survives the fall, but the hyenas, who overheard Scar blaming them, maul him to death.

Simba takes his place as king and Nala becomes his queen. With the Pride Lands restored, Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the assembled animals, continuing the circle of life.

Police officer China O'Brien is a good cop who teaches martial arts class to her fellow officers. After an altercation with a gang that leads to the accidental death of a young boy, China resigns from the force, and returns to her hometown of Beaver Creek, Utah. On her way into town she runs into her former high school sweetheart Matt Conroy. Searching for her father, she goes to the Beaver Creek Inn and encounters a hostile situation, as her father has just arrested one of the men there. Her father, John O'Brien, is the town sheriff. China finally catches up with him back at the station. John is losing control of the town to local crime boss Edwin Sommers, who controls corrupt deputy Marty Lickner and corrupt local judge Harry Godar. When John and honest deputy Ross Tyler are killed by car bombs that were planted by Sommers's henchmen, there is an emergency election to elect a new sheriff.

Matt tells China that she has a lot of support from the townspeople, so she decides to run for sheriff against Lickner. At the same time, she starts cleaning up the town with the help of Matt and a Native American biker named Dakota, whose mother was murdered by Sommers. China wins the election, and then Maria, who had been her father's housekeeper up until his death, is murdered by Sommers' men in a drive-by shooting during the victory celebration. China has to force Judge Godar to swear her in as the new sheriff. China deputizes Matt and Dakota, and they set out to free Beaver Creek from Sommers' stranglehold.

First, they bulldoze a house that Sommers was using to distribute drugs. Then, during an altercation at the Beaver Creek Inn, Dakota questions Lickner about his mother, and Lickner admits Sommers was responsible for his mother's death. Dakota takes Lickner's gun and gets on his motorcycle to Sommers's home. China realises Dakota intends to confront Sommers, and so she and Matt pursue Dakota. Dakota finds Sommers at the stables and points the gun at him. However, he restrains himself and when China and Matt arrive, Sommers is still alive. Matt handcuffs himself to Sommers but as they leave the stable, a woman that Sommers had locked up and beaten fires at Sommers and kills him. The next day, China asks Dakota what he will do next. Dakota says he will stay for the trial and China tells him she could use a man like him. Dakota laughs off being a cop to which Matt replies that they can discuss it over a beer.

A team of outlaw mercenaries, led by the character Rorian are hired to destroy all of the illegally bio-engineered organisms on the planet Graveyard via means of a fusion induced thermonuclear explosion. Which is to be achieved by collecting four fusion power core rings, and depositing them in the corresponding field coil generator located at Graveyard Central Spaceport. The secondary mission objective is to reconnoitre ground installations.

The action of the film starts with Colonel Dodge (Henry O'Neill) arriving on the first train and subsequently opening the new railroad line that links Dodge City with the rest of the world. A few years later, Dodge City has turned into the "longhorn cattle center of the world and wide-open Babylon of the American frontier, packed with settlers, thieves and gunmen—the town that knew no ethics but cash and killing". In particular, it is Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his gang who kill, steal, cheat and, generally, control life in Dodge City without ever being brought to justice. Any new sheriff, sworn into office in Dodge, is quickly driven out of town by Surrett and his cronies.

Colonel Dodge's friend Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn), a lone cowboy who was instrumental in bringing the railroad to Dodge City, is now on his way to the town leading a trek of settlers from the East coast. At Hatton's side are his old companions Rusty (Alan Hale) and Tex (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams), who are prepared to stay with him through thick and thin. Among the settlers are beautiful Abbie Irving (Olivia de Havilland) and her irresponsible brother Lee (William Lundigan), who, drunk, causes a stampede (which eventually kills him) and is shot by Hatton in self-defense. When the group arrive in Dodge City, Hatton is confronted with the full extent of the anarchy which is dictating everyday life there. Asked by anxious citizens—Abbie's uncle, Dr. Irving (Henry Travers) among them—to be the new sheriff, Hatton politely declines, saying he is not cut out for this kind of job.

Hatton changes his mind when, during a school outing, a young boy, Harry Cole is inadvertently killed by Surrett and his men. The new sheriff and his deputies—Rusty and Tex among them—have a hard time fighting the criminals. Regardless, all in all, Hatton was quite capable of his new job and was off to a good start cleaning up the town. Meanwhile, Hatton, Abbie and the likable newspaperman Joe Clemens (Frank McHugh) uncover enough evidence of Surrett's shady dealings to stand a chance in court. Before Joe could publish a story, one of Surrett's thugs, Yancey (Victor Jory) shoots the editor in the back. The only witness who can put Surrett behind bars now is Abbie whom Hatton, out of love for her, arranges to leave town for safety until further notice.

When Yancey is in jail for Joe's killing, Hatton has to protect him against the furious men outside who, not caring for Yancey's right to a fair trial, want to take the law into their own hands and lynch him. Intending to ensure that Yancey deserves a fair trial, Hatton and Rusty were able to manage to smuggle him out of town in a hearse to the train station where a train (which Abbie happens to be on) bound for Wichita was just about to leave. However, Surrett and his gang were waiting and sneak on board to try and spring Yancey. A gunfight then ensues and inadvertently causes a fire in the baggage car. Fearing for Hatton's life, Abbie rushes to the baggage car to warn him of the danger. Using her as a shield, Surrett orders Hatton and Rusty to release Yancey immediately. Afterwards, Surrett locks Hatton, Abbie and Rusty in the burning car. After the three manage to escape from the car, Hatton and Rusty kill Surrett and his gang who were trying to make a getaway.

Hatton succeeds in both overwhelming and catching Surrett's gang and winning Abbie's heart. Everything has been prepared for a quiet family life in newly civilized Dodge City, but Hatton is asked by Colonel Dodge to clean up Virginia City, Nevada, another railroad town more dangerous than Dodge City had ever been. Understanding how much Hatton is needed to settle the West, a loving Abbie suggests she and her new husband join the next wagon train for their new life together, and Col. Dodge states that Hatton has married the right woman.

The series opens in the wake of a general election in which the incumbent government has been defeated by the opposition party, to which Jim Hacker MP belongs. His party affiliation is never stated, his party emblem is clearly neither Conservative nor Labour, and his party's political colour is white. The Prime Minister offers Hacker the position of Minister of Administrative Affairs, which he accepts. Hacker goes to his department and meets his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Principal Private Secretary, Bernard Woolley.

While Appleby is outwardly deferential towards the new minister, he is prepared to defend the open government at all costs. Hacker and his party's policies of reducing bureaucracy are diametrically opposed to the Civil Service's interests, in which staff numbers and budgets are viewed as merits of success (as opposed to sizes of profits or losses in private industry). Woolley is sympathetic towards Hacker but as Appleby reminds him, Woolley's civil service superiors, including Appleby, will have much to say about the course of his future career (i.e., assessments, promotions, pay increases), while ministers do not usually stay long in one department and have no say in civil service staffing recommendations.

Many of the episodes revolve around proposals backed by Hacker but frustrated by Appleby, who uses a range of clever stratagems to defeat ministerial proposals while seeming to support them. Other episodes revolve around proposals promoted by Appleby but rejected by Hacker, which Appleby attempts by all means necessary to persuade Hacker to accept. They do occasionally join forces in order to achieve a common goal, such as preventing the closure of their department or dealing with a diplomatic incident.

As the series revolves around the inner workings of central government, most of the scenes take place in private locations, such as offices and exclusive members' clubs. Lynn said that "there was not a single scene set in the House of Commons because government does not take place in the House of Commons. Some politics and much theatre takes place there. Government happens in private. As in all public performances, the real work is done in rehearsal, behind closed doors. Then the public and the House are shown what the government wishes them to see." However, the episode "The Compassionate Society" does feature an audio recording of ''Yesterday in Parliament'' in which Hacker speaks in the House of Commons, and other episodes include scenes in the Foreign Secretary's House of Commons office ("The Writing on the Wall") and a Committee room ("A Question of Loyalty").

Operation Market Garden envisages 35,000 men being flown from air bases in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. Two divisions of US paratroopers are responsible for securing the road and bridges as far as Nijmegen. A British division, under Major-General Roy Urquhart, is to land near Arnhem and hold both sides of the bridge there, backed by a brigade of Polish paratroopers under General Stanisław Sosabowski. XXX Armoured Corps are to push up the road over the bridges captured by the American paratroopers and reach Arnhem two days after the drop.

As General Urquhart briefs his officers some of them are surprised they are going to attempt a landing so far from their objective since the distance from their landing zone to the bridge will render their portable radios useless. Although the consensus is that resistance will consist entirely of inexperienced old men and Hitler Youth, reconnaissance photos show the presence of German tanks at Arnhem. General Browning nevertheless dismisses the photos and also ignores reports from the Dutch underground, believing the operation will be successful regardless.

The Arnhem bridge is the prime target, since it serves as the last means of escape for the German forces in the Netherlands and a direct route to Germany for the Allies. However the road to it is only a single lane linking the various key bridges and vehicles have to squeeze onto the verge to pass. The road is also elevated, causing anything moving along it to stand out.

Though the airborne drops catch the enemy by surprise and encounter little resistance, the Son bridge is demolished by the Germans just before it can be secured. Furthermore, troubles beset Urquhart's division, since many of the jeeps either do not arrive or are destroyed in an ambush, in addition to their nonfunctional radio sets.

Meanwhile, XXX Corps' progress is slowed by German resistance, the narrowness of the road and the need to construct a Bailey bridge to replace the one destroyed at Son. They are then halted at Nijmegen, where soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division perform a dangerous daylight river crossing to capture the Nijmegen bridge and XXX Corps is further delayed waiting for infantry to secure the town.

The Germans close in on the isolated British paratroopers occupying part of Arnhem at the bridge, and although Sosabowski's troops finally arrive after being delayed in England they are ultimately too late to reinforce the British. After days of intense fighting against SS infantry and panzers the outgunned troops are eventually either captured or forced to withdraw to Oosterbeek. Urquhart receives orders to retreat, while the other Allied commanders blame the various difficulties encountered for their failure to provide the needed support.

Urquhart escapes with less than a fifth of his original 10,000 troops while those who are too badly injured to flee stay behind to cover the withdrawal. On arrival at British headquarters Urquhart confronts Browning about his personal sentiments regarding the operation and the latter contradicts his earlier optimism regarding it.

Back in Oosterbeek Kate ter Horst, whose home has been converted into a makeshift hospital by the British, abandons its ruins. Passing through the front yard, now a graveyard for fallen troops, she and her children leave with an elderly doctor, pulling a few possessions in a cart, while wounded British troops sing "Abide with Me" as they await capture.

In a small Massachusetts town, the Owens women have been shunned for over 300 years, since their ancestor Maria Owens used witchcraft to survive her execution. Heartbroken after the father of her unborn child abandoned her, Maria cast a spell to prevent herself from falling in love again. It became a curse upon her descendants, causing untimely death to any man an Owens woman loves.

Young sisters Gillian and Sally Owens are taken in by their aunts Frances and Jet, after left orphans due to the curse. The town's schoolchildren bully them. Watching their aunts cast a love spell for a woman obsessed with a married man, Sally casts one on herself to ensure she will only fall in love with a man with incredibly specific traits, hoping to never fall in love.

Meanwhile Gillian, also witnessing the incident, cannot wait to fall in love. After high school, she elopes with her boyfriend to Los Angeles to get away from their family. Before departing, she and Sally make a blood pact to always be there for one another.

Gillian spends the next decade moving from man to man across the country, while back home, Sally longs for acceptance and a normal life. Meeting and marrying Michael, a local man, they have two daughters, Kylie and Antonia. Sally opens an herbal skincare shop and they are accepted by the town. Michael dies suddenly when hit by a truck, so Sally and her daughters move in with the aunts. Discovering they had secretly cast a love spell on her so she could marry and be happy, Sally insists they never teach her daughters magic.

Gillian calls Sally in the middle of the night from Arizona, asking for help as she has become involved with the abusive Jimmy Angelov. The aunts take Kylie and Antonia to a moon festival for a few days while Sally flies to Arizona.

When Sally arrives to get her sister, Jimmy takes Gillian hostage in his car, forcing her to drive at gunpoint. Sally puts Gillian's belladonna into Jimmy's tequila to sedate him, but accidentally kills him. To avoid murder charges, they try to resurrect him using a forbidden spell at their aunts', he revives, attacking Gillian. Sally kills him again, and they bury him in the backyard.

The next day, the aunts return with the girls and happily reunite with Gillian. The four women celebrate until the aunts sense danger. As Sally and Gillian won't admit what's going on, the aunts leave.

State investigator Gary Hallett arrives from Tucson, Arizona in search of Jimmy after acquiring a letter Sally had written addressed to their apartment. Hoping to apprehend Jimmy, a serial killer, but the sisters deny knowing anything, and he leaves. The next day Gary asks around town about the Owenses, frustrating Sally so she invites him to return for a more accurate impression.

Finding Jimmy's ring in their garden, he suspects their guilt and leaves. Sally breaks down, intending to confess everything to Gary at his hotel. Unable to deny their attraction, they kiss, but she pulls away when realizing he is the impossible man from her childhood love spell.

Returning home, Sally discovers Jimmy's spirit has possessed Gillian's body. Gary senses he must follow Sally and sees his spirit materialize as an apparition. Jimmy attempts to possess him, only to be dissipated by his silver badge. Sally explains to Gary she had to kill him in self-defense. She then tells him he was drawn to her because of her love spell, so their feelings are not genuine. He tells her he wished for her too as a young boy, and he returns to Tucson.

Jimmy possesses Gillian again, attempting to kill Sally just as Frances and Jet return. Sally, realizing she must use magic to save her sister, requests the aid of several townswomen to form a coven to exorcise him. Guided by the aunts, they exile his spirit permanently, while Sally and Gillian's bond simultaneously breaks the Owens curse. Gary notifies Sally he's closed Jimmy's case as accidental death, and he returns to be with her. The Owens women are finally fully embraced by the community as witches.

In 1968, master thief Arsène Lupin III and his colleague, Daisuke Jigen, flee the Monte Carlo Casino with huge quantities of stolen money, but as they celebrate their latest heist, Lupin recognizes the bills as distinctively high-quality counterfeits. Deciding to seek out the source, they head to the Grand Duchy of Cagliostro, the alleged wellspring of the counterfeits.

Shortly after arriving, the two get passed by a young woman being chased by a group of armed thugs. They rescue the young woman, but in the ensuing mayhem Lupin is knocked unconscious and the woman gets captured, but she leaves him a signet ring. After seeing the ring, Lupin recognizes the woman as Clarisse, the princess of Cagliostro, who will soon be married to Count Cagliostro, the country's regent. The Count's arranged marriage will cement his power and recover the fabled ancient treasure of Cagliostro, for which he needs both his and Clarisse's ancestral rings.

The next night, a squad of assassins attack Lupin and Jigen at their inn, but they escape. Lupin leaves his calling card on the back of Jodot, the Count's butler and chief assassin, announcing he is going to steal Clarisse. Lupin summons Goemon Ishikawa XIII and tips off his longtime pursuer, Inspector Koichi Zenigata, to his whereabouts to provide a distraction. Lupin disguises himself as Zenigata and makes his way into the castle, while the real Zenigata ends up trapped in the castle's catacombs. After meeting his on-off lover Fujiko Mine posing as Clarisse's lady-in-waiting, Lupin makes his way to Clarisse and returns her ring, vowing to help her to escape. Before he can act, the Count drops Lupin down a trapdoor into the catacombs. Lupin mocks the Count through the ring he gave to Clarisse – a fake containing a transmitter – and the Count sends three assassins to retrieve the real ring.

Lupin encounters Zenigata, and they form a pact to help each other escape. After overpowering the assassins, they escape into a room full of printing presses, the source of the counterfeits which Cagliostro has used throughout history to form a global shadow empire. Zenigata wants to collect evidence, but Lupin points out they must escape the castle first. They start a fire as a distraction and steal the Count's autogyro, but as they try rescuing Clarisse, Lupin is seriously wounded. Clarisse offers the ring to the Count in exchange for Lupin's life, but after securing the ring, the Count's attempt at betrayal is foiled when Fujiko's actions allow her, Lupin, and Zenigata to flee. As Lupin recovers from his injuries, Zenigata tries convincing his superiors at Interpol to prosecute the Count for counterfeiting, but fearing political repercussions, they halt the investigation and remove him from the case. Lupin intends to stop the wedding and rescue the princess, revealing to his companions that ten years earlier she had saved his life during his unsuccessful first attempt to find the treasure of Cagliostro. Fujiko tips off Lupin on a way to sneak into the castle, and forms a plan with Zenigata to publicly reveal the counterfeiting operation under the cover of pursuing Lupin.

The wedding with a drugged Clarisse appears to go as planned, until Lupin disrupts the ceremony and, despite the Count's precautions, makes off with Clarisse and the Count's rings. To expose the Count's operations, Zenigata leads Fujiko, posing as a television reporter, to the Count's counterfeiting facility. After the Count corners Lupin and Clarisse on the clock tower's face, Lupin attempts to trade the rings for Clarisse’s life, but the Count betrays him, and Lupin and Clarisse fall into the castle's lake. After using the rings on a secret mechanism built into the tower, the Count is crushed to death by the converging clock arms. Lupin and Clarisse watch as the mechanism drains the lake to reveal exquisite ancient Roman ruins — the true treasure of Cagliostro. Clarisse explains that she doesn’t want Lupin to go, even expressing her readiness to become a thief like him, but Lupin gently rejects her, and he and his friends bid farewell to Clarisse, now the rightful ruler of Cagliostro. With Zenigata pursuing them again (for the crime of "stealing Clarisse's heart") and Fujiko fleeing with the plates from the printing presses, Lupin and the gang take their leave of Cagliostro.

Facing foreclosure of their homes in the Goon Docks area of Astoria, Oregon, to an expanding country club, a group of children who call themselves "the Goonies" gather for a final weekend together. The Goonies are Mikey Walsh, his older brother Brandon, Data, Mouth, Chunk, Andy and Stef.

Rummaging through the Walshes' attic, they come across a 1632 doubloon and an old treasure map purporting to lead to the treasure of legendary pirate "One-Eyed Willy", believed to be located somewhere nearby. Mikey considers One-Eyed Willy to be the original Goonie. The kids overpower and bind Brandon and make their way to an abandoned restaurant on the coast that coincides with the map; Brandon soon follows alongside Andy, a cheerleader with a crush on him; and Stef, Andy's friend. The group eventually discovers that the derelict restaurant is a hideout of the Fratelli crime family: Francis, Jake, and their mother. The Goonies find a tunnel in the basement and follow it, but when Chunk flags down a motorist to go to the sheriff’s station, he gets abducted by the Fratellis and imprisoned with their hulking, deformed, younger brother Sloth. The Fratellis interrogate Chunk until he reveals where the Goonies have gone, and begin pursuit. Chunk is left behind with Sloth, but befriends him. After Sloth frees both of them, Chunk calls the sheriff, and both follow the trail of the Fratellis.

The Goonies evade several deadly booby traps along the tunnels, while staying ahead of the Fratellis. Finally, they reach the grotto where Willy's pirate ship, the ''Inferno'', is anchored. The group discovers that the ship is filled with treasure, and they start filling their pockets, but Mikey warns them not to take any on a set of scales in front of Willy, considering that to be their tribute to him. As they leave the ship, the Fratellis appear and strip them of their loot. They start to bind the Goonies and make them walk the plank, until Chunk arrives with Sloth and distracts the Fratellis long enough for the Goonies to jump overboard and swim to safety. Brandon saves Andy from drowning and she kisses him. The Fratellis proceed to grab all the treasure they can, including those on Willy's scales; this triggers another booby trap which causes the grotto to cave in. With Sloth's help, the Goonies and Fratellis barely escape.

The two groups emerge on Astoria's beach, where they reunite with the Goonies' families and the police. The Fratellis are arrested, but Chunk prevents Sloth from also being taken; he invites Sloth to live with him, which Sloth accepts. Just as Mikey’s father is about to sign the foreclosure papers, the Walshes' housekeeper, Rosalita, discovers that Mikey's marble bag is filled with gems he took from the ship and had not been seized by the Fratellis. Mikey's father triumphantly rips up the papers, declaring that they have enough money to negate the foreclosure. As they are regaling the tale of their adventure to the disbelieving press and police, they notice the ''Inferno'', having broken free of the grotto, sailing off on its own in the distance.

Karen Blixen recalls her life in Africa where she moved in 1913 as an unmarried wealthy Dane. After having been spurned by her Swedish nobleman lover, she asks his brother, Baron Bror Blixen, to marry out of mutual convenience, and they move to the vicinity of Nairobi, British East Africa. Using her funds, he is to set up a dairy ranch, with her joining him a few months later, at which time they will marry. En route to Nairobi, her train is hailed by a big-game hunter named Denys Finch Hatton, who knows her fiancé and entrusts his haul of ivory to her.

She is greeted at the railway station by Farah, the Somali headman hired by Bror, who is nowhere to be found. She is taken to the recently founded Muthaiga Club. She enters the men-only salon to ask for her husband and, because of her gender, is asked to leave. Karen and Bror marry before the day is out, and she becomes Baroness Blixen.

She then learns that Bror has changed their agreed-upon plan, and has spent her money to establish a coffee farm. She quickly learns that the farm is at too high an elevation to offer much of a chance of success. She needs Bror's help in building and managing this farm, but his interest is more in guiding game hunting safaris than in farming.

Karen comes to love Africa and the African people, and is taken in by the breathtaking view of the nearby Ngong Hills and the Great Rift Valley beyond. Meanwhile, she looks after the Kikuyu people who are squatting on her land. Among other things, she establishes a school, helps with their medical needs, and arbitrates their disputes. She also attempts to establish a formal European homelife on par with the other upper class colonists in the area. Meanwhile, she becomes friends with a young woman, Felicity (whose character is based on a young Beryl Markham). Eventually, Karen and Bror develop feelings for each other. But Bror continues to pursue other sexual relationships because their marriage is still a partnership based on convenience.

As the First World War reaches East Africa, the colonists form a militia led by the colonial patriarch Lord Delamere, which includes Denys and Bror among their number. A military expedition sets out in search of the forces from the neighboring German colony of German East Africa. Responding to the militia's need for supplies, Karen leads a difficult expedition to find them and returns safely. Shortly after the end of the war, in the evenings, Karen makes up exotic and imaginative stories to entertain her visitors.

Karen discovers that Bror has given her syphilis. As she is unable to receive proper treatment in Nairobi, she returns to Denmark for treatment and recuperation. Bror agrees to manage the farm while she is away. When she returns, now unable to bear children, Bror resumes his safari work and they begin to live separately.

The relationship between Karen and Denys develops, and he comes to live with her. Denys acquires a Gipsy Moth biplane and often takes Karen flying. Karen and Bror get a divorce on the grounds of Bror's infidelity. When Karen learns that Denys has taken one of her female acquaintances on a private safari, Karen comes to realize that Denys does not share her desire for a monogamous, domestic relationship. He assures her that when he is with her he wants to be with her, and states that a marriage is immaterial to their relationship. Eventually, this drives them apart and, refusing to be tied down, he moves out.

The farm eventually yields a good harvest, but a fire destroys much of the farm and factory, forcing her to sell out. She prepares for her departure from Kenya to Denmark by appealing to the incoming governor to provide land for her Kikuyu workers to allow them to stay together, and by selling most of her remaining possessions at a rummage sale. Denys visits the now-empty house and Karen comments that the house should have been (empty) all-along and, as with her other efforts, the returning of things to their natural state is as it should be. Denys says that he was just getting used to her things.

As he is about to depart for a safari scouting trip in his airplane, they agree that the following Friday he will return and fly her to Mombasa; with Karen then continuing on to Denmark. Friday comes and Denys does not appear. Bror then arrives to tell her that Denys' biplane has crashed and burned in Tsavo. During Denys' funeral, Karen recites an excerpt of a poem by A. E. Housman about a lauded athlete dying young who, as with Denys, is not fated to decline into old age. Later, as she is about to depart, she goes to the Muthaiga Club to complete arrangements for forwarding any mail. The members, having come to admire her, invite her into the men-only salon for a toast. At the railway station, she gives Farah the compass that Denys had given to her, and says goodbye to Farah, then turns back to ask him to say her name so she can hear his voice one last time. Later, Farah writes to Karen in Denmark, telling her that a pair of lions often visit Denys' grave.

As the movie ends, the on-screen narrative notes that Karen later became a published author under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Among her work is the memoir about her experiences in Africa, ''Out of Africa'', the first line from which is used to introduce this film. She never returned to Africa.

Ahmad ibn Fadlan is a court poet of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir of Baghdad, until his amorous encounter with the wife of an influential noble gets him exiled as an "ambassador" to the Volga Bulgars. Traveling with his father's old friend, Melchisidek, his caravan is saved from Tatar raiders by the appearance of Norsemen. Taking refuge at their settlement on the Volga river, communications are established through Melchisidek and Herger, a Norseman who speaks Latin. From Herger, the two learn that the celebration being held by the Northmen is in fact a funeral for their recently deceased king. Herger also introduces them to one of the king's sons, Buliwyf. Ahmad and Melchisidek then witness a fight in which Buliwyf kills his brother in self defense, which establishes Buliwyf as heir apparent, followed by the Viking funeral of their dead king, cremated together with a young woman who agreed to accompany him to Valhalla.

The next day, a young prince named Wulfgar enters the camp requesting Buliwyf's aid: His father's kingdom in the far north is under attack from an ancient evil so frightening that even the bravest warriors dare not name it. The "angel of death", a völva (wisewoman), determines the mission will be successful if thirteen warriors go to face this danger — but that the thirteenth must not be a Norseman. Ahmad is recruited against his will.

Ahmad is initially treated indifferently by the Norsemen, who mock his perceived physical weakness and his small Arabian horse; however, he earns a measure of respect by quickly learning their language through careful observation, a demonstration of horsemanship, and his ability to write. Buliwyf, already a polyglot, asks Ahmad to teach him how to write in Arabic, cementing their goodwill towards one another, and recognizing Ahmad's analytic nature as an asset to their quest.

Reaching King Hrothgar's kingdom, they confirm that their foe is indeed the ancient "Wendol", fiends who come with the mist to kill and take human heads. While the group searches through a raided cabin they find a Venus figurine, said to represent the "Mother of the Wendol". On their first night, Hyglak and Ragnar are killed. In a string of clashes, Buliwyf's band gradually deduce that the Wendol are human cannibals clothed to look like bears, who live like bears, and think of themselves as bears.

Their numbers dwindling, having also lost Skeld, Halga, Roneth, and Rethel, and their position all but indefensible, they consult an ancient ''völva'' of the village. She tells them to track the Wendol to their lair and destroy their leaders, the "Mother of the Wendol", and their warlord who wears "the horns of power". Buliwyf and the remaining warriors infiltrate the Wendol cave-complex and kill the Mother, but not before Buliwyf is scratched deeply across the shoulder by her poisoned claw-like fingernail.

Ahmad and the last of the Norse warriors return to the village (but without Helfdane, who opts to stay behind and fight) to prepare for a last stand. Buliwyf staggers outside before the battle and inspires the warriors with a Viking prayer for the honored dead who will enter Valhalla. Buliwyf succeeds in killing the Wendol warlord, causing their defeat, before succumbing to the poison.

Ahmad witnesses Buliwyf's royal funeral before returning to his homeland, grateful to the Norsemen for helping him to "become a man and a useful servant of God". He is seen at the movie's end writing down the tale of his time with them.

Told from the point of view of Professor Bill Reynolds, a scholar in the (formerly) fictitious discipline of 'micropaleontology', this novel is set in the 24th and 25th Centuries, when the Solar System has been colonised. Reynolds is writing a thesis on fame and in his research discovers a dissertation on comedy submitted by Carlton, a robotic secretary for two stand-up comedians on an interplanetary comedy circuit. Most of the action in the novel follows this trio's adventures during the time when Reynolds believes Carlton was developing his theories. During this time, Carlton and his owners, Alex Muscroft and Lewis Ashby get caught up in a series of disasters including loss of work, parental responsibility and close scrapes with terrorists, the law, other entertainers, and a refugee crisis.

Carlton seeks to understand the nature of comedy and human laughter, and attempts to describe humor as a mathematical formula.

''Red Mars'' – Colonization

''Red Mars'' starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the ''Ares'', the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. The ship was built from clustered space shuttle external fuel tanks which, instead of reentering Earth's atmosphere, had been boosted into orbit until enough had been amassed to build the ship. The mission is a joint American–Russian undertaking, and seventy of the First Hundred are drawn from these countries (except, for example, Michel Duval, a French psychologist assigned to observe their behavior). The book details the trip out, construction of the first settlement on Mars (eventually called Underhill) by Russian engineer Nadia Cherneshevsky, as well as establishing colonies on Mars' hollowed out asteroid-moon Phobos, the ever-changing relationships between the colonists, debates among the colonists regarding both the terraforming of the planet and its future relationship to Earth. The two extreme views on terraforming are personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell, who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and that it is humanity's obligation to spread life as it is the most scarce thing in the known universe, and Ann Clayborne, who stakes out the position that humankind does not have the right to change entire planets at their will.

Russell's view is initially purely scientific but in time comes to blend with the views of Hiroko Ai, the chief of the Agricultural Team who assembles a new belief system (the "Areophany") devoted to the appreciation and furthering of life ("viriditas"); these views are collectively known as the "Green" position, while Clayborne's naturalist stance comes to be known as "Red." The actual decision is left to the United Nations Organization of Mars Affairs (UNOMA), which greenlights terraforming, and a series of actions get underway, including the drilling of "moholes" to release subsurface heat; thickening of the atmosphere according to a complicated bio-chemical formula that comes to be known as the "Russell cocktail" after Sax Russell; and the detonation of nuclear explosions deep in the sub-surface permafrost to release water. Additional steps are taken to connect Mars more closely with Earth, including the insertion of an areosynchronous asteroid "Clarke" to which a space elevator cable is tethered.

Against the backdrop of this development is another debate, one whose principal instigator is Arkady Bogdanov of the Russian contingent (possibly named in homage to the Russian polymath and science fiction writer Alexander Bogdanov - it is later revealed in Blue Mars that Alexander Bogdanov is an ancestor of Arkady's.). Bogdanov argues that Mars need not and should not be subject to Earth traditions, limitations, or authority. He is to some extent joined in this position by John Boone, famous as the "First Man on Mars" from a preceding expedition and rival to Frank Chalmers, the technical leader of the American contingent. Their rivalry is further exacerbated by competing romantic interest in Maya Katarina Toitovna, the leader of the Russian contingent. (In the opening of the book, Chalmers instigates a sequence of events that leads to Boone being assassinated; much of what follows is a retrospective examination of what led to that point.)

Earth meanwhile increasingly falls under the control of transnational corporations (transnats) that come to dominate its governments, particularly smaller nations adopted as "flags of convenience" for extending their influence into Martian affairs. As UNOMA's power erodes, the Mars treaty is renegotiated in a move led by Frank Chalmers; the outcome is impressive but proves short-lived as the transnats find ways around it through loop-holes. Things get worse as the nations of Earth start to clash over limited resources, expanding debt, and population growth as well as restrictions on access to a new longevity treatment developed by Martian scientists—one that holds the promise of lifespans into the hundreds of years. In 2061, with Boone dead and exploding immigration threatening the fabric of Martian society, Bogdanov launches a revolution against what many now view as occupying transnat troops operating only loosely under an UNOMA rubber-stamp approval. Initially successful, the revolution proves infeasible on the basis of both a greater-than-expected willingness of the Earth troops to use violence and the extreme vulnerability of life on a planet without a habitable atmosphere. A series of exchanges sees the cutting of the space elevator, bombardment of several Martian cities (including the city where Bogdanov is himself organizing the rebellion; he is killed), the destruction of Phobos and its military complex, and the unleashing of a great flood of torrential groundwater freed by nuclear detonations.

By the end, most of the First Hundred are dead, and virtually all who remain have fled to a hidden refuge established years earlier by Ai and her followers. (One exception is Phyllis Boyle, who has allied herself with the transnats; she is on Clarke when the space elevator cable is cut and sent flying out of orbit to a fate unknown by the conclusion of the book.) The revolution dies and life on Mars returns to a sense of stability under heavy transnat control. The clash over resources on Earth breaks out into a full-blown world war leaving hundreds of millions dead, but cease-fire arrangements are reached when the transnats flee to the safety of the developed nations, which use their huge militaries to restore order, forming police-states. But a new generation of humans born on Mars holds the promise of change. In the meantime, the remaining First Hundred —including Russell, Clayborne, Toitovna, and Cherneshevsky— settle into life in Hiroko Ai's refuge called Zygote, hidden under the Martian south pole.

''Green Mars'' – Terraforming

''Green Mars'' takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed plants to grow. It picks up the story 50 years after the events of ''Red Mars'' in the dawn of the 22nd century, following the lives of the remaining First Hundred and their children and grandchildren. Melting ice causes the top of the dome of Hiroko Ai's base under the south pole to collapse, forcing the survivors to escape into a (less literal) underground organization known as the Demimonde. Among the expanded group are the First Hundred's children, the Nisei, a number of whom live in Hiroko's second secret base, Gamete.

As unrest in the multinational control over Mars's affairs grows, various groups start to form with different aims and methods. Watching these groups evolve from Earth, the CEO of the Praxis Corporation sends a representative, Arthur Randolph, to organize the resistance movements. This culminates into the Dorsa Brevia agreement, in which nearly all the underground factions take part. Preparations are made for a second revolution beginning in the 2120s, from converting moholes to missiles silos or hidden bases, sabotaging orbital mirrors, to propelling Deimos out of Mars' gravity well and out into deep space so it could never be used as a weapons platform as Phobos was.

The book follows the characters across the Martian landscape, which is explained in detail. Russell's character infiltrates the transnat terraforming project, with a carefully crafted fake identity as Stephen Lindholm. The newly evolving Martian biosphere is described at great length and with more profound changes mostly aimed at warming up the surface of Mars to the brink of making it habitable, from continent-sized orbital mirrors, another space elevator built (using another anchored asteroid that is dubbed "New Clarke"), to melting the northern polar ice cap, and digging moholes deep enough to form volcanoes. A mainstay of the novel is a detailed analysis of philosophical, political, personal, economic, and geological experiences of the characters. The story weaves back and forth from character to character, providing a picture of Mars as seen by them.

Sax, alias Stephen, eventually becomes romantically involved with Phyllis, who had survived the events of 2061 from the end of the first novel, but she discovers his true identity and has him arrested. Members of the underground launch a daring rescue from the prison facility where Sax suffers torture and interrogation that causes him to have a stroke; Maya kills Phyllis in the process of the rescue.

The book ends on a major event which is a sudden catastrophic rise in Earth's global sea levels not caused primarily by any greenhouse effect but by the eruption of a chain of volcanoes underneath the ice of West Antarctica, disintegrating the ice sheet and displacing the fragments into the ocean. The resultant flooding causes global chaos on Earth, creating the perfect moment for the Martian underground to seize control of Martian society from Earth. Following a series of largely bloodless coups, an extremist faction of Reds bombs a dam near Burroughs, the major city where the remaining United Nations forces have concentrated, in order to force the security forces to evacuate. The entire city is flooded and the population of the city has to walk a staggeringly long distance in the open Martian atmosphere (which just barely has the temperature, atmospheric pressure, and gas mixture to support human life) to Libya Station, in order to resettle in other locations. With this, control of Mars is finally wrested away from Earth with minimal loss of life, leaving the weary survivors hopeful about the prospects of their newfound political autonomy.

''Blue Mars'' – Long-term results

''Blue Mars'' takes its title from the stage of terraforming that has allowed atmospheric pressure and temperature to increase so that liquid water can exist on the planet's surface, forming rivers and seas. It follows closely in time from the end of ''Green Mars'' and has a much wider scope than the previous two books, covering an entire century after the second revolution. As Earth is heavily flooded by the sudden melting of the Antarctic ice cap, the once mighty metanats are brought to their knees; as the Praxis Corporation paves a new way of "democratic businesses". Mars becomes the "Head" of the system, giving universal healthcare, free education, and an abundance of food. However, this sparks illegal immigration from Earth, so to ease the population strain on the Blue Planet, Martian scientists and engineers are soon put to the task of creating asteroid cities; where small planetoids of the Belt are hollowed out, given a spin to produce gravity, and a mini-sun is created to produce light and heat.

With a vast increase in sciences, technologies, and spacecraft manufacturing, this begins the "Accelerando"; where humankind spreads its civilization throughout the Solar System, and eventually beyond. As Venus, the Jovian moons, the Saturnian moons, and eventually Triton are colonized and terraformed in some way, Jackie Boone (the granddaughter of John Boone, the first man to walk on Mars from the first book) takes an interstellar vessel (made out of an asteroid) to another star system twenty light-years away, where they will start to terraform the planets and moons found there.

The remaining First Hundred are generally regarded as living legends. Reports of Hiroko's survival are numerous, and purported sightings occur all over the colonized solar system, but none are substantiated. Nadia and Art Randolph lead a constitutional congress in which a global system of government is established that leaves most cities and settlements generally autonomous, but subject to a central representative legislature and two systems of courts, one legal and the other environmental. The environmental court is packed with members of the Red faction as a concession (in exchange for their support in the congress, as much of their power was broken when they attempted and failed to violently expel remaining UN forces early on after the second revolution of Green Mars; yet they still retained enough power to stymie constitutional negotiations). Vlad, Marina, and Ursula, the original inventors of the longevity treatments, introduce a new economic system that is a hybrid of capitalism, socialism, and environmental conservationism. During a trip to Earth occurring alongside the congress, Nirgal (one of the original children to be born on Mars to the First Hundred, and something of a Mars-wide celebrity), Maya, and Sax negotiate an agreement that allows Earth to send a number of migrants equal to 10% of Mars' population to Mars every year. Following the adoption of the new constitution, Nadia is elected the first president of Mars and serves competently, although she does not enjoy politics. She and Art work together closely, and eventually fall in love and have a child.

Sax Russell devotes himself to various scientific projects, all the while continuing to recover from the effects of his stroke. Since the second revolution, he feels enormous guilt that his pro-terraforming position became the dominant one at the expense of the goals of Ann's anti-terraforming stance, as Sax and Ann have come to be regarded as the original champions of their respective positions. Sax becomes increasingly preoccupied with seeking forgiveness and approval from Ann, while Ann, depressed and bitter from her many political and personal losses, is suicidal and refuses to accept any more longevity treatments. However, when Sax witnesses Ann collapse into a coma during an attempt to demonstrate to her the beauty of the terraformed world, he arranges for her to be resuscitated and to be treated with the longevity treatment, both against her will.

The longevity treatments themselves begin to show weaknesses once those receiving them reach the two-century mark in age. The treatments reduce most aging processes to a negligible rate, but are much less effective when it comes to brain function, and in particular memory. Maya in particular suffers extreme lapses in memory, although she remains high functioning most of the time. Further, as people age, they begin to show susceptibility to strange, fatal conditions which have no apparent explanation and are resistant to any treatment. Most common is the event that comes to be known as the "quick decline", where a person of extremely advanced age and in apparently good health suffers a sudden fatal heart arrythmia and dies abruptly. The exact mechanism is never explained. Michel dies of the quick decline, while attending the wake of another First Hundred member. Russell speculates that Michel's quick decline was brought on by the shock of seeing Maya fail to remember Frank Chalmers (who was killed while escaping security forces in the first revolution) upon looking at a treasured photo of him on her refrigerator. As a result of this and Russell's own problems with memory, he organizes a team of scientists to develop medicine that will restore memory. The remaining members of the First Hundred, of which there are only 12, congregate in Underhill, and take the medicine. It works so well that Russell remembers his own birth. He and Ann Clayborne finally recall that they had been in love prior to leaving Earth the very first time, but both had been too socially inept and nervous about their chances for selection for the Mars voyage to reveal this to each other. Their famous argument over terraforming had been a mere continuation of a running conversation they had been having since they still lived on Earth. Through the memory treatment it is also revealed that Phyllis had been lobbying to free Sax from his torturers when she was murdered by Maya. Maya herself declines the treatment. Sax also distinctly recalls Hiroko assisting him in finding his rover in a storm before he nearly froze to death before disappearing once again and is convinced she remains alive, although the question of whether she is actually alive is never resolved.

Eventually, the anti-immigration factions of the Martian government provoke massive illegal immigration from Earth, risking another war; however, under the leadership of Ann and Sax, who have fallen in love again following their reconciliation, along with Maya, the Martian population unites to reconstitute the government to accept more immigration from Earth, defusing the imminent conflict and ushering in a new golden age of harmony and security on Mars.

''The Martians'' – Short stories

''The Martians'' is a collection of short stories that takes place over the timespan of the original trilogy of novels, as well as some stories that take place in an alternate version of the novels where the First Hundred's mission was one of exploration rather than colonization. Buried in the stories are several hints about the eventual fate of the Martian terraforming program. * "Michel in Antarctica" * "Exploring Fossil Canyon" (originally published in ''Universe 12'', 1982) * "The Archaeae Plot" * "The Way the Land Spoke to Us" * "Maya and Desmond" * "Four Teleological Trails" * "Coyote Makes Trouble" * "Michel in Provence" * "Green Mars" (originally published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' 1985) * "Discovering Life" (also in ''Vinland the Dream'') * "Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars" (subsequently anthologized) * "Salt and Fresh" * "The Constitution of Mars" * "Some Work Notes and Commentary on the Constitution by Charlotte Dorsa Brevia" * "Jackie on Zo" * "Keeping the Flame" * "Saving Noctis Dam" * "Big Man in Love" * "An Argument for the Deployment of All Safe Terraforming Technologies" * "Selected Abstracts from ''The Journal of Areological Studies''" * "Odessa" * "Sexual Dimorphism" (Originally in: ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', June 1999 and subsequently anthologized, including ; ; and Nominated for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, which celebrates gender-bending science fiction.) * "Enough Is as Good as a Feast" (the title phrase appears often in the Science in the Capital series) * "What Matters" * "Coyote Remembers" * "Sax Moments" * "A Martian Romance" (originally published in ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', October–November 1999, subsequently anthologized) * ""If Wang Wei Lived on Mars and Other Poems"" inc "The Names of the Canals", "The Soundtrack" * "Purple Mars"

Part I

The novel begins as Dr W. H. R. Rivers, an army psychiatrist at Craiglockhart War Hospital, learns of poet Siegfried Sassoon's declaration against the continuation of the war. A government board influenced by Sassoon's friend Robert Graves labels Sassoon as "shell-shocked" and sends him to the hospital in an effort to discredit him. Rivers feels uneasy about Sassoon entering Craiglockhart, doubting that he is shell-shocked and not wanting to shelter a conscientious objector. Soon after Sassoon arrives, Rivers meets him and they discuss why Sassoon objects to the war: he objects to its horrors, out of no particular religious belief, a common criterion for conscientious objectors. Though troubled by these horrors, Rivers affirms his duty to return Sassoon to combat. Sassoon feels conflicted about his safety at Craiglockhart while others die on the Western Front.

In addition to Sassoon's conflict, the opening chapters of the novel describe the suffering of other soldiers in the hospital. Anderson, a former surgeon, now cannot stand the sight of blood. Haunted by terrible hallucinations after being thrown into the air by an explosion and landing head first in the ruptured stomach of a rotting dead soldier, Burns experiences a revulsion to eating. Another patient, Billy Prior, suffers from mutism and will only write communications with Rivers on a notepad. Prior eventually regains his voice, but remains a difficult patient for Rivers avoiding any discussion of his war memories.

Part II

At the beginning of Part II, Sassoon meets the young aspiring poet Wilfred Owen who admires Sassoon's poetry and Sassoon helps workshop Owen's poem "The Dead-Beat". Sassoon becomes Anderson's golf partner. On a day off, Prior goes into Edinburgh and meets Sarah Lumb, a munitionette whose boyfriend was killed at the Battle of Loos. They nearly have sex, but Sarah refuses Prior at the last minute. The doctors punish Prior for being gone from Craiglockhart for too long, confining him there for two weeks. During that time, Rivers tries hypnosis on Prior to help him recover his memories of the trenches.

Meanwhile, Rivers invites Sassoon to visit the Conservative Club. At the lunch, Rivers realises it will be difficult to convince Sassoon to return to the war and does not want to force him. Later, Owen convinces Sassoon to publish his poetry in the hospital magazine ''The Hydra''. During this time, Prior meets Sarah in town and explains why he missed their meetings. Reconciled, they take a train to the seaside and walk along the beach together, where he feels relieved, though he is distracted thinking about the plight of fellow soldiers. Caught in a storm, he and Sarah have sex while sheltering in a bush. Meanwhile, Rivers, exhausted by the taxing work of caring for the shell shocked soldiers, is ordered by his superiors to holiday for three weeks away from Craiglockhart. Rivers' departure resurrects Sassoon's feelings of abandonment when his father left him, and he realises that Rivers has taken the place of his father.

Part III

While away from Craiglockhart, Rivers attends church near his brother's farm and reflects on the sacrifices of younger men in the war for the desires of the older generation. Afterward, tiring labour on his brother's farm allows a cathartic release and a thorough reflection on his experiences. During one flashback, Rivers reflects on his father's role in his life, remembering his father's speech therapy practice on both himself and Charles Dodgson, who was later known by his pen name Lewis Carroll. At Craiglockhart, Sassoon helps Owen draft one of his most famous poems, "Anthem for Doomed Youth."

Meanwhile, Sarah accompanies her friend Madge to a local wounded soldier hospital. Sarah gets separated and walks into a tent housing amputee soldiers. She feels shocked that society hides these injured soldiers away. During Sarah's experience, Prior is examined by a medical board. Prior fears that they suspect he is faking illness and want to send him back to war. While away, Rivers meets with some old friends, Ruth and Henry Head, who discuss Sassoon. Rivers suggests that Sassoon has the freedom to disagree with the war. However, Rivers affirms that his job is to make Sassoon return to military duty. At the end of their conversation Head offers Rivers a job in London, which Rivers is unsure if he should take out of fear of not fulfilling his duties.

Burns, who has since been discharged from hospital, invites Rivers to visit him at his family home in seaside Suffolk. Rivers finds Burns alone. They spend a few days together. One night, during a severe thunderstorm, Burns walks outside and suffers flashbacks to his experiences with trench warfare in France. The trauma facilitates Burns' ability to talk about his frontline experience. The experience also helps Rivers decide to take the job in London, and notifies his commander at Craiglockhart. When Rivers returns, Sassoon describes his recent hallucinations of dead friends knocking on his door. Sassoon admits to guilt for not serving the soldiers and decides to return to the trenches. Rivers, though pleased with Sassoon's decision, worries about what may happen to him there.

Part IV

Starting the section, Sarah tells her mother, Ada, about her relationship with Billy Prior. Ada scolds her daughter for having sex outside marriage. A few chapters later, Sarah discovers that another munitions worker attempted a home abortion with a coat-hanger, but only harms herself. Meanwhile, Sassoon tells Graves of his decision to return to war. In the same conversation, Graves stresses his heterosexuality, leaving Sassoon feeling of unease about his own sexual orientation. During a counselling session Sassoon talks to Rivers about the official attitude towards homosexuality. Rivers theorises that during wartime the authorities are particularly hard on homosexuality, wanting to clearly distinguish between the "right" kind of love between men (loyalty, brotherhood, camaraderie), which is beneficial to soldiers, and the "wrong" kind (sexual attraction).

Soon, the medical board review the soldiers' cases deciding on their fitness for combat. Prior receives permanent home service due to his asthma. Prior breaks down, fearing that he will be seen as a coward. Sassoon, tired of waiting for his board, leaves the hospital to dine with a friends, causing conflict with Rivers. Following the medical board, Prior and Sarah meet again and admit their love. Sassoon and Owen discuss Sassoon's imminent departure and Owen is deeply affected. Sassoon comments to Rivers that Owen's feelings may be more than mere hero worship.

Rivers spends his last day at the clinic saying goodbye to his patients, then travels to London and meets Dr. Lewis Yealland from the National Hospital, who will be his colleague in his new position. Dr. Yealland uses electro-shock therapy to force patients to quickly recover from shell-shock; he believes that some patients do not want to be cured and that pain is the best method of treatment for such reluctant patients. Rivers questions whether he can work with a man who uses such techniques. Soon Sassoon is released for combat duty; Willard is able to overcome his psychosomatic paralysis and walks again; Anderson is given a staff job. The novel ends with Rivers completing his notes, meditating on the effect that the encounter with Sassoon, and the last few months, have had on him.

Mel Coplin and his wife, Nancy, live in New York, near Mel's neurotic, Jewish, adoptive parents, Ed and Pearl Coplin. Mel and Nancy have just had their first child, and Mel won't decide on a name for their son until he can discover the identity of his biological parents. After an adoption agency employee locates his biological mother's name in a database, Mel decides to meet her personally.

Tina, the sexy but highly incompetent adoption agency employee, decides to accompany Mel, Nancy, and the newborn on a trip to San Diego to meet Mel's biological mother. The trip, of course, does not go as planned, and ends up becoming a tour of the United States.

First, Mel is introduced to Valerie, a blonde Scandinavian woman with Confederate roots whose twin daughters are at least taller than Mel. They quickly realize that Valerie is not Mel's biological mother, and Tina scrambles to get the correct information from the agency database. Meanwhile, Nancy becomes jealous as Tina and Mel begin to flirt.

Next, the group heads to Battle Creek, Michigan with the hope of meeting the man whose name appears as the person who delivered infant Mel to the adoption agency. The man, Fritz Boudreau, turns out to be a trucker with a violent streak. However, when he discovers that Mel might be his son, he becomes instantly friendly and lets Mel drive his semi-trailer truck, which Mel immediately crashes into a Post Office building.

This leads to a run-in with two ATF agents, Tony and Paul, who are gay and in a relationship with each other. It is discovered that Tony and Nancy went to high school together. Charges are dismissed, and Fritz Boudreau tells Mel that he is not Mel's father, but only handled Mel's adoption because Mel's biological parents were indisposed. Tina locates the current address of Mel's biological parents, which turns out to be in rural New Mexico. Tony and Paul surprise everyone by deciding to tag along on the trip.

While Mel and Tina become close, Nancy finds herself flirting with Tony, who returns the compliment, causing friction. The trip through rural New Mexico is fraught with more problems. At last the whole crowd descends on the front porch of Mel's true biological parents, Richard and Mary Schlichting. They are asked to stay the night. While Richard and Mary are more than welcoming, Mel's biological brother Lonnie is overly rude and jealous. It is during dinner that Mel discovers that Richard and Mary had to let Mel be adopted because they were in jail for making and distributing LSD in the late 1960s. Not only that, but Richard and Mary continue to manufacture LSD, as becomes apparent when Lonnie, in an attempt to dose Mel with acid at dinner, accidentally doses Paul, the ATF agent.

In his drugged state, Paul tries to arrest Richard and Mary, but Lonnie knocks him out with a frying pan. They attempt to escape and decide to take Mel's car, hiding their supply of acid in the trunk. Mel's adoptive parents arrive but then change their minds and decide to leave, taking the wrong car. When they change their minds again and make a blind U-turn, the two families crash. Mel's adoptive parents are arrested while his biological parents escape to Mexico.

Not realizing what has happened, Mel recounts the stories from dinner to Nancy and they agree to name the baby Garcia. The next day Paul explains the situation and is able to get Mel's parents released, and they are happy and reassured to hear Mel call them his parents. A montage of their relationships continues over the credits. They all still have their troubles but Mel and Nancy are happy together.

''House of Leaves'' begins with a first-person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee and professed unreliable narrator. Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend Lude tells him about the apartment of the recently deceased Zampanò, a blind, elderly man who lived in Lude's apartment building.

In Zampanò's apartment, Truant discovers a manuscript written by Zampanò that turns out to be an academic study of a documentary film called ''The Navidson Record'' directed by an acclaimed photojournalist named Will Navidson, though Truant says he can find no evidence that the film or its subjects ever existed.

The rest of the novel incorporates several narratives, including Zampanò's report on the (possibly fictional) film; Truant's autobiographical interjections; a small transcript of part of the film from Navidson's brother, Tom; a small transcript of interviews of many people regarding ''The Navidson Record'' by Navidson's partner, Karen; and occasional brief notes by unidentified editors, all woven together by a mass of footnotes. There is also another narrator, Truant's mother, whose voice is presented through a self-contained set of letters titled ''The Whalestoe Letters''. Each narrator's text is printed in a distinct font, making it easier for the reader to follow the occasionally challenging format of the novel (Truant in Courier New in the footnotes, and the main narrative in Times New Roman in the American version, the unnamed editors are in Bookman, and the letters from Johnny's mother are in Dante).

''The Navidson Record''

Zampanò's narrative deals primarily with the Navidson family: Will Navidson, a photojournalist (partly based on Kevin Carter); his partner, Karen Green, an attractive former fashion model; and their two children, Chad and Daisy. Navidson's brother, Tom, and several other characters also play a role later in the story. The Navidson family has recently moved into a new home in Virginia.

Upon returning from a trip to Seattle, the Navidson family discovers a change in their home: a closet-like space shut behind an undecorated door appears inexplicably where previously there was only a blank wall. A second door appears at the end of the closet, leading to the children's room. As Navidson investigates this phenomenon, he finds that the internal measurements of the house are somehow larger than external measurements. Initially there is less than an inch of difference, but as time passes the interior of the house seems to expand while maintaining the same exterior proportions. A third and more extreme change asserts itself: a dark, cold hallway opens in an exterior living room wall that should project outside into their yard, but does not. Navidson films the outside of the house to show where the hallway should be but clearly is not. The filming of this anomaly comes to be referred to as "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway". This hallway leads to a maze-like complex, starting with a large room (the "Anteroom"), which in turn leads to a truly enormous space (the "Great Hall"), a room primarily distinguished by an enormous spiral staircase which appears, when viewed from the landing, to spiral down without end. There is also a multitude of corridors and rooms leading off from each passage. All of these rooms and hallways are completely unlit and featureless, consisting of smooth ash-gray walls, floors, and ceilings. The only sound disturbing the perfect silence of the hallways is a periodic low growl, the source of which is never fully explained, although an academic source "quoted" in the book hypothesizes that the growl is created by the frequent re-shaping of the house.

There is some discrepancy as to where "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway" appears. It is quoted by different characters at different times to have been located in each of the cardinal directions. This first happens when Zampanò writes that the hallway is in the western wall (page 57), directly contradicting an earlier page where the hallway is mentioned to be in the northern wall (page 4); Johnny's footnotes point out the contradiction.

Navidson, along with his brother Tom and some colleagues, feel compelled to explore, photograph, and videotape the house's seemingly endless series of passages, eventually driving various characters to insanity, murder, and death. Ultimately, Will releases what has been recorded and edited as ''The Navidson Record''.

Will and Karen purchase the house because their relationship is becoming strained with Will's work-related absences. While Karen is always adamantly against marriage (claiming that she values her freedom above anything else), she always finds herself missing and needing Will when he is gone: "And yet even though Karen keeps Chad from overfilling the mold or Daisy from cutting herself with the scissors, she still cannot resist looking out the window every couple of minutes. The sound of a passing truck causes her to glance away" (pages 11–12).

Zampanò's narrative includes references to Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Douglas Hofstadter, Ken Burns, Harold Bloom, Camille Paglia, Hunter Thompson, Anne Rice, and Jacques Derrida to indicate that the Navidsons' story achieved international notoriety.

Many of the references in Zampanò's footnotes, however, are real, existing both within his world and the world outside the novel. For example, several times Zampanò cites an actual Time-Life book, ''Planet Earth: Underground Worlds'' (page 125).

Johnny's story

An adjacent story line develops in Johnny's footnotes, detailing what is progressing in Johnny's life as he is assembling the narrative. It remains unclear if Johnny's obsession with the writings of Zampanò and subsequent delusions, paranoia, etc. are the result of drug use, insanity, or the effects of Zampanò's writing itself. Johnny recounts tales of his various sexual encounters, his lust for a tattooed dancer he calls Thumper, and his bar-hopping with Lude throughout various footnotes. The reader also slowly learns more about Johnny's childhood living with an abusive foster father, engaging in violent fights at school, and of the origin of Johnny's mysterious scars (page 505). More information about Johnny can be gleaned from the Whalestoe Letters, letters his mother Pelafina wrote from The Three Attic Whalestoe Institution. Though Pelafina's letters and Johnny's footnotes contain similar accounts of their past, their memories also differ greatly at times, due to both Pelafina's and Johnny's questionable mental states. Pelafina was placed in the mental institution after supposedly attempting to strangle Johnny, only to be stopped by her husband. She remained there after Johnny's father's death. Johnny claims that his mother meant him no harm and claimed to strangle him only to protect him from missing her. It is unclear, however, if Johnny's statements about the incident—or any of his other statements, for that matter—are factual.

The Whalestoe Letters

This story is included in an appendix near the end of the book, as well as in its own, self-contained book (with additional content included in the self-contained version). It consists of Johnny's mother's letters to him from a psychiatric hospital. The letters start off fairly normal but Pelafina quickly descends into paranoia and the letters become more and more incoherent. There are also secret messages in the letters which can be decoded by combining the first letters of consecutive words.

Lauper plays Sylvia Pickel (pronounced with an emphasis on the "kel", as she points out), a trance-medium who has contact with a wisecracking spirit guide named Louise. She first began communicating with Louise after falling from a ladder at the age of twelve and remaining comatose for two weeks. Subsequently, Louise taught her astral projection while Sylvia was placed in special homes for being "different." At a study of psychics, she meets fellow psychic Nick Deezy (Goldblum), a psychometrist who can determine the history of events surrounding an object by touching it. Sylvia has a history of bad luck with men, and her overly flirtatious behavior turns off Nick right away.

Sylvia comes home to her apartment one night to find Harry Buscafusco (Falk) lounging in her kitchen. He claims to want to hire her for $50,000 if she'll accompany him to Ecuador where his son has allegedly gone missing. Sylvia recruits Nick who is reluctant but also eager to leave his job as a museum curator where his special talents are abused like a circus act.

Once the two get there, they initially set out to where Harry's son was last seen, only to have Nick's powers tell them that Harry is up to something. Harry confesses that what he is actually looking for is a lost city of gold up in the mountains and that his last partner, who discovered it, went insane. Nick angrily retreats back to the hotel followed by Sylvia who feels embarrassed over being fooled by yet another man.

At the hotel Nick is attacked by a woman who tries to drug and then stab him, saying "You think you can just come here and take it away from us?" Convinced that there is something important, if dangerous, at work he agrees to trek back into the mountains to search for this lost city. The group makes a detour to visit Harry's former partner, who is in a vegetative state in the hospital. When Nick lays hands on him he receives a jolt of tremendous psychic energy; the former partner immediately dies.

