The story begins fifteen years after the events in ''If There Be Thorns''. Cathy and Chris arrive at the home of their son, Bart, which is oddly an exact replica of Foxworth Hall (which burned down in ''Petals on the Wind'') to celebrate Bart's twenty-fifth birthday. They meet a man named Joel, who is their uncle, Corrine's brother, who was long thought killed in an avalanche. Joel explains that he was taken to a monastery to recover. He contacted Bart after learning of Corrine's death and now works as the head butler at Bart's request. Joel gives Bart bad information about God and punishment. Bart looks at Joel as a father figure; a fact that troubles Cathy greatly. Bart is still bitter towards his mother and father for their incestuous relationship, so their stay is not pleasant. He has grown into a handsome young man, but is extremely jealous, power hungry and bitter that Chris is the guardian of his money until his thirty-fifth birthday.

Bart's brother Jory visits and eventually moves in with his wife. Jory, who is almost thirty, has been married to Melodie, his childhood sweetheart and ballet partner, for nine years. Soon after their arrival, they announce that Melodie is pregnant. Bart is jealous of Jory and shows an unhealthy interest in Melodie. Bart and Jory's sister Cindy, who is now sixteen, arrives and it becomes clear that Bart does not like her either. Cathy tries to make the best out of the situation, but any happiness ends when Jory is in an accident, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to dance. Melodie does not deal well with Jory's disability and withdraws from him. Cathy tries to help Melodie reconnect with Jory, but discovers later that Melodie has turned to Bart for comfort and passion – the two have been having an affair. Cathy is enraged, but when she confronts Bart he says he loves Melodie, and Cathy is unsure what to do. Bart believes Melodie loves him too, but soon realizes it is an empty relationship and he is just a replacement for Jory. Jory finds out about the affair, and although hurt, tries to reconcile with Melodie, but she rejects him. Melodie goes into labor on Christmas Day, and gives birth to twins, Darren and Deirdre, who Cathy says resemble her deceased twin brother and sister. Melodie has little interest in the babies, and Cathy cares for them, hoping Melodie has postpartum "blues" and will come around. But Melodie, not wanting to deal with two children and a disabled husband, abandons Jory and the children and moves to New York.

Cathy tries to console both her sons and to keep a firm hand on the pretty and free-spirited Cindy. Bart, under Joel's influence, bans Cindy from premarital sexual acts under his roof. He physically assaults two boys he catches Cindy with. When confronted about his hypocrisy a number of times throughout the story, Bart never attempts to justify his actions but instead responds with anger and resentment towards Cathy and Chris, always blaming them for his problems. After a long period of torment from Bart and Joel, Cindy leaves to go to a school in New York.

Cathy and Chris hire a beautiful nurse, named Antonia "Toni" Winters, to help Jory recuperate. They hope Toni and Jory will end up together, but Bart begins spending time with Toni and they become lovers. Bart seems happy with Toni and tells Cathy that Toni told him she loves him. Cathy notices changes in Bart as a result of this relationship, including Bart withdrawing from Joel and being pleasant to Cindy when she comes to visit. Eventually Joel manages to influence Bart again and it sours the relationship. Toni sees the dark side of Bart after he begins to criticize and become possessive of her, and the relationship ends. Soon after, Toni falls in love with Jory and they begin a relationship, which brings Jory out of the depression that followed his divorce.

Cindy returns for another visit and tells Cathy that she ran into Melodie in New York. Melodie had remarried immediately after her divorce from Jory was final and resumed her dancing career. Bart builds a chapel, in which he commands the family to attend Sunday sermons, presided over by Joel. Cathy and Chris eventually become disgusted by the "fire and brimstone" sermons and tell Bart that they will no longer attend. Bart secretly starts bringing the twins to the chapel, which Cathy overhears. She confronts Bart, and tells him to leave the twins alone, also telling Toni never to let them out of her sight, unless she knows they are with Jory. After again catching Bart bringing the twins to the chapel, Cathy decides it is time to leave, after two years in Bart's home. Chris agrees it is time to leave and to take Jory, Cindy, and the twins with them. Cathy tells Bart of her plans, and that while she loves him, she cannot be around the kind of person he has become.

Cathy waits for Chris to come home from work so they can leave, but he never shows up. Chris has died in a hit and run accident and Cathy realizes how similar Chris' death is to that of their father. Bart gives a moving eulogy at Chris' funeral, is remorseful and admits that he really loved Chris and that he was a good father. Cathy is heartsick at the loss of Chris, becoming distant from her family. Cathy does come back for Bart's sake, and she and Bart become close. Bart finds his place as a televangelist who does much good and travels the world spreading his positive ministry. Bart and Cindy also make peace and Cathy sees them together singing. Joel has gone back to the Italian monastery to live out his remaining days. Jory and Toni wed, and Toni becomes pregnant. Despite all these good things and the family becoming closer than before, Cathy is still depressed and does not want to live without Chris.

Cathy goes up to the attic and sits by one of the windows and, after decorating the room with paper flowers, dies. As she passes away, she remembers Chris, her mother, grandmother, and siblings, and how their innocence was stolen. It is determined that Cathy died of natural causes, but implied by the author that she died of a broken heart.

The "three evangelists" of the title are Marc Vandoosler, Mathias Dellamarre and Lucien Devernois, and Marc's uncle, the former, disgraced police commissioner Armand Vandoosler, appearing for the first time in this book. All three are historians. Marc studies the Middle Ages; Matthias, a historian of prehistoric man; and Lucien, a historian of World War I. All three historians are down on their luck, and decide to move into an old house, neighboring Sophia Siméonidis.

One morning, retired opera singer Sophia Siméonidis discovers a beech tree in her garden that she has never seen before. Sophia is alarmed, but her husband Pierre is indifferent. Eventually she calls upon her neighbors, Marc, Matthias, and Lucien, and asks their help. They dig out the tree, and find nothing underneath it.

Sophia disappears. Pierre remains unconcerned, as he believes she has gone to visit an old, Greek lover, Stelyos. But Juliette, the evangelists' other next door neighbor, expresses concern; she is sure that Sophia, her best friend, would never have gone off without telling her, and especially not on a Thursday evening, when all the neighbors regularly meet for a convivial meal at Juliette's restaurant, ''Le Tonneau'' (The Barrel).

One night, Sophia's niece, Alexandra, arrives with her little boy Cyrille, running away from a failed relationship and expecting to stay with Sophia. Shortly afterward, a burned out car with a corpse is discovered in an abandoned factory yard. The body is unidentifiable, but a small piece of basalt is found, which was Sophia's lucky charm. Alexandra has no alibi, she stands to inherit a third of Sophia's substantial fortune, and her habit of driving aimlessly around at night makes her a principal suspect.

Already troubled by the enigma of the tree, and increasingly desperate to divert the attention of the police from Alexandra, the three evangelists and Armand Vandoosler start to investigate, exploiting Armand's contacts with his former colleagues.

Part I

Tall, plain Olivia Winfield is rescued from spinsterhood by the smart and handsome Malcolm Foxworth. She thinks she has found "the one" since he is the first man to ever show interest in her. Malcolm, taken by her forthright manner and impressed with her intelligence, proposes after only two days' acquaintance. They marry two weeks later. Olivia leaves her family home in New London, Connecticut to move to his family's mansion, Foxworth Hall, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Olivia starts to discover dark secrets about Malcolm, which eventually diminish her love for him. At a party to celebrate their wedding, Malcolm talks to and flirts with other women, neglecting Olivia.

She discovers that Malcolm is still tormented by his mother Corinne's abandonment of him at age five. She believes her own plain looks and money attracted him to her, since he mistrusts conventionally beautiful women. While he is attracted to beauty and seems likely to consider an affair, it is obvious he lacks enough patience and true feeling for such an entanglement. Olivia feels betrayed and humiliated but is still optimistic that things will change as they begin their life together.

When exploring the house, she discovers the "Swan Room" which belonged to Malcolm's mother. It has been kept as a shrine to her and contains a very large, ornate bed carved in the shape of a swan. When Malcolm discovers her in the room, they finally consummate their marriage, an act that could be considered more of an attack than an act of love, with Malcolm saying his mother's name the entire time. Olivia wants to scream but does not, trying to hide her humiliation from the servants.

Nine months later, Olivia gives birth to a boy, Malcolm Jr., referred to as "Mal." Malcolm is kind to her at times, giving her hope that things might improve between them. But for the most part, Olivia feels unimportant and ignored. Two years later, she gives birth to a second son, Joel. Malcolm is upset, as Joel is not healthy and he wanted their second child to be a girl. They are also told she cannot have any more children. Malcolm does not fully appreciate his sons because of his disappointment at not having a daughter.

Part II

Shortly after Joel is born, Malcolm's father Garland comes back to Foxworth Hall with his new wife, Alicia. Olivia is disgusted that Alicia is only nineteen and very beautiful. Malcolm is enraged to discover that she is pregnant, thinking that her child will inherit part of Garland's fortune. Alicia makes numerous friendly overtures to Olivia, but Olivia keeps distant from her. Alicia gives birth to a son, whom she names Christopher.

However, Malcolm becomes obsessed with Alicia. When Alicia spurns his advances, Malcolm is convinced that she is leading him on and vows to make her pay dearly. Olivia witnesses Malcolm's lust. Humiliated and heartbroken, she blames Alicia for making herself attractive to Malcolm.

On the night of Christopher's third birthday, Garland catches Malcolm trying to rape Alicia, gets into a violent argument with him, has a heart attack, and dies. Amidst the somber air in the manor, Malcolm seems to be feeling some guilt and avoids Alicia. Eventually, though, his obsession resumes. Soon Alicia confesses to Olivia that Malcolm has been coming to her bedroom and raping her, threatening to throw her and her son out on the street penniless if she does not yield. She has become pregnant with Malcolm's child. Olivia is humiliated and jealous.

Olivia decides that the only thing to do is to hide Alicia away while Olivia herself feigns being with child. Once Alicia secretly delivers, Olivia will pass the baby off as hers; Malcolm will give Alicia Garland's inheritance, and she and Christopher will leave. Alicia reluctantly agrees, says goodbye to Christopher, and goes into hiding in the attic of Foxworth Hall. Olivia hires new servants as an extra precaution to safeguard their secret, but she fears that Malcolm's interest in Alicia remains. To make Alicia less attractive to him, Olivia coerces her into cutting off her long hair, which Olivia leaves on Malcolm's desk to show that she is now the one in control.

As months pass, Olivia begins to think of Christopher as another son and is heartbroken when Alicia suddenly and quietly leaves with him after the birth of a daughter. However, Olivia is soon enraged when she discovers that Malcolm has named his new child Corinne (her name is spelled "Corrine" in the V.C. Andrews-penned original novels), after his mother, and plans to oversee her upbringing. He acts like an only parent to the young Corinne, often overriding attempts by Olivia to raise her to be a proper young woman. Olivia still does what she can to be a mother to Corinne, and takes joy in their relationship.

In the years that pass, Corinne grows up into a happy but spoiled girl and Malcolm continues to be emotionally distant from his sons and wife. He often criticizes the boys to Olivia and is upset that Joel exhibits little interest in his business, though Mal seems to be willing to follow in his father's footsteps. Mal dies in a motorcycling accident when he rides off a cliff near Foxworth Hall. Later John Amos, Olivia's cousin, is hired as butler and he incorporates religion into the household. Joel soon leaves on a tour of Europe with a professional orchestra--against his father's wishes--and receives fame in several European newspapers. Olivia is proud of Joel, but Malcolm dismisses Joel's path as frivolous and an embarrassment to the family. Beneath the criticism is worry for his son and disappointment in his choice to leave Foxworth Hall.

Part III

Joel's parents are informed of his death by avalanche in a telegram which also reveals that his body was not recovered. Devastated over the loss of their sons, Olivia and Malcolm turn to religion and bond somewhat, until Olivia receives a letter from Alicia, who is dying from breast cancer. Alicia remarried soon after leaving Foxworth Hall, but her husband died a few years later. She and Christopher have been living in poverty since becoming bankrupt during the Great Depression. Remembering Olivia's kindness to Christopher while she was in the attic, Alicia pleads with her to give Christopher a home and put him through medical school. Olivia convinces Malcolm to agree to this, so Christopher comes to live with them.

When they meet for the first time, Corinne and Christopher fall deeply in love. It goes unnoticed by the household, however, because they all adore Christopher. Later John Amos begins to suspect incest, although Olivia brushes it off as his jealousy. She and Malcolm seem truly happy and content with their family for the first time. Although she expresses herself subtly, Olivia is drawn to Christopher.

After Christopher graduates from college and Corinne has finished high school, a letter of acceptance arrives from Harvard. Olivia is excitedly searching to tell Christopher when John Amos reports that Christopher and Corinne are making love in the Swan Room. She does not believe him, but a quick peek shows it is true. Olivia is heartbroken and tells Malcolm. Christopher and Corinne try to explain themselves, but Malcolm condemns them and Olivia sides with him instead of intervening. They are banished and disinherited.

Malcolm has a stroke followed by a heart attack, and he is forced to use a wheelchair. Olivia devotes herself to his care. Olivia reveals to John Amos that Christopher was not just Corinne's half-uncle, but also her half-brother. She tells of the sins and the events that led to them. John preys on Olivia's fear of God, urging her and Malcolm to become obsessively religious.

Malcolm is a changed man after the scandal. Finally he breaks, and asks Olivia to hire a private detective to find out what happened to Corinne. The P.I. returns and informs Olivia that they live in Gladstone, Pennsylvania (outside of Philadelphia) under the name of Dollanganger. Christopher has dropped out of medical school and works in public relations, while Corinne is a housewife. They live a typical suburban, middle-class life. The two have four children: Chris, Cathy, and twins Cory and Carrie. All four children are perfectly healthy, bright, and beautiful, known in their town as the Dresden Dolls. Olivia does not tell Malcolm about the children because she believes that he will want to see his grandchildren and become bewitched by their beauty, especially the girls'.

Years later, Corinne writes to tell of Christopher's death in a car accident and to seek shelter. Olivia is heartbroken over Christopher's death, but John Amos tells her that it was God's work. He also convinces her to allow Corinne and the children to come. But the children must be hidden from the world forever, if she wants to end the sins within Foxworth Hall. Olivia tells Malcolm that Corinne is coming home, still not mentioning the children's existence.

When she first sees them, Chris and Cathy remind Olivia so much of Christopher and Corinne. But she refuses to love them; as products of incest, they are "the devil's spawn". The book ends with Olivia silently vowing to keep her heart hardened against the children and to keep them forever hidden from the world--while feeling just as imprisoned as they will soon be.

Joss, a middle-aged former Breton sailor, begins to succeed in reviving the old family trade of town crier in modern-day Paris. Business is good, since people gladly pay five francs to hear their rants and nonsensical messages in parks and squares; every so often, ominous cryptic messages announcing the return of the plague will also be part of the day's requested cries.

At the same time, chief inspector Adamsberg is surprised as a distressed woman describes that all her apartment building's doors, except one, have been marked with a large inverted "4" in black ink with the inscription "CLT." This graffiti continues to turn up throughout the city, and residents of apartments with unmarked doors are turning up dead, showing signs of rat-flea bites and blackened flesh.

Inspector Adamsberg must lead an investigation that takes him through a juxtaposition of 15th-century Europe and modern-day France...or ''does'' he?

Category:2001 French novels Category:Novels by Fred Vargas Category:French mystery novels Category:French novels adapted into films Category:Novels set in Paris

Frank, still depicted as a Vietnam War veteran, reestablishes himself in New York City by taking on the Gnucci crime syndicate. Detective Soap is assigned to "catch" the Punisher; it is purely a P.R. move as the police do not really want Frank caught as they secretly condone his actions. Frank turns the hapless Soap to his side, getting him to pass information on local crime syndicates.

Against his will, Frank gains three loyal friends in his neighbors, Joan the Mouse, Mr. Bumpo, and Spacker Dave. All end up helping him in his crusade against the Gnuccis. Some of this is self-defense as the Gnuccis learn where Frank lives and stage an attack. Spacker himself suffers torture at the hands of the Gnuccis, his piercings ripped out in a fruitless attempt to gain intelligence on Frank.

The Gnucci operation is slowly dismantled. Soap is promoted to police commissioner. As a gesture of thanks for aiding him, Frank gives his neighbors a large sum of Gnucci money. Joan and Spacker would play larger roles in Frank's life later. Bumpo suffers a medical accident ("something important fell out of his bottom") and moves into a hospital.

The story follows the two partners in a private investigation firm; Jacob Ashe is a U.S. Vietnam War veteran, while Cinder DuBois is the child of an African-American soldier and a Vietnamese woman. The series is set in New Orleans, Louisiana with flashbacks to Vietnam.

Cinder and Ashe are hired by a farmer from Iowa to find his kidnapped daughter. As the investigations unfold, flashbacks reveal how Cinder and Ashe met, and the development of their relationship. A complication in the investigation is the involvement of a man named Lacey, who had raped Cinder when she was a thirteen-year-old girl in Vietnam.

Rebus finds himself with a number of problems on his hands. His wayward brother, Michael, has returned to Edinburgh in need of accommodation - with only the box-room in Rebus's flat available. While out drinking, he meets an old army friend, Deek Torrance, who admits to being involved in shady activities, telling Rebus he can get his hands on 'anything from a shag to a shooter'. Rebus spends so long out with Deek that he misses dinner with his girlfriend, Doctor Patience Aitken. Furious, she locks him out of her flat, forcing him to sleep in his own flat, on the sofa.

At work, a new operation ('Moneybags') is started, aimed at putting one of 'Big Ger' Cafferty's money-lenders out of business. However, Rebus (who despises Cafferty) would rather go after the leader himself. Finally, Rebus's colleague Brian Holmes is put into a coma after being attacked from behind in the carpark of his favourite restaurant, the Elvis-themed ''Heartbreak Cafe''.

Rebus interviews Eddie Ringan, the Elvis enthusiast who owns the restaurant, and Pat Calder, Eddie's gay (and business) partner, but they prove to be of little help. Brian's girlfriend, Nell Stapleton, tells Rebus that Brian had a 'Black Book', a small notebook in which he kept interesting snippets of information. She suggests that Brian was attacked because of something in it. She also feels guilty, since she had argued with Brian just before he went to the restaurant.

When Rebus recovers the book, one entry in particular catches his interest. Five years ago, a mysterious fire burned Edinburgh's seedy Central Hotel down. Although all the staff and customers were accounted for, an unidentified body was found in the remains. The entry in the black book talks about a poker game that took place on the night the fire happened. However, it is written in cryptic shorthand, with obscure nicknames instead of the real names of the poker players.

Rebus's first action is to discuss the autopsy of the unidentified body with the pathologist Dr Curt, who still remembers it in grisly detail. The autopsy revealed that the dead man had been shot through the heart, as well as having suffered a broken arm some time in the past.

Meanwhile, Operation 'Moneybags' is set to get into swing, with Rebus supervising one of the surveillance teams. Under his command is Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke, at this time a new recruit to the force.

Rebus turns to an old friend of his, Matthew Vanderhyde, an elderly blind man who helped him in ''Hide and Seek''. In the 1950s, Vanderhyde used to go to the Central Hotel for rallies for Sword and Shield, a hardline offshoot of the Scottish National Party. He was there the night it burned down, having a drink with a friend, Aengus Gibson, also known as 'Black Aengus'. Heir to the Gibson brewing business, Aengus was a wild drunk at the time of the fire, but has since reformed. He was not on the list of people who was at the hotel due to his family's influence.

The day after a night of arguments with Michael and the students, Rebus discusses Cafferty with Siobhan. Siobhan mentions the 'Bru-head Brothers', Tam and Eck Robertson, a pair of criminals who disappeared at around the same time as the Central fire. Rebus then realises that the one of the names in the Black Book refers to them, and another to Cafferty himself.

When Rebus returns home, he receives grim news about his brother, who has just been found hanging by his legs from the Forth Rail Bridge. Michael is in shock and has to be taken to hospital. Fearing for the safety of his brother, Rebus decides that he needs serious protection. Remembering Deek Torrance's words 'anything from a shag to a shooter', Rebus decides to get in touch with his old friend.

The following day, while overseeing the dull minutiae of the Operation Moneybags surveillance, Rebus and Siobhan hear welcome news - Brian Holmes has recovered consciousness. While he cannot remember anything about his assailant, he does tell Rebus that the final name in the Black Book refers to Eddie Ringan, the chef of the ''Heartbreak Cafe'', who told Brian about the poker game.

Rebus returns to the ''Heartbreak Cafe'', and demands to know what happened on the night of the fire. He knows that Eddie was moonlighting at the Central, which is why he never appeared on the list of people who were there. Eddie, an alcoholic, flies into a drunken rage, hurting his assistant Willie in the process. But as Rebus turns to leave, Eddie suggests visiting a pub in Cowdenbeath.

Armed with two sketches of the Robertson brothers as they might appear today, Rebus visits several Cowdenbeath pubs, asking customers if they recognise them. He has little luck, although a drunk old gambler claims he recognises one of the pictures, causing Rebus to suspect that one of the brothers may be working as a bookmaker.

The next day, Rebus learns that Eddie has disappeared after a night out. Pat Calder insists to Rebus that Eddie always returns home safely, despite his alcohol problem. Willie, the assistant chef, is of little help. Rebus suspects that Eddie may have been warned off, or worse. Meanwhile, Rebus's superiors are annoyed at the effort he is putting into the Central Hotel case. Undaunted, Rebus approaches Aengus Gibson, who admits being at the hotel on the night of the fire with Vanderhyde, but insists that he left hours before the fire actually began. Rebus, however, is suspicious. Later that night, Rebus meets up with Deek Torrance, and arranges to buy a handgun from him.

Chief Superintendent 'Farmer' Watson demands an explanation for Rebus's continued interest in the Central Fire, giving him twenty-four hours to come up with something concrete. Later that day, Rebus goes to Pat Calder and Eddie's flat to fill out an official missing person report. Calder reveals that Willie had cracked up trying to cope without Eddie, making a scene before leaving the restaurant.

With few options left open to him, Rebus decides to talk to Morris Gerald Cafferty at his upmarket home in Duddingston. The two men's mutual loathing results in a tense confrontation. While Cafferty reveals relatively little, he does admit that the Robertson Brothers used to work for him as 'general employees', but left his service years ago. As Rebus leaves, he is certain that Cafferty was behind the attack on Michael.

Meanwhile, Siobhan is out getting extra camera film for the Operation Moneybags surveillance, and walks past the ''Heartbreak Cafe''. Smelling gas, she enters and discovers Eddie Ringan's body with the head inside the oven, an apparent suicide.

Dr Curt's examination of Eddie's badly burned body turns up some suspicious findings. The deceased's liver was in good condition, even though Eddie was a persistent heavy drinker. There are also strange injuries inside the mouth. That night, Rebus meets with Deek Torrance in North Queensferry to buy the handgun, a Colt 45, which he hides in his car.

Mulling over the cases, Rebus visits a Catholic church and confesses to the priest that he has bought a gun. The priest advises him to throw it into the sea. Rebus decides to do just that.

Returning to St Leonards, Rebus is confronted by his immediate superior, Chief Inspector Lauderdale, who demands Rebus surrender his car keys. Rebus realises that his colleagues have been tipped off about the gun. But worse is to come, as the gun turns out to be the same one used in the Central Hotel shooting five years ago. Rebus is suspended from duty.

After attending Eddie Ringan's funeral, Rebus has a suspicion of what happened. After checking the reservations book for the ''Heartbreak Cafe'', he finds out that none of the customers remember Willie making a scene and storming out. His suspicions confirmed, Rebus goes to Eddie and Pat's flat, and finds the still living Eddie Ringan hiding there. He and Pat had rendered Willie unconscious by forcing alcohol down his throat, and used his body to stage a suicide attempt. Rebus arrests Eddie, but while taking him back to the station, stops in front of Cafferty's mansion. Eddie is clearly terrified of Cafferty, and admits that he helped burn down the Central Hotel, after a blood-splattered Aengus Gibson ran into the hotel kitchens.

Siobhan, having checked the medical records of a Dundee hospital, reveals that Tam Robertson had broken an arm twelve years ago. The corpse found in the remains of the Central belonged to him.

Rebus confronts Aengus Gibson, demanding to know what happened at the night of the fire, but is forced to leave by Aengus's father. Returning to Fife, Rebus visits a bookmaker owned by Eck Robertson, living under a false name. Eck says that Aengus shot Tam for cheating during the poker game.

Back in Edinburgh, Aengus Gibson has committed suicide. When Rebus reads Aengus's journal, it becomes clear that he thought that he was about to be arrested for the murder of Tam Robertson. The journal also reveals that it was Cafferty who forced the gun into his hand, getting Aengus's fingerprints on it. After the shooting, Aengus went berserk, starting the fire to hide the evidence.

Determined to trap Cafferty once and for all, Rebus uses his contacts to set up a sting operation, with child molester Andrew McPhail being used as the unwitting bait. Cafferty is caught red-handed attacking McPhail outside the Operation Moneybags surveillance, and is arrested. With Cafferty in jail, the police are able to take a closer look at his operation. A farm in the Borders is raided, where Cafferty used to personally execute his enemies. Deek Torrance is amongst those arrested there. In exchange for leniency, Eddie Ringan agrees to testify against Cafferty.

In the final chapter, Rebus accuses Nell Stapleton of being the one who knocked Brian Holmes out. Although he doesn't have any evidence, he does note that she had a motive after the arguments she'd been having with Brian.

Bradley Chalkers is the protagonist of the book. He is the oldest student in the fifth-grade class, having repeated fourth grade. In his school, he sits at the back of the class, last seat, last row, and never pays any attention, preferring to scribble, cut up pieces of paper, or partake in other mindless tasks which keep his mind off the lesson. He is proud whenever he receives an ''F'' on his class tests. He wants everyone to hate him because he believes that they will then leave him alone. Everyone hates him, including the teachers.

A new classmate, Jeff Fishkin, comes in from Washington, D.C., and the only two remaining seats are the ones beside and in front of Bradley. Jeff tries to reason with Bradley, but fails, like everyone else. Then, a counselor named Carla is appointed, and she can't wait to meet Bradley. Carla says she wants to be friends with Bradley, and she begins to try to open him up and reveal his kind interior, which he has been trying to hide. Bradley refuses to come quietly, and his conflicting emotions with Carla and other people induce strife among his fellow schoolmates. As he meets with Carla more and more, he slowly decides to become a better person. He does his homework and forms better relationships with his parents. To help him with a book report, Carla lends him her favorite book, ''My Parents Didn't Steal an Elephant''. Bradley thinks that the book is good luck and responsible for his changes.

A subplot of the book involves Jeff and a girl named Colleen Verigold (described as having "red hair and a freckled face"), who seem to have crushes on each other. Bradley thinks girls are gross and especially hates Colleen's best friend, the outspoken Lori. At the beginning of the book, Bradley becomes irritated with Jeff for saying "Hi" to Colleen whenever she says "Hi" to him. Later, Carla tells Jeff and Colleen that Zen Buddhist monks are required to say "Hi" to each other when they meet (as stated in J. D. Salinger's book ''Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction''). Later in the book, Bradley proves his friendship to Jeff by saying "Hi" to him. Towards the end of the book, as Carla helps Bradley change, he is invited to Colleen's birthday party, along with Jeff, and he even wins the party games, getting a harmonica as a prize. He also gets respect from all of the other girls.

Unfortunately, Carla is not as popular with many parents of the students. Colleen's mother becomes angry with her for supposedly preaching religion (telling Jeff and Colleen about the Zen Buddhist monks) and counseling Colleen without permission. As a result, Carla is fired and becomes a kindergarten teacher. When he hears this, Bradley becomes very upset and threatens to revert to his original behavior. Although he misses saying goodbye to Carla, he does return to the school and finds a package she leaves for him. The package contains a goodbye note from her and her book. In the end, Bradley starts to come to terms with Carla's departure. He writes her a goodbye letter of his own and sends his most prized possession with it, a small china rabbit named Ronnie.

Nausicaä is the princess of the Valley of the Wind, a state on the periphery of what was once known as Eftal, a kingdom destroyed by the Sea of Corruption, a poisonous forest, 300 years ago. An inquisitive young woman, she explores the territories surrounding the Valley on a jet-powered glider, and studies the Sea of Corruption.

When the Valley goes to war, she takes her ailing father's place as military chief. The leaders of the Periphery states are vassals to the Torumekian Emperor and are obliged to send their forces to help when he invades the neighboring Dorok lands. The Torumekians have a strong military, but the Doroks, whose ancestors bioengineered the progenitors of the Sea of Corruption, have developed a genetically modified version of a mold from the Sea of Corruption. When the Doroks introduce this mold into battle, its rapid growth and mutation result in a daikaisho (roughly translated from Japanese as "great tidal wave"), which floods across the land and draws the insects into the battle, killing as many Doroks as Torumekians. In doing so, the Sea of Corruption spreads across most of the Dorok nation, uprooting or killing vast numbers of civilians and rendering most of the land uninhabitable.

The Ohmu and other forest insects respond to this development and sacrifice themselves to pacify the expansion of the mold, which is beyond human control. Nausicaä resigns herself to joining in their fate. However, one of the Ohmu encapsulates her inside itself in a protective serum, allowing her to survive the mold. She is recovered by her companions, people she met after leaving the Valley and who have joined her on her quest for a peaceful coexistence. The fact that the mold can be manipulated and used as a weapon disturbs Nausicaä. Her treks into the forest have already taught her that the Sea of Corruption is actually purifying the polluted land. The Forest People, humans who have learned to live in harmony with the Sea of Corruption, confirm this is the purpose of the Sea of Corruption and one of them shows Nausicaä a vision of the restored Earth at the center of the forest. Nausicaä travels deeper into Dorok territory, where her coming has long been prophesied, to seek those responsible for manipulating the mold. There, she encounters a dormant God Warrior who, upon activation, assumes she is his mother and places his destructive powers at her disposal. Faced with this power and its single minded and childlike visions of the world, she engages the creature, names him and persuades him to travel with her to Shuwa, the Holy City of the Doroks.

Here she enters the Crypt, a giant monolithic construct from before the Seven Days of Fire. She learns that the last scientists of the industrial era had foreseen the end of their civilization. They created the Sea of Corruption to clean the land of pollution, altered human genes to cope with the changed ecology, stored their own personalities inside the Crypt and waited for the day when they could re-emerge, leaving the world at the mercy of their artificially created caretaker. However, their continual manipulation of the population and the world's environment is at odds with Nausicaä's belief in the natural order. She argues that mankind's behaviour has not been improved significantly by the activities of those inside the crypt, and the crypt itself is incapable of change. Strife and cycles of violence have continued to plague the world in the thousand years following their interference, as Nausicaä believes humanity has no need for the crypt any longer. She orders the God-Warrior to destroy its progenitors, forcing humanity to live or die without further influence from the old society's technology. Nausicaä exits the crypt in time to see its total collapse, and the death of the old king of Torumekia. Nausicaä commands the crowd that has been waiting outside the crypt that "... [they] must live."

''BloodSpell'' tells the fictional story of Jered, a young Monk of the Church of the Angels, an organisation that exists to purify the Blooded, a term for those who release magical power when their blood is spilt. The story follows Jered as he joins forces with the Blooded in an attempt to gain his freedom.

On the Akritirian homeworld Tom Paris and Harry Kim are falsely accused of a terrorist bombing using Trilithium. They are sent to a brutal prison where inmates must fend for themselves to survive, insufficient food is delivered daily through a chute, and each prisoner is implanted with a microchip called "the clamp" that induces aggression and gradually drives them insane. When Captain Janeway tries to intercede, she is told by Ambassador Liri of Akritiri that Kim and Paris confessed to the crime.

Whilst trying to defend Kim, Paris is stabbed in the stomach. Kim manages to work with one of the aliens in order to get bandages for Paris. He also tries to unite the prisoners, to no avail. Kim and the alien work together to disable the force field blocking the chute, climb it, and find that the prison is actually a giant space station. Paris goes completely mad and wrecks the device that disabled the force field. Harry, afflicted as well, attacks Paris in return but manages to hold on to his sanity.

Meanwhile, the Voyager crew manages to capture the real bombers, Piri and Vel. When Janeway returns to the Akritiri and offers to exchange them for her crewmen, the Akritiri ambassador refuses, stressing that their convictions cannot be overturned. Janeway then approaches the bombers, who inform the Voyager staff that they know the location of the prison where Kim and Paris are kept. Janeway decides to free them in exchange for information on the prison's location and on how to penetrate it.

Using Neelix's ship as a disguise, the crew manage to hook into the chute—which is the only means to enter the prison. A small away team consisting of Janeway, Tuvok and a few security guards infiltrate the prison, pacify the prisoners and rescue Kim and Paris. They then quickly exit the scene just as an Akritiri patrol vessel states its intention to board Neelix's ship.

Back aboard Voyager, Kim is horrified at what he had almost done while afflicted. Paris convinces him to use a week's worth of replicator rations to recreate some of the meals they had discussed while in prison.

In Italy, wealthy families often hire bodyguards to protect family members from the threat of kidnapping. When Rika Balletto urges her husband Ettore, a wealthy textiles producer living in Milan, to hire a bodyguard for their daughter Pinta, he is doubtful but agrees. After some searching, he finally settles for an American named Creasy.

Creasy, once purposeful and lethal who served in the French Foreign Legion, has become a burnt-out alcoholic. To keep him occupied, his companion Guido suggests that Creasy should get a job and offers to set him up as a bodyguard: thus he is hired by the Ballettos, where he meets his charge, Pinta.

Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defences drop, and he opens up to her. They become friends and he replaces her parents in their absences, giving her advice, guidance and help with her competition running: he is even spurred to give up his drinking and return to his former physical prowess. But Creasy's life is shattered when Pinta is kidnapped by the Mafia, despite his efforts to protect her.

Creasy is wounded during the kidnapping and as he lies in a hospital bed Guido keeps him informed of the goings on. Soon enough, Guido returns with the news that the exchange went bad and Pinta was found dead in a car, suffocated on her own vomit. She had also been raped by her captors.

Out of hospital, Creasy returns to Guido's ''pensione'' and outlines his plans for revenge against the men who took away the girl who convinced him it was all right to live again: anyone who was involved, or profited from it, all the way to the top of the Mafia. Told by Guido he can stay with in-laws on the island of Gozo in Malta, Creasy accepts the offer, to train for his new mission.

While on Gozo, Creasy trains for several months, getting into shape and re-familiarizing himself with weaponry. But, to his surprise, he also discovers he has another reason to live after his suicidal mission against the Mafia: he finds himself accepted by and admiring the Gozitans, as well as falling in love with Nadia, the daughter of his host.

Soon enough, he is fit and leaves for Marseille where he stocks up on supplies, weapons and ammunition: from there he travels back to Italy and then the war between Creasy and the Mafia begins. From low-level enforcers to the ''capos'' in Milan and Rome, as well as all the way to the head Don in Sicily, Creasy cuts through their organisation, killing anyone who had something even remotely to do with Pinta's kidnapping. After Creasy reveals to Rika that Ettore allowed Pinta to be kidnapped for the insurance money, Ettore commits suicide. Finally, after killing the Don, a severely wounded Creasy is taken to hospital, but pronounced dead: a funeral is held and Creasy is thought to be gone.

But, unknown to all, Creasy was in fact alive and makes it back to Gozo where he is reunited with Nadia.

''Voyager'' discovers a ship with only one survivor. It tells of how the aliens covered every square meter of the ship, sucking out all the energy and killing the crew. The alien then dies of its injuries.

''Voyager'' tries to get through the swarm's space but something is slowing them down. Phaser fire directed at the enemy is rebounded right back at them. Finally Kim finds a weakness. Each ship is connected in a lattice. ''Voyager'' concentrates fire on one ship, destroying it. Dozens of other ships are destroyed, driving the Swarm away.

Meanwhile, the holographic Doctor's program begins to malfunction. Kes and Torres transfer the Doctor to the holodeck and call up the EMH diagnostic program.

The Doctor's program is threatening to degrade completely. The crew discovers they have the option of re-initialising the Doctor if it comes down to it, but this would result in the loss of everything he had learned in the past two years.

While the Doctor is fine with this, as he does not wish to sacrifice the health and security of the crew, others, particularly Kes, do not wish to see the man the Doctor had become go away.

The diagnostic program itself is not pleased with the entire situation for many reasons. It notes that the Doctor was supposed to be off-line during its off time, not expanding his program, such as with his opera studies. The extra memory caused by all this is part of the problem. In fact, EMHs are supposed to only have 1500 hours of operation. The diagnostic program tells of an alternative to rebooting the Doctor entirely, but it involves a layover at McKinley Station. He is informed that the station is on the other side of the galaxy. Later, the diagnostic program expresses frustration over the situation; after all, it is perfectly content being the program it is.

In the end, the diagnostic program willingly sacrifices itself, using its matrices to support the Doctor's failing ones. This means the ship would no longer have a diagnostic system at all but it is better than the alternative, or so it seems. The Doctor is restored but acts exactly as he had when he was first activated. Moments later, while treating Torres's headache, he begins to hum opera.

The novel opens with Annie Casteel Stonewall returning to Farthinggale Manor ("Farthy") for the funeral of her father, Troy Tatterton. Annie, hoping to finally put the past to rest alongside her mother Heaven, feels drawn to the suite that used to be occupied by her great-grandmother, Jillian. Annie soon discovers a forgotten diary hidden away in a back drawer in Jillian's suite. The diary was written by Leigh Van Voreen, Annie's grandmother and Heaven's mother. Surprised by the discovery, Annie begins to read the tragic story of Leigh.

In 1950, a 12-year-old Leigh VanVoreen was the beloved daughter of cruise-ship magnate Cleave VanVoreen and his beautiful Boston socialite wife, Jillian. Leigh's life was happy until her mother left her father for Tony Tatterton, the handsome and wealthy owner of Tatterton Toys, who was about 20 years younger than Jillian. When Jillian married Tony, she and Leigh moved into Tony's estate, Farthinggale Manor. Leigh's only friend on the estate was Troy Tatterton, Tony's 4-year-old brother, and they spent a lot of time together. Eventually, Leigh was placed in Winterhaven, an exclusive boarding school for girls.

During her summer vacation, Leigh served as the model for a new line of toy for Tatterton called a portrait doll. During the portrait-doll modeling sessions, Tony had Leigh pose nude and started making advances towards her. Jillian had refused to have a sexual relationship with him, claiming it would detract from her youthful face and figure. Leigh went to Cleave to ask for help, but he had remarried and was too busy with his new wife and work to listen to her problems. Leigh told Jillian what was happening, but Jillian accused her of exaggerating and blew her off.

When the doll was finished, it was presented to Leigh on her birthday. Tony raped Leigh one night while Jillian was away. Leigh tried to call her close friend and tell her about the sexual assault but was too ashamed. The next morning, Tony acted like nothing had happened. Leigh didn't want to stay in her room where the attack had happened, so she hid in Jillian's room with the door locked. Tony had had a key made in the past when Jillian rejected his advances. He unlocked the door and attacked Leigh again. When Leigh tried to stop him, saying she'd tell her mother what he had done, he laughingly told her that him seducing Leigh was Jillian's idea. Upon Jillian's return to Farthy, Leigh tried to tell her that Tony raped her, but Jillian didn't believe her. She accused Leigh of lying, saying that Tony had told her Leigh was the one making sexual advances during the modeling sessions and that she had tried to get Tony to have sex with her. Leigh was shocked and saddened by her mother's decision to believe Tony over her own daughter.

After a few weeks, Leigh discovered she was pregnant by Tony and confronted her mother. Jillian, convinced that Leigh had seduced Tony on purpose, screamed at her that "nice girls don't go all the way." Leigh realized Tony was right about her mother. Disgusted, Leigh told her mother that she knew Jillian wasn't a virgin before she married, and that she had chosen her own daughter as a romantic distraction for Tony to avoid having sex with him. After the fight, Leigh took some money that Tony kept in a strongbox and fled Farthinggale Manor with a few possessions and her portrait doll.

Leigh decided to go live with her grandmother Jana in Texas. After leaving Boston, she purchased a train ticket in Atlanta but missed her connection and was stranded. A stranger named Luke Casteel cheered her up. After he inquired about Leigh's portrait doll, she admitted that it was modeled after her and that she had named it Angel. Luke told her that "Angel" was a better name for her than Leigh. He began to call Leigh "Angel," rather than "Leigh," after that. Leigh confided in him about the circumstances of her pregnancy and her tragic story, and he drove her to a motel so that she could rest. He returned with some food, and when Leigh asked him to stay because she was afraid to be alone, he agreed. When she woke up in the middle of the night, Luke was instantly at her side, reassuring her that he'd always protect her. He told her that he had fallen in love with her and wanted to be the father of her baby. Leigh thought she was dreaming, and when she later awoke in Luke's arms, she asked him about it. He passionately talked about his plans for the future for the two of them and the baby, and Leigh fell completely in love with him.

Although they had only known each other for one day, they got married and returned to Luke's West Virginia mountain home, where young women getting married was not so unusual. After meeting Luke's parents, Annie and Toby, Leigh worked hard around the shack, and she ignored the stares or rude remarks of local residents. Luke was deeply in love with Leigh and planned to build a house in town for them and the baby. Whenever Luke drank alcohol, Leigh feared for his health and talked to him sternly, which he appreciated, and he credited her with inspiring him to be a better person.

Leigh's diary ends after she started experiencing labor pains while out for a walk with Luke. She wrote about how they went up the mountain and how Luke talked about their plans for the future. He told her that she was the love of his life and that no man could ever love any woman more than he loved her. She kissed him and asked him to go back to the cabin with her to hold her. As they walked back, Leigh stopped and stared at the stars, telling Luke that when she went to sleep that night, she wanted to feel like she was going to sleep in heaven. These were the last words in her journal, and it is later revealed that Leigh died giving birth. Her death is the apparent reason that Luke later becomes the cruel man depicted in ''Heaven''.

After reading Leigh's last diary entry, Annie finds a note from a private investigator Tony hired, stating that he discovered Leigh died in childbirth due to inadequate medical care. The note also states that the child survived and was a girl. The implication is that both Tony and Jillian knew about Heaven long before she came to Farthinggale, but decided to let her grow up in poverty rather than face what they had done to Leigh. Saddened by what she has read, Annie puts the journal back in the drawer as she hears Luke calling her name. She goes to him and they leave Farthinggale to its ghosts.

It is never explained how Leigh's diary was returned to Farthinggale. It is not mentioned in any of the other Casteel books, nor is it mentioned as being among the possessions Heaven inherited from Leigh. The diary is also written in past tense, rather than in present, thus implying that Leigh completed a long "entry" while she was in labor and/or shortly before her death. The presence of the note from the detective in the diary possibly negates the whole question of whether Tony knew he was Heaven Casteel's father - due to the timeline, he must have realized it was likely (although Heaven lied about the year of her birth, making herself one year younger). Additionally, in "Dark Angel", Heaven tells Tony and Jillian that her mother had only recently died, and they seem to take this as absolute fact. In that novel, Tony reacts with shock when he finally hears that Leigh died in childbirth at 14, and only then attempts to break off the romance between Heaven and Troy (as they are niece and uncle). "Web of Dreams" raises many questions about the consistency of the storytelling details and the timelines.

14-year-old Dawn Longchamp leads a humble, rootless existence with her parents, Ormond and Sally Jean Longchamp, and her moody older brother Jimmy, who is 16 years old. Moving around a lot, Dawn's family does not provide much stability for her, but what her lifestyle lacks in stability, her home life makes up for in love.

This erratic lifestyle seems to change when Dawn and Jimmy are able to enroll in an exclusive private school when Ormond gets a job there. It is here that Dawn's talent for singing is discovered. Her brother does not enjoy the school, feeling the weight of class differences bear down upon him. Dawn, although optimistic, does not fare much better, and is sternly ordered by the headmistress to be on her best behavior as she is of lesser social status than her classroom peers.

On her first day, she also incurs the wrath of the most popular and affluent girl in the school, Clara Sue Cutler, after accidentally ratting her out on her smoking. Clara Sue then proceeds to pull mean-spirited pranks on Dawn and openly refers to her as white trash. Deeply offended, Dawn finally stops trying to like Clara Sue after this insult. However, Clara Sue's older brother, the handsome and charming Philip Cutler, does not share his sister's loathing.

Phillip is kind to Dawn, and immediately shows an interest in her. He compares her beauty to that of his mother, Laura Sue Cutler, and is easily entranced. Jimmy is wary of Phillip, but does not overtly oppose Dawn's involvement with him. A shy girl who has had a sheltered upbringing, Dawn is somewhat taken aback by Phillip's immediate romantic overtures, even though she does find him attractive. Phillip urges her to date him, and after constant persuasion from him, Dawn agrees. Meanwhile, Dawn's mother, Sally Jean, has discovered that she is pregnant. This strains the Longchamps' finances, which are already tight, but Dawn is still overjoyed at the prospect of a little sibling, hoping that the baby will look more like her. Sally Jean gives birth to a little girl named Fern, but does not recover her health after the labor. She attempts several holistic ways of recovering her health but to no avail. She remains bedridden for the duration of Dawn's school year.

At school, Dawn is excited by the musical opportunities now opening up to her. Her enjoyment of music culminates in her solo song, "Somewhere over the Rainbow", at a school concert. Although nervous because of a prank pulled earlier by Clara Sue and her clique, Dawn draws emotional strength from the pearl necklace Sally Jean gave her earlier in the evening, which she claims are a Longchamp heirloom.

Dawn's world comes crashing down after her solo performance at the school concert. Her beloved mother, Sally Jean, passes away that night. With the shock of this barely registered, what comes on the heels of Sally Jean's death truly changes Dawn's life forever. A security guard at the hospital where Sally Jean died recognizes the family, and also notices something peculiar in Dawn's appearance. He goes to the authorities, who perform an early morning raid of the Longchamp residence. Through these officers, it is revealed to Dawn that she is not Ormond and Sally Jean's biological daughter, but that she was kidnapped by them as a newborn baby, and that she is actually the daughter of Randolph and Laura Sue Cutler.

Dawn is taken back to Cutler's Cove, Virginia, an offshoot of Virginia Beach. Ormond is arrested for child kidnapping. With no nearby relatives to come to their aid, Jimmy and Fern are placed in foster care. Dawn refuses to believe that Ormond kidnapped her, but the authorities prove her identity through a unique birthmark she shares with the description of the kidnapped baby. Dawn is appalled at the realization that the terrible Clara Sue is her sister; even worse, her boyfriend, Phillip, is actually her brother.

These concerns fade into the background after her first meeting with Grandmother Cutler at the family's hotel, also named Cutler's Cove. Grandmother Cutler does not seem overjoyed about the return of her long-lost grandchild. She informs Dawn that she will be known by her "true" name, Eugenia, and that she will work in the hotel as a maid in order to prove that she is trustworthy. Dawn is shocked and upset by this cold treatment. She tries appealing to her real parents, Randolph and Laura Sue, but they are just as powerless as her. Randolph, though charming and handsome, has little willpower and prefers life to be as smooth as possible. Laura Sue is enchanted by Dawn's prettiness and resemblance to her, but refuses to make any effort to help her, as she is completely cowed by her mother-in-law. Dawn is also put at risk by Clara Sue's malicious tricks. Infuriated by Dawn's return, she does her best to make sure Dawn is fired by stealing jewellery and other items from the hotel guests. Dawn finds some comfort in the housekeeper, Mrs. Boston, who knew Sally Jean and Ormond Longchamp when they worked at the hotel. She cannot believe that her parents stole her, as they were always honest, hard-working people. Mrs. Boston hints that there is more to the "kidnapping" than meets the eye. Dawn's life is further brightened by a secret visit from Jimmy, aided and abetted by Phillip. Jimmy confesses that he has been in love with Dawn since they were children, but never dared show it because he felt he was sick for thinking of her that way. Dawn admits the attraction is mutual, but they find it hard to overcome their upbringing as brother and sister.

