''Evasive Space'' focuses on the character Konki, the Stellar Guardian, who must regain the Constellation Stones from Dr. Dark Matter and his band of space thieves. By recovering the scattered stones, Konki can restore light to the galaxy. The story plays out across 20 levels divided into four different environments.

Daffy Duck drives to Mexico for a vacation, and after a harrowing experience with the local cuisine that literally sets his mouth afire, Daffy goes to a bullfight ring to observe the spectacle. When Daffy jeers at the bull, the horned beast removes the clothes from the human matador and puts them on Daffy as a challenge to the duck to fight the bull in the ring. Daffy foils the bull with a proposed wager on a hat trick, betting the bull to guess which of three sombreros Daffy is hiding under. Daffy sees to it that the bull guesses wrong and supplies a machine gun for the impoverished bull to commit suicide. The bull realizes that he is being fooled and, firing the machine gun, chases Daffy out of the bullfight ring. Daffy scrambles to his car to leave Mexico, thinking he has escaped the belligerent bull. But the bull is riding in the back seat of Daffy's vehicle, unbeknownst to Daffy.

''Still I Rise'' begins with an introduction by Charles Johnson about black cartoonists and the subjects they dealt with. The book uses two elderly narrators, one male and one female, to take the reader through time. The female narrator has a bit of black nationalism, while the male narrator has a more balanced view of America in terms of race relations. The book beings to depict African American history starting in 1618. Around this time, in an effort to stem the rising cost of European indentured servants, Africans willing to indenture themselves were starting to be imported. These African servants did very well for themselves because they were more skilled than their European counterparts. The success of the African Americans sparked resentment in white indentured servants and free whites, who disliked the idea of a black man ordering around a white man. Due to their success, Africans started to buy out their contracts, which prompted owners to illegally lengthen African contracts to ban the buy-out problem. The action of the owners angered the African American servants, causing many of them to try and resort to the legal system or simply running away. However, neither of these options worked, and those who ran away had their contracts extended indefinitely. Running out of options, the black servants resorted to rebellion in the form of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. However, the rebellion was put down, and by 1677 slavery was official in all the colonies, with brutal overseers being hired to keep the slaves in line. ''Still I Rise'' continues through the history of slavery, outlining ways in which the slaves coped (or didn't cope) with their lot, as well as the hard-won successes of free blacks such as Benjamin Banneker, who "built the first striking clock wholly of American-made parts.Rothschild, Aviva. The Comics Get Serious. 2001. 18 November 2008 http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/StillIRise.html From the beginning of the cartoon narrative, every major American black political movement, historical event, and organization is covered, as well as the achievements of African American inventors and businesspeople.

In 1960, five teenagers began their new journey as students in St. George Catholic School. Chaidan (“Chai”) — a scholarship-funded boy originated from northern part of Thailand; Ghulsolsang (“Ghul”) — an avid photographer, searching for freedom; Sihnsamuth (“Sihn”) — sensitive and allergic; Pongketh ("Pong") — a good-looking student; and Traisoon (“Trai”) — who sees this school as a platform for him seeking popularity and becoming influential figure.

The freshies came from different backgrounds: from a wealthy family, a politician family, and a famous family; son of a military officer, a high rank officer, a civil servant, and a school alumnus.

The boys began flourished attraction with a picture of Prince Daovadueng Sila, an alumnus whose come with reputable as excellent student but raised a question why only a young picture of him was displayed. They began to dig for more information about him from the school's yearbook of 1952. They found out he was dead by suicide.

Unsatisfied with the limited resources, they began investigate the real reason behind the pronounce-suicide. Even Mr Choo, the long servant school janitor claimed that he had shot himself. The boys befriended Numkang, the daughter of fierce Mr Sawaeng ("Waeng"), the school bad-tempered teacher. Father Theodore also stated that Prince Daovadueng committed suicide.

One night they decided to use an Ouija board with inclusion of Numkang, who admired the late prince. By hailing the spirit of Prince Daovadueng and ask him about the actual reason behind his death, the cause of his death was not suicide, instead he had been murdered. Without their knowledge, the broken planchette releases the spirit of Chatta, the evil spirit of a boy who had been bullied, mentally and physically by his school mates.

Possessed-Sihnsamuth begins ignoring the investigations and shows no further interest. He also pursues them to abandon the research. One night after sneaking out to meet Numkang, Trai climbs to a hostel dorm and tries to get in through the bedroom window with help of a stranger's hand, before slipping and falling to his death. Chai and Ghu wonder why in the 1952 registration book, out of 116 admission there were no record of Daovadeung and other students, only 110 of them are listed. Although in the school's hall of fame, Daovadeung was dubbed as one of the school's best student.

Chatta possesses the body of weak Sihnsamuth to kill all the seniors that treat other students badly, electrocuting Tee and violently stabbing Joe with axe. In a flashback it is revealed that Chatta also killed his schoolmates by shooting randomly and Daovadeung was one of them. He dug graves to bury them but was found out by Mr Choo and before being captured, he shot himself.

Possessed Sihnsamuth accuses his friends of being murderers and practicing black magic. Afterwards, he kills the seniors and a female teacher. That night, father Theodore recalled his mistake for ignoring Chatta who pleaded of senior misconduct which led to his mental breakdown and eventually seeking revenge.

They finally save Numkang from being buried alive by Chatta/Sihnsamuth. They use St George spear from a statue and with help of Daovadeung's spirit their manage to kill Sihnsamuth possessed by Chatta. After the tragedy, Mr Choo makes a false confession before dying, taking all the blame. The wolfpack finish their school together with better tradition and friendly approached as senior. Father Theodore dies and Brother Vivad took his seat.

Sora Kurumatani made a promise to his mother, "I will dominate my first high school tournament". But as he joins the basketball club after entering Kuzuryū High School, he finds out that it's become a stomping ground for delinquents. A place where everything but basketball is done, but with Sora's genuine zeal for basketball, things begin to stir.

J.F. receives a harmonica from friend for her birthday and ends up learning to play it. She becomes quite good and this skill becomes useful after she ends up falling in love with her poetry teacher. She then attempts to raise $1000 to help her teacher return to England to finish his Master's thesis.

Born on the voyage to America to his French father and Italian mother, Daniel Lavette grows up helping his father on a fishing boat. Tragedy strikes early one morning, however, when Dan wakes early to prepare the boat. The great San Francisco earthquake destroys vast swathes of the city including the small apartment where his parents were sleeping. Following a traumatic three days spent ferrying passengers across the bay to Oakland, he is taken in by friends of his father. The two immigrant families of Italian and Jewish origin use the money earned from the ferrying to start a financial empire and a bank, the Bank of Sonoma.

Although Dan Lavette becomes quite rich, he does not stop. He wants to become a multimillionaire and has many ideas in mind. He is an entrepreneur and seeks to find his place among the rich businessmen on Nob Hill. He asks for a loan from the larger Seldon Bank in San Francisco, but the owner declines it. During that meeting, Dan meets Jean, the exquisitely beautiful daughter of the owner, and both are smitten with each other. Soon after, they are married, against the will of Jean's mother, who looks down on immigrants and those of poor pedigree.

Dan Lavette grows increasingly wealthy, but his happiness is short-lived. After they have two children, Jean ceases to love him and grows cold to his advances. Dan hired a Chinese bookkeeper, Feng Wo, to assist him at the start of his business dealings, but only receives an invitation for dinner at Wo's house after several years. Because Jean shares her mother's distaste for other ethnicities, Dan attends alone. At the dinner, Dan enjoys the company of Wo's daughter, May Ling, laughing and feeling more at ease than he had since his first days with Jean. After visiting her a few times at the library where she works, Dan falls in love with May Ling. They engage in an affair and they have a child together. So that she may have all of his energies to herself, May Ling wants him to divorce Jean. Dan broaches the idea to Jean, but is flatly declined as divorce is not something the Seldon family participates in. Even after she discovers the affair and has trysts of her own, she will not divorce him and holds onto the marriage as a ploy for leverage.

The empire Dan started with his friend, Mark Levy, of his fishing boats and Levy's goods store, continues to grow. The Levy and Lavette Company (later L&L Shipping) get into the business of shipping bulk cargo and profit from assisting the Allied cause during World War I. Sensing the end of the war, Dan convinces Mark to sell the cargo ships. Doing so before the cargo market collapses, the company greatly profits and uses the money to start to a classy department store. Adding to this, the pair diversify by adding luxury cruise liners and begin building a hotel on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. They also begin one of the first airlines of the west coast. Impressed with the raging stock market of the late 1920s, the duo issue shares to list their company on the exchange and begin playing the market on margin. This bubble bursts in the Crash of 1929 that begins the Great Depression. Many banks close, including The Bank of Sonoma, started by his lifelong Italian friend with the proceeds of the earthquake ferry service. Unable to honor his deposits due to the bank run, his friend dies of a heart attack. His Jewish compatriot and business partner, Levy, also dies soon after hearing of his daughter's death. Following this tragic news, Dan grows sullen. When May Ling gives him an ultimatum to divorce Jean or lose her and his son, Dan cannot act and May Ling moves to Los Angeles. As the heir to and subsequent chairwoman of the Seldon Bank, Jean calls the loans that are keeping Levy and Lavette afloat. Although Jean offers him a position as head of the remains of the company, Dan cannot accept her handout and refuses. Jean grants his request for a divorce and he signs away his share of their communal assets. Bereft of all his money and torn inside by the emotional destruction of his world, Dan wanders the streets as a vagabond in search of work and even spends three months in prison after fighting off some muggers. When a former employee and boat owner gives him a meal and a job, Dan returns to his first love as a fisherman. Having finally grown up, Dan rises from the depths of his humiliation to seek out May Ling. Venturing to Los Angeles, he meets May Ling and they are finally married. At the close of the story, Dan and Jean's daughter visits and begins rekindling a relationship with her father.

After the complete destruction of Count Dracula, his vampiric blood arrives in Japan, where a young scientist who is researching vampires hides it in a hospital for later experiments.

At the same time, Shutaro Ishikawa, who works for a pharmaceutical company, discovers a scandal, but is killed before he can make it public. In the hospital, he accidentally receives some of Dracula's blood. The young scientist tells the daughter of Shutaro to drop blood on his ashes to allow him to revive.

One year later, Shutaro is reborn as a vampire. After some familiarization with his situation and help from his daughter and the scientist, his goal is to avenge his murder by feasting on the blood of the strong and virile.

In 1943, British Intelligence in Cairo recruits criminal mastermind Roberto Rocca, demolitions expert and Irish Republican Army member Terence Scanlon, forger Simon Fell, cold-blooded murderer John Durrell, and thief and impersonator Jean Saval for a dangerous mission. The men are offered pardons in exchange for attempting to rescue an Italian general sympathetic to the Allies who is imprisoned in German-occupied Yugoslavia. The group is led by Major Richard Mace, who is trying to expiate his feelings of guilt for sending his own brother on a dangerous mission and waiting too long to extricate him. The fishing boat transporting Mace's team is stopped by a patrol boat, but they dispose of the Germans.

With the assistance of local partisans led by Marko, they split up and enter Dubrovnik. Durrell is partnered with Mila, a recent widow with a baby. They are attracted to each other, but Durrell becomes extremely distraught when he accidentally smothers her crying child to avoid detection by a German patrol. The team is captured and taken to the same fortress where the Italian general is being kept. They are tortured for information, but manage to escape and fulfill their mission, although Mace, Mila, Fell, Scanlon and Saval are killed while fending off German troops.

At the last minute, Rocca and Durrell discover that the man they have freed is an impostor, and he is about to exhort "his" troops to stay loyal to the Axis. Durrell pretends to be a Nazi fanatic and shoots the fake general; he is killed by the outraged Italians. Rocca, the last man standing, directs the Italians' anger to the Germans.

Seoul, 1937. Lee Hae-myeong is a rich and hedonistic playboy who cares little for the Japanese colonization of his homeland. But things change when he falls in love with bar singer Jo Nan-sil, who turns out to be a member of the Korean independence movement.

Yang Mi-sook is an unpopular and frumpy high school Russian teacher, who has a habit of going red in the face. For ten years she has been harbouring a crush on Seo Jong-cheol, her former teacher and now married colleague, though he is more interested in pretty new teacher Lee Yoo-ri. Mi-sook tries to put a halt to this blossoming romance, forming an unlikely alliance with Jong-cheol's daughter, Jong-hee.

Mr. Fabiano has a substitute teacher who calls in sick on April 28. When his class arrives, they discover that their substitute teacher has not shown up. The class decides they will not report this to administration and decide to run the classroom by themselves. The students follow the instructions left by their teacher, and all goes fairly smoothly. However, at the end of the day, during a special assembly when all of the teachers are supposed to come up on stage, the class is discovered when they only had a little time left of the school day.

Characters Mr. Fabiano — a handsome and beloved sixth grade teacher. Rachel White — The de facto protagonist, Rachel has been mute for six months since a classmate (Tommy Feathers) who had a crush on her died six months earlier, the day after she told him off. Bastian Fauvell — A sarcastic and rebellious Air Force brat. It's his last day of school before he moves to Hawaii. Sean O'Day — A shy boy from a poor family who loves Rachel. Karen Ballard — The natural leader of the class who was basically the teacher for the day also class president Jessica Cooke — The only member of the class that questions the students running the class for the day. Christopher Ransom — An obnoxious and spoiled rich boy, that irritates most of the class. Missy — Rachel's best friend, who is also overweight and insecure. She usually acts as Rachel's interpreter. Rhonda - A sassy girl who is also brave and competitive. Sky - an awkward boy from California who is a good surfer. *John - is a trouble maker boy that hangs out with Bastian and Christopher all the time.

Bobby Ballenger is starting a new school a thousand miles from his old home. He moved from Illinois to New Paltz, New York and his interest in spiders has earned him the nickname of Spider Boy from Illinois given to him by the class bully. His pet tarantula has not eaten since the family moved which has made him nervous about its health. Bobby keeps a journal where he records interesting facts about spiders and then uses it to record his frustrations and realizations about his new school.

In the last months of World War II, the Empire of Japan receives a final gift from the collapsing Nazi Germany: the ''I-507'', a highly advanced submarine equipped with experimental technology.

The mission, as revealed by the grim Chief of Staff Asakura (Shinichi Tsutsumi) following the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is to intercept U.S. ships transporting a third nuclear weapon to Tinian Island, the principal base from which American B-29s are striking the Japanese home Islands. The man charged with the mission is Commander Masami (Yakusho Kōji) - a brilliant destroyer of enemy ships relieved of his command when he opposed the Navy's increasing reliance on suicide tactics. Given a last chance to redeem himself, he is burning with zeal, but is ignorant of the various secrets the ''I-507'' carries on board.

Once at sea, Lt. Takasu (Ken Ishiguro), the owlish technician in charge of the imaging system, refuses to tell Masami what it is or how it works. Masami also discovers that two crew members belong to the "kaiten" suicide corps. He has no idea why they are there, and neither, for the moment, do they.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is tracking the ''I-507'' with more than usual interest. A teenage girl (Yu Kashi) is part of the master plan and one of the minisub pilots (Satoshi Tsumabuki) becomes her protector.

The plot involves a single farmer who needs money to save his land, and a wealthy politician who is willing to get his oldest daughter married at any cost. The plan is complicated by the politician's daughter, who is a feminist who rejects the role of a housewife.

This romantic comedy is set in the 1920s, and inspired by ''The Taming of the Shrew'' by William Shakespeare.

Mona Gray (Jessica Alba) systematically withdraws from life into a world of mathematics after a mysterious mental illness leaves her father (John Shea) incapacitated and a shell of his former self. Forced by her mother to move out on her own, Mona gets a job as a math teacher at an elementary school. There she discovers she has an unorthodox talent for teaching and finds herself thrust back into life again, with children to care for, and a reason to live. Mona takes special interest in one of her students, Lisa Venus (Sophie Nyweide), whose mother is dying of cancer.

When fellow teacher Ben Smith (Chris Messina) shows romantic interest in her, Mona reverts to some of her old self-destructive impulses. Eventually, Mona discovers her value in the love she shows her students, and Ben's patience is finally rewarded as the two find love in each other.

'' The young painter Hippolyte Schinner falls from a step-ladder while working in his atelier and is knocked unconscious. The noise of his fall alerts two of his neighbours, Adélaïde Leseigneur and her mother Madame de Rouville, who occupy the apartment immediately below. The two women revive the young man and an acquaintance is struck up. Inevitably, the young painter falls in love with Adélaïde and over the following weeks he pays frequent visits to her apartment. There he is always warmly welcomed, but he cannot help noticing the unmistakable signs of poverty – a poverty that the two women are at obvious pains to hide. Hippolyte's suspicions are aroused. The mother and her daughter have different surnames; they are reluctant to reveal anything of their past; and what is Hippolyte to make of the two old friends of the mother, the Comte de Kergarouet and the Chevalier du Halga, who regularly visit her to play cards for money, but who always lose to her as though on purpose?

Hippolyte discovers that Madame de Rouville's late husband was a naval captain who died at Batavia from wounds received in an engagement with an English vessel. The Comte de Kergarouet, it transpires, is a former comrade of Baron de Rouville. Hippolyte offers to draw a portrait of Monsieur de Rouville, a fading sketch of whom is hanging in the apartment. Two months later, when the finished portrait is hung in Madame de Rouville's apartment, the Comte de Kergarouet offers Hippolyte 500 pistoles to have his own portrait painted in a similar style. Hippolyte, however, suspects that the old man is offering him the price of both portraits while paying for his own, and he declines the offer.

Despite his suspicions that the two women make are living in some mysterious and disreputable manner, Hippolyte continues his visits, for he is deeply in love with Adélaïde. One day, as he is leaving the apartment, he realizes that he has left his purse behind; but when he returns and inquires about it, Adélaïde brazenly insists that no such purse has been left in their apartment. The young man suspects he has been robbed by the women and he stops visiting them. Over the following week he pines away. His colleagues seem to confirm his worst suspicions – that Adélaïde is a prostitute and Madame de Rouville her procuress. Even his mother notices that he is out of sorts.

But a chance meeting on the stairs outside Adélaïde's apartment is enough to dispel all Hippolyte's suspicions. He decides that he was wrong to ignore the promptings of his heart. That evening he calls on the two women. Madame de Rouville suggests a game of cards. Hippolyte loses, and when he reaches into his pocket for some money, he finds before him a purse which Adélaïde has slipped in front of him without his noticing it: "the poor child had the old one in her hand, and, to keep her countenance, was looking into it for the money to pay her mother. The blood rushed to Hippolyte's heart with such force that he was near fainting. The new purse, substituted for his own, and which contained his fifteen Louis d'or, was worked with gilt beads. The rings and tassels bore witness to Adélaïde's good taste, and she had no doubt spent all her little hoard in ornamenting this pretty piece of work. It was impossible to say with greater delicacy that the painter's gift could only be repaid by some proof of affection." There and then Hipployte asks for Adélaïde's hand in marriage.

Meanwhile, Hippolyte's mother, having made inquiries about her son's condition and having learned of the whole affair, informs the Comte de Kergarouet of the malicious rumours surrounding the two women. Outraged, he explains to Madame Schinner that he loses intentionally at cards to Madame de Rouville because the Baronne's pride has left him none but these ingenious means of assisting her and her daughter in their poverty.

The Comte de Kergarouet and Madame Schinner go round to Madame de Rouville's, and arrive just in time to pronounce a benediction on the young lovers' engagement.

The films opens in present. 75-year-old Mary Carlton is depressed over her husband John's illness. She feels her life has no use if he dies. She starts reading her diary, after which the film jumps to 1865 in the time she fell in love with John. She feels she has to hide her love for her strict mother, fearing she will disapprove because of their social class differences. Mary lives within the very wealthy Marlowe family and grows up to be a lady with manners, while John is a working class employee.

When her parents find out about the affair, they are outraged. They forbid her from ever seeing John again. However, Mary tells them she only loves John and will never marry anybody if she cannot see him anymore. Her father William locks her into her own room until she stops being a rebel. Meanwhile, she receives a letter from John, who announces he has been fired over their love affair. Later that night, John sneaks into her room by the balcony and announces he will leave for America. Despite knowing her parents will never talk to her again, she decides to go with him.

Before they can leave, William comes in. He tells Mary he will send her to Scotland to live with her grandmother. After he leaves the room, Mary writes a farewell letter and sneaks off with John. By the time it's 1870, she lives with John in a poor house. He works all day, while Mary is giving birth to a son. One day, a gang threatens to kill John. He wants to surrender so they will not kill Mary and the baby as well, but Mary demands him to fight. He does as his wife tells him and eventually defeats the gang.

Years pass by. In 1888, Mary celebrates her 39th birthday and is having contact with her family again. She finds out John is having a mistress, Estelle. Mary feels humiliated, but Estelle makes things worse when she confronts Mary with the fact she cannot make her husband happy. Mary grants her husband a divorce, but he does not want to leave her. He admits he has had an affair with Estelle, but that it didn't mean anything. They reunite, although John announces he has lost all of his money. The film goes back to present, where Mary is told her husband has recovered from his illness.

Nick Brady and Shawn Colfax are two popular football players at the fictional Gerald R. Ford High School who manage to get out of football camp and later con their way into the cheerleading squad after overhearing a conversation about the camp's abundant female population of three hundred cheerleaders. Their objective is to infiltrate the cheerleading camp in order to meet girls. While attending a cheer camp, Nick and Shawn realize that they actually enjoy cheering and they start to care about their squad as well as the cheer competition. Shawn develops feelings for the head cheerleader, Carly Davidson, and Nick chases after Diora, their camp coach's wife.

Carly and the rest of the squad soon find out about the boys' true motives for attending cheer camp. Carly's boyfriend, Dr. Rick, also reveals that Nick and Shawn initially planned to leave cheer camp before the cheer competition. They leave camp after being ejected from the squad. While attending a party at their friend's house, the guys discover that they are genuinely fond of cheer camp and want their squad to succeed. They decide to return to cheer camp and help the squad in the cheer competition.

While the guys are doing their routine, Carly notices Rick is cheating on her with their rivals' head cheerleader, Gwyneth. Shawn and Carly later focus all of their attention to the routine. The squad's routine results in their best finish yet, with a perfect attempt at executing the "Fountain of Troy" maneuver. However, when the squad go for executing the forbidden maneuver, Shawn accidentally goes for a triple backflip instead of a double like Carly and backflips into the water in front of them. The crowd gasps at the impact and the squad rushes to help, but Shawn manages to emerge and yells "Tigers!" before losing consciousness. Although the squad did not win the contest, they place ten spots better than they did last year. The film ends when Nick and Shawn end up with their love interests, with Shawn and Carly kissing each other.

Byeon Gang-soe is a meek rice cake seller in a remote mountainous village in Joseon Dynasty Korea. Mocked for his impaired libido, Gang-so learns of a potion buried in the forest which transforms him into the greatest lover in his village.

Arah (Angel Locsin) dreams of a better life—different from the life she knows in Bukidnon. Ranches everywhere are closing one by one. The glory her hometown once knew was slowly disappearing in favour of life abroad, particularly in Australia. Arah believes this too. Australia will save them from poverty. But Migo (Piolo Pascual) does not share this belief. He believes that Bukidnon’s glory will return if only people didn’t leave.

When Arah’s father suddenly encounters an accident, Arah is left with no choice but to seek better opportunities to earn money. Arah, in desperation accepts money from the Australian rancher Brian in exchange for a contract. Her decision breaks Migo’s heart. The two part ways, their problems unresolved.

With the help of her co-workers, especially her newfound friend, Ina (a Filipina working there as a cook), Arah slowly adjusted to the life in Australia. She is willing to hold her ground and tough it up along with the boys just to fulfill her dreams for herself and her family. It was this determination that caught the attention of the cold and mysterious Brian.

Meanwhile, Migo was experiencing his own wave of reality. Bukidnon is not what it used to be. And fighting to keep a ranch alive and working is something he cannot do without enough experience. Despite his enthusiasm and hard work, his investments crumble slowly until he is left with nothing but a humbling realization—there is money in Australia, but his dreams shouldn’t really end there. Migo decides to give the land down under a try. With fierce hopes of earning back what he lost, he flies to Australia, to the land where his beloved Arah went when she left him for her dreams.

Suddenly, Migo’s presence at the ranch is making Arah suspicious. It’s been years—why is he suddenly there? But destiny has other plans for the two. By a simple twist of fate, the two are thrown together on an errand. The close proximity forces the two to confront their past. And undeniably, their feelings for each other resurface.

Will Migo let Arah in her heart again or will she let him go completely for the sake of Brian and her family? And will Migo find the courage to fight for her or learn to accept that he has lost her forever?

Dolly "Angel Face" Morgan is an attractive parolee out to fleece any wealthy man who takes an interest in her. She is recognized by two fellow con artists, Gwen and Brad. Since they know she has not reported to her parole board, she reluctantly helps them set up a wealthy, married man; when her outraged "husband" (Brad) breaks in and finds them in a compromising situation, the victim is glad to pay $10,000 to avoid any publicity. Later, however, the patsy realizes he has been taken and goes to the police. Brad has Gwen hide the money, and tells Dolly that their victim stopped payment on his check. Dolly steals the money and makes a quick getaway.

Soon after, Dolly meets a young man named Steve Crandall in Atlantic City for a cement convention. Believing that he is a wealthy plantation owner, she flirts with him. When he proposes they get married that very night, Dolly is shocked, but accepts. She is packing to leave with Steve when Brad shows up, demanding his share of the $10,000. Once again, Dolly uses her wits to escape.

Dolly and Steve take the train south to his home town of Winthrop, Alabama. There Dolly is rudely surprised to discover that Steve is far from rich, nor does he own a plantation (though he lives next door to one). He is certain his invention, Enduro cement, will make his fortune, but his new wife is not so sure. Dolly has grown fond of Steve, but cannot hide her disappointment from him. That evening, she has him take her to a train for New York. The next morning, however, Steve returns to his room to find Dolly curled up in a chair. She is in love with him and has decided to reform, though she keeps her past a secret.

Brad and Gwen track her down, certain she has landed yet another rich sucker. They are surprised to find her living in modest circumstances. Dolly tells them that she has fallen for a poor man, but they do not believe her. To get rid of them, she gives them the $10,000. However, Steve receives a telegram informing him that a company has bought his cement formula for $100,000. Overjoyed, he rushes home and tells Dolly, his mother, and "cousins" Brad and Gwen.

Brad and Gwen blackmail Dolly into a scheme to part Steve from his new-found riches. Brad invites the couple to stay with him in New York City. Just as Steve is about to sign Brad's contract, Dolly cannot take it anymore. She telephones the police, then tells Steve that the contract is nothing but a scam; she then confesses to Steve that she herself is a crook and that she only married him in order to fleece him. Steve is devastated.

The cops show up and take her away. Steve begs Dolly to come back to him, but she says that he would be better off without her. Dolly is taken to prison. Steve, however, manages to get the warden to parole her into his custody.

The film intertwines several unsettling stories of people in a Manhattan neighborhood ravaged by crack cocaine.Four Dwell in "Cracktown": www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00007378.htmlSix Immigrating to "Cracktown": www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00007693.html

Romeo, a 14-year-old criminal, is the leader of a gang. In the beginning of the movie, he lures his girlfriend, Debbie, to a secluded alley where he and another gang member gang rape her. He leads his gang into robbing and torturing a very sick pensioner, and then steps up to doing a murder-for-hire at the behest of a local drug dealer, unaware of the enormous risks.

Manny and Concetta, a young couple, are desperately trying to rise out of poverty and care for their sick baby. Manny works two jobs—the front desk of a drug-riddled flop house by day and the cash register of a frequently-robbed bodega at night.

Another young couple, Marybeth and Benny, are both drug addicts. Marybeth is a transgender woman who makes a bit of money as a street prostitute to pay for surgery, and Benny is into very low-paying burglaries. Their principal source of drugs is a well-off trans person, Ridley, who is looking to follow in Marybeth's footsteps.

Young Willy and younger Susie are the much-neglected children of an addict named Mommy, who makes them sleep on the floor of their one-room apartment. Mommy's current boyfriend, a hot-tempered addict named Chaz, makes the children beg on the street for his drug money. Willy's one bright spot is neighbor child Melody, whose mother pimps her out every night. When Chaz and Mommy leave the children behind while they embark on a drug-fueled quest to get more drug money from a relative of Chaz, Melody is picked up by the police. Willy, meanwhile, is sent on a wild goose chase by Betty, an aging prostitute who enjoys tormenting her neighbors.

During the game the player will fight for their survival on the island, and they must also save the island from an environmental disaster. ''Return to Mysterious Island II'' starts with the crash of the helicopter that attempted the rescue of Mina. She survives the crash, but is still on the island. An unknown disease suddenly begins to attack plants, then animals. Mina searches the island, and discovers an external source of pollution. It appears that the only way to save the island is to turn the shield back on, which would prevent her from returning to civilization, like Captain Nemo.

Jin awakes from a dream where he causes a traffic accident to find that the accident actually took place. The police suspect a woman, Ran, though she denies any involvement as she was asleep the whole time. It transpires that while Jin dreams, Ran acts out those dreams in her sleep.

It is love at first sight when Sam (Andy Lau) chances upon a feisty, fast-talking woman with the odd name of Milan (Shu Qi) at a Macau casino. But the catch is, she is a part-time baccarat dealer and a full-time cabaret dancer, "careers" not exactly congruent with his station in life. Falling in love against all odds, this mismatched couple soon makes headline in all media turning Milan into an It girl overnight.

The cartoon depicts ill-fated attempts by Elmer, in a rare leading role, to extinguish a candle by his bedside so that he can retire for the night, with the flame always surging again in spite of Elmer's best efforts. Elmer finally succeeds, but only at the expense of wrecking his bedroom in the process, and no sooner than he lies down, the sun comes up, precipitating a nervous breakdown in Elmer Fudd, who starts weeping, bawling, and crying.

An alien "Lystrian" spacecraft crash-lands on Earth, near a secluded hospital not far from London. The aliens, who are humanoid and resemble East Asians, are taken to a rural hospital after a collision with a car where they cause a forcefield to be raised around the building. The doctors are confused as the blood of the alien is not human.

An issue arises as the doctors are not able to determine if the alien is a law enforcement officer, or if the two other aliens are the law enforcement and the patient is their prisoner. Only the patient can speak English, further complicating matters.

In 1976, eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (Bethany Whitmore) lives a lonely life in Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia. At school, she is teased by her classmates because of an unfortunate birthmark on her forehead; while at home, her distant father, Noel, and alcoholic, kleptomaniac mother, Vera, provide little support. Her only comforts are her pet rooster, Ethel; her favourite food, sweetened condensed milk; and a Smurfs-like cartoon show called ''The Noblets''. One day, while at the post office with her mother, Mary spots a New York City telephone book and, becoming curious about Americans, decides to write to one. She randomly chooses Max Jerry Horowitz's name from the phone book and writes him a letter telling him about herself, sending it off in the hope that he will become her pen pal.

Max Jerry Horowitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a morbidly obese 44-year-old Jewish atheist who has trouble forming close bonds with other people, due to various mental and social problems. Though Mary's letter initially gives him an anxiety attack, he decides to write back to her, and the two quickly become friends (partly due to their shared love of chocolate and ''The Noblets''). Due to Vera's disapproval of Max, Mary tells him to send his letters to her agoraphobic neighbour, Len Hislop, whose mail she collects regularly. When Mary later asks Max about love, he suffers a severe anxiety attack and is institutionalized for eight months. After his release, he is hesitant to write to Mary again for some time. On his 48th birthday, he wins the New York Lottery, using his winnings to buy a lifetime supply of chocolate and an entire collection of Noblet figurines. He gives the rest of his money to his elderly neighbour Ivy, who uses most of it to pamper herself before dying in an accident with a malfunctioning jet pack. Meanwhile, Mary becomes despondent, thinking Max has abandoned her.

On the advice of his therapist, Max finally writes back to Mary and explains he has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Mary is thrilled to hear from him again, and the two continue their correspondence for the next several years. When Noel retires from his job at a teabag factory, he takes up metal detecting, but is soon swept away (and presumably killed) by a big tidal bore while on a beach. Mary (Toni Collette) goes to the University of Melbourne and has her birthmark surgically removed, and develops a crush on her Greek Australian neighbour, Damien Popodopoulos (Eric Bana). Drunk and guilt-ridden over her husband's death, Vera accidentally kills herself after she drinks embalming fluid (which she mistook for cooking sherry). Mary and Damien grow closer following Vera's death and are later married.

Inspired by her friendship with Max, Mary studies psychology at university, writing her doctoral dissertation on Asperger syndrome with Max as her case study. She plans to have her dissertation published as a book; but when Max receives a copy from her, he is infuriated, believing that she has taken advantage of his condition, which he sees as an integral part of his personality and not a disability that needs to be cured. Feeling betrayed and unable to put his emotions into words, he breaks off communication with Mary (by removing the letter "M" from his typewriter), who, heartbroken, has the entire run of her book pulped, effectively ending her budding career. She sinks into depression and begins drinking cooking sherry, as her mother had done. While searching through a cabinet, she finds a can of condensed milk and sends it to Max as an apology in an attempt to heal wounds. She checks the post daily for a response and one day finds a note from Damien, informing her that he has left her for his own pen friend, Desmond, a sheep farmer in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, after an incident in which he nearly chokes a homeless man (Ian "Molly" Meldrum) in anger, for throwing away a used cigarette, Max realizes Mary is an imperfect human being, like himself, and sends her a package containing his Noblet figurine collection as a sign of forgiveness. Mary, however, has sunken into despair after Damien's departure and fails to find the package on her doorstep for several days. Finding some Valium that had belonged to her mother, and unaware that she is pregnant with Damien's child, Mary decides to commit suicide. As she takes the Valium and is on the verge of hanging herself, Len knocks on her door, having conquered his agoraphobia to alert her of Max's package. Inside, she finds the Noblet figurines and a letter from Max, in which he tells her of his realization that they are not perfect and expresses his forgiveness. He also states how much their friendship means to him, and that he hopes their paths will cross one day.

One year later, Mary travels to New York with her infant child to finally visit Max. Entering his apartment, Mary discovers Max on his couch, gazing upward with a smile on his face, having died earlier that morning. Looking around the apartment, Mary is awestruck to find all the letters she had sent to Max over the years, laminated and taped to the ceiling. Realizing Max had been gazing at the letters when he died, and seeing how much he had valued their friendship, Mary cries tears of joy as she sits beside him on the couch.

After losing a long-time girlfriend, minor-league sportscaster Adam Schwartz's (Meyer) dating life is illustrated by sports highlights (as presented by Fox Sports Net) in which various pro sports personalities appear. For instance, when Adam's date reveals that she has three children a referee appears and makes the call "Too many players on the field".

In Villach in the 13th century, three women are accused by a priest of witchcraft. The first confesses in an attempt to earn mercy. The second claims she made ointments but not magic potions. The third, a hag with a blind eye, does not deny the charge and curses the priest. All three are first hanged and then drowned. The priest pulls the three hanged corpses from the water for a religious ritual so they can never return to life. The priest performs the ritual on each using ''The Key of Solomon''. The first shows no sign of life. The hag's body vomits and twitches violently. The third corpse, the woman who had claimed to be an ointment maker, takes on a demonic appearance, sets the book on fire, and hangs the priest.

In the 14th century, German Teutonic Knights Sir Behmen von Bleibruck and Sir Felson join crusades throughout the 1330s (1332 Gulf of Edremit, 1334 Siege of Tripoli, 1337 Imbros, and 1339 Artah), eventually joining the Smyrniote crusades. After witnessing a civilian massacre during the 1344 capture of Smyrna, the two abandon their knightly order and return to Austria.

Traveling through Styria in Austria, Behmen and Felson encounter the sight of those infected with the Black Death, learning that the plague has swept the Holy Roman Empire. Trying to conceal their identities as deserters, Behmen's known sword crest reveals that they are crusader knights. They are arrested and taken to Cardinal D'Ambroise, who is near death from the plague. The Cardinal asks the knights to escort an alleged witch, suspected of causing the pestilence, to a remote monastery, where a group of monks can determine if she is truly a witch. If found guilty, they can perform a sacred ritual to cancel her powers and stop the plague. Both knights agree under the condition that she be given a fair trial and the charges of desertion against them be dropped. The Cardinal agrees, and they are accompanied by the priest Debelzaq; the altar boy, Kay von Wollenbarth, who wants to become a knight like his deceased father; another knight, Sir Johann Eckhardt, whose family was killed by the Black Death; finally Hagamar, a well-traveled swindler, who will serve as their guide in return for his pardon. The young woman Anna from Marburg shows hatred towards Debelzaq, while forming a connection with Behmen.

The group camp for the night and Johann takes first watch. When Debelzaq comes to relieve him, Johann says how much she reminds him of his dead daughter. He then goes on to speak of the ritual politics of her coming trial and how she can never be found ''not guilty'' by the Church with a plague curse everywhere. Johann decides to give up the mission and to convince the others to do the same, leaving Anna alone with Debelzaq. Anna becomes hysterical at the prospect of being left with him. She attacks and grabs his key to her cage and escapes. The search for her leads the group to a mass grave, where Johann begins having visions of his dead daughter calling to him. Chasing those visions, he accidentally impales himself on Kay's drawn sword and dies. When Anna is recaptured, the tearful young woman explains that she only ran away for fear of Debelzaq. They cross an old, crumbling suspension bridge, where Anna saves Kay from falling, grabbing him with unnatural strength. The group enters the dark forest, Wormwood, where Hagamar attempts to kill Anna, only to be stopped by the others. Anna appears to summon packs of wolves, which chase the group and kill Hagamar. An enraged Behmen tries to kill her but is stopped by Debelzaq and Felson, who point to their destination on a nearby summit.

At the monastery, the men discover that all the monks have succumbed to the plague. They locate the ancient volume, ''The Key of Solomon'', filled with the holy rituals used to defeat evil. Debelzaq begins speaking the ritual used on witches. In a deep voice, Anna begins recounting Behmen's horror of Crusader cruelties, just as Debelzaq realizes that she is not a witch, but has been possessed by a demon. He frantically performs an exorcism. The demon that is possessing Anna finally reveals its form and melts the cage's metal, escaping, while fighting off the knights. When Debelzaq throws a container of holy water on it, the demon flies screeching out of sight. As the men search for it, they realize it is not trying to escape, but to destroy the book so that nothing can kill it. They find a room where the monks were making copies for others to use. The demon destroys the copies and possesses the dead monks to use as weapons. The three men fight the monks' possessed corpses, as Debelzaq continues the exorcism ritual. The demon snaps Debelzaq's neck and incinerates Felson. Kay continues the ritual, weakening it. Behmen fights the demon and is mortally wounded by it. Kay finishes the ritual, and the demon is consumed by holy fire. Behmen asks Kay to keep Anna safe just before he dies. After their fallen friends are buried, Anna asks Kay to tell her about the men who saved her. They both leave the monastery, the ''Book of Solomon'' safely in Kay's possession for mankind to use against the forces of evil.

Just as the narrator starts the ascent of his balloon, a stranger jumps into its car. The unexpected passenger's only intent is to take the balloon as high as it will go, even at the cost of his and pilot's life. The intruder takes advantage of the long journey to recount the history of incidents related to the epic of lighter-than-air travel.

This short story foreshadows Verne's first novel, ''Five Weeks in a Balloon''.

The novel is set in Los Angeles in 1970. Larry "Doc" Sportello, a private investigator and pothead, receives a visit from his former girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth, who is now having an affair with real-estate mogul Michael Z. "Mickey" Wolfmann. Shasta asks Doc to help foil a plot allegedly hatched by Mickey's wife Sloane and her lover, Riggs Warbling, to have Mickey admitted to a mental health institution. Later, a black militant named Tariq Khalil asks Doc to find Glen Charlock, one of Mickey's bodyguards—Tariq claims that Charlock owes him money after their time spent together in prison.

Doc visits one of Mickey's developments but is knocked unconscious, and awakes to find himself being questioned by his old LAPD nemesis, Det. Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen, who informs Doc that Charlock has been shot dead and Mickey has vanished. Later, Doc is visited by Hope Harlingen, the widow of a musician named Coy Harlingen, who wants Doc to investigate rumors that Coy is still alive. Doc learns that Coy has been working for the government as an informer and ''agent provocateur'', but is allowed no contact with his family. He finds Coy in a nightclub, who tells Doc about the ''Golden Fang'', an old schooner suspected of bringing mysterious goods into port, and upon which both Mickey and Shasta are rumored to have departed. He also discovers that Puck Beaverton had switched shifts with Charlock on the day of Charlock's death.

