While scuba diving near shipwrecks off Bermuda, vacationing couple David Sanders and Gail Berke recover small artifacts, including a glass ampoule with amber-coloured liquid and a gold medallion bearing a woman's image and the letters "S.C.O.P.N." (meaning "Santa Clara, ora pro nobis ", or " Saint Clara, pray for us") and a date, 1714. An unknown sea creature suddenly grabs Gail's wood baton as she probes the wreck's crevices. Panicked, she gets loose from the strap while the baton's end is left shredded. Sanders and Berke seek advice from historian and treasure hunter Romer Treece on the medallion's origin. He identifies the item as Spanish as he palms the ampoule, taking an interest in the couple. The dive-shop clerk notices the ampoule, which in turn attracts the attention of Henri "Cloche" Bondurant, a local drug kingpin for whom the clerk works. When Cloche unsuccessfully tries to buy the ampoule, he begins terrorizing the couple. The ampoule contains medicinal morphine from the Goliath, a ship that sank during World War II with a cargo of munitions and medical supplies. The Goliath is off-limits to divers due to the still-live explosives. Treece concludes that a recent storm has exposed the morphine and unearthed a much older wreck containing Spanish treasure that is beneath Goliath. Treece makes a deal with Cloche to retrieve the ampoules for $1 million, which Cloche can illegally resell for over $3 million, while Treece secretly searches for the treasure. Cloche gives him three days to recover the morphine. Sanders, Berke and Treece make several dives to the wrecks, recovering thousands of ampoules from Goliath and several additional artifacts from the Spanish wreck. They also encounter a huge moray eel, which lives inside the vessel, and was what previously attacked Berke. Adam Coffin, the only survivor from Goliath, joins the venture, but his loyalty shifts when he feels slighted by Treece. When Cloche's men arrive and dump bait into the water to attract sharks, Coffin tells Treece he probably fell asleep without noticing they were in trouble. Through research in Treece's library, the trio reconstructs the lost treasure ship's history and locates a list of valuable items, including a gold pinecone filled with pearls with the letters "EF" engraved on it. The initials identify Elisabeth Farnese, a noblewoman for whom they were made by the King of Spain. Sanders is determined to locate at least one item on the list to establish provenance, as without it, the treasure has less value. Treece plans to destroy the Goliath to prevent Cloche from obtaining the morphine. Cloche attempts to thwart them and recover the morphine himself. Cloche's henchman murders Treece's long-time friend Kevin. Adam betrays Treece and is killed by triggering Treece's booby trap in the lighthouse tower when he tries to steal the recovered morphine stashed there. During the final dive, Cloche is killed by the giant eel, while his henchman Slake is speared by Gail on the surface, and his other henchman Ronald is drowned by David. The Goliath is destroyed in the explosion that Treece ignites. Treece recovers a gold dragon necklace that provides the treasure's needed provenance.

Barry Kohler, a young amateur Nazi hunter, spies on a meeting of the fugitive Nazi organisation Kameraden in Paraguay. At this meeting, infamous Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele issues instructions for the assassinations of 94 civil servants in Western Europe and North America, all of them low-ranking and aged around 65, on particular dates over the next two years. Kohler telephones Ezra Lieberman, a famous (as well as penniless and cynical) Nazi hunter living in Vienna, to inform him of his discovery. While still on the phone, Kohler is surprised by the Kameraden and killed. With the help of his sister Esther, British journalist Sidney Beynon and Jewish-American vigilante leader David Bennett, Lieberman begins investigating the deaths of civil servants fitting the profile who die suddenly over the next few months. He is struck by the fact that all of the dead men have sons aged 13 who look exactly alike, with pale skin, dark hair and blue eyes. He discovers that all of the boys were illegally adopted and that some of the adoptions were facilitated by Kameraden member Frieda Maloney, who has since been jailed. Lieberman interviews Maloney, who tells him that the boys were provided by an intermediary in Brazil. She mentions that one of the adoptive fathers she dealt with, American Henry Wheelock, gave her a newborn puppy in exchange for her baby. Seeking an explanation for the boys' identical appearance, Lieberman consults the biologist Dr Bruckner, who explains the principles of cloning. Lieberman deduces that the boys are clones of Adolf Hitler, all created from a single DNA sample by Mengele, who has also been seeking to ensure that their childhoods imitate that of the original Hitler by having them adopted by parents who resemble Hitler's own abusive father Alois (a civil servant in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and doting mother Klara. This is done in the hopes that their later lives will follow the same course, and that as adults they will establish new Nazi regimes in their respective countries. The murders of the fathers are part of this plan, designed to reflect the death of Alois when Hitler was 13. Based on this revelation, and the age of Maloney's dog, Lieberman realises that Henry Wheelock is due to be murdered in just four days' time. Alarmed by the progress of Lieberman's investigation and Mengele's increasingly erratic behaviour (after he beats one of his men nearly to death for killing his target on the wrong date), the Kameraden leadership attempts to shut down the project, but Mengele escapes. Lieberman travels to rural Pennsylvania to warn Henry Wheelock, only to discover that Wheelock has already been murdered by Mengele, posing as Lieberman. The doctor badly wounds Lieberman with a gunshot, but is then cornered by the family's vicious Doberman Pinschers (Mengele fears dogs). When Wheelock's son Bobby arrives home from school, Mengele attempts to tell him about his real origins. He makes no attempt to deny killing Wheelock, telling Bobby that he must rise above his worthless adoptive family and embrace his destiny. This enrages the boy, who orders the dogs to kill Mengele. Lieberman recovers a list from Mengele's pocket detailing the identities of all 94 clones, and then collapses from blood loss. As Lieberman recuperates in hospital, he is visited by Bennett who asks him to hand over the list so that his vigilante group can eliminate the clones. Lieberman refuses and instead burns the list, declaring that they are innocent children who may yet grow up to be harmless. The final scene shows Bobby Wheelock gazing in fascination at photographs he took of Mengele's mauled corpse.

