The residents of Sunnyvale Trailer Park attend the funeral of Ricky 's father Ray, who is believed to have died in a propane explosion. Trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey and his partner Randy attend the service, despite being uninvited; the pair are forced to leave after Lahey expresses his belief that Ray is still alive. Ricky has purchased a house in a subdivision where he keeps an upscale marijuana growing operation. Lahey has recently suffered a stroke, which he blames Ricky for, and vows to get revenge. With the help of his lackey Jacob Collins who is now serving in the Canadian Army, Julian has developed a new money-making scheme in selling drug-tested urine. Bubbles has been living under J-Roc and Sarah 's trailer step for two years due to not being able to find work. J-Roc and Sarah later plan an intervention and tell Bubbles to move out. While Bubbles is packing his things, he receives a letter from Randy which he hangs on to. Bubbles is later attacked by thugs while delivering chicken and sent to the hospital. Julian warns Ricky that with the potential legalization of marijuana, his growing operation business will become obsolete. Ricky refuses to work for Julian and vows to go to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protest the upcoming legal action. After visiting Bubbles at the hospital, Julian asks him to work for him. Bubbles accepts the offer after revealing that his letter was from a lawyer saying that his deceased parents left land and a house for him in Kingston. Julian promises to take Bubbles to the place after they finish the job. Jacob later reveals that he has been dishonorably discharged from the Army. After Jacob's father Phil rages at Julian, Bubbles, and Tyrone — who recently ran away from a halfway house — the three steal Phil's food truck, "The Dirty Burger", and make their way to the urine deal, with Julian letting Bubbles drive a separate van. Bubbles then offers Ricky a ride to Ottawa after the transmission in Ricky's car fails. Lahey and Randy secretly follow the boys on their trip, with the intent of planting cocaine in their vehicles and framing them. While on the drive, Lahey tries some of the cocaine and quickly becomes addicted, which worries Randy. While Bubbles and Ricky are driving in the van, they drive by the now burned down Dirty Burger and watch as police arrest Tyrone; they pick up Julian before the police can find him. Later, Bubbles purposely drives past the turnoff to Montreal where the deal is supposed to happen. When Julian finds out, Bubbles admits that he does not want to be a part of the scheme anymore, and just wants to go to his parents' land. Once they get there, it is revealed that the home of Bubbles's parents is a rundown bus parked next to a lake. Bubbles opts to live there, despite Ricky and Julian's protests; however, at the last minute, he decides to go back with them. Once they arrive at Montreal, Bubbles and Ricky go to a strip club while Julian waits for his customers; he is then robbed by his arch-rival Cyrus and his accomplices Dennis and Terry. Randy calls the bomb squad on Julian's van, and they discover cocaine in the wheel well. Julian is arrested, but Bubbles and Ricky manage to get away. After finding Lahey and Randy, Bubbles steals their car and drives Ricky to Ottawa. Once at Parliament Hill, Ricky sneaks his way into the building and makes an outrageous speech which gets him pulled out by security. A lawyer then offers to help get him out of jail quickly and obtain a marijuana license. While a police officer takes Ricky and Bubbles away, Lahey, highly intoxicated on liquor and cocaine, knocks the officer unconscious and fights a handcuffed Ricky. After the officer regains consciousness, he tases Lahey. Now in jail, Lahey reveals that the taser shock reversed his stroke. He is no longer using cocaine and has started a relationship with his cellmate. Bubbles has his parents' bus taken to Sunnyvale where he now resides. Julian has stopped dealing drug-tested urine and has started a relationship with an unnamed woman. Randy has revealed that he is over Lahey and has gone back to hooking. Ricky reveals that his marijuana growing operation is a success, since he is now able to sell marijuana legally. He receives a letter containing a VHS tape, which reveals that his father Ray is still alive and now living in a landfill site in Florida, having performed a life insurance scam.

