Late at night, an elderly toy-maker reads a book to his granddaughter. In the story the Land of Oz is ruled by Prime Minister Kruel, aided by Ambassador Wikked, Lady Vishuss, and the Wizard who is a "medicine-show hokum hustler". When the discontented citiens of Oz, led by Prince Kynd, demand the return of the princess, who disappeared as a baby many years before, so she can be crowned their rightful ruler, Kruel has the Wizard distract them with a parlor trick and sends Wikked on a mission. Meanwhile, in Kansas, Dorothy lives on a farm with her relatives. Aunt Em is a kind and caring woman but Uncle Henry is a large man with a short temper who shows little affection for his niece. He acts abusive to his three farmhands, in which two of them are in love with Dorothy. Aunt Em reveals to Dorothy that she was put on their doorstep as a baby, along with an envelope and instructions that it be opened only when she turns 18. On her 18th birthday, however, Ambassador Wikked and his henchmen arrive at the farm in an airplane and demand the envelope. When Uncle Henry refuses to hand it over, Wikked persuades one of the farmhands by promising him wealth and Dorothy. Wikked has Dorothy tied to a rope and raised high up on a tower; his men start a fire underneath the rope. The farmhand finds the note, but the other takes it and saves Dorothy, only to have Wikked and his men capture them all at gunpoint. Then, a tornado suddenly strikes. Dorothy, the three farmhands, and Uncle Henry take shelter inside a small wooden shed, which is carried aloft by the violent wind and deposited in the Land of Oz. Dorothy finally reads the contents of the envelope; it declares that she is Princess Dorothea, the rightful ruler of Oz. Thwarted by her discovering this truth, Prime Minister Kruel blames the farmhands for kidnapping her and demands that the Wizard transform them into wild creatures such as a monkey, which he is unable to do. Being chased by Kruel's soldiers, one of the farmhands disguises himself as a scarecrow, while the other creates a costume from the pile of tin in which he is hiding under. However, they are still eventually captured by the soldiers. During their trial, the Tin Man accuses his fellow farmhands of kidnapping Dorothy. As judgement, Prince Kynd has the Scarecrow put in the dungeon. Kruel makes the Tin Man "Knight of the Garter" and Wikked suggests he retain his power by marrying Dorothy. The Wizard then helps the two prisoners escape by giving the third farmhand, Snowball a lion costume, which he uses to scare away the guards. Though the Scarecrow manages to reach Dorothy to warn her against Kruel, he is chased back down into the dungeon by the Tin Man, and ends up getting trapped inside a lion cage (with real lions) for a while. He and Snowball finally escape. When Prince Kynd finds Kruel trying to force Dorothy to marry him, they engage in a sword fight. When Kruel's henchmen intervene and help disarm Kynd, the Scarecrow saves Dorothy and Kynd. Defeated, Kruel claims that he took Dorothy to Kansas in order to protect her from court factions out to harm her, but she orders that he be taken away. The Scarecrow is heartbroken to discover that Dorothy has fallen for Prince Kynd. He then flees up a tower from the Tin Man, who tries to blast him with a cannon. Snowball flies a biplane overhead, and the Scarecrow manages to grab a rope ladder dangling underneath it. However, the ladder breaks and he falls. The scene shifts abruptly back to the little girl, who had fallen asleep. She wakes up and leaves. The grandfather reads from the book that Dorothy marries Prince Kynd and they live happily ever after.

A group of wealthy industrialists gather at the home of Mr. Lloyd, a millionaire who introduces them to Richard "Mack" McAllan, the engineer who successfully spearheaded the construction of the Channel Tunnel (the story takes place in the unspecified near-future, though it is noted in the film that the Channel Tunnel is built "in 1940") and so is the Bahamas-Miami tunnel. McAllan informs the group that the "Allanite steel" he developed, along with a "radium drill" developed by his friend Frederick "Robbie" Robbins, makes it possible to construct an undersea tunnel linking England with the United States. Though the group is initially skeptical, the backing of Lloyd and his associate Mostyn convinces the group to buy shares in the project. Three years into construction of the tunnel, McAllan is a worldwide celebrity, but his work keeps him from his devoted wife Ruth and their young son Geoffrey. Called away to New York, he is informed that the people are losing faith in the project. Lloyd needs to have him use his fame to get support. Lloyd's attractive daughter Varlia, who is secretly in love with McAllan, keeps him company to intensify the attention of the press. The photos of the couple add to Ruth's sense of isolation, and she decides to work in the tunnel as a nurse. There she is affected by an unknown gas afflicting the workers and loses her eyesight. Worried that her husband no longer loves her and not wanting him to stay with her out of pity, Ruth leaves McAllan, taking their son with her. Heartbroken at her unexplained departure, McAllan throws himself into the project, alienating Robbins in the process. Years pass. Though the cost of the tunnel in lives and money continues to mount, the British prime minister and American president eagerly anticipate its completion and the unity and peace they promise it will bring. Ruth lives in the countryside with her now-grown son, who lobbies Robbins to find him a job working in the tunnel. The tunnel is nearing completion, but the workers encounter a submarine volcano that will necessitate a detour. McAllan needs more money to establish a detour, but is opposed by Grellier, an arms manufacturer, and Mostyn. The two men earlier manipulated the stock market to become the controlling shareholders in the company. Lloyd suspects that Grellier and Mostyn plan to use the delay to depress stock prices again, and this time gain total ownership of the tunnel. However, Varlia convinces Mostyn to fund further construction by promising him the one thing he has always wanted, but never gotten: her hand in marriage. Though the project goes forward, Grellier has Mostyn killed for backing out of their deal. Despite the renewed effort, samples indicate the volcano may be too large to drill around. The drill breaks through to volcanic gases that kill hundreds of workers, including Geoffrey. The project seems on the verge of collapse. Determined to see the project through and fortified by the reappearance of Ruth (who came to the tunnel site to discover Geoffrey's fate), McAllan vows to continue. With three volunteers, McAllan and Robbins man the radium drill, and despite near-fatal temperatures, break through to the American side of the tunnel.