A UFO makes an emergency landing on Earth and is taken into custody by the United States government. The occupant of the "flying saucer" turns out to be a strange cat-like alien named Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7. Since the Mother Ship cannot send a rescue party before it leaves the Solar System, the cat sets about investigating how to repair the ship himself. Using a special collar that amplifies telekinetic and telepathic abilities, he follows the military to the Energy Research Laboratory (or E.R.L.), where they hope to learn how the UFO's power source works. One of the lab's scientists, Frank Wilson, attracts the cat's attention when his theory on the power source, while ridiculed by the rest of the staff, is actually on the right track. The cat follows Frank to his office, where Frank nicknames him Jake. Another scientist, Liz Bartlet, storms into his office, upset at Frank's sense of humor in light of such an important scientific discovery. Frank is able to calm her down, mostly by introducing Jake and inviting her to dinner. After Liz leaves, Jake reveals his true nature to Frank, demonstrating his abilities and offering to exchange his advanced knowledge of energy for Frank's assistance. That evening, the pair plan to break into the military base where Jake's ship is being kept, but must dodge Liz who has arrived for their date with her own cat, Lucybelle. Jake feigns being sick, allowing them to proceed to the base. At the base, Frank uses a back-up collar to fly to the top of the ship and attach a diagnostic device. Jake learns that he needs an element that he calls "Org 12". When Jake reveals the element's atomic weight, Frank realizes that "Org 12" is elemental gold. Back at Frank's apartment, Frank tells Jake that a quantity of gold costing $120,000 will repair Jake's ship. Norman Link, a colleague of Frank's, comes over to watch horse races and football games on which he has wagered money. Jake uses his powers to help Link's horse win the race, prompting Jake and Frank to convince Link to help them by parlaying all of his bets to win the money. However, Jake gets knocked out by a well-meaning vet that was brought in by Liz because she thought Jake was still sick. Frank informs Liz of the situation and the group heads to a local pool hall where Link has placed his bets. Learning the last game in the parlay was lost and desperate to raise the money needed, they agree to a game of pool with a hustler named Sarasota Slim. Frank's first attempt to use Jake's collar fails, but Jake regains consciousness in time to manipulate the final game and win the money they need to acquire the gold for Jake's ship. However, an industrial spy named Stallwood, who works for a master criminal named Olympus, has learned of their activities, as has the military. Frank and Jake manage to elude the military and the criminals, only to have Link, Liz and Lucybelle captured by Olympus and his men. They plan to ransom them back for the collar, which forces Jake to send his ship back to the awaiting Mother Ship and stay on Earth in order to help rescue his friends. Jake and Frank use a broken-down biplane to rescue Liz and Lucybelle from Olympus's helicopter, which crashes; Olympus, Stallwood and their men survive and are presumably arrested. In the final scene, Jake is allowed to stay on Earth as a representative of an off-world "friendly power", with Jake applying for and being granted United States citizenship.