Unexpectedly, the three are set upon by Ingo Swedlin (Googy Gress), another psychic from their test group. He holds them at gunpoint and threatens to kill them, but Sylvia uses Louise to get in touch with his long lost mother and the group escapes. They begin their journey anew only to once again be confronted by Ingo and by Doctor Harrison Steele (Sands). Ingo throws a knife into Harry's back and kills him, and the other two are taken hostage. They are forced to lead the way to this alleged city of gold.

Upon arriving, the group discovers an ancient pyramid shaped structure with mystical carvings. Sylvia translates them and they appear to reveal that the location was built by an ancient alien race who has embedded all of the psychic energy of the world into this pyramid. Using the translation Sylvia provided, Ingo attempts to decipher the secret to harnessing the energy, but before he can, Sylvia lays hands on the pyramid and allows the dangerous forces to flow through her. She kills their captors and is nearly killed herself, but survives. However, she permanently loses contact with her spirit guide Louise, who sacrifices her connection to Sylvia in order to save her and Nick in the process.

The two return to their hotel, battered and bruised but thankful that they played a part in releasing a dangerous force. Later that night they reconvene in Sylvia's room and bring to fruition a romantic flirtation that has permeated the film. Before they can make love, however, Sylvia hits her head on the headboard and reveals that a spirit guide has re-entered her life. It is not Louise, however, but the ghost of Harry.

Setting and characters

The game is set in Cvstodia, a land of religion, highly influenced by Roman Catholicism, its iconography, and Spanish culture particularly that of the Andalucía region. The land is hallowed by a force known as "The Miracle". This force manifests itself in strange and often cruel ways, sometimes blessing and sometimes cursing Cvstodia's inhabitants, transforming them into twisted creatures.

The protagonist is The Penitent One, the sole survivor of the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow (called so because their members have agreed to a vow of silence). He wears a mask and helmet that consists of barbed wire and a pointed helmet, and his sword is adorned with spikes as of that of a rose and an effigy. During his pilgrimage he meets characters such as Deogracias, who is found in several key moments of the story and acts as a narrator for the game; Redento, a pilgrim who walks with his back bent and his hands tied as a form of penance; Candelaria, an old merchant who sells various items; and Viridiana, who offers assistance to the player in boss battles. There is a governing Church led by His Holiness Escribar, who was reborn as the Last Son of the Miracle long before the game's events.

Story

''Blasphemous'' begins in the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, a religious order opposed to His Holiness Escribar's authority, after all its members have been massacred. The last of their kind, the Penitent One, is resurrected by the Miracle and departs on a pilgrimage. After defeating the Warden of the Silent Sorrow, he finds Deogracias, who tells him about the Cradle of Affliction, a sacred relic that the Penitent One seeks, and the Three Humiliations he must perform to be deemed worthy to reach it. He also gives the Penitent One a thorn to add to his sword's handle, wounding and feeding off the user's guilt. This thorn will grow as the player completes certain optional dungeons, and its state at the end of the game will affect the ending.

The Penitent One travels to different locations in Cvstodia, including the decaying town of Albero, the snowing hills Where Olive Trees Wither, and the underground Desecrated Cistern. He completes the Three Humiliations, each of them involving a trial against a different boss, to obtain the Holy Wounds of '''Attrition''', '''Contrition''' and '''Compunction''' from the three Holy Guardian Visages. After defeating Esdras of the Anointed Legion on the Bridge of the Three Calvaries, the Penitent One gains access to the Mother of Mothers, the massive cathedral where Escribar and the Cradle of Affliction reside.

Throughout the journey, Escribar's voice is heard, telling his backstory: A long time before the Penitent One began his pilgrimage, His Holiness Escribar had turned his throne away from his congregation, believing that the Miracle had forsaken them. Gradually, the Miracle transformed Escribar into a massive tree which suddenly ignited one day, leaving behind a massive pile of ash, atop which stood Escribar's throne. The Miracle drove countless people to attempt climbing the mountain, but all of them failed, swallowed by the ash. As punishment, they re-emerged from the ash as mindless beasts (the game's enemies) cursed to carry out the Miracle's will. This included Escribar, who was reborn as the Last Son of the Miracle.

The penultimate boss is Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony, the leader of Escribar's soldiers and a female knight whose armor resembles the Penitent One's, also revealed in the prequel comic to be responsible for his first death and throwing his corpse to where the game began. The Penitent One triumphs this time, but she escapes. Proceeding to the top of the Mother of Mothers, the Penitent One battles and defeats His Holiness Escribar. The latter engages once more, revealing his true form as the Last Son of the Miracle, but is once again defeated. The Penitent One then finds the mountain of ash, where Deogracias encourages him to climb it and reach the Cradle of Affliction. If the player did not complete all the optional dungeons and upgrade the thorn to its final form, the Penitent One fails to reach the top and sinks into the ash, leaving behind nothing but his mask – which Deogracias picks up and deposits next to a pile of countless identical masks, declaring the protagonist's penitence over. However, if the player completed the dungeons and fully upgraded the thorn, the Penitent One reaches Escribar's throne at the top of the ash mountain, sits there, and stabs himself with his sword. His lifeless body turns into a tree and becomes worshiped by the people of Cvstodia as the new Father and Last Son of the Miracle. In a post-credits cutscene, Crisanta reappears and draws the ''Mea Culpa'' from the Penitent One's body.

The ''Wounds of Eventide'' DLC adds a new ending if certain conditions are met. Upon starting a new game over a completed save file, the Penitent One can access the tomb of Perpetva, a winged female warrior who is encountered as a miniboss in the original game and assists her brother Esdras in his bossfight. She reveals that the Perpetva the Penitent One had fought was nothing more than a replica created by the Miracle, and his utter devotion to his mission had convinced her to aid him in unraveling the truth. Giving him a scapular to show Esdras, it convinces him to help the Penitent One as well, granting him access to the prison of the Exiled Visage, the fourth Holy Guardian Visage. For learning the truth behind the Miracle, it was branded a traitor and imprisoned by its three brothers, its eyes removed so that it would be blind to the truth. By helping the Exiled Visage regain its eyes, the Penitent One is given the ultimate Sword Heart of the Mea Culpa that enables it to wound a soul, and knowledge that Crisanta was being enslaved by the High Wills, the true masterminds behind the Miracle. Using the true Mea Culpa to free Crisanta from the High Wills' control, she grants the Penitent One the Holy Wound of '''Abnegation''', which in combination with the other three Holy Wounds allows him to enter the other side of the Dream, the realm where the High Wills reside. With Crisanta's aid, the Penitent One battles and defeats the Last Son of the Miracle yet again, killing Escribar for good.

With nothing standing before them, the Penitent One and Crisanta confront the High Wills, a trio of human faces with a single mind that constantly weep tears of gold. Having possibly manifested as a result of the Cvstodians' faith, they had created the Miracle in response to the pleas of a youth who would eventually become the Twisted One, a messianic figure in Cvstodian faith. The High Wills selfishly exploit the Cvstodians' guilt and desire for penance, using the Miracle as a means to gather the Cvstodians' faith for their own immortality and splendor. Their threats ultimately fall short on the Penitent One and Crisanta, who cut them down in order to end the Miracle and thus Cvstodia's suffering, freeing those trapped by the Miracle's power such as the Twisted One himself. Kept alive only by the Miracle's whim, the Penitent One finally passes away, with Deogracias and Crisanta putting his body to rest. In the post-credits cutscene, a massive womb descends from the clouds above into Cvstodia, bearing an unknown humanoid figure within.

In the ''Stir of Dawn'' DLC, the Penitent One can optionally meet Jibrael on a New Game+ playthrough, a giant, hunchbacked man with a bugle contorted around his arms. Finding Jibrael in different locations will allow him to play his bugle, releasing the crystal sarcophagi of the Amanecidas, four women created by the Miracle from the immense passion of Laudes, a devotee of the Twisted One. For revering the Twisted One more than the Miracle, the High Wills punished Laudes by sealing her and the Amanecidas away as undead warriors to be awakened only with the Saeta played through Jibrael's bugle. After defeating the Amanecidas, Jibrael can awaken Laudes, who battles the Penitent One with the combined abilities of the Amanecidas. After defeating Laudes, she dies peacefully and Jibrael, implied to have loved Laudes in life, is similarly able to find peace and pass on.

In the ''Strife and Ruin'' DLC, a crossover event with ''Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night'', the Penitent One encounters Miriam, the game's protagonist, trapped in Cvstodia on the Miracle's whim. Unable to return to her realm, the Penitent One has the option to aid her by finding crystal shards scattered throughout Cvstodia in order to repair the portal that will send her back. Reclaiming each shard requires the completion of challenging obstacle courses, each subsequent one more difficult than the last. After collecting the shards, Miriam is able to return home, but not before granting the Penitent One a powerful prayer that will summon her to attack alongside him.

A struggling former child actor and now-adult screenwriter, "Monkey" Zetterland is working on a historical screenplay based around the defunct Red Car subway of Los Angeles. He lives in a building owned by his neurotic mother Honor Zetterland, who is a famous soap opera star. Secretly hoping there is a future in acting for Monkey, she is trying to turn her other son, Brent Zetterland, a hairdresser, into a film star.

Honor shows up at Monkey's house to borrow his epsom salts at the same time that his disagreeable girlfriend, Daphne, arrives. His sister, Grace Zetterland, arrives in tears to reveal that her lesbian girlfriend, Cindy, has become pregnant in an attempt to bring the two of them closer. Honor rents the basement apartment to Sascha and Sofie, a gay man and lesbian posing as husband and wife while publishing an underground newsletter that outs closeted homosexuals in the entertainment industry.

As if this were not enough, a creepy woman, Bella, shows up with a fan letter for Honor, and another strange lady, Imogene, begins openly pursuing Monkey's attention. After a series of confrontations, Daphne moves out, and around the same time the family's absentee father, Mike, (who has frequently left home for long periods of time throughout their lives) surfaces in time for Thanksgiving.

While everyone busies themselves with their personal issues, Grace discovers that Sascha and Sofie are in fact terrorists who intend to bomb a local insurance agency that is denying medical coverage to people with HIV and AIDS. Sofie comes up with a plan to send Grace into the agency with a bomb, which Grace and Sascha believe is set up to give Grace enough time to escape. It is not, and Grace dies in the explosion.

This event pulls everyone out of their own selfish interests and forces them to re-examine their lives and the people around them. The patriarch of the family disappears again, Grace's lover and her baby are taken in by the family and Monkey decides to let Imogene get closer to him. Then, just as things are starting to fall into place, Monkey comes home to find his apartment ransacked and his finally finished script stolen. It was his only copy.

Later that evening, Bella, who left a fan letter for Honor, arrives with Monkey's stolen script and a gun. She tries to shoot Honor, but hits the family dog instead. She is taken down, but the ensuing drama pulls the remaining emotional conflicts of the family into place. Honor accepts that Monkey is never going to become a famous actor. Instead of pushing him that way, she uses her connections to have his script produced, with his brother Brent as the star.

Scrooge, Donald and the nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie are off to find ancient sunken treasure from the time of the Trojan War, unaware that the Beagle Boys are spying on them. The Ducks find the legendary Trojan Horse, but all the while they are followed by an albatross, which serves as a spy for the Beagle Boys.

In 1984, 17-year-old Daniel LaRusso and his mother Lucille move from Newark, New Jersey, to Reseda, Los Angeles, California. Their apartment's handyman is an eccentric, but kind and humble Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi.

At a beach party, Daniel befriends Ali Mills, a high school cheerleader, drawing the attention of her arrogant ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence, a black belt and the top student from the Cobra Kai dojo, training in an aggressive form of karate. Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang continually bully Daniel. On Halloween, after Daniel sprays water on Johnny with a hose as payback, he and his gang pursue Daniel down the street and brutally beat him, until Mr. Miyagi intervenes and easily defeats them alone.

Amazed, Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate. He declines but agrees to accompany Daniel to Cobra Kai to resolve the conflict. They meet the sensei, John Kreese, an ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran who callously dismisses the peace offering. Miyagi then proposes that Daniel enter the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championships, thereby compete against Kreese’s students on equal terms, and requests that the bullying cease while he trains. Kreese agrees to the terms but warns that if Daniel does not show up for the tournament, the harassment will continue for both of them.

Daniel's training starts with days of menial chores that seemingly only serve to make him Miyagi's slave. When he becomes frustrated, Miyagi demonstrates that repetition of these chores have helped him to learn defensive blocks through muscle memory. Their bond develops, and Miyagi opens up to Daniel about his life, including the dual loss of his wife and son in childbirth at the Manzanar internment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe, where he received the Medal of Honor.

Through Mr. Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns not only karate but also important life lessons such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons Miyagi has taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali. On Daniel's 18th birthday, Miyagi gives him a Karate gi for the tournament and one of his own cars.

At the tournament, Daniel surprises the audience and competitors by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against Darryl Vidal. Kreese instructs his second-best student, Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, severely injuring Daniel and getting himself disqualified in the process.

Daniel is taken to the locker room, where the physician determines that he cannot continue. However, he believes that if he quits, his tormentors will have gotten the best of him, so he convinces Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique to help him continue. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Daniel returns to fight. The match is a seesaw battle, with neither able to break through the other's defense.

The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor-leg technique to trip Johnny, delivering a blow to the back of his head and giving Johnny a nosebleed. Kreese directs Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg – an unethical move. Johnny looks horrified at the order, but reluctantly agrees. As the match resumes and the score is tied 2–2, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and deals a vicious elbow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he observed Mr. Miyagi performing on a beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and executes a front kick to Johnny's face, scoring the tournament-winning point and becoming the new champion.

Johnny, having gained newfound respect for his nemesis, presents the trophy to Daniel himself, as Daniel is carried off by an enthusiastic crowd while Miyagi looks on proudly.

''Restoree'' is the story of Sara, an introverted, beak-nosed, 24-year-old virginal librarian originally from near Seaford, Delaware, who is abducted from New York City by the Mil, amorphous alien creatures that eat human flesh. She is kept alive, with her skin removed and in a catatonic state from the physical and mental shock, on a meat hook as a Mil meal until the alien ship she is on is captured by human inhabitants of the planet Lothar. Without her skin, some Lotharians mistake her for one of their own and perform controversial "restoration" procedures on her, including a nose job.

Sara comes to her senses in a mental institution on Lothar with no memory of what happened, little knowledge of the local language, and a beautiful, golden-skinned body. At the institution, she is treated as if she were retarded and given menial tasks to do, as are other "restorees" who have been clandestinely salvaged from Mil ships; it is apparently some factor of Sara's Terran origins that allows her to fully recover from the shock of the Mil ordeal, while Lotharian restorees are of limited intellect at best. One of her jobs is to care for Harlan, the deposed planetary regent, who is being drugged into a moronic state. Recognizing what is being done, Sara helps Harlan to regain his senses and escape the mental institution. Sara and Harlan then gain the advantage over Harlan's political enemies, defeat the Mil, solve some of Lothar's emerging domestic problems and, of course, fall in love.

Young American secretary Maria Williams arrives in Rome and is greeted by Anita Hutchins, the woman whom she is replacing at the United States Distribution Agency. They drive to the Villa Eden, which Anita shares with Miss Frances, the longtime secretary of the American author John Frederick Shadwell, an expatriate living in Rome. On their way into town, the three women stop at the famous Trevi Fountain. Frances and Anita tell Maria that according to legend, if she throws a coin in the fountain and makes a wish to return to Rome, she will. Maria and Frances throw in their coins, but Anita, who is planning to return to the United States to marry, declines.

Anita takes Maria to the agency and introduces her to Giorgio Bianchi, a translator with whom she works. Maria senses that Anita and Giorgio are attracted to each other, though Anita states that the agency forbids its American and Italian employees to fraternize. Later that evening at a party, Maria is attracted by the handsome Prince Dino di Cessi, despite being warned by Frances and Anita about his being a notorious womanizer. His girlfriends become known as "Venice girls" after he takes them to Venice for romantic trysts. Dino charms Maria, telling her to ignore what she's heard about him.

After the party, Anita and Maria walk home and Anita admits that she has no fiancé waiting back in the United States. She's leaving because she believes she has a better chance of finding a husband in America; wealthy Italian men are not interested in mere secretaries, and the men who are interested are too poor. As they walk, Maria is pinched by a man who pesters her until she is rescued by Giorgio, who then asks Anita to go with him the next day to his family's country farm to attend a celebration. Anita reluctantly agrees.

The next morning, Giorgio picks Anita up in his cousin's dilapidated truck. On their way out of town, they are spotted by her boss, Burgoyne. On Giorgio's family farm, Giorgio tells Anita that he hopes to become a lawyer, despite his poverty. Anita then climbs into the truck and is almost killed when it rolls down the hill. After Giorgio rescues her, the breathless couple give in to their attraction and they kiss. Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Dino calls for Maria and asks if she will accompany him to Venice. Desiring to see Venice but not wanting to lose Dino's respect, Maria arranges for Frances to chaperone them — to Dino's disappointment.

At the agency on Monday, Burgoyne questions Maria about Anita's weekend with Giorgio and although she maintains that Anita did nothing wrong, Burgoyne assumes Anita is having an affair with Giorgio. The following day, he fires Giorgio. When Anita learns about this, she blames Maria for betraying her confidence and insists on moving out of their apartment. She visits Giorgio, worried that she might have ruined his chances of becoming a lawyer. Giorgio has no regrets.

Meanwhile, Maria sets out to attract Dino's affections. She learns about the modern art he loves, his favorite food and wine, and pretends to learn the piccolo (his favorite instrument). Maria even lies about her background, telling Dino she is three-quarters Italian. Beguiled by how much he apparently has in common with Maria, Dino introduces her to his mother, the Principessa, who expresses her approval. Later, Dino confides in Maria that she is the only girl whom he has ever completely trusted. Troubled by her deception, Maria confesses her subterfuge, even showing Dino her notebook listing his interests. He angrily takes her home.

Frances meets Anita, who admits that she and Giorgio are in love but will not marry because he is too poor. Frances returns home to comfort the guilt-stricken Maria, who is also determined to leave Rome because Dino has not contacted her since her admission. Frances tells her she is glad she is no longer young and susceptible to romance. The next morning, however, Frances suddenly announces to Shadwell that she is returning to the United States, explaining that she does not want to end up as an old maid in a foreign country. Shadwell, unaware that Frances has been deeply in love with him for fifteen years, offers her a marriage of convenience based on mutual respect. Eager to be with him under any circumstances, Frances accepts.

The next day, Shadwell learns that he is terminally ill and has less than a year to live unless he goes to America for experimental treatment. Shadwell returns to his villa and coldly breaks off his engagement to Frances. After Shadwell leaves, Frances learns from his doctor the truth about Shadwell's condition, and then follows him to a café, where she proceeds to match him drink for drink while bickering about whether he should pursue treatment. Completely drunk, Frances climbs into a nearby fountain and sobs about her life. After Shadwell takes her back to the villa and tucks her in, he goes to see Dino at the di Cessi palace. Shadwell tells Dino he is leaving for the United States where he will marry Frances. He uses reverse psychology to provoke Dino into realizing that he loves Maria.

After Anita and Maria are packed and ready to leave, Frances telephones and asks to meet them at the Trevi Fountain. When they arrive, Maria and Anita are disappointed to see the fountain emptied for cleaning. When they are joined by Frances, however, the water springs up again, and the women are thrilled by its beauty. Dino and Giorgio then arrive, and as the men embrace their girlfriends, Frances is joined by Shadwell, and they happily admire the fountain, which has proved lucky to them all.

Douglas Roberts, the title character, joined the Navy expecting that he would be assigned to surface combat in a destroyer or a cruiser. He had no idea that the Navy had support ships. To his distress, he was assigned first to a tanker in the Atlantic and then to the USS ''Reluctant'', AK-601, a general cargo freighter ferrying supplies to backwater Pacific bases. Mr. Roberts is the ship's First Lieutenant, meaning that he is responsible for maintaining the entire ship except for the engineering spaces. He hates the ship, but he is more responsible for her than anyone aboard apart from the Captain. The irony is not lost on him.

Every month, he submits a request for transfer; every month, Captain Morton, the commanding officer of the ''Reluctant'', forwards it, not recommending approval. Roberts is the balance wheel between the unreasonable behavior of the Captain and the frustration of the crew at being assigned to "this bucket", which never goes anywhere worth going or does anything worth doing.

The novel is a series of stories set aboard the ''Reluctant'', showing the problems of life aboard a naval auxiliary in the rear areas of the Pacific war. One chapter deals with a very new ensign finding his feet aboard a ship much more casual than a taut man-of-war. Another shows the kind of feuding that months of boredom can engender between two officers. One chapter shows what can happen when a crew that hasn't had a liberty in more than a year is anchored off an island that has a naval hospital with nurses and no shades on their windows. Yet another recounts what happens when the ''Reluctant'' is sent with a load of cargo to the port of Elysium and Captain Morton grants liberty to half the crew. The final chapter illustrates the affection of the crew towards Mr. Roberts, when his transfer finally comes through and he leaves the ship to return to the United States for assignment to a new destroyer ... and what happens afterwards.

On Labor Day 1955, vagrant Hal Carter arrives by freight train in a Kansas town to visit his fraternity friend Alan Benson. While staying with kindly Helen Potts, Hal also meets Alan's girlfriend, Madge Owens, Madge's sister Millie, and their mother. Alan is happy to see the "same old Hal" and shows Hal his family's sprawling grain elevator operations. Alan promises Hal a steady job as a "wheat scooper" and invites him to attend the town's Labor Day picnic.

At the picnic, Hal divides his attention between Madge, Millie, and middle-aged schoolteacher Rosemary, who has been brought to the picnic by store owner Howard Bevens. All three women end up fighting over Hal. Alan blames Hal for the mess and says he is ashamed that he brought Hal in the first place. By now a crowd is watching, and Hal flees into the darkness.

Madge follows Hal to Alan's car and gets in with him. By the river, he tells her he was sent to reform school as a boy for stealing a motorcycle and that his whole life is a failure. They kiss. Outside Madge's house, they promise to meet after she finishes work the next evening. Hal drives back to Alan's house to return the car, but Alan has called the police and wants Hal arrested. Hal flees the house in Alan's car with the police following close behind. Hal shows up at Howard's apartment, asking to spend the night there. Howard is very understanding and now has his own worries: Rosemary has begged him to marry her. Back at the Owens house, Madge and Millie cry themselves to sleep in their shared room.

The next morning, Howard comes to the Owens house, intending to tell Rosemary he wants to wait, but at the sight of him she is overjoyed, thinking he has come to take her away. Howard wordlessly goes along with the misunderstanding. As he passes Madge on the stairs, he tells her Hal is hiding in the backseat of his car. Hal is able to slip away before the other women gleefully decorate Howard's car. While Howard and Rosemary happily drive off to the Ozarks, Hal and Madge meet by a shed behind the house. He tells her that he loves her and asks her to meet him in Tulsa, where they can marry and he can get a job at a hotel as a bellhop and elevator operator. Mrs. Owens finds them by the shed and threatens to call the police. Madge and Hal embrace and kiss. Hal runs to catch a passing freight train, crying out to Madge, "You love me! You love me!" Upstairs in their room, Millie tells Madge to "do something bright" for once in her life and go to Hal. Madge packs a small suitcase and, despite her mother's tears, boards a bus for Tulsa.

The film is set in Jennings County, Indiana, in 1862. Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) is a farmer and patriarch of the Birdwell family whose Quaker religion conflicts with his love for the worldly enjoyments of music and horse racing. Jess's wife Eliza, (Dorothy McGuire) a Quaker minister, is deeply religious and steadfast in her refusal to engage in violence. Jess's daughter Mattie (Phyllis Love) wants to remain a Quaker but has fallen in love with dashing cavalry officer Gard Jordan (Peter Mark Richman), a love that is against her mother's wishes. Jess's youngest child "Little" Jess (Richard Eyer) is a feisty child whose comical feud with his mother's pet goose causes her heartache. Jess's elder son Josh (Anthony Perkins) is torn between his hatred of violence and a conviction that to protect his family he must join the home guard and fight the invaders. Enoch (Joel Fluellen), a runaway slave, is a laborer on their farm; his children are still enslaved in the South.

We are introduced to the family via its youngest member, "Little" Jess, who is forever at war with his mother's pet goose. The story begins as an easygoing and humorous tale of Quakers trying to maintain their faith as they go to meeting on First Day (Sunday); contrasted with the Birdwells' neighbor Sam Jordan (Robert Middleton) and other members of the nearby Methodist Church. The mood shifts dramatically when the meeting is interrupted by a Union officer who asks how the Quaker men can stand by when their houses will be looted and their families terrorized by approaching Confederate troops. When confronted with the question of his being afraid to fight, Josh Birdwell responds that it might be the case. His honesty provokes the wrath of Purdy, a Quaker elder who condemns people who don't believe as he does.

The film returns to its lighter tone as the Quakers try to maintain their ways, despite the temptations of amusements at a county fair, and a new organ (which Jess buys over Eliza's opposition), but one is always reminded that the Confederate Army is drawing closer. On a business trip, Jess acquires a new horse from the widow Hudspeth (Marjorie Main), and is finally able to defeat Sam in their weekly horse race. One day, Jess is cultivating his fields and notices an immense cloud of smoke on the horizon produced by the burning of buildings. Josh soon arrives and tells them the neighboring community has been reduced to ash and corpses. Josh believes that he must fight, a conviction that threatens to destroy the family. Eliza tells him that by turning his back to their religion he's turning his back on her, but Jess sees things a different way. Josh finds himself on the front line of the battle to stop the advance of the raiders, and only fires his gun when the man next to him is wounded. Meanwhile, Jess is reluctant to fight, only picking up a rifle and riding off towards the fighting when the family horse gallops back to the farm riderless.

When Confederates arrive at the farm, with only Eliza and the younger children present, the family and the farm are saved when Eliza greets them on the porch and welcomes them to take all the food and animals they want and feeds them in their kitchen. As Jess finds Sam Jordan dying he is bushwhacked by a "Reb". He plays possum and when the Confederate soldier approaches he struggles with him and takes away his gun, but ultimately lets him go free and unhurt. He then finds Josh injured and brings him home. Each member of the family faces the question of whether it is ever right to engage in violence.

In the mid-1920s, wealthy Texas rancher Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr. travels to Maryland on a horse-buying trip. He meets socialite Leslie Lynnton, who quickly ends a budding relationship with a British diplomat. After a whirlwind romance, Leslie and Bick marry and return to the Benedicts' Texas cattle ranch, Reata. Leslie has difficulty adjusting to her new life. Bick's older sister, Luz, runs the household and resents Leslie's intrusion. Leslie soon learns that she, like the other women, is expected to be subservient in the male-dominated Texas culture. Jett Rink, a ranch hand, becomes infatuated with Leslie. When Jett drives her around the county, Leslie observes the Mexican workers' terrible living conditions. She presses Bick to help improve their situation.

Luz is killed while riding Leslie's horse, War Winds, being bucked off after digging in her spurs as a hostile act towards Leslie. Luz leaves a small piece of Benedict land to Jett. Bick, who despises Jett, offers to buy the property at twice its value, but Jett refuses to sell and names his land 'Little Reata'.

Leslie and Bick have twins, Jordan III ("Jordy") and Judy and later have another daughter, Luz II. Bick continually favors his young son and pushes him into masculine pursuits, which the youngster resists. The marriage becomes strained, and Leslie takes the children to her parents for an extended visit. Bick goes to Maryland, and he and Leslie reconcile and return to Texas.

Jett continues working his land, eventually striking oil. Covered in crude, he drives to the Benedict house and proclaims he will be richer than them. Jett makes a pass at Leslie, leading to a brief fistfight with Bick before he drives off. Jett prospers over the years. He tries to persuade Bick to let him drill for oil on Reata. Bick, determined to preserve his family's cattle ranching legacy, refuses.

Years later, now 1941, tensions arise regarding the now-grown Benedict children. Bick intends that Jordy will succeed him and run the ranch, but Jordy wants to become a doctor. Leslie plans for Judy to attend finishing school in Switzerland, but she wants to study animal husbandry at Texas Tech. Each sibling successfully convinces one parent to persuade the other to allow them to pursue their own goals.

At the family Christmas party, Bick wants Judy's new husband, Bob Dace, to work on the ranch after he returns from World War II. Dace declines, saying he and Judy want to build their own life. Jett persuades Bick to allow oil drilling on his land. Realizing that his children will not take over the ranch when he retires, Bick agrees. Once oil production starts on the ranch, the Benedicts grow wealthier and more powerful.

The Benedict–Rink rivalry reaches a head when the Benedicts discover that Luz II has been having a secret romantic relationship with the much older Jett. At his Austin hotel, Jett hosts a huge party in his own honor. The Benedicts are guests, but Jett will not allow staff to serve Jordy's Mexican wife, Juana. Enraged, Jordy starts and loses a fight with Jett, who then has Jordy thrown out. Bick challenges Jett, but seeing that the drunken Jett is in no state to defend himself, he and the other Benedicts leave. Jett staggers into the banquet hall and sits in the seat of honor. Luz II hears the slumped over Jett bemoaning his unrequited love for Leslie and leaves heartbroken; Jett topples over in a stupor and falls onto the floor.

Driving home the next day, the Benedicts stop at a diner. A sign at the counter states, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone," meaning ethnic minorities are unwelcome. Sarge, the racist owner, insults Juana and her and Jordy's young son. When Sarge ejects a Mexican family from the diner, Bick says to leave them alone. Bick fights Sarge, who beats him and then tosses the sign onto Bick. Back at Reata, Bick laments failing to preserve the Benedict family legacy. Leslie replies that, after the diner fight, he was her hero for the first time. She considers their own family legacy a success. They look at their two grandchildren, one Caucasian and one Hispanic.

Fighter ace Major Lloyd "Ace" Gruver (Marlon Brando), of the United States Air Force, the son of a U.S. Army general, is stationed at Itami Air Force Base near Kobe, Japan. He has been reassigned from combat duties in Korea by General Webster (Kent Smith), the father of his fiancée, Eileen (Patricia Owens). While Ace and Eileen have been together for years, their relationship has become strained.

Airman Joe Kelly (Red Buttons), who is Ace's enlisted crew chief, is about to wed a Japanese woman, Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki), in spite of the disapproval of the United States military establishment, which will not recognize the interracial marriage because it is generally illegal under American law. The Air Force, including Ace, is against the marriage. Ace and Joe have an argument during which Ace uses a racial slur to describe Katsumi. Ace eventually apologizes, then agrees to be Joe's best man at the wedding.

Ace falls in love with a Japanese entertainer, Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka), who is the lead performer for a Takarazuka-like theater company, whom he meets through Katsumi. Eileen realizes that Ace's attentions are no longer focused on her and begins a friendship with a famous Kabuki performer, Nakamura (Ricardo Montalbán). When she overhears that Joe's house has been under surveillance by the Army, she believes that Ace is in danger and goes there to warn him, where she realizes he is seeing a local woman.

Joe suffers further prejudice at the hands of openly hostile Colonel Crawford (Douglass Watson), pulling extra duty and all the less attractive assignments. When Joe and many others who are married to Japanese are targeted for transfer back to the United States, Joe realizes that he will not be able to take Katsumi, who is now pregnant. Ace goes to General Webster and pleads Joe's case, asking that he be allowed to remain in Japan. When the General refuses on the grounds that he cannot allow an exception, Ace tells him that he will be in the same situation, since he intends to marry Hana-ogi. Eileen and her mother are present for the exchange, and Ace apologizes for hurting her. Eileen realizes Ace never loved her the way he loves Hana-ogi and she leaves to see Nakamura.

Joe and Katsumi's home is boarded up by the military police and Ace is taken into custody by General Webster, where he is confined to quarters. He is told that he will most likely be sent back to the United States and Hana-ogi will be sent to Tokyo. Joe goes AWOL, and two Military Police seek Ace's help to find Joe through his local connections so he can be sent back to the U.S. and not be reported missing. Ace, accompanied by Captain Bailey (James Garner), finds Joe and Katsumi secretly returned to their home and committed double suicide rather than be parted. Shortly thereafter, Hana-ogi arrives unnoticed and alone outside Joe and Katsumi's home. There she opens a rear window and, still unseen, secretly whispers a tearful "sayonara" to Joe, Katsumi, and Ace, although nobody hears or sees her. Hana-ogi then leaves through the rear gate.

Moments after exiting Joe's home Ace and Bailey are attacked by a group of Japanese holding anti-American signs, but sympathetic Japanese neighbors intervene to help the Americans, resulting in widespread fighting in the street. Ace and Bailey escape during the scuffles.

The loss of his friend Joe strengthens Ace's resolve to marry Hana-ogi, and Ace goes to the theater company to find her. There he learns Hana-ogi has already left Kobe for Tokyo a week ahead of schedule. General Webster, believing the crisis with Ace is averted, apologizes for what happened to Joe and Katsumi and tells Ace that laws will soon be passed to allow interracial marriages in the United States.

Ace leaves Kobe and flies to Tokyo. He tracks down Hana-ogi at her new venue in a Tokyo theater, where he pleads with her one last time to become his wife. They leave the theater and Hana-ogi announces to the waiting Japanese and American reporters that they intend to wed. When a ''Stars and Stripes'' military newspaper reporter asks Ace how he will explain his marriage to the "big brass" as well as to the Japanese, neither of which will be particularly happy, Ace says, "Tell 'em we said, 'Sayonara.'"

In the overheated jury room of the New York County Courthouse, a jury prepares to deliberate the case of an impoverished 18-year-old accused of stabbing his abusive father to death. The judge instructs them that if there is any reasonable doubt, the jurors are to return a verdict of not guilty; if found guilty, the defendant will receive a mandatory death sentence via the electric chair. The verdict must be unanimous.

At first, the case seems clear. A neighbor testified to witnessing the defendant stab his father from her window, through the windows of a passing elevated train. Another neighbor testified that he heard the defendant threaten to kill his father, and the father's body hitting the ground; then, as he ran to his door, saw the defendant running down the stairs. The boy has a violent past; he had recently purchased a switchblade of the same type that was found, wiped of fingerprints, at the murder scene, but claimed he lost it.

In a preliminary vote, all jurors vote "guilty" except Juror 8, who believes that there should be some discussion before the verdict is made. He says he cannot vote "guilty" because reasonable doubt exists. With his first few arguments seemingly failing to convince any of the other jurors, Juror 8 suggests a secret ballot, from which he will abstain; if all the other jurors still vote guilty, he will acquiesce. The ballot reveals one "not guilty" vote. Juror 9 reveals that he changed his vote; he respects Juror 8's motives, and agrees that there should be more discussion.

Juror 8 argues that the noise of the passing train would have obscured everything the second witness claimed to have overheard. Juror 5 changes his vote, as does Juror 11.

Jurors 5, 6, and 8 further question the second witness's story. After looking at a diagram of the witness's apartment and conducting an experiment, the jurors determine that it is impossible the disabled witness could have made it to the door in time. Juror 3, infuriated, argues with and tries to attack Juror 8. Jurors 2 and 6 change their votes; the jury is now evenly split.

Juror 4 doubts the defendant's alibi based on the boy's inability to recall specific details. Juror 8 tests Juror 4's own memory to make a point. Jurors 2 and 5 point out the unlikelihood the boy made a stab wound angled downwards, as he was shorter than his father.

Juror 7 changes his vote out of impatience rather than conviction, angering Juror 11. After another vote, Jurors 12 and 1 also change sides, leaving only three "guilty" votes.

Juror 10 goes on a bigoted rant, causing Juror 4 to forbid him to speak for the remainder of the deliberation. When Juror 4 is pressed as to why he still maintains a guilty vote, he declares that the woman who saw the killing from across the street stands as solid evidence. Juror 12 reverts to a guilty vote.

After watching Juror 4 remove his glasses and rub the impressions they made on his nose, Juror 9 realizes that the first witness was constantly rubbing similar impressions on her own nose, indicating that she also was a habitual glasses wearer. He observes she also always dressed up in clothes befitting a younger woman, hence not wearing the glasses in court. Juror 8 remarks that the witness, who was trying to sleep when she saw the killing, would not have had glasses on or the time to put them on, making her story questionable. Jurors 12, 10 and 4 all change their vote, leaving Juror 3 as the sole dissenter.

Juror 3 vehemently and desperately tries to convince the others, until he finally reveals it's his strained relationship with his own son that makes him wish the defendant guilty. He breaks down in tears and changes his vote to "not guilty". As the others leave, Juror 8 graciously helps Juror 3 with his coat. The defendant is acquitted off-screen, and the jurors leave the courthouse. Jurors 8 and 9 stop to learn each other's real names (Davis and McCardle), before parting.

Sir Wilfrid Robarts, a senior barrister, just recovering from a heart attack, takes on the case of Leonard Vole. This is despite the objections of his private nurse, Miss Plimsoll, who says the doctor has warned him against taking on any criminal cases. Vole is accused of murdering Mrs Emily French, a wealthy, childless, older widow who had become enamoured of him, going so far as to make him the main beneficiary of her will. Strong circumstantial evidence points to Vole as the killer, but Sir Wilfrid believes Vole is innocent.

When Sir Wilfrid speaks with Vole's German wife Christine, he finds her rather cold and self-possessed, but she does provide an alibi, although by no means an entirely convincing one. Therefore, he is greatly surprised when, during the trial, she is summoned as a witness by the prosecuting barrister.

While a wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband, Christine was, in fact, still married to Otto Helm, a German man now living in East Germany in the Russian Zone, when she wed Vole (who was in the Royal Air Force and part of the occupation forces in Germany at the time, and married her to help her escape Germany). She testifies that Vole privately confessed to her that he had killed Mrs French, and her conscience forced her to finally tell the truth.

During the trial in the Old Bailey, Sir Wilfrid is contacted by a mysterious woman who, for a fee, provides him with letters written by Christine herself to a mysterious lover named "Max". The handwriting is genuine, and the woman has legitimate reason for handing them over – her face has been scarred and slashed, supposedly by this "Max". The affair the letters outline, and one paragraph in particular detailing Max and Christine's plan to lie and get rid of Leonard, convinces the jury that Christine had deliberately perjured herself. Leonard is acquitted, much to the crowd's delight.

However, Sir Wilfrid is troubled by the verdict. His instincts tell him that it was ''"...too neat, too tidy, and altogether too symmetrical!"'' He is proved correct when Christine, brought into the courtroom for safety after being assailed by the departing crowd for her conduct, tells him he had help winning the case. Sir Wilfrid had told her before the trial that ''"...no jury would believe an alibi given by a loving wife"''. So, she played a hateful, double-crossing wife and gave testimony implicating her husband, then forged the letters to the non-existent "Max", and had herself in disguise played the mysterious woman handing over the letters, discrediting her own testimony and leading to the acquittal. She admits she saved Leonard, although she knew he was guilty, because she loves him. She accepts that she may be tried for perjury.

Leonard, who has overheard Christine's admission, cheerfully confirms that he indeed killed Mrs French. Sir Wilfrid is infuriated but helpless to stop him now, thanks to double jeopardy laws (since overturned) which would prevent Leonard being retried. Christine also suffers a major shock when she finds Leonard has been having an affair with a younger woman and plans to abandon Christine for her, feeling he and Christine are now "even", i.e. having saved each other's lives.

Christine angrily grabs a knife (used earlier as evidence and subtly highlighted by Sir Wilfrid's monocle light-reflection) and kills Leonard. After she is taken away by the police, Sir Wilfrid, urged on by Miss Plimsoll, declares that he will take on Christine's defence.

A family in the American South is in crisis, especially the husband Brick and wife Margaret (usually called Maggie or "Maggie the Cat"), and their interaction with Brick's family over the course of one evening's gathering at the family estate in Mississippi. The party celebrates the birthday of patriarch Big Daddy Pollitt, "the Delta's biggest cotton-planter", and his return from the Ochsner Clinic with what he has been told is a clean bill of health. All family members (except Big Daddy and his wife Big Mama) are aware of Big Daddy's true diagnosis: He is dying of cancer. His family has lied to Big Daddy and Big Mama to spare the aging couple from pain on the patriarch's birthday, but throughout the course of the play, it becomes clear that the Pollitt family has long constructed a web of deceit for itself.

Maggie, determined and beautiful, has escaped a childhood of poverty to marry into the wealthy Pollitts, but finds herself unfulfilled. The family is aware that Brick has not slept with Maggie for a long time, which has strained their marriage. Brick, an aging football hero, infuriates her by ignoring his brother Gooper's attempts to gain control of the family fortune. Brick's indifference and his drinking have escalated with the suicide of his friend Skipper. Maggie fears that Brick's malaise will ensure that Gooper and his wife Mae inherit Big Daddy's estate.

Through the evening, Brick, Big Daddy, Maggie, and the entire family separately must face the issues which they have bottled up inside. Big Daddy attempts a reconciliation with the alcoholic Brick. Both Big Daddy and Maggie separately confront Brick about the true nature of his relationship with his football buddy Skipper, which appears to be the source of Brick's sorrow and the cause of his alcoholism.

Brick explains to Big Daddy that Maggie was jealous of the close friendship between Brick and Skipper, and she believed it had a romantic undercurrent. He states that Skipper took Maggie to bed to prove her wrong. Brick believes that when Skipper could not complete the act, his self-questioning about his sexuality and his friendship with Brick made him "snap". Brick reveals that Skipper, shortly before committing suicide, confessed his feelings to Brick, but Brick rejected him.

Disgusted with the family's mendacity, Brick tells Big Daddy that the report from the clinic about his condition was falsified for his sake. Big Daddy storms out of the room, leading the party gathered outside to drift inside. Maggie, Brick, Mae, Gooper, and Doc Baugh (the family's physician) decide to tell Big Mama the truth about her husband's illness, and she is devastated by the news. Gooper and Mae start to discuss the division of the Pollitt estate. Big Mama defends her husband from Gooper and Mae's proposals.

Big Daddy reappears and makes known his plans to die peacefully. Attempting to secure Brick's inheritance, Maggie tells him she is pregnant. Gooper and Mae know this is a lie, but Big Mama and Big Daddy believe that Maggie "has life". When they are alone again, Maggie locks away the liquor and promises Brick that she will "make the lie true".

One night in the American South, a truck loaded with prisoners swerves to avoid another truck and crashes through a barrier. The rescuers clear up the debris and discover two prisoners have escaped, a black man shackled to a white man because "the warden had a sense of humor." They are told not to look too hard as "they will probably kill each other in the first five miles." Nevertheless, a large posse and many bloodhounds are dispatched the next morning to find them. The two missing men are Noah Cullen and John "Joker" Jackson. Despite their mutual hatred, they are forced to cooperate, as they are chained together. At first their cooperation is motivated by self-preservation, but gradually they begin to respect and like each other.

Cullen and Joker flee through difficult terrain and weather, with a brief stop at a turpentine camp where they attempt to break into a general store, in hopes of obtaining food and tools to break the chain. Instead, they are captured by the inhabitants, who form a lynch mob; they are saved only by the interference of "Big" Sam, a man who is appalled by his neighbors' bloodthirst. Sam persuades the onlookers to lock the convicts up and turn them in the next morning. That night, he secretly releases them, being a former chain-gang prisoner himself.

Finally, they run into a young boy named Billy. They make him take them to his home and his mother, whose husband has abandoned his family. The escapees are finally able to break their chains. When they spend the night there, the lonely woman is attracted to Joker and wants to run off with him. She advises Cullen to go through the swamp to reach the railroad tracks, while she and Joker will drive off in her car. However, after Cullen leaves, the woman reveals that she had lied: she has sent Cullen into the dangerous swamp to die, to eliminate any chance he would be captured and reveal where Joker had gone. Furious, Joker runs after his friend; as he leaves, Billy shoots him.

Wounded, Joker catches up with Cullen and warns him about the swamp. The posse led by humane sheriff Max Muller gets close. The two hear a train whistle and run toward it. Cullen catches up to the train and jumps aboard. Joker runs alongside, desperately trying to catch up. Cullen calls to Joker and holds out his hand. Their hands clasp, but Cullen is unable to pull Joker aboard. Both men tumble to the ground. Too exhausted to run, they realize all they can do is wait for their pursuers. The sheriff finds Cullen singing defiantly and Joker lying in his arms.

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, small-town lawyer Paul Biegler, a former district attorney who lost his re-election bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano, and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge.

One day, Biegler is contacted by Laura Manion, to defend her husband US Army Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion, who has been arrested for the murder of innkeeper Bernard "Barney" Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, but claims that Quill raped his wife. Even with such a motivation, getting Manion cleared of murder would be difficult, but Manion claims to have no memory of the event, suggesting that he may be eligible for a defense of irresistible impulse—a version of a temporary insanity defense. Biegler's folksy speech and laid-back demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that keeps the judge busy maintaining control. However, the case for the defense does not go well, especially as local district attorney Mitch Lodwick is assisted by high-powered prosecutor Claude Dancer from the Attorney General's office.

Furthermore, the prosecution tries at every instance to block any mention of Manion's motive for killing Quill. Biegler eventually manages to get the rape of Laura Manion into the record and Judge Weaver agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations. During cross-examination, Dancer insinuates that Laura openly flirted with other men, including the man she claimed raped her. Psychiatrists give conflicting testimony to Manion's state of mind at the time that he killed Quill. Dancer says that Manion may have suspected Laura of cheating on him because he asked her, a Catholic, to swear on a rosary that Quill raped her. This raises doubt as to whether the act was consensual.

Quill's estate is to be inherited by Mary Pilant, whom Dancer accuses of being Quill's mistress. McCarthy learns that Pilant is in fact Quill's daughter, a fact she is anxious to keep secret since she was born out of wedlock. Biegler, who is losing the case, tries to persuade Pilant that Al Paquette, the bartender who witnessed the murder, may know if Quill admitted to raping Laura but Paquette is covering this up, either because he loves Pilant or out of loyalty to Quill. Through Pilant, Biegler is unable to get Paquette to testify on behalf of Manion.

During the trial, Laura claims that Quill tore off her underwear while raping her; the underwear wasn't found where she alleges the rape took place. Pilant, previously unaware of any details of the case, hears this during the trial and then tells Biegler and later testifies that she found the panties in the inn's laundry room the morning after the alleged rape. Biegler suggests Quill may have attempted to avoid suspicion by dropping the panties down the laundry chute located next to his room. Dancer tries to establish that Pilant's answers are founded on her jealousy. When Dancer asserts forcibly that Quill was Pilant's lover and that Pilant lied to cover this fact, Pilant shocks everyone by stating that Quill was her father. Manion is found "not guilty by reason of insanity". After the trial, Biegler decides to open a new practice, with a newly sober McCarthy as his partner.

The next day, Biegler and McCarthy travel to the Manions' trailer park home to get Manion's signature on a promissory note which they hope will suffice as collateral for a desperately needed loan. It turns out the Manions have vacated the trailer park, the superintendent commenting that Laura Manion had been crying. Manion left a note for Biegler, indicating that his flight was "an irresistible impulse", the same justification Biegler used during the trial. Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quill's estate; McCarthy says that working for her will be "poetic justice".

In 1947, in West Riding of Yorkshire, England, Joseph (Joe) Lampton, an ambitious young man, moves from his hometown, the dreary factory town of Dufdon, to the somewhat larger town of Warnley to assume a secure, but poorly paid and dead-end, post in the Borough Treasurer's Department. Determined to get ahead, and ignoring the warnings of his colleague and roommate Charlie Soames, he pursues Susan Brown, the daughter of a local industrial magnate. She has been dating wealthy Jack Wales, but Joe is able to charm her. Mr and Mrs Brown attempt to deal with Joe's social climbing by having Joe's boss encourage him to pursue a woman of his own class; getting him a job offer back in Dufdon, which he refuses when he discovers the machination; and sending Susan on a trip abroad, but Susan remains smitten.

While he is wooing Susan, Joe also begins to see Alice Aisgill, an unhappily married Frenchwoman ten years his senior who came to England as a teacher a decade earlier and married George Aisgill, a haughty and abusive upper-class Englishman who is now having an affair with his secretary. Joe thinks he is just killing time with Alice and Alice says they can just be "loving friends". Their feelings for each other begin to turn into something more and Joe starts to lose interest in his pursuit of Susan. The relationship is passionate, tempestuous and after a particularly heated argument, Joe switches his focus back to Susan. He manages to take her virginity but he finds himself drawn back to Alice.

Joe and Alice go away for a vacation and Alice is overjoyed that Joe seems to have decided to end his quest for wealth and social status in favour of simply being happy with himself and with her. They decide she will ask for a divorce when she gets home but when she does, George refuses and declares he will ruin Joe and Alice, both socially and financially, if their relationship continues. While Joe is brooding over this, Mr Brown delivers the news that Susan is pregnant and that he expects Joe to stop seeing Alice and marry Susan, in which case Joe can come work for him for a large salary.

Seeing no way around his obstacles to a relationship with Alice, Joe tells her that he is going marry Susan. The heartbroken Alice gets drunk in a pub and the next morning, while his co-workers are celebrating his engagement, Joe hears that she drove her car off a cliff to which she and he used to go together and died slowly over the course of several hours. Devastated, Joe leaves the office and wanders to the flat where he and Alice had their trysts but Alice's friend Elspeth, who owns the flat, drives him away by screaming at him and blaming him for Alice's death.

Joe goes to a pub on the waterfront, where a woman named Mavis comes on to him because he is well-dressed. Although he is very drunk and does not seem very interested in her (he calls her Alice), Joe keeps a man from taking Mavis away against her will. When Joe is alone, the man and some of his friends beat Joe unconscious. In the morning, Charlie finds Joe lying in the street with a battered face but Joe's only concern is his guilt over what he feels he led Alice to do.

A short time later, Joe and Susan get married. With a rich wife and high-paying job, he has got everything he thought he wanted. As they are driven away after the wedding, Susan's effusive praise of the ceremony halts when she notices there are tears in Joe's eyes, which she interprets as him being "really sentimental, after all".

One thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and created the vast Toxic Jungle, a poisonous forest swarming with giant mutant insects. In the kingdom of the Valley of the Wind, a prophecy predicts a saviour "clothed in blue robe, descending onto a golden field". Nausicaä, the 16-year-old princess of the Valley of the Wind, explores the jungle and communicates with its creatures, including the gigantic, trilobite-like armored Ohm. She hopes to understand the jungle and find a way for it and humans to co-exist.

One day at dawn, a massive cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes in the Valley despite Nausicaä's attempt to save it. Its sole survivor, Princess Lastelle of Pejite, pleads with Nausicaä to destroy the cargo and dies. The cargo is an embryo of a Giant Warrior, one of the lethal, gargantuan humanoid bioweapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. Tolmekia, a military state, seized the embryo and Lastelle from Pejite, but their plane was attacked by insects and crashed. One of the insects emerges wounded from the wreckage and poises to attack, but Nausicaä uses a bullroarer to calm it and guides it away from the village.

Soon after, Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana, invade the Valley, execute Nausicaä's father and capture the embryo. Enraged, Nausicaä assaults and kills several Tolmekian soldiers and is about to be overwhelmed when the Valley's swordsmaster, Lord Yupa, soothes the belligerents. Kushana plans to mature the Giant Warrior and use it to burn the Toxic Jungle. Yupa discovers a secret garden of jungle plants reared by Nausicaä; according to her findings, plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic, but the jungle's soil has been tainted by pollution.

Kushana leaves for the Tolmekian capital with Nausicaä and five hostages from the Valley, but a Pejite interceptor shoots down the Tolmekian airships carrying them. Nausicaä, Kushana and the hostages crash-land in the jungle, disturbing several Ohms, which Nausicaä soothes. She leaves to rescue the Pejite pilot Asbel, twin brother of Princess Lastelle, but both crash through a stratum of quicksand into a non-toxic area below the Toxic Jungle. Nausicaä realizes that the jungle plants purify the polluted topsoil, producing clean water and soil underground.

Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite but find it ravaged by insects. A band of survivors explains that they lured the insects to eradicate the Tolmekians, and are doing the same to the Valley. They capture Nausicaä to prevent her from warning the Valley, but with the help of Asbel, his mother, and a number of sympathizers, Nausicaä escapes on her glider. Flying home, she finds two Pejite soldiers baiting thousands of Ohms into the Valley using a wounded baby Ohm. The people of the Valley take shelter while the Tolmekians deploy tanks and the Giant Warrior, but tank-fire does not deter the Ohms, and the Giant Warrior, hatched prematurely, disintegrates.

Nausicaä liberates the baby Ohm and gains its trust. She and the Ohm stand before the herd but are run over. The Ohms calm down and use their golden tentacles to resuscitate her. Nausicaä, her dress drenched blue with Ohm blood, walks atop golden Ohm tentacles as through golden fields, fulfilling the savior prophecy. The Ohms and Tolmekians leave the Valley, and the Pejites remain with the Valley people, helping them rebuild. Deep underneath the Toxic Jungle, a non-toxic tree sprouts.

Part I

The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner, Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterised by physical passion but soon after her marriage to Walter, she realises the difficulties of living off his meagre salary in a rented house. The couple fight and drift apart and Walter retreats to the pub after work each day. Gradually, Mrs. Morel's affections shift to her sons beginning with the oldest, William.

As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he does not enjoy the fair without her. As he grows older, he defends her against his father's occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves their Nottinghamshire home for a job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests the girl's superficiality. William dies and Mrs. Morel is heartbroken. When her second son Paul catches pneumonia she rediscovers her love for Paul.

Part II

Both repulsed by and drawn to his mother, Paul is afraid to leave her but wants to go out on his own, and needs to experience love. Gradually, he falls into a relationship with Miriam, a farmer's daughter who attends his church. The two take long walks and have intellectual conversations about books but Paul resists, in part because his mother disapproves. At Miriam's family's farm, Paul meets Clara Dawes, a young woman with, apparently, feminist sympathies who has separated from her husband, Baxter.

After pressuring Miriam into a physical relationship, which he finds unsatisfying, Paul breaks with her as he grows more intimate with Clara, who is more passionate physically. But even she cannot hold him and he returns to his mother. When his mother dies soon after, he is alone.

In Lawrence's own words

Lawrence summarised the plot in a letter to Edward Garnett on 19 November 1912:

: It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers – first the eldest, then the second. These sons are ''urged'' into life by their reciprocal love of their mother – urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can't love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them. It's rather like Goethe and his mother and Frau von Stein and Christiana – As soon as the young men come into contact with women, there's a split. William gives his sex to a fritter, and his mother holds his soul. But the split kills him, because he doesn't know where he is. The next son gets a woman who fights for his soul – fights his mother. The son loves his mother – all the sons hate and are jealous of the father. The conflict goes on between the mother and the girl with the son as object. The mother gradually proves stronger, because of the ties of blood. The son decides to leave his soul in his mother's hands, and, like his elder brother go for passion. He gets passion. Then the split begins to tell again. But, almost unconsciously, the mother realises what is the matter, and begins to die. The son casts off his mistress, attends to his mother dying. He is left in the end naked of everything, with the drift towards death.

Irish-Australian Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) is a sheep drover and shearer, roving the sparsely populated outback with his wife Ida (Deborah Kerr) and son Sean (Michael Anderson Jr.). They are sundowners, constantly moving, pitching their tent whenever the sun goes down. Ida and Sean want to settle down, but Paddy has wanderlust and never wants to stay in one place for long. While passing through the bush, the family meet refined Englishman Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov) and hire him to help drive a large herd of sheep to the town of Cawndilla. Along the way, they survive a dangerous bushfire.

Mrs. Firth (Glynis Johns), who runs the pub in Cawndilla, takes a liking to Rupert. He takes to spending nights with her, but, like Paddy, he has no desire to be tied down.

Ida convinces Paddy to take a job at a station shearing sheep; she serves as the cook, Rupert as a wool roller, and Sean as a tar boy. Ida enjoys the company of another woman, their employer's lonely wife, Jean Halstead (Dina Merrill). When fellow shearer Bluey Brown's (John Meillon) pregnant wife Liz (Lola Brooks) shows up unannounced, she sees the young woman through her first birth.

Ida is saving the money the family earns for a down payment on a farm that they stayed at for a night on the sheep drive. Even though Paddy has agreed to participate in a shearing contest against someone from a rival group, he decides to leave six weeks into the shearing season. Ida persuades him to stay. He loses the contest to an old veteran.

Paddy wins a lot of money and a race horse playing two-up. Owning such an animal has been his longstanding dream. They name him Sundowner and enter him, with Sean as his jockey, at local races on their travels after the shearing is done. Sean and Sundowner win their first race.

Ida finally convinces a still reluctant Paddy to buy the farm she and Sean have their hearts set on. However, he loses all the money Ida saved in a single night of playing two-up. By way of apology, he tells her that he has found a buyer for Sundowner if he wins the next race. The money would recoup their down payment. Though Sundowner wins, he is disqualified for interference, and the deal falls through. Nevertheless, Paddy's deep remorse heals the breach with Ida, and they resolve to save enough to buy a farm one day.

In 1870, two young men, Jim Averill and Billy Irvine graduate from Harvard College. The Reverend Doctor speaks to the graduates on the association of "the cultivated mind with the uncultivated" and the importance of education. Irvine, the class orator, follows this with his opposing, irreverent views. A celebration is then held, after which the male students serenade the women present, including Averill's girlfriend.

Twenty years later, Averill is passing through the booming town of Casper, Wyoming, on his way north to Johnson County, where he is now a marshal. Poor European immigrants new to the region are in conflict with wealthy, established cattle barons organized as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association; the newcomers sometimes steal their cattle for food. Nate Champion a friend of Averill and an enforcer for the stockmen kills a settler for suspected rustling and dissuades another from stealing a cow.

At a board meeting, the head of the Association, Frank Canton, tells members, including a drunk Irvine, of plans to kill 125 named settlers, as thieves and anarchists. Irvine leaves the meeting, encounters Averill, and tells him of the Association's plans. As Averill leaves, he exchanges bitter words with Canton. Canton and Averill quarrel and Canton is knocked to the floor. That night, Canton recruits men to kill the named settlers.

Ella Watson, a Johnson County bordello madam from Quebec, who accepts stolen cattle as payment for use of her prostitutes, is infatuated with both Averill and Champion. Averill and Watson skate in a crowd, then dance alone, in an enormous roller skating rink called "Heaven's Gate," which has been built by local entrepreneur John L. Bridges. Averill receives a copy of the Association's death list from a baseball-playing U.S. Army captain and later reads the names aloud to the settlers, who are thrown into terrified turmoil. Cully, a station master and friend of Averill's, sees the train with Canton's posse heading north and rides off to warn the settlers but is murdered ''en route''. Later, a group of men come to Watson's bordello and rape her. Averill shoots and kills all but one of them. Champion, realizing that his landowner bosses seek to eliminate Watson, goes to Canton's camp and shoots the remaining rapist, then refuses to participate in the slaughter.