On December 23, 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham awakes to find his house ablaze. Despite his best efforts, Willingham is unable to save the lives of his three daughters. At his trial, the prosecutor, John Jackson, reveals the fire had been caused deliberately, with gasoline spread in the shape of a pentagram and the refrigerator moved to block the kitchen door. Several witnesses portray Willingham as a violent individual. His former cellmate from when he was detained in jail, Johnny Webb, testifies that Willingham had told him the fire had been set deliberately. Despite Willingham and his wife Stacy protesting his innocence, he is sentenced to death. During his time on death row, Willingham is violently beaten and threatened by both inmates and guards before being placed in solitary confinement for his safety. There he breaks down, still protesting his innocence and having flashbacks to his life with Stacy. Willingham and Stacy are shown to have had a complicated relationship: she cheated on him, and he reacted violently toward her. But the two care for each other. Stacy stops replying to his letters at the insistence of her grandmother, who believes he is guilty. Willingham reaches out to a new lawyer, Reaves, in the hope of proving his innocence. He adapts to his life in prison by submitting to the violent guard Daniels and befriending fellow death row inmate, Ponchai James. During this time, Willingham improves his vocabulary and writing with James' help. The latter man is eventually executed. Willingham’s letter to Reaves ultimately reaches playwright Elizabeth Gilbert, who is sympathetic to his case. Her ailing ex-husband and their two children insist he is guilty. When Gilbert visits the prison, she is taken aback by his calm demeanor. The pair connect over their mutual struggles as parents and their love for their respective children. Willingham continues to immerse himself in art and poetry and befriends the guard Daniels. The guard starts to question Willingham's guilt after seeing him hallucinate about his daughters and reading his letters to Gilbert. Gilbert questions the witness statements and Reaves, who made no progress on the case in six years. She visits Webb, the former cellmate. When she questions him about prosecutor John Jackson paying him to lie about Willingham’s confession, he becomes agitated and threatens her. Willingham’s execution date is set, but she learns that more of the witnesses lied at the trial. Gilbert and Reaves meet with Dr. Hurst, who reveals the refrigerator had not been moved and that the fire could not have been arson, as the jury had been told and concluded. Despite this, Reaves is unable to argue an appeal, and Hurst’s report is disregarded. Webb recants his testimony, but Jackson covers this up. Stacy is pressured into lying that Willingham had confessed to her. Gilbert suffers a car crash as Willingham is taken to be executed. She is absent when he gives a poignant speech that shows the improvements he has made while on death row. He asks for his ashes to be spread over his daughters' graves. Daniels is selected to administer the lethal injection. Along with Stacy and Reaves, he tearfully watches Willingham die. Later, Gilbert, who was paralyzed from the crash, spreads Willingham’s ashes, attended by her own children present. In an epilogue and news footage, Texas Governor Rick Perry denies any guilt over ordering execution of inmates sentenced to death.

Winfried Conradi is a divorced music teacher from Aachen with a passion for bizarre pranks involving several fake personas. Following the death of his beloved dog, he decides to reconnect with his daughter, Ines, who is pursuing a career in business consulting. Ines is working in Bucharest, Romania, on an outsourcing project in the oil industry. Consumed by her work, she seems to have little time for her family. Winfried spontaneously travels to Bucharest and waits for Ines in the lobby of an office complex. After several hours, she finally appears, accompanied by several of her client's board members and on the way to a meeting. Winfried puts on sunglasses and fake teeth as a playful disguise, and approaches the group from the side while hiding behind a newspaper. Ines ignores him, but meets with him briefly after work and invites him to a business reception at the US Embassy. In the evening, Winfried and Ines attend the reception, where they meet Henneberg, a German oil company CEO with whom Ines wishes to secure a consulting contract. Ines tries to gain Henneberg's attention, but Henneberg seems more interested in her father. Winfried tells Henneberg that he has hired a replacement daughter because Ines is always busy. To Ines's surprise, Henneberg invites Winfried and Ines for drinks, along with his entourage. At the bar, Henneberg once again brushes Ines aside and makes fun of Winfried. After several days, Ines and Winfried are struggling to get along. Stressed out from work, Ines oversleeps, missing a planned rendezvous with clients, and blames her father for not waking her up. Feeling alienated and unwanted, he leaves in a taxi for the airport. Ines continues with her work as normal, and several days later arranges to meet two female friends at a bar. While Ines and her friends are chatting, a man approaches and introduces himself as "Toni Erdmann". The man is clearly Winfried in a wig and false teeth, but Ines does not let on. Her two friends politely engage "Erdmann" in conversation; he explains that he is a "life coach" and consultant visiting Bucharest to attend the funeral of his friend's turtle. Ines is increasingly frustrated and unfulfilled in her work and personal life, but continues to encounter "Erdmann" sporadically at parties or outside her office. At first Ines is angry with her father, and accuses him of trying to "ruin" her, but as time goes on she comes to see the