Kevin Harrison, a corrupt arms dealer, attempts to destroy an American-owned Concorde on its maiden flight after one of the passengers, reporter Maggie Whelan, learns of his weapons sales to communist countries during the Cold War. The Concorde takes off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and lands at Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., despite being forced to perform a go-around when environmental protestors fly a hot air balloon into its approach path. Maggie reports on the flight the following day, which leads to a story of Harrison and his Buzzard surface-to-air missile project. A man named Carl Parker claims to have documentation of illegal arms deals, but is shot by an assailant who chases Maggie before a passerby triggers a fire alarm, scaring the assailant away. Maggie is told by Harrison that someone is framing him. He sends Maggie off in a limo, then plots to destroy the Concorde with Maggie on it by reprogramming an attack drone test to target the Concorde. Capt. Joe Patroni and Capt. Paul Metrand board the Concorde. They are joined by Peter O'Neill, the 2nd officer and flight engineer. Harrison surprises Maggie at the airline check-in desk to see her off. He asks whether the documents have shown up, but they have not. As he walks away, Parker's wife delivers the documents to Maggie. She reviews them and realizes that Harrison lied. The Concorde departs for Paris. Unbeknownst to the flight crew, an off-course surface-to-air missile is headed for them. At his company headquarters, Harrison tells his controllers to alert the government. The USAF scrambles F-15 fighter jets to intercept the missile as it locks onto the Concorde. After evasive maneuvers by the Concorde, an F-15 destroys the missile. As the Concorde approaches Europe, an F-4 Phantom II sent by Harrison engages the Concorde as French Air Force Mirage F1s scramble to help. The Concorde evades the F-4's missiles, but the explosion of one of them damages the plane's hydraulics. The Mirages shoot down the F-4 before the Concorde reaches the French coastline en route to Paris. Due to the damage, the plane lands at Le Bourget Airport instead of Charles de Gaulle. The Concorde barely stops at the last safety net. Metrand and Isabelle invite Patroni to dinner. Harrison promises Maggie to go public with the documents but attempts to bribe her into revising his statement. After being paid by Harrison, a mechanic, Froelich, places a device in the Concorde's cargo door control unit, timed to open during flight. As the passengers board, Froelich is at the security checkpoint when some of his money falls from his trouser leg. The X-ray technician attempts to return it, but Froelich runs off. On the runway, the Concorde's exhaust renders Froelich unconscious and scatters the money. En route to Moscow, the automatic device opens the cargo door. Metrand sees the carpet tear down the middle of the aisle, signifying the fuselage is under tremendous stress and the aircraft is about to break apart. The cargo door is ripped off, causing a sudden decompression, damaging the aircraft and ripping a segment of the floor, knocking out the primary flight controls as the plane spirals towards the ground. The airline founder's seat lodges in the hole, acting as a plug. With only back-up systems available, the pilots attempt to fly to Innsbruck, Austria, for an emergency landing, but they are losing too much fuel. Metrand realizes they are flying towards a ski area he knows along the Alps in Patscherkofel; they could make a belly landing on a mountain-side. The aircraft approaches the landing site while the ski patrol marks a runway, landing successfully. While passengers are being rescued, Maggie reports on the accident to a news reporter and mentions a major story she is about to release. Harrison, en route back to Washington, sees the newscast in his private plane and commits suicide. The last of the crew leaves the Concorde shortly before the fuselage explodes.

Maax, the high priest of a cult in the city of Aruk, is warned by witches of a prophecy, which foretells his death at the hand of King Zed’s unborn son.Maax sends a witch to magically abduct the child from his mother. The witch brands the child and prepares to sacrifice him, but a passing traveler rescues him. The traveler names the child Dar and takes him to the nearby village of Emur to raise as an adoptive son. While growing up, Dar develops an unusual ability to telepathically communicate with animals, which his father warns him to keep secret. Emur is destroyed by the Junds, a horde of savage barbarians, leaving an adult Dar as the only survivor. Dar sets out for Aruk with his father’s weapons to seek revenge against the Junds. Along the way, several animal companions join him: the golden eagle, Sharak; the ferrets, Kodo and Podo; and the black panther, Ruh. Dar also meets Kiri, a young woman who is a slave to the cult of Ar. One night, Dar encounters a race of sinister bird-like people. The bird-folk surround Dar, but upon realizing that he travels with Sharak, they give him a medallion and allow him to pass. Dar reaches Aruk to find Maax and his cultists in control of the city. Dar rescues a young girl from imminent sacrifice and returns her to her father, Sacco. From Sacco, Dar learns that Maax, who is allied with the Junds, has imprisoned King Zed in the temple, and he is sacrificing their children to his god Ar. Realizing that Kiri is among those to be sacrificed, Dar leaves Aruk to find and save her. He is joined by the warrior Seth, and Zed’s younger son, Tal. The three rescue Kiri, who reveals she is Zed’s niece and recruits Dar to help rescue the king. While Seth leaves to gather rebel forces, Dar helps Kiri and Tal enter the temple and free Zed. The group flees Aruk with the help of Sacco. At the rebel camp, Zed devises a plan to attack Aruk and defeat Maax. Dar warns Zed that