Canton and his men encounter one of Champion's friends leaving a cabin with Champion and his friend Nick inside, and a gunfight ensues. Attempting to save Champion, Watson arrives in her wagon and shoots one of the hired guns before escaping on horseback. Nick is killed before Canton's men push a burning cart towards the cabin, setting it on fire. Champion writes a last letter to Ella. Champion emerges from the burning cabin shooting at Canton's men but is killed by a hail of bullets. Watson warns the settlers of Canton's approach at another huge, chaotic gathering at "Heaven's Gate." The agitated settlers decide to counterattack; Bridges leads the attack on Canton's gang. With the hired invaders now surrounded, both sides suffer casualties (including a drunken, poetic Irvine) as Canton leaves to bring help. Watson and Averill return to Champion's charred and smoking cabin, and discover his corpse, along with a handwritten letter documenting his last minutes alive.

The next day, Averill reluctantly joins the immigrant settlers, with their cobbled-together siege machines and explosive charges, in an attack against Canton's men and their makeshift fortifications. Again, there are heavy casualties on both sides, before the U.S. Army, with Canton in the lead, arrives to stop the fighting and save the remaining besieged mercenaries.

Later, at Watson's cabin, Bridges, Watson, and Averill prepare to leave for good, but they are ambushed by Canton and two others. Averill and Bridges shoot and kill Canton and one of his men but both Bridges and Watson are killed. A grief-stricken Averill holds Watson's body in his arms.

In 1903, about a decade later, a well-dressed, beardless, but older-looking Averill walks the deck of his yacht off Newport, Rhode Island. He goes below, where an attractive middle-aged woman is sleeping in a luxurious boudoir. The woman, Averill's old Harvard girlfriend (perhaps now his wife), awakens and asks him for a cigarette. Silently he complies, lighting the cigarette and returning to the deck.

''Judgment at Nuremberg'' centers on a military tribunal convened in Nuremberg, Germany, in which four German judges and prosecutors stand accused of crimes against humanity for their involvement in atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is the chief judge of a three-judge panel of Allied jurists who will hear and decide the case against the defendants. Haywood is particularly interested in trying to learn how the defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) could have committed the atrocities of which he is accused, including the sentencing of innocent people to death. Ernst Janning's character is based loosely on the life of Franz Schlegelberger. Janning, it is revealed, is a well-educated and internationally respected jurist and legal scholar. Haywood seeks to understand how the German people could have turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the crimes of the Nazi regime. In doing so, he befriends the widow (Marlene Dietrich) of a German general who had been executed by the Allies. He talks with a number of Germans who have different perspectives on the war. Other characters the judge meets are US Army Captain Byers (William Shatner), who is assigned to assist the American judges hearing the case, and Irene Hoffmann (Judy Garland), who is afraid to provide testimony that may bolster the prosecution's case against the judges.

German defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) argues that the defendants were not the only ones to aid, or at least turn blind eyes to, the Nazi regime. He also suggests that the United States has committed acts just as bad or worse than those the Nazis perpetrated. He raises several points in these arguments, such as US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s support for the first eugenics practices (''see'' ''Buck v. Bell''); the German-Vatican ''Reichskonkordat'' of 1933, which the Nazi-dominated German government exploited as an implicit early foreign recognition of Nazi leadership; Joseph Stalin's part in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, which removed the last major obstacle to Germany's invasion and occupation of western Poland, initiating World War II; and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final stage of the war in August 1945.

Janning, meanwhile, decides to testify for the prosecution, stating that he is guilty of the crime he is accused of: condemning to death a Jewish man of "blood defilement" charges—namely, that the man had intimate relations with a 16-year-old Gentile girl—when he knew there was no evidence to support such a verdict. During his testimony, he explains that well-meaning people like himself went along with Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic, racist policies out of a sense of patriotism, even though they knew it was wrong, because of the effects of the post-World War I Treaty of Versailles.

Haywood must weigh considerations of geopolitical expediency and ideals of justice. The trial takes place against the background of the Berlin Blockade, and there is pressure to let the German defendants off lightly so as to gain German support in the growing Cold War against the Soviet Union. In the course of the movie, it becomes apparent why the three other defendants supported the Nazi regime: one was afraid, one was following orders, and one actually believed in Nazism. All four defendants are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Haywood visits Janning in his cell. Janning affirms to Haywood that, "By all that is right in this world, your verdict was a just one," but asks him to believe that, regarding the mass murder of innocents, "I never knew that it would come to that." Judge Haywood replies, "Herr Janning, it came to that the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent." Haywood departs; a title card informs the audience that, of 99 defendants sentenced to prison terms in Nuremberg trials that took place in the American Zone, none were still serving a sentence when the film was released in 1961.

The president is caught making advances on an underage girl inside the Oval Office, less than two weeks before the election. Conrad Brean, a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footage of a fleeing orphan to arouse sympathy. The hoax is initially successful, with the president quickly gaining ground in the polls.

When the CIA learns of the plot, they send Agent Young to confront Brean about the hoax. Brean convinces Young that revealing the deception is against his and the CIA's best interests. But when the CIA — in collusion with the president's rival candidate — reports that the war has ended, the media begins to focus back on the president's sexual abuse scandal. To counter this, Motss invents a hero who was left behind enemy lines in Albania. Inspired by the idea that he was "discarded like an old shoe", Brean and Motss ask the Pentagon to provide a special forces soldier with a matching name (a sergeant named "Schumann" is identified) around whom a POW narrative can be constructed. As part of the hoax, folk singer Johnny Dean records a song called "Old Shoe", which is pressed onto a 78 rpm record, prematurely aged so that listeners will think it was recorded years earlier, and sent to the Library of Congress to be "found". Soon, large numbers of old pairs of shoes began appearing on phone and power lines, and a grassroots movement takes hold.

When the team goes to retrieve Schumann, they discover he is in fact a criminally-insane Army convict. On the way back, their plane crashes en route to Andrews Air Force Base. The team survives and is rescued by a farmer, an illegal alien who is given expedited citizenship for a better story. However, Schumann is killed after he attempts to rape a gas station owner's daughter. Seizing the opportunity, Motss stages an elaborate military funeral for Schumann, claiming that he died from wounds sustained during his rescue.

While watching a political talk show, Motss gets frustrated that the media are crediting the president's upsurge in the polls to the bland campaign slogan of "Don't change horses in mid-stream" rather than to Motss's hard work. Motss states that he wants credit and will reveal his involvement, despite Brean's offer of an ambassadorship and the dire warning that he is "playing with his life". After Motss refuses to change his mind, Brean reluctantly orders his security staff to kill him. A newscast reports that Motss has died of a heart attack at home, the president was successfully re-elected, and an Albanian terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for a recent bombing.

Second Lieutenant Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and Middlesex Hospital nurse Jean Pargetter (Judi Dench) met in the summer of 1953 and fell head over heels in love, but then Lionel was posted to Korea. When he wrote to give her his mailing address there, the letter went astray. Jean assumed he had lost interest in her and stubbornly refused to ask the army to locate him; he decided she must have lost interest in him.

After his war service Lionel emigrated to Kenya, became a coffee planter, and married Margaret, whom he later divorced due to "mutual boredom". Some time after his divorce he returned to England. Meanwhile, Jean had also married and borne one child, Judith (Moira Brooker). After her husband's death, Jean opened Type for You, a secretarial agency. Her daughter Judith, 35 years old during the series, is twice divorced (from Ken, who had "sad eyes", and Edward, who was "very clever") and, during most of the series, lives with her mother and also works at the secretarial agency.

Lionel, now writing his memoir, ''My Life in Kenya'', hires a typist through Type for You, unaware that Jean owns the agency. He and Jean first meet again when Lionel picks up Judith for a dinner date. Although Lionel and Jean's reunion is full of missteps and miscues, their romance gradually rekindles. In the third series, Lionel moves into Jean's house in Holland Park, London; they marry during the fourth series.

Lionel's memoir is published by Alistair Deacon (Philip Bretherton), a go-getting entrepreneur much younger than Lionel. When pressed by Lionel, Alistair eventually admits that he only agreed to publish the book as a favour to Lionel's father, whose loan to Alistair's father was the foundation of Alistair's wealth; but he works hard for the success of the book and over time he becomes good friends with Lionel and Jean. Alistair is vain, and a ladies' man, and likes to call Lionel "Li", but he is also good-hearted and energetic, and proves resourceful enough to handle many situations that arise.

In the first series Judith develops a crush on Lionel while Alistair takes a similar interest in Jean and likes to call her "lovely lady". Both crushes are brief; eventually Judith and Alistair fall for each other and, in the final series, marry. Other story arcs feature Lionel being asked to write an American TV mini-series, ''Just Two People'', based on his early romance with Jean. The mini-series fails after much rewriting and network interference. Jean eventually retires from Type for You and later volunteers at a charity shop.

Jean's very efficient secretary and Judith's best friend is Sandy (Jenny Funnell), who eventually moves in with the Hardcastles after splitting with her boyfriend Nick. After Jean's retirement, Judy and Sandy become co-managers of Type for You. Sandy dates Harry (David Michaels, later replaced by Daniel Ryan), a policeman and amateur rugby player, whom she marries at the end of the series. Sandy's last name is never revealed on the show.

Other notable characters include Lionel's irrepressible father Rocky (Frank Middlemass), whose favourite saying is "Rock on!" and who owns a large country house in Hampshire which he later gives to Lionel; Rocky's housekeeper, Mrs. Bale (Janet Henfrey), who has an unusual interest in the Shipping Forecast and gives exact times that meals will be ready; Rocky's gardener, Lol Ferris (Tim Wylton), who says Jean is a "tender woman"; and Lionel's glamorous young secretary Daisy (Justine Glenton in one episode, Series 3, and Zoe Hilson, Series 4), who firmly repels Alistair's clumsy efforts to chat her up every time they meet. In series 3 of the show, Lionel is told by Rocky's physician that his father has less than a year to live, but this plotline was dropped and Rocky continued to appear throughout the show's later series, including the final "Christmas Specials" in 2005.

Rocky marries Madge (Joan Sims), as much a character as Rocky is, when he is 85 and she is 78 (Rocky features in the 2005 Christmas Special, where he must be around 97 years old). They travel the world, are country and western music fans, tool about in Madge's classic Cadillac convertible (with steer horns on the grille), and hang out at the local pub, where Madge sings. In series nine, Madge is mentioned as being on an archaeological dig in Egypt; in reality Joan Sims died before filming began. Also appearing many times are Penny (Moyra Fraser), the meddling, neurotic sister of Jean's late first husband, who calls Jean "poor Jean", and Penny's well-meaning but dull dentist husband, Stephen (Paul Chapman), who once accidentally declined an OBE.

In an upscale New York City mansion, wealthy and popular teenager Kathryn Merteuil discusses her prep school with Mrs. Caldwell and her daughter, Cecile. Kathryn promises Mrs. Caldwell that she will look out for the naïve Cecile. When Kathryn's stepbrother Sebastian Valmont enters the room, Mrs. Caldwell reacts to him coldly and leaves with Cecile.

Kathryn tells Sebastian that she intends to use Cecile to take revenge on her ex-lover Court Reynolds, who dumped her for Cecile. Kathryn asks Sebastian, a notorious womanizer, to seduce Cecile, thereby spoiling her in Court's eyes. Sebastian refuses because he is planning to seduce Annette Hargrove, the headmaster's virgin daughter, who has published an essay in support of chastity until marriage. After some negotiation, they agree on a wager: if Sebastian fails to seduce Annette, Kathryn gets Sebastian's vintage Jaguar XK140; if he succeeds, Kathryn will have sex with him. Sebastian is hesitant to accept but finally does after Kathryn adds that "he can put it anywhere".

Sebastian's first attempt to seduce Annette fails, as she already knows about his bad reputation. He originally believes that Greg, Annette’s friend from Kansas who is a popular football player and closeted homosexual, is the one who told her. Sebastian blackmails Greg by taking a picture of him in bed with his gay friend Blaine. Greg is forced to put in a good word about Sebastian to Annette, and also finds out that Mrs. Caldwell, Cecile's mother, was the one who warned Annette about Sebastian. Sebastian finally agrees to corrupt Cecile as revenge.

Meanwhile, Cecile confides in Kathryn about her romance with her older music teacher, Ronald Clifford. Kathryn reveals the romance to Mrs. Caldwell, who orders Cecile to end the relationship for racial reasons. Sebastian lures Cecile to his house, offering a letter from Ronald. He then gets Cecile drunk and blackmails her in order to trick her into allowing him to perform oral sex on her. The next day, Cecile confides in Kathryn, who advises her to be as promiscuous as possible to learn how to please Ronald.

Sebastian begins to truly fall in love with Annette, who returns his feelings but is still hesitant. Sebastian calls her a hypocrite because although she claims to be waiting for her one true love, she resists him when he chooses to love her back. Annette finally relents. But Sebastian, confused about his own feelings, now refuses her. Annette flees to the estate of her friend's parents. Sebastian finds her and professes his feelings, and they make love.

Kathryn offers herself to Sebastian after he wins the 'bet', but he rejects her, because he now only wants Annette, which leaves Kathryn enraged and jealous. Sebastian informs her that he was planning to tell Annette the truth. Kathryn warns him that doing so will destroy both his and Annette's reputations. Sebastian lies to Annette, claiming he just wanted to see what she was like in bed, and that he has no real feelings for her. Devastated, Annette tells him to leave.

Sebastian informs Kathryn that he has broken up with Annette and now wants his reward for winning the bet. Kathryn reveals that he and not Annette, was the true target of her scheme. For her own amusement, she manipulated him into abandoning Annette once she realized that he loved her. She then dismisses him, telling him that she doesn't sleep with "losers".

Sebastian tries to contact Annette to confess the truth and beg for a second chance but she refuses to see him. He gives her his journal, in which he has detailed Kathryn's manipulative schemes, their bet and his true feelings for Annette. Ronald confronts Sebastian after Kathryn tells him that Sebastian hit her and slept with Cecile. They get into a fist fight on the street and Annette tries to intervene but is thrown into traffic. Sebastian pushes her to safety but ends up getting hit by a taxi. Before dying, Sebastian and Annette confess their love for each other.

In her eulogy at Sebastian's funeral, Kathryn says she tried to set an example for her late brother. When people start leaving midway through her speech, Kathryn rushes outside to find Cecile handing out copies of Sebastian's journal. As the details of her manipulations and drug abuse are made public, Kathryn's reputation is finally destroyed. Ronald also writes a detailed confession of how she lied to him about Cecile not being a virgin and how she lied to him about Sebastian hitting her. It is implied that the disapproving headmaster will expel her from the school, especially after finding cocaine hidden in the cross of her rosary. In the final scene, Annette drives away in Sebastian's car with his journal at her side, recalling their fondest moments together.

Nomi Malone is a young drifter who hitchhikes to Las Vegas hoping to make it as a showgirl. After a driver she hitchhiked with robs her, Nomi meets Molly Abrams, a costume designer who takes Nomi in as a roommate. Molly invites Nomi backstage at ''Goddess'', the Stardust Casino show where she works, to meet Cristal Connors, the diva star of the casino's topless dance revue. When Nomi tells Cristal she dances at Cheetah's Topless Club, Cristal derisively tells her that what she does is akin to prostitution. When Nomi is too upset to go to work that night, Molly takes her dancing at the Crave Club. Nomi is arrested after causing a fight involving James, a bouncer at the club. James bails Nomi out of jail, but she pays him little notice.

Cristal and her boyfriend, Zack Carey, the entertainment director at the Stardust, visit Cheetah's and request a lap dance from Nomi. Although the bisexual Cristal is attracted to Nomi, her request is based more on her desire to humiliate Nomi by proving she engages in sex work. Nomi reluctantly performs the lap dance after Cristal offers her $500. James happens to be at the strip club and sneaks a peek at Nomi's lap dance. He visits Nomi's trailer the next morning and tells Nomi that what she is doing is no different from prostitution. Nomi and James have a brief fling; the affair ends when James gives the dance routine he choreographed for Nomi to Penny, a former coworker of Nomi's whom he gets pregnant.

Cristal arranges for Nomi to audition for the chorus line of ''Goddess''. Tony Moss, the show's director, humiliates Nomi by asking her to put ice on her nipples to make them hard. Furious, Nomi abruptly leaves the audition after scattering ice everywhere in a fit. Despite her outburst, Nomi gets the job and quits Cheetah's. Cristal further humiliates Nomi by suggesting she make a "goodwill appearance" at a boat trade show, which turns out to be a thinly disguised prostitution set-up.

Undeterred, Nomi sets out to get revenge against Cristal and claim her mantle. She seduces Zack, who secures an audition for her to be Cristal's understudy. Nomi wins the role, but when Cristal threatens legal action against the Stardust, the offer is rescinded. After Cristal taunts her, Nomi pushes her down a flight of stairs, breaking her hip, and replaces her as the show's lead. Although Nomi has finally secured the fame she sought, she alienates Molly, who realizes she pushed Cristal down the stairs.

Molly later relents and attends Nomi's opening-night celebration at a posh hotel, where she meets her idol, musician Andrew Carver. Carver lures Molly to a room, where he brutally beats her and leads his bodyguards in gang-raping her. Molly is hospitalized after the assault. Nomi wants to report the assault to the police, but Zack tells her that the Stardust will bribe Molly with hush money to protect Carver, their star performer. Zack then confronts Nomi about her sordid past: Her birth name is Polly, and she became a runaway and prostitute after her parents' murder-suicide. She has been arrested several times for drug possession, prostitution, and assault with a deadly weapon. Zack blackmails Nomi by vowing to keep her past quiet if she will not tell the police about the assault.

Unable to obtain justice for Molly without exposing her past, Nomi decides to take justice into her own hands. She gets Carver alone in his hotel room and beats him severely. Nomi then pays two hospital visits, one to Molly to let her know that Carver's actions did not go unpunished, and another to Cristal to apologize for injuring her. Cristal admits she pulled a similar stunt years ago. Because her lawyers secure her a large cash settlement, Cristal forgives Nomi, and they exchange a kiss. Nomi leaves Las Vegas and hitches a ride to Los Angeles, coincidentally with the same driver who stole her possessions when she arrived, whom she robs at knifepoint.

Tigger interrupts the beginning of the movie, fed up with most of the stories being about Pooh. After rearranging the title page to spell out the movie's title, the story resumes. In the Hundred Acre Wood, Tigger searches for someone to bounce with him, but all of his friends are too busy preparing for the upcoming winter. Tigger's closest friend Roo wants to play with him but arrives too late to do so. While he searches for a playmate, Tigger inadvertently destroys Eeyore's house with a boulder. Rabbit gathers Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, and Roo and they build a mechanical pulley system to remove the boulder, with little success. Tigger arrives and helps out, but his actions wreck the machine and send everyone into a muddy lake (except Roo, who lands in a tree, and Eeyore, who lands in a thorn bush). Frustrated, Rabbit and the rest of Tigger's friends reprimand him for his troublesome rambunctious nature while saying that they are not like him, hurting his feelings. Roo, seeing Tigger's sadness and alienation, asks him if he has any family members of his own. Tigger is fascinated by the concept and decides to search for his family, hoping to finally be within a similar company.

Misunderstanding advice from Owl, Tigger and Roo begin searching for his family tree, believing it to be a centuries-old tree covered in stripes and with many Tiggers upon it. After his search fails, they return to Tigger's house. After finding a golden, heart-shaped locket, they believe that a picture of Tigger's family is inside it. However, the locket is empty. Roo suggests that he writes a letter to his family and he does so. He lets the wind carry it away with hopes that it will reach his family, but receives no response after days of waiting and begins to lose hope. Tigger's sympathetic friends decide to write him a letter; everyone contributes a bit of friendly advice and signs it "your family". Tigger misinterprets the content of the letter and comes to believe that his family exists and is intending to visit him, with the others unable to tell him the truth. He organizes a large and absurd party in preparation for a family reunion.

Roo, wishing to uphold Tigger's spirits, encourages his friends to disguise themselves as Tiggers and attend his party. Rabbit refuses to join in and instead berates the others for not preparing for the harsh conditions ahead before leaving, but Roo convinces everyone to continue with the plan.

After a great effort in disguising themselves and learning to behave like Tiggers, Tigger's friends arrive at his party. He completely falls for the disguises until Roo's mask falls off after an attempt to imitate a complex bounce that Tigger had taught him earlier. In light of his friends' deception, the disappointed and betrayed Tigger sets out into a blizzard in search of his real family, taking his letter and locket with him. After falling down a cliff in an attempt to recover his locket, he finds an immense tree that the snow has whitened with stripes, convincing him that it is the family tree he had sought, but is saddened when he finds no one waiting for him there. His friends (joined by Rabbit) set out on an expedition in search of him, but they fail to persuade him to come home. Their argument causes an avalanche, which drives Tigger to rescue his friends by carrying them up into the tree branches. When Tigger has swept away himself, Roo successfully performs Tigger's bounce and saves him. The two perform the bounce together to escape the avalanche and land back on the tree. When the avalanche subsides, Owl and Kanga find them. Christopher Robin also arrives and after finding out what happened, tells Tigger he never needed to go looking for his family. Tigger protests, saying he got a letter from his family. He tries to show it to them but discovers it was lost in the avalanche (it was actually lost before the avalanche happened).

Tigger's friends reveal their authorship of the letter by reciting its pieces from memory. Tigger finally realizes that his friends are his true family and he throws a new party in honor of them while handing out presents for them: a new home for Eeyore (made from the family room meant for Tigger's non-existent family), a toy plane for Christopher Robin, a yo-yo for Owl, a hat for Kanga, a large amount of honey for Pooh, lots of firewood for Piglet, a promise to Rabbit that he will watch where he's bouncing from now on (as well as a hug), and the locket for Roo (whom he finally accepts as a brother figure). Christopher Robin then takes a picture of everyone to put inside the locket. The film ends with the newly taken photo shown inside the locket while the camera backs away as it closes up.

The titular Neverhood is a surreal landscape dotted with buildings and other hints of life, all suspended above an endless void. However, the Neverhood itself is strangely deserted, with its only inhabitants being Klaymen (the main protagonist and player character), Willie Trombone (a dim individual who assists Klaymen in his travels), Klogg (the game's antagonist who resembles a warped version of Klaymen), and various fauna that inhabit the Neverhood (most infamously the 'weasels', monstrous, crablike creatures that pursue Klaymen and Willie at certain points in the game). Much of the game's background information is limited to the 'Hall Of Records' which is notorious for its length, taking several minutes to travel from one end of the hall to the other.

The game begins with Klaymen waking up in a room and exploring the Neverhood, collecting various discs appearing to contain a disjointed story narrated by Willie (which Klaymen can view through various terminals scattered throughout the land). As Klaymen travels the Neverhood, he occasionally crosses paths with Willie, who agrees to help him in his journey, while Klogg spies on them from afar. Eventually, Klaymen's quest directs him to Klogg's castle, and for this Klaymen enlists the help of Big Robot Bil, a towering automaton and a friend of Willie's.

As Bil (with Klaymen and Willie on board) marches to Klogg's castle, Klogg unleashes his guardian, the Clockwork Beast, to intercept Bil. The two giants clash and Bil proves victorious, but as he forces open the castle door for Klaymen to enter, Klogg gravely injures Bil by firing a cannon at him. Klaymen manages to get in, but Bil loses his footing and falls into the void with Willie still inside. Alone in Klogg's castle, Klaymen finds the last of Willie's discs, revealing the full context of his tale; the Neverhood itself is the creation of a godlike being named Hoborg, who created the Neverhood in the hopes of making himself happy. Realizing that he was still alone, Hoborg creates himself a companion by planting a seed into the ground, which grows into Klogg. As Hoborg welcomes Klogg to the Neverhood, the latter tries to take Hoborg's crown, which Hoborg forbids Klogg from doing. Envious, Klogg manages to steal Hoborg's crown, rendering Hoborg inert in the process, and the crown's energies disfigure Klogg. With Hoborg lifeless, any further development of the Neverhood ground to a halt.

Having witnessed this, Willie (himself and Bil being creations of Hoborg's brother Ottoborg) discovers that Hoborg was about to plant a seed to create another companion. Willie takes the seed and plants it far away from Klogg, with Willie hoping that whoever grew from the seed would defeat Klogg. That seed in turn grew into Klaymen. The story ends with Willie giving Klaymen the throne room key through the terminal screen, hoping that Klaymen knows what to do once he confronts Klogg. Afterwards, Klaymen manages to enter the throne room, with Klogg and a motionless Hoborg waiting for him. Klogg tries to dissuade Klaymen from reviving Hoborg by tempting him with Hoborg's crown. From here, the player may choose to take up Klogg's offer or take the crown to revive Hoborg. If the player chooses to take the crown for himself, Klogg gloats at his apparent victory, only for the crown to disfigure Klaymen similarly to Klogg. The now-villainous Klaymen overpowers Klogg and declares himself the new ruler of the Neverhood.

If the player chooses to revive Hoborg, Klaymen distracts Klogg and manages to put the crown atop Hoborg's head, reviving him. As Hoborg thanks Klaymen, Klogg attempts to ambush them both, only to set off his own cannon which blasts him out of the castle and into the void. Returning to the building where Klaymen first started, Hoborg continues populating the Neverhood and orders a celebration when he is finished. However, Klaymen remains sorrowful over the loss of Willie and Bil, and Hoborg decides to use his powers to save Willie and Bil (to Klaymen's delight), and the game ends with Hoborg telling Klaymen "Man, things are good".

In the book, every member of the Creedish Cult learns how to be a servant for the human race—most of them are butlers and maids—and fear most human pleasures. They await a sign from a higher power to tell them to deliver themselves unto Them; that is, they must commit suicide.

The sign finally comes, and a good ten years later, Tender becomes the last surviving member of the cult. He is thrown into mainstream culture and becomes a personal icon for many people.

The novel opens ''in medias res'' to Tender Branson, who has just hijacked an airliner, released its passengers, and is now sitting in the cockpit telling his life story to the cockpit voice recorder. He explains the events leading up to the hijacking.

Tender is a member of the Creedish Church, a cult which engaged in a mass suicide ten years previously. Surviving members of the cult have been steadily killing themselves since the mass suicide, in keeping with their belief that deliverance is at hand. At his dingy apartment, Tender receives telephone calls from people who want to kill themselves—the result of a newspaper misprint which printed his phone number as the number for a crisis hotline. One of these callers is Trevor Hollis, a man who wants to kill himself because of his recurring nightmares about disasters. Tender tells Trevor to kill himself, and soon after, reads his obituary in the paper. One day, Tender visits Trevor's grave and meets his sister, Fertility. Later that night, Tender has a weekly meeting with his caseworker from a government agency that keeps tabs on the survivors of suicide cults.

After their meeting, Fertility calls Tender thinking she has called the crisis hotline. Realizing who she is, Tender talks to her in a fake voice. Eventually, Fertility asks Tender to have phone sex with her, but he hangs up after turning her down. He then stops answering his phone in fear that she will be on the other line, growing more attracted to him as a mysterious voice than as a person. Later, Tender receives a suspicious call from a man he recognizes as a member of the Creedish Church, and soon realizes that the murderer of Creedish survivors is actually Creedish himself. While Tender is on a date with Fertility, a stranger approaches them on a bus and tells them facile jokes about the mass suicide. Tender recognizes the man's pants as Creedish dress and realizes he is Adam, his fraternal twin brother. Tender speaks Adam's name aloud, but when Adam asks if they are brothers, he desperately denies it.

Tender soon learns that he and Adam are the last two survivors of the Creedish Church. He begins receiving phone calls from journalists and publicity agents wanting his story. Tender's caseworker suffocates on a chemical solution of ammonia and chlorine that she was using to clean his fireplace, which had been secretly mixed together by Adam and whose intended target was Tender. Adam steals the dead caseworker's files on the Creedish suicides. The police suspect Tender, but he claims innocence and slips away. Tender, meanwhile, calls an agent and takes a flight to New York City. There he approaches a publicity agent, whose company gives him an extensive makeover in order to turn him into a religious celebrity. Tender agrees to the procedure, as he has no will to live and desires fame only in order to have an enormous audience for when he commits suicide.

As Tender's fame grows, he is constantly waiting for the opportune moment to kill himself. Then, as his popularity starts to wane, his agent tells him that he needs to perform a miracle in order to stay famous. Fertility who has psychic powers tracks down Tender and gives him a prediction to make on TV that will seem like a miracle when it comes true. When it does, Tender's fame swells to even greater proportions. This cycle repeats with further predictions. Tender's agent plans an elaborate wedding for him that will take place during the Super Bowl halftime show, at which point he will make another miraculous prediction. However, when the moment comes and the police arrive to arrest him, Tender causes a riot in the stadium by predicting the outcome of the game. Tender escapes with Adam and Fertility to a Ronald McDonald House.

After traveling cross-country, Tender and Adam steal a car that Fertility foretold would be unlocked in a particular parking lot. During their journey north to Canada, Adam recounts how the leaders of the Creedish Church terrorized the children into fearing sex by forcing them to watch every time a woman went into labor. Adam believes the only way to cure Tender is for him to have sex—to reject the Church doctrine at its core. Tender resists, and as Adam recounts the details of the "mental castration", Tender loses control and crashes the car. Tender reluctantly acquiesces to Adam's demand that he disfigure him with a rock, as long as Adam will tell him when to stop, but Adam keeps telling him to swing again until he dies. Immediately afterwards, Fertility shows up in a taxicab and takes Tender away.

Tender and Fertility travel to Oregon, where she plans to go on a quick job assignment as a surrogate mother to make some money; however, Fertility is actually barren, so her job is, in essence, prostitution. The job she takes coincidentally happens to be the employers from Tender's former job as a housekeeper. After dark, Tender sneaks into the house and has sex with Fertility in the guest bedroom. She informs him the next morning that she is pregnant, then leaves to board a plane to Sydney. In her planner that she leaves behind, Tender reads that someone is going to hijack the plane and crash it into the Australian outback. Following Fertility to the airport, Tender finds her, takes a gun belonging to Adam, and uses it to board the plane. He then begins searching for the "real" hijacker until the joke dawns on him and he realizes that ''he'' is the hijacker. The plot thus returns to the beginning, with Tender explaining that Fertility told him there was a way for him to escape the plane before it crashes, but on the record, he can't seem to figure it out.

The book ends mid-sentence, but without any definitive answer as to whether Tender lives or dies. However, it has been stated by the author that Tender survives, and an explanation is available on Chuck Palahniuk's official website.

Peter Gibbons is a frustrated and unmotivated programmer who works at Initech. He is friends with co-workers Samir Nagheenanajar and Michael Bolton (who loathes being associated with the famous singer of the same name). Another co-worker in the office is Milton Waddams, a meek collator who is mostly ignored by the rest of the office. The staff suffers under top-heavy, callous management, especially from Initech's vice president Bill Lumbergh, whom Peter hates and avoids confronting.

Peter's girlfriend Anne persuades him to attend an occupational hypnotherapy session led by Dr. Swanson, who dies of a heart attack before snapping Peter out of his relaxed state. Peter sleeps soundly through most of the next day, ignoring phone calls from Lumbergh and Anne, who angrily breaks up with him while confirming his suspicions that she has been cheating on him.

Peter begins dating Joanna, a restaurant waitress who shares his loathing of management. She is required to wear "pieces of flair" (buttons meant to allow employees to "express themselves"). Her boss often hassles her for not wearing more than the required minimum.

Meanwhile, a pair of business consultants, Bob Slydell and Bob Porter ("the Bobs"), are brought in to help the company downsize. Peter finally shows up to work and casually disregards office protocol, violating the dress code and messily removing a cubicle wall blocking his view out the window. Impressed by his frank insights into Initech's problems, The Bobs promote him despite Lumbergh's misgivings. Michael and Samir, however, are fired. Milton is also expected to be eliminated, but it is learned that he was laid off five years previously but neither Milton nor the accounting department were notified. To avoid confrontation, the Bobs and Lumbergh tell accounting to cease Milton's salary payments without telling him he has been terminated. Milton is subjected to further mistreatment, including the confiscation of his beloved red Swingline stapler and the constant moving of his desk.

Tired of being mistreated, Peter, Michael, and Samir decide to take revenge by infecting Initech's accounting system with a computer virus designed by Michael to divert huge numbers of fractions of pennies into a bank account (a technique that has long been known, described as salami slicing). Such transactions are small enough to avoid detection but will result in the accrual of a substantial amount of money over time. Peter successfully installs the virus and on Michael and Samir's last day, he steals a frequently malfunctioning printer, which the three proceed to destroy in a grass field. At a weekend party, Peter hears rumors from a coworker that Joanna had slept with Lumbergh in the past. When Joanna confirms this, a heated exchange leads to them breaking up. Frustrated with her own job, Joanna gives her boss the finger (in front of customers) and quits in response to another lecture about her lack of "flair".

On Monday, Peter discovers that a bug in Michael's code has caused the virus to steal over $300,000 during the weekend, which is very conspicuous and guarantees they will be caught. The trio try to devise a plan to launder the money to no avail. Peter decides to accept full responsibility for the crime. He writes a confession and slips it under Lumbergh's office door after hours, along with traveler's checks for the stolen money. Peter then learns that the "Lumbergh" Joanna slept with was an ex-coworker unrelated to Bill Lumbergh. He meets Joanna, who has started a new job at another restaurant. He apologizes to her and they reconcile.

The next morning, Peter drives to Initech expecting to be arrested, but discovers that the building is on fire, which destroys all evidence of the scheme. He sees Milton fleeing the scene, apparently having made good on repeated threats to burn down the building after being mistreated. Samir and Michael begin new jobs at Initech's rival Intertrode, while Peter's neighbor Lawrence helps him find a new job as a construction worker, an occupation which he enjoys. Milton, having found and taken the traveler's checks while searching for his stapler in Lumbergh's office, uses the money to vacation in Mexico, where he threatens to put strychnine in the resort's guacamole after being neglected by staff. As he digs through the rubble that was once Initech's building, Peter finds the burnt remains of Milton's stapler, leading him to look to the sky and smile.

Marta Weiss (Barbara Drapinska), a Polish Jew, arrives by cattle car to the Auschwitz concentration camp. While there, she catches the attention of the guards as she is multilingual and is put to work as a translator. When she inquires about the factory at the camp, a fellow inmate informs her that it is a crematorium and that the rest of her family likely has been murdered. The character Marta Weiss is based on the true life of Mala Zimetbaum.

In the barracks, many of the women are dying and ill. Eugenia, a prisoner and doctor, tries her best to minister to them but is unable to do much as supplies are limited. The women learn that an international commission is coming to the camp to observe the conditions of the prisoners. Eugenia learns a few key phrases in German and is able to tell the observers that everything they see is a lie and people are dying. Unfortunately the commanders tell the observers that Eugenia is mentally ill. Later they torture her to find out who taught her the German phrases but Eugenia refuses to tell them and is murdered.

Eugenia is replaced by Lalunia, a Polish woman who claims to have been rounded up by mistake and who says she is a doctor though she is actually only a pharmacist's wife. However rather than administer medicine to the women of the camp she distributes them among the Kapos in exchange for luxuries like clothes and perfume. The nurses' aide searches her room and confiscates the remaining medicine. Lalunia later turns the aide in and has her killed after discovering messages she had written that the Russians were advancing.

Meanwhile, Marta is able to temporarily escape in order to smuggle information about the camps to a resistance broadcaster. When she is returned to the camp, she is tortured and then sentenced to death by hanging. A prisoner frees her wrists and hands her a knife before she is to die, and she tells the camp that the Russians are coming and slashes the face of the Nazi commander who tortured her. Before the guards can retaliate, planes are heard overhead, and Marta realizes that the Russians have come to liberate them.

Jurgis Rudkus marries his fifteen-year-old sweetheart, Ona Lukoszaite, in a joyous traditional Lithuanian wedding feast. They and their extended family have recently immigrated to Chicago due to financial hardship in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire). They have heard that America offers freedom and higher wages and have come to pursue the American Dream.

Despite having lost much of their savings being conned on the trip to Chicago, and then having to pay for the wedding—and despite the disappointment of arriving at a crowded boarding house—Jurgis is initially optimistic about his prospects in Chicago. Young and strong, he believes that he is immune to the misfortunes that have befallen others in the crowd. He is swiftly hired by a meatpacking factory; he marvels at its efficiency, even while witnessing the cruel treatment of the animals.

The women of the family answer an ad for a four-room house; Ona, who came from an educated background, figures that they could easily afford it with the jobs that Jurgis, proud Marija, and ambitious Jonas have gotten. While they discover at the showing that the neighborhood is unkempt and the house doesn't live up to the advertisement, they are taken in by the slickness and fluent Lithuanian of the real estate agent and sign a contract for the house.

However, with the help of an old Lithuanian neighbor, they discover several unexpected expenses in the contract that they must pay every month on time, or else face eviction—the fate of most home buyers in the neighborhood. To meet these costs, Ona and thirteen-year-old Stanislovas (whom the family had wished to send to school) must take up work as well.

While sickness befalls them often, they cannot afford not to work. That winter, Jurgis's father, weakened by exposure to chemicals and the elements at his job, dies of illness.

Some levity is brought to their lives by the arrival of a musician, named Tamoszius, who courts Marija, and the birth of Jurgis and Ona's first child. However, this happiness is tempered when Ona must return to work one week after giving birth, and Marija is laid off in a seasonal cutback. Jurgis attends union meetings passionately; he realizes that he had been taken in by a vote-buying scheme when he was new to Chicago, learns that the meat factories deliberately use diseased meat, and learns that workers frequently came down with ailments relating to their dangerous and unsanitary work.

Work becomes more demanding as wages fall; the working members of the family suffer a series of injuries. Amid this hardship, Jonas deserts the family, leaving them no choice but to send two children to work as newspaper boys. The youngest child, a handicapped toddler, dies of food poisoning; only his mother grieves his death.

After recovering from his injury, Jurgis takes the least desirable job at a fertilizer mill. In misery, he begins drinking alcohol. He becomes suspicious of his pregnant wife's failure to return home on several nights. Ona ultimately confesses that her boss, Phil Connor, raped her. Then, by threatening to fire and blacklist everyone in her family, he coerced her into a continuing sexual relationship.

Jurgis furiously attacks Connor at his factory, but half a dozen men tear him away. While in prison awaiting trial, he realizes it is Christmas Eve. The next day, his cellmate, Jack Duane, tells him about his criminal ventures and gives him his address. At trial, Connor testifies that he had fired Ona for "impudence" and easily denies Jurgis's account; the judge dismissively sentences Jurgis to thirty days in prison plus court fees.

Stanislovas visits Jurgis in prison and tells him of the family's increasing destitution. After Jurgis serves his term (plus three days for his inability to pay the fees), he walks through the slush for an entire day to get home, only to find that the house had been remodeled and sold to another family. He learns from their old neighbor that, despite all of the sacrifices they had made, his family had been evicted and had returned to the boarding house.

Upon arriving at the boarding house, Jurgis hears Ona screaming. She is in premature labor, and Marija explains that the family had no money for a doctor. Jurgis convinces a midwife to assist, but it is too little too late; the infant is dead, and with one last look at Jurgis, Ona dies shortly afterward. The children return with a day's wages; Jurgis spends all of it to get drunk for the night.

The next morning, Ona's stepmother begs Jurgis to think of his surviving child. With his son in mind, he endeavors again to gain employment despite his blacklisting. For a time, the family gets by and Jurgis delights in his son's first attempts at speech. One day, Jurgis arrives home to discover that his son had drowned after falling off a rotting boardwalk into the muddy streets. Without shedding a tear, he walks away from Chicago.

Jurgis wanders the countryside while the weather is warm, working, foraging, and stealing for food, shelter, and drink. In the fall, he returns to Chicago, sometimes employed, sometimes a tramp. While begging, he chances upon an eccentric rich drunk—the son of the owner of the first factory where Jurgis had worked—who entertains him for the night in his luxurious mansion and gives him a one-hundred-dollar bill (worth about $3000 today). Afterward, when Jurgis spends the bill at a bar, the bartender cheats him. Jurgis attacks the bartender and is sentenced to prison again, where he once again meets Jack Duane. This time, without a family to anchor him, Jurgis decides to fall in with him.

Jurgis helps Duane mug a well-off man; his split of the loot is worth over twenty times a day's wages from his first job. Though his conscience is pricked by learning of the man's injuries in the next day's papers, he justifies it to himself as necessary in a "dog-eat-dog" world. Jurgis then navigates the world of crime; he learns that this includes a substantial corruption of the police department. He becomes a vote fixer for a wealthy political powerhouse, Mike Scully, and arranges for many new Slavic immigrants to vote according to Scully's wishes—as Jurgis once had. To influence those men, he had taken a job at a factory, which he continues as a strikebreaker. One night, by chance, he runs into Connor, whom he attacks again. Afterward, he discovers that his buddies cannot fix the trial as Connor is an important figure under Scully. With the help of a friend, he posts and skips bail.

With no other options, Jurgis returns to begging and chances upon a woman who had been a guest to his wedding. She tells him where to find Marija, and Jurgis heads to the address to find that it is a brothel being raided by the police. Marija tells him that she was forced to prostitute herself to feed the children after they had gotten sick, and Stanislovas—who had drunk too much and passed out at work—had been eaten by rats. After their speedy trial and release, Marija tells Jurgis that she cannot leave the brothel as she cannot save money and has become addicted to heroin, as is typical in the brothel's human trafficking.

Marija has a customer, so Jurgis leaves and finds a political meeting for a warm place to stay. He begins to nod off. A refined lady gently rouses him, saying, "If you would try to listen, comrade, perhaps you would be interested." Startled by her kindness and fascinated by her passion, he listens to the thundering speaker. Enraptured by his speech, Jurgis seeks out the orator afterward. The orator asks if he is interested in socialism.

A Polish socialist takes him into his home, conversing with him about his life and socialism. Jurgis returns home to Ona's stepmother and passionately converts her to socialism; she placatingly goes along with it only because it seems to motivate him to find work. He finds work in a small hotel that turns out to be run by a state organizer of the Socialist Party. Jurgis passionately dedicates his life to the cause of socialism.

A young George Jung and his parents Fred and Ermine live in Weymouth, Massachusetts. When George is 10 years old, Fred files for bankruptcy, but tries to make George realize that money is not important.

As an adult, George moves to Los Angeles with his friend "Tuna"; they meet Barbara, a flight attendant, who introduces them to Derek Foreal, a marijuana dealer. With Derek's help, George and Tuna make a lot of money. Kevin Dulli, a visiting college student from Boston, tells them of the demand for marijuana back home. They start selling marijuana there, buying marijuana directly from Mexico with the help of Santiago Sanchez, a Mexican drug lord. Two years later, George is caught in Chicago trying to import of marijuana and is sentenced to two years' imprisonment. After unsuccessfully trying to plead his innocence, George skips bail to take care of Barbara, who dies from cancer. Her death marks the disbanding of the group of friends.

While hiding from the authorities, George visits his parents. George's mother calls the police, who arrest him. He is sentenced to 26 months in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. His cellmate Diego Delgado has contacts in the Medellin cartel and convinces George to help him go into the cocaine business. Upon his release from prison, George violates his parole conditions and heads down to Cartagena, Colombia to meet with Diego. They meet with cartel officer Cesar Rosa to negotiate the terms for smuggling to establish "good faith".

As the smuggling operation grows, Diego is arrested, leaving George to find a way to sell . George reconnects with Derek in California, and the two sell all the cocaine. George then goes to Medellín, Colombia and meets Pablo Escobar, who agrees to go into business with them. With the help of Derek, the pair become Escobar's top U.S. importer. At Diego's wedding, George meets Cesar's fiancée Mirtha and later marries her. However, Diego resents George for keeping Derek's identity secret and pressures George to reveal his connection. George eventually discovers that Diego has betrayed him by cutting him out of the connection with Derek. Inspired by the birth of his daughter and a drug-related heart attack, George severs his relationship with the cartel.

All goes well with George's newfound civilian life for five years, until Mirtha organizes a 38th birthday party for him. Many of his former drug associates attend, including Derek, who reveals that Diego eventually cut him out as well. The FBI and DEA raid the party and arrest George. He becomes a fugitive, and his bank account—heretofore under Manuel Noriega's protection in Panama—is seized by Noriega. One night, he and Mirtha get into a fight while driving. They are pulled over by police and Mirtha tells them George is a fugitive and has stashed a kilogram of cocaine in his trunk. He is sent to jail for three years, Mirtha divorces him, and takes custody of their nine-year-old daughter, Kristina Sunshine Jung.

Upon his release, George struggles to maintain his relationship with his daughter. He promises Kristina a vacation in California and seeks one last deal to garner enough money for the trip. George completes a deal with former accomplices but learns too late that the deal had been set up by the FBI and DEA, with Dulli and Derek having leaked the nature and location of the action in exchange for pardons for their involvement in his prior action. George is sentenced to 60 years at Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He explains in the end that neither the sentence nor the betrayal bothered him, but that he can never forgive himself for having to break a promise to his daughter.

While in prison, George requests a furlough to see his dying father, Fred. His mother denies the request. George records a final message to Fred, recounting his memories of working with his father, his run-ins with the law, and finally, too late, his understanding of what Fred meant when he said that money is not "real". An old man in prison, George imagines that his daughter finally comes to visit him. She slowly fades away as a guard calls for George. The film concludes with notes indicating that Jung will not be eligible for parole until 2015, and that his daughter has yet to visit him.

On Christmas Eve, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Detective John McClane arrives in Los Angeles, hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly, at a party held by her employer, the Nakatomi Corporation. He is driven to Nakatomi Plaza by a limo driver, Argyle, who offers to wait for McClane in the garage. While McClane changes clothes, the tower is seized by German radical Hans Gruber and his heavily armed team, including Karl and Theo. Everyone in the tower is taken hostage except for McClane, who slips away, and Argyle, who remains oblivious to events.

Gruber is posing as a terrorist to steal the $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds in the building's vault. He kills executive Joseph Takagi after failing to extract the access code from him, and tasks Theo with breaking into the vault. The terrorists are alerted to McClane's presence and one of them, Tony, is sent after him. McClane kills Tony and takes his weapon and radio, which he uses to contact the skeptical Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Sergeant Al Powell is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, McClane kills more terrorists and recovers their bag of C-4 and detonators. Having found nothing amiss, Powell is about to leave until McClane drops a terrorist's corpse onto his car. After Powell calls for backup, a SWAT team attempts to storm the building but is assaulted by the terrorists. McClane throws some C-4 down an elevator shaft, causing an explosion that kills some of the terrorists and ends the assault.

Holly's co-worker Harry Ellis attempts to negotiate on Gruber's behalf, but when McClane refuses to surrender, Gruber kills Ellis. While checking the explosives on the roof, Gruber encounters McClane and pretends to be an escaped hostage; McClane gives Gruber a gun. Gruber attempts to shoot McClane but finds the weapon is unloaded, and is saved only by the intervention of other terrorists. McClane escapes but is injured by shattered glass and loses the detonators. Outside, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents take control. They order the power to be shut off which, as Gruber had anticipated, disables the final vault lock so his team can collect the bonds.

The FBI agrees to Gruber's demand for a helicopter, intending to send gunship helicopters to eliminate the group. McClane realizes Gruber plans to blow the roof to kill the hostages and fake his team's deaths. Karl, enraged by the death of his brother Tony, attacks McClane and is seemingly killed. Gruber sees a news report by Richard Thornburg on McClane's children and deduces that he is Holly's husband. The hostages are taken to the roof while Gruber keeps Holly with him. McClane drives the hostages from the roof just before Gruber detonates it and destroys the approaching FBI helicopters. Meanwhile, Theo retrieves an escape vehicle from the parking garage but is knocked out by Argyle, who has been following events on his car radio.

A weary and battered McClane finds Holly with Gruber and his remaining henchman. McClane surrenders to Gruber and is about to be shot, but grabs his concealed service pistol taped to his back and uses his last two bullets to wound Gruber and kill his accomplice. Gruber crashes through a window but grabs onto Holly's wristwatch and makes a last-ditch attempt to kill the pair before McClane unclasps the watch and Gruber falls to his death. Outside, Karl ambushes McClane and Holly but is shot dead by Powell. Holly punches Thornburg when he attempts to interview McClane before Argyle crashes through the parking garage door in the limo and drives McClane and Holly away together.

The film begins with a silent film sequence, with intertitles, during which Squire Allworthy returns to his estate after a lengthy stay in London and discovers a baby in his bed. Thinking that one of his maids, Jenny Jones, and his barber, Mr. Partridge, conceived the illegitimate baby out of lust, the squire banishes them. He names the infant Tom Jones and chooses to raise him as if he were his own son; Tom grows up loving him like a father.

Tom becomes a lively young man whose good looks and kind heart make him very popular with girls and women. He truly loves only the gentle Sophie Western (Sophia, "Sophy", in the novel), daughter of a neighbour, who returns his love. Tom is stigmatized as a "bastard" and cannot wed a young lady of her class. Sophie, too, must hide her feelings while her aunt and her father, Squire Western, try to coerce her to marry someone they think more suitable, the nephew of Squire Allworthy.

This young man is Mr. Blifil, the son of Squire Allworthy's widowed sister Bridget. Although of legitimate birth and appropriate class, he is an ill-natured prig with plenty of hypocritical 'virtue.' When Bridget dies unexpectedly, Blifil intercepts a letter, which his mother intended for his uncle's eyes only. The letter's contents are not revealed until late in the film. But after his mother's funeral, Blifil and his two tutors, Mr. Thwackum and Mr. Square (who also tutored Tom), join forces to convince the squire that Tom is a villain. Allworthy gives Tom a substantial cash legacy (500 pounds, worth over $125,000 in 2021) and sorrowfully sends him out into the world to seek his fortune.

In his odyssey on the roads, Tom is knocked unconscious while defending the good name of his beloved Sophie and robbed of his legacy. He also flees from a jealous Irishman who falsely accuses him of having an affair with his wife, Sophie's cousin; engages in deadly sword fights, rescues a Mrs. Waters from a British army officer, and later beds her. Before that occurs, Tom and Mrs. Waters have a celebrated scene in which they wordlessly and voraciously consume a hearty meal while gazing lustfully at each other. Later, Tom meets Partridge, his alleged biological father, and engages him as a servant.

Meanwhile, Sophie runs away from home soon after Tom is banished, in order to escape the attentions of the loathed Blifil. After narrowly missing each other at the Upton Inn, Tom and Sophie arrive separately in London. There, Tom attracts the attention of Lady Bellaston, a noblewoman over 40 years of age who is attracted to the "pretty boy". She is rich, beautiful, and completely amoral. She invites Tom to a masked ball at Vauxhall Gardens and seduces him. Tom goes to her bed willingly and is generously rewarded for his services with a suit of fine clothes.

Lady Bellaston tries to force Sophia into marriage to a lord by having her raped by him so that she can have Jones to herself. Sophia is saved when her father bursts in.

Hoping to disentangle himself from the affair with Lady Bellaston, Tom writes to her proposing marriage, knowing she will reject the proposal and him. She does, but she also shows the proposal letter to Sophia, who writes to Tom breaking off all contact with him.

Tom visits Sophia's cousin, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, to ask her to speak on his behalf to Sophia. Mr. Fitzpatrick sees him leaving and, assuming his earlier suspicions of an affair between Tom and Mrs. Fitzpatrick were correct, engages him in a duel. The sword fight ends in the wounding of Mr. Fitzpatrick and the crowd thinks Tom was robbing him. Tom ends up at Tyburn Gaol, sentenced to hang for robbery and murder.

Partridge runs into Mrs. Waters and recognises her as the former Jenny Jones, Tom's alleged mother. He tells her that the man she 'met' is her alleged son and that he is awaiting execution. Squire Allworthy is troubled to hear that Tom has apparently been involved in incest. However, Mrs. Waters visits Mr. Allworthy and tells him the truth: Tom is not Jenny Jones's child, but his sister Bridget's illegitimate son and thus Allworthy's nephew. Allworthy also learns of the mysterious letter that was supposed to reveal this. Since Blifil knew of the letter, concealed it, and tried to destroy his half-brother, Allworthy disinherits him.

Allworthy also learns that Mr. Fitzpatrick has recovered and withdrawn the charge against Tom. Allworthy uses this knowledge to get Tom a pardon, but it arrives too late: Tom has been conveyed to the gallows; the noose is around his neck. Squire Western, who has been apprised of Tom's new status as Allworthy's only heir, cuts him down as he begins to hang and takes him to Sophie.

Tom has permission to court Sophie, and all ends well with Tom embracing Sophie with both Squire Western's and his uncle's blessings. Squire Western predicts a child will be born "tomorrow and ninemonth".

Tom "lives to love another day".

Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) is an itinerant jack-of-all-trades who stops at a farm in the Arizona desert to obtain some water for his car. There he sees several women working on a fence, very ineptly. The women, who speak very little English, introduce themselves as German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns. The mother superior, the leader of the nuns, persuades him to do a small roofing repair. Instead of paying him and letting him continue on his way, they invite him to stay to dinner, where all speak in German. They all call him "Schmidt" the German equivalent of Smith. He teaches them some more English and they all have fun.

He stays overnight, assuming that he will be paid in the next morning. Next day, he is given a frugal breakfast and mother superior shows him a broken structure and says she wants him to build a chapel. He resists and just wants pay.

Smith tries to persuade the mother superior to pay him by quoting Luke 10:7, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Mother Maria Marthe (Lilia Skala, called Mother Maria) responds by asking him to read another Bible verse from the Sermon on the Mount: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

When Sunday comes, Mother Maria informs Smith that he will drive the sisters to Mass in his station wagon. (The nuns have no vehicle and thus ordinarily would walk the long distance to church.) Smith is invited to attend the Catholic Mass, celebrated by a roving priest not in a church but outdoors, but he declines because he is a Baptist. Instead, he takes the opportunity to get a proper breakfast from the trading post next door. In talking to the proprietor, Juan (Stanley Adams), Smith learns about the hardships that the nuns, led by the unyielding Mother Maria, overcame to emigrate from Eastern Europe—over the Berlin Wall—only to scratch out a meager living on the farm that was willed to their order. Juan humorously tells Homer that he considers prayer and belief in religion a form of "insurance", and suggests that that is why Homer is helping the nuns without payment. The priest confides in Homer that the nuns have no money but says the nuns told him that Smith will build a chapel.

Mother Maria likes things done her way. The nuns have essentially no money and subsist by living off the land, on what vegetables the arid climate provides, and some milk and eggs. Even after being stonewalled when asking for payment, Smith, persuaded to stay for a meal, agrees, against his better judgment, to stay another day to help them with other small jobs, always with the faint hope that Mother Maria will pay him for his work.

On the day Smith plans to leave they ask for a lift to town to a building supplier. The owner and contractor, Ashton, has donated materials to the nuns but is wary of being sucked in by the Mother’s persuasiveness. He calls Smith over, calling Homer "boy". He ridicules the nuns saying that Smith might build a chapel. Smith turns it round, calling the contractor “boy” so the audience understands the initial racial slur involved. He offers to work with the contractor operating the earth moving equipment. When asked what he will do on the other three days, he says he will be building a chapel.

As Smith's skills and strengths become apparent to the nuns, they come to believe that he has been sent by God to fulfill their dream of building a chapel for the townsfolk—who are Mexican American and impoverished—as the nearest church is miles away.

He spends his own money to buy better food in the supermarket and gives it to the nuns.

Though he has come to realize how unlikely it is that he will be paid, and partly out of respect for all the women have overcome, Smith stays longer and finds himself driven to work at least on clearing the construction site for the chapel. He rationalizes that it would be too hard for the sisters to move the heavy beams. After losing another duel of Bible quotes with Mother Maria, Smith acknowledges that he has always wanted to be an architect, but couldn't afford the schooling. His unfulfilled dream impels him to agree to undertake the (unpaid) job of building the sisters a chapel.

To pass the evenings, Smith (whom the nuns call "Schmidt") helps the sisters improve their rudimentary English (only Mother Maria speaks the language well enough to converse with him) and joins them in singing. They share their different musical traditions with one another: their Catholic chants and his Baptist hymns. He teaches them to join him in the call-and-response song "Amen" by Jester Hairston (dubbed by Hairston in the film).

One evening Smith argues with mother superior who asks why he buys food when they need bricks. He accuses her of being like Hitler. He disappears for a few days. He rematerialises with a hangover and a jazzy shirt, but the nuns are happy to see him. The locals start to contribute materials. However they just watch him building rather than helping. They call him the "Americano". Then, starting with Juan, the cafe owner, they start to help. Things start to go wrong as no-one is in overall charge. Smith is put in charge and also starts organising the nuns to make their own adobe bricks to save money.

Smith, determined that the building will be constructed to the highest standards, insists that the work be done by him and only him. Meanwhile, the nuns write letters to various philanthropic organizations and charities asking for money for supplies, but all their requests are denied. As word spreads about the endeavor, locals begin to show up to contribute materials and to help in construction, but Smith rebuffs all offers of assistance in the labor. As he gains a larger and larger audience for his efforts, the locals, impressed with his determination, but no less dogged than he, will content themselves no longer with just watching. They find ways to lend a hand that Smith cannot easily turn down—the lifting of a bucket or brick, for example. Once the process is in motion, they end up doing as they intended, assisting in every aspect of the construction, as well as contributing materials. This greatly accelerates the progress, much to the delight of everyone but Smith.

Even Ashton, who has long ignored Mother Maria's pleas, finds an excuse to deliver some more materials. Almost overnight, Smith finds that he's become a building foreman and contractor. Enduring the hassles of coordinating the work of so many, the constant disputes with Mother Maria, and the trial of getting enough materials for the building, Smith brings the chapel to completion, placing the cross on the spire himself and signing his work where only he and God will know. Ashton offers Homer a job as foreman on a new road project, calling him Mr Smith, acknowledging the proper respect Homer deserves. Homer declines but mutual respect is evident as Homer calls him Mr Ashton.

On the evening before the Sunday when the chapel is to be dedicated, all the work has been done and Smith is exhausted. Now that there is nothing more to keep Smith among them, Mother Maria, too proud to ask him outright to stay, insists that he attend the opening Mass next day to receive proper recognition from the congregation. She speaks enthusiastically of all that "Schmidt" still can do to aid the town, such as building a school. Making no reply to any of this, Smith tricks Mother Maria, as part of the night's English lesson, into saying "thank you" to him. Until then, she stubbornly had thanked only God for the work, assistance, and gifts that Smith had provided to the nuns. It is a touching moment between two strong personalities.