Not long after the Pearl Harbor attack, United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle assembles two dozen North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers with volunteer crews at Eglin Field, Florida, for a secret mission. Among them is Ted Lawson and his crew, co-pilot Lieutenant Dean Davenport, navigator Lieutenant Charles McClure, bombardier Lietuenant Bob Clever and gunner-mechanic Corporal David Thatcher. Given the opportunity to decline the mission, the crews opt to stay on, including Lawson whose pregnant wife Ellen joins him at Eglin Field. The crews are taught to take off from a runway only 500 feet long by a naval aviator from nearby Pensacola Naval Air Station. Lawson's plane acquires the nickname Ruptured Duck with nose art to match. Doolittle leads the group on a low-level flight at hedge-top height to Naval Air Station Alameda, California where their planes are loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. He informs the men their mission is to bomb Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagoya. They will launch from the carrier 400 miles from Japan and after dropping their payloads continue to designated landing spots in parts of China controlled by Nationalist forces and regroup in Chungking. When an enemy surface vessel discovers the convoy, the crews are forced to take off twelve hours earlier than planned, to attack in broad daylight over Japan and land after nightfall in China. Doolittle leads the raid, dropping incendiary bombs to mark key targets for the others. The Ruptured Duck arrives over Tokyo to find some targets already burning, and attacks its targets as planned. Anti-aircraft fire bursts harmlessly around them, and confused enemy fighters ignore them. Ruptured Duck continues toward China and runs low on fuel approaching the coast in darkness and heavy rain. Lawson attempts a belly landing on the beach and crashes in the surf. With the exception of Thatcher, the entire crew is badly injured: Lawson's left leg is laid open to the bone, and McClure's shoulders are broken. Friendly Chinese soldiers help them, and the Americans face hardships and danger while being escorted through Japanese-held territory. In the absence of medical supplies, the injured men endure terrible pain, and Lawson's leg becomes infected. Delirious, he dreams of Ellen. A Red Cross banner hangs in the village of Xing Ming where Doctor Chung offers to take them to his father's hospital, 19 miles farther. He informs the men the Japanese have captured one of the other crews, and they hurry into the hills just before Japanese search parties arrive to burn the village down. No surgeon is at the elder Dr. Chung's hospital, but Lieutenant Smith's crew is on its way with Lieutenant "Doc" White, who volunteered as gunner. The Japanese approach, and the able-bodied Americans leave, except for Doc. He amputates Lawson's leg well above the knee, using the single dose of spinal anesthesia in their possession. It wears off too soon. Lawson passes out and dreams of Ellen. A chorus of Scouts singing " The Star-Spangled Banner ", in Mandarin, celebrates Lawson's first day out of bed. When the elder Dr. Chung gives Lawson an heirloom bracelet for his wife, Lawson is puzzled. He does not remember talking about her. When he totters on his crutches, he becomes distraught at the idea of Ellen seeing him without a leg. They hurry to Ch'ang Chou to rendezvous with an American plane that takes them home. General Doolittle visits Lawson in the hospital and tells him he has work for him to do. Lawson does not want to see Ellen until he obtains a prosthetic leg and learns to walk properly. Ellen arrives unannounced. Lawson forgets his missing leg and stands; he falls and Ellen rushes to him and the two embrace on the floor.