the small rebel force cannot defend the city against the Junds. Zed senses Dar’s gift with animals and angrily denounces him as a freak and coward; Dar leaves the rebel camp. Seth learns that Maax has been magically spying on the group and warns Zed the plan is compromised. Zed, lusted for revenge, disregards Seth’s warning. The next morning, Dar learns the attack failed, and Zed and the others were captured and are to be sacrificed. Dar rushes to Aruk and fights his way to the top of the temple, where Maax reveals Dar’s parentage before murdering Zed. Dar defeats Maax, however Maax is healed by a witch’s magic. Kodo leaps onto Maax and causes him to fall into the sacrificial flames, killing them both. The Junds ride to Aruk and attack at nightfall. Dar gives Sharak the medallion of the bird-folk, who flies away with it. Aruk's defenders manage to trap many Jund warriors in a flaming moat of tar, however the Junds eventually surround the defenders. The Jund chieftain, recognizing Dar from Emur, challenges him to single combat; Dar defeats him. As the remaining Junds close in, the bird-folk appear and devour the remaining Junds. The next day, as Dar prepares to leave Aruk, Seth recognizes his branding and realizes Dar is the firstborn of Zed, and therefore the rightful king of Aruk. Dar declines the kingship, insisting that Tal will make a good king. Dar continues his travels alongside Kiri, Sharak, Ruh, and Podo, as well as two baby ferrets.

Teenage boy Zack lives on a farm in Tellico Plains, Tennessee with his mother Frances, younger sister Alice, stern and pious old stepfather Nathan Crane and unpleasant, dim-witted stepbrother Cyrus. One night Frances sneaks out of the house while Nathan is asleep and has sex with Mike, a farm-hand who lives in a nearby shack. Suddenly a large meteorite crashes onto the property, emitting an eerie glow. The next morning, Alan Forbes, a physician who lives nearby, visits the crash site and examines the meteorite, which is a large sphere with a hard shell from which a noxious liquid oozes out. Before long, the object dissolves into glowing gelatinous liquid that seeps into the soil. Forbes wants to contact the authorities but is dissuaded by Charlie Davidson, a local realtor and head of the chamber of commerce, who worries that the event will discourage the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from building a new reservoir in the area. Forbes' bored wife Esther also manipulates her husband into keeping quiet, worried their house will lose its value. The mysterious liquid soon begins to affect the farm. The water from the well grows cloudy and tastes unpleasant, fruit and vegetables grow invitingly large but are rotten and inedible inside, and the livestock begin to behave violently and show severe signs of infection. Alice is attacked and injured by infected chickens and Cyrus is nearly killed by a horse. Frances begins to have large boils growing on her face that grotesquely alter her features. She becomes mentally unstable, physically harming herself and attacking her own family. Believing the blight affecting his farm to be a punishment from God for his wife's infidelity, Nathan locks her in their bedroom, not allowing Zack to tell the doctor. Zack keeps himself and Alice free from the infection by consuming clean water and food he steals from Forbes' house. Forbes secretly obtains a sample from the Cranes' well and has it analyzed at a nearby lab. The water is found to contain a strange, unknown element that alters its metabolic properties and molecular structure. Carl Willis, a TVA representative who is surveying the local area for the planned reservoir, enters the Cranes' house looking for a glass of water. Helping himself from the kitchen faucet, he has just started drinking when he is attacked and nearly killed by Frances, who has gone insane and is horribly mutating. Worried that Forbes is going to alert the authorities, Davidson and Esther arrive at the Crane farm looking for the doctor but are attacked by infected dogs who have turned feral. Esther is mauled to death and Davidson hides himself in the cellar only to be killed and seemingly devoured by Frances, who had been locked in there by Nathan. As Nathan and Cyrus examine infected cows in the shed, the cows begin to decay, revealing maggots and worms inside. The cows explode, covering Nathan and Cyrus in insects. By now Nathan and Cyrus are also infected and beginning to go insane. A guilt-ridden Forbes enters the house, hoping to rescue Zack and Alice, but he is surprised and murdered by Nathan, who then barricades the door. Cyrus attacks Alice but Zack fights him off, hiding his sister in a closet. Nathan corners Zack and is about to kill his stepson when he is stabbed by Willis, who has just arrived. The ground begins to glow and heave beneath the house, which starts to fall apart. Zack locates his mother just in time to see her mutated corpse liquefy. As Zack prepares to leave, Cyrus attacks him, but Zack knocks him off the balcony, seemingly killing him. Nathan is knocked out by a support beam as he attempts to stop Zack. Willis gets Zack and Alice out of the house before it collapses, and a dying Nathan and Cyrus are both killed by falling debris. Willis drives away from the farm, taking Zack and Alice with him. Some months later, a heavily bandaged Willis lies in a hospital bed, having become infected more slowly because he only drank a small amount of the farm's water. He is watching a news report on how the authorities are promising that the blight from the farm will be eradicated. Later, at a location in the nearby countryside, the ground and trees begin to heave and break apart at night, revealing more of the glowing alien liquid spreading onto the surface. A large amount of the substance appears, suggesting that the hostile mutagenic entity is still alive, by planning to complete its invasion of Earth.