This happy interlude comes to an end when Clara Sue finds Jimmy in the basement, where Dawn hid him. She tells Grandmother Cutler, who goes to the police and has Jimmy taken back to his foster parents. Dawn is heart-broken that Jimmy has to leave and is furious with Clara Sue. Jealous of her obvious affection for Jimmy, Phillip corners Dawn in her bathroom and rapes her. Desperate to get out, Dawn visits Mrs. Dalton, the woman who took care of her just after she was born, and learns that her "kidnapping" was staged by Grandmother Cutler because she is not Randolph's biological daughter but a product of one of her mother's extramarital affairs. Grandmother Cutler did not want a non-Cutler child to grow up as part of the family, so she paid the Longchamps with family jewels, including the string of pearls, to keep them quiet and to provide for Dawn's future. Outraged, Dawn confronts Grandmother Cutler about this. The old woman eventually admits that she was behind the "kidnapping" and offers Dawn a deal: if Dawn will study singing in New York, Grandmother Cutler will use her influence to have Ormond released prison. Dawn agrees but on one condition: that she be referred to by Dawn, not Eugenia. The book ends with Dawn going to New York.

Dawn Cutler arrives in New York City after leaving her family's hotel, Cutler's Cove, located in Virginia. She is relieved to be away from her biological family, which is filled with self-obsessed liars. When Dawn arrives at the boarding house, she meets the owner, Agnes, who is already prejudiced against Dawn due to a letter from Grandmother Cutler, describing Dawn as 'promiscuous and spoiled'. Dawn forms a strong bond of friendship with her roommate, a dancer named Trisha and eventually earns Agnes's trust. Dawn and Trisha both attend the Bernhardt School For The Arts.

Dawn studies singing with Michael Sutton, a famous opera singer. The lessons gradually become more and more intimate. Dawn is confused by Michael's attentions but does not know where to turn for advice. Michael eventually seduces Dawn and fills her head with ideas of them singing together on the stage. It is not long before Dawn discovers she is pregnant with Michael's baby. When she tells him, he seems happy and promises that they will marry and she will still have the stage career he promised her. The next time she goes to his apartment, Dawn finds that Michael has disappeared, leaving no forwarding address or message for her. She realises he has abandoned her and that she is alone, pregnant and has nowhere to go. On her way back to the boarding house, Dawn is hit by a car. When she wakes up in hospital, she sees Grandmother Cutler, who tells Dawn that she knows about the pregnancy and that Dawn's life in New York is over and she will be staying at the family plantation, The Meadows, for the duration of her pregnancy. Dawn is bundled off to Virginia immediately after being released from hospital, unable to say goodbye to Trisha.

Luther, the family handyman, picks Dawn up from the bus station, and drives her to the isolated, dilapidated plantation, which is currently inhabited by Grandmother Cutler's sisters, Emily and Charlotte Booth. The younger sister Charlotte is mentally disabled but friendly. The older sister Emily is hostile and tells Dawn that she is an embarrassment to the family and has been sent to The Meadows in order to avoid any scandal. Emily keeps Dawn in a small, window-less room and insists that she use an ancient oil lamp, with only kerosene to last her one week. Dawn finds out that though The Meadows does have electricity, Emily refuses to turn it on because of the expense. Emily makes her grand-niece do nearly all the housework, including physical tasks such as scrubbing the floors and carrying heavy objects. She even feeds Dawn castor oil in an attempt to induce a miscarriage.

Despite the abuse, Dawn carries the baby full term and gives birth to a girl, whom she names Christie. After giving birth, she holds her daughter once but then the baby is taken away so she can rest. When Dawn wakes up and asks for her baby, Emily tells her that the baby was born too small, leading Dawn to believe the baby died. When she wakes again, Emily gives Dawn back her clothes and tells her that Luther is going to take her to the bus station so she can leave. To Dawn's surprise, Jimmy shows up on the doorstep. He says he became concerned when Dawn didn't respond to his letters and Trisha told him what had happened. Jimmy interrogates Emily, forcing her to reveal that Grandmother Cutler arranged for Christie to be adopted. Dawn tries to apologize to Jimmy for what happened, but Jimmy says that he forgives her because she was taken advantage of.

Dawn discovers that Grandmother Cutler is in hospital after a stroke. She goes to the hospital and asks about her daughter, but Grandmother Cutler dies without revealing Christie's location, only stating that Dawn is her "curse". At the reading of her grandmother's will, Dawn discovers the meaning of her grandmother's final words: Laura Sue was raped by her father-in-law and Dawn is the product of that rape. Dawn's grandfather had specified a certain part of his will only be read after the death of his wife: it not only confirms that he is Dawn's biological father but that he also left her a significant part of his fortune and his ownership of the hotel. Dawn confronts Laura Sue about the rape but her mother refuses to speak about what happened, preferring to focus on Dawn being the ''de facto'' owner of the hotel and that Dawn will need help if she wants to run things the 'proper way'. Disgusted, Dawn replies she has no interest in her mother's advice, adding that she wouldn't care if the hotel burned to the ground. The book ends with Dawn and Jimmy leaving to retrieve Christie.

Dawn and Jimmy arrange to find out what happened to Dawn's daughter Christie, who was given up for adoption by Grandmother Cutler. Thanks to the hotel lawyer, Dawn and Jimmy quickly get Christie back, as the adoption process was not legal. Dawn and Jimmy make plans to marry. Although she dislikes the hotel and would rather become a singer, Dawn takes up the running of Cutler's Cove. Randolph, Dawn's stepfather and half-brother, is haunted by the death of his mother, and starts to drink excessively. The only thing that makes him happy is Christie, but he begins to wander away from the hotel, often forgetting where he is and begins pretending that his mother is still alive.

Dawn marries Jimmy, and her brother Philip acts as best man. Philip, who has obsessed over Dawn since prior to finding out they were related, acts strangely during the wedding, muttering the vows under his breath as if he were marrying Dawn. As Randolph is not at the ceremony to give Dawn away, Bronson Alcott, a friend of Dawn's mother, does instead. On their wedding night, Dawn and Jimmy finally consummate their relationship. However, the honeymoon is cut short when Randolph is found dead at his mother's grave several days later. Dawn takes full ownership of the hotel and begins spending more time on the hotel than with her family. With her husband dead, Laura Sue resumes her old relationship with Bronson Alcott and they quickly marry. Bronson later confesses to Dawn that Clara Sue is his daughter, conceived during an affair that began after Dawn's "kidnapping".

Soon after, Dawn discovers that she is pregnant with Jimmy's child. Dawn decides that Clara Sue should go and live with Bronson and their mother, and has Clara Sue's things moved to Bronson's house. When Clara Sue comes home and finds out about Dawn's decision, she becomes angry and attacks Dawn, causing her to miscarry. Clara Sue is ostracized by nearly everyone for this act, her mother being the only exception. The miscarriage has a devastating impact on Dawn and Jimmy. Dawn resorts to the hotel to ease her grief, withdrawing from Jimmy and Christie, and it takes a long time for them to recover from this tragic event.

Phillip announces that he is engaged to a classmate, Betty Ann Monroe. Clara Sue purposely embarrasses the family at his graduation ceremony by bringing one of her sleazy boyfriends along. Phillip marries Betty Ann, but still obsesses over Dawn, to the point that he has Betty Ann dye her hair blonde, wear Dawn's nightgown and perfume, and goes to the same place where Dawn and Jimmy went on their honeymoon. Clara Sue returns to torment Dawn: she claims the hotel should be hers, because Dawn is illegitimate, but Dawn reveals that Clara Sue is also illegitimate and has no right to the hotel. She tells Clara Sue to ask Bronson if she wants proof. Since her miscarriage, Dawn seems unable to conceive; Dawn and Jimmy's frustration over this infertility grows when Betty Ann becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins, Melanie and Richard. Philip tells Dawn that this works out perfectly: Melanie can be for Betty Ann and Richard for Dawn. Dawn is disturbed by this statement, but she can see Philip is trying to lead a normal life and so she doesn't tell Jimmy or cut off contact with Phillip. After the birth of the twins, Jimmy decides to visit his father and stepmother in Texas. While he is away, a drunken Philip almost rapes Dawn, telling Dawn that he could get her pregnant unlike Jimmy. Fortunately, they are interrupted when Christie starts crying; Dawn sends Phillip away, reminding him that he is now married and should try to love his wife. He tries to apologize to her, but she tells him to forget it happened.

Jimmy tells Dawn that he has found out what happened to his baby sister Fern, who was adopted when his father was arrested for "kidnapping" Dawn. He found out that Fern was adopted by Clayton and Leslie Osbourne, who changed her name to Kelly Ann. Dawn and Jimmy visit the Osbournes to make sure that Fern is okay. Although they are not allowed to tell Fern who they are, she already knows about her adoption and follows them back to the hotel. She tells them that Clayton sexually abused her, so Jimmy and Dawn obtain custody of her. Fern initially seems sweet and helpful, but soon proves untrustworthy, stealing things from the hotel, smoking in the basement with older boys, and acting promiscuously. She also makes Christie and Gavin, her little half-brother, strip and try to touch each other. Jimmy continually takes her side and Fern seems to enjoy driving a wedge between her brother and sister-in-law. Dawn is upset because she cannot understand how the sweet baby she used to care for has become this resentful, deceptive teenager.

Christie's father, Michael, reappears in Dawn's life. He asks to see Christie, and Dawn reluctantly agrees. Michael then claims to be remorseful and asks for a second chance, but Dawn rejects him, saying nothing can ever take her away from Jimmy. Michael then demands $5,000 from Dawn to help him get back on his feet. If she refuses, he will fight for custody of Christie. With the help of the hotel lawyer and a private detective, Dawn is able to scare Michael off. Meanwhile, Clara Sue is killed in a truck accident with another boyfriend. Laura Sue has a mental breakdown following Clara Sue's death and loses touch with reality, mixing up past and present.

When she comes upon a magazine article that mirrors Fern's accusations, Dawn realizes that Fern has been lying about being sexually abused. She calls Jimmy and they confront Fern about the magazine. Fern breaks down and admits that she made up the whole story, but argues that her adoptive parents were always disappointed in her and she thought Jimmy and Dawn would treat her better as they were her 'real' family. Dawn tells her that they do want to treat her better, but that can only happen if Fern works on her attitude and stops stealing and lying to them. Fern promises that she will do better but Dawn wonders if she can really change.

Sometime later, Dawn learns from Luther that Emily has died from heart failure. Dawn feels no sorrow about this, as Emily abused and judged her, but she decides they should at least visit The Meadows to check on Charlotte, who was kind to Dawn during her pregnancy. As Dawn, Jimmy and Luther sit around talking, Luther reveals that he was the father of Charlotte's baby. He sheltered Charlotte from her father and sister after they beat and starved her, and in the process, he developed feelings for her. His final revelations is that Charlotte is actually Grandmother Cutler's ''daughter'', the product of rape by Grandmother Cutler's father. Since Emily didn't leave a will, Charlotte inherits the plantation. The book ends with Dawn telling Jimmy that she is pregnant.

Christie Longchamp is a promising musician whose mother owns and operates the prestigious Cutler's Cove hotel. They live nearby with Christie's stepfather Jimmy and her nine-year-old half-brother Jefferson while her Uncle Philip, his wife Aunt Bet and their twin children, Richard and Melanie, reside in the family section of Cutler's Cove.

The story commences on Christie's sixteenth birthday. A grand party is being held at the hotel for her extended family and school friends, but to Christie, the only person whose arrival matters is her stepfather's seventeen-year-old half-brother, Gavin. Fern, Jimmy's younger sister and the problem child of the family, also arrives unexpectedly, mainly to upset Dawn and Jimmy (showing she has not changed since ''Twilight's Child''). She presents Christie with a copy of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover''. Christie throws it into her closet, appalled by her aunt's insinuations and promiscuousness. Despite Fern's wild and drunken behaviour, the party is a great success, and the evening concludes with Gavin confessing his love for Christie.

The next day, Christie and Jefferson return home from school to find that Cutler's Cove has burned to the ground after a boiler in the basement exploded. Jimmy, who was in the basement, was trapped and Dawn tried to save him, but they both perished in the blaze. It is revealed that Philip and Bet are now their legal guardians, and they proceed to move into Christie's house to establish themselves as the new heads of the Cutler empire. Although Aunt Bet explains to Jefferson and Christie that they must all compromise and sacrifice, Christie notices that it is only she and Jefferson who are being asked to make sacrifices. All of Dawn and Jimmy's belongings are either removed or seized by Aunt Bet, depending on whether she likes them or not. Aunt Bet is unable to get along with Jefferson, constantly criticizing him, and Richard frames him for naughty deeds just to get him in trouble. Christie fights with her about this but to no avail. Christie then pleads with her uncle to allow Jefferson and herself more freedom, but Philip sides with his wife, as he has had little willpower since Dawn's death. After some time, Laura Sue dies, which adds to Philip's deteriorating mental state.

Gradually, Christie notices her uncle is lavishing affection on her and trying to have intimate, personal conversations with her. Christie grows increasingly disturbed and worried by her uncle's behavior, especially after he gives her lingerie and she catches him watching her bathe, but it is not until her Aunt Bet finds the forgotten copy of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' and punishes her that her suspicions evolve into fear. Later that night, Uncle Philip, overcome by desire and fury at never having been able to possess her mother, enters Christie's room and rapes her, mixing her up with her mother as he does so. Heartbroken and confused, Christie buys bus tickets to New York so she and Jefferson can go in search of her mysterious biological father. But her father is now a rundown, drunken has-been, and in no way fits the image Christie had of him. In her disappointment, she leaves and calls the only man she still believes in, Gavin. When Gavin arrives, Christie confesses what her uncle has done, and in his fury and disgust he refuses to allow her to return home. Together they decide to hide out at 'The Meadows', the mysterious plantation where Christie was born. Her great-great Aunt Charlotte, a mentally-disabled but sweet woman, is living there with her husband, Luther, and they gladly take in the runaways.

Gavin and Christie begin to explore the grounds, and gradually they learn many of the family's secrets that have remained buried inside the house, such as the fact Grandmother Cutler was raped by her father, the torture Dawn suffered at the hands of Emily when she was pregnant with Christie, and how Emily used Luther as a slave for impregnating Charlotte. Gradually, the isolation pulls them closer together, until they finally consummate their relationship, with Christie asking Gavin to take away her shame by making her love for him feel right. Then Fern and her boyfriend Monty arrive. Fern takes over the household and bullies the family, making Christie her slave as revenge for the constant disapproval of Christie's parents. She has no interest in why Christie and Jefferson are hiding out at The Meadows, assuming that Christie finally got bored of being a good girl and ran away. When Christie tells Fern about her rape, Fern's response is that Christie must have seduced him.

When Jefferson cuts himself on a rusty nail and becomes terribly ill with tetanus, Christie is forced to come out of hiding to save her brother's life. Fern and Monty leave immediately when Jefferson becomes ill, fearful of getting into trouble. Phillip immediately comes to claim Christie and Jefferson and take them back 'home'. Christie is terrified of Philip, but she is so afraid for Jefferson's life that she has no choice but to return with him. Gavin tries to stay with her, but Philip forces him to leave and takes his niece back to Cutler's Cove. Locked in her room by Aunt Bet and finding her beloved Sweet 16 party dress shredded by Richard, Christie is miserable and frightened. Although she has lived in this house for almost her whole life, she no longer feels safe or at home there. Enraged by how her relatives have intimidated her, Christie tips the twins' bowls of chowder onto their laps and tells Aunt Bet what Philip did to her. This appears to drive Aunt Bet over the edge. On the brink of insanity, Philip drives Christie to the beach where he took her mother years ago, and again tries to rape her while calling her Dawn the whole time. Christie manages to fight him off, and runs to her grandmother's husband, Bronson Alcott, who finally learns what Philip has done. Philip is found to be mentally ill and delusional, and is taken away. Aunt Bet can't face the public shame, so she and the twins move out of the house to live with Aunt Bet's parents.

The novel concludes with Jefferson's recovery. Christie and her brother live in Bronson's house and Christie is pursuing her dream of becoming a concert pianist while maintaining a long-distance relationship with Gavin. It appears that the Cutler 'curse' has finally been broken.

1. Edinburgh has been shocked by the abduction and subsequent strangling of two young girls. Journalist Jim Stevens runs his own investigation, and has uncovered Michael Rebus's drug dealing. He suspects that his brother John, a Lothian and Borders Police officer, knows or even supports his brother's illegal activities.

John Rebus is meanwhile assigned to the investigative team. The investigation remains without success, and eventually two more girls disappear. Throughout the case, John is haunted by his past in the SAS. Then his former wife is attacked and his daughter abducted. Only when hypnotized by his brother is he able to share his past with him and his colleague and lover Gill Templer. Taking hints from seemingly cryptic anonymous letters, John connects the murders to his own military past. Relieved from his duty because of the personal involvement, he decides to find and face his enemy.

The episode starts out with Rock Lee and Maito Gai, who are about to start off a mission, supposedly one that is very hard. As the two of them go out, two other ninjas are shown, hiding in a tree. One is very fat and rather short; another is very skinny and lanky. The fat one says that now is the time to take down Lee and Gai, but the tall one says that a change in plan has been made. The tall one seems to be the leader, as the fatter one seems to call him "Big Bro".

When the sun rises, the two of them are shown again, but dressed exactly like Lee and Gai. (From here, the two of them are referred to as Fake Lee and Fake Gai, since their names are never given).

The two of them go into Konoha, and attract quite a lot of attention, since they do not look remotely like Gai and Lee, especially Fake Lee. However, the two of them seem unable to notice, and soon, the villagers return to their business. Fake Gai tells Fake Lee that since they are finally in Konoha, it is time to steal the secret information. Fake Lee states that now, their village (unknown) will finally be able to prosper, and the Fake Lee and Fake Gai both daydream of being welcomed as heroes back at their village. They quickly return to reality, and Fake Gai tells Fake Lee that Konoha has a Hokage as the leader, and they should find where he lives at a very noticeable building with the 'Fire' kanji on it. They find it, but Kakashi suddenly appears behind them, asking them what they are doing.

Kakashi pretends to be fooled by a distraction Fake Lee and Fake Gai do, but he actually follows them and finds out about their plans. Kakashi reports the incident to Tsunade, who seriously doubts if they are indeed ninja, as they used costumes rather than Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique). Shizune asks if they should expel the two, but Tsunade puts on an evil grin, saying that they should see what Fake Lee and Fake Gai do now that the two of them are in Konoha. Kakashi then leaves, saying that he merely thought he should report the incident, but also stating that nobody could possibly be fooled by the disguise.

Shift to Naruto, who has been fooled by the disguise, and asks Fake Lee and Fake Gai to train him in Taijutsu. Though the two fakes refuse at first, Naruto uses Harem no Jutsu, and puts Fake Gai so off balance that Fake Gai immediately agreed. The three of them are about to head off, when Tenten shouts to Fake Gai and Fake Lee out of her window. She tells them that they are supposed to be at a farm, and quickly drags them there, followed closely by Naruto.

At the farmhouse, the three of them are to help out the farmer. First, they must plant rice in a rice paddy. Not only is there lots of mud, since the land has been submerged in water, but there are also flying leeches in the water. Fake Lee gets attacked by one, and suffers from severe blood loss. Fake Lee and Fake Gai do barely anything, while Naruto, thinking that planting rice will give a good workout, does everything.

Next, the three of them are to fertilize the entire farm with manure that has been out for a long time. They are to carry them in buckets and then take them to the land. Fake Lee and Fake Gai could barely carry two large buckets on a pole, while Naruto has no trouble doing it alone. Fake Lee and Fake Gai could barely maintain their balance, but they tell Naruto that it is harder to move off-balance, which gets Naruto to do the same thing. However, Naruto keeps having one bucket right under Fake Gai's nose, and Fake Gai wants Naruto to stop. Naruto did not catch the entire sentence, and swings around to hear it all. However, the other bucket Naruto was carrying gets splashed all over Fake Lee and Fake Gai.

Fake Lee and Fake Gai wash themselves clean, while Naruto finished the rest of the work. At this time, Sakura comes, and wants Fake Gai and Fake Lee to get a piece of laundry that got blown to the top of a cliff. Though she was only asking, her tone and visage make it more of a threat. Fake Lee and Fake Gai thus had to climb all the way up. Naruto asks them why they don't use any chakra, but Fake Lee and Fake Gai tell Naruto that they are training their bodies, so Naruto copies them. Finally, Fake Lee and Fake Gai get to the laundry, and they grab hold of it. However, they used it like a parachute to get down, only they let go midway and fell on a tree.

Now, Tsunade comes, telling Fake Lee and Fake Gai that her companion is sick, and want Fake Lee and Fake Gai to help treat her companion. All four of them get to a clearing, where they see Katsuyu. Tsunade tells Fake Gai and Fake Lee to treat Katsuyu, and when they seem to chicken out, Tsunade reveals that she is the Hokage, and demands that Fake Lee and Fake Gai help. Seeing her scary personality, Fake Lee and Fake Gai help out, but Katsuyu keeps saying that she is quite sick, and spits out acid, barely avoiding Fake Lee and Fake Gai. Finally, Katsuyu separates into little slugs, all of which fall on Fake Lee and Fake Gai.

At the end of the day, Fake Lee and Fake Gai crawl out of Konoha in crutches and bandages, only to see the real Gai and Lee. Fake Lee and Fake Gai had enough, and decide to fight Gai and Lee, but Gai and Lee easily won, kicking Fake Lee and Fake Gai out of Konoha. Seeing Fake Lee and Fake Gai fly out to the sky, Tsunade says that the little fun is over, and its back to work. She thanks Tenten and Sakura for their help, and Shizune remarks that Tsunade even summoned Katsuyu to help. Sakura and Tenten, however, are ashamed that Naruto actually fell for the two fakes' disguises.

Naruto catches up to the real Gai and Lee, and tells them that later, he will continue their Taijutsu training.

The Doctor poses as a psychiatrist to investigate strange goings on at a mental health hospital.

''Marnie'' is about a young woman who makes a living by embezzling her employers' funds, moving on, and changing her identity. Her criminal behaviour is described in detail, but her motives remain obscure, as she is a capable person who would have likely fared well in an honest career.

She is finally caught in the act by one of her employers, a young widower named Mark Rutland, who blackmails her into marriage. Two shocking events near the end of the story send the troubled woman to the brink of suicide, and she must eventually face the trauma from her past that is the root cause of her behaviour.

Child prodigy Hiroki Sawada—who, by the age of ten, is already a MIT grad student and has developed a DNA Tracker software—has been under the guardianship of Thomas Schindler, CEO of the software giant Schindler, Inc., since his mother died. One night, in a heavily guarded room at the top of the Schindler building where Hiroki lives, he finishes an artificial intelligence system, Noah's Ark, and sends the software through the telephone lines. The guards become suspicious when he does not respond. They bust open the door, but discover that Hiroki has disappeared, apparently having leapt off the building.

Two years later, at the Beika City Hall, Schindler, Inc., holds a demonstration of an immersive virtual reality game called Cocoon. Conan, Richard, Rachel and the Detective Boys (including Haibara Ai) are attending the demonstration, but cannot participate without special badges, which have been allocated to children associated with the game's investors and prominent socialites such as Serena. Dr. Agasa and Booker Kudo, who have been involved in the development of the game's setting, attend the event. Agasa gives Conan a badge, while the other Junior Detective kids trade ''Premium Golden Yaiba Cards'' for badges.

When security discovers that Kashimura, a top employee of Schindler, Inc., has been killed. Booker and Conan rush to investigate. Discovering that Kashimura's keyboard has blood stains on three of the keys (R, T, and J), Conan decides to participate in the demonstration, hoping that the game would lead him to an answer. Booker reasons out that J-T-R stands for "Jack the Ripper".

When the demonstration begins, Hiroki's artificial intelligence system, Noah's Ark, announces it has taken control, but it tells the audience that if none of the fifty kids are able to survive the game, it will kill the kids in reality using a large electromagnetic burst. The kids must choose one of five types of games while the audience watch helplessly, unable to shut the game down. Conan and the Junior Detectives choose the fifth, a re-creation 19th century London set in the world of Sherlock Holmes. Conan and his friends track down 221B Baker Street, only to find that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are at Dartmoor. Since Holmes cannot help, the kids find Sebastian Moran and Professor Moriarty. Moriarty tells Conan that he trained Jack the Ripper when Jack was a street urchin. The professor gives the children a clue about the next victim, who turns out to be Irene Adler, Holmes's only love. Some of the events lead to more kids being eliminated from the game, including the Junior Detectives. Meanwhile, in the real world, Booker investigates the case and reveals that Kashimura's murderer is the company's president, Thomas Schindler, who Hiroki had discovered was a descendant of the original Jack the Ripper.

Eventually only three are left: Conan, Rachel, and another child named Hideki Moroboshi. They follow Jack the Ripper to a train and reveals Jack among the passengers. However, Jack captures Rachel and sets the train on a runaway course. After being unable to stop the train, Conan and Hideki confront Jack on top of the train where he has tied himself to Rachel. Hoping that Conan can figure out the situation, Rachel sacrifices herself by jumping off the train and into a ravine, pulling Jack with her. As Conan begins to lose hope, Sherlock Holmes appears and gives Conan some useful advice that eventually helps Conan and Hideki survive the game when the train crashes into the station. After winning the game, Conan reveals that Hideki is actually Hiroki, who has manifested himself as Noah's Ark. In a private conversation, Hiroki says he was satisfied with the outcome, as he was hoping the kids can paint a brighter future than their parents, and that he was happy he could also participate as a player in the game. He releases the children from the game and then erases himself.

Norman Bates, a middle-aged bachelor, is dominated by his mother, a mean-tempered, puritanical old woman who forbids him to have a life outside of her. They run a small motel together in the town of Fairvale, but business has suffered since the state relocated the highway. In the middle of a heated argument between them, a customer arrives, a young woman named Mary Crane.

Mary is on the run after impulsively stealing $40,000 from a client of the real estate company where she works. She stole the money so her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, can pay off his debts and they can finally get married. Mary arrives at the Bates Motel after accidentally turning off the main highway. After checking in, she accepts Bates’s invitation to have dinner with him at his house, an invitation that sends Mrs. Bates into a jealous rage; she screams, "I'll kill the bitch!", which Mary overhears.

During dinner, Mary gently suggests that Bates put his mother in a mental institution, but he denies there is anything wrong with her; "We all go a little mad sometimes", he says. Mary says goodnight and returns to her room, resolving to return the money so she will not end up like Bates. Moments later, however, a figure resembling an old woman frightens Mary in the shower with a butcher knife, and then beheads her.

Bates, who had passed out drunk after dinner, returns to the motel and finds Mary's bloody corpse. He is instantly convinced his mother killed her. He briefly considers letting her go to prison, but changes his mind after having a nightmare in which she sinks in quicksand, only to turn into him as she goes under. His mother comes to comfort him, and he decides to dispose of Mary's body, belongings, and car in the swamp, and go on with life as usual.

Meanwhile, Mary's sister, Lila, tells Sam of her sister's disappearance. They are soon joined by Milton Arbogast, a private investigator hired by Mary's boss to retrieve the money. Sam and Lila agree to let Arbogast lead the search for Mary. Arbogast eventually meets up with Bates, who says that Mary had left after one night; when he asks to talk with his mother, Bates refuses. This arouses Arbogast's suspicion, and he calls Lila and tells her that he is going to try to talk to Mrs. Bates. When he enters the house, the same mysterious figure who killed Mary ambushes him in the foyer, and kills him with a razor.

Sam and Lila go to Fairvale to look for Arbogast, and meet with the town sheriff, who tells them that Mrs. Bates has been dead for years, having committed suicide by poisoning her lover and herself. The young Norman had a nervous breakdown after finding them and was sent for a time to a mental institution. Sam and Lila go to the motel to investigate. Sam distracts Bates while Lila goes to get the sheriff—but she actually proceeds up to the house to investigate on her own. There she finds various books on occultism, abnormal psychology, metaphysics, and Marquis de Sade, in his bedroom. During a conversation with Sam, Bates says that his mother had only ''pretended'' to be dead, and had communicated with him while he was in the institution. Bates then tells Sam that Lila tricked him and went up to the house and that his mother was waiting for her. Bates knocks Sam unconscious with a liquor bottle that he has been drinking from. At the house, Lila is horrified to discover Mrs. Bates' mummified corpse on the floor, in the fruit cellar. As she screams, a figure rushes into the room with a knife—Norman Bates, dressed in his mother's clothes. Sam regains consciousness, enters the room and subdues Norman before he can harm Lila.

At the police station, Sam talks to a psychiatrist who had examined Bates, while the county highway crew is out dredging the swamp to uncover the automobiles, revealing the bodies of Mary and Arbogast; a media frenzy imagines countless additional victims to be uncovered if the swamp is further drained, but "the newspaper writers didn't have to foot the bill for such a project." Sam learns that Bates and his mother had lived together in a state of total codependence ever since his father deserted them when he was still a young child. Along the way, introverted, awkward, and filled with seething rage, Norman became a secret transvestite, impersonating his mother. A bookworm, he became fascinated with the occult, spiritualism, and Satanism. When his mother took a lover named Joe Considine, Bates went over the edge with jealousy and poisoned them both, forging a suicide note in his mother's handwriting. To suppress the guilt of matricide, he developed an alternate personality - his mother, who is as cruel and possessive as the real Mrs. Bates had been. He retrieved her corpse from the cemetery and preserved it and, whenever the illusion was threatened, would get drunk, dress in her clothes and speak to himself in her voice. The "Mother" personality killed Mary because "she" was jealous of Norman feeling affection for another woman.

Bates is declared psychotic and put in a mental institution for life. Days later, the "Mother" personality completely takes over Bates's mind; he virtually ''becomes'' his mother. "She" blames Norman for the murders, and resolved to stay quiet and still in order to show Heather’s doctors at the institution that she "wouldn’t even harm a fly".

The Federation starship ''Voyager'' is transporting members of a telepathic race, the Enarans, to their homeworld. Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres begins experiencing intense dreams in which she is a young Enaran woman named Korenna having a forbidden love affair with an Enaran youth, Dathan. The dreams seem real, more like memories, and they become increasingly disturbing and dangerous, forcing Torres to seek answers from the Enaran passengers.

She learns that her dreams are actual memories being projected to her by one of the visiting Enarans, Jora Mirell, formally named Korenna, now an old woman. The memories are of a lover of Korenna in her youth, who was a member of the "Regressives", a group that preferred not to use technology but instead lived a simple life. The Regressives were deported and executed in a program of genocide. The Enarans, however, covered up the genocide by teaching succeeding generations that the Regressives brought about their own demise.

On ''Voyager'', Torres visits Korenna's quarters, and finds her dying from what she claims is a murder to continue the conspiracy. Before dying, she projects the ending of the story to Torres;— how she turned her lover over to the authorities and watched his execution.

Torres confronts the Enarans, but they deny wrongdoing. Though the Prime Directive forbids Captain Janeway from interfering, she casually remarks that the last of the Enaran engineers are packing their equipment. Torres rushes to engineering, where she confronts Jessen, an Enaran woman with whom she had become friends and bemoans the fact that she is unable to project the memories, and thus prove their validity. Jessen tells Torres that she is able to connect their minds—and proceeds to do so with Torres—and the episode closes with the first 'dream' of all, but now Jessen is the main character.

Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a psychopathic playboy who proposes an idea to "exchange murders": Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father; neither of them will have a motive, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them. Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico.

Bruno informs Guy of his crime, but Guy hesitates to turn him in to the police. He realizes that Bruno could claim Guy's complicity in the planned exchange murders; however, the longer he remains silent, the more he implicates himself. This implicit guilt becomes stronger as in the coming months Bruno makes appearances demanding that Guy honor his part of the bargain. After Bruno starts writing anonymous letters to Guy's friends and colleagues, the pressure becomes too great, and Guy murders Bruno's father.

Subsequently, Guy is consumed by guilt, whereas Bruno seeks Guy's company as if nothing had happened. He makes an uninvited appearance at Guy's wedding, causing a scene. At the same time, a private detective who had worked for Bruno's father and who suspects Bruno of having arranged the murder of his father, establishes the connection between Bruno and Guy that began with the train ride, and suspects Bruno of Miriam's murder. Guy also becomes implicated due to his contradictions about the acquaintance with Bruno.

When Bruno falls overboard during a sailing cruise, Guy identifies so strongly with Bruno that he tries to rescue him under threat to his own life. Nevertheless, Bruno drowns, and the murder investigation is closed. Guy, however, is plagued by guilt, and confesses the double murder to Miriam's former lover. This man, however, does not condemn Guy, and instead dismisses Miriam, as well as women in general, while enjoying Guy's liquor. The detective who had been investigating the murders overhears Guy's confession, however, and confronts him. Guy turns himself over to the detective immediately.

Having landed on the planet of Espero, the Doctor and Fitz leave Trix in the TARDIS whilst they investigate a distress signal. As she grows bored, Trix decides to leave, but is surprised to find an amnesiac Fitz lying unconscious outside the TARDIS. They find themselves in the path of a wavefront of grey goo, and Fitz surprises Trix by being quite keen to investigate the mystery.

The Doctor, meanwhile, has been befriended by Calamee, a member of the planet's ruling family. The amnesia he has been suffering from has grown worse, and he — like Fitz — has forgotten everything that has happened prior to the start of the novel. He is directed to the home of a mysterious off-worlder named Madam Xing, who restores his most recent memories and confirms that the memories lost (prior to ''The Burning'') have been permanently deleted, rather than merely suppressed. The Doctor refuses to allow Xing to restore the memories by using a viroid unit, but does take the unit with him as he leaves. As he goes, he discovers that he is being observed via anachronistic technology.

Fitz and Trix head to the city, and watch as a mob of citizens attack a "night beast" — an unknown creature that has arrived on the planet. Fitz tries to prevent the attack, but is over-powered by the mob, who kill the beast. They are led to safety by a woman named Farine, but Trix wanders away when she sees a young boy watching them. The boy offers her a device that will allow her to disguise herself much more effectively, changing her entire body on a genetic level. Trix takes him up on the offer, only to find that the "device" is actually an alien symbiote named Reo, who takes complete control of her body.

Fitz is taken to the palace by Farine, who turns out to be Princess Sensimi of the ruling family. As they head to the cellars to visit a captured night beast, the TARDIS arrives and the Doctor and Calamee step out: the Doctor has been persuaded to warn the authorities about the wavefront. He explains that it is altering living beings on a genetic level, and manages to convince the others to join him in searching for the source of the wavefront.

Finding the source, the Doctor and Fitz discover that it is a crashed living spaceship called Tain, a warship from a race called the Makers who are involved in a war with a race called the Oon. Tain had removed the Doctor and Fitz's memories of finding the ship, but because of a Trojan virus in his systems he was unable to do the job properly. The Trojan created the night beasts as soldiers against Tain, but he was able to interfere in their development to make them docile. In his panic he activated the Gaian Wave, a self-defence mechanism that genetically alters the inhabitants of a planet so that they are all genetically part of the ship: its enemies will be unable to defeat it without destroying the entire planet.

Trix and Reo find them, and as Tain agrees to sacrifice himself to save the planet, Reo transfers his consciousness into the ship. Trix collapses, her body unable to look after itself without Reo's control, and Tain manages to link with her and keep her alive. But this leaves the Doctor with a dilemma: if he carries out Tain's wishes and destroys him to save the planet, Trix will die. Fitz saves the day: remembering that his current body was "remembered" (''Interference: Book Two'') he advises Tain to do the same. Tain separates himself from the ship in a new body, and destroys Reo's consciousness inside the ship. Tain then returns his consciousness to the ship, and cures Trix.

The TARDIS crew arrive in the Kremlin Museum, looking for a locket that may help to reveal the nature of Sabbath's plans. However, they find the museum being ransacked by two soldiers from the future. One is overpowered, and the other escapes to the future, taking the Doctor with him.

In the present day, Colonel Grigoriy Bugayev (of the Russian branch of UNIT) is investigating the thefts, and suspects corrupt businessman Vladimir Garudin. He also knows of the Doctor, and thinks that his companions may be able to help him. However, he doesn't search Trix properly, and fails to discover that she has stolen the locket the Doctor was searching for.

The Doctor and the future soldier arrive in 5000 with a painting of a Russian noblewoman, which his captor insists on taking to his commander, Lord General Razum Kinzhal. Kinzhal himself has been captured by enemy forces, but manages to complete a daring escape that leaves him in the Arctic wilderness with his second-in-command, Angel, who loves him dearly.

In 1812, as Alexander Vishenkov prepares to head off to face the French with his friend Captain Victor Padorin, he is given the diamond locket as a token of affection by Dusha. He loves her dearly, but is troubled by lustful feelings he has started to have for her younger sister. Dusha, meanwhile, worries about her two sisters, whom the notorious lecher Padorin seems to have set his sights on.

As Trix and Fitz are escorted to Bugayev's HQ, he tells them that the collection of artefacts they were raiding seem to have a strange effect on the public; in part, they were displayed to study that effect. They are interrupted, however, when the convoy is attacked by a group of apparently possessed locals. Fitz finds himself possessed by the same force, and compelled to leave the safety on the convoy. The future soldier, meanwhile, recovers and forces Trix to aid his escape. As she drives them away from the convoy, she is surprised by a woman on horseback and crashes the vehicle.

The Doctor and his soldier stumble across a bunker where a group are plotting to betray and execute Kinzhal. As the soldier grows more enraged by this, a mysterious fire breaks out from around the picture and kills everyone in the bunker. The Doctor is intrigued by this apparent pyrokinetic ability.

Fitz is marched by his controlling force to the office of Victor Garudin, and then released: it is clear that Garudin himself was controlling them. He is after the Doctor's TARDIS, and fearing for his life Fitz admits that he will sell the Doctor out happily if he is rewarded suitably. Garudin shows Fitz his own personal time machine, Misl Vremnya or "Thought Time", which allows Garudin to watch history through any person's eyes.

The soldier travelling with the Doctor succumbs to his injuries, but the Doctor manages to deliver the portrait to Kinzhal. He demands to know why the Lord General is stealing treasures from the past, and how the painting causes fires. Unseen by all but Angel, the Lord General's new aide tries to avoid the Doctor catching sight of her.

Trix awakes to find herself on the planet Paraiso with a woman named Aphrodite, and her soldier recovering in a villa. Using the diamond necklace, Aphrodite is able to use her pool to travel back to 1812 with Trix. Once there she greets Dusha as her mother. Unknown to the two of them, Fitz and Garudin are watching the reunion through Padorin's eyes: Garudin has to leave, but allows Fitz to stay, confident that he doesn't possess the metal discipline to control a person in the past. Trix, meanwhile, tricks Aphrodite into allowing her to go back to Paraiso apparently to fetch the Doctor to help them. Instead, she intends to steal the diamond necklace that allows Aphrodite to visit her mother.

Fitz is rescued by Bugayev. However, this is part of Garudin's plan, who intends to use him as a spy on the investigation. Fitz ruins this plan by convincing Bugayev to rescue Garudin's secretary as well: she is happy to betray her employer, and shows the Colonel evidence that Garudin has been using "Thought Time" to control the military leaders of the age. Bugayev can now justify a full scale raid on the industrialist's headquarters.

Kinzhal admits to the Doctor that the artifacts that have been collected all amplify powerful emotions because they have been in contact with Dusha. He sent his men to gather them, but cannot travel in time himself: he and Dusha are star-crossed lovers, aliens who are forbidden from seeing each other by their own people. The Doctor agrees to help create a mental bridge between the two lovers using the time travel technology, but the device he needs has been lost in the 21st century and possibly developed in a time machine.

The Doctor returns to the 21st century and is held by Bugayev, reunited with Fitz. However, once he realises that Angel, Garudin's secretary and Dusha's sister all look exactly the same, he decides to go back and visit Dusha to see what he is not being told. Fitz is still under Garudin's influence, and he intends to control the Doctor as well.

As Trix arrives on Paraiso, she finds her soldier and the locket missing, and assumes he must have taken it back to his time. She heads to 5000 to try to retrieve it, but she was mistaken: the soldier has returned to 1812 to force Aphrodite to take him home, being unable to work the controls of the time machine pool. The Doctor and Fitz arrive and convince Aphrodite and the soldier to return to Paraiso.

Once there, they work out where Trix has gone. Aphrodite explains that Dusha and Kinzhal are two halves of the same being, exiled for breaking their society's laws and having a child. United, the creature is more like an intelligent star, which means that if they are reunited, the Earth will be destroyed by their natural form.

Trix arrives too early, and ends up having to pose as Kinzhal's aide whilst she awaits what she assumes will be the return of the locket. In the meantime, the Doctor and Fitz arrive to offer a solution to the lover's separation to Kinzhal. However, he refuses, not wanting to take the risk that something will go wrong. However, at that point they are attacked and, although they defeat the attackers, Angel is mortally wounded. She offers her body to Dusha, knowing she can heal it, and the two lovers can be together without reforming as a star. Moved by her sacrifice, Kinzhal agrees.

The Doctor arranges for Dusha to arrive in the future in Angel's body, and also obtains the diamond he needed to find the true nature of Sabbath's masters. The empty locket is returned to Aphrodite on Paraiso, who vows to remain there, satisfied that her parents have been reunited. As Burgayev's raid on Garudin's headquarters is successful, the industrialist commits suicide, and the time travel equipment is confiscated and destroyed. The Doctor, Fitz and Trix are free to carry on their journey and attempt to defeat Sabbath's masters.

Once upon a time there lived a poor old woodcutter with his wife, who earned their living by cutting wood and fishing. The old man was honest and kind but his wife was arrogant and greedy. One morning, the old man went into the mountains to cut timber and saw an injured sparrow crying out for help. Feeling sorry for the bird, the man took it back to his home and fed it some rice to try to help it recover. His wife, being very greedy and rude, was annoyed that he would waste precious food on such a small and insignificant little thing as a sparrow. The old man, however, continued caring for the bird.

The man had to return to the mountains one day and left the bird in the care of the old woman, who had no intention of feeding it. After her husband left, she went out fishing. While she was gone, the sparrow got into some starch that was left out and eventually ate all of it. The old woman was so angry upon her return that she cut out the bird's tongue and sent it flying back into the mountains from where it came.

The old man went searching for the bird and, with the help of other sparrows, found his way into a bamboo grove in which the sparrow's inn was located. A multitude of sparrows greeted him and led him to his friend, the little sparrow he saved. The others brought him food and sang and danced for him.

Upon his departure, they presented him with a choice of a large basket or a small basket as a present. Being an older man, he chose the small basket as he supposed it would be the least heavy. When he arrived home, he opened the basket and discovered a large amount of treasure inside. The wife, learning of the existence of a larger basket, ran to the sparrow's inn in the hope of getting more treasure for herself. She chose the larger basket but was warned not to open it before getting home.

Such was her greed that the wife could not resist opening the basket before she returned to the house. To her surprise, the box was full of deadly snakes and other monsters. They startled her so much that she tumbled all the way down the mountain, presumably to her death.

Moral

• The purity of friendship overcomes the evil of greed and jealousy.
• Greed only leads to one's own demise.

Each of the seven castaways narrate an autobiographical story—almost totally unrelated to the events of the show—in order of their mention in the show's title theme. Their stories intersect with a character named John "Jack" Gilbert Egan, a Marine-turned-CIA operative, whose own life is the meta-narrative which ties the novel together. Each chapter features an important person or object in the lives of the castaways whose name is an anagram of "Gilligan"; additionally, a character whose name is a variant of "Susan" and Maxwell House coffee appears or is referred to in each story.

The Doctor takes a huge risk to restore the collapsing multiverse.

This story begins with Fitz and Anji working for the Good Times Inc. Company. They are working undercover for the Doctor, who is shocked to discover a company that is selling holidays in time.

The climax of the story results in the destruction of billions of universes. The Doctor and Sabbath realise all time travellers must be stopped, to prevent these events from happening again. However, at the end of the book a man reveals he has a time-travel machine and proceeds to begin interfering in time once again.........

The story is set in an alternate universe and features Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the cover is based on a famous photo of Brunel standing in front of the launching chains for the SS Great Eastern.

Set during the 1840s, the Doctor and his companions arrive during the Industrial Revolution in England, and learn that an inventor has been ordered by an alien force to construct a machine known as the ''Utopia Engine'', a machine that will cause the entire planet to rapidly age. Anybody below the age of puberty will survive, but those above it will age to death.

Brunel, who has unknowingly been supplying parts for this engine, unites with the Doctor to destroy the engine after learning of the post-apocalyptic future the Doctor has foreseen.

A story arc about the Multiverse collapsing begins in this novel, ending in ''Timeless''

Doctor's second heart was taken by his ally time traveler Sabbath. But because of new danger he starts to work with Sabbath again to pursue Dartmoor to unravel his new mysteries.

The Doctor accidentally brings the concept of reality to a world based on cartoon physics.

The Doctor tries to push the TARDIS to its limit, but is forced to land when it begins to break up. They land on the surface of a frozen sea of acid on the planet Endpoint, in the distant future. When the ice begins to break up, The Doctor, Fitz and Anji, flee to the nearby city of Hope, only to see the TARDIS sink to the bottom of the sea. On the city, a policeman investigating a decapitation explains that the planet is toxic, so the humans had to evolve to survive, but recently a serial killer has been decapitating people. The policeman then tells them to go to a casino for help. When they arrive The Doctor buys entry with an apple core (which is long extinct) from his pocket. Inside the casino, a group of cyborgs, calling themselves the Brotherhood of the Silver Fist, burst in and demand that the casino's owner, Silver, speaks to them. Silver, himself a cyborg, enters and drives the brotherhood out of the casino but not before talking to The Doctor. After learning that The Doctor can time travel, he offers to recover the TARDIS if The Doctor catches the murderer, which The Doctor agrees to.

While Fitz and Anji rest in the casino, The Doctor finds a used tranquilliser dart at a crime scene and deduces that the murders are part of a plan committed by a visitor to Endpoint. While Fitz tries to infiltrate the Brotherhood, Anji finds apple trees being cloned from the core. Silver explains that he was born in the 30th Century, and was enlisted into the military and given his implants to prolong his life from the birth defects he suffered. In 3006, he was sent to the future to collect technology to help in a war, but was unable to return, and became a businessman on Endpoint.

The Doctor learns that the people of Endpoint produce a hormone called Kallisti, which has similar effects to adrenaline, and the killer has been taking heads to give himself a permanent supply. The Doctor uses himself as bait, and when the killer attacks him, he overpowers him, only to discover that the killer is an inbred human. Then, other humans surround The Doctor and tranquillise him. Back at the casino, Anji asks Silver if he could clone her boyfriend Dave Young. Silver agrees, but demands that Anji provides him with data from the TARDIS so he can build his own time machine, which Anji agrees to. When his staff tell him that The Doctor has disappeared, Silver explains that he fitted The Doctor with a tracer, and he locates him on the sea bed. Silver then dives down to rescue The Doctor.