Holly Martins, an American author of Western pulp novels, arrives in the British sector of Allied-occupied Vienna seeking Harry Lime, a childhood friend who has offered him a job. However, Martins is told that Lime was killed by a car while crossing the street. At Lime's funeral, Martins meets two Field Security Section men, part of the ICPO: Sergeant Paine, a fan of Martins' novels, and Major Calloway. Afterward, Martins is asked to lecture at a book club a few days later. He then meets a friend of Lime's, "Baron" Kurtz, who tells Martins that he and another friend, Popescu, carried Lime to the side of the street after the accident, and that, before he died, Lime asked them to take care of Martins and Lime's girlfriend, actress Anna Schmidt. As Martins and Anna query Lime's death, they realise that accounts differ as to whether Lime was able to speak before his death, and how many men carried away the body. The porter at Lime's apartment tells them that he saw a third man helping. He offers to give Martins more information but is murdered before they can speak again; Martins and Anna flee the scene after a mob begins to suspect him of the murder. When Martins confronts Major Calloway and demands that Lime's death be investigated, Calloway reveals that Lime was stealing penicillin from military hospitals, diluting it, and then selling it on the black market, injuring or killing countless people. Martins agrees to drop his investigation and leave. An inebriated Martins visits Anna and confesses his feelings for her. A man crosses the street towards her front door, but moves away after seeing Martins at the window. After leaving, Martins walks the streets until he notices Anna's cat and realises someone is watching from a darkened doorway. In a momentary flash of light, Martins sees that the man is Lime. Martins calls out, but Lime flees and vanishes. Martins summons Calloway, who realises that Lime has escaped through the city's sewers to the Soviet sector. The British police exhume Lime's coffin and discover that the body is that of a hospital orderly who had been assisting him. Anna, who is Czech, is to be sent to the Soviet sector after the British police discover that she has a forged Austrian passport, and is questioned again by Calloway. Martins goes to Kurtz and asks to see Lime. Lime and Martins meet and talk as they ride the Wiener Riesenrad. Lime speaks cynically of the insignificance of his victims' lives and the personal gains to be earned from the city's chaos and deprivation. Martins realises that Lime sold Anna out to the Soviet authorities for his own benefit. Lime obliquely threatens Martins as he is now the only 'proof' that Lime is alive, however Martins retorts that the authorities are aware of the false burial. Lime then offers Martins a chance to join in on his scheme before leaving quickly. Calloway asks Martins to help arrest Lime; he agrees provided that Calloway will arrange for Anna to leave Vienna rather than be handed over to the Soviets. The British authorities arrange for Anna to take a train to Paris, but she spots Martins, who has come to observe her departure, at the station. After persuading Martins to reveal the plan to capture Lime, she leaves in order to warn him. Exasperated, Martins decides to leave Vienna; on the way to the airport, Calloway stops at a hospital to show Martins children dying of meningitis who were treated with Lime's diluted penicillin, which convinces him to stay and assist in capturing Lime. Lime arrives at a café in the international zone to meet Martins, but Anna is able to warn him that the police are closing in. He flees into the sewer, with the police following him underground. Lime shoots and kills Sgt Paine, but Calloway shoots and badly wounds Lime. Lime drags himself up a cast-iron stairway to a street grating but cannot lift it. Martins, armed with Paine's gun, runs after Lime finding him beneath the grating where they stare at each other. Calloway, realising Martins has chased Lime, shouts that Martins must not take any chances and shoot on sight. Lime nods his head slightly at Martins. Calloway follows down the tunnel as a single shot is heard. Martins attends Lime's second funeral at the risk of missing his flight out of Vienna. He waits on the road to the cemetery to speak with Anna, but she walks past without glancing in his direction.