In the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, Jimmy Rabbitte is a young music fanatic who aspires to manage an Irish soul and rock and roll band in the tradition of 1950s and 60s African-American recording artists. He places an advert in the local newspaper and holds auditions in his parents' home. After being deluged by several unsuitable performers, Jimmy decides to put together a band consisting of friends and people he encounters—lead singer Deco Cuffe, guitarist Outspan Foster, keyboardist Steven Clifford, alto saxophonist Dean Fay, bassist Derek Scully, drummer Billy Mooney, and female backup singers Bernie McGloughlin, Natalie Murphy and Imelda Quirke. Jimmy then meets trumpeter Joey "The Lips" Fagan, a veteran musician who offers his services, and has unlikely stories about meeting and working with famous musicians. Joey names the band "The Commitments". After purchasing a drum set and acquiring a piano from Steven's grandmother, Jimmy secures the remainder of the band's musical equipment from Duffy, a black market dealer. The band rehearses on the first floor above a snooker hall, and after much practice, they convince a local church community centre to give them a gig, under the pretence of it being an anti- heroin campaign. Jimmy then hires Mickah Wallace, a belligerent and hot-tempered bouncer, to act as the band's security. The band draws a good crowd, but after Deco inadvertently hits Derek with his microphone stand, the amplifiers explode, resulting in a power outage. Tensions run high among the band members, as Joey seduces Natalie, then Bernie, then Imelda, all while Deco grows increasingly obnoxious and unruly, believing himself to be the star of the band. The band performs at another venue where, at the end of one song, Billy accidentally knocks over his hi-hat cymbals, leading to a heated argument between him and Deco. Billy leaves the band in fear of going to jail if he beats up Deco – much to Jimmy's frustration – and Mickah replaces him as the band's drummer. During the band's next performance at a roller disco, their first paying gig, Jimmy is confronted by Duffy, who demands payment for the equipment he provided the band. Mickah intervenes and violently attacks Duffy, who is escorted out. Jimmy then goes on stage and introduces the band, which elicits boisterous cheers from the audience. After the band secures another gig, Joey promises Jimmy that he can get his friend, Wilson Pickett, to sing alongside them. On this promise, Jimmy convinces several journalists to attend the band's next performance. At the venue, the band draws a large crowd, but its members begin arguing with each other offstage, and become doubtful when it appears that Pickett will not show. They go back on stage, where Deco denounces Jimmy for misleading the audience about Pickett's appearance; the band's performance of one of Pickett's songs, " In the Midnight Hour ", silences the crowd's protests. After the performance, the fighting continues; during a heated argument, Mickah beats up Deco outside the club, and Jimmy storms off in frustration, claiming that the band is finished. Joey follows Jimmy, who berates him for misleading the band about Pickett. Joey apologizes to Jimmy, and assures him that despite the band breaking up, Jimmy is still a success for helping the others realize their self worth and potential to rise above their previous lot in life. Just as Joey leaves, Pickett's limousine pulls up next to Jimmy, and his driver asks for directions to the club, revealing that Joey was telling the truth about Pickett; he just showed up too late. In a closing monologue, Jimmy explains that the band's members have since gone their separate ways; Bernie joined a country band, Deco got his record deal and became a bigger egomaniac, Mickah sings for a punk band, Outspan & Derek still play as street buskers, Dean formed a successful jazz band, Joey's mother got a postcard that he was touring with Joe Tex (who had died a decade prior), Steven became a doctor but misses playing music, Billy is recovering from getting kicked in the head by a horse, Imelda married Greg (who won't let her sing anymore), Natalie became a successful solo singer, and implies that she and Jimmy are in a relationship.

Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy widower father Jack have made her impossible to work with. Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics and has a lot of offers go to the NHL teams who want to sign him. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate collide in a hallway in the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that permanently damages his peripheral vision, leaving him medically unfit to play and ruining his dream of competing in the NHL. During Kate's event, her partner apparently accidentally drops her, albeit with little sign of regret or concern, during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal. While training for the 1992 Winter Olympics over the next two years, Kate drives away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her new coach, Russian native Anton Pamchenko, has to find a replacement, an outsider who doesn't know that Kate is spoiled and difficult. He tracks down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and as a carpenter on the side, living with his brother, and playing in a hockey bar league. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate's partner, even though he has macho contempt for figure skating. Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately, and their first few practices do not go well as they antagonize each other. However, they develop a mutual respect as both strive to outdo each other in work ethic. As their relationship grows warmer, they learn to set aside their differences, becoming a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. Kate even boldly defends Doug to her former coach who patronizes and insults them, and Doug defends his unusual choice of sport to his own family and friends, whom he had expected to mock him. At the U.S. Nationals, despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they seem to place third, shattering their Olympic dreams. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance to second place, earning their spot on the Olympic team. However, their potential is threatened by their growing attraction to each other. Kate attempts to seduce Doug after a night of drunken celebration, revealing that she broke off her engagement to wealthy financier Hale Forrest. Usually a ladies' man, given his growing feelings for her, Doug uncharacteristically rebuffs her advances, recognizing that she is drunk and not thinking clearly. When she gets angry at his rejection and insults him, he is hurt, and as he leaves, he tells her, "It didn't have to be like this." When a hungover Kate visits Doug's room the next morning, intending to apologize for her behavior, a rival skater answers Doug's door. Realizing that Doug has slept with another woman almost immediately after leaving her, she becomes enraged. However, the temporary rift is set aside when they decide to work on perfecting an extremely difficult skating move invented by Pamchenko, which will assure them a gold medal if they can pull it off without serious injury. At the finals at the Albertville Olympics, they look to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. However, another argument threatens their chemistry on the ice, and in the process Doug and Kate both discover that Kate is the fallible partner after all. Before getting on the ice for their decisive performance, Doug professes to Kate that he has fallen in love with her, leaving Kate overcome with emotion, and she decides they are going to do the Pamchenko despite them never having successfully achieved it during practices. They proceed to skate with a passion neither had shown before, ultimately performing the Pamchenko flawlessly to win them the gold medal. When Doug asks Kate why she wanted to perform the risky maneuver, Kate replies because she loves him, and they kiss each other before the cheering crowd.

On Devil's Night in crime-ravaged, decrepit Detroit, a young woman, Shelly Webster, is raped and mortally wounded, while her rock musician fiancé, Eric Draven, is shot and thrown to his death from the window of their loft apartment. Police Sergeant Daryl Albrecht accompanies Shelly to the hospital, where she eventually dies from her injuries. A narration recounts the legend of a crow that carries souls to the land of the dead; if a person dies under tragic circumstances, the crow can resurrect their restless spirit to set things right. One year later, Shelly and Eric's graves are visited by Sarah, a young girl the pair cared for due to her neglectful mother. A crow lands on Eric's gravestone and taps on it, resurrecting him. Disoriented and distressed, Eric returns to their ruined loft and experiences flashbacks of the murders: a gang of men—Tin Tin, Funboy, T-Bird, and Skank—attacked the couple because they were protesting forced evictions in their apartment building, which the gang’s leader, the ruthless crime boss Top Dollar, intended to seize. Realizing that any injury he suffers heals instantly, Eric dons black-and-white face paint and sets out to avenge himself and Shelly, guided by the crow. The crow leads Eric to Tin Tin, whom he stabs to death. He next visits the pawn shop where Tin Tin had pawned Shelly's engagement ring. Eric recovers the ring and blows up the shop but spares the owner, Gideon, so he can alert Top Dollar's men that Eric is coming for them, only for Top Dollar to kill Gideon. Albrecht begins investigating the apparent vigilante disturbances, while Eric finds Funboy taking drugs with Sarah's estranged, addicted mother, Darla. He gives Funboy a fatal overdose and purges the drugs from Darla's body, telling her that Sarah needs her. Eric visits Albrecht and confirms his suspicions about the vigilante's identity. Albrecht tells Eric that he stayed with Shelly until she died, witnessing the thirty hours of suffering she endured. Eric touches Albrecht, absorbing the pain Shelly felt. Later, Eric saves Sarah from being hit by a car, revealing to her that he has returned. Eric next targets T-Bird, killing him in an explosion. The following morning, Sarah and Darla reconcile, and Sarah reunites with Eric at his apartment. Top Dollar holds a meeting with his associates to discuss plans to burn the city to the ground on Devil's Night. Eric arrives for Skank, but a gunfight erupts, ending with Eric throwing Skank from a window to his death. Top Dollar, his lover and half-sister Myca, and his right-hand man Grange escape. Myca deduces that the crow is the source of Eric's immortality. Satisfied with his vengeance, Eric gives Shelly's engagement ring to Sarah and returns to his grave. Grange abducts Sarah on her way home and takes her to an abandoned church, where Myca and Top Dollar await. Top Dollar takes Shelly's ring. The crow alerts Eric to Sarah's plight, and he rushes to rescue her but is ambushed by Grange, who wounds the crow and renders Eric vulnerable. Albrecht arrives and kills Grange, while Myca attempts to seize the crow for its power; it claws out her eyes, causing her to fall to her death from the bell tower. Top Dollar retreats to the church roof with Sarah, where he fights and badly wounds Eric, and reveals that he ordered T-Bird and his men to clear their apartment, making him responsible for Eric and Shelley's murder. Eric transfers Shelly's pain into Top Dollar, causing him to stumble off the roof and be fatally impaled on a gargoyle. Sarah and a wounded Albrecht are recovered from the church, while a dying Eric goes to Shelly's grave, where her spirit arrives to comfort him and return his body to rest. Some time later, Sarah visits the graves, and the crow gives her Shelly's ring.