On sea bed, where The Doctor is being held in a bunker, the humans explain that they regard the people of Endpoint as mutants, and they believe that humans should be the dominant race, so they have been experimenting with Kallisti to improve humans. Suddenly, Silver attacks the bunker and kills the humans. Fitz contacts The Brotherhood and turns them against each other, but then the image of their cyborg Queen appears and orders Fitz's release. Fitz releases the Queen, who is actually one of Silver's staff, Miraso. She explains the Brotherhood was created by Silver to control rebels and keep the public's faith in Silver. In the Bunker, The Doctor and Silver find technology capable of reversing the pollution. When activated, the sea turns into water, and the air becomes breathable again. Fitz discovers that Silver has mutants with silver skin hidden in his casino and goes to investigate while Anji trades the data on the TARDIS so that the clone of Dave can be made.

The Doctor places Kallisti into the liquid computer of Silver's brain, allowing him to create Kallisti himself. The humans explain that their bunker has a hypertunnel, which can be used to quickly travel throughout space. Fitz tells The Doctor about Silver's mutants, and, with Miraso's help, breaks into Silver's office. Silver explains to Anji that he intends to use Dave's clone (Dave II) to give the human race some genetic variety. He explains that he plans to create a new race, Silverati, who all have the enhanced Kallisti, and are loyal to Silver. After conquering the empire, he plans to create time machines to spread his power further. The Doctor and Fitz are imprisoned after learning of Silver's plan. The Doctor gives Anji the TARDIS key and blows up the cell door with an explosive from his pocket. The Doctor turns Dave II into a Silverati disloyal to Silver. Dave II takes them to the hypertunnel and helps them fight Silver. Anji shoots Silver in the eye and he flees through the hypertunnel. The Doctor explains that he took the data on the TARDIS from him when they were fighting. Dave II reprograms the hypertunnel to leave Silver and his army stranded on a dead planet. The Doctor turns Dave II back into a human and Anji leaves him to create a new life for himself on Endpoint, before she leaves in the TARDIS.

An unarmed human starship and its crew of fifteen hundred are destroyed by a technologically less advanced alien race, later called elves by the humans because of their resemblance to the mythical creatures. Other unprovoked attacks follow. All negotiation attempts fail; the elves fire without communication. Eventually, the overmatched enemy is driven back to his home world, but the conflict does not cease. The Alliance, one of the three human power blocs, ends up mired in a twenty-year-long war.

In all that time, humans get no closer to understanding why the elves fight or how to make peace. A few districts remain puzzlingly neutral, but when humans try to establish relations with one of them, it instantly joins the enemy side. In addition, not a single elf is captured alive; except for the very young, as they have the ability to stop their hearts at will.

Then one day, Second Lieutenant John DeFranco takes a prisoner, who deliberately allows himself to be captured. The creature speaks English, learned from a human prisoner, and calls himself the ''saitas''. He tells DeFranco he has come to try to end the war. The elf is passed along to Alliance scientists, but would not communicate with them. He asks to speak to DeFranco.

As they talk, DeFranco learns that the elves do not comprehend the concept of a treaty, written down on a piece of paper, and do not trust it; their way of thinking is too alien. The saitas explains that he has come to be killed, so that his death will carry away the mistakes of the war. He is willing to sign a human treaty, but the elves require a ''human'' saitas. The elf hopes that DeFranco will be that one. Meanwhile, all along the front, the elves attack with the little they have left. One of DeFranco's friends becomes a casualty.

When DeFranco realizes what the prisoner wants, he tries to leave, but the meeting place has been locked from the outside by his commanders and a grenade pointedly left inside. In the end, DeFranco finds it within himself to join the saitas in completing his mission. When the recording of their deaths is broadcast, the fighting ends. An elvish delegation arrives and takes away DeFranco's body for burial. The humans in turn take the elf's body to be interred on Downbelow, the Alliance world.

Set in the 1930s Australian Outback, starring singer Paul Kelly as a farmer, Jim Ryan, newly settled in the area. He is the father of a girl, Emily (Memphis Kelly, his real life daughter), who climbs out the window of their farmhouse one night and follows the moon into the hills. Rose Ryan (Kelly's then wife Kaarin Fairfax and mother of Memphis) comes to check on her daughter only to find that Emily is missing.

The Ryans get the local police, led by a sergeant (Chris Haywood), to search for her, but when their Aboriginal tracker, Albert Yang (Kelton Pell) arrives, the father says he does not want any blacks on his land. Jim Ryan and the white police go searching for Emily, destroying evidence Albert could have used to find the girl. The white men cannot find her, eventually Rose goes to Albert's hut and together they go looking for Emily, they find her dead in the hills and bring her body back home. Jim blames himself for not finding Emily and commits suicide. Albert's wife (Ruby Hunter) sings the funeral song for the lost child.

A small northern town soon finds out that a large U.S. Army base is being established for the build-up to the Normandy landings. Soon thousands of rambunctious American troops, or "Yanks" as they are known to the British, descend upon the area. On leave in the town, Technical Sergeant Matt Dyson, encounters Jean Moreton while out to the cinema. She is the fiancée of Ken, a British soldier fighting overseas, and initially rebuffs Matt's advances. He is quite persistent, and she, doubtful about her relationship with Ken, eventually accepts him. The handsome, brash American is in stark contrast to the restrained Englishmen she has known. Soon, she is keeping company with Matt, though it is largely platonic at first.

For her part, Helen is a bit more worldly in her affairs. Captain John comes to her estate often, and a relationship develops. They are both married, but her husband is away at sea, and his wife is thousands of miles distant.

Eventually, the kind-hearted Matt Dyson is accepted by the Moreton family, notwithstanding Jean's engagement. They welcome his visits, when he, as an army cook, often brings hard-to-find foods normally on wartime rationing and other presents. But when news of Ken's death in action arrives, Jean's ailing mother condemns their relationship as a kind of betrayal.

Jean and Matt travel together to a Welsh seaside resort, where they make love but without completion when Matt realizes the uncertainty of the future. Jean is crushed, although Matt says "not like this." She feels spurned, and that her willingness to risk everything has not been matched by him, concluding that he is "not ready" for her.

Shortly afterwards, the Americans ship out by troop train to Southern England to prepare for D-Day. A characteristic last-minute gift and message from Matt prompt Jean into racing to the railway station. With the town and station a hive of activity, hundreds of the townswomen, some of them pregnant from liaisons with men they may never see again, scramble to catch one last glimpse of their American boyfriends before the train leaves. Matt shouts from the departing train that he will return.

Act I

Mr. Boddy acts as host as he invites the audience to play "The Game" while introducing each of the other characters. He then brings three audience members onstage to choose one card each from one of three stacks, representing six suspects, six rooms, and six weapons. These selected cards, unseen by the selectors, cast, or the audience, are placed in an oversized envelope marked "Confidential", which is displayed on stage for the duration of the musical and opened to reveal the cards near the end. Mr. Boddy instructs the audience on how to play along. Between scenes throughout the musical, Mr. Boddy gives rhyming clues, which provide the audience with information they may jot down on a form supplied to them and use to solve the mystery.

In the kitchen, Mrs. White prepares dinner and argues with Mr. Boddy over her forced servitude to pay debts because he once helped her son. She laments "Life Is a Bowl of Pits". In the billiard room, Mr. Boddy's business partner, Mr. Green, clashes with him over missing funds. In the ballroom, Col. Mustard and Mrs. Peacock engage in an affair, but are caught by Mr. Boddy. Over drinks in the lounge, Miss Scarlet and Mr. Green are revealed to have been business partners of Mr. Boddy's and former lovers, and that Mr. Boddy double-crossed them both and unceremoniously dumped Miss Scarlet. They muse revenge and that "Everyday Devices" such as a wrench and lead pipe are dangerous when used for the wrong reasons. In the study, Prof. Plum recounts how Mr. Boddy ruined his family fortune to Mrs. White while she tries to unsuccessfully flirt with him. In the conservatory, Mrs. Peacock plans to add Mr. Boddy to her growing list of dead husbands ("Once a Widow").

After dinner, Mr. Boddy invites his guests and staff to fulfill their destiny — murdering him. They search through "Corridor and Halls" for the right combination of suspect, room and weapon. Mr. Boddy is soon found dead ("The Murder"), the cause of which is unknown ("After the Murder").

Act II

Mr. Boddy miraculously revives to introduce a new character, a hard-nosed, attractive Detective. As she searches the mansion for clues, the suspects nervously speculate "She Hasn't Got a Clue".

She returns with six possible weapons – a wrench, candlestick, pipe, knife, revolver and rope – found in six rooms: the lounge, kitchen, ballroom, conservatory, billiard room, and study. All of these have the suspects' fingerprints on them, which were made between 9:00 PM and midnight, the latter of which is the time of Boddy's murder. After the suspects tell her how they used the "Everyday Devices", the Detective questions Prof. Plum, who tries to seduce her ("Seduction Deduction"). After his attempts fail, she in turn interrogates Col Mustard, Mr. Green, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. Peacock, and Mrs. White, as each speculates that she is a "Foul-Weather Friend".

As the Detective prepares to make her accusation, the Suspects cry "Don't Blame Me" and panic at "The Final Clue". She reveals the random killer, location, and weapon as per the three cards drawn earlier, and the killer confesses. Then, it is revealed that the previously stated murderer was only an accomplice, and that the true murderer is Professor Plum. He is then revealed to be a disguised "dorky school teacher", as the true Plum is disguised as a piano player in the orchestra.

The suspects ponder life beyond the mansion, but are compelled by Mr. Boddy to repeat their fate and continue playing "The Game".

Detective Inspector John Rebus finds the body of an overdosed drug addict in an Edinburgh squat, laid out cross-like on the floor, between two burned-down candles, with a five-pointed star painted on the wall above. Some of his colleagues are inclined to categorise it as the routine death of a "junkie", but Rebus is perturbed by some unusual facts of the case: a full package of heroin in the dead man's room, and some mysterious bruises on his face and body. Rebus takes seriously a death which looks more like a murder every day, and he begins to investigate the true circumstances of the death. As part of his investigation, Rebus finds the young woman named Tracy who knew the dead man and heard his terrifying last words: "Hide! Hide!"

It emerges that the dead man was a photographer who took and hid some sensitive photos in a specialist private members' club - Hyde's - where highly connected people in society watch illegal boxing. Rebus is able to arrest Hyde's owner and several high-profile members, but to his outrage and disgust all the prisoners die suspicious deaths: the powers-that-be are covering it up to prevent scandal.

Real-life scandal

Shortly after Rankin moved to London, there was a real-life case of male prostitutes bribing lawyers and judges, similar to some parts of the book: "questions were asked in parliament" and two lawyers began to investigate the police investigation. "To everyone's surprise, this inquiry found that the allegations were false. Police officers involved in the case found themselves demoted..."

Rebus is drafted in by Scotland Yard to help track down a cannibalistic serial killer called the Wolfman, whose first victim was found in the East End of London's lonely Wolf Street. His London colleague, George Flight, isn't happy at what he sees as interference, and Rebus encounters racial prejudice as well as the usual dangers of trying to catch a vicious killer.

When Rebus is offered a psychological profile of the Wolfman by an attractive woman, it seems too good an opportunity to miss.

''The Revolt of Mamie Stover'' is an allegory for the decline of American society because of the country-wide democratization that conflict made possible. Using a Honolulu prostitute to state his case, Huie shows her rise economically, socially, and politically with the aid, in part, of the federal government as she flouts local regulation (prostitution itself being legal at the time). As the war progresses, Stover becomes a war profiteer, coming to control property, accumulating vast wealth in cash, and visiting proscribed beaches in the company of U.S. military officers.

''The Revolt of Mamie Stover'' is the first volume in a trilogy, including ''The Americanization of Emily'' (1959), and ''Hotel Mamie Stover'' (1963), all of which have the same narrator. In the first and third books, he is primarily present in order to observe and report, and in the second he relates his experiences in the late stages of World War II.

A police raid on an Edinburgh brothel captures (seemingly by accident) popular young local MP Gregor Jack. When Jack's fiery wife Elizabeth disappears, and two bodies are found, suspicion falls on a famous local actor Rab Kinnoul. Detective Inspector John Rebus is sympathetic to the MP's problems, and interviews a member of the Jacks' social circle, Andrew MacMillan, who is locked up in a psychiatric hospital after murdering his wife many years before. It becomes increasingly evident that somebody has 'set up' Jack, with the intention of stripping him of his good name, political standing and maybe even his life.

One fall day, while Farmer Bailey is riding down the road in his truck, he hears a thump. At first, he thinks he had run over a deer, but when he gets out to see what he hit, he finds that he has accidentally run over a man. The man tries to leave, but loses his balance and falls down again where he and his wife, Mrs. Bailey, discovers that the stranger cannot talk.

The Baileys call a doctor to examine him. The doctor arrives and takes the stranger's temperature with her thermometer. As the doctor holds it up to his mouth, the stranger blows on it and the mercury inside freezes. The doctor thinks that the thermometer is broken. Although the stranger isn't seriously hurt, he can't remember who he is or where he is from. The doctor gives advice to the Baileys, telling them to give the stranger shelter until he regains his memory. They do and he fits in well with the family and even helps out on the farm. One night, the stranger comes out to have dinner with the Baileys. They are having soup, and the stranger notices steam rising from his bowl. He sees the little girl blowing on the soup to help it cool. He lightly blows on his own bowl, and the steam drifts away. When he blows, Mrs. Bailey feels a draft on her spine.

Bailey enjoys having the stranger as his guest, but he also notices how peculiar the weather has been. The stranger goes for a walk in the forest and notices some rabbits. They would usually stay away from humans, but they walk toward the stranger. It still feels like summer on Mr. Bailey's farm, and the summer warmth makes his pumpkins grow bigger than normal. The stranger notices the curiosities as well. He wonders why the trees on the Bailey farm are still green while all the other trees on the other farms are red and orange. One day, the stranger blows on a green leaf, and it turns to orange. This helps him regain his memory and he realizes it is time for him to leave the Baileys farm. On his last evening at the house, the stranger hugs Mr. and Mrs. Bailey and the little girl goodbye. They come outside to wave goodbye to the stranger, but he has disappeared. When the stranger leaves, fall comes to the Bailey's farm, and the trees are now all red and orange. Etched in frost on the farmhouse window is a message from the stranger that says, "See you next fall".

Jeab, a young man working in Bangkok, receives word that his best friend from childhood, Noi-Naa is to be married. While driving back to his hometown, the memories of his friendship with her come flooding back, and their story is told in a flashback.

Jeab and Noi-Naa live in a small city somewhere in Phetchaburi in southern Thailand. Their fathers are rival barbers, with shops situated next to each other, with only a mini-mart to separate them. Jeab's father favors efficiency and uses an electric trimmer. Noi-Naa's father, meanwhile, has a more contemplative, artistic approach, and uses scissors. Jeab notes that the results of both methods seem to be the same.

The school holiday has ended. Jeab is notorious for oversleeping, so that each day he misses the school bus and must be driven part way by his father on a motorcycle. By taking a shortcut, Jeab and his father are able to catch up to the bus, but only just in time.

On the bus, other boys are introduced. Their ringleader is an overweight bully named Jack. On the bus, the children talk about what they are going to do after school. The boys decide they will play Chinese fantasy characters, while the girls plan to play "house".

Because Jeab must cross a busy street to play with the boys, and he fears getting hit by a car, he stays to play with the girls, which makes him the target of much taunting by Jack and the other boys.

Then, one day, Jack and his friends are playing soccer against a rival neighborhood gang. They are one player short. Jeab happens to be hanging around, and he's asked to join the game, proving his abilities.

He earns the trust of Jack's gang, and passes various tests in order to join. But the one thing he must do is sever his ties to Noi-Naa. Jeab does so, quite literally, by cutting a rubber-band jump rope, which Noi-Naa is skilled at playing with.

From that moment on, Noi-Naa refuses to talk to Jeab. Then, one day, Jeab gets word that Noi-Naa is moving away. And, of course, on the day she is to leave, Jeab oversleeps and misses the chance to say his final goodbye to Noi-Naa. Jeab then gets Jack and his friends to commandeer a delivery motorcycle and pursue Noi-Naa and her family in their moving truck. But the motorcycle breaks down, and the truck rolls out of sight. Jeab is to never see Noi-Naa again ... until her wedding.

A pregnant woman steals parsley from the garden of an ogress (''orca'') and agrees to give up her child when she is caught. The baby is born and named Petrosinella, after the southern Italian word for parsley (''petrosino'' or ''petrusino''; the modern standard Italian word is ''prezzemolo''). The ogress watches the girl grow in her mother's care and reminds her often of her mother's promise. Petrosinella, unaware what the promise is, tells her mother of the ogress's comment. Petrosinella's irritated mother tells the girl to say to the ogress that she can act on the promise.

The ogress takes Petrosinella by her hair and locks her in a tower deep in the woods with only a single window; the ogress relies on Petrosinella's extremely long hair to enter the tower. Within the tower, Petrosinella is taught "magic arts" by the ogress. One day, a prince sees her hair in the wind. Petrosinella noticing his passionate declarations of love blows him a kiss. Eventually, the prince makes his way to the tower and climbs up Petrosinella's hair after he imitates the ogress's voice. The couple continues to see each other every night, but the ogress is informed by a neighbour of the romance.

Petrosinella overhears that her secret has been revealed and plans to escape with the prince to the city. Stealing three magic gullnuts or acorns before climbing out of the tower with a rope ladder, Petrosinella uses the gullnuts as a distraction by throwing them behind her as the ogress chases the couple. The first bean turns into a dog that the ogress feeds a loaf of bread. The second becomes a lion that the ogress feeds a donkey from a nearby field, and she takes the donkey’s skin as a coat. The third bean turns into a wolf that swallows the ogress whole, as she is wearing the donkey skin.

With the ogress defeated and the couple free, Petrosinella and the prince get married with the permission of his father.

Set during the Edinburgh Festival, this novel starts with a brutally executed corpse being discovered in Mary King's Close, an ancient subterranean street. The body has a tattoo identified with "Sword and Shield", a long-thought-defunct Scottish Nationalist group with links to sectarianism in Northern Ireland. The victim turns out to be the son of notorious gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty, and the plot moves towards the unthinkable prospect of a terrorist atrocity in a tourist-filled Edinburgh.

Most of the ''Wetlands'' backstory is told through the graphic novel contained in game's manual. A nuclear test conducted in 1995 by the United States of America government under the name Project Othello altered weather patterns worldwide, resulting in years of rain immersing the Earth in water. The earth's population is forced to live in underwater cities. The rise in criminal activity along with the appearance of extraterrestrial invaders has caused the planet to become a haven for all manner of unlikable characters. A number of humans left for space. Interstellar war broke out between a federation of earth's remaining governments and the Valarins, a group of extremists who seek to build an intergalactic empire.

The game begins in the year 2495. The Valarans have taken over a number of the federation's planetary colonies. Phillip Nahj, a once prominent scientist turned criminal, is liberated from the maximum security prison Alpha 16. The game's protagonist, a mercenary named John Cole, is hired by the federation through General Corbett to bring Nahj back alive. He is assigned long-distance communication from his old friend Lieutenant Christine Mills: a technician with direct access to the federation's database.

After fighting hostile forces who attempt to destroy his transport ship, Cole arrives on Earth and begins his search at Omicron Station. A local crime lord points him to an energy station in the blue sector where an agent of the federation was found dead. After evading local mercenaries tasked with killing him, Cole leaves Omicron Station for the energy plant. On his submarine, Cole tells Christine his deduction that Nahj's escape was aided by a special agent of the federation.

Arriving at the energy plant in blue sector, Cole finds the body of the agent, killed with a shot to the back of the head. Christine tells Cole that the agent was attached to Project Othello. After holding off an attack on the energy plant using its defense systems, Cole links up the planet's computer system. Using the ion trail left by two missing power cells, Christine tells Cole that whomever took them has gone to an oxygen facility 300 miles to the northeast.

After arriving at the facility, Cole uses a probe to disable the sonar security system and docks his submarine. Inside, he is briefly subdued by three Valarin troopers but breaks free. The facility's self-destruct sequence is activated while Cole is locked out from accessing his submarine. Cole fights through a Valarin regiment while destroying 10 circuit breakers to end the security lockdown. He escapes before the facility self-destructs.

Christine tells Cole all files related to Project Othello were closed 20 years ago by General Corbett, then just a lieutenant. He was promoted to Captain just two days after. Cole tells Christine he is going to Xi colony to rest while she does more research. Christine convinces Cole to look for Nahj's research vessel, which sank during 1995, on the way to Xi colony. With the aid of a probe, Cole extracts a box of data from the wreckage. Upon seeing his findings, Christine concludes that Nahj's importance to the government was what saved him from execution in favor of being cryogenically frozen. Cole sends Christine to work in decoding the data in the box.

The data files reveal Nahj's role in Project Othello was to develop nuclear bombs that leave no radioactive fallout. Despite Nahj's warnings about side effects, the military forced him to speed up the test process resulting in Earth becoming Wetlands. The military framed Nahj for the bomb's failure resulting in his being sentenced to indefinite suspended animation. Cole asks Christine to discover why Nahj was kept alive.

Finally reaching Xi Colony, Cole takes a sabbatical. However, he is taken captive by Valarins who take him to Nahj. Cole suggests that Nahj is seeking revenge for being used by the federation. Nahj admits Cole is right, then leaves, ordering Cole be killed. Cole escapes and navigates the Xi Colony highway on a hoverbike while fighting off opposition. He arrives at a docking station and calls Christine to pinpoint a tracking device he placed on Nahj during their encounter. The signal is coming from the planet's surface.

Cole acquires a ship capable of flying above water and leaves Xi Colony in pursuit of Nahj. During the flight, Christine reveals Project Othello was never cancelled but placed on hold until the rains caused by the bomb tests ended. Nahj was to remain frozen until then to head the project. The day before his liberation, the project was reactivated. General Corbett initiated the prison break with the secret agent, but someone else took Nahj.

Cole's tracker takes him to land, something previously believed to no longer exist on Earth. The landmass has been cloaked. Cole destroys the defense systems of the landmass and flies into the ruins of New York City where his ship is shot down. Escaping into a nearby subway, Cole drives a train to a large Valerin gathering. He discovers Phillip Nahj is the leader of the Valerins and is about to lead a final assault against the federation. Cole hijacks a spaceship and flies to the federation homeworld.

After breaking through a squadron of Valaran fighters, Cole reaches Nahj's lead gunship, which contains a weapon capable of destroying planets. Nahj intends to destroy the federation homeworld. With Valrin forces preventing federation forces from sending out ships, Cole flies into the ship, destroys its core, and flies out before it explodes. Cole flies to the federation homeworld. Christine contacts him, telling him she monitored his accomplishment. However, Corbett is upset he and the federation did not get the gunship.

Sometime later, Cole is spending time with Christine on the federation homeworld. The news on the television reports that federation fighters, under the command of General Corbett, defeated the Valerin armada. Upon learning that Corbett is to be given a commendation, Cole shoots the television causing the game screen to fade to black.

At West Point Military Academy in 1854, cadet Carl Rader (Van Heflin), an agent of John Brown, is dishonorably discharged for instigating a brawl among the cadets after distributing anti-slavery pamphlets which his classmates disapprove of—due to the controversial nature of the pamphlets (some believed the issue of slavery to be one that would inevitably resolve itself) and the U.S. Army's position against the pursuit of ideological causes while serving. Following the brawl, Rader's classmates Jeb Stuart (Errol Flynn) and George Custer (Ronald Reagan) become second lieutenants and are posted to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, the most dangerous duty in the Army—an assignment they relish. On the way to Kansas, Custer and Stuart meet Cyrus K. Holliday, in charge of building the railroad to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and his daughter Kit (Olivia de Havilland), with whom both officers fall in love.

The Kansas Territory is bloodstained and war-torn, a victim of John Brown's (Raymond Massey) relentless crusade against slavery. Meanwhile, Rader has enlisted as a mercenary in Brown's army, which has been terrorizing the countryside and freeing slaves. During Brown's attack on a freight wagon under the protection of the U.S. Army, Stuart and Custer capture Brown's injured son Jason (Gene Reynolds) and, before he dies, the troubled boy informs them about his father's hideout at Shubel Morgan's ranch in Palmyra. In disguise, Stuart rides into Palmyra, the center of the Underground Railroad, but Brown's men spot his horse's army brand. He is captured and taken to Brown at gunpoint. Attempting to escape, Stuart is trapped in a burning barn but is saved as Custer leads the cavalry to the rescue, driving Brown into seclusion.

Three years later, in 1859, believing that Brown's force has been broken, Stuart and Custer are sent back to Washington, D.C., where Stuart proposes to Kit. However, Brown is planning to re-ignite war by raiding the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. When Brown refuses to pay Rader for his services, Rader rides to Washington to alert Stuart of Brown's plans, and the troops arrive just in time to crush the rebellion. Brown is then tried for treason by the state of Virginia and hanged. The movie ends with the marriage of Stuart and Kit.

George Armstrong Custer (Flynn) arrives at West Point in an outlandish uniform he had designed himself, which makes him appear to be a visiting foreign general. Following the misunderstanding, he signs as a cadet and begins to stack up demerits for pranks and a general disregard for rules while at the Point. When the Civil War breaks out, Custer is at the bottom of his class.

Custer is walking a silent punishment tour when he is approached by Libbie Bacon who asks him for directions. Shortly thereafter, his punishment ends, and he runs after her, explaining his rude silence, and asking if he may come to call that evening. Later, Custer and other members of his class are graduated early and ordered to report immediately to Washington, D.C., for assignment. As a result, Custer misses his appointment with Libbie.

Custer makes the acquaintance of Gen. Winfield Scott (Sydney Greenstreet), who aids him in getting placed with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. He becomes a war hero after disregarding a superior's orders during a crucial battle, successfully defending a bridge for the Union infantry. Awarded a medal, he gets leave to return home to Monroe, Michigan. He meets Libbie at her home, but her father, who has been the butt of Custer's joke earlier that day, orders him to leave. Custer returns to his regiment. Due to a miscommunication from the Department of War, he is promoted by mistake to the rank of brigadier general and takes command of the Michigan Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg. He wins the day, and many victories follow thereafter.

Upon returning home to Monroe as a Union war hero, Custer marries Libbie in a lavish ceremony with a full honor guard, but soon grows bored with civilian life and begins drinking too much. Libbie visits Custer's old friend Gen. Scott and begs him to assign Custer to a regiment again. He agrees, and Custer is given a lieutenant colonel's commission out west in the Dakota Territory.

When Custer and Libbie arrive at Fort Lincoln, Custer finds the soldiers a drunken, rowdy, and undisciplined lot in need of firm leadership. His old West Point enemy, Ned Sharp (Arthur Kennedy), who has a government license to run the fort's trading post and saloon, is providing Winchester repeating rifles to the local Native Americans. Furious, Custer stops the rifle sales and permanently closes the saloon. He then instills proper military discipline in his men and introduces a regimental song, "Garryowen", both of which quickly bring fame to the U.S. 7th Cavalry under Custer's command. The 7th has many engagements with Lakota tribal chief Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn), who eventually offers peace, wanting a treaty that will protect the sacred Black Hills; Custer and Washington sign the treaty, but soon it is bankrupting Sharp's trading posts. Sharp and several others spread a rumor that large gold deposits have been discovered in the Black Hills. American settlers stream into the area in violation of the treaty, but Custer and his troops permit no infractions. To embarrass Custer, Sharp passes out free bottles of liquor to Custer's men hours before they drunkenly pass in revue, in complete disarray, before Commissioner Taipe, a politician in league with Sharp. Custer punches both Sharp and the commissioner in anger, and he is quickly relieved of his command.

On the way to Washington for his Court martial Custer hears from Libbie about attempts to start the gold rush in the Black Hills and realizes from the timing that it has been fabricated, a plan that would bring much business and large profits to a select group. Outraged, Custer takes the information to the U.S. Congress, but they only ridicule him, refusing to hear his evidence. When news arrives that the presence of gold miners has led to open conflict between the Lakota and U.S. troops, Custer appeals in person to President Ulysses S. Grant, one soldier to another, who restores him to command.

Upon returning to Fort Lincoln, Custer comes to realize that his band of cavalry are the only chance at rescuing a force of U.S. infantry from the Lakota. He also knows full well that he and his men have little chance of survival against their force. Custer has a final, emotion-filled goodbye with Libbie, after which he leads his cavalry into battle. An even greater number of Native American tribes, numbering 6000, have come together and joined the conflict. Quickly surrounded, Custer and his meagre forces are killed.

A few corrupt politicians have now goaded the western tribes into war for personal profit, threatening the survival of all white settlers in the Dakota Territories. Custer and his men have given their lives at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in order to slow the Native American advance. A letter left behind by Custer with Libbie, now considered his dying declaration, names the culprits and absolves the Native Americans of all responsibility; Custer wins his final campaign.

Detective Inspector John Rebus and Frank Lauderdale start the book with a car chase across Edinburgh to apprehend kidnappers, culminating with the two youths they are chasing throwing themselves off the Forth Road Bridge and in Rebus being injured in a car crash. Rebus's upset over this allows Rankin to show the character in a new light, revealing his isolation and potentially suicidal despair.

After the unconnected suicide of a terminally ill con, Rebus pursues an investigation that implicates respected people at the highest levels of government, and due to the politically sensitive nature of what he is doing, faces losing his job, or worse. He is supported by his daughter Sammy, allowing their distant relationship to be built upon.

In 5th-century Gaul, shepherd Céladon falls in love with Astrée. Falsely believing that Céladon has been unfaithful to her, Astrée banishes him from her sight. Céladon throws himself into the river, but he is saved by a nymph. Céladon tries to meet Astrée again.

Thousands of years ago, aliens visited the Earth and became gods to the Aztecs. The aliens fathered the Pumaman, a man-god with supernatural powers who would guard the people of Earth. The original Pumaman was entrusted a gold mask with the ability to control people's minds.

In present-day London, Jane Dodson, archaeologist and daughter of the Dutch ambassador, has uncovered the mask and deciphered its instructions: when aimed, it can control their mind. Her employer, the villainous Dr. Kobras, plans to use it to overtake the minds of world leaders, and Jane is his first victim. Kobras, realizing the Pumaman will be after the mask, begins a campaign to discover Pumaman’s identity.

American paleontologist Tony Farms survives defenestration by a mysterious Aztec named Vadinho. Some time later, Jane invites Tony to a party at the Dutch embassy, so Kobras' mind slaves can kill him. Later, Vadinho confronts Tony and explains the Pumaman’s powers and origins. He claims to a skeptical Tony that his full abilities will develop when he dons a magical golden belt.

Kobras' henchmen try to subdue Tony at the embassy party, but he manages to fight them off and escapes by flying from the roof after donning Pumaman's magic belt. Vadinho explains Kobras' sinister scheme and persuades Tony to follow Kobras to his lair. The henchmen swarm out to shoot down Tony, but he evades them.

Meanwhile, Vadinho, via his mystical amulet, learns Kobras' location. Tony uses an electronic position indicator borrowed from a policeman friend to the villainous lair. Kobras has convened and carried out his plan of absorbing the minds of world leaders. Kobras orders Jane to shoot Tony, but her affections for him helps resist the order. Kobras fends off Tony's attack with a force field that strips Tony of his powers.

Kobras twice attempts mind control on Tony, but Vadinho helps Tony focus his mind on resisting the spell before escaping. Vadinho teaches Tony another superpower, which slows down his metabolism enough to fool Kobras into believing Tony is dead. Vadinho damages the mind control apparatus by throwing a stick of dynamite. Freed from Kobras' control, Jane smashes the replica of Tony's head, which restores his Pumaman powers. He joins the fight with Vadinho and defeats all of the henchmen. Kobras escapes to a helicopter. Tony catches up to him and, with some deft aerial maneuvering, manages to crash the chopper with Kobras inside.

The world now safe, Vadinho, Tony and Jane head to Stonehenge with the mask. Vadinho summons the aliens with his amulet, and before joining them to return the mask to the Andes, he tells Tony to look for him when it is time to train his future son to succeed him as the next Pumaman. The film ends as Tony flies into the air with Jane and embraces her.

Detective Inspector John Rebus is working on four cases at once trying to catch a killer he suspects of being the infamous Bible John. He has to do it while under an internal inquiry led by a man he has accused of taking bribes from Glasgow's "Mr Big". TV journalists are meanwhile investigating Rebus over a miscarriage of justice. Rebus travels between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen and then on to Shetland and the North Sea.

A conservative couple masquerade as liberal do-gooders in late 60's France. With orders piling up at their bistro, The Full Belly, Loretta and Henri, self-described "pillars of the community," hire Diamantine as a waitress in order to give a poor black orphan a chance at a better life. At home, they tell their trusting, new live-in employee that she's "one of the family," yet in town they encourage widespread disapproval of her. When they convince her to carry an extended joke to full term - pretending she's pregnant - Diamantine, and a slightly shady friend of the couple, Jan, become entangled in an elaborate charade.

Detective Inspector John Rebus, stationed at St. Leonard's in Edinburgh, is involved in four cases which turn out to be intertwined. He is removed from the investigation of the murder of "Mr Taystee," an ice-cream vendor, and assigned instead to investigate Lintz, a possible Nazi war criminal living quietly in Edinburgh (his history is based on the World War II massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane in France). His conversations with Lintz about guilt and responsibility cause Rebus to recall being stationed in Belfast at the beginning of the Troubles. Rebus also volunteers to be the liaison with Crime Squad's surveillance of up-and-coming gangster Tommy Telford. Finally, he stumbles into the role of protector of a traumatised Bosnian prostitute, who has associations both with Telford and with a Chechen gangster named Tarawicz -"Mr Pink Eyes"- operating out of Newcastle; she leads the police to the discovery that Japanese "businessmen" (one of whom turns out to be a Yakuza member) are associated with Telford. 'Big Ger' Cafferty, who is still serving his time in Barlinnie Prison, is thought to be engineering attacks on Telford, to maintain control of crime in Edinburgh, and Rebus and his colleagues must track the growing gang war. Rebus's insights lead the Crime Squad to mount an operation against Telford using Rebus's old friend (and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor) Jack Morton, who is killed as the operation goes wrong.

Rebus' daughter Sammy (Samantha) is knocked down in what looks like a deliberate hit-and-run. Through most of the novel, she is unconscious, with her mother Rhona and, often, Rebus's ex Patience Aitken at her bedside. Rebus visits her hospital room but again and again he leaves to investigate or confront the various gang leaders and members. Although he resists Telford's assumption that he is part of 'Big Ger' Cafferty's team, he asks Cafferty to find the driver of the hit-and-run, certain that someone was trying to send him a message. In the end, this is not the case.

While investigating a poisoner at Edinburgh Zoo, Detective Inspector John Rebus sees Darren Rough, a known paedophile, seemingly photographing children and decides to 'out' the man, in spite of assurances that he wants to reform. Later Rebus tries to help Darren, thinking better of his action, but is unable to stop him being murdered.

Meanwhile, Rebus has been assigned to keep a watch on Cary Oakes, a convicted killer back from the US who, having served his time in prison, has come to Edinburgh to settle accounts from his past. His experience with both Rough and Oakes makes Rebus think out his prejudices and question how much a person is the product of his inherited nature, and how much nurture shapes that character. He has to confront this once again when he discovers that the reason behind the suicide of his police colleague Jim Margolies was fear that he was becoming like his incestuous father. Rebus also has to face up to his own past and the route he took to escape it when his friend Brian Mee and former girlfriend Janice approach him to help find their son Damon, who has gone missing.

His search for answers to all his questions involves him in discovering how implicated a respected doctor had been in protecting two paedophiles then on trial for conspiring to abuse children in care homes. Darren Rough had, in fact, been brought to Edinburgh to testify against them. And while investigating Damon Mee's last appearance at a party held by Ama and Nichol Petrie, the children of a high-profile judge, he finds out that the son is a cross-dresser and had brought Damon to the party while in his female role.

Another antagonist from Rebus’ past, the journalist Jim Stevens, is attempting to make a come-back by arranging an exclusive interview with Cary Oakes. The story he gets is sheer rubbish, since Oakes is an arch-manipulator who is using Stevens as a smokescreen. Realising this, Stevens joins forces with Rebus in trying to find out what Oakes’ real object is in Edinburgh. When he succeeds, Oakes stabs him to death and then goes after Rebus. But Oakes has consistently underestimated Rebus, who kicks him into the path of a speeding car while he is intent on his attack.

Those left alive must continue to cope with their problems. Knowing some answers does not really resolve the divisions and imperfections in society which it is the job of Rebus and his colleagues to police.

In 1972, Roberto Clemente is close to making his 3,000th hit. High school student Mickey (Trevor Morgan) and his younger brother Roger (Rory Culkin) drive to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles with a learner's permit to attend the baseball game. Roger has muscular dystrophy, but that does not deter them from traveling with their grandfather (Seymour Cassel). Their mother (Lauren Holly) follows them and they are later helped by a runaway, a motorcycle gang leader, a farmer, and an emergency room doctor.

In 1999 the Scottish Parliament was about to reopen in Edinburgh after 300 years. The novel is set in December 1998, with considerable references to the early months of 1979, when an earlier referendum instituting a Scottish Parliament had failed to receive enough votes. In the novel's presentation of both periods (1978-79 and 1998-99), real estate and construction in Edinburgh is booming, with gangsters speculating on choice areas near the proposed new institution.

Detective Inspector John Rebus is on a committee for security liaison with the new institution, along with detectives from various Edinburgh stations. While on a tour of Queensberry House, which is to be incorporated into the new Parliament, the committee members open up an ancient fireplace and find a mummified murder victim. Investigating this case involves delving into the renovations of the building around 1979, when the victim was killed.

A Labour candidate for MSP called Roddy Grieve is found murdered on the Queensberry House grounds. Grieve is a member of a wealthy and artistic Edinburgh family, including an artist mother, a brother who is a Tory MP, a sister who was a famous model when Rebus was young, and a brother who disappeared in 1979. Grieve's murder is an important case, and it is assigned to DI Derek Linford, an earnest younger man with ambition and prospects; however, Rebus prefers his own methods.

Meanwhile, DC Siobhan Clarke, coming off a difficult stint with Sex Crimes, witnesses a suicide and becomes the investigating officer on that case. The suicide was a homeless man who had no history before 1980 but a great deal of money in the bank. As she and Rebus exchange information on their investigations, they find intersections that help them solve, or at least bring to a head, both the long-ago murder and the Grieve case.

'Big Ger' Cafferty, the mobster whom Rebus had sent to prison, now appears in the city, released because he is supposedly dying of cancer. Rebus tries to learn more about the intertwining of the local mobs and real estate in the late 70s from Cafferty, but also uncovers the cancer scam and resolves to put him behind bars again.

When Prince Arthur is a baby, his father, King Uther Pendragon, rules Camelot. ''Lavik'', another king who wishes to conquer Camelot, attacks the castle. Arthur is saved by Merlin who sends him to a knight for safekeeping. For many years, this knight raises Arthur as his own son.

At the age of 15, Arthur attends a tournament with his foster father. At the tournament, he finds that he is able to pull the sword Excalibur from a stone. This action proves Arthur is the legitimate king of England. As a result, Arthur's foster father reveals the truth of his royal lineage. King Arthur and his subjects decide to fight against the evil King Lavik, who is aided by the witch Medessa.

Detective Inspector John Rebus has been sent to Tulliallan, the Scottish Police College for 'retraining' as part of a small group of senior officers who have become undisciplined; they are "the Resurrection Men," whose careers need to be resuscitated long enough for them to earn their pensions. Rebus was sent to Tulliallan for throwing a cup of tea at DCS Gill Templer, but in fact he is working undercover on behalf of the Chief Constable to learn about a possible 1994 theft by a group of the senior officers attending the course. To complicate things further, the officers in the course are assigned the unsolved 1995 case of the murder of a Glasgow gangster, a case originally investigated by one of them and about which Rebus knows all too much. While investigating his fellow officers for a past crime, he now has to fear that they will expose his own secrets.

Back at St Leonard's police station, DS Siobhan Clarke and the other officers are pursuing a murder inquiry, the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer named Marber. Clues involve a stolen painting by Jack Vettriano, a large disbursement to a painter who had been claiming Marber was cheating artists and clients, and a young prostitute for whom Marber was providing a home. DS Clarke suspects Edinburgh gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty of owning the spa where the prostitute works, the cab company that Marber used on the night of his death, and possibly a mysterious stash of paintings purchased from Marber a few years earlier. When the stolen painting turns up in one suspect's garden shed, he is arrested, but she remains skeptical and continues to pursue other avenues of inquiry.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency asks Rebus to act as a go-between with the Weasel, Big Ger's right-hand man. Rebus does not try too hard to persuade the Weasel to turn Cafferty over. However, he gets an idea about planning a heist of a secret trove of SDEA drugs; by involving the suspected police officers, he hopes to provoke them to reveal their earlier exploit.

While Clarke turns out to be on the wrong track, and Rebus makes a mess of his undercover mission, they work as partners to discover Marber's murderer and his connection with the 1994 theft by the police officers.

The title, besides the explanation in the book itself, is a reference to the body-snatchers of the 19th century, who were known as 'resurrectionists' or 'resurrection men'. Rebus himself, in the preceding novel, ''The Falls'', was preoccupied with Burke and Hare who posed as grave-robbers and are often carelessly identified as 'resurrection men.'

En route from a medical conference back to ''Voyager'', the ''Delta Flyer'' carrying Captain Janeway and the holographic Doctor is captured by Zet and Nar, ex-members of the Hierarchy. They keep Janeway in captivity and force the Doctor to return to ''Voyager'' using disguises enabled by his holo-emitter to get the crew to turn over the warp core and several gel-paks. Zet inserts programming into the Doctor's program to allow them to directly monitor and communicate with him. As the Doctor leaves, Janeway starts talking to Nar in secret away from Zet, hoping to gain his trust.

The Doctor, disguised as Janeway, returns to ''Voyager'' in the ''Delta Flyer'' and creates a fake transmission from a race called the R'Kaal; the R'Kaal transmission describes the area of space they are in as highly unstable to warp fields, and demands ''Voyager'' turns over the warp core, while allowing the crew to settle on a nearby class-M planet. The Doctor — as Janeway — has the ''Delta Flyer'' modified to be able to tractor the warp core away should it become unstable. The crew is uneasy at "Janeway's" willingness to give over the warp core so easily, forcing the Doctor to try to hide his tracks, including sedating Chakotay and Kim when they come too close to discovering his identity.

Eventually, Tuvok succeeds in discovering the Doctor's deception and goes to the Sick Bay to confront him. He finds the Doctor listening to "The Blue Danube", which the Doctor has been using to mask his communications to Zet from the ship's internal sensors. The Doctor flees via hologram, triggers the ejection of the warp core, and escapes with it using the modified ''Delta Flyer'', leaving no trail that the crew can follow. Shortly afterwards, all the computer systems across the ship begin playing "The Blue Danube", and Seven of Nine recognizes that some of the notes are not correct. They discover the Doctor secretly left a coded message within the recording, and use it to find a warp signature that they can trace. Tuvok and Paris leave in a separate shuttle to follow it.

The Doctor returns to the Hierarchy fleet and is recaptured despite Janeway's orders to not give over the warp core. With the mission considered a success, Zet decides to use the Doctor to similarly infiltrate the Hierarchy's command structure to gain valuable information and begins to program the Doctor with a Hierarchy holo-profile. The volume of data in the profile causes the Doctor's matrix to begin to destabilize. Just then, Tuvok and Paris arrive and begin firing on Zet's ship. Zet tries to eject the warp core with the intent of destroying it and the ''Voyager'' shuttle, but the Doctor struggles with Zet to prevent him from firing upon it. In the meantime, Janeway succeeds in beaming out the warp core to where Tom Paris in the ''Delta Flyer'' could tractor it back to ''Voyager''. Zet orders Nar to help him fend off the Doctor but Nar, now seeing Zet's recklessness, helps the Doctor to subdue Zet.

With Nar's help, Janeway, the Doctor, and the warp core are recovered and they return quickly to ''Voyager'' to help fix the Doctor's destabilizing program. The Doctor bemoans that he will soon die, and makes several deathbed confessions, including professing his love for Seven. However, Torres manages to fix his matrix. The Doctor isolates himself in the Sick Bay for a week, embarrassed about his confessions and believing that the crew will hate him for his deception. Janeway visits him and assures him that no one has any hostile feelings towards him, and invites him for coffee in the holodeck.

DI John Rebus, freshly treated for burned hands, faces trouble. A petty criminal who had been stalking DS Siobhan Clarke died in a fire on the night Rebus was injured. Rebus is known to have been at the stalker's house that night, but maintains that he left him unharmed and scalded his hands later at home.

An ex-soldier appears to have killed two teenagers at a private school, injured one, and shot himself. The facts seem straightforward and the only mysteries are the motive and the origin of the gun. Rebus antagonises the survivor's father, an aggressive local MP who dislikes the police and is trying to make political capital out of the shooting. He also meets his long-lost cousin, whose son was one of the killer's victims and whose daughter is now being sucked into the MP's campaign. He and Clarke try to trace the gun to a local gangster, and continue on the case when Rebus is officially suspended on suspicion of murdering Clarke's stalker. Two secretive security service personnel appear and begin asking awkward questions, and Rebus traces their interest to the gunman's involvement in a classified military helicopter crash on Jura years before. Drugs are found on his boat, and they discover that he had secrets and some unusual friendships, including with local teenagers and an ex-RAF pilot. However, the motive for the shooting remains unclear, and Rebus begins to wonder whether they have the true version of events after all.

Forensic evidence confirms his suspicions; the MP's son turns out to be lying. He killed his fellow-students himself, driven by motives including an angry relationship with his MP father, who faces personal and political ruin because of his son's actions. With the shooting resolved, the complex web linking many of those they have been investigating becomes clear to Rebus and Clarke: there has been drug-smuggling and money-laundering, the illegal reactivation of weapons, and the theft of diamonds intended to fund a covert government deal with Irish paramilitaries. The gangster who supplies guns was involved, and is found to be the real killer of Clarke's stalker, clearing Rebus of suspicion. Clarke confronts the key drug smuggler, who attacks her, escapes, and then crashes his light aircraft. A distraught Rebus witnesses the crash and assumes for a time that Clarke was on board and is dead.

The case over, Rebus gets drunk. He revisits the scalding of his hands, and the reader learns that the accident happened at home during a blackout after his previous drinking bout, explaining why he has avoided alcohol during the events of the novel. Recent events make him reassess his life and relationships, and he plans to try to repair some of his broken family ties. Meanwhile, the MP hires a lawyer and proposes to his son that if he retracts his confession, they will try to destroy the case against him on technical grounds based on Rebus's irregular conduct, suspension, and family links to the case. Whether he succeeds is not revealed.

Characters

For the majority of the game, the player controls Allura, the daughter of the recently deceased king. Reina and Millenia, protagonists of the third and second ''Deception'' games respectively, are shown as unlockable characters in the game, and Millenia is also included as a boss.