Frenchmen Mario and Jo, German Bimba and Italian Luigi are stuck in the isolated South American town of Las Piedras. Surrounded by desert, the town is linked to the outside world only by an airstrip, but the airfare is beyond the means of the men. There is little opportunity for employment aside from the American corporation that dominates the town, Southern Oil Company (SOC), which operates the nearby oil fields and owns a walled compound within the town. SOC exploits local workers and takes the law into its own hands, but the townspeople depend on it and suffer in silence. Mario is a sarcastic Corsican playboy who treats his devoted lover, Linda, with disdain. Jo is an aging ex- gangster who recently found himself stranded in the town. Bimba is an intense, quiet man whose father was murdered by the Nazis and who had to work as a forced laborer for three years in a salt mine. Luigi, Mario's roommate, is a jovial, hardworking man, who has just learned that he is dying from cement dust in his lungs. Mario befriends Jo due to their common background, having lived in Paris, but a rift develops between Jo and the other cantina regulars due to his combative, arrogant personality. A large fire erupts at one of the SOC oil fields. The only way to extinguish the flames and cap the well is an explosion produced by nitroglycerin. With short notice and lack of proper equipment, it must be transported within jerrycans placed in two large trucks from the SOC headquarters, 500 km (300 miles) away. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerin, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized SOC employees. The company foreman, Bill O'Brien, recruits truck drivers from the local community. Despite the dangers, many of the locals volunteer, lured by the high pay: US$2,000 per driver. This is a fortune to them, perhaps the only way out of their dead-end lives. The pool of applicants is narrowed down to four drivers: Mario, Bimba and Luigi are chosen, along with a German named Smerloff. Smerloff fails to appear on the appointed day, so Jo, who knows O'Brien from his bootlegging days, takes his place. The other drivers suspect that Jo intimidated Smerloff in some way to facilitate his own hiring. Jo and Mario transport the nitroglycerin in one vehicle; Luigi and Bimba are in the other, with thirty minutes separating them in order to limit potential casualties. The drivers are forced to deal with a series of physical and mental obstacles, including a stretch of extremely rough road called "the washboard", a construction barricade that forces them to teeter around a rotten platform above a precipice, and a boulder blocking the road. Jo finds that his nerves are not what they used to be, and the others confront Jo about his increasing cowardice. Finally, Luigi and Bimba's truck explodes without warning, killing them both. Mario and Jo arrive at the scene of the explosion only to find a large crater rapidly filling with oil from a pipeline ruptured in the blast. Jo exits the vehicle to help Mario navigate through the oil-filled crater. The truck, however, is in danger of becoming bogged down and, during their frantic attempts to prevent it from getting stuck, Mario runs over Jo. Although the vehicle is ultimately freed from the muck, Jo is mortally injured. On their arrival at the oil field, Mario and Jo are hailed as heroes, but Jo is dead and Mario collapses from exhaustion. Upon his recovery, he heads home in the same truck. He collects double the wages following his friends' deaths and refuses the chauffeur offered by SOC. Mario jubilantly drives down a mountain road as a party is being held at the cantina back in town, where Mario's friends eagerly await his arrival. He swerves recklessly and intentionally, having cheated death so many times on the same road. Linda, dancing in the cantina, faints. Mario takes a corner too fast and plunges through the guardrail to his death.

At the royal palace in Karlsburg, King Ferdinand counsels his grandson, Prince Karl Franz, on the young man's imminent engagement to the wealthy Princess Johanna of Nordhausen. The king observes that although their country is poor, it has always survived because the men of the royal family marry well. The following evening, Johanna is feted with a ball, but she finds the prince's cold, formal manner off-putting. The king and Johanna's mother, Queen Mathilda, discuss the shaky prospects for an alliance between their heirs, and Mathilda says that Karl must learn to radiate warmth and charm. Karl's teacher, Prof. Juttner, is summoned to the palace in the middle of the night and ordered to instruct the prince in the graces of living. Juttner maintains that such an education comes from being with other people, and recommends that Karl be sent to his own alma mater, the University of Heidelberg. Karl is dispatched to Heidelberg the next day, along with Juttner and the punctilious royal valet, Lutz. They take rooms in an inn owned by Joseph Ruder, and Karl is immediately charmed by Ruder's pretty niece Kathie. When Karl impulsively kisses Kathie, however, she angrily rebuffs him. Classes begin, and the haughty prince bristles at being treated like all the other students. After chastening comments from Juttner and Kathie, however, Karl resolves to adapt to student life, and quickly finds that he enjoys it. On Kathie's recommendation, he joins the Westphalians, a student corps made up of good-natured commoners, and learns to consume prodigious amounts of beer. When Karl again attempts to kiss Kathie one evening, she knocks him down, as Lutz watches, aghast. Lutz orders Ruder to send Kathie away, threatening dire consequences if the incident is reported. The distraught Ruder goes to Kathie's room and finds her already packing, and tells her where to find a job in a nearby town. The following evening, the students protest Kathie's absence, and Ruder confides to Karl the name of the restaurant where Kathie now works. Karl goes to apologize, and when he causes Kathie to break some plates, she loses her job. Karl humbly beseeches Kathie to return to Heidelberg and declares his feelings for her. Now in love, Karl and Kathie return to Ruder's inn. One night, Karl is drinking and singing with the Westphalians when his true identity is accidentally revealed to the imperious Count Von Asterburg, head of the elitist Saxo-Borussian corps. Von Asterburg insists that the prince join their corps, and when Karl refuses to leave his Westphalian friends, challenges him to a duel. Karl defeats Von Asterburg in a sword fight, and the two men shake hands as friends, but Kathie is appalled. The lovers make up, and one night, at a carnival, Karl asks Kathie to go away with him. Before they can leave, however, Prime Minister Von Mark arrives from Karlsburg with the news that the king is ill and wishes to see Karl. After promising Kathie he will return, Karl returns to the palace. The king announces that Karl's marriage to Johanna will take place shortly, and when Karl protests that he is in love with Kathie, the king reminds him of his duty. Karl accuses Von Mark of having tricked him into returning, but the prime minister replies that the king is actually much sicker than he realizes. The king passes away, and preparations are made for Karl's marriage. While traveling to Nordhausen for the wedding, Karl suddenly orders the train to stop in Heidelberg. Karl goes to Ruder's inn, where he and Kathie lovingly say goodbye.