Later that evening, as he leads the nuns in singing "Amen" once again, Smith slips out the door and, still singing the lead, the nuns' voices chiming softly behind him, takes one last look at the chapel he built. Mother Maria hears him start up his station wagon, but remains stolidly in her seat, singing along with the rest of the sisters, as Smith drives quietly off into the night.

Instead of the usual "The End" credit, the film closes with "Amen."

Diana Scott (Julie Christie) is a beautiful, bored young model married to Tony Bridges (Trevor Bowen). One day, Diana meets Robert Gold (Dirk Bogarde), a literary interviewer/director for television arts programs, by chance when she is spotted on the street by his roving film crew and interviewed by him about young people's views on convention. Diana is invited to watch the final edit in the TV studio, and it's there that their relationship starts. After liaisons in bleak hotel rooms, they leave their spouses (and, in Robert's case, children) and move into an apartment.

As a couple, they become part of the fashionable London media/arts set. Initially, Diana is jealous when Robert sees his wife (Pauline Yates) while visiting his children, but she quickly loses this attachment when she mixes with the predatory males of the media, arts and advertising scene, particularly Miles Brand (Laurence Harvey), a powerful advertising executive for the Glass Corporation who gets her a part in a trashy thriller after she has sex with him. The bookish Robert prefers the quiet life; it is he who now becomes jealous, but increasingly detached, depressed and lonely.

Diana attends a high-class charity draw for world hunger for which she is the face. The event, adorned by giant images of African famine victims, is at the height of cynical hypocrisy and bad taste, showing Diana's rich white set, which now includes the establishment, playing at concern, gorging themselves, gambling and generally behaving decadently.

Already showing signs of stress from constantly maintaining the carefree look demanded by the false, empty lifestyle to which she has become a prisoner, Diana becomes pregnant, and has an abortion.

She flies to Paris with Miles for more jet-set sophistication. There she finds the wild party, beat music, strip dance mind game, cross dressing and predatory males and females vaguely repellent and intimidating, but holds her own, gaining the respect of the weird crowd when she taunts Miles in the game. On her return to London, Robert calls her a whore and leaves her, for which she is not emotionally prepared. Miles casts her as "The Happiness Girl" in the Glass Corporation's advertising campaign for a chocolate firm.

Diana finds comfort in the company of the gay photographer Malcolm (Roland Curram) who has created her now famous look and who is the only person who has shown her any real understanding and friendship. They go shopping and she engages in massive shoplifting. On location at a palazzo near Rome, Diana smiles in her medieval/Renaissance costume and completes "The Happiness Girl" shoot. She is much taken with the beauty of the building and the landscape and gets on well with the prince, Cesare (José Luis de Villalonga), who owns the palazzo (the Medici villa in Poggio a Caiano was used in the film). With the friendly Malcolm, Diana decides to stay on in Italy. They stay in a simple house by a small harbour in Capri. Diana flirts half-heartedly with Catholicism. They are visited by Cesare, who arrives in a huge launch, invites them on board and proposes to Diana. Cesare is widowed and has several children, the oldest of whom is about the same age as Diana. Diana politely declines his proposal, but Cesare leaves the offer open.

Diana returns to London, and still living in the flat she shared with Robert, has a party with Miles and other assorted media characters. Robert has aged. Soon disillusioned with Miles and the vacuous London jet set, Diana flirts with the Catholic Church again. Impulsively, she flies to Italy and marries the prince, which proves to be ill-considered. Though waited on hand and foot by servants, she is almost immediately abandoned in the vast palazzo by Cesare, who has gone to Rome.

Diana flees to London to Robert, who, taking advantage of her emotional vulnerability, charms her into bed and into what she thinks is a stable, long-term relationship. In the morning, in self-disgust, he tells her that he's leaving her and that he fooled her only as an act of revenge. He reserves a flight to Rome, packs her into his car, and takes her to Heathrow airport to send her back to her life as the Princess Della Romita. At the airport, Diana is hounded by the press, who address her reverentially as Princess. She boards the plane to leave.

Part I

The film is set against a backdrop of World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War. A narrative framing device, set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, involves NKVD Lieutenant General Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago searching for the daughter of his half-brother, Dr Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago, and Larissa ("Lara") Antipova. Yevgraf believes a young woman, Tanya Komarova, may be his niece, and tells her the story of her father's life.

After his mother's burial in rural Russia, the orphaned child Yuri Zhivago is taken in by family friends in Moscow: Alexander and Anna Gromeko. In 1913, Zhivago, now a doctor but a poet at heart, is reunited with the Gromeko's daughter, Tonya, when she returns to Moscow after her schooling in Paris. They soon become engaged.

Lara, only 17 years, is seduced by her mother's much older friend/lover, the well-connected Victor Ippolitovich Komarovsky. One night, Lara's friend, the idealistic reformer Pasha Antipov, is wounded by sabre-wielding Cossack mounted police during an attack on a peaceful demonstration. Pasha goes to Lara, whom he wishes to marry, and she treats his wound. He asks her to hide a gun he picked up at the attack.

After learning of her daughter's affair with Komarovsky, Lara's mother attempts suicide. Komarovsky summons his doctor friend, who brings along Zhivago as his apprentice. Komarovsky attempts to dissuade Lara from marrying Pasha. When she refuses, he pressures her into sex. Enraged, Lara later takes Pasha's gun and follows Komarovsky to a Christmas party. She shoots him, wounding his arm. Komarovsky insists no action be taken against Lara, and she is escorted out by Pasha, who followed her to the party; meanwhile, Zhivago, who is another party guest, treats Komarovsky's wound. Although devastated by Lara's admission about her and Komarovsky, Pasha marries her, and they eventually have a daughter, Katya.

During World War I, Yevgraf Zhivago is sent by the Bolsheviks to subvert the Imperial Russian Army. Yuri, now married to Tonya, is drafted to be a battlefield doctor. Pasha, unsatisfied in his marriage to Lara, joins up, but is reported missing in action following an attack on German forces. Lara enlists as a nurse to search for him. Yuri encounters Lara, and takes her on as his nurse. For the next six months, they serve at a field hospital, during which time radical changes ensue throughout Russia as Vladimir Lenin returns from exile to Moscow. Before their departure from the hospital, Zhivago and Lara fall in love, though Zhivago remains faithful to Tonya.

After the war, Yuri returns to Tonya, their son Alexander (Sasha), and the now-widowed Alexander Gromeko. They are still living in what had been their Moscow house, but it has been confiscated by the new Soviet government and divided into tenements. Yevgraf, now a member of the Cheka, informs Yuri that his poems have been condemned as antagonistic to communism. Fearing Zhivago will ultimately incriminate himself through his poetry, Yevgraf provides Yuri documents to leave Moscow and travel to the Gromekos' country home, "Varykino", located in the Ural Mountains. The family boards a heavily guarded freight train, bound to be traveling through contested territory that is secured by the Bolshevik commander, Strelnikov, formerly known as Pasha Antipov.

Part II

While the train makes a mid-journey stop, Yuri gets out. He inadvertently wanders too closely to Strelnikov's armored train on a nearby track. He is captured by guards and taken to Strelnikov. During the intense interrogation, Yuri recognizes Strelnikov as Pasha. Strelnikov mentions that Lara is living in Yuriatin, where Yuri is headed and which is occupied by the anti-Communist White forces. Strelnikov deems Yuri a non-threat and allows him to return to the train. The family settles into a cottage on the Varykino estate. While in Yuriatin, Yuri sees Lara, and they surrender to their long-repressed passions. Tonya is now pregnant and when she is about to give birth, Yuri travels to Yuriatin to break it off with Lara. On his return, he is abducted by the Communist partisans and forced to join their field medical service.

After two years, Yuri deserts the partisans. Amid great hardship, he makes it back to Yuriatin, arriving exhausted, ill, and suffering from frostbite. He goes to Lara, who cares for him. She says Tonya had contacted her while searching for Yuri. Leaving his belongings with Lara, she returned to Moscow. She had sent Lara a sealed letter to give Yuri if he returned. The letter is six months old. Tonya had given birth to a daughter named Anna, and she, her father, and her two children were deported and are living in Paris.

Yuri and Lara become lovers again. One night Komarovsky arrives and warns that Cheka agents have been watching them due to Lara's marriage to Strelnikov. Komarovsky offers her and Yuri help in leaving Russia, but he is promptly refused. They return to the abandoned Varykino estate, and hide in the state-confiscated main house. Yuri begins writing the "Lara" poems, which will later bring him popular fame but government disapproval. Komarovsky arrives with a small party of troops. Recently appointed as a regional official in the Far Eastern Republic, he informs Yuri that the Cheka only allowed Lara to remain in the area to lure Strelnikov. He was captured five miles away and committed suicide while en route to his execution. They now intend to arrest Lara. Yuri accepts Komarovsky's offer of safe passage for himself, Lara, and her daughter. However, once Lara is safely on her way, Yuri instead stays behind, although he had said that he would follow in their carriage. Yuri runs to the top of the Varykino main house and watches them from a window ride off in the distance. On the train, Lara tells Komarovsky that she is pregnant with Yuri's child.

Years later in Moscow during the Stalinist era, Yevgraf procures a medical job for his destitute, frail half-brother. While looking out of the tram's window, Yuri spots Lara walking on the street. Unable to attract her attention, he struggles to get off at the next stop. He runs after her but suffers a fatal heart attack before reaching her. Yuri's funeral is well-attended, despite his poetry being banned. Lara approaches Yevgraf at the graveside and asks for his help to find her and Yuri's daughter, who was lost during the civil war. Yevgraf helps her search the orphanages, but they are unable to locate her. Lara disappears and Yevgraf believes she must have died in one of the labour camps.

While Yevgraf still believes that Tanya Komarova is Yuri and Lara's daughter, she remains unconvinced. After persistently being asked how she came to be lost, Tanya finally answers that her "father" had let go of her hand when they were running from the war's chaos. Yevgraf responds that a real father would not have let go. Tanya promises to consider what Yevgraf has told her. As she is about to leave with her fiancé, Yevgraf notices Tanya's balalaika, the same instrument which Yuri's mother was gifted at playing. When Yevgraf asks if Tanya can play it, her fiancé declares "Can she play? She's an artist!" and adding that she is self-taught, thus suggesting she might well be Yuri's daughter.

Unemployed television writer Murray Burns (Jason Robards) lives in a cluttered New York City studio apartment with his 12-year-old nephew, Nick (Barry Gordon). Murray has been unemployed for five months after quitting his previous job writing jokes for a children's television show called ''Chuckles the Chipmunk''. Nick, the son of Murray's unwed sister, was left with Murray seven years earlier.

When Nick writes a school essay on the benefits of unemployment insurance, his school requests that New York State send social workers to investigate his living conditions. Investigators for the Child Welfare Board Sandra Markowitz (Barbara Harris) and her superior and boyfriend, Albert Amundson (William Daniels), threaten Murray with removal of the child from his custody unless he can prove he is a capable guardian.

Charmed by Nick and Murray, Sandra argues with Albert, who goes off without her to their next case. Sandra spends the night with Murray. She urges Murray to find a job so that he can keep his nephew, and Murray agrees to look. But he walks out of his job interviews, treating them as a joke, because he feels that work would make him conventional and conformist and make every day the same. He apologizes to Sandra, but she is so disappointed in him that she walks out. Yet he knows that if he wishes to keep his nephew, he must swallow his pride and go back to work.

Murray also feels that he cannot let go of Nick until the boy shows some "backbone". In a confrontation with his brother and agent Arnold (Martin Balsam), Murray expounds his nonconformist worldview: that a person must fight at all costs to retain a sense of identity and aliveness, and avoid being absorbed by the homogeneous masses. Arnold retorts that by conforming to the dictates of society, he has become "the best possible Arnold Burns".

Murray agrees to meet with his former employer, the detested ''Chuckles'' host Leo Herman (Gene Saks). When Nick does not laugh at Leo's pathetic display of comedy, Leo insults Nick, who quietly but firmly puts Leo in his place. Nick becomes upset with Murray for tolerating Leo's insults, and Murray sees the boy has finally grown a backbone. Realizing that Nick has come of age, Murray resigns himself to going back to his old job, Sandra returns, and the next morning Murray joins the crowds of people heading off to work.

In 1910, Princess Alexandra, the daughter of a minor branch of a European royal house, is urged by her mother (Jessie Royce Landis) to accept her cousin the crown prince, Albert as husband so that their family may regain a throne that was taken from them by Napoleon. Princess Alexandra tries to gain Albert's attention; he is otherwise taken with sleeping late, shooting ducks and playing football with Alexandra's two younger brothers. Alexandra's mother urges her to show interest in the tutor, Dr. Nicholas Agi, to make Albert jealous and stimulate a proposal from him.

Agi is already taken with Alexandra and when she invites him to the farewell ball for the crown prince he eagerly accepts. Later when they are dancing at the ball it appears that Albert is getting jealous but instead he is more interested in playing the bass viol in the orchestra.

Later, Agi tells Alexandra how he feels about her. She tells him that it was all a ploy to get Albert to propose to her and she suspected he felt this way. She realizes that she has some feelings for him but he refuses her. Albert comes to find out about this situation and is a little taken aback. Albert and Agi trade insults. Agi then storms out and tries to leave the next morning.

Alexandra, distraught over what happened, tries to leave with him, but he refuses her again. Albert's mother, The Queen, (Agnes Moorehead), shows up and gets the entire story and is aghast. Albert gives his blessing to the pair and says that when he is king he will allow them back into the country. However, Agi ends up leaving the mansion without Alexandra.

Albert tries to console Alexandra by telling her she is like a swan: on the water she looks serene, but on land she is more like a goose. Albert then offers Alexandra his arm and they walk back into the mansion together.

Alfie Elkins, a handsome Cockney, self-centered, narcissistic chauffeur in London enjoys the sexual favours of married and single women, while avoiding commitment. He is ending an affair with Siddie, a married woman, just as he gets his submissive single girlfriend, Gilda, pregnant. Alfie thinks nothing of pilfering fuel and money from his employer and tells Gilda to do the same. Although he refuses to marry her, and despite his constant cheating, Gilda decides to have the child, Malcolm Alfred, and keep him rather than give him up.

Over time, Alfie becomes quite attached to his delightful son, but his unwillingness to marry Gilda causes her to break up with him and marry Humphrey, a kindly bus conductor and neighbour. He loves her and is willing to accept Malcolm Alfred as his own. Gilda bars Alfie from any further contact with Malcolm, forcing him to watch from a distance as Humphrey steps into his fatherly role. When a health check reveals Alfie has tubercular shadows on his lungs, the diagnosis, and his fear of death, combined with his separation from his son, leads him to have a brief mental breakdown.

Alfie spends time recuperating in a pastoral sanitorium, where he befriends Harry, a fellow patient, a family man devoted to his frumpy wife Lily. Alfie makes out with one of the nurses, disgusting Harry. Alfie thinks nothing of cheating, lying, stealing, or taking other men's wives. When Alfie flippantly suggests that Lily might be cheating on him, Harry angrily confronts Alfie about his attitudes and behaviour.

Released from the convalescent home, Alfie briefly stops working as a chauffeur to take holiday photos of tourists near the Tower of London. Here he meets Ruby, an older, voluptuous, affluent and promiscuous American, who, although she is accompanied by an older gentleman, gives him her address and telephone number.

Alfie returns to chauffeuring and drives a Rolls Royce to the sanitorium to visit Harry. He finds Lily finishing a visit with her husband, who asks him to give his wife a ride back to London to save her an exhausting train ride. Neither initially want to spend time together, but they agree in order to please Harry. Along the way, they stop for tea and then a canoe ride where he seduces her.

Later, chauffeuring in the Rolls again, Alfie sees a young red-headed hitchhiker, Annie, who wants a fresh start in London. A lorry driver picks her up just before Alfie gets to her. He follows them to a cafe and steals her away to London. She moves into his bedsit where she proves preoccupied with a love left behind, scrubbing Alfie's floor, doing his laundry, and preparing his meals to compensate. The lorry driver finds him in a pub, punches him in the face and a barroom brawl ensues.

Coming home with a big black eye, Alfie grows resentful of Annie and drives her out with an angry outburst, immediately regretting it. Around the same time, Lily informs him that she is pregnant from their one encounter, and they plan for her to have an abortion. Lily comes to his flat to meet the abortionist. During the procedure, Alfie leaves Lily and walks around. He catches sight of his son Malcolm outside a church and witnesses the baptism of Gilda and Humphrey's new daughter. He watches as they exit the church as a family. The abortion traumatizes both Lily and Alfie, with him breaking down in tears when seeing the aborted fetus, the first time he confronts the consequences of his actions.

The stress of the situations with Annie and Lily makes Alfie decide to change his non-committal ways and settle down with the rich Ruby. However, visiting her, he finds a younger man in her bed. He comes across Siddie, (the married woman from the beginning of the movie), but she has lost interest in him and returned to her husband. Alfie is left lonely, wondering about his life choices, then asks the viewers "What's it all about? You know what I mean."

A Soviet Navy submarine called ''Спрут'' (''Octopus'') draws too close to the New England coast one September morning when its captain wants to take a good look at America and runs aground on a sandbar near the fictional Gloucester Island, off the New England coast, with a population of about 200 local residents. Rather than radio for help and risk an embarrassing international incident, the captain sends a nine-man landing party, headed by his ''zampolit'' (Political officer) Lieutenant Yuri Rozanov, to find a motor launch to help free the submarine from the bar. The men arrive at the house of Walt Whittaker, a vacationing playwright from New York City. Whittaker is eager to get his wife Elspeth and two children, obnoxious but precocious -year-old Pete and 3-year-old Annie, off the island now that summer is over.

Pete tells his disbelieving dad that "nine Russians with tommy guns" dressed in black uniforms are near the house, but Walt is soon met by Rozanov and one of his men, Alexei Kolchin, who identify themselves as strangers on the island and ask if there are any boats available. Walt is skeptical and asks if they are "Russians with machine guns," which startles Rozanov into admitting that they are Russians, and pulling a gun on Walt. Walt provides information on the lack of military and the small police forces of their island, and Rozanov promises no harm to the Whittakers if they hand over their station wagon. Elspeth provides the car keys, but before the Russians depart, Rozanov orders Alexei to prevent the Whittakers from fleeing. When Alison Palmer, an attractive 18-year-old neighbor who works as Annie's babysitter, arrives for work that day, they take her captive, as well.

The Whittakers' station wagon quickly runs out of gasoline, forcing the Russians to walk. They steal an old sedan from Muriel Everett, the postmistress; she calls Alice Foss, the gossipy telephone switchboard operator, and before long, wild rumors about Russian parachutists and an air assault on the airport throw the entire island into confusion. Level-headed Police Chief Link Mattocks and his bumbling assistant Norman Jonas try to squelch an inept citizens' militia led by the blustering Fendall Hawkins.

Meanwhile, Walt, accompanied by Elspeth and Pete, manages to overpower Alexei, because the Russian is reluctant to hurt anyone. Alexei flees during the commotion, but when Walt, Elspeth, and Pete leave to find help, he returns to retrieve his weapon from the house, where only Alison and Annie remain. Alexei says that although he wants no fighting, he must obey his superiors in guarding the residence. He promises he will harm nobody and offers to surrender his gun as proof. Alison tells him that she trusts him and does not want his firearm. Alexei and Alison become attracted to each other, take a walk along the beach with Annie, and find commonality despite their different cultures and the Cold War hostility between their countries.

Trying to find the Russians himself, Walt is recaptured by them in the telephone central office. After subduing Mrs. Foss and tying Walt and her together, and disabling the island's telephone switchboard, seven of the Russians appropriate civilian clothes from a dry cleaner's, manage to steal a cabin cruiser, and head to the submarine, which is still aground. Back at the Whittaker house, Alexei and Alison have kissed and fallen in love. At the phone exchange, Walt and Mrs. Foss manage to hop outside the office, but fall down the stairs to the sidewalk below. They are discovered there by Elspeth and Pete, who untie them. They return to their house, and Walt shoots at and almost kills Rozanov, who had reached there just ahead of them. With the misunderstandings cleared up, the Whittakers, Rozanov, and Alexei decide to head into town together to explain to everyone just what is going on.

As the tide rises, the sub floats off the sandbar before the cabin cruiser arrives, and it proceeds on the surface to the island's main harbor. Chief Mattocks, having investigated and debunked the rumor of an aerial assault, arrives back in town with the civilian militia. With Rozanov acting as translator, the Russian captain threatens to open fire on the town with his deck gun and machine guns unless the seven missing sailors are returned to him; his crew faces upwards of 100 armed, apprehensive, but determined townspeople. As the situation nears the breaking point, two small boys climb up to the church steeple to see better and one slips and falls from the steeple, but his belt catches on a gutter, leaving him precariously hanging 40 feet in the air. The American islanders and the Russian submariners immediately unite to form a human pyramid to rescue the boy.

Peace and harmony are established between the two parties, but unfortunately, the overeager Hawkins has contacted the Air Force by radio. In a joint decision, the submarine heads out of the harbor with a convoy of villagers in small boats protecting it. Alexei says goodbye to Alison, the stolen boat with the missing Russian sailors meets its sub shortly thereafter, and the seven board the submarine, just before two Air Force F-101B Voodoo jets arrive. The jets break off after seeing the escorting flotilla of small craft, and to the cheers of the islanders, the ''Octopus'' is free to proceed to deep water and safety.

Luther Grilk, the town drunk, who had been trying to mount his horse, finally succeeds and rides heroically to the outer parts of the island shouting "The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!", not knowing that they have already left.

In 1926, Petty officer, first class Jake Holman transfers to the Yangtze River Patrol gunboat USS ''San Pablo''. The ship is nicknamed the "Sand Pebble" and its sailors are "Sand Pebbles".

The crew has hired coolies to do most of the work. Holman, as chief Machinist's Mate, takes hands-on responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the ship's engine, upsetting the head engine room coolie, Chien. Holman also earns the antipathy of most of his fellow sailors, but does become close friends with Frenchy, a seasoned yet sensitive sailor.

While the ship is under way on patrol, Holman discovers a serious problem with the engine. He informs the captain, Lieutenant Collins, that they must stop for repairs, but Collins refuses until executive officer Bordelles declares a mechanical emergency. Chien insists on making the repairs, and Holman acquiesces so that Chien can save face. Chien is killed when the locked engine slips into gear, and chief coolie Lop-eye Shing blames Holman. Holman selects Po-Han to take on Chien's work; in time, the two become friends.

Po-Han is harassed by a large, bullying sailor named Stawski, resulting in a boxing match on which the crewmen place bets. Holman is in the corner of his friend Po-Han, who, despite being badly beaten by Stawski, eventually prevails. His victory leads to more friction between Holman and the rest of the crew.

When news comes of an incident involving British gunboats, Collins orders the crew not to return any fire from the Chinese, to avoid a diplomatic incident. Lop-eye Shing purposely sends Po-Han ashore, where he is predictably chased down the beach, captured, and slowly tortured by a mob. When Collins is unable to buy Po-Han's release, Po-Han begs for someone to kill him; Holman disobeys orders and shoots his friend.

The ''San Pablo'' remains moored on the Xiang River at Changsha, due to low water levels, through the winter of 1926–27. It must deal with increasingly hostile crowds surrounding it in numerous smaller boats. Lt Collins also fears a mutiny.

Frenchy has saved an educated Chinese woman, Maily, from prostitution by paying her debts. He marries her and regularly swims ashore to visit, but dies of pneumonia one night. Holman finds Maily sitting by Frenchy's corpse. Some Chinese men burst in, beat Holman, and kill Maily for which they frame Holman. The next day several Chinese demand Holman be turned over to them as the "murderer" of Maily and her unborn baby. When the demand is rejected, the Chinese blockade the gunboat. The crew fear for their safety and demand that Holman surrender to the Chinese. Order is not restored until Collins fires a Lewis gun across the bow of one of the Chinese sampans.

With spring's arrival, the crew can restart river patrols, but the Nanking Incident results in orders to return to the coast. Collins disobeys and travels upstream of Dongting Lake to evacuate idealistic, anti-imperialist missionary Jameson and his school-teacher assistant, Shirley Eckert, from a remote mission. Holman had met Eckert in Hangkow months earlier, and the two had fledgling romantic feelings for each other.

The ''San Pablo'' must break through a boom made up of junks linked by a massive bamboo rope blocking the river. A boarding party is sent to cut the rope. Fighting breaks out in which twelve US crewmen and many more Chinese are killed. Holman chops through the rope, with an axe, while under fire. He is forced to kill a young Chinese militiaman who attacks him, then recognizes him as a friend of Jameson and Eckert. The ship continues upriver.

Collins leads Holman, Crosley, and Bronson ashore. Jameson refuses rescue, claiming that he and Eckert have renounced their US citizenship. Collins orders Holman to forcibly remove Eckert and Jameson, but Holman declares he is going to stay with them. Nationalist soldiers suddenly attack, killing Jameson. Collins orders the patrol to take Eckert to the ship, and remains behind to provide covering fire. Collins is killed, ironically leaving the normally rebellious Holman in command. Holman and Eckert have a tearful parting, finally declaring their love for each other, with Holman assuring her he will be following shortly. Holman kills a dozen soldiers but is fatally shot just when he is about to rejoin the others. His last bewildered words are, "I was home. What happened. What the hell happened?"

Eckert and the remaining two sailors reach the ship, and the ''San Pablo'' sails away.

Bartleby and Loki are fallen angels, eternally banished from Heaven to Wisconsin for insubordination, after an inebriated Loki resigned as the Angel of Death at Bartleby's suggestion. In a newspaper article that arrives anonymously, the angels discover a way home: Cardinal Ignatius Glick is rededicating his church in Red Bank, New Jersey, in the image of the "Buddy Christ". Anyone who enters the church during the rededication festivities will receive a plenary indulgence, remitting all sins. Were the banished angels to undergo this rite—and then die after transmuting into human form—God would have no choice but to allow them re-entry into Heaven. They are encouraged by the demon Azrael and the Stygian triplets, three teenaged hoodlums who serve Azrael in hell.

Bethany Sloane, a despondent abortion clinic counselor, attends a service at her church in Illinois. Donations are solicited for a campaign to stop a New Jersey hospital from disconnecting life support on John Doe Jersey, a homeless man who was beaten into a coma by the triplets. Metatron—a seraph, and the voice of God—appears to Bethany in a pillar of fire and explains that if Bartleby and Loki succeed in re-entering Heaven, they will overrule the word of God, disprove the fundamental concept of God's omnipotence, and nullify all of existence. Bethany, aided by two prophets, must stop the angels and save the universe.

Now a target, Bethany is attacked by the triplets, who are driven off by the two foretold prophets, drug-dealing stoners Jay and Silent Bob. Bethany and the prophets are joined by Rufus, the 13th apostle, and Serendipity, the Muse of creative inspiration, now working in a strip club in search of inspiration of her own. Azrael summons the Golgothan, a vile creature made of human excrement, but Bob immobilizes it with aerosol air freshener.

On a train to New Jersey, a drunken Bethany reveals her mission to Bartleby, who tries to kill her; Bob throws the angels off the train. Bartleby and Loki now realize the consequences of their scheme; Loki wants no part of destroying all existence, but Bartleby remains angry at God for his expulsion, and for granting free will to humans while demanding servitude from angels, and resolves to proceed.

In New Jersey, Bethany asks why she has been called upon to save the universe; why can't God simply do it himself? Metatron admits that God's whereabouts are unknown; he disappeared while visiting New Jersey in human form to play skee ball. The task falls to Bethany because—she now learns—she is the last scion, a distant but direct blood relative of Jesus.

The group cannot persuade Glick to cancel the celebration. Jay steals one of Glick's golf clubs. Their only remaining option is to keep the angels out of the church, but Azrael and the triplets trap them in a bar to prevent them from doing so. Azrael reveals that he sent the news clipping to the angels; he would rather end all existence than spend eternity in Hell. Bob kills Azrael with the golf club, which Glick had blessed to improve his game. Bethany blesses the bar sink's contents, and the others drown the triplets in the holy water. They race to the church, where Bartleby has killed Glick, his parishioners, and assorted bystanders. When Loki (who is now wingless and therefore mortal, with a conscience) attempts to stop him, Bartleby kills him as well.

All appears lost; Jay attempts to seduce Bethany before all existence ends. When he mentions John Doe Jersey, Bethany finally puts all the clues together. She and Bob race across the street to the hospital, as the others try to keep Bartleby from entering the church. But in doing so, Jay destroys his wings with automatic gunfire, making him mortal as well. Bethany disconnects John's life support, liberating God, but killing herself. Bartleby reaches the church entrance where he confronts God, manifested in female form, who annihilates him with her voice. Bob arrives with Bethany's lifeless body; God resurrects her, and conceives a child—the new last scion—within her womb. God, Metatron, Rufus, and Serendipity return to Heaven, leaving Bethany and the prophets to reflect on the past, and the future.

In early Victorian England, Matthew Mugg (Anthony Newley) takes his young friend Tommy Stubbins (William Dix) to visit eccentric Doctor John Dolittle (Rex Harrison) for an injured duck that Matthew had acquired from a local fisherman. Dolittle, a former medical doctor, lives with an extended menagerie, including a chimpanzee named Chee-Chee, a dog named Jip, and a talking blue-and-yellow macaw named Polynesia (the uncredited voice of Ginny Tyler). Dolittle claims that he can talk to animals. In a flashback, he explains that he kept so many animals in his home that they created havoc with his human patients, who took their medical needs elsewhere. His sister, who served as his housekeeper, demanded that he dispose of the animals or she would leave; he chose the animals. Polynesia taught him that different animal species can talk to each other, prompting Dolittle to study animal languages so that he could become an animal doctor. He is planning his latest expedition: to search for the legendary Great Pink Sea snail.

The next day, while treating a horse for nearsightedness, Dolittle is accused by the horse's owner, General Bellowes (Peter Bull), of stealing his horse, and putting bifocals on the horse's eyes to make it see more clearly. In the process, a fox, who had been one of the doctor's patients, flees from Bellows hounds and runs into a nearby barn. The hounds go into the barn only to immediately leave in panic, due to a group of skunks living there. The doctor explains to Bellows that each fox travels with a skunk for its own protections. Bellowes' niece, Emma Fairfax (Samantha Eggar), offended by his lack of human empathy, chides Dolittle for his rudeness to her uncle, while he states his contempt for her and other humans who hunt animals, causing her to storm off. Matthew falls in love with her at first sight.

An American Indian friend of Dolittle's sends him a rare Pushmi-pullyu, a creature that looks like a llama with a head on each end of its body, so that Dolittle can earn money for his expedition. Dolittle takes the creature to a nearby circus, run by Albert Blossom (Richard Attenborough), where the Pushmi-Pullyu becomes the star attraction. The doctor befriends a circus seal named Sophie who longs to return to her husband at the North Pole. Dolittle smuggles her out of the circus, disguises her in women's clothing to convey her to the coast, and then throws her into the ocean. Fishermen mistake the seal for a woman and have Doctor Dolittle arrested on a charge of murder.

General Bellowes is the magistrate in his case, but Dolittle proves he can converse with animals by talking with Bellowes' dog and revealing details that only Bellowes and the dog could know. Although Dolittle is acquitted on the murder charge, the vindictive judge sentences him to a lunatic asylum.

Dolittle's animal friends engineer his escape, and he, Matthew, Tommy, Polynesia, Chee-Chee and Jip set sail in search of the Great Pink Sea Snail. Emma, by this time fascinated by Dolittle, stows away, seeking adventure. They randomly choose their destination: Sea-Star Island, a floating island currently in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship is torn apart during a storm.

Everyone washes ashore on Sea-Star Island, where Emma and Dolittle admit they have grown to like each other. The party is met by the island's natives, whom they mistake for hostile savages. The populace are in fact highly educated and cultured from reading books that have washed ashore from innumerable shipwrecks. Their leader is William Shakespeare the Tenth (Geoffrey Holder); his name reflects the tribe's tradition of naming children after favorite authors. William explains that they are wary of strangers coming to the island, and that the tropical island is currently endangered because it is drifting north into colder waters and all the animals on the island have caught colds. Mistrust leads the islanders to blame the doctor and his party. Dolittle persuades a whale to push the island south, but this causes a balancing rock to drop into a volcano, fulfilling a prophecy that dooms Dolittle and party to die "the death of 10,000 screams". The push by the whale also causes the island to rejoin the unknown mainland, fulfilling another prophecy that dictates that the doctor and his friends be heralded as heroes and they are freed.

While treating the animals on the island, Dolittle receives a surprise patient – the Great Pink Sea Snail, which has also caught a severe cold. Dolittle discovers that the snail's shell is watertight and can carry passengers. Dolittle sends Matthew, Tommy, Emma, Polynesia, Chee-Chee, and Jip back to England with the snail. Emma wishes to stay on the island with him, but the Doctor is adamant that a relationship would never work. She finally admits her feelings for the Doctor, and kisses him goodbye. Dolittle cannot go back because he is still a wanted man. Furthermore, he wishes to investigate the natives' stories of another creature, the Giant Luna Moth. After his friends have left, Dolittle realizes painfully that he has feelings for Emma.

Sometime later, Sophie the seal arrives accompanied by her husband. They bring a message: the animals of England have gone on strike to protest his sentence and Bellowes has agreed to pardon him. Dolittle and the islanders construct a saddle for the Giant Luna Moth and Dolittle rides the creature back to England.

Rachel Cameron (Joanne Woodward) is a shy, 35-year-old unmarried schoolteacher living with her widowed mother in an apartment above the funeral home once owned by her father in a small town in Connecticut. School is out for summer vacation, and Rachel anticipates a typical boring summer at home with her mother. Fellow unmarried teacher and best friend Calla Mackie (Estelle Parsons) persuades her to attend a revival meeting, where a visiting preacher encourages Rachel to express her need for the love of Jesus. Rachel is overwhelmed by the experience, baring so much pent-up emotion that she is embarrassed; comforting her, Calla suddenly kisses Rachel passionately. Rachel, shocked, runs home and begins avoiding Calla.

Nick Kazlik (James Olson), Rachel's high-school classmate who now teaches at an inner city school in The Bronx, arrives for a short visit. Upon first seeing Rachel, Nick makes a crude pass that Rachel rebuffs, but after the episode with Calla, she succumbs to his charms and has her first sexual experience. Mistaking lust for love, she begins to plan a future with Nick, who tries to rebuff her gently by showing her a photo of a young boy and woman, implying that it is his son and wife. Through Nick's mother, Rachel later discovers he has no wife and child.

Believing she is pregnant, Rachel plans to leave town and raise the child. With Calla's assistance, she finds another teaching job in Oregon, but before the summer ends, she learns she is not pregnant and that her symptoms are due to a benign cyst. After undergoing surgery to have the cyst removed, she tells her mother that she has decided to relocate, and that her mother may accompany her or not as she wishes. Her mother reluctantly agrees to go. Rachel sets out with hope for the future, having learned that she has choices, that she is able to give and receive sexual pleasure, and that it is possible for her to take on life actively rather than wait for it to find her.

One summer morning in Verona, a longstanding feud between the Montague and the Capulet clans breaks out in a street brawl. The brawl is broken up by the Prince, who warns both families that any future violence between them will result in harsh consequences. That night, two teenagers of the two families—Romeo and Juliet—meet at a Capulet masked ball and fall in love. Later, Romeo stumbles into the secluded garden under Juliet's bedroom balcony and the two exchange impassioned pledges. They are secretly married the next day by Romeo's confessor and father figure, Friar Laurence, with the assistance of Juliet's nurse.

That afternoon, Juliet's cousin Tybalt, furious that Romeo had attended his family's ball, insults him and challenges him to a brawl. Romeo now regards Tybalt as family and he refuses to fight him, which leads Romeo's best friend, Mercutio, to fight Tybalt instead. Despite Romeo's efforts to stop the fight, Tybalt mortally wounds Mercutio, who curses both the Montague and Capulet houses before dying. Enraged over his friend's death, Romeo retaliates by fighting Tybalt and killing him. Romeo is subsequently punished by the Prince with banishment from Verona, with the threat of death if he ever returns. Romeo then secretly spends his wedding night with Juliet, and the couple consummate their marriage before Romeo flees.

Juliet's parents, unaware of their daughter's secret marriage, have arranged for Juliet to marry wealthy Count Paris. Juliet pleads with her parents to postpone the marriage, but they refuse and threaten to disown her. Juliet seeks out Friar Laurence for help, hoping to escape her arranged marriage to Paris and remain faithful to Romeo. At Friar Laurence's behest, she reconciles with her parents and agrees to their wishes. On the night before the wedding, Juliet consumes a potion prepared by Friar Laurence intended to make her appear dead for 42 hours. Friar Laurence plans to inform Romeo of the hoax so that Romeo can meet Juliet after her burial and escape with her when she recovers from her swoon, so he sends Friar John to give Romeo a letter describing the plan.

However, when Balthasar, Romeo's servant, sees Juliet being buried under the impression that she is dead, he goes to tell Romeo and reaches him before Friar John. In despair, Romeo goes to Juliet's tomb and kills himself by drinking poison. Soon afterwards, Friar Laurence arrives as Juliet awakens. Despite his attempts to persuade her to flee from the crypt, Juliet refuses to leave Romeo, and once the Friar flees, she kills herself by plunging his dagger into her abdomen. Later, the two families, having ended their feud, attend their joint funeral and are condemned by the Prince.

In 1899 Wyoming, Butch Cassidy is the affable, clever, talkative leader of the outlaw Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. His closest companion is the laconic dead-shot "Sundance Kid". The two return to their hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall (Wyoming) to discover that the rest of the gang, irked at Cassidy's long absences, have selected Harvey Logan as their new leader.

Logan challenges Cassidy to a knife fight over the gang's leadership. Cassidy defeats him using trickery, but embraces Logan's idea to rob the Union Pacific ''Overland Flyer'' train on both its eastward and westward runs, agreeing that the second robbery would be unexpected and likely reap even more money than the first.

The first robbery goes well. To celebrate, Cassidy visits a favorite brothel in a nearby town and watches, amused, as the town marshal unsuccessfully attempts to organize a posse to track down the gang, only to have his address to the townsfolk hijacked by a friendly bicycle salesman (he calls it "the future"). Sundance visits his lover, schoolteacher Etta Place, and they spend the night together. Cassidy joins up with them early the next morning, and takes Place for a ride on his new bike.

On the second train robbery, Cassidy uses too much dynamite to blow open the safe, which is much larger than the safe on the previous job. The explosion demolishes the baggage car in the process. As the gang scrambles to gather up the money, a second train arrives carrying a six-man team of lawmen. The crack squad doggedly pursues Cassidy and Sundance, who try various ruses to get away, all of which fail. They try to hide out in the brothel, and then to seek amnesty from the friendly Sheriff Bledsoe, but he tells them their days are numbered and all they can do is flee.

As the posse remains in pursuit, despite all attempts to elude them, Cassidy and Sundance determine that the group includes renowned Indian tracker "Lord Baltimore" and relentless lawman Joe Lefors, recognizable by his white skimmer. They finally elude their pursuers by jumping from a cliff into a river far below. They learn from Place that the posse has been paid by Union Pacific head E. H. Harriman to remain on their trail until they are both killed.

Cassidy convinces Sundance and Place that the three should go to Bolivia, which he envisions as a robber's paradise. On their arrival there, Sundance is dismayed by the living conditions and regards the country with contempt, but Cassidy remains optimistic. They discover that they know too little Spanish to pull off a bank robbery, so Place attempts to teach them the language. With her as an accomplice, they become successful bank robbers known as . However, their confidence drops when they see a man wearing a white hat (the signature of determined lawman Lefors) and fear that Harriman's posse is still after them.

Cassidy suggests "going straight", and he and Sundance land their first honest job as payroll guards for a mining company. However, they are ambushed by local bandits on their first run and their boss, Percy Garris, is killed. They kill the bandits, the first time Cassidy has ever shot someone. Place recommends farming or ranching as other lines of work, but they conclude the straight life isn't for them. Sensing they will be killed should they return to robbery, Place decides to go back to the United States.

Cassidy and Sundance steal a payroll and a burro used to carry it, and arrive in a small town. A boy recognizes the burro's livestock branding and alerts the local police, leading to a gunfight with the outlaws. Cassidy has to make a desperate run to the burro to get ammunition, while Sundance provides covering fire. Wounded, the two men take cover inside a nearby building. Cassidy suggests the duo's next destination should be Australia. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two of them, the local police have called on the Bolivian Army to deal with the two outlaws. Confident of their ability to escape, the pair charge out of the building, guns blazing, directly into a hail of bullets from the massed troops who have occupied all of the surrounding vantage points. The film ends on a freeze-frame, as sounds of the Bolivian troops firing on the doomed outlaws are heard.

LAPD SWAT officers Jack Traven (Reeves) and Harry Temple (Daniels) thwart an attempt to hold an elevator filled with passengers for a $3 million ransom by an extortionist bomber (Hopper), but as they corner the man in an elevator, he takes Harry hostage. Jack intentionally shoots Harry in the leg, forcing the bomber to release him. The bomber flees and activates a bomb which was strapped to himself, seemingly dying in the process. Jack and Harry are praised by Lieutenant "Mac" McMahon, with Harry being promoted to detective. Having survived the incident, however, the bomber watches the ceremony on TV from an unknown location.

The next morning, Jack witnesses a mass transit bus explode, killing the driver. The bomber contacts Jack on a nearby payphone, explaining that a similar bomb is rigged on another bus, which will activate once it reaches and will detonate if it slows below that speed. He also demands a ransom of $3.7 million and threatens to trigger the bomb if any passengers leave. Jack races through freeway traffic and boards the bus, but the bus has ''already'' exceeded 50 mph, thus arming the bomb. He explains the situation to Sam Silver, the bus driver. However, one passenger, worried that Jack is trying to arrest him, unknowingly draws his gun, accidentally wounding Sam. Another passenger, Annie Porter (Bullock), takes over for Sam, but when she tries to decelerate to get help, Jack explains about the bomb, much to the passengers' dismay. Jack examines the bomb underneath the bus and calls Harry, who works to identify the bomber.

After a harrowing adventure through city traffic, the police clear a route to the unopened 105 freeway. Mac demands that they offload the passengers onto a flatbed trailer, but Jack warns him about the bomber's plot. Witnessing the events on television, the bomber calls Jack to reiterate his instructions. The bomber is convinced to allow the injured Sam to be offloaded for medical attention. Another passenger named Helen attempts to get off, but the bomber, witnessing the footage, detonates a smaller explosive device under the stairs, causing Helen to fall through and killed when she is run over.

When Jack learns part of the freeway is incomplete, he persuades Annie to accelerate the bus to full speed so they can jump the gap. They succeed, and head to an airport to use the unobstructed runways. Meanwhile, Harry identifies the bomber as Howard Payne, a former Atlanta Police Department bomb squad officer. Harry leads a SWAT team to Payne's home. Having anticipated this, however, Payne had booby trapped the property; the explosives detonate upon entry and kills the team.

In a last-ditch attempt to defuse the bomb, Jack goes under the bus on a towed sled, but he inadvertently punctures the fuel tanks when the sled's tow line breaks. After the passengers bring him back aboard, Jack learns that Harry has been killed and that Payne has been watching the passengers on a hidden surveillance camera the whole time, allowing him to be one step ahead of Jack the entire time. Mac has a local news crew record the UHF transmission and rebroadcast it in a loop to fool Payne while all of the passengers are offloaded onto an airport bus. Jack and Annie escape the bus through a floor access panel before the empty bus collides with a Boeing 707 cargo plane and explodes.

Jack and Mac head to Pershing Square to drop the ransom. Realizing that he has been deceived, Payne poses as a police officer to kidnap Annie and recover the ransom. Jack tracks Payne into the Metro Red Line subway, and discovers that Annie has been fitted with an explosive vest rigged to a pressure-release detonator. Payne hijacks a subway train, handcuffs Annie to a pole, and starts the train while Jack pursues them. After killing the train driver, Payne attempts a bribe with the ransom money, but a dye pack in the bag bursts, tainting the money. Driven into a psychotic frenzy, a crazed Payne battles Jack on the train's roof, during which Jack causes Payne to be decapitated by a railway signal.

Jack deactivates the vest from Annie, but he can neither free her from the pole nor stop the train, as Payne both took the handcuff keys and sabotaged the control panel. Instead. Jack speeds up the train, causing it to derail, plow through a construction site, and burst onto Hollywood Boulevard. Unharmed, Jack and Annie finish their adventures by sharing a kiss while a crowd looks on in astonishment.

In 1923 Tennessee, two best friends, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker, play together in the back of an old biplane, pretending to be fighting airmen.

In January 1941, with World War II raging, Danny and Rafe are both first lieutenants under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle. Doolittle informs Rafe that he has been accepted into the Eagle Squadron (an RAF outfit for American pilots during the Battle of Britain). A nurse named Evelyn Johnson passes Rafe's medical exam despite his dyslexia, and the two strike up a relationship. Four weeks later, Rafe and Evelyn, now deeply in love, enjoy an evening of dancing at a nightclub and later a jaunt in the New York harbor in a borrowed police boat. Rafe shocks Evelyn by saying that he has joined the Eagle Squadron and is leaving the next day. During a mission to intercept a Luftwaffe bombing raid, Rafe is shot down over the English Channel and is presumed killed in action. Danny and Evelyn mourn Rafe's death together, which spurs a romance between the two.

Meanwhile, Japan prepares to attack the US Pacific Fleet, deciding the best way to do so would be a decisive strike on the Pearl Harbor naval base.

On the night of December 6, Evelyn is shocked to discover Rafe standing outside her door, having survived his downing and the ensuing months trapped in Nazi-occupied France. Rafe, in turn, discovers Danny's romance with Evelyn and leaves for the Hula bar, where he is welcomed back by his overjoyed fellow pilots. Danny finds a drunken Rafe in the bar with the intention of reconciling, but the two get into a fight. They drive away, avoiding being put in the brig when the military police arrive at the bar. The two fall asleep in Danny's car.

Next morning, on December 7, the Imperial Japanese Navy begins its attack on Pearl Harbor. The US Pacific Fleet is severely damaged in the surprise attack, and most of the defending airfields are obliterated before they are able to launch fighters to defend the harbor. Rafe and Danny take off in P-40 fighter planes, and they shoot down several of the attacking planes. They later assist in the rescue of the crew of the capsized , but are too late to save the crew of the obliterated .

The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Day of Infamy Speech to the nation and requests that the US Congress declare a state of war with the Empire of Japan. The survivors attend a memorial service to honor the numerous dead. Danny and Rafe are both assigned to travel stateside under Doolittle, though they are not told why. Before they leave, Evelyn reveals to Rafe that she is pregnant with Danny's child. Evelyn reassures Rafe she loved him in the past and will love him her whole life, but says she is ready to give Danny her "whole heart" and have their family together.

Danny and Rafe are both promoted to captain and awarded the Silver Star for their actions at Pearl Habor, and Doolittle asks them to volunteer for a secret mission. During the next three months, Rafe, Danny and other pilots train for ultra-short takeoffs with specially modified B-25 Mitchell bombers. In April, the raiders are sent toward Japan on board . Their mission is to bomb Tokyo, after which they will land in China. The mission is successful, but Rafe's and Danny's planes run out of fuel and crash in Japanese-occupied territory in China. A gunfight ensues between the raiders and Japanese ground troops, and Danny is mortally wounded shielding Rafe before the group are rescued by Chinese soldiers. Rafe tearfully reveals to Danny that Evelyn is pregnant with Danny's child; with his dying breaths, Danny tells Rafe that it is his child now.

After the war, Rafe and Evelyn, now married, visit Danny's grave with Evelyn's son, named Danny after his biological father. Rafe then asks his stepson if he would like to go flying, and they fly off into the sunset in the old biplane that Rafe's father once owned.

General George S. Patton addresses an unseen audience of American troops, emphasizing the importance Americans place upon victorious role models as well as his own demands that his men defeat the enemy by working and fighting as a team.

In its first encounter with the German Afrika Korps at Kasserine, the II Corps is humiliatingly defeated by General Erwin Rommel, whom Patton places in high regard as a well respected rival. As a consequence, Patton is placed in command of II Corps and immediately begins instilling discipline amongst his untested troops. Alongside the poor condition of American soldiers in the II Corps, Patton also identifies the stubbornness of his British counterpart; General Bernard Montgomery constantly undermines American forces in order to monopolize the war glory. Patton's chance to prove his worth comes at the subsequent Battle of El Guettar where Patton defeats the advancing German forces.

The eventual Allied victory in North Africa prompts both Patton and Montgomery to come up with competing plans for the Sicily invasion. Patton's plan, drawn from reference to the Peloponnesian War highlights the strategic importance of Syracuse; if it fell to an occupying force, the Italians would surely withdraw. Patton proposes that Montgomery captures Syracuse, whereas he will land near Palermo then capture Messina to cut off the withdrawal. Though the plan initially impresses General Alexander, to whom Patton and Montgomery report, General Eisenhower turns it down in favor of Montgomery's more cautious plan that the two armies land side-by-side in the south-east, essentially relegating Patton to guarding the left flank of the British advance. Angered by the lack of progress being made, Patton thrusts west and captures Palermo, before beating Montgomery to Messina. Patton's blunt aggression sits poorly with his subordinates Omar Bradley and Lucian Truscott. During a visit to a field hospital, Patton notices a soldier, crying out of shell shock. Surmising that the soldier isn't actually physically injured, Patton slaps the soldier and threatens to shoot him for his cowardice and demands he return to the frontline. Eisenhower demands Patton apologize to his entire command for the altercation. Though Patton obliges, he is stunned to find out that Bradley, not he, has been given command of American forces preparing for the invasion of France.

With the Invasion of Normandy due to start, Patton is placed in charge of the fictional First United States Army Group as a decoy in London, the Allied consensus believing that his presence in England will tell the Germans that he will lead the invasion of Europe. At a war drive in Knutsford, Patton openly remarks that the post-war world will be dominated by British and American influence, seen as a slight to the Soviet Union. Though Patton objects to having done anything wrong, the situation has already spiraled from his control. The decision to send him home or keep him in England rests upon General George Marshall. Though he is not present during the D-Day landings, Patton is given command of the Third Army by General Bradley, now his superior. Under Patton's leadership, the Third Army sweeps brilliantly across France but is unexpectedly brought to a halt when the supplies are diverted to Montgomery's ambitious Operation Market Garden.

During the Battle of the Bulge Patton devises a plan to relieve the trapped 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, which he does before smashing through the Siegfried Line and into Germany.

Germany eventually capitulates, though Patton's outspokenness lands him in trouble once again when he compares American politics to Nazism. Though he loses his command once again, Patton is kept on to see the rebuilding of Germany in the post war period. In a final scene Patton is seen walking Willie, his bull terrier. Patton's voice is heard:

''"For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory ... is fleeting."''

The Chicago area is paralyzed by a snowstorm affecting Lincoln International Airport. A Trans Global Airlines (TGA) Boeing 707 flight crew misjudge their turn from Runway 29 onto the taxiway, becoming stuck in the snow and closing that runway. Airport manager Mel Bakersfeld is forced to work overtime, causing tension with his wife, Cindy. A divorce seems imminent as he nurtures a closer relationship with a co-worker, TGA customer relations agent Tanya Livingston.

Vernon Demerest is a TGA captain scheduled to be the checkride captain for the airline to evaluate Captain Anson Harris during TGA Flight 2 to Rome. TGA's flagship international service, named ''The Golden Argosy'', is being operated with a Boeing 707. Although Demerest is married to Bakersfeld's sister, Sarah, he is secretly having an affair with Gwen Meighen, chief stewardess on the flight, who informs him before takeoff that she is pregnant with his child.

Bakersfeld borrows TWA mechanic Joe Patroni to assist with moving TGA's disabled plane blocking Runway 29. Bakersfeld and Tanya also deal with Ada Quonsett, an elderly widow from San Diego who is a habitual stowaway on various airlines.

Demolition expert D.O. Guerrero, down on his luck and with a history of mental illness, buys both a one-way TGA ticket aboard TGA Flight 2 and a large life insurance policy with the intent of committing suicide by blowing up the plane. He plans to set off a bomb in an attaché case while over the Atlantic Ocean so that his wife, Inez, will collect the insurance money of $225,000 ($ in ). His erratic behavior at the airport, including using his last cash to buy the insurance policy and mistaking a U.S. Customs officer for an airline gate agent, attracts airport officials' attention. Inez finds a Special Delivery envelope from a travel agency and, realizing D.O. might be doing something desperate, goes to the airport to try to dissuade him. She informs airport officials that he had been fired from a construction job for "misplacing" explosives and that the family's financial situation is dire.

Ada Quonsett manages to evade the TGA employee assigned the task of putting her on a flight back to Los Angeles. Enchanted by the idea of a trip to Rome, she talks her way past the gate agent, boards Flight 2, and happens to sit next to Guerrero. When Flight 2's crew is made aware of Guerrero's presence and possible intentions, they turn the plane back toward Chicago without informing the passengers. Once Ada is discovered, her help is enlisted by the crew to get to Guerrero's briefcase, but the ploy fails when a troublesome passenger interferes and returns the case to Guerrero.

Demerest goes back into the passenger cabin and tries to persuade Guerrero not to trigger the bomb, informing him that his insurance policy has been nullified. Guerrero briefly moves to give Demerest the bomb, but just then another passenger exits the lavatory at the rear of the aircraft, and the same troublesome passenger yells out that Guerrero has a bomb. Guerrero runs into the lavatory and sets off the bomb, dying instantly and blowing a three-foot hole in the fuselage. Gwen, just outside the door, is injured in the explosion and subsequent explosive decompression, but the pilots retain control of the airplane.

With all airports east of Chicago unusable due to bad weather, Flight 2 returns to Lincoln for an emergency landing. Due to the bomb damage, Demerest demands the airport's longest runway, Runway 29, which is still closed due to the stuck airliner. Bakersfeld orders the plane to be pushed off the runway by snowplows, despite the costly damage they would do to it. Patroni, who is "taxi-qualified" on 707s, has been trying to move the stuck aircraft in time for Demerest's damaged aircraft to land. By exceeding the 707's engine operating parameters, Patroni frees the stuck jet without damage, allowing Runway 29 to be reopened just in time for the crippled TGA Flight 2 to land.

As the shaken passengers exit the plane, a hysterical Inez searches in vain for her dead husband. Demerest's wife sees him accompanying Gwen's stretcher as he says he'll go with her to the hospital. Bakersfield and Tanya leave together, heading to her apartment for much needed rest and breakfast.

In a brief epilogue, Ada is enjoying her reward of free first-class travel on TGA. But as she arrives at the gate, she laments that it was "much more fun the other way."

Oliver Barrett IV, heir of an American upper-class East Coast family, attends Harvard College where he plays ice hockey. He meets Jennifer "Jenny" Cavilleri, a quick-witted, working-class Radcliffe College student of classical music; they fall in love despite their differences.

Oliver is upset that he does not figure in Jenny's plans to study in Paris. She accepts his marriage proposal and he takes her to the Barrett mansion to meet his parents, who are judgmental and unimpressed. Oliver's father says he will cut him off financially if he marries Jenny, but after graduation they marry, nonetheless.

Jenny works as a teacher but without his father's financial support, the couple struggle to pay Oliver's way through Harvard Law School. Oliver graduates third in his class and takes a position at a respectable New York City law firm. They are ready to start a family but fail to conceive. After many tests Oliver is told that Jenny is terminally ill.

Oliver attempts to continue as normal without telling Jenny of her condition, but she confronts her doctor and finds out the truth. Oliver buys tickets to Paris, but she declines to go, wanting only to spend time with him. Oliver seeks money from his estranged father to pay for Jenny's cancer therapy. His father asks if he has "gotten a girl in trouble". Oliver says yes, and his father writes a check.

Jenny makes funeral arrangements with her father from her hospital bed. She tells Oliver to not blame himself, insisting that he never held her back from music and it was worth it for the love they shared. Jenny's last wish is for Oliver to embrace her tightly as she dies.

A grief-stricken Oliver leaves the hospital and he sees his father outside, who has rushed to New York City from Massachusetts to offer his help after learning about Jenny's condition. Oliver tells him, "Jenny's dead," and his father says "I'm sorry," to which Oliver responds, "Love Love means never having to say you're sorry", something that Jenny had said to him earlier. Oliver walks alone to the open air ice rink, where Jenny had watched him skate the day she was hospitalized.

In Marseille, a police detective follows Alain Charnier, who runs the world's largest heroin-smuggling syndicate. The policeman is murdered by Charnier's hitman, Pierre Nicoli. Charnier plans to smuggle $32 million worth of heroin into the United States by hiding it in the car of his unsuspecting friend, television personality Henri Devereaux, who is traveling to New York by ship. In New York City, detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo go out for drinks at the Copacabana. Popeye notices Salvatore "Sal" Boca and his young wife, Angie, entertaining mobsters involved in narcotics. They tail the couple and establish a link between the Bocas and lawyer Joel Weinstock, who is part of the narcotics underworld. Popeye learns that a massive shipment of heroin will arrive within two weeks. The detectives convince their supervisor to wiretap the Bocas' phones. Popeye and Cloudy are joined by federal agents Mulderig and Klein.

Devereaux's vehicle arrives in New York City. Boca is impatient to make the purchase, while Weinstock urges patience, knowing they are being investigated. Charnier realizes he is being observed. He "makes" Popeye and escapes on a departing subway shuttle at Grand Central Station. To avoid being tailed, he has Boca meet him in Washington D.C., where Boca asks for a delay to avoid the police. Charnier, however, wants to conclude the deal quickly. On the flight back to New York City, Nicoli offers to kill Popeye, but Charnier objects, knowing that Popeye would be replaced by another policeman. Nicoli insists, however, saying they will be back in France before a replacement is assigned. Soon after, Nicoli attempts to shoot Popeye but misses. Popeye chases Nicoli, who boards an elevated train. Popeye shouts to a policeman on the train to stop Nicoli and then commandeers a car. He gives chase, accidentally crashing into several vehicles on the way.

Realizing he is being pursued, Nicoli works his way forward through the carriages, shoots a policeman who tries to intervene and hijacks the motorman at gunpoint, forcing him to drive straight through the next station, also shooting the train conductor. The motorman has a heart attack and they are just about to slam into a stationary train when an emergency trackside brake engages, hurling the assassin against a glass window. A battered Popeye arrives to see the killer descending from the platform. When the killer sees Popeye, he turns to run but is shot dead by Popeye. After a lengthy stakeout, Popeye impounds Devereaux's Lincoln. In a police garage, he and his team tear the car apart piece by piece, searching for the drugs, but seemingly come up empty handed. Then, Cloudy notes that the vehicle's shipping weight is 120 pounds over its listed manufacturer's weight; they realize that the contraband must still be in the car. Finally, they remove the rocker panels and discover the hidden packages of heroin. The police return the car to Devereaux, who delivers it to Charnier.