Doc visits Golden Fang Enterprises where he meets Japonica Fenway, a young runaway whom Doc had returned to her wealthy parents on a previous occasion. Japonica reveals that she has stayed at a clinic named the Chryskylodon Institute. Doc visits the institute, where he again encounters Coy Harlingen, and deduces that Mickey has been apprehended by an unknown person. Doc is then told that the attack during which Glen Charlock was shot was carried out by a group of vigilantes who secretly work for the LAPD. Doc then discovers links between Puck Beaverton and a notorious loan shark named Adrian Prussia. After a visit from Trillium Fortnight, a female companion of Puck's, Doc travels to Las Vegas in search of Puck and Trillium's sexual threesome partner, Einar.

In Las Vegas, Doc places a bet with the manager of the Kismet Lounge, Fabian Fazzo, that Mickey hadn't faked his own disappearance. Later, Doc believes that he sees Mickey in the company of federal agents, and subsequently hears of Mickey's scheme for a philanthropic housing project in the desert. Doc visits the site and encounters Riggs Warbling, architect of the housing project, who fears that Mickey has been "reprogrammed" and that the development, already abandoned, will be destroyed.

Back in Los Angeles, Doc learns that Puck Beaverton and Bigfoot's former policing partner, Vincent Indelicato, were sworn enemies. Adrian Prussia permitted Puck to murder Vincent. Doc visits Adrian, who claims that he is behind the Golden Fang organization, while Puck contends that Glen was killed deliberately because he was supplying black-power groups with weapons. Doc is handcuffed and about to be given a lethal drug overdose, but escapes and kills both Puck and Adrian. Bigfoot, who has evidently been using Doc to investigate Vincent's death, picks Doc up, but sets him up with a huge quantity of stolen heroin.

Doc hides the drugs and is later contacted by Crocker Fenway, the father of Japonica, who acts as an intermediary for the Golden Fang. Doc arranges a handover, his only condition being that Coy is released from all of his obligations and allowed to return to his family. After the handover, Doc and his lawyer Sauncho hear that the ''Golden Fang'' schooner is leaving port. Along with the Coast Guard, they pursue the vessel, and watch as it is abandoned after encountering an enormous surf wave. Sauncho and Doc then decide to place a claim on the schooner.

At the end of the novel, Doc receives a payment from Fabian Fazzo in settlement of his bet about Mickey. He also learns that Coy has been reunited with Hope and their child Amethyst.

The story begins with Sherry (Paula Abdul) declaring plans to hold a party that night. Upon hearing about this party, Jerry's friend, Paul (Kirk Burnett) encourages him to ask his crush, Lori Scott (Karen Capelle) to accompany him to the event. On his way to doing this, Jerry encounters several obstacles, including repeated run-ins with Keith (Mikal Robert Taylor), a school bully, and Vicki (Toni Mazarin), an ill-intentioned girl who hopes Jerry will ask her to the party so she can spite a previous boyfriend.

In the year 7067AD, the earth experienced numerous battles, and because of these wars the world population was reduced to 500,000 people. Many cultural relics disappeared, the raw materials for making weapons has run out 1000 years after Baak Saunaam died and people only respect the strength of the Wargods to protect them. The Wargods are not only on Earth but on the Moon, Mars, and Saturn as well.

During this time, the extremely talented are called Wargods. Wargods who lose to any other Wargod will be taken races, so those who aren't under the protection of Wargods, or can't request the favour of Wargods, put the hope in the book of legend written 5000 years ago. No one understands the words written in the book, they only know the spell of the book is Deiyukdou ( ). In spite of the lack of understanding, the writing's rumor is transmitted generation to generation .

Because of knowing Mou Naam of the Fung tribe, the Wargod Ming Dou knows how to read the book, so the Wargod Saam-ngaan of the Three-Eyes tribe has been trying to kill Mou Naam. This is the start of the battle between the Good and Evil Wargods.

This is a truth that even a deity can not change - no one can change, because the nature of life is this: that Good and Evil always coexist, and when a conflict is resolved, other conflicts appear.

The legendary Korean spy Dachimawa Lee is assigned to recover the fabled Golden Buddha statue, but his mission ends in failure. Lee discovers that his mission was sabotaged, and must confront against the shadowy figure behind the plot.

Jo Dae-yeong is a police officer investigating a pickpocket ring with ties to the Japanese crime syndicate, Yakuza. One day he rescues Baek Jang-mi from danger, only to discover that she is the boss of the gang he has been tracking.

Alain Berrebi directs with his sister Lorène, a company of ready-to-wear in the Path. Their business is booming to the point to consider acquiring a nearby shop, which belongs to David Stern, the father of his fiancée Arlette. The case seems about to arrive when Mr. Stern learns that Baptiste Bourdalou, who once saved his life from death camps during World War II, has died ...

Cliff is twelve old and the oldest of six children in his family who live in Ballingsford. As Christmas nears, Cliff's grandmother arrives for a visit. Cliff's baby brother is rushed to the hospital with a severe illness. While he is recovering in the hospital on Christmas Eve, his family finally figure out that the "yidda yadda" he has been asking Santa Claus for is a little ladder like the one used to climb up to the top of a bunk bed. The entire family work together to build Josh a ladder and deliver it on Christmas morning. Later, Cliff's first grade brother, Brad, drives his bicycle into an ambulance and dies in the hospital while his family comes to see him. His mother is heart broken when she is told that Brad could not be saved. Brad was buried in his favorite soccer shirt that his mother found and washed and had been crying on. As Brad was being buried, Cliff realized that Brad was gone forever. The family spends the next Christmas at a resort trying to adjust to the loss of Brad but the trip does not seem to work. Their spirits rise during a New Year's party at Aunt Pat's house. When they arrive at the party, Josh accidentally steps into Dad's special fig pudding that they were bringing. Dad removes the shoe, smooths down the pudding, and swears the children to secrecy. They all keep a straight face until Uncle Eddie says that the fig pudding is the best ever and asks Dad if he has added some new ingredient. They all laugh when the real story of the shoe is told.

The plot centres around ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell, his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England and his fall from grace and suicide after his affair with married woman Amy O'Connell, who dies after a botched abortion. The title may refer to the waste of his potential talents due to the scandal, the loss of the disestablishment bill and the termination of Amy's pregnancy.

In Santo Domingo, a Mr Hendrix asks the experienced skipper Cournot to look over the “Dragoon”, a ketch being sold by a widow in New York called Mrs Osborne. The Dominican police then arrest Cournot because Hendrix and the “Dragoon”” have both disappeared, leaving several corpses on the shore. When Mrs Osborne flies in and corroborates his story, he is freed.

She wants to find her stolen vessel and Cournot suggests a seaplane pilot in Kingston, Jamaica, who flies the two in search of where the “Dragoon” was last reported. They find it aground, close to an exposed sandbank. On going aboard, Cournot and Mrs Osborne are taken captive by a vicious gun runner called Morrison who with his gang is already holding Hendrix and has overloaded the “Dragoon” with weapons and ammunition for delivery to Central America.

Morrison makes Cournot do the exhausting work of ferrying the heavy cases one by one to the sandbank, aiming to refloat the vessel and then reload it. Disputes among the crooks lead to Morrison being left alone on the sandbank with all the hardware while Cournot, Mrs Osborne and a wounded Hendrix are on the boat. Morrison keeps the “Dragoon” under constant rifle fire, hoping to hit the humans and disable the craft. He succeeds in holing the petrol tank, flooding the vessel with fuel which could go up at any moment. While Cournot is trying to pump it out by hand, Morrison swims aboard and in a final confrontation is killed. A rising tide floats the “Dragoon” so, hoisting the sails, Cournot sets course for Panama, a place where no questions will be asked.

During the reign of King Sejong the Great, Joseon Korea faces increasing hostility from Ming China. Ming China, without restraint, mounts unrelenting demands against the Korean crown, further entrenching distrust and aversion to subservience. Ming China has especially been provoked by a leaked news that Korea had under way an arms development program that would undermine theirs. Mounting pressure by threat of invasion and sending down Emperor's commands requesting tribute pf young Korean girls to be sent to China, to reduce Korea's manpower and debilitate its military capacity, the grip around the throat becomes ever tighter. It seems Joseon's fate is dependent on completing an unfinished project - that of making Singijeon or the Divine Weapon a reality.

In the final battle, severely outnumbered Korean forces (less than 100 men) successfully defeat the thousands of Ming Chinese in armed combat with spears, bombs, and several finished Singijeon via several hwachas. Thousands of Ming Chinese foot soldiers are killed as the arrows in the Singijeon are launched. More are killed with the gunpowder packed inside the arrows (standard Singeijeons). Those in the Ming Chinese army who remained are finished off with the large model Singijeons (대신기전, Grand Singijeon), except one of the nobles who prefers peace over warfare.

The novel starts with the narrator, Rodrigo S.M., discussing what it means to write a story. He addresses the reader directly and spends a lot of time talking about his philosophical beliefs. After some time, he begins the story, which centers on Macabéa, an impoverished 19 year old living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She leads a difficult life, but seems to be oblivious to this fact. She starts dating a boy named Olímpico, who mistreats her and eventually leaves her for her coworker, Gloria. Feeling guilty, Gloria recommends that Macabéa visit a fortune teller named Madame Carlota. She predicts that Macabéa's life will soon turn around, saying that she will be rich, happy, and marry a foreigner named Hans. However, none of this comes true as Macabéa's life comes to an abrupt end when a yellow Mercedes runs her over.

The story centers on a family of five orphaned children, two of whom are twins. Phil Daring works in a bank; when he is unjustly suspected of thievery, his twin sister Phoebe, a spirited 16-year-old, seizes the initiative in proving his innocence. (Baum was simultaneously writing a similar story, of a brave girl defending and supporting her brother, in his 1911 novel ''The Flying Girl''. And he would re-use the plot of a girl with an unjustly-accused relative in his 1916 book, ''Mary Louise'', the first book of yet another series.)

The Daring Twins' late father had been in the sugar business; he was ruined financially when he refused to join in a monopoly, believing that trusts and monopolies are "unjust and morally unlawful" — an interesting look into Baum's values.

The story involves a new ice age hitting Europe, British refugees fleeing to Nigeria, and what a later group find when they return.

As the story opens, Andrew Leedon, a London-based television documentary producer, is given a new story to research: an Italian scientist, Fratellini, has proposed an imminent fall in solar radiation for the forthcoming few years which may lead to harsher winters. Leedon meets with David Cartwell, a Home Office civil servant and useful source, to see if he can find out more. Cartwell quickly becomes a close friend of Leedon, but also begins an affair with Leedon's wife, Carol.

The winter of that year is, as predicted, long and harsh, but by January is it becoming clear to insiders that the solar downturn is worse than Fratellini had calculated and no upturn is in sight. By March, food stocks are becoming dangerously low, rationing has been imposed and the Government imposes martial law. Those in the know, including Andrew's estranged wife, sell up and move south to the tropics and countries such as Nigeria. Leedon stays behind, as inner London is finally cordoned off from the rest of the UK to protect the seat of power – an area called the London Pale – as the rest of the country is abandoned to starvation and barbarism.

Finally Leedon is persuaded both by Carol and by David Cartwell to exit the country while safe passage is still possible. Taking with him Cartwell's wife Madeleine, he moves to Lagos in Nigeria, finding that the tables have now turned – white refugees fleeing from the ice-bound northern countries are living in slums, unemployed or with only menial jobs, and penniless, as African governments have withdrawn recognition of currencies such as Sterling and no longer recognize the British Government, with reason, as it no longer exercises sovereignty over its own land.

A ray of hope arrives for Leedon as Abonitu, a young Nigerian whom Leedon had treated with kindness and generosity one evening in London, finds him and in turn helps him and Madeleine out of the slum. Abonitu plans a reconnaissance expedition back to Britain.

Category:1962 British novels Category:1962 science fiction novels Category:British science fiction novels Category:British post-apocalyptic novels Category:Ice ages Category:Novels by John Christopher Category:Works published under a pseudonym Category:Novels set in Lagos Category:Novels set in London Category:Nigeria–United Kingdom relations Category:Eyre & Spottiswoode books

John Galen is in Florida, looking for a new place to live. Galen is a former scientist who now suffers from epilepsy, a fact he keeps hidden from Ann Gracie, a widow who rents him her house. Ann has introduced him to her friends C.L. and Thalia Shawn, a married couple who live nearby. Ann is upset because she believes that she can still hear the voice of her late husband Bill, who was killed in the war. John has an epileptic seizure. Dr. Poole, a psychiatrist, tells him that his condition is worsening. John and C.L., an artist, have discussions of whether there is life after death. Ann's sister Lisa develops a romantic interest in John, but he falls for Ann instead. Depressed over his condition, John breaks a date with Ann and contemplates suicide. He tells Dr. Poole "Death isn't the worst thing in life, only the last." A hurricane threatens as everyone is gathered at the house John rents. John discloses his condition to Ann, who reaffirms her love for him. However, John is reluctant to continue the relationship because of his epilepsy. A drunken Lisa "congratulates" Ann on being the one to watch John deteriorate. Ann slaps Lisa and convinces John not to kill himself. The couple reunites.

Rivers's father abandoned his wife and son when the son is three years old, he goes out to get a pizza and does not come back. His mother's uncle moves in and becomes "Uncle Daddy". Rivers is living a fairly typical life for a nine-year-old boy when his father returns after a six-year absence. The return of Rivers's father threatens to tear the family apart until Uncle Daddy suffers a near fatal heart attack. Rivers and his parents come together to support Uncle Daddy.

The story, told in flashbacks, concerns a middle-aged tennis bum (Franciosa) who shares a beach house with Sarrazin and Denver. Their carefree life becomes complicated, and later turns tragic, after they become involved with a mysterious young woman (Bisset) and a biker gang.

The San Francisco rock and roll band Moby Grape contributed to the soundtrack, and appeared, credited, in the film, performing the song "Never Again" in a Sunset Strip nightclub called the Tarantula. Other famous Sunset Strip locations include Gazzarri's and Scandia, as well as location filming in Malibu, according to reviews of the film.

Dusty Springfield sings "Sweet Ride" over the film's opening credits.

In the summer of 2007, Kim Seong-nam, a painter in his forties, travels to Paris, France to escape arrest for smoking marijuana, leaving his wife behind in Korea. While there he meets an ex-girlfriend, Min-seon, and is introduced to a small community of Korean artists.

The novel begins with shy, eleven-year-old Seymour staying with Thelma, an acquaintance of his mother for the summer holidays. Seymour's parents have split and are arguing over custody of him. After a drunken threat by Seymour's father to take him away interstate, his mother has Seymour relocated to Thelma's house on Victoria Road. Where Seymour is bored and lonely. During the day, while Thelma is at work, Seymour is not allowed to open the door, or leave the house, because of his mother's fear that his father might come and find him.

However one morning Seymour decides to climb over the back gate and walk to the nearby shops. He goes to a park where a group of children tease him. Not knowing how to defend himself, Seymour runs away and is chased. In desperation he goes through a random gate and meets a young girl: Angie. Angie is described as in her late teens, and as a beautiful angel. Seymour is drawn to Angie because she treats him with the affection and friendliness that he lacks from his parents. Angie takes him on outings to horse races, her mother's house, shops, and a restaurant. Over the course of the novel Seymour's faint suspicions about Angie develop, but he refuses to consider them.

One day Seymour finds Angie in her flat looking sick and acting "peculiar". He calls her sister Lynne. Lynne comes over and after looking at Angie with disdain, rings her father who drives up and takes Angie away. Lynne advises Seymour to keep away from Angie and that he is wasting his time. Nonetheless, Seymour resolves to go to Angie's flat and clean it for when she comes home. He discovers that it has already been cleaned and almost everything is packed away. Lynne finds Seymour in the flat and tells him that Angie won't be coming back, and that Angie has been taking drugs for nearly five years. Angie is going to Rankin House, a rehabilitation center temporarily, then to Lakeview.

Seymour visits Angie to give her the doll that was left at the flat. After initially being hostile Angie pretends that she has been sick with pleurisy and will be back soon. They begin to fight, but Seymour, weary of her lying, returns the doll and leaves.

Angie apologises to Seymour through a letter and writes about the rehab, and how when her baby is born they will go to live with her parents. In the postscript there is Seymour's reply. He describes Carrucan, where he and his mother have moved to, and that his father visited him and got a job as a truck driver. Seymour talks about how he has made a friend called Martin, is finally learning how to swim and that when Angie gets out of Lakeview they can go out to places together with her baby.

Vera, a writer in present-day Spain, is commissioned to write a book about Emilio, an Argentine photographer who was killed in the fighting in Barcelona in 1939. She feels lost, unable to live with her husband and young son and suspecting she is ill. To find out more about Emilio, on an impulse she flies alone to Buenos Aires, where she is hospitalised and undergoes a mastectomy. Dying in the bed next to her is a very old woman called Matilde, who is visited by her divorced grandson Ernesto.

He takes the recovering Vera to clear out his grandmother's house, where it emerges that the young Matilde had been a whore in the same establishment as Lola, a Spanish chorus girl who had sunk into prostitution in a remote town in Patagonia. Ernesto takes Vera to the town, where his father reveals that it was the photographer Emilio who in 1934 bought Lola's freedom from Suárez, a blind composer of tangos. When the two boarded an aircraft to leave, Lola could not face the future and threw herself out over the sea, falling to her death beside a whale with a harpoon wound. When Vera and Ernesto visit the spot, they see the same whale, now very old, recognisable by the same wound.

Quim is driving through an isolated rural area and arrives at a petrol station where it is revealed he is trying to get in contact with a woman named Sofia. Whilst on the phone he spots a woman shoplifting and meets her in the bathroom where they have sex and she steals his wallet. In an attempt to follow her to recover his belongings his car is shot at, and, when he pulls over to inspect the damage, a man with a rifle and dog appears and shoots him in the leg. He manages to get back into his car but he only gets so far until he discovers the road is blocked by a bulldozer and fallen tree. Leaving the car in an attempt to get a signal for his phone to call for help he hears a rumbling back at the road where he left his car and promptly drives back the way he came, only to run over his apparent pursuer.

Shortly after his car breaks down and he leaves for the woods where he meets Bea, the woman from the petrol station, who seems to be lost as well and denies having stolen Quim's wallet. One of her car tires has suffered a puncture which Quim reveals was actually caused by a gunshot. They rush to repair the tire and Quim suddenly becomes panicked and they drive off. They drive past Quim's car and see that it has been severely vandalised. The two continue driving until they come across an abandoned roadside café. After they break in and search for supplies they are met by a pair of policemen who are highly suspicious and violently subdue and question them. They do not believe Quim but once he reveals he has run one of the attackers over they agree to take them back to the body to check on his story. After they reach the body Quim is handcuffed to the car and the police investigate the body. The two police officers are fired upon and seemingly killed. After a tense moment hiding in the car Bea manages to leave and find a key to unlock Quim's handcuffs. They leave and run through the forest but one of the police officers has survived with a minor gunshot wound to the shoulder. He is still highly suspicious of the two thinking that they had something to do with the snipers. The trio run away through the forest, but upon reaching a particularly hazardous river they are shot at once again and the other police officer is killed soon after.

Quim and Bea take shelter for the night, with Quim making attempts to find out about Bea but she brushes him off, before being hunted once again in the morning by their pursuers. Bea takes a bullet to her shoulder and they both end up trapped in a large pit unable to climb out. With Bea's help Quim manages to get out but as he looks for a stick to help her he hears barking, panics and runs. After getting a fair distance away he changes his mind and begins to run back but before he gets back he hears a gunshot. As they make their way up a gulley and Quim, their pursuers drawing closer, chooses to abandon her to her fate. With Bea weeping and trapped in the gulley the hunters are finally revealed to be a pair of young boys who proceed to murder her. They are casual about it, with one remarking at how her blood splattered his companion's face and taking a picture of the body with a mobile phone. The film then switches to the viewpoint of the hunters as they track Quim through the forest. Quim flees alone, his hunters reveling in the sport. Eventually they come across a barn and stop for a break. When one of the boys starts adding points for a deer he had killed earlier the other becomes annoyed and accuses him of changing the rules to suit himself. They have an argument and it is revealed they are brothers, during this Quim manages to lock them in the barn and escape. Quim escapes to an abandoned village, the two brothers catch up with him and a tense game of cat-and-mouse ensues, but he manages to ambush and kill one of the boys by hiding in a pool of water, showing deep regret afterwards. The other brother approaches Quim, weeping and angry after his brothers death, and thrusts his gun at him, but Quim embraces him, only to have the boy struggle free and shoot himself off-camera. Quim weeps by the brother's bodies, thrusting his hands to the heavens as though in prayer, with the boy's dog that had allowed them to track Quim and his companions appearing soon afterwards and Quim putting a hand wearily to his head before the credits roll.

Secret Agent Bert Morris is sent by his superior Colonel Lancaster on a dangerous mission. He must parachute into East Germany to rescue Paula Krauss, the daughter of a now deceased scientist who had successfully developed a death ray and it is believed that Paula has his knowledge of how to create the device. In addition to Morris being up against the Soviets and East Germans, the Red Chinese have entered East Germany to bring back Paula and her knowledge to their homeland.

After seeing off Morris, Colonel Lancaster goes to a clinic to get a state of the art glass eye implanted into his nerves so Lancaster can move the prosthetic eye in a similar fashion to his good eye. What Lancaster doesn't know is that the clinic is run by Communist agents. They have placed a miniature camera into the prosthetic eye that will act like a television camera allowing the Soviets to see what the intelligence chief Colonel Lancaster can see.

Maria is a young beauty who is busy juggling three boyfriends (a count, a dentist and a student) at the same time. She manages this elaborate deception by impersonating her roommate Silvana who is a real life airline hostess. She lies to the count and the dentist about her flight schedules and her whereabouts so she can spend three days a week with each of them. She spends the remaining day of the week with the student who thinks she is a fellow student named Maria. One day the news of the real Silvana's flight disappearance breaks out and she is presumed dead. Comedy and confusion ensure when Maria is forced to come up with a more elaborate scheme to cover her tracks and keep her boyfriends happy.

Nick Moroni (Remo Germani), a young singer called up, learns that his wife Catherine (Alicia Brandet) is about to leave for America, taking with her their son. So he abducts the baby and takes him to the police station, asking a soldier named Piscitello (Franco Franchi) to keep him well hidden. Sgt. Camilloni (Ciccio Ingrassia) discovers the child and is led to believe he is the father, and asks Piscitello to keep the boy well hidden. Piscitello naturally takes advantage of the situation to blackmail the sergeant, demanding concessions to no end and subjecting him to endless harassment.

After receiving a tractor as a gift from the collective farm (kolkhoz) of a Soviet village on the Don River, Communist mayor Peppone plans to twin Brescello with the unnamed village. After some failed attempts to block the mayor's plan, the anti-Communist Don Camillo ultimately tricks Peppone into including him (under a false name and with forged papers) among the Italian Communist representatives passing through the Iron Curtain to attend the twinning ceremonies. Only Peppone and the other comrades from Brescello know the priest's real identity. During the Russian stay, they face a series of situations that will show them both the political contradictions of Soviet Russia and the normal life of its common people.

Robert Luczak is sent by the American literary magazine ''Other Voices,'' where he works as an editor, to Calcutta to locate poetry alleged to have been recently authored by a legendary poet, M. Das. The literary world considers this development newsworthy because Das disappeared and is presumed to have died eight years ago. Robert's Indian wife, Amrita, and their infant child, Victoria, accompany him on his assignment.

Upon arriving, he is met by a Mr. M. T. Krishna, a local intellectual who claims to have been asked to assist them by a mutual friend. The next day Robert meets with the local writers guild who were the source of the few bits of poetry that made their way to America. When he asks to meet Das, he is told this is impossible. Robert considers leaving Calcutta at this point, his duty done, but feels that he doesn't yet have enough material for an interesting article. The night before he and his family are to leave, Krishna returns and takes Robert to a man who can provide him with information relevant to his story.

The man tells how he and a friend tried to join a religious secret society dedicated to Kali, the Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. One of the prerequisites was for each initiate to bring a corpse to a secret temple, there to be laid at the feet of a statue of Kali. One of the corpses, bloated and decayed after being dredged from the river, is chosen by Kali, vivified by her, and reanimates; this corpse is said to be that of the poet, Das.

Robert finds the man's tale too fantastical to believe, and still hopes to meet and interview the poet. While he is not granted an interview with Das, Robert receives an extensive manuscript collection of Das' poetry, which is very different from his earlier work, describing dark, mystical, grotesque, and apocalyptic happenings.

Robert again insists that the writers guild allow him to see Das, and threatens to call them and the manuscript a fraud in his article. This time they agree. He is brought through the Calcutta slums by gangsters belonging to the cult of Kali, and taken to the poet. Shocked by the man’s appearance, Robert first takes him for a reanimated corpse, but then recognizes the symptoms as the advanced stages of leprosy. Das confirms that he is suffering from the affliction, but also insists that he really did return from death. Robert is unconvinced, feeling Das may be going along with the cult members who might be holding him captive. Das then asks him to bring him books of poetry, making a reference to a certain poem about a suicide to hint that he really wants the means to kill himself.

Becoming concerned at the eerie and sometimes frightening events that he has experienced, Robert attempts to send his wife and child home, but they are unable to get a flight. Concealing a gun (given to him previously by Krishna) in one of the books he has bought for Das, he returns to the poet. Robert leaves the books and departs, but, as he exits the house, hears two gunshots. Das is dead. Robert is captured by guards and drugged. He awakens to find himself in a temple of Kali, where the statue of the goddess seems to come to life and attack him (though it is left deliberately ambiguous as to whether this actually happens, or is instead a hallucination). He is loaded into the back of a truck by the cultists to be taken somewhere, but manages to escape with Krishna's help. He returns to the hotel, only to find his wife informing the police that their daughter has been kidnapped.

After a couple of days of dead-end leads, an Indian couple is caught at the airport trying to take someone resembling Victoria out of the country. Robert and Amrita go to identify their child, but find that she is already dead.

With their child dead, and no hope of finding the perpetrators of the crime nor bringing them to justice, Robert and his wife return to America. Robert decides to destroy the poetry, and, gradually, the couple's relationship returns to something resembling normal. Robert still wrestles with the desire for revenge, and after training himself in the use of firearms he returns to Calcutta with a smuggled handgun, intending to track down any and kill everyone he considers responsible. At the last moment, however, he manages to resist what he believes to be the "Song of Kali" - the force of devastation, cruelty and madness that exists somewhere within every human heart. He returns to the US and successfully comes to terms with the events that have befallen him and his family.

Whispers can still be heard, though, of the "Song of Kali", the condition of humanity dominated by hatred and violence, perfectly embodied, in the mind of the narrator, by the squalor and chaos of Calcutta.

A girl returns to her home town to attend the funeral of the mayor. During the proceedings she witnesses how fake the people attending are, using the event for their own political gain. The funeral turns into an election campaign event.

After a ship wreckage Hercules finds himself on an unknown desert coast. He is found by princess Virna daughter of a nomad prince which takes care of the wounded Hercules. After a nightly assault Virna disappeared. Hercules starts to search her and finally finds her in a part of Atlantis in the desert where Virna had been selected to become the new heires after the current Queen Ming. Hercules gets captured by Ming's amazon guard who take to a mad scientist and the current queen.reveals that Virna is the reincarnation of Atlantis very first queen.

Recently deceased beauty-salon owner Nora has bequeathed her business to her two estranged nieces, who are at odds regarding the best way to make the most of their inheritance.

Ching Wai (Chow Yun-fat) is a fresh graduate from university, and is hired by a jewelry company called Yu-Fook, and he rises up the career ladder quickly, due to his superb performance, and he forges a relationship with the Director's daughter, Fong Hei-man (Carol Cheng). The story continues smoothly, until an incident occurs. To pay his mother's (Tang Pik-wan) gambling debts, he embezzles company funds and is reported by the cunning Yuen Kei-cheung (Lee Tao-hung). Ching is sent to prison, where he meets and befriends a gangster chief Lung Koon-sam (Shih Kien), who helps him both in and out of prison. Ching gets a job at another jewelry company, and collaborates with Lung to expose Yuen's wrongdoings. Eventually, Yuen is caught, and Ching proposes to Fong.

Ching Chan (Liu Wai-hung), is also another main character. Known as Ah Chan, he is an idle immigrant from the Mainland. He is forced to care for the Chings when Ching Wai is sent to prison. Unfortunately, Ching Chan commits a crime and is jailed, but manages to forge a family with his love Cheung Mei-po (Kong Ho-oi)

It has been six months since Laida Magtalas and Miggy Montenegro became a couple. Laida was promoted from executive assistant to accounts executive, while Miggy has been doing well as he is being mentored by his older brother Art Montenegro. Laida gets an offer from her aunt to work in Canada where she is being given a good recommendation.

Miggy's father vouches for his promotion as general manager of the family's industrial laundry business in Laguna but this also prompts a few hesitations from Art. The promotion proves difficult for the couple's relationship as a result of time constraints and the relationship suffers from the pressures of being apart. Their relationship becomes even more troubled with the introduction of Macoy. Macoy is Laida's long time friend whom she broke up with after he did not keep his promise of them going together to the same college. Their situation turns worse when Miggy has to fix a few issues in the plant when he accepted orders from his brother Art's ex-girlfriend, Christina. His company's demand volume is too much for their man-power thus making some workers unhappy which leads to a labor strike. His father steps in and helps resolve the issue but Miggy has to set expectations to the clients affected by the strike. Those business meetings which preceded prompts Miggy to almost miss a wedding that Laida and he would go to. He arrives too late for the wedding and sees Laida crying with Macoy beside her. After Miggy and Laida have a heated argument, both of them decide to separate for a period of time.

The industrial laundry business soon is working in optimum efficiency which makes his brother trust him more, to the point of having him take over the family telecom stake in China. In the Montenegro group of companies annual general meeting, Laida sees Miggy for the first time after the argument, with Laida simply saying "Good morning, Sir", then leaving the venue right away. At the actual meeting, Miggy is announced as the officer in charge of the telecoms business.

Macoy talks sense to Laida to go back and pursue Miggy. She meets Miggy in the garden where she says she still loves him. Miggy suggests that it will be a more challenging time for them, but he also says he loves her. Afterwards, the two share a kiss with each other.

Song Soo-jung is a producer going on her third year at a small company. Her speciality is filming human interest stories. She is driven to produce these shallow stories for the sake of her ambition of one day becoming Korea's own Oprah Winfrey. However, she is reaching the end of what's left of her pride. After months of not getting paid, one day she leaves her office as usual with the company camera to produce a story on a lion apparently refusing to eat its meal. On her way, however, she comes across a robber, but she is saved somehow by "Superman" in a Hawaiian shirt. Superman claims he's unable to tap into his superhuman powers because "bad guys" have placed kryptonite inside his head. However, he doesn't let that get in his way of helping others, and saving the world from global warming and rescuing a lost puppy. Soo-jung can see this will make a good story and, with a little tweaking and a little fabricating, she produces the "Superman Saves the World" documentary which goes on to be a ratings hit. After an X-Ray examination of "Superman's" skull, it becomes clear that there really is something stuck in his head - a bullet. However, the true story behind this Superman (whose real name is Lee Hyuk-Suk), is revealed: two major tragedies that befell Hyun-Suk traumatized him and left him believing he was, in fact, Superman. When Lee was a boy, he saw ''Superman'' with his father, who told him that if he counted to one-hundred, he would become Superman. Caught in a skirmish during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Lee's father is killed, and the young Lee is shot in the back of the head. Miraculously, he lived with the bullet still lodged in his skull. Years later Lee, his wife, and daughter were hit in a car accident. His wife died instantly, but his daughter survived. In the burning wreckage, Lee told his daughter if she counted to one hundred, he'd turn into Superman to save her. Unfortunately, just as he was running to the car with a fire extinguisher, the bullet in his head caused a seizure, causing him to collapse on the road. As he writhed on the ground in pain, the car exploded with his daughter still inside. None of the onlookers in the crowd attempted to help Lee or his daughter. It was at this moment when mental trauma caused Lee to believe he was Superman. Lee lives his life with the belief that he is indeed Superman. Soo-jung follows Lee around as he attempts to help the community in his bizarre fashion. With his "super-deeds" Lee inspires hope within the community and people begin to follow his example. But this change Lee inspired only manifests when he has lost all hope in attempting to rescue a police officer from underneath a burning car. It's at this moment that people help Lee in trying to rescue the police officer. But when Lee attempts to save a child from a burning building, he ends up going in alone. In the collapsing building Lee couldn't find any way to escape, so he ends up jumping out of a window with the child, landing on his head. From there he flies and goes back in time to save himself from the bullet that hits Lee in his childhood. He returns to the present (Sadly, it was all a dream...) where in actuality he died landing on his head saving the child. No one in the crowd helped as they just looked on. In the hospital there appeared to be an "S" when they were about to take his organ. Soo-jung is inspired by Lee's sacrifice and follows his example by helping an old woman. From then on Soo-jung remembers a phrase used by Lee Hyun-Suk when they first met - "Strength doesn't open big iron doors but a small key." This helps the frosty, calculating Soo-jung to awaken to what's truly important in life.

In 1655, Queen Christina arrives in Rome after renouncing her Protestant kingdom to embrace the Catholic Church. Cardinal Azzolino, a favorite as successor to the dying Pope, is assigned to examine her. They fall in love and contemplate fleeing, but the Pope's death sees Azzolino re-embracing the Church and rejecting Christina.

A troubled sixteen-year-old, Natalie, is singing at her school's Christmas program when she suddenly becomes disoriented and vomits. She is brought to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where the team discovers her liver is failing for an unknown reason. In House's office, the team exchange Christmas gifts when House receives a mysterious gift. The present turns out to be Dr. Joseph Bell's ''Manual of The Operations of Surgery''. House, annoyed, throws it in the trash. Afterwards, House conducts a differential diagnosis, with the team entertaining ideas such as alcohol abuse and pill-popping, but none of the symptoms fit the entire picture. When Chase and Kutner question Natalie's classmates, one admits they slipped "magic mushrooms" into her food. Meanwhile, Foreman and Thirteen are still involved in the Huntington's drug trial. A woman whose disease is quite advanced drops out of the trial, saying that Foreman told her to "get over it" when her medication made her nauseous. Thirteen, annoyed, accuses Foreman of being like House.

After briefly suggesting the gift was from a former patient and old flame Irene Adler, Wilson tells the team that it is in fact last year's gift from Wilson himself, which House never opened. Wilson accuses House of needing to create the false illusion of a gift because he just cannot be nice to anyone. They bet that House cannot get thanked by a patient. Later, after Natalie's tox-screen was clean, Taub and Kutner find Tylenol in her school locker, which makes them think she tried to kill herself by acetaminophen toxicity. They later suspect tuberculosis, thinking she might have picked up something from the soup kitchen she normally attends.

To win the bet with Wilson, House behaves kindly and caring toward his patients. A naive woman, Whitney, comes to the clinic with a terrible headache and compliments House on his hospitality, to which he responds, "If you can't be nice, why be a doctor?" He later deduces she is pregnant, much to her surprise. She insists that she and her fiancé are virgins, and asks for a paternity test when House suggests that she has had an affair. After sharing the test results with them, he looks surprised, and leaves to repeat the test. He returns with the same results, and with a look of disbelief, states that Whitney is pregnant as a result of human parthenogenesis, a never-seen-before phenomenon. Her baby only has maternal genes due to a spontaneous gene mutation which fertilized her egg, without ever needing male sperm. Her baby will be a virgin birth. Later, however, it is revealed that House faked the results and told them the story to cover up Whitney's infidelity, thereby 'saving' their relationship but saddling the fiancé with a cheating potential future wife and another man's child.

Things make a turn for the worse for Natalie, as she has a seizure, ruling out TB but bringing her brain into the differential, along with the liver and lungs. Kutner suggests a mold allergy, for which the team test her. Natalie admits to buying alcohol from her friend Simon, whom Kutner and Taub question. Taub suggests alcohol poisoning, but it turns out that she hardly drank any of the alcohol and had only bought it to impress Simon. She goes into cardiac arrest, ruling out the alcohol theory. But her high blood alkaline phosphatase level nonetheless suggests leukemia, and Wilson is brought in to help. While Cuddy desperately tries to rule leukemia out, Wilson discusses its likelihood and says that she will die, even if they kill all the cancer, due to her failing heart and liver. A double transplant would not even save her. Cuddy then has an epiphany after talking with House about the pregnant couple and gravely realizes the only other disease that explains everything: post-partum eclampsia, which means that Natalie must have got pregnant and had a child. This turns out to be correct, and her friend Simon is the unknowing father. Natalie explains that she gave birth in an abandoned house but her daughter was stillborn. Cuddy searches the house and finds the baby girl, alive, being cared for by a pair of homeless squatters, and brings the baby back to the hospital where she reunites her with her mother. Unfortunately, due to the extent of Natalie's failing organs, she will die within hours (although this is not shown in the episode). The baby is in good health but is kept for observation as she is premature.

In the end, the whole team is full of Christmas spirit. Kutner finds a former classmate he used to bully and apologizes to him. During the episode he is shown to be furious about Natalie being bullied and when asked says that he was never bullied. Cuddy plans to become a foster parent and adopt the baby, as neither grandparent wants to care for her as she will recall memories too painful for them to handle, with House wishing her "Merry Christmas, Cuddy." Thirteen tells Foreman that he is not like House, after he welcomed back the woman who dropped out of the trial and is taking better care of her. Foreman and Thirteen passionately kiss.

Phil Daring, who considered himself the oldest Daring, despite being five minutes younger than Phoebe, is away at college. Phoebe occupies her time learning telegraphy from Dave Hunter, brother of her best friend, Lucy, but once she has mastered it, it loses its novelty, and the town of Riverdale has only three telephones.

Judge Ferguson's heart failed in his sleep, and no one is being allowed into his office to claim personal items they had in trust with him. Mrs. Ritchie, who hates banks, has her money and important papers in Ferguson's office, but is told by Constable Sam Parsons that she has to wait and follow procedure before she can claim her property that was in Ferguson's possession.

A young lawyer, John Holbrook, has arrived in Riverdale and decides to rent out Ferguson's office. The Darings try to get him to take on Toby Clark as his clerk, as Toby had done for Judge Ferguson, and, having crippled his foot in the events of ''The Daring Twins'', there are not many jobs he can still do. Holbrook spent all the money he had setting up his business, and is not able to hire him at the present time, but when Toby is accused of stealing the box, Holbrook takes the case. A blue tin box with Mrs. Ritchie's name on it is found in the back yard of the Clark shanty by the river, and her papers are found in the back room. This seems to damn Toby, but Phoebe and many of Toby's other friends do not believe he could have committed the act, while his low upbringing creates suspicion in others, such as Tom Rathbun and Dave Hunter.

Phoebe interrogates several people and comes up with a list of people who potentially could have stolen Mrs. Ritchie's box--Will Chandler, the postmaster and descendant of Riverdale's earliest family; Mrs. Ritchie herself as a scam; Sam Parsons, who guarded Ferguson's office; John Holbrook, who appeared at the office to rent it before its contents were cleared; Mrs. Miller, a deaf-mute maid; and Joe Griggs, the hardware store owner, who happened to be in place at the right time to make him a suspect. Will and Sam strongly tried to dissuade her from thinking anyone besides Toby may be the thief, but Phoebe is undaunted.

Don and Becky Daring, two of the younger Darings, meet in the barn on the Randolph property, being friends with the Randolph children, Allerton (of the infamous "naked niggers in Africa" quotation of the previous book--the only use of the epithet in either book, despite the Southern setting) and Doris. They decide to form a marching society for the innocence of Toby Clark, and after receiving an anonymous donation, decide to hire Ed Collins's town band to assist them.

Phoebe finds that her friend, Nathalie Cameron, as well as John Holbrook, saw a woman leave with the box during the night. Phoebe then visits Sam Parsons, who has the box in his possession, which proves that the pried-open box found on the Clark property is not Mrs. Ritchie's, even though it was the right color and her name was painted on it. Parsons, while well-meaning and certainly seeing himself innocent of police corruption, admits that Toby did not steal the box. He knows who did, but argues that the actual thief will suffer more than Toby Clark will from serving time in prison, thus finding it morally appropriate to plant false evidence on Toby Clark. She insists that she knows Toby but does not know the thief. Sam asserts that Phoebe does know the thief and her relations, just that she doesn't know who they are. This doesn't sit well with Phoebe, nor with Judith Eliot, the Darings' young but of age cousin and guardian, who refuses to take an active part in Phoebe's detective work.

Judith's cousin John, who is not cousin to the Darings, is the governor, and dresses down for a familial visit. He becomes very interested in the case, and agrees that Phoebe and Judith's sense of justice is more correct than Sam's.