The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club (BRMC), led by Johnny Strabler, rides into Carbonville, California, during a motorcycle race and causes trouble. A member of the motorcycle club, Pidgeon, steals the second-place trophy (the first place one being too large to hide) and presents it to Johnny. After an altercation with a steward, a Highway Patrol policeman orders them to leave. The bikers head to Wrightsville, which has only one elderly, conciliatory lawman, Chief Harry Bleeker, to maintain order. The residents are uneasy, but mostly willing to put up with their visitors. When their antics cause Art Kleiner to swerve and crash his car, he demands that something be done, but Harry is reluctant to act, a weakness that is not lost on the interlopers. This accident results in the gang having to stay longer in town, as one member called Crazy injured himself falling off his motorcycle. Although the young men become more and more boisterous, their club is enthusiastically welcomed by Harry's brother Frank who runs the local cafe-bar, employing Harry's daughter, Kathie, and the elderly Jimmy. Johnny meets Kathie and asks her out to a dance being held that night. Kathie politely turns him down, but Johnny's dark, brooding personality visibly intrigues her. When Mildred, another local girl, asks him, "Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?", he answers "Whaddaya got?" Johnny is attracted to Kathie and decides to stay a while. However, when he learns that she is the policeman's daughter, he changes his mind. A rival biker club arrives. Their leader Chino bears a grudge against Johnny. Chino reveals the two groups used to be one large club before Johnny split it up. When Chino takes Johnny's trophy, the two start fighting and Johnny wins. Meanwhile, local Charlie Thomas stubbornly tries to drive through; he hits a parked motorcycle and injures Meatball, one of Chino's bikers. Chino pulls Charlie out and leads both gangs to overturn his car. Harry starts arresting Chino and Charlie, but when other townspeople remind Harry that Charlie would cause problems for him in the future, he only takes Chino to the station. Later that night some members of the rival biker club harass Dorothy, the telephone switchboard operator into leaving, thereby disrupting the townspeople's communication, while the BRMC abducts Charlie and puts him in the same jail cell as Chino, who is too drunk to leave with the club. Later, as both clubs wreck the town and intimidate the residents, some bikers led by Gringo chase and surround Kathie, but Johnny rescues her and takes her on a long ride in the countryside. Frightened at first, Kathie comes to see that Johnny is genuinely attracted to her and means her no harm. When she opens up to him and asks to go with him, he rejects her. Crying, she runs away. Johnny drives off to search for her. Art sees and misinterprets this as an attack. The townspeople have had enough. Johnny's supposed assault on Kathie is the last straw. Vigilantes led by Charlie chase and catch Johnny and beat him mercilessly, but he escapes on his motorcycle when Harry confronts the mob. The mob give chase. Johnny is hit by a thrown tire iron and falls. His riderless motorcycle strikes and kills Jimmy. Sheriff Stew Singer arrives with his deputies and restores order. Johnny is initially arrested for Jimmy's death, with Kathie pleading on his behalf. Seeing this, Art and Frank state that Johnny was not responsible for the tragedy, with Johnny being unable to thank them. The motorcyclists are ordered to leave the county, albeit paying for all damage. However, Johnny returns alone to Wrightsville and revisits the cafe to say goodbye to Kathie one final time. He first tries to hide his humiliation and acts as though he is leaving after getting a cup of coffee, but then he returns, smiles and gives her the stolen trophy as a gift.