Krank (Daniel Emilfork), a highly intelligent but malicious being created by a vanished scientist, is unable to dream, which causes him to age prematurely. At his lair on an abandoned oil rig (which he shares with the scientist's other creations: six childish clones, a dwarf named Martha, and a brain in a vat named Irvin) he uses a dream-extracting machine to steal dreams from children. The children are kidnapped for him from a nearby port city by a cyborg cult called the Cyclops, whom in exchange he supplies with mechanical eyes and ears. Among the kidnapped is Denrée (Joseph Lucien), the adopted little brother of carnival strongman One (Ron Perlman). After the carnival manager is stabbed by a mugger, One is hired by a criminal gang of orphans (run by a pair of conjoined twins called "the Octopus") to help them steal a safe. The theft is successful, but the safe is lost in the harbor when One is distracted by seeing Denrée's kidnappers. He, together with one of the orphans, a little girl called Miette (Judith Vittet), follows the Cyclops and infiltrates their headquarters, but they are captured and sentenced to execution. Meanwhile, the Octopus orders circus performer Marcello (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) to return One to them. He uses his trained fleas, which inject a poison capsule that causes mindless aggression, to turn the Cyclops guards against each other. While Marcello is rescuing One, Miette falls into the harbor and sinks, seemingly drowned, but an amnesiac diver living beneath the harbor rescues her. Miette leaves the diver's lair to find One and Marcello both drowning their sorrows in a bar. Upon seeing Miette alive, the remorseful Marcello lets One leave with her. However, the Octopus confronts them on the pier, and uses Marcello's stolen fleas to turn One against Miette. A spectacular chain of events triggered by one of Miette's tears leads to a ship crashing into the pier before One can throttle her. Marcello arrives and sets the fleas on the Octopus, allowing One and Miette to escape to continue searching for Denrée. Back at Krank's oil rig, Irvin tricks one of the clones into releasing a plea for help in the form of a bottled dream telling the story of what is going on on the oil rig. It reaches One, Miette, and the diver, and the latter remembers that he was the scientist who made them, and that the oil rig was his laboratory before Krank and Martha attacked him and pushed him off it to take it for themselves, leaving him for dead in the water. They all converge on the rig; the diver to destroy it, and One and Miette to rescue Denrée. Miette is almost killed by Martha, who is harpooned to death by the diver, pretending her "allergy to iron". Miette then finds Denrée asleep in Krank's dream-extracting machine, and Irvin tells her that to release him she must use the machine to enter the dream herself. In the dream world, she meets Krank and makes a deal with him to replace the boy as the source of the dream; Krank fears a trap but plays along, believing himself to be in control. Miette then uses her imagination to control the dream and turn it into an infinite loop, destroying Krank's mind. One and Miette rescue all the children, while the now-deranged diver loads the rig with dynamite and straps himself to one of its legs. The diver regains his senses as everyone is rowing away and pleads with his remaining creations to come back to rescue him, but a seabird lands on the handle of the blasting machine, blowing up him and the rig.