'''Allura''': The heroine of the story and princess of Fronenberg. She is caught up in the plot taking place in the palace, and is forced to flee. After escaping, she enters a mansion where she encounters the Fiend (Malphas), who grants her the power to control traps. The Japanese voiceovers in the game refer to Allura as "Alicia". She is soon revealed to be the half-sister of Rachel, and her father had used Allura as a pawn to awaken Malphas for a resurrection ritual. In the evil and possessed endings, she is either taken in as a servant of Malphas or has her corpse possessed if she is killed by Malphas. In the good ending, she presumably kills him and is made into the new queen of Fronenberg. '''Rachel''': Allura's maid and close friend. She is responsible for Allura's education and well being. At the end of the game, it is revealed that she is Allura's older half sister who desired to summon Malphas to complete her dead mother's plot of revenge against Olaf for abandoning Rachel's mother. Rachel had learned about the power of Malphas from her mother and after acquiring the powers necessary to summon various traps, became a maid of Allura in order to gain Olaf's trust. In the evil ending, she is murdered by Allura. In the possessed and good endings, if Allura refuses to fight her she is crushed under falling debris. She is successful in summoning Malphas in the latter endings after she injured Allura with a knife, using Allura's spilt blood to summon Malphas. She fights using a dagger and can use Allura's own traps against her due to them sharing Malphas' summoning power. The only difference is that Rachel has no accessory on her arm when she uses her powers. '''Catalina''': King Olaf's second wife and the secondary antagonist. Olaf's constant longing for his previous wife hurt Catalina's pride as a woman and caused her to harbor a strong resentment towards Allura, who is the daughter of King Olaf's first wife. Catalina has taken advantage of the King, who has become a shadow of his former self, and hatched a plot to stage a coup. In the end, she is killed by Allura after trying to unsuccessfully negate Allura's ability to summon demonic traps. '''Jais''': A knight of the Fronenberg and deemed the best swordsman in the kingdom. Jais is an orphan and strives to save orphans like himself, but the kingdom has continued to fall into disorder despite his best efforts. In all three endings, he is the only character who actually survives, but he is confronted and killed by Allura if she decides to retreat. In the good ending, Jais helps Allura escape Malphas' mansion and goes to search for survivors, only to have a demon sneak up on him. His fate afterwards remains uncertain. '''Ada''': A notorious female thief. Ada's excellent ability with knives led her to work as an assassin. She appears to have been involved in the assassination of the king and there is a lot of mystery surrounding her actions. She is later killed by her brother after he revealed his plans to acquire demonic power for his own purposes. '''King Olaf''': The recently deceased King of Fronenberg and Allura's father. In order to keep the kingdom balanced, Olaf remarried after the death of his first wife. Both Olaf and Allura were devastated at the death of his first wife. Olaf married Catalina, but never stopped loving his late wife. King Olaf was murdered in front of Catalina, Allura and Rachel, but nobody knows who is responsible for this crime. He is ultimately revealed to be alive and planning on using the powers of Malphas to resurrect his dead wife, only to be betrayed and killed by his general, Hertzog. He is also the father of Rachel, but soon fell in love with Allura's mother and became a target of revenge by Rachel. *'''Malphas''': Also known as "the Fiend", he serves as the primary antagonist of the game. Long ago, he was sealed away by powerful sorcerers in the mansion that Allura enters and grants her the power to create/control traps via a tentacle like bracelet on her arm. With each person Allura kills with her traps, his or her soul is offered to Malphas so that he can use their souls to materialize once again. Malphas appears in two forms, with his first form being a pale human dressed in a black robe, and his demonic form being a red humanoid with spiked red hair and ornate decorations and blades sticking out of his body. In both the evil and possessed endings, Malphas is successful at bringing Allura to his side (possessing her corpse in the possessed ending and using her as a follower in the evil ending), but he is ultimately killed in the good ending, furiously shouting how it is both the end of the world and of his own existence. It is still unclear whether Allura's efforts were enough to kill Malphas, as a demon servant was shown sneaking up on Jais in the good ending.

A race of alien poodles alters a 20th-century fantasy epic to aid their civil war.

The Doctor infiltrates a groups of writers known as the Smudgelings, Anji experiences some very, very special effects in 1970s America and Fitz meets an old friend.

The book also features a jolly hotel chef and dogs with opposable thumbs.

A slapstick comedy about the wacky antics of a group of waiters at a Jewish summer camp in upstate New York.

''Archangel'' is set in 1919 in the northern Russian area of Archangel, during a brief historical moment of Canadian intervention in the Russian Civil War following the end of World War I. One-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles sighs on the rail of a steamship over the ashes of his dead lover Iris. An officer mistakes Iris' urn for a bottle of liquor and throws it overboard into the sea. A narrator then delivers a sermon on the glories of Love and the horrors of Self-Love/Pride and how it forms the roots of War. (Maddin's daughter Jilian makes a cameo here as a young Cossack girl who orders the execution of a young boy.)

Boles arrives in the town of Archangel as an Allied trooper and billets with a local family consisting of a brave son, Geza, a cowardly father, Jannings, and mother Danchuk (who is immediately smitten with Boles) and a grandmother simply called "Baba" along with a seemingly nameless baby. Geza has a seizure as Boles arrives but Boles treats him by scrubbing the boy's torso with horsehair brushes. He then prescribes Geza horsehair to eat (to cure worms) and other folk remedies, while scoffing at the folk remedies Baba offers. Veronkha enters and Boles spies her in a mirror and faints, so affected by her resemblance to his lost love Iris. After reviving, Boles remains convinced that Veronkha in fact ''is'' Iris, forgetting that Iris has died. As coincidence would have it, Veronkha's husband Philbin also suffers amnesia, and has forgotten everything after his wedding day. He arrives with his doctor who explains that Philbin will relive his wedding day over and over without remembering what came after. Veronkha rebuffs Philbin's advances and leaves.

Boles dresses up in full regalia and Geza admires his medals, for which Danchuk decides he should be punished. Jannings is too cowardly to flog the boy, so Boles steps in to whip Geza, which makes Geza admire Boles further. The citizenry of Archangel next participates in staging various battle tableaux, posing as victorious over the Huns while a narrator provides commentary on their bravery. Soon after, a real battle takes place, after which Boles and Danchuk travel over a field of corpses that they discover are mostly just resting. However, they do raise one grave marker for a single dead soldier. Boles next follows Veronkha, hoping to learn where she lives, but instead she goes to meet with Philbin's doctor and is hypnotized so that she can recount her wedding night, during which Philbin first forgets their marriage and Veronkha finds him having sex with the front-desk girl. The doctor mentions a rumour that Veronkha has had a child and Boles somehow jumps to the conclusion that the child is his (belonging to him and Iris, who he still believes Veronkha to be) and confuses Danchuk's baby as this child, heading back to his billet to console said baby.

Boles sets out to find Veronkha's home yet again, following a treasure map that is also her marriage certificate to Philbin. The dreamlike trek ends in failure. Next another battle begins, prefaced by a flood of rabbits into the "sleepy trenches" where the soldiers have all but fallen asleep. At the last minute they realize that the rabbits have been fleeing the Bolsheviks and an attack is upon them. Some Bolsheviks break into the family's home and threaten Geza after eviscerating Jannings. However, in a final act of bravery, Jannings strangles them with his own intestines. Unfortunately, Geza's head has been covered with a burlap sack and even as his father dies a hero Geza believes him to have died a coward, believing he's been saved by Philbin.

Veronkha decides to renew her marriage to Philbin after annulling her first marriage, and they fly back to the Murmansk Hotel to repeat their honeymoon. Boles follows, and Veronkha mistakes Boles for Philbin, confessing a false love for Boles to Boles thinking she will make Philbin jealous. Veronkha is so shocked when she discovers that Boles isn't Philbin that she develops amnesia as well. Boles takes this opportunity to try to convince Veronkha that she is Iris. Veronkha disappears, and Boles follows the marriage certificate/treasure map again to find her, and does. They reunite gloriously, until Veronkha sees Philbin and remembers who she is, then rejects Boles and threatens to kill him if he touches her again. Boles, dismayed, heads back to the war, although first he begs Danchuk to take care of "his" baby (actually, already hers) if anything should happen to him.

Geza is killed in this battle, his ghost reunited with the ghost of his father and finally realizing that his father died a hero, saving him. Boles launches a final assault and is injured by a grenade marked "Gott strafe Kanada" [German for "God punish Canada"], staggering through the same treasure map route that previously took him to Veronkha—this time he arrives at the scene of her marriage (again) to Philbin. Boles then leaves Archangel to return home to Canada, destroyed.

In a village on the northeastern coast of Brazil, Jusce, 17, scrapes a living by diving 30 meters, with rudimentary equipment, for lobster. His "prize" at the end of a long day of risky work is sitting close to Ana, who lives with her mother and young daughter, as she savors the drama of urban sophisticates on her favorite soap opera.

Ana dreams of leaving the village to see the world. Jusce is content with the life he leads. The other fishermen, friends of Jusce's dead father, help him to buy and fit out his own fishing boat. One day an old friend, Rogério, returns from the big city to work giving dune buggy rides along the coast. The day Rogério gives Jusce a ride to Ana's place marks the beginning of their rivalry for Ana's attention. Jusce has to reinvent himself in order not to lose Ana to the adventurous life style of Rogério.

''MVP 2'' opens with the lovable Jack being invited to play for the Seattle Simians hockey team, but when the Los Angeles Carjackers team sets Jack up by making it look like he bit the finger of one of the players, Jack leaves while other Simians players look for him. Jack meets Ben, a runaway homeless skater boy, who lives in a shack at an old pool. Over time, the two become best friends, but when a police officer finds out where Jack and Ben live, they have to leave the pool. When leaving the pool, Ben breaks his board but was going to enter a skating competition and get sponsored. Jack goes to Oliver Plant's dumpster full of old skateboard stuff but Oliver finds Ben who tells him about his board and the competition so Oliver gives him a board to use. They stay with Oliver overnight with him not knowing about the pool incident, but when Oliver says "good night, Ben," Ben suspects him of knowing that he was a runaway. Jack asks him to stay since there is no other place to sleep, Ben agrees. Earlier in the story, Oliver gets a visit from someone who deals with children like Ben so that night Oliver calls her and says he found Ben. The next day they go to the competition and when it's Ben's turn, he says he can't do it, but Jack realizes he has the uncanny ability to skateboard. He says he would ride with Ben, so Ben decides to do it. Ben wins the competition and gets sponsored by Bob Burnquist and Oliver adopts Ben. Meanwhile, Louie, Jack's little brother, gets a ride to Seattle and pretends to be Jack, being terrible at hockey. But Jack shows up and wins ZHL cup for the Simians. After the Simians win and Jack and Louie decide to go back home, Ben gives Louie a skate board so Jack can teach him. In the last part of the movie, Louie rides down a ramp back at their home.

When the Blockheads' E-Z Loan company threatens to take away the farms belonging to the small farmers due to being unable to make their loan payments, Gumby and his band, the Clayboys, decide to have a benefit concert to save the farms. But when the evil Blockheads find out that Gumby's dog, Lowbelly, cries pearls when he sees the Clayboys perform, they decide to kidnap Lowbelly and force him to cry pearls (initially unaware that Lowbelly was only crying whenever Gumby changed his shape). Lowbelly doesn't respond to the Blockheads' initial attempt, but the Blockheads subsequently are informed by computer analysis that they need Gumby to extract the pearls, so they kidnap Gumby and the Clayboys in order to create robotic clones of them.

With the help of Pokey, Prickle, Goo, fans Tara and Ginger, and talent agent Lucky Claybert, Gumby takes on his robot clone and is still in time for his videotaping session in agreement with Claybert. At a picnic, Gumby announces that he's opening his own farm-centered loan company that will give reasonable loans for its customers. The Blockheads are forced to weed Gumby's garden as punishment, and Gumby and best friend Pokey decide that things are looking up for them as they head back to outer space.

It tells the story of a reporter who concocts a false case so as to get himself convicted for first degree murder. He does this to prove that a death sentence could be erroneously issued based on circumstantial and flawed evidence and that the death penalty should be abolished.

Salesman Fred J. Johnson manages to hit a hole-in-one as he plays golf one day, and he writes his initials and the date on the lucky ball. He swings at the same ball once more, but sends it into a ditch instead of towards the hole. When he goes to the ditch to get the ball, he finds a dead woman, as well, and next to the body lies a small package, which contains plates for forging dollar bills.

Fred takes the package from the dead woman. The returning murderer and his wife find Fred's marked golf ball upon returning for the packet of plates, and suspect that a man with the initials F.J. has taken the package. Before leaving, the man raises his voice in the culvert, because he suspects the golfer is in hiding, and warns "F.J." not to go to the police with the package, threatening to kill him and his whole family if he does.

Fred goes back to his family, and opens the package, finding the address to a print shop with the plates. He doesn't call the police, remembering the threat. Returning to their boss, Lefty, the couple are chastized for losing the package, and punishment is subtlely suggested by him whilst playing Patience, Solitaire: the "Boys won't like it" sic.

The murder is all over the news the next day, and Fred discovers that his lucky charm is missing from the chain of his watch. His daughter Carol goes out on a date with a banker named Mark Bellaman, and his other daughter Ginny goes to the golf course with her young beau Lester Binkey, a budding criminologist. Examining the location where the body was found, she finds her father's lucky charm.

Pretending to be a detective investigating the crime, the murderer returns to the golf club, and bullies a gardener into giving him a list of those who played the golf course the day before. He hears Ginny speak her name, and realizes she is Fred's daughter. He offers to drive her home to her father, saying he is an old friend of his.

When Fred goes to send the plates to the police anonymously by mail, he is followed by Lefty, who is only prevented from seizing them because s policeman friend of Fred's just happens to stop and speak to him.

Ginny is called in to speak to Lt. Braden about the murder, because she ran away when a policeman approached her and Lester at the golf course. This leads Braden to question Fred, and his suspicions are raised when Fred gives a contradictory account of Lester's conversation with him than the one Lester gave at the police station. Braden orders one of his men, Sellers, to tail Fred afterwards.

Layer that night Ginny is kidnapped by Lefty and his gang. They tell Fred that she will be killed if he doesn't give them the plates. They agree on an exchange, but Fred won't give the plates away even after Ginny is returned safely. Tony, the murderer, pulls a gun on him, but his wife Edna panics and rushes to the window to scream for help. Tony shoots Edna in the back, and Fred manages to knock down Tony with a golf club. Confronting Lefty whilst holding the club, Fred warns him not to move by telling him how long he's been using them, so Lefty sits down, and waits for the police to arrive.

In the papers the next day, Fred is mentioned as a hero who caught the murderer.

The family is reunited in happiness.

A team of environmentalists, including a reporter, her camera man, and an environmentalist's famous girlfriend charter a boat and with the captain, sail to a military island. They suspect the island is hosting to illegal activities. Upon arrival, however, they find no one. They finally reach a deserted house, where they are confronted Dr. Susan Richardson, who tells them that everyone on the island is dead, including her father. Richardson's team were working on a compound that could make edible plants grow to super size, however the military intervened with plans of their own. They wanted to test the compound's effects on animals, and proceeded to feed it to several Komodo dragons and cobras.

As a result, both species grows to an enormous size and begins to devour everything on the island, including the humans. The group, the doctor, and the boat captain must escape the island, while avoiding Cobra and Komodo. The military finds out that some problems are happening on the island, so they send in troops. One by one the troops are killed by Komodo.

Meanwhile, the group try to escape to the lab, barely escaping both Cobra and Komodo. One environmentalist is killed, and the camera man. In the lab, Richardson tells her flashback of how the military messed things up. Now just wanting to escape the island alive, the group try to get back to the beach. On the beach they try to get to the yacht, but the military drop a bomb on it. Then a cobra comes out the water and eats two more men. The remainder of the group decide to head for a helicopter that was left behind on a mountain by the doctor's father and team. While trying to cross a river to the mountain, one environmentalist is bitten by huge leeches. That is when Dr. Richardson announces that anything that comes into contact with the animal DNA (like saliva) can turn into a huge version of its kind. On the mountaintop, the remaining five run into Komodo, who is blocking the helicopter, the Komodo notices them and begins to attack. Soon, Cobra arrives. The man who was attacked by the leeches weakly makes himself bait. With bullets not penetrating Cobra's skin, only making the giant monster he is devoured.

The military sees footage of the demonic Komodo dragons and the yacht (meaning trespassers) decides to bomb the island, with the Americans still on it.

Soon, Komodo and Cobra begin to fight each other. The boat driver, a retired pilot in air force, flies the three remaining women away. Both Komodo and Cobra are killed in a military bombing on the island, still in mid-battle.

At the end of the film, a scientist, Dr. Michaels, who has escaped the Komodo, reawakens from the dead with reptilian characteristics, such as glowing green eyes and a forked tongue, revealing he is transforming into a Komodo dragon.

Busy attorney Hugh Mitchell wants to become closer to his son, Danny, whom he knows little. He starts arranging a luncheon, but soon finds out that Danny prefers going to the carnival. Still he attends the luncheon, and brings along his dog Rusty, a German Shepherd. All the other boys attending with their fathers are quite amused when Rusty starts fighting with another dog, and the luncheon is abruptly interrupted.

The calamity that ensues enrages Hugh and disintegrates the chances of father and son coming closer. Instead Danny becomes friends with an eccentric traveling veterinarian, Dr. Francis Xavier Fay, who arrives to town. Hugh doesn't look kindly upon the friendship between his son and the doctor.

In an attempt to get their son back, Hugh and his wife Ethel invites the doctor to dinner one night, hoping that the doctor will seem out of place. But the doctor is very comfortable in the civilized and sophisticated setting in the attorney home.

Hugh decides to take Danny to the carnival to make him happy. Danny brings Rusty with him. When a man kicks at the dog, it attacks him and Hugh is quite upset with the dog's behavior, forcing it to wear a muzzle in the future.

In the night, Danny run away with his dog, taking refuge in the doctor's camp in the woods. Ethel suggest they leave the boy alone for a while, and Danny gets to live in a tree house at the doctor's, with his dog.

Hugh pays the doctor a visit to talk about his son, and gets the advice to try and understand and be friends with his son. Later in the night, when the doctor has fallen asleep with his gas stove on, Rusty smells the gas and tries to warn them about the danger. Rusty crawls under the trailer and is injured when the trailer collapses to the ground. Danny wakes up when the dog cries out, and wakes up the doctor, who is unconscious from the gas.

Danny goes home to his parents and the doctor treats Rusty at the camp. Hugh and his son are finally reconciled and go back to the doctor's camp together. Rusty is in bandages and able to come home with Danny.

Already the next day, Ethel comes to the camp looking for the dog, which has escaped and run around in the neighborhood. The doctor tells Ethel that this is perfectly normal, and decides it is time for him to leave and go to the next town.

An aging apiary owner (bee-keeper) Michael Worthington meets a young ex-painter, Jamie McFarlane, on the road one day and in the process of conversation, attempts to persuade him to end his nomadic lifestyle.

Jamie listens, but considers the "Bee Master's" advice useless. But shortly after, when Michael has a near fatal heart attack; Jamie promises to look after the bees until his return. Shortly after, Worthington is surprised by a twelve-year-old girl who goes by the nick-name - 'Little Scout' who would visit the apiary nearly every day. He discovers that she is an orphan and likewise takes her into his care. In her child like way, she develops a crush on Jamie while he cares for the bees that have been left in his charge.

When Jamie meets Alice, the daughter of the orphanage supervisor, Mrs Ferris, he falls in love. This unexpected encounter begins to loosen his hardened heart and he begins to paint again.

Jamie eventually confides in Alice that he was once married, but that he had been divorced some time ago. In reality the divorce hasn't gone through yet. He sends his paintings to a gallery in New York, where he used to be a reputed artist. His soon to be ex-wife (Marcia) finds out about his recovered ability to paint and the success his paintings make, and wants to reconcile.

Alice hears about Marcia contacting Jamie, calling herself Mrs. McFarlane and is very distressed. Jamie suspects Alice of having betrayed his confidence, and Little Scout has to prove her innocence. She forces Mrs. Ferris to admit that she has spread the rumors by letting a swarm of bees loose on her.

Soon the elder Michael has recovered from his heart condition and manages to reconcile all the involved persons. He blesses the union of Jamie and Alice and gives them a cottage to live in after their marriage. In turn they decide to adopt Little Scout as their daughter, thereby bringing all the bees back into the fold.

Race car driver Mike Reardon and mechanic Tommy Trehearn are the best of friends whose friendship is damaged, however, when Reardon's girlfriend Chris ends up falling for Trehearn. Years later, Trehearn and Chris are married with children and move to Arizona when Trehearn is selected to be a mechanic for a new racing team, of which Reardon also happens to be a part.

A student vanishes in Edinburgh and her wealthy family of bankers ensures Lothian and Borders Police is under pressure to find her. The novel presents in detail a difficult case, where the newly appointed (and first female) Chief Super, Gill Templer, is trying to please her superiors and manipulate her CID officers. In the course of the novel, DC Siobhan Clarke must decide whether to take a plum position offered her by DCS Templer or stick with investigation in the style of John Rebus.

Two sets of clues, one nineteenth-century and one twenty-first-century, appear. A carved wooden doll in a coffin found near the missing woman's East Lothian home leads Rebus to the National Museum of Scotland's collection of dolls in coffins found on Arthur's Seat in 1836, after the famous Burke and Hare murders in Edinburgh. Rebus also wanders into the Surgeons' Hall, where he meets several forensic pathologists of his acquaintance and sees the Burke and Hare exhibit there. A museum curator, Jean Burchill, alerts him to what might be a more recent serial killer marking his exploits with such coffins. While Rebus pursues these historical angles in libraries, police archives, and museums, DC Siobhan Clarke interacts with an electronic trail via computer and mobile phone. Clarke discovers that the woman who disappeared had been playing an Internet role-playing game, and tackles the virtual Quizmaster; she risks the same fate as the missing girl.

The titular Genoese navigator overcomes intrigue in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and gains financing for his expedition to the West Indies, which eventually leads to the European discovery of the Americas.

Tony Eckhardt is shot in an anti-terrorist operation and insists that the man killed during the operation was not their intended target, the terrorist Amar Kamil. Kamil undergoes extensive facial reconstruction surgery to look like a man kidnapped to take the fall for an assassination planned to take place during an upcoming press conference. Members of the Israeli team are being killed off and Eckhardt pursues Kamil while hoping to stay alive to raise his unborn daughter.

Detective Inspector John Rebus has no desk to work from, as a hint from his superiors that he should consider retirement, but he and his protégée Siobhan Clarke are still investigating some seemingly unconnected cases. The sister of a dead rape victim is missing; skeletons turn up embedded in a concrete floor; a Kurdish journalist is brutally murdered; and the son of a Glasgow gangster has moved into the Edinburgh vice scene.

The book uses two new settings: a sink estate divided between the indigenous population and refugees (based on Wester Hailes), and a small town whose economy is dominated by an internment camp for asylum seekers (based on Dungavel).

Category:2004 British novels Category:Inspector Rebus novels Category:Royal Mile Category:Novels set in Edinburgh Category:Orion Books books

An underlying thread throughout the book is that of familial relationships; the book opens with Detective Inspector John Rebus attending the funeral of his brother Michael, who has died suddenly from a stroke. The parents of Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke arrive in Edinburgh as part of the protests, demonstrations, and scuffles that surrounded the G8 summit at Gleneagles, keeping the police busy. Clarke defied her parents by becoming a police officer; she now wants to feel like a daughter.

Rebus is nearing retirement ("nobody would blame you for coasting"), and becomes sidelined until the apparent suicide of MP Ben Webster occurs at a high-level meeting in Edinburgh Castle. It emerges that Webster was campaigning against the arms trade, and Richard Pennen of Pennen Industries, a dealer in weapons technology, comes under suspicion.

At the same time, a serial killer seems to be killing former offenders, helped by a website set up by the family of a victim. Clues have been deliberately left at Clootie Well (duplicated from the Black Isle to Auchterarder for the purposes of the plot), a place where items of clothing are traditionally left for luck.

Siobhan Clarke is placed in charge of the investigation, although she is outranked by Rebus, and finds herself having to compromise with Edinburgh gangster Morris Cafferty (for whom one of the victims was working as a bouncer) in hunting down the identity of the riot policeman who apparently assaulted her mother at a demonstration. Cafferty is also getting older, though his insecurity is balanced somewhat by his having had a biography ghost-written by local journalist Mairie Henderson. She is enlisted by Rebus and Clarke to help solve the crimes.

The new Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, James Corbyn, is keen to put any potential controversy from the investigation of these sordid crimes on hold until the focus of the world's media has moved on. He puts Rebus and Clarke under suspension when they disobey him and they need to rely on Ellen Wylie for help.

David Steelforth, the London-based Special Branch (SO12) Commander who is overseeing the policing of the G8 summit, seems to be holding back Rebus' work at every turn. Rebus and Clarke blow the cover of one of his agents. Former preacher Councillor Gareth Tench seems to Rebus to be involved due to his apparent closeness to one of the suspects, Niddrie thug Keith Carberry.

Rebus and Clarke pursue their investigation daily, and sometimes hourly, against the background of the 31st G8 summit, seen from both the police side and that of the protestors; among the events referred to are the epic and peaceful Make Poverty History march, the 7/7 London bombings, the 2012 Olympic bid and George W. Bush falling off his bicycle whilst waving at police officers: " 'Did we just do that?' Siobhan asked quietly." Clarke also attends two concerts, the Live8 Final Push and the 2005 T in the Park.

The title refers to: the ceremony Clarke's ageing left-wing parents attend, where the names of a sampling of the dead from the Iraq War are read out; the list of victims created by Rebus and Clarke as they try to unravel the crime; and also to John Rebus' evocation of grief in naming the many of his own friends and family who have died in the course of his life.

By the end of the book, Clarke realises that she has grown closer than ever to understanding Rebus:

:"It's not enough, is it?" she repeated. "Just...symbolic...because there's nothing else you can do." :"What are you talking about?" he asked, with a smile. :"The naming of the dead," she told him, resting her head against his shoulder. (p.410.)

She increasingly fears that she is becoming more like him:

"obsessed and sidelined, thrawn and distrusted. Rebus had lost family and friends. When he went out drinking, he did so on his own, standing quietly at the bar, facing the row of optics."

The film is set in London, mainly in the East End and docklands.

When an armoured car is robbed, in a daring daylight raid co-ordinated on Tower Bridge, one of the guards is shot and killed by Mason (Victor Maddern). The gang escape on the river.

Part of the gang escape northwards on the M1 motorway. The police catch up and force them off the road, killing one man. Meanwhile Mason dumps his car in a lake and takes a suitcase full of money to nearby buildings. An unseen knife-thrower kills Mason as he turns to leave.

We are introduced to the characters of Barberini's Circus, including Drago (Christopher Lee), who wears a full mask to hide his fire damaged face. Manfred (Klaus Kinski) arrives at the circus seeking employment. It is revealed that Mr Big (the midget) is blackmailing Drago. An unseen person unlocks the lion and it almost kills one of the circus girls.

The police are led to the circus but also require to investigate a body found with a knife next to it. The police interview the girl who was attacked by the lion and soon after is herself murdered by a thrown knife.

The police (naturally) interview the circus knife-thrower.

Drago confesses to his niece that he found a suitcase of money and hid it. Manfred is the next victim of the knife-thrower who this time also sets a fire.

A police manhunt causes Drago to fall to his death and the suitcase of money is retrieved. However, detective Elliot (Leo Genn) decides this is not the killer. His examination of all the clues leads to a final denouement in front of the assembled suspects during a knife-throwing act.

The Stooges work at Dimsal's Drug Store in Ithaca, New York, where they befriend their eccentric next-door neighbor Schuyler Davis (Quinn Redeker), who is attempting to build a time machine. With the boys' "help", the machine transports the boys, Schuyler and disaffected girlfriend Diane Quigley (Vicki Trickett) back in time to Ithaca in ancient Greece during the reign of the lecherous King Odius (George N. Neise). The King, after defeating and imprisoning Ulysses because the Stooges are believed to be gods, has a yearning for Diane. Realizing they have disrupted the proper course of history, Schuyler and the boys free Ulysses, after which Odius banishes them to the galleys. However, the constant rowing causes Schuyler to become extremely muscular and superhumanly strong, equal to Hercules.

After an escape and shipwreck, they kill a monster Siamese Cyclops with the help of Joe's sleeping pills and start billing Schuyler as Hercules at a local gladiatorial arena. The real Hercules (Samson Burke) gets wind of their game and confronts them, but after single combat, Schuyler convinces Hercules to help them rescue Diane in a chariot chase. The time travelers remove Odius and, navigating by observing the progress of military technology, manage to set history straight by dumping him off into the Wild West where a tribe of American Indian warriors chases him off into the distance. After that, the travelers return to Dimsal's Drug Store. Dimsal touches the time machine and disappears, but eventually returns locked inside a pillory. An interesting time travel twist - an entire different story happened off screen - and the audience understood the "plot" without being shown a frame. The Stooges manage to remove the pillory with an electric tool.

Phileas Fogg III (Jay Sheffield), great-grandson of the original Phileas Fogg, accepts a bet to duplicate his great-grandfather's famous trip around the world in response to a challenge made by Randolph Stuart III, the descendant of the original Fogg's nemesis. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, "Stuart" is the infamous con man Vicker Cavendish (Peter Forster) who made the bet in order to cover up his robbing the bank of England by framing Fogg for the crime.

With him in this plot is his weaselly Cockney co-conspirator Filch (Walter Burke). This makes for a dangerous journey for Fogg and his servants (the Stooges) and Amelia Carter (Joan Freeman), whom they rescue from thugs during a train ride. On the way, they also: try to steal a cream pie from the galley of a Turkey-bound British cargo ship (and poke the cook in his fat behind with a gaff in the process); watch an elaborate Indian dance at a maharajah's palace, where blind-as-a-bat Curly Joe also regales the maharajah and the viceroy with knife throwing—until his disguise falls off; get captured in China by the Chinese Army, and survive Communist brainwashing in Shanghai with their interrogators turning into Chinese Stooge clones (Moe tells the Chinese general, "No brainee to washee!"). The disgusted Chinese set them adrift in a small boat; use Curly Joe's music-provoked strength to cadge food, clothes, and a trip to San Francisco from the manager of the monstrous sumo Itchy Kitchy (Iau Kea) after a demonstration in a park in Tokyo; stow away in a moving van, supposedly headed for New York. Of course, they are caught, and arrested in Canada by the British inspector (the Stooges and Amelia fake British accents so the inspector will arrest them too).

Back in London, they cross paths again with the two conspirators, again disguised as police—and armed. Of course, the Stooges win out, and, as with the original Phileas Fogg, his descendant miscalculated by one day and still has a chance. Curly Joe gets behind the wheel of the Bobbies' paddy wagon and speeds across London, and young Fogg wins the bet—crashing into the Reformer's Club with two seconds to spare.

DIALOGUE:

LARRY: "Oh,boy! We're going around the world on our wits!"

MOE: "You won't get past the front door!"

In 1871, Rance Roden (Don Lamond) plans to kill off all the buffalo and thus cause the Indians to riot. After they destroy the U.S. Cavalry (his real enemy), Rance and his gang will take over the West. Meanwhile, a Boston magazine gets wind of the buffalo slaughter and sends editor Kenneth Cabot (Adam West) and his associates (Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) to Casper, Wyoming to investigate. Once there, Ken's shooting skills—secretly aided by sharp shooter Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack)—earn him the job of town sheriff. Rance has his band of bad guys called in to have the lawmen wiped out, but the Stooges sneak into the gang's hideout while the gang is asleep and glue their firearms to their holsters. When Ken confronts the bad guys, the bad guys decide that a life of justice is better than crime. Meanwhile, Rance and Trigger attempt to sell firearms to the Indians, including an armored wagon containing a Gatling Gun and cannon in a turret, but the Stooges foil this plan by snapping a picture of them making the sale.

The book begins with the ten Boom family celebrating the 100th anniversary of the family business; they sell and repair watches under the family's elderly father, Casper ten Boom. The business takes up the ground floor of the family home, known as the Béjé. Casper lives with his unmarried daughters, Corrie, the narrator and a watchmaker herself, and Betsie, who takes care of the house. It seems as if everyone in the Dutch town of Haarlem has shown up to the party, including Corrie's sister Nollie, her brother Willem, and her nephews Peter and Kik. Willem, a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, brings a Jewish man, who has just escaped from Germany. The man's beard has been burned off by some thugs, a grim reminder of what was happening just to the east of the Netherlands.

In the next few chapters, Corrie talks about her childhood, her infirm but glad-hearted mother, and the three aunts who once lived in the Béjé. She talks about the only man she ever loved, a young man named Karel, who ultimately married a woman from a rich family.

Eventually, both Nollie and Willem marry. After the deaths of Corrie's mother and aunts, Corrie, Betsie, and their father settle down into a pleasant domestic life. Then, in 1940, the Nazis invade the Netherlands.

The family has strong morals based on Christian beliefs and feel obligated to help the Jews in every way possible. The Béjé soon became the centre of a major anti-Nazi operation. Corrie, who had grown to think of herself as a middle-aged spinster, finds herself involved in black market operations, using stolen ration cards, and eventually hiding Jews in her own home.

Corrie suffers a moral crisis over the lying, theft, forgery and bribery that are necessary to keep the Jews that her family is hiding. Moreover, it is unlikely that her family would get away with helping Jews for long, as they had nowhere to hide them. The Dutch underground arranges for a secret room to be built in the Béjé so that the Jews would have a place to hide during an inevitable raid.

It is a constant struggle for Corrie to keep the Jews safe; she sacrifices her own safety and part of her own personal room to give constant safety to the Jews. Rolf, a police officer friend, trains her to be able to think clearly anytime when the Nazis invade her home and start to question her.

When a man asks Corrie to help his wife who had been arrested, Corrie agrees, but with misgivings. As it turns out, the man is a spy and the watch shop is raided. The entire family is arrested, along with the shop employees, but the Jews managed to hide in the secret room.

Casper is now in his mid-80s and a Nazi official offers to let him go if he agrees to cause no more trouble. Casper does not agree and states that if he is set free, he will return home and help the first person who asks him for it. He is shipped to prison, and it was later learned that he had died 10 days later.

Meanwhile, Corrie was sent to Scheveningen, a Dutch prison used by the Nazis for political prisoners, nicknamed '"Oranjehotel"', a hotel for people loyal to the House of Orange. She later learns that her sister is being held in another cell and that aside from her father, all of her other family members and friends have been released. A coded letter from Nollie reveals that the hidden Jews are safe. At Scheveningen, Corrie befriends a depressed Nazi officer, who arranges a brief meeting with her family under the pretense of reading Casper's will. Corrie is horrified to see how ill Willem is, as he contracted jaundice in prison and would die from it in 1946. Corrie also learns that her nephew, Kik, was captured while he worked for the Dutch underground. He is later killed, but the family does not learn that until 1953.

After four months at Scheveningen, Corrie and Betsie are transferred to Vught, a concentration camp for political prisoners in the Netherlands. Corrie is assigned to a factory that makes radios for aircraft. The work is not hard, and the prisoner-foreman, Mr. Moorman, is kind. Betsie, whose health is starting to fail, is sent to work sewing prison uniforms.

When a counteroffensive against the Nazis seems imminent, the prisoners are shipped by train to Germany, where they are imprisoned at Ravensbrück, a notorious women's concentration camp. The conditions there are hellish; both Corrie and Betsie are forced to perform backbreaking manual labour. There, Betsie's health completely fails. Throughout the ordeal, Corrie is amazed at her sister's faith. In every camp, the sisters use a hidden Bible to teach their fellow prisoners about Jesus.

In Ravensbrück, where there is only hatred and misery, Corrie finds it hard to look to Heaven. Betsie, however, shows a universal love for everyone: not only the prisoners but also the Nazis. Instead of feeling anger, she pities the Germans and is sorrowful that they were so blinded by hatred. She yearns to show them the love of Christ, but dies before the war was over. Corrie is later released because of a clerical error, but she is forced to stay in a hospital barracks while she recovers from edema. Corrie arrives back in the Netherlands by January 1945.

After the war, Corrie works with people who were damaged by the war, both the victims of the persecution and the Nazis themselves.

In the spring of 1917 after Vimy Ridge, Sergeant Michael Dunne of the 10th Battalion, CEF survives heavy combat but suffers from neurasthenia. He is sent home for recovery as a war hero for taking out a German machine gun position. While in hospital in Calgary, Alberta, where he had originally enlisted, he meets nurse Sarah Mann (Caroline Dhavernas).

David Mann (Joe Dinicol) is Sarah's younger brother, ineligible for military service due to asthma but determined to enlist. The Manns are ostracized when it becomes known their father died at Vimy Ridge fighting for the Imperial German Army.

The father of David's girlfriend pulls strings to allow him to enlist. Dunne feels responsible for David's wellbeing and reenlists as a private under his mother's maiden name McCrae. He promised Sarah to protect her brother.

David and Michael end up in the battlefields of Belgium fighting for their lives. Sarah also enlists and follows the 10th as a nurse in triage at an Advanced Dressing Station near the front. The three arrive in Flanders in time for the Battle of Passchendaele. Dunne and Sarah soon meet up again when Dunne brings a wounded man to the aid station. Dunne's cover as McCrae is soon blown, he manages to escape punishment and is promoted to platoon leader by Lieutenant Colonel Ormond, who knew him from earlier combat, when his past actions "should have got a V.C." and because of the need for experienced soldiers as high casualties were expected.

When the Canadians launch their attack, the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), CEF, known as the Little Black Devils, faces a German counter-attack and become pinned down and fight to complete exhaustion. Dunne's company is sent to support them. After the support company arrives, the 8th Battalion begins to withdraw from the battlefield, believing that they are finally relieved, leaving the job of holding the ground to Dunne's small force. As the reality of the war begins to set in, David Mann begins to realize the war was not what he believed it would be. Dunne's forces spend the night in their trenches, and as a result of the shelling, David begins to have an asthmatic/panic attack and Dunne calms him down, relieving the problem.

The next morning the Germans counter-attack, and make it as far as the line, and both forces attack each other in close quarters combat. As the Germans retreat, David breaks down and chases them back to surrender. He jumps into their trenches and is met by a gun to the face where he begs in German. He is about to be shot when an artillery shell lands and the explosion throws him onto what is effectively a cross, created by walkway timbers from the trench. He is visually crucified by the explosion. This relates to Dunne's earlier story of the legendary report of the crucified soldier. When Dunne sees this he takes his helmet off, throws his gun down and runs to David, in a reckless attempt to keep his promise to keep him alive, getting shot in the process. He crawls to the cross on his knees, looking up at it. The Germans stop firing and allow him to retrieve David, whom he carries back to his own lines. The fighting swiftly resumes with a shell landing. David lives, but Dunne is carried to the hospital where he dies after his last words with Sarah. This happens just as the news comes in that the Canadians have captured Passchendaele Ridge.

The ending scene shows David Mann, who now has only one leg and uses a wheelchair; Sarah Mann; David's girlfriend Cassie; Highway and Dunne's best friend Royster (Gil Bellows) paying tribute at Dunne's grave on his home farm. The marker has been altered to remove the "5" of 1915 and changed to 1917. The camera then pans out and the background alters to a field of hundreds of Canadian war graves with a riderless horse on the horizon.

This film switches the traditional roles of females and males and reverses all the genders of the original cast of King Kong, the main character Ray Fay plays the damsel in distress which tends to usually be played by women. He is kidnapped by film director Luce Habit to star in her new African jungle movie, he then finds himself the amorous attraction of a giant female gorilla that pursues him across London.

Benito González is a flamboyant engineer in Melilla, with a brash and pushy personality. His dream is to build the tallest building ever in the region. After his girlfriend leaves him, he devotes himself entirely to his ambitions, deciding to let nothing get in his way. He marries the daughter of a billionaire, intending to use her father's money to realise his project. Benito waltzes his way through a career of excess, fetishes and deceptions, but the personal conflicts he unleashes ultimately send his life spiraling down to disaster.

The film makes direct and symbolic references to the work of Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.

Bev, Donna, Marion and Cindy set out to their friends' wedding in a car. Throughout the book, Donna is restrictive about the details of the encounter when describing it to her psychiatrist. She eventually reveals that Bev was the driver. The vehicle experiences trouble and stalls on a downward sloping road. Two men stop by and instead of getting help, crush the car driving over it then cover the car with a gigantic tarp as a prelude to a sexual assault. Cindy get pinned trying to get out the rear window, her pants pulled down by one of the men with a knife. Marion, who takes a chance to save Cindy gets out of the car, and is attacked and raped. According to Donna, Bev locks the doors and won't let Marion back in, or let anyone out to help. However, a fight ensues and the two men are slain.

The psychiatrist feels that Donna isn't telling the whole story and presses Donna to reveal more. It is then revealed that Donna was the one driving and that she was the one who refused to unlock the doors to save Marion.

Pierre Raymond (Jean-Claude Carrière) is a passionate explorer, a man who devoted all his life to the quest of the original "Secret Book", a book that exists as a legend in several religions and heresies, and was a holy book for the Bogomils, written in Glagolitic script.

Led by the strange messages from the Balkans brought to him by doves, he chooses his son Chevalier (Thierry Fremont) to search where he stopped. The messages are sent from Macedonia by Pavle Bigorski, a man that identifying himself with the authentic author of "The Secret Book" from the Middle Ages.

The book is supposed to contain the principle of good and evil and the principle of power, jumping across the time barrier and touched the essence of the Quest for the roots of Truth.

Bigorski has three brothers, symbolizing the three regions inhabited by ethnic Macedonians. Each brother represents some aspect of the Macedonian spirit (faith, rebellion towards the social evil, defense of honour).

Location

The movie was shot in 2002 and 2003 on location in Bitola and Ohrid in Macedonia, and Balchik in Bulgaria.

Kirari Tsukishima, a 14-year-old beauty, does not care about idols and the entertainment world because her mind is occupied by food. One day, after saving a turtle stranded in a tree, Kirari meets a boy named Seiji, who gives her a ticket to a concert to show his gratitude for her saving his pet. However, when Kirari shows up at the concert, another boy named Hiroto, tears up her ticket and warns her to stay away from Seiji, because they both live in different worlds. Kirari learns that Seiji and Hiroto are members of the idol group Ships. Finally understanding the meaning of "different worlds", Kirari refuses to give up pursuing Seiji and declares that she will also become an idol. However, being an idol requires tons of training and talent. Faced with rivals and scandals, Kirari is determined to come out as a top idol.

Jan Prentiss, a fantasy writer is busy at work, when a foot-long talking insect materialises before him. He declares that he is an elf, and is in fact a mutant—a "super-elf"—with new powers that he is still experimenting with. Most of his kind are telepathic. During the last ice age, they used human brains as "psychic amplifiers" to augment their own abilities. However, since the Industrial Revolution, the elves and other related beings have avoided mankind, since they are unable to manipulate electricity, and have retreated to Avalon; an island in the Atlantic Ocean cloaked in a psychic shield.

Prentiss' elf, however, can manipulate electricity and possibly fission uranium. It needs to use Prentiss' brain, as a psychic amplifier, though, since Prentiss, being a fantasy writer, is one of the few humans with a mind sympathetic enough for the elf to control. When Prentiss balks at being taken to Avalon as an 'advisor', the elf threatens Prentiss' wife and ten-year-old son with physical harm.

Prentiss' son comes home from school, and the elf tries to take control of his mind, too; but the boy, being a modern 1950s child, doesn't believe in "kid stuff" like fairies. The elf is unable to control both minds, and the boy crushes the elf with his schoolbooks.

''Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage'' follows a young squire named Alaron who, while searching for a missing farmer named Kendall, encounters a strange spirit and is poisoned by Goblins. He awakes from a terrifying vision of monsters to find himself inside the hut of Oriana, a healer, who tells Alaron that the poison is beyond the powers of normal medicine to cure. Upon returning to Castle Gwernia, the king, Phelan, instructs him to ask the Mirari people of Erromon to help heal his poison. Upon reaching Erromon, the Mirari King, Txomin, explains that they've been under attack from goblins and seeks Alaron's aid, promising to direct him to a naming wizard named Cradawgh.

Alaron clears the goblins off the mountains, however when he returns to Erromon he discovers that Txomin lied, and does not know the whereabouts of Cradawgh, telling Alaron instead to travel to Talewok, and see the sorceress, Ardra. Before leaving, Alaron converses with the Mirari queen Yeraza, who gives him the Stormbreaker, a blessed tree branch able to calm any storm.

At the Wizard School, the doorman asks everyone's True Name, but Alaron cannot answer. Ardra the sorceress begins the healing spell, which brings on another vision. This one includes a feeble, old man in a rocking chair. Ardra explains that the healing spell failed because Alaron is a Wildling – he has no True Name. Without a True Name, his spirit is not bound to his body, and Alaron is incomplete. Ardra tells him to travel to Port Saiid and take a boat to Cradawgh's Island.

Alaron is eventually able to hire a boat at Port Saiid – after an unusual encounter with a cryptic jester but the ship travels into a powerful storm, and as the Stormbreaker is tied to the mast instead of the helm, the ship is damaged and forced to land at Chaos Isle. Following repairs the party sets off for Cradawgh's Island; this time the ship arrives safely, however a group of monsters has already reached Cradawgh. The dying wizard asks Alaron to bring his body to Talewok, and suggests seeking the Jundar King Zaratas in the desert.

After Cradawgh's funeral in Talewok, Alaron heads down to the city of Terminor. He then soon discovers that the nearby village of Pome was destroyed by a wizard with a twisted staff. The final level of Terminor has a house, in which resides Mago, a wizard without a True Name, who went insane several years ago and called up a huge storm when the townspeople tried to kill him. Mago is the feeble, old man from Alaron's earlier vision and can no longer speak.

Alaron travels to a nearby bog, where he finds the Tower of Shamsuk, a powerful necromancer who had previously destroyed Pome and cursed Niesen, slowly turning him into a zombie. Niesen gets the party into the tower where they eventually reach a chamber with a large stone hand. The jester from Port Saiid appears once more, revealing himself to be Farris – a wizard. Farris joins the party, assisting them in defeating Shamsuk, who has already killed Oriana – now revealed to be Alaron's mother. Farris then leaves the party, taking Shamsuk's necromantic staff with him.

Alaron crosses a desert to reach the Jundar city of Ugarit, where he speaks with the Jundar Emperor, Zaratas, who explains that only the dragon Rooughah can name Alaron. He needs to find the Golden Horn of Kynon and play it for Rooughah. Alaron retrieves the Horn, and begins heading back to Erromon.

Alaron travels through the Erromon tunnels until he comes across the dragon Rooughah. After Alaron plays the Horn of Kynon, Rooughah tells him he knows his True Name: "Alaron". The Mirari then tell Alaron that the forces of Chaos are gathering outside Gwernia. Alaron returns to Gwernia castle and fights his way to Prince Sheridan, who confesses to always being jealous of Alaron. Sheridan explains that Alaron is the son of Oriana and King Phelan. Alaron fights and kills Sheridan, only to then meet Pochangarat (the leader of Chaos) – the huge monster from Alaron's first vision in Oriana's hut.

After Pochangarat's death, Alaron finds his father, King Phelan, who is dying from the wounds he suffered at Pochangarat's hands. He requests to be buried under the Great Wall of Knights in Gwernia, and appoints Alaron as his successor before dying. The game's story ends with Alaron's coronation ceremony.

A mockumentary that follows the escapades of Ray Shoesmith, a Melbourne underworld hitman who hires a film student to document his life.