Black mine inspector Ralph Burton becomes trapped in a cave-in at a Pennsylvania coal mine. He can hear rescuers digging towards him, but after five days they slow down and then stop completely, along with the drainage pumps keeping the shaft from flooding. Ralph frantically digs his own way out, but upon emerging from the mine, he finds a world devoid of any people, living or dead. Discarded newspapers provide an explanation: one proclaims "UN Retaliates For Use Of Atomic Poison", another that "Millions Flee From Cities! End Of The World". Ralph later plays tapes at a radio station and learns that an unknown country had dispersed large quantities of radioactive sodium isotopes into the atmosphere. The resulting lethal dust cloud spread around the world, killing every human who came into contact with it over a five-day period before the isotopes decayed into a harmless state. Ralph travels to New York City in search of survivors, but in vain. He restores power to a building where he takes up residence. To stave off loneliness, he takes in a pair of mannequins. As the solitude starts to become intolerable, he throws a mannequin off the building, and hears a scream. Sarah Crandall, a White woman in her early twenties, had been living in the city and surreptitiously observing Ralph for some time, but was afraid to reveal herself. She screamed because she thought Ralph had committed suicide. Ralph, an engineer, gets utilities working again and raises their standard of living, but the two remain in separate apartment buildings. Even as they become friends and grow closer, vestiges of racial division become evident when Sarah casually uses the phrase that she is " free, white, and 21 " to describe her ability to make decisions. Ralph describes the phrase as "an arrow in my guts." In the same conversation, Sarah laments that "there is nobody left to marry." Resentful, Ralph refuses Sarah's suggestion that she move into his apartment building. Ralph maintains his distance when it becomes clear that Sarah is developing stronger feelings for him, unsure how she will react if they discover others alive. Despite living in a post-apocalyptic world, tensions remain that were instilled by the mores earned in a racially segregated American society. Ralph regularly broadcasts on the radio in the hope of contacting other survivors, and eventually receives a transmission in French, confirming there are others. One day, ill white man Benson Thacker arrives by boat. Ralph and Sarah nurse him back to health, but once he recovers, Ben sets his sights on Sarah and sees Ralph as a rival. Ralph is torn by conflicting emotions. He avoids Sarah as much as possible to give Ben every opportunity to win her affections, but cannot quite bring himself to leave the city. Ben finally grows tired of the whole situation, realizing he stands little chance with Sarah as long as Ralph remains nearby. He warns Ralph that the next time he sees him, he will try to kill him. The two armed men hunt each other through the empty streets. Finally, Ralph passes by the United Nations headquarters, climbs the steps in Ralph Bunche Park, and reads the inscription "They shall beat their swords into plowshares. And their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war any more", from the Book of Isaiah. He throws down his rifle and goes unarmed to confront Ben, who in turn finds himself unable to shoot his foe. Defeated, he starts walking away. Sarah appears. When Ralph starts to turn away from her, she makes him take her hand; then she calls to Ben and gives him her other hand. Together, the three walk down the street to build a new future together. The film ends not with "The End" but with "The Beginning."

In 19th century Europe, nobleman Kurt Menliff returns to his family's seaside castle after many years of absence in order to supposedly congratulate his younger brother Christian for marrying his former lover Nevenka. However, those at the castle know that Kurt is a sadist and are unhappy with his presence, especially his father Count Menliff and housemaid Giorgia, the latter of whom blames Kurt for the suicide of her daughter Tania, with whom Kurt had an affair before abruptly abandoning her. Nevertheless, they decide to let Kurt stay at the castle overnight. The next day, Kurt finds Nevenka sitting by herself on the beach. After seducing her, they kiss, but Nevenka suddenly backs away in a panic and strikes Kurt with a riding crop. In response, Kurt takes the crop and whips her on the back several times, to which Nevenka apparently reacts with sexual excitement as she and Kurt make love immediately afterwards. In the evening, after Nevenka fails to return to the castle, Christian sets out to look for her alongside butler Losat and Kurt's cousin Katia, who is secretly in love with Christian. Meanwhile, an unseen figure stabs Kurt in the throat with the dagger that Tania used to kill herself. Losat finds Nevenka lying unconscious on the beach, and he and the others take her back to the castle and put her to bed before discovering Kurt's body. After Kurt's funeral, the relationships between Nevenka, Christian and Count Meniff begin to fall apart, as Christian suspects his father of having killed Kurt, and Nevenka overhears Christian declaring his love for Katia. Nevenka also begins seeing Kurt in numerous ghostly visions, including one in which he whips her several times in her bedroom, leaving welts all over her body. Eventually, Count Menliff is found dead in his bedroom, having been killed in the exact same way as Kurt. As the castle occupants start to suspect each other of killing the Count, Nevenka suddenly disappears from the castle and is found in the family crypt in an apparent state of ecstasy, claiming that Kurt carried her to the crypt and whipped her. As Christian, Katia and Losat also start having supposed visions of Kurt, Christian comes to believe Nevenka's claims that Kurt's ghost is the one behind the Count's murder, so he and Losat decide to unearth and cremate Kurt's body in an effort to bring an end to the hauntings. While burning the body, Christian and Losat hear a sinister laugh and spot a figure in a cloak spying on them. Christian chases after the figure, who is revealed to be a crazed Nevenka, who attempts to stab Christian with the dagger before fleeing back into the crypt. There, she has another vision of Kurt, and attempts to stab him, but inadvertedly stabs herself, much to Christian's dismay. Before dying, she reveals to Christian that she has "killed again, this time for good." Losat and Christian determine that Nevenka had gone insane or was perhaps possessed after murdering Kurt, leading her to kill the Count and stage the various "hauntings". Meanwhile, as Kurt's body continues to burn, a riding crop placed in his coffin appears to move by itself.