Second-term Democratic U.S. President Jackson Evans must select a new Vice President following the sudden death of his vice president, Troy Ellard. The obvious choice seems to be Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway, who is hailed as a hero after he recently dove into a lake in a failed attempt to save a drowning woman. The President instead decides that his " swan song " will be helping to break the glass ceiling by nominating Ohio Senator Laine Hanson. In accordance with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, approval from both houses of Congress is required. Standing in her way is Republican Congressman Sheldon Runyon of Illinois, who believes she is unqualified for the position, and backs Hathaway for the nod. His investigation into her background turns up an incident where she was apparently photographed participating in a drunken orgy as part of a sorority initiation. He is joined in his opposition by Democratic Representative Reginald Webster. The confirmation hearings begin in Washington, D.C., and Runyon, who chairs the committee, quickly addresses Hanson's alleged sexual imbroglio. Hanson refuses to address the incident, neither confirming nor denying anything, and tries to turn the discussion towards political issues. Anticipating that Hanson would deem her personal past "none of anyone's business", Runyon starts rumors in the media saying that the sexual escapade in college was done in exchange for money and favors, making it prostitution. Hanson meets with Evans and offers to withdraw her name, to save his administration more embarrassment. Despite the wishes of the administration, she refuses to fight back or even address Runyon's charges, arguing that to answer the questions dignifies them being asked in the first place—something she does not believe. Evans meets with Runyon, informing him he will not choose Hanson as vice president. Runyon casually brings forward Hathaway as a replacement. They make an agreement that Runyon will back down on his attacks if Evans chooses Hathaway as vice president. However, Evans requests Runyon to make a public statement defending Hathaway, which Runyon agrees to do. Hanson, Hathaway, and Runyon are all invited to the White House where Evans shocks them with an FBI report revealing that Hathaway paid the woman to drive off the bridge. Hathaway is arrested and Runyon is disgraced because he vouched for Hathaway's integrity just hours earlier. Evans meets with Hanson, and she finally tells what actually happened that night in college. She said that she did indeed arrive at a fraternity house to have sex with two men as part of an initiation, but changed her mind before any sex occurred. However, she did not prove her innocence, citing that by doing so will further the idea that it was acceptable to ask the questions in the first place. Evans addresses Congress, where he chastises all Democrats and Republicans who blocked Hanson's confirmation. He explicitly lambasts Runyon, who leaves in humiliation. Although he declares that Hanson had asked for her nomination to be withdrawn so he could finish his presidency with triumph over controversy, he remains adamant by rejecting her resignation and calls for an immediate confirmation vote.

The film opens with a group of primary school children in 1977, who have a Victoria State Central Bank representative, Mr.Johnson, who give them lessons on saving and give them the chance to open their first checking account, and telling them that if they will put in any money for 25 years, at the end they will eventually set aside $727,000. In the present, the Centa Bank's board of directors orders CEO Simon O'Reily to find a way to increase profits. Then he discovers the work of a mathematician, Jim Doyle, whose software B.T.S.E., based on fractal geometry of Benoit Mandelbrot makes it possible to predict stock market trends. Doyle is hired by O'Reily and supplied with the best computer hardware. He befriends Vincent, who had advised O'Reily to hire him, and enters into a relationship with his colleague Michelle Roberts, who views O'Reily's business activities critically. Meanwhile, the couple Diane and Wayne Davis, who took out a loan in a foreign currency at the bank, become insolvent. The son of the couple is found dead after a meeting with the deliverer of the eviction notice. The Davises hire a lawyer, Stephen O'Connor, to sue the bank on the grounds that they were not informed about the risks of a loan in foreign currency. Invited by O'Reily to a party at his house, Jim takes Michelle, she insults the landlord and the relationship between her and Jim is broken, because he is hiding something and don't want to open up with her. O'Reily asks Jim to change his attitude to him and their business and ask him as a proof of loyalty to falsely state in court that he was present as an intern in the bank's loan counseling to the Davises and that Wayne Davis was sufficiently informed. That causes the Davises to lose their lawsuit. This also causes the final breakup between Jim and Michelle; the latter then decides to investigate Jim's past. Jim informs his boss that a stock market crash will soon occur. Michelle finds out in Jim's hometown that his real name is not Jim Doyle but Paul Jackson; the bank had terminated his father's credit, whereupon his father committed suicide. A man who watches Michelle on behalf of O'Reily learns the truth and warns O'Reily. O'Reily wants to stop the bank's stock sale in that moment, but Wayne Davis breaks into O'Reily's house to shoot him. O'Reily offers him two million dollars if Davis allows him to make a phone call. Wayne realizes that it would be a very important call for the bank, so he destroys the house's power-box to stop this important phone call, which is intended to warn the bank of Jim's plans, and leaves the estate. Stock prices initially perform as expected, but then they rise instead of falling. The bank goes bankrupt after losing $50 billion. Jim leaves the country. He meets Michelle for the last time and tells her that the money has partly been lost forever and partly has been "redistributed". Then ask to her to come after him before departure, which she refuses. The Davises discover at an ATM that their bank balance is $727,000 - an amount referenced in the opening credits. They want to clarify the matter at the neighboring bank branch, but it is one of the many branches that have been closed by O'Reily. They decide to keep the money.