Mrs. Ritchie is upset that one of her papers, in a yellow envelope, is still missing.

Eventually, the money and bonds are found under Toby's mattress, which seems to further incriminate him, with a note left admitting that it was a mistake to take the box. Phoebe sees that the notes are not in Toby's handwriting, and seeks to identify whose hand in which they are written. She notes a curl on a T as the most important clue, initially dismissing the spelling "mattrass." When she goes to the telegraph station to call for the governor as this latest bit of evidence suggests a frame up, Dave Hunter will not let her, and she fights her way into the booth, telegraphs the message herself, looks in the register for the price, and pays in exact change. As she does so, she finds and pockets a slip of paper after noticing misspelling "mattrass" related to a shipment.

Finally Duncan Spaythe, the town banker, insists that he took the box, in spite of the two witnesses having seen a woman do so. His son, Eric, though, admits that his father took it from the actual thief, Hazel Chandler, who is Will's daughter and Dave's fiancée, seeking to expedite their marriage in a moment of weakness.

When Cousin John, the governor, learns that the yellow envelope contains the will of Alonzo Clark, Toby's father, he is able to shame Mrs. Ritchie into taking the blame for the theft of her own box, because the will shows that she has stolen dividends from a copper mine Clark had bought and not applied the funds to Toby's upbringing and education as instructed by Alonzo Clark, who was her second cousin. She didn't realize that the will had been probated and existed in file copy at the courthouse.

The night before Toby's impending trial, all of those who supported him have a big party in which they reveal to him his true inheritance and that the case against him has been dismissed. Holbrook has developed his reputation and generated some income based on the case, and invites Toby to become his clerk. Toby declines, wishing to attend law school, but expresses interest in being Holbrook's partner once he passes the bar.

Arthouse filmmaker Goo can't seem to direct a hit, but at least the critics love him. He goes to Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province to judge the local film festival, but the common practice for jurors is to schmooze by day, drink at night, and sleep through movies. He bumps into an old friend Boo Sang-yong in town and drinks till he passes out, but not before soundly offending his friend's wife.

After Jecheon, Goo heads to Jeju Island to give a college lecture. There, he meets up with a former mentor, who it turns out is now married to Goo's ex-unrequited lover.D'Sa, Nigel (13 August 2008). [http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/KOFIC/Channel/?task=kofic.user.eng.b_filmnews.command.NewsView1Cmd&searchPage=1&Gesipan_SCD=1&Gesimul_SNO=1044 "HONG Sang-soo Shoots His Ninth"]. ''Korean Film Council''. Retrieved 2008-11-08.Moon Seok. "Return of the Masters". ''[http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/common/modules/Download.jsp?filePath=/eng/publication&fileName=KFOAFM.pdf Korean Film Observatory No.28] '', pp. 16. Korean Film Council, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-08.

Haughty anthropology professor Harry Ballard (Karl Urban) receives a sinister videotape showing a cult called the Black Lodge ranting about a demonic plot. As it turns out, Harry's brother, Richard, killed himself a few months earlier under mysterious circumstances, possibly related to this cult; in any event, the loss has been preying on Harry's mind, sending his relationship with his girlfriend (Sally Stockwell) into a tailspin. Meanwhile, a seemingly schizophrenic young woman named Benny (Katie Wolfe), who has a penchant for lighting sparklers in alleyways for no good reason, follows Harry around and snatches him from the jaws of doom after he falls into the cult's hands. The devilish leader, Le Valliant (Jonathan Hendry), apparently has big plans in store for Harry, and soon the protagonist's grip on reality slips as the cult targets him for an upcoming ritual.

Phil Parker (Nail) is the father of Jack (Peter Losasso), who is a drummer in a teen band with a number of his friends. Phil is recently separated from his wife Marketa (Young) and was in a 'one-hit wonder' band in the 1980s, with the song "I Cry". Jack and his band simply want to jam and have fun, but their parents are standing in the way, not because they disapprove, but because they also want to be a part of the rock-star lifestyle. Ultimately the band enter into a talent contest.

A conversation develops between a down-to-earth taxi driver (Martin Sheen) and his passenger, a wealthy and restless matron (Eva Marie Saint) that forever changes their lives during a ride from a midtown Manhattan hotel to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Muzzy, the friendly, green, clock-eating extraterrestrial, returns for more adventures with his friends in Gondoland. Everyone expects him, and King Nigel and Queen Elza decide to arrange a ball for the christening of Bob and Sylvia's new baby daughter, Amanda. Meanwhile, Corvax, a servant and the villain of the previous film, invents an invisibility device, and with his assistant, 'Thimbo (the Terrible)', a thief on parole, makes plans to kidnap Amanda, to get revenge on Bob for tricking him and taking Sylvia away from him.

Corvax and Thimbo succeed in kidnapping Amanda, and they get away on Nigel's yacht. However, Amanda sinks the boat by pulling the plug out of the hull. The three manage to survive and they go to Corvax's hideout – a small hut, which turns out to be Corvax's operations centre. Meanwhile, Muzzy, Nigel, Ezra, Bob, and Sylvia follow Corvax's trail, recover Nigel's yacht, and track Corvax to his hideout.

At the same time, Corvax and Thimbo have a problem: Amanda gets hungry and wants to eat; while preparing the food, Thimbo lets the invisibility device loose; it is picked up by Amanda, who activates it. Corvax and Thimbo try, but fail to find Amanda. Muzzy, Nigel, Bob, Ezra, and Sylvia enter the hideout and confront Corvax. Thimbo confesses to Nigel that the hut is an operations center. Meanwhile, Amanda is found, but cannot be seen. Muzzy constructs another invisibility device and uses it to make Amanda visible. Everyone then goes back to the palace. In the end, Corvax and Thimbo ride with sheep to receive the unknown ultimate punishment offscreen (although it is accordingly known that, in Britain, this means 250 years in prison).

The story centers on a circular shape-like creature that is missing a wedge-shaped piece of itself. It doesn't like this, and sets out to find its missing piece, singing:

It starts out on a grand adventure searching for the perfect piece to complete itself, while singing and enjoying the scenery. But after the circle finally finds the exact-sized wedge that fits it, it begins to realize that it can no longer do the things it used to enjoy doing, like singing or rolling slowly enough to enjoy the company of a worm or butterfly. It decides that it was happier when searching for the missing piece than actually having it. So it gently puts the piece down, and continues searching happily.

Thirty years after a nuclear holocaust, Eli travels on foot across the wasteland of the former United States. He demonstrates uncanny survival and fighting skills, such as hunting wildlife and defeating a group of highwaymen. Searching for water, he arrives in a ramshackle town ruled by a warlord named Carnegie, who seeks to control the people through the power of a certain book, which his henchmen have been unable to find.

Eli barters with a store owner, the Engineer, to recharge the battery of his portable music player. At the town bar, he is attacked by a gang of bikers but swiftly kills them all. Impressed, Carnegie invites Eli to join his employ, but Eli declines. Realizing Eli is a literate man like himself, Carnegie forces him to stay the night under guard. After Carnegie's blind mistress Claudia brings Eli food and water, Carnegie orders her daughter Solara to seduce Eli, but he rebuffs her. Solara sees Eli has a book, and he offers to share his food, saying grace before they eat. In the morning, Carnegie overhears Solara repeating the prayer to her mother and realizes Eli has the book he has been seeking: a Bible.

Eli sneaks away, but Carnegie and his henchmen confront him in the street. When Eli refuses to give up the book, Carnegie orders him killed; the ensuing battle leaves Eli untouched, but many henchmen dead and Carnegie shot in the leg. Solara catches up to Eli and leads him to the town's water supply, hoping to accompany him on his travels, but he traps her inside and continues alone. Solara escapes and is ambushed by two bandits who attempt to rape her, but Eli reappears and kills them. Continuing toward the West Coast, Eli explains his mission: His book is the last remaining copy of the Bible since all other copies were intentionally destroyed following the nuclear war. He says that he was led to the book by a voice in his head, directing him to travel westward to a place it would be safe, and assuring that he would be protected and guided on his journey.

At an isolated house, Eli and Solara fall into a trap but manage to allay the suspicions of the residents, George and Martha, who invite them in for tea. Realizing that George and Martha are cannibals, Eli and Solara attempt to leave just as Carnegie and his men arrive. In the ensuing shootout, George, Martha, and many of Carnegie's men are killed, and Eli and Solara are captured. Threatening to kill Solara, Carnegie forces Eli to surrender the Bible before shooting him and leaving him for dead, departing with his caravan. Solara escapes, destroying one truck with a hand grenade and driving back in another to find Eli. With his remaining vehicle low on fuel, Carnegie returns to town.

Solara finds Eli, and they drive until they reach the Golden Gate Bridge and row to Alcatraz Island, where they find a group intent on preserving what remains of literature and music. Eli tells the guards that he has a copy of the Bible. Taken inside, Eli is revealed to be blind and dictates the New King James Version of the Bible from memory to Lombardi, the sanctuary's leader.

In the town, the Engineer opens Eli's locked Bible, which Carnegie discovers is in Braille. Claudia, feigning ignorance of Braille, tells Carnegie that his leg wound has become infected and the loss of his enforcers has led the people to run amok. At the sanctuary, Eli has died, but not before reciting the entire book. A printing press begins producing copies of the Bible, and Lombardi places one on a bookshelf between the Tanakh and the Quran. Offered sanctuary on Alcatraz, Solara chooses instead to return home, taking up Eli's machete and other possessions.

Veteran police detective Baek Seong-chan is on the verge of retiring to set up his own business. But he is forced to put his plans on hold when ₩1.8 billion is stolen from a bank truck, and then 600 kg of gold from an airport, with the thief having impersonated Baek. The following day, he receives a package of the stolen money from the thief, who identifies himself as Ahn Hyeon-min. Baek pursues Ahn, only to discover that he is being used as a pawn in a greater scheme of revenge.

While playing football, a young Clark Kent accidentally breaks Pete Ross's arm. The next day, Clark panics when he discovers x-ray vision and nearly burns his school down with his heat vision. Clark's parents Jonathan and Martha Kent reveal to him he's an alien and show him the rocket that brought him to Earth. The ship reveals a holograph of Jor-El and Lara, who tell him about themselves and the planet he comes from: Krypton. Elsewhere in Smallville, a young Lex Luthor discovers a chunk of Kryptonite and takes it to a street fair the next morning where he is selling his stuff. There he meets Clark, who now wears glasses. After Clark becomes weak and almost damages the Kryptonite, a tornado appears without warning and he rescues Lana while learning he can fly.

Clark decides he wants to help people, and Martha makes an indestructible outfit based on the clothes from the rocket's holographic images. Clark tries it on and does not like it. A drunken Lionel Luthor, Lex's father, drives off a cliff but is rescued by Clark. Because he is embarrassed by the costume, he quickly disappears. Clark starts feeling sad and isolated from his human peers, when Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes appear. The Legionnaires bend their rules to take Clark to the future. Once they arrive, they fight a group of human supremacists, and Brainiac 5 angrily reminds them of the consequences of their actions. The Legion returns Clark to the present and leaves him with a Legion flight ring to which to communicate, though agreeing telepathically not to tell him about his future. Later, Clark stops a rocket heading toward their house to reveal Krypto inside. Meanwhile, upon hearing his father died from heart failure, a gleeful Lex Luthor plans to use Lionel's insurance policy to go to Metropolis.

Years later, a now adult Clark Kent walks around Metropolis, awestruck. Arriving at the dilapidated ''Daily Planet,'' he meets Rudy Jones, the overweight janitor, as well as photography intern Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Perry White and the rest of the staff. Perry forbids Lois to get involved with billionaire and businessman Lex Luthor, who nearly killed the ''Planet'' financially because of a story they had about him. She ignores the warning and sneaks into Lexcorp, where ''Planet'' reporters are not welcomed. Once in there, she watches as Lex unveils Metallo, his powered exoskeleton battlesuit, but the security guards find her. She flees, but a mistake sends her falling from the roof. Clark changes into his costume and rescues her, revealing his alter ego to the public. While some are in awe of him, others are scared and the police question him. Clark flees, fearing that he has made a "big mistake."

Lex's daily tradition is to select someone from a crowd around his tower and provide them with a new life. One day, he chooses Rudy, brings him in and offers him all he can eat. He eats a donut that was dropped in bio-waste, which causes him to turn into a monster: the Parasite. Clark confronts Rudy and manages to freeze him. The people are grateful but don't know what to make of Clark. It becomes worse when Lex arrives and claims the "flying man" isn't even human. Clark leaves, and on the roof of the ''Daily Planet'', sees Jimmy on the ledge. Jimmy is thinking of returning to New York, but Clark persuades him to stay, since he's his "only friend" in Metropolis, and lets Jimmy take his picture. The next issue of the ''Daily Planet'' runs with Lois's story and Jimmy's picture, naming "Superman" as the city's new savior. Lex, furious, declares a personal war on Perry White.

Later, a fire starts in the ''Daily Planet'' and Superman puts it out. Some clues indicate that it was arson''.'' Public opinion is slowly improving on Superman thanks to the ''Planet,'' and their sales are rising. Lex calls upon General Sam Lane, Lois' father, who agrees to help him in exchange for high-tech weapons. Lex reveals that Superman is an alien, and can likely be stopped by kryptonite, the rock that also powers the Metallo battlesuit. Lois is greeted by Sgt. John Corben, with whom her father prefers she has a relationship. Lois refuses to date him, but John persists, and Clark steps in when Corben gets abusive.

John leaves to meet Lex and Sam and agrees to pilot Metallo. Clark takes Lois to lunch. Things are going well, when Clark hears an explosion and leaves to become Superman but the explosion was a fake; Sam Lane had caused it in order to meet Superman. Sam wants to know what his goals are, particularly with Lois, and threatens to declare him an enemy of the State. Superman ignores him and Lane orders the Army to attack. The soldiers do little to Superman, but John, in the Metallo suit, manages to weaken him by exposing him to the kryptonite. Ricocheting bullets hit the kryptonite, which explodes, injures John and allows Superman to escape. Sam and his troops arrive at the ''Daily Planet'', and orders it shut down until they can get definitive answers about Superman.

Lex takes John into surgery and replaces his heart with a kryptonite generator, turning him into Metallo. Sam reveals to the ''Daily Planet'' staff that Superman is an alien. Soldiers find Superman in the sewers and the battle erupts onto one of the main streets of the city. Metallo appears, injuring his own soldiers in order to get enter the fight. He attacks Superman with a kryptonite ray, threatening the bystanders. Superman melts a manhole to cover the kryptonite and flies Metallo into space until the lack of oxygen knocks him out. Sam arrives and orders Superman and Lois arrested.

The crowd turns on the Army, and Superman orders the crowd to stop. He meets with Lex and tells him Metropolis does not belong to him anymore. Later, Lex goes to pick another person from the crowd to give a new life, only to find no one there. The ''Daily Planet'' celebrates becoming the top-selling newspaper in the city. Superman visits Lois atop the ''Daily Planet'' building, thanks her for making him feel like he belongs there and starts the ''Planet''’s rusty globe spinning again. Lois asks, "Are you a man or an alien?" His response is, "I'm Superman, Lois" and then flies across Metropolis.

Inspector Hanaud, the well-known French detective, is on holiday in Aix les Bains when he is asked by a young Englishman, Harry Wethermill, to investigate the murder of a wealthy widow, Mme Dauvray.  Mme Dauvray has been strangled and her valuable jewels, which she wore ‘with too little prudence’, are missing. Her maid Hélène Vauquier has been discovered upstairs, unconscious, chloroformed, and with her hands tied behind her back.  Suspicion immediately falls on Mme Dauvray’s young English companion, Celia Harland, who has vanished. Celia is in love with Wethermill, and the latter pleads with Hanaud to take on the case in the unshakeable conviction that in spite of appearances Celia is innocent of the crime. Hanaud agrees to do so.

Mme Dauvray had been fascinated by spiritualism and part of Celia’s role as companion had been to stage séances for her and, as a supposed medium, to conjure up manifestations from the spirit world - which she did by acting and trickery. Hanaud discovers that she was to have conducted a séance on the night of the murder.

Adèle Tacé (who calls herself Mme Rossignol) is a practised criminal who has come to Aix specifically to steal Mme Dauvray’s jewels. In league with Hélène Vauquier, she professes disbelief in spiritualism and goads the old lady into holding a séance in which Celia will be expected to perform while bound hand and foot. To avoid being exposed as a fraud to Mme Dauvray and to her lover Harry, Celia agrees to co-operate, believing she can quite easily extricate herself. On the night, however, she is bound far more professionally and tightly than she had anticipated and, when unexpectedly secured to a pillar and gagged, realises that she is a prisoner. Seeing a man stealing in at the french window and recognising Harry Wethermill, Celia rejoices and expects release. But all he does is to check that her bonds are tight.  Celia is unable to escape or to cry out as he strangles Mme Dauvray.

Wethermill, Hélène and Adèle search without success for the jewels, and are forced to suspend their efforts when they hear footsteps outside. Hélène voluntarily allows herself to be chloroformed, to avoid suspicion falling on her. Celia, meanwhile, is abducted and taken to Geneva, being kept alive solely so that she can tell the gang where the jewels are hidden. When the newspapers report that the missing jewels have been found by the police, the gang have no further use for Celia and they prepare to drug her and dispose of her body in the lake. Hanauld arrives just in time.

Inspector Hanaud is asked to investigate a murder in which a young female spiritualist is accused of murdering her wealthy employer in a Riviera mansion and then running away. She is innocent, but the villain is able to make her seem guilty. Hanaud uncovers the truth, that the murder was the result of a jewel robbery gone wrong.

British botanist Dr. Charles Decker comes back from Africa after a year, presumed dead. During that year, he came across a way of growing plants and animals to an enormous size. He brings back a baby chimpanzee, named Konga, to test out his theory. Decker goes insane after he discovers a serum that turns his chimpanzee subject into a ferocious gorilla-sized ape. To further his hideous experiments, he mesmerizes the ape and sends it to London to kill all of his enemies who have more credit in the scientific community than he already has. Among his targets are Dean Foster, Professor Tagore, and Bob Kenton, the lover of Sandra Banks, the woman that the doctor wants for himself.

During a field trip to the woods with a group of his students he makes an inappropriate advance to Sandra. He is later confronted by her boyfriend Bob and, although seeming to concede to Bob, sends Konga to strangle him.

Decker's assistant and lover Margaret spots his affection for Sandra and attempts to get even by giving Konga an enormous amount of the strange serum and turns him into an enormous monster, although she becomes his first victim.

Just before going on a rampage, the super-sized ape grabs Decker in one of his enormous hands, while Sandra is eaten by Decker's carnivorous plants. His rampage comes to a stop when he (and Decker) are killed by the British army. Upon his death, Konga changes back to a baby chimpanzee.

In 1795, the Duke Philippe de Beauvais smuggles his own son into the prison cell where Louis XVII is kept. Thus Louis XVII can escape unnoticed to England. Unfortunately the aerostat, steered by Duke Philippe de Beauvais, lands accidentally on a remote island. There an American spinster, Virginia Traill, takes care of the strange child. She finds the dauphin profoundly traumatised and not interested in becoming a king. Meanwhile, Louis' uncle in Vienna has declared himself the new French king. In order to safeguard his claim on the throne, he sends assassins who shall murder the dauphin.

Being unaware of the exchange, he has Richard de Beauvais killed. But now the dauphin's torturers recognise that they have been deceived. Informed by a message of an English spy they send a ship to the island where the real dauphin hides. They attack the house of Virginia Traill and stop at nothing to detect the dauphin's hiding-place.

Butters Stotch mistakes older students following the vampire craze for actual vampires and tries to raise the alarm. Eric Cartman suggests that he go "document the vampires" simply to get rid of him.

Taking Cartman's words literally, Butters sneaks into the school gym and hides to record the members of the South Park Vampires' Club on his dictaphone. One of the vampires talks about vampire-related customs and they "feed" by drinking Clamato juice. However, Butters' dictaphone malfunctions, exposing him in front of the vampires. Butters attempts to repel them with a crucifix before running away.

Butters goes home, only to have his father, Stephen yell at him due to the fact that the food pantry is not organized and he found Hamburger Helper in his glass of milk. Stephen, without listening to anything Butters is saying, argues that "the only thing that keeps a family together is an organized pantry" and threatens to ground Butters.

After being threatened to be grounded by his parents, Butters thinks aloud, concluding that nobody listens to him. Having come to believe that if he becomes a vampire he will no longer get victimized, he asks the vampire kids to let him join them. They take him to Hot Topic and change his appearance to match theirs. Butters returns home to his parents, who are angry at him because of his lateness and his dyed hair. Butters responds that he is now "ungroundable" and hisses at his parents, thus completely shocking them.

Shortly after, Butters starts wasting away because he believes he is a real vampire and can only feed on blood. He sneaks into Cartman's room in the middle of the night in a failed attempt to "feed," only managing to give Cartman a Love-bite. Butters' parents, alerted by Cartman's mother, ask him if he "got gay with one of his schoolmates [that] night". Stephen attempts to confine Butters to his bedroom, but he simply leaps out of the window.

Throughout this episode, the school's Goth kids loathe the vampire kids with whom they keep getting confused by everyone, including Principal Victoria. Reluctantly, they decide to switch to a casual look to clear the confusion, but change their mind when they hear someone from the school soccer team describing them as "that fat girl, the big nose kid, the midget and the kid with pock marks on his face", which had caused them to become Goths in the first place. After discussing what they could do to stop the vampire craze, the Goth kids decide to get rid of "the head vampire", fifth grade student Mike Makowski, whom they kidnap and mail to Scottsdale, which they consider "the most horrible, most miserable place on Earth". This, however, fails to solve the problem, and just when the Goth kids are about to face defeat from the vampire kids, Butters informs them that Hot Topic is the source of the vampire craze. He takes them there and they burn down the store.

At home, Butters tells his parents that the Goth kids burnt down the Hot Topic and thus has now "reverted" back to human and he becomes "groundable" once more, much to this parents' relief. In the end, the Goth kids ask for a school assembly in order to explain to everyone the differences between Goth kids and "douchebag vampire wanna-be boner" kids, exclaiming, "Because anyone who thinks they are actually a vampire is freaking retarded." They receive a standing ovation, with the eldest Goth kid closing their speech with, "Fuck all of you" and flipping everyone off, to even more applause.

The eccentric caretaker of a block of flats, Mr. Pastry (Richard Hearne), is in charge of two of its boilers, whom he lovingly calls "Mavis" and "Ethel." His affection for the pair leads him into unforeseen problems, and he's fired from his job. Meanwhile, wealthy Sir Hervey Shaw (Austin Trevor) is searching for Mr. Pastry to close an important business deal. Mr. Pastry is found just in the nick of time to save both Sir Hervey's deal, and the temperamental "Ethel", who is on the verge of exploding.

The story centers around a villager named Chu Gam Chun (朱錦春, a homophone of the term 豬咁蠢, a Cantonese slang term meaning "as stupid as a pig"). One day, a soothsayer said he would one day become the penultimate Emperor of China. While he initially brushed it aside, a series of events and blunders would eventually make it come true.

When the Qing Dynasty fell, Chu and his villager friends became bandits, only to be recruited by a warlord. Once under their command, Chu quickly rose through the ranks when many of his superiors died in accidents that are not of Chu's making. Chu eventually became a warlord himself, but was later defeated by Nationalist forces.

Chu, along with his friends and family, made their way to Shanghai, where he eventually became an A-list movie star, even though Chu is illiterate, and can't read movie scripts. Chu then went from strength to strength, and eventually opened a department store. There, he was discovered by a Japanese spy, who wanted him to be a body double of Puyi, by then the Emperor of Manchukuo. The soothsayer's words have finally come true.

Eventually, Chu found out about the Japanese's deeds, and decided to leave his life as Emperor. He was separated from his family members while they were escaping, and Chu eventually ended up in Hong Kong as a beggar. Only when a local reporter found out about his story did Chu reunite with his family, as well as his longtime lover, who now works as a maid for the reporter's family.

Chu and his lover were reunited in the finale. At the same time, Chu discovered that he has won the Mark Six lottery drawing. However, realizing his desire to simply live out his life without dramatic ups and downs, Chu ripped up the lottery ticket.

A mountain towers over the little house where Ming Lo and his wife live, blocking sunlight and attracting rain. Ming Lo's wife tells Ming Lo that he must move the mountain. They follow the local wise man's advice without success. Finally, he tells them to perform a long dance with closed eyes while carrying all they possess, including the sticks of which their house is built. When they open their eyes, they find that the mountain has moved and happily rebuild their home.

Soon-yi is a young woman stuck in an arranged marriage to a man who still loves his college girlfriend. Her husband, Sang-gil, is a soldier in the South Korean army, and though she visits him regularly, he does not return her affections. After Sang-gil is sent to fight in the Vietnam War, Soon-yi resolves to follow him. She joins a band which is heading there, where she sings for the soldiers as "Sunny", with the hope of being reunited with her husband.

It is a progressive story, in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively more people are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together. The specific ordering and set of people and sometimes animals varies. However, in the original Russian version the order is quite fixed, it is the grandfather (''dedka''), the grandmother (''babka''), the granddaughter (''vnuchka''), the female-dog (''zhuchka''), the female-cat (''koshka'') and finally the female-mouse (''myshka''). The humour in the story is that only with the help of the weakest and smallest creature (the mouse) can the giant turnip (''repka'') be pulled up. The moral of this story is that of collaboration, and that if we all work together, we can do anything.

The story is very popular in Russia as the names of the participants rhyme: ''repka'' (turnip) – ''dedka'' (grandfather) – ''babka'' (grandmother); ''vnuchka'' (granddaughter) – ''zhuchka'' (she-dog); ''koshka'' (she-cat) – ''myshka'' (she-mouse).

Rosie Lord is a widowed millionaire who, much to the dismay of her daughters Mildred and Edith, spends her money generously. When she announces she intends to buy a $2.5 million closed theater in a run-down part of Los Angeles, because it is the location where her late husband proposed to her and it is now threatened to be turned into a parking lot, her daughters decide that they have had enough. Edith and her husband Cabot complain that they are only granted $100,000 a year, and work together with cold-hearted and recently divorced Mildred to discourage Rosie from buying the theater. They are unable to convince her and her legal advisor Oliver to let them take care of her money, and thus decide to try to declare her incompetent, thereby hoping to put her in an insane asylum. Edith and Cabot's young daughter Daphne is appalled to overhear the scheme, and vows to help her grandmother.

Daphne rushes to Oliver's office, but runs into his much younger associate David Wheelwright, who promises to help her after an emotional conversation. Oliver is upset to find out that one of his workers is taking matters in own hands, and meets with David to hear him out. David advises that they should put someone with Rosie to prevent her from doing anything outrageous, because their daughters are sending a private investigator to the case. Oliver takes his advice, but sends him on the job. David reluctantly starts the job, but is quickly drawn to Rosie's extraverted personality. Simultaneously, he goes on a few romantic dates with Daphne and they fall in love.

After attending a piano recital, Rosie is abducted by two men, and later awakens in a locked rest home for the mentally unstable in the Santa Monica mountains. Rosie is heartbroken to learn that her daughters committed her to a sanitarium, and rejects an offer from Cabot to sign the papers for her release in exchange for making them responsible of her finances. He assures her that they can keep her in the sanitarium indefinitely if she does not obey their wishes, prompting Rosie to reconsider. Meanwhile, Daphne finds out what has happened, and furiously leaves the home, despite her mother's plea not to leave her.

With the help of Oliver and David, Daphne enters the rest home and breaks Rosie out. Rosie, who cannot believe what her own daughters did to her, is next sued in court. Mildred and Edith's lawyer puts Rosie's sanity at debate, and Rosie is ready to announce her defeat during the process. Daphne and Oliver console her during the trial, and when Oliver announces his love for her, Rosie decides to fight again. She faints in court and pretends to be dying, to get her daughters to admit that she is sane (in order for Rosie to change her will just before dying). The case is thereby dismissed and Rosie is now free to marry Oliver.

The King (Joo Jin-mo) of Goryeo is married to a Yuan Dynasty princess (Song Ji-hyo), but they do not have any children. There is constant pressure on the King both from the Yuan emperor and his own counselors to produce a crown prince and ensure the continuity of the royal dynasty. The King's palace guard is composed of thirty six young soldiers, led by military commander Hong-rim (Jo In-sung), who is also the King's lover. The King finally decides to charge Hong-rim with a strange commission: penetrate the Queen to impregnate her. Hong-rim and the Queen are uncomfortable accepting the royal order, but they finally comply. However, their relationship does not stop at procreation, but an intense romance soon blossoms between the two, and in this strong intimate relationship there is no place for the King.

The two passionate lovers surpass their "official mission" and continue to meet each other at midnight in the library in secret. The King begins to suspect Hong-rim's infidelity and soon gains evidence through his junior commander. To punish them and to also gauge the depth of Hong-rim's affection for the Queen, the King calls the two together to his chamber. The king tells them that he has decided that the Queen will continue to try and beget an heir, but only with another subordinate. The King remains firm in his decision, despite entreaties from both the Queen and Hong-rim.

In despair, the Queen attempts to kill herself by slitting her wrists, but fails. In a last-ditch effort to change the King's mind, Hong-rim asks the Queen to stay away from him, and goes to the King to offer his own life in exchange for forgiveness. The King pardons him, believing Hong-rim's claim that his involvement with the Queen was purely lust. He decides to overlook everything that had happened, and instead orders Hong-rim to go away for a while to clear his mind and settle his emotions.

The night before Hong-rim's departure, the Queen's personal maid secretly informs him that the Queen wishes to meet him one last time. She also bears news that the Queen has finally conceived a child. Hong-rim sneaks out from the King's bedside to meet the Queen in the library. They end up having passionate sex in the library, but the King realizes what is happening and catches them in flagrante delicto. When the two lovers attempt to save each other by begging the King to kill them and not the other, the King realizes how strong their romantic love for each other is. In a jealous rage, he has Hong-rim castrated and sent to prison.

The Queen now realizes that the King will eliminate everyone who knows their secret, so she sends her maid to warn Hong-rim's loyal subordinates, and they manage to free Hong-rim from prison and flee the city with him.

Upon learning of the escape, the King demands to know Hong-rim's whereabouts from the Queen, but she refuses to answer. In response, he kills her maid. The King is then informed that the Queen is pregnant, and as the Queen had predicted, he then orders the execution of everyone who knows that he is not the child's father. Only his junior commander, who took over from Hong-rim, is spared.

Some time later, and having recovered from his wound, Hong-rim realizes that the Queen is still in the palace and not on the run, as his subordinates were ordered to tell him. Furious, he starts out for the city on horseback, despite their protests, but then he stops in his journey, realizing how futile it would be. However, on returning to the refuge, he finds that his men have been tracked down and captured.

At the palace, the King tortures the subordinates to discover the whereabouts of Hong-rim, but they remain silent, so the King has them executed and their heads put up on posts on the palace gates, along with that of the Queen's maid. Her head bears the Queen's necklace, in order to trick Hong-rim into believing the queen is dead and forcing him to return to exact revenge. When Hong-rim returns to the city, he indeed becomes enraged by this sight and determines to kill the King. Disguising himself as a soldier, he enters the palace grounds during the celebrations for the soldier who came back from war and hides out, awaiting his chance to reach the King and kill him.

Meanwhile, as the King returns to his private quarters, he encounters the Queen, but he snubs her, and orders his junior commander to escort her back to her room. As the commander is about to leave the Queen's chamber, she warns him that the King will surely have him killed as soon as the baby is born; she then says that if the commander assassinates the King, and her father takes over the throne, she will guarantee that his life will be spared. The junior commander then calls a meeting of his most trusted subordinates and reveals the truth about the King, the Queen and Hong-rim. However, before they can carry out the Queen's plan, Hong-rim goes into action.

Ignoring the palace guards, who plead with him to leave before he is captured and killed, he fights his way to the King's quarters, cutting down all who oppose him. Reaching the King's chamber, Hong-rim confronts the King and demands that he fight him. An intense duel ensues, during which Hong-rim slashes through the King's favorite painting, which depicts him and Hong-rim hunting together. As the desperate duel continues, the junior commander and his men arrive (their intentions not entirely clear), but the King orders them not to intervene, and the junior commander holds them back and awaits the outcome of the fight. At the climax of the duel, the King manages to break Hong-rim's sword, and stabs him in the shoulder. While Hong-rim is pinned by his sword, the King asks him a last question: whether or not Hong-rim had ever felt love for him. Hong-rim replies, "No". Hearing this, the King is shocked, giving Hong-rim time to throw himself forward on the blade and kill the King with the remaining half of his own sword.

As the King dies, Hong-rim staggers to his feet, pulls the King's sword from his shoulder and charges at the guards, but he is fatally stabbed by the junior commander. Moments later, the Queen arrives at the scene with the guards at her heels, who try to hold her back. Horrified, she tearfully calls out for Hong-rim. As she is taken away by the guards, Hong-rim realizes that the King had not killed her after all. He turns his head from her and dies facing the king, his eyes filled with realization of his test. The junior commander then declares that the King has been killed by an assassin, and he orders his men to quickly remove the bodies, and to tell no one of what has transpired.

The final scenes of the film show a flashback to when the King showed young Hong-rim the view of the city and asked if Hong-rim wished to live with him, to which the young Hong-rim replied "Yes." The film ends on a montage of the King and Hong-rim happily hunting together, referring back to a dream the King once had, as depicted in the King's painting.

Flora "Floss" Barnes's mother Sally and father Charlie split up when she was little and she wishes they'd get back together because she doesn't like her stepfather, Steve, and her little half-brother Tiger. The book opens on Floss's birthday where Sally and Steve tell her that they are going to Australia for six months because of Steve's job. Floss wants to go with them, but she doesn't want to leave Charlie who's a cheerful and fun dad, who runs his own café (named Charlie's but the c came off so it shows Harlie's) which is quickly going out of business. Later that day, Floss goes with Sally, Steve and Tiger to TGI Friday's.

Floss convinces Sally that she can live with Charlie, while they are in Australia. Floss has a tough time getting used to life without her mother since her father is not used to taking care of Floss seven days a week and she is not used to his home seven days a week, either. Floss's school uniforms get dirtier and disarrayed as Charlie is not used to washing and ironing them, but her teacher, Mrs. Horsefield, helps her out, as Floss is one of her personal favorite students. The father and daughter learn to cope and meet Rose, a very caring woman who works at a fair. After Rose leaves (traveling with the fair), they keep an eye out for her at the fair. Meanwhile, a regular customer at the café Billy the Chip puts money on a horse that Floss selects, and he wins money on the horse.

Floss also has her best friend, Rhiannon, who isn't much of a friend – making fun of her and her father and starting cruel rumours about Floss's mother walking out on Floss. Rhiannon's posh and snobby mother assumes that Charlie is an unfit father and repeatedly tries to lecture him and pamper Floss believing she is living in an unclean dump. Floss ends her friendship with Rhiannon and finds a new friend, Susan, who is interested in all her favorite things. This causes Rhiannon to turn on her and befriends the class's other bullies Margot and Judy. She continually torments Floss by calling her "Smelly Chip".

After Charlie loses the café and the flat, Billy the Chip mentions he is going to Australia to visit his son for one month and needs Floss and Charlie to live in his house while Charlie works in Billy's chip van. However, one day, a group of "yobbos" (as Charlie calls them) fight Rose's son Saul and when he attempts to stop the fistfight, the van catches on fire with Floss trapped inside. Charlie fights his way through the fire and rescues her, while in the process burning his hands. When the fair comes back in town, Rose and Charlie consider dating, and Floss finds out both are interested in each other and get along well, while Rose lets Floss help her in the candyfloss stall. Later, Susan, along with her parents, goes to stay in her holiday home in France and says farewell to Floss at the beginning of summer. The book closes with Floss thinking about dying her hair pink (like candy floss).

"The Lovely House" consists of three main parts. In part one, the main character Margaret starts her summer vacation with her friend Carla Montague. The Montagues' home is a huge and beautifully decorated house that is set among lavish grounds. The house has many themed rooms; for example, there is a fan room, a painted room, and a room with a tile mosaic on the floor. Every room contains one or more tapestries with a picture of the house on it. In the room with the tiles, there's a mosaic of a girl, with the words "Here is Margaret, who died for love."

In part two, Carla's long-anticipated brother arrives with a friend. Paul, the Captain, Carla, and Margaret pass time in various parts of the grounds. Margaret and Paul often separate from the other two, which seems to disturb Carla. One afternoon when Margaret and Paul are looking at the river, they discuss the tower and Paul tells Margaret that there is an old lady, an Aunt or a Great Aunt or a Great-Great Aunt, that hides away in the tower because she hates the tapestries. Eventually Margaret ascends the tower and meets the old lady, whose name is also Margaret. The encounter goes strangely and Margaret leaves in a hurry.

In part three, the Montagues say farewell to their son by hosting a ball. The old lady shows up at the ball to see and reminisce with Paul. Margaret overhears part of a strange conversation between the two that implies they were young together even though now they appear to be quite different ages. After the ball, the Captain points out the many ways in which the house needs repair. The family immediately become defensive and the meal ends. After breakfast, Margaret and Paul are in the drawing room. Paul becomes defensive about the state of the house, then abruptly takes his leave of Margaret. The family then says goodbye to the Captain. It is at this point in the story that the story makes clear that the Captain is Carla's brother. The story leaves ambiguous what the relationship is between Paul, Margaret, and the elderly Margaret.

The story involves a country doctor who describes his urgent call to look after a young patient.

More and more, the doctor gets involved in surreal experiences as he is transported to his patient by seemingly "unearthly horses" in a blink of an eye. While treating the patient, he fails to find the fatal wound which results in humiliation by the villagers and an endless return trip, losing everything.

It tells the story of the continuous pressure on doctors, and the never-ending impossible expectations laying on their shoulders.

It tells the story of Wallace, an artist/war hero/short order cook who saves a suicidal woman named Esther. She likes his art and they go out for a drink. They are ambushed by two men, who drug Wallace and kidnap Esther. The Colonel and Liebowitz are a suspected part of this conspiracy. Wallace spends the night in the drunk tank, after being dragged out of the gutter by two of Basin City's (notoriously corrupt) police officers, Manson and Bundy, and upon his release seeks out Esther. He is crossed again by police officers after he tells Commissioner Liebowitz he plans to find Esther. He then dispatches them, leaving them bound and naked. After locating Esther's home, he finds her apartment occupied by Delia, who claims to be Esther's roommate.

Wallace and Delia are attacked by The Colonel's new manservant, Manute, but they escape. A sniper attacks from a nearby window, whom Wallace takes out by shooting him through the scope of his rifle. Delia tries unsuccessfully to seduce him as they are pursued by two more assassins in a Mercedes, which Wallace also disposes of.

Wallace and Delia meet up with an old war buddy referred to only as Captain. He borrows a Chevrolet Nomad known as The Heap from him and Wallace and Delia turn in for the night at the Last Hope Motel.

Wallace handcuffs her to the bed for what she believes is foreplay, when he reveals that he knows she cannot be Esther's roommate, because Esther's clothes would have the smell of Delia's cigarettes on them. Just then, Wallace is drugged by a sniper for the second time. He wakes at the Santa Yolanda Tar Pits, where Delia, Gordo, and a drug wizard named Maxine are preparing to abandon his car in the pits. Maxine gives him a huge dose of a hallucinogenic drug.

A large portion of the comic, wherein he finds himself hallucinating, is then done in full color. After a surreal sequence involving a crashing fighter jet, trash-talking cherubs, and dinosaurs, the car hits a tree. He discovers a young girl dead in the trunk. The police show up, as does Captain, who kills the police. Captain explains he'd have gotten there sooner if it wasn't for snipers establishing a perimeter. They torture one remaining sniper and find out where Delia, Gordo, and Maxine were heading and pursue them. During this sequence the Captain morphs into various pop culture icons, including King Leonidas from Frank Miller's ''300'', Lone Wolf and Cub, an ED-209 droid from the RoboCop movies, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Captain America, Dirty Harry, John Rambo, Martha Washington from ''Give Me Liberty'', Hägar the Horrible and even Hellboy. This portion is entirely in color.

They shoot past Delia, Maxine and Gordo at a gas station. As they begin driving again, Wallace and Captain ambush them, with Captain disabling the Hummer with a rocket launcher. As they move in, Gordo mortally wounds Captain as Wallace shoots Gordo in the face. At gunpoint, Wallace makes Maxine concoct an antidote to reverse his hallucinogenic frame of mind. As she does, he shoots her in the head and shoots Delia through the gut when he suffers a panic attack. After blacking out for a few seconds, Wallace finds himself back in a black and white "normal" world, Maxine dead and Delia wounded. Paralyzed from the waist down, she begs for mercy. Wallace does so by shooting her in the back of the head. He then carries Captain's body back to the Heap and drives away.