In the early 19th century, a lawyer tells a group of boys that a tontine has been organised; £1,000 has been invested for each child (£20,000 in total), but only the last survivor will receive all the capital and interest. Sixty-three years later, the last survivors are elderly brothers Masterman and Joseph Finsbury, who live next to each other in Victorian London. Although Masterman has not talked to his despised brother in years, he sends his medical student grandson Michael Finsbury to summon Joseph to see him. Michael is greeted by Joseph's niece Julia, who says Joseph is in Bournemouth with her cousins. Julia's cousins, Morris and John, receive a telegram from Michael saying that Masterman is dying. On the train to London, Joseph escapes his grandson minders, entering a compartment and boring the occupant with a diatribe of trivia. Joseph goes to smoke a cigarette, leaving his coat, which the occupant, "the Bournemouth Strangler", dons. The train collides with another train. Finding a mangled body in their uncle's coat, Morris and John assume their uncle is dead. To protect their interest in the tontine, they hide the body in the woods. Morris tells John to post the body in a crate to London. Joseph wanders away from the accident scene. In London, Michael gets a telegram telling him to expect a statue in a crate. Morris arrives and mistakes the elderly butler, Peacock, for Masterman. Morris decides to hide the body until Masterman dies, then claim Joseph died of a heart attack upon hearing the news. Morris and John plot to ship the body in a barrel to Joseph's home where Julia lives. Joseph makes his own way to London and visits his brother. Masterman makes several attempts to kill his oblivious brother. They quarrel, and as Joseph leaves the barrel is being delivered to Masterman's house by mistake. Joseph signs for the barrel for "Mr Finsbury". Minutes later, the crate containing the statue is mistakenly delivered to Joseph's house and accepted by Julia. Morris sees a delivery wagon leaving and assumes his uncle's body has been delivered. He goes to obtain a blank death certificate from Dr. Pratt. Michael helps move the crate into Joseph's house. Julia and Michael kiss for the first time. Michael says they cannot do this as they are cousins; then they discover they were both adopted, thus unrelated by blood. Michael discovers the body in the barrel and assumes his grandfather killed his brother. When Julia arrives, Michael hides the body in a piano. That night, Michael hires "undertakers" to dump the corpse in the River Thames. When they arrive, Masterman has just fallen down stairs, so they take his unconscious body. Seeing this, Morris assumes Masterman has died. Morris and John go to claim the tontine with the fake death certificate. The lawyer tells them it is now worth £111,000. Masterman is returned home by the Salvation Army, who assume he has drowned. Julia orders a fancy coffin for him. Morris orders a cheap coffin to remove the mutilated body, but it is delivered to the wrong house, and Michael sells the piano, unaware the body is still in it. The police become involved when that body is discovered. Masterman sits up as the coffin is being taken away. The cousins make off with the tontine money in a hearse. Michael and Julia chase Morris and John aboard another hearse. They then encounter a real funeral procession. After a crash, Morris and John realise they have a body instead of the money. The tontine money is about to be buried when they grab it and run off. The box bursts open, and money is blown around the cemetery. Joseph pops up from the open grave just as Masterman arrives. The lawyer arrives to say the tontine has yet to be won. The police detective arrives, and Morris is arrested. They ask who put the body in the piano, as there is a £1000 reward for catching the Bournemouth Strangler. A new argument ensues.

On 29 April, Sergeant Neil Howie of the West Highlands Constabulary journeys by seaplane to the remote, verdant Hebridean island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, about whom he has received an anonymous letter. Howie, a devout Christian, is disturbed to find the islanders paying homage to the pagan Celtic gods of their ancestors, with churches having fallen into disuse. They copulate openly in the fields, include children as part of the May Day celebrations, teach children of the phallic association of the maypole, and one places a toad in a child's mouth to cure a sore throat. The islanders appear to be trying to thwart his investigation by claiming that Rowan never existed. While Howie is staying at the Green Man Inn, the landlord's daughter attempts to seduce him, but he resists, explaining that he is engaged and must reserve sex for marriage. He notices a series of photographs celebrating the annual harvest, each featuring a young girl as the May Queen. The photograph of the most recent celebration is missing and the landlord tells him it was broken. At the local school, Howie asks the students about Rowan, but all deny her existence. He checks the school register and finds Rowan's name. He questions the schoolteacher, who directs him to Rowan's grave. The next day, 30 April, Howie meets the island's leader, Lord Summerisle, grandson of a Victorian agronomist, to get permission to exhume Rowan's body. Summerisle explains that in 1868, his grandfather developed strains of fruit trees that would prosper in Scotland's climate and encouraged the belief that returning to the old gods would bring prosperity to the island among the previously Christian population. Due to the bountiful harvests, the island's other inhabitants gradually embraced paganism, and the Christian ministers fled to the mainland. Exhuming Rowan's grave, Howie finds that the coffin contains only the body of a hare. He also finds the missing harvest photograph, showing Rowan standing amidst empty boxes; the harvest had failed for the first time since the orchards were established. His research reveals that a human sacrifice is offered to the gods in the event of crop failure. He concludes that Rowan is alive and will soon be sacrificed to ensure a successful harvest this season. The following morning, on May Day, Howie seeks assistance from the mainland and returns to his seaplane, only to discover it no longer functions and its radio is damaged; he cannot leave or call for help. Later that day, during the May Day celebration, Howie subdues the innkeeper and steals his costume and mask of Punch (the Fool) to infiltrate the parade, involving a long sword dance. Rowan is eventually revealed. Howie sets her free and flees with her into a cave. Exiting it, they are intercepted by the islanders, to whom Rowan happily returns. Summerisle tells Howie that Rowan was never the intended sacrifice — Howie is. He fits their gods' four requirements: he came of his own free will, he has "the power of a king" by representing the law, he is a virgin, and he is a "fool" by falling for their deception. Howie warns Summerisle and the islanders that the crops are failing due to the unsuitability of the climate, and that the villagers will turn on Summerisle and sacrifice him next summer when the harvest fails again, but his pleas are ignored. The villagers force Howie inside a giant wicker man statue along with various animals, set it ablaze, and surround it, singing the Middle English folk song " Sumer Is Icumen In ". Inside the wicker man, Howie recites Psalm 23 and prays to God. Howie and the animals burn to death as the head of the wicker man collapses in flames, revealing the setting sun.