Charnier drives to an old factory on Wards Island to meet Weinstock and deliver the drugs. After Charnier has the rocker panels removed, Weinstock's chemist tests one of the bags and confirms its quality. Charnier removes the drugs and hides the money, concealing it beneath the rocker panels of another car purchased at an auction of junk cars, which he will take back to France. Charnier and Sal drive off in the Lincoln, but hit a roadblock with a large contingent of police led by Popeye. The police chase the Lincoln back to the factory, where Boca is killed during a shootout while most of the other criminals surrender. Charnier escapes into the warehouse with Popeye and Cloudy in pursuit. Popeye sees a shadowy figure in the distance and opens fire a split-second after shouting a warning, killing Mulderig. Undaunted, Popeye tells Cloudy that he will get Charnier. After reloading his gun, Popeye runs into another room and a single gunshot is heard. Title cards describe the fates of various characters. Weinstock was indicted, but his case was dismissed for "lack of proper evidence"; Angie Boca received a suspended sentence for an unspecified misdemeanor; Lou Boca (Sal’s brother, an accessory to the handoff) received a reduced sentence; Devereaux served four years in a federal penitentiary for conspiracy; and Charnier was never caught. Popeye and Cloudy were transferred out of the narcotics division and reassigned.

In 1904, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, gives birth to their fifth child and first son, Alexei. Despite pleas from Grand Duke Nicholas and Count Sergei Witte, Nicholas refuses to end the Russo-Japanese War or accept demands for a constitutional monarchy, believing that doing either will make him look weak. The following year, Alexandra meets Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian peasant passing as a holy man, at a gala celebrating the birthday of Dowager Empress Marie and turns to him for guidance after court physician Dr. Botkin diagnoses Alexei with haemophilia.

Father Georgy Gapon organizes a workers' procession, hoping to present Nicholas with a petition calling for political representation. Armed soldiers open fire on the crowd as they approach the Winter Palace, killing hundreds. The events of Bloody Sunday, coupled with the subsequent end of the disastrous Russo-Japanese War, prompt Nicholas to create the Duma.

Eight years later, Nicholas meets with Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin while holidaying at the Livadia Palace with the rest of the family. Stolypin presents Nicholas with police reports about Rasputin's dissolute behavior, which is damaging the Tsar's reputation; Nicholas dismisses Rasputin from the court. Alexandra demands his return, as she believes only Rasputin can stop Alexei's bleeding attacks, but Nicholas stands firm.

The 1913 Romanov Tercentenary celebrations occur and a lavish Royal Tour across Imperial Russia ensues, but crowds are thin. Other national festivities and Church celebrations go ahead, but at an event at the Kiev Opera House, Stolypin is assassinated. Nicholas responds by executing the assassins, but also by permitting the police to terrorize the peasants and dissolving the Duma.

Alexei falls at the Spała Hunting Lodge, which leads to a bleeding attack so severe that it is presumed he will die. The Tsarina writes to Rasputin, who responds with words of comfort. Alexei recovers and Rasputin returns.

When World War I begins, Nicholas orders a full mobilization of the Imperial Russian Army on the German border, prompting Germany to declare war and activate a series of its alliances that escalates the war. A year later, with the war going badly for Russia on the Eastern Front, Alexandra persuades him to take personal command of the troops; he leaves for the front, taking over from his experienced cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas.

Alexandra is left in charge at home and, under Rasputin's influence, makes poor decisions. Nicholas is visited by his mother Dowager Empress Feodorovna, who scolds him about neglecting domestic issues and implores him to eliminate Rasputin and send Alexandra to Livadia. Concerned about Rasputin's influence, Grand Duke Dmitri and Prince Felix Yusupov invite Rasputin to a party in December 1916. They assassinate Rasputin, albeit after several clumsy murder attempts.

Even with Rasputin dead Alexandra continues her misrule. The army is ill supplied, and starving and freezing workers revolt in St. Petersburg in March 1917. Nicholas decides to return to Tsarskoye Selo too late and is forced to abdicate in his train.

The family with Dr. Botkin and attendants leave Tsarskoye Selo and are exiled by Kerensky to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917 after Nicholas is told that none of Russia's Allies, who he applied to for political asylum, including Nicholas' own cousin George V of the United Kingdom, will grant them sanctuary because of Nicholas' past abuses of power over his people. They live in a spartan house in the tundra but with decent guards. In October 1917, Russia falls to the Bolsheviks, who intend to take the royal family to Moscow to stand trial. However, when Moscow is captured by the White Army during the Russian Civil War, the royals are diverted to Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. Under harsher conditions they are guarded by the cold-blooded Yakov Yurovsky. When a Soviet soldier grabs Alexei's gold chain and strikes the child, his bodyguard Nagorny leaps to his defense. Nagorny is taken away and shot, although Yurovsky promises punishment for the thief.

The family receives a batch of withheld letters from friends and relatives and laugh together as they read through them. In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the Bolsheviks awaken the family and Dr. Botkin, telling them they must be transferred again. As they are waiting in the cellar, Yurovsky and his assistants enter the room and open fire.

Filmmaker Martin "Marty" Di Bergi is creating a documentary that follows the English rock group Spinal Tap on their 1982 United States concert tour to promote their new album ''Smell the Glove''. The band comprises childhood friends David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel on vocals and guitar, bassist Derek Smalls, keyboardist Viv Savage, and drummer Mick Shrimpton. They were known as the Originals until they found out another band had that name so they changed their name to the ''New'' Originals. They had a hit as the Thamesmen with their single "Gimme Some Money", before changing their name to Spinal Tap and achieving a minor hit with the flower power anthem "Listen to the Flower People", and finally transitioning to heavy metal. Several of their previous drummers died in strange circumstances: spontaneous human combustion (Peter James Bond), a "bizarre gardening accident" (John "Stumpy" Pepys), and choking on (someone else's) vomit (Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs). Segments of Marty's film show David and Nigel to be competent but dimwitted and immature musicians. At one point, Nigel shows Marty a custom-made amplifier that has volume knobs that go up to eleven, believing this would make their output louder.

Several of the band's tour shows are canceled because of low ticket sales, and major retailers refuse to sell ''Smell the Glove'' because of its sexist cover art. Tensions arise between the band and their manager Ian Faith. David's girlfriend Jeanine, a manipulative yoga and astrology devotee, joins the group on tour and participates in band meetings, influencing their costumes and stage presentation. The band's distributor opts to release ''Smell the Glove'' with an entirely black cover without consulting the band. Despite their manager convincing the band that it would have a similar appeal to the Beatles' White Album, the album fails to draw crowds to autograph sessions with the band.

Nigel suggests staging a lavish show, and asks Ian to order a Stonehenge megalith. However, Nigel, rushing a sketch on a napkin, mislabels its dimensions; the resulting prop is only 18 inches high rather than 18 feet, making the group a laughing stock. The group blames Ian, and when David suggests Jeanine should co-manage the group, Ian quits. The tour continues, rescheduled into smaller and smaller venues. Nigel is marginalized by Jeanine and David. At a gig at a United States Air Force base, Nigel is upset by an equipment malfunction and quits mid-performance. At their next gig, in an amphitheater at an amusement park, the band finds their repertoire is severely limited without Nigel, and improvise an experimental "Jazz Odyssey", which is poorly received.

At the last show of the tour, David and Derek consider exploring old side projects, such as a musical theatre production about Jack the Ripper. Before they go on stage, Nigel arrives (to a very cool reception from David and Jeanine) to tell them that their song "Sex Farm" has become a major hit in Japan, and that Ian wants to arrange a tour there. In the wings, as Nigel watches the band performing, David relents and invites him to join the band onstage, giving huge delight to everyone but a furious Jeanine. With Ian reinstalled as manager, Spinal Tap performs a series of sold-out shows in Japan, despite the loss of drummer Mick, who explodes onstage.

Nathaniel Mayweather (Chris Elliott) is a snobbish, self-centered, arrogant, despicable, loathsome virginal man. After graduation, he is invited by his father to sail to Hawaii aboard the ''Queen Catherine''. After annoying the limo driver who is taking him to board the boat, he is forced to walk the rest of the way. Nathaniel makes a wrong turn into a small fishing village where he meets the imbecilic cabin boy/first mate Kenny (Andy Richter). He thinks the ship, ''The Filthy Whore'', is a theme boat. It is not until the next morning that Captain Greybar (Ritch Brinkley) finds Nathaniel in his room and explains that the boat will not return to dry land for three months. Nathaniel unsuccessfully tries to convince each fisherman to set sail to Hawaii, but convinces Kenny into doing so. However, the crew reaches ''Hell's Bucket,'' a Bermuda Triangle-like area where weird events occur. The ship is caught in a fierce storm and Kenny is knocked overboard and drowns. Without a cabin boy, Greybar forces Nathaniel to do the chores in return for taking him to Hawaii, as well as teaching him how to become a better, more mature, person. With only one island in the entire area, the crew decide to set sail there.

After failing all the chores he is assigned, the fishermen decide to give Nathaniel another chore that involves dragging him on a floating raft for a week. Nathaniel quickly runs out of supplies begins consuming salt water and suffers extreme sunburn after confusing cooking oil as lotion. He also realizes he might be going insane after sighting Kenny's ghost and seeing a floating cupcake (voiced of Jim Cummings) that spits tobacco. After falling into the water he is saved by a "shark-man." After nine days, Nathaniel is pulled back in and tells what happened. It is revealed by Skunk (Brian Doyle-Murray) and Big Teddy (Brion James) that the shark-man is known as Chocki (Russ Tamblyn), the offspring of a male viking and female shark, who can be trouble because he can like one person one way, but then hate them in the other.

Nathaniel spots a beautiful young woman named Trina (Melora Walters) swimming in the ocean. After she is pulled up in a net, Nathaniel becomes smitten with her. Not pleased with another passenger on board, the fishermen decide to strand Trina and Nathaniel on the island they're sailing toward.

Finally reaching the island, the crew searches for components to fix their boat. Nathaniel tries to get closer to Trina, who constantly rejects him. Greybar and Skunk suggest to Nathaniel that a woman named Calli (Ann Magnuson) can help build his confidence. After an encounter with blue-skinned, six-armed Calli that results in his first sexual experience, Nathaniel again meets Trina, who becomes attracted to him immediately. Calli's husband Mulligan (Mike Starr), a giant, comes home to find a man's bag. Realizing what Calli has done, Mulligan decides to find her lover and kill him.

Nathaniel tries to save everyone by confessing to the giant he's the one who slept with Calli. Mulligan is about to kill Nathaniel with a giant nail clipper when Chocki saves him. Nathaniel then kills Mulligan by choking him with his own belt.

Finally reaching Hawaii, Nathaniel offers his newfound companions a job at the hotel where his father is the owner. They refuse because all they know how to do is fish and stink. They tell Nathaniel he's a ''fancy lad'' who should stay in Hawaii with his dad where he belongs. Nathaniel and the fishermen part ways, including Trina. His father, William Mayweather (Bob Elliott, Chris Elliott's real-life father), expresses disappointment of his son's actions. Not wanting to live the fancy-lad life, Nathaniel leaves to find Trina, and then both join the crew on ''The Filthy Whore''.

Miguel Ángel González is a member of one of Caracas' richest families while Estrella is a poor but hard-working beautiful girl who sells newspapers in a corner everyday to earn a living. When they meet, they fall in love and begin a beautiful romance that leads to marriage. However, not everything is rosy for the couple. Miguel Ángel's parents Horacio and Rebecca are opposed to the relationship, and the obsessive passion Santa Ortigoza, Miguel Ángel's ex-girlfriend has over him. Horacio's declining mental health makes him become more and more dangerous, and he hides a secret from the past: many years ago, he murdered Estrella's mother because she rejected him and let her father be blamed for the crime. The secret is revealed once Leonardo Montenegro, Estrella's father, is released from prison and reunited with his daughter. Rebecca, Miguel Ángel's mother, begins to accept his relationship with Estrella once she learns about Horacio's secret and that she was wrong about Estrella being a gold digger, when it was actually Santa who was after their family's money.

Later, Horacio kidnaps Estrella and Miguel Ángel's twin boys, and during this time, he has begun loving them like his sons. He shoots himself after a police stand-off when the babies are wrestled away from him while Santa dies after her car is driven off a cliff.

The game begins with a letter from Princess Peach inviting Mario to come to her castle for a cake she has baked for him. When he arrives, Mario discovers that Bowser has invaded the castle and imprisoned the princess and her servants within it using the power of the castle's 120 Power Stars. The Power Stars are hidden in the castle's paintings, which serve as portals to other worlds where Bowser's minions keep watch over the Stars. Mario explores the castle and enters these worlds, gaining access to more rooms as he recovers more Stars. Twice in his adventure, Mario unlocks doors to different floors of the castle with keys obtained by defeating Bowser in hidden worlds. He gets at least seventy of the 120 Stars, breaking the curse of the endless stairs that block the entrance to Bowser's final hiding place. After Mario defeats Bowser in the final battle, he obtains a special Power Star which gives him the Wing Cap, and he flies back to the castle. Peach is then released from the stained-glass window above the castle's entrance, and she rewards Mario by kissing him on the nose and baking the cake that she had promised him.

During his forced residence at a deep underground offensive-warfare complex, X-127 is ordered to push missile firing buttons to begin World War III (which lasts a total of 2 hours and 58 minutes). From that point, humanity's few civilian survivors are situated within a collection of underground shelter complexes on Levels 1 through 5 at various depths from the irradiated surface, while military personnel already occupy the deepest and safest Levels 6 and 7. It later emerges that the orders given have been wholly automatic due to a launch on warning strategy; the war has taken place as a series of automated electronic responses to an initial accident.

X-127 and his fellow shelter inhabitants belatedly learn the criteria that had determined admission to the shelters: civilians were granted only an illusion of protection, while government officials and military personnel were granted significantly more security. Those who were assigned to launch the nuclear missiles, and their support staff, were selected for their ability to behave like machines, yet are counted upon to preserve the human spirit and rebuild the human race. X-127 and his colleagues attempt to carry on human life, but discover that institutions such as marriage and preparations for child-rearing have been hollowed out by conditions and attitudes in the antiseptic underground.

Toward the end of the novel, the inhabitants of surviving shelters within collaterally hit neutral nations, the former enemy nation and the unnamed protagonist nation gradually meet their deaths as radioactive surface contamination makes its way down past air filters and into water sources in the ground. As Level 7's safety falls into question, its inhabitants confront their growing isolation, overconfidence in technology, loneliness below a dead world, and the insanity of a society whose momentum toward annihilation exceeded its collective will to live. At last, the inhabitants of "Level 7" are wiped out after a malfunction in their nuclear power pile results in lethal contamination of their erstwhile sanctuary. They are apparently the last human beings on Earth to perish, and X-127 is the very last one at the story's conclusion. The extinction of humanity has taken four months from the time that the missiles were first fired.

Eddie Hawkins – "Hudson Hawk" (from the bracing winds off the Hudson) – is a master cat burglar and safe-cracker, wanting to celebrate his first day of parole with a cappuccino. Before he gets it, he is blackmailed by various entities, including his parole officer, the minor Mario Brothers Mafia family, and the CIA, into doing a few art heists with his partner, Tommy "Five-Tone" Messina.

The American corporation, Mayflower Industries, is controlling everything, run by husband and wife Darwin and Minerva Mayflower and their butler, Alfred. Headquartered in the Esposizione Universale Roma, the company seeks to take over the world by reconstructing La Macchina dell'Oro, a machine invented by Leonardo da Vinci that converts lead into gold. An assembly of crystals needed for the machine to function are hidden in a variety of Leonardo's artworks: the maquette of the Sforza, the Da Vinci Codex, and a scale model of da Vinci's helicopter. Sister Anna Baragli is an operative for a secret Vatican counter-espionage agency, working with the CIA to assist in Hawk's mission in Rome, though intending to foil the robbery at St. Peter's.

Throughout the adventure, Hudson repeatedly attempts to drink a cappuccino. After blowing up an auctioneer to cover up the theft of the Sforza, the Mario Bros. take Hawk away in an ambulance. He sticks syringes into Antony Mario's face, falls out of the ambulance on a gurney, and they try to run him down with the ambulance as they speed along the highway. The brothers are killed when their ambulance crashes. Immediately afterwards, Hawk meets CIA head George Kaplan and agents – Snickers, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, and Butterfinger – who take him to the Mayflowers.

Hawk successfully steals the Da Vinci Codex from another museum, but later refuses to steal the helicopter design. Tommy Five-Tone fakes his death so they can escape. They are discovered and attacked by the CIA agents; Kaplan reveals that he and his agents stole the piece, and unlike them, had no problem killing the guards. Hawk and Tommy escape when Snickers and Almond Joy are killed, and pursue the remaining agents. Kit Kat and Butterfinger take Anna to the castle where the Macchina dell'Oro is being reconstructed.

The showdown is in the castle between the remaining CIA agents, the Mayflowers, and the team of Hudson, Five-Tone, and Baragli. Kit Kat and Butterfinger are killed by Minerva, although Kit Kat frees Baragli before dying. Tommy fights Darwin and Alfred inside the speeding limo, and Hudson fights George Kaplan on the roof of the castle. Kaplan topples from the castle, landing on the limo. Alfred plants a bomb in it, escaping with Darwin; Tommy is trapped inside while Kaplan is hanging onto the hood. The bomb detonates as the limo speeds over a cliff.

Darwin and Minerva force Hawk to put together the crystal powering the machine, but he intentionally leaves out one small piece. When the machine is activated, it malfunctions and explodes, killing the Mayflowers. Hawk battles Alfred, using his own blades to decapitate him. Hawk and Baragli escape the castle, using the da Vinci flying machine, discovering Tommy waiting for them at a cafe, having miraculously escaped death through a combination of airbags and a sprinkler system in the limo. With the world saved and da Vinci's secrets protected, Hawk finally gets to enjoy a cappuccino.

A man named Dhanapati who struggles get money goes to a man named Rabi to find a job. Rabi then pulls Dhanapati into politics.

Original ''Dune'' series

In Frank Herbert's 1965 novel ''Dune'', the Bene Gesserit are a secretive matriarchal order who have achieved superhuman abilities through physical and mental conditioning and the use of the drug melange. Under the guise of humbly "serving" the Empire, the Sisterhood is in fact a major power in the universe, using its many areas of influence to subtly guide humanity along the path of its own plan for humanity's future. Herbert notes that over 10,000 years before the events of ''Dune'', in the chaotic time after the Butlerian Jihad and before the unveiling of the Orange Catholic Bible, the Bene Gesserit "consolidated their hold upon the sorceresses, explored the subtle narcotics, developed ''prana-bindu'' training and conceived the Missionaria Protectiva, that black arm of superstition. But it is also the period that saw the composing of the litany against fear and the assembly of the Azhar Book, that bibliographic marvel that preserves the great secrets of the most ancient faiths."

Millennia later in ''Dune'', the Bene Gesserit base of power is the Mother School on the planet Wallach IX, whose graduates are fit mates for Emperors, and whose specially trained Truthsayers can detect falsehood. But beyond the outer virtues of poise, self-control, and diplomacy, Bene Gesserit training includes superior combat skills and precise physiological control that grants them total control over their bodies, including direct control over conception and embryotic sex determination, ageing, and even the ability to render poisons harmless within their bodies. The Bene Gesserit power of Voice allows them to control others by merely modulating their vocal tones. Sisters who survive a ritualized poisoning known as the spice agony achieve increased awareness and abilities through access to Other Memory, and are subsequently known as Reverend Mothers. Every member of the Bene Gesserit is conditioned into singular loyalty to the order and its goals with allegiances to even family being secondary, and no goal is more paramount than the Sisterhood's large-scale breeding program. It aims to create a superbeing that can tap into abilities even the Bene Gesserit cannot, a being whom they can use in order to gain more direct control over the universe. To this end, the Bene Gesserit have subtly manipulated bloodlines for generations, using breeding sisters to "collect" the genes they require.

The Bene Gesserit super-being – whom they call the Kwisatz Haderach – arrives a generation earlier than expected in the form of Paul Atreides, who is free from their direct control though his mother is the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica. In ''Dune'', Paul seizes control of the harsh desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the all-important spice melange; by threatening to destroy all spice production, he maneuvers himself into the Imperial throne. With Paul holding a tight monopoly on melange, a decade later the Bene Gesserit participate in a conspiracy to topple his rule in ''Dune Messiah'' (1969). Even after a blinded Paul walks into the desert to die, his sister Alia rules his empire and keeps the Bene Gesserit at bay until Paul's young son Leto II takes control himself in ''Children of Dune'' (1976). Over 3,500 years later, Leto–now a hybrid of human and sandworm–still dominates the universe as the tyrant God Emperor in ''God Emperor of Dune'' (1981). Through prescience, he has foreseen humanity's possible destruction, and has forced humanity into what he calls the Golden Path, a plan which he believes will assure their survival. Having halted all spice production and thus making his own stockpile the only source of melange left in the universe, Leto is able to maintain firm control over the various factions and effects a "forced tranquility". He has taken the Bene Gesserit breeding program from them and uses it for his own mysterious purposes, and their limited spice supply is subject to their obedience to Leto, and his prescient vision. Recognizing that his work is finally done, Leto allows himself to be assassinated.

Fifteen hundred years later in ''Heretics of Dune'' (1984), the Bene Gesserit have regained their power and relocated to a hidden homeworld they call Chapterhouse, and the spice cycle has been renewed on Arrakis, now called Rakis. New opposition arrives in the form of a violent matriarchal order calling themselves the Honored Matres, a ruthless and brutal force who seek domination over the Old Empire and who do not use or rely on melange for their powers. As the Matres all but exterminate the Tleilaxu race and next target the Sisterhood, Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Taraza implements a bold plan to release humanity from the oracular hold of Leto II by goading the Honored Matres into destroying Rakis. Meanwhile, the Bene Gesserit have terraformed Chapterhouse into a desert planet like Rakis and bring a single sandworm there to begin a new spice cycle. In ''Chapterhouse: Dune'' (1985), the Honored Matres begin to destroy all of the Bene Gesserit-controlled planets and enslave the populaces of the other planets they conquer. The Matres themselves are being hunted by a far more powerful force from out in the Scattering. The new Mother Superior Darwi Odrade recognizes that the threat of this unknown enemy is greater than that of the Honored Matres, and forms another bold plan. The captive Honored Matre Murbella, who has been assimilated into the Bene Gesserit and gained the full powers of a Reverend Mother, defeats the leader of the Honored Matres in combat and thus becomes Great Honored Matre. She immediately succeeds Odrade as Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit, joining the two forces under a single leader in an uneasy truce that is hoped will be able to defeat the unknown enemy.

Sequels

In ''Hunters of Dune'', the 2006 continuation of the series by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Murbella adopts the new title of Mother Commander and struggles to bring the opposing factions of her New Sisterhood together. Among the Bene Gesserit, some are willing to accept the merger with the Honored Matres, while others oppose allying with their enemies; a group of dissenters led by Reverend Mother Sheeana had previously fled Chapterhouse aboard a no-ship upon Murbella's ascension to leadership. Within the Honored Matres, many admire Murbella's strength and abilities and desire Bene Gesserit training, but resist assimilation. Additionally, a number of Honored Matres refuse to acknowledge Murbella as their leader; the largest such rebel group is led by Matre Superior Hellica on Tleilax. As Murbella amasses weaponry for the coming battle with the unknown enemy, she trains an elite force of commando troops with the combined battle talents of Bene Gesserit, Honored Matres, and even the Swordmasters of Ginaz. These "Valkyries" are able to effect Hellica's defeat, galvanizing many dissenters into finally joining Murbella's cause against the unknown enemy, now revealed to be the resurrected thinking machines thought destroyed 15,000 years before. In the 2007 sequel, ''Sandworms of Dune'', the thinking machines have unleashed decimating viruses on planet after planet, while Face Dancers infiltrate human civilization in their own insidious plot to take over the universe. The New Sisterhood's fleet of warships succumbs to Face Dancer sabotage, but is saved from thinking machine attack by a host of Guild Navigators in heighliners, brought together by the Oracle of Time, Norma Cenva. Thinking machine leader Omnius is wiped out of existence by the Oracle, and the Face Dancer threat eliminated. As Murbella joins Duncan Idaho in his plan to rule a universe in which humanity and thinking machines co-exist, Sheeana introduces sandworms to the former thinking machine planet Synchrony, where she will found an orthodox Sisterhood.

''Legends of Dune''

In the ''Legends of Dune'' prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Anderson it is revealed that the '''Sorceresses of Rossak''', who possess destructive telekinetic powers existing only in women and have a breeding plan to create more powerful telepaths, had been the predecessors of the Bene Gesserit. As a Sorceress is always killed when she unleashes her full power, they sacrifice themselves to destroy some of the Titans and Neo-Cymeks during the Butlerian Jihad, over 10,000 years before the events in ''Dune''. Later, they expand their genetic program to preserve human bloodlines when humanity is endangered by a widespread plague called the "Demon Scourge", genetically engineered and unleashed by the thinking machines. Raquella Berto-Anirul becomes their leader after surviving a poisoning attempt by being the first to internally render the toxin harmless. The ordeal also makes Raquella the first to access Other Memory and use the power of Voice; she later establishes the Bene Gesserit, instituting a similar ritualized poisoning to unlock the same abilities in others.

''Great Schools of Dune''

In ''Sisterhood of Dune'' (2012), 80 years have passed since the end of the Butlerian Jihad, and an aging Raquella remains the only Sister to have survived the Agony. Ambitious young Valya Harkonnen has hopes of using her Bene Gesserit training to complete her family's vendetta against Vorian Atreides and his entire bloodline. Valya is one of the Sisters trusted with the records of Raquella's breeding program, which are maintained by a secret cache of forbidden computers, concealed in a cave outside the Sisterhood School on Rossak. Raquella's granddaughter Dorotea undergoes the Agony and becomes a Reverend Mother, discovering the truth about her parentage and the existence of computers. As a devout anti-technology Butlerian, she assists Emperor Salvador Corrino in his raid on the Rossak school. Salvador has several dozen Sisters executed and disbands the Sisterhood, except for Dorotea's Orthodox followers, who return to the Imperial capital on Salusa Secundus to serve as court Truthsayers.

Raquella has reestablished her school on Wallach IX in ''Mentats of Dune'' (2014), thanks to the help of industrialist Josef Venport. Valya, now a Reverend Mother, retrieves the hidden computers from Rossak and hopes to succeed the declining Raquella as Mother Superior. Raquella believes that the only hope for the Sisterhood to survive is for the Wallach IX sisters to reconcile with Dorotea's faction on Salusa Secundus; her health failing, she summons Dorotea to the School and forces Dorotea and Valya to put their differences aside and agree to work together for the good of the Sisterhood. Naming them co-leaders, Raquella dies; Valya however, still bitter about Dorotea's betrayal, uses her newly discovered power of Voice to force Dorotea to commit suicide. Valya declares herself to be the sole Mother Superior, and ingratiates herself to the new Emperor, Roderick Corrino.

A young woman is killed in a collision with a truck. Weeks earlier in Chicago, factory worker John Quincy Archibald and his wife Denise rush their young son Michael to the hospital after he collapses at his baseball game, and are told by cardiologist Dr. Raymond Turner and administrator Rebecca Payne that Michael needs a heart transplant. The hospital requires $75,000 down payment of the procedure's $250,000 cost to place Michael on the organ transplant list. John discovers that his health insurance will not cover the surgery.

John and Denise struggle to raise the money and the hospital prepares to send Michael home to die. Determined to save his son, John takes Dr. Turner and several patients and staff hostage at gunpoint in the ER. Police negotiator Lt. Frank Grimes makes contact with John, who demands Payne put Michael's name on the organ transplant list.

Grimes clashes with his superior Chief Gus Monroe, while most of the hostages sympathize with John's plight and reflect on the flaws of America's healthcare system. One of the nurses revealed that Michael's condition could have been detected much earlier during routine checkup but the doctor ignored it to gain bonus from insurance company to keep his mouth shut to maintain their profit. Agreeing to release some of the patients, John is attacked by hostage Mitch, whose abused girlfriend Julie helps John subdue and handcuff Mitch. John frees expectant couple Steve and Miriam and immigrant mother Rosa with her infant son, who all declare their support for John to the news crews outside. Grimes and Payne reveal John's actions to Denise, and Payne places Michael on the list to perform the operation pro bono.

Overriding Grimes, Monroe has a SWAT sniper enter the ER via an air shaft, luring John into the line of fire with a phone call from Denise. John speaks with Michael as his condition worsens, while a news crew hacks the police surveillance feed and broadcasts John's conversation with his family. John discovers the hacked news footage just as the sniper fires, wounding him in the shoulder. John overpowers the sniper and uses him as a human shield as he reiterates his demands in front of a cheering crowd. As night falls, Michael is brought to the ER in exchange for the sniper's release, while Denise waits at the police command post.

John reveals his intention to die by suicide to save Michael with his own heart, and also reveals that his gun was empty all along. He persuades Turner to perform the operation, and Julie and security guard Max bear witness to John's impromptu will. He says his goodbyes to Michael, and prepares to end his own life using the only bullet he brought, when Denise brings news that the heart of a recently deceased organ donor – the motorist from the beginning of the film – is on the way. Once the heart arrives, John releases the hostages, including patient Lester, who surrenders to police posing as John. John, posing as a surgeon, accompanies Michael to the operating room where Grimes, who noticed the switch, allows him to watch Michael's operation before arresting him.

Three months later, John's actions have sparked national debate about healthcare, and his family, friends and all the hostages testify on his behalf at trial. John is ultimately acquitted of attempted murder and armed criminal action, but convicted of kidnapping and false imprisonment. His lawyer assures him that he will likely serve no more than two years. As John is escorted from the courthouse Lester proclaims him as a hero, and now-healthy Michael gains eye contact with his father, saying "Dad!" and then, "Thank you".

The show revolves around a group of children and teenagers who performed in their own rock group, Kids Incorporated. They struggled to deal with issues ranging from crushes to peer pressure to child abuse, while performing regularly at a local former music club called The P*lace, which was really called The Palace, but the "a" in the sign burned out and was not replaced. The action took place on abstract "stagey" sets and the plots involved many fantasy elements, such as the group meeting a robot (Season 1, Episode 10), a runaway princess (Season 1, Episode 6) and even a wise-cracking bicycle (Season 1, Episode 17). In addition to their performances on stage, the group would break into song when they were off-stage.

The protagonist of ''Hamlet'' is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, and took the throne for himself. Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, in which King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle some years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbras's infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian king's son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent.

On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle, the sentries Bernardo and Marcellus discuss a ghost resembling the late King Hamlet which they have recently seen, and bring Prince Hamlet's friend Horatio as a witness. After the ghost appears again, the three vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed.

As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, Hamlet looks on glumly. During the court, Claudius grants permission for Polonius's son Laertes to return to school in France and sends envoys to inform the King of Norway about Fortinbras. Claudius also scolds Hamlet for continuing to grieve over his father and forbids him to return to his schooling in Wittenberg. After the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his father's death and his mother's hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself.

As Polonius's son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius offers him advice that culminates in the maxim "to thine own self be true." Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, but Laertes warns her against seeking the prince's attention, and Polonius orders her to reject his advances. That night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees, and the ghost vanishes. The prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to "put an antic disposition on", or act as though he has gone mad, and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret; however, he remains uncertain of the ghost's reliability.

Soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving erratically. Polonius blames love for Hamlet's madness and resolves to inform Claudius and Gertrude. As he enters to do so, the King and Queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlet's mood and behaviour. Additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard: messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his father's battles. The forces that Fortinbras had conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, though they will pass through Danish territory to get there.

Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlet's behaviour and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness and subtly insults Polonius all the while. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his "friends" warmly but quickly discerns that they are spies. Hamlet admits that he is upset at his situation but refuses to give the true reason, instead of commenting on "What a piece of work is a man". Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Hamlet that they have brought along a troupe of actors that they met while travelling to Elsinore. Hamlet, after welcoming the actors and dismissing his friends-turned-spies, asks them to deliver a soliloquy about the death of King Priam and Queen Hecuba at the climax of the Trojan War. Impressed by their delivery of the speech, he plots to stage ''The Murder of Gonzago'', a play featuring a death in the style of his father's murder, and to determine the truth of the ghost's story, as well as Claudius's guilt or innocence, by studying Claudius's reaction.

Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet's love letters and tokens of affection to the prince while he and Claudius watch from afar to evaluate Hamlet's reaction. Hamlet is walking alone in the hall as the King and Polonius await Ophelia's entrance, musing whether "to be or not to be". When Ophelia enters and tries to return Hamlet's things, Hamlet accuses her of immodesty and cries "get thee to a nunnery", though it is unclear whether this, too, is a show of madness or genuine distress. His reaction convinces Claudius that Hamlet is not mad for love. Shortly thereafter, the court assembles to watch the play Hamlet has commissioned. After seeing the Player King murdered by his rival pouring poison in his ear, Claudius abruptly rises and runs from the room; for Hamlet, this is proof positive of his uncle's guilt.

Gertrude summons Hamlet to her chamber to demand an explanation. Meanwhile, Claudius talks to himself about the impossibility of repenting, since he still has possession of his ill-gotten goods: his brother's crown and wife. He sinks to his knees. On his way to visit his mother, Hamlet sneaks up behind him but does not kill him, reasoning that killing Claudius while he is praying will send him straight to heaven while his father's ghost is stuck in purgatory. In the queen's bedchamber, Hamlet and Gertrude fight bitterly. Polonius, spying on the conversation from behind a tapestry, calls for help as Gertrude, believing Hamlet wants to kill her, calls out for help herself.

Hamlet, believing it is Claudius, stabs wildly, killing Polonius, but he pulls aside the curtain and sees his mistake. In a rage, Hamlet brutally insults his mother for her apparent ignorance of Claudius's villainy, but the ghost enters and reprimands Hamlet for his inaction and harsh words. Unable to see or hear the ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. After begging the queen to stop sleeping with Claudius, Hamlet leaves, dragging Polonius's corpse away.

Hamlet jokes with Claudius about where he has hidden Polonius's body, and the King, fearing for his life, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England with a sealed letter to the King of England requesting that Hamlet be executed immediately.

Unhinged by grief at Polonius's death, Ophelia wanders Elsinore. Laertes arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible, but a letter soon arrives indicating that Hamlet has returned to Denmark, foiling Claudius's plan. Claudius switches tactics, proposing a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet to settle their differences. Laertes will be given a poison-tipped foil, and, if that fails, Claudius will offer Hamlet poisoned wine as a congratulation. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned, though it is unclear whether it was suicide or an accident caused by her madness.

Horatio has received a letter from Hamlet, explaining that the prince escaped by negotiating with pirates who attempted to attack his England-bound ship, and the friends reunite offstage. Two gravediggers discuss Ophelia's apparent suicide while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of the gravediggers, who unearths the skull of a jester from Hamlet's childhood, Yorick. Hamlet picks up the skull, saying "alas, poor Yorick" as he contemplates mortality. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet and Horatio initially hide, but when Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is the one being buried, he reveals himself, proclaiming his love for her. Laertes and Hamlet fight by Ophelia's graveside, but the brawl is broken up.

Back at Elsinore, Hamlet explains to Horatio that he had discovered Claudius's letter with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's belongings and replaced it with a forged copy indicating that his former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, Osric, interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Hamlet. Hamlet, despite Horatio's pleas, accepts it. Hamlet does well at first, leading the match by two hits to none, and Gertrude raises a toast to him using the poisoned glass of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet. Claudius tries to stop her but is too late: she drinks, and Laertes realizes the plot will be revealed. Laertes slashes Hamlet with his poisoned blade. In the ensuing scuffle, they switch weapons, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poisoned sword. Gertrude collapses and, claiming she has been poisoned, dies. In his dying moments, Laertes reconciles with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's plan. Hamlet rushes at Claudius and kills him. As the poison takes effect, Hamlet, hearing that Fortinbras is marching through the area, names the Norwegian prince as his successor. Horatio, distraught at the thought of being the last survivor and living whilst Hamlet does not, says he will commit suicide by drinking the dregs of Gertrude's poisoned wine, but Hamlet begs him to live on and tell his story. Hamlet dies in Horatio's arms, proclaiming "the rest is silence". Fortinbras, who was ostensibly marching towards Poland with his army, arrives at the palace, along with an English ambassador bringing news of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths. Horatio promises to recount the full story of what happened, and Fortinbras, seeing the entire Danish royal family dead, takes the crown for himself and orders a military funeral to honour Prince Hamlet. This is done and the film ends on an image of a statue of King Hamlet being demolished.

The film largely follows the plot of the original play, albeit omitting certain dialogue and minor characters to fit the average length of a feature film. This version also makes no modern day adaptations.

Upon receiving a restraining order from Randal Graves (''Clerks'') for selling drugs outside the Quick Stop, Jay and Silent Bob learn from Brodie Bruce (''Mallrats'') that Miramax Films is adapting ''Bluntman and Chronic'', the comic book based on their likenesses. The pair visit Holden McNeil (''Chasing Amy''), co-writer of ''Bluntman and Chronic'', and demand royalties from the film, but Holden explains he sold his share of the rights to co-creator Banky Edwards. Seeing the film's negative reception online, the pair set out for Hollywood to prevent the film from tainting their image, or at least to receive the royalties owed to them.

En route, they befriend an animal liberation group: Justice, Sissy, Missy, Chrissy, and Brent. The organization is a front; Brent is a patsy, who will free animals from a laboratory as a diversion while the girls rob a diamond depository. Jay throws Brent out of the van to get closer to Justice, to whom he is attracted. Justice is fond of the pair, but reluctantly accepts them as new patsies.

While the girls steal the diamonds, Jay and Silent Bob free the animals, stealing an orangutan named Suzanne. They escape as the police arrive and the van explodes, believing the girls have perished.

Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (whose name is taken from ''Land of the Lost'' characters ) arrives; oblivious to the diamond heist, he claims jurisdiction due to the escaped animals, all of which have been recovered but the orangutan. The officers find footage of a video Sissy recorded of Jay claiming to be "the clit commander", with accompanying literature that "Clit" is an acronym for ''Coalition for the Liberation of Itinerant Tree-Dwellers''. Willenholly declares the crime an act of terrorism and calls for backup to hunt "the two most dangerous men on the planet."

Hiding inside a diner, the pair dress Suzanne as their child. Willenholly, facing the political repercussions of "arresting a gay couple", lets them leave but quickly resumes pursuit. The fugitives jump into a sewer system, and Willenholly is tricked into jumping off a dam.

Suzanne is abducted by a Hollywood animal acting agency, and Jay and Silent Bob arrive in Hollywood and find themselves in the background of an ''E! News'' newscast about their online threat against Miramax. Watching the news, Justice takes the diamonds to Hollywood to fix things, with Willenholly close behind.

Chased by studio security and reclaiming Suzanne from the set of ''Scream 4'', Jay and Silent Bob end up in the dressing room of Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek, the actors playing Bluntman and Chronic. Suzanne beats up the actors, and Jay and Silent Bob assume the roles. Meeting racist director Chaka Luther King, they are forced to fight Mark Hamill, playing the supervillain Cocknocker. Willenholly arrives to capture the pair, but Justice protects them, admitting the CLIT organization was only a diversion. The other thieves arrive and a climactic final battle ensues. Jay and Silent Bob get their royalties from Banky after Silent Bob informs him he violated their original likeness rights contract by not getting their permission before selling the film rights to Miramax, and could face serious legal troubles, and Justice turns herself and her former team in to Willenholly in exchange for a shorter sentence and freeing Jay and Silent Bob.

Jay and Silent Bob spend their royalty money locating everyone who expressed negative opinions on the internet about the movie and their characters, including children and clergy, and travel to assault them. The scene cuts to the audience leaving the theater, having just watched the Bluntman and Chronic movie, to poor reception. Jay and Silent Bob, with Justice and Willenholly, go across the street to enjoy the after party, featuring a performance from Morris Day and The Time.

After the credits, God closes the View Askewniverse book.

In June 1950, a local neighbourhood drunk Čika Franjo serenades field workers. He sings Mexican songs, out of self-preservation, figuring it's safer for him to steer clear of songs originating from either of the two dominant global superpowers — the United States and Soviet Union — in the current climate of Cold War. Yugoslavia is experiencing a paranoid repressive internal apparatus looking to identify and remove enemies of the state in the wake of the Tito–Stalin Split. The local children, including Malik, climb trees and play around. Malik's mother Sena tells him that his father is on a business trip, while Malik is a chronic sleepwalker. His father, communist functionary Meša, was in fact sent to a labour camp by his own brother-in-law, Sena's brother Zijo, who's an even higher positioned Communist functionary. Meša had made a remark about a political cartoon regarding the Tito–Stalin Split in the ''Politika'' newspaper.

After a while, Meša's wife and children rejoin him in Zvornik. Malik meets Maša, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He falls in love with her, but last sees her when the ambulance takes her away.

At the wedding of his maternal uncle Fahro, Malik witnesses his father's affair with a woman pilot. She later tries to commit suicide by using a toilet's flush cord. Sena reconciles with her brother Zijah, who's been diagnosed with diabetes.

Jack and Kate, who have been together since college, are at JFK Airport, where he is about to leave to take up a twelve-month internship with Barclays in London. She fears the separation will be detrimental to their relationship and asks him not to go, but he reassures her, saying their love is strong enough to last, and he flies out.

Thirteen years later, Jack is now a bachelor living a carefree life as a Wall Street executive in New York City. At work, he is putting together a multi-billion dollar merger and has ordered an emergency meeting on Christmas Day. In his office, on Christmas Eve, he gets a message to contact Kate, but, even though he remembers her, he dismisses it, apparently uninterested.

On his way home, Jack is in a convenience store when a young man, Cash, enters claiming to have a winning lottery ticket worth $238, but the store clerk refuses him, saying the ticket is a forgery. Cash pulls out a gun and threatens him, so Jack offers to buy the ticket and Cash eventually agrees.

Outside, Jack tries to help Cash, to which he responds by asking Jack if anything is missing from his life. Saying he has everything he needs, Cash enigmatically remarks that Jack has brought upon himself what is now going to happen, and walks away. A puzzled Jack returns to his penthouse and sleeps.

On Christmas Day, Jack wakes up in a suburban New Jersey bedroom with Kate and two children. He rushes out to his condo and office in New York, but both doormen refuse his entrance and do not recognize him. Jack runs out into the street and encounters Cash driving Jack's Ferrari. Although Cash offers to explain what is happening, all he says is a vague reference to "The Organization" and that Jack is getting "a glimpse" that will help him to figure out for himself what it's about.

Jack slowly realizes that he is living the kind of life he might have had if he had stayed in the United States with Kate as she had asked. He has a modest family life, where he is a car tire salesman for Kate's father and she is a non-profit lawyer. Jack's young daughter, Annie, thinks he is an alien but a friendly one and assists him in fitting into his new life. With a few setbacks, he begins to succeed, bonding with his children, falling in love with his wife again and working hard at his job.

Taking advantage of a chance meeting when his former boss, chairman Peter Lassiter, comes in to have a tire blowout fixed. He impresses him with his business savvy and Lassiter invites him to his office, where Jack worked in his 'other' life.

There, after a short interview, Lassiter offers him a position. While he is excited by the potential salary and other perks, Kate argues that they are very happy and they should be thankful for the life they have.

Having decided that he now likes this 'other' life, Jack again sees Cash, now a store clerk. He demands to stay in this life, but Cash tells him there is no choice: "a glimpse", by definition, is an impermanent thing. That night, Jack tries to stay awake, but fails and wakes the "next day", Christmas Day, to find himself in his original life.

Jack forgoes closing the acquisition deal to intercept Kate, finding her moving out of a luxury townhouse before flying to Paris. Like him, she has focused on her career, and has become a very wealthy corporate lawyer. She had only called him to return a box of his old possessions. Jack chases after her to the airport and, in an effort to stop her leaving, describes in detail their children and family life.

Intrigued, she eventually agrees to go with him for a coffee. From a distance, they are seen talking inaudibly and laughing over their coffees.

Four Atlanta businessmen—Lewis Medlock, Ed Gentry, Bobby Trippe and Drew Ballinger—decide to canoe down a river in the remote northern Georgia wilderness before it is dammed. Lewis, an experienced outdoorsman, is the leader; his close friend Ed has been on several trips but lacks Lewis's machismo, while Bobby and Drew are novices. En route to their launch site, the men (Bobby in particular) are condescending towards the locals, who are unimpressed by the "city boys". At a local gas station, Drew, with his guitar, engages a young banjo-playing boy in a musical duel ("Dueling Banjos"). The duel is mutually enjoyable, and some of the locals break into dance at the sound of it. However, the boy does not acknowledge Drew when prompted for a celebratory handshake.

The four friends travel in pairs and their two canoes become separated. Ed and Bobby encounter a pair of mountain men emerging from the woods, one carrying a shotgun and missing two front teeth. Following a verbal altercation, Bobby is forced by the men to undress. The unarmed man, who has a spanking fetishism, slaps the derriere of Bobby while persuing him before he violently sodomizes the fat city dweller, demanding he "squeal like a pig", while Ed is bound to a tree and held at gunpoint. Just as Ed is about to be raped, Lewis sneaks up and kills the rapist using his bow and arrow; Ed retrieves the gun and the remaining mountain man flees into the woods. After a brief but hotheaded debate between Lewis and Drew, Ed and Bobby vote to side with Lewis's plan to bury the body and continue on as if nothing had happened. The four continue downriver but the canoes reach a dangerous stretch of rapids. As Drew and Ed reach the rapids in the lead canoe, Drew shakes his head and falls headlong into the water — it is unclear why.

The canoes collide on the rocks, spilling the three remaining men into the river. One of the canoes is smashed. Lewis breaks his femur and the others are washed ashore alongside him in a gorge. Lewis, who believes Drew has been shot, encourages Ed to climb to the top of the gorge and dispatch the other mountain man, whom they believe to be stalking them from above. Ed reaches an overhang and hides out until morning, when a man appears above him with a rifle; Ed clumsily shoots and manages to kill him, but falls backwards, stabbing himself with one of his own arrows in the process. The dead man seemingly has all his teeth, but on closer inspection, is revealed to be wearing dentures. Ed and Bobby weigh down the body in the river to ensure it will never be found, and when they encounter Drew's body downriver, they do the same.

Upon finally reaching the small town of Aintry, they take Lewis to the hospital. The men carefully concoct a cover story for the authorities about Drew's death, lying about their ordeal to Sheriff Bullard in order to escape a possible double murder charge. The sheriff does not believe them, but has no evidence to arrest them and tells the men to not do this kind of thing again and to never come back. The trio vow to keep their story of death and survival a secret for the rest of their lives. In the final scene, Ed awakens, startled by a nightmare in which a bloated hand rises from the lake.

The black sharecropper's family is poor and hungry. The father and his dog, Sounder, go hunting each night, but the hunting is inadequate. The family subsists on fried corn mush, biscuits, and milk gravy until one morning they wake up to the smell of boiling ham. They feast for three days, but finally the sheriff and two of his deputies burst into the cabin and arrest the father for stealing the ham. Sounder chases after them, and one of the deputies shoots him with a shotgun.

The arrested man's son goes looking for Sounder but cannot find him. Returning to the scene of the shooting, the boy finds a part of Sounder's ear. While his mother cautions him not to "be all hope", the boy searches for the dog every day for weeks. In the father's absence, the family survives on the money the mother makes by selling cracked walnuts. The boy helps to look after his three younger siblings and experiences the intense loneliness of the cabin.

For Christmas, the boy's mother makes a four-layer cake for him to take to his father in jail. When he arrives, the guard treats him rudely. Finally the boy is admitted, and the guard breaks the cake into pieces, saying he suspects it could hide something which could help the boy's father escape. The boy gives the mangled cake to his father anyway and tells him that Sounder might not be dead. Their conversation is strained and difficult. The father tells the boy not to come back to the jail, and he goes home.

About two months after the father's arrest, the boy awakes to the sound of faint whining, goes outside, and finds Sounder standing there. The dog can only use three legs, has only one ear and one eye, and no longer barks. The boy and his mother welcome the dog home.

Once the family learns that the father was convicted and sentenced to hard labor, the boy resolves to search for his father. During the late fall and winter months over a period of several years, he journeys within and among counties, looking for working convicts, seeking word of his father. He also tries with some success to teach himself to read signs and newspapers.

One day he is leaning against a fence, watching a group of convicts at a road camp, trying to make out his father's form, when a guard whacks the boy on the fingers with a piece of iron and tells him to leave. While the boy walks toward the outskirts of town, he sees someone putting a book in a trashcan. It is a large volume of Montaigne, and the boy takes it with him. He finds a school where he tries to wash the blood off his hands. While he is at the pump, the boy meets an old teacher who dresses his wounds and asks what happened to him. The boy tells the teacher about Sounder and his father and, observing the book, the teacher extends an offer to the boy to live with him and learn to read. The boy's mother tells him to go, and he stays with the teacher during the winter, working in the fields in summer.

One August day, the boy is at home helping with chores when they see his father walking toward them. One side of his father's body is crippled from being crushed in a quarry. Sounder, who has anticipated the man's return for days, runs out to meet him and barks.

Weeks later, the man and his dog go hunting for the first time since the man's return. The man has been waiting until he can invite his son, but now he sees that the boy is tired from fieldwork, and the man further senses that the activity might no longer interest the boy. At dawn, Sounder comes back without his master and, when the boy follows Sounder to the man, he finds him dead. Before leaving to return to school, the boy tells his mother that Sounder will be dead before he can come back for the holiday. Two weeks before Christmas, Sounder crawls under the porch and dies. Despite their deaths, there is a sense of peace and resolution over the family - especially for the boy, who has achieved the thing he most wanted - to learn to read.

In 1844, the Nilsson family lives on a small farm in the woods at Korpamoen in Ljuder Parish in the Swedish province of Småland. The eldest son, Karl Oskar, takes charge of the farm after his father, Nils, is injured when moving a large rock. Karl Oskar marries Kristina Johansdotter, and she moves to Korpamoen to live with him and his parents. In the following years, Karl Oskar and Kristina start a family, starting with Anna, who is followed by Johan, Marta and Harald. The family struggles with rock filled fields, poor weather, and bad harvests, leaving them hungry and in debt. Kristina rebukes Karl Oskar for his irreligious attitude, which she thinks is the cause of some of their troubles.

Karl Oskar's daydreaming and bookish younger brother, Robert, tired of being overworked and regularly beaten as an indentured farmhand at Aron's farm, reads about how wonderful life is in America and decides he is going to emigrate. He asks Arvid, his friend and fellow farmhand, to come with him, and Arvid eagerly agrees, but the pair's hopes are dashed when they realize they can not afford their passage. Robert confronts Karl Oskar about selling his share of the family farm, only to find that Karl Oskar has also privately been considering the idea of going to America. Kristina is unenthusiastic about the move, despite the potential for a better life, because she does not want to leave her homeland and has concerns about the arduous journey that would be required. However, when Anna dies after gorging herself on uncooked porridge, which expands and damages her stomach, Kristina, devastated by the loss, agrees to Karl Oskar's plan and they begin making preparations to leave Sweden.

Meanwhile, Danjel Andreasson, Kristina's uncle, is being persecuted by Brusander, the local provost, for rejecting the official religion and holding fundamentalist religious services in his home. He and his wife, Inga-Lena, and four young children are sentenced to exile, so he decides to join Karl Oskar in his move to America. Ulrika of Västergöhl, a former prostitute who is one of Danjel's followers, and her illegitimate sixteen-year-old daughter, Elin, also decide to come along, and Jonas Petter, a friend and neighbor of Karl Oskar, expresses an interest in making the trip to escape his unhappy marriage. Robert is even able to persuade Danjel to hire Arvid and pay his fare. The night before the departure, Kristina reveals to Karl Oskar that she is pregnant.

The party of emigrants travels south to the port city of Karlshamn, where they board the wooden brig ''Charlotta'', which is bound for New York City. On board, Karl Oskar and Kristina meet Måns and Fina-Kajsa Andersson, an elderly couple heading for the Minnesota Territory, where they plan to settle on their son Anders' farm near a town called Taylor's Falls. After hearing how good the land is there, Karl Oskar and Kristina decide to follow them. During the voyage, Inga-Lena and Måns Andersson die of unrelated sudden illnesses, and Kristina nearly dies from a severe nosebleed.

Upon their arrival in New York, Karl Oskar and his party, along with Fina-Kajsa, begin the long journey westward to Minnesota, first by train, and then by riverboat. Throughout the whole journey from Sweden, the pious Kristina has been prejudiced against Ulrika for her past immorality, but they reconcile after Ulrika finds one of Kristina's children, who had gone missing at a riverboat stop and was almost left behind. Not long after this, while still on the riverboat, Danjel's infant daughter dies after a brief illness.

After finally arriving at the town of Stillwater, the party, with the help of Pastor Jackson, a friendly Baptist minister, finds their way to Anders' farm in what is now known as the Chisago Lakes area. He just lives in a wooden shack, but the land is fertile, and Danjel and Jonas Petter choose fine tracts of farmland nearby. Karl Oskar, however, heads deep into the woods to explore the lands along the shore of Lake Ki Chi Saga that he hears are even better. Upon his arrival, he finds the topsoil to be of excellent quality and stakes a claim to the land for himself and Kristina and their family by carving his name into a tree overlooking the lake.

Vickie Allessio (Glenda Jackson) is a divorced British mother of two. Steve Blackburn (George Segal) is an American married man who "has never cheated on his wife... in the same town." After sharing a London taxi with her, Steve invites Vickie to tea, then lunch, then takes Vickie to a hotel room, hoping to have sex. Vickie admits she would like to have uncomplicated sex, but is not impressed by the setting, wanting somewhere sunny. Steve arranges a trip to Málaga.

Steve's wife Gloria turns up just as they are about to go, with Vickie traveling as his "mother." He arranges plane tickets for his wife, children and in-laws, but cancels them all again when his wife remarks it seems rather like a pilgrimage. Once at the airport, Steve bumps into friend Walter Menkes (Paul Sorvino), an American movie producer. Unable to admit that he is with Vickie, Steve spends the flight next to Walter, and Vickie sits elsewhere.

On arrival in Málaga, Steve ends up giving the last decent rental car to Walter to get rid of him. He takes an Italian car with an awkward clutch, which he has trouble driving to Vickie's discomfort and annoyance. At the hotel, they end up struggling up several flights of stairs in order to reach a double room.

The two settled, the atmosphere becomes awkward, as they argue over their respective sides during sex. Steve is persuaded to just get on top of her, but turns suddenly and causes a spasm in his back. A doctor is called and Steve is put to sleep, while Vickie sleeps atop the bedding.

In the morning, Vickie bumps into an American lady, Patty (K Callan), but declines an invitation to dinner. Steve wakes up to find Vickie sunning herself in a bikini on the balcony. The two finally have sex.

Getting dressed after, Steve is disappointed in Vickie's lack of enthusiasm about their sex and becomes angered. During a game of golf, Vickie becomes offended by Steve's need to defeat a local boy, who has placed a bet with him while playing.

As the tension mounts between them, Vickie decides to go to dinner with Patty and Steve arranges dinner with Walter. When they arrive separately, Vickie discovers Patty is Walter's wife and the two are forced into an uncomfortable dinner with the couple. Steve becomes offended when Vickie is amused that Steve's daughter is fat and has crooked teeth. After an argument in the bedroom, Steve and Vickie decide to head back to London. Steve decides not to bother reserving any plane tickets because he knows this particular flight is never full, but at the airport the last two tickets have just been sold.

Returning to the hotel, they begin to attack each other in the room. Steve grabs Vickie atop the bed, almost ripping her dress off. Suddenly excited, Steve tries to have sex with her, but cannor undo his trouser zip. Vickie responds, "My god, my one chance to be raped, and you can't get your bloody trousers off." The two collapse laughing and their relationship blossoms over the remainder of the holiday.

Walter and Patty notice their blossoming relationship, and Walter confides to Steve that he had a similar holiday romance. Walter warns that it will not work out, knowing that Steve will not be able to leave his wife and kids.

Steve decides that he still wants to see Vickie when they get back to London. They get a secret flat together, in a building occupied by "French" prostitutes. Steve and Vickie find opportunities to meet secretly. Steve takes the dog for a walk to go join her, but on returning home forgets the dog. On another occasion he sneaks out during a symphony, then comes back wearing golf socks, claiming his kids must have mixed his stuff up.

Gradually, the relationship becomes more complicated. Vickie is going to a lot of effort to be with him. Steve comes around for sex after a baseball game in the park, but must leave in a hurry, not knowing that she has prepared a lavish meal. Vickie, wanting some human companionship, invites her gay co-worker Cecil (Michael Elwyn) to spend the day with her, but he is not available. Steve, feeling guilty for rushing off, gets flowers and takes them back to Vickie, finding her in the kitchen sitting in front of the meal she made. Steve leaves without saying a word.

Vickie cancels lunch with him. Steve's co-workers are aware something is going on: secretary Derek (Ian Thompson) asks if he is having a "short lunch or a long lunch". He arranges to meet with her in the evening, despite having a very heavy workload, forgetting that he is attending the theatre with his wife. When his wife then calls demanding to know why he is late for the Harold Pinter play, he tries to call Vickie, but is unable to reach her. Vickie sees Steve and Gloria at the theatre together as she is out shopping for the meal she is cooking. When Steve eventually turns up at their flat, he tells Vickie he has been working late, but she thinks he has been lying to her and confronts him about the theatre. Eventually she breaks down and sits quietly at the table, concerned that she is "beginning to sound like a wife".

The next morning Steve sends a telegram to the flat for Vickie, telling her that it is over between them. However, on returning home later he changes his mind, cancels the telegram, and runs out the door. However, Vickie has already been given the telegram and begins packing her belongings to leave. When Steve gets to the flat, having bought food to cook for them, he finds a record playing and Vickie gone. Looking out the window he sees her standing at the bus stop. He bangs on the window to get her attention but she does not seem to notice, and gives up waiting for a bus. She walks along and hails a taxi, which another man hails down in an echo of Vickie and Steve in the beginning of the film. Vickie asks the man, who is handsome and smiles, if he is married. When he says yes, Vickie walks off and leaves him the taxi.