''The Amazing Bone'' is about how Pearl the pig is walking home from school, and finds a magic talking bone on the ground, which has the ability to imitate any sound and speak in any language (it samples Spanish, Polish and German for her). Pearl takes it with her, and on the way home they have several misadventures, including an encounter with a hungry fox who wants to eat Pearl for dinner.

The book was featured in an episode of the PBS television show ''Storytime'' in which it was read to a live audience.

Sir Geoffrey Peveril and Major Bridgenorth had been boys together; and although they adopted different views in religion and politics, the major's influence had saved the Royalist's life after the battle of Bolton-le-Moors, and Lady Peveril had brought up his motherless girl, Alice, with her own son. After the Restoration, the Countess of Derby, who, through treachery, had suffered a long imprisonment by the Roundheads, sought protection at Martindale Castle, where Bridgenorth would have arrested her for having caused his brother-in-law, William Christian, to be shot as a traitor, had not the knight interfered by tearing up the warrant, and escorting her through Cheshire on her return to the Isle of Man. Alice was of course withdrawn from his wife's care, and it was supposed the major had emigrated to New England. Several years afterwards Sir Geoffrey's son Julian became the companion of the young earl, and, with the nurse Deborah's connivance, renewed his intimacy with his foster sister, who was under the care of her widowed aunt, Dame Christian. At one of the secret interviews between them, they were surprised by the entrance of her father, who related some of his religious experiences, and vaguely hinted that his consent to their marriage was not impossible. The next night, having undertaken to proceed to London, to clear the countess and her son from the suspicion of being concerned in Titus Oates's pretended Popish plot, Julian was conducted to a sloop by Fenella, his patron's deaf and dumb dwarf, and, as she was being taken ashore against her will while he was asleep, he dreamt that he heard Alice's voice calling for his help.

At Liverpool he met Topham with a warrant against Sir Geoffrey, and on his way to the Peak to warn him, he travelled with Edward Christian, passing as Ganlesse, a priest, who led him to an inn, where they supped with Chiffinch, a servant of Charles II. On reaching Martindale Castle, he found his father and mother in the custody of Roundheads, and he was taken by Bridgenorth as a prisoner to Moultrassie Hall, where Alice received them, and he recognised Ganlesse among a number of Puritan visitors. During the night the Hall was attacked by the dependents and miners of the Peveril estate, and, having regained his liberty, Julian started, with Lance as his servant, in search of his parents, who he ascertained were on their way to London in charge of Topham. At an inn where they halted, Julian overheard Chiffinch revealing to a courtier a plot against Alice, and that he had been robbed of the papers entrusted to him by the countess, which, however, he managed to recover the next morning.

Meanwhile, Christian, under whose care Bridgenorth had placed his daughter, communicated to the Duke of Buckingham a design he had formed of introducing her to Charles II, and, at an interview with her father, endeavoured to persuade him to abandon the idea of marrying her to young Peveril. Having reached London, Julian met Fenella, who led him into St. James's Park, where she attracted the notice of the king by dancing, and he sent them both to await his return at Chiffinch's apartments. Alice was already under the care of Mistress Chiffinch, and escaped from an interview with the duke to find herself in the presence of Charles and her lover, with whom, after he had placed the countess's papers in the king's hands, she was allowed to depart. Julian, however, lost her in a street fray, and having been committed to Newgate for wounding his assailant, he was placed in the same cell with the queen's dwarf, and conversed with an invisible speaker. After startling Christian with the news that his niece had disappeared, the duke bribed Colonel Blood to intercept his movements, so that he might not discover where she was, and was then himself astonished at finding Fenella instead of Alice, who had been captured by his servants in his house, and at her equally unexpected defiance of and escape from him.

A few days afterwards, Sir Geoffrey Peveril, his son and the dwarf were tried for aiding and abetting Oates's Plot; but after nearly three years and the execution of at least fifteen innocent men, opinion had begun to turn against Oates. The last high-profile victim of the climate of suspicion was Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, whose unjust slaughter is retold by Scott with no small dose of bitterness. Sir Geoffrey, his son and the dwarf are, at length, all acquitted. In order, however, to avoid the mob, they take refuge in a room, where they encounter Bridgenorth, who convinces Julian that they are in his power, and allows Christian to propose to the Duke of Buckingham that several hundred Fifth-Monarchy men, led by Colonel Blood, should seize the king, and proclaim his Grace Lord-Lieutenant of the kingdom. The same afternoon Charles has just granted an audience to the Countess of Derby, when the dwarf emerges from a violoncello case and reveals the conspiracy which Fenella had enabled him to overhear. It then transpires that Bridgenorth had released the Peverils, and that Christian had trained his daughter Fenella, whose real name was Zarah, to feign being deaf and dumb, in order that she might act as his spy; but that her secret love for Julian had frustrated the execution of his vengeance against the countess. He is allowed to leave the country, and the major, who on recovering Alice by Fenella's aid, had placed her under Lady Peveril's care, having offered to restore some of Sir Geoffrey's domains which had passed into his hands as her dowry, the king's recommendation secures the old knight's consent to the marriage which within a few weeks unites the Martindale-Moultrassie families and estates.

The armourer, Henry Gow, had excited the jealousy of the apprentice Conachar by spending the evening with the glover and his daughter and was returning to their house at dawn, that he might be the first person she saw on St Valentine's morning, when he encountered a party of courtiers in the act of placing a ladder against her window. Having cut off the hand of one, and seized another, who, however, managed to escape, he left the neighbours to pursue the rest, and was saluted by Catharine as her lover. The citizens waited on the provost, who, having heard their grievance, issued a challenge of defiance to the offenders.

Meanwhile, the King who occupied apartments in the convent, having confessed to the prior, was consulting with his brother, when the Earl of March arrived to intimate his withdrawal to the English Border, followed into the courtyard by Louise, and afterwards by the Duke of Rothesay, whose dalliance with the maiden was interrupted by the Earl of Douglas ordering his followers to seize and scourge her. Henry Gow, however, was at hand, and the prince, having committed her to his protection, attended his father's council, at which it was determined that the hostile Clans Chattan and Quhele ("Kay") should be invited to settle their feud by a combat between an equal number of their bravest men in the royal presence, and a commission was issued for the suppression of heresy. The old monarch, having learnt that his son was one of those who had attempted to force their way into the glover's house, insisted that he should dismiss his Master of the Horse, who encouraged all his follies; and while Catharine, who had listened to the Lollard teaching of Father Clement, was being urged by him to favour the secret suit of the Prince, her other lover, Conachar, who had rejoined his clan, appeared to carry off her councillor from arrest as an apostate reformer.

The armourer had maimed the Prince's Master of the Horse, Sir John Ramorny, whose desire for revenge was encouraged by the apothecary, Dwining. An assassin named Bonthron undertook to waylay and murder Henry Gow. On Shrovetide evening old Simon was visited by a party of morrice-dancers, headed by Proudfute, who lingered behind to confirm a rumour that Henry Gow had been seen escorting a merry maiden to his house, and then proceeded thither to apologise for having divulged the secret. On his way home in the armourer's coat and cap, as a protection against other revellers, he received a blow from behind and fell dead on the spot. About the same time Sir John was roused from the effects of a narcotic by the arrival of the Prince, who made light of his sufferings, and whom he horrified by suggesting that he should cause the death of his uncle, and seize his father's throne.

The fate of Proudfute, whose body was at first mistaken for that of the armourer, excited general commotion in the city; while Catharine, on hearing the news, rushed to her lover's house and was folded in his arms. Her father then accompanied him to the town council, where he was chosen as the widow's champion, and the Provost repaired to the King's presence to demand a full inquiry. At a council held the following day, trial by ordeal of bier-right, or by combat, was ordered; and suspicion having fallen on Ramorny's household, each of his servants was required to pass before the corpse, in the belief that the wounds would bleed afresh as the culprit approached. Bonthron, however, chose the alternative of combat, and, having been struck down by Gow, was led away to be hanged. But Dwining had arranged that he should merely be suspended so that he could breathe and during the night he and Sir John's page Eviot cut him down and carried him off.

Catharine had learnt that she and her father were both suspected by the commission; and the Provost having offered to place her under the care of The Douglas's daughter, the deserted wife of the Prince, the old glover sought the protection of his former apprentice, who was now the chieftain of his clan. Having returned from his father's funeral, Conachar pleaded for the hand of Catharine, without which he felt he should disgrace himself in the approaching combat with the Clan Chattan. Simon, however, reminded him that she was betrothed to the armourer, and his foster father promised to screen him in the conflict. At the instigation of his uncle, the Prince had been committed to the custody of the Earl of Errol; but, with the Duke's connivance, he was enticed by Ramorny and the apothecary to escape to the castle of Falkland, and, with the help of Bonthron, was starved to death there. Catharine and Louise, however, discovered his fate, and communicated with The Douglas, who overpowered the garrison, and hanged the murderers.

The meeting of the hostile champions had been arranged with great pomp, with barriers erected on three sides of the Inch, in an attempt to keep spectators off the battlefield, and the Tay forming the natural fourth side to the north. The Gilded Arbour summerhouse of the Dominican Friary, which afforded those inside an excellent view of the Inch, was adapted into a grandstand for the King and his entourage. Henry Gow, having consented to supply Eachin (Conachar) with a suit of armour, volunteered to take the place of one of the Clan Chattan who failed to appear. A terrible conflict ensued, during which Torquil and his eight sons all fell defending their chief, who at last fled from the battle-ground unwounded and dishonoured. On hearing of Rothesay's death, Robert III resigned his sceptre to his wily and ambitious brother, and later died broken-hearted when his younger son James was captured by the English king. Albany transferred the regency to his son; but, nineteen years afterwards, the rightful heir returned, and the usurper expiated his own and his father's guilt on the scaffold. The warrants against Simon and his daughter, and Father Clement, were cancelled by the intervention of the Earl of Douglas, and the Church was conciliated with Dwining's ill-gotten wealth. Conachar either became a hermit, or, legend has it, was spirited away by the fairies. Scotland boasts of many distinguished descendants from Henry Gow and his spouse the Fair Maid of Perth.

Basel As the merchant John Philipson and his son Arthur were travelling towards Basel they were overtaken by a storm, and found themselves at the edge of a precipice caused by a recent earthquake. Arthur was making his way towards a tower indicated by their guide Antonio, when he was rescued from imminent danger by Anne, who conducted him to her uncle Biederman's mountain home. His father had already been brought there to safety by Biederman and his sons. During their evening games Rudolph, who had joined in them, became jealous of the young Englishman's skill with the bow, and challenged him; but they were overheard by Anne, and the duel was interrupted. The travellers were invited to continue their journey in company with a deputation of Switzers, commissioned to remonstrate with Charles the Bold respecting the exactions of Hagenbach; and the magistrates of Basel having declined to let them enter the city, they took shelter in the ruins of a castle. During his share in the night watches, Arthur fancied that he saw an apparition of Anne, and was encouraged in his belief by Rudolph, who narrated her family history, which implied that her ancestors had dealings with supernatural beings. Hoping to prevent a conflict on his account between the Swiss and the duke's steward, the merchant arranged that he and his son should precede them; but on reaching the Burgundian citadel they were imprisoned by the governor in separate dungeons. Arthur, however, was released by Anne with the assistance of a priest, and his father by Biederman, a body of Swiss youths having entered the town and incited the citizens to execute Hagenbach, just as he was intending to slaughter the deputation, whom he had treacherously admitted. A valuable necklace which had been taken from the merchant was restored to him by Sigismund, and the deputies having decided to persist in seeking an interview with the duke, the Englishman undertook to represent their cause favourably to him.

On their way to Charles's headquarters father and son were overtaken by Anne disguised as a lady of rank, and, acting on her whispered advice to Arthur, they continued their journey by different roads. The elder fell in with a mysterious priest who provided him with a guide to the "Golden Fleece," where he was lowered from his bedroom to appear before a meeting of the Vehmic court or holy tribunal, and warned against speaking of their secret powers. The younger was met and conducted by Annette to a castle, where he spent the evening with his lady-love, and travelled with her the next day to rejoin his father at Strassburg. In the cathedral there they met Margaret of Anjou, who recognised Philipson as John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, a faithful adherent of the house of Lancaster, and planned with him an appeal to the duke for aid against the Yorkists. On reaching Charles's camp the earl was welcomed as an old companion in arms, and obtained a promise of the help he sought, on condition that Provence be ceded to Burgundy. Arthur was despatched to Aix-en-Provence to urge Margaret to persuade her father accordingly, while the earl accompanied his host to an interview with his burghers and the Swiss deputies.

King René of Anjou's preference for the society of troubadours and frivolous amusements had driven his daughter to take refuge in a convent. On hearing from Arthur, however, the result of the earl's mission to the duke, she returned to the palace, and had induced her father to sign away his kingdom, when his grandson Ferrand arrived with the news of the rout of the Burgundian army at Neuchâtel, and Arthur learned from his squire, Sigismund, that he had not seen Anne's spectre but herself during his night-watch, and that the priest he had met more than once was her father, the Count Albert of Geierstein. The same evening Queen Margaret died in her chair of state; and all the earl's prospects for England being thwarted, he occupied himself in arranging a treaty between her father and the King of France. He was still in Provence when he was summoned to rouse the duke from a fit of melancholy, caused by the Swiss having again defeated him. After raising fresh troops, Charles decided to wrest Nancy from the young Duke of Lorraine, and during the siege Arthur received another challenge from Rudolph. The rivals met, and, having killed the Bernese, the young Englishman obtained Count Albert's consent to his marriage with Anne, with strict injunctions to warn the duke that the Secret Tribunal had decreed his death. On the same night, the Swiss won their decisive victory at Nancy, establishing their independence. Charles was slain in the battle, his naked and disfigured body only discovered some days afterward frozen into the nearby river. His face had been so badly mutilated by wild animals that his physician was only able to identify him by his long fingernails and the old battle scars on his body. Being still an exile, the earl accepted the patriot Biederman's invitation to reside with his countess at Geierstein, until the battle of Bosworth placed Henry VII on the throne, when Arthur and his wife attracted as much admiration at the English Court as they had gained among their Swiss neighbours.

An aging minstrel seeks hospitality at Newark Castle and in recompense tells his hostess, Duchess of Buccleuch and her ladies a tale of a sixteenth-century Border feud. In the poem, Lady Margaret Scott of Buccleuch, the "Flower of Teviot" is beloved by Baron Henry of Cranstoun an ally of the Ker Clan, but a deadly feud exists between the two border clans of Scott and Carr/Ker, which has resulted in the recent murder of Lady Margaret's father, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch by the Kers on the High Street in Edinburgh. Margaret's widowed mother hates the Ker clan as a result, and is adamant in refusing her consent to any suggestion of marriage between the lovers until Henry's brave conduct results in the restoration of her young son from captivity and induces her to change her mind. The poem is concerned with loyalty to one’s homeland, but also with the manner in which the poet draws his art from his connection to his country and traditions.

The novel tells the story of Archie Weir, a youth born into an upper-class Edinburgh family. Because of his Romantic sensibilities and sensitivity, Archie is estranged from his father, who is depicted as the coarse and cruel judge of a criminal court. By mutual consent, Archie is banished from his family of origin and sent to live as the local laird on a family property in the vicinity of the Borders hamlet Hermiston.

While serving as the laird, Archie meets and falls in love with Kirstie (Christina). As the two are deepening their relationship, the book breaks off. Confusingly, there are two characters in the novel called Christina, the younger of whom is Archie's sweetheart.

Manhunt

This is an instrumental track. The story begins where it was left off. Eight hours later, the Man is still running and hiding from the government and searching for his "lover".

This song is as fast as the song "Chased" from ''Tyranny''. The fourth quarter of the song resurrects the piano melody from "Christmas Day", as the time is still Christmas. "Manhunt" ends with a calmed section like "Chased".

Comfort Me

At last, the Man joins his lover (portrayed, again, by Laura Jaeger). Both are tired of running and hiding, but they realize how comfortable and safe they feel when they're together, and believe their. So, they promise one another to be always together.

The Andromeda Strain

Her journal reveals her past. She was previously working on a cure for a weaponized version of smallpox. She used her own DNA to create a serum that can cure it. However, she stumbled on evidence that her employer wanted to cause a small outbreak of the disease to drive up demand for the serum before they release it. She stole the formula, sabotaged her work and ran away from them, putting her in the situation she was in at the start of ''Tyranny''.

The title of this track is a clear reference to the book The Andromeda Strain, although it is not based on the book itself.

Vow

Soon the Man proposes to her, and the two get married, hoping to forget their past lives.

Birth of a Daughter

This is the second instrumental track and, as its title implies, the Woman has given birth to a daughter named Alaska. The song builds towards a brief moment of calm, happy ambience as Alaska is born.

Death of a Mother

This is the third instrumental, and the sequel to the previous track. It opens with a sudden mood change from happy to dark, and the sound of a heart monitor which soon flatlines, leading into a chaotic instrumental that ends with wrenching guitar solos. As its title points, the Woman has died in childbirth, leaving the Man alone with his daughter.

Lamentia

The Man is broken, as his wife promised she would never leave during "Comfort Me", but she left so soon. The vocal arrangement is identical to "Comfort Me" as the Man remembers this broken promise. He claims that she is in the hands of God, while he must live in this world.

Seven Years

This is the fourth instrumental, and as its title indicates, seven years have passed since the Woman's death. The Man's daughter has grown healthy. The mood is lush and innocent.

Dark

This is the fifth and final instrumental. The peaceful life of the Man changes as a shattering window and a very high pitched scream is heard. Beside the scream, it can be heard that the word "daddy" is shouted twice. The remainder of the piece is dark ambience.

Torn

The Man enters the room, only to find out that Alaska was kidnapped, and all of his emotions are let loose. He says he never heard the scream, and starts to curse the kidnappers. He wonders himself if he can ever escape from his past. Although he knows it is likely that the culprit is the New World Order, who would have staged the kidnapping to draw the Man out, his daughter is the only thing that matters in his life now.

The Archer of Ben Salem

In the early morning the Man heads out into the forest determined to bring Alaska back alive, but he sees a soldier with a crossbow aimed at him. The Archer (portrayed by Carl Cadden-James), from a special U.S. Special Forces segment fighting the New World Order (who chased the Man previously on ''Tyranny''), has come with news.

He reveals that the smallpox virus is in the wrong hands, and that they have tried to recreate the serum, but they haven't achieved it. So the Archer reveals that he also carries the same rare blood his wife had, implying Alaska has this blood too, and that her blood is essential to create a vaccine.

The Archer also reveals that the Man's wife didn't die naturally, but she was killed by Mossad, the Intelligence from Israel, to steal blood from her (from the baby; they stole some blood from the Woman's womb). The Archer discloses that the New World Order organization is behind all this, and that U.S. Special Forces have a key mission for the Man to perform.

Encrypted

The Archer takes the Man to a well hidden town, to the back room of a library. Here the Man works on the serum, shaping encrypted lines, as the Archer stands guard. It is here that he discovers that the NWO is planning to unleash the plague, and sell the serums to those fortunate enough to pay the high fees for it. When the Man has finished, a scientist takes the disc and nods his head.

It is also revealed that the codeword and keyword for the serum are "Room V" and "Tyranny" respectively; the Man uses this information to organize a resistance.

Room V

The Man forms a band of six members, which are actually Shadow Gallery themselves (in an act of breaking the fourth wall), and it is implied that Mike Baker is equivalent to the Man. They write the serum key into ''Tyranny'' and ''Room V'', knowing that because of Shadow Gallery's underground status, they can deliver the serum to the world without the New World Order knowing about it. A brief binary code is listed in the album booklet to the left of the song lyrics. The listeners are urged to join the resistance themselves by supporting Shadow Gallery. A five-minute jam session ends the song and fades into the sound of rain.

Rain

As the Man has finished his work with the U.S. Special Forces, he continues to search for his lost daughter within the woods of Alaska. His entire mission may have saved the world, but it also has destroyed everything he has ever lived for – hence the metaphor "''Their antidote is poison''". He is tired of this world and this life, and begs to his dead wife for her shelter. It is implied that the Man may have died at the end, but his ultimate fate and that of Alaska's is left open-ended.

Players control the protagonist, Lucas Nickle, as he is shrunk to a miniature size and forced to work in an ant colony. He goes on many adventures throughout his backyard. From the Cactus Garden, to the Spiders lair, Lucas must overcome the challenges and become an ant. Getting in his way is the local wasp hive and the Exterminator. After overcoming many challenges, Lucas eventually has a mano-a-mano showdown. Lucas first must shoot the Exterminators ear with the Dart bow and avoid his hands and poison. Next, Lucas must blind the Exterminator with the Larva silk squirter. Eventually, Lucas and the wasps drive the Exterminator away after stinging him in the butt. Afterwards, Lucas collects the last of the Fire crystals and returns to normal size in 2006.

Amanda Afflick (Mary Pickford) is a poor laundry woman working in London. She is too weak to do the hard work, but is always picked on and humiliated by her boss Madame Didier (Rose Dione). Amanda is desperately in love with the handsome customer Horace Greensmith (Albert Austin), but none of her colleagues thinks she has a chance of being his sweetheart.

One afternoon Amanda gets in trouble again and is forced to work all night long. All alone, she fantasizes about her first and only meeting with Horace, eight months ago. All the fellow employees ridicule her for still having faith that he will return someday to pick up his clothes. Amanda is fed up with all her colleagues making fun of her and lies that she is a duchess, coming from a wealthy family. She comes up with a story of her having an affair with Horace. Her father found out and sent her to live in London.

Meanwhile, co-worker Benjamin Jones (Harold Goodwin) has the job of collecting laundry with his cart. One day, his beloved horse Lavender is too weak to go up a hill and falls. The cart is destroyed and when Benjamin admits the truth to Madame Didier, she asks for the horse to be killed. Benjamin reveals to Amanda what will happen with Lavender and she tries to stop the horse from being killed. She eventually buys the horse and takes it into her own home.

Amanda is not allowed to take the horse into her own apartment and is noticed on the streets by the wealthy and sympathizing Lady Burke-Cavendish. She offers to take the horse to live at her country place. Amanda is delighted and accepts her offer. Later, Lady Burke-Cavendish stops by to tell Amanda the horse is doing very well. Amanda lies to the fellow laundry women Lady Burke-Cavendish is actually her aunt.

They are interrupted by Horace: he has returned for his laundry. The fellow workers assume he will recognize Amanda, since they were lied to he is her secret lover. Amanda is desperate and successfully pretends to be reunited with him. Horace is confused and wants to leave. While the laundry women are away she tells the truth to Horace. Benjamin walks in on them, initially trying to flirt with Amanda, but when he notices Horace's presence he leaves.

Horace sympathizes with Amanda and invites her to his mansion. He changes his mind when he becomes ashamed of her. Amanda notices this and pulls back. Horace leaves and Amanda is left behind with a broken heart. She is later hired as Lady Burke-Cavendish's personal maid and now lives in wealth. She finds out Horace is a worker at the country place and they fall in love with each other.

Junie (Navarro), is an ice cream vendor, who sells ice cream to children and adults alike. After his shift, he is in a predicament with a rival vendor, Dodoy (Jay Manalo). Their manager, angered by their actions, demotes Junie to a warehouse guard. Dodoy celebrates, only to be demoted too, working a different shift to Junie. Junie goes home in a bad mood, until he sees the love of his life, Liana (Aubrey Miles). After dinner, Junie is ready to sleep, to start a new job the next day. While working, Junie accidentally swallows a spider which has been exposed to a chemical spill, thus giving him web slinging abilities, and becoming "Gagamboy"(Spiderboy). After his shift, Dodoy comes in to work and leaves a sandwich unprotected. A cockroach exposed to the same spill as the spider slips into his sandwich, and as he eats it, he collapses, only to regain consciousness as a large cockroach. He hires two henchmen, and calls himself "Ipisman" (Cockroachman). Junie and Dodoy both try to win Liana's love. Dodoy practically gives up, only to return as Cockroachman, to kidnap Liana to lure Spiderboy to his lair. There, he plans to finish off Spiderboy, but the tables turn and Dodoy is destroyed.

A fishing boat sinks in the English Channel in the middle of the night, and the evidence points to murder. Ex-MI5 operative Dominic Elder comes out of retirement to help investigate the explosion of the boat, as it appears that his long-time obsession, a female assassin known as "Witch", may be responsible. Using the boat to get to England from France, Witch left a subtle trail of clues to announce her arrival and to warn off Elder.

But that is the least of Special Branch's worries, if Elder's well-honed intuition is correct. He has seen her work before and knows her to be a resourceful enemy, who always seems a step ahead of the authorities. With an imminent summit of world leaders to be held in London, Witch's target seems obvious.

Young Michael Barclay's thoroughness leads him onto Witch's trail, with the help of his liaison in the French police, Dominique Herault. Apart from her language help and guidance around Paris, Michael is sexually attracted to her.

The team of detectives and MI5 agents, and the terrorist, play cat-and-mouse with each other in Scotland, England, France, and even briefly visit a former associate of Witch in prison in Germany.

Category:1993 British novels Category:Thriller novels Category:Novels by Ian Rankin Category:Works published under a pseudonym Category:Headline Publishing Group books

Rosa von Praunheim portrays a historical personality. Magnus Hirschfeld made a name for himself as a co-founder of sexology and a pioneer of the gay movement. In his Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin he fights for the impunity of homosexuality. In the 1930s he even gave lectures in the USA, but the Nazis condemned his educational work. His own homosexuality keeps getting him into trouble, too. When Hirschfeld finally went into exile in France, the Nazis destroyed his institute in Berlin.

Michael Weston is a professional assassin, but he also suffers from haemophilia. The wealthy father of a girl he killed by mistake years ago has sworn vengeance on the killer, hiring a private detective (Hoffer) to track him down.

Rankin has said that he wrote this book under the influence of Martin Amis's novel ''Money'' and that Weston was influenced by that novel's protagonist John Self.

Gordon Reeve, a former SAS soldier, receives a phone call in his home in Scotland, informing him that his brother Jim has been found dead in a car in San Diego - the car being locked from the inside, and the gun still in Jim's hand. While in the USA to identify the body, Gordon realises that his brother was murdered, and that the police are more than reluctant to follow any lead. Retracing Jim's final hours, he connects Jim's death with his work as a journalist, investigating a multinational chemical corporation. Soon, Gordon finds himself under surveillance, and decides to find out more among Jim's acquaintances back in Europe.

In London, he finds more hints, but no evidence for his brother's sources. After returning to his wife and son, he finds that his home has been bugged by professionals. Sending his wife and son to a relative, he determines to take on his enemy on his own. There are two parties after him: The multinational corporation, represented by "Jay", a renegade SAS member, and an international investigation corporation, somehow connected with the case.

Travelling to France, in order to find out more from a journalist colleague of Jim's, they are attacked by a group of professional killers under orders from Jay, resulting in multiple deaths, and leading to Gordon becoming a police target. Gordon decides to return to the USA, where he infiltrates the investigation corporation, and learns more about the history of the case. Then he travels to San Diego, to collect more evidence, and eventually returns to England, deliberately leaving a trail for Jay. Their long enmity leads Jay to follow Gordon to Scotland, where Gordon kills him and his team in a final showdown. Gordon manages to locate Jim's hidden journalistic material, hopefully clearing Jim's and his own name.

The plot revolves around Gwen and George Kellerman, whose company has invited him to interview for a possible job promotion in New York City. From the moment they depart their home town of Twin Oaks, Ohio, the couple suffers nearly every indignity out-of-towners possibly could experience: Heavy air traffic and dense fog forces their flight to circle around JFK Airport and the New York skyline for hours before finally being rerouted to Boston's Logan Airport, where they discover their luggage – in which George's ulcer medication and Gwen's extra cash are packed – was left behind.

Just missing the train at South Station in Boston, they chase it to the next stop by cab, board it (it is extremely overcrowded), and wait two hours for seats in the dining car, only to discover the only food left is peanut butter sandwiches, green olives, and crackers, with nothing to drink but tonic water and clam juice ("but they ain't cold"). Upon arrival at Grand Central Terminal in New York by 2:00am, they discover that the city's subway and bus drivers, taxicab drivers, and sanitation workers are all on strike. Making their way the eight long city blocks to the Waldorf-Astoria on foot past tons of garbage in a torrential downpour, they discover upon arrival at the hotel their reservation, guaranteed for a 10:00pm arrival – it is now nearly 3:00am - has been given away, and the hotel, like every other one in the city, is booked to capacity due to the strikes.

What follows is a series of calamities that includes being robbed at gunpoint by a spurious good Samaritan, a man named Murray; the apparent apathy of the police when the Kellermans report the robbery; kidnapping by armed liquor store robbers after a high-speed chase while the Kellermans are riding in a police car en route to an armory; being mugged while sleeping in Central Park; George cracking a tooth on stale Cracker Jacks left by a rambunctious Great Dane under Trefoil Arch; Gwen's broken heels; accusations of child molestation; Gwen losing her ring; being kicked off a bus because they can't pay the fare; an exploding manhole cover; expulsion from a church; and an attack by protestors in front of the Cuban embassy. With each successive catastrophe, George angrily writes down each perpetrator's name and promises to sue them or their company when he returns home.

The only thing that goes right for George is that he somehow manages to arrive on time for his 9:00am interview, unshaven, wearing rumpled clothing, a broken tooth, and virtually no food or sleep in nearly 24 hours. After George returns to the hotel with a very lucrative promotion, Gwen helps George realize an upwardly mobile move to New York City is not what they truly cherish after the urban problems and indignities they have suffered through, and both make the decision to remain in their small town in Ohio, only to be subjected to one more major catastrophe on the return trip—their flight home is hijacked to Cuba. Gwen says "Oh my god!" (which she had said various other times during the movie) ending the film.

Henry and Nancy Clark are a couple living in a quiet Ohio town. Married for 27 years, their last child has left home and Nancy is suffering from empty nest syndrome. Unbeknownst to her, Henry has lost his job due to corporate downsizing and has an interview in New York. Nancy sneaks on the plane with him and they begin a disastrous series of misadventures. Their plane is rerouted to Boston, their luggage is lost, they are mugged at gunpoint and their daughter has used their credit card to the point where it has reached its limit. They are thrown out of their hotel by a pompous manager named Mersault who also indulges in secretly cross dressing using guests' clothing. Forced to live by their wits on the street, the couple find themselves caught up in a robbery and chased by the police through Central Park. In the end, Henry aces his job interview and the two begin a new life together in New York City. Henry and Nancy (as well as Mersault openly in full-drag) go to see their daughter perform on Broadway.

King Krewl (Raymond Russell) is a cruel dictator in the Emerald City in the Land of Oz. He wishes to marry his daughter, Princess Gloria (Vivian Reed), to an old courtier named Googly-Goo (Arthur Smollett), but she is in love with Pon, the Gardener's boy (Todd Wright). Krewl employs the Wicked Witch named Mombi (Mai Wells), to freeze the heart of Gloria so she will not love Pon any longer. This she does by pulling out her heart (which looks somewhere between a valentine and a bland representation of a heart without any vessels) and coating it with ice. Meanwhile, a lost little girl from Kansas named Dorothy Gale (Violet MacMillan), is captured by Mombi and imprisoned in her castle. However, Dorothy runs away with the now heartless Gloria, accompanied by Pon and eventually meet the Scarecrow (Frank Moore). Mombi catches up with the travelers and removes the Scarecrow's stuffing, but Dorothy and Pon are able to re-stuff him; Gloria abandons them and wanders off.

They meet the lost little boy, Button-Bright (Mildred Harris). The party travels to the Winkie Country next and arrives at the Tin Castle of the Tin Woodman (Pierre Couderc), who has rusted solid. (The Tin Woodman resides in a Tin Castle in later Oz novels, beginning in ''The Emerald City of Oz'''' (1910). Mombi reaches the Tin Castle, and the Tin Woodman chops off her head; however, this merely slows her down as she hunts for it and places it back on. (The Wicked Witch of the East in ''The Tin Woodman of Oz'' is later described as having done a similar thing to him when he was still human.) Having replaced her head, Mombi encounters Pon and turns him into a kangaroo.

Dorothy, Button-Bright, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman escape from Mombi by crossing a river on a raft. As in the original novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), the Scarecrow's barge-pole gets stuck in the river bed and leaves him stranded, until he is rescued by a bird. At one point in this sequence, the Scarecrow slides down the pole into the river, resulting a brief "underwater" sequence featuring puppet fish and a mermaid; throughout, the Scarecrow makes asides to the camera, mostly without intertitles. (At another point, the frozen Gloria even makes a malevolent stare directly into the camera.)

The party encounters the Wizard (J. Charles Haydon), who tricks Mombi by letting the group hide in the Red Wagon, pulled by the sawhorse; when Mombi attempts to follow them, the group escape out the back of the wagon. The four companions meet the Cowardly Lion, who joins them. The Wizard traps Mombi in a container of "Preserved Sandwitches" and paints out the "sand" and the plural, carrying her away in his pocket. The Scarecrow, taking a barrage of arrows, tosses Krewl's soldiers over the battlements to deal with the Cowardly Lion, who cannot climb the rope ladder over the city wall. With the support of the people, the Scarecrow is easily able to depose King Krewl. The Wizard releases Mombi, and compels her to restore Pon to his normal form and unfreeze Gloria’s Heart.

At age 28, plain and bookish Lina McLaidlaw lives a life of boredom with her retired parents in an English village. Her prettier sister has married a rising writer, but Lina never meets any men she could accept until the arrival of charming Johnnie Aysgarth, from an impoverished and disreputable family. Her father is opposed to a marriage, and everyone seems to know that all Johnnie is after is Lina's money.

However they are soon married, enjoy a long and expensive honeymoon abroad, and return to a large country house that Johnny has acquired and extravagantly furnished. When Lina wonders how the jobless Johnnie has met all this outlay, and what he expects to live on, he eventually admits that he borrowed everything. Gradually the more level-headed Lina takes charge of the family finances, relying on an allowance from her father, and pushes Johnnie into finding a job. He gains a good post nearby, managing the country estate of a distant relation, while she looks after their house. She would like a baby, but never falls pregnant.

After the first shock of discovering Johnnie's huge debt, and the fact that he lied, other shocks keep arriving. She discovers that he is a practised thief, stealing jewelry from a guest and from her to sell. Her inherited furniture also starts disappearing, until she tracks some of it to an antique shop. He is a forger, putting her signature on cheques. Worse, he is sacked from his job for embezzling money.

Most of his takings are placed on horses, for he is an unrepentant gambler, while some are used for another pastime. Any number of local wives and daughters have had affairs with him, for which he rents a flat in a nearby town, and one of their servants has a son by him. When all this comes into the open, the childless Lina at last leaves to stay with her sister in London. There she is introduced at a party to an affectionate unmarried artist, who wants her to get a divorce and marry him. But Lina refuses to sleep with him, instead returning to her purgatory with Johnnie.

Johnnie meanwhile has been plotting new ways of raising money. Going with Lina to her parents for Christmas, after dinner he gets her father to perform a trick which is too much for the old man's weak heart. His death means that Lina comes into her inheritance and Johnnie thus has access to improved means. Later, he cons an old school friend into backing a property development and, taking his gullible partner to Paris, on a visit to a brothel pours so much brandy into him that the man dies. The money he had invested remains in Johnnie's hands.

In Johnnie's view, neither of these events counts as murder. His big project will be to murder Lina, collect her money and insurance, and not be detected. In this he is aided by Isobel Sedbusk, a writer of crime stories, who often visits their village and enjoys discussing foolproof ways of getting rid of people. She tells Johnnie that there is a common chemical which is tasteless if mixed in milk, kills instantly, and leaves no trace in the body.

Lina is driven increasingly desperate by Johnnie's interest in murder, accentuated by discovering that after years of marriage she seems to be pregnant. When she falls ill with flu, Johnnie mounts the stairs with a glass of milk which she deliberately drinks.

Leila and Reza are a modern Iranian couple, content with their recent marriage. However, Leila learns that she is unable to conceive. Reza's mother insists that he, as the only son, must have children ("everything goes to the son"), despite Reza's insistence that he does not want children, and suggests that he get a second wife. He adamantly refuses the idea; his mother champions it. Leila gets caught between the two worlds; elated at spending time with Reza one moment and torn apart by his nagging mother the next.

Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make a living in New York City by whatever means necessary, including a series of small-time confidence scams. One day, he is approached by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf to travel to "Mongibello" (based on the resort town Positano), in Italy, to persuade Greenleaf's errant son, Dickie, to return to the United States and join the family business. Ripley agrees, exaggerating his friendship with Dickie, a half-remembered acquaintance, in order to gain the elder Greenleaf's trust.

Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley meets Dickie and Dickie's girlfriend Marge Sherwood, and Dickie allows Tom Ripley to stay with him in his Italian home. As Ripley and Dickie spend more time together, Marge feels left out. However, soon after Ripley arrives, Freddie Miles, a school friend of Dickie's, visits Dickie's summer home. Tom begins to grow jealous of Freddie, and grows closer to Marge over their shared anguish in Dickie's shifting loyalty.

Dickie becomes upset when he unexpectedly finds Ripley in his bedroom dressed up in his clothes and imitating his mannerisms. From this moment on, Ripley senses that Dickie has begun to tire of him, resenting his constant presence and growing personal dependence. Ripley has indeed become obsessed with Dickie, which is further reinforced by his desire to imitate and maintain the wealthy lifestyle Dickie has afforded him. As a gesture to Ripley, Dickie agrees to travel with him on a short holiday to San Remo. Sensing that he is about to cut him loose, Ripley finally decides to murder Dickie and assume his identity. When the two set sail in a small rented boat, Ripley beats him to death with an oar, dumps his anchor-weighted body into the water, and scuttles the boat.

Ripley assumes Dickie's identity, living off the latter's trust fund and carefully providing communications to Marge to assure her that Dickie has dumped her. Ripley forges checks and changes his appearance to better resemble Dickie in order to continue the lavish lifestyle he has enjoyed. Freddie Miles encounters Ripley at what he supposes to be Dickie's apartment in Rome; he soon suspects something is wrong. When Miles finally confronts him, Ripley kills him with a heavy glass ashtray in the apartment. He later disposes of the body on the outskirts of Rome, attempting to make the police believe that robbers have murdered Miles.

Ripley enters a cat-and-mouse game with the Italian police but manages to keep himself safe by restoring his own identity and moving to Venice. In succession, Marge, Dickie's father, and an American private detective confront Ripley, who suggests to them that Dickie was depressed and may have committed suicide. Marge stays for a while at Ripley's rented house in Venice. When she discovers Dickie's rings in Ripley's possession, she seems to be on the verge of realizing the truth. Panicked, Ripley contemplates murdering Marge, but she is saved when she says that if Dickie gave his rings to Ripley, then he probably meant to kill himself.

The story concludes with Ripley traveling to Greece and resigning himself to eventually getting caught. However, he discovers that the Greenleaf family has accepted that Dickie is dead and that they have transferred his inheritance to Ripley – in accordance with a will forged by Ripley on Dickie's Hermes typewriter. While the book ends with Ripley happily rich, it also suggests that he may forever be dogged by paranoia. In one of the final paragraphs, he nervously envisions a group of police officers waiting to arrest him, and Highsmith leaves her protagonist wondering, "...was he going to see policemen waiting for him on every pier that he ever approached?" Ripley however quickly dismisses this and proceeds with his trip.

After his wife is kidnapped by terrorists, international industrialist Alexander Addington assembles a clandestine team of troubleshooters to help combat terrorism around the world. He recruits Peter Sinclair from Scotland Yard to lead the team. They set up a French con artist and art/jewelry thief named Nicole Beaumont and blackmail her into joining because of her valuable criminal connections. The third teammember is Luke Brenner, an American mercenary whom they rescue from a Mexican jail. The series' other recurring characters are Bennett and J.J., Alexander's valet and pilot, respectively.

In the second season's second episode Peter and Alexander encounter a French reporter named Gabrielle Germont whom they recruit into the team to prevent her from publishing a story about them. In the season's third episode Peter and Gabrielle rescue Hector Stone, an American CIA-operative and former Navy SEAL whose cover has been blown, and invite him to join the team.

The character of Alexander's daughter Suzanne Addington, who designed the team's computer systems, was also written out of the series at the beginning of the second season. Suzanne appears in one third season episode, although played by a different actress. In her stead Alexander gets a secretary/confidante named Hélène Previn.

''Forge of Heaven'' takes place several centuries after ''Hammerfall''. The transformation of Marak's World is monitored on the ground by Marak, assisted by Luz and Ian, and planetary watchers on Concord Station using taps, nanocele implants that enable watchers and those on the planet to communicate with one another. Kekellen, the ''ondat'''s representative on the station, whom no one has ever seen, is particularly interested in Marak and his activities, and uses it to help understand humans. Procyon is Marak's watcher on Concord.

Unannounced, a ship from Earth arrives at the station and Earth ambassador Andreas Gide demands to interrogate Procyon about whether illegal First Movement technology is leaving the planet. Fearing Outsider contamination, Gide enters the station in a sealed mobile containment unit. Procyon assures Gide that, to his knowledge, no illicit technology is leaving the planet, but as the interview ends, Gide is shot at with an armor-piercing shell, which breaches his containment field. Gide is taken to hospital on the station, but because he has now been exposed to Outsider "contaminates", he is unable to return to the Earth ship. Procycon, concussed from the blast, wanders off and is soon lost in the station's corridors.

Procyon's disappearance causes problems for the Planetary Observations Office, which oversees communications with the world below. Marak, who has become dependent on Procycon, demands to know what has happened to his watcher. Kekellen, concerned about the disruption of the Planetary Observation Project, intervenes. Using station maintenance robots, he rescues Procycon, but implants a tap in him, enabling Kekellen to keep in touch with him.

It is revealed that Movement technology ''was'' leaked from the planet via the Ila's watcher on Concord and exported to Orb, a nearby station where sophisticated illicits were being manufactured. The Ila inadvertently kills her watcher when she attempts to hack Concord's tap system. With the help of the ''ondat'', Movement operatives on Concord are neutralized and their conduit to Orb is severed.

Project operations on Concord resume and Procyon returns to work as Marak's tap. On the planet, geological upheavals have resulted in a new sea forming with new weather patterns and the promise of new life evolving. The ''ondat'', via Procyon, are now closer to Marak's World and is able to watch the planet's rebirth first hand.

Like other games in the Mega Man series, ''Rockman & Forte Mirai kara no Chōsensha'' takes place in the year 20XX. A group of robots from the future calling themselves the "Dimensions" attacked Symphony City, a city where people and robots lived in peace. Though without any witnesses, the one leading the Dimensions with overwhelming power is a robot that appears similar to Rockman (Mega Man in the West), who calls himself "Rockman Shadow" (Not to be confused with Quint from the Game Boy Rockman pentalogy). He is said to be a dark and wicked person completely obsessed with destruction. Rockman, who hears this news at Dr. Right's (Dr. Light in the West) laboratory, ventures to the scene despite being under maintenance. At the same time, Dr. Wily sees the dark Mega Man, and to ascertain the mystery he sends Forte (Bass in the West). Eventually Rockman Shadow and the Dimensions are defeated and their plans put to rest.

The physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, Dr. Hohner (Karloff) murders his fiancée, a prima donna, out of obsession and jealousy. Ten years later, he hears another young singer (Foster) who reminds him of the late diva, and is determined to make her sing only for him, even if it means silencing her forever.

After escaping from a trap devised by the Doctor, the Timewyrm sets about plotting her revenge. She decides to use the Earth against the Doctor, and travels forward in history until she finds a moment where human technology reached the point where global devastation was possible. She also needed a living vessel to execute her plans, and soon finds a bitter, neurotic madman filled with hate and resentment. But as soon as the Timewyrm enters the chosen mind, she became trapped within it.

The TARDIS follows the Timewyrm's course through time, and arrives in 1951 London, at the Festival of Britain. The Doctor and Ace set out to find the Timewyrm, but quickly notice that something is different – the Nazis have won World War II. Overheard by a local Nazi informant, the Doctor and Ace are arrested by the British Free Corps for making seditious, anti-Nazi statements. They are put under the charge of Lieutenant Hemmings.

The Doctor decides that they must return to the TARDIS and track down the source of the changes to history. After calmly enduring some Nazi psychological interrogation techniques, the Doctor tricks Hemmings into allowing them to escape, but the TARDIS was gone, taken by the British Free Corps. The Doctor decided to impersonate a high-ranking Nazi official (previously murdered by the British resistance, and found by the Doctor and Ace) to ingratiate himself with the Nazis. He and Ace walk into the office of Nazi General Strasser and convince him that the Doctor was conducting a secret investigation into Nazi security.

The Doctor uses his freedom and influence to visit the war archives, housed in the former British Museum, hoping to pinpoint where history diverged. While there, he comes into brief psychic contact with the Timewyrm. However, the Doctor wasn’t sure that she was really behind the revised timeline, as it seems too subtle and precise for her. Meanwhile, Ace makes contact with the British resistance to find out more about what happened during World War II. She learns of rumours of a Black Coven, a cult of mystics who were using supernatural powers to assist the Reich.

Though their cover is eventually exposed, the Doctor and Ace manage to evade Hemmings and get back to the TARDIS. Before they leave 1951, Ace catches a glimpse of Hemmings entering something that looked like the Doctor's TARDIS, which disappeared with the same familiar TARDIS sound.

The TARDIS arrives in 1923, where the Doctor and Ace witness a failed demonstration by the young and disorganised Nazi Party on the War Office in Berlin. The police break up the demonstration, injuring a young Adolf Hitler. The Doctor rushes to Hitler's aid, resets his dislocated shoulder, and tells him that one day he will rule Germany. The Doctor asks that Hitler remember him when that day comes. As they are returning to the TARDIS, a shadowy figure in dark clothes approaches the Doctor, clearly recognising him, and attempts to kill him with some sort of laser gun. Thanks to a bit more nitro-nine-a, Ace helps the Doctor escape from his would-be assassin.

Travelling forward to 1939, the Doctor and Ace witness another Nazi rally, this time in Nuremberg, which is far, far larger. Hitler is now ruling Germany, as the Doctor promised. As Ace listens to Hitler's speech, she realised that his words are having a hypnotic effect even on her. The Doctor suspects that his speech was being boosted somehow, using technology that shouldn’t exist in 1939. The Doctor and Ace ingratiate themselves once again with Hitler, and are treated as honoured guests. Later that night, Hitler and the Doctor discuss the impending war, when Hitler suddenly bursts into an uncontrollable rage. He threatens not only to destroy his enemies throughout Europe, but also to destroy the entire planet, the galaxy, and the universe itself. Later, the Doctor tells Ace that he believes the Timewyrm is trapped within Hitler's mind, providing him with knowledge but unable to exercise any real control.

The following day, the invasion of Poland begins. The Doctor is with Hitler and his inner circle, waiting to receive the United Kingdom's official response to the invasion. Hitler is confident that the British will stop short of declaring war, but the Doctor advises him otherwise. When the Doctor turns out to be correct, Hitler goes into another rage, from which the Doctor manages to calm him. Meanwhile, Ace receives a letter intended for the Doctor asking him to meet with a Dr. Kriegslieter of the Aryan Research Bureau. Thinking this meeting might reveal information useful to the Doctor, Ace goes in his place.