He meets up with another war buddy named Jerry, the Captain's lover. They burn Captain's body in a funeral pyre, where afterwards they work trying to flush the rest of the drugs out of Wallace's system. Mariah, another female mercenary working for The Colonel, is assigned to Delia's task in her stead. The Colonel is now killing anyone linking Wallace to him, starting with the doctor who kidnapped Esther. He even has Mariah break Liebowitz's teenage son's arm after luring him away from his high school. He then threatens Liebowitz's family even further, putting the commissioner in a moral quandary.

Wallace confronts Liebowitz in his apartment and tries to get him to join his side. Wallace discovers that the real scheme The Colonel is operating is a slave trafficking and organ harvesting ring of which Liebowitz was in fact (intentionally or otherwise) unaware of. Wallace explains how he launched a one-man assault on the factory, first infiltrating the complex, cutting a swathe of stealthy death through the roster of guards and discovering the myriad atrocities going on there. He was then confronted by Mariah and The Colonel as well as many, many armed guards. Wallace managed to escape the factory with his own life but without saving anyone, much to his own chagrin.

At this point, the phone rings in Liebowitz's apartment: "They know you're here", Liebowitz tells Wallace. It's The Colonel, telling Wallace where Esther is: she is at the Roark family farm, long since abandoned at this point. The deal is simple: Wallace's silence for Esther's safe return. When Wallace finds her, an enemy helicopter arrives and opens fire, Wallace shielding Esther with his body. However, Wallace is one step ahead: Jerry, who was up on a hill with heavy ordnance, blasts the chopper out of the sky with a rocket launcher; Wallace, who was wearing a Kevlar vest, survived the chopper's machinegun fire miraculously. Wallace takes Esther to the hospital and he and Jerry prepare to make a second assault on The Colonel's base of operations, when a flood of people are brought in on stretchers.

By this time, the police have launched a massive raid on The Colonel's factory, where The Colonel is captured. The Colonel threatens Liebowitz, who in return shoots him in the head for hurting his son and tells his underlings to "make a ''missing person'' outta the fucker". Wallenquist (the criminal lord behind the whole operation) lets it all be square, against the strong wishes of Mariah, (who somehow escaped the factory raid,) seeing neither power nor profit in revenge; He seeks revenge on neither Wallace nor Liebowitz.

Weeks later, Wallace and Esther leave town. He asks her why she wanted to jump and she responds "I was lonely". They drive away towards a better life away from Sin City.

Struggling artist Min Hee-do (Shin Ha-kyun), is offered three billion won to bet his life to a game against a rich old man, Kang No-sik (Byun Hee-bong), who is dying from a terminal illness. The game is for each man to dial a random phone number and guess if the person who answers will be male or female. He loses the bet, and after a monthlong brain operation, he wakes up to find that they have swapped bodies.

The film opens in a Christchurch courtroom, where testimony prompts Barbara Leslie to flashback to the events that led to the trial. She and her sisters Anne, Evelyn, and Delia live in Christchurch, where most of the male residents, including their brother Kit and Barbara's new husband Mark, are preparing to leave for World War II duty. Delia announces her engagement to Phil "Shiner" Friskett, who is one of the city's few remaining bachelors, but word of Kit's death dampens the celebration. Repressed and judgmental spinster sister Anne disapproves of the upcoming nuptials, but Barbara defends Delia's decision.

Within weeks of the marriage, the sisters come to resent Shiner's abuse and are happy to see him leave for active duty. Delia moves to Wellington to work for the New Zealand Navy. When several hundred U.S. Marines are shipped to Christchurch following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the lonely local women are flattered by the attention they pay them. When Evelyn invites Capt. Richard "Dick" Bates to dinner, he declines the offer, but not without attracting Anne's eye.

Concerned about Delia, Anne sends Barbara to Wellington, where she discovers her sister is registered at the St. George Hotel under her maiden name. Shiner is now a prisoner of war, and Delia has become involved with an American lieutenant named Andy. She plans to divorce Shiner and emigrate to the United States. Andy introduces Barbara to his friend Jack Harding, a Marine reviewing the backgrounds of prospective New Zealand brides of American soldiers. Although Barbara intends to remain faithful to her husband, she finds herself attracted to Jack.

Back in Christchurch, Anne is outraged by the lewd comments made by American servicemen in the lingerie shop where she works and writes a letter of complaint to the local paper. Following its publication, Dick is sent to the Leslie home to deliver a formal apology on behalf of the Marine Corps. Anne invites him to dinner, and Dick arrives with a gift of perfume for each sister. Anne accuses him of trying to seduce them.

Soon after, Barbara and Anne learn of Mark's death in North Africa and Dick's departure for active duty. He eventually returns to New Zealand to recuperate from an injury, and a romance between him and Anne blossoms. He proposes, but before the required marital investigation can take place, he is given offshore duty, leaving Anne expecting their child and unsure of what the future holds for them.

Jack arrives at the Leslie home to conduct his investigation of Anne, and he advises her that wartime romances stem from loneliness rather than love. Barbara tells him his assessment is heartless. Shortly after, she discovers Dick's name on the latest casualty list. Weeks later, Jack runs into Barbara at a local dance, where she suggests he uses alcohol to avoid intimacy. He breaks down in her arms, and a strong friendship between the two blossoms.

Jack celebrates Christmas Eve with the Leslie family, which now includes Anne's newborn son. When he announces his imminent departure, he and Barbara share an amorous embrace. Months later, Evelyn's sweetheart Tommy returns from war and proposes to her. Barbara sees an item from Richard's mother in the personals section of the newspaper, containing a request from Dick's mother to hear from any New Zealand family who knew her son. After Barbara writes to her, Dick's mother sends money to finance Anne and her baby's move to Oklahoma to live with their family.

The day of Anne's departure coincides with the Japanese announcing the end of hostilities. Delia has arrived in Wellington to see Anne off and to ask Shiner, recently rescued from a P.O.W. camp, for a divorce so she can leave for America with her latest lover. Infuriated, Shiner kills his wife with a Japanese sword he brought back from the war.

Weeks later, during the murder trial, Jack is forced to reveal his investigation report detailing Delia's seven affairs with American soldiers. Upset that her sister's infidelities seemingly have justified her savage murder, Barbara refuses Jack's invitation to leave New Zealand with him. Upon reflection, she packs her belongings and arrives at Jack's hotel to tell him she's ready to embark upon a new life with him.

In the fictional town of Norman, close to San Antonio, the local police is composed of professional assassins. With one exception, the police chief down to the dispatcher are all on the payroll of a local racketeer who makes use of these paid killers to dispose of zealous law enforcement officials opposed to his operations. When the last remaining honorable member of the force (Glenn Corbett) is killed, his brother-in-law (Dirk Benedict), a homicide detective from an unidentified city in Kansas begins an investigation of his own.

In 1969 Pasadena, a Hispanic couple seek help from young medium Shaun San Dena, saying their son is ill and hears evil voices after stealing a silver necklace from a Gypsy wagon, despite trying to return it. San Dena prepares a séance, but an unseen force attacks them and drags the boy to Hell. San Dena vows to fight the demon again one day.

In present-day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown vies for a promotion to assistant branch manager with her co-worker Stu Rubin. Her boss, Jim Jacks, advises her to demonstrate tough decision-making. Sylvia Ganush, an elderly and disheveled European Roma woman, asks for a third extension on her mortgage. After Christine denies her request, Ganush cries and begs not to have her house repossessed. Security guards arrive and she leaves, angrily accusing Christine of shaming her. In the parking lot, Ganush ambushes and violently attacks Christine. After a long struggle, Ganush rips a button from Christine's coat and curses it. Later, Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton visit fortune teller Rham Jas, who tells Christine a dark spirit is haunting her. At home, the entity begins to violently attack Christine. At work, she hallucinates about Ganush and bleeds profusely from her nose while spewing blood on Jacks. As Christine leaves, Stu steals a file from her desk.

Christine goes to beg Ganush for forgiveness but discovers she has recently died. Christine returns to Jas, who explains that as long as she owns the cursed button, a powerful demon known as the Lamia will torment her for three days before dragging her to Hell. He suggests a sacrifice may appease it. Christine reluctantly sacrifices her pet kitten before meeting Clay's parents at their house for dinner, where grotesque hallucinations torment her again. Christine returns to Jas, who requests a fee of $10,000. He introduces her to San Dena, who prepares a séance to trap Lamia in a goat and kill it. However, the Lamia possesses her and then her assistant, who vomits up the corpse of Christine's cat, saying it wants her soul. San Dena manages to successfully banish the Lamia from the séance, but dies afterwards.

Jas seals the button in an envelope and tells Christine that she can only remove the curse by giving the button to someone else. Christine considers giving the envelope to Stu but reconsiders. Instead, she digs up Ganush's grave and gives the corpse the envelope just at dawn. Christine returns home and prepares to meet Clay at Los Angeles Union Station for a weekend trip. Jacks notifies her of the promotion after Stu confessed to stealing her file and was fired.

At the station, Clay, hoping to propose to Christine, hands her the envelope with her missing button he found in his car, unaware of its significance. She realizes that she accidentally gave the wrong envelope to Ganush, which means the curse was never lifted. Horrified, Christine backs away and falls onto the tracks, just as fiery, demonic hands emerge. Clay tries to rescue Christine, but a train speeds through and he can only watch as the hands drag her to Hell.

Madame Pica is the cold-hearted mistress of a circus of "monsters and misfits", attended each night by thousands of curious spectators. Hero is among them every night, but he is there only to see Jo Jo, the winged trapeze artist. One night after the show, he steals the keys of the cell where Jo Jo is imprisoned, freeing her. The two escape and start to dance a romantic waltz in the stars. But soon the two lovers are discovered and as a last desperate act, hand-in-hand, they jump from the highest window in the tower. Jo Jo attempts to fly the two of them to safety, but Hero loses his grip and falls to the ground. Jo Jo is blown onto a window sill and re-captured by Madame Pica. A single feather from JoJo's wing floats to the ground, landing on Hero's apparently lifeless body.

Ten years pass, and Madame Pica is in search of some new attraction to draw in the crowds. She discovers that Hero is still alive but horribly disfigured, and takes him on as the new star of the show. He is taken to the cell next to JoJo's, and the reunited lovers embrace through the bars.

The year is 2023 and Paris is governed by a power-hungry dictator. As Alcide Nikopol you try to find a way of joining the underground rebellion and help stop the dictator's iron fist rule. The history takes a turn towards the weird, as Nikopol finds out that his father - an astronaut sent into orbital exile in cryopreservation - may be alive and well in the city. At the same time, a strange pyramid hovers over Paris, and a rumour of Egyptian gods residing in it spreads like wildfire.

Gang members Woo-min, Cheol-jung, Do-wan and Yeong-hwan are close friends, who, with the help of older gang member Gang-seop, decide to rob a casino so they can start their lives over. But Cheol-jung betrays the others, and Woo-min ends up in prison. After serving his time, Woo-min tries to stay out of trouble, but finds himself drawn back into the underworld.

The feuding Miser Brothers (Heat and Snow) attend their family reunion with Mother Nature and their fellow siblings including the North Wind, Earthquake, Thunder and Lightning, and the Tides. North Wind passively asks Mother Nature what might happen if Santa would be unable to complete his duties on Christmas. She responds that North Wind would take control instead. Heat then begins to call out Snow for trying to "give global warming a bad name". Snow responds by talking about Heat's attempts to scare people with reports of a second Ice Age. Heat then reprimands Snow for claiming Iceland as his own, which barely has any ice. Snow then calls out Heat for claiming Greenland as his own because it's full of ice. The brothers then fight each other. Mother Nature ends the fight.

Despite his dashing appearance and veneer of flattery and devotion toward Mother Nature, the North Wind is far more malevolent than either of his brothers. Self-absorbed and vain, the North Wind is fixated with the idea of replacing Santa Claus as a way to achieve personal glory. Beginning his machinations, He then sends two of his minions to crash Santa's Super-Sleigh designed by his mechanic Tinsel, causing Santa to injure his back after falling in the middle of a fight between the brothers as he unintentionally crosses into their domain.

Despite what she told the North Wind before and having been informed by Mrs. Claus about what happened to Santa, Mother Nature assigns the Miser Brothers the responsibility of running the toy factory. Their fighting continues as they move through several workshop stations. The North Wind hatches a new plan to keep them fighting so it would appear as if they ruined Christmas themselves, but Mrs. Claus convinces the Miser Brothers to put aside their differences and cooperate by showing them the Naughty/Nice list station. The brothers' history is revealed, showing they've always been on Santa's naughty list for mutual bickering. Upon learning the error of their ways, they begin working together and successfully get work back up to speed. However, the North Wind hatches a plan to destroy their truce and get them fighting again, leaving Santa to deliver the toys and giving North Wind the chance to finish him off.

On Christmas Eve, the North Wind's minions surreptitiously attach heating and cooling units to the sleigh, apparently capable of heating or cooling entire regions of the planet. The discovery causes the Miser Brothers to blame each other. With them fighting again, Santa has no choice but to drive the sleigh as North Wind planned. After Santa leaves, Tinsel discovers the super-sleigh has been sabotaged, which stops the Misers' fight as they realize that neither of them was responsible for injuring Santa. Upon finding one of North Wind's Christmas cards with him dressed as Santa, the Misers realize the truth about their brother and comprehend his plan. Meanwhile, the North Wind attacks Santa's sleigh in flight, whipping up a vortex to consume Santa, but the Miser Brothers, with the aid of Tinsel and a team of young reindeer, save Santa in the nick of time.

The North Wind's cover is blown and Mother Nature sentences him to do household chores for the next several thousand years as punishment for trying to finish off Santa and making his brothers fight. With North Wind thwarted, the brothers learn they've finally made the nice list. They deliver the presents for Santa and give gifts to each other in the process, making peace between them and ending their feud.

The film begins with three girls fleeing from Elmview Corrective School for Girls, a reform school. Two manage to steal a truck and escape while the third hides nearby. The next day, Dr. John Jason (Paul Henreid), a psychiatrist on staff, is told to resign by Riggs (Cecil Clovelly), the chief of staff. Dr. Jason refuses, and an investigation in the psychiatrist's methods is begun. Dr. Jason reflects on the circumstances leading up to this day, and the scene changes to his arrival at Elmview.

Against the wishes of Riggs, Dr. Jason, is hired to reduce the high rate of recidivism at Elmview. He meets several of the new arrivals, and naively recommends treatments for them to Riggs and the other staff, who seem to listen to his advice. Ruth Levering (Catherine McLeod), the assistant superintendent, warns him that his efforts will be futile. When he follows up, and explores the school, Dr. Jason is shocked to discover that not only is his advice not being followed but the girls are forced to work as farm hands and in a sweatshop laundry, and are punished with solitary confinement if they refuse. When he complains, Miss Levering, who had seemed sympathetic to the girls, refuses to back him up. Frustrated and realizing his work will do no good there, Dr. Jason considers resigning, much to the satisfaction of Riggs.

As a passive protest, the girls refuse to sing for the city council when they visit the institution. As punishment, Riggs has Mrs. Beuhler (Grace Coppin), the cruel head matron, confiscate the girls' belongings. In the process Riggs discovers and Beuhler kills a rabbit the girls had been keeping as a pet. In retaliation the girls set fire to their bedding and the blaze destroys the dormitory. Beuhler reacts by bringing the girls to the basement and setting a fire hose on them.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jason and Miss Levering meet on their day off and she explains that if she had supported him with the staff she would be fired and would then be unable to help the girls at all. Though Dr. Jason disagrees with this approach and an argument ensues, a friendship begins between the two. When they return to Elmview, they manage to rescue the girls from Beuhler. One of the girls, Loretta (Anne Francis), a single mother who Dr. Jason tried to help when he first arrived, develops a crush on him as a result.

Threatening to report the fire hose incident to the board of directors, Dr. Jason makes a deal with Riggs where he would stay on in a purely administrative role while Dr. Jason and Miss Levering would make all decisions as to the treatment of the girls. Under the new regime, the harsh punishments are abolished, the farm and the laundry are shut down and replaced by vocational training programs, and a number of other reforms are instituted. The morale and behavior of the girls improves dramatically, though Loretta is jealous of Miss Levering and Dolores (Rita Moren)), a chronic runaway, still has trouble socializing. Eventually Dr. Jason and Miss Levering arrange a dance, inviting boys from a nearby trade school.

The night of the dance, one of the girls "borrows" a bottle of perfume from Mrs. Beuhler who directs her anger at Dolores by cutting off her hair. The rest of the girls go to the dance leaving Dolores in tears. Loretta, hurt by Dr. Jason's rejection of her at the dance, runs back to the dormitory where she finds Dolores has committed suicide. When Riggs sees the body he suspends Dr. Jason and Miss Levering and puts Mrs. Beuhler in charge of the school. Fearing a return of harsh conditions, Loretta escapes with two other girls, Jane and Jackie, as seen at the start of the movie.

Dr. Jason, thinking that Dolores had cut off her own hair, blames himself for not realizing she was suicidal. But Jane emerges from hiding and reveals that Beuhler was actually responsible. At a hearing to determine the fate of Elmview, things don't go well. The suicide and runaways are blamed on Jason's methods and Jane and the other girls refuse to corroborate the incidents with the fire hose or the hair cutting. Miss Levering's testimony is discounted because of her relationship with Dr. Jason.

Loretta and Jackie, now fugitives, visit the maternity home where Loretta's baby is living in an attempt to get money. But on spending some time with him, Loretta decides to keep the baby rather than putting him up for adoption. They learn of Jason's predicament and return to Elmview to testify. With Loretta and Jackie there, the other girls also corroborate their harsh treatment by Beuhler, revealing they had been whipped to prevent them from telling the truth, which leads to Riggs and Beuhler being placed under arrest.

In an epilogue, Dr. Jason and Miss Levering, now Mrs. Jason, are running the school, Loretta is paroled and looking forward to raising her son, and many of the other girls leave to lead productive lives.

Tony Reagan (Scott Brady) was a low-level member of the Chicago syndicate; he was run out of town back then for being involved with the kingpin Big Jim's niece. Seven years later, Reagan has been vacationing in Reno, at a lodge in which he intends to invest with the father of an old army buddy. He bumps into an old friend/former colleague from Chicago named Danny Morgan (John Russell). It turns out they are both hoping to soon be married.

On his way home to Chicago to propose to his girl, Reagan shares the flight with a schoolteacher, Ann McKnight (Peggy Dow), someone he met at a Reno casino and helped win at the gambling table. At the airport, he is met by the police; it seems they have been tipped off that Reagan is looking to stir trouble with Big Jim.

The police put a tail on him, which he shakes on a Chicago elevated train. Reagan meets up with his bride-to-be, Sally Lee (Dorothy Hart). He tells her he will go to Big Jim to make peace. But when the uncle is murdered, Reagan is framed for it.

On the run from both the police and the unknown murderers, Reagan enlists the help of McKnight and an old buddy, Charles Reckling (Bruce Bennett), a detective. They discover the truth: Morgan is also engaged to Sally Lee, and together they are responsible for murdering her uncle and framing Reagan.

Reagan manages to clear himself, however, after which he and McKnight end up in each other's arms, bound for that lodge in Reno.

Prospera, the duchess of Milan, is secretly denounced as a sorceress and usurped by her brother Antonio, with aid from Alonso, the King of Naples, and is cast off in a small boat to die with her three-year-old daughter Miranda. They survive, finding themselves stranded on an island where the human beast Caliban is the sole inhabitant. Prospera enslaves Caliban, frees the captive spirit Ariel and claims the island. After 12 years, Alonso sails back to his kingdom from the marriage of his daughter to the prince of Tunisia, accompanied by his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian and Antonio. Prospera, seizing her chance for revenge, with Ariel's help causes a tempest, wrecking the ship and stranding those on board on her island.

New terror calls Gabriel Allon away from his wife Chiara and blissful honeymoon in Italy. Boris Ostrovsky, editor of the independent ''Moskovsky Gazeta'', claims to have exclusive information about imminent terror threats to the West and Israel but only dares entrust his knowledge with the now-famous Gabriel Allon. However, Ostrovsky's sudden assassination cuts short his message and leaves intelligence officers within the Israeli-based Office to guess at the scope of the purported threat against their country. Ostrovsky's death, accompanied by the recent murders of two other journalists from the ''Gazeta'', seems to indicate that his message was both urgent and true. Gabriel's drive to uncover this terror threat leads him to Russia, where he must play by a new set of rules that challenge even his abilities as Israel's top intelligence fieldworker.

His encounter with Olga Sukhova, also of the ''Gazeta'', confirms his suspicions that a Russian arms dealer has begun trafficking with well-known terror groups. Olga reveals her source to be Elena Kharkov, the wife of alleged arms dealer Ivan Kharkov—an oligarch with strong ties to both the old and new Kremlin governments. Gabriel saves himself and Olga from an assassination attempt but, in so doing, arouses the suspicion of the FSB, Russia’s security department. Only the quick and heavy-handed negotiations of the Office secure Gabriel’s life and freedom.

Gabriel, however, cannot be dissuaded from continuing his investigation. Upon learning of Elena Kharkov’s fondness for Mary Cassatt’s paintings, Gabriel enlists the help of art specialist and CIA fieldworker Sarah Bancroft in arranging a meeting with Elena. He then forges a Cassatt painting and has Sarah represent it as a tender reflection of her childhood to Elena. After close inspection, Elena concludes that the painting is both a fraud and a pretence for meeting Sarah. The unexpected presence of Ivan prevents Elena from sharing her knowledge, and Gabriel’s team must then follow the Russian aristocrat to France.

When Sarah surprises Elena at a chic San Tropez restaurant, Elena realizes that she must seize this opportunity to assuage her conscience and potentially save thousands of lives. She entrusts herself to Gabriel’s team, informs them of Ivan’s underhanded dealings, offers to turn over his business records, and asks for help in ‘defecting’ from both her husband and her country's corruption. She then travels to Russia with Gabriel's entourage and gathers the sensitive financial information required to prove her husband's complicity to the arms trafficking. The task runs afoul, however, when Ivan's chief of personal security, Arkady Medvedev interrupts the operation and takes Elena, and later Gabriel, hostage. At a vast countryside warehouse filled with weapons, Arkady proudly demonstrates the breadth and shamelessness of Ivan's trafficking. Yet, he is frustrated in his ability to get either Elena or Gabriel to reveal the whereabouts of Ivan and Elena's twin children.

Arkady passes Gabriel on to Grigori Bulganov, an FSB intelligence director, with instructions for Gabriel's murder. Gabriel is surprised to discover that Grigori was his interrogator in his previous detention with the FSB, and his astonishment grows as Grigori reveals his duplicity as both an agent for and, secretly, against Ivan Kharkov and the corruption that he represents. Grigori arms and then returns a supposedly conciliatory Gabriel to Arkady. When Arkady lets down his guard, Grigori and Gabriel kill him and his guards and then free Elena. The three quickly return to Moscow to once again retrieve Ivan's financial documents and to rescue Olga; they then proceed to the Ukraine, freedom, and new lives.

Because of the efforts of these four people, governments worldwide avert imminent terror attacks and freeze Ivan Kharkov's business ventures. The U.S. government secrets away Elena and her children, while the UK shelters Olga Sukhova and Grigori Bulganov; the latter two collaborate upon and publish an exhaustive account of Ivan's dealings. Their work overtly implicates the collusion of Russia's government, which denies ties to Ivan while openly harboring him. Gabriel portends to his colleague Ari Shamron that Ivan's days are numbered. However, a serious eye injury (a battle scar from his most recent trip to Russia) prevents Gabriel from pursuing Ivan any further. Indeed, Gabriel fears that his profession as an art restorer is impossible. Yet, time and skilled medical attention allow Gabriel the promise of full recovery—and continued work both as an artist and as a secret agent.

In the mystical realm of Ryntia, the forces of the underworld are aligning to unleash a plague of evil upon the surface. The deadly bat-like Blood Reavers, the Goblin Hordes, the Saurian Maurauders, the Orcish Warmongers and the feline Shadowcat mercenaries have pledged their respective clans to the service of Bre'Gwen, queen of the deep elves. Together they seek to destroy the human and Elven kingdoms and rule all of Ryntia in the name of evil.

However even with their combined strength, Bre'Gwen's forces are no match for the powerful Grayraven kingdom led by the majestic king, Garrick Grayraven. To ensure their success, Bre'gwen forges an alliance with an unlikely human who holds the secret to acquiring a powerful artifact that will allow them to summon and control an army of undead warriors from centuries past. Guided by fragmented visions, a mysterious Oracle gathers seven unlikely heroes to face the threat. A heroic knight, a deep elf sorceress, an eccentric bard, a silver elf druid, a righteous paladin, a barbarian huntress, and a brooding thief are the only ones capable of stopping this evil at its source but first they must embark upon a quest to find the legendary seven swords of Draconus.

Skim is a "not slim" sixteen-year-old Japanese-Canadian who is a student at an all-girls Catholic school. She is known as a Goth, and practices Wicca. When popular girl Katie Matthews gets dumped by her athlete boyfriend, who days later kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. With the school counsellors breathing down her neck and the popular clique (including Katie's best friend Julie Peters) forming a new club, Girls Celebrate Life (GCL), in its wake, Skim finds herself in the crosshairs, deepening her alienation. And if things cannot get more complicated, Skim starts to fall for an equally quirky teacher.

In her novel, Corbett envisions a successful suffragette movement eventually giving rise to a breed of highly evolved "Amazonians" who turn Ireland into a utopian society. The book's female narrator wakes up in the year 2472, much like Julian West awakens in the year 2000 in Edward Bellamy's ''Looking Backward'' (1888). Corbett's heroine, however, is accompanied by a man of her own time, who has similarly awakened from a hashish dream to find himself in New Amazonia.

The Victorian woman and man are given an account of intervening history by one of the Amazonians. In the early twentieth century, war between Britain and Ireland decimated the Irish population; the British repopulated the island with their own surplus women. (After the war, which also involved France on the side of Ireland, British women outnumbered men by three to one.) Women came to dominate all aspects of society on the island.

The history lesson is followed by a tour of the new society, which embodies a version of state socialism. Men are allowed to live on the island, but cannot hold political office: "masculine government has always held openings for the free admission of corruption, injustice, immorality, and narrow-minded, self-glorifying bigotry." The Amazonians are vegetarians; they employ euthanasia, eliminating malformed children — and bastards. They maintain their superiority by practicing "nerve-rejuvenation," in which the life energy of dogs is transferred to humans. The result is that the Amazonians grow to be seven feet tall, and live for hundreds of years but look no older than forty. The narrator tries the procedure herself: "The sensation I experienced was little more than a pin-prick in intensity, but...I felt ten years younger and stronger, and was proportionately elated at my good fortune." (The procedure, though, is fatal to the dogs.)

The narrator reacts very positively to what she sees and learns; but her male companion reacts precisely oppositely and adjusts badly — to the point where the Amazonians judge him to be insane. The narrator nonetheless tries to protect her male counterpart, and in the process is accidentally transported back to the grimmer realities of Victorian England.

Franz Schubert works as an assistant teacher in the school led by his father. In his spare time, however, the young man, who considers Ludwig van Beethoven to be his unattainable role model, devotes himself to writing music. As public acceptance is denied to him, his friends lobby at the music publisher Anton Diabelli for a public performance of Schubert's music. During a reception, at which Schubert performs his ''Ave Maria'', he gets to know singer Therese Grob.

Schubert decides to quit the employment at his father's and, instead, to concentrate merely on music, and moves in his with friends, poets Franz von Schober and Moritz von Schwind and painter Johann Mayerhofer. There, he is inspired to set Johann Wolfgang von Goethes ballad ''Der Erlkönig'' to music.

Schubert friends encourage him to play his music in public. Schubert and Therese, who sings his songs, are made one. The two make a living with performing Schuberts songs. Schubert, though, develops doubts, whether he can express himself in songs appropriately, and so decides to turn to writing symphonies and operas. As Schubert applies for the position of a Vice Director of Music, Therese hands over to the Secretary of the Court Theatre Schuberts latest work, the ''Unfinished Symphony''. Disagreements arise during the rehearsals for Schubert's latest opera, as the singer of the leading part considers the music too difficult to sing. Music publishers Tobias Haslinger and Anton Diabelli reject his music. Even his very promising application as a Vice Director of Music proves to be unsuccessful.

Thus, depressed Schubert decides to tour his songs in order to make a living. In this period of time, he writes the ''Winterreise''.

After having returned, Schubert decides to have lessons in counterpoint with Beethoven, but shies away from contacting his idol. Shortly later, while being plagued by health problems, Schubert gets a visit from Beethoven's secretary Anton Schindler. Sickly Beethoven sends some Goethe poems to Schubert to be set in music, as Beethoven regards Schubert to be the better song composer.

As Schubert wants to visit Beethoven, he arrives too late: Beethoven has died. Schubert is one of the torchbearers during Beethoven's funeral. Suffering from more and more serious health problems, Schubert is no longer able to perceive the success of a public performance of his music. He dies one year after his idol.

In the year 2009, CPO Joe Jinno (Kane Kosugi), a former U.S. Navy SEAL is sitting in a military jail cell in Roanoke, Virginia. Japanese detective Aguri Katsuragi (Show Aikawa) has gotten amnesty for Jinno, whose refusal to kill terrorists because the enemies he found were scared children had him court martialed. Two months later, Jinno was tasked by U.S. Secretary of Defense to join an undercover mission with Katsuragi to stop the circulation of Blood Heat, a new drug on the market that acts as a super steroid. The man in charge of the drug's circulation, Lai Kenjin (Masaya Kato), has set up the Muscle Dome, an underground fight ring where his champion, Lee Son-Min (Ken Lo), uses Blood Heat and goes through his opponents with ease.

At a local nightclub, a deal is about to be made between Kenjin and Russian drug dealers (Robert Baldwin). However, Joe and Aguri are able to stop the deal from happening. They are unable to stop Kenjin as he escapes and Aguri ends up kidnapped. That night, Joe looks at a big screen TV and finds Aguri in the Muscle Dome, where he is viciously beaten by Lee and is crucified. Lai gets a visit from his Chinese half-brother Lai Kenkyo, whom he hopes can make a merger to distribute Blood Heat. The next day, Joe finds Kenjin's place and begins to make his way through Kenjin's men. When Kenkyo refuses to help his brother, Kenjin murders his brother by impaling a chopstick through his mouth. Joe fights hard against Kenjin's men in the hallway leading to Kenjin's apartment. However, Kenjin escapes by helicopter and Joe is busted by female cop Ayane Katsuragi, Aguri's sister. While in custody, Joe makes his escape and even knocks out Ayane in the process.

The next day, Ayane finds Joe again but this time she is not alone. With the cops hot on his trail, Joe jumps off a bridge and lands on a cargo ship. Ayane is warned by her superior, Asakura, that Joe is a "walking weapon" and that he may be involved with the circulation of Blood Heat. Meanwhile, Joe rescues a young girl named Haruka, whose father turns out to be the creator of Blood Heat and was forced to continue making it by Kenjin. As Haruka and Joe make their way to escape, they find a reluctant group of youngsters underground. The youngsters are revealed to be orphans whose parents were victims of Kenjin, whether it was Blood Heat or losing major bets at the Muscle Dome. The leader of the "rats" is the mysterious Ken (Noboru Kaneko), who refuses to help Joe and Ayane, who learns of everything that has transpired and decides to help. However, when Joe is caught by Kenjin and refuses an offer to work for him, Joe finds himself in the Muscle Dome against Lee.

To give him motivation, the video of Aguri's death is played at the Muscle Dome. In a fit of rage, Joe begins to unleash his skills on Lee, eventually knocking him down. Lee takes Blood Heat and seems to get the upper hand. However, the fight is interrupted by Ken, who decided not only to help but had planted bombs within the confines of the Muscle Dome. Ken appears on the big screen in the dome and tells Kenjin of all he had done and makes various areas explode. However, despite the chaos, Lee continues to fight Joe until Joe finally is able to kill Lee. Ayane learns Asakura was also in cahoots with Kenjin and a scuffle resorts to Ayane gunning down Asakura. Meanwhile, Joe follows Kenjin to an abandoned parking garage, where Lee reveals he wanted Joe because he knows that anger is the driving force to kill someone. Joe and Lee, who has taken Blood Heat, begin to fight using sledge hammers but soon find themselves fighting bare-handed. The two stand off and lunge kick at each other, where just before the hit is made, we get a narration from Joe.

A dark figure walks out of the garage and it is revealed to be Joe as Kenjin is seen dead on the ground. Joe meets with the "rats" and Ayane as they celebrate the end of Blood Heat. When Ken asks Joe who he is, Joe, who had not smiled throughout the film, finally releases a smirk before the credits roll.

Nick Casey, whose nickname is the "Baltimore Bullet," is a legendary pool player whose best days are behind him. He decides to teach everything he knows to a young up-and-comer, Billie Joe Robbins, all leading up to a big winner-take-all match between Nick and The Deacon (Omar Sharif's character).

Thad Walker (Tab Hunter), a spoiled, rich kid from Boston, who had gotten in serious trouble with the law, fled to France to join the French Foreign Legion in World War I. In Paris, with companions, "Duke" Sinclair (David Janssen), Dave Putnam (Will Hutchins), Tom Hitchcock (Jody McCrea) and Bill Wellman (William Wellman Jr.), the boys stop at a bar and learn of the recent formation of the Lafayette Escadrille made up of American volunteer pilots who fly for France. The group of expatriates join up and learn to fly on training aircraft before becoming combat pilots.

While off duty, Walker meets and falls in love with Renée Beaulieu (Etchika Choureau), a common streetwalker with some sensitivity; she quits the oldest profession and takes a job, reforming for her American lover's sake. Walker's father beat him, and he resents any kind of authority. When a strutting, arrogant French officer (Marcel Dalio), irritated by the young man's inability to understand commands in French, strikes him, he knocks the officer to the ground, a very serious offense. Before he can be jailed, his pals smuggle Walker out of camp. He then spends a great deal of time hiding in Paris in his sweetheart's apartment. His friends continue with their training while Walker works for the Madam (Veola Vonn), hoping to make enough money to run away to South America with his girlfriend.

Later, the now veteran pilots he had befriended come to the bar and Walker realizes he still wants to redeem himself. Convincing an American general that he is sincere, when the United States enters the war, he joins the American Air Service. Walker finally is able to fly a mission with the Lafayette Escadrille, where he proves to be a superb fighter pilot. Returning to Paris, Walker asks his friends to join him as he weds Renée.

Ko Tin-lap (Simon Yam) is an honest and dutiful accountant. One day, his superior, Lui Chan-sam (Wan Yeung-ming) gives him the duty to escort HK$5 million to the bank. Ko encounters robbers on his way and the entire sum of money is stolen. Lui and the police believe the theft was planned by Ko in order to take the money for himself. Because of this, Ko not only loses his job, but his entire savings which are claimed by Lui.

Angry at his boss, Ko kidnaps Lui's daughter, Chi-lan (Chingmy Yau), and demands a ransom of HK$10 million. On the way to the ransom exchange, an accident happens and by chance, Ko saves Chi-lan. Afterwards, Chi-lan learns about the truth of Ko's misfortune and sympathizes with him. Later, a series of events leads Chi-lan to discover her father's greed and cold-bloodedness. Disappointed at her father, Chi-lan and Ko become a pair of vigilantes and battle against evil forces.

A supposedly reformed Dr. Otto Octavius is holding a scientific demonstration at the Science Expo 2000, but is interrupted when an impostor Spider-Man attacks the crew and steals his equipment. Eddie Brock tries to take pictures for the ''Daily Bugle'', but the impostor shatters his camera. In rage, the Venom symbiote resurfaces inside Brock, and he vows revenge against Spider-Man. Meanwhile, the real Spider-Man, who witnessed the incident, is held responsible for the theft, and the police ensue a manhunt for him. Elsewhere, two unseen figures release some fog from their hidden base into the city, which quickly covers the streets.

After meeting with Black Cat and foiling a bank robbery by the Jade Syndicate, Spider-Man is forced to save J. Jonah Jameson from Scorpion. He defeats Scorpion, only for an ungrateful Jameson to call the police on him. While trying to escape, Spider-Man encounters Daredevil, who promises to spread the word about Spider-Man's innocence. After evading a police chopper, Spider-Man reunites with Black Cat, who informs him of two new problems: Rhino is attacking a power plant, and Venom has kidnapped his wife Mary Jane Parker to lure out Spider-Man. Choosing to deal with Rhino first, Spider-Man and Black Cat defeat him and leave him for the police, but the latter, badly wounded during the fight, is kidnapped by unknown assailants posing as paramedics.

After encouragement from the Human Torch, Spider-Man sets out to find Venom, only for him to appear behind Spider-Man and lead him on a chase through the city and then the sewers. While pursuing Venom, Spider-Man encounters the Lizard, who was imprisoned by Venom after taking control of his lizard-men (which attacked Spider-Man at various points during the chase). The Lizard points Spider-Man to Venom's lair, where the former rescues Mary Jane and defeats Venom. To make amends with Spider-Man after learning he was framed, Venom offers to help him figure out who did it. The two go to the ''Daily Bugle'' to search through Jameson's files for answers, but during the search, Venom senses Carnage's presence nearby and leaves to find him.

Left to investigate on his own, Spider-Man discovers an infestation of symbiotes in the building and clears them out, before encountering the impostor Spider-Man, revealed to be Mysterio in disguise. After defeating him, Spider-Man learns Mysterio was hired to keep Spider-Man distracted while his employer infests New York with symbiotes, and that the fog over the city will act as a beacon for the symbiotes, preparing the citizens for symbiosis. On his way to Warehouse 65, where the hideout of Mysterio's employer is located, Spider-Man encounters the Punisher, whom he convinces about his innocence and, in turn, he helps Spider-Man infiltrate the warehouse.

Spider-Man discovers an entrance to a massive undersea base inside the warehouse, and proceeds to investigate, quickly coming across a symbiote manufacturing operation and an imprisoned Black Cat. After disrupting the operation and rescuing Black Cat, Spider-Man finally confronts her kidnappers and the masterminds behind the symbiote invasion: Octavius and Carnage. Taking up his Doctor Octopus persona once again, Octavius explains that he faked his reform and that, with the help of Carnage – who donated his symbiote to be cloned – he hopes to create a new world dominated by symbiotes, under his rule. Just then, Venom appears and takes on Carnage, while Spider-Man fights Doc Ock. After both Doc Ock and Venom are defeated, Spider-Man fights Carnage and defeats him by tossing him into a sonic bubble. However, the Carnage symbiote then fuses with Doc Ock, creating Monster-Ock, who proceeds to chase Spider-Man through the self-destructing base until he is caught in an explosion, which removes the symbiote from Doc Ock's body. Spider-Man carries the unconscious Doc Ock to the surface, where they are saved by Captain America, Black Cat, and Venom.

In the epilogue, at the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Spider-Man is playing cards with Captain America, Daredevil, and the Punisher, while Black Cat and the Human Torch are dancing. In prison, Mysterio, Rhino, Scorpion, and a Jade Syndicate thug are also playing cards, while an annoyed Doc Ock is banging his head against the cell bars.

Danny is an aging hipster in New York City who has fallen on hard times. He does not have a real career, and he has a habit of burning bridges with old friends. His cousin Howard presents him with an opportunity to come to Eastern Europe and help convert an old castle into an alternative resort. Danny has a troubled relationship with Howard. Many years before, when they were children, he cruelly left Howard stranded deep in a cave for days, traumatizing him badly, and ruining much of his childhood.

But Danny is desperate for money, so he decides to work for Howard and travels to the castle, severing his relationships with his New York world. He plunges himself into the strange environment of the castle and puts himself at the mercy of the cousin whom he betrayed many years before. It soon becomes clear that this castle is a deeply strange place with a dark history that is not entirely finished. It has secret passages, bizarre inhabitants, and seems to operate by different rules from the outside world. Danny, cut off from his familiar New York world, is unsure whether the castle is haunted or his own perceptions are becoming increasingly distorted. He thinks that his cousin may be out to get him and that the castle may be a giant trap.

When Danny attempts to escape from the castle, he encounters a series of mysterious roadblocks. No matter what he does, fate seems to be directing Danny back to the castle and towards a final confrontation with his cousin Howard. Together, they end up being trapped deep within the bowels of the castle, where they are forced to re-enact the traumas of childhood. Together, they must figure out a way to escape and survive.