Architect Doug Roberts returns to San Francisco for the dedication of the Glass Tower, which he designed for developer James Duncan. The tower, tall and 138 stories, is the world's tallest building. During testing, an electrical short starts an undetected fire on the 81st floor just after another such short occurs in the main utility room. Upon learning this, Roberts sees the wiring is inadequate and suspects that Roger Simmons, the electrical subcontractor and Duncan's son-in-law, cut corners. Roberts confronts Simmons, who feigns innocence.

During the dedication ceremony, chief of public relations Dan Bigelow turns on all the tower's lights, but Roberts orders them shut off to reduce the load on the electrical system. Smoke is seen on the 81st floor, and the San Francisco Fire Department is summoned. Roberts and engineer Will Giddings go to the 81st floor, where Giddings is fatally burned pushing a guard away from the fire. Roberts reports the fire to Duncan, who is courting Senator Gary Parker for an urban renewal contract and refuses to order an evacuation.

SFFD Chief Michael O'Halloran arrives and forces Duncan to evacuate the guests from the Promenade Room on the 135th floor. Simmons admits to Duncan that he cut corners to bring the project back under budget and suggests other subcontractors did likewise. Fire overtakes the express elevators, killing a group whose elevator stops on the engulfed 81st floor. Bigelow and his girlfriend Lorrie are killed when a separate fire traps them in the Duncan Enterprises offices on the 65th floor. Lisolette Mueller, a guest being wooed by con man Harlee Claiborne, rushes to the 87th floor to check on a deaf mother and her two children. Security Chief Jernigan rescues the mother, but a ruptured gas line explodes and prevents Doug and the rest of the group from following. The explosion destroys one of the emergency stairwells which they must traverse to reach an exit door leading to a service elevator which can take them to the 134th floor, below the Promenade Room. They await firemen sent to blow up hardened cement blocking their access.

As firemen begin to bring the fire under control on floor 65, the electrical system fails, deactivating the passenger elevators; O'Halloran must rappel down the elevator shaft to safety. As firemen ascend to free the blocked door at the Promenade Room, an explosion on the 104th floor destroys a section of the remaining emergency stairwell, blocking the last means of escape from the floors above. After the stuck door is freed, thus reuniting Lisolette and the children with Roberts and the others, Simmons ignores the advice of the firemen and makes a futile attempt to escape down the stairwell, but is fought back by the flames and is forced to retreat.

An attempt at a helicopter rescue fails when two women run up to the aircraft, causing the pilot to try to evade them, crashing and setting the roof ablaze. A Navy rescue team attach a breeches buoy between the Promenade Room and the roof of the adjacent 102-story Peerless Building, and rescue a number of guests, including Patty Simmons, Duncan's daughter. Roberts rigs a gravity brake on the scenic elevator, allowing one trip down for twelve people, including Roberts's fiancée Susan Franklin, Lisolette, and the children saved earlier by her and Robert's efforts in the stairwell. An explosion near the 110th floor throws Lisolette from the elevator to her death and leaves the elevator hanging by a single cable, but O'Halloran rescues the elevator with a Navy helicopter.

As fire reaches the Promenade Room, a group of men led by Simmons attempts to commandeer the breeches buoy which is subsequently destroyed in an explosion, killing Simmons, Senator Parker and several other men. In a last-ditch strategy, O'Halloran and Roberts blow up water tanks atop the Tower with plastic explosives. Most of the remaining party-goers appear to survive as water rushes through the ruined building, extinguishing the flames.

Harlee Claiborne, in shock upon hearing of Lisolette's death, is given her cat by Jernigan. Duncan consoles his grieving daughter and promises that such a disaster will never happen again. Roberts accepts O'Halloran's offer of guidance on how to build a fire-safe skyscraper. O'Halloran drives away, exhausted.

On August 22, 1972, first-time crook Sonny Wortzik, his friend Salvatore "Sal" Naturile, and Stevie attempt to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. The plan immediately goes awry when Stevie loses his nerve and flees. Sonny discovers they arrived after the daily cash pickup, and find only $1,100 in cash.

Sonny takes the bank's traveler's checks and burns the register in a trash can, but the smoke raises suspicion outside, and the building is surrounded by police. The two panicked robbers take the bank employees hostage.

Police Detective Sergeant Eugene Moretti calls the bank and Sonny bluffs that he is prepared to kill the hostages. Sal assures Sonny that he is ready to kill if necessary. A security guard has an asthma attack and Sonny releases him as a display of good faith. Moretti convinces Sonny to step outside. Using the head teller as a shield, Sonny begins a dialogue with Moretti that culminates in his shouting "Attica! Attica!" to invoke the recent Attica Prison riot. The crowd begins cheering for Sonny.

Sonny demands a vehicle to drive himself and Sal to the airport so they can board a jet. He also demands pizzas to be brought for the hostages, and for his wife to be brought to the bank. Sonny's partner, Leon Shermer, arrives and reveals that the robbery was intended to pay for Leon's sex reassignment surgery, and divulges that Sonny has children with his estranged wife, Angie.

As night sets in, the bank's lights are shut off as FBI Agent Sheldon takes command of the scene. He refuses to give Sonny any more favors, but when the bank manager Mulvaney goes into diabetic shock, Sheldon lets a doctor inside. Sheldon then convinces Leon to talk to Sonny on the phone. Leon had been hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital after a suicide attempt. Leon turns down Sonny's offer to join him and Sal in their escape, and Sonny tells the police that Leon had nothing to do with the robbery.

Sonny agrees to let Mulvaney leave, but the manager refuses to leave his employees. The FBI calls Sonny out of the bank to talk to his mother, who fails to persuade him to give himself up. Back inside, Sonny writes out his will, leaving money from his life insurance for Angie, and for Leon to have the surgery.

When the requested limousine arrives, Sonny checks for hidden weapons or booby traps, and selects Agent Murphy to drive him, Sal, and the remaining hostages to Kennedy Airport. Sonny sits in the front beside Murphy with Sal behind. Murphy repeatedly asks Sal to point his gun at the roof so Sal will not accidentally shoot him.

As they wait on the airport tarmac for the plane to taxi into position, Sal releases another hostage, who gives him her rosary beads for his first plane trip. Murphy again reminds Sal to aim his gun away. Sal does, and Sheldon seizes Sonny's weapon, allowing Murphy to pull a revolver hidden in his armrest and shoot Sal in the head. Sonny is immediately arrested, and the hostages are freed.

The film ends as Sonny watches Sal's body being taken from the car on a stretcher. On-screen text reveals that Sonny was sentenced to twenty years in prison, that Leon was a woman living in New York City, and that Angie and her children subsisted on welfare.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Woody Guthrie is unable to support his family as a sign painter and a local musician in Pampa, Texas, a town badly affected by the drought known as the Dust Bowl period. After hearing great things about California including from those leaving for it and being unable to find work, he joins the migration westward to supposedly greener pastures via boxcar riding and hitchhiking, leaving a note to his wife promising to send for her and their children. Woody discovers the low pay and absence of job security of California's casual labor fruit pickers and joins Ozark Bule in using music to fight for people's rights. He becomes a celebrated folk singer on radio with partners Ozark and Memphis Sue while still campaigning for his causes.

He has a romance with Pauline before bringing his wife and three children from Pampa to a comfortable home in California. Woody's refusal to conform to music business practices and his obsession with the hobo campers' causes threaten to break up his family and derail his growing music career. Finally, he goes to New York to campaign through his music.

Howard Beale, longtime evening newscaster for the Union Broadcasting System (UBS), learns from friend and news division president, Max Schumacher, that Beale has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The two commiserate and drunkenly lament the state of their industry. The following night, Beale announces on live television that he will commit suicide on next Tuesday's broadcast. UBS immediately tries to fire him after this incident, but Schumacher intervenes so that Beale can have a dignified farewell. Beale promises to apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches into a rant about life being "bullshit." Beale's outburst causes ratings to spike, and much to Schumacher's dismay, the UBS upper echelons decide to exploit the situation rather than downplay it. When Beale's ratings seem to have topped out, programming chief Diana Christensen reaches out to Schumacher with an offer to help "develop" the show. He declines the professional proposal, but accepts a more personal pitch from Christensen and the two begin an affair.

When Schumacher decides to end Beale's "angry man" format, Christensen persuades her boss, Frank Hackett, to slot the evening news show under the entertainment programming division banner so she can develop it. Hackett agrees, bullying the UBS executives to consent and fire Schumacher. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading viewers to shout "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" from their windows. Soon afterward, Beale is hosting a new program called ''The Howard Beale Show'', top-billed as "the mad prophet of the airwaves". Ultimately, the show becomes the most highly rated program on television, and Beale finds new celebrity preaching his angry message in front of a live studio audience that, on cue, chants his signature catchphrase ''en masse'': "We're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore!" Schumacher and Christensen's romance withers as the show flourishes, but in the flush of high ratings, the two ultimately find their way back together, and Schumacher separates from his wife of over 25 years for Christensen.

Christensen, seeking just one hit show, cuts a deal with a band of terrorists called the Ecumenical Liberation Army (ELA) for a new docudrama series, ''The Mao Tse-Tung Hour,'' for the upcoming fall season, for which the ELA will provide exclusive footage of their activities. Her liaison, Communist Party USA representative Laureen Hobbs, initially objects to the promotion of violent terrorism, believing Americans are "not yet ready for open revolt" and that the ELA will harm left-wing causes in America, but relents after Christensen promises her total editorial control of the weekly prime-time TV program.

When Beale discovers that Communications Corporation of America (CCA), the conglomerate parent of UBS, will be bought out by an even larger Saudi conglomerate, he launches an on-screen tirade against the deal and urges viewers to pressure the White House to stop it. This panics top network brass because UBS's debt load has made the merger essential for its survival. Beale meets with CCA chairman Arthur Jensen, who explicates his own "corporate cosmology" to Beale, describing the inter-relatedness of the participants in the international economy and the illusory nature of nationality distinctions. Jensen persuades Beale to abandon his populist message and preach ''his'' new "evangel". Christensen's fanatical devotion to her job and emotional emptiness ultimately drive Schumacher away and back to his wife, and he warns his former lover that she will self-destruct if she continues running her career at its current pace.

Audiences find Beale's new sermons on the dehumanization of society depressing and ratings start to slip, yet Jensen will not allow UBS to fire Beale, despite protestations from Hackett, who fears a loss of ad revenue, and Hobbs, who fears that Beale's slipping ratings will harm viewer numbers for ''The Mao Tse-Tung Hour''. Seeing its two-for-the-price-of-one value—solving the Beale problem plus sparking a boost in season-opener ratings—Christensen, Hackett, and the other executives decide to hire the ELA to assassinate Beale on the air. The assassination succeeds, putting an end to ''The Howard Beale Show'' and kicking off a second season of ''The Mao Tse-Tung Hour''; a voiceover proclaims, "This was the story of Howard Beale: the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings."

Dancer and divorcee Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) and her ten-year-old daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings) live in a Manhattan apartment with her married boyfriend, Tony DeForrest. Coming home from shopping, Paula finds Tony gone as he'd suddenly deserted her to travel to Italy for a film role. Prior to his departure (and unbeknownst to Paula), Tony sublet the apartment to Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss), a neurotic but sweet aspiring actor from Chicago, who shows up in the middle of the night expecting to move in. Paula, who is demanding, cynical and neurotic, makes it clear from the start that she doesn't like Elliot, but reluctantly lets him move in. They argue about boundaries, with Elliot agreeing to allow Paula and Lucy to stay.

Paula is struggling to get back into shape so she can resume her career as a dancer. Meanwhile, Elliot has landed the title role in an off-off-Broadway production of ''Richard III'', but the director, Mark (Paul Benedict), wants him to play the character as an exaggerated homosexual stereotype—in Mark's words, "the queen who wanted to be king." Reluctantly, Elliot agrees to the non-traditional portrayal, despite knowing full well that it may mean the end of his acting career. Theater critics from numerous New York City television stations and newspapers attend opening night and savage the show, paying special attention to trashing Elliot's performance. The play quickly closes, much to his relief.

Despite their frequent clashes and Paula's lack of gratitude for Elliot's help, the two fall in love and sleep together. Lucy, despite liking Elliot, grows cautious and sees the affair as a repeat of what happened with Tony. Elliot convinces Paula that he won't be a repeat of their experience with Tony; later he picks up Lucy from school and takes her on a carriage ride, during which the youngster admits she likes Elliot. In response, Elliot explains how much he cares for Lucy and Paula and that he wouldn't do anything to hurt them.

Elliot lands a job at an improvisational theatre, and is soon seen by a well-known film director. He is offered an opportunity for a film role that he cannot turn down, but the job is in Seattle and Elliot will be gone for four weeks. Paula is scared that Elliot is leaving her, never to return, like all the other men in her life. Later, Elliot calls Paula from the phone booth across the street to say his flight was delayed, and at the last minute, he invites Paula to go with him while he is filming, suggesting Lucy stay with Paula's friend Donna until they return. Paula declines but is encouraged by Elliot's invitation. Before hanging up, Elliot asks Paula to restring his prized guitar (which he deliberately left at the apartment), and she realizes this proves he really does love her and will indeed return.

In the final days of the Italian Campaign of World War II, Hana, a French-Canadian nurse of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, gains permission from her unit to move into a bombed-out Italian monastery, to look after a dying, critically burned man who speaks English but says he cannot remember his name. His only possession is a copy of Herodotus' Histories, with notes, pictures, and mementos contained inside.

They are soon joined by Kip, a Sikh sapper in the British Indian Army posted with his sergeant to clear mines and booby traps left by the Germans, including one discovered in the monastery where Hana is staying with her patient. David Caravaggio, a Canadian Intelligence Corps operative who has no thumbs as a result of torture during a German interrogation, also arrives to stay at the monastery. Caravaggio questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past through a series of flashbacks.

The patient reveals that in the late 1930s he was exploring a region of the Sahara Desert near the Egyptian-Libyan border. He is, in fact, Hungarian cartographer Count László de Almásy, who was mapping the Sahara as part of a Royal Geographical Society archeological and surveying expedition in Egypt and Libya with a group including his good friend, Englishman Peter Madox. (The film is a highly fictionalized account of the real Almásy's life). Their expedition is joined by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton, who owns a new plane and will contribute with aerial surveys.

Almásy is given clues by a local Bedouin man which help the group discover the location of the Cave of Swimmers, an ancient site of cave paintings in the Gilf Kebir. The group begins to document their find, during which time Almásy falls in love with Katharine. He writes about her in notes folded into his book, which Katharine discovers when Almásy awkwardly accepts her offer of two watercolours she has painted of the cave imagery and asks her to paste them into the book.

The two begin an affair on their return to Cairo, while the group arranges for more detailed archaeological surveys of the cave and the surrounding area. Almásy buys a silver thimble in the market as a gift to Katharine. Some months later, Katharine abruptly ends their affair from fear her husband Geoffrey will discover it. Shortly afterward the archaeological projects are halted due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth aeroplane at Kufra Oasis before his intended return to Britain.

Over the days while Almásy relates his story, Hana and Kip begin a shy love affair, but Kip is reposted once he has cleared the area of explosives. They agree they will meet again. Meanwhile, Caravaggio reveals that he has been seeking revenge for his injuries, and has killed the German interrogator who cut off his thumbs and the spy who identified him but has been searching for the man who provided requisite maps to the Germans, allowing them to infiltrate Cairo. He suspects Almásy is that man and asks him point-blank "Did you kill the Cliftons?", to which Almásy shakes his head, but then concedes "Maybe... I did".

Returning to the past, Almásy is packing up the base camp when Geoffrey Clifton arrives overhead. Instead of landing, he aims straight for Almásy. At the last minute, Almásy dives out of the way. Scrambling over to the wreckage, he finds Geoffrey dead at the controls. To his grief, he finds Katharine is present as well, badly hurt in the front seat. She tells him Geoffrey knew, perhaps had always known. He apparently was heartbroken and was attempting a murder-suicide. Almásy carries her to the Cave of Swimmers. He notices around her neck she is wearing a chain bearing his gift, and she declares she has always worn it and always loved him.

Leaving her in the cave with provisions and his book, Almásy attempts a three-day walk across the desert to get help. Finally arriving at British-held El Tag, he explains the desperate situation and asks for a car, but is frustrated by the young officer's unwillingness to cooperate. Detained on suspicion of being a spy, he is transported away by train. He escapes and soon afterward comes into contact with a German army unit. They take him to the Kufra Oasis, where Madox has hidden his plane. Exchanging maps for fuel, Almásy takes to the air and finally reaches the cave, where he confirms that Katharine has died. He carries her body from the cave back to the plane and takes off. The clip of a plane flying across a sea of desert connects the story to the start of the film, where a plane is doing just that before it is shot down by German gunners. Almásy is badly burned, but he is pulled from the wreckage and rescued by a group of Bedouin, who brings him to the Siwa Oasis, from where he is moved to Italy. After hearing the story Caravaggio gives up his quest for revenge.

Pushing several vials of morphine toward Hana, Almásy tells her he has had enough, he wants to die. Though visibly upset, she grants his wish and administers a lethal dose. As he drifts to sleep, she reads him Katharine's final letter, written to Almásy while she was alone in the cave. The next morning Caravaggio returns with a friend, and they get a lift to Florence. Hana holds Almásy's book tight as she rides away.

The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who has lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man, wearing a black overcoat and top hat, who fed him.

One day, in 1828, the same man takes Hauser out of his cell, teaches him a few phrases, and how to walk, before leaving him in the town of Nuremberg. Hauser becomes the subject of much curiosity, and is exhibited in a circus before being rescued by Professor Georg Friedrich Daumer, who patiently attempts to transform him.

Hauser soon learns to read and write, and develops unorthodox approaches to logic and religion; but music is what pleases him most. He attracts the attention of academics, clergy and nobility. He is then physically attacked by the same unknown man who brought him to Nuremberg. The attack leaves him unconscious with a bleeding head. He recovers, but is again mysteriously attacked; this time, stabbed in the chest.

Hauser rests in bed describing visions he has had of nomadic Berbers in the Sahara Desert, and then dies. An autopsy reveals an enlarged liver and cerebellum.

In 1964, Guy Patterson, an aspiring jazz drummer, is working in his family's appliance store in Erie, Pennsylvania, when he is asked by Jimmy Mattingly and Lenny Haise to perform at a talent show with their band the Oneders and cover for Chad, their regular drummer who broke an arm. At the talent show, Guy launches into a faster tempo than Jimmy intended for his original song, "That Thing You Do!" Jimmy is angered, but Guy's tempo wins them the talent show.

They win a paying gig at Villapiano's, a local pizza parlor. When a fan asks for a record, they decide to record the song and sell 45s of it. Local talent promoter Phil Horace notices the band, promising to get them on the radio within 10 days. Lenny convinces the band to sign with him.

Phil gets the song on Pennsylvania radio, and he books them at a rock & roll showcase concert in Pittsburgh. They have technical difficulties, however, and are booed off the stage. Afterwards, Phil brings a dispirited Guy to meet with Mr. White, an A&R representative for Play-Tone Records, who offers a contract and becomes their manager. He re-spells the band's name as "The Wonders", offers them advice on style and presentation (including insisting that Guy always wear sunglasses), asks them to join the Play-Tone tour of Midwestern state fairs, and suggests Jimmy's girlfriend Faye join the tour as their "costume mistress".

During the tour, the Wonders meet other acts, learn about the business, and become better performers. Jimmy spends time with a disillusioned tour singer named Diane Dane, while the bassist (never identified by name) falls for a member of a girl group, the Chantrellines. "That Thing You Do!" garners national radio airplay and the band's popularity soars. While most of the band enjoys their taste of fame, Jimmy is itching to return to the studio and is increasingly indifferent to Faye, which troubles Guy and Mr. White alike.

When "That Thing You Do!" reaches #7 on the ''Billboard'' charts, Mr. White sends them to Los Angeles to do publicity, including radio and film appearances. On the day of their appearance on ''The Hollywood Television Showcase'', a nationally televised live variety show, things start to go awry. The bassist—whom the band knew had enlisted in the Marines and was awaiting his call to boot camp—is nowhere to be found, so Mr. White replaces him with an older, experienced session bassist named Scott Pell, nicknamed "Wolfman". Guy is hung over; the night before, he went to a jazz club and met and drank with his idol, pianist Del Paxton. Jimmy is vomiting due to a stomach flu; Lenny is preoccupied with his new girlfriend. Still, the Wonders manage to cooperate for their television appearance. When television captions introduce the members of the band, Jimmy's caption reads "Careful, girls, he's engaged!"

After the performance, Jimmy lashes out at Faye in the dressing room, insinuating that she was responsible for the "engaged" caption (although White implies that it was him). Jimmy insists they are not engaged and he has no intention of proposing. Faye, already disillusioned with Jimmy, breaks up with him. The next day, at a scheduled recording session, the original bassist is still missing and so is Lenny. Mr. White has provided new material for Jimmy and Guy to record, but Jimmy wants to do his original songs. When Mr. White reminds him that the terms of their contract allow Play-Tone to dictate their material, Jimmy quits on the spot. Guy is now the only remaining Wonder. Mr. White assures him that such things are common in the music industry. Guy hangs out in the studio for a while; his idol Paxton is also there making a recording and is impressed with Guy's drumming. They jam together and Del asks Guy to stay in Los Angeles to record a jazz album and become a session musician.

Guy returns to the hotel to check out. He tells Faye he plans to stay in L.A., while she says she will return to Erie. She goes to the curb to call a cab, Guy chases after her and they kiss.

Onscreen text reveals that Jimmy became a record producer; Lenny is a divorced hotel and casino manager in Nevada; the bassist (identified as T.B. Player) earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, then worked in construction in Orlando, Florida; and Guy and Faye are married with four children in Bainbridge Island, Washington, where Guy teaches jazz composition at their own music conservatory.

After Sonic and Tails defeat Dr. Robotnik in ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', Robotnik's space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on the floating Angel Island. There, Robotnik meets Knuckles the Echidna, the last member of an ancient echidna civilization that once inhabited the island. Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald, which grants the island its levitation power.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, p. 4. Robotnik dupes Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal the Master Emerald, turning the two against each other while he repairs the Death Egg.

Sonic and Tails approach Angel Island in their biplane, the Tornado. Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic, but Knuckles ambushes him and steals the emeralds. Sonic and Tails travel the island hindered by Knuckles and Robotnik. At the Launch Base, where the Death Egg is under repair, Sonic and Tails fight Knuckles, but the Death Egg relaunches. On a platform attached to the Death Egg, they defeat Robotnik, causing the Death Egg to crash-land on Angel Island again. The story resumes in ''Sonic & Knuckles''.

The novel is set in an era in which interstellar travel is in the process of being discovered and perfected. In Chapter 2, the novel states that the year 2220 was 16 years ago. Accordingly, the bulk of the novel takes place in or around the year 2236.

Before the novel's opening, "hyper-assistance", a technology allowing travel at a little slower than the speed of light, is used to move a reclusive space station colony called ''Rotor'' from the vicinity of Earth to the newly discovered red dwarf Nemesis. There, it takes up orbit around the semi-habitable moon Erythro, named for the red light that falls on it.

It is eventually discovered that the bacterial life on Erythro forms a collective organism that possesses a form of consciousness and telepathy (a concept similar to the Gaia of Asimov's Foundation series). While the colonists argue over the direction of future colonization—down to Erythro, or up to the asteroid belts of Nemesis system—events catch up with them. Back on Earth superluminal flight is perfected, ending Rotor Colony's isolation and opening the galaxy to human exploration.

The story also relates the breakup and reunion of a family. The mother, who discovered Nemesis, and her daughter were separated from the Earthbound father when the colony departed. The father then becomes part of the hyperjump research project as a result. Important in the novel is the startling discovery that the bacterial inhabitants of Erythro collectively constitute a sentient and telepathic organism and the discovery and resolution of a massive crisis: Nemesis' trajectory threatens to gravitationally destabilize the Solar System.

Tucker (Tuck) Case is a pilot for a cosmetics company, who crashes the company plane while having sex. This event causes Tuck to be blacklisted from flying in the United States, so he accepts a lucrative offer from a doctor-missionary on a remote Micronesian island to transport cargo to and from the island and Japan.

Tuck moves to the island with a Filipino trans woman navigator and a talking fruit bat. There Tuck eventually uncovers a horrible secret harbored by the doctor and his wife, who capitalized on the fact that the island natives are under the influence of a cargo cult that developed as a result of establishment by Allies of an air runway there during World War II.

Pine Cove suffers a major crisis when the town psychiatrist, Val Riordan — who has been haphazardly issuing prescriptions instead of dealing with the real mental problems of her patients — suffers a sudden bout of guilt and substitutes all of her patients' anti-depressants with placebos. At this same time, by coincidence, human-generated environmental activity stirs a prehistoric sea-beast from its underwater keep to come ashore.

In addition to its ability to change form, the beast exudes a pheromone that inspires uncontrollable lust among the residents of Pine Cove and also lures some of them as prey. After mistakenly trying to mate with a fuel truck (causing an explosion), the beast hides in a trailer park, attracting the curiosity of local crazy lady and former B-movie star Molly Michon, who builds a rapport with the injured beast.

Meanwhile, Theophilus Crowe, the town constable, investigates a strange suicide, the activities of his corrupt boss, and his adversely affected marijuana habit. When the beast (whom Molly has named "Steve") starts eating residents of Pine Cove and interfering with Theo's boss's methamphetamine business, Molly (who has become romantically involved with the beast) and Theo band together to make possible the beast's safe escape and to take down the boss at the same time.

Generals Miki and Washizu are samurai commanders and friends under Lord Tsuzuki, a local lord, who reigns in the castle of the Spider's Web Forest. After defeating the lord's enemies in battle, they return to Tsuzuki's castle. On their way through the thick forest surrounding the castle, they meet an evil spirit, who foretells their future. The spirit tells them that today Washizu will be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki will become commander of the first fortress. The spirit then foretells that Washizu eventually will become Lord of Spider's Web Castle, and finally she tells Miki that his son will become lord of the castle. When the two return to Tsuzuki's estate, he rewards them with exactly what the spirit had predicted. As Washizu discusses this with Asaji, his wife, she manipulates him into making the second part of the prophecy come true by murdering Tsuzuki when he visits.

Washizu kills Tsuzuki with the help of his wife, who gives drugged sake to the lord's guards, causing them to fall asleep. When Washizu returns in shock at his deed, Asaji grabs the bloody spear and puts it in the hands of one of the three unconscious guards. She then yells "intruder" through the courtyard, and Washizu slays the guard before he has a chance to plead his innocence. Tsuzuki's vengeful son Kunimaru and Noriyasu, an advisor to Tsuzuki, both suspect Washizu as the traitor and try to warn Miki, who refuses to believe what they are saying about his friend. Under Asaji's influence, Washizu is unsure of Miki's loyalty, but chooses Miki's son as his heir because he and Asaji have no child of their own. Washizu plans to tell Miki and his son about his decision at a grand banquet. However, Asaji tells him that she is pregnant, which leaves him with a quandary concerning his heir; now Miki and his son have to be eliminated.

During the banquet, Washizu is agitated because Miki and his son have not shown up. Washizu drinks sake copiously. He loses his self-control when Miki's ghost suddenly appears. In a delusional panic, he reveals what has happened to Miki by exclaiming that he is willing to slay Miki a second time, going so far as unsheathing his sword and striking the air over Miki's mat. Asaji, attempting to pick up the pieces of Washizu's blunder, tells the guests that he is only drunk and that they must retire for the evening. One of Washizu's men arrives carrying a bundle (presumably the severed head of Miki) and tells Washizu and Asaji that Miki's son escaped. Washizu kills the assassin.

Later, Washizu is distraught to learn his heir is stillborn. In order to ascertain the outcome of the impending battle with his foes, Washizu returns to the forest to summon the evil spirit. The spirit tells him that he will not be defeated in battle until "the trees of the Spider's Web Forest rise against the castle". Washizu believes this is impossible and becomes confident of his victory. Washizu tells his troops of the evil spirit's prophecy, and they share his confidence of victory. The next morning, Washizu is awakened by the screams of Asaji's attendants. Striding into his wife's quarters, he finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean an imaginary stain and stench of blood from her hands. Distracted by the sound of his troops, Washizu leaves to investigate. Washizu is told by a panicked soldier that the trees of Spider's Web Forest "have risen to attack us".

Washizu tries to muster his troops, but they ignore his commands. Washizu's troops begin firing arrows at him, several go through his armor and one pierces his neck, severely wounding him, and when he tells them that to kill the Great Leader is treason, they accuse Washizu of the murder of his predecessor. With his enemies approaching the castle gates, he falls to his arrow wounds, trying to draw his sword as he dies. It is then revealed that the attacking force had used trees, cut from the forest during the night, to shield their advance onto the castle.

In 1968 California, Sally (Jane Fonda), a loyal and conservative military wife, is married to Bob Hyde (Bruce Dern), a captain in the United States Marine Corps, who is about to be deployed to Vietnam. As a dedicated military officer, Bob sees the deployment primarily as an opportunity for career progress. At first, Sally dreads being left alone, but after a while, she feels liberated. Forced to find housing away from the base, she moves into a new apartment by the beach and buys a sports car. With nothing else to do, she decides to volunteer at a local Veterans Administration (VA) hospital, partially inspired by her bohemian friend Vi Munson, whose brother Billy (Robert Carradine) has come home with grave emotional problems after just two weeks in Vietnam and now resides in the VA hospital.

At the hospital, Sally meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a former high-school classmate. Like his friend Billy, Luke had gone to Vietnam but came back wounded. He is recuperating at the hospital from the injuries he sustained, which left him a paraplegic. Filled with pain, anger and frustration, Luke is now opposed to the war. He is at first a bitter young man, but as he is increasingly thrown into contact with Sally, a relationship starts to develop. Eventually, Luke is released from the hospital, and, newly mobile with his own wheelchair, begins to rebuild his life. His relationship with Sally deepens. She is also transformed by him, and her outlook on life starts to change. They have happy times, play at the beach and fall in love. Meanwhile, Billy, traumatized by his experiences at war, commits suicide by injecting air into his veins. Driven by Billy's suicide, Luke chains himself to the gates of a local recruitment center in a vain attempt to stop others from enlisting.

Sally and Luke eventually make love, confronting his handicap, with Sally experiencing her first orgasm. However, she remains loyal to her husband, and both she and Luke know that their relationship will have to end when Bob returns home. Bob does return, too soon, claiming that he had accidentally wounded himself in the leg. He is also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from what he has seen in combat. Bob discovers Sally's affair from Army Intelligence, who have been spying on Luke since the gate incident, and both Sally and Luke agree that Sally should try to patch things up with Bob. Bob loses control, confronting the lovers with a loaded rifle, but ultimately turns away. The film ends with Luke speaking to young men about his experience in Vietnam, intercut with scenes of Bob placing his neatly folded Marine dress uniform on the beach, taking off his wedding ring, and swimming naked out into the ocean to commit suicide.

Joe Pendleton, a backup quarterback for the American football team Los Angeles Rams, is looking forward to leading his team to the Super Bowl. While he is riding his bicycle through a tunnel, an overzealous guardian angel on his first assignment, known only as The Escort, sees a large truck heading into the other end of the tunnel towards Joe. The Escort plucks Joe out of his body early in the mistaken belief that Joe was about to be killed.

Once in the afterlife, Joe refuses to believe that his time was up, and upon investigation, Mr. Jordan (the Escort's supervisor) discovers that Joe was going to just narrowly miss the truck and he was not destined to die until March 20th, 2025 at 10:17 AM. Unfortunately, his body has already been cremated, so a new body must be found for him. After rejecting several possible men who are about to die, Joe is persuaded to accept the body of a multi-millionaire industrialist. Leo Farnsworth has just been drugged and drowned in his bathtub by his cheating gold digger wife Julia Farnsworth and her lover Tony Abbott, Farnsworth's personal secretary.

Julia and Tony are confused when Leo reappears alive and well, and Farnsworth's domestic staff is confused by the changes in some of his habits and tastes. Still obsessed with his football destiny, Farnsworth/Joe buys the Rams to lead them to the Super Bowl as their quarterback. To succeed, he must first convince and then secure the help of, a longtime friend and trainer Max Corkle to get his new body in shape. At the same time, he falls in love with Betty Logan, an environmental activist, whom he met when she came to his doorstep to protest the original Farnsworth's corporate policies.

With the Rams about to play in the Super Bowl, all the characters face a crisis. Mr. Jordan informs Joe that he must give up Farnsworth's body as well. Joe resists but hints to Betty that she might someday meet someone else, possibly another quarterback, and should think of him. Julia and Abbott continue their murderous plans, and Abbott finally shoots Farnsworth/Joe dead. The Rams are forced to start Tom Jarrett, another quarterback in the climactic game. A detective, Lieutenant Krim, interrogates the suspects while they watch the game on television. With the help of Corkle, he gets Julia and Abbott to incriminate each other.

After a brutal hit on the field, Jarrett is killed. With Mr. Jordan's help, Joe occupies Jarrett's body and leads the Rams to victory. During the team's postgame celebration, Corkle finds Joe, and when he realizes that it is him, they share an emotional embrace. As Joe is being interviewed on television, Mr. Jordan tells him that, to live as Tom Jarrett, he will have to lose the memories of his life as Joe Pendleton. As Mr. Jordan disappears, Tom/Joe becomes disoriented. Corkle goes to find Joe later and is crestfallen to realize that Joe has "left" Tom.

Tom bumps into Betty while leaving the stadium. They strike up a conversation, and each appears to recognize the other, but they do not know how. The lights go out in the stadium as they exit the venue, and Tom says something that reminds Betty of Farnsworth/Joe. Looking into his eyes, Betty remembers what he said to her before and whispers “You’re the quarterback.” Tom asks her to go with him for coffee, and she accepts.

On vacation in Istanbul, Turkey in 1970, American college student Billy Hayes straps 2 kg of hashish bricks to his chest. As he and his girlfriend are about to board a plane back to the United States, Billy is detained by Turkish police, who are on high alert for terrorist attacks. Billy is strip-searched and arrested.

A shadowy American – whom Billy nicknames "Tex" for his thick Texan accent – arrives and accompanies Billy to a police station and translates for him. Billy claims he bought the hashish from a taxicab driver and offers to help police locate him in exchange for being released. At a nearby market, Billy points out the cab driver to police, who arrest him, but they have no intention of releasing Billy. He attempts to escape, only to be recaptured at gunpoint by Tex.

During his first night in Sultanahmet Jail, a freezing-cold Billy sneaks out of his cell and steals a blanket. He is later rousted from his cell, brutally beaten and raped by chief guard Hamidou for the theft. A few days later, Billy awakens in Sağmalcılar Prison, surrounded by fellow Western prisoners Jimmy (an American who stole two candlesticks from a mosque), Max (an English heroin addict), and Erich (a Swedish drug smuggler). Jimmy warns Billy that the prison is dangerous for foreigners and says no one can be trusted, not even young children.

Billy meets with his father, a U.S. representative, and a Turkish lawyer, to discuss his situation. During Billy's trial, the prosecutor makes a case against him for drug smuggling. The lead judge is sympathetic to Billy and gives him a four-year sentence for drug possession. Billy and his father are devastated, but their Turkish lawyer insists it is a good result because the prosecutor wanted a life sentence.

Jimmy wants Billy to join an escape attempt through the prison's subterranean tunnels. Billy, due to be released soon, declines. Jimmy goes alone and is caught, then brutally beaten. Fifty-three days before his release, Billy learns the Turkish High Court in Ankara has overturned his sentence after an appeal by the prosecution. The prosecutor who originally wanted Billy convicted of smuggling rather than the lesser charge of possession finally had his way. Billy has been resentenced to serve 30 years.

In desperation, Billy accompanies Jimmy and Max to try to escape through the catacombs below the prison. They give up after running into endless dead-ends. A particularly sycophantic prisoner named Rifki, who routinely acts as an informant in exchange for favors, tips off the guards about the escape attempt. Billy's imprisonment becomes harsh and brutal: terrifying scenes of physical and mental torture follow one another, and Billy has a breakdown. He brutally beats Rifki, killing him. He is sent to the prison's ward for the insane, where he wanders about in a daze among the other disturbed and catatonic prisoners.

In 1975, Billy's girlfriend, Susan, visits him. Devastated by Billy's condition, she tells him he must get out or else die. She leaves him a scrapbook with money hidden inside to help Billy escape. Her visit strongly helps Billy regains his senses. He tries to bribe Hamidou to take him to the prison hospital, but instead Hamidou forces Billy to a room, then tries to rape him. They struggle until Hamidou is killed after being pushed into the wall, his head impaled upon a coat hook. Billy dons a guard's uniform and walks out the front door to freedom.

The epilogue shows that in October 1975, Billy crossed the border to Greece and arrived home three weeks later.

Erica Benton is in a seemingly happy marriage to Martin, a successful businessman. They live together with their teenage daughter Patti in an upscale West Side apartment. Martin, however, has been having a year-long affair with a much younger woman; when he confesses to Erica that he loves his mistress and wants to marry her, Erica is devastated, and Martin moves out.

With the help of Patti, her circle of close friends, and a therapist, Erica slowly comes to terms with the divorce and begins to get her life back on track. She reluctantly tries dating again, but after Martin's betrayal and a disastrous blind date is even warier of ever finding a "good" man again. Her mistrust of men threatens her relationship with Patti, as she takes out her frustrations on Patti's boyfriend, Phil. Out of desperation, Erica sleeps with Charlie, an obnoxious, chauvinistic co-worker, but does not find the experience fulfilling.

As she grows more accustomed to her new life, she meets Saul, an abstract painter, and begins a relationship with him. Both value their independence and so have a difficult time adjusting to domestic life; when Patti meets Saul, she is initially hostile, believing Erica is trying to bring him in to replace Martin, which Saul assures Patti he does not want to do. Saul tries to convince Erica to come with him to his home in Vermont for the summer, where he spends five months every year with his children, but she refuses, not wishing to leave her daughter and her life behind for so long.

After a few tense meetings, Martin and Erica begin to act cordially towards each other, only for Martin to reveal that his girlfriend has left him and he wants Erica back. Erica rebuffs him.

Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a workaholic advertising executive who has just been assigned a new and very important account. Ted arrives home and shares the good news with his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) only to find that she is leaving him and their son Billy (Justin Henry). Ted and Billy initially resent one another as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload, and Billy misses his mother's love and attention. After months of unrest, Ted and Billy learn to cope, and gradually bond as father and son.

Ted befriends his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander), who had initially counseled Joanna to leave Ted if she was that unhappy. Margaret is a fellow single parent, and she and Ted become kindred spirits. One day, as the two sit in the park watching their children play, Billy accidentally falls off the jungle gym, severely cutting his face. Ted sprints several blocks through oncoming traffic carrying Billy to the hospital, where he comforts his son during treatment.

Fifteen months after she walked out, Joanna returns to New York from California to claim Billy, and a custody battle ensues. During the custody hearing, both Ted and Joanna are unprepared for the brutal character assassinations that their lawyers unleash on the other. Margaret is forced to testify that she had advised an unhappy Joanna to leave Ted, though she also attempts to tell Joanna on the stand that her husband has profoundly changed. Eventually, the damaging facts that Ted was fired because of his conflicting parental responsibilities which forced him to take a lower-paying job come out in court, as do the details of Billy's accident.

The court awards custody to Joanna, a decision mostly based on the tender years doctrine. Devastated with the decision, Ted discusses appealing the case, but his lawyer warns that an appeal would be expensive and Billy himself would have to take the stand in the resulting trial. Ted cannot bear the thought of submitting his child to such an ordeal, and decides not to contest custody.

On the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, Ted and Billy make breakfast together, mirroring the meal that Ted tried to cook the first morning after Joanna left. They share a tender hug, knowing that this is their last daily breakfast together. Joanna calls on the intercom, asking Ted to come down to the lobby alone. When he arrives she tells Ted how much she loves and wants Billy, but she knows that his true home is with Ted, and therefore she will not take custody of him. She asks Ted if she can go up and see Billy, and Ted says that would be fine. As they are about to enter the elevator together, Ted tells Joanna that he will stay downstairs to allow Joanna to see Billy in private.

After she enters the elevator, Joanna wipes tears from her face and asks her former husband "How do I look?" As the elevator doors start to close on Joanna, Ted answers, "Terrific."

Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. Now turning 19, they all graduated from high school the year before and are not sure what to do with their lives. They spend much of their time together swimming in an old abandoned water-filled quarry. They sometimes clash with the more affluent Indiana University students in their hometown, who habitually refer to them as "cutters", a derogatory term for locals related to the local Indiana limestone industry and the stonecutters who worked the quarries. (The term "cutters" was invented for the movie, because the real name "stonies” was deemed unusable because of its perceived link to marijuana.)

Dave is obsessed with competitive bicycle racing, and Italian racers in particular, because he recently won a Masi bicycle. His down-to-earth father Ray, a former stonecutter who now operates his own used car business (sometimes unethically), is puzzled and exasperated by his son's love of Italian music and culture, which Dave associates with cycling. However, his mother Evelyn is more understanding and prepares Italian dishes for him.

Dave develops a crush on a university student named Katherine and masquerades as an Italian exchange student in order to romance her. One evening, he serenades "Caterina" outside her sorority house by singing Friedrich von Flotow's aria "M' Apparì Tutt' Amor", with Cyril providing guitar accompaniment. When her boyfriend Rod finds out, he and some of his fraternity brothers beat Cyril up, mistaking him for Dave. Though Cyril wants no trouble, Mike insists on tracking down Rod and starting a brawl. The university president (real-life then President Dr. John W. Ryan) reprimands the students for their arrogance toward the "cutters" and, over their objections, invites the latter to participate in the annual Indiana University Little 500 race.

When a professional Italian cycling team comes to town for a race, Dave is thrilled to be competing with them. However, the Italians become irked when Dave is able to keep up with them. One of them jams a tire pump in Dave's wheel, causing him to crash, which leaves him disillusioned. He subsequently confesses his deception to Katherine, who is heartbroken.

Dave's friends persuade him to join them in forming a cycling team for the Little 500. Ray privately tells his son how, when he was a young stonecutter, he was proud to help provide the material to construct the university, yet he never felt comfortable on campus. Later, Dave runs into Katherine, who is leaving for a job in Chicago; they patch things up.

Dave is so much better than the other competitors in the Little 500 that, while the other teams switch cyclists every few laps, he rides without a break and builds up a 3/4 lap lead. However, he injures his leg in a crash. Bleeding and in pain, he comes in for a rider change. After some hesitation, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher take turns pedaling, but their dithering has cost them the lead. They fall further and further back. Finally Dave has them tape his feet to the pedals and starts to make up lost ground; he overtakes Rod, the current rider for the favored fraternity team, on the last lap and wins.

Ray is proud of his son and takes to riding a bicycle himself. Dave later enrolls at the university, where he meets a pretty French student. Soon, he is extolling to her the virtues of the Tour de France and French cyclists.

Norma Rae Webster is a worker in a cotton mill that has taken too much of a toll on the health of her family for her to ignore their poor working conditions. She is also a single mother with two children by different fathers, one dead and the other negligent, and frequently has flings with other men to alleviate her loneliness and boredom. Initially, management tries to divert her frequent protests by promoting her to "spot checker", where she is responsible for making sure other workers are fulfilling work quotas. She reluctantly takes the job for the pay hike, but when fellow employees, including her own father, shun her for effectively being a "fink" to the bosses, she demands to be fired. Instead, she is demoted back to the line.

Two men enter her life that change her perspective. A former co-worker, Sonny Webster, asks her out after earlier causing trouble for her at the mill. Divorced with a daughter, he proposes marriage after a short courtship; recognizing how long it has been since she met a non-selfish man to keep company with, she accepts his offer. After a few charged encounters with Reuben Warshowsky, a union organizer from New York City, Norma Rae listens to him deliver a speech that spurs her to join the effort to unionize her shop. This causes conflict at home when Sonny observes she's not spending enough time in the home and is frequently exhausted when she is present. When her father drops dead at the mill of a heart attack — a death that could have been averted had he been allowed to leave his post early instead of waiting for his allotted break — she is more determined to continue the fight.

Management retaliates against the organization efforts, first by rearranging shifts so that workers are doing more work at less pay, and then by posting fliers with racial invective in the hope of dividing white and black workers and diluting the momentum. Warshowsky demands Norma copy down the racist flier word for word in order to use it as evidence for government sanctions against her mill. When she attempts to transcribe the flier, management attempts to stop her, then fire her on grounds of creating a disturbance, and call the police to remove her from the plant. While awaiting the sheriff, Norma Rae takes a piece of cardboard, writes the word "UNION" on it, stands on her work table, and slowly turns to show the sign around the room. One by one, the other workers stop their mill machines, and eventually, the entire room becomes silent. After all the machines have been switched off, Norma Rae is taken to jail but is freed by Reuben.

Upon returning home to her family, Norma decides to talk to her children and tell them the story of her life, their questionable parentage, and recent arrest, so that they are prepared for any smears that may come from those hoping to discredit her efforts. After a tense exchange with Reuben, Sonny asks her if they have been intimate; she says no, but acknowledges "he's in my head." Sonny, in turn, tells her there's no other woman in his head and he will always remain with her.

An election to unionize the factory takes place, with Norma and Reuben listening as best as possible from outside the mill as reporters and TV cameras observe the vote count. With a difference shy of 100 votes, the result is a victory for the union. Shortly after, Reuben says goodbye to Norma; despite his being smitten with her, they shake hands because he knows she is married and loves her husband, and Reuben heads back to New York.

Juliet Forrest, daughter of scientist and cheesemaker John Forrest, asks private investigator Rigby Reardon to investigate her father's death. Searching Dr. Forrest's lab, Rigby finds two lists, "Friends of Carlotta" (FOC) and "Enemies of Carlotta" (EOC), and an autographed photo of singer Kitty Collins, whose name appears on one of the lists. A man shoots Rigby in the arm and takes the lists.

Rigby finds his way to Juliet's house, where she sucks out the bullet. Juliet also reveals a note to her father from her brother-in-law, Sam Hastings, which reveals that Dr. Forrest gave Sam a dollar bill "for safekeeping". When Juliet mentions her cleaning woman, Rigby goes berserk due to his father running off with his cleaning woman and Rigby's mother dying of a broken heart.

Rigby tracks down Sam and gets Dr. Forrest's dollar, which has FOC names scrawled on it — including Kitty and her boyfriend Swede Anderson. Rigby tracks down Kitty, asking her whether she is one of Carlotta's friends, which causes her to leave. He trails her to a restaurant, where she ditches her brooch into her soup. Rigby retrieves the brooch, which contains an EOC list on which all names are crossed out except Swede Anderson's. Rigby visits Swede, but Swede is killed. Rigby is shot in the same arm as before, causing Juliet to suck out another bullet. Rigby calls his mentor Philip Marlowe for assistance. Juliet hands over a key from Dr. Forrest's desk and a key to train station locker 1936. Marlowe picks up the EOC list to check for unsolved murders.

Rigby goes to the train station locker, which contains more lists. He finds F.X. Huberman, whose name was on one of the lists, throwing a party. She flirts with Rigby, then drugs his drink and steals the locker key. Juliet finds Rigby and informs him that Sam fell from a window reaching for a bottle of whiskey. She has an article from ''The New York Times'' about a cruise ship called ''Immer Essen''; Sam Hastings was a passenger. When Marlowe calls, Rigby questions him about Walter Neff, the ship's owner, and learns that Neff cruises supermarkets for blondes.

Rigby disguises himself as a blonde and meets Neff. Rigby drugs him and finds a passenger manifest for the ''Immer Essen'' identical to an EOC list and articles about the ship's imprisoned captain, Cody Jarrett, who refuses to talk to anyone but his mother. Rigby dresses up as Jarrett's mother to visit Jarrett. He tries winning Jarrett's confidence, explaining that the FOC are after him. When that fails, Rigby impersonates a prisoner. Jarrett turns out to be a FOC and shoots Rigby.

After sucking out a third bullet, Juliet leaves for the drugstore. Marlowe informs Rigby that Carlotta is an island off Peru. At a cafe, Rigby finds Kitty. Carlos, a policeman, warns Rigby of the locals, including Kitty's new boyfriend, Rice. The next day, one of the locals approaches Rigby and tries to bribe him into leaving the island.

Kitty drops by Rigby's room. Carlos is telling him Rice is in town with a group of Germans when the telephone line is cut. Kitty drugs Rigby's drink, and he wakes up to find Rice choking him. After a chase, Rigby shoots Rice and frisks the corpse, leading him to a hideout where he finds Juliet, her father still alive, and her butler, Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck.

Dr. Forrest divulged a secret cheese mold to Nazis posing as a humanitarian organization. Once he discovered their intention to use the mold's corrosive properties to destroy America with strategically placed cheese bombs, he assembled a list of Nazi agents, the FOC. Before he could divulge the names to the FBI, he was abducted and his death faked to prevent a police investigation. The ''Immer Essen'', a cruise ship passing by, witnessed the mold tests, making all passengers EOC. Rigby is captured but Juliet gets Wilfried to say "cleaning woman", causing Rigby to go berserk, break his chains and overpower the Nazis. While Juliet gets Rodriguez, Wilfried pulls one of the switches, destroying Terre Haute, Indiana, before being killed by Rigby. Rodriguez rounds up the other Nazis while Rigby shares a kiss with Juliet.

In the Kingdom of Honnêamise— on a different, Earthlike world of mid-20th century technology— a young man named Shirotsugh Lhadatt recalls his middle-class upbringing and childhood dream to fly jets for the navy. His grades disqualifying him, Shirotsugh ended up instead joining the "Royal Space Force," a tiny unit with poor morale whose commander, General Khaidenn, dreams of human spaceflight, yet is barely capable of launching unmanned satellites. One night, Shirotsugh encounters a woman named Riquinni who is preaching in the red-light district. Riquinni Nonderaiko, who lives with a sullen little girl named Manna, surprises him by suggesting that humanity could find peace through space travel. Inspired, Shirotsugh volunteers for a last-ditch project to keep the Space Force from being disbanded: send the first astronaut into orbit.

Riquinni gives Shirotsugh scriptures to study, but becomes upset when he touches her and angry when he suggests she should "compromise" with God. Riquinni feels such compromise is to blame for the evils of the world, but Shirotsugh suggests it has made it easier to live in. The General arranges a shady deal to help finance his project, and tells a cheering crowd that the orbital capsule will be a "space warship". Soon after, Riquinni's cottage is foreclosed upon and demolished; not wishing to expose Manna— whose mother was constantly abused by her husband— to any more conflicts, she rejects the outraged Shirotsugh's offer to get her a lawyer. He begins to read Riquinni's scriptures, which assert that humanity is cursed to violence for having stolen fire.

A test explosion that kills the chief rocket engineer is suggested to be the work of radicals, and Shirotsugh confounds his friends by sympathizing with protestors who say the mission is a waste of federal funding. The launch site is suddenly moved to the Kingdom's southern border, which will assist in reaching orbit but is also adjacent to a territory occupied by their international rival, the distant Republic. The General learns to his shock that his superiors see the rocket only as a useful provocation; unknown to the Kingdom, the Republic plans to buy time to get their forces into position by assassinating Shirotsugh.

Increasingly disenchanted, Shirotsugh goes AWOL, giving his money to the homeless and joining Riquinni's ministry, but is troubled by Manna's continued silence and seeing the money Riquinni keeps. He turns away when she reads from her scriptures that one’s own efforts at truth and good will fail, and one can only pray. That night, he sexually assaults her; when he hesitates momentarily, she knocks him unconscious. Next morning, a repentant Shirotsugh is bewildered when Riquinni maintains he did nothing, apologizing for having hit “a wonderful person like you". Reuniting with his best friend Marty, Shirotsugh asks whether one might be the villain in one's own life's story, not its hero. Marty replies with the view that people exist because they serve purposes for one another. The Republic's assassin strikes— Shirotsugh attempts to flee, but eventually fights back, killing the assassin. The General confides in the wounded astronaut afterwards that he once wanted to be a historian and not a soldier, but found history harder to confront, because it taught him human nature would not change.

At the launch site, the crew finishes assembling the rocket even as both sides prepare for the expected attack. Without informing his superiors, the General decides to launch early by trimming safety procedures, to which Shirotsugh agrees. When the Republic's forces invade to seize the rocket by force, an evacuation is ordered, but Shirotsugh rallies the crew to proceed with the countdown. The combined ground-air assault ceases with the rocket's unexpected launch, and the Republic forces withdraw. From orbit, Shirotsugh makes a radio broadcast, uncertain if anyone is listening: although humans have brought ruin to each new frontier, he asks nevertheless to give thanks for this moment, praying for forgiveness and guidance. As the capsule crosses into the dayside, a montage of visions suggests Shirotsugh's childhood and the passage of history; far below, Riquinni, preaching where he first met her, is the only one to look up as the snow begins to fall, and the camera draws back, past the ship and its world, to the stars.

A man finds himself walking alone on a dirt road, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He finds a diner and walks in to find a jukebox playing loudly, but nobody present; he lowers the volume and continues to call out. Eventually, he heads into the kitchen where he finds a hot pot of coffee on the stove and freshly made pies, but still no other people besides himself. He accidentally knocks over and breaks a clock, at which point the jukebox stops playing.

The man leaves the diner and walks to a nearby town; he sees a parked truck with an apparent female passenger, but "she" turns out to be a mannequin. Like the diner, the rest of the town seems deserted, but the man feels he is being watched and that there is someone around. The phone rings in a telephone booth and he dashes to answer it. There is nobody on the line and he can only raise a recorded message when he tries to call the operator. He grows unsettled as he wanders through the empty town, increasingly anxious to find someone to talk to.

Inside the police station, he uses the radio ("Calling all cars, calling all cars, unknown man walking around police station..."); then he notices a lit cigar in an ashtray. This prods him to check the jail cells in back. In one cell, there is evidence that someone had recently been there shaving. He declares that he wants to "wake up now", and makes his way to the soda shop. As he makes himself a sundae, he considers his situation to be a dream he must be having and marvels at how detailed it is. He idly spins a few racks of paperback books until he notices an entire rack of books titled ''The Last Man on Earth, Feb. 1959'' already spinning. This spooks him and he quickly leaves.

As night falls, lights turn on and the man is drawn to the illuminated movie theater marquee. The advertised film is ''Battle Hymn'' and an advertisement outside of a man dressed as he is, directing a fighter jet on the tarmac, causes him to realize that he is in the U.S. Air Force. Running inside and finding nobody in the audience, he begins to wonder what could have happened with the Air Force that resulted in his being in this situation, until the film begins to play. He runs to the projection booth, finding it empty; in a panic, he runs downstairs and crashes into a mirror. When he recovers from this shock, he gives in to terror and races through the streets until he comes upon a "walk" button and desperately pushes it over and over, begging for help. The button is revealed to be a panic button: the man—Sergeant Mike Ferris—is actually in an isolation booth being observed by a group of uniformed servicemen. He has been undergoing tests to determine his fitness as an astronaut and whether he can handle a prolonged trip to the Moon alone; the town was a hallucination caused by sensory deprivation. He had been in the booth for over 484 hours.

The officiating general warns Ferris that while his basic needs will be provided for in space travel, man will not have companionship: "next time [he will] really be alone". As Ferris is carried from the hangar on a stretcher, he looks into the sky and tells the Moon, "don't go away up there" and, "we'll be up there in a little while".

Lew Bookman is a kindly sidewalk pitchman who sells and repairs toys, notions, and trinkets, and is adored by the neighborhood children. One day, Bookman is visited by Mr. Death, who tells him that he is to die at midnight of natural causes. Unable to dissuade Death by convincing him he has great achievements in the works that must be completed, Bookman eventually convinces him to wait until he has made his greatest sales pitch: "one for the angels". After Death has agreed to the extension and asks when this grand pitch might take place, Bookman announces he is retiring, smug that he has successfully cheated Death. Death concedes Bookman has found a loophole in their agreement, but warns that someone else now has to die in his place. Death chooses Maggie, a little girl who lives in Bookman's apartment building and is a friend of his.

Maggie is hit by a truck and falls into a coma; Death intends to be in her room at the stroke of midnight to claim her. Bookman begs Death to take him instead, but Death is adamant; a deal is a deal. Bookman gets out his wares and begins to eloquently boost one item after another, making the greatest sales pitch of his life—one so great that he entices Death himself to buy item after item until all of the wares in his case are sold. With one minute remaining before midnight, he offers his "Piece de Resistance", he pitches himself as the ultimate manservant. Death is so moved, that midnight passes and he misses his appointment with Maggie. Maggie awakens and, as her doctor leaves the apartment and sees Bookman, he assures him that Maggie will live.

Death observes that by making that great sales pitch, Bookman has met the original terms of their deal. Now content and willing to accept his fate, Bookman leaves for Heaven with Death. He fetches his case of wares to bring with him, remarking that "you never know who might need something up there". He looks to Death, adding hopefully, "Up there?" and Death replies, "Up there, Mr. Bookman. You made it."

Al Denton was once known as the quickest draw in town, but riddled with increasing guilt over the losers in his gun duels (one of whom was a teenage boy), he became an alcoholic wreck and the laughingstock of the community. A mysterious salesman named Henry J. Fate causes Denton to inexplicably regain his expert shooting touch and once again inspire the respect and awe of the townsfolk; Denton explains to Liz, a saloon girl, that this will only cause reputation-hungry gunslingers from miles around to seek him out and, inevitably, kill him. He cleans himself up and goes sober but only, he says, so as to die with dignity. Just as Denton predicted, soon enough a challenge is delivered which Denton dares not refuse.

The still-weary and not-so-sure-handed Denton practices in the desert for his suicidal duel, but he misses his targets miserably and concludes that he must skip town. As he packs his things and tries to flee under the cover of night, he strikes up a conversation with Fate, who seems to know things about Denton and offers him a way out. Fate offers him a potion guaranteed to make the drinker the fastest gun in the West for exactly ten seconds. Denton is skeptical but Fate goads him into drinking a free sample, after which Denton immediately realizes its benefits.

At the appointed time, Denton faces his challenger, Pete Grant, a brash young gunfighter. Denton downs his potion only to find his opponent holding an identical empty bottle. Grant and Denton both realize that Fate tricked them, but it is too late to back out of the duel. Each man shoots the other in the hand, causing injuries which are minor but forever ruin both men's ability to pull a trigger.

Denton tells his young opponent that they have both been blessed because they will never again be able to fire a gun in anger. He tells Liz that Grant is lucky because he was given this lesson early. Henry J. Fate tips his hat to Denton and rides quietly out of town.