value of her father's interventions in her life, and plays along with the ruse. "Erdmann" accompanies her on a night out with her work friends, and eventually even accompanies her to a business meeting. In turn, "Erdmann" takes Ines to a Romanian family's Easter party, where he forces her into a reluctant performance of Whitney Houston 's " Greatest Love of All ". After singing, Ines promptly rushes off. Back at her flat, Ines is preparing to host a business team-building brunch to celebrate her birthday. She struggles to zip up her tight dress, realizes her shoes don't match, and attempts to change clothes. The doorbell rings. Instead of redressing, or changing her outfit, she opens the door wearing only her underpants. The first guest is her friend Steph, who offers to help her get dressed. Ines refuses, and when the next guest arrives she spontaneously removes her underpants and answers the door naked, telling her guests that her birthday brunch is a "naked party". Each of them reacts differently, with some leaving in disgust while others self-consciously strip. As the party becomes increasingly awkward, Winfried arrives dressed in a full-body Bulgarian kukeri costume. The costume first scares, then amuses, the partygoers, and Winfried soon leaves. Ines follows him. Outside in a public park, they hug, Winfried still in costume. She leaves the park. Winfried lies down on the grass, exhausted, and then seeks help from a hotel desk to remove the costume's head. Months later, Ines returns to Germany for her grandmother's funeral. She has quit her job in Bucharest and will shortly begin a new one in Singapore. While talking with Winfried in the garden, Ines grabs the fake teeth from his shirt pocket and puts them on. Winfried says he wants to take a photo and goes to get his camera, leaving Ines alone in the garden.

Hopper, an archaeology professor, is exploring a remote cave system on the trail of missing hippies from the 1970s. After discovering what appears to be a cowboy paused in place in a tunnel, he returns to town and dismisses his graduate students, Taylor and Jackie, stating that their research is done. Several days later, as Hopper has not returned, Taylor and Jackie go looking for him, with their friend Cara, who brings her sister, Veeves, and her friend Furby. Following Hopper's trail to the campsite by a cave, they find an entrance with climbing ropes leading inside. They decide to follow it, but Furby chooses to stay behind as backup for the base camp. They lower themselves into the cave, hearing strange noises. When Furby does not answer their radio calls, Jackie tries to climb back out, but the rope frays, and she falls, injuring herself and Taylor. Calling for help, they receive a transmission from inside the cave and follow it. At a different junction, they discover another opening to the cave and Furby, dead with a broken neck. Watching his video recordings, they notice several days elapsed from his perspective, while only an hour had passed in the cave. He began researching the hippies' belongings, discovering they were Hopper's parents and that they were accompanied by his sister. His parents were following legends of the Fountain of Youth and speculated that this cave system was the root of the story. Furby found another cave opening. After several days, he went into the cave to retrieve keys for a vehicle but fell when his rope severed. Taylor deduces the cave is inside a time distortion where events move more slowly. With few options, Cara free-climbs out of the cave to get a GPS signal. Outside, the terrain has become barren, and there is no signal. Returning to the cave, comparing video recordings, Cara has experienced about thirty minutes on the surface while she had been gone at most a few seconds from the others' viewpoint, confirming Taylor's theory. Reviewing Furby's footage again, they learn that he survived the fall but was murdered by a caveman. Cara and Taylor deduce the time difference is much more drastic than they suspected and entire years are passing within seconds, meaning the few hours they have been in the cave is enough to span several thousand years outside. Hearing more howling, Cara prepares to climb out again for help but is interrupted by a futuristic 8-foot-tall humanoid spaceman descending via a retractable ladder. A caveman suddenly attacks, but is subdued non-lethally. They flee just to find a whole tribe of cavemen inspecting the dead bodies of the cowboy and Hopper's parents. Discovered, Taylor fights the cavemen and is killed. The spaceman returns, protects the others from the cavemen, and then places Taylor into a healing pool of water. More cavemen attack, and the spaceman is exposed to the air in the caves, which is toxic to him. Dying, he shows the students several media clips about their disappearance and indicating that humans have left a dying Earth, resettling (and evolving) on Mars. Taylor finds Hopper injured in front of another time dilation, containing his sister, a legion of conquistadors and a cavemen horde virtually frozen in the midst of a battle over control of a waterfall, the source of the time distortion. Hopper explains the field is strongest here, making rescue of his sister impossible; he tells Taylor to go and save the others, as he is also dying. Preparing to leave the cave with the spaceman's ladder, the students are attacked by cavemen before they can get through; Cara is grabbed and pulled through the portal before she can help her friends. From their perspective, she instantly reappears through the portal, futuristically dressed and with tentacle-like mechanisms which pull her friends through. A short time later, Furby awakens, along with Hopper and Hopper's family, all having been retrieved and resurrected with the healing waters. The others arrive, happily explaining they are in a space station and have a lot to talk about.