When Sol persuades almost all of ShadowClan to give up belief in StarClan, Tawnypelt takes her kits to ThunderClan, hoping to find refuge there, because she did not want to be part of a Clan that does not believe in StarClan. In hope of helping ShadowClan, Jaypaw, along with his siblings and Tawnypelt's kits, create a fake sign from StarClan to show Blackstar that StarClan is real. Blackstar is not convinced until the fake sign turns real when StarClan cats Raggedstar and Runningnose appear, and tell Blackstar to get rid of Sol.

A greencough outbreak begins in ThunderClan, and the Clan is short of the remedy, catmint. Jaypaw has a dream telling him there is a fresh supply in WindClan territory. Jaypaw asks Lionblaze to fetch the catmint. He gets the catmint and gives it to Jaypaw, but not without a tense encounter with his former friend Heathertail. Soon the Clan is healed and Jaypaw finally receives his full medicine cat name, Jayfeather.

Later, Jayfeather has a strange dream. In his dream, he has traveled back to a time before the Clans. The lake territories are inhabited by a group of cats who loosely resemble a Clan. Jayfeather awakes as a young cat called Jay's Wing. The cats, threatened by human expansion, hold a vote to move to the mountains. Jayfeather realizes that this group of cats will become the Tribe of Rushing Water, which in turn becomes the modern Clans, so he casts the deciding vote to send the group to the mountains in order to ensure the existence of the future Clans. He then awakes back in the present time.

During a storm, the ThunderClan camp catches fire, trapping Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Squirrelflight. Squirrelflight manages to escape and tries to save her kits, but Ashfur interferes, separating Squirrelfight and the three. Squirrelflight begs him to let them through, but Ashfur insists that he never forgave her for choosing Brambleclaw over him. He says that he will now kill her kits in another attempt to hurt her. Squirrelflight then reveals a crucial secret: they are not her biological kits. Ashfur lets the three cats live, but he threatens to tell her secret.

The fire burns out and the camp is cleaned up. Three days before the Gathering, Ashfur asks Firestar if he can go. Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Squirrelflight are worried that he is going to publicly announce their secret. Between then and the day of the Gathering, the three warn Ashfur that he will regret it if he reveals the secret, but he refuses to listen to them. Right before the Gathering, the patrol of warriors going notices that Ashfur is missing, and on the way, they see Ashfur's body lying in the stream next to WindClan territory as if he had drowned. They take him back to camp and have a vigil for him. However, Leafpool notices a gash in his neck, implying he was murdered. After the Gathering, Firestar announces that Ashfur's death was unknown and suspects a cat from WindClan may have killed him. The three vow to keep the recent events involving them, Squirrelflight, and Ashfur a secret.

"Little Things" is the story of a couple that has been having relationship issues. Raymond Carver uses ambiguity in the story to describe the situation that is going on between the married couple. Although the problems they are having are not stated specifically, it is clear that the couple is moving apart from each other. The narrator shows us the husband getting ready to leave his wife, which turns into a yelling match. The man is packing a suitcase, getting ready to leave, when he demands to take their child with him. However, the couple then argues about the child as well. The wife holds the child, and they begin to argue about who should take care of the baby. The wife does not want him to have the baby, but the husband thinks he should have it. The couple begins grasping the baby by the arms. The wife has one arm and the husband has hold of the other. Then, the baby begins crying because it is apparently in some pain, due to the actions of the couple. The husband begins forcing his wife’s hands off of the baby, her grip slips off, but she grabs the baby again harder. The wife does the same thing, and the husband grabs the child by the top of his arm underneath the shoulder. The baby was slipping from both people, but they held on harder and pulled in the opposite directions. As the couple pulled on the child from its arms, it is apparent that they harmed the baby in some way, hence the last line of the story:

The storyline was written by Takamatsu Ogawa to center around two central elements - fear and love - in a story that unfolds in Tokyo. Izumi Sakurai (voiced by Ryoko Shinohara), an elementary student, is moved to a new school where she joins a new class of students and is seated next to Hiroshi Nonomura. The two fall in love and because they are so young they decide to elope. They arrange to meet at a clock tower to begin their flight, but Izumi never shows up and shortly afterward she is transferred away again. They meet again coincidentally a month later.

Several years later, Hiroshi has now become a college student. Izumi is entering the job market and is having meetings and interviews with company personnel managers. Suddenly there is a disappearance that takes place in the subway system...

Dr. Nandha (Nandha) works at a small makeshift hospital that serves as the only option for the wounded and the dying from the war. He refuses to leave his motherland for greener pastures and sets out to serve his people. Journalist Sandhya (Madhumitha) comes from India for a cover story on the ethnic strife, but the witnessing of every possible cruelty inflicted on the people is too much to take. Having personally experienced the pitiful plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, Zambia, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, and Nigeria, she goes back to South India with a heavy heart. Sandhya returns to Vanni for the second time with a view to meeting Nandha, whom she had met and loved on her first visit. Her initial enquiries to find out the whereabouts of Nandha prove difficult, but she continues.

Agathe Cléry is a marketing manager for a line of cosmetics for people with pale skin. She is also racist, particularly towards black people. However, she is diagnosed with Addison's disease, which turns her skin dark. The film follows her struggles as a black person dealing with discrimination against her due to her skin colour.

Setting and characters

Producer David Cox stated the game is a reboot of the franchise. The setting of ''Lords of Shadow'' is during "the end of days" in the year 1047. The Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a malevolent force known as the Lords of Shadow. A dark spell has stopped the souls of the deceased from leaving, while evil creatures inhabit the dying land and attack living people.

The main character, Gabriel Belmont (voiced by Robert Carlyle ), is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend innocent people against the supernatural creatures. Gabriel's wife Marie (Natascha McElhone) was brutally murdered by one of them, and her soul cannot leave as it is trapped in limbo. Because she is now neither alive nor dead, she realizes what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny to save the world as he investigates the dark spell. He travels the destroyed land, meeting other characters, such as the oldest living member of his order, Zobek (Patrick Stewart, who additionally narrates the game). Two masks referred to as the God and Devil Masks lie at the center of the plot, with the God Mask having powers to resurrect the dead. Gabriel intends to defeat the three factions of the Lords of Shadow in order to obtain the pieces of the God Mask and bring back his deceased wife.

Story

Gabriel is sent by the Brotherhood of Light to the Lake of Oblivion, where his deceased wife, Marie, tells him that Spirits who founded the Brotherhood said that the Lords of Shadow's power will save the world. Gabriel meets a man from the Brotherhood called Zobek, who states that a prophecy has been kept a secret by a select few, which tells of a pure-hearted warrior who will claim the Lords of Shadow's power to overcome evil. Zobek says that he and Gabriel must enter the lands of the Dark Lords and obtain three fragments of the God Mask in order to unite the Heavens with the world again, and Gabriel can bring Marie back from the dead using the mask. Gabriel defeats the werewolf chief Cornell (Richard Ridings) and the vampire queen Carmilla (Sally Knyvette ) for the first two pieces of the God Mask on his journey, while learning that they were once two of the three founding members of the Order who fought the spawns of Satan in God's favor until they transformed into the Spirits, with power only second to God's. After they ascended to the Heavens, they left behind their dark sides, who became known as the Lords of Shadow.

Gabriel departs for the Land of the Necromancers for the last part of the mask. There, Zobek appears before Gabriel and places another mask over his face, transforming him into a robed figure and divulges that he is the Lord of the Necromancers. He goes on to explain that he grew tired of the Lords of Shadow always dividing their power amongst the three of them in an uneasy truce. Orchestrating the events of the story, he searched Hell for a power that could overthrow the other Lords until he found the Devil Mask he now wears. An evil force then entered him and expanded his knowledge of the dark arts, which allowed him to cast the spell that separated the Earth from the Heavens so that the Spirits would contact the Brotherhood. Zobek discloses he used the Devil Mask on Gabriel to kill Marie and that all he needed was for Gabriel to restore the power of the Spirits to avoid suspicion from them. However, Satan (Jason Isaacs) emerges and takes the God Mask from Zobek before seemingly burning him alive, revealing himself as the mastermind who planted the idea in Zobek's mind so that Satan could use the God Mask to return to the Heavens and take his revenge on God. Gabriel confronts Satan and defeats him, releasing souls of the deceased from limbo. Gabriel discovers the God Mask cannot bring Marie back and that it only allows him to see through God's eyes. Despite being mortally wounded in the fight, Gabriel is fully healed by the other spirits and cannot ascend with them. Marie tells him he has been given a new life to redeem himself for his sins before she departs with the God Mask. As Gabriel falls to his knees in anguish over losing everything and gaining nothing, the view shifts to Zobek's discarded Devil Mask.

The story is expanded in two DLC packs titled ''Reverie'' and ''Resurrection''. ''Reverie'' has Gabriel returning to Carmilla's castle to contain an ancient evil, the Forgotten One (Colin McFarlane), with the help of Carmilla's "daughter" Laura (Grace Vance), who is also a playable character that assists Gabriel in some sequences of the DLC. Before entering a portal into the Forgotten One's prison, Laura tells Gabriel he cannot enter it in his mortal form and dies after she has Gabriel drink her blood to use its powers to enter, turning him into a vampire. During ''Resurrection'', the Forgotten One aspires to destroy the humans' world, but he is defeated by Gabriel who claims his power for himself. Corrupted by the Forgotten One's power, Gabriel destroys his Combat Cross and leaves through the portal.

In a post-credits scene after the base game's ending, Zobek is seen alive during modern times, and has uncovered Gabriel living as a vampire called Dracula. Zobek mentions the acolytes of Satan are preparing for his return and that they must stop him before he takes revenge on both of them. Before Gabriel disappears, Zobek tells him he will free him of his immortality if he helps him.

The story is a biography, with fictionalized events, of the famed motorcycle daredevil, who grew up in Butte, Montana. The film depicts Knievel reflecting on major events in his life, particularly his relationship with his girlfriend/wife, Linda. The film opens with Knievel (Hamilton) at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Knievel is speaking directly to the camera describing his upcoming daredevil motorcycle jump:

Following his introduction, the story follows a flashback narrative through Knievel's life.

The film ends with Knievel successfully completing the February 1971 jump at the Ontario Motor Speedway (129 feet) and riding off onto a dirt road which leads to the edge of the Grand Canyon (at the time of production, Evel Knievel was hyping a jump over the Grand Canyon, a jump which never got beyond the early planning stage).

Tommy, who loves collecting, needs ten dollars to buy a magic marble from another boy. He tries to pick flowers from his mother's prize rose garden to sell to a neighbor, and tries to trade his little brother's snake. Tommy finally decides that the magic marble is not worth the trouble.

Fernando meets Alexis, a handsome gay youth, at a party of one of his old friends and immediately falls for him. The two begin a relationship which, apart from the sex, consists mainly in Fernando telling Alexis how pastoral the city was when he left, while Alexis explains to Fernando the ins and outs of everyday robbery, violence, and shootings. Even though Fernando has come home to die, his sarcastic worldview is mellowed somewhat by his relationship with Alexis.

He soon discovers that Alexis is a gang member and hitman (or ''sicario'') himself, and that members of other gangs are after him. After several assassination attempts fail because of Alexis' skillful handling of his Beretta, he is finally killed by two boys on a motorcycle. Fernando is partly responsible for this, as Alexis' weapon has been lost before the murder due to Fernando's suicidal impulses.

Fernando visits Alexis' mother and gives her some money, and then walks through the streets aimlessly when he encounters Wilmar (Juan David Restrepo), who bears a striking resemblance to Alexis, not only in his looks but in his entire manner.

He invites Wilmar for lunch and the two begin an affair, rekindling the kind of relationship he had with Alexis. Wilmar is also a killer, but it is a shocking revelation to Fernando when he finds out that Wilmar is the one who shot Alexis. He vows to kill Wilmar, but then learns it was Alexis who started the violence by killing Wilmar's brother, calling for vengeance on him by Wilmar.

When Wilmar goes to say goodbye to his mother before he and Fernando leave the country together, he is killed as well. Seeing that the vicious cycle of atrocities in Medellín denies happiness, Fernando presumably commits suicide, if the last scene is taken to hint at that.

''Go Down Death'' takes place in an African-American community where the criminal boss Big Jim Bottoms (Spencer Williams) runs a successful juke joint. The arrival of a new preacher (Samuel H. James) to the town results in many of Big Jim's customers leaving the juke joint in favor of attending church. Big Jim arranges for the preacher to be photographed in staged compromising situations with three attractive women. Aunt Caroline, Big Jim's adoptive mother, becomes aware of the scheme and tries to prevent Big Jim from carrying out his scheme to discredit the preacher. There is a physical struggle between Aunt Caroline and Big Jim, resulting in Aunt Caroline collapsing after being struck. Aunt Caroline dies from her injuries, but Big Jim escapes arrest by claiming an unknown burglar was the culprit. But following Aunt Caroline's funeral, Big Jim's conscience haunts him with visions of eternal damnation in Hell. His body is later discovered in a canyon and the photographs of the preacher are nowhere to be found.

Jonny Frost, a low-level thug, is sent to Arkham Asylum to pick up the newly-released Joker. Joker immediately takes a liking to Frost, using him as a chauffeur. Frost drives Joker to the lair of Killer Croc. The three go to a strip bar called the Grin and Bare It. With the help of Harley Quinn, Joker kills one of his former henchmen and claims his intention to make Gotham City his again. Joker robs a bank and coaxes the Penguin to invest the stolen money. Joker embarks on a killing spree, murdering many thugs who stole his money, turf, and bizarre sense of reputation. He is then informed by Penguin that Harvey Dent, his chief rival for control of Gotham, is avoiding to talk with him, enraging Joker. Frost is detained by Dent, who warns him that Joker will kill him, but Frost delusionally believes he is an equal partner to Joker. Subsequently, Frost is late to Joker's meeting with the Riddler, a disabled weapons dealer. They exchange a briefcase, and Joker and his crew leave. Once on the road, they are attacked by off-duty cops hired by Dent, and Frost saves Joker's life in the scuffle.

Joker embarks on a turf war against Dent, prompting him to meet with Joker at the city zoo. Bringing the briefcase he received from Riddler, Joker says he has learned Dent has two wives, and threatens to use the contents of the briefcase as leverage against him. Joker slashes Dent's wrist and Harley ambushes and executes his men. After helping Frost get his ex-wife Shelly back from Dent, Joker rapes her in front of Frost, saying this makes them "even", since Frost "cheated" on Joker by not revealing his own meeting with Dent. Later, Harvey paints a bat on a spotlight to get Batman's attention, and pleads with him to stop Joker. Joker and Frost flee from Batman, who subdues Harley and Croc in the process, and pursues them to a nearby bridge. While Joker is "screaming through tears", Frost inexplicably finds himself laughing, unable to stop. They find Batman in wait, and Joker demands to know why Batman disguises himself as a monster but spoils the illusion by leaving his mouth exposed. Batman replies, "To ''mock'' you". Joker goes berserk and shoots Frost in the chin, leaving him with a Glasgow smile. Joker and Batman fight as Frost climbs over the edge of the bridge and falls into the river, narrating that he's finally realized how ruinous his relationship with Joker was.

The movie features between these different sketches and comedic productions in Greek entertainment in the 1980s with Harry Klynn which laughed with different roles, one of them include: Officer Bekas which laughed in a of one fanatic and entered the wrong home, Artemis which he had existence of an entry and Golfo in which Klynn played and as Trabakoula, a kindly Vlach which he lived in the village of Letsovo, in which progress and technology are practically unknown, until a peddler brought the TV and other electronic equipment, which changed the life of the local people. Finally, the people will split in three groups: Red, Green and Blue (the colors of the major political parties). They do not have made it without knowing who brought it by the shipper from the city.

''The Miracle of the Cards'' is based on the true story of English youngster Craig Shergold (Thomas Sangster), who in 1988 is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Although the prognosis is negative, Craig's mother Marion (Catherine Oxenberg) becomes convinced that there is a cure for it, and that the means of finding that cure is to break the Guinness World Record for receiving greeting cards. Broadcasting a plea to everyone in the world, Marion is successful in bringing 350 million cards to Craig's door. One of those cards provides the key for Craig's ultimate salvation. A cynical reporter, Josh (Kirk Cameron), finds himself witnessing a miracle he can hardly believe.

In the sequence the swan has left the flowery land and is trapped on the ocean amidst terrible waves, unable to fly away. She longs for fish, but is unable to catch them; she looks up longingly at Orion. She prays for light to replace her darkness and, when the dawn finally comes, rises to the stars and flies to land. Then all the birds rejoice, praise God, and sing a doxology.The gathering of birds should not be read as a proto-''Parliament of Fowls'' (Godman, 70).

Throughout her school days, Oh Soo-jung (Uhm Jung-hwa) was the girl every boy wanted to date and every girl wanted to be. But having watched her poor family disintegrate after her mother abandoned her incompetent father, Soo-jung naturally became cynical and demanding when it came to picking her choice of man. She dates Go Man-soo (Oh Ji-ho), an Ivy League law student, despite the lack of physical attraction (he is overweight and nerdy). But the moment she finds out that he failed his bar exam, poor Man-soo gets dumped. But eight years later, the tables are turned. Soo-jung, now in her thirties, is no longer in demand. The former "it girl" has since fallen from grace. She manages the jewelry store owned by a less attractive schoolmate who married a lawyer and now barks at Soo-jung every chance she gets.

Man-soo returns from the States a changed man; he has transformed into famous, rich, hunky pro-golfer Karl Go. He hires Jung Woo-tak (Kang Sung-jin) to play a wealthy bachelor, and once Soo-jungs fall in love with him, he's to jilt her at the altar, just like she did to Man-soo. Meanwhile, Karl pretends to be the debt-ridden boyfriend of Soo-jung's boarder Yook Dae-soon (Park Da-an). But his revenge plans go awry when he and Soo-jung fall in love with each other again. On her wedding day to Woo-tak, Soo-jung runs away and chooses Karl despite believing he's poor. Bitter that Karl chose a girdle-clad "old maid" over her, Dae-soon not only steals her creative ideas for jewelry design but reveals to Soo-jung that Karl has been making a fool of her all this time. In the end, Soo-jung triumphs over Dae-soon professionally, then proposes to Karl and they finally get married.

The story takes place over the span of a few hours during one night. The unnamed protagonist, a scientist working on extra-sensory perception, leaves work and walks toward home. He is haunted by perceptions of another world, and creatures in it, who appear to be malevolent. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that he has accidentally uncovered evidence of a different and superior class of beings, which he calls "Superiors", who co-exist with humans but had previously gone almost undetected. He interprets his visions as reflections of an ongoing struggle in Superior's world and finds himself both attracted, and repelled, by what he sees.

Tess Skinner is the daughter of an indigent squatter. She falls in love with wealthy Frederick Graves. They soon marry, but they have to keep it secret as Frederick's parents would never approve. His parents later force him to marry heiress Madelene Waldersticker. Too afraid to tell them he already has a spouse, he acquiesces to his mother's wishes. Tess conceals his crime of bigamy and meanwhile is pregnant. She is thrown out of church when she refuses to tell who the betrayer is. The middle-aged admirer Mr. Young offers her protection against the townspeople. She has no intention on marrying him, until Frederick dies several years later.

The game is set in Ancient Greece and incorporates mythological creatures and the Greek gods into the world of the game. Players control Nyx, a winged girl, who has befriended Icarus after he flies to her realm in the sky. When Icarus mysteriously disappears, Nyx sets out to find him in the ruined world below.

The film is narrated by Martha Moxley (Maggie Grace), whose brutal murder sometime between 10 p.m. on October 30 and the early morning hours of October 31, 1975, remains unsolved in 1997. Mark Fuhrman, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who gained notoriety during the O. J. Simpson's murder trial, is intrigued by the case and travels to Greenwich, Connecticut to conduct an investigation of his own. Local authorities resent an outsider, especially one with a reputation as tarnished as Fuhrman's, invading their turf. They do everything they can to block Fuhrman's access to official reports. The film alternates between flashbacks of the events leading up to the murder and scenes set in the present day, which chronicle Fuhrman's frustration and interactions with Steve Carroll, the original investigator who grudgingly assists him. Their efforts ultimately bring Kennedy relative and former Moxley neighbor Michael Skakel to justice.

''Astro Fighter Sunred'' is a parody of the Sentai superhero genre, most notably of the ''Super Sentai'' series.

The story revolves around the Tama River area, based mostly in Kawasaki City Kanagawa where battles are fought between the evil organisation Florsheim and the ally of justice Sunred. The twist is that Sunred (referred to most characters familiar with him as simply 'Red') is a rough-talking, violent and rude hero while the villains of Florsheim (led by General Vamp) are for the most part polite, conscientious and easy-going.

Despite this, both sides still stay true to their roles, with Florsheim dedicated to destroying Sunred and taking over the world while Sunred battles against them. Other evil organisations and heroes are also mentioned from time to time.

Each episode is divided into various shorts of varying length. Most of the humour comes from the interactions of the characters, especially the main trio of Sunred, his girlfriend Kayoko and General Vamp. Kayoko and Vamp, for example, get along very well and she occasionally consults him about housework or cooking. In contrast, she and Sunred often argue like a long married couple.

Royal Exile begins with the capture of Barronel at the hands of Loethar, a barbarian warlord from the Likurian Steppes, who has his sights set on the illusive realm of Penraven.

Fearful, now that its neighbours have been captured, King Brennus of Penraven sees to the birth of his daughter, to whom he declares deceased. Legate Regor De Vis, and his twin sons Corbel and Gavriel are called to bear witness to Brennus' cunning plan. Choosing Corbel to whisk away his 'deceased' daughter, the task of protecting Brennus' only 'true' son Leonel is given to Gavriel, who accepts with hesitance. With Loethar descending upon Penraven, both Regor De Vis and King Brennus are slain. Freath, Queen Iselda's aide, betrays the Valisar family, and in turn is granted ownership of his Queen. Loethar takes a liking to Piven, the Valisar's adopted son, likening him to an animal.

Corbel meets with the mysterious Sergius, before he descends into the wonders of magic. His twin brother Gavriel finds solitude within the secret passageways within Penraven with the young heir at his side. Queen Iselda is forced to watch Loethar eat her husband's remains, before she is later killed. Meanwhile, Loethar has been gathering the Vested, people marked with special abilities. Freath uses his newly gained position to claim two Vested, of which he chooses Clovis and Kirin. Loethar becomes engaged to Valya, much to his mother's distaste, though he is quick to remind Dara Negev, that it was Valya's brain which allowed him to capture Penraven.

It is later revealed that Freath is working with Genrie, a household servant and unrequited love of Gavriel, in an attempt of stopping Loethar, and finding the mysterious Aegis, who is said to be bonded with the Valisar heir who is granted the power of coercion. Gavriel and Leo escape Penraven and find themselves in the aide of Lily and her father, who is suffering from leprosy. Later, Lily joins the pair as they search to seek out Kilt Faris, a highwayman and renegade, who had been given aide by Brennus in order of taking Leo under his wing if Penraven would ever fall.

Gavriel is later separated from Leo and finds himself in the care of Elka, though it is clear that he has no memories of who he really is, stating his name to be that of his father's, "Regor". Genrie is later killed to prove that Freath is loyal to Loethar, and thus protecting her lover.

Leo arrives at the Stone of Truth to pledge his vow to Cyrena, and learns the truth of his sister. Leo is granted the power he needs to stop Loethar for good.

''My Own Country'' traces the story of a young infectious-disease physician in the mid-1980s in Johnson City, Tennessee, who began to treat patients with a then unknown disease. Because of the seemingly un-ending influx of patients with the same symptoms and for whom there was, as yet, no effective treatment, Dr. Verghese became, of necessity, the town's AIDS expert. As much as he gave to his patients in terms of caring and empathetic treatment, he gained back in terms of understanding and lasting lessons in how to heal when there is no cure. Often, he was the only one at his patients' bedside when family and friends, fearful of or in denial about the disease stayed away. From the sorrow of so many deaths and ugly displays of prejudice, from his giving of so much time and comfort, and the unraveling of his own domestic life and from the seeming hopelessness of the situation came a book of such richness and humanity that the story is uplifting and hopeful even as it plumbs the depths of human sadness.

In 1993, four years after the third film, Allison Kramer (Carrie Chambers), is plagued by gruesome nightmares that revisit a campsite. Unable to recall the actual occurrences due to a forced mental block, she seeks the help of a psychiatrist in overcoming her insomnia.

After numerous visits and hypnosis, Allison's psychiatrist tells her that she is seemingly a survivor of a camp massacre which occurred over a decade ago. Her disbelief of the whole situation inclines the psychiatrist to advise her to return to the site for an afternoon, in hopes that if she were to see the scene of the crime, she would remember and overcome them.

Doubtful, Allison sets out for the camp she attended but never remembered. When she reaches her destination she finds the camp closed and abandoned, the land now Federal Property. She reminisces about the events that occurred in the original trilogy. Allison narrates over many of these scenes. Archive footage from the first three films are organized into themes, such as Angela being afraid of water. Allison looks for a ranger, Jack (John Lodicos), that her psychologist, Dr. Lewis, told her to meet up with. The ranger tries to have sex with her, but Allison decides things are going too far and runs away. The ranger chases her through the woods. Allison stops as she can run no longer. She is found by a hunter, Eugene (Victor Campos), who almost shoots her out of fear. Later on, she approaches the ranger with the hunter's gun and threatens to kill him if he doesn't stay away from her. She then returns to the hunter and shoots him. In the next scene, Allison is standing in the sun with a knife, which the sun is reflecting off of. The ranger approaches her, but she whirls around and the film freezes as she holds the knife near him. It then cuts to a cabin, where the hunter's and the ranger's decaying bodies can be seen. The credits then roll over the image.

It is then revealed (as implied in the opening crawl) that "Allison" is actually an amnesiac Angela Baker, the killer from the three previous films, being "a woman without identity," due to having been knocked out by an ambulance driver after the events of the third film, and asking "But who is Allison, really?", in addition to her having had flashbacks of certain scenes throughout the original trilogy that only Angela was present for or survived through, realizing her identity upon rediscovering all of her memories at the film's climax, before returning to the psychiatric clinic.

Michael McCrea (Cillian Murphy), a perpetual waster, has passed out during the afternoon. He awakes to find two thugs, Ivan (Michael McElhatton) and Orlando (Don Wycherley), staring at him. They remind him that he owes money to Darren Perrier (Brendan Gleeson), a local crime boss. The debt must be paid that night, or Ivan and Orlando will break two of Michael's bones of his own choice. After they depart, Michael goes downstairs and sees his friend Brenda (Jodie Whittaker) carrying a bouquet of flowers. She informs Michael that her boyfriend, Shamie (Pádraic Delaney), with whom she has a rocky relationship, has given her the flowers by way of apologising for his absenteeism. Michael is uninterested, and leaves the building in pursuit of a loan to pay off his debt.

Michael heads to Delgado's Pool Hall, a nearby snooker bar, in search of a man known as The Mutt (Liam Cunningham), who provides loans. There, Michael's friend Clifford (Domhnall Gleeson) explains that The Mutt was recently thrown out of the bar after assaulting a man who insulted his snooker skills. Leaving the bar, Michael clashes with two clampers (Ned Dennehy and Glenn Speers), who vow to find him and clamp his car later. Michael goes home to find his father, Jim McCrea (Jim Broadbent), waiting outside. Their relationship is not good, and Michael is reluctant to talk. However, Jim reveals that he is dying of cancer and wishes to reconcile. The two go to a pub to drink, but while there, Michael learns of The Mutt's location in another pub. He abandons his father, promising to talk later.

At the next pub, Michael runs into Shamie, who is making out with a girl. Michael is angry and tells Shamie he needs to show Brenda some respect and end their relationship if he wants to pursue other girls. Michael then finds The Mutt, who is drinking with his associate Dinny (Breffni McKenna). He asks The Mutt for a loan, but is refused. Giving up, Michael begins to drink at the bar only to be assaulted by an angry Shamie. Michael overpowers Shamie and demands he break up with Brenda. Storming off, he is stopped by The Mutt, who asks if Michael will join him and Dinny in a burglary. The money earned will pay off Michael's debt, but he won't get it until morning. Michael agrees, and the three head out.

The burglary goes off without a hitch, and The Mutt finds pictures that prove the home owner is cheating on his wife. The trio plan to blackmail him out of €30,000. Michael is dropped off and is assured he will get his €10,000 in the morning. Back at his car, he finds his car clamped. Ivan and Orlando then return and drive their truck full speed into the clamped car. Michael flees the scene and loses them, then returns to his home in search of the pistol he keeps under his bed. However, Brenda has stolen the gun and is contemplating suicide after being dumped by Shamie. She locks Michael out of her apartment just as Ivan and Orlando enter, having predicted that he would come home. They begin to beat Michael with a bat and prepare to break his leg. Before they can do so, Orlando is shot dead by Brenda. Ivan runs away to tell Perrier. While comforting Brenda, Jim enters and, noticing the body, tells them they need to properly dispose of Orlando. The three get into Brenda's car and go to an escarpment, where they bury Orlando. Jim comments that the locale is beautiful and refers to its history, commenting that men who lived and died by the sword were buried here. Brenda's car becomes flooded and they cannot get away, so Michael and Brenda spend the night in her car, while Jim stands outside, spending the whole night awake, watching Dublin.

At Perrier's hideout, he discusses Orlando's death with four other members of his crew. It is revealed to him that Ivan and Orlando were lovers. Perrier goes to comfort the grieving Ivan, telling him that he is not judgemental about his homosexual relationship and that he will be putting a €10,000 bounty on Michael and Brenda.

Back at Brenda's car, it is morning and Michael notices that his father has been up all night. Jim then admits that he does not have cancer, but instead believes he was visited by the Grim Reaper. During his visit, the Reaper informed Jim that the next time he sleeps, he will die. Upset that his father played on his sympathies, Michael wakes Brenda and tells her that her car has to be burned. Once it is aflame, the trio head back into the city. They are caught in a rain storm and take shelter at a farm, but the farm owner (Jane Brennan) calls the police and claims the trio raped her. Having fled down the road, they take cover upon seeing a Garda Síochána patrol car. Once it has passed, they cut through a forest. Brenda vows to make her relationship with Shamie work, and an angry Michael berates her for blindly loving Shamie despite his lack of faithfulness and love for her. While Jim takes him aside, Brenda storms off and, once they notice she is gone, Michael and Jim follow. They catch up with her as she is being arrested by two police officers. While sneaking up on them, Jim snatches Michael's gun and confronts the officers. The trio steal the police car and Michael receives a call from The Mutt, who gives them his location in order for Michael to pick up his share of the blackmail earnings.

With plans to meet The Mutt behind a factory at one in the afternoon, Brenda demands that, in the meantime, she be dropped off at Shamie's so she can try to restore their relationship. Along the way, the trio encounter a young man (Chris Newman) and two of his mates joyriding in a stolen car. Jim and the man talk and the two trios swap cars. In their new stolen car, they arrive at Shamie's; however, Brenda arrives just as a nearly naked woman strolls out and a nearly naked Shamie runs after her. The two start to get intimate in the hallway just as Shamie notices Brenda, but Brenda runs away. Outside the building, Brenda bypasses the car and runs down a nearby street, prompting Michael to chase after her and comfort her. Jim, left behind, approaches Jerome (Brendan Coyle) and Russ (Conleth Hill), two members of the Savage Canine Vernacular, who are training their Rottweilers to attack. Jim helps them, and then picks up Michael and Brenda.

They trio arrive at the warehouse and Michael heads in alone to get his share. He meets with The Mutt and Dinny, but the two plan on betraying him. The Mutt knocks Michael out with a wrench and he and Dinny carry the unconscious Michael to The Mutt's car. As they are putting him in the boot, Jim approaches, armed with a pistol. He knocks both Dinny and The Mutt out while Brenda steals the entire €30,000. With Michael back in the car, the trio head out.

Hiding out in another industrial area, Jim reveals the reason why Michael became estranged from his parents. After witnessing a local thug, Steve Lynch, beating up a woman, Michael intervened and beat up Lynch. Lynch returned to Michael's house later, where only his mother, Elaine, was home. Lynch proceeded to assault Elaine, leaving her badly injured. Believing his parents blamed him for the attack, Michael broke off contact with them. Elaine and Jim would later split up, with Elaine moving to County Clare. Jim then asks Michael if he can have some cocaine, and Michael agrees, taking him to Delgado's Pool Hall in order to buy off of Clifford. However, during the sale, Clifford signals Mulligan, played by the Irish novelist (Patrick McCabe), who calls Perrier. While Jim is snorting coke in the bathroom and Michael and Brenda are talking, Perrier and his goons enter. Michael accidentally fires off his pistol, causing everyone to take cover. Other gang members, primarily Ivan, begin shooting but Brenda, angry at Clifford, beats him over the head and she and Michael use him as a human shield to escape. Clifford is killed in the process, and Jim is left behind. Upon exiting Delgado's, the pair find that their stolen car has been clamped, and are forced to flee on foot. Thankfully, Shamie is able to find them in his car, announcing that he has been looking for Brenda. Michael and Brenda jump into his car.

Outside Delgado's, Perrier and his crew join with The Mutt and Dinny. Jerome and Russ approach, but their dogs growl and Perrier coldly shoots them. Jim walks out of the hall just as the gangs are leaving, but The Mutt notices him and he is taken hostage. Meanwhile, Shamie has tried to reconcile with Brenda, but she refuses him and her and Michael take his car at gunpoint. They take refuge in a hotel. They receive a call from a badly beaten Jim who explains to Michael that he is going to "take a nap" after the phone call - implying, true to his vision, that he will die. Despite this, Michael arms himself and prepares to go to Perrier's hideout. Brenda tries to warn him against it, but the two share a passionate kiss and Michael heads out in Shamie's car.

Michael arrives at Perrier's hideout, with the €30,000 and a pistol hidden in the crotch of his pants. He is informed that his father is going to die that night, though it will be quick. Michael's death, however, will be slow. He is pinned down on the table while Ivan attempts to castrate him. Before it can be done, however, The Mutt asks for his money so he can leave. Perrier pockets the money, just as Hank (Francis Magee) shoots and kills Dinny. In the confusion, Michael is able to escape, and Perrier kills The Mutt. Two of Perrier's cronies pursue Michael, who has acquired a golf club. He uses it first to knock out Blaise (Wuzza Conlon) and then Victor (Brendan Dempsey). Michael, now armed with a pistol, returns and confronts Perrier, Ivan, Hank, and Kenny (Brian Doherty). Lining them up against a wall, Michael takes their guns and his money. Kenny calls his bluff, and is shot in the leg. Michael then pushes his father out of the building and loads him into Shamie's car. At the same time, Perrier reveals that he has an AK-74u hidden under the snooker table. With that in hand, he, Ivan, and Hank head outside to confront Michael, who is attempting to flee. Perrier fires into the car as Michael reverses, and Jim is hit in the chest. They comment on how the Reaper came after all, and Jim calls him a cunt. An enraged Michael charges out of the car at Perrier, firing his gun, wounding Ivan and Hank in the process. Perrier shoots at Michael, severely wounding him. Before Perrier can finish him, multiple vans pull up, brought to the location by Brenda, containing members of the Savage Canine Vernacular. They set their dogs upon Perrier, who is mauled to death. Brenda, Jerome, and Russ inform a semi-conscious Michael that they're taking him to Derek Dawson, the best veterinarian in the business.

The next morning, Michael, having had his wounds treated, and Brenda are at the funeral for Jim, who is buried alongside Russ and Jerome's dogs Achilles and Apollo at the same place that the trio had buried Orlando earlier. A heartfelt eulogy is given, and Michael and Brenda profess their love for each other. The pair then head to County Clare, where Michael intends to reconcile with his mother. The narrator, listed in credits as the Reaper, ponders as to whether the experience has made Michael a better man, possibly an enlightened man. He is shown waving at his mother before the camera fades out.

Stevie Thomas is a fourteen-year-old sports fanatic who has saved a player from blackmailing at the NCAA Final Four. He has also proved that a kidnapping was actually a hoax. Since then, he and his partner Susan Carol Anderson had been signed by USTV to run a sports news show. Despite very good ratings, Stevie was replaced 3 months into the show by singer Jamie Whitsitt while Susan Carol stayed on the show. Susan Carol was furious, but decided to stay on the show for financial reasons. He flies to Indianapolis to work for the ''Washington Herald'' as a journalist for the Super Bowl. When he lands at the airport, he meets Sean McManus who hires him to work for CBS Sports during the week.

On Tuesday, he goes to the Hoosier Dome, which is a massive building. His story features the Ravens' equipment guy, Darin Kerns. Kerns used to play with the Dreams' star quarterback Eddie Brennan in high school. Stevie also gets some one-on-one time with Brennan for the story of them playing together. While he is sleeping in his hotel room, he gets a call from Susan Carol saying that she wants to talk to him right now. She says that she was at a party and a doctor who worked with the Dreams came up to her and started talking to her. He was drunk and was trying to impress her. He tells her that five offensive linemen tested positive for HGH, or human growth hormone, and that it was being covered up so the players don't get suspended.Feinstein, p.92 They decide that they have to try to write the story and alert the public about it.

Stevie goes back to the Hoosier Dome the next morning. CBS decides to film his story and have Darin Kerns and Eddie Brennan talk about their experience together. After the interview, Stevie talks to Eddie about the drug tests but doesn't get much information other than Eddie freaking out that he knew. After that, Bobby Kelleher, his mentor in journalism, sets him up with an interview with Steve Bisciotti, the Ravens owner. That night, there is a huge NFL party that everyone is going to attend. When he goes there he sees Bobby Kelleher arguing with Don Meeker, the Dreams owner. Later, Susan Carol pretends to admire him and gets his cell phone number.

The next morning, they get a full conversation with Eddie, who tells them about the drug tests. He also tells them that Meeker is the one covering up the test results so the players don't get suspended. Susan Carol calls Dr. Snow, the drunk doctor, and says she wants to talk. He said to go to a YMCA where they can talk. There, they try to blackmail him to get test results. He says that he will give them test results at a mall only if there are no adults around. Both Stevie and Susan Carol are suspicious of a trap. They go to the mall and Dr. Snow leads them past the empty theater where Don Meeker's bodyguards grab them and hold them hostage. As Snow is about to leave, Darin Kerns and two security men rush in and save them. It turns out that Stevie had put his cell phone on speaker and on the other line was Eddie. He heard them and called Kerns.

Eddie introduces Stevie and Susan Carol to Bob Arciero, an orthopedic surgeon for the Dreams. Arciero, unlike Dr. Snow, is honest and is not part of the cover up. He gets them the drug test documents. With the documents at hand, Stevie and Susan Carol write the story. They talk to the newspaper lawyers, who say they need comments from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Don Meeker. Goodell comments on launching an investigation and punishing anyone involved. Meeker, after hearing two paragraphs of the story, goes on a profane tirade. They send the quotes and the story and go out to eat. However, they don't come back in time and are surrounded by cameras as soon as they step in the hotel. Eddie calls them the next day to tell them that he was pegged as the source and that he's not starting. Meeker is about to go on CBS and USTV to lie and try to convince people he did nothing wrong. In the process, he slanders Susan Carol on USTV.

After Meeker's interview on USTV, he had to do another one on CBS. There, Jim Nantz doesn't let Meeker get away with his story. This angers Meeker, who decides to pick on Susan Carol again after the interview. The game starts, and the backup quarterback, instead of Brennan, is playing for the Dreams. Pretty soon the Dreams fall into a hole. Eddie starts the second half and steers his team to a comeback. While the game is going on, Tal Vincent lets it slip that Mike Shupe was the one who was feeding Meeker information. Jamie Whitsitt, who is a singer and was Stevie's replacement on USTV, leads them into the studio and gives them a tape. He had left it on record while Don Meeker and Mike Shupe were having their conversation. It has Meeker clearly saying that he bribed the doctors to keep quiet. After this, Eddie and the Dreams win the Super Bowl on a miracle play. Stevie proves that Don Meeker was covering up and that the owners could vote to force Meeker to sell the team.

Jung Do-man is a low-ranking traffic cop whose tendency to do things "by the book" sometimes gets him in trouble, such as when he pulls over his new boss, newly instated police chief Lee Seung-man, and issues him with a traffic ticket. Though surprised and annoyed by the unexpected fine, the police chief has bigger problems; the town of Sampo has been hit by a string of bank robberies, and to reassure the public he decides to carry out a realistic drill which will demonstrate the police force's capability. Do-man is chosen to act out the part of the bank robber, but with his usual fastidious attention to detail he sets out to commit the perfect crime.