In New York City, four men wearing similar disguises and carrying concealed weapons board the same downtown 6 train, "Pelham 1-2-3," at different stations. Using their code names Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown, they take eighteen people, including the conductor and an off-duty undercover police officer, hostage in the front car. Communicating over the radio with New York City Transit Police lieutenant Zachary Garber, Blue demands that a $1 million ransom be delivered within exactly one hour or he will kill one hostage for every minute it is late. Green sneezes periodically, to which Garber always responds, " Gesundheit." Garber, Lt. Rico Patrone and others cooperate while speculating about the hijackers' escape plan. Garber surmises that one hijacker must be a former motorman because the hijackers uncoupled the head car and parked it farther down the tunnel below 28th Street. Conversations between the hijackers reveal that Blue is a former British Army colonel and was a mercenary in Africa; Green was a motorman who lost his job after being caught in a drug bust; and Blue does not trust Grey, who was ousted from the Mafia for being erratic. Unexpectedly, Grey guns down a transit supervisor from Grand Central as he approaches the hijacked train. The ransom is transported uptown in a speeding police car that crashes well before arriving at 28th Street. As the deadline is reached, Garber bluffs Blue by claiming that the money has reached the station entrance and just has to be walked down the tunnel to the train. Meanwhile, a police motorcycle arrives with the ransom. As two patrolmen carry the money down the tunnel, one of the many police snipers in the tunnel shoots at Brown, and the hijackers exchange gunfire with them. In retaliation, Blue kills the conductor. The money is delivered and divided among the hijackers. Blue orders Garber to restore power to the subway line, set the signals to green all the way to South Ferry, and clear the police from stations along the route. Before this is done, however, Green moves the train farther south. When Garber becomes alarmed, Blue explains that he wanted more distance from the police inside the tunnel. The hijackers override the dead man's switch so that the train will run without anyone at the controls. Garber joins Inspector Daniels above ground where the train stopped. The hijackers set the train in motion and get off. As they walk to the tunnel's emergency exit, the off-duty undercover officer jumps off the train and hides between the rails. Unaware that the hijackers have left the train, Garber and Daniels drive south above its route. With no one at the controls, the train gains speed. The hijackers collect their disguises and weapons for disposal, but Grey refuses to surrender his gun, resulting in a stand-off with Blue, who kills him. The undercover officer kills Brown and exchanges fire with Blue while Green escapes through an emergency exit onto the street. Garber, contemplating the train's suspicious last movement, concludes that the hijackers have bypassed the dead man's switch and are no longer on board. He returns to where the train had stopped, enters the same emergency exit from street level, and confronts Blue before he kills the undercover cop. With no escape, Blue deliberately steps against the third rail and electrocutes himself. Meanwhile, Pelham 1-2-3 hurtles through the southbound tunnel. When it enters the South Ferry loop, its speed triggers the automatic safeties. The train screeches to a halt, leaving the hostages bruised but safe. Since none of the dead hijackers was a motorman, Garber infers that the lone survivor must be. Working their way through a list of recently discharged motormen, Garber and Patrone knock on the door of Harold Longman (Green). After hastily hiding the loot, Longman lets them in, bluffs his way through their interrogation and complains indignantly about being suspected. Garber vows to return with a search warrant. As Garber closes the apartment door behind him, Longman sneezes, and Garber reflexively says "Gesundheit," as he had over the radio. Garber re-opens the door and gives Longman a caustic stare.