While the Doctor has clandestine meetings first with Goering, then with Himmler, both involving the state of Hitler's mental health, Ace walks into a trap set for the Doctor. Ace is transported somehow to a castle in Drachensburg and held in a dungeon. When the Doctor extricates himself from the political intrigue surrounding Hitler, he finds a note left by Ace. Fearing the worst, he follows her path to the Berlin office of the Aryan Research Bureau, where he finds a crystal ball that showing an image of Ace being shackled to a dungeon wall and threatened menacingly with a knife. The Doctor finds a transport device linking the offices in Berlin with the castle in Drachensberg, using the device to go after Ace.

In Drachensberg, the Doctor is introduced to the mysterious Dr. Kriegslieter, a hideously misshapen man. Kriegslieter turns out to be the War Chief, a renegade Time Lord the Doctor had faced long ago (see The War Games), the deformities being a result of a botched regeneration. Once again, the War Chief was working with the War Lords to develop a superior race of soldiers from Earth's history. They had been amplifying Hitler's natural leadership abilities to manipulate World War II. They would make sure Hitler avoided his major mistakes (such as the delay at Dunkirk and the opening of the second front against the Soviet Union), and with the aid of a nuclear reactor in the basement, see to it that Nazi Germany takes over the world, and eventually, beyond. Ace would be sacrificed according to ancient mystical rites invented by the War Chief to amuse the gullible Himmler, whose SS were loyal to the War Chief.

When Himmler arrives for the ceremony, the Doctor attempts to expose the War Chief as a traitor to the Reich, but to no avail. As the ritual sacrifice proceeds, the Doctor appeals to Himmler to allow him to perform the sacrifice personally, arguing that the ritual would have more meaning if he were to personally sacrifice this young woman whom Himmler believed was his niece. The Doctor uses the sacrificial knife to cut Ace's bonds, and uses Ace's last nitro-nine-a capsule to give escape to the top of the castle's tower. Outside, Goering has arrived with a panzer division, advancing against Drachensberg. The Doctor explains that he had told Goering that treachery against Hitler was taking place at the castle. The War Chief's zombified soldiers are unable to repel Goering. As the battle concludes, Hitler arrives by aeroplane. The Doctor explains to Hitler that Kriegslieter was behind everything, while also convincing him that both Himmler and Goering are loyal heroes of the Reich. Hitler thanks the Doctor again for his service, then states that, with the Doctor's assistance, he has learned to tame the Timewyrm within him and draw on her immense power as his own. The Doctor realises with horror that he had given Hitler the emotional control necessary to win the war.

After Hitler and the others leave, the War Chief rises from the battlefield. At his command, all of the apparently dead SS soldiers rise as well. The Doctor and Ace run back into the castle and bolt the door. While Ace holds the zombies off with grenades, the Doctor runs to basement to set the nuclear reactor to overload. The Doctor and Ace then return to the top of the tower, where the Doctor produces a small device that brings the TARDIS to them, and they make their escape. The reactor explodes, triggering the War Chief's regeneration , but destroying his zombie soldiers.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor devises a plan to deal with Hitler and the Timewyrm. Consulting a World War II almanac, the Doctor picks the precise time, May 1940. and place, codenamed Felsennest, for their confrontation. There, armed only with a lantern, the Doctor confronts Hitler. He tells Hitler that Hitler alone is in charge, and that the Timewyrm was nothing compared to his greatness. This has the desired effect, luring the Timewyrm out into the open. The Doctor offers to allow the Timewyrm to take over his mind if she releases Hitler. The Timewyrm accepts, but the Doctor's lantern was really an extension of the TARDIS forcefield which he uses to repel the Timewyrm. Hitler becomes confused, suddenly robbed of his power and confidence. The Doctor persuades him to halt the advance on Dunkirk and delay the invasion of Britain, and the historical course of the war is maintained.

Back in the TARDIS, Ace celebrates their success, but the Doctor blames himself for freeing the Timewyrm from the mortal trap of Hitler's mind, but instead she is free to roam the universe. To console him, Ace suggests that they return to 1951 to see the real Festival of Britain. When they arrive, everything is back to normal.

Somewhere in the universe of time and space, the Timewyrm congratulates Lieutenant Hemmings on his progress, and promises him that he will soon have his revenge upon Ace and the Doctor.

The Doctor and Ace track the Timewyrm to the planet Kirith in the far distant future. When they arrive, they rescue a young Kirithon man named Raphael, who has fallen into the sea. At first, Kirith seems to be a pleasant enough place filled with kind, friendly, and strikingly beautiful people. The Doctor quickly becomes suspicious.

In Kirith town, the Doctor meets a librarian named Miríl, who explains much of Kirith’s background. The Kirithons were once a backward and savage species, until benevolent aliens known as the Panjistri arrived. They shared their knowledge and technology with the Kirithons, and in exchange were given an island known as Kandasi, where they could pursue their studies in private isolation. The Panjistri also provide an endless supply of nourishing food known as zavát. Miríl reveals that, despite all they have learned from the Panjistri, the Kirithons are unable to leave their planet and explore the stars. Certain areas of study were forbidden to the Kirithons by the Panjistri, space flight being one of them. The Doctor studies first the library records and then a nearby ruin before concluding that the Panjistri are lying to the Kirithons to prevent them from developing technologies that could be dangerous to the Panjistri.

Ace, meanwhile, is finding it difficult to spend time with Raphael. Revna, another Kirithon, is very possessive of Raphael and jealous of Ace. Lord Procurator Huldah, the liaison between the Panjistri and Kirithons, warns Raphael to keep away from the strangers. Nevertheless, Ace’s persistence pays off. Raphael tells her he had a friend named Darien who years ago had been accepted into the Brotherhood of the Panjistri due to his amazing musical talent. No one has seen him since, and more strangely, no one except Raphael remembers him. Ace decides they should investigate Kandasi to find out what happened. Reluctantly, Raphael agrees, and they sneak aboard a ship that travels between Kandasi and the mainland. Exploring a base used by the Panjistri reveals strange biological experiments, and a huge, hideous Homunculus which is being grown in a laboratory. The Panjistri discover the intruders, and sends their vicious slaves, known as Companions, to apprehend them. Forced to split up, Raphael returns to Kirith town with Ace’s backpack, while Ace takes refuge in the Darkfell, a creepy-looking forest where the Kirithons were forbidden to venture.

Ace discovers a small group of hideously disfigured people living in the Darkfell known as the Unlike. Their leader, Arun, explains to Ace that they are victims of advanced genetic experimentation who have escaped from the Panjistri. Arun reveals to Ace the secret of ''zavát'': not only does this ubiquitous food source make the Kirithons pliable and easy to control, but it is made from the processed remains of dead Kirithons. Back in Kirith town, Raphael finds the Doctor and Miríl in the library and tells them what he and Ace had discovered. Lord Huldah arrives with four Companions to arrest the Doctor and Miríl. They try to escape, aided by Raphael, but to no avail. Deep in the heart of Kandasi, the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri and her Companion Fetch observe the capture of the Doctor with interest. But it is really Ace that they needed…

The Unlike tell Ace that their spies had witnessed the Doctor’s capture and saw him taken to the Harbours. Ace makes a bargain with them: if they will help her rescue the Doctor, the Doctor will help cure them of the radiation poisoning inflicted on them by the Panjistri. In the Harbours, the Doctor, Raphael, and Miríl are put in a prison cell with no hope of escape. Reptu, a Panjistri, arrives and informs them that the Doctor will be taken to Kandasi to see the Grand Matriarch. As Reptu leads the Doctor out of the cell, the Doctor bombards him with questions. Beyond the hearing of Raphael and Miríl, Reptu admits that the Panjistri have lied about Kirith’s history and are manipulating the development of the Kirithons. They board a hovercraft for the journey across the water to Kandasi. When they arrive, Reptu’s Companion knocks out the Doctor.

Raphael and Miríl remained trapped in the prison cell, until Raphael realizes that he still had Ace’s backpack. He finds four canisters of Nitro-9 and sets them all off against the door of the cell, blowing it off its hinges. The explosion attracts the attention of Ace and the Unlike, who are just about to enter the Harbours in search of the Doctor. At the insistence of the Unlike, who had previously worked as genetic scientists for the Panjistri, they seek out the Homunculus. Arun insists that the creature be destroyed, but Raphael protests, arguing that the creature is a living being and should be helped. Arun and Raphael argue, with Ace in the middle, and argument awakens the Homunculus, which bursts free of its tank. As the creature rages about the room, it briefly turns toward Ace and prepares to attack her. Unthinkingly, Raphael grabs a nearby gun and kills the creature.

Ace, Raphael, Arun, and Miríl set out to reach Kandasi. They steal a boat and set out across the water to reach the mysterious island. Along the way, they are attacked by a horrible sea creature, and Miríl is killed. Meanwhile, the Doctor has a half-real, half-imagined conversation with his former self. The Second Doctor informs him that, after his first regeneration, he had briefly met and befriended a young girl named Lilith. That young girl, five thousand years later, became the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri. When Ace and the others reach Kandasi and find the Doctor, they don’t find any Panjistri. The Doctor discovers a matter transmitter tuned to preset coordinates. Using the transmat, the Doctor and company find themselves on a space station 300,000 miles above the surface of Kirith. This is Kandasi. The Doctor explains that Kirith is simply one massive genetic experiment.

The group explore Kandasi for a short time before they are met by Reptu, who explains what the Panjistri are really up to. In order to extend the life of the universe past its natural point of collapse, which is rapidly approaching, the Panjistri plan to create a single organism which has within it the sum total of all life in the universe. The one attribute their God Machine lacked was aggression, the one attribute that the Kirithons could never develop. That is why the Panjistri are developing the Homunculus. With that experiment destroyed, Ace is the next best thing. She is taken to join the Panjistri, as so many Kirithons had been over the centuries. The Doctor suddenly realizes the truth: the God Machine is a trick. The Grand Matriarch is in fact the Timewyrm, who used her control over time to hide in the Doctor’s own past. She had possessed the little girl Lilith five thousand years before, and is planning to use Ace to complete her God Machine, whereby she will achieve supreme power over the universe itself. The Doctor convinces Reptu that the Grand Matriarch must be stopped.

Raphael hears the phantom sound of his old friend Darien’s music, and is drawn down into the God Machine. Eager to save Ace’s life, Raphael offers himself to the God Machine. Exposed as he had been to Ace’s aggression, this is enough to complete it, and Raphael uses his new powers to challenge the Timewyrm herself. The Timewyrm is defeated by her own creation. Defeated, but not destroyed.

After the adventures of the first game, the heroes head to a local inn to rest and enjoy their newfound fame but a note gets slipped to them from Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, Archmage of Waterdeep, who says that he sent a scout to investigate reports of evil brewing in a temple known as Darkmoon but she has not returned. Khelben then transports the heroes to the temple to find Amber and continue the investigation. While battling their way through the temple's clerics and other inhabitants, the players discover that the high priest, Dran Draggore, is assembling legions of skeletal warriors to attack Waterdeep. The players need to pass an acolytes' test to gain access to the inner parts of the temple. In the final confrontation, Draggore turns out to be a red dragon.

After defeating Dran the heroes tell the patrons of a local tavern about their success over Dran Draggore and how it saved the town. After that, a mysterious man enters the tavern and asks the heroes to save the ruined city, Myth Drannor, which is ruled by a Lich named Acwellan. The man then tells the heroes that they need to save Myth Drannor by getting an ancient artifact from the Lich known as the Codex. After the heroes accept the quest, the mysterious man teleports the heroes just outside Myth Drannor.

The explorable areas include the forest around the city, the mausoleum, and finally the city ruins including a mage guild and a temple.

Having lost track of the Timewyrm, the Doctor chooses the TARDIS's next destination apparently at random. The TARDIS arrives in the village of Cheldon Bonniface in the late 19th century. While the Doctor is playing chess with an old friend, Ace is attacked by a child-sized astronaut. Ace evades her attacker, but as she flees the village, she suddenly discovers that they're actually on the surface of the Moon. Away from the protective environment of the faux-village, Ace dies. The astronaut, an eight-year-old boy named Chad Boyle, uses a small device to extract Ace's memories and transmit them elsewhere.

The Doctor discovers the illusion, but is surprised to see that his old friend is in fact Lieutenant Hemmings of the British Free Corps (from ''Timewyrm: Exodus''). The Doctor makes his way back to the TARDIS, where he discovers that he is really on the moon in December 1992. The Timewyrm killed Chad Boyle and Hemmings and sent their minds after Ace's. She took possession of Boyle's body and waited for the Doctor to confront her.

Ace wakes up on a pier overlooking a beach. She comes across a receptionist, who informs her that she died as the result of the Doctor finally losing one of his games. Ace is taken to the afterlife to be judged. She found herself in a library where she meets a kindly old Librarian. After exploring for a while, she decides that she must be dreaming. She concentrates on the village of Cheldon Bonniface.

In Cheldon Bonniface in 1992, the Reverend Ernest Trelaw is conducting the usual Sunday service, the last before Christmas. Present in his church are two newcomers, Peter and Emily Hutchings. Also present is the self-aware non-corporeal intelligence that has existed on the site of the church since long before the church existed. The Rev. Trelaw knows this intelligence as Saul, and both of them are shocked to see their old friend the Doctor run into the church in the middle of the service and deliver a baby into the arms of Emily Hutchings, before running out again. Later in the same service, Saul receives a psychic warning and shouts for all the congregants to leave. Hearing a disembodied voice speak, the congregants exit, except for Emily and Peter. Suddenly, and with a tremendous explosion that devastates the surrounding countryside, the entire church is transported to the surface of the moon. Elsewhere, Ace suddenly gets the feeling that she has done something terribly wrong.

The church materializes around the Doctor and Ace's body. The Doctor retrieves an amulet that he had hidden in the church the last time he had been there, and gives it to Peter and Emily, telling them to find a use for it. The Doctor leaves the church to confront the Timewyrm. After a brief conversation, the Doctor dances with the personification of Death that the Timewyrm had conjured, and dies. The Timewyrm extracts the Doctor's memories and sends them after Ace's, animates the Doctor's body, and marches it into the church where it collapses.

In Hell, Ace is being subjected to excruciating torment by her childhood nemesis, Chad Boyle. She is once again eight-years-old and helpless to defend herself as Boyle imposes his bigoted eight-year-old worldview on the school. The Doctor arrives and rescues Ace, returning her to adulthood. She responds by punching him in the face, her way of saying "Thanks for getting me killed." They meet the Librarian in a splendid rose garden. The Librarian gives Ace her bomber jacket, rucksack, and ghetto blaster, and then speaks with the Doctor. The Timewyrm is trying to take control of the garden, but the Librarian is opposing her. Ace hears Boyle's laugh in the distance, and goes to find him. The Doctor follows. Ace finds Boyle in the center of a maze, covering his eyes and counting, armed with a sub-machine gun and many grenades. As she creeps up behind him, she thinks about blasting him with a Nitro-9 canister, but decided that murder was still murder, even in Hell.

The Doctor meditates. Back at the church on the moon, Saul begins chanting a peculiar rhyme. The others try to puzzle out what it might mean. They eventually figure out that it is a message from the Doctor. On the Doctor's instructions, they find Hemmings's disembodied head on the moon's surface, and Saul telekinetically returns it to the church.

Following a battle against Boyle involving grenades and Nitro-9, the Doctor rejoins Ace and explains that they aren’t literally in Hell, but in some alternative dimension to their own. They are soon joined by the Timewyrm, who is trying to drive a wedge between the Doctor and Ace. To that end, she summons a wave of beings: intelligent reptilian people, soldiers in UNIT uniforms, and three individuals named Katarina, Sara Kingdom, and Adric, who all blame the Doctor for their deaths. The Doctor is tormented by their accusations. The Timewyrm leaves them to continue their hopeless journey to The Pit, the center of this strange world.

Meanwhile, Hemmings has been given another area of this world to control, and has imprisoned the previous occupant, a tall, elegantly dressed man with a shock of wild white hair. When the Doctor and Ace arrive, they are arrested by Nazis and placed in a cell with the tall man. While Ace is taken away to be tortured, the Doctor and the Prisoner manage to escape. Back at the church, Saul, Emily, and Peter try to find a way to communicate with the head, over Ernest's religious objections. They succeed, but only for a moment, after which Hemmings finally dies. The zone Hemmings created begins to fall apart. The Doctor and the Prisoner escape while the zone collapses. The Doctor tells the Prisoner he is making for the Pit, and to that end, they made their way to a river which divides the various zones, and are met by a Ferryman wearing a floppy brown hat and long multi-colored scarf.

Ace wakes up again, this time in a world where she grew up in a happy and uncomplicated life. She never became a rebellious youth, but merely went along with the prevailing fashions of the time. At the back of her mind, she knows this is wrong. Eventually, she realizes the truth and escapes the trap. She finds the Doctor facing off with Chad Boyle, who stabs him with a sword. Ace helps the Doctor as they continue their journey toward the Pit. The Timewyrm appears again and explains to Ace that they are within the Doctor's mind.

At the Church, Ernest can see the Doctor's body is faring poorly. The medallion suddenly began to pulse with energy and grows before their eyes. The runes written on it coalesce into another message from the Doctor, this time telling them to open a dimensional portal. Saul's psychic powers provide the energies while Peter's mathematical abilities establish and stabilize the conduit. Emily travels along it to find the Doctor and Ace. She finds them immediately upon arrival and tries to get them back through the medallion portal, but they are being chased by the horde of the Doctor's demons. Emily manages to get herself and the Doctor away, but Ace is left behind.

Once freed from his own mind, the Doctor knows he can destroy the Timewyrm forever, but not without sacrificing Ace. Meanwhile, Ace decides to continue down into the Pit, where she finds the Doctor's conscience, a fair-haired man in light-colored clothes being perpetually tortured. Ace sets him free, and as his wounds heal before her eyes, Ace sees that he is dressed like a cricketer. The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the intersection between reality and the fiction of his own imagination and rescues Ace. He also spares the Timewyrm, taking her consciousness and depositing it into the body of the baby he had given to Emily. The Hutchings agree to raise the child as their own, and at the Doctor's behest, name her Ishtar. The battle with the Timewyrm is over.

Life has been rough for Ranmaru Hibikiya. Bedridden as a child with a mysterious illness, he's had to spend most of his time alone, drugged, wondering if he would live to adulthood. Now, however, things are getting better for him. His health has improved; he only experiences the occasional seizure. Also, he's been enrolled in his uncle's distinguished institution, the Asao Private School.

Of course, this fortuitous turn isn't without a catch. His uncle, a rather mysterious man, installed Ranmaru at Asao to serve as his spy. Ranmaru begins an innocuous investigation, not really expecting to find anything important. Soon, however, he finds himself immersed in horrifying, supernatural events that could claim his life at any moment.

In a boys' grammar school in Sheffield in 1983, students Crowther, Posner, Dakin, Timms, Akthar, Lockwood, Scripps, and Rudge have recently obtained the school's highest-ever A-Level scores and are hoping to enter Oxford or Cambridge, by taking a seventh-term entrance exam in History. The General Studies teacher, known to staff and boys alike by his nickname "Hector", is much beloved, and works alongside their deputy head and regular History teacher, Mrs Lintott. The Headmaster, known by all as "Felix", appoints a temporary teacher, Tom Irwin, to help the boys. Irwin states that he was at Jesus College, Oxford, when interviewed by the Headmaster. Prior to the entrance examinations, he says to Dakin that he was at Corpus (Corpus Christi College). Dakin discovers on his interview day at Oxford that Irwin did not attend. Irwin is only a little older than his students but proves to be a bold and demanding teacher, and particularly difficult to impress.

As part of their General Studies, the class acts out scenes from romantic films and literature. At the conclusion of each class, Hector offers a lift to one of the students on his motorbike and it is generally known (and initially dismissed as a joke) that he touches them inappropriately on the ride. The only one he never takes along is Posner, a slight Jewish boy, who doesn't hide his infatuation with Dakin. Dakin, who characterises himself as an aspiring lecher, is currently pursuing an affair with the headmaster's secretary, Fiona. He is not displeased by Posner's attention, but finds himself increasingly interested in Irwin. Gradually, Dakin's quest to impress Irwin on an intellectual level evolves into a flirtatious, potentially sexual pursuit of his young teacher, who is visibly attracted to Dakin. Meanwhile, Hector's indiscretions are shockingly revealed and Felix instructs him to "retire early".

The boys continue their studies and all gain places at Oxford and Cambridge, including the dimwitted Rudge, with Posner winning a scholarship and Dakin an exhibition (although both Felix and Scripps later refer to it as a scholarship). On the day they gathered at school on receiving their results, Dakin calls out Irwin on his lie of attending Oxford, Irwin admits that he studied at Bristol and attended Oxford only for a teaching diploma, then Dakin asks him out for a drink, overtly revealing his sexual interest in him, much to Irwin's confusion and repressed enthusiasm. They agree to get together that very Sunday. Dakin then proceeds to the Headmaster's office and, by threatening to reveal Felix's own sexual harassment of Fiona, forces him to reinstate Hector.

As the boys prepare to leave the grammar school, Hector agrees to give Dakin a ride home on the motorbike "for old times' sake". However, before they leave, the headmaster runs out and stops them, saying that Hector should not take one of the boys. He suggests that Hector take Irwin instead. Dakin gladly hands the helmet to him, and the screen fades to white as they drive off, the boys waving happily and laughing.

Off-screen, there is a motorcycle accident; Hector is killed and Irwin is injured. Dakin (in voiceover) says that Irwin had never been on the back of a bike and so may have unbalanced Hector, leading to Hector's death, and that Irwin and he never got a chance to meet that Sunday. The boys sing "Bye Bye Blackbird" at Hector's memorial service and the Headmaster gives a general speech. Mrs Lintott then turns and asks: "Will they come to my funeral, I wonder?" The school hall is shown with only the boys sitting and each recounts his life. Akthar is a headmaster, Crowther a magistrate, Timms a drug-taking dry-cleaning manager, and Dakin a tax lawyer. Lockwood, a junior army officer, was killed by friendly fire at 28 years old. Rudge is a builder, Scripps a journalist, and Irwin makes history TV programmes, though Mrs Lintott says they are more journalism. Posner is a teacher and takes the same approach that Hector did, save for the touching. The final shot shows the boys and teachers standing at the field trip lawn, with Hector's voice encouraging them to "pass it on".

The story revolves around a young driver, Lenny (Abrahams), working for a gangster, running various errands and asking no questions. After the kidnapping of an enemy mobster, Jimmy Berg (Bridges), a bitter feud erupts between the two groups with Lenny caught in the middle. Stuck in a van alone with Berg, surrounded by Berg's men, the otherwise neutral driver is forced to choose a side, but is torn by the decision.

The film envelops the events that take place amongst various characters involved in the Mexican standoff, finally leading to a twist ending that is surprisingly upbeat.

The plot of the story is that five dangerous "seeds" have been stolen from their vault in the world of Evergreen and sent to Earth. The magical seeds can bind themselves to humans and prey off their desires, turning them into monsters. Natsuki, an agent of Queen Tsuyuha, is sent to Earth to seek out a Magical Warrior. He and Hiiragi Chihaya, a high school girl, meet, and she transforms into Magical Senshi Carmein. Complications arise with the arrival of the obnoxious Magical Warrior Cerulean Blue, and the mysterious transfer student, Emi Kojima.

Geneshaft is set in a future where genetic engineering has become the dominating technology, defining human society entirely. The government of Earth is totalitarian and as a result there has been peace for 200 years. The government is in control of human reproduction, and is in charge of all (artificial) births, as well as altering the genetic characteristics of every new individual, according to their function in society. One alteration common to all individuals limits their lifespan to 45 years, in order to limit the extent of aging so that they remain healthy and able throughout all of their adult lives.

People are largely rated by the quality of their DNA, and those whose DNA is relatively unrefined, such as those of the 'white' gene type, are generally considered inferior. In order to prevent irrational behavior caused by strong emotional attachment, family structures have been disbanded, and the emotions of love and lust eliminated. The ratio of men to women is 1:9, as it is considered that males are more aggressive than females, and this was part of what led past societies to destruction. Modern society is completely peaceful, the few men typically having leading-type positions, and commonly being of gene types that grant enhanced decision-making skills, while the females are in charge of lesser positions. Men are assigned ''Registers'' - emotionless, drone-like women - whose purpose is to document all actions a man takes, as men's DNA contains elements of destructive desires that cannot be eliminated, while acting as his assistant.

The story begins at the time when a 500 kilometer in diameter ring-shaped structure had appeared near the Earth five years prior. Dispatched from nearby Markanan space station, several female astronauts were about to investigate its nature when it produces a massive energy blast which destroys the space station and a large portion of the surface of the Earth, after which it disappears. This instigates the mobilization of a special group of men and women with specific genetic characteristics, who set out aboard the Bilkis spaceship to investigate the origins of the ring, and the possible connection with mysterious alien technology found in Jupiter's moon Ganymede.

During their voyages they encounter several instances of the Ring technology, which they fight with the giant mecha, called 'Shaft'. The technology of Shaft is mysterious and the mecha requires very special skills to be piloted. Along the way, they also encounter situations and people which make them question their nature as 'superior', and raise doubts about how 'perfect' their society really is.

''I'm Not There'' uses a nonlinear narrative, shifting between six characters in separate storylines "inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan". Each character represents a different facet of Dylan's public persona: poet (Arthur Rimbaud), prophet (Jack Rollins/Father John), outlaw (Billy McCarty), fake (Woody Guthrie), "rock and roll martyr" (Jude Quinn), and "star of electricity" (Robbie Clark).

Production notes published by distributor The Weinstein Company explain that the film "dramatizes the life and music of Bob Dylan as a series of shifting personae, each performed by a different actor—poet, prophet, outlaw, fake, star of electricity, rock and roll martyr, born-again Christian—seven identities braided together, seven organs pumping through one life story."

Arthur Rimbaud

19-year-old Arthur Rimbaud is questioned by interrogators. His cryptic responses are interspersed throughout the film, including remarks on fatalism, the nature of poets, "seven simple rules for life in hiding," and chaos.

Woody Guthrie

In 1959, an 11-year-old African American boy calling himself Woody Guthrie is freighthopping through the Midwestern United States. Carrying a guitar in a case bearing the slogan "this machine kills fascists", he plays blues music and sings about topics such as trade unionism. One African American woman advises him to sing about the issues of his own time instead. Woody is attacked by hobos and nearly drowns, but is rescued by a white couple who take him in. They are impressed with his musical talents, but Woody runs off when they receive a telephone call from a juvenile corrections center in Minnesota telling them he is an escaped fugitive. Upon learning that the real Woody Guthrie is deathly ill, Dylan travels to New Jersey to visit Guthrie in the hospital.

Jack Rollins/Father John

The career of folk musician Jack Rollins is framed as a documentary film, told by interviewees including folk singer Alice Fabian. Jack becomes a star of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s, praised by fans for his protest songs. He signs to Columbia Records, but in 1963, just as the Vietnam War is escalating, he stops singing protest songs and turns away from folk music, believing that neither affects real social or political change. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jack gets drunk at a ceremony where he is receiving an award from a civil rights organization. Remarking in his acceptance speech that he saw something of himself in Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, he is booed and derided by the audience. He goes into hiding, and in 1974 enters a bible study course in Stockton, California, and emerges a born again Christian, denouncing his past and becoming an ordained minister performing gospel music under the name "Father John".

Robbie Clark

Robbie Clark is a 22-year-old actor who plays Jack Rollins in the 1965 biographical film ''Grain of Sand''. During filming in Greenwich Village in January 1964, he falls in love with French artist Claire, and they soon marry. ''Grain of Sand'' is a hit and Robbie becomes a star, but their relationship is strained and Claire observes Robbie flirting with other women. She is particularly offended when, during an argument in 1968 over whether the evils of the world can be changed, he opines that women can never be poets. Eventually Robbie moves out of their house, then goes to London for four months to film a thriller and has an affair with his female co-star. Richard Nixon's January 1973 announcement of the Paris Peace Accords inspires Claire to ask for a divorce. She gains custody of their two daughters, but allows Robbie to take them on a boating trip.

Jude Quinn

Jude Quinn is a popular former folk singer whose performance with a full band and electric guitars at a New England jazz and folk festival outrages his fans, who accuse him of selling out. Travelling to London, Jude is asked by journalist Keenan Jones if he has become disillusioned or thinks folk music has failed to achieve its goals of sociopolitical change. Jude is attacked by a hotel employee, hangs out with the Beatles, encounters his former lover Coco Rivington, and meets poet Allen Ginsberg, who suggests that Jude "sold out to God." Interviewing Jude, Keenan notes that Jude's songs are being used as recruitment tools by the Black Panther Party and opines that Jude refuses to feel deeply about anything while simultaneously being very self-conscious; Jude is offended and walks out of the interview. At a concert performing "Ballad of a Thin Man", Jude is booed and called a "Judas" by the audience. Keenan reveals on television that, despite his claims of a rough-and-tumble vagabond past, Jude is actually Aaron Jacob Edelstein, the suburban, middle-class, educated son of a Brookline, Massachusetts department store owner. Faced with a long string of upcoming European tour dates, Jude spirals into drug use and is killed in a motorcycle accident.

Billy McCarty

Outlaw Billy McCarty, believed to have been killed by Pat Garrett, lives in hiding in rural Riddle, Missouri. Learning that Commissioner Garrett plans to demolish the town to build a highway, which has caused several townspeople to commit suicide, Billy confronts Garrett. Garrett recognizes Billy as the outlaw Billy the Kid and has him thrown in jail. He is broken out by his friend Homer and hops into a boxcar on a passing train, where he finds Woody's guitar. As he rides away, he remarks on the nature of freedom and identity.

The film concludes with footage of Dylan playing a harmonica solo during a live performance in 1966.Audio commentary by Todd Haynes, ''I'm Not There'' DVD, Two-Disc Collector's Edition, 2007, VIP Medienfonds 4 Gmbh & Co. Distributed by Genius Products, LLC.

After their college graduation, a clique of six friends went separate ways. Sun-ae moves to the United States. Hye-jin pursues her tertiary education in psychology. Hyun-jun, due to an injury to his knee, is unable to keep playing sports and is stuck working in a scrapyard. Se-hoon opens an art studio. Jung-wook works as a lawyer and is married, but has an affair with Mi-ryeong, who is now an actress.

After a few years, Sun-ae returns home and tells Hye-jin she was being pursued by the supposedly deceased Kyung-ah. Hye-jin visits Se-hoon, who is haunted by dreams of a woman whose face he can't remember. Hye-jin herself begins having visions of Kyung-ah.

Back when they were in college, Hye-jin befriended a girl named Eun-ju. Members of the clique began experiencing strange accidents. Sun-ae exposed Eun-ju's true identity as Kyung-ah, a girl from Sun-ae and Hye-jin's past. Kyung-ah was rumoured to be a "possessed" child who spread deaths and misfortune. One of the casualties was Hye-jin's father. Hye-jin told Eun-ju to stay away from her. That night, Hye-jin witnessed Eun-ju committing suicide.

Kyung-ah kills Se-hoon. Hye-jin calls the rest of the group and Jung-wook claims Sun-ae blamed herself for causing Kyung-ah's death, and reveals she went to the U.S. to seek mental treatment, not education. Desperate to escape his job, Hyun-jun blackmails Jung-wook into becoming his lawyer. He hands over a tape showing Jung-wook and Mi-ryeong having sex, recorded by Se-hoon, who had a habit of recording people. Se-hoon also recorded Kyung-ah's death. Hyun-jun is killed next. Hye-jin angrily asks Sun-ae her why Kyung-ah is going after them. Kyung-ah appears, visible only to Sun-ae, who runs away.

After almost being drowned by Kyung-ah, Mi-ryeong begs Jung-wook to stay with her, but he refuses. She breaks up with Jung-wook and is found dead in her bathroom. Hye-jin finds Se-hoon's video tape and learns what happened the night Kyung-ah died. After Hye-jin left, an altercation ensued, triggered by Kyung-ah's cat attacking Jung-wook and him trying to kill it. In the confusion, Hyun-jun fell and broke his leg, and Kyung-ah also fell and passed out from a head injury. To protect themselves, the five decided to fake Kyung-ah's suicide and push her body off a building. Kyung-ah woke up but Jung-wook killed her anyway.

Jung-wook breaks into Hye-jin's apartment to find the video tape, but Sun-ae attacks him. He chases her to the same building Kyung-ah died. Fixated on protecting his career, he attempts to kill Hye-jin and Sun-ae to cover up the truth. Sun-ae impales him with a metal rod, killing him.

Some time later, Sun-ae and Hye-jin meet. Kyung-ah appears, this time visible to Hye-jin as well, and kills Sun-ae so that the two of them can finally be together.

In Dallas, at Southern Methodist University, news comes in about a gas which has escaped from a military facility. It starts killing everyone over 25.

Hippie Coel meets and falls in love with Cilla. They discover a Gestapo-like police force will be running Dallas and flee into the country.

Their car is stolen by some cowboys. They then meet music fan Marissa, her boyfriend Carlos, Hooper and his girlfriend Coralee. Marissa leaves Carlos, who finds a new girlfriend.

The group meet Edgar Allan Poe, who throughout the film drives around on a motorbike with Lenore on the back and a raven on his shoulder, commenting on the action like a Greek chorus.

They then have an encounter with some golf-playing bikers, after which they attend a dance and concert where AM Radio is performing and passing on messages from God. Coel sleeps with Zoe, but Cilla is not jealous.

Coel, Cilla and their friends arrive at a peaceful commune where it seems mankind can start fresh. Then a football team attacks them.

Eventually, God intervenes. Coel and Cilla are reunited with all their friends and there is a big party where everyone gets along.

Elspeth learns from her premonitions, and her cat Maruman's prophecies, that a keeper from Obernewtyn, a feared institution where Misfits are sent to work, will come to take her there. Soon, when delivering tea to visiting Head Keeper of Obernewtyn, Madam Vega, Elspeth accidentally reveals she is a Misfit, though not to what extent, and is soon dispatched to Obernewtyn. Her first few weeks at Obernewtyn are spent in the kitchen, where she is worked to the bone. The cook's daughter delights in tormenting her. The favoured Misfit, Ariel, and farm overseer, Rushton, immediately dislike her. Later reassigned to the farm, an encounter with a pair of Misfits named Matthew and Dameon reveals she is not alone in her particular abilities. She also befriends Cameo, a delicate, pretty Misfit of whom Matthew is very fond. Elspeth, plagued by nightmares, begins to feel there is a dark secret underneath their everyday tasks. While working, Elspeth decides to test the range of her telepathic ability, "farseeking", but beyond the boundaries of Obernewtyn, a strange machine, the Zebkrahn, traps her mind. She is only freed by combining her mental strength with another anonymous mind who offers assistance. Asked by Vega to look out for "special" Misfits, her interview reveals the Doctor is a defective simpleton; his "assistant", Alexi, has no interest in Elspeth in his quest to find the "right one" who will lead him to what he desires. Elspeth and Matthew later deduce that tortuous experiments on their kind are occurring, and they resolve to escape. Cameo begins disappearing from her bed at nighttime, and Elspeth fearfully suspects that Cameo is the subject of some of these experiments.

That night, Elspeth sneaks into the Doctor's office to retrieve a map and compass, but on finding forbidden books and maps from before the Great White, the "Beforetime", she realises they must be searching for something from long ago. She leaves empty-handed. Rosamunde, a fellow orphan from the Kinraide orphan home, arrives at Obernewtyn and coldly informs Elspeth that her brother Jes had discovered he also had mental abilities, but was killed by guards in an escape attempt. Rushton comforts the distraught Elspeth, and asks her why she plagues him. Fearful that someone will soon be after her as well, her group's escape plans begin in earnest. Elspeth returns a second time to the Doctor's office, but when Vega, Alexi and Ariel enter, she learns Ariel is part of the Obernewtyn family, and that they are searching for a Misfit to help them find the location of Beforetime weapons. Pre-warned that two Councilmen are coming to fetch her for questioning by the Herders, at nightfall she makes to escape but Rushton stops her. He reveals a secret network of drains which gets her safely to the farms. Once she is safely through the drains after a close shave with Ariel's pack of mad, wild wolves, she finds that the path to the farms has been obscured by a blizzard and gets lost. She nearly dies, but a Misfit named Domick finds her and locks her in the farmhouse to return later to Obernewtyn. Overhearing a conversation between her captors, she discovers they are Rushton's accomplices and were to secretly meet with a rebel group, but Rushton has gone missing. Convincing them that her powers can help find him, she makes her way on foot through the blizzard to the far mountains, with Maruman as her guide.

Inside the cave network she finds a dying Cameo, who tells her the Beforetime weapons Alexi and Vega are searching for caused the Great White, but they do not know this. She also reveals it is Elspeth's destiny, as the Seeker, to destroy them. After mourning her death, Elspeth overhears that Rushton, imprisoned in the next cavern, is the true heir of Obernewtyn. Suddenly, she is captured by Ariel, who ties her to a table next to the Zebkrahn machine. Elspeth is forced to hold the diaries of Marisa Seraphim, the wife of the founder of Obernewtyn and Alexi's stepmother, and use her abilities to discover what Marisa was thinking when she wrote them to determine the weapons' location. Still withstanding the torture, Elspeth mentally enters Rushton's mind and recognises the voice of her earlier rescuer from the Zebkrahn. Rushton gives his mental strength to her to endure the pain inflicted on her by the machine. In her despair at their threats to kill him, her resistance breaks and Marissa's thoughts reveal the map to be carved into the front doors of Obernewtyn. At this point, the Zebkrahn overheats and bursts into flames. Something in Elspeth's mind cracks and she uses this new power to kill Vega, who she saw standing over Rushton with a knife. She falls unconscious as Domick and Rushton's other friends rush in. Alexi is killed, but Ariel flees into the night and is believed to have died in the blizzard. Now known to be the legal master of Obernewtyn, Rushton plans to build it into a secret refuge for Misfits.

Rushton returns from a journey around the highlands and immediately calls a meeting of all the leaders of the guilds (guildmerge). At the meeting, Elspeth and Pavo propose a joint expedition of their guilds to the West Coast, in order to recover an untouched Beforetime (time before Great White) book cache, as well as rescue a person with very strong mental abilities. Rushton proposes a safe house be set up in the capital, Sutrium, so they can be informed of the Council's movements, with the person to do this joining their expedition. This expedition is unanimously approved. Suddenly the cat Maruman falls into a fitful coma and Elspeth enters his mind to help bring him back. Inside his mind, a voice of an Agyllian reminds Elspeth of her promise to destroy the weaponmachines, a journey she must make alone. Later, Zarak bumps into an unknown Misfit mind while farseeking, who is a novice Herder in Darthnor cloister. Elspeth contacts the novice, named Jik, who initially believes she is a demon sent to test his faith. After subsequent conversations, she reveals she too is a Misfit and offers him a home at Obernewtyn. A small group of Farseekers rescue him, making it look as if he had drowned. Meanwhile, Elspeth, in response to the horses’ refusal to be ridden, strikes a bargain with their leader, Gahltha, that the upcoming expedition be treated as a test as to whether they can work as equals. He agrees on the condition that only Elspeth rides him, as both parties should risk their leaders. Just before the expedition sets off, a prophecy reveals Jik must join them and they must be back before the pass closes in winter, or Obernewtyn will fall.

Disguised as a gypsy troop, they attempt to find a secret pass through the lower mountains, but are taken captive by armsmen of Henry Druid (infamous rebel leader). Inside the well-established camp, their mental abilities are suddenly constrained and the group are separated. After being questioned by Druid about Obernewtyn, Kella and Elspeth are invited to dinner with the men in order to arrange bonding (marriage) of them to some armsmen. The head armsmen, Gilbert, takes a liking to her and speaks at length of his life and the camp. Later, Elspeth finds a secret group of Misfits led by Druid's secret deaf daughter and learns the block on their abilities is caused by a Misfit baby. Elspeth and Kella, intended to be bonded that night, escape with the rest of the group during a large storm. Dominic, who had eluded capture, built large rafts at Elspeth's earlier request, on which the group escape their pursuers into the mountain rapids. Halfway down, they come across a ruined Beforetime city in a large cavern. After exiting the mountain via a large waterfall, they are nursed back to health by a rebel couple. In return, the group agree to go to Aborium to see if their son, Brydda, is fine. Domick leaves them to travel to Sutrium to set up the safe house. In Aborium, Elspeth asks for him at the specified inn but is taken prisoner instead. Rescued by one of Brydda's friends, she is taken to see him. Meanwhile, Kella, Jik and Pavo are taken captive by the Herders and are held in the local cloister. Realising Jik is an escaped novice, the Herders intend to send him to Herder Isle (island containing core of order) that night for interrogation. Elspeth breaks in and frees the other two, but she is too late to free Jik. With Brydda's help they are able to cause enough commotion on the wharf to rescue him.

Outside the city, they, with Brydda, travel north to their destination, the ruins containing the library. The ruins are deserted as they are believed to be haunted. The group find a wild girl, capable of causing horrific visions with her mind, and discover that she is the Misfit they seek. After being coaxed with food, the girl, dubbed ‘Dragon’, eventually follows them back and joins their group. They also take back many books from the Beforetime library. After returning to Brydda's parents house, Domick rushes in to warn them of the approaching soldierguards, and tells them that Ariel is alive. Fleeing, Brydda reveals the secret pass through the mountains, which the group safely traverse with Jik's dog's directions. However, on emerging from the other side, a firestorm bears down on them. Although Elspeth is dragged to safety by Daffyd, someone she met many years earlier, Jik perishes in the flames. Elspeth convinces Daffyd to take the others back to Obernewtyn before the pass closes, as the mental barrier blocking the pain in her badly injured feet caused by the Zebrakhen had collapsed. Alone and dying, Elspeth is taken by Guannette birds (Agyllians) to the highest mountain where they teach her body to heal itself. The leader, Atthis, who spoke to her earlier in Maruman's mind, reminds her of her quest, and the existence of the Destroyer who is destined to try and use the weaponmachines. After taking months to heal, Elspeth is returned to the wintery highlands where Gahltha awaits her to take her back to Obernewtyn. There Elspeth sees a ruin, destroyed by a firestorm, and a soldierguard camp set up nearby with Rushton and others captive inside. She meets Daffyd, who reveals that the ruins are a vision caused by Dragon to fool soldierguards, who soon flee in fear of catching a deadly disease. The others, who had presumed her dead, are mystified and overjoyed at her arrival, particularly Rushton.

The Misfits at Obernewtyn are all experiencing dreams and nightmares in which they are terrorized by a dragon, Dragon's form on the Dreamtrails. Dragon herself remains in a comatose state and is unable to be reached mentally by the healers. Her strong aura causes all around her in Obernewtyn to experience nightmares.

Rushton, Master of Obernewtyn and Elspeth's betrothed, is kidnapped while returning from a meeting with the rebels in Sutrium. The Misfits receive a letter disclosing that Rushton will lose his life if the Misfits do not join the rebellion. They immediately believe that a rebel has kidnapped their Master as Rushton had refused letting the Misfits join the rebellion.

With Rushton missing, and under Elspeth's command, the Misfits join the rebellion, offering limited aid. However, they are betrayed by the Misfit-hating rebel, Malik in a decoy scheme involving soldierguards, leading to significant loss of life for beasts, Misfits and soldierguards alike. This bloodshed would have been greater if it weren't for Swallow, a pureblood gypsy recently appointed as D'rekta, 'King' of the Twentyfamily gypsies.

On the east coast of the land, the rebellion is successful without trouble from the Landfolk. The west coast, however, remains occupied by the Council after a traitor spreads news of the rebellion to the Herder Faction. The Misfits had not been able to identify the traitor, most likely because he or she wore a demon band, a tainted band made by the Herders to ward off evil that also blocks Misfits' mental probes.

While freeing prisoners in one of the abandoned Herder cloisters in Sutrium, the Misfits find Rushton. While not physically harmed, he is heavily drugged and suffering from delirium and convulsions.

After returning to Obernewtyn with the unconscious Rushton, Elspeth travels to the City under Tor to witness for herself the discovery of a glass monument made by Cassy, a Beforetimer, who Elspeth had encountered in multiple dreams. The glass monument is of Elspeth herself, who believes that Cassy must have had futuretelling abilities.

Elspeth later returns to Obernewtyn to find herself summoned onto the Dreamtrails by the oldOnes. Elspeth enters Dragon's mind, with Maruman, having been told by the latter that they would find Rushton there. Elspeth learns about Dragon's fateful past, and realizes that the cause of her delirium lies in the loss of her beloved Mother, the Red Queen. Inside Dragon's mind, Elspeth encounters and saves Rushton, who is in the form of a wounded bear.

After she leaves Dragon's mind, Dragon is awakened from her coma but has no recollection of her life at Obernewtyn. Rushton recovers from his soul-less state, buy his recovery will be lengthy. Elspeth now knows that she must continue her quest for the five signs left for her by the Beforetimer, Kasanda.

John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a boy bored with his life at an upper middle class boarding school, and the prospect of his future running the family grocery store chain. He no longer sees the point in school, stating what's the difference if he gets a zero attendance for being three minutes late or skipping the whole class so he might as well skip the class. Now close to graduating from boarding school, his life is turned upside down when he rescues Patty Vare (Winona Ryder), a young woman he finds lying unconscious in a field. Patty regains consciousness that evening in John's dormitory. She stays awake long enough to tell him she will not go to a doctor, and then passes out and does not awaken until the next morning. She seems to recover completely and to be grateful for John's assistance; the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery. This is not without its problems, as other boys in the dorm quickly find out she is being hidden in his room, leading up to a dramatic confrontation with Baker's close friends where his 'best friend' becomes enraged and punches a wall, breaking his hand, while the two continue to argue over the reason as to why Baker has hidden her in his room.

Throughout the film, there are continuous flashbacks of Vare's past, showing her with a famous baseball player with whom she steals a car, leading up to a drunken car crash and his death (for which authorities are searching for Vare for questioning). By the end, Vare has admitted all this to Baker and informed the authorities of the location of the body and the car (as they crashed into a river). At the police station, both Baker and Vare begin to say goodbye when they unexpectedly jump into an elevator to escape from Baker's controlling father (Chris Cooper), and drive off with a car he had earlier stolen from the school.

The action of the novel largely begins after the (perhaps fatal) suicide attempt of the protagonist. This occurs after he suffers a beating at the hands of a cuckolded husband (the protagonist has been having an affair with a woman called Matilda with whom he has also, apparently, been rather bored). After his supposed death, and assuming everything in the world around him to be a manifestation of his 'leftover' imagination, his "eye" observes a group of Russian émigrés as he tries to ascertain their opinions of the character Smurov, around whom much uncertainty and suspicion exists.

Famous Hollywood actor Don Bolton (Hope) is a vain movie star whose biggest fear is to be drafted into the US Army. He definitely lacks the qualities of a good soldier; he is so terrified of loud noise, he cannot cope with hearing a single 'gunshot' when he is on set shooting a war film. There is great doubt that he could last even a day in the service.

Colonel Peter Fairbanks (Clarence Kolb) visits the studio set as a consultant for the war film, and with him he has brought his beautiful daughter Antoinette, known as "Tony" (Dorothy Lamour). Don is smitten by Tony, and also realizes that his ticket out of the Army is to marry the colonel's daughter to avoid the draft.

Don manages to gravely insult the colonel when he mistakes him for an actor and treats him disrespectfully. Even so, Don manages to go on a date with Tony, and even proposes to her before hearing on the radio that the draft age eligibility ends at age 31. As Don is 32 he retracts his proposal; Tony deduces his angle and is disgusted with him and cowardly behavior.