Aging film star Barbara Jean Trenton secludes herself in her private screening room, where she reminisces about her past by watching her old films from the 1930s. In an attempt to bring her out into the real world, her agent Danny Weiss arranges a part for her in a new movie. Barbara and the man who runs the studio, Marty Sall, however, have historically had a contentious relationship; he is rather petty, small, and callous. He offers her the role of a mother, which she refuses, to which Marty then insults her, telling her she's living in the past and that any role she would receive would be charity. Barbara leaves in anger. When Barbara returns home, she and Danny get into an argument when she decides to throw a party for her friends show-business friends. Danny points out that all of those friends have either moved away or have died, and that she keeps wishing for things that are dead.

After the argument, Barbara has, according to her maid, chosen to stay in the screening room day and night. Danny decides to bring a former leading man—now also older, Jerry Herndon, many years retired from acting and managing a chain of grocery stores—to visit her. She is horrified by her friend's aged appearance and orders them both to leave. After the ill-fated visit, Barbara goes back into the projector room and puts on a movie that features Jerry's younger self. She will not accept that the present-day Jerry is the real one and voices her wish repeatedly to join the one on the screen; the screen blurs accordingly.

Barbara's maid comes with a snack and coffee, only to find the room empty—and is horrified by what she sees on the screen. She calls Danny and, when he comes over, tells him that—to her mind—Barbara has vanished from the house. He runs the projector and sees, in the movie, the front hall of the house filled with movie stars, looking as they did in the old films. Barbara descends the stairs, welcomes them to the party and says that dinner will be by the pool. As she starts off with Jerry, Danny tries to call her back to 1959 and reality. In response, she blows a kiss, throws her scarf toward the camera, and departs. The film ends. In the actual front hall, Danny finds Barbara's scarf. "To wishes, Barbie", he says wistfully. "To the ones that come true."

While driving his car in the countryside on a summer afternoon circa 1959, 36-year-old New York advertising executive Martin Sloan stops to have his car serviced at a gas station within walking distance of Homewood, his hometown. After walking into town, he sees that it apparently has not changed since he was a boy. He visits the drugstore and is confused when he finds out that ice cream sodas are still only 10 cents.

Martin walks to the town park, where he is startled to see himself as a young boy, carving his name into the bandstand, exactly as he remembers doing. Martin approaches, resulting in preteen Martin becoming scared, believing himself to be in trouble, and he runs away. Following his younger self home, he meets his parents as they were in his childhood, but is turned away. He sees the next door neighbor, a teen boy working on his brand new roadster; Martin soon discovers that it is the year 1934.

A man can think a lot of thoughts and walk a lot of pavements between afternoon and night. And to a man like Martin Sloan, to whom memory has suddenly become reality, a resolve can come just as clearly and inexorably as stars in the summer night. Martin Sloan is now back in time. And his resolve is to put in a claim to the past.

Confused and worried, Martin wanders around town and ends up at his former home again later that evening, where he again tries to convince his parents who he is by showing his identification, but is slapped by his mother and rejected.

Martin wanders back to the park and finds his preteen self on a carousel. His advances again frighten boy-Martin, who falls off the merry-go-round and injures his leg. Simultaneously, man-Martin experiences excruciating pain in his leg, due to the effect of the injury propagating through time to his adult self. The carousel is stopped, and Martin tries to tell his younger self to enjoy his boyhood while it lasts.

After eleven-year-old Martin is carried away, adult Martin, sitting dejectedly on the carousel, is joined by his father who tells him young Martin will be all right, but will have a limp. He also tells him that having seen money with future dates and adult Martin's driver's license (with a 1960 expiration date) from Martin's wallet, which he had dropped at the house during the confrontation earlier, he now believes Martin's story. Martin's father advises his son that everyone has his time and that instead of looking behind him, he should look ahead; as delightful and rewarding as he may remember childhood to be, adulthood holds its own delights and rewards.

When Martin walks back into the drugstore, he finds himself back in 1959, where ice cream sodas are now 35 cents. He discovers that he now has a limp from the carousel injury. Martin makes his way back to the gas station where he picks up his car. He drives away, content for once to live his life in his own age group.

Walter Bedeker, a paranoid hypochondriac, is convinced his wife and doctor (who insists Bedeker is in good health) are conspiring to kill him by purposely making him sick. After they leave, a rotund man named Cadwallader appears in Bedeker's room, offering him immortality and perpetual youth in exchange for his soul. Cadwallader inserts an escape clause allowing Bedeker to die at any time.

Bedeker uses his newfound invulnerability to collect insurance money and cheap thrills by hurling himself into life-threatening accidents. After fourteen accidents, he concludes that removing risk and fear from his life is making life a dreadful bore. He purposely mixes a concoction of poisonous household liquids but, after he drinks it – shocking his wife – he states that it tasted "like lemonade to me... ''weak'' lemonade." Bedeker explains his situation to his wife, telling her that if she had any imagination, she would find some way for him to experience some excitement. He says he is going to jump off the roof of their apartment building; while trying to stop him, his wife accidentally falls off the edge herself. Unfazed by his wife's death, Bedeker phones the authorities and tells them he killed his wife, hoping to experience the electric chair.

However, due to his lawyer's defense strategy, he is instead sentenced to life in prison without parole. Cadwallader visits Bedeker in his holding cell to remind him of the escape clause. Realizing he will face eternity in prison if he does not use it, Bedeker nods and immediately suffers a fatal heart attack. The guard discovers his lifeless body and sighs, "Poor devil..."

In 2046, an inmate named Corry, convicted of murder, is sentenced to fifty years' solitary confinement on a distant asteroid. On the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the fourth year of incarceration, he is visited by the spacecraft (flown by a Captain Allenby) that brings him supplies and news from Earth four times a year. While Corry expects that perhaps he and Allenby will have time to play cards or chess, the captain informs the inmate that the ship and crew can stay only fifteen minutes this time; the asteroid's orbit is such that they would otherwise be stuck fourteen days at least, awaiting favorable orbital conditions to depart. Allenby's crew resent being away from Earth because of the likes of Corry.

Allenby has been trying to make Corry's stay humanely tolerable by bringing him things to take his mind off the loneliness, like the components to build an old car. He believes Corry that the killing was in self-defense and sympathizes with him. On this particular trip, the transport crew delights in bringing news that Corry's pardon was rejected and that murder cases are not even being reviewed. This causes Corry to feel that there is no way he is going to last out the years and the loneliness. Before leaving, Allenby orders his men to fetch a large crate which the captain instructs Corry to not open until the transport crew is out of sight—they have no clue what is inside the box.

Upon opening this special container, Corry discovers that Allenby has left him with a gynoid named Alicia to keep him company. Alicia is capable of emotions, memory and has a lifespan comparable to a human. At first, Corry detests her, rejecting her as a mere machine; synthetic skin and wires only capable of mocking him. However, when Corry hurts Alicia and sees that she is in fact capable of crying, he realizes that she has feelings. Over the next eleven months, Corry begins to fall in love with her. Alicia develops a personality that mirrors Corry's, and the days become bearable.

When the ship returns, Captain Allenby brings news that the murder cases have been reviewed and Corry has been pardoned. He can return home to earth immediately but they only have twenty minutes before they must leave; the crew has been dodging meteors and are nearly out of fuel. Corry learns that, because there are seven other passengers from other asteroids on the ship, there is only room for him and fifteen pounds of luggage. He is initially unconcerned as he doesn't have fifteen pounds' worth of possessions that he cares about; then he realizes that Allenby does not consider Alicia human. The fifteen-pound limit is far too small to accommodate her. He frantically tries to find some way to take Alicia with him, arguing that she is not a robot, but a woman, and insisting that Allenby simply does not know Alicia as he does. At that point, just as the transport crew is surprised at the sight of Alicia, the captain suddenly draws his gun and shoots her in the face. The robot breaks down, malfunctioning, her face a mass of wire and broken circuitry which repeats the name "Corry". Allenby then takes Corry back to the ship, assuring him he will only be leaving behind loneliness. "I must remember that", Corry says tonelessly. "I must remember to keep that in mind".

Bank teller and avid bookworm Henry Bemis (Meredith) reads ''David Copperfield'' while serving a customer from his window in a bank. He is so engrossed in the novel he regales the increasingly annoyed woman with information about the characters, and shortchanges her. Bemis' angry boss (Taylor), and later his nagging wife (deWit), both complain to him that he wastes far too much time reading "doggerel". As a cruel joke, his wife asks him to read poetry to her from one of his books; he eagerly obliges, only to find that she has inked over the text on every page, obscuring the words. Seconds later, she destroys the book by ripping the pages from it, much to Henry's dismay.

The next day, as usual, Henry takes his lunch break in the bank's vault, where his reading cannot be disturbed. Moments after he sees a newspaper headline, which reads "H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction", an enormous explosion outside shakes the vault, knocking Bemis unconscious. After regaining consciousness and recovering the thick glasses required for him to see, Bemis emerges from the vault to find the bank demolished and everyone in it dead. Leaving the bank, he sees that the entire city has been destroyed, and realizes that, while a nuclear war has devastated Earth, him being in the vault has saved him.

Seconds, minutes, hours—they crawl by on hands and knees for Mr. Henry Bemis, who looks for a spark in the ashes of a dead world. A telephone connected to nothingness. A neighborhood bar, a movie, a baseball diamond, a hardware store, the mailbox at what was once his house and is now a rubble. They lie at his feet as battered monuments to what was but is no more. Mr. Henry Bemis, on an eight-hour tour of a graveyard.

Finding himself alone in a shattered world with canned food to last him a lifetime and no means of leaving to look for other survivors, Bemis succumbs to despair. As he prepares to commit suicide using a revolver he has found, Bemis sees the ruins of the public library in the distance. Investigating, he finds that the books are still intact; all the books he could ever hope for are his for the reading, and time to read them without interruption.

His despair gone, Bemis contentedly sorts the books he looks forward to reading for years to come, with no obligations to get in the way. Just as he bends down to pick up the first book, he stumbles, and his glasses fall off and shatter. In shock, he picks up the broken remains of the glasses without which he is virtually blind and bursts into tears, surrounded by books he now can never read.

Edward Hall (Conte), a man with a severe heart condition, believes that if he falls asleep, he'll die. On the other hand, keeping himself awake will put too much of a strain on his heart. He believes that his overactive imagination is severely out of control, to the point where he's been able to see and feel something that was not there. Due to this, his heart condition is especially dangerous. He seeks the aid of psychiatrist Dr. Eliot Rathmann. When he first enters the doctor's office, so tired he is barely able to stand, Rathmann helps him to the couch. Hall begins to drift into sleep, but suddenly jolts awake and gets up. He explains that, when he has allowed himself to sleep he has been dreaming in chapters, as if in a movie serial. In his dreams, Maya "The Cat Girl", a carnival dancer, lures him first into a funhouse and later onto a roller coaster in an attempt to scare him to death. Feeling that Rathmann cannot help him, Hall starts to leave, but stops when he sees that Rathmann's receptionist looks exactly like Maya. Terrified, he runs back into Rathmann's office and jumps out of the window.

In reality, the doctor calls his receptionist, who does in fact look exactly like Maya, into his office, where Hall lies on the couch, his eyes closed. Rathmann tells the receptionist that Hall came in, laid down, immediately fell asleep, and then a few moments later let out a scream and died. "Well, I guess there are worse ways to go," the doctor says philosophically. "At least he died peacefully..."

Marcia, Letty, Norman and Edwin all work together in the same office. None is married (Edwin being a widower) and each is nearing retirement age. Letty has plans to share a country retreat with her long-time friend, Marjorie. Her hopes are dashed when Marjorie suddenly announces that she is to marry a clergyman some years younger than she.

After Marcia and Letty retire, each is faced with challenges. Letty suddenly has to move and Marcia has to deal with a loss of the routine that was an essential part of her life. Marcia gradually withdraws from the outside world, while Letty has to engage with it. Marcia eventually gives up eating and dies in pathetic circumstances. She has unexpectedly left her estate to Norman, in whom she had indulged a brief and secret semi-romantic interest.

When Marjorie's fiancé deserts her for a younger widow, Letty and her friend decided to take the country cottage after all. By now she has come to terms with retirement, her world has expanded, and so she does not immediately move. She realizes that she has opportunities to make her own choices. Norman and Edwin play less central roles in the "quartet", as their characters develop in response to the absences and actions of Marcia and Letty.

At the end of the book, Letty is looking forward to inviting Norman and Edwin to meet Marjorie in the country. She thinks this would be a huge "opportunity" for the quartet, which was previously so urban and parochial, even though they have lost Marcia.

The novel details episodes in the life of Belinda Bede, a spinster now in her fifties who shares a house with her younger, more dominant but equally unmarried sister Harriet. Since her university days, Belinda has loved the village's Archdeacon Hoccleve, with whom she studied then, although he had preferred to marry the better connected Agatha, a bishop's daughter. Harriet's preference has always been to look after the welfare of young curates, although her admirer in the village is the Italian Count Ricardo Bianco, who regularly proposes marriage to her.

At the time the story begins, Mr Donne is the newly arrived curate in the village. Eventually he becomes engaged to Olivia Berridge, an academic specialising in Middle English literature and a niece of Agatha Hoccleve. But in the meantime, Agatha leaves for a visit to a German spa and another of Belinda's and the Archdeacon's student acquaintances comes to stay at the vicarage. This is Dr Parnell, now head of the main university library, who is accompanied by his assistant, the socially suspect Mr Mold. Before leaving again, Mr Mold proposes marriage to Harriet and, refused, takes it calmly by visiting the local pub and counting himself well escaped.

When Agatha returns, she brings home Dr Grote, the colonial bishop of Mbawawa, a former protégé of Harriet's during the time when he was once a curate. Belinda begins to see in him another threat to her peaceful coexistence with her sister, but it is to herself that the bishop proposes in the end. When he too is rejected, he proposes instead to Connie Aspinall, a decayed gentlewoman living in the same village.

Harmony returns to the disrupted community at last with the marriage of Mr Donne and Olivia Berridge and their subsequent departure. As life returns to normal, a new curate arrives to claim Harriet's attention while Belinda finds "such consolation as she needed in our greater English poets", in gardening and good works.

All eleven novels in the series are narrated by the character Lewis Eliot. The series follows his life and career from humble beginnings in an English provincial town, to reasonably successful London lawyer, to Cambridge don, to wartime service in Whitehall, to senior civil servant and finally retirement.

''The New Men'' deals with the scientific community's involvement in (and reaction to) the development and deployment of nuclear weapons during the Second World War. ''The Conscience of the Rich'' concerns a wealthy, Anglo-Jewish merchant-banking family. ''Time of Hope'' and ''George Passant'' depict the price paid by clever, poor young men to escape their provincial origins.

Snow analyses the professional world, scrutinising microscopic shifts of power within the enclosed settings of a Cambridge college, a Whitehall ministry, a law firm. For example, in the novels set in the Cambridge college (a thinly veiled Christ's), a small, disparate group of men is typically required to reach a collective decision on an important subject. In ''The Masters'', the dozen or so college members elect a new head (the Master) by majority vote. In ''The Affair'', a small group of dons sets out to correct a possible injustice: they must convince the rest of the college to re-open an investigation into scientific fraud. In both novels, the characters strongly resist letting in the external world, whether it be the press, public opinion, the college "Visitor", or outside experts.

In 1999, a city-sized alien spacecraft crashes in South Ataria Island on Earth. Over the course of 10 years the military organization U.N. Spacy reverse-engineers its technology and rebuilds the spacecraft, naming it the SDF-1 ''Macross''. In 2009 at the launch ceremony of the ''Macross'', a young civilian pilot, Hikaru Ichijyo, comes to visit the ''Macross'' upon U.N. Spacy pilot Roy Focker's request. During the launch ceremony, a space war fleet from an alien race of humanoid giants arrives into the solar system and identifies the ''Macross'' as a former battleship used by their enemies, the Supervision Army. As the aliens, known as the Zentradi, approach the ''Macross'', the original systems override the crew's commands and fire its main cannon, wiping out the advance alien scouts and starting a war. While Hikaru takes the new VF-1 Valkyrie on a test flight the aliens retaliate. He then encounters Lynn Minmay and rescues her from the aliens. The ''Macross'' crew attempts to use the experimental "Fold System" (faster-than-light drives) to escape to the Moon's orbit, but instead it accidentally takes the ''Macross'' and South Ataria Island to the edge of the solar system. The people from the ''Macross'' salvage everything they can, including the city surrounding the ship and its civilians (who have survived in special safety shelters, which were transported along intact), and attach two aircraft carriers to the ship. Since the fold systems have vanished after the jump, the ''Macross'' is forced to make its way back to Earth by conventional power.

The Zentradi suspect the humans might be their creators, the Protoculture. Under the command of Britai Kridanik and Exsedol Folmo, they plot ways to understand them. Fearful of their old combat directives of not interfering with Protoculture, the Zentradi perform attacks to test their theories about the people on board the ''Macross'', and even have their Zentradi soldiers "micloned" (miniaturized) to learn more about their culture. The Zentradi capture several ''Macross'' personnel, including Officer Misa Hayase and Hikaru, to study. Boddole Zer, Supreme Commander of the Zentradi, is puzzled over things such as relationships amongst males and females. He confirms that the Miclones "are" Protoculture during a demonstrated kiss between Hayase and Hikaru. After escaping, Hikaru and the others report their findings to their superiors, who have trouble accepting the reasons behind the Zentradi attacks as well as the huge forces the aliens possess.

After much difficulty returning to Earth, the UN Spacy refuses to allow the ''Macross'' and the civilian passengers to return to land. Minmay's cousin, Lynn Kaifun, decides to join the ''Macross'' to see his parents and also look after Minmay. Because of Kaifun's relationship and constant contact with Minmay, the pair eventually enter a romantic relationship. After deliberation, the UN Spacy orders the ''Macross'' to leave Earth as a means to get the Zentradi away from them. During all these events, a female Zentradi ace fighter pilot, Milia Fallyna, is micloned and attempts to assassinate Maximilian Jenius, an ace UN Spacy pilot. Attempting to kill him during a knife duel, Milia is defeated and falls in love with Max, and the two are subsequently married. Their wedding aboard the ''Macross'' is broadcast to the Zentradi as a message that aliens and humans can co-exist. Since the Zentradi's exposure to culture and to Lynn Minmay's songs, some of them become eager to join the humans. Believing the "miclone contamination" is becoming a threat to all Zentradi forces, Boddole Zer orders his entire army to exterminate the human race and all those Zentradi previously exposed to human culture. Because Britai Kridanik was "contaminated" as well, he works with the humans to defeat the main Zentradi forces.

The resulting battle culminates in the large scale devastation of Earth, but the people of the SDF-1 survive. After Boddole Zer is killed and his armada defeated, the surviving humans and their Zentradi allies begin rebuilding Earth.

Two years after the end of the first Space War the transition into the Human ways becomes difficult to some Zentradi who cannot stand the idea of a pacified life. Quamzin Kravshera constantly incites conflicts towards the civilians. He repairs a damaged Zentradi warship to return to his old ways and attacks the new Macross City built around the SDF-1. Moments before the final Zentradi attack, Misa Hayase tells Hikaru Ichijyo of her feelings for him and her decision to leave to space in a colonization mission to preserve human culture across the galaxy. Lynn Minmay, who was left by Kaifun and now loves Hikaru, does not want him to leave to join the fight. However, Hikaru still goes to defend the city anyway. Eventually Quamzin is killed. After a long emotional conflict Hikaru finally decides to be with Misa and join the colonization mission, but the two remain good friends with Minmay in the end.

In 1940, businessman John Cabal (Raymond Massey), living in the city of Everytown in southern England, cannot enjoy Christmas Day as the news speaks of possible war. His guest, Harding (Maurice Braddell), shares his worries, while another friend, the over-optimistic Pippa Passworthy (Edward Chapman), believes that it will not come to pass, and if it does, it will accelerate technological progress. An aerial bombing raid on the city that night results in general mobilisation and then global war.

Months later, Cabal, now a Royal Air Force airman piloting a Hawker Fury, shoots down an enemy aircraft dropping poison gas on the British countryside. He lands and pulls the badly injured enemy pilot (John Clements) from the wreckage. As they dwell on the madness of war, they put on their gas masks, as the gas drifts in their direction. When a young girl runs towards them, the wounded pilot insists that she take his mask, choosing to accept death to save her life. Cabal takes the girl to his aeroplane, pausing to leave the doomed man a revolver. The pilot dwells on the irony that he may have gassed the child's family and yet he has sacrificed his own life in order to save her. A pistol shot is heard.

The war continues into the 1960s, long enough for the people of the world to have forgotten why they are fighting. Humanity has entered a new dark age, and with every city in the world in ruins, the economy has been devastated by hyperinflation, and there is little technology left apart from the weapons of war. By 1966, the enemy's armies and navies have been defeated, but their greatly depleted air force survives. In a final desperate bid for victory, they deploy a biological weapon called the "wandering sickness" that causes its victims to walk around aimlessly in a zombie-like fugue state before dying. Dr. Harding and his daughter struggle to find a cure, but with little equipment, it is hopeless. The plague kills half of humanity and extinguishes the last vestiges of government.

By 1970, the warlord Rudolf (Ralph Richardson), known as the "Boss", has become the chieftain of Everytown and eradicated the pestilence by shooting the infected. He has started yet another war, this time against the "hill people" of the Floss Valley to obtain coal and shale to render into oil so his ragtag collection of prewar airplanes can fly again.

On May Day that year, a sleek new aircraft lands in Everytown, startling the inhabitants who have not seen a new machine in many years. The pilot, John Cabal, emerges and proclaims that the last surviving band of engineers and mechanics known as "World Communications" have formed a civilisation of airmen called "Wings Over the World", based in Basra, Iraq. They have outlawed war and are rebuilding civilisation throughout the Near East and the Mediterranean. Cabal considers the Boss and his band of warlords to be brigands, but offers them the opportunity to join them in rebuilding the world. The Boss immediately rejects the offer and takes Cabal prisoner, forcing him to work for his mechanic Gordon, who struggles to keep the Boss's biplanes airworthy. Gordon takes an Avro 504K up for a supposed test flight but in realty it is to alert World Communications.

Gigantic flying wing aircraft arrive over Everytown and saturate its population with sleeping gas globes. The Boss orders his meager air force to attack, but the obsolete fighters inflict little damage. The people awaken shortly thereafter to find themselves under the control of Wings Over the World and the Boss dead from a fatal allergic reaction to the sleeping gas. Cabal observes, "Dead, and his old world dead with him ... and with a new world beginning ... And now for the rule of the Airmen and a new life for mankind".

A long montage follows, showing decades of technological progress, beginning with Cabal explaining plans for global consolidation by Wings Over the World, and by 2036, a stable mankind is now living in modern underground cities, including the new Everytown, and civilisation is at last devoted to peace and scientific progress.

All is not well, however. The sculptor Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke) incites the populace to demand a "rest" from all the rush of progress, symbolised by the coming first crewed flight around the Moon. The modern-day Luddites are opposed by Oswald Cabal, the head of the governing council and grandson of John Cabal. Oswald Cabal's daughter Catherine (Pearl Argyle) and Maurice Passworthy (Kenneth Villiers) insist on crewing the projectile. A large, flowing mob forms and rushes to destroy the immense space gun, used to propel the spaceship toward the Moon. Cabal is forced to launch it ahead of schedule.

Later, after the projectile is just a tiny light in the immense night sky, Oswald Cabal delivers a philosophical monologue about what is to come for mankind to his troubled and questioning friend, Raymond Passworthy (Chapman), the father of Maurice. He speaks passionately for progress and humanity's unending quest for knowledge and advancement as it begins it journey out into immensity of space to conquer the stars and beyond. He concludes with the pointed rhetorical questions, "All the universe or nothingness? Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be? ..."

Andy Kaufman is a struggling performer whose act fails in nightclubs because, while the audience wants comedy, he sings children's songs and refuses to tell conventional jokes. As the audience begins to believe that Kaufman may have no real talent, his previously timid "foreign man" character puts on a rhinestone jacket and does a dead-on Elvis impersonation. The audience bursts into applause, realizing Kaufman had tricked them.

Kaufman catches the eye of talent agent George Shapiro, who signs him as a client and immediately lands him a network television series, ''Taxi'', much to Kaufman's dismay, since he didn't like sitcoms. Because of the money, visibility, and a promise that he can do his own television special, Kaufman accepts the role, turning his foreign man into a mechanic named Latka Gravas. Secretly he hates doing the show and expresses a desire to quit.

Invited to catch a different act at a nightclub, Shapiro witnesses a performance by a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer, Tony Clifton, whom Kaufman wants to guest-star on ''Taxi''. Clifton's bad attitude is matched by his horrible appearance and demeanor. But backstage, when he meets Shapiro in person, Clifton takes off his sunglasses and reveals that he is actually Kaufman. Clifton is a "villain character" created by Kaufman and his creative partner, Bob Zmuda. Once again, the gag is on the audience.

Kaufman's profile increases with appearances on ''Saturday Night Live'', but he has problems with his newfound fame. When performing live, audiences dislike his strange anti-humor and demand that he perform as Latka. At one show, he deliberately antagonizes attendees by reading ''The Great Gatsby'' aloud from start to finish. Kaufman shows up on the ''Taxi'' set as Clifton and proceeds to cause chaos until he is removed from the set. He relates to Shapiro that he never knows exactly how to entertain an audience "short of faking my own death or setting the theater on fire."

Kaufman decides to become a professional wrestler — but to emphasize the "villain" angle, he will wrestle only women (hired actresses) and then berate them after winning, declaring himself "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion." He becomes smitten with one woman he wrestles, Lynne Margulies, and they begin a romantic relationship. His professional issues are deepened when, during an appearance on ABC's live television comedy show ''Fridays'', Kaufman refuses to speak his lines.

Kaufman feuds publicly with Jerry Lawler, a male professional star wrestler, who challenges him to a "real wrestling match", which Kaufman accepts. Lawler easily overpowers and appears to seriously injure Kaufman. Lawler and an injured Kaufman (wearing a neck brace) appear on NBC's ''Late Night with David Letterman'', ostensibly to call a truce, but instead the feud escalates and they trade insults. Lawler hits Kaufman, who spews a vicious profanity tirade and throws coffee at Lawler.

Kaufman pays the price when he is voted off from ''SNL'' following a vote of audience members, weary and bored of his wrestling antics. Shapiro advises Kaufman and Lawler, who are actually the best of friends and have staged the whole feud as a joke, that he thinks they should never work together again. Shapiro later calls Kaufman to inform him that ''Taxi'' has been canceled. Shapiro is despondent, but Kaufman is not at all bothered.

After a show at a comedy club, Kaufman calls together Lynne, Zmuda, and Shapiro to disclose that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and may die soon. Initially they are not sure whether to believe this, thinking it could be yet another of Kaufman's jokes, with Zmuda actually believing a fake death would be a fantastic prank. With little time to live, Kaufman arranges a booking at Carnegie Hall, his dream venue. The performance is a memorable success, culminating with Kaufman inviting the entire audience out for milk and cookies. As his health deteriorates rapidly, a desperate Kaufman heads to the Philippines to seek a medical miracle through psychic surgery only to find it a hoax, laughing at the irony. He dies soon after. At Kaufman's funeral, friends and loved ones sing along to "This Friendly World" with a video of Kaufman. One year later, in 1985, Tony Clifton appears at Kaufman's tribute at The Comedy Store's main stage, performing "I Will Survive". Zmuda watches in the audience.

In 1985, Soviet boxer Ivan Drago arrives in the United States with his wife, Ludmilla, a Soviet swimmer, and a team of trainers from the Soviet Union and Cuba. His manager, Nicolai Koloff, takes every opportunity to promote Drago's athleticism as a hallmark of Soviet superiority. Motivated by patriotism and an innate desire to prove himself, former heavyweight champion Apollo Creed challenges Drago to an exhibition bout. Rocky has reservations but agrees to help train Apollo for the match.

During a press conference regarding the match, hostility sparks between Apollo's and Drago's respective camps. The boxing exhibition takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Apollo enters the ring in an over-the-top patriotic entrance with James Brown performing "Living in America" complete with showgirls. The bout starts tamely with Apollo landing several punches that are ineffective against Drago, but Drago suddenly retaliates with devastating effects. By the end of the first round, Rocky and Apollo's trainer, Duke, plead with him to stop the match, but Apollo refuses to do so and tells Rocky to not stop the match "no matter what." Drago continues to pummel him in the second round and Duke begs Rocky to throw in the towel. Rocky honors Apollo's wishes, which allows Drago to beat Apollo to death in the ring. In the aftermath, Drago displays no sense of contrition, commenting to the assembled media: "If he dies, he dies."

Frustrated by the Soviets' cold indifference, Rocky decides to challenge Drago himself, but has to surrender his championship to do so. Drago's camp agrees to an unsanctioned 15-round fight in the Soviet Union on Christmas Day, an arrangement meant to protect Drago from the threats of violence he has been receiving in the United States. Rocky travels to the Soviet Union without his wife Adrian due to her disapproval of the match, setting up his training base in a remote cabin in Krasnogourbinsk with only Duke and Paulie to accompany him. Duke opens up to Rocky, stating that he actually raised Apollo and that his death felt like a father losing his son, and expresses his faith in Rocky that he will emerge victorious. To prepare for the match, Drago uses high-tech equipment, a team of trainers and doctors monitoring his every movement, and regular doses of anabolic steroids. Rocky, on the other hand, does roadwork in deep snow over mountainous terrain and workouts utilizing antiquated farm equipment. Adrian arrives unexpectedly to give Rocky her support, which gives Rocky a new vigor.

Before the match begins, Balboa is the first to enter to a hostile crowd. As he waits nervously in the ring, the lights in the arena suddenly go out, and Drago is introduced with an elaborate patriotic ceremony, with the Soviet general secretary and the Politburo in attendance. The home crowd is squarely on Drago's side and hostile to Rocky. In contrast to his match with Apollo, Drago immediately goes on the offensive. Rocky takes a fierce pounding in the first round, but goes on the offensive toward the end of the second round after landing a brutal right hook that cuts Drago's left eye, stunning both Drago and the crowd. Duke encourages Rocky by reminding him that he just proved Drago is a man, and not a machine as he's been made out to be. In contrast, Drago comments to his trainers that Rocky "is not human, he is like a piece of iron," after his trainers reprimand him for his performance against the "weak" American.

The two boxers spend the next dozen rounds trading blows, with Rocky managing to continually hold his ground despite Drago's best efforts. As the 12th round begins, the previously hostile Soviet crowd suddenly start chanting and cheering for Balboa. After being berated by Koloff, Drago rebels, throwing him from the ring and directly addressing the Soviet leadership, stating he fights only for himself. In the final round, with both fighters exhausted, Rocky initially takes more punishment, but manages to stay on his feet. Both fighters trade blows, before Balboa seizes an opening, unleashing a series of vicious blows, eventually knocking out Drago and avenging Apollo's death.

Rocky gives a victory speech, acknowledging that the local crowd's disdain of him had turned to mutual respect during the fight. Rocky finally declares, "If I can change and you can change, everybody can change!" The Soviet premier stands up and reluctantly applauds Rocky, and his aides follow suit. Rocky ends his speech by wishing his son watching the match on TV a Merry Christmas, and raises his arms into the air in victory as the crowd applauds.

A man is seen standing aboard the deck of a British cargo liner crossing the Atlantic in 1942. The man's name is Carl Lanser and he appears disoriented, with no idea of how he got aboard or who he really is. Later, sitting with the captain and several passengers, Lanser dismisses fears of the ship being hunted by a U-boat "wolfpack" with an unusually-comprehensive knowledge of submarine warfare tactics, saying only one U-boat would be necessary and it would not bother using a torpedo on the ship. He is unable to explain how he knows any of this and recalls only that he was born in Frankfurt, but says that he finds the ship, its crew and passengers oddly familiar. When called to the bridge by the captain he cannot provide proof of his identity. Still confused, Lanser is sent back to his cabin with a steward, where he finds a Kriegsmarine officer's cap among his possessions with his name written on the inside.

The captain is forced to stop the ship for repairs when the overworked engines break down at 12:05. Lanser becomes increasingly restless, haunted by an inescapable sense of impending doom. Convinced that everyone aboard the ship will die at 1:15, Lanser eventually panics and runs through the passageways, attempting to raise an alarm. He suddenly finds the ship is mysteriously empty and when he finally locates some of the passengers, they silently stare at him as he desperately implores them to abandon ship until they suddenly vanish. At exactly 1:15, as a searchlight illuminates the ship, Lanser watches in horror as a surfaced U-boat, commanded by a Captain lieutenant Carl Lanser, opens fire with its deck cannon and machine guns. The ship quickly sinks, leaving no survivors.

Some time later, Captain Lanser is in his cabin aboard his U-boat, recording that night's kill. His second-in-command, Lt. Mueller, is deeply troubled by the vicious and cruel actions they have undertaken, not warning the people on board the ship before firing upon them, and wonders "if we are not all damned now". Lanser dismissively says he is sure the British Admiralty thinks so, but Mueller clarifies that he meant damned in the eyes of God. Despite Lanser's skepticism and sarcasm, Mueller grows more convinced that the crew of the U-boat may one day answer for their crime by reliving the act for all eternity. Granted his own private hell as the man who ordered the massacre, the former U-boat commander re-materializes on the deck of the ship and the nightmare begins again...

United States Air Force Colonel Clegg Forbes arrives at a military hospital to visit his friend and co-pilot Major William Gart. The two had recently piloted an experimental spaceplane, the X-20 DynaSoar. During their voyage the craft disappeared from radar screens for a full day before reappearing and crash landing in the desert, leaving Gart with a broken leg. Forbes is agitated and asks Gart if he remembers how many people were on the mission. Gart confirms that only he and Forbes piloted the plane, but Forbes insists that a third man – Colonel Ed Harrington, his best friend for 15 years – accompanied them.

In a flashback, Harrington and Forbes are discharged from the hospital after passing their physical exams and visit a bar downtown. While there, Harrington is suddenly overcome by a feeling that he no longer "belongs" in the world. Disturbed, he phones his parents, who tell him they have no son named Ed and believe the person calling them is a prankster. Harrington then mysteriously vanishes from the phone booth and no one but Forbes remembers his existence. Increasingly desperate, Forbes fruitlessly searches for any trace of his friend.

Back in the present, Forbes finishes recounting the story to Gart and is dismayed by his friend's claim that he doesn't know anyone named Harrington. Forbes then glances at a mirror and discovers he casts no reflection, causing him to flee the room in terror. Gart tries to hobble after him only to find that Forbes has disappeared. Calling the duty nurse to ask if she saw where Forbes went, Gart is stunned by the nurse's claim that nobody named Forbes has been in the building and that Gart was the only man who was in the hospital room. Horrified, Gart also disappears.

An officer enters the building and asks the duty nurse if there are any unused rooms available to accommodate new patients. The nurse takes him to the now completely empty room which hosted the three astronauts, telling him that it has been unoccupied. The hangar which previously housed the X-20 is then shown, with the sheet that covered the craft lying on the ground. There is no trace of the plane.

Pedott, a peddler, has the curious ability to give people exactly what they need before they need it. He enters a bar, where he first gives a woman a vial of cleaning fluid. Then he gives a down-on-his-luck ex-baseball player a bus ticket to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Moments later, via the establishment's pay phone, the ball player receives a job offer in Scranton. He is to meet the General Manager of a team he has been hired to coach and wishes the spot he notices on his jacket could be cleaned away, so he could look his best. The woman approaches and offers to use her cleaning fluid to remove it. The two are clearly drawn to each other.

Fred Renard, a frustrated, arrogant loser-type, asks Pedott to give him what ''he'' needs, and the peddler gives him a pair of scissors, which save Renard's life when his scarf later gets caught in an elevator's doors. Renard shows up at Pedott's apartment, asking for another thing he "needs", and the peddler produces a leaky fountain pen which predicts a winning racehorse when a drop of its ink lands on a newspaper racing column.

Renard continues menacing Pedott for more and then helps himself to a pair of new shoes from the peddler's case. The shoes are too tight and the soles are slippery, but Renard insists Pedott clarify if they are what he needs and what he should do now that he is wearing them. The peddler makes cryptic remarks that do not satisfy Renard; he advances threateningly on the older man. In the wet street, he slips for a moment and, as he is regaining his footing, a car approaches. Renard cannot get out of the way and is struck and killed. The shoes, Pedott explains to Renard's corpse, were what ''Pedott'' needed, because he foresaw that Renard in the future would kill him.

Shortly, as people gather at the scene, Pedott gives a man a comb, which he uses to groom himself just before he and his wife are photographed as witnesses for a newspaper story covering the accident that has killed Renard.

Arch Hammer (Harry Townes) is a con man who can change his face to look like anyone he chooses.

He walks into a nightclub, where he impersonates deceased trumpeter Johnny Foster (Ross Martin) to steal Foster's grieving girlfriend Maggie (Beverly Garland), a sultry singer.

Next, while impersonating murdered gangster Virgil Sterig (Phillip Pine), Hammer pays a visit to Mr. Pennell (Bernard Fein), to extort money; Pennell is the man who had Sterig killed. Pennell sends his men after Hammer.

Trying to escape down an alley, Hammer sees a poster of boxer Andy Marshak (Don Gordon), and changes his face to the fighter's. Pennell's men are fooled. Thinking he is in the clear, he runs into Marshak's father (Peter Brocco) at a street newsstand, who mistakes him for the son who broke his mother's heart and "did dirt to a sweet decent little girl who would've cut off an arm" for him. As Mr. Marshak reels off the reasons why he hates Andy and his punk behavior, Hammer pushes the old man out of the way and returns to his hotel room. A detective comes by to pick him up for questioning; together, they leave for the police station. As they enter the hotel's revolving door, Hammer again assumes the boxer's appearance. The detective rushes back into the building to find Hammer.

Marshak's father is standing on the street, with a gun on Hammer. The con man tries to demonstrate that he is not who the old man thinks he is, but before he can concentrate and change his face, Mr. Marshak shoots him. As Hammer lies dying, his face shifts from one person to another until he dies wearing his own face.

Will Sturka, a scientist who works at a military base, has been producing a great number of H-bombs alongside other staff members who are manufacturing various devastating weapons in preparation for imminent nuclear war. Sturka realizes that there is only one way to escape—steal an experimental, top-secret spacecraft stored at another base up north. He plans to bring his friend Jerry Riden, who is trained as a pilot of the spacecraft, along with their wives and Sturka's daughter Jody. The two plot for months, secretly supplying the ship and making arrangements for their departure. One afternoon, Sturka engages in conversation with a co-worker, Carling, who gleefully tells him that he's heard a rumor the war will start in 48 hours. When Sturka voices his disgust at the potential holocaust, Carling is dismayed and cautions him, saying Sturka should watch what he says, and what he thinks.

At home, Sturka confides in his family, trying to assuage his guilt over helping to create weapons by rationalizing he's only one part in a much larger machine though he recognizes that he still maintains partial responsibility. His daughter comments that there's a terrible feeling in the air, that something dreadful is coming and that everyone can feel it. Sturka realizes that time is running out.

Sturka and Riden decide to put their plan in action—take their families to the site where the spacecraft is held, getting in with help from their contact working at the site whom Riden has bribed and take off in the ship, leaving the planet for good. Carling, suspicious of Sturka since their chat, eavesdrops on them at Sturka's house and overhears their plan. Later that night, everyone gathers for a game of cards where Riden reveals that while he was test flying the spacecraft, the military had discovered a small planet 11 million miles away with a civilization similar to theirs—the perfect place to escape. During the game, Carling unexpectedly appears at the door and hints that he knows what the group is plotting. He also hints at trouble: "A lot can happen in forty-eight hours." After Carling leaves, Sturka receives a call from his superiors, commanding him to return to the base. He and Riden inform the women that they must leave that very moment.

When the five arrive at the site of the spacecraft, Sturka and Riden spot their contact, who flashes a light. When the contact steps forward, he is revealed to be Carling, armed with a gun. He forces Sturka and Riden away from the gate and prepares to call the authorities. The women, who have been waiting in the car, watch as Carling orders them out. Jody suddenly throws the car's door open, knocking the gun from Carling's hand and giving the men enough time to overpower him and knock him out. The group rushes into the ship, fighting off the guards that chase after them.

Later that evening, the group has safely escaped their doomed planet and are on course. Sturka says it's hard to believe there are people living on the alien world where they're headed. Riden points out on the ship's viewer their mysterious destination, 11 million miles away—the third planet from the Sun, called "Earth".

Maggie (Liane Curtis) is a shy high school girl that isn't very good with men. This changes after she's possessed by Satan, who uses Maggie's body to seduce the souls out of various men. Satan is followed by an angelic Chaser (Dana Ashbrook), who is intent on capturing her once and for all.

Melvin Ferd Junko III is a weakling who works as a janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey, where the customers—particularly Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie—harass him constantly. His tormentors murder a young boy on a bike with their car and take photos of the carnage afterward. They trick Melvin into wearing a pink tutu and amorously hugging a sheep. He is chased around the health club and out a second story window. He falls into a drum of toxic waste, which sets him on fire. After running down the street, Melvin douses the flames in his bathtub. The chemicals transform him into a hideously deformed mutant with superhuman size and strength.

A group of drug dealers, led by Cigar Face, are trying to buy off a police officer named O'Clancy. When he refuses to accept the money, Cigar Face and his gang prepare to castrate him. Melvin appears and kills the criminals, then leaves a mop on their faces as a call sign. Cigar Face escapes, promising to take revenge. Melvin returns home, but his mother is terrified of him and will not let him in the house, so Melvin, publicly dubbed "The Monster Hero" (also known as "The Toxic Avenger" or "Toxie") and hailed as a hero, builds a makeshift home in the junkyard.

A gang of three men hold up a Mexican restaurant and attack a blind woman named Sara. They kill her guide dog and attempt to rape her, but are stopped by Melvin, who wreaks bloody vengeance on them. Toxie takes Sara back to her home, where they get to know one another and subsequently become romantically involved. Melvin continues to fight crime, including drug dealers and pimps for underage prostitutes, and also takes revenge on the four tormentors who caused his transformation. He attacks Wanda in the health club's sauna and burns her backside on the heater. He later returns to the club, pursues Julie into the basement, and cuts off her hair. He confronts Bozo and Slug after they steal a car, ending in Slug getting thrown out of the moving car and Bozo driving off the side of a cliff, killing him.

As Melvin gives aid to the people in the city, Mayor Belgoody, the leader of Tromaville's extensive crime ring, is terrified of what is happening to his goons. He is worried that it will lead back to him and wants Melvin taken care of. A group of men, led by Cigar Face, surround Melvin with guns. Just before they fire on him, he leaps up to a fire escape, so that they shoot each other.

When Melvin kills a seemingly innocent old woman in a dry cleaning store (she is in fact a leader of an underground human trafficking ring), Belgoody calls in the United States National Guard. Back in his junkyard home, Melvin is horrified at what he has become. He and Sara decide to move away from the city and take a tent into nearby woods. They are eventually discovered, and the Mayor and the National Guard come to kill him, but the people of Tromaville refuse, and Melvin's mother arrives and identifies the mutant as her son. The Mayor's evil ways are revealed, and Melvin proceeds to rip out Belgoody's organs to see if he has "any guts". The Toxic Avenger continues to combat crime in Tromaville.

The film follows the events that unfold at Tromaville High School in New Jersey, which is conveniently located next to a nuclear power plant. An accident at the nuclear plant is covered up by plant owner, Mr. Paley, who does not want the facility shut down by the safety commission. The accident causes a radioactive water leak which ends up gruesomely killing a student at the school after the tainted water reaches the drinking fountain. The gang of the school, called "The Cretins," who were originally part of the honor society, torments the school, and it's implied that they have been turned into violent psychopaths by the runoff from the plant. They pick leaves from a radioactive marijuana plant located in the yard of the nuclear plant and sell it to Eddie for $10.

At his "indoor bikini beach party" that night, Eddie pressures his friend Warren and Warren's girlfriend Chrissy into smoking the radioactive joint, but it accidentally falls on the floor and is trampled by other party-goers before anyone else can try it. The mutated drug shows itself to have potent aphrodisiac effects, leading to Warren and Chrissy having sex in Eddie's loft. However, that same night, both of them have disturbing nightmares about hideously mutating, though these effects are seemingly gone by morning. Some time later, Chrissy discovers that she is pregnant, and spits a little monster into a nearby toilet. The creature travels through the water pipes and lands in a barrel filled with radioactive waste, and mutates into a bigger creature. The Nuclear Plant orders a lock down of the school, and begins an investigation into the student who died at the beginning of the film. One of the Nuclear workers begins to investigate the basement. Though his equipment shows signs of a spill, he can't find any evidence, outside of a foul odor. After hearing for a second time a sound he'd previously dismissed, he investigates. As he's observing a barrel, the monster's arm reaches out and claws his face, disfiguring him. As the worker screams out in pain, the monster pulls him into the barrel and eats him, only to cough up his left hand and I.D. badge, making the worker the monster's first kill.

Meanwhile, Warren, tired of the Cretins' constant harassment, ends up going on a radiation-fueled rampage, killing two of them, with no memory of the event once he comes to his senses. The Cretins, expelled from the school and cut off from their customer base, assault the principal and force him to use the school's Radiation Alarm to cause an evacuation, letting the Cretins bar the building and occupy it. In the process of doing this, the Cretins shoot and kill the principal's secretary, who happened to open the door just as the gang was torturing the principal. Capturing Chrissy as bait for Warren, the leader of the gang holds her hostage in the basement and plans to kill her in front of Warren, only to be interrupted by the now adult monster.

Warren goes into the school to save her, and he discovers the adult monster, who kills every one of the Cretins. Warren finally zaps the beast with a laser in the physics laboratory, and he and Chrissy flee from the school, right after the monster explodes along with the school, also killing Mr. Paley inside. The students celebrate victory as over the loudspeakers that the school will be shut down for remodeling. While reconstruction is taking place, one of the monster "babies" appears squirming through the remains of the destroyed school. The screen freeze frames on the creature as the screen inverts, shortly before fading out and the credits roll.

Set in modern-day Manhattan, the film begins with the narrator (Lemmy of Motörhead) introducing two families: the rich Capulets and the poor Ques.

At the center of these families are Tromeo Que and Juliet Capulet. Tromeo lives in squalor with his poor father Monty and works at a tattoo parlor with his cousin Benny and friend Murray. Juliet is sequestered in her family's mansion, watched over by her abusive father Cappy, passive mother Ingrid, and overprotective cousin Tyrone, all the while being sexually satisfied by family servant Ness (Debbie Rochon).

Both Tromeo and Juliet are trapped in cases of unrequited love: Tromeo lusts for the big-bosomed, promiscuous Rosie; Juliet is engaged to wealthy meat tycoon London Arbuckle as prelude to an arranged marriage.

In the meantime, a bloody brawl between Murray and Sammy Capulet catches the attention of Detective Ernie Scalus, who gathers the heads of the two families together and declares that they will be held personally accountable for any further breaches of the peace. Almost immediately afterward, Monty and Cappy start threatening each other with weapons. Sammy gets caught in the window of Monty's speeding car, where he is thrown head-first into a fire hydrant and gradually dies.

On the insistence of Murray and Benny, Tromeo attends the Capulets' masquerade ball in the hopes of meeting Rosie, only to find another man performing cunnilingus on her. Tromeo staggers around the party in disillusion until he locks eyes with Juliet. The two instantly fall for each other and share a dance until an angry Tyrone chases him out of the house.

Tromeo and Juliet continue to be enamored by one another from afar. Cappy, disgusted at his daughter's active libido, forcefully imprisons her in a plastic cage as punishment. Eventually, Tromeo sneaks into the house of Capulet and the two meet once again. After proclaiming their love for each other both verbally and physically, they agree to be married. Juliet breaks her engagement with Arbuckle and, with the help of Father Lawrence, the two are married in secrecy the next day.

Tyrone, upon discovering Juliet's secret affair, gathers his gang together to find Tromeo in his family's parlor and accuse him of bridenapping. Now a kinsman to the Capulets, Tromeo reassures Tyrone that Juliet doesn't want Arbuckle as her husband anymore hence announcing a truce to both families. However, Tyrone refuses to believe him. Eventually, Murray stands by Tromeo's side to try and defend his honor, but is fatally wounded by Tyrone's club as an example for anyone, besides Arbuckle, who dares to seduce Juliet. Tromeo, enraged by his friend's death, pursues Tyrone, slays him (through a series of car crashes that dismember him), and goes into hiding. Learning from the late Tyrone that Juliet has already became Tromeo's wife, Cappy suggests to Detective Scalus that the Ques should be Eviction from Manhattan permanently due to their crimes against his family, and the Detective agrees to ensure that Tyrone's sacrifice won't be in vain on behalf of the Capulet family. Later, Cappy savagely beats her into reconciling with Arbuckle, threatening to disown her if she resists again. With the help of Cappy, Arbuckle accepts her re-proposal and the wedding date is set.

Eventually, Juliet goes into hiding with Father Lawrence, whom she recruited along with Tromeo, who was recently evicted from his home by Scalus along with the rest of his family. Together, the three devise a plan to clear Tromeo's family's name and end the Capulet/Que feud for good, enlisting the help of Fu Chang, the apothecary, who sells Juliet a special potion which will aid her predicament.

On the day of her wedding, Juliet drinks the apothecary's potion, transforming her into a hideous cow monster (complete with a three-foot penis). The mere sight of her causes Arbuckle to leap out of Juliet's window in fright, committing suicide in the process. Enraged over the loss of his would-be son-in-law and meat inheritance, Cappy deems Juliet a disgrace to his whole family tree and sentences her to death, but Tromeo arrives just in time to chase Cappy out of her room before he can kill her, and bring Juliet's appearance back to normal by a single kiss. Meanwhile, Cappy was forced to retreat into the parlor to get his crossbow, and then returns to Juliet's room, ready to execute the newlyweds. Eventually, Juliet performs one last act of defiance against her father by electrocuting him to death with a computer monitor. After the Capulets' residence is successfully overtaken, Detective Scalus becomes impressed by Tromeo and Juliet's teamwork of clearing his name and therefore satisfied to see the end of Cappy's criminal empire, pardoning Tromeo of murder while ordering for Cappy's corpse to be transported by an ambulance to the morgue for cremation.

With Cappy's criminal empire finally defeated, Tromeo and Juliet embrace victoriously until they are stopped short by Ingrid and Monty, who reveals to them the real reason behind the Capulet/Que feud: Long ago, Cappy and Monty were the owners of the successful Silky Films production company. Ingrid, married to Monty at the time, struck up an affair with Cappy, eventually birthing a son which Monty raised as his own. Faced with a divorce from Ingrid and the threat of having his son taken away from him, Monty was forced to sign over all the rights of Silky Films to the Capulets in exchange for his son. After the initial shock at the revelation that they are siblings, Tromeo and Juliet brush it off as they are determined not to let their whole ordeal be for naught; they passionately embrace and drive off into the sunset.

The film picks up six years later in Tromaville, New Jersey, where Tromeo and Juliet, now married, have become suburban yuppies with a house and (birth defected/deformed) children of their own.

The film ends with the narrator's brief poem for the lovers: ''"And all of our hearts free to let all things base go/As taught by Juliet and her Tromeo"''. A brief shot of William Shakespeare laughing uproariously is shown before the end credits.

Mark Renton, a 26-year-old unemployed heroin addict, lives with his parents in the Edinburgh ward of Leith and regularly partakes in drug use with his friends: treacherous, womanising James Bond fanatic Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson; docile and slow-witted Daniel "Spud" Murphy and Swanney, "Mother Superior", their dealer. Renton's other friends, aggressive, alcoholic psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie and footballer Tommy Mackenzie, who abstain from illegal drugs, warn him about his dangerous drug habit. Growing tired of his reckless lifestyle, Renton attempts to wean himself off heroin with a bare room, foodstuffs and opium suppositories given by ill-reputed dealer Mikey Forrester; he also suffers a bout of diarrhoea and has to relieve himself in "the worst toilet in Scotland". At a nightclub, Renton notices that his cessation of heroin use has increased his libido. He seduces a girl named Diane Coulston and they return to her apartment to have sex. The following morning, Renton is horrified to learn that she is below the age of consent and lives with her parents, whom Renton initially assumes are her flatmates. Diane threatens to report him to the police if he does not continue the relationship.

After several unsuccessful attempts to return to society, Renton, Sick Boy and Spud relapse into heroin use; Tommy also begins to dabble in drug use after becoming depressed due to being dumped by his girlfriend Lizzy, thanks to the actions of an unknowing Renton. Even the negligence-induced death of Dawn, the infant daughter of Sick Boy and his girlfriend Allison, does not persuade the group to recover. Later, Renton, Sick Boy and Spud are caught shoplifting; Renton and Spud are arrested while Sick Boy narrowly escapes. Spud receives a six-month custodial sentence at HMP Saughton, while Renton avoids jail by entering a drug rehabilitation programme. Despite being given methadone to help him, Renton quickly relapses and nearly dies of a heroin overdose at Swanney's home. Upon returning home after his revival at hospital, Renton's parents lock him in his childhood bedroom and force him to go cold turkey. Following a difficult withdrawal punctuated by hallucinations of his friends and visions of Dawn crawling on the ceiling, Renton is released upon the condition of an HIV/AIDS test. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative.

Now clean but bored and devoid of a sense of meaning in his life, Renton visits Tommy, who is now severely addicted to heroin and is HIV-positive. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London and takes a job as a property letting agent. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety in London and corresponds with Diane, who updates him on developments back home. To Renton's shock and frustration, Begbie, wanted for a failed armed robbery, tracks him down and takes up refuge with him in his apartment. Sick Boy, now trying to be a pimp and drug dealer, soon joins them. Begbie and Sick Boy later attack two of Renton's clientele (at a supposedly impossible-to-sell property where Renton has sent them to get them off his back), resulting in him losing his job. The trio return to Edinburgh, to avoid police attention and for the funeral of Tommy, who has died of AIDS-related toxoplasmosis.

Following the funeral, Sick Boy asks Renton, Begbie and Spud (who has been recently released from prison) for help in buying two kilograms of pure heroin from Mikey Forrester (who got it after a drunken night out with two Russian sailors), for the low price of £4,000, to sell on but Renton is needed to supply the remaining £2,000 asking price. After Begbie threatens him, Renton reluctantly covers the remaining cost and the group returns to London to sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000. As they celebrate in a pub, Renton secretly suggests to Spud that they could leave with the money but Spud, motivated by fear and loyalty, refuses. Sick Boy indicates he would happily do so and Begbie brutally beats a man after a petty accident. Concluding that Begbie and Sick Boy are unpredictable and dangerous, Renton quietly steals the bag of money and leaves the following morning. Spud witnesses him but does not warn the others. Renton leaves £4,000 in a safe deposit box for Spud, who "never hurt anybody". Begbie, discovering Renton and the money gone, angrily destroys the hotel room where the four stayed, prompting the police to arrive and arrest him as Sick Boy and Spud flee. Spud discreetly claims his share of the money and Renton walks away to his new life.

Cher Horowitz lives in a Beverly Hills mansion with her wealthy father Mel, a gruff litigator; her mother died during a liposuction procedure when she was a baby. She is attractive, stylish, good-natured and popular. She attends Bronson Alcott High School with her best friend Dionne Davenport, who is also wealthy and beautiful. Cher and Dionne are both named after "great singers of the past who now do infomercials." Dionne has a long-term relationship with popular student Murray Duvall. Cher believes this is a pointless endeavor for Dionne, who ought to be dating more mature guys.

Josh, Cher's socially conscious ex-stepbrother, visits her during a break from college. They spar continually but playfully. She mocks his idealism, while he teases her for being selfish, vain and superficial, saying that her only direction in life is "toward the mall".

After receiving a poor grade, Cher decides to play matchmaker for two hard-grading teachers at her school, Mr. Hall and Miss Geist. She orchestrates a romance between them so they relax their grading standards so she can renegotiate a bad grade on her report card. After seeing their newfound happiness, Cher realizes that she enjoys doing good deeds. She then decides to give back to the community by "adopting" a "tragically unhip" new girl at school, Tai Frasier.

Cher and Dionne give Tai a makeover, which provides her with confidence and a sense of style. Cher tries to extinguish the attraction between Tai and Travis Birkenstock, an amiable but clumsy slacker, and to steer her towards Elton, a handsome and popular student. However, he has no interest in Tai and instead tries to make out in his car with Cher, who rebuffs him.

Fashion-conscious new student Christian attracts Cher's attention at school and becomes her target boyfriend. When she goes to a party with him, Josh gets jealous and follows her to the party "just to take care of her." When Christian comes over to watch some movies at her home, she tries to seduce him, but he deflects her advances. Murray subsequently tells Cher and Dionne that Christian is gay. Despite the failure of her romantic overtures, Cher remains friends with him, primarily due to her admiration of his good taste in art and fashion.

Cher's privileged life takes a negative turn when Tai's newfound popularity strains their relationship. Her frustration escalates after she fails her driving test and cannot change the result. When Cher returns home in a depressed mood, Tai confesses her feelings for Josh and asks her for help in pursuing him. Cher says she is not right for Josh, leading to a quarrel which results in Tai calling her a "virgin who can't drive". Feeling "totally clueless", Cher reflects on her priorities and her repeated failures to understand or appreciate the people in her life.

After thinking about why she is bothered by Tai's romantic interest in Josh, Cher finally realizes that she is actually in love with him. She begins making awkward but sincere efforts to live a more purposeful life, including captaining the school's Pismo Beach disaster relief effort. Cher and Josh eventually follow through on their feelings for one another, culminating in a tender kiss. Ultimately, her friendships with Tai and Dionne are solidified, Tai and Travis are dating, Mr. Hall and Miss Geist get married, and Cher catches the wedding bouquet – helping Josh win a $200 bet. They then embrace and kiss.

''Darius II'' takes place sometime after the first ''Darius'' game. The colonized planet Darius is recuperating from its invasion from the alien Belser Army thanks to that game's heroes Proco and Tiat. Darius' inhabitants have since situated themselves on the planet Olga while Darius' societies, architecture and attacked areas were being repaired. The space flight Headquarters established on Olga picks up an SOS signal coming from Earth, where the first colonists originated before colonizing Darius. The signal included the description of alien ships similar to those of the Belser Army. Suspecting that these might be their remaining Earthling ancestors, the people of Darius sends both Proco Jr. and Tiat Young to help them.