War breaks out in Derlavai a generation or two after the Six Years war. Most of the countries that declare war on Algarve do so only half-heartedly, allowing the Algarvians to use that reluctancy to their advantage. The Algarvians split Forthweg with Unkerlant and then overrun Valmiera, Jelgava, and Sibiu, while Unkerlant wrests away part of Zuwayza. Lagoas joins the war when Sibiu is taken. The book ends when the Algarvians "get the drop on" the Unkerlanters in Forthweg (who were plotting to attack them first). Kuusamo, meanwhile, tries to seize Obuda from Gyongyos but fails. Yanina succeeds in gaining control of the Land of the Ice People.

Algarve starts killing Kaunians as their advance toward Cottbus starts to stall, which both causes Kuusamo to enter the war and Unkerlant to start killing its own peasants for magical power, and the Algarvians are halted by mud, winter, Unkerlanter behemoths with snowshoes, and logistics. Tealdo is killed in Thalfang, just outside Cottbus, and Unkerlant pushes back into the northwest corner of Grelz. Kaunians are herded into ghettos in Forthweg's cities and larger towns. Pekka's first "divergent" series is interrupted by the Algarvian magical blitz on Yliharma. Gyongyos attacks Unkerlant in the west and pushes through the mountains through which the border passes. Lagoas invades the Land of the Ice People.

Algarve renews an assault in the south of Unkerlant toward the Mamming Hills, which is Unkerlant's source of cinnabar, leading to the mammoth Battle of Sulingen. Kaunian refugees begin showing up in Zuwayza, which takes them in; other Kaunians get away from a caravan in Valmiera and come to the attention of Skarnu and his friends (who had blown up the caravan to disrupt the Algarvians) or are set loose in a Lagoan raid on a camp in Valmiera. Leofsig is killed by Sidroc, who joins the Plegmund's Brigade. Istvan and his squad accidentally eat goat stew in a raid on a camp in Unkerlant's western forest and are purified by their captain. The Algarvians kill Kaunians in the Land of the Ice People in an attempt to use magic against the Lagoans, but the magic from the killed Kaunians slaughters the Algarvian army instead, and Algarve is forced to withdraw from the continent completely, leaving it to the Lagoans. The wear on the Algarvians is showing as they start to rely more on Sibians, Forthwegians and the unreliable Yaninans to keep up the fight against Unkerlant. The Battle of Sulingen is won by the Unkerlanters that winter, with Trasone dying in the final scene in the book. Algarve is on the way to losing the war. The Naantali Project starts and the Kuusamans take Obuda.

Talsu spends a few months in a Jelgavan jail and, coupled with Skarnu's adventures, makes it clear that many Valmierans and Jelgavans support Algarve. Algarvians strike at the Naantali Project and kill Siuntio. Gyongyos loses more islands to Kuusamo and Istvan's unit is moved from Unkerlant to the island of Becsehely. Algarvians try to pinch off Unkerlanters in Durrwangen, leading to the Battle of Durrwangen. Most surviving Kaunians in Forthweg now use Vanai's Forthwegian disguise, and Algarvians are unable to catch nearly as many as before. Algarvian progress in the summer against Durrwangen very slow, and Unkerlanters battle them to a standstill, then force them back into Grelz, ultimately overrunning the capital Herborn. Raniero, the puppet king of Grelz, is boiled in a pot by Swemmel. Sibiu liberated by Lagoas and Kuusamo, and Cornelu is poisoned by his wife, who is sentenced to beheading. Garivald finds his village and family annihilated by the fighting. Vanai ends up caught by the Algarvians.

''Habakkuk'', a dragon carrier carved out of an iceberg, is introduced, with Leino serving on board her. Vanai has been thrown into Eoforwic's Kaunian Quarter, and later escapes during an Unkerlanter bombing raid, and is found by Ealstan who had disguised himself as an Algarvian. Krasta has sex with Valnu and Lurcanio in the same day and gets pregnant from one of them but is not sure which. Algarve invents "guided eggs". Istvan and his friends are captured on Becsehely by Kuusamans and taken to Obuda. Valmierans finally allowed to fight for Algarve as invasion looms and troop shortages worsen. Kuusamans and Lagoans fool the Algarvians by massing ships and troops on the strait across from Valmiera, and pretending to send a fleet eastward toward Gyongyos, but instead using the latter fleet to invade Jelgava. At this time, Unkerlant launches a massive offensive which sweeps the Algarvians out of northern Unkerlant and back into Forthweg to the Twegen River, while consolidating their hold on Grelz. The Eoforwic Uprising starts when Unkerlanter armies are well into Forthweg. Unkerlant launches major offensive against Zuwayza, forcing it to surrender with severe conditions, although it keeps its independence. Yanina switches over to Unkerlant's side as soon as the fighting crosses its borders. Sidroc's mixed regiment has to do a fighting retreat through Yanina. The Algarvians abandon and withdraw from Valmiera, enabling Skarnu to return home. Algarvians pushed out of most of Jelgava. Istvan's regiment sacrifices itself to vainly attack the Kuusaman occupation on Obuda, although Istvan and Kun escape by inducing diarrhea. Eoforwic Uprising suppressed by Algarvians, although Unkerlanters have not made more than a halfhearted attempt to cross the Twegen.

Spinello is poisoned by Vanai. The southern front is in Yanina, which is in a bad position. The Unkerlanters use Yaninan forces as if they were penal battalions, while Algarvians start killing Yaninans for magical energy in retaliation for Yanina's switch to Unkerlant. In Jelgava, close to the Bratanu Mountains on the border with Algarve, Leino and Xavega are killed by an Algarvian magical trap. Puppet King Beornwulf installed in Forthweg, and Ealstan is drafted. Kuusamans and Lagoans occupy Valmiera. Unkerlanters push into Algarve, first on the southern front then the northern. Algarvians develop the superstick, first using it on Unkerlanters on the southern front. Ealstan in Unkerlanter army is having to reduce his own hometown, Gromheort, in which Algarvians were holed up. Algarvians come out with other desperate magics, some demonic, others new and unreliable, but appear to have given up killing Kaunians for the most part. Pekka destroys Becsehely in first test of divergent blast. Krasta has a baby boy, which she at first names Valnu (later Gainibu), but which turns out to be Lurcanio's; Merkela cuts all her hair off in punishment. Unkerlanters and Kuusamans meet at Torgavi on the Albi in the north of Algarve. Skarnu becomes marquis of Pavilosta. Lurcanio's army surrenders, followed by Gromheort. Ealstan is wounded, discharged from army, and stays in Gromheort with his family. Mezentio's palace falls, Algarve surrenders. Talsu released from prison (again) and expelled with his wife to Kuusamo. Lurcanio, who had been turned over to the Valmierans, is executed by firing squad. Ceorl is killed when he and Garivald escape from a mining camp. Garivald makes his way back to Obilot.

Ohad, the protagonist, is serving in the Israel Defense Forces as a Hesder student. He has not told anyone that he is gay. He tries various ways of dealing with the conflict between his religious beliefs and his sexual orientation, including Atzat Nefesh. He is told to spend forty days fasting and repenting to help rid him of his homosexual inclinations. He does this and believes himself to be cured.

After this, his best friend, Nir, returns from leave. Ohed is torn between his homosexuality and his religion. The film deals with the struggles Ohed faces when it comes to loving God and loving Nir.

Former detective Chung-su takes a secret mission from an aged millionaire who wants to see his first love again before he dies. Knowing only that the woman's name is Kkotnim and that she now lives on Dongbaek Island, Chung-su sets sail only for a shipwreck to leave him stranded once more on Mapado, where five abusive old women gave him trouble two years earlier. Discovering that the former name of Mapado is in fact Dongbaek, he starts to investigate the women's pasts believing that one of them is Kkotnim.

The plot revolves around a circle of elderly upper-class Britons and their acquaintances, with a third-person omniscient narrator following multiple individuals. The centre of the group is Dame Lettie Colston, OBE, a former "committee member" who has retired from extensive work in prison reform. Other major characters include her brother Godfrey, the heir to and retired head of a brewing company; Godfrey's wife Charmian, a successful novelist; and Charmian's former maid Jean Taylor, who is now in a public nursing home.

The plot is ostensibly driven by phonecalls that Dame Lettie receives in which she is civilly told: "Remember you must die." The caller seems to be able to track her whereabouts. It gradually emerges that all the Colstons and their elderly acquaintances are receiving these calls, although each individual has a different experience of the caller: some describe him as young, others as foreign, others as old. Inspector Mortimer, a retired policeman asked to consult on the case, hears the message from a woman. Each individual also has a different reaction to the message, ranging from paranoia (Lettie) to anger (Godfrey) to acceptance (Charmian). The caller is never identified nor caught, despite a police investigation, and Mortimer and Jean Taylor believe that it is Death itself.

Another major plot element involves the estate of Lisa Brooke, a woman who has had an affair with Godfrey, competed with Charmian over a man named Guy Leet, and forced Leet to marry her, but who dies of natural causes early in the novel. Her death causes a succession dispute between her (secret) husband Guy Leet, who is crippled with arthritis and walks with two sticks, Lisa's siblings the Sidebottomes, and Lisa's longtime housekeeper, Mrs Pettigrew, who has a will in her favour made under dubious circumstances. After Lisa's death Mrs Pettigrew goes to care for the partially senile Charmian, who has suffered a stroke, blackmails Godfrey with his past infidelities, and comes to dominate Charmian, threatening to poison her. It is shown late in the novel that Lisa Brooke had in fact married an Irishman, Matthew O'Brien, who has been committed to an asylum most of his life under the delusion that he is God. Since that renders Leet's marriage to Brooke null and void, on O'Brien's death in the asylum the estate passes to Mrs Pettigrew.

Many of the interrelated actions of the group are chronicled by the retired sociologist Alec Warner, who has been in the past romantically involved with Jean Taylor and Lettie Colston. Warner undertakes a massive ten-year study on gerontology, and takes copious notes on all the events he observes, including the "threatening" telephone message, but he loses them all in a fire at his flat and "feels dead" from regret over their loss. Alec regularly visits Jean Taylor, whose presence in a nursing home with numerous "Grannies" and other geriatric cases provides a sane perspective on ageing in an institution.

Lettie Colston loses her housekeeper Gwen to her growing paranoia, disconnects her phone, and falls victim to a home invasion planned on information unwittingly and indirectly obtained from Gwen. Lettie is bludgeoned to death with her own stick.

The novel concludes with the deaths of almost all the major characters, as well as a description of the twilight years of surviving individuals.

There has been another 9-11 scale terrorist attack on the United States, this time on October 4, an attack on a Washington State ferry carried out after the destruction of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem by a Jewish bomber.

A new alphabet soup of agencies have sprung up, including the Bureau of Domestic Intelligence and the mysterious BuDark. It is a time when news of the capture of the 2001 Amerithrax perpetrator is overshadowed the next day by a NUCDET in the Iranian Tactical Area of Responsibility:

In post 10-4 America homegrown bio-hackers create real viruses, not computer ones, while Sunni factions in Iraq test the results on captured Jews and Shiites. Genes are spliced into yeast to create airborne mad cow disease, and dispersed by ordinary fireworks from the back of a truck. Specific trucks are taken out in Mecca during the Hajj by steel telephone poles called Rods from God, dropped from orbit, guided by lasers, to drive them into holes and vaporize them before they can release their deadly cargo. Israel starts assassinating the extended families of suicide bombers, but still they come.

While the House of Saud is overthrown by a US backed coalition of Arabs in a "controlled burn" revolution, hoping to keep the oil flowing, liberals in Congress, backed by Madam President and incensed by the discovery of "patriot files" on them systematically dismantle the FBI even as the final class of agents undergo training at the FBI Academy on the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia.

Category:Novels by Greg Bear Category:Thriller novels Category:Novels set in the 21st century Category:2005 American novels Category:2005 science fiction novels Category:Novels about terrorism Category:Novels about nuclear war and weapons Category:Politics in fiction Category:Novels about robots Category:Bioterrorism in fiction Category:Novels about genetic engineering Category:Fiction about memory erasure and alteration Category:Alternate history Category:Novels about the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Olo Jedlina (Olo is informal for Olgierd) was born a little person, and while serving the government of Drawerland he is permitted to visit Kingsajz. However, after getting few drops of a potion that made him usual-sized he decides to stay in Kingsajz for good and by drinking a soda drink called Polo-Cockta regularly he avoids shrinking. He becomes a journalist for a popular magazine and the boyfriend of an attractive model and lives a peaceful life although in Drawerland he is considered traitor and refugee.

His close friend Adaś Happs (Adaś is informal for Adam) is a scientist that once helped to produce the Kingsajz potion, rebelled and escaped too. Hiding in Kingsajz he works in his secret laboratory to discover the potion formula hoping to be able to manufacture it one day and give it to all the little people in Drawerland.

The movie starts when Adaś finally discovers the secret and has to immediately escape from his lab which is being demolished by little people agents that tracked him down. He manages to contact Olo and tell him everything but before they meet Adaś is kidnapped right in front of Olo. Before that happens however he puts the vial into a pocket of Ala that unknowingly to Olo was also asked by Adaś to be there.

Olo follows her wanting to get the vial with Kingsajz but Ala doesn't trust him at their first meeting and just shows him empty pocket with a hole in it. She follows him for a while and when they meet at a fashion show in which Olo's girlfriend takes part Ala reveals that she still has a vial and gives it to Olo. It also turns out that she in fact designed the collection.

They both decide to free Adaś from Drawerland when he is being interrogated and tortured. They seek help of two others who concoct the plan and lead the rescue action but unfortunately both die before reaching Drawerland.

When Olo gets there alone and liliput-sized he allows himself to be captured and manages to fool Drawerland's high officials that he is in fact secret agent working on Adaś's case. He gives a name of liliput secret service official that he knew was killed very recently and tells it was his superior and only person that knew about Olo's assignment. Liliputs don't fully believe him but allow him to meet Adaś. Adaś gives him a message with Kingzajz formula encoded into it.

After that Olo manages to escape from Drawerland but the vial with Kingsajz which Adaś gave Ala earlier gets smashed so although he is free, he remains a liliput. Ala manages to decipher Adaś's message and knowing the potion ingredients she tries several times with different proportions but fails each time. When she is all resigned Olo manages to contact telepathically with Adaś and learns that water which is one of the ingredients must come from a rusty tap in Adaś'a flat.

When Ala goes there and gets water she manages to produce the potion seconds before liliput agents break into her flat to kidnap Olo. The potion works just at the right time for Olo to help the girl and knock down the agents.

Soon Adaś uses telepathy once more to call for help as Drawerland official deciphered his message too, accused him of treason and the rebel scientist is about to be executed. Olo and Ala manages to save him just in time and Olo goes to Drawerland usual-sized to get his friend. There he faces three officials that were after him from the beginning. During the fight they give each other shrinking injections and keep fighting liliput-sized until all three officials are defeated.

The film ends with Olo, Adaś, Ala and her father who also was a liliput traveling in a train. They are all happy and cheerful when they notice that train is in fact a model and through the window they see a giant figure of a boy playing with it. They are all terrified when it turns out that there is something more above Kingsajz.

A young gay man named Otto believes that he is a zombie and has hitched a ride to Berlin and begins to explore the city. Otto is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn, who begins to make a documentary about him with the support of her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and her brother Adolf. Medea is trying to finish ''Up with Dead People'', the epic political-porno-zombie movie that she has been working on and convinces its star, Fritz Fritze, to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. Otto discovers that he has a wallet that contains information about his past life, remembering details about his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met. It becomes clear that Otto is human, but dealing with schizophrenia- the soundtrack and visual background repeatedly feature discontinuous sounds and abrupt flashes of light. As Medea prepares to finish her film with a climactic gay zombie orgy, Otto is queerbashed. He makes his way back to Fritz' flat and the two of them make love. Medea finally ends her project with the fictionalised version of Otto burnt to non-existence. However, offscreen, Otto decides to leave Berlin and is last seen hitch-hiking out of the city.

The Mystery Team consisting of "Master of Disguise" Jason Rogers (Donald Glover), "Boy Genius" Duncan Wheeler (DC Pierson), and the "Strongest Kid in town" Charlie Day (Dominic Dierkes) began with three children who styled themselves as detectives, solving mostly kid-related mysteries such as missing cats or a lost baseball, but also gaining some local fame. The trio have remained as naïve as ever, although they are about to graduate from high school. They have continued the same mindset and antics even though they are teenagers, focusing on children's infractions, although adults (such as their parents) wonder when the teens will grow out of this attitude.

To prove to themselves and the town at large that they can be "real detectives", the Mystery Team take it upon themselves to solve a double homicide when they are hired by a young girl named Brianna (Daphne Ciccarelle) to discover why her parents were killed. Although Duncan and Charlie are reluctant to help her, Jason convinces them to help her, stating that it is their chance to prove they can be real detectives and earn everyone's respect. Then they meet Brianna's older sister Kelly (Aubrey Plaza), whom Jason becomes attracted to, who tells them to let the cops handle it. They ignore her, and go to the local grocery store, where they are told by their friend Jordy (Bobby Moynihan) that a hobo named Sam may know something. They are given stuff from Kelly's house from Sam and find a card from a local bowling alley with a symbol engraved in it. They go to the bowling alley where they meet a clerk, who has a grudge against them and refuses to scan the card. However, they spot a guy named Dougie, who the card belongs to, and see that he's wearing Kelly's ring. They follow Dougie to a local gentlemen's club where the bouncer attempts to throw them out for spying on Dougie and a stripper with him. However, they escape from the bouncer and Duncan and Charlie overhear Dougie saying that someone named Leroy gave him Kelly's ring and the ring is now in the stripper's vagina. Jason, Duncan and Charlie then retrieve the ring from the toilet the stripper urinated it into and escape from the gentlemen's club before the bouncer catches them.

After returning the ring to Kelly, they go back to Jordy, who tells them about Dougie and who Leroy is. Leroy Maddox (Peter Saati) is a dangerous drug dealer who used to work at the local lumber yard. After learning his address at the lumber yard, they go to his house claiming to want to buy drugs from him. Jason sneaks away and hears Leroy arguing with someone on the phone about finding some papers. After going to Kelly's house to find the papers, he finds Kelly and they both find a paper that states something called Iphedolene is extremely toxic. However, Leroy, who becomes suspicious of Duncan and Charlie, shows up at Kelly's house and takes them hostage but they manage to escape. After Kelly thanks Jason, who promises to tell everything to the police, he, Duncan and Charlie return to the lumber yard, where they find Leroy and his girlfriend's dead bodies. A horrified Duncan then decides to give up, despite Jason's objections. He and Charlie then reveal to Jason that they are going to college and leaving him, as he didn't apply. After a fed up Duncan and Jason get into a fight, he and Charlie abandon Jason. After going to talk to Kelly and Brianna, their dad's friend Robert Finney (Glenn Kalison), who they have been staying with since their parents' death, helps fix his damaged bike. However, Jason realizes that Robert was the one he heard arguing with Leroy on the phone and quickly leaves.

After going to a police officer, who tells Jason he needs proof to believe him, he goes to the Holden and Charles Corporation, where Robert works and Kelly's father worked, but not before attempting to warn Kelly about Robert on a walkie-talkie he gave her, not knowing that Robert has it. At Holden and Charles, Jason bonds with two employees Jim and Frank, who get him drunk and give advice on asking Kelly out. After sneaking into Robert's office, Jason learns that Robert is trying to treat wood with the toxic substance Iphedolene. Kelly's father, who was a lawyer, learned this and was going to ruin the company and Robert, which is the reason Robert hired Leroy to scare him, not kill him. When Leroy kept asking for money, he killed him too. Duncan and Charlie, who heard Jason talking about Robert on a walkie-talkie, also show up to help him. The three are then confronted by Robert, but they manage to escape. After Jason makes up with Duncan and Charlie, Robert, who has taken Kelly hostage, uses the walkie-talkie to contact them into bringing the papers to the lumber yard. After they give him the papers, Robert holds them at gunpoint to kill them. When Jason tries to reason with Robert, he shoots him, but Charlie attacks him allowing the others escape. When Jason, who admits his feelings for Kelly and kisses her, finds a firecracker Jordy gave to him earlier, he gives it to Duncan, who lights it and shoots it at Robert with his slingshot, severely damaging his face. When the police show up, Robert is presumely arrested for his crimes and Jason has his wound tended to (off screen).

Months later, Jason is recovering from his gunshot wound, and has a job in medical technologies. His parents have adopted Brianna while Kelly is at Dartmouth College, but is still together with Jason. After Jason says goodbye to a departing Duncan and Charlie, a man comes out of the woods needing help. The film ends with the guys getting ready for another mystery in excitement while the man shouts in anguish.

Father Blaise Meredith, an urbane and cultured English priest who has passed his unexceptional life at the Vatican, is diagnosed with a terminal disease. He is sent from Rome to a small Calabrian village (Gemello Maggiore) as 'devil's advocate', investigating the life of Giacomo Nerone, a dead local being promoted for sainthood. Meredith has been chosen by Cardinal Marotta for this task, as someone learned and meticulous, perhaps lacking in charity or passion, but not in precision. Meredith expects to die quite soon. Gemello Maggiore's residents are promoting Nerone's cult which will bring prestige and prosperity to a typically post-war, impoverished, rural community in Southern Italy.

Meredith discovers that Nerone was in fact a deserter from the British army, who had an illegitimate son by a local woman, and was executed by Communist partisans towards the end of World War II, yet is a man revered in his small village. In the process, Meredith meets the local Mayor, the Contessa (dissatisfied, ageing beauty, socialite and landowner), her house-guest (a homosexual painter from Rome), Nerone's mistress and their illegitimate son, now a handsome teenager whom the Contessa and her painter friend want to adopt and move to Rome (i.e. corrupt). Caught between these conflicting individuals and motives, Meredith struggles to understand the truth about the alleged saint, fulfil his final duty for the Roman Catholic church, and come to terms with his own mortality and challenged religious faith.

Su-min is an orphan who, having turned 18, is required to leave his orphanage. Unable to pay for university, he heads for Seoul where he works various jobs to pay for computer classes. One of those jobs is driving drunks home from bars. After losing his factory job, Su-min ends up taking a job at a host bar. Initially the boss of this host bar is reluctant to take him on, as he knows from experience that openly gay hosts will often leave when they become romantically involved with one of their clients. Having given up on love, Su-min believes that this won't happen to him, until one day a man from his past enters the host bar. That man, Jae-min, is a former driving client, who has fallen in love with Su-min. Su-min refuses his advances, and accepts him as a client only once, and threatens to kill him if he hires him again. Jae-min is undeterred, and after several weeks go by, Su-min gives in. They are very happy in their relationship until Jae-min's mother discovers them together. She orders Jae-min to marry the woman he's been dating halfheartedly. Su-min is angry. With another man from the host bar, they kidnap Jae-min one night and take him to a shallow grave in the forest. Su-min watches passively as his colleague throws dirt on Jae-min, but eventually moves to stop the plan. His colleague, already depressed over a two-timing girlfriend, whacks Su-min with the shovel and leaves the two there in the grave. Jae-min later awakens and takes Su-min to the car and they crash into a tree while going back. As dawn breaks, the two of them start to regain consciousness at the same time cops show up at the scene but inside, without paying attention to the cops, Su-min and Jae-min silently reconcile.

Bad News Johnson, a con artist from Memphis, Tennessee, arrives in Dallas, Texas, accompanied by his dim sidekick July Jones with only twenty-five cents between them. Johnson is constantly exasperated at Jones’ deficient perspicacity, and at one point he comments Jones is so dense that he probably thinks "Veronica Lake is some kind of summer resort." The duo arrange to become boarders at the home of Louella "Mama Lou" Holiday, who is fooled into believing Johnson is an acting teacher named Whitney Vanderbilt; Jones takes the alias of Cornbread Green. Mrs. Holiday agrees to give the men free room and board if they will provide poise lessons to her daughter, an aspiring beauty queen named Honey Dew. The lessons pay off and Honey Dew wins the beauty contest, but problems arise when Mrs. Holiday’s husband, Papa Sam, decides to hold a party for the new beauty queen at a disreputable juke joint.

On the planet Dorkon, Professor Wally (the professor counterpart to Wally) shows Emperor Jon (the emperor counterpart to Jon Arbuckle) his new invention, the Moscram ray gun, a device powered by the Klopman crystal that can scramble inanimate objects and organisms into new creatures under the user's control, but the Emperor is more concerned about finding a wife to continue the royal line. Soon a warship led by Vetvix (the super-villain counterpart to Liz) lands outside the palace and Emperor Jon instantly falls in love with her, asking if he can marry her. She agrees, but only because she wanted to steal the Moscram. She zombifies the Emperor's guards, forcing Professor Wally to summon the Pet Force: Garzooka (Garfield's superhero counterpart), Odious (Odie's superhero counterpart), Abnermal (Nermal's superhero counterpart), and Starlena (Arlene's superhero counterpart), to save them but Vetvix zombifies the Pet Force except Garzooka. Garzooka manages to get hold of the Klopman and escapes with the Professor in a secret passageway. The professor uses his computer to search the universe for counterparts with DNA matches with the Pet Force & when he does, he gives Garzooka their pictures and some serums that will transform them into the Pet Force, who then takes off to the Comic World leaving Professor Wally & Vetvix, who's vowing for revenge, behind.

The situation was revealed to be a comic book Nermal was reading during a cookout with Jon and the gang. Nermal is really excited about getting the next 100th edition issue. Garfield's friends go to the Comic studio to work their new strip without Garfield who wants to finish all the hot dogs. Nermal gets the new Pet Force issue from a news stand, with Garzooka jumping out of a comic book afterwards. Nermal finds that the events that are happening to them are in the comic book, and the rest of the book is blank because they have not happened yet. Garzooka heads for Jon's house, and is told where Odie, Arlene, and Nermal are by Garfield. Garzooka gives Garfield the Klopman as well, telling him to protect it.

In the living room at the Comic Studios, Nermal, Arlene, and Odie notice Garzooka behind them after Nermal reads the new comic book. Garzooka hands them the serums, asking them to help him stop Vetvix. But they don't change immediately after they drink the serums. However it's time for Odie, Arlene, and Nermal to go to work and Garzooka follows. Meanwhile, the real Garfield is enjoying a relaxing day all to himself, but is captured by Vetvix, who mistakes him for Garzooka(as his DNA is similar to Garzooka's) and threatens him for the Klopman, but to no avail (because Garfield is a cartoon character). Garfield tries to protect the Klopman by putting it in his mouth, but eventually Vetvix's guards get it. Garfield is told by Professor Wally to go over to Emperor Jon who then tells him to grab the Professor's lens and put it on the window. The sunlight loosens the Emperor and the professor's ropes while Vetvix orders her guards to get rid of Garfield, they then throw him down the garbage chute.

Back at Comic Studios, the gang is interrupted by Vetvix, who zombifies most of the characters at the studio. Nermal, Odie, Arlene, Jon, and Garzooka escape to the back alley and meet up with Garfield. Nermal, Odie, and Arlene's serum kick in and transform into their Pet Force counterparts. Garzooka and his team then go off to fight Vetvix, employee Eli saves Garfield by sucking him up an air vent, but Jon gets zombified with a nearby trash can. Vetvix causes chaos, zombifying all of Cartoon World, as the citizens of Comic World try to make a run for it but are unsuccessful. Eli scolds Garfield for not helping Garzooka and if he hadn't been so lazy then Vetvix wouldn't have gotten the Klopman. Eli and Garfield manage to find three survivors: Wally Stegman, his wife Bonita and assistant director Betty. Garfield names himself and the survivors "The Crazy Crew" and forms their own plan to help Garzooka's crew and to stop Vetvix. Meanwhile, the zombies break into the tower, making the Pet Force escape to the top. Garzooka realizes the zombies are too much for them as his allies start to feel weakened and outnumbered. Garfield and Wally pretend to be zombies, then disguise themselves as Garzooka and get the zombies attention, making them the zombies chase them to the Comic Studio, and Eli opens the pit in the filming area, in which the zombies fall into. The real Garzooka and the Pet Force head to the antenna and use it to bring down Vetvix's ship but Vetvix fires up the Moscram, using the super scramble mode, zombifing the Pet Force & creating a monster made from the town's buildings.

Emperor Jon and Professor Wally break free, and take over the ship, flying into the air, making Vetvix fall off. Meanwhile, Vetvix's ship (with Professor Wally and Emperor Jon controlling it) lands near the back alley of Comic Studio, and the Crazy Crew meet Emperor Jon and Professor Wally, who let Garfield enter the ship. Garfield seizes control of the Moscram & dezombifies the residents, destroys the monster, combines Vetvix with the smile section, an invention that makes people happy, turning her into a good guy who then for the second time, accepts the emperor's proposal. The Pet force turn back into their original forms and Garzooka, Vetvix, the Professor (who vows to destroy the Moscram after reversing the damage on Dorkon) and the Emperor return to their world while the Comic World residents rebuild their civilization. A reformed Garfield and Arlene are then seen taking off to the stars.

During the credits while watching Emperor Jon's wedding, the gang are watching but they see that Betty has moved to Dorkon. It looks like there will have to be a new assistant to director Charles, which Nermal is eager to take.

It is 22 November 2007. Jiro Kitamura (Keisuke Koide) is spending his 20th birthday alone. As he buys a birthday present for himself in a shopping mall, he gets the attention of a 'cute girl' (Haruka Ayase) and she surprisingly smiles at him. Afterwards, she successfully steals a pair of clothes, which Jiro notices, but he ignores it as she walks away in front of him and he is distracted by her beauty. The mystery girl, who seems to be interested in him, follows him to a restaurant, where he eats spaghetti on the advice of his grandmother (later revealed to be his mother who gave birth to him in old age) for a longer and peaceful life. She suddenly appears and sits with him, stating that it's 'her birthday too'. The two of them then exchange birthday presents. The girl, who seems unused to everything, behaves very boldly and suddenly rushes with Jiro out of the restaurant without paying the bill, provoking the manager to chase the two through Tokyo. As he spends time with the girl, Jiro finds himself charmed by her. But, after a few hours, the girl insists she has to leave and goes with a tearful goodbye.

The story then jumps to one year later, as Jiro again celebrates his birthday alone in the same restaurant. All of a sudden, the same-looking girl appears in front of him. Jiro's older self from 65 years in the future had sent this girl to save him from a disastrous fate. She was actually a cyborg, modelled after the girl he met a year before in 2007. While he rejoices in her presence, the restaurant is suddenly attacked by a gunman, but she saves him and the other guests by throwing the gunman out of the window. Despite her 'cute' outward appearance, she is incredibly strong and behaves erratically. Later, in Jiro's home, she reveals her true identity by showing him a 3D projection of a video in which an elderly Jiro from the future warns him about an upcoming disaster. The old Jiro told him that the shooting at the restaurant paralyzed him for life. However, a lottery ticket he bought earlier was fortunate for him. He spent all his time and money on one thing: creating the cyborg girl to save his past self about 60 years ago. Now, he has recreated the history of his timeline by sending her. This was not supposed to happen, but things would correct themselves by recalibrating to the right dimension. In a short span of time, she becomes Jiro's protector as well as a loyal friend and they both share some wonderful moments. She also saves many other lives from tragic deaths that old Jiro had regretted witnessing.

Over time, Jiro not only becomes dependent on, but also falls in love with her. However, when she cannot return his feelings, he gets irritated and forbids her from seeing him unless she can do so. He begins to regret this, especially when it becomes apparent that she is still helping him while staying out of his sight. Another disaster soon occurs: a gigantic earthquake completely devastates Tokyo. As his apartment block collapses, she appears to help him, but even her superhuman strength isn't enough to save him. After telling Jiro that she now understands his feelings, she is destroyed while saving him. Later, distraught, Jiro finds her body and spends the next 61 years trying to rebuild her. He eventually succeeds but dies shortly after.

Further in the future (63 years later) in 2133, a girl is told by her friend that there is a cyborg on display that looks just like her. She is curious, and buys the now defunct cyborg to experience the memories stored in her hard-drive. Intrigued, she then decides to fulfil her wish of going back in time to meet Jiro. She is revealed to be the actual girl who met Jiro on his 20th birthday (22 November 2007), who did so because she wanted to meet him before the cyborg did. After the events of the story, she comes again to the moment when Jiro weeps over the destroyed body of the cyborg. She then says "I can feel his heart," and decides to live with Jiro from then on, changing his fate again.

In World War II a group of Italian soldiers is sent to Egypt to provide assistance to the local population. The military, however, should expect other directives from the Duce Benito Mussolini but completely lose contact with the Italy. Soon the members of the brigade, which includes some very curious and picturesque characters such as the Captain who loves poetry, get acquainted with the local customs and forget their duty as soldiers. Again however the war impose its presence, after an encounter with an outspoken missionary (Michele Placido) who is walking through the desert with a troop of Germans. As hostilities begin again, the soldiers take up arms, but something has changed through their experience and they begin to consider war as useless, while they could live in blissful oblivion in a land so beautiful and rich in culture. These thoughts are cut short when the Captain, who alone had remained a reference figure for the troops, discovers that his recently deceased wife was not faithful. He commits suicide by jumping against the weapons of some Bedouin.

While eating skewered tempura at a street vendor, young reporter Choi Soo-jin accidentally sticks the skewer into the side of a detective, Kang Jae-hyuk, who was chasing a suspected criminal. After this encounter, Soo-jin is told to work on a story about a detective, and the detective turns out to be Jae-hyuk. Soo-jin joins his crackdown on drug dealers, and the two start to fall in love.

Puuma (Puma) is a young individual who leads a double life; everybody thinks he's studying to become a teacher, but he's a top secret agent. He has to fight against Tohtori Routa (Dr. Freeze) and his evil plans. Puuma gets help from his curious aunt Sirkku, from an older agent Postimies and from a beautiful and hardworking girlagent Kleopatra.

Enjoying a drive through the Giant Redwoods, Woody Woodpecker runs out of gas. He tries to foil police officer Wally Walrus after siphoning some from his cop car. Unfortunately, he's observed by the cop, and the chase is on. Woody eludes the cop temporarily by ducking into a service station and disguising himself as an old man. When the cop asks for water, Woody uses the fire hose, then runs him through a huge wringer at the car laundry. A duel fought with grease guns gives Woody a chance to thoroughly grease the law, but he makes one slip and winds up with himself well oiled.

A construction worker named Bull Dozer is cementing a sidewalk and is pretty proud of himself. Meanwhile, Woody is playing golf in a tree. He putters the ball which lands in the wet cement. Dozer, furious, gives Woody his golf ball back. It turns out, that Woody made foot tracks in the cement, Dozer forces Woody to smooth them out. He takes two of the spreaders and put on his feet like ice skates. Woody skates out the tracks he made. Dozer soon makes a ball of wet cement and throws it at Woody, causing him to crash. Woody then emerges from the ball, takes a mallet and putters the ball of cement into the Dozer's face. Dozer is now trapped in the wet cement. Woody then skates back over to the man and repeatedly hits him with a shovel.

Woody then tries to run Bull Dozer over with a steamroller. he runs in fear from the woodpecker and is chased out of the cement. He is chased into the construction office and hides, only to open the door and get run down. Dozer is completely flat and Woody rolls him up. He then takes him over to an advertisement for the gym with a picture of a fat woman on a billboard and pastes him on there like sticker, making fun of his weight. Dozer emerges from the billboard, but with the backside of the fat woman.

Bull Dozer tries to grab Woody's golf club, only to be accidentally knocked underground. Woody discovers the ball in the man's mouth. He putters it anyway and sends the man's dentures flying. Dozer chases Woody up a ladder, but is hit in the head by Woody with a mallet. He falls down and Woody drops a barrel on Dozer. He replaces Woody's golf ball with a bomb that looks the same as one and blows up both of the characters. Woody, now featherless, still holds a high spirit and does his trademark laugh before being chased through the wet sidewalk, ruining it once again.

Woody Woodpecker is at an U.S. Army Air Corps military air base, and is dreaming of taking one of the aircraft up in the air. His enthusiasm in this respect gets him into a lot of trouble with his sergeant. Finally, the sergeant, fed up with Woody's actions in trying to imitate a pilot, throws Woody out of the barracks and into the pilots' quarters. Woody reads a textbook ("How to Fly a Plane From the Ground Up"). In the quarters, he stumbles over a clothes tree and into a flying suit. Woody's attempts to zipper the suit get him into more trouble as he knocks over a box of flares, one of which lands in the collar of the flying suit.

Attempting to zipper the suit, Woody mistakenly pulls the pin from the flare, and he is violently projected into the air. The suit swells up and bursts, and Woody floats down by parachute into the cockpit of the aircraft (the PU-2). The sergeant orders Woody out of the cockpit, but Woody blindly pulls on a lever, and the aircraft takes off so fast that it leaves all the paint including markings and insignia behind.

Finally, the sergeant lassos the aircraft, and the jolt yanks him out of his uniform. He climbs up to the cockpit through a bottom hatch, and as Woody opens it, bombs fall into the sergeant's union suit underwear. The result is disastrous for the sergeant. Ultimately, the sergeant, sitting in a wheelchair with a shotgun on his knee, has Woody clipping every horse in the Army.

The inhabitants of the forest that Woody Woodpecker (Mel Blanc) lives in have started spreading the word that Woody is crazy, due to all of his screwball antics. After telling him (and many others) this several times, Woody also begins to question his sanity. Woody Woodpecker spends his day singing loudly and pecking holes in trees. He infuriates the other woodland creatures - when he isn't baffling them with his bizarre behavior. Woody overhears a squirrel and a group of birds gossiping about him. Even though he just sang a song proclaiming his craziness, he denies their whispered accusations that he's nuts. But after they trick him into knocking his head on a statue, the poor bird hears voices in his head and decides the animals might be right. He decides to see a doctor. But leave it to Woody to choose Dr. Horace N. Buggy, a Scottish-brogue-burring fox (Which was a prototype version of Fink Fox) who is, if it's impossible, even madder than he is. The story ends with Woody hurled into a movie theater audience, watching the doctor crack up on screen, and annoying the people beside him (''"That doctor sure is a card, isn't he? But I don't think he's near as funny as the woodpecker! Do you think so, mister? Huh? DO you, mister? HUH? I like cartoons! Don't YOU like cartoons??"''). One of the people then puts up Woody’s seat, leaving him stuck. Then, he screams for help from his seat. As for the people beside him, they smile gladly as the cartoon ends.

Fictional American film producer Rupert K. Thunder (played on stage by Edmund Gwenn) hosted the 30-minute film live, commenting on it as it played.

It parodies the sensationalism of the American film industry of the day, including a controversial earlier adaptation of ''Macbeth'', contrasting it with more reserved and understated British sensibilities. It loosely follows the plot of the play, but two versions of each depicted scene are shown:

In the British version, Lady Macbeth wiped a small amount of blood from her hands; in the American she had to wash away gallons of the stuff. In the British, the witches danced around a small cauldron; in the American the witches became dancing beauties cavorting around a huge cauldron. In the British, Macbeth and Macduff fought in a ditch; in the American Macbeth falls to his death from a skyscraper.

The British version ended with typical coy understatement: 'The elegant home of the Macbeths is no longer a happy one', while the American version blithely opted for closure of a different kind: 'The Macbeths repent and all ends happily.'

The player is a dog or cat living in South Pawville, a town located on a large island. The player's father, Arvin, owns the Magic Hat, a family inheritance that contains a powerful magic, which can be used for good or evil. When the player's best friend Victor talks about an evil wolf named Ivlet jailed at North Pawville's police station, he invites the player to investigate. Sheriff Ada warns them against nearing Ivlet, who usually sleeps during the day. This gives Victor idea of visiting him at night.

When the two visit Ivlet that night, he tricks the player into giving him the Magic Hat. This empowers him with magic, which he uses to destroy both Pawvilles and make wild animals hostile. Ada jails the player, but is freed by Augusta, who says that the player should take responsibility by helping the townsfolk, while Victor decides to take the player's place as a compromise. Outside the police station, the player meets with Beat, the personification of the Magic Hat's good side, who asks for the player's help in retrieving back the hat.

After the player helps out all of the Pawvilles' townsfolk, they are instructed by Arvin to meet with and assist Theophilus, a wizard living in Sky Heights, in combating Ivlet. Theophilus says that the Magic Hat, normally colored blue, grows darker if always used for evil, and if it turns black, it will corrupt its user into a monster. Suppressing the hat's power requires the Magic Shield, made from three crystals: the Water, Earth, and Ice Crystals. Once the player collects them, Theophilus sends the player to rendezvous with his brother, Bartholomew, who travelled to Gongoro Peak but didn't return. The two wizards proceed to Sky Heights and plan the attack on Ivlet, who lives in an astral dimension, and invite the player to assist them. The three manage to defeat Ivlet and the dragon he summons.

Retrieving back the Magic Hat, Beat says that since his task is done, he will have to part ways with the player, before entering the Magic Hat and returning it back to its normal color. The player returns home and is welcomed by their parents, with Arvin deciding to pass the Magic Hat to the player.