A few weeks later, Don realizes he truly is in love with Tony. He wants to impress her, so he decides to pretend to join the Army, using an actor as a fake enlistment officer. But at the draft centre the actor does not have the anticipated opportunity to replace the real officer, therefore Don, his assistant Bert (Eddie Bracken), and his manager Steve (Lynne Overman), all get enlisted for real. They are taken to a training camp, where Fairbanks is in charge. Fairbanks tells Don that if he can make it up to corporal rank, he gets to marry Tony. At first, this proves to be more than Don and his unfortunate brothers in arms can handle. As punishment for their shortcomings, they are frequently on kitchen duty. Tony eventually falls in love with Don. When Don and his two companions are sent to a distant post during a camp war game, Bert comes up with the idea to help their team by altering the signposts in the field. The result is disastrous, as the men on the opposing team are now following a route that will lead them into the artillery range, which is active. Don is forced to overcome his fear of noise (and death) to rescue Tony who, believing that Don is still too cowardly to go warn the men, sets out on horseback to do that herself. He accomplishes the rescue and continues, with Steve, through the artillery bombardment to warn the men. Don sustains an arm wound.

After their success, the three are promoted to the rank of corporal and Don is free to marry Tony.

The ''Legendsong''

Underlining the plot of the book is the ''Legendsong'' of Keltor. This legend states that long ago, the Firstmade (Unykorn) of Keltor was captured by the Chaos spirit so that Lanalor could be with his first love, Shenavyre. However Shenavyre had committed suicide when the Unykorn was imprisoned. Lanalor prophesied that an Unraveller would come to rescue the Unykorn and free Keltor from the Chaos spirit, and told the signs by which the Unraveller would be recognised. It is this prophecy that Darkfall protects, and that which the Draaka cult seeks to prove untrue.

Main Story

Glynn and Ember Flanders, fraternal twin sisters, are holidaying in Greece when Glynn is seemingly swept out to sea and drowned. However Glynn finds herself transported to the world of Keltor and rescued from the sea by an Acanthan windwalker, Solen. Feigning amnesia, she gradually deciphers this new world where some can fly and others see prophetic visions. As she lives with Solen on Acantha and works in the mine, she learns the independent Isle of Darkfall and its once esteemed sisterhood of soulweavers are falling from favour with the rulers of Keltor, and that Solen is far more involved in the world’s politics than he tries to appear. Unfortunately, with her athletic build and independence, Glynn is often mistaken as a myrmidon, the Amazon-like women who are the sworn protectors of the soulweavers.

Unbeknownst to Glynn, Ember, who is dying of brain cancer and half blind, is also transported to Keltor in her attempt to save Glynn from drowning. She is rescued by a kiss from the manbeast Ronaall, seemingly in a vision. The Soulweaver Alene and her myrmidon protectors Feyt and Tareed find her, who privately suspect Ember is the long-awaited "Unraveller", given her strong physical similarity to Shenavyre and the prophecy. However Ember has amnesia, and very gradually begins to remember her past as she lives with them in the palace on Ramidan.

Meanwhile, Glynn is desperate to reach Darkfall to return home to her sister, particularly after the apparent death of Solen. To gain coin to pay for the ship fare, Glynn attempts to sell a rare stone to the leader of the anti-Darkfall cult run by the Draaka. Instead, Glynn is drugged and enslaved until a Draaka leader, Bayard, assigns her to academic work after her pet, the fienna, forms a special attachment to Glynn. Glynn is to ensure the fienna successfully gives birth to its rare offspring. Meanwhile, Glynn adopts the persona of a Fomikan who had worked on an aspi breeder’s farm, lest she be discovered as a stranger to Keltor.

Through a vision, Ember saves the Holder's (the King) life from an assassination attempt by Coralyn, his mother, who wants to put her other son, Kalide, on the throne. Bleyd, the son of an Isle leader, is framed and tortured. After a successful rescue attempt, Ember and Bleyd are smuggled onto a ship heading to Darkfall where Ember hopes to find healing from her worsening brain tumour. Alene gives her own a’luwtha (a stringed instrument) as a gift, which helps Embers unlock her memory.

Meanwhile, Glynn travels with the Draaka cult to the island of Ramidan. However, in a violent storm, Bayard falls overboard and drowns while Glynn helps the fienna give birth. Solen assists her, after revealing his existence to Glynn. The dying mother fienna gives Glynn special abilities to save its last offspring by creating a special connection between Glynn, the baby fienna and partially with Solen. Solen and Glynn also reveal their strong love for one another. As the ship pulls into the harbour, she is unknowingly watching Ember's ship departing.

Segue Chapters

Throughout the novel, the plot is broken up by stories of people observed by the Watcher back in our world in the same relative time. All are connected with Glynn and Ember in some way, and somehow with Keltor. These include stories of Faye and Tabby; a male nurse who cares for a comatose man who also cared for Ember; a clarinet player and his comatose mother; a security guard; a policeman named Johnny; and a jogger who found Wind's suicide note.

When the police discover that a mob hitman has moved in next door to the Robbersons, they want to find out what he is up to. So they set up a stakeout in the Robbersons' home. Hard-nosed, tough-as-nails Jake Stone and his young partner Tony Moore are assigned to the stakeout, but now it's a question of whether Jake can last long enough to capture the bad guys. The Robbersons want to help, and by doing so they drive Jake crazy.

A human colony ship lands on an unknown planet (later named "Saybrook's Planet"). The ship's captain, Saybrook, analyzed the planet's abundant plant and animal life and discovered that it is all part of a single organism with a unified consciousness. However, that organism perceived the humans (and all the other lifeforms they have brought along) as being "incomplete" and mere "life fragments", because they were not part of the perfect planetary consciousness. In an altruistic attempt to help the humans, the planetary organism decides to make them part of itself; it induces pregnancy in all the colony ship's female animals, and all the offspring born have green patches of fur (alien sense organs) instead of eyes, a sign that they were part of the planetary organism. When Saybrook had the women in his crew examined and confirmed that they were all pregnant, he sent a sub-ether report back to Earth and then destroyed his ship with all aboard.

Later, a research spaceship from Earth lands on Saybrook's Planet to investigate the report by the earlier colony ship. The crew take no chances and incinerate all life around the landing point, while carefully preventing any life from the planet from coming on board (and have an all-male crew for good measure). They confirm Saybrook's report, then set out to return to Earth to recommend that Saybrook's Planet be permanently quarantined. Unknown to the research ship's crew they carry a stowaway — a part of the planet's fauna that crawled aboard when they temporarily dropped their force fields. The small creature has been specially bred to resemble a length of wiring and go undetected. The planetary organism has never before experienced selfishness and violence and is desperate to "help" the "life fragments" (Earthlings) to become "complete", by joining consciousness with it in blissful unity. If the stowaway manages to reach Earth, it will eventually convert all life there into a single organism with a unified consciousness — and green patches of fur instead of eyes.

The stowaway creature removes a section of wiring from the cockpit and impersonates it, in order to hide. It then psychically examines the minds of the humans and other organisms on the ship and is increasingly disturbed by their chaotic, conflicting existence as individuals. It is revolted by the fact that they show selfishness and competition, instead of altruism and cooperation. The creature is greatly saddened by being disconnected from the planetary consciousness, but takes solace in the fact that it will soon perform its mission and join with all life on Earth. The invasion is thwarted however, when the stowaway is accidentally killed after the research ship lands on Earth; the wiring it was impersonating controlled the ship's airlock doors, and it was incinerated when they were activated. The ship's scientist, aware of the potential threat from Saybrook's Planet, is relieved to return to the anarchy that is Earth.

In this semi-fictionalized account of the origins of the Black Panthers, Vietnam veteran Judge (Kadeem Hardison) returns to his hometown of Oakland to find it beset by violence and police discrimination against African-Americans. Judge's friend Cy tells him about a vigilante group that's organizing against the police and introduces him to its leaders, Bobby (Courtney B. Vance) and Huey (Marcus Chong). Judge joins the movement but is soon beset by police pressure to inform against Huey.

''The Knight of the Swords''

''The Knight of the Swords'' is the first appearance of Corum, last survivor of the Vadhagh race. After his family is butchered by a group of Mabden (men) led by the savage Earl Glandyth-a-Krae, Corum tries to take revenge, but is captured instead; his hand is cut off and his eye put out before he escapes. He goes to Moidel's Castle, where he is taken in by a very different sort of Mabden, the Margravine Rhalina. Corum and Rhalina fall in love, but their romance is interrupted when Glandyth leads an assault on the castle. Rhalina uses sorcery (which Corum had never believed in) to summon a ship of the dead which drives off the barbarians. However the bargain required means that she must go with the ship's captain. Corum joins them and the ship takes them to the island of Shool, a near immortal and mad sorcerer who takes Rhalina hostage.

Shool trades Corum two artifacts to replace his lost hand and eye, the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn. The Eye allows Corum to see into an undead netherworld; the Hand serves to summon the last beings killed by Corum, to fight for him. Shool explains that Corum's ill fortune has been caused by a Greater God, Arioch, one of the Sword Rulers. When Arioch and his fellow Chaos Lords conquered the Fifteen Planes, the balance between the forces of Law and Chaos tipped in favor of Chaos. Corum is sent to steal the Heart of Arioch, which will give the sorcerer power to become a great god himself. After an adventurous journey which teaches him more about the metaphysics of Chaos, Corum reaches Arioch's palace. There he finds the Heart, at which point Shool's unknowing role as an agent of Arioch is revealed. The Hand of Kwll crushes the heart, killing Arioch. Corum returns to the island to rescue Rhalina. As it turns out, Shool's powers were entirely of Arioch's gift, so he can no longer threaten Rhalina or Corum. The couple return to their home on Moidel's Mount.

''The Queen of the Swords''

In the planes over which she rules, Xiombarg—a Greater God and one of the Lords of Chaos, known as the "Queen of the Swords"—is winning the battle against the humanoid inhabitants. She continues the fight in Corum's plane, sending Prince Gaynor the Damned to direct the barbarian armies.

Corum, with Jhary-a-Conel and Rhalina, crosses the planes and find a world claimed by Chaos with plains of dried blood and other outlandish geography. They meet the King Without A Country, the last of his people who is seeking the City in the Pyramid. They find the city which turns out to be a floating one that originated in Corums own world - and the inhabitants are his kin. The city is under intermittent attack and for the moment its superior technology defends it. It could return to Corum's world but needs special minerals to provide sufficient energy. They are able to send Corum and his companions back to seek the minerals in his own world. There he finds the last human city under threat from a monstrous army of barbarians and chaos allies. He seeks out Gaynor and defeats him in single combat. With Gaynor banished the barbarian armies are largely leaderless but still a terrible threat. Arkyn, a lord of law, supplies the materials needed and they are sent back to Xiombarg's worlds. At the same time the barbarian armies crash against the last city standing. At the last moment the Sky city comes between the planes to help the defenders. Driven by anger Xiombarg follows the Floating city through the rift between the planes. This is in violation of the Cosmic Balance and the balance sends her back and restores Donblas, Arkyn's brother lord of law. The sky ships of the City destroy the barbarian armies with their wondrous weapons.

''The King of the Swords''

Corum's peace is destroyed by a great spell - the cloud of contention - that sets everyone against each other. The inhabitants of the Sky city turn on each other. The forces of Law are broken again. Corum and his companions travel in a sky boat across the planes. Rhalina is taken by the King of Swords. In trying to get back to his own planes and time he meets two other aspects of the eternal Champion Elric and Erekose all three seeking Tanelorn. Corum and Jhary arrive at their version of Tanelorn and find one of the "Lost Gods", Kwll, imprisoned there. Corum offers Kwll back his hand, which will free him, in return for help against Mabelode. Freed, Kwll disowns any bargain - he and his brother are above all including the law of the balance - but is persuaded to help. Taking them directly to Mabelode, Kwll destroys the King of Swords and his Dukes. In the end, Kwll is reunited with Rhynn, who was the wading god all this time. Together, they have also destroyed the Lords of Law, leaving humanity to shape its own destinies.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive in Europa, a reconstructed amalgamation of 16th, 17th and 18th century Europe a thousand years in the future. Here, all sorts of historical personalities collide: for example, Lord Byron battles Torquemada's Inquisition while Mary Shelley is writing a sequel to Frankenstein. The newcomers are then accused of murdering the Pope, and to clear their innocence, helped only by a young vampire hunter and Byron, they must face the terrifying Theatre of Transmogrification.

The film opens with a creepy castle in Hollywood, where evil scientist Victor Gaghan is creating his S Club clones. Meanwhile, the real S Club arrive in Barcelona, Spain for their last show of their whirlwind tour. After spending the day promoting and performing, the group get excited about having some time off, until their manager Alistair informs them that they will be leaving for Los Angeles, California at 7:00 A.M. the next day. After the stressed-out group enter their hotel rooms, Alistair is abducted by Gaghan's assistant Susan Sealove.

The next morning, the members of S Club awaken to find Alistair gone having been left with his bill. Instead of using a credit card that Rachel finds to pay the bill, they use it on pampering themselves and after going bankrupt, they see the cloned S Club performing live on TV at a nearby cafe. After the others become disturbed to discover that Alistair is managing their uncanny lookalikes, they all decide to quickly leave the hotel and fly to L.A., only to get arrested by the police for trying to run out on the hotel bill and allegedly impersonating S Club. In jail, they learn that the warden likes to dance and to escape, they sing "Don't Stop Movin'" and get to their friend Natalie. She helps them get to L.A. by disguising them as English World Cup football fans so that they can avoid getting arrested again by the Spanish police.

After failing to get close to their doubles during a live concert, they decide to switch out their Hannah, Rachel and Jon for their copies during a music video shoot. Hannah, Rachel and Jon see that the Bradley, Tina and Jo clones have no belly buttons, and are exposed to their rituals of showering together, constant rehearsals, eating strange synthetic food and being brainwashed during bedtime. During a CD signing session, Rachel attempts to warn a fan to call the police, only for Alistair to confiscate the signed CD and contact Gaghan, who sends his goons to capture them and take them to his lair.

Meanwhile, Bradley, Tina and Jo learn that the other members' clones are unaware of being clones themselves, and are surprised when these clones shed their ritualistic routine and enjoy simple pleasures of life for the first time, such as boomerang games, real food, drinks and sightseeing. Determined to find out who created the clones, Jo researches the internet and discovers that Gaghan, a former genetics professor who was fired for illegal cloning experiments, recently purchased S Club memorabilia online, including their underwear. When their friends fail to show up as planned after being captured by Gaghan's goons, Bradley, Tina and Jo realise that something is wrong and reveal to the other members' clones that they are copies, and urge them to overcome their programmed memories to figure out Gaghan's location. The clones make a breakthrough and remember their birthplace and Gaghan's location: Eagle Peak.

Formulating a plan to enact revenge on Gaghan for the cloning, Bradley, Tina and Jo arrive at Eagle Peak with their friends' clones and run into the real Hannah, Rachel and Jon, only to be caught by Alistair while trying to escape. While the Hannah, Rachel and Jon clones run into their bandmates outside and tell them the truth of their origins, Gaghan tells the originals that he is going to take over the world through music because celebrities attract more attention than politicians, before leaving Alistair to kill the band. The clones save the band by revealing that Alistair is a clone due to his own lack of belly button and rebelling against him.

In the dining area, S Club are alarmed at the clones Gaghan has created including clones of AC/DC's Angus Young, King of Rock & Roll Elvis Presley, Will Smith as Men In Black's Agent J, Victoria Beckham (as Posh Spice), Robbie Williams, Eminem, King of Pop Michael Jackson, Elton John, Madonna, George Michael, Pop Idol star Gareth Gates, and Groucho Marx (of the Marx Brothers), and encourage them to rebel against Gaghan for their own free will. Enraged at this, Gaghan initiates a self-destruct sequence of Eagle Peak, which threatens to kill S Club and the clones. Both S Clubs band together to save the clones and sing "Who Do You Think You Are?" whilst the Jackson clone stops Gaghan and Sealove from escaping in their helicopter, and the original group is able to stop the place from self-destructing as the clones escape. While they are alarmed by the fact that they have released a new batch of cloned pop acts into the world, clone Alistair suddenly appears and tries to kill them when suddenly the real Alistair knocks him out. Gaghan and Sealove are later arrested and the group wonder what to do with their clones when Alistair and Natalie remind them of their very busy schedules.

At the end, the real S Club are seen at the beach and the clones are taking their place. They have decided that the clones will take their place when they want a holiday, and the same vice versa (it is also mentioned that the clones are getting paid in boomerangs). Nearby, the Gates clone they rescued is seen flirting with Rachel.

After the 9/11 attack on New York City, the three Oakenfeld children, Susan, Charles, and Murray, are sent to live with their Uncle Farley in Canada.

Farley has recently bought a strange ship-like home named ''Drift House'' on ''The Bay of Eternity''. The home resembles a bizarre old-time ship, washed ashore. The children immediately find the home very odd. When they question their uncle about the strange house, he becomes nervous and distracted. The children later explore the house, where they meet a talkative parrot named President Wilson.

One morning, they wake to discover the house has been raised up by a flood, carried out of the bay, and has drifted into the ''Sea of Time'' – a place where past, present, and future converge. Susan, Charles and Murray, along with Uncle Farley and President Wilson embark on an adventure where they discover evil mermaids, comical pirates, a wise whale, predictions of things to come, and a secret plot that could stop time itself.

While aboard the ''Defiant'' in the Gamma Quadrant, the DS9 crew is surprised to see a planet suddenly materialize right in front of them. The inhabitants of the planet invite the crew down for a visit.

The planet is called Meridian, and it spends most of its time in another phase of existence, where its people exist only as consciousness, with no physical being. The planet is in this dimension for a very short time. In twelve days it will disappear for sixty years. Each time it returns, the planet will have less time in this universe, and eventually will stop appearing.

The crew offer to help stabilize the planet so that it will not disappear forever. Jadzia Dax is distracted from her analysis of the problem by one of the Meridian people, a man named Deral (played by Brett Cullen). They have begun to fall in love. He tells her he will leave the planet and come with her instead of returning to the other phase. His people are not happy to hear this, because they have a very small population and cannot lose a member. To help them, Dax decides to stay on Meridian. She works quickly to find a way to alter her molecular structure so that she can slip into the other dimension along with the planet and its people. She is also able to help the crew stabilize the planet enough so that although it will still shift phases, next time it will stay in this universe for 30 years.

Time runs out, and Dax bids a tearful goodbye to her crewmates aboard the ''Defiant''. She returns to Deral and waits with him for the phase shift. As the planet begins to shimmer out of the universe, she is wrenched by a force. Her body is not pulled out of phase with Deral's. She is stuck between dimensions, and, worse, is holding the entire planet there with her.

The crew beams her back to the ship, saving her life. Meridian slips safely into its other dimension. Dax returns to her bunk to be alone and begin the 60-year wait before she can again be with Deral.

Meanwhile a DS9 visitor called Tiron, employs Quark to make him a custom holosuite program featuring a holographic Kira. Quark tries multiple times to get enough data on Kira to make the hologram, and eventually breaks into secure files to accomplish this. Odo and Kira discover the security break, and have a little fun at Quark's expense, by altering the holographic Kira's head to that of Quark's.

During the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition, eight diamonds have been stolen from the exhibition pavilion of the fictional Kimberly Diamond Mining Company. Among them is one of the largest diamonds in the world that the mining company had bestowed to Queen Victoria, who then gave it to the exposition as a loan. The player assumes the role of a detective who investigates the case. The theft soon develops into a kidnapping case, and the player even has to investigate a murder.

When Deep Space Nine picks up a mysterious coded message from inside the Gamma Quadrant that appears to be Cardassian, exiled Cardassian spy Garak is asked to analyze it. He told everyone that the message was a harmless report from years ago, but Dr. Bashir sees through his lie when Garak tried to sneak away on a ship. He reveals that the message is a distress call from his mentor Enabran Tain, who was believed to have been killed in an ill-fated Cardassian attack on the Dominion two years prior. Garak convinces Captain Sisko to allow him to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, accompanied by Lt. Cmdr. Worf, to search for Tain and other possible survivors from Dominion attacks.

Soon after entering Dominion space, they wind up in the midst of the Dominion fleet. Worf realizes that the fleet must be assembled to invade the Alpha Quadrant. He sends a warning message to DS9 just before Jem'Hadar soldiers take him and Garak prisoner. Back on DS9, the crew receives Worf's message and realize the Dominion is coming. With reinforcements at least two days away and only disgraced Cardassian officer Dukat (on the station due to a confrontation with a Klingon battle cruiser) on hand to help out, Sisko sees only one choice—sealing the wormhole, trapping Worf and Garak on the other side if they cannot return before the operation is completed.

Worf and Garak are taken to a Dominion detention center. Tain is there, on his deathbed; instead of being thankful to Garak for coming, Tain chastises him for allowing himself to be taken prisoner. Also among the fellow prisoners are the Klingon general Martok, and, to Garak and Worf's surprise, Dr. Julian Bashir—meaning that the Bashir back at DS9 is a Changeling impostor.

As his last request, Tain makes Garak promise to escape. Desperate for a kind word from his mentor before the old man passes on, Garak makes a request in return: that Tain acknowledge him as his son. Tain does so, and father and son share a memory before Tain dies peacefully. His mission complete, Garak is ready to find a way out.

On Deep Space Nine, the crew shoots a particle beam at the wormhole, intending to close it. However, something goes wrong. The emitter array has been sabotaged, and the wormhole remains open, allowing a fleet of Dominion warships to begin pouring through.

In the year 2099, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing find themselves in new uniforms and transported to a very different Negative Zone than the one they knew. Returning home, they find the world changed and S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers chasing after them as laboratory copies of the original Fantastic Four.

During a fight with a repo-man crew named Total Recall, a church dedicated to the worship of the 22nd century’s Thor is destroyed and the FF escape with an injured Human Torch to an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. hideout. They discover, through the repo-men, that the corporation Stark-Fujikawa is claiming them as "experimental subjects". They head to an Alchemax facility to prove their originality. The four encounter the new century's Spider-Man. He helps Reed study the group's DNA. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the 2099 technology, the results were inconclusive, leaving their legitimacy in question.

They then break into their old headquarters at Four Freedoms Plaza with the help of their friend, Chimera, who came back with them from the Negative Zone. Before they can return to the Negative Zone to find a way home, they are attacked by a man named River Styx, the demon brother of Chimera, as well as a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers. In the course of the battle the Negative Zone door is damaged, causing a dimensional 'meltdown'. Rampaging beasts called the Mindless Ones attack, until they are destroyed by the 22nd century Doctor Strange. Strange then leaps into the future to warn the denizens of Earth of the approaching end of the world.

A planetoid is headed to Earth, causing the polar ice caps to melt. This is caused by the Phalanx, an act which covers most of the Earth in water. The Fantastic Four set up headquarters in their old building to help the Earth’s future inhabitants. The Human Torch heads out to investigate the flooding, but is ambushed and captured by the Atlanteans and their leader, Attuma. The Invisible Woman and the Thing rush to his rescue, getting themselves captured as well. They find themselves caught in the middle of a fight between Attuma and the rightful ruler of Atlantis, the mutant Whisper, a former guardian of X-Nation. Despite chemical brainwashing, the three heroes help Whisper take her rightful place on the throne.

Back in the city, Reed and the future Doctor Doom work with the remaining survivors. While fleeing the city towards the Savage Land, the only place on Earth free from flooding, a fleet of Atlantean ships attacks the remaining humans. The human fleet is saved from destruction by the interference of Doom’s Latverian Luftwaffe, and finally by Whisper, as she asserts her newfound control.

Savage Land

The Fantastic Four, along with the last refugees of Earth, finally settle in the Savage Land to rebuild humanity. Their next step is to send out a ship piloted by the Thing, and crewed by Father Jennifer and the mutants December, Twilight and Smith. The goal is to rendezvous with the human colony on Mars, in order to establish relations and ask for help. Cosmic rays cause the ship to crash.

Back on Earth, Johnny and Susan despair as Reed drives himself to exhaustion to establish a technological infrastructure for the remaining humans. All three grieve for Ben's presumed loss, but Reed takes it the worst, actually hallucinating at one point that Metalhead is Ben.

Sue and Johnny confront Reed, who states his intention to stay in the 2099 era. They leave him behind. Reed accomplishes his goal, creating a repository of knowledge for the last of humanity. Shocked back to sanity by the databank's physical resemblance to his son Franklin, Reed races back to Four Freedoms Plaza just in time to join Johnny and Sue. They vanish into the Negative Zone, destination uncertain.

The mutants later return to Earth with Martian aliens and resources in an attempt to help the survivors.

Later is shown this team was copies made by the powerful Watcher to help 2099 humanity which is in danger of extinction. The Watcher is persuaded to keep the current Fantastic Four around and they prove invaluable to rebuilding Earth. Some of the highlights of their careers including becoming official Avengers, removing a barrier to space exploration and establishing a peace treaty with Atlanteans.

The Dominion fleet passes through the wormhole and flies off toward Cardassia. The Cardassian officer Gul Dukat joins them, announcing that the Dominion has accepted Cardassia as a member, with Dukat as its new leader.

At the Dominion internment camp where DS9 officers Worf and Dr. Bashir, the Cardassian former spy Garak, and the Klingon general Martok are being held, the inmates have built an illicit transmitter inside the prison walls. Garak crawls inside the walls to modify it to signal their runabout so they can escape, triggering his severe claustrophobia. Meanwhile, Worf is selected as an opponent for Jem'Hadar guards to practice hand-to-hand combat. Worf's refusal to surrender, defeating a series of Jem'Hadar opponents, inspires Garak to overcome his fears and continue working.

Dukat vows with the help of the Dominion to destroy all who stand in the way of Cardassia becoming a major power in the Alpha Quadrant. As Klingon ships hastily retreat from their invasion of Cardassian space, Deep Space Nine's Captain Sisko persuades Klingon chancellor Gowron to reinstate the alliance between the Klingons and the Federation in order to fight the Dominion. Dukat contacts Sisko, warning that he intends to conquer Deep Space Nine for the Dominion. Sisko deploys the starship Defiant and three runabouts to fight the incoming Cardassian/Dominion fleet; they are joined by the Klingons and a Romulan fleet. Unknown to Sisko, a Changeling impersonating Bashir is at the helm of one of the runabouts.

Back at the internment camp, the Jem'Hadar come close to discovering Garak before being overpowered by the other prisoners. Meanwhile, Worf is fighting Ikat'ika, the Jem'Hadar commander. Worf refuses to yield; Ikat'ika, impressed by Worf's determination, yields the fight. The Vorta overseer, enraged, orders Ikat'ika's immediate execution. As the troops turn their phasers toward Worf, Garak manages to activate the transmitter, and the prisoners are beamed away to the runabout at the last second. There, Bashir sends an urgent message to DS9.

The Changeling Bashir's runabout is carrying a bomb intended to detonate inside the sun, incinerating DS9, Bajor, and the combined Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan forces. Receiving Bashir's message, Sisko orders that runabout destroyed. The ''Defiant'' takes the risky maneuver of engaging warp drive within the solar system in order to pull the runabout away from the sun where it explodes safely. No Cardassian/Dominion fleet arrives.

Garak, Worf, Bashir, and Martok return to the station and Sisko finalizes the peace treaty with Gowron. Martok is appointed to command the new permanent Klingon presence on DS9.

David is emotionally insecure. He grows up in the hotel his parents manage, where he is influenced by artist Herbie Bratasky, who, thanks to his ingenuity in imitating sounds of farts, defecation and toilet flushing, is credited with "mastering the whole Wagner scale of fecal Storm and Stress".

When he attends a college, he rooms with a lazy, often-masturbating, homosexual, draft-dodging, fellow student, who inadvertently adds to Kepesh's insecurity. At first, he seems to accept the odd facts about his colleague, but then he's shocked when he's told by others that he deviated from so many social norms.

David, often lusting after female co-students, never has a successful date. He often annoys girls by telling them they have gorgeous bodily features. Kepesh, with a Fulbright grant in his pocket, goes to London, where he meets two sexually interested Swedish girls, Birgitta and Elisabeth.

Back in America, he moves to California, where he gets acquainted with Helen, a woman dreaming of opening a store. Helen has a history of promiscuity dating back to her early twenties, when she lived in Hong Kong and other places in Asia. Helen does not feel loved by Kepesh. She refuses to do household duties because Kepesh gives her only sexual attention; unable to speak of his emotions, Kepesh submits to that "fact" and ends up doing all the housework as well as teaching literature classes and writing papers on Anton Chekhov.

Kepesh separates from Helen and goes to New York to give lectures in literature, but his emotional side not yet formed or refined, he has endless sessions with a psychoanalyst and even uses his literature class (which he later calls "Desire 341" after the course number) to contrast his own desires and experiences with those portrayed in works like Gustave Flaubert's ''Madame Bovary''. He even persuades the students to hear about and discuss his own love life. On a visit to Prague, birthplace of the equally sexually inexperienced Franz Kafka, he dreams of visiting the still-living prostitute of Kafka who invites him to look at her crotch; presuming he wants to see why it held Kafka's interest for so long.

Category:1977 American novels Category:Novels by Philip Roth Category:Farrar, Straus and Giroux books

The USS ''Honshu'' is transporting Dukat to a hearing on his war crimes. Sisko, who is scheduled to testify, is also aboard and visits Dukat in the ship's brig. Dukat, who has been under treatment following a nervous breakdown over the death of his daughter Ziyal, assures Sisko that he has recovered. Suddenly, the ship comes under attack by Cardassian warships. Sisko awakens in a cave, seriously injured, to find that Dukat had managed to get him to a shuttlecraft and escape to a nearby planet, where he tended to Sisko's wounds. Dukat informs him that the shuttle is inoperable, but he is sending out a distress signal.

Unbeknownst to Sisko, Dukat is hallucinating conversations with his former Dominion liaison Weyoun, who teases him about his mental breakdown, then his aide Damar, who advises him to kill Sisko. Dukat reveals that he intends to — after Sisko shows him the respect he deserves. While Dukat "talks" with his colleagues, Sisko discovers that the communications system is, in fact, not sending out a signal. When Dukat returns, Sisko tests him by asking him to check the system. He does, and tells Sisko the unit is working fine.

Meanwhile, Worf searches for Sisko in the ''Defiant'', but has limited time before he must leave to rendezvous with a convoy of Federation ships. Sisko repairs the communications system while Dukat is away, then plays along as Dukat defends his treatment of the Bajorans. However, when a hallucination of the Bajoran Major Kira taunts him, he becomes angry, firing wildly at the vision with his phaser. Dukat then discovers the distress signal has been repaired, and destroys it, then attacks the defenseless Sisko for his "betrayal".

Bruised and battered after Dukat's attack, Sisko presses Dukat to talk about the Bajorans. Dukat insists on his benevolence and good will towards Bajor, but Sisko berates him for his hypocrisy and self-deception. Finally, Dukat is forced to admit his hatred of the Bajorans, angrily declaring that he should have killed every last one. While Dukat is ranting, Sisko knocks him out and manages to make his way to the shuttle, discovering it to be intact. Dukat recovers and follows Sisko to the shuttle and overpowers him. But when Sisko challenges Dukat to kill him, Dukat instead leaves him behind and takes off in the shuttle, vowing to destroy Bajor. The ''Defiant'' crew then picks up a signal from Dukat leading them to Sisko. Dukat, however, escapes, leaving Sisko vowing to defeat him and protect Bajor at all costs.

A mysterious, middle-aged man wearing a dark suit and black leather gloves is the only customer in a Hoboken, New Jersey bar. He looks longingly at a picture of a woman that he keeps in his wallet. He then has a tense conversation with the bartender, in which he reveals that he once lived in Hoboken years ago, but is now passing through "on business" because he is a "travelling salesman."

While the man is in the bar's restroom, a teenage boy named Lake, dressed as a cowboy and brandishing a gun, bursts into the bar. He tells the bartender that the middle-aged man is actually the "Man with No Name" (a.k.a. "Mr. Smith"), a notorious hitman on the FBI's "most wanted" list. Using a makeshift silencer, Lake shoots and kills the bartender and ambushes the "Man with No Name" when the older man returns to pay his bill.

Lake, a violent but inexperienced gunman, holds the "Man with No Name" at gunpoint and reveals his intention to kill the hitman in order to bolster his own criminal reputation; but the hitman calmly outwits the teenager, lulls him into a false sense of security, and then knocks him out with a punch. However, Lake recovers, the two struggle, and Lake pins the hitman to the floor and prepares to shoot him in cold blood. During a brief exchange of words, the hitman realizes that (unbeknownst to the boy) his young challenger is the son that he was forced to abandon years earlier. Appealing to Lake's vanity, the hitman convinces the boy to engage him in a fair test of their respective skills: a fast draw.

The two have a showdown, which the "Man with No Name" easily wins by shooting the gun out of Lake's hand. Instead of killing the teenager, he shoots the boy's other hand. Demoralized, defeated, and suffering from the pain of two wounded hands, the teenager slumps to floor. The "Man with No Name" then reveals that he is Lake's father; he proves it by taking out his wallet and showing the boy the picture of the woman he was looking at earlier. The woman in the picture was the hitman's beloved, deceased wife as well as Lake's mother.

The hitman tells the boy that, years earlier, he had fallen in love with and married Lake's mother and had given up his life of crime. However, when Lake was a baby, a man came to challenge the hitman to showdown, and, not finding him home, killed the hitman's wife instead. Unable to take care of the boy, the hitman resumed his criminal career and abandoned Lake.

Finally reunited, father and son embrace, but their reunion is interrupted when the police show up outside the bar. In order to save Lake from the consequences of the bartender's murder, the hitman quickly rearranges to the crime scene to implicate himself and make it look like a botched robbery attempt. Before the cops storm the bar, he gives Lake his wallet, tells him that he can be anything he wants to be, but also advises him against becoming a gunman. As a policeman breaks through the door, the hitman levels his gun at the cop, winks at Lake, and is killed when the policeman shoots him in the chest.

Chris Walters is a happily married father of two. For his 13th wedding anniversary, he sneaks home with a gift for wife Alice, a diamond brooch, and with a desire to have a romantic interlude.

Interruptions ensue. If it isn't their children, Debbie, and Okkie, needing something, it's their maid, Millie, or it's Alice's mother, Lilly, on the phone. And then two delivery men arrive with a new television set. It's a gift from Alice's parents, Lilly and Arthur.

Chris is not pleased. He hates television, and thinks the whole idea of TV is a needless distraction and corrupting influence on today's youth.

At work, Chris has a partner, Bud, who is trying to woo a new client, Jeanette Revere, a woman who has been divorced four times. Jeanette is amazed in this day and age that a couple can remain happily married as long as the Walters' have.

Over a celebration dinner, Chris lets it slip that he and Alice had sex a year before they got married. Lilly and Arthur are offended, having been under the impression that Alice didn't have sex with Chris until they were wed. They storm out. Chris is so angry, he kicks in the screen of the new TV. He argues with Alice and has to spend his anniversary night sleeping on the sofa.

A gift arrives from Bud—it's another TV. Chris is irritated again, but promises not to cause a scene this time. When they turn it on, however, a show called "Kids Kouncil" has his daughter Debbie as a guest. And the child blurts out for all to hear that her parents are having marital difficulties, and had been intimate prior to their wedding. Chris again kicks in the TV.

Chris storms out of the house this time. Elsewhere, Alice's parents also have a quarrel, which eventually leads to Lilly attempting to move in with her daughter. Everybody's angry now.

A distraught Chris wants to come home. Alice feels no one cares about her. She intends to leave home herself. The family doctor, however, suddenly informs Alice that she is pregnant. She decides to give Chris another chance, as a gift arrives, yet another TV. This time it is from Chris.

Brilliant ventriloquist Gabbo increasingly uses his dummy "Otto" as his only means of self-expression—an artist driven insane by his work. Gabbo's gimmick is his astonishing ability to make Otto talk—and even sing—while Gabbo himself smokes, drinks and eats. Gabbo's girlfriend and assistant Mary loves him, but is driven to leave him by his megalomania, superstitions, irritability, and inability to express any human emotion without using Otto as an intermediary. In Otto's voice, Gabbo accepts the blame for Mary's leaving and recounts all the things she did for him, but as Gabbo he denies his feelings and tells the dummy to shut up.

Two years later, Gabbo has become a nationally renowned ventriloquist. He is revered for his talent, even as he is ridiculed for his eccentricity: he takes Otto with him everywhere he goes, even dining out with him, providing much entertainment to the restaurant patrons. Despite his success he continues to pine for Mary, who is now romantically involved with another singer/dancer, Frank. With both Mary and Frank performing in a show in which Gabbo is the headliner, he attempts to win her back. Mary is charmed by Gabbo's new romantic behavior, driving Frank to angry fits of jealousy. As his courtship meets with continued success, Gabbo increasingly expresses his emotions to Mary directly, without using Otto.

One day Gabbo finds that in his absence, Mary has straightened up his dressing room the way that she always used to. Convinced that she wants to come back to him, he confronts her with his feelings, admitting his loneliness without her and in the process revealing that he has grown past many of his old failings, such as his superstitions and obsession with his personal success. However, Mary tells him that she loves Frank, and has been married to him since before Gabbo came back into her life. She says that she missed Otto but not Gabbo, and in a last farewell she says, "I love you" to Otto.

In profound frustration at this, after Mary is gone Gabbo punches Otto in the face, but immediately apologizes and embraces the dummy, weeping. He then storms onto the stage during the finale and loudly rants at the performers. He is forced off the stage and fired from the show. Mary tries to confront Gabbo afterwards, but he only looks at her sadly and walks away. Workers take down the letters advertising "The Great Gabbo" from the marquee as Gabbo looks on.

A goalkeeper is sent off during a game for dissent. He spends the night with a cinema cashier, whom he afterwards kills. Although a type of detective film, it is more slow moving and contemplative than other films of the genre. It explores the monotony of the murderer's existence and, like many of Wenders' films, the overwhelming cultural influence of America in post-war West Germany.

Origin of the title

Late in the movie, the goalkeeper and a traveling salesman attend a football game, and witness a penalty kick. The goalkeeper describes what it is like to face a penalty: should he dive to one side, and if he does will the kicker aim for the other? It is a psychological confrontation in which each tries to outfox the other. In parallel with this, the goalkeeper, rather than go on the run, has returned to his home town and is living in plain sight. He doesn't know if the police are looking for him in particular, and the police are not necessarily looking for someone who isn't trying to hide.

Dr. Julian Bashir is playing a holosuite game in which he portrays a glamorous secret agent in 1964. His friend Elim Garak, a former spy, tags along. Meanwhile, the other officers of Deep Space Nine are rescued from the explosion of a runabout by Cmdr. Eddington, who beams them out in the nick of time. The transporter is damaged by the explosion, and Eddington must store their patterns in the station's computer memory. Their physical patterns end up in the computer controlling the holosuite, appearing as characters in Bashir's simulation. Eddington informs Bashir that he can't shut down the program or let the characters die, or else the patterns of the crew members may be deleted. Making matters worse, the holosuite safeties are disabled, meaning Bashir and Garak could be hurt or killed by the game.

In the game, a Russian spy, Anastasia Komananov, appears with Major Kira's likeness. Komananov explains that a mad scientist, Dr. Noah, is kidnapping elite scientists; Bashir's orders are to rescue Professor Honey Bare (Jadzia Dax). After escaping the assassin Falcon (Miles O'Brien), Bashir, Garak and Komananov go to a casino to speak to Noah's associate Duchamps (Worf). After a game of baccarat, Duchamps drugs the trio, knocking them out.

They awaken in Dr. Noah's lair on Mount Everest. Noah (Captain Sisko) explains his plan to flood the rest of the world, wiping out the human race except for his kidnapped scientists. He has Bashir and Garak handcuffed to an underground laser that will flood the chamber with lava in five minutes. As the time ticks down, Bashir flirts with Prof. Bare, and she slips him a key. Bashir frees himself and Garak, who protests that continuing the simulation is too dangerous. Garak is about to close the program, potentially killing the other crew members, when Bashir shoots him, grazing him with a bullet. Garak is shocked, but impressed, and agrees to continue.

They burst into Noah's study, and Eddington tells them he will attempt to rescue Sisko and the others in two minutes. To gain time, Bashir hits the button to activate Noah's plan, flooding the Earth. As he had not expected to actually ''win'', the shocked Dr. Noah is still about to shoot Bashir, but before he can pull the trigger, Eddington beams the crew's patterns out of the holosuite. Bashir and Garak end the program with relief, Garak commenting that Bashir "saved the day by destroying the world".

The film tells the story of missionary Nathaniel "Nate" Williamson, taken to an island mission with his fiancée Sophie. Their ship, the ''Rona'', is captained by the roguish William "Bully" Hayes, who also takes a liking to Sophie. When Sophie is kidnapped by slave trader Ben Pease, "Nate" teams with Hayes in order to find her. The two men enjoy a friendly rivalry for Sophie's affections, and she is to some extent torn between them, though committed to Nate.

Long ago, a young Prince Yosho met a young demon girl, named Yuzuha. Attracted to Yosho, two agreed to meet to play together during the annual Startica celebration on Jurai; she was driven away by the palace guards and she hated Yosho for it. 700 years later, Yuzuha wakes up within the underworld and discovers that Yosho is alive and on Earth, celebrating Christmas with the family and the ladies that had gathered around Tenchi. She believes Tenchi Masaki is a charmer due to the fact he is surrounded by so many girls; she decides to send Tenchi a present. She obtains a lock of Tenchi's hair and takes a piece of her own to a created a girl that's part human, Juraian, and demon to entertain her mischievous nature.

Six months later during summer, while walking down the steps of the shrine, Tenchi meets a teenage girl named Mayuka, who calls him daddy. Tenchi takes the girl back to the house where she introduces herself as Tenchi's daughter, shocking everyone within the household. Ryoko felt threatened by Mayuka and denied her paternity to Tenchi. She attacks Mayuka and demands real answers by threatening her with an energy sword, but Mayuka defends herself by summoning a faux-Lighthawk Sword; the situation was stopped by Katsuhito. In the midst of the confusion, Washu took a sample of her hair to confirm half her DNA belongs to Tenchi; Mayuka is genetically Tenchi's daughter.

The Masaki household tries to make sense of how Mayuka came to be and the most popular theory is that she's from the future. Unknown to the rest of group, Mayuka was secretly being manipulated by Yuzuha for her own enjoyment. Whenever the crew was too preoccupied to notice Tenchi or Mayuka, Yuzuha uses those moments to control Mayuka and have her do things that makes her questionable. At one point, Mayuka takes Tenchi away from the gang and tries to transport him to Yuzuha. Before she is able to, Ryoko breaks the trance and carries Mayuka away. Katsuhito finds Mayuka and brings her back to the house, where she once again tries to bring Tenchi to Yuzuha; Katsuhito and Washu interfered and Mayuka runs off into the forest.

Taking Mayuka back to the underworld, Yuzuha erases Mayuka's memories and takes Sasami hostage, which leads Tenchi and Ryoko enter Yuzuha's world to save them; Tenchi was warned he can't use his Juraian powers there, giving Yuzuha the advantage. Losing all sense of who she was and turned into a monster, Mayuka attacks Ryoko and injures her; she then attacks Tenchi but after hearing Sasami telling her that the whole group loves her, she breaks free of Yuzuha's control and assaults her. Yuzuha kills Mayuka for her betrayal and transforms into a giant dark creature, but Ayeka appears and gives Tenchi a branch from the ''Tree of Light'' to utilize his Juraian powers. He defeats Yuzuha and they returned home with the remains of Mayuka, a red crystal. Washu is able to resurrect Mayuka, but she wanted everyone's consent to forward the project. Although Ryoko was against Mayuka, she also welcomed the idea and promise to train her in her ways. It is seen at the ending of the story, Mayuka's crystal was used to bring her back and by next Christmas, Mayuka is returned to the crew as an infant and to be raised by the Masaki family.

Unlike previous Saint stories, which were straightforward realistic crime dramas, ''The Last Hero'' saw Simon Templar entering the realm of both science fiction and spy fiction. The novel starts an unspecified length of time after the events of ''Enter the Saint'' with an account of Simon Templar, The Saint, foiling an assassination attempt on a visiting prince by tricking the would-be assassin into blowing himself up. This leads to The Saint becoming a cause célèbre among the British people, to the point where the government offers him not only a full pardon for past crimes, but also a job as a sanctioned crime-buster. Templar politely refuses, saying he prefers to remain underground, his identity a secret to all but a select few. (He would revisit this decision, however, in the later story "The Impossible Crime" (featured in the collection ''Alias the Saint'') and again in the novel, ''She Was a Lady''.)

Over the next three months, the Saint operates so far in the shadows that the general public thinks he has retired or disappeared. During this time, Templar hears from a reporter friend about troubling indications that conditions for a new war in Europe might be brewing (Templar insists that after the events of the First World War there wouldn't be another such war "for hundreds of years"). Later, during an outing in the countryside with fellow adventurer and girlfriend Patricia Holm, Templar stumbles upon a secret British government installation where he and Holm witness the testing of a deadly and mysterious weapon—the electroncloud machine, which creates a vapour capable of turning anything (and anyone) it touches into ash.

Templar and Holm are about to leave when they encounter a giant of a man named Rayt Marius, an evil tycoon who wants the weapon for his own purposes. After escaping to safety, Templar determines that he and his team must steal or destroy the weapon before their government—or any other—can use it against people. Not only that, but the weapon must not be allowed to fall into Marius' hands. In order that such a weapon never be re-created, Templar also plans to kidnap the device's inventor and, if necessary, kill the scientist.

Things become complicated when Marius kidnaps Patricia Holm, setting Templar off into an uncharacteristically murderous rage. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard Inspector Claud Eustace Teal also finds himself getting involved, even though the identity of The Saint remains a mystery to him.

After rescuing Patricia from the clutches of Marius, Templar realises that his quest for anonymity is at an end (with both Marius and Teal now aware of who he really is) and begins to make plans to leave the country (along with his compatriots if they so choose). But first he must try to convince the inventor of the electroncloud to abandon the weapon; when the scientist indicates that he not only refuses to give up his work, but might also be mad, Templar reluctantly decides the man must die to potentially save the lives of millions.

Before he can execute the scientist, Templar's base is attacked by Marius, who is revealed to be working for the same prince Templar earlier saved. During the melee, one of Templar's men, Norman Kent, completes the Saint's orders and kills the scientist; he does so after determining that whoever killed the scientist would be likely to hang for murder if caught, and out of loyalty to Templar chose to take the chance himself. It is also revealed that Kent, who had only been mentioned briefly in previous Saint adventures, harboured an unrequited love for Patricia Holm, possibly originating from a Mediterranean cruise on which Templar had assigned Kent to take Holm to keep her out of trouble (as indicated in ''Enter the Saint'').

Later, while being held at gunpoint by Marius and the prince, Kent reveals that he killed the scientist, but not before being given the man's final notes on the electroncloud. In exchange for Marius and the Prince allowing the Saint and his friends Patricia and Roger Conway to go free, Kent agrees to hand over the documents.

After Templar and his group (save Kent) depart, Kent reveals that he has played a trick on Marius and had secretly passed the notes off to Simon before his departure. As the book ends, Marius shoots Norman Kent dead as he stands in front of a window to stop Marius shooting through it.

