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Sliding Doors
Helen Quilley is sacked from her public relations firm. As she leaves the office building, she drops an earring in the lift, and a man picks it up for her. She rushes downstairs to the London Underground, when a young girl slightly delays her, and the sliding doors shut before she can board the train. Time seems to rewind, and restart, but this time, the girl's mother pulls her child out of Helen's path downstairs, and Helen forces open the nearly closed sliding doors to board the train. Two different versions of Helen continue on with their lives, alternating between two diverging stories.
Helen, who boards the train, sits beside James, the man who had picked up her earring in the lift, and they strike up a conversation that cheers her up. She gets home to catch her boyfriend, Gerry, in bed with his American ex-girlfriend, Lydia. Helen leaves him and moves in with her friend Anna. At Anna's suggestion, Helen cuts her hair short and dyes it blonde to make a fresh start.
James befriends Helen and she begins to move on from Gerry as he cheers her up and encourages her to start her own small PR firm. They fall in love, despite her reservations about beginning another relationship so soon after her ugly breakup with Gerry. Eventually, Helen discovers that she is pregnant by James. She goes to see him at his office and is stunned to learn from James's secretary that he is married.
Having discovered that Helen has learned he is married, James searches frantically for her before finding her on a bridge and explaining that while he is married, he is separated and will soon be divorced, and that he and his wife maintain the appearance of a happy marriage for the sake of his sick mother. After she and James reconcile and declare their love, Helen walks into the road and is hit by a van.
Helen, who missed the train, is further delayed by an attempted mugging, which leads to a hospital visit where the cut to her forehead is treated. She arrives home after Lydia has left, and remains oblivious to Gerry's infidelity. Unable to find another PR position, she takes two part-time jobs to pay the bills to support Gerry, who is unemployed and struggling to finish his novel. Gerry continues to juggle the two women in his life, and Helen gradually becomes suspicious. She discovers she is pregnant but does not tell Gerry.
Lydia soon realizes Gerry will never leave Helen for her and angrily breaks things off with him, to Gerry's relief. Lydia also realizes she is pregnant by Gerry and summons Helen under the guise of a job interview, but instead reveals the affair and her pregnancy to Helen. Distraught, Helen flees and falls down the stairs.
In both timelines, Helen is taken to the hospital and loses her baby. Helen who boarded the train, succumbs to severe injuries and dies with James at her bedside, expressing his gratitude at meeting her on the train. Helen who missed the train recovers and tells Gerry to leave for good. James, who is visiting his mother, picks up Helen's dropped earring in the hospital lift, encouraging her to "Cheer up. You know what the Monty Python boys say..." (the same joke he told Helen in the other timeline), but this time, Helen preempts James, correctly quoting the punch line, " No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition." They turn and gaze at each other.