A deer is hit by a truck and reanimates after the truck leaves. Seok-woo, a cynical workaholic and divorced father in Seoul, messes up a birthday present for his estranged daughter Su-an, and misses out on her recital of the Hawaiian folk song " Aloha ʻOe ". He agrees with Su-an to take her to see her mother, Na-young, in Busan. The next day, they board the KTX 101 for Busan at Seoul Station, along with blue-collar worker Sang-hwa and his pregnant wife Seong-kyeong, high-ranking executive Yon-suk, a high school baseball team including player Yong-guk and his cheerleader girlfriend Jin-hee, elderly sisters In-gil and Jong-gil, and a traumatized homeless man. Just before departure, a scraped up woman boards the train unnoticed at the last minute. News reports reveal that an outbreak is occurring across the country, and the scraped up lady then turns into a zombie. She bites and infects a train attendant, sparking a rapid outbreak on the train. The survivors flee to other carriages and secure the doors, trapping the horde in the process. The train passes through Cheonan station, and continues onto Daejeon Station, where a group of soldiers were deployed to keep the infection at bay. Seok-woo is notified that his company sent an extraction team to pick him and Su-an up. After stopping at Daejeon, the passengers disembark from the train, but find that the deployed soldiers and those from Seok-woo's company had also fallen to the horde. The passengers flee back to the train, becoming separated into different carriages in the commotion. The conductor cancels all future stops except for Busan, where the army has established a quarantine zone. Seok-woo, Sang-hwa, and Yong-guk arm up, sneak and fight through the zombie horde to reunite with Su-an, Seong-kyeong, In-gil, and the homeless man in another carriage. The remaining passengers, fearing that the survivors are infected, refuse to let them into their carriage and block the door. Seok-woo and the others start to try to get into the safe carriage, however, Sang-hwa is bitten during the process. He tells Seok-woo to look after Seong-kyeong, name their daughter Yoon Su-yun, and sacrifices himself to buy the others time to force open the door, but In-gil is left behind in the process. Yon-suk, train attendant Ki-chul, and the other passengers demand that the new passengers leave their train compartment and isolate themselves in the front vestibule. Jong-gil, disgusted at everyone else's selfishness and paranoia, opens the door to let the zombies in and kill everyone else left onboard. Yon-suk and Ki-chul manages to escape by hiding in a bathroom. Seok-woo learns from a phone call that his company was indirectly responsible for the outbreak. A blocked track at Dongdaegu Station forces the train to stop, and the driver disembarks to search for another train. Yon-suk escapes after pushing Ki-chul into the zombies. A flaming locomotive barrels in and crashes into some of the zombie-filled passenger carriages, trapping Seok-woo, Su-an, Seong-kyeong, and the homeless man beneath a toppled carriage. Yong-guk and Jin-hee got split up from the party and are used as bait by Yon-suk, as he escapes on the new train. The conductor starts up another train on a separate track and tries to help an injured Yon-suk, but is mauled in the process. The homeless man sacrifices himself so Seok-woo, Su-an, and Seong-kyeong find their way out from under the carriage. Seok-woo, Su-an, and Seong-kyeong board the new train, only to find an infected Yon-suk, who desperately begs them for help before turning into a zombie. Seok-woo fights him and manages to throw Yon-suk off the train, but his hand is bitten during the tussle. In his last moments of consciousness, he puts Su-an and Seong-kyeong inside the engine room, tells Seong-kyeong how to drive the train, and says goodbye to Su-an. Seok-woo, before succumbing to the infection, runs to the back of the train and reminisces about Su-an's birth before throwing himself off the train. The surviving pair arrive at a blockade of corpses and barbed wire outside a tunnel near Busan, and both walk through the tunnel, with Su-an singing "Aloha 'Oe" to calm her nerves and pay tribute to her father. Su-an and Seong-kyeong are met by the army, who bring both of them to safety.