The following plot summary is based on the full twelve-scene version. The characters of Sakuramaru, Umeōmaru, and Matsuōmaru are triplets who have been the beneficiaries of Kan Shōjō's favor in the past, having been placed as retainers to court officials.

Act I

The Imperial Palace (Ôuchi)

The play opens as an envoy from China arrives to paint a portrait of the emperor. The emperor is sick, however, and so a stand-in needs to be chosen; Shihei volunteers himself, an indication or reflection of his own lofty goals, but at the suggestion of Kan Shōjō and the decision of the emperor, Prince Tokiyo is chosen. As Tokiyo's love, Kariya, is the adopted daughter of Kan Shōjō, Shihei sees this as favoritism, and is disturbed. The emperor also orders Kan Shōjō to pass on his secrets of calligraphy to a disciple of his choice.

The Banks of the Kamo River (Kamo Zutsumi)

The second scene features a meeting between Prince Tokiyo and Kariya, arranged by Sakuramaru. Kariya being a commoner, only adopted into the world of the imperial court, their love is taboo. When the meeting is discovered by one of Shihei's agents, the couple are forced to flee and hide, and Sakuramaru is disgraced.Cavaye, Ronald et al. ''A Guide to the Japanese Stage''. Tokyo: Kodansha, 2004. pp155-157.

The Transmission of the Secrets of Calligraphy (Hippô Denju)

Kan Shōjō passes on his secrets to Genzō, a former disciple of his who had been banished from the court after falling in love with a lady-in-waiting named Tonami. Kan Shōjō is later called before the emperor, but loses his hat, an ill omen. He is accused by Shihei of plotting, through the marriage of Kariya to Tokiyo, to seize power, and is subsequently exiled to Dazaifu. Genzō and Tonami, with the help of Umeōmaru, take Kan Shōjō's son, Kan Shūsai, with them to their small school in the provinces, in order to keep him safe from Shihei and his schemes.

Act II

The Travel Dance of the Sweet Talking Candy Peddler of Love (Michiyuki Kotoba no Amaikai)

The shore at Yasui (Yasui no Hama)

At the Dômyôji Temple (Dômyôji)

The second act takes place at the Buddhist temple Dōmyō-ji, where Kan Shōjō waits for his escort to Dazaifu, and where Kariya stays with her older sister Tatsuta. Kariya is scolded and beaten by her mother, Kakuju, who blames her affair with Prince Tokiyo for the accusations against Kan Shōjō, her father, and for his exile.

Meanwhile, Sukune Tarō and his father Haji no Hyōe, who are in service to Shihei, prepare to assassinate Kan Shōjō. The minister's escort is meant to arrive at daybreak, and so his arrival will be signaled by a rooster's crow. Tarō and Hyōe kill Tatsuta, Tarō's wife, and throw her body into a nearby pond; they hold a rooster over the corpse, and its crows, as Japanese superstition holds it would. The false escort prepared by Tarō and Hyōe to take Kan Shōjō away thus leaves with his passenger.

Kakuju, discovering her daughter's body, and realizing what has happened, attacks and stabs Tarō. The real escort then arrives for Kan Shōjō, learns that the minister already left in a different palanquin, and prepares to set off to find him. Just then, the false escort returns, having realized he had been tricked with a wooden statue of the minister; several times in this scene, Kan Shōjō demonstrates the mysterious ability to transform into, or otherwise replace himself with, a wooden statue. He emerges from the palanquin, and the false escort is arrested and Hyōe executed, before the minister leaves with the real escort, to a tearful farewell, bound for his exile in Dazaifu.

Act III

As is standard in five-act bunraku and kabuki plays, the middle act departs from the main characters, the nobility and politics, focusing on a different set of characters, usually commoners. The third act of ''Sugawara'' features triplets, Umeōmaru, Sakuramaru, and Matsuōmaru, each a loyal retainer to one of the play's chief characters (Kan Shōjō, Prince Tokiyo, and Shihei, respectively). The triplets each wear a symbol on their sleeve to identify them: Ume, Sakura, and Matsu are the Japanese words for plum blossom, cherry blossom, and pine respectively. They are also distinguished by their makeup and acting style. Sakuramaru is a romantic and gentle type, in the ''wagoto'' fashion, Umeōmaru is a hero in ''aragoto'' style, with bright red face makeup, and Matsuōmaru is a villain, his face painted with blue lines.

The Struggle for the Carriage (Kurumabiki)

This famous scene, "a classic example of Kabuki's stylized beauty", takes place in front of the Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto. The scene opens as Umeōmaru and Sakuramaru try to stop Shihei's carriage, and are confronted by Matsuōmaru, a member of the entourage. As the pair begin to unlash the oxen and tear apart the carriage, Shihei emerges, his blue face makeup marking him as a villain. He glares at them malevolently, halting their attack.

File:Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Matsuomaru.jpg|Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Matsuomaru, by Utagawa Kuniyasu

The Celebration (Ga no Iwai)

In the second scene, the triplets travel to the home of their father, Kan Shōjō's aged retainer Shiradayū, in Sata Village, for the festive celebration of his 70th birthday. The three soon begin fighting but, with no swords at hand, attack one another with bales of hay. Though only fighting with hay and other common objects, the fight scene is executed in the same style and manner as the greatest of ''aragoto'' fight scenes. In the course of the fight, a branch from Kan Shōjō's favorite cherry tree (''sakura'') is snapped off. Shiradayū notices this, and points it out as an omen, representing Sakuramaru's responsibility for Kan Shōjō's downfall, as he was the one who helped bring Tokiyo and Kariya together. Kan Shōjō arrives and, together with Shiradayū, chastise Matsuōmaru and banish him from their service; Sakuramaru then emerges and announces his decision to commit ritual suicide, in order to atone for his wrongdoing. Shiradayū strikes a bell as his son dies.

Act IV

Mount Tenpai (Tenpaizan)

The first scene of Act IV takes place at Kan Shōjō's mansion in Dazaifu, where he has been exiled. He reminisces about his favorite plum tree (''ume''), which suddenly appears there before him, having uprooted itself and flown to Dazaifu from the capital. Kan Shōjō and Shiradayū are admiring the blossoms when Umeōmaru arrives with a captive: Washizuka Heima, a minion of Shihei's.

Heima, tied up with rope, reveals Shihei's plot to seize power, describing each detail and he bemoans his fate, having failed in his mission to kill Kan Shōjō, and having been captured. Hearing of Shihei's treachery, Kan Shōjō becomes enraged, breaking off a branch from the plum tree and striking off Heima's head with it, as if it were a sword. He asks Shiradayū and Umeōmaru to hurry to the capital, to warn the emperor of Shihei's plans. Knowing that he cannot return to the capital himself, at least not in body, having been formally exiled, he vows to return as an angry spirit. To that end, he vows to journey to the summit of Mount Tenpai, where he will engage in austere disciplines, swear oaths to the gods, and become a ghostly lord of thunders. As he speaks, a storm rises up. His retainers grasp at his sleeves and try to stop him, but he throws them off, and flies off into the sky, already beginning to transform into a thunder spirit.

The Hermitage of Kitasaga (Kitasaga)

The Village School (Terakoya)

This scene is among the most popular, and most frequently performed, scenes in the play. It takes place at the provincial school run by Genzō and Tonami, where they are watching over the young Kan Shūsai. Shihei suspects that this is where the minister's son is being hidden, and sends Matsuōmaru there to kill the boy and return with his head; among all of Shihei's retainers, only Matsuōmaru is trusted to identify the boy's head. In this scene, Matsuōmaru is dressed in a dark kimono with snow and pine motifs, his hair wild and busy, a sign of the tragedy which is to come, and of the illness which he claims in order to quit Shihei's service.

Seeking to atone for his past wrongdoings, Matsuōmaru plots to save Kan Shūsai's life, at the cost of that of his own son, Kotarō. He sends Kotarō to the school, where Genzō and Tonami decide he is the only one at the school whose head could pass for Kan Shūsai's. This scene is a classic example of the conflict between ''giri'' (honor, fealty) and ''ninjō'' (human compassion), as Genzō and Tonami sacrifice an innocent boy to save their master's son. When the sound of Genzō's sword striking off Kotarō's head is heard from offstage, Matsuōmaru strikes a distinctive ''Matsuō mie'' pose, expressing his suppressed anguish. He then departs with the head in a box, to identify it for Shihei as Kan Shūsai's head, pretending to have done the deed and thus saving Kan Shūsai's life.

Matsuōmaru's wife, Chiyo, arrives at the school to pick up her son, and Genzō and Tonami fear for a moment that they may have to kill her too, rather than reveal their deception. But Matsuōmaru himself arrives, and explains to all involved that the boy killed was his own son, and that he did this intentionally, in order to make up for his past transgressions against Kan Shōjō and the Court, and his involvement in Shihei's schemes.

The scene has been the basis of two operas, both in German: in 1913 as ''Gisei: Das Opfer'' by Carl Orff, who used the translation by Karl Florenz (premiere 30 January 2010 in Stuttgart), and in 1918 as ''Die Dorfschule'' by Felix Weingartner.

Act V

Disaster at the Imperial Palace (Ôuchi Tenpen)

The single scene of Act V is only rarely performed in bunraku, and never in kabuki. It takes place in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto where a storm rages. In the aftermath of Kan Shōjō's death, discussions are held regarding the succession of Kan Shūsai, his son, to the head of the Sugawara clan. Though the clan is currently in disgrace, Prince Tokiyo argues that the storm must be caused by Kan Shōjō's angry spirit, and that acknowledging his innocence and restoring the honor of his family by making Shūsai its head would appease him.

Shihei grabs Kan Shūsai, threatening to kill him, and declaring that nothing, not even a thunder god, will stand in the way of him overthrowing the emperor and seizing power for himself. Bolts of lightning slay his minions, as Shihei stands firm. The young Kan Shūsai slips away as the ghosts of Sakuramaru and his wife appear, and attack Shihei. The Buddhist priest Hosshō rubs his rosaries and chants prayers to drive the ghosts off, but stops when he learns of Shihei's evil schemes. The ghosts attack Shihei once again, with ''sakura'' branches, and kill him. The storm dispels and the ghosts depart.

The play ends with the priest Hosshō declaring Kan Shūsai the successor to the Sugawara house, and the posthumous conferral upon Kan Shōjō of the Senior First Court Rank. He declares that a shrine should be constructed at Kitano to honor the minister, who shall now be worshipped as a god (''kami'') of scholarship.

A young man prepares his rifle and leaves a message for his mother. He then goes to Polytechnique Montreal, an engineering school, and enters a classroom during class with a rifle. He orders the men to leave and the women to stay. They comply after he shoots into the ceiling to show that he is serious. He tells the women that he hates feminists. Although the women deny being feminists, he shoots at them, killing some and wounding others. He then moves through corridors and the cafeteria, specifically targeting women.

One of the male students is Jean-François, who was ordered to leave the classroom. Instead of fleeing the scene, he returns to try to stop the killer and/or help the victims. Valérie and Stéphanie, two surviving women, play dead thinking the killer has returned, although Stéphanie later dies of her injuries.

Finally, the killer reaches another classroom where he kills a female lecturer. He then commits suicide, and his blood mixes with the blood of his victim.

Some time after the massacre, Jean-François, feeling guilty for complying with the order to leave the classroom and abandoning the women, commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Valérie, wearing the Iron Ring, the professional ring of Canadian engineers, learns she is pregnant. She makes plans to tell a potential son to be loving or a potential daughter that the world belongs to her.

The movie opens with a small tremor occurring in the hills outside Los Angeles near a United States Geological Survey (USGS) research post, cutting to a scene of a teenage girl on a date with her boyfriend at the Earthquake Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. The girl is later revealed to be Heather, daughter of Clare Winslow (Joanna Kerns), a seismologist with the USGS.

Clare and her staff, among whom is her assistant Jerry Soloway (Ed Begley, Jr.), have been studying a series of tremors near Los Angeles. With this information, she concludes that there is a better-than-average chance that a massive earthquake will strike along the San Andreas Fault and cause severe damage to Los Angeles, and such an earthquake appears imminent. She conducts an interview with Kevin Conrad (Richard Masur), a sensationalist television reporter who prematurely airs it, creating a political firestorm and causing tension between Clare and her husband Steve (Dan Lauria).

Steve works closely with high-powered and wealthy real estate developer Wendell Cates (Robert Ginty) who faces losing money and his socio-political reputation from public fear of the possibility of the earthquake. Wendell threatens Clare and attempts to have her fired from her job. Nevertheless, Clare tries to alert the more skeptical city and state government officials including Chad Spaulding (Joe Spano) of the Office of Emergency Management. Fearing political fallout and possible panic, they decide to ignore her warnings.

As this unfolds, Clare's family dynamic is further explored through her strained relationship with teenage daughter Heather (Holly Fields), which is mirrored by the relationship of Clare's mother Anita Parker (Bonnie Bartlett) and Clare's sister Laurie (Lindsay Frost), who are estranged from each other due to Anita's open resentment of Laurie's romantic relationship with LAPD officer Matt (Alan Autry).

When tremors are detected along the smaller, lesser-known Newport-Inglewood fault, city officials call a news conference to alert citizens of the threat. For most residents, however, it will already be too late. Not long after preparations and evacuations begin, the long-feared earthquake strikes, reaching 8.0 in magnitude and quickly followed by a 7.2 aftershock, causing massive damage and killing thousands; among the victims is Anita, who had been trapped in a high-rise condominium elevator with Laurie during the quake. During the time that they are trapped they reconcile shortly before Laurie is rescued by other survivors, but Anita is less fortunate and dies when the elevator crashes to the bottom of the shaft. Another victim is Miguel, son of Clare's housekeeper Sonia, who is fatally injured during the collapse of his high school gymnasium at his graduation rehearsal. Steve Winslow is thought to be dead after being crushed by a wall at the airport, but he is revealed to have survived the quake at the end of the film.

Other deaths include those of Wendell Cates, who is thrown to his death from his skyscraper window, and Chad Spaulding, who is electrocuted while attempting to escape from the USGS safety bunker beneath City Hall. A more redeeming storyline is that of Kevin Conrad, who is transformed from a cut-throat reporter looking for a hot story into a more sensitive and humanitarian character deeply affected by the tragedy and devastation. The remainder of the movie centers on the political and social fallout following the earthquake, and Winslow's attempts to reunite with her family.

Jon (Jon McBride), Denice (Denice Edeal), and Tom (Tom Casiello) are three kids whose father goes away for a business meeting. He leaves them in care of their Aunt Tess (Patricia McBride) who is a militaristic religious extremist who only lets the kids do homework and chores while preaching to them against dating, staying up late, movies, music, and why their lifestyle is wrong. Tom gets an official Rambo Hunting Knife in the mail and Tess will not let him have it. They get into a physical struggle over Tom keeping it, and Aunt Tess accidentally gets fatally stabbed in the stomach.

The three kids then dismember her body, placing it in the freezer. They then take her body out of the freezer so they can put her in the woodchipper. They grind her body to shreds. They then think it's over. But then, Tess's son, Kim (Kim Baily), who was recently released from prison, comes to their home and is told that his mother is "not here" and has "left." He is involved in some kind of money wiring deal and came there to get money from his mother. He decides to take monetary value from the children's home and threatens them if they don't give it to him. Denice and Tom trick him out to the "expensive" wood chipper, plotting to throw him inside, too. They lure Kim to look inside. Tom turns it on and Kim is pushed in by Jon.

Jon drives Kim's car to the airport to hide the evidence and hitches a ride back. Denice and Tom are raking and mowing the lawn which Jon promised his father he would have done by the time he returned from the business meeting. With only a little bit of time before their father's return, Jon assists in the raking and mowing. The father then arrives home and sees his children welcoming him on the driveway. All appears normal, and the children get away with the crime.

The camera pans back to the woodchips on the ground and Aunt Tess's bloody ring is lying on the ground when the film ends.

Characters and setting

During the single-player campaign, the player controls five different characters from a first-person perspective. The player primarily controls Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, a British member of an international special forces unit named Task Force 141. In addition to Roach, the player will also assume control of Private First Class Joseph Allen (Troy Baker) and Private James Ramirez of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion/75th Ranger Regiment. The now Captain John "Soap" MacTavish (Kevin McKidd) serves as a senior member of Task Force 141, acting as Roach's superior officer and becomes the playable character in the final three missions of the game. Lastly, the player briefly assumes the role of an astronaut stationed on the International Space Station during the height of the war between the United States and Russia.

The game's non-playable characters (NPCs) feature prominently in the story: For Task Force 141, Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley (Craig Fairbrass), who conceals his face with a skull print balaclava serves as Soap's second in command. For the United States Army Rangers, Sergeant Foley (Keith David), along with his subordinate, Corporal Dunn (Barry Pepper), is initially Joseph Allen's squad leader, and becomes James Ramirez's squad leader later in the story. Lieutenant General Shepherd (Lance Henriksen) is the commander of the United States Army Rangers and Task Force 141. Other supporting characters returning from ''Call of Duty 4'' include Captain John Price (Billy Murray), MacTavish's former commanding officer in the British Special Air Service who was imprisoned in Russia, and Russian informant turned mercenary pilot "Nikolai" (Sven Holmberg).

Story

Despite the events of the previous game preventing a nuclear war, the Ultranationalists ultimately seize control of Russia and Imran Zakhaev becomes a martyr. Diplomatic relations with the United States plummet as a result, while Vladimir Makarov, an Ultranationalist extremist and Zakhaev's protege, commits to a five-year campaign of vengeance against the West with acts of terrorism. In 2016, Private First Class Joseph Allen, whose actions in Afghanistan impress U.S. Army General Shepherd, is embedded into Makarov's team, who commit a mass shooting at an airport in Moscow, killing multiple Russian civilians. Makarov, aware of Allen's true identity, kills the American, leaving his body at the airport to implicate the United States in a false flag operation.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson teams up with Captain John "Soap" MacTavish to secure an Attack Characterization System (ACS) module from a downed American satellite that has been retrieved by Russian forces and kept in a hangar at an airbase in the Tian Shan range of Kazakhstan. After learning of the airport massacre, Soap, Roach, and several other members of the multinational special forces outfit "Task Force 141" are sent to Rio de Janeiro and succeed in capturing Alejandro Rojas, Makarov's arms dealer. Meanwhile, in retaliation for the airport massacre, Russia launches a surprise invasion of the United States's Eastern Coast, achieved by their earlier capture of the ACS module and disabling American satellites over North America, leaving NORAD blind to their attack.

Learning that Makarov's nemesis is imprisoned in the Russian Far East, Task Force 141 partakes in a counterattack there and rescue the prisoner: Captain John Price. In an effort to give the U.S. forces a much-needed advantage, Price boards a Russian nuclear submarine and launches a ballistic missile which detonates above Washington in the upper atmosphere. During the counter-attack, the Americans save the White House from a United States Air Force bomb run to deny the city to the Russians, retaining control.

Task Force 141 are sent to two separate locations; Roach is sent with Simon "Ghost" Riley and other members to a safehouse on the Georgian border, but are betrayed and killed by General Shepherd to tie up loose ends for his involvement in prolonging the Russian-American war. Meanwhile, Price and Soap are ambushed by Shepherd's own private forces battling Makarov's at an aircraft boneyard in Afghanistan, but manage to escape. Makarov reveals Shepherd's location; Price and Soap launch a suicide mission to take revenge on Shepherd. After a lengthy pursuit, Soap attempts to kill Shepherd but is stabbed in the chest. Price engages in a fistfight with Shepherd, giving Soap enough time to pull the knife from his chest and throw it at Shepherd, killing him. Nikolai arrives by helicopter and evacuates Price and Soap, leading to further events.

In its 12th and final year, the newly formed Medical Response Unit (MRU) takes centre stage treating patients at the site of accidents and then bringing them to the Emergency Department for continued medical care. The MRU, led by Mike Vlasek, is on the front line of a vast range of medical disasters, including an explosion at a winery and a devastating bus crash. The year starts with the ED team dealing with the shocking aftermath of the news of Erica's death. Bart and Amy continue to be at logger-heads until Bart's wise counsel to a troubled patient results in them starting a secret love affair. Steve joins the MRU and is confronted with demons from his past. Gabrielle must deal with her father's heart attack and new paramedic Jo learns whether she has Huntington's disease. Frank continues to fiercely protect his team, and starts the new intern program. The series ends with the ED and MRU teams sharing an emotional farewell dinner in honour of long time All Saints nurse, Von Ryan.

Sam Richardson returns to the small Cumbrian town of Wigton after fighting in Burma during the Second World War. The war has given Sam’s wife Ellen a newfound confidence and Sam is a stranger to his son Joe. Sam is plagued by memories of the war and wants a new life, for himself, his wife and his son.

The book won the WH Smith Literary Award in 2000, and was followed by three sequels.

Kwon Yeon-woo is a somewhat naive 30-year-old low-level civil servant who works in a city hall branch office. After moving into a new apartment, he encounters a high school girl, Soo-young, and sees her on his way to work every morning. She is a cheerful and eccentric 18-year-old who lives with her mother downstairs from him. Over time, the two begin to develop feelings for one another.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Kang Sook, has just started working at the branch office. He falls head over heels for 29-year-old Kwon Ha-kyeong, a melancholy woman who wanders around taking pictures. She is still holding onto an old flame, and keeps looking for traces of that lost love every day. Kang Sook continues to woo her, regardless of her living in the past.

Can these two relationships ever lead to a happy ending?

The story begins with 15-year-old Tess Denuizo who is remembering how they named her sister. Tess gives insight about her family in the first chapter. The reader learns that Tess has two sisters that are only her half sisters and David is her stepfather. Her real father is a mess according to the narrator. Tess talks about how her relationship with David is much different from her two sisters. By the third chapter, the reader learns that something happened to her sister Zoe. It has been almost a year since something terrible happened. She talks a lot about how the family has been coping. The family attends therapy and tries to get through the death of Zoe, but things have been hard. Tess's mom has become very depressed and was once the leader of the house, but now David and Tess do everything around the house. Tess learns that her mother might have been sleeping with Justin, a young man who works at the store that is down the street from their house. After this event, Tess decides to move in with her biological father. She starts to adapt to her new living arrangements and has a hard time knowing she left her sister Em, who is much younger than her. She goes to see her at school and promises to see her every week. Tess has a moment with the boy next door, Jimmy Freeze, where she listens to the music he is playing. After this moment, she starts to see him around more. She finally talks to him one day while she is sitting on her porch and offers him a beer but his dad refuses to let her give him one. Her dad then warns her to stay away from him. One day when she is sitting outside on the porch, Travis approaches her. Travis is a "friend" of her father's. Travis gives him money to give to her dad, which Tess finds weird. He asks her if she has ever had some of the "product" but Tess did not understand. Travis then asks her if she would like to smoke weed but Tess denies it. After Travis leaves, Tess confronts her dad about him selling weed. After their encounter, Tess starts hanging out with Jimmy Freeze without telling her dad. One night, Jimmy sneaks into Tess's window and they smoke weed together. It is now summer time and Tess gets a job at boardwalk working at a lemonade stand. Jimmy and Tess started hanging out a lot of the time they smoked and kissed a lot. David asks Tess to start calling her mother again and their relationship improved. On Tess's sixteenth birthday, she wakes up to find out her dad and Jimmy are in jail for selling weed. Tess is home with her dog when her dad comes home from jail. Her dog runs into the street and her father hits the dog. Her dad brings the dog to the veterinarian while Jimmy stays with her. This event triggers her memory of what happened to Zoe. She tells the story about how she was supposed to be watching Zoe outside but she ran inside to watch the news of 9/11 when her sister ran into the street and was killed by a car. Her dad returns hours later and her dog is going to be fine. When she goes to bed that night, she wakes up and forces her dad to bring her home to get a picture of Zoe. When she goes inside, she realizes she needs to stay. The last chapter she talks about how she is coping, she still sees Jimmy a lot and things get better for Tess.

Two years have passed since The Icemark managed to defeat the Polypontian Empire in Blade of Fire. This has caused the Polypontians to break up and many civil wars have started to take their place. With the defeat of the Polypontians at the end of the second book, there is now another enemy of the Icemark. That settles on Erinor of Artemision and her dinosaur cavalry of Tri-horns, creatures described to look like warrior Triceratops, and Oskan's father Cronus, his Ice Demons and his granddaughter, Medea.
Erinor's dinosaur cavalry move in on what remains of the Polypontian Empire, fully intending to move on to the Icemark afterward and to murder anyone that has a bloodline containing that of the northern Hypolitan. Responding to a plea for help from the Empire, a reluctant Thirrin leads her army into the heart of what was once enemy territory in order to prevent them from invading Icemark as well. Thirrin's strong prejudice against the Polypontians is transformed upon meeting their emperor, who is only a young boy, not yet in his teens, and she realizes that everything she hated about their Empire came from the Bellorum clan. However, by invading the Empire to confront Erinor, the Icemark is left open for an invasion from the Darkness (Cronus and his ice demons).
While Icemark and their allies are gone, oblivious to the attack, the Vampire Queen defends Icemark in hopes of being given a soul, as her husband was for loving her. When the other vampires hear the undead may have souls, they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the Icemark, and therefore able to delay Medea and Cronus. Pious, an imp that has learned the power of friendship and love, is able to give Oskan and Thirrin the warning of the attack after they have defeated Erinor and her armies. Oskan, entrusted with the (until that point) secret knowledge that says that Dark Adepts cannot kill the ones they love without dying, defeats Cronus and Medea, though at the cost of his own life.

Los Angeles Police Captain Woody Paris (Jones) is the supervisor of a team of rookie detectives, led by Sergeant Stacy Erickson (Cecilia Hart) and including officers Charlie Bogart (Jake Mitchell), Ernesto Villas (Frank Ramirez), and Willie Miller (Michael Warren). Hank Garrett portrayed Deputy Chief Jerome Bench, Paris' superior, and, in an unusual turn for police dramas of that era, Paris' home and off-duty life was given considerable attention, with Lee Chamberlin portraying his wife Barbara. Paris additionally moonlighted as a professor of criminology at a local university.

Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.

The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered—and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims?

In the days that follow, Scarpetta; her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley; and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city—an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.

Joe Linwood (Ted DiBiase, Jr.) of the US Marine Force Recon attempts to rescue his wife Robin (Lara Cox), and other guests from a hotel which has been taken over by a gang of bloodthirsty terrorists. The Linwoods are vacationing at the lavish Thailand resort when the terrorists invade during the hotel's grand opening. Joe escapes the initial onslaught and must find a way to save his wife and the other hostages.

After her village is destroyed, Ayako lives alone in the mountains. Weaving through Ayako's life are her dreams; she explores the mythologies of goddesses from around the world and receives lessons from the river, mountain, and animals, who speak to her while the people from the village below dare only to leave offerings for her.

The plot remained essentially the same as in the play and previous film versions. Kathleen (Jeanette MacDonald) is a young Irish woman in love with an American, Kenneth Wayne (Gene Raymond). The romance, however, is opposed by her adopted father John Carteret (Brian Aherne), who recalls the painful memory of his tragically thwarted love for Kathleen's aunt, Moonyean Clare (the roles of Kathleen and Moonyean are both played by MacDonald).

As described in a film magazine, on a moonlit night many years prior to the story, John Carteret (Standing) and the beautiful Moonyeen (Talmadge) were to be married. The guests were assembled and the garden in which the wedding would take place presented a scene of gaiety, beautifully decorated and lit with many lanterns. Just prior to the ceremony, Jeremiah Wayne (Ford), desperately in love with Moonyeen, forces his way through the crowd and tries to stop the wedding. As John moved towards him, Jeremiah drew a pistol and leveled it at the bridegroom. Just as the shot was fired, Moonyeen moved to protect John and received the bullet intended for him. As she lay dying, the marriage ceremony was performed. Many years later, Kathleen (Talmadge), the image of her aunt Moonyeen, has become the ward of John. She meets Kenneth Wayne (Ford), the son of Jeremiah, and the couple fall in love, much to the grief of her guardian, who hates the name of the man who caused him a lifetime of sorrow. John orders the young Wayne away and forbids Kathleen from ever seeing him again. In spite of John's orders, Kathleen goes to bid farewell to her sweetheart as he leaves for duty in World War I. When she returns, John tells her the story of Moonyeen as the reason she must forget Kenneth. After four years Kathleen and Kenneth meet, the latter returning wounded and crippled. Kenneth feels that in his condition he is not fit to wed Kathleen and leaves her, she thinking that he is in love with someone else. That night the spirit of Moonyeen appears to John and, as a result of the visitation, the old man sends for Kenneth. The lovers are reunited just prior to the death of John, who dies happily knowing that he has not doomed the couple to the life of sorrow that he had.

In 1898, John Carteret is standing by the grave of Moonyean Clare (1849-1868). At home in his garden, he calls to her, and her spirit comes to him, wearing a wedding dress. He does not see her, but he sometimes hears her. She tells him to be patient and the years will pass quickly.

John, a wealthy man, has become a virtual recluse since Moonyean’s death. His lifelong friend Dr. Owen brings Moonyean's orphaned niece Kathleen to see him, hoping that John will adopt her. Years later, the three of them are celebrating Kathleen's birthday on June 7, 1915. John tells her that she resembles Moonyean. She knows that John mourns her aunt, but nothing more.

Caught in a violent thunderstorm with her hapless and lovelorn childhood friend Willie, Kathleen breaks into the long-deserted Wayne mansion. They find an invitation for Moonyean’s wedding. A man enters who introduces himself as Kenneth Wayne, Jeremy Wayne’s American son.

A romance between Kathleen and Kenneth develops quickly, but when Kathleen tells John of the meeting, he reacts with speechless fury. Kenneth’s father is John's long-dead mortal enemy, and John has been deprived of his vengeance. In the garden, he tells Kathleen the whole story, shown in flashback.

At a party on the night before their wedding, John only wants to listen as Moonyean sings "Smilin’ Through," ignoring Owen as he tries to warn John that his rival Jerry Wayne has been drinking heavily. Jerry comes to the back gate to talk to Moonyean, desolate and raging that she should be his. He leaves when John comes out, and the lovers share some blissful moments in the garden. In the church the next day, Jerry, drunk, stops the ceremony and tries to shoot John. Moonyean rushes forward and the bullet strikes near her heart. She dies in John’s arms as he places the ring on her finger.

When John finishes his story, Kathleen is on her knees weeping. John makes her promise never to see Kenneth again. Kenneth insists on knowing why, but he understands. However, their love proves too strong and for weeks they meet in secret at Mrs. Crouch’s tea shop, the windowpanes shaken by the guns in France.

Kathleen asks Kenneth to take her to Dover with him when his leave ends. But when John says that he will not take her back if she marries, Kenneth knows that he cannot leave Kathleen alone and without John, so they part at the station. Kathleen returns home devastated, but John has no pity because he wishes Kenneth dead. Moonyean comes to him, but his hate stands between them. She tries to make him realize that unless he can right this wrong, he can never come to her.

With World War I ending, Kathleen meets a troop train but cannot find Kenneth. Owen tends to the wounded and finds Kenneth among them. Both his legs are badly injured, but Kenneth makes Owen promise that he will not tell Kathleen. He has been discharged and plans to sail for America the next day. However, Owen does tell John of Kenneth's plan. Kathleen notices a light at the Wayne mansion and runs over. Kenneth hides his crutches and pretends that he no longer cares for her. After she leaves, he breaks down.

Finally discarding his hatred and desire for revenge, John tells Kathleen the truth and asks her to bring Kenneth back with her. On her way, she sees Owen and sends him to John. The old friends sit down to play chess, but John dozes off. Amused, Owen leaves him to his nap. But John has died; young again, he is reunited with Moonyean. They watch as Kathleen helps Kenneth walk to the house, and then the ghostly lovers drive off in a spectral carriage, feted by the spirits of their wedding guests.

The game starts with the player visiting a secluded village library and finding a book full of numbers. The Character becomes so bored that he/she nods off to sleep and wakes up to find a pair of pixies beside them. They then request the character to reply to the question; "do we make ten?". Once the player has replied to this slightly odd question, the pixies whisk him/her away to Numberland. The King of this strange country asks that the player search throughout Numberland and find the nine Make 10 Masters.

The Trial Mountains

In the trial mountains you will have to play Make 10 games to clear a path to the top of the mountain. Once you defeat the Local Make 10 Champ in a Make 10 contest you will be able to ascend further up the mountain. At base 5 you will have to beat a Grand Champ and at base 10, a Super Champ. The Make 10 Games will grow steadily harder as you progress up the mountain.

The Make 10 Kingdom

The Make 10 kingdom is made up of several areas, some of these include Tenner forest and Toad Hamlet. You will be able to go to new areas when you receive the permission of the Make 10 Masters. The Paths to take you to the Make 10 Masters may sometimes be blocked or inaccessible, but using the stylus to prod secret foliage to reveal access routes never hurt anyone.

The Gathering Point

This is a gathering place for all the Make 10 Pixies. Here you can talk with pixies you have met during your travels and some may have handy hints and tips for the easy completion of certain Make 10 Games, and sometimes you can only progress in the game by talking to one or two specific pixies.

Young composer Lewis Dodd (Novello) travels to Austria to visit his mentor Albert Sanger (Georg Henrich). He meets Sanger's teenage daughters Tessa (Poulton), Antonia (Benita Hume), and Pauline (Dorothy Boyd) and Sanger's third wife Linda (Mary Clare), who does not appear to be liked by Sanger's daughters. The atmosphere is jovial and celebratory, until Sanger dies very suddenly.

Lewis contacts the girls' uncle in Cambridge, who comes to Austria accompanied by his daughter Florence (Frances Doble). After a whirlwind courtship Lewis proposes to Florence, who eagerly accepts his offer of marriage. Tessa is distraught at the news. It is decided that Tessa and Pauline will be sent to a boarding school in England. Meanwhile, Lewis and Florence attempt to settle down in London, but find that in the home setting things are very different and Lewis comes to feel trapped by the superficiality of London society and the realisation of his wife's ambitious, pushy nature.

Tessa and Pauline are unhappy at school and decide to run away, arriving at the home of Lewis and Florence on the evening on which Florence has arranged a musical recital designed to showcase Lewis' talents to her influential friends. Florence is extremely annoyed by the interruption to her evening and allows the girls to stay, but with ill-disguised bad grace. Lewis is angry at his wife's attitude, and ends up taking her to task in front of the gathering, leaving her humiliated.

The atmosphere in the household deteriorates as the attraction between Lewis and Tessa becomes increasingly obvious. Lewis begins to treat Florence with increasing disdain and lack of respect. As the date of Lewis' first public performance draws near, he decides to leave Florence after the concert, and Tessa agrees to leave with him. Florence is suspicious that something is afoot, challenges Tessa and the two end up in a serious argument, after which Florence forbids Tessa from attending the concert.

Left locked in alone at home on the evening of the concert, Tessa manages to escape through a window and makes her way to the theatre. Lewis' performance is a big success, but afterwards he ignores the congratulatory gathering Florence has assembled in his dressing room, and instead heads off with Tessa to catch the boat train for Belgium. Tessa begins to feel ill as she boards the boat and her condition deteriorates as the journey progresses. When they finally arrive at a dreary back-street lodging house in Brussels, it is clear that Tessa is seriously ill and the guilt-stricken Lewis begins to write a letter to Tessa's uncle begging for help and attempting to make it clear that he alone is responsible for the situation and Tessa has done nothing to merit reproach. Before he can finish the letter however, Tessa collapses and dies.

Newlyweds Bill and Louise Foster move into the house of their dreams but it quickly becomes a nightmare. Goop oozes out of cabinets and coffee pots, little earthquakes keep happening, things go bump in the night, kitchen chairs keep running into Louise, and worst of all, the Foster's cross keeps inverting itself over and over on their wall.

Part 1

Lucie is at home when there's a ring on the doorbell. She opens the door and is shocked to find herself facing her old foe, the Headhunter. The woman raises an alien gun and warns Lucie that she’ll kill her if she makes a move. Lucie protests, but this is enough for the Headhunter and she opens fire.

Lucie wakes up and finds herself back in the TARDIS. The Headhunter "un-shot" her using quantum-tipped time bullets. When she tells Lucie she needs her help in finding the Doctor, Lucie insists that he died six months ago. The Headhunter reveals that they’re heading for ’tweenspace’, a layer of cosmic sediment where the dregs settle. As the TARDIS begins to shake violently, she says the Universe is being destroyed and there's only one person in all of existence who can stop it…

Far away on the ocean planet of Orbis, the Doctor is occupying his time by repairing the wreck of a tiny spaceship. He's approached by Selta, a female of the jellyfish-like Keltan race, who tells him there's a storm approaching, and the distraction is enough for the drive belt to snap and whip the Doctor‘s fingers. Selta can’t tell whether he's angry as he doesn’t share the Keltans’ iridescence, but his repairs have come to an end unless he can find a replacement. He tells her that if they were on Earth he could use a pair of tights, but he's unlikely to find any here as there are no bipeds on this planet. According to the stories told by the elders on Orbis, the Doctor was said to have come from the bottom of the sea many years ago. As they shelter from the storm, Selta asks him to tell her his story, but before he can begin, the atmospheric scanner from the spaceship starts activating. There's just enough power left in the cells to reveal that the entire composition of the planet's troposphere is changing. The Doctor has lived on Orbis for longer than any of the current inhabitants and he knows this isn’t normal as the storm season should have ended months ago. He believes something out in space must be having an effect on the planet. Secretary Saccostrea approaches the elderly and rather corpulent Molluscari leader Crassostrea with important news. She interrupts his feeding and he complains that his female organs can’t hope to develop if he continues to restrict himself to a diet of photo-plankton. His temper has been fiery of late, resulting in the massacre of the Tetraploids, the firing of the murk water vents and the broiling of his crocs, and she suspects it's because he's keen to start breeding. She tells him she's received word that the Barometer General's atmospheric survey of Orbis confirms what they’d already suspected about the changes to the planet‘s environment. This will be catastrophic news for the Keltan inhabitants, but good new for the Molluscari, so Crassostrea decides it's time to confront the Galactic Council with their findings.

Despite having read all 17 volumes of the TARDIS manual, the Headhunter struggles to operate the controls and the ship continues to be buffeted around the Vortex. Lucie explains that these volumes constitute just the start guide and the manual itself has its own library a couple of miles down the corridor. The Headhunter reveals that she got the TARDIS from the Sisterhood of Karn who’d kept it as a trophy after they teleported the Doctor out of the canyon and sent him somewhere worse. She experiments by switching the controls over to ’slingshot mode’ and they’re both thrown to the floor from the extreme g-force. Back on Orbis, the Doctor responds to a cry for help and finds the young Keltan boy Vimix trapped in a deep well and unable to move. The Doctor summons help and is soon joined by Selta and Vimix's bloom-father Yanos. They realise the boy must have been scrumping for barnacles again and Vimix confirms that the water came flooding in when the storm broke and he couldn’t get out in time. The group lower down some seaweed lines which wrap themselves around the boy's limbs and then he's heaved back up to the shore. Yanos takes the Doctor aside and tells him Vimix's bloom-sisters have just died when the rain waters swamped the nursery pools. The Doctor is angry because he’d warned them the sea walls were inadequate. They’ll have to re-build them higher, so the Doctor suggests placing the whole town on stilts. Yanos congratulates him for the idea and says the Keltans owe him so much, but he‘s still worried the planet is turning against them. The Doctor acknowledges that Orbis is drowning, but reminds them of the time they defeated the invading Molluscari, a race of aggressive space oysters, by presenting a convincing argument to the Galactic Council by interspace radio. He's sure they can find a way to overcome this problem too.