''The Last Hero'' was published 15 years before the advent of nuclear weapons, and nine years before the outbreak of the Second World War, yet contains statements that could be seen as predicting these two milestones. Perhaps coincidentally, the name Albert Einstein is mentioned in passing. The electroncloud device is only shown in action once and, while the inventor of the device is killed, and Marius states to Templar that the machine Templar and Holm witnessed in action was destroyed by his men, it is never revealed what, if anything, Templar did with the scientist's notes. It is noteworthy that "The Last Hero" was published on the same year as Olaf Stapledon's vast science fiction opus ''Last and First Man'' - an otherwise utterly different kind of book, yet Stapledon also included the plot element of a scientist inventing a terrible weapon of mass destruction, which must be suppressed, even at the cost of its inventor's life.

''The Last Hero'' was the first of a trilogy of novels. The events of this novel (in particular the fate of Norman Kent) led to an immediate sequel, ''Knight Templar'' (a.k.a. ''The Avenging Saint''), which was published later in 1930 and which takes place three months after the conclusion of ''Last Hero''. In 1932, after an interval of a number of unrelated novellas and a full-length novel, the trilogy concluded with ''Getaway''.

After this book, the character of Holm fades somewhat into the background for a time, although she would return to the forefront in the novella collection ''The Holy Terror''.

The tone of the book is far more romantic and tragic than the average Simon Templar books. In most books of the series, the reader can know in advance that no matter what terrible threats and perils Templar would face, he would survive them all and live to have new adventures in the next book and the next.

Conversely, in the present book Charteris drops many hints that Norman Kent is in effect "fey", meaning doomed to die—for example, his hopeless but gallant love for Patricia Holm.

Norman Kent, rather than Templar, is the true protagonist—certainly in the book's later parts. With reference to this book, Caroline Whitehead and George McLeod wrote:

(...) Norman Kent is an archetypal knight-errant. Though formally a man of 20th Century England, he lives (and dies) by the Code of Chivalry. He loves totally his Lady, Patricia Holm—who, like Don Quixote's Dulcinea, is not aware of that love. He is totally loyal to his Liege Lord, Simon Templar. Like Sir Gawain in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", Norman Kent takes on threats made to his Lord, wholly and without reservation. Not only physical threats to life and limb, but also the sometimes unavoidable necessity to perform dishonorable acts which would have reflected badly on the reputation of King Arthur/Simon Templar are taken unflinchingly by Sir Gawain/Norman Kent.

The third sentence of this, however, is contradicted by Patricia herself:

"Dear Pat," said Norman Kent, "I've always longed for a chance to serve you. And now it's come. You knew I loved you, didn't you?" She touched his hand. "Don't, Norman dear … please! … Of course I knew. I couldn't help knowing. I'm so sorry…"

.

After being defeated by the Jurai Emperor and the Galaxy Police centuries ago, the monstrously powerful Super A-1 class criminal Kain was imprisoned in the subspace room of the GP's headquarters, never to be released.

In the present (established to be 1996, the year of the film's release), Kain escapes his bonds, destroys the GP space station, and travels back in time to take his revenge on Jurai's royal family. The Galaxy Police only has time to send a short warning, which Mihoshi and Kiyone intercept.

The Masaki house, the shrine, and Tenchi himself all begin to fade out of existence. Washu theorizes that someone is tampering with the established timeline, and uses a shield to keep Tenchi from vanishing. The shield is only a temporary solution, so Washu sends the rest of the group back to 1970 to prevent Kain from killing Tenchi's mother Achika.

Tenchi's friends assume roles at Tenchi's father Nobuyuki and Achika's high school, while Tenchi himself stays hidden to prevent causing a paradox. Tenchi and his friends must also deal with a rogue GP operative bent on seizing glory by killing Kain.

After determining the exact time that Kain strikes in 1970, the group tries to defend Achika, only to see the villain escape into subspace with her and Nobuyuki. Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko follow and challenge Kain, but even with their powers boosted by Washu they are no match for him.

Washu sends a powerful "dimensional cannon" from the present, and Kiyone mans the weapon to destroy Kain. Tenchi is wounded, and Achika unlocks her latent Jurai powers to fuel his sword and deal a crippling blow to Kain. The group barely escapes in time before the dimensional cannon is fired into their pocket of subspace, finally destroying Kain.

Before her memory is wiped along with Nobuyuki's, Achika asks Ryoko and Ayeka to take care of Tenchi, since she will not be there for him in their present.

On finding that her mum has just won the lottery, Rose decides to visit Earth.

Rose and the Doctor go to visit Mickey, who tells them that everyone is playing ''Death to Mantodeans'', the game that is complementary with the console. Interested, the Doctor starts playing it, while Rose goes out.

The Doctor and Robert are again interrupted by Quevvils calling to find out why the game isn't being played as expected. The door explodes before they are able to get the controlled Quevvil to respond, so the Doctor has to go back to pretending to play. He and Robert are taken to another room. All of the other prisoners are brought into the room as well, and the Doctor is told that one will be killed every time he deviates from the game.

Rose makes it to the center of the game, and the Quevvils get ready to teleport, but the Doctor has Mickey send a signal that disrupts it, which atomizes all the Quevvils. Rose finds that she can move and talk on her own again.

Yu Jiaolong takes up kung fu with the former rebel master Jade Fox as a way to escape an undesirable arranged marriage, while simultaneously, sword master Li Mu Bai falls in love with Yu Shu Lien when she arrives to avenge the murder of her parents. When the Green Destiny Sword turns up stolen, and the notorious female thief Jade Fox arrives to finish the ordeal, the four become enmeshed in a tangle of adventure, vengeance, and betrayal.

"A Letter from the Clearys" starts with a young teenage girl and her dog making their way home through the countryside after a visit to the town's post office.

The narrator is living with her parents, older brother and a neighbour. She feels somewhat neglected as her family are very busy building a greenhouse. In addition, while calling her dog she contrasts him with her previous dog. When the protagonist arrives home she reveals that she has found a letter from their friends, the Clearys. This family was due to have visited them 'before' but never came and they had always wondered why, wondering if a letter had been delivered to another family's postbox. The family is somewhat reluctant to hear the letter read but the protagonist reads it out anyway.

As Mrs. Cleary asks for news about the family, the letter reveals that the older brother had been married and had a child, and also that the Clearys would have to postpone their planned visit till the next month.

This ordinary cheerful letter upsets the family greatly and the protagonist states that this is not her fault, she simply found the letter.

It is now revealed that the family are hiding from looters in the aftermath of a nuclear war, which happened two years earlier. The missing family members had been on a day trip to one of the many places totally destroyed in the war, while the remaining family members are desperately trying to survive a nuclear winter (hence the importance of the green house) and any starving looters. After one such attack the father's fear of returning looters led to his shooting at his daughter and killing her previous dog.

As the story closes the father is boarding up the abandoned post office as they cannot bear the possibility of finding another long-lost letter and any further reminder of how much they have lost. The protagonist now reveals to the reader that, far from accidentally stumbling across the letter, she had been searching for it ever since 'it' happened. The letter had indeed been placed in the wrong postbox.

As the story progresses, a woman (Carol) begins to have déjà vu of the same car ride on their second honeymoon with the same bloody outcome every time. It never ends. It is implied, but never said, that they have crashed on the plane to their honeymoon location and they may be in Hell or Purgatory.

Sarah Jane wants to meet Rudyard Kipling, and so the Doctor materializes in Victorian England. However, there is trouble: Children have vanished, lights have been seen beneath the bay, with fishermen found mutilated, and graves have been robbed.

The Doctor and a whaler's doctor, Arthur Conan Doyle, join to expose a plot to mess with human evolution, while Sarah Jane and Kipling face horrors of their own.

Brian Stevenson's family has just moved to suburban Boston, and he feels isolated in his new neighborhood. One morning, Brian finds himself blamed and wrongfully punished for several things he did not do. Insisting on his innocence, he blames his younger brother, Eric, who claims to have seen a monster the night before. At school, Brian gets into a fight with bully Ronnie Coleman. That night, upon returning to Eric's room to sleep for a bet, Brian finds the room in shambles, and sees the TV remote supernaturally slide and disappear under the bed. The next morning, Eric and his friend Todd find Brian on the living room couch and joke about Brian being unable to sleep the entire night in Eric's room. Brian bets Eric "double or nothing" to sleep in Eric's room another night. The next night, a determined Brian sets booby traps, and leaves cheese Doritos as bait to attract the alleged "monster."

Brian succeeds in trapping the monster intruder: a blue-skinned humanoid named Maurice. Though initially scared, Brian soon discovers that he and Maurice share the same interests and befriends him. Brian also learns that sunlight causes the monsters to collapse into piles of clothes. Over several nights, Maurice shows him a fun time in the monster world beneath Eric's bed. It consists of every child's dream: all the junk food and video games available, with no adults to supervise. It also has innumerable staircases leading to the spaces beneath children's beds, from which the monsters cause trouble. Maurice and Brian have fun making mischief in other people's homes, and Brian also befriends a girl named Kiersten at his school. However, at the same time, Brian also begins to notice Maurice's ways of causing mischief can go too far sometimes, as evidenced when Maurice eats Kiersten's papers for an important science project she was working on, causing her to get a grade of zero. Brian also becomes disheartened when he believes that his parents may possibly get a divorce.

One night, Maurice brings Brian along with several other monsters to the bedroom of an infant baby, intending to scare it. Finding this to be cruel, Brian opens the bedroom door, exposing the hallway light to the baby's bedroom, but subsequently learns that he is turning into a monster, as his body parts shrink when the light hits him. He escapes the house through the front door and walks through Todd's backyard, where Todd is sleeping in a treehouse. Todd shines a flashlight on Brian, shrinking Brian's arm in the process. The concerned Brian saws off the legs of all the beds in his house.

Due to Maurice's failure to convert Brian (all monsters are former children), Eric is kidnapped by Snik — another, much crueler monster — through the couch bed in the living room. Brian enlists help from Todd and Kiersten. Gathering an assortment of bright lights, they enter the monster universe looking for Eric. "Zapping" various monsters along the way, they march to the master staircase, where Boy, the ruler of the monster world, resides. Boy offers to release Eric and Brian's friends if Brian agrees to convert, but Brian refuses. The bright lights are destroyed and they are all placed with Maurice in a locked dungeon-type room. They manage to escape by turning Maurice into a pile of clothes via an improvised light and slide him through the door crack. They re-arm themselves with more powerful lights, recruit Ronnie, and venture back into the monster world. They return to Boy's domain, and are able to defeat him, while Maurice defeats Snik with a flamethrower.

Unfortunately, Brian and the others find that they cannot return home because the sun has risen. Faced with the prospect of turning into monsters if they do not return to the human world by sunrise, the children travel in the monster world from the Eastern time zone to Malibu where the sun has not risen yet and they manage to escape. Before entering the human world, Brian shares a heartfelt goodbye with Maurice, who gives Brian his leather vest as a memento, promising to meet again with him someday. The kids run to a payphone and Brian calls home to say that he and Eric are in Malibu and begins to explain their story to their parents.

In 1965, sixteen-year-old Sylvia Likens and her disabled fifteen-year-old sister, Jenny, are left in the care of an impoverished woman named Gertrude Baniszewski, a church acquaintance and mother to Paula, Johnny, Stephanie, and several younger children. Sylvia and Jenny's parents, Lester and Betty, work in the carnival circuit and leave on a tour. Gertrude agrees to take care of Sylvia and Jenny for a fee of $20 per week.

Lester's payment fails to arrive. Infuriated, Gertrude whips the Likens sisters with a belt. When the payment arrives with a letter from the parents, Gertrude discards the letter without telling the sisters. After Sylvia tells Paula's boyfriend about Paula's pregnancy, Gertrude forces Sylvia to apologize for "spreading lies" and has Johnny help Paula beat Sylvia until she complies. Jenny discovers the letter from their parents in the trash. Sylvia telephones them, but she is seen by the Baniszewski children. Gertrude falsely accuses them of stealing money from her for the call and burns Sylvia with a cigarette. She also accuses Sylvia of flirting with Andy, father of one of Gertrude's sons. She sexually abuses Sylvia and orders Johnny and Stephanie's boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, to push her down the basement stairs. As Jenny weeps, Gertrude says Sylvia will remain in the basement "until she learns her lesson".

Gertrude instructs her children to lie that Sylvia was sent to juvenile detention. With Gertrude's knowledge and approval, Johnny regularly invites the neighborhood children to the basement to abuse Sylvia. Paula soon feels guilty and tells her mother Sylvia has been punished enough. Gertrude ignores Paula, reminding her that there is blood on her hands as well. The Reverend arrives, hinting that Paula has confessed about her pregnancy and Sylvia's treatment. Gertrude lies to him that Sylvia was sent away. Once the Reverend leaves, Gertrude orders everyone into the basement, where she restrains Sylvia and begins branding the words "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT" on her stomach with a heated needle. Gertrude passes the needle to her teen neighbor Ricky Hobbs to finish the branding.

That night, Paula helps an injured Sylvia escape from the basement. Gertrude is awakened by another daughter and tries to catch Sylvia, but she is stopped by Paula. Ricky drives Sylvia to her parents. They are horrified by Sylvia's condition and drive her back to the Baniszewski house at her request to make sure Jenny is okay. When Sylvia enters, she sees a distraught Stephanie trying to revive Sylvia with Ricky's help, but to no avail, indicating that the entire escape and reunion with her parents had been a hallucination. Sylvia soon dies in the arms of Stephanie and Ricky, after which Gertrude claims that the death has nothing to do with her.

Once the police arrive, Jenny agrees to testify in court in exchange for her freedom. At the murder trial, Jenny says Gertrude threatened her with the same treatment if she told anyone. Again, Gertrude denies all wrongdoing and tries to frame her children and their friends for Sylvia's death. However, her attempts to frame all her witnesses backfire as she is sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder. Sylvia's voice narrates the fates of her other murderers. Gertrude, in her prison cell, briefly sees Sylvia's ghost.

In the delecate realm of Keritona, 10 ladies are built by an ancient doctor.

Georgian bush pilot Valiko Mizandari a.k.a. Mimino (Vakhtang Kikabidze) works at small local airline, flying helicopters between small villages. But he starts to dreams of piloting large international airliners, when he meets his former flight academy classmate accompanied by pretty stewardess Larisa, whom he wishes to impress, assured that bush pilot doesnt have a single chance. So he decides to go to Moscow to follow his dream. There in a hotel he meets Armenian truck driver Ruben Khachikyan (Frunzik Mkrtchyan) who is given a place in that hotel by mistake instead of another Khachikyan (Professor), and they have many adventures in Moscow together.

Always amicable and open to people, Mimino does not feel at home in the Big World. Nevertheless, he becomes a pilot of a supersonic jet liner, the Tupolev Tu-144, flying all over the world, including San Francisco, USA. Feeling homesick, he finally comes back to his native town of Telavi in Georgia, to his family and friends.

Mimino's real name in the film is Valiko Mizandari—his nickname "Mimino" ( ) is the Georgian word for sparrow hawk, although it is stated on the back cover of the DVD that "Mimino" means falcon.

When the Doctor, Ian and Barbara arrive on Venus, they find an ancient civilization on the edge of extinction. Conflict brews between those who accept oblivion and those desperate for salvation. Then a space-traveling race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by transporting them to Earth, three billion years before man is due to evolve. But are the visitors' motivations that simple, and can the Doctor allow the sacrifice of humanity's future to save another species?

The Crystal Bucephalus is a future restaurant patronised by the highest of society, projected back in time to sample the food and drink of long gone eras. However, when a notorious kingpin is slain in the Bucephalus, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are immediately suspected and arrested. In order to prove their innocence, they must find the real perpetrators, and in the process uncover a conspiracy 5000 years in the making.

10 BC. The Doctor and Peri land in ancient Rome, specifically in the tomb of Cleopatra. But something is very wrong: The tomb walls depict steam-driven galleys and other disturbing anachronisms. The time travellers discover that Rome has advanced far beyond its natural means, and they must recruit the aid of Ptolemy Caesar to prevent his half-siblings, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II, from waging a potentially world-ending war with each other. But the anomalies don't just end with Rome, as The Doctor and Peri experience changes of their own...

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Romana and K-9 to the Rock of Judgement: a supreme prison built into a rocket-powered asteroid. What is the link between the gallery of artist Menlove Stokes, and the massacre of a survey team on a far off planet? And why is Margo, Chief Of Security, behaving in such an odd manner?

The Doctor and Mel land in London, 1999, to celebrate the New Year. But other forces are making deadlier preparations to ring in the new millennium: a software firm is about to run a program that will change the very fabric of reality, while an ancient entity from the universe's origins is due for resurrection. When Anne Travers' fear of the Great Intelligence, and millionaire Ashley Chapel's research combine, London is set to be transformed into a terrifying place inhabited by unimaginable dangers.

The Sontaran-Rutan war has gone on for millennia, and with high costs: Billions dead and whole star systems annihilated. However, victory may be within reach, courtesy of the human colony world of Raghi. When the Doctor and Turlough arrive there, they find a society ruled by a strict caste system. But there is more: people are being infected by a mysterious disease, or vanishing in large numbers while strange objects orbit the sun. How is this linked to the two warring races?

Story

''Gyo'' opens with a crew of fishermen aboard a trawler dragging up a number of strange-looking fish in the boat's net. Upon trying to inspect the unusual creatures, they discover that the strange fish seem to have legs. The fish then suddenly scuttle away, diving back into the ocean.

Meanwhile, in Okinawa, Tadashi, a young man, and his longtime girlfriend Kaori arrive on the island to enjoy a scuba-diving vacation. Encountering a fish with legs, Kaori, who has a hyper-sensitive sense of smell, becomes irritated by its smell and begs Tadashi to get rid of it. He seals it in a bag, but it manages to escape. The next day, large amounts of marine life with legs invade Okinawa, including a legged great white shark which menaces the protagonists. Tadashi and Kaori manage to return to Tokyo, although Kaori becomes irritated and paranoid, claiming to smell the fish. They both encounter the bagged fish they originally encased and present it to his uncle, Doctor Koyanagi.

Koyanagi reveals that the creature is the result of the Japanese Army's World War II research into a virus that causes its host to produce a deadly and repulsive stench, in a desperate effort to turn the tide of the war. His father developed a "walking machine", which pumps the virus into a host and causes the host to release the gas which powers the machine's movement; walking machines were built to carry the hosts farther, allowing them to reach and sicken enemy troops. However, during the war, enemy aircraft sunk the ship carrying the prototypes for the walking machines.

A short while later, Tadashi returns to find Koyanagi missing an arm. As he was examining the machine in detail, it used a series of spikes and tubes to latch on to his arm, forcing him to amputate it. The walking machine scuttles into the room, now carrying Koyanagi's arm instead of the fish. Soon, Kaori and Tadashi discover that hordes of marine life with legs are in the process of overrunning Tokyo, having gradually invaded the Kantō region. Infected by the gas, Kaori becomes depressed by being subjected to her illness's symptoms, and attempts to commit suicide. Tadashi takes her to Koyanagi in an effort to save her but falls into a canal where he passes out after being injured by thousands of small walking fish. Awakening a month later, he discovers that Koyanagi has placed her into a custom-built walking machine. Upon switching the machine on, Koyanagi is mortally wounded by Kaori, who quickly escapes.

Wandering through the desolate city streets, Tadashi finds that most of the walking fish have decayed, and that the walking machines are now carrying infected citizens instead. He then encounters a circus, where he learns from the ringmaster that the gas appears to be alive, taking on a soul-like appearance when ignited. Tadashi encounters Kaori and retrieves her from one of the acts at the circus. As the pair arrive at Koyanagi's lab, Koyanagi's assistant, Ms. Yoshiyama, reveals that the doctor died from his wounds. When she attempts to remove the walking machine from Kaori, Koyanagi appears, now mutated by the infection and attached to a modified walking machine in the form of an airship that allows him to fly. Kaori notices Tadashi and Ms. Yoshiyama together and attempts to attack her. During the uproar, Koyanagi manages to capture Ms. Yoshiyama and fly away.

Large groups of walking machines attack Kaori, and Tadashi becomes lost in his attempt to save her. He continues to search for her, when he notices the circus troupe attack Koyanagi's airship, which deploys a set of wings and escapes. Tadashi encounters a group of students from Kyoto University, who explain that they are immune, and that the virus created the walking machines after synthesizing them from shipwrecks. He joins the students in their research to defeat the virus and save humanity. As the group walk together, Tadashi encounters Kaori's burnt remains and remarks that she is free from the smell.

Characters

''' ''': A young man who enjoys scuba diving. He has a girlfriend named Kaori and an uncle named Koyanagi. At the end he joins a group of university students, who happen to be immune from the death-stench, to create a vaccine to defeat the disease. In the OVA version, instead of Kaori, Tadashi becomes infected and is attached to a custom made walking machine by Koyanagi. The machine later turns against Koyanagi and kills him before escaping. ''' ''': Tadashi's girlfriend. She has an extremely sensitive nose and becomes very jealous when Tadashi is near other women. Due to her overly sensitive nose, she seems to be able to smell the creatures when they are nearby. However, she is later infected, causing her body to swell up and forces the gas with the "death stench" out of her body. Because of this, she began to think she was disgusting, that Tadashi wouldn't love her if she wasn't beautiful. This, along with the horrible stench, made her attempt to commit suicide. Tadashi then immediately carries her to his uncle Koyanagi's lab for aid, however Koyanagi rigs her up to a custom walking machine and ultimately, she becomes like the walking dead creatures, except with a will of her own. As a walking machine, she is eventually destroyed by a horde of other walking machines that deem the custom walker to be a threat to their survival. In the OVA adaptation, Kaori is switched with Tadashi as the main protagonist. She also possesses the unexplained immunity to the infected creatures' poisons instead of Tadashi. ''' ''': Tadashi's uncle and an inventor. He discovers it was his father, who died of a heart attack in a factory during a hot summer, was responsible for the creation of the mechanical legs. While dissecting the fish, the legs then clamp onto his arm. He cuts off his arm to prevent the infection from spreading to the rest of his body. He is fascinated by the machine, not caring that he lost an arm to it. He then creates his own version of the walking machine and puts the infected Kaori onto it. He is mortally wounded when he is stabbed by Kaori's walking machine. He then goes to Lab #2 where his father originally died and places himself onto another walking machine that is able to fly. When he notices Tadashi and Ms. Yoshiyama interacting, he attacks them both and captures her. In the OVA version, Koyanagi is shown as an antagonist who went insane and connected an infected Tadashi to the custom Walker. ''' ''': Assistant of Doctor Koyanagi, who cares for him and Tadashi. When she was seen with Tadashi by Kaori, Kaori tried to attack her. Ms. Yoshiyama then ran outside where she was captured by the Mechanical Koyanagi. She does not appear in the OVA adaptation. '''The Citrous Circus''': A circus troupe who establish themselves in Tokyo following the growing death stench pandemic. While most of the troupe and its animals have been infected by the disease, the seemingly immune ringmaster uses the infected and their walking machines to perform acrobatic shows, and appears to have gone insane as a result of learning of the Death Stench's true nature. Shortly after Koyanagi's flying machine is activated, the Citrous Circus attempts to use a cannon to bring down the machine, but to no avail. '''The Students''': A group of biology students from Kyoto University, who are immune to the Death Stench disease. Introduced at the very end of the story, Tadashi met them after the Citrous Circus attempted to attack Doctor Koyanagi's flying machine. After explaining their immunity, it is revealed by the group that the virus responsible for the Death Stench is constructing walking machines from iron-rich shipwrecks, and that they are researching a vaccine that could be capable of stopping the growing pandemic. Tadashi chooses to join the students following this discovery. ''' ''': A freelance videographer, appears only in the OVA adaption, Kaori met him in the airplane to Tokyo. Follows Kaori just to get to the location of doctor Koyanagi to get his research data. Got infected at the end of the anime before sending Kaori away to a group of survivors. ''' ''': Friend of Kaori, appears only in the OVA adaption. She is meek and slightly overweight and feels unattractive, appears to be bullied by Erika. Turned into a walker at the end of the anime. *''' ''': Friend of Kaori, appears only in the OVA adaption, an outgoing and attractive girl who has no difficulty attracting other men, and appears to be picking on Aki all the time. She gets infected by the walking fish early on. During a fight, Aki bludgeoned her to death with an ashtray, but she appears to be alive again later on.

The Network broadcasts entertainment to the planets of the Meson system: Sixteen channels worth, and for the citizens of poverty-stricken Torrok, television offers the only escape from a horrible reality. Angela, from Torrok, leaps at the opportunity to travel to the Network, alongside a strange hermit called the Doctor. However, all is not well on the space station: A soap star has killed his wife's lover; the robotic cast of Timeriders are performing random abductions, and a deadly new game show is about to begin transmission.

The Doctor has built a machine designed to predict the future, and it shows the Brigadier murdering him and Jo. Unable to tell when this is destined to occur, the Doctor and Jo decide to stay apart. Jo is sent to the war-ravaged Arab nation of Kebiria, but upon arrival, she is immediately arrested and sent to a brutal political prison. And that's not all: deep in the North African desert, an alien infestation is rapidly growing and threatens to overrun the entire planet.

The ruling Knights of Kuabris strive to maintain order in the city as horrid creatures emerge from the sewers. While Jamie languishes in the dungeons, and Zoe is sold into slavery, the Doctor is forced to lead an subterranean expedition for the mythic Menagerie of Ukkazaal. Could the ancient prophecies be coming true?

It is 1998, and the information age is about to take off. However, mysterious events are plaguing London. A prominent spy is killed. A hostage situation is bizarrely resolved. The Doctor receives a computer disc from a dead man. And to top it all off, it seems that an alien race is planning a takeover using Earth's ever expanding computer technology.

Elbyon is an incredible world of fantasy and magic: here, elves and dwarves live in harmony with man, wizards casts powerful spells, and knights slay dragons. Yet for all that, it seems Elbyon has secrets of its own: The TARDIS crew discover a relic from the 13th century in the woods, and become embroiled in the sinister machinations that threaten both the peace of the land, as well as the fate of the entire galaxy.

Earth has been invaded twice: first, many millennia ago by beings searching for a new energy source, and then more recently, by alien marauders known as the Cat-People, who intend to finish the job. To stop them, the newly regenerated Doctor, along with Ben and Polly, teams up with a group of amateur ghost-hunters and a white witch on an expansive journey that takes them from twentieth-century Cumbria, to the Arabian deserts and Australia from 40,000 years ago.

The plot concerns a world where traditional super-heroes once existed, but have since been killed by oppressive robotic beings who rule what is now a totalitarian society. Several teenage delinquents are poking around a superhero graveyard one day when they find artifacts - boots among them - that grant the kids powers. Together, they set out to restore order to their world, though their decisions are affected by their youthful nature - and unlike the Silver Age comics it draws on, this dystopian world has no tolerance for mistakes.

''Tagline: When all the heroes are gone, who will fill their shoes?''

The TARDIS lands in post-revolutionary France, but something is off: a futuristic structure called the New Bastille towers over a twisted version of Paris, ruled over by the tyrannical First Deputy Minski, adopted son of the infamous Marquis de Sade. An ailing Doctor is arrested as a curfew breaker, Dodo is recruited by a group of wandering players with less than decent intentions, and in the dungeons of the Bastille, one called Prisoner 6 cannot remember who he is. Outside space and time, aliens watch as their experiment begins to go wrong.

Summer, 1930. London is in a heatwave. The Doctor, Romana and K-9 come to holiday but uncover time pollution locally. What connects the isolated Sussex resort of Nutchurch with a secret society? What is the involvement of millionaire Hepworth Stackhouse? And what is the deadly green vapour?

While stealing a priceless work of art from the Palace Theatre Museum, thief Lucas Seyton, the Fallen Angel, stumbles across another robbery in progress. He is unable to prevent the thieves from killing the caretaker and making off with another exhibit, but he does find a clue: a matchbook from the Club Do-San in Shanghai, which is owned by a friend of his. In Shanghai, policeman Sung-Chi Li spots a beautiful young woman with a small child leaving an opium den he has just raided but loses them outside. Inside the den, he finds the body of a European male who appears to have been stabbed to death, but the blood trail which indicates he was killed somewhere other than this room leads straight to a solid wall. While searching the den for further clues, Li finds a dockworker's pass for Gongpinglu Wharf and decides to lead a team there to investigate further. Meanwhile, the vigilante Yan Cheh follows the fleeing woman Hsien-Ko and her associate Kwok to the Nang Tao airfield, where he loses sight of them; however, in his identity as the club owner Woo, he learns that Kwok is to meet with a German named Vogler at Gongpinglu Wharf later that night, and decides to investigate in person.

The Tracer directs the TARDIS to Shanghai in the year 1934, but it is giving off very strange readings, and the three segments which the Doctor and Romana have already collected are glowing in an unusual manner. The Doctor, questioning whether two segments of the Key would be located on the same planet, follows the trace to Nang Tao airport, where they find an abandoned car with blood in the back seat and a knife made of an alloy that has not yet been invented on Earth. The Doctor soon determines that the Tracer is picking up another source of chronon radiation which is not related to the Key to Time, but since he can't locate the fourth Segment until the interference is dealt with, he and Romana must remain to investigate. They trace the radiation source to Gongpinglu Wharf, where Li is about to move in on Kwok and Hsien-Ko as they purchase smuggled German weapons from Vogler. Their unexpected arrival startles Li into ordering his team into action prematurely, and Hsien-Ko and Kwok thus escape, killing Vogler to prevent him from identifying them. Li arrests the Doctor and Romana, and when the Doctor's fingerprints prove to match some found on the abandoned car, he charges them with the murder of the man from the opium den. The dead man has now been positively identified as the caretaker of the Palace Museum in London—which is impossible, as he was spotted alive in London one hour before his body was found in Shanghai.

The Doctor summons K9 for help, and K9 arrives just in time to save them from bandits who materialize out of thin air in the police cells and attempt to kill them. The Doctor studies the stunned bandits and finds that they are all footsoldiers from the Tong of the Black Scorpion and that they are carrying geomantic compasses embossed with the blood of a young woman. The Doctor modifies K9 to seek the signature of the chronon radiation he is seeking, and K9 leads him and Romana to the opium den, just as Kwok arrives to retrieve the Tong's abandoned altar and Li arrives in search of more clues. The Doctor and Romana steal a car to pursue Kwok, and Li sets off in pursuit of them all. Kwok uses his geomantic compass to transport his truck elsewhere instantaneously, but the pursuing cars are swept up in the currents behind him and the chase continues, until a Japanese bomber strafes the city and the Doctor's "borrowed" car is buried under the rubble. Li pulls the Doctor out of the wreckage and arrests him, leaving Romana for dead, but Romana is rescued by Woo and taken back to his nightclub to recover. Woo explains that as a vigilante he protects the ordinary people of Shanghai both from the Tongs and their corrupt government. Thanks to his friend Lucas Seyton he has learned of the Black Scorpion's apparent ability to cross great distances instantly, and he needs to know how this is possible. Romana agrees to help him, and she releases K9 from the wreckage of their car and sends him to inform the Doctor of their new ally.

Li questions the Doctor and comes to believe in his innocence, but he is still a stickler for law and order and has no intention of releasing the Doctor until he has been found innocent by a court of law. Nevertheless, he concedes that only the Doctor can help him learn how the Tong have learned to travel as they do. When K9 tracks down the Doctor, the Doctor has him analyse the genetic structure of the blood on the geomantic compass and locate its source. K9 leads the Doctor and Li to a mansion outside the city, where they are captured while trying to break in, and are brought before Hsien-Ko, who seems to recognize the Doctor, or at least his reputation. Knowing him to be dangerous, but believing that he can be made to understand why she is doing what she is, she orders Kwok to take him through the Dragon Paths and strand him in the Orkney Islands; by the time he returns to Shanghai by more conventional means, her plan will be complete. Kwok agrees to do so, but he is in love with Hsien-Ko and intends to kill the Doctor to ensure that he does not pose a threat to her. Meanwhile, Hsien-Ko continues to lay the groundwork for her great plan, stealing Japanese military supplies and transporting them through the Dragon Paths, and using the creature she stole from the Palace Museum to murder a Japanese military official and thus delay the advance of a brigade which would have threatened her position near the Jade Emperor.

The Doctor and Li are taken to a quarry where the Tong is moving their stolen armaments through one of the Dragon Paths, but they manage to overpower their guard and escape. Li returns to the mansion to arrest Hsien-Ko but is attacked by the thing she stole from the Palace Museum, the killer automaton known as Mr Sin, and barely escapes with his life. Li flees back to the quarry, where he hides aboard a truck and is transported to the Jade Emperor, the temple at the sacred mountain of T'ai Shan. There, he is recaptured, but Hsien-Ko decides to keep him alive as a hostage to ensure the Doctor's good behaviour should he show up again. She has also stolen the TARDIS to ensure that the Doctor cannot escape. The Doctor returns to Shanghai, where he finds his way to Woo's nightclub and is reunited with Romana. Woo has heard Kwok's name mentioned in a conversation about the movement of a Japanese brigade, and the Doctor takes them to question the colonel in charge, only to be recaptured by Hsien-Ko. Hsien-Ko takes Romana to the Jade Emperor as another hostage while leaving Mr Sin to guard the Doctor and Woo, but before leaving she tells the Doctor that she is the daughter of Li H'Sen Chang, a former servant of Magnus Greel and that despite appearances, she is over 65 years old.

The Doctor and Woo overpower Sin and their guards, but as they escape K9 reports that he has detected the presence of uranium in the vicinity. The Doctor realizes that Hsien-Ko intends to use a nuclear reactor to increase the power of the Dragon Paths, and works out how they are being used. The arrival of Greel's Time Cabinet must have irradiated the young Hsien-Ko with chronon particles, explaining her slow ageing; and the zygma beam which powers the Cabinet is still intersecting Earth's natural telluric currents, enabling Hsien-Ko to tap into them and move instantly along their paths. If Hsien-Ko focuses a nuclear reaction through the telluric currents, she will short out the zygma beam and release fifty years of accumulated energy—enough to use the Dragon Paths to travel anywhere in time and space. But in doing so she will cause the Time Cabinet to materialize here and now, creating a temporal paradox centred upon Hsien-Ko herself and unleashing Magnus Greel upon the world of the 1930s.

Romana is surprised when Hsien-Ko allows her to move freely about T'ai Shan, but Hsien-Ko is convinced that her cause is honourable and believes that Romana will come to understand this if she is allowed to find out the truth for herself. Hsien-Ko is using a nuclear reactor she has constructed from the stolen Japanese supplies to supplement the mountain's natural piezoelectric qualities, the very qualities which first drew the Time Cabinet to the Temple of the Jade Emperor and convinced the Tong that his materialization heralded the arrival of Weng-Chiang. Hsien-Ko has promised the Tong that she will restore their god to them, but she admits to Romana that she knows the truth; Magnus Greel is a madman who deceived her father, and it was only due to the Doctor's intervention that Chang died an honourable death. But if this is so, why is she trying to rescue him?

As the Doctor and Woo prepare to set off for T'ai Shan, the Doctor realizes that Woo is Japanese, and Woo admits that he wishes to overthrow the military officers who now rule his country. He and the Doctor charter a plane to take them to the railway which leads to T'ai Shan, and on the way, they and K9 fight off another attack from Mr Sin, who uses the Dragon Paths to board their plane mid-flight. When Mr Sin returns, Hsien-Ko sends a squadron of guards through the Dragon Paths to the airfield where the Doctor and Woo are about to land, but Romana accompanies the guards and helps the Doctor and Woo to fight them off. Romana then leads the Doctor, Woo and K9 to T'ai Shen, where they are recaptured in any case. Woo is taken to be locked up while Hsien-Ko shows the Doctor her achievements and explains her true agenda; knowing Greel to be an unworthy god who used and discarded Chang, she intends to avenge her father's death by torturing Greel for eternity. The Doctor tries to convince her that she will only succeed in creating a temporal paradox that will destroy her, and urges her not to squander her impressive intellect on a misplaced desire for revenge. Hsien-Ko, infuriated, orders Kwok to lock up the Doctor and Romana as well. The reaction has begun and is now self-sustaining; soon she will be able to intercept the zygma beam and bring Greel to her. Meanwhile, K9, left at the base of the mountain, must climb the 7000 stone steps to the temple to rejoin the Doctor and Romana.

Li kills his guard and escapes, but instead of contacting his superiors, he attempts to contact the Japanese to tell them what he has discovered. He has served the Japanese since 1932, seeing in their society order and structure he desires in his own. Sin locates him and cuts the power cable to the transmitter, but while trying to escape Li strikes Sin down with the live end of the cable. Hsien-Ko, momentarily stunned by the surge of power through her link to Sin, sends Kwok to find and kill Li but then discovers that due to the power surge she can no longer control Sin's bloodlust. Kwok and his men run into Sin in the corridors, and Kwok is forced to flee for his life when Sin begins slaughtering them indiscriminately. Sin then pursues Li to the turbine control room, where Li, unaware of the danger, fires at him with a German grenade launcher and hits the reactor turbines. As the reaction starts to run out of control, Li flees and warns the approaching guards, none of whom are aware of the situation, that Hsien-Ko has betrayed them. As the reactor control room begins to fill with radioactive steam, many of the guards turn on each other, and a battle breaks out between members of the Tong, who no longer understand what is happening or who can be trusted.

The Doctor and Romana escape and join Hsien-Ko in the reactor control room, where she is shamed when the Doctor risks his life to repair the damage and prevent the reactor from becoming a nuclear bomb. He succeeds but finds that the chain-reaction explosions have damaged the structure of the mountain and its natural piezoelectric properties will now be enough to divert Greel's Time Cabinet. He and Romana try to return to the TARDIS, but are attacked by Mr Sin on the way; however, this time they are able to destroy it. Despite the Doctor's efforts to convince her otherwise, Hsien-Ko still intends to punish Greel for his deeds and goes to the Temple with Kwok to await his arrival, but just as the Doctor had predicted, the arrival of the Time Cabinet creates a temporal paradox centred upon Hsien-Ko. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to expel the Time Cabinet back into the zygma beam, and it completes its journey but the temporal feedback is shorted through Hsien-Ko's body, and she is incinerated before the horrified Kwok's eyes. Kwok tries to kill the Doctor, but K9 arrives and stuns him in the nick of time. Woo encounters and shoots Li, but he has become sickened of violence and decides to spend the rest of his days as an ordinary nightclub owner. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to bury the reactor under fast-drying concrete so the Japanese will not find it, and he and Romana set off on their quest once again, as Hsien-Ko's death means that the chronon interference has cleared up. But Kwok remains alive, and, blaming the Doctor for Hsien-Ko's death, he vows to avenge her.

Much time has passed since the Doctor's first visit to the Web Planet, and he returns to find a very different world: it's in the middle of an interplanetary war between opposing factions in a divided people. To restore peace, the Doctor must resolve an ideological conflict, solve the paradox of life on Vortis, and finally, face the ones called ´Gods of Light´.

The TARDIS lands on Nooma, a world in the midst of an industrial revolution. But the Doctor, Jo and Mike Yates quickly discover more: The sky is at war with the ground, with continents moving and somewhere, a starship has a role to play. Mike finds himself in a life or death fight, Jo is caught in a laborers' rebellion, and the Doctor must uncover what is happening to Nooma before the struggle for survival destroys all...

The TARDIS materialises in London, the date November 1605. While Ian and Barbara set off for the Globe Theatre, Vicki accompanies the Doctor on a mysterious mission to the court of King James. What is the link between the King's adviser, Robert Cecil, with the hooded figure called 'the Spaniard'? Why is the Doctor so anxious to observe the translation of the Bible? And what is brewing in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament?

In the disintegrating cosmopolitan society Habitat on Dramos, the situation is dire. Humans and aliens tensions are set to explode, barely kept in check by the Church of Adjudication, who through their OBERON system control all. Corruption of many kinds runs through Dramos, including its people, human and alien alike – mutating into something that could consume their world. And with the Doctor imprisoned and on trial, he may not be able to stop it...

The TARDIS crew have been separated: Sarah is marooned on a slave world, Harry is in the middle of an interplanetary invasion, and the Doctor lands on a world without a name and his memory wiped. Why have they been scattered, and what is the interest of the Time Lords in this sector of space? Possibly an ultimate device of death somewhere within.

The Darkheart is a faded neutron star surrounded by dead worlds. Except one: the last enclave of the Earth Empire, and as the rest of the galaxy enjoys the fruits of the fledgling Federation, these isolated Imperials hide a horrifying secret.

The TARDIS crew arrive to find that the Federation has come to reintegrate this lost colony. But all is not well in the Federation camp: allegiances shift, the fierce Veltrochni have vengeful plans of their own, and another time traveller is manipulating the mission for his own mysterious reasons - a true master of his craft, and a face the Doctor has not forgotten.

The Deep Space Nine crew enjoys a new holosuite program featuring a 1960s Las Vegas lounge singer named Vic Fontaine, who has been programmed with awareness that he is a hologram. Vic displays keen insights into the crew's relationships; he begins to comment on the relationship between Odo and Kira, but stops himself. While Kira travels to Bajor to meet with her ex-lover Shakaar Edon, Odo visits Vic to inquire further.

Vic observes that Odo clearly is in love with Kira, but is afraid to pursue her, whereas Kira likes him but considers him only a friend. Vic claims that Odo's biggest obstacle is his reserved, aloof personality, and suggests he needs to "have some fun". He has Odo perform on piano during one of Vic's shows, and then arranges a double date with a pair of holographic women. Odo begins to feel more relaxed in his day-to-day life. Later, Vic arranges an encounter with "Lola", a holographic singer made to look like Kira, but Odo is dissatisfied at her lack of Kira's personality, and knowing that he is only comfortable with her because he knows she's a hologram, becomes frustrated and leaves.

Vic, determined to take matters into his own hands, invites Kira to dinner, supposedly on Odo's behalf. Vic then persuades Odo to come to the holosuite to see a "new and improved" Kira hologram. Odo and Kira share a romantic date and a dance at Vic's club, but when Vic reveals to Odo that his date is with the real Kira, not a hologram, Odo leaves, angered and embarrassed.

The next day, Kira confronts Odo, insisting they need to discuss what happened over dinner, "anywhere but a holosuite". Odo asks whether Shakaar would object to that, believing she is still seeing him, but Kira tells him her trip was strictly business, and that she isn't romantically involved with anyone. Odo sarcastically asks, if they have dinner, whether she would also like a dance afterward, and a kiss; Kira heatedly responds that she might. Odo declares "Well, then, who needs dinner? Why don't I just get it over with and kiss you right now?" Kira replies, "Well, why don't you?" and Odo grabs her and kisses her passionately. Later, Odo stops by the Holodeck to thank Vic for his help.

After dispatching and killing all terrorists, helping all officials (and keeps all the officials alive, along with the innocents) and saving all innocents in all these areas, the player(s) is (are) sent to a Boeing 747 that has been hijacked. The player(s) must fight their way to the cockpit in order to stop the terrorists from performing a suicide attack on the White House. If the player(s) succeeds to killing all the terrorists, helping all officials while successfully keeping them all alive, saving all innocents, and stops the White House suicide attack. the president then says that he and the whole world thanks the player for their courage and bravery of stopping the terrorists, calls the player(s) a hero, and also says "It's because of heroes like yourselves, that this country is a safe place for democracy and the American way of life". On the Wii version the speech abruptly cuts to static. However in the original arcade version the speech is interrupted by terrorists, who capture the president and shoot the player(s). Regardless of platform, the ending is followed by a “To Be Continued” screen, but no continuation or sequel was ever created.

Miles and Keiko O'Brien (Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao) take their children to the planet Golana for a picnic. While playing, eight-year-old Molly (Hana Hatae) falls into an abandoned time portal, which closes after Molly passes through. It sends her 300 years into the past, to a time when the planet was uninhabited. The crew of Deep Space Nine helps the O'Briens recover Molly, using transporter technology to lock onto her signal once they are able to open the portal again. However, they find the portal has opened at a different time, and the Molly they rescue is now 18 years old and feral after having survived on her own for ten years in the planet's past. Molly is brought back to the station, and placed in a special habitat made to resemble the planet, to allow the O'Briens to try to reconnect with their daughter.

Molly slowly comes to remember her parents, but still is barely controllable and confined to the boundaries of the habitat. She asks her parents to take her "home", but when they bring her back to their apartment she makes it clear that she means she wants to be returned to Golana. Her parents take her to a simulation of Golana in a holosuite, to which she responds positively; but when the simulation is deactivated, Molly becomes violent. Starfleet informs the O'Briens that it plans to put Molly into a mental institution, a situation that neither Miles nor Keiko believes is ideal for Molly. With help from a sympathetic Odo (René Auberjonois), Miles and Keiko return Molly to the portal on Golana, with the intention of destroying it to prevent Starfleet from finding her. After Miles and Keiko say their goodbyes, Molly returns through the portal but encounters her younger self, only a short time after she had fallen through. The older Molly points her younger self back through the portal; as soon as the younger Molly passes through, the older Molly disappears. Molly reappears moments before Miles is about to destroy the portal, and the family happily reunites.

In a side plot, Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) offers to look after Molly's one-year-old brother Yoshi; her husband Worf (Michael Dorn) volunteers to care for the child, hoping to prove his parenting skills to Dax. When Yoshi bumps his head, Worf condemns himself as an unfit parent, but he is mollified when Dax tells him Yoshi learned one of the Klingon games Worf taught him.

The Federation plans to deliver several replicators through Deep Space Nine to Cardassia following attacks by the Klingons that debilitated the Cardassian industrial base. Eddington briefs DS9's command staff that Starfleet fears that the shipment will be intercepted by the Maquis. Eddington and Security Chief Odo warn Captain Sisko that they believe his girlfriend, Kasidy Yates, is working with the Maquis. Sisko is reluctant to believe them, but after Yates refuses to allow her cargo to be inspected, he instructs Lieutenant Commander Worf to follow Yates' ship, the ''Xhosa'', in the ''Defiant''. Worf confirms that the ''Xhosa'' delivered supplies to a Maquis ship in a region of space known as the Badlands.

Eddington tells Sisko he is unwilling to take responsibility for arresting Yates, so Sisko takes command of the ''Defiant'' to follow the ''Xhosa'' to its next rendezvous with the Maquis. When no Maquis ship arrives, Odo suggests this operation might have been a ruse to lure Sisko away from Deep Space Nine. Sisko confronts Yates on the ''Xhosa''. She claims she has only been delivering medical supplies to the Maquis, and was told that today's delivery was urgent. Fearing deception, Sisko lets Yates go and sets course back to Deep Space Nine.

Meanwhile, in Sisko's absence, Eddington orders Deep Space Nine's security crew to transfer the replicators to a waiting ship. After rendering second-in-command Major Kira unconscious, he removes his badge and flees the station. When Sisko returns, Eddington contacts him to acknowledge his defection to the Maquis and promise further trouble if the Federation aids the Cardassians. Sisko vows to capture and arrest Eddington himself. Later, Yates returns to the station alone, having left her crew in the Badlands, to turn herself in. Sisko and Yates have an emotional embrace before she is taken to the brig.

In a side plot, Tora Ziyal, the half-Bajoran daughter of the former Cardassian prefect of Bajor, Gul Dukat, attempts to befriend the exiled Cardassian spy-turned-tailor Elim Garak. Garak fears that Ziyal has been instructed to kill him, since Garak was responsible for the torture and death of Dukat's father years ago. Ultimately she persuades Garak that she is merely interested in being his friend, as the only other Cardassian on Deep Space Nine.