In 1978, narcissistic actress Madeline Ashton performs in the poorly received Broadway musical ''Songbird!''. She invites long-time frenemy Helen Sharp, an aspiring writer, backstage along with Helen's fiancé, plastic surgeon Ernest Menville. Smitten with Madeline, Ernest breaks off his engagement with Helen to marry her instead. Seven years later, Helen is obese, depressed and committed to a psychiatric hospital where she plots revenge on Madeline. Another seven years later, Madeline and Ernest live in Beverly Hills, but they are miserable: Madeline's acting career has declined and Ernest, now an alcoholic, has been reduced to working as a reconstructive mortician. Receiving an invitation to a party celebrating Helen's new book, Madeline rushes to a spa where she regularly receives facial treatments. Understanding Madeline's desperation, the spa owner gives her the business card of Lisle Von Rhuman, a mysterious, wealthy socialite who specializes in rejuvenation.

Madeline and Ernest attend the party for Helen's novel, ''Forever Young'', and discover that Helen is slim, glamorous and youthful. Dumbfounded and depressed by Helen's appearance, Madeline witnesses Helen tell Ernest that she blames Madeline for his career decline. After the soiree, Madeline visits her young lover, but discovers he is with a woman his age. Dejected, Madeline drives to Lisle's home. Lisle, claiming to be 71, but looking decades younger, reveals a potion that promises eternal life and an everlasting youthful appearance. Madeline purchases and drinks the potion and is rejuvenated, regaining her beauty. As a condition of purchase, Lisle warns Madeline to disappear from the public eye after ten years to conceal the potion's existence, and to treat her body well.

Helen seduces Ernest and convinces him to kill Madeline. When Madeline returns home, she and Ernest argue, during which she falls down the stairs, breaking her neck. Believing Madeline dead, Ernest phones Helen for advice, initially not seeing Madeline stand and approach him with her head twisted backward. At Madeline's request, Ernest drives her to the emergency room. Madeline is told she is technically dead, and faints. She is taken to the morgue due to her body having no pulse and a temperature below . After rescuing Madeline, Ernest considers her reanimation a miracle and uses his skills as a mortician to repair her body at home. Helen demands information about Madeline's situation. Overhearing Helen and Ernest discussing their plot to kill her, Madeline shoots Helen with a shotgun. Although the blast creates a hole in her abdomen, Helen rises, undead like Madeline, revealing that she too drank the potion, in 1985. The two briefly fight before apologizing and reconciling their friendship. Fed up with the pair, Ernest prepares to leave, but Helen and Madeline convince him to repair their bodies one last time. Realizing they will need regular maintenance, they scheme to have Ernest drink the potion to ensure his permanent availability.

The pair knock out Ernest and bring him to Lisle, who offers to give him the potion free of charge in exchange for his surgical skills. Ernest is very tempted, but after some thought he fundamentally disagrees with the idea of immortality, especially considering the consequences Madeline & Helen are already suffering. He pockets the potion and flees, but becomes trapped on the roof. Helen and Madeline implore Ernest to drink the potion to survive an impending fall. Ernest, realizing that they only need him for their own selfish reasons, refuses and drops it to the ground, but after falling he lands in Lisle's pool and escapes. Lisle banishes Madeline and Helen from her group, leaving the pair to rely on each other for companionship and maintenance.

Thirty-seven years later, Madeline and Helen attend Ernest's funeral, where he is eulogized as having lived an adventurous and fulfilling life with a large family and friends. Now appearing grotesque, with cracked, peeling paint and putty covering most of their grey and rotting flesh, they mock the eulogy and leave early; outside the church, Helen slips on a dropped can of spray paint and falls down a flight of steps, dragging Madeline with her. Their bodies shatter to pieces at the curb, and Helen sardonically asks Madeline if she remembers where they parked their car.

Best friends Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas. Thelma, a housewife, is married to disrespectful and controlling carpet salesman Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner and is dating easygoing musician Jimmy, who is on the road most of the time.

On the way, they stop at a roadhouse bar, where Thelma dances with a flirtatious stranger, Harlan. He takes her to the parking lot, trying to rape her until Louise intervenes and threatens to shoot him. As the women walk away, Harlan yells vulgarities at them, so Louise shoots him in a fit of rage.

Thelma wants to go to the police, but Louise fears that no one will believe a claim of attempted rape as Thelma was drinking and dancing with Harlan, and they will be charged with murder. They decide to flee to Mexico, but Louise demands they travel there without going through Texas, as something happened to her there that she refuses to reveal. Heading west, they come across attractive young drifter, J.D., to whom Thelma takes a liking. Louise contacts Jimmy, asking him to wire her life savings to her. He surprises her by delivering the money in person, and they spend the night together. Jimmy proposes to Louise, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Thelma invites J.D. to her room, and they sleep together. She learns he is a thief who has broken parole.

The following morning, they discover J.D. has stolen Louise's life savings and fled. Louise is distraught, so a guilty Thelma takes charge and later robs a nearby convenience store using tactics she learned from J.D.. Meanwhile, the FBI closes in on them after witnesses at the bar identify Louise's 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible. Their whereabouts are also questioned by the owner of the fishing cabin after they failed to arrive.

Arkansas State Police Investigator Hal Slocumb, leading the investigation, questions both J.D. (who was caught) and Jimmy, and taps into the phone line at Darryl's house. He sympathizes with the pair's situation and understands why they did not report Harlan's killing (partly due to Louise's own experience in Texas). During a few brief phone conversations with Louise, Hal expresses his sympathy but is unsuccessful in persuading her to surrender.

Thelma tells Louise she understands if she wants to go back home, knowing she has Jimmy waiting for her, but explains she cannot go back to Darryl. Louise promises they will keep going together. While back on the road, Thelma recalls the incident with Harlan and tries to ask Louise if what happened with Harlan was what happened to Louise in Texas. Louise responds angrily and tells Thelma to never bring it up again.

Later, they are pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper for speeding. Knowing he will soon discover their true identity, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and locks him in the trunk of his police car. Driving further west, they encounter a foul-mouthed truck driver who repeatedly makes obscene gestures at them. They pull over and demand an apology from him; when he refuses, they fire at his fuel tanker, causing it to explode. The women leave him stranded in the desert with the tanker's wreckage.

Thelma and Louise are finally cornered by the authorities only one hundred yards from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Hal arrives on the scene, but he is refused the last chance to talk the women into surrendering. Rather than be captured, Thelma proposes that they "keep going". Louise asks Thelma if she is certain, and Thelma says yes. They kiss and then hold hands, Louise steps on the gas, and, as Hal desperately pursues them on foot, they accelerate over the cliff to their presumed deaths.

Nick Marshall, a Chicago advertising executive, was raised by his Las Vegas showgirl mother. Nick is a chauvinist skilled at selling products to men and seducing women. He expects to get a promotion at the advertising firm Sloane Curtis, but his manager Dan instead announces that he is hiring Darcy Maguire to broaden the firm's appeal to women. Meanwhile, Nick's estranged 15-year-old daughter Alex is staying with him while his former wife Gigi is on her honeymoon with her new husband Ted. Nick embarrasses Alex, who resents his over-protectiveness when he meets her boyfriend Cameron, who is 18 years old.

Darcy tasks the staff, including Nick, to develop advertising ideas for a series of feminine products she distributes at the staff meeting. While testing a few items at home, Nick falls into his bathtub while holding an electric hairdryer, shocking himself, and is knocked unconscious. The next morning, Nick awakens to discover he has a new gift: he can hear women's thoughts. He has an epiphany, realizing that most women, especially at work, dislike him and consider him sleazy. He makes an impromptu visit to his former therapist, Dr. Perkins (who also disliked him), and she encourages him to use his newfound ability to his advantage.

Nick telepathically eavesdrops on Darcy and purloins her ideas to use as his own, but gradually becomes attracted to her. Alex resents Nick's years of neglect, but they start to bond while he takes her shopping for a prom dress. After Nick telepathically finds out that Alex intends to sleep with Cameron the night of the prom, Nick attempts to give her some advice. He tells her Cameron is not interested in her for who she is, just for what he can do with her in bed. Alex, thinking Nick is being over-protective and trying to sabotage her prom, rejects his advice.

Nick and Darcy spend more time together, becoming romantic. However, he steals Darcy's idea for a new Nike ad campaign aimed at women, though he later regrets his actions, especially as it leads to Dan firing Darcy. Nick persuades Dan to rehire Darcy, saying the ad was her idea and is eventually successful.

Over time, Nick succeeds in repairing his relationships with female acquaintances, especially those at work. Nick loses his gift during a severe thunder and lightning storm while on his way to see the company secretary, Erin, who has been contemplating suicide. He offers her a position for which he had previously turned her down; she accepts. When Cameron dumps Alex at the prom for refusing to have sex, Nick finds and consoles her, cementing their newly-repaired relationship. Nick visits Darcy and explains everything. She fires him, but then forgives him, and they share a kiss.

Following the ousting of the central government in 1993 amid the civil war in Somalia, the United Nations Security Council authorizes a military operation with a peacekeeping mandate. After the bulk of the peacekeepers withdraw, the Mogadishu-based militia loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid declares war on the remaining UN personnel. In response, U.S. President Clinton deploys Task Force Ranger - consisting of 3rd Battalion/75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force operators, and flight crew of the 160th SOAR – to Mogadishu to capture Aidid, who has proclaimed himself president.

To consolidate his power and subdue the population in the south, Aidid and his militia seize Red Cross food shipments. The UN forces are powerless to intervene directly. Outside Mogadishu, Rangers and Delta Force capture Osman Ali Atto, a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. The US then plans a mission to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of Aidid's top advisers.

The U.S. forces include experienced men as well as new recruits, including 18-year-old Private First Class Todd Blackburn and Specialist John Grimes, a desk clerk. Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann receives his first command, of Ranger Chalk Four, after his lieutenant has a seizure. Eversmann responds to mocking remarks about Somalis from fellow soldiers by saying he respects the Somalis and has compassion for the terrible conditions of civil war for the Somali people, saying there are two things they can do, "We can help, or we can sit back and watch a country destroy itself on CNN."

The operation begins, and Delta Force operators capture Aidid's advisers inside the target building, while the Rangers and helicopters escorting the ground-extraction convoy take heavy fire. Blackburn is severely injured when he falls from one of the Black Hawk helicopters, so three Humvees led by Staff Sergeant Jeff Struecker are detached from the convoy to return Blackburn to the UN-held Mogadishu Airport. During the ensuing battle, Grimes was separated from the rest of Eversmann's chalk after surviving a RPG explosion.

Sergeant Dominick Pilla is shot and killed just as Struecker's column departs, and shortly thereafter Black Hawk ''Super Six-One'', piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott, is shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Wolcott and his co-pilot are killed, the two crew chiefs are wounded, and two Delta Force snipers on board, escape in an MH-6 Little Bird helicopter but Busch dies later from his wounds.

The ground forces are rerouted to converge on the crash site. The Somali militia erects roadblocks, and Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight's Humvee column is unable to reach the crash area and sustains heavy casualties. Meanwhile, two Ranger chalks, including Eversmann's unit, reach ''Super-Six One'' s crash site and set up a defensive perimeter to await evacuation with the two wounded men and the fallen pilots. In the interim, ''Super Six-Four'', piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, is also shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashes several blocks away.

With Captain Mike Steele's Rangers pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties, no ground forces can reach ''Super Six-Four'' s crash site or reinforce the Rangers defending ''Super Six-One''. Two Delta Force snipers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, are inserted by helicopter to ''Super Six-Four'' s crash site, where they find Durant still alive. The site is eventually overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured by Aidid's militia.

McKnight's column relinquishes their attempt to reach ''Six-One'' s crash site, and returns to base with their prisoners and the casualties. The men prepare to go back to extract the Rangers and the fallen pilots, and Major General Garrison sends Lieutenant Colonel Joe Cribbs to ask for reinforcements from the 10th Mountain Division, including Malaysian and Pakistani armored units from the UN coalition.

As night falls, Aidid's militia launches a sustained assault on the trapped Americans at ''Super Six-One'' s crash site. The militants are held off throughout the night by strafing runs and rocket attacks from AH-6J Little Bird helicopter gunships until the 10th Mountain Division's relief column is able to reach the American soldiers. The wounded and casualties are evacuated in the vehicles, but a few Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are forced to run on foot from the crash site to reach the Safe Zone at the stadium.

;End titles The end titles recount the immediate aftermath of the mission and end of US military operations in Somalia: Michael Durant was released after 11 days of captivity, after which President Bill Clinton withdrew all US forces from Somalia. During the raid, 19 American soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis died. The names of the 19 soldiers who died, including Delta Sgts. Gordon and Shughart, the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor posthumously since the Vietnam War, are listed by name. Mohamed Farah Aidid was killed in 1996; General Garrison retired the following day.

The Jarretts are an upper-middle-class family in suburban Chicago trying to return to normal life after the accidental death of their older teenage son, Buck, and the attempted suicide of their younger and surviving son, Conrad. Conrad, who has recently returned home from a four-month stay in a psychiatric hospital, feels alienated from his friends and family and begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger. Berger learns that Conrad was involved in the sailing accident that took the life of Buck, whom everyone idolized. Conrad, now deals with post-traumatic stress disorder and seeks help from his psychiatrist.

Conrad's father, Calvin, tries to connect with his surviving son and understand his wife. Conrad's mother, Beth, denies her loss, hoping to maintain her composure and restore her family to what it once was. She appears to have loved her older son more, and because of the suicide attempt, has grown cold toward Conrad. She is determined to maintain the appearance of perfection and normality. Conrad works with Dr. Berger and learns to try to deal with, rather than control, his emotions. He starts dating a fellow student, Jeannine, who helps him to begin to regain a sense of optimism. Conrad, however, still struggles to communicate and re-establish a normal relationship with his parents and schoolmates. He cannot seem to allow anyone, especially Beth, to get close. Beth makes several guarded attempts to appeal to Conrad for some semblance of normality, but she ends up being cold toward him.

Mother and son often argue while Calvin tries to referee, generally taking Conrad's side for fear of pushing him over the edge again. Things come to a climax near Christmas when Conrad becomes furious at Beth for not wanting to take a photo with him, swearing at her in front of his grandparents. Afterwards, Beth discovers Conrad has been lying about his after-school whereabouts. This leads to a heated argument between Conrad and Beth in which Conrad points out that Beth never visited him in the hospital, saying that she "would have come if Buck was in the hospital." Beth replies, "Buck never would have ''been'' in the hospital!" It is also revealed that when Conrad attempted suicide, Beth was more upset about him getting blood on their towels. Beth and Calvin take a trip to see Beth's brother in Houston, where Calvin confronts Beth about her attitude.

Conrad suffers a setback when he learns that Karen, a friend of his from the psychiatric hospital, has died by suicide. A cathartic breakthrough session with Dr. Berger allows Conrad to stop blaming himself for Buck's death and accept his mother's frailties. However, when Conrad tries to show affection, Beth is unresponsive, leading Calvin to emotionally confront her one last time. He questions their love and asks whether she is capable of truly loving anyone. Stunned, Beth packs her bags and goes back to Houston. Calvin and Conrad are left to come to terms with their new family situation, affirming their father-son love for each other.

In 1945, 13-year-old Loretta Webb is one of eight children of Ted Webb, a Van Lear coal miner raising a family with his wife in the midst of grinding poverty in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky (pronounced by locals as "Butcher Holler").

In 1948, at the age of 15, Loretta marries 22-year-old Oliver "Mooney" (aka Doo, short for Doolittle) Lynn, becoming a mother of four by the time she is 19. The family moves to northern Washington State, where Doo works in the forest industry and Loretta sings occasionally at local honky-tonks on weekends. After some time, Loretta makes an occasional appearance on local radio.

By the time Loretta turns 25, Norm Burley, the owner of Zero Records, a small Canadian record label, hears Loretta sing during one of her early radio appearances. Burley gives the couple the money needed to travel to Los Angeles to cut a demo tape from which her first single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," is made. After returning home from the sessions, Doo suggests he and Loretta go on a promotional tour to push the record. Doo shoots his own publicity photo for Loretta, and spends many late nights writing letters to show promoters and to radio disc jockeys all over the South. After Loretta receives an emergency phone call from her mother telling her that her father had died, she and Doo hit the road with records, photos, and their children. The two embark on an extensive promotional tour of radio stations across the South.

En route, and unbeknownst to the couple, Loretta's first single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," hits the charts based on radio and jukebox plays, and earns her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. In the summer of 1961, after 17 straight weekly performances on the Opry, she is invited to sing at Ernest Tubb Record Shop's Midnite Jamboree after her performance that night. Country superstar Patsy Cline, one of Loretta's idols, who had recently been hospitalized from a near-fatal car wreck, inspires Loretta to dedicate Patsy's newest hit "I Fall to Pieces" to the singer herself as a musical get-well card. Cline listens to the broadcast that night from her hospital room and sends her husband Charlie Dick to Ernest Tubb Record Shop to fetch Loretta so the two can meet. A close friendship with Cline follows, which abruptly was ended by Cline's death in a plane crash on March 5, 1963.

The next few years are a whirlwind. The stress of extensive touring, keeping up her image, overwork, and trying to keep her marriage and family together cause Loretta a nervous breakdown, which she suffers onstage at the beginning of a concert. After a year off at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, Loretta goes back on the road, returning to establish herself as the "First Lady of Country Music."

The film closes with Loretta recounting the story of her life through her 1970 hit song "Coal Miner's Daughter" to a sold-out audience.

Frederick Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital, finds John Merrick in a Victorian freak show in London's East End, where he is kept by Mr. Bytes, a greedy, sadistic, and violent ringmaster. His head is kept hooded, and his "owner", who views him as intellectually disabled, is paid by Treves to bring him to the hospital for examination. Treves presents Merrick to his colleagues and highlights his monstrous skull, which forces him to sleep with his head on his knees, since if he were to lie down, he would asphyxiate. On Merrick's return, he is beaten so badly by Bytes that he has to call Treves for medical help. Treves brings him back to the hospital.

Merrick is tended to by Mrs. Mothershead, the formidable matron, as the other nurses are too frightened of him. Mr. Carr Gomm, the hospital's Governor, is against housing Merrick, as the hospital does not accept "incurables." To prove that Merrick can make progress, Treves trains him to say a few conversational sentences. Carr Gomm sees through this ruse, but as he is leaving, Merrick begins to recite the 23rd Psalm and continues past the part of the Psalm that Treves taught him. Merrick tells the doctors that he knows how to read, and has memorized the 23rd Psalm because it is his favorite. Carr Gomm permits him to stay, and Merrick spends his time practicing conversation with Treves and building a model of a cathedral he sees from his window.

Merrick has tea with Treves and his wife, and is so overwhelmed by their kindness, he shows them his mother's picture. He believes he must have been a "disappointment" to his mother, but hopes she would be proud to see him with his "lovely friends". Merrick begins to take guests in his rooms, including the actress Madge Kendal, who introduces him to the work of Shakespeare. Merrick quickly becomes an object of curiosity to high society, and Mrs. Mothershead expresses concerns that he is still being put on display as a freak. Treves begins to question the morality of his own actions. Meanwhile, a night porter named Jim starts selling tickets to locals, who come at night to gawk at the "Elephant Man".

The issue of Merrick's residence is challenged at a hospital council meeting, but he is guaranteed permanent residence by command of the hospital's royal patron, Queen Victoria, who sends word with her daughter-in-law Alexandra. However, Merrick is soon kidnapped by Bytes during one of Jim's raucous late-night showings. Bytes leaves England and takes Merrick on the road as a circus attraction once again. A witness reports to Treves, who confronts Jim about what he has done, and Mothershead fires him.

Merrick is forced to be an "attraction" again, but during a "show" in Belgium, Merrick, who is weak and dying, collapses, causing a drunken Bytes to lock him in a cage and leave him to die. Merrick manages to escape from Bytes with the help of his fellow freakshow attractions. Upon returning to London, he is harassed through Liverpool Street station by several young boys and accidentally knocks down a young girl. Merrick is chased, unmasked, and cornered by an angry mob. He cries, "I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I ... am ... a ... man!" before collapsing. Policemen return Merrick to the hospital and Treves. He recovers some of his health, but is dying of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Treves and Mothershead take Merrick to see one of Mrs Kendal's shows at the theatre, and Kendal dedicates the performance to him. A proud Merrick receives a standing ovation from the audience.

Back at the hospital, Merrick thanks Treves for all he has done, and completes his church model. He lies down on his back in bed, imitating a sleeping child in a picture on his wall, and dies in his sleep. Merrick is consoled by a vision of his mother, who quotes Lord Tennyson's "Nothing Will Die".

Sally Matthews is a young waitress from Saskatchewan, working at an oyster bar in an Atlantic City casino. She has dreams of becoming a blackjack dealer, going through dealer training under the tutelage of Joseph. Joseph, from France, encourages her to learn French and become a dealer in Monte Carlo.

Sally's estranged husband Dave and her pregnant sister Chrissie show up one day with the intention of selling a $10,000 ( ) bag of cocaine he had stolen in Philadelphia. Sally is outraged to see him, as he had impregnated Chrissie and run off with her. Dave meets Lou, an aging former gangster who lives in Sally's apartment building and runs a small time numbers game in poor areas of the city; Lou also acts as a caretaker for Grace, a seemingly bedridden, aging beauty queen whose gangster husband he used to work under, and who constantly berates and demeans him. Dave convinces Lou to sell the cocaine for him, but as Lou sells the first batch to Alfie, who runs an illegal poker game in a hotel room, Dave is attacked and killed by the mobsters from whom he had stolen the drugs.

Lou is left with the remaining cocaine and continues to sell it to impress Sally, whom he has long pined for, with money. Sally and Lou make love one day, but she returns to her apartment to find it trashed; she has been tracked down by Dave's killers, who beat her to find out if she has the drugs. They leave, but Lou laments not being able to protect her. Grace also reveals that Lou was a small-time crook and nowhere near as competent as he pretends.

Sally is fired from the casino when her late husband's criminal record is discovered. Lou sells most of the remainder of the cocaine, while both Sally and the mobsters discover Lou's affiliation with Dave. The mobsters corner them one night, but are killed when Lou produces a gun and shoots them. He and Sally then steal their car and leave Atlantic City. That night, from a motel, they watch the TV news reporting on the killing. A police sketch of the suspect is shown. It looks nothing like Lou. Lou is overjoyed with relief and pride. He confesses to Sally that this was the first time he has ever killed anyone.

At the motel the next morning, Lou takes the phone to the bathroom to call Grace and brag about the killings. Sally wakes and takes half of the money with the intention of sneaking off; Lou witnesses this, allowing her to leave and giving her the car keys so she can escape to France, rather than go to Miami with him. Lou returns to Atlantic City to be with Grace. Working together, they sell the remaining portion of the cocaine and walk off arm in arm with renewed respect for each other.

Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon) arrives in Chile to search for his son Charlie (John Shea), who worked as a journalist and disappeared during the recent military coup. Ed meets his daughter-in-law, Beth (Sissy Spacek), with whom he has a strained relationship and they fight over politics. Ed blames his son and daughter-in-law's radical political views for Charlie's disappearance, while Beth blames the American government. Ed uses his connections to meet with various government officials to find out the truth about his son's disappearance.

As he investigates, Ed finds that the American embassy is not as helpful as he thought they would be and he suspects them of hiding information about Charlie. One U.S. diplomat is polite and friendly but constantly lies to him; a high-ranking American military attache is blunt and tells Ed that whatever happened to Charlie was his own fault, noting "You play with fire, you get burned." Together, he and Beth learn that the U.S. had many interests in the country that have been enhanced by the coup and its aftermath and that many military officials aided Pinochet in the coup. As Ed becomes disillusioned with the American government, he comes to respect the work Beth and Charlie were doing and he and Beth reconcile. When they receive proof that Charlie was murdered by the junta and that the U.S. let it happen, he tells the embassy officials "I just thank God we live in a country where we can still put people like you in jail!"

The film ends with a postscript stating that after his return to the United States, Ed received the body of his son Charlie seven months later, making an autopsy impossible, and that a subsequent lawsuit against the US government was dismissed. It also adds that the State Department denies its involvement in the Pinochet coup, a position maintained to the present day.

Once-promising attorney Frank Galvin is an alcoholic ambulance chaser. As a favor, friend and former partner Mickey Morrissey sends him a medical malpractice case which is all but certain to be settled for a large amount. The case involves a young woman given general anesthesia during childbirth at a Catholic hospital, after which she choked on her vomit and was left comatose and on a ventilator. The plaintiffs, her sister and brother-in-law, intend to use the settlement to pay for her care.

Frank is deeply affected by a visit to the comatose woman's hospital room. Later, a representative of the Catholic diocese offers a substantial settlement. Without consulting the family, Frank declines and states his intention to take the case to trial, stunning all parties including the presiding Judge Hoyle. Afterwards, Frank meets a woman named Laura in a bar, and becomes romantically involved with her.

Frank's case experiences several setbacks: The hospital's high-priced attorney, Ed Concannon, has at his disposal a large legal team that is masterful with the press. His client's brother-in-law angrily confronts Frank after he learns from Concannon's team that Frank rejected the settlement. Frank's medical expert disappears before testifying, and a hastily-arranged substitute's credentials are called into question. Hoyle, who despises Frank, undermines his questioning of the substitute. No one who was in the operating room is willing to testify that negligence occurred.

In chambers during the trial, Hoyle threatens Frank with disbarment and arrest. Frank angrily dismisses the judge as a bagman and "defendant's judge" who couldn't "hack it" as a lawyer. He angrily leaves the judge's chambers and slams the door behind him.

Kaitlin Costello, the nurse who admitted Frank's client to the hospital, is now a pre-school teacher in New York City; Frank travels there to seek her help. As Laura hastily arranges to meet him, Mickey discovers a check from Concannon in her handbag and realizes Concannon is paying Laura to provide inside information on Galvin's legal strategy. Mickey flies to New York to tell Frank about Laura's betrayal; confronting her in a bar, Frank strikes Laura hard enough to knock her to the floor. Returning to Boston, Mickey suggests moving for a mistrial because of Concannon's ethics violations, but Frank decides to continue.

In the courtroom, Costello testifies that she wrote that the patient ate a full meal one hour before being admitted, contradicting her original note of nine hours. On cross-examination, an incredulous Concannon asks her how she can prove this; Costello reveals that before she made the change, she made a photocopy of the original note, and that she brought the copy to court. Concannon objects that for legal purposes, the original is presumed to be correct, but Hoyle unexpectedly reserves judgment. Costello testifies that the anesthesiologist later confessed to her that he had failed to read her admitting notes and administered general anesthesia, which is not proper for someone who ate only an hour previously. As a result, the patient vomited and choked. When the anesthesiologist realized his error, he threatened to end Costello's career if she did not change the "1" to a "9”.

After Costello is dismissed, Concannon again objects on the grounds that the original has precedence. The judge agrees and declares Costello's testimony stricken from the record. Afterwards a diocese lawyer praises Concannon's performance to the bishop, who then asks, "But do you believe her?" — and is met with embarrassed silence.

Despite believing his case is hopeless, Frank gives a brief but passionate closing argument. The jury finds in favor of Frank's client and the foreman asks the judge whether the jury can award more than the amount the plaintiffs sought; the judge resignedly replies that they can. As Frank is congratulated outside the courtroom, he catches a glimpse of Laura watching him from across the atrium before vanishing.

That night, a drunk Laura drops her whiskey on the floor, drags her phone towards her and dials Frank's number. As his office phone rings, Frank sits with a cup of coffee. He moves to answer the call but then stops and lets the phone continue to ring.

In this experimental unit of the prison, unit manager Tim McManus emphasizes rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration, rather than carrying out purely punitive measures. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment, with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, intended to ease tensions among these various factions. However, almost all of these factions are constantly at war with one another which often results in many prisoners being beaten, raped, or killed.

Under McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, all inmates in "Em City" struggle to fulfill their own needs. Some fight for power – either over the drug trade or over other inmate factions and individuals. Others, corrections officers and inmates alike, simply want to survive, some long enough to make parole and others just to see the next day. The show's narrator, inmate Augustus Hill, explains the show, and provides context, thematic analysis, and a sense of humor.

''Oz'' chronicles McManus' attempts to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates throughout the show, and not everyone within each group survives the show's events. There are the African-American Homeboys (Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keane, Adebisi) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta, Zanghi, Urbano), the Aryan Brotherhood (Schillinger, Robson, Mack), the Latinos of El Norte (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (The O'Reilly brothers, Kirk, Keenan), the Gays (Hanlon, Cramer, Ginzburg), the Bikers (Hoyt, Sands, Burns), the Christians (Cloutier, Coushaine, Cudney) and many other individuals not completely affiliated with one particular group (Rebadow, Busmalis, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, central character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a usually law-abiding man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake.

The game is set some time after a catastrophic comet impact, which brought a deadly virus onto the planet. The resulting plague caused deaths of millions of people, while other victims were mutated and began hearing the voice of a malevolent deity. They formed an organization called "The Order" and enslaved the rest of the populace. However, a rag-tag resistance movement, called "The Front", is trying to topple The Order's reign.

The unnamed protagonist of the game is a wandering mercenary, captured by Order troops near the town of Tarnhill. After killing the guards and escaping, he comes in contact with a man named Rowan, who makes him an offer to join the Front. The protagonist receives a communication device through which he can remain in contact with a female member of the Front, codenamed Blackbird. From then on, Blackbird provides assistance and commentary throughout the game. The protagonist heads to the Front's base, where the rebel leader, Macil, sends him on a number of missions in order to weaken the Order. After several acts of sabotage, the Front proceeds to assault the Order's castle; the protagonist, accompanying them in the attack, finds and kills a major member of the Order called "The Programmer". He loses consciousness upon touching the weapon that the Programmer had been using.

The mercenary wakes up in the castle, now taken over by the Front. Macil explains that the Programmer's weapon is one of the five fragments of the "Sigil", a powerful weapon worshipped by the Order. He orders the protagonist to find the remaining four. To this end, the mercenary visits a knowledgeable being called "The Oracle", who reveals that the next fragment is being held by another of the Order's leaders, The Bishop. After killing the Bishop and acquiring the second fragment, the protagonist returns to the Oracle only to be told that the third fragment is being held by Macil himself; the Oracle claims that Macil is a traitor who has been using the protagonist as a pawn in his scheme. At this point, the player must make a decision: either disbelieve the Oracle and kill it, or trust the Oracle and kill Macil. The choice has bearing on the rest of the plot.

Assuming the player trusts Macil and kills the Oracle - acquiring the third fragment - he receives another task from Macil: to deactivate a factory, built on the comet's impact site, where the Order is turning captured people into "bio-mechanical soldiers." Upon completing his mission, the protagonist learns that Macil has gone insane; he returns to the base and attempts to speak to Macil, who declares in his madness that he wishes to free the "one god", then attacks the protagonist. Upon killing Macil, the protagonist receives the fourth Sigil fragment. He then returns to the factory, where lies the laboratory of the Loremaster, another of the Order's leaders. After killing Loremaster and thus acquiring the final Sigil piece, he proceeds to use the weapon to unlock a door leading to the comet's impact site. Inside, he finds an extraterrestrial spaceship. Within the ship waits an alien being known as "The Entity"; it is the one responsible for creating the Order and taking over the minds of mutated people. The mercenary kills it with the Sigil; its death means the end of the Order. He then finally meets Blackbird face to face. She tells him that his victory allowed mankind to create a vaccine for the virus, then kisses him.

The plot takes a different direction if the player decides to trust the Oracle and immediately kill Macil. Once he does so (claiming Macil's Sigil piece in the process), the Oracle dispatches him to the Loremaster's laboratory. Having killed the Loremaster and obtained the fourth fragment of the Sigil, the protagonist returns to the Oracle, who then reveals that it was using him all along in a bid to acquire the complete Sigil, use it to free the "one god", and attain eternal life. The mercenary kills the Oracle and, with all five fragments of the Sigil now in his possession, heads to the alien ship. There he encounters the Entity; however, the being speaks with Blackbird's voice, and implies that it was manipulating the protagonist throughout the game in order to regain freedom and take over the planet. After killing the Entity, the ending sequence is shown, this time less optimistic: the cure for the virus has not been invented and mankind's future is uncertain.

In the early 1980s, Jaime Escalante becomes a mathematics teacher at James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. The school is full of Latino students from working-class families whose academic achievement is far below their grade level. Two students, Angel and another gangster, arrive late and question Escalante's authority. Escalante demonstrates how to multiply numbers using one's fingers and appeals to the students' sense of humor. After class, some gangsters threaten Escalante. After school, he stops the gangsters from fighting. He then introduces himself as a 'one-man gang' with the classroom as his domain. Escalante tells the students that he's decided to teach the students algebra.

At a meeting, Escalante learns that the school's accreditation is under threat, as test scores are not high enough. Escalante says that students will rise to the level that is expected of them. Escalante gives the students a quiz every morning and a new student joins the class. He instructs his class under the philosophy of ''ganas'', roughly translating to "desire".

Escalante tells other faculty that he wants to teach the students calculus. He seeks to change the school culture to help the students excel in academics, as he has seen the untapped potential of his class. Other teachers ridicule him, as the students have not taken the prerequisites. Escalante states that the students can take the prerequisites over the summer. He sets a goal of having the students take AP Calculus by their senior year.

The students sign up for the prerequisites over the summer. There is no air conditioning, but Escalante is able to teach the class, giving them oranges and telling them to focus so they can get good jobs and take vacations. In the fall, he gives the students contracts to be signed by the parents; they must come in on Saturdays, show up an hour early to school, and stay until 5pm in order to prepare for the AP Calculus exam.

Two weeks before the students' exam, Escalante is teaching an ESL class to some adults. He suddenly clutches at his torso in pain, stumbles into the hallway, and falls. A substitute teacher is found for the students while Escalante recovers in the hospital, but the substitute teacher is a music teacher. Soon after, Escalante escapes from the hospital and shows up at school to continue teaching. After taking the exam, the students head to the beach and celebrate. All 18 students who took the exam pass it. At a meeting to congratulate the students, a plaque of appreciation is presented to Escalante.

To the dismay of both Escalante and the students, the Educational Testing Service questions the students' exam scores. Escalante finds an anonymous letter of resignation in his school mail and has to walk home that evening, as his car has been stolen from the school parking lot. Dismayed, he confides in his wife that he regrets having taught the students calculus, because they did well but nothing changed for them. The boys of the class show up at Escalante's house; they have fixed up his car as a way to thank him. Escalante meets with the investigators from Educational Testing Service, argues with them, but ultimately offers to have the students retake the test. Despite having only one day to prepare, all the students pass, and Escalante demands that the original scores be resubmitted.

After the death of her parents, Utena Tenjou was given a rose-engraved signet ring by a traveling prince. The prince promised Utena that they would one day meet again; inspired by his noble demeanor, Utena decided to one day become a prince herself. Years later, Utena's search for the prince leads her to Ohtori Academy, where she enrolls as a student. She finds herself drawn into a dueling tournament with the school's Student Council, whose members wear signet rings identical to Utena's. Victors of the duel become engaged to Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the "Rose Bride" who possesses the "power to revolutionize the world". Utena emerges victorious; forced to defend her position as the Rose Bride's fiancée, she decides to remain in the tournament in order to protect Anthy from the other duelists. As Utena and Anthy grow closer, she learns that Anthy is connected to "End of the World," the mysterious organizer of the duels.

''Revolutionary Girl Utena'' is a surrealist story that makes heavy use of allegory and symbolism, with many aspects of its plot revealed indirectly or in a manner that is open to audience interpretation. The anime series is divided into four story arcs, in each of which Utena comes to face a different challenge at Ohtori Academy:

*'''Student Council Saga''' (episodes 1–13) :Utena faces the members of the Student Council, who challenge Utena on orders from End of the World.

*'''Black Rose Saga''' (episodes 14–23) :Utena faces Souji Mikage, a prodigy who uses his powers of persuasion and knowledge of psychology to manipulate others into becoming duelists who seek to kill Anthy.

*'''Akio Ohtori Saga''' (episodes 24–33) :End of the World is revealed as Akio Ohtori, the school's chairman and Anthy's brother. Upon meeting Akio, the Student Council members gain new abilities and face Utena in rematches. Utena finds herself the target of Akio's seduction, creating a rift between her and Anthy.

*'''Apocalypse Saga''' (episodes 34–39) :Akio reveals himself as Utena's prince, and is confronted by Utena in a final duel to free Anthy from his influence.

Keiichi Morisato is a college sophomore who accidentally calls the Goddess Help Line. The goddess Belldandy materializes and tells him that her agency has received a system request from him and has been sent to grant him a single wish. Believing that a practical joke is being played on him, he wishes that she will stay with him forever, and his wish is granted.

Since he is unable to live with Belldandy in his male-only dorms, they are forced to look for alternative housing, eventually seeking shelter in an old Buddhist temple. They are allowed to stay there indefinitely after the young monk living there leaves on a pilgrimage to India upon being impressed by Belldandy's intrinsic goodness. Keiichi's life with Belldandy becomes even more hectic when her elder sister Urd and her younger sister Skuld move in as well. A series of adventures ensue as his relationship with Belldandy develops.

In modern-day Tokyo, Kagome Higurashi lives on the grounds of her family's Shinto shrine with her mother, grandfather, and younger brother. On her fifteenth birthday, while searching for her cat, Kagome is dragged into the enshrined by a centipede demon that emerges from it. Rather than hitting the bottom, Kagome finds herself in another universe which is parallel to her universe - but in the past, during Japan's Sengoku period. The demon was originally defeated fifty years prior by Kikyo, a warrior priestess who was the previous keeper of the , a powerfully magical artifact created from the sacrifice of the priestess Midoriko, which grants its holder any wish their heart desires. Kagome is revealed to be the reincarnation of the now-dead Kikyo. The Shikon Jewel was burned along with Kikyo's body to cast it out of this world entirely, in order to keep it safe from the hands of those who would use its power for evil. Kagome comes across a sleeping boy pinned by a sacred arrow to a tree, learning he is Inuyasha, a half-human, half-demon (''yōkai'') whom Kikyo pinned to the tree as her final act when he attempted to steal the jewel. Kagome then gets attacked by a centipede demon and desperately frees Inuyasha to kill the centipede demon, but when he turns on her and tries to steal the jewel again, he is subdued with a magical beaded necklace to keep him in line with Kagome saying "sit" or "sit boy", which causes him to violently fall to the ground. The Shikon Jewel is extracted from Kagome's body and taken by a crow demon, which Kagome destroys with an arrow, but in doing so, inadvertently shatters the jewel into many shards that scatter across Japan and into the possession of various demons and humans.

After Inuyasha gains his father's sword Tessaiga, placing him in the odds with his older half-brother Sesshomaru, a powerful demon who seeks Tessaiga for himself, who is with a mortal girl called Rin a kind human, he aids Kagome in collecting the shards and dealing with the threats they come across as they are joined by Shippo, a young fox demon. Kikyo is later revived and revealed to have been Inuyasha's lover, but her version of how their falling out occurred brings the events into question. It is when the group is joined by the perverted monk Miroku, whose hand is cursed with a Wind Tunnel that was passed on to him from his grandfather, that they learn that his family's curse and the events which resulted in Inuyasha's imprisonment and Kikyo's death were all caused by the spider half-demon Naraku, who was born from the soul of the bandit Onigumo, who, longing for Kikyo, made a pact with demons to acquire the Shikon Jewel for his own ends. Naraku comes into possession of most of the shards while absorbing demons to increase his power and remove any weaknesses. Inuyasha's group is soon joined after by the demon slayer Sango and her two-tailed demon cat Kirara. Sango's entire clan was killed when they were tricked by Naraku and her younger brother Kohaku fell under his control. Over time, Inuyasha enhances Tessaiga into stronger forms while he contends with Naraku's schemes and minions. Inuyasha's team is loosely allied with Sesshomaru, who also becomes an enemy of Naraku after he attempts to manipulate him into doing his bidding, the resurrected Kikyo who plans to destroy Naraku by purifying the Shikon Jewel once it is completed and him with it, and Koga, the leader of the eastern wolf demon tribe who seeks to avenge many of his comrades' deaths at the hands of Naraku. As Inuyasha and his companions journey together, he and Kagome begin to fall in love with one another, which is complicated due to Inuyasha's lingering feelings for Kikyo.

Desperately hunted by his enemies, Naraku temporarily removes his human heart and mortally wounds Kikyo. Kohaku, having been previously killed but later revived by Naraku and kept alive and under his control by a Shikon Jewel fragment, eventually regains his free will and memories and attempts to escape Naraku's grasp and avenge his slain family. During that time, Sesshomaru settles things with Inuyasha to enable his brother to perfect Tessaiga to its optimal abilities. Kikyo uses the last of her life force to give Kohaku a second chance at life as Naraku fully reassembles the Shikon Jewel. Although Inuyasha and his allies defeat him for good, realizing his true desire is for Kikyo's love despite his hatred towards her and that it can never be granted, Naraku uses his wish to trap himself and Kagome inside the Shikon Jewel before dying. Revealed to be sentient, the Shikon Jewel intends for Kagome to make a selfish wish so she and Naraku will be trapped in an eternal conflict, thus prolonging its existence; however, with Inuyasha by her side, Kagome wishes for the Shikon Jewel to disappear forever, allowing her to return to her time with the well sealed, and she and Inuyasha lose contact for three years.

In that time, the Sengoku period changes drastically: Sango and Miroku marry and have three children together; Kohaku resumes his journey to become a strong demon slayer with Kirara as his companion; and Shippo trains to make his demon magic stronger. Back in the present, eighteen-year-old Kagome graduates from high school before finally managing to get the Bone Eater's Well in her backyard to work again. Kagome returns to the Sengoku period, where she reunites with Inuyasha, marries him, and continues to train with Kaede to become a topmost-level priestess.

Hibiki Amawa is an enthusiastic young man whose dream career is to be a professional teacher, having graduated from college with a certificate in athletics. When he is unable to pay his landlady, Lulu Sanjo, the monthly rent for his apartment, he rushes off to the nearby Seitō Sannomiya Private School to apply for a position that is open, but is summarily denied employment because of his gender. Offended, and more determined than ever to have his way, Hibiki vows to demonstrate the merits of his educational philosophy to his detractors, and with offered help from Lulu, agrees to disguise himself by cross-dressing in order to deceive the school's female-only administration. With assistance from some gadgets Lulu engineered for this purpose, he disguises himself very convincingly. Following an initial demonstration of his merits as an educator, he is hired.

Unfortunately for Hibiki, however, life as a gym teacher at this school does not go completely smoothly. With interpersonal conflicts among students causing fights and occasional mild missteps endangering his disguise, Hibiki must not only mediate his class, but also keep up appearances and navigate life in disguise.

Jim is a normal earthworm, until a special "super suit" falls from the sky and allows him to operate much like a human, with his worm body acting as a head and the suit acting as a body. Jim now must evade the game's many antagonists, who want the suit back. The game plays out with Jim succeeding in his quest of meeting Princess What's-Her-Name. However, she is crushed by a cow that Jim launched into space at the beginning of the game.

Jim is a normal earthworm, until a special "super suit" falls from the sky and allows him to operate much like a human, with his worm body acting as a head and the suit acting as a body. Jim now must evade the game's many antagonists, who want the suit back. The game plays out with Jim succeeding in his quest of meeting Princess What's-Her-Name. However, she is crushed by a cow that Jim launched into space at the beginning of the game.

On their way to join their friends ice skating on a frozen pond, Charlie Brown confides in Linus that, despite the Christmas season, he is still depressed. After Linus' reproach, and a put-down from Violet, he visits Lucy's psychiatric booth and tells her his problem. She suggests that he direct the group's annual Christmas play to get him involved, and he accepts.

Charlie Brown becomes even more discouraged by his observations of Christmas' commercialization as he heads for the rehearsal: Lucy laments over not receiving real estate for Christmas; Snoopy decorates his doghouse for a neighborhood lights and display contest; and Charlie Brown's younger sister Sally asks him to write a greedy letter to Santa Claus. At the rehearsal, Charlie Brown finds a play fit for the 1960s with dancing, lively music, an uncooperative cast and a "Christmas Queen" (Lucy). Unable to control the cast, Charlie Brown decides the play needs a more "proper mood," and recommends a Christmas tree; Lucy suggests a big, pink aluminum tree then sends him and Linus to get one.

At the tree lot, Charlie Brown picks the only real tree there, a small sapling. Linus questions his choice, but Charlie Brown believes that once decorated, it will be perfect. When they return, however, Lucy and the others scorn him and the tree and walk away laughing. Crestfallen, Charlie Brown loudly asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about; Linus says he does, walks to center stage, asks for a spotlight, recites the annunciation to the shepherds, returns and says, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Realizing that he does not have to let commercialism ruin his own Christmas, Charlie Brown takes the tree home to decorate it and show the others that it will work in the play. He stops at Snoopy's doghouse, which had won the lights and display contest, and hangs a large red Christmas ball on his tree. The ornament's weight causes the tiny tree to bend to the ground; believing he has killed the tree, Charlie Brown, dejected, walks away.

The others realize that they were too hard on Charlie Brown and quietly follow him. Linus gently uprights the drooping tree and wraps his blanket around its base to give it some support. After the others give the tree a makeover using more decorations from the doghouse, even Lucy concedes to Charlie Brown's choice. The kids then start humming "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Hearing them, Charlie Brown returns to see that the sapling is now a magnificent Christmas tree. All the kids shout, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!", and then sing "Hark" with Charlie Brown joining in as snow begins to fall.

Mr. Magoo is heading to a theater on Broadway, where he is starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical production based on ''A Christmas Carol''. Due to Magoo's nearsightedness, he arrives 30 minutes late and accidentally injures the director ("It's Great to Be Back on Broadway").

Scrooge is a miserly money lender in Victorian London on Christmas Eve, counting money while his clerk Bob Cratchit is underpaid and has no coal for his fire ("Ringle, Ringle"). After rudely refusing two men who ask him for a donation to charity, Scrooge reluctantly allows Cratchit to take the holiday off. Scrooge goes home and gets ready for bed, but is visited by the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley, who has been dead for seven years. Marley is bound in heavy chains due to his misdeeds in life and warns Scrooge that he risks the same fate unless he heeds the advice of three spirits who will visit him over the course of the night.

The Ghost of Christmas Present visits Scrooge first and takes him to observe Cratchit and his family, who are counting their blessings despite their poor situation ("The Lord's Bright Blessing"). The Ghost warns Scrooge that Cratchit's young son Tiny Tim, who is sickly, will not survive to next Christmas if things do not change.

The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge next and takes him back to his boyhood, where Scrooge was a lonely schoolboy ("Alone in the World"). The Ghost also shows him Belle, a woman he had a relationship with before she left him due to his desire for money ("Winter Was Warm").

Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and is shown a vision of the future, where an unloved man has recently died. Scrooge sees his charwoman, his laundress, and the local undertaker sell his belongings to a fence named Old Joe ("We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)"). Scrooge begs to be shown "tenderness connected with death", but discovers that Tiny Tim has died. The Ghost takes Scrooge to a cemetery and shows him his own grave, revealing that this deceased man is him. Scrooge realizes in anguish that he has spent his life poorly, and repents ("Alone in the World (Reprise)").

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with a renewed purpose. He meets the two men from the previous day and makes a generous donation, then anonymously sends Cratchit a Christmas turkey. He later visits Cratchit to give him a raise in pay and help nurse Tiny Tim back to health, and shares Christmas together with them ("The Lord's Bright Blessing (Reprise)").

The musical concludes and the audience applauds. Magoo brings the director out on stage, but the stage's props, lights and scenery fall on him. Magoo proudly exclaims "Oh, Magoo, you've done it again, and by George, I've brought down the house!" and wishes both his audience and the television audience a Merry Christmas.

A manned space flight with eight crew members crash lands on what the astronauts believe to be an unknown asteroid, with an area of desert and jagged mountains. Only four of the crew survive the crash: the commanding officer Donlin, crewmen Corey and Pierson, and a crewman named Hudak who is badly injured and barely alive, and the chances of rescue or survival are bleak. After they bury the dead men, Donlin and Pierson concern themselves with taking care of Hudak, but Corey, who is only concerned with saving himself, declares that sharing their limited supply of water with Hudak will reduce the chances of survival for the rest of them. This sets Corey at odds with both Pierson and Donlin, who insist that they will care for Hudak and share their water with him for as long as he does survive. Hudak dies a short time later; after they bury him, Donlin has Corey and Pierson trek out into the barren desert to see if there is anything that might improve their chances of survival.

Six hours later, Corey returns alone, claiming not to know where Pierson went. Donlin calls Corey out on having more water in his canteen now than he had when he left, and demands to know where Pierson is. Corey claims that he found Pierson dead and took his water. Not believing this account, Donlin wants to see for himself and forces Corey at gunpoint to lead him to Pierson's body. When they reach the spot Corey claims to have found Pierson, the body is not there, nor is there any evidence that backs Corey's claim, leaving Donlin more dubious. They later find Pierson near the edge of a mountain, alive but severely wounded. Donlin drops the gun and rushes to Pierson, who wordlessly gestures that he climbed the mountain and saw something. With his last bit of strength, Pierson draws a primitive diagram in the sand with his finger (two parallel lines intersected by a perpendicular line), and then dies. Meanwhile, Corey grabs the dropped gun, and confesses that he attacked Pierson earlier. He then shoots and kills Donlin and sets out alone, confident that he will survive longer now that he has all of the water for himself.

Corey climbs a mountain and sees a sign for Reno, along with telephone poles, which was what Pierson had attempted to draw before he died. Realizing that they had in fact never left Earth and that he had killed his partners for nothing, Corey breaks down weeping and begging his deceased crewmates for forgiveness.

Nan Adams, age 27, on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Los Angeles, gets a flat tire on U.S. Route 11 in Pennsylvania and survives losing control of the car and skidding onto the shoulder. The mechanic she has called to come put a spare tire on comments that he is surprised she survived, saying "you shouldn't have called for a mechanic. Somebody should've called for a hearse." He directs her to follow him into town where he will supply her with a new tire. As she is driving from the site of her blow-out, Nan notices a shabby and strange-looking man hitchhiking. Later, as she is preparing to leave the service station in town, she again sees this hitchhiker; but the mechanic does not see him when she mentions it. Unnerved, she drives away. As she continues her trip, Nan sees the same hitchhiker thumbing for a ride again in Virginia and at several other points in her journey.

She grows increasingly frightened of him. When she stops at a railroad crossing for an oncoming train, the man is situated on the other side of the tracks. She decides to drive ahead but the car stalls on the tracks. She manages to restart the vehicle and back up just as the train speeds past.

Nan is now convinced that the hitchhiker is trying to kill her. She continues to drive, becoming more and more afraid, stopping only when necessary. Every time she stops, however, the hitchhiker is there, always ahead of her.

She takes a side road in New Mexico but gets stranded when she runs out of gas. She reaches a gas station on foot but it is closed; although she rouses the proprietor from bed, he refuses to reopen and sell her gas due to the late hour. Nan is startled by a sailor on his way back to San Diego from leave. Eager for protection from the hitchhiker, she offers to drive the sailor all the way to his destination. He gladly accepts and persuades the station attendant to provide gas. As they drive together and discuss their mutual predicaments, she sees the hitchhiker on the road and swerves toward him. The sailor, who cannot see him, questions her driving; she admits she was trying to run over the hitchhiker. The sailor begins to fear for his safety and leaves her, despite her efforts to have him stay, even going so far as offering to go out with him.

In Arizona, Nan stops to call her mother in Manhattan, New York City. The woman who answers the phone says Mrs. Adams is in the hospital, having suffered a nervous breakdown after finding out that her daughter, Nan, died in Pennsylvania six days ago when the car she was driving blew a tire and overturned. Nan realizes the truth: she didn't survive the accident in Pennsylvania and the hitchhiker is none other than the personification of death, patiently and persistently waiting for her to realize that she has been dead all along. She loses all emotion, concern, and feels empty.

Nan returns to the car and looks in the vanity mirror on the visor. Instead of her reflection, she sees the hitchhiker, who says, "I believe you're going...''my'' way?"

Franklin Gibbs and his wife Flora go to Las Vegas because she won a slogan contest. He detests gambling, but his wife is excited about their vacation. In a casino, she puts a nickel in a slot machine and Franklin admonishes her for wasting money. She convinces him to let her pull the arm since she already put the money in, but wins nothing on the spin. Happy that his point was made, he implores her to go back to their room so they can get ready for dinner. As they walk, Franklin is given a coin by a drunk man who makes him use it in another machine. He wins and tells his wife that they should keep the winnings and not lose it back like other people.

As they depart, Franklin believes he hears the slot machine calling his name. He continues to hear this as he tries to sleep. He gets out of bed, telling his wife he cannot keep "tainted" money, and that he is going to get rid of it by putting it back in the machine. Later, Flora goes to the casino and finds him playing the machine obsessively. Addicted, Franklin has cashed numerous checks and draws crowds that watch him continue to play the machine. When Flora tries to coax him to stop, he declares that he has lost so much that he has to try to win some of it back. He becomes enraged when she presses him to leave; he declares that the machine is "inhuman", that it "teases you, sucks you in". The casino workers watch and talk about him as he constantly plays and ignores his wife's pleas to go to bed.

When Franklin puts his last dollar into the machine, it malfunctions and will not spin. He loses his temper, knocks the machine over, and is taken screaming out of the casino. Later in bed, he tells Flora that it was about to pay off, but deliberately broke down so that it would not have to give him his money. He then hears the machine again calling his name. Then, to his horror, he sees the slot machine coming down the hallway towards their room, pursuing him; but Flora cannot see it. The machine hounds him towards the window, repeating his name over and over. He crashes through the glass and falls to his death. The police stand over his body, noting that his wife had stated that he had not slept in 24 hours. A casino manager comments that he's "seen a lot of 'em get hooked before, but never like him". The last scene shows Franklin's last dollar rolling up and spinning out flat near his outstretched, dead hand. The camera pans in the direction from which the coin had come, and there sits the slot machine, "smiling".

Widowed Aurora Greenway keeps several suitors at arm's length in River Oaks, Houston, focusing instead on her close, but controlling, relationship with daughter Emma. Anxious to escape her mother, Emma marries callow young college professor Flap Horton over her mother's objections, moves away, and has three children. Despite their frequent spats and difficulty getting along with each other, Emma and Aurora have very close ties and keep in touch by telephone.

Emma and Flap soon run into financial and marital difficulties. Emma has trouble managing the children and household, and she and Flap both have affairs. Emma relies increasingly on her mother for emotional support. Meanwhile, the lonely Aurora overcomes her repression and begins a whirlwind romance with her next-door neighbor, retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove.

The Horton family moves from Houston to Des Moines and eventually to Nebraska, apparently for Flap's college teaching career, but mostly so he can be near his girlfriend. Emma is diagnosed with cancer, which becomes terminal. Aurora stays by Emma's side through her treatment and hospitalization, even while dealing with her own pain after Garrett suddenly ends their relationship. The dying Emma shows her love for her mother by entrusting her children to Aurora's care. After Emma's death, Garrett reappears in the family's life and begins to bond with Emma's young children.

The plot is based on Harwood's experiences as dresser to English Shakespearean actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit, who is the model for the character "Sir".

The film opens with a performance of ''Othello'' at a regional theatre in Britain during World War II. In the title role is an aging, once-famous Shakespearean actor identified to us only as "Sir" (Albert Finney). He is of the old, bombastic school of British acting, full of grand gestures and fine oratory. As the curtain comes down on the last act, and as the actors line up for their curtain call, Sir lectures them on the mistakes they've made during the performance, showing us that he is the leader of this travelling band of actors bringing Shakespeare to the provinces during wartime.

Waiting backstage is Norman (Tom Courtenay), who has been Sir's dresser for decades. Norman is an efficient, somewhat effeminate man who knows Sir's every whim and fancy, is used to his tirades and temperamental rants and is, for all intents and purposes, Sir's servant. As Norman waits for Sir to come offstage after a typically florid closing address to the audience, we see one way he copes with his job as he takes a nip from a little bottle of brandy always in his back pocket.

The company is hurrying to its next venue, the industrial city of Bradford, where Sir is to give his renowned portrayal of the title character in ''King Lear''. The train nearly leaves without them, as Sir makes his stately progress through York railway station to the platform, Norman scurrying ahead to plead with the train guard to hold the train for Sir's arrival. But the train begins to pull out of the station, until Sir delivers a loud, commanding "STOP....THAT....TRAIN!" from the platform steps. The guard is taken aback, the train halts, and Sir placidly leads his company aboard.

Arriving in Bradford, however, another source of Norman's anxiety soon becomes clear, for it becomes obvious that Sir's mental capacities are rapidly fading. Norman rescues him from a confused, almost violent rant in Halifax town square near Piece Hall that lands Sir in hospital. As the company tries to decide what to do, Sir unexpectedly arrives at the theatre, disoriented and exhausted, saying he has discharged himself from hospital. Norman ushers Sir to the dressing room, fiercely resisting the stage manager's insistence that the show be cancelled, and insisting Sir will be ready to go on.

The middle section of the film takes place nearly entirely in the dressing room, as Norman struggles to prepare Sir for the curtain. Sir's wandering mind and nearly incoherent ramblings gradually become more focused as Norman gets him to concentrate on applying his makeup, remembering his lines; and we see how dependent the two men are on each other. Sir would have no career left without Norman; Norman, even worse, would have no life without Sir, to whom he has so long dedicated all his time and energy. By the time Sir's wife, referred to only as "Her Ladyship", who is playing Cordelia to her husband's Lear, arrives in the dressing room for the five-minute call, Sir is ready for the role he has performed 227 times.

The curtain rises for the opening dialogue among Lear's courtiers, but Sir seems to mentally drift away while waiting for his cue, much to Norman's distress, forcing the hapless actors on stage to improvise speeches while Norman struggles to convince Sir of his entrance. Air raid sirens sound, signalling the onset of an air raid; and, indeed, distant bombs that can be heard falling seem to rouse Sir and he strides on stage to deliver what all agree is his finest portrayal of Lear in his long career.

After the triumphant performance, however, Sir collapses from exhaustion and Norman helps him to his dressing room to lie down. Sir requests that Norman read from an autobiography he claims to have been writing. Although all Sir has written is the opening dedication, Norman reads aloud Sir's gracious "thank you"s to his audiences, his fellow actors, to Shakespeare, to stage technicians...but not a word about his dresser who has served him so long and loyally. About to protest, Norman discovers that Sir has died while he's been reading. Norman, by now slightly drunk from the evening's brandy nips, flies into a rage, accusing Sir of being a thankless old sod, and in his anger even madly scribbles an addition to Sir's writing thanking himself. But Norman's anger only temporarily covers his disorientation at losing the only life he has known for so many years and, as Norman tearfully admits, the only man he has ever loved. The film closes with Norman sprawled across Sir's body, unwilling to let go of his life and his love.