Secretary Saccostrea calls the Molluscari to attention for an address from their leader Crassostrea. He tells them he has great news, greater even than his conquest of the Tetraploids – his female organs are starting to develop. The oyster-like audience click their pincers in appreciation, but Crassostrea becomes angry and demands they applaud louder. Now mostly female, she then announces that the Galactic Council, a body for whom she has no respect, has considered the recent catastrophic changes to the environment on Orbis and has decided (subject to independent audit) that the Keltans’ claim to the planet is no longer tenable. This means the Molluscari claim takes precedence and Orbis is theirs for the taking…and not even the Doctor can stop them this time! As the TARDIS eventually settles down and the two occupants recover from the effects of their journey, the Headhunter rebukes Lucie for being sick inside the control room and tells her to clean up the mess. Unfortunately the TARDIS itself is sick too, having been separated from its owner for too long. The Headhunter says she's an old ship that‘s coming to the end of her natural life. Without the Doctor's influence she's leaking time waste, which is soiling the very fabric of the Vortex and rotting it away. With the Time Lords still in hiding, TARDISes are few and far between, which has inflated its value. The Headhunter has already sold the Doctor's TARDIS, but the buyer doesn’t want an ailing vessel that's belching out space-destroying matter in its wake, so she's come to find its former owner so he can regenerate the ship and transfer ownership to her. Lucie knows the Doctor would never do that – but the Headhunter reveals that Lucie still has a quantum-tipped time bullet inside her brain and she’ll only remove it if the Doctor co-operates. They’re due to arrive at their destination in tweenspace in 32 minutes…

The Doctor tells Selta that Orbis's moon is unlike any other he's seen. Most satellites rise and wane, but this one tracks Orbis as if connected by an invisible thread that extends to a point 50 miles out to sea. Selta says there will be a funeral-feast later to celebrate the lives of the children they lost during the storm. It will follow a relatively new Keltan tradition which was formulated by the Doctor himself generations ago after he pointed out that their previous method of eating and regurgitating their own deceased wasn’t a very efficient way to compost the seabed. Selta invites the Doctor to accompany her to the dance, but before he can even change the subject, they’re interrupted by the arrival of a huge clam-ship, signifying the return of the Molluscari. Selta rushes off the raise the alarm… As the Molluscari ship comes in to land, Crassostrea declares her intention to blast the Keltan habitation to dust. Saccostrea reminds her that the Galactic Council have not yet granted them the rights to this planet and they are only here to give the Keltans notice of their plans. They see the panicking jellyfish people massing nearby and Crassostrea prepares to address them. Yanos is shocked to see the Molluscari return as everyone knows their claim on this planet had been comprehensively rejected years ago by the Galactic Council, but the Doctor says the Molluscari are bullies and people like that never like to be beaten. He offers to talk to the invaders and approaches the clam-ship, claiming to represent the Keltan species. Crassostrea emerges and mocks the Keltans, but the Doctor recognises her and remembers that she used to be male. He warns Crassostrea that he won’t tolerate any harassment of the Keltans, but the Molluscari leader reveals that she has in her possession a document from the Galactic Council confirming that the climate of Orbis is undergoing irreversible change and will shortly become inimical to the Keltan life. The Doctor acknowledges that the storm season shows no sign of ending, but that doesn’t mean the Keltans can’t adapt and thrive in their new environment. Unfortunately, it appears the Galactic Council don’t agree and in three day's time the Keltan claim on Orbis will expire and be passed to the Molluscari. Yanos demands to see the document for himself, but as Crassostrea hands over the data pearl, she snaps shut her pincer and removes one of Yanos's tentacles. Instead, she passes the pearl to the Doctor and advises him to study it well. In return, the Doctor switches on his sonic screwdriver, set to the exact pitch that will vibrate Molluscari from their shells. Crassostrea and Saccostrea retreat back to their ship in pain and seconds later the ship lifts off from the surface. Yanos is convinced the Keltans are doomed, but the Doctor urges him not to give up. Tonight they will dance and mourn their dead, but tomorrow they will start making stilts and building their town's defences.

The TARDIS materialises and the Headhunter announces that they’ve arrived on the planet Orbis, the province of a species known as Keltans. Lucie struggles to accept that somewhere out there is the Doctor and she begins to worry about how scruffy she looks. She takes a deep breath and opens the door – only to find the ship is hovering in mid-air, several metres above a huge ocean. The Headhunter explains that the nearest land is about 50 miles away – then she pushes Lucie through the door and into the great expanse of water. As Lucie thrashes about in panic, the Headhunter says that because of the increased saline content, she should float easily, and the current will take her in the direction she needs. Unfortunately they’re in the middle of a rather hefty storm front, but she's sure Lucie will be fine providing she keeps her mouth shut. The Headhunter closes the door and returns alone to the control room. She then proceeds to make a phone call and sends her contact a sequence of co-ordinates, telling the recipient they will be diving at dawn…

Sometime later, Lucie is woken up by a female voice calling her a "biped". She opens her eyes and finds herself on dry land – but with a huge tentacled jellyfish standing over her. She screams in panic, but Selta pleads with her not to be alarmed and explains that she pulled her out of the sea. Lucie apologises and says she has a thing about jelly after an unfortunate incident at a children's party in 1992. Lucie starts to complain about her sodden tights and Selta reacts instantly, recognising the word the Doctor used earlier. Without warning, she rips the tights from Lucie's legs and runs off, claiming she needs them urgently. The Doctor has returned to his repair work on the tiny wrecked spaceship, but even his sonic screwdriver is starting to pack up on him. He hears a commotion from nearby and sees Selta running towards him, waving a pair of tights, followed by a young woman screaming angrily at her. The Doctor is both amazed and delighted – but when Lucie races over and tries to hug him, he totally ignores her and she realises it was the tights that had grabbed his attention. He uses them to replace the snapped drive belt while Selta explains how she got them from a biped on the beach. When Lucie steps forward, the Doctor doesn’t seem to acknowledge her and says he’ll be with her later as he has important work to finish. When he reveals that it's been 600 years since he last saw a biped, Lucie tells him she thought he was dead and that she cried for weeks, but then the truth slowly dawns on her – the Doctor has completely forgotten who she is.

Part 2

The Doctor asks Lucie if they know each other. He admits that his long term memory isn’t what it was and the last 300 years or so have been a bit of a blur. He looks at her clothes and guesses Lucie comes from the 1980s, which infuriates her. She tells him they met in the early 21st century when she was dumped on him by the Time Lords on a witness protection scheme. She recounts some of their adventures and then tells him they were the best of mates, but the Doctor is struggling to keep up and thinks it‘s because he hasn‘t heard a Cockney accent for so long. Lucie slaps his face and is delighted when he says it really hurt. Selta tells Lucie she should leave, a suggestion that she readily agrees to. Once they’re alone, Selta wonders whether all Earth females are so aggressive. She turns the Doctor's attention back to more pressing matters such as the atmospheric scanner and the mystery of Orbis's moon. The Doctor suddenly realises that Orbis never actually had a moon before and recalls that he first saw it just a few decades ago.

The TARDIS materialises and the Headhunter emerges to be greeted by her contact, Secretary Saccostrea. They’ve never actually met before and the Headhunter rebukes the Molluscari for being late. She then refuses to accompany Saccostrea to meet their leader and insists that Crassostrea be brought to meet her.

The tights work and the Doctor starts to power up the crashed spaceship. Selta wonders if the Doctor is thinking of going back to Earth, but this just makes him laugh. She's been thinking about what happened with Lucie and suggests the Doctor tries talking to her, but the Doctor has discovered the storms are being caused because the moon is coming ever closer to the planet. This confirms what they learned from the Molluscari data pearl. He's sure it's no coincidence and decides to contact the Galactic Council to see if they can persuade the Molluscari to back off. What he really needs to do is visit the moon itself, and Selta suggests asking Lucie if she knows what happened to his TARDIS. The Doctor suddenly realises that in order for Lucie and Selta to have understood each other, the TARDIS must be here somewhere, translating their speech. He races off to find his old companion. From the safety of the Molluscari ship, the Headhunter and Crassostrea oversee an underwater expedition. The results of the search are negative, so Crassostrea insists that the whelks go deeper, even though Secretary Saccostrea warns that the pressure will cause their shells to crack. The Headhunter and Crassostrea have come to an arrangement – the Molluscari will retrieve something for her from the bottom of the ocean in return for her help persuading the Doctor leaving Orbis forever. The Headhunter has already arranged for the Doctor to be reunited with Lucie and once she gets what she wants, she’ll fulfil her side of the bargain. They listen to the screams over the communicator as the diving shoal finally succumbs to the pressures of the depths, but Crassostrea insists that Saccostrea sends down more of their people…

The Doctor catches up with Lucie and apologises, explaining that he's had a lot on his mind recently. He asks her where the TARDIS is, and when she tells him the Headhunter has it, he vaguely recalls her as a part-recruitment consultant and part-assassin. The Doctor insists that Lucie slap him again and says that because she's just come from the TARDIS her fingertips are still charged with chronon particles. When she hit him earlier, it reinvigorated his dormant neurons which is helping him to remember things. There's still a lot of confusion in his head – he can remember shouting, screaming and doors being slammed – but it's a promising start. However, Lucie is shocked when he reveals that he won’t be leaving Orbis. He says he's happy here and he only needs the TARDIS to find out what's happening on the moon and stop the Molluscari. Lucie insists that he's a traveller by nature, but he tells her that's all in his past and Orbis is now his home. Angered by this, Lucie slaps his face several times, but the sight of her apparently attacking the Doctor just causes Selta to race over to stop her. Selta reveals that bloom-father Yanos has received a message from the Galactic Council so the three of them head for town to discover what the news is. Eventually the Molluscari's underwater search is successful and the crew pick up the signal that the Headhunter has been searching for. She orders them to trawl the object in and then Crassostrea prepares to confront the Doctor…

Back at town, the Doctor has contacted the Galactic Council and learned that they’re not prepared to hear any appeals until six orbits have passed to allow for a cooling-off period. The Doctor tries to argue that there's more going on here than they know and says the passage of the Orbis moon is being adversely affected by an external agency. However, the Council refuses to engage in any further discussion and cuts him off. Just then, the sound of an approaching spaceship is heard, signalling the return of the Molluscari. The voice of Crassostrea breaks in on the radio, telling the Keltans their tenancy of the planet is over. She claims Orbis for their own, but adds that in the spirit of inter-species solidarity she will allow a select number of Keltans to be transported to an artificial enclave elsewhere in the galaxy. The selection will be based on weight and breeding potential and she asks for volunteers to assemble on the beach.

The Keltans turn to the Doctor for ideas, but he says he needs more time to think. Just then, the Headhunter arrives and mocks the Doctor for being unable to save the Keltan race from extinction, despite living with them for 600 years. She tells Yanos that the Molluscari's offer is the best one they’re going to get and advises them to take it. Lucie starts to argue with her, but to everyone's surprise, Selta grabs hold of her and agrees with the Headhunter, assuring Yanos they have no alternative. Lucie bites her captor and is released, then the Doctor hands Selta his sonic screwdriver for protection and tells her to meet with the Molluscari and keep them talking as long as she can. Once the Keltans have gone, Lucie tries to punch the Headhunter – but the woman pulls out her gun and shoots her again at point blank range.

Saccostrea informs Crassostrea that the Keltans are beginning to gather on the shore as requested. The leader laughs and summons more clam-ships to land on the beach and begin the processing. The Doctor tries to revive Lucie and is surprised when the Headhunter says she's been shot with a time bullet. It's currently burrowing its way into Lucie's chest at a rate of one millimetre every second, but she can speed it up, slow it down or even remove it entirely as she wishes. The Headhunter tells the Doctor she's reverse the damage and even return his TARDIS to him if he agrees to leave Orbis. However, he must also agree to switch off a device she's extracted from the seabed. It's encrusted in coral after resting at the bottom of the ocean for 600 years, but the Doctor recognises it as the remote activator for the Stellar Manipulator, which he took from Morbius and was holding when he fell into the canyon on Karn all those years ago. It was to protect this device that the Sisterhood transported him here in the first place. The technology can only be activated by a Time Lord, which is why the Headhunter arranged for Lucie to be brought here. She orders the Doctor to switch it off or else she’ll allow Lucie to die. He refuses to co-operate and accuses Lucie and the Headhunter of plotting this together. Until they reveal what their plan is, he intends to keep the activator safe in his pocket. Convinced that the Headhunter won’t let her ally die, he leaves them to their ‘act’ while he attends to those who genuinely need his help. Lucie cries out to him to help, but he isn’t listening…

The Great Crassostrea addresses the Keltans and says that although the five clam-ships they’ve brought to Orbis can’t possibly carry all of them, a fleet fifty times the size will shortly be arriving here as back up. As she orders her troops to round the colony up into manageable groups, she's delighted to see Yanos turning green, the Keltan colour for fear. She reveals that green Keltans are said to make the best food, so in order to ‘prepare’ the prisoners, she gives her troops permission to terrorise them…

Still believing that Lucie works for the Headhunter, he's not too surprised when she races out after him. She pleads with him to believe that she really is dying, but it's only when she inadvertently reveals that the TARDIS is also dying and is belching out time waste over the Vortex that she grabs his attention. The Headhunter joins them and points out that something‘s happening on the beach and it smells suspiciously like a barbecue…

Crassostrea order her troops to be careful not to burn the Keltans with their electro-spears. She tells Yanos the Molluscari need the waters of Orbis in order to spawn, but before they can do that they need to feast. Selta protests, demanding that they release her bloom-father. She produces the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and activates it. As the Molluscari start to vibrate inside their shells, Selta concentrates its effects on Secretary Saccostrea and within moments the woman is dead. To Yanos's horror, Selta threatens to do the same to Crassostrea unless she honours their bargain. She activates the sonic screwdriver again – but this time the Doctor steps forward and takes the device from her hand, insisting it was meant to be used for protection, not as a weapon. Selta apologises for her actions, but it's too late and the Doctor can’t hide his disappointment in her. Crassostrea suggests they don’t waste any sympathy over Saccostrea as she was planning on eating her later anyway.

The Doctor asks Selta to explain what she meant by "honouring their bargain", and although she avoids the question he already knows the answer. He points out that the readings on the Molluscari data pearl were identical to those shown on the atmospheric scanner, which means they were both taken from the precise same spot on the surface of Orbis. He denounces Selta as a Molluscari agent and she explains that she was forced to help as the Molluscari had predicted Orbis faced a catastrophe that even the Doctor couldn’t save them from and had offered to save a few of her bloom-kin. She herself had already decided to sacrifice herself and stay behind with the Doctor. She pleads with him to forgive her, but he says he only wanted a friend, not someone who was devoted to him. He orders the Molluscari to leave the planet and never return. The Headhunter arrives and points out how ridiculous the Doctor is for thinking he can hold of an entire alien army with one sonic screwdriver. She gives orders for the TARDIS to be brought out from the Molluscari ship and then Crassostrea tells the Doctor he must go and leave the Keltans to their fate. The Doctor insists that Orbis is his home now and he considers the Keltans to be his people, so he refuses to desert them. Lucie eventually joins them and is shocked to discover the Molluscari plan is to eat the jellyfish-people. Crassostrea has heard enough and orders her troops to kill the Doctor and Lucie, but the Headhunter interrupts, pointing out that the Doctor still has the Stellar Manipulator activator and he hasn’t switched it off yet.

Lucie makes an impassioned plea for the lives of the Keltans and the Doctor seems to come to his senses, finally remembering who she is and realising how much she must have suffered when she thought he was dead. He also takes the opportunity to remind Selta that he's not really that old, considering how long-lived his race is. He admits that he long ago stopped counting the years and now tends to round his age up or down depending on which part of the Universe he's visiting. He places the Stellar Manipulator activator in his hand and orders the Headhunter to "un-shoot" Lucie. She agrees and Lucie is returned to normal, but then the Doctor tricks the Headhunter and instead of switching the activator off, he actually increases its power. At first nothing happens, but then suddenly there's a huge clap of thunder and then the entire sky goes completely white. The Keltans start to scream in panic, believing it's the end of their world, and they watch as the entire moon starts crashing towards Orbis. The Headhunter explains that the moon first appeared in tweenspace a few centuries ago when it was tiny. Since then it had been getting bigger and bigger as it was drawn to a spot 50 miles out to sea – where its controller was located. It's not a moon at all, but the Stellar Manipulator engineered by Morbius! It's been dormant for centuries until the Headhunter dragged its activator from the seabed and then the Doctor turned up the power. He tries to switch it off, but the controls are jammed and he can’t reverse the effect. As the oceans start boiling, the Doctor orders Crassostrea to evacuate everyone aboard the clam-ships, but it's too late – thanks to the increase in the ambient temperature, the Molluscari leader is starting to spawn! The rest of the oyster race go into a feeding frenzy and the Headhunter congratulates the Doctor on messing things up so well.

She reveals that the Manipulator was being drawn closer to Orbis and was probably only days away from auto-igniting anyway, so all the Doctor has done is speed things up. She urges them to go back to the TARDIS, but the Doctor refuses to leave the Keltans behind. Unfortunately the effect has now become so great that the Keltans, including Yanos and Selta, start dying all around them before anyone can act. To the Doctor's surprise, the Headhunter takes the activator and throws it into the sea where it will be destroyed along with the entire planet. Horrified by what's happening, the Headhunter opens the door to the TARDIS and Lucie urges the Doctor to join them inside – but the Doctor says he gave up the life of a traveller a long time ago and his life here means everything to him. He knows he has to die some day and he seems prepared to accept that today is as good as any. Lucy grabs the gun from the Headhunter and shoots the Doctor with one of the time bullets.

Back in the TARDIS, the Headhunter "un-shoots" the Doctor and he instantly recovers. He's angry with Lucie, who admits that she was acting selfishly. He tells her there are times when people don’t actually want to be saved and she should have respected his wishes, but she argues that she didn’t just do it for herself, but for Earth and the rest of the Universe. She reminds him that his sick TARDIS is destroying the Vortex, but the Headhunter laughs and admits that she made the whole story of time waste up in order to motivate Lucie. Lucie goes to attack her, but she raises the gun again and warns the girl off. The Doctor is determined to return to Orbis, but when he checks the controls he can’t find the planet anywhere. The Headhunter reveals that Orbis has been consumed by the Stellar Manipulator, but with its activator consumed too, the Manipulator has been destroyed as well. The Headhunter ignores the Doctor's anger and points out that while he was happily living on Orbis for 600 years, someone else had to take over saving the Universe. She and her associates are getting sick of it and they’ve now decided that the Universe can’t do without the Doctor. The Doctor insists that he's a different person now, but she says that's a problem he needs to sort out for himself. She says goodbye and teleports from the TARDIS back to her warp ship. Lucie apologises for being so easily tricked, but the Doctor is consumed by guilt for not saving the Keltans. Lucie is sad too, but she reminds him that he used to call Earth his ‘home’ too and there are still plenty of other planets that need saving. Reluctantly, and with nothing better to do, the Doctor sets to co-ordinates for Earth.

A colony of ants surreptitiously invade a young couple's park picnic in the 1890s and contrive to steal their food. The gags include a scene in which the ants, frustrated three times in their efforts to make off with a sandwich, spread mustard on the back of the girlfriend's hand and trick the boyfriend into biting it, and one in which a female ant sings an overly melodramatic song ("Time Waits for No One") which gets the other ants to run for cover.

At prestigious private school Dartmoor Academy, principal Morgan Brinway is forcing the second-graders to study opera appreciation. Five feisty kids (leader Sonny, contraption making Loaf, movie loving Domino, sympathetic albeit tough Lucy, and the reluctant participating Witz), nicknamed the "Stinkers" by Mr. Brinway, are secretly skipping class to create chaos on the school grounds. Witz becomes the test pilot for a flying chair, one of Sonny's newest ideas. The Stinkers go to Groundskeeper Roy's shed and steal his leaf blower. Before that, they stole Mr. Brinway's desk chair. The Stinkers fail to notice that the leaf blower was not entirely duct taped onto the desk chair. When turned it on, the leaf blower flew off the contraption but left Witz sitting in the chair. The leaf blower was heading straight for Mr. Brinway's new convertible, but the leaf blower ran out of gas before it could destroy the car. However, Roy accidentally obliterates the car's side door with his lawn mower's edging blade. Mr. Brinway warns the Stinkers they will be expelled if they mess up one more time, but they soon rebel while trying to keep a low profile and are involved in even more misadventures.

When the kids discover sea lion Slappy during an aquarium field trip, Sonny and the others decide to free him by smuggling him back onto the school bus and hide him in Mr. Brinway's hot tub; as a form of celebrating their success, they have a party. After Mr. Brinway arrives home earlier than usual, the Stinkers retrieve Slappy and hide him at Witz's house. Roy mistakes the sea lion for a giant gopher and sets out to kill him. Animal broker Anthony Boccoli plans to steal Slappy and sell him to a Bulgarian circus, but some of his attempts to catch Slappy fail.

The next day, the Stinkers take Slappy with them to the beach so they can set him free, but Slappy refuses to leave. The kids discover there was an orca (which they assume is Willy from ''Free Willy'') swimming nearby and that's why Slappy didn't want to go in the water since orcas eat sea lions. Sonny decides they should return Slappy to the aquarium, but they have to first attend a festival at Dartmoor. Roy tries to dispose of Slappy which causes the festival attractions to get ruined. Assuming this was caused by the Stinkers, Mr. Brinway expels them. The Stinkers discover that Boccoli kidnapped Slappy, which prompts the kids to set off on a rescue mission.

The group locates Boccoli's hideout and disposes of him by squirting him with water, blowing sawdust onto his body and shooting him with Roy's gopher bomb gun. After saving Slappy, the Stinkers get chased by Boccoli. Mr. Brinway and the class go on a hiking field trip to look at birds, which gets interrupted when the Stinkers crash through and Mr. Brinway becomes part of the getaway. After being chased to a log flume, the Stinkers and Mr. Brinway escape Boccoli by going down it; Boccoli tries to drown the group by turning on the flume, but the water is blocked by a beaver's nest and once he removes it, a beaver bites him and the water splashes him, causing him to slide down the spillway. The Stinkers, Slappy and Mr. Brinway safely land into the lake below, whereas Boccoli falls onto a floating log. Roy, who is also the school bus driver, ties a rope around Boccoli. Slappy is returned to the aquarium, Mr. Brinway withdraws the Stinkers' expulsion and they become heroes.

After Bart is apprehended for playing pranks on the teachers of Springfield Elementary, Principal Skinner reveals to Bart that he is not the greatest prankster to ever walk the halls of the school. Bart is shocked by this revelation and sets out to discover the identity of this prankster. After sifting through countless back issues of the school paper, he discovers that there is a two-week gap in its publication dating back ten years, and that there is a substantial change in Principal Skinner's demeanor and appearance before and after the gap. Groundskeeper Willie eventually tells Bart that he was once the school swim instructor, and that Principal Skinner was once fun-loving and laid-back until an incident dubbed "Night of the Wigglers". Here, a prankster named Andy Hamilton locked Skinner in a pool full of earthworms for three days, changing Skinner's personality for the worse.

Meanwhile, Marge is harshly criticized by other Springfield mothers for serving unhealthy snacks at their "Midday Mommies" meeting. In response, she burns the family's junk food and the family purchases organic food, which is very expensive and has a short shelf life. At the next meeting, while the other mothers enjoy Marge's healthy food, they become horrified at Marge for using non-stick bakeware (which contains PFOAs) and having the babies drink out of plastic drinking bottles marked with number 7 (which has the potential to leak BPA). The other mothers storm away and get into a nearby ambulance, tossing out Hans Moleman in the process. Marge realizes that she misses eating junk food and Homer later catches Marge eating from his stash of candy, and the two of them indulge in junk food together and apparently make love, and Homer points out that, ironically, the junk food is healthier than organic food. They then agree to only make the kids eat healthy.

Bart meets Andy Hamilton and discovers that he is unemployed and lives with his mother. When Lisa suggests Andy is a loser, Bart gets him a job as Krusty the Clown's assistant as a favour Krusty owes him, but is angry when Andy quits after one day. Bart gets him rehired and goes to check Andy's progress. When a truck full of earthworms labelled “Prank Grade” drives into the studio, Bart is terrified that Andy is repeating the "Night of the Wigglers" prank and that Krusty will end up a loser like Skinner. He discovers however that it is part of the show, and that Andy has been hired as a writer for Krusty's show and has a girlfriend, much to Bart's delight. Despite Andy's success, Lisa still thinks that he is a loser, believing that writing for a comedy show is no better than the life of a prankster.

An overconfident and guffawing spider (voiced by Cy Kendall) spots his intended prey, a mute fly, on the ceiling, and indulges in various cat-and-mouse schemes to try to catch him for food, including painting a load of buckshot with "Kandy Kolor" and luring the fly to eat it and drawing him closer with a magnet, which only succeeds in attracting a set of metal cutlery which the spider has to dodge to save himself. At one point the fly manages to set fire to the spider's feet, and as the spider nose-dives like a plane he exclaims "Look! I'm a Zero, I'm a Zero," referring to the Mitsubishi Zero used by the Japanese during World War Two. He sees the fly on a wedding cake as a bride and dresses as the groom only to be blown up by a dynamite stick.

Eventually, the spider catches his prey, and, when he is about to carve him up while singing the song "Would You Like to Take a Walk?", the fly points to a wall calendar giving the day as "Meatless Tuesday", a reference to food rationing during World War II. The frustrated spider runs to the United States Capitol and rants to Congress "You can't do this to me! You just can't! You can't! You can't! You can't! You can't!"

Art restorer, Gabriel Allon, who also works part-time for 'The Office', a semi-official Israeli intelligence agency, accepts an assignment from an anonymous Zurich banker. Arriving at his villa, he finds the man's murdered body. He flees the crime scene, but is arrested as he tries to leave the country. He is interrogated by Gerhardt Peterson, of Switzerland's internal security department, who accuse him of the murder of the deceased banker, Augustus Rolfe. But news of Gabriel's imprisonment has reached Israel, and Ari Shamron, Director of 'The Office', secures Gabriel's release. He reveals that Rolfe had expressed the desire to personally meet an agent from The Office to give them important information.

Gabriel travels to Portugal to meet Anna Rolfe, the estranged daughter of Augustus. She is a world-renowned violinist who lives in seclusion as she recovers from a major accident. She confesses that, unbeknownst to Swiss police, her father's assassin also stole his private art collection. Although Anna staunchly defends the provenance of those valuable paintings, Gabriel suspects that they were underhandedly acquired during World War II. Anna further adds that the Rolfe family's home and art collection were guarded by an elaborate security system designed by art dealer Werner Müller. Gabriel determines to meet Müller.

It is revealed that Peterson takes orders from the 'Council of Rütli', a secretive elite group of Swiss businessmen and bankers determined to protect the reputation of Switzerland and its (often stolen) riches. Otto Gessler, the highly secretive leader of the Council (whom Peterson has never seen), instructs Peterson to cut all links to the case—and to begin by killing Rolfe's art agent Werner Müller. Peterson contacts Don Orsati, a Corsican leader of organized crime, who assigns his best agent, the mysterious Englishman Christopher Keller, to fill Peterson's order.

Keller began his career in the SAS, and actually visited Israel, where he studied combat and intelligence techniques from members of the Office, including Allon. He was posted as 'missing believed killed' after a mission in Iraq, but in fact survived and became a freelance assassin, reaping a comfortable lifestyle. He lives in a Corsican village, becoming something of an adopted kinsman to the Orsati family and its self-proclaimed role as the arbitrators of justice.

Keller is instructed to bomb Müller's art store. Gabriel, who is visiting the store flees moments before the bomb detonates. He suffers substantial damage to his hands but escapes the crime scene unnoticed. Müller's death confirms that the missing art collection is the key to understanding Rolfe's murder.

Gabriel returns to England to plumb art dealer Julian Isherwood's extensive knowledge of the pillage of Jewish-owned art during the Second World War. Isherwood has first-hand knowledge of this topic since his father was an art dealer in Paris whose art works were also stolen. He warns that Swiss law protects its collectors who purportedly bought the art “in good faith” and have owned it for five years.

Isherwood refers Gabriel to the exiled Swiss Emil Jacobi, a historian, writer, and 'whistle blower' who contests the morality of Switzerland's acquisition and ownership of “looted” art. Jacobi confirms Isherwood's story and further accuses Rolfe of performing various services to the Nazi regime. He even conjectures that Rolfe allowed Jews to deposit their money in his bank and then turned over their information to the Gestapo. Jacobi relates that it was not uncommon for Nazi leaders to reward such informants with valuable property, including art. This seals Gabriel's resolve to research the provenance of Rolfe's art collection.

Anna admits that the provenance documents are in her father's desk. Gabriel returns to Zurich and discovers photographs of Rolfe with Nazi leaders Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring, and Adolf Hitler. Along with the pictures are bank account numbers and German names. He manages to escape with the documents and escapes with Anna. The latter now learns the truth about her father's suspicious activities—as well as her mother's suicide years earlier.

They return to Zurich, and manage to locate the bank that holds the security boxes. With the account number, they access two boxes. One contains a letter from Rolfe, anticipating his murder and explaining his guilt and his wish to return each painting to its rightful owner. The second box contains sixteen additional paintings, which they return to London. It emerges that one painting belonged to Julian Isherwood's father.

Anna is determined to accept a 'come-back' engagement to play in Venice. Gabriel and a specialist team guard her in case of an assassination attempt. The Englishman manages to evade the guards, but then deliberately does not carry out his assignment.

Gabriel's team kidnaps Gerhardt Peterson, and Gabriel brutally questions him about the activities of the Council. It emerges that Peterson had coordinated both Gabriel and Anna's planned murders, but Keller decided that he was killing for the wrong team. Gessler spearheaded the plan to murder Rolfe and steal his incriminating artwork. Gabriel determines to ask Gessler to exchange the confiscated art in return for its monetary value, but Peterson expresses scepticism that a wealthy man could be bribed with more money. The two journey to Gessler's luxurious and highly secure property, where Peterson turns on and imprisons Gabriel. After sustained beatings, Gessler takes him on a tour of his own private art collection—a vast museum housing hundreds of great paintings. The collection is ironic in that Gessler is blind; his satisfaction does not come from admiring the artwork but rather from possessing it. Gessler tells Gabriel to give up his quest, for Swiss law will never expose its own citizens. As the Council contemplates Gabriel's murder, Peterson helps Gabriel escape, citing his conscience and family's honour as motivations.

Several months later, Gabriel, still recovering from injuries sustained during his escape, has returned to his work at his home in Cornwall. Anna Rolfe has returned to her career as a violinist. Shamron decides that Gabriel should spend the next year as Anna's security detail.

Keller returns to Corsica to explain why he failed to assassinate Gabriel and Anna. He calls upon the Orsati family's long-standing tradition of honour killing and states that justice demands the life of Otto Gessler, not Gabriel or Anna. Orsati worries that Keller will not enjoy Gabriel's lucky escape, but Keller insists that he is now a better agent than Gabriel. Indeed, Keller does breach Gessler's security, fatally stabs him, and departs unscathed. Peterson is also found dead as a result of an 'accident'.

Following the Skrull invasion of Earth during Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn leverages his success in defeating the Skrulls to replace Tony Stark as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Deadpool plays a large part in this, as he is supposed to send the information on how to kill the Skrull Queen Veranke to Nick Fury. An error occurs during the process and the information goes to Osborn instead. Osborn shoots Veranke in the head and becomes the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., which he replaces with H.A.M.M.E.R. Osborn simultaneously forms an alliance called the Cabal with Doctor Doom, Emma Frost, Namor, Loki, and the Hood. He uses H.A.M.M.E.R. to carry out his agenda and, at times, the Cabal's. However, Osborn's actions and his reputation influence a number of heroes and villains to attempt to resist Osborn's rule and remove him from power by force, if necessary.

At Kinetech Labs, an inventor named Allan Topher designs a robot for search and rescue, but when he finds out that the robot will be used for military purposes, he programs the robot to flee. The robot escapes but is damaged in the process. It is discovered by 12-year-old Henry Keller, who fixes it and names it Cody. The robot does not remember its past, and Henry and Cody develop a friendship. Eventually, Cody regains his memory and Henry gives Cody back. The inventor feels guilty for taking Cody away, so he returns the robot to Henry. Allan meets Henry's mother, Joanna, and they get along really well. Kinetech finds and corners Cody and Henry. Cody activates another function of his, and takes off with Henry, flying high up into the sky. They reunite with Meagan but when they call their mother, they find out that Kinetech has kidnapped both their mother and Allan so that they can get the robot back. Meagan, Henry and Cody embark to save them and to bring down Kinetech.

Set in the early 20th century, the film follows a game warden who arrives in Florida in the hopes of enforcing conservation laws. He soon finds himself pitted against Cottonmouth, the leader of a fierce group of bird poachers. The film is loosely based upon the life and death of Guy Bradley, an early game warden who in 1905 was shot and killed by plume hunters in the Everglades.

In Pennsylvania, eight-year-old Leslie Whitehead (Ryan Simpkins) is kidnapped by Alex (Tom Arnold) and Frank (Kevin Zegers). Alex says he needs help finding his dog, then he and Frank take her to school. While driving, Alex tells Leslie her dad is their boss, thus gaining her trust. After school, Alex and Frank find her again. They lure her into their car with a story about her dad being in trouble, then drug her and take her to their house. They tell Leslie her parents do not want her anymore. As proof, Alex provides the number to her "dad's cell phone", which is actually a payphone. After multiple unanswered calls, she eventually accepts their story.

She and another victim, a young boy named Donnie, are sexually abused and used for child pornography. Their clients include men in positions of authority, such as a judge. As a coping mechanism, Donnie and Leslie pretend they are in an imaginary world based on the stories of Mowgli from ''The Jungle Book''. One day, Leslie, Donnie, Alex, and Frank go to a convenience store, where it becomes apparent Leslie's parents are looking for her because her picture is on milk cartons; however, Leslie does not see them. While Alex is paying for ice cream, the store owner's wife recognizes Leslie as missing and calls the police. When the police show up at Alex and Frank's house, they escape with the children.

Almost nine years later, Leslie (Gillian Jacobs) and Donnie (Evan Ross) are living together on the streets of San Diego, prostituting themselves and stealing. Ostensibly as a way for her to get off the streets, a pimp named Cooper (Shiloh Fernandez) tries to convince Leslie to lure a twelve-year-old girl, Monica, living at a youth shelter into prostitution. Meanwhile, Donnie has fallen in love with Leslie, but she is unsure how to feel because, presumably, she has always just seen him as her brother. She ends up deciding to leave Donnie and goes to the shelter to "turn out" the girl. When Donnie goes looking for Leslie, Cooper tells him she has left him while leading into a fistfight, devastating him. At the last minute, Leslie decides not to turn out Monica and returns her to the shelter. She tries to go back to Donnie, but finds out he has left town without saying where he was going. Having no other choice, Leslie goes back to the shelter to stay. A counselor there (John Malkovich) discovers Leslie is a missing person and tells her her parents have been looking for her all these years, which she finally realizes is true.

Leslie reunites with her parents, along with two siblings born during her absence, and attempts to "return home". However, she is too traumatized after all she has been through and cannot remain in such a normal atmosphere. She leaves in the middle of the night and starts to hitchhike, hoping to find Donnie again. Donnie is shown hitchhiking through Florida, the location of an amusement park where he and Leslie, as young children, promised they would meet if they ever got separated.

Cho Chun-sam and Noh Dae-gyu, now both in their thirties, are old friends who went to the same elementary school. In their school days, Chun-sam was always the ambitious class president, while Dae-gyu had to settle for a role as vice president. Twenty years later their roles are reversed: Chun-sam is now a humble farmer who has assumed the post of village chief in his hometown, while Dae-gyu is the newly elected county magistrate. At first, Chun-sam asks his old friend for favours regarding the development of his village, but these requests are turned down. Later, when Dae-gyu proposes building a nuclear waste disposal facility in the county, Chun-sam leads demonstrations against the plan, turning old friends into bitter rivals.

The story begins during a voyage on the South China Sea, where almost at once Derrick's ship encounters a typhoon. Surviving this perilous experience, the ship under Captain Sullivan reaches shore and completes the rendezvous with Professor Ayrton. The party is equipped for the journey to the road to Samarcand. Members of the party include his relatives, Cousin Ayrton and Uncle Sullivan; Derrick, himself; Sullivan's intrepid companion, Ross; the ship's Chinese cook, Li Han; and one of Captain Sullivan's seamen, Olaf Svenssen. Horses and Mongolian guides are engaged: Derrick becomes a skilled horseman and learns to speak Mongolian. The party follows a circuitous route to the road to Samarcand to travel in safety and to satisfy Professor Ayrton's archaeological wishes. This circuitous route sends the band to areas that reveal interesting aspects of the Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan cultures.

Some adventures are fruitful but not dangerous, as when Derrick and his Mongolian companion ride out to hunt with a falcon and when the Professor acquires jade treasure; some involve danger. The latter includes imprisonment, escape, brushes with revolutionaries and bandits, and hand-to-hand fighting. The party becomes involved in deadly skirmishes at a time in history when the old skills of warfare are bowing to superior firepower. As this state-of-affairs turns dramatic, Professor Ayrton is forced to pass himself off as a Russian Army officer who specialises in armament. He is anything but an expert and does not know how to fire a gun when the expedition begins.

Other adventures involve dangers crossing a glacier where the party must face both blizzard conditions and inimical monks masquerading as yeti, and the loss and eventual rediscovery of party-members Ross, Li Han and Olaf. As the final adventure, the little group escapes disaster in a functioning helicopter, which has been abandoned near the monastery where the band has been virtually imprisoned. There is spare gasoline in a can, and the party is flown away by Ross. He is completely inexperienced as a helicopter pilot; Ross has mechanical prowess and is the only party member who succeeds in starting the engine. Ross is brave and has a history as the captain of a ship at sea. Airborne and finally out of danger, the party sees below on the ground their goal, the road to Samarcand.

King Nicholas XX (Durning) has been Santa Claus for 100 years and is now preparing to hand over the baton to his, and the Queen's (Helmond) son, Nick St. Nicholas (Grammer). Nick St. Nicholas is living the high life in Miami and is slightly reluctant to become Santa Claus. Jasper (Bedford), Nick's butler hires a new cook, Lorena (Ortiz). He then gets enticed into portraying a fictitious Santa Claus for a charity (Mr.SaintNick.com) by Heidi (Hendrix) and Hector (Garcia). Nick begins to fall in love with Heidi and asks her to marry him, little does he know that Hector and Heidi are transferring the charity's money into their own account in the Cayman Islands. Soon however, Nick starts to become closer to his loved ones (namely his father) and Nick starts to realizes how special being with your loved ones is. As that happens he also notices that he is getting to know Lorena better and is starting to develop feelings for her, too. Which makes him re-think about marrying Heidi. Nick eventually comes to see that he was wrong about everything and chooses Lorena instead.

In 1912, the Evidenzbureau, the directorate of military intelligence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, identifies Marchesa Marcella Galdi, an Italian noblewoman who is visiting Vienna, as an Italian spy. To avoid diplomatic confusion, she is kidnapped while dancing with Austro-Hungarian General Staff Captain Michael von Homberg at a ball held at the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna, and sent back to Italy. Shortly afterwards, a secret plan of an Austrian fortress appears on von Homberg's office desk, and as he himself is unable to explain this, the Evidenzbureau urges him to commit suicide, but he instead manages to escape from Vienna and goes on the run.

Three years later, Italy and Austria stand against each other in World War I. Returning to Vienna, von Homberg asks his former superiors for a chance to clear his name, and is given a Royal Italian Army uniform and tasked with flying to Italy to find the traitor who put the plans on his office desk three years ago. After landing in Italy, he gets wounded from Italian artillery, but manages to get to safety before falling unconscious. When he awakes, he discovers that he is in a military hospital and encounters Marcella, who is looking for enemy agents and is shocked upon recognising him. Having fallen in love with von Homberg, she offers him the chance to leave Italy as a free man, but to his disappointment, is unwilling to tell him the name of the agent who cast suspicion on his name. After he recovers, von Hombergk takes a train to Rome, intending to speak with Ermete Davila, an antiques dealer and faithful Austrian agent, and meets a suspicious man named Bluentzli.

Upon arriving in Rome, von Homberg quickly discovers that the traitor he is looking for goes by the code name K 77. After meeting with Davila, he obtains a connection to Marcella's superior, Coloneilo Romanelli, chief of the Italian counterintelligence, through one of Davila's regular customers, Conte Valenti, a well-known collector of valuable artworks and a friend of Romanelli. Von Homberg meets Marcella again during a dinner party at Romanelli's villa, but she does not reveal his identity and the two spend the night together, despite her refusal to name the traitor sought after by von Homberg.

When Romanelli suddenly appears, Marcella manages to hide von Homberg, and he overhears them saying that K 77 will arrive shortly from Vienna. As Romanelli does not know the man personally, he orders Marcella to introduce them to each other at an upcoming party held by Conte Valenti. Von Homberg manages to return to his hotel room without being discovered, but finds Bluentzli waiting for him, who proceeds to blackmail him with knowledge of his affair with Marcella. After a lengthy discussion, von Homberg instead convinces Bluentzli to switch allegiances and work for the Austrians.

Wíth the aid of Bluentzli, von Homberg arranges to pilot the aircraft which will fly K 77, who he discovers is a high-ranking Austro-Hungarian General Staff officer of Italian origin, back to Austria. When Marcella gets wind of his plans, she tries to stop him, but her effort ends in spectacular disaster as the plane takes off. After a risky flight, von Homberg successfully hands over the traitor to the Austrian authorities. With his name cleared, von Homberg is finally reinstated into the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, but ruefully remembers Marcella as he reports for military service.