Dr. Alan Stone, a progressive and idealistic psychologist, dropped out of New York University in 1954 to work directly with patients at the Ypsilanti State Mental Asylum. Stone, whose focus is on schizophrenic patients, is widely considered a critic of the system. In the 1950s, people with mental illnesses were mostly only kept in institutions and sedated when needed. Treatments with insulin shock therapy and the use of electric shocks were common, while talk therapy was only a marginal phenomenon. In Ypsilanti, Stone meets two patients who both believe they are Jesus Christ: the short intellectual Joseph Cassell and the gruff Clyde Benson. Out of this coincidence, the psychologist develops a format of group talk therapy. He has another patient transferred to Ypsilanti who also believes he is Christ, Leon Gabor, and brings the three men together to study their behavior. He finds out that the problems of the three are completely different. Gabor suffered all his life from his deeply religious mother, and he was also traumatized by multiple rapes by a man he had been exposed to as a soldier. Benson could not cope with the death of his beloved wife from an abortion. Cassell is prone to outbursts of anger. Once admitted to the institution, he was repeatedly sedated with electric shocks, which he subsequently developed a great fear of because he feared for his sanity. Contrary to the skepticism of many colleagues, including the head of the institution, Dr. Orbus, Stone takes a different course; for example, he completely dispenses with physical punishment. In fact, he manages to get through to the patients by talking to them and writing them letters. When he makes the cover of a professional journal with his new approach, it arouses the envy of Dr. Orbus, who wants a share of the fame and henceforth urges to be involved in the treatment. Since Stone reacts reservedly to Orbus's obvious craving for prestige, the latter finally bypasses the colleague and lets Cassell be taken alone to his office for an interview. It is revealed that Stone wrote the letters to Cassell on Orbus' behalf since the head of the asylum originally declined the task. Cassell feels betrayed by Stone and stalled by Orbus. Despite good behavior, he sees his hopes of leaving the clinic dwindling. Out of anger at this realization, he becomes abusive again, which is why Orbus orders renewed electric shocks for him. Stone rushes over and tries to stop it, but is ultimately unable to prevent the shocks. In a skirmish with another doctor, he injures him and himself. Orbus then has him expelled from the institution. Orbus takes over his patients; however, Cassell, who noticed that Stone wanted to save him and also that he then disappeared, no longer trusts Orbus. He sees himself in his power and believes in another long suffering. Finally, during a conversation in the chapel's bell tower with Orbus, he jumps out of the window and dies. In the later hearing, Stone accuses Orbus of making negligent decisions. He also deciphers Cassell's last words, according to which Cassell not only committed suicide to be free but above all gave his life to justify the sins of Orbus as Jesus did the sins of mankind. The hearing ends with Stone being fired. However, he is granted permission and funds to continue his study (including the two remaining patients) in New York. Orbus, on the other hand, remains formally in his post, but without decision-making powers until his retirement. The film closes with a summary. Although Stone's therapeutic approach ultimately did not prove to be effective, it would have helped him himself. In the final scene, Stone takes the dead Cassell's seat, playing cards with the two Jesuses.

In 2010, Ethiopian Jewish miners retrieve a rare black opal from the Welo mine in Ethiopia. In 2012, gambling addict Howard Ratner runs KMH, a jewelry store in New York City's Diamond District. He struggles to pay off his gambling debts, which include the $100,000 he owes to Arno, his loan shark brother-in-law. His domestic life is split between his wife Dinah, who has agreed to divorce after Passover, and his girlfriend Julia, a KMH employee. Howard's business associate, Demany, brings the basketball star Kevin Garnett to KMH. While he is there, the opal, which Howard had smuggled from Africa, arrives. Garnett becomes obsessed with the opal, insisting on holding onto it for good luck at his game that night. Howard reluctantly agrees, accepting Garnett's 2008 NBA Championship ring as collateral. After Garnett leaves, Howard pawns the ring and wins a six-way parlay on Garnett playing extraordinarily well in that night's game. The next day, Demany says that Garnett still has the opal, angering Howard. Howard is ambushed at his daughter's school play by Arno and his goons, Phil and Nico. Howard's winning bet should have earned him $600,000, but Arno reveals that he placed a stop on the bet because it was made with money Howard owed him. Phil and Nico strip Howard naked and lock him in the trunk of his car, forcing him to call Dinah for help. Howard meets Demany at a nightclub party hosted by the singer the Weeknd to retrieve the opal, but learns that Garnett still has it. Howard discovers Julia snorting cocaine in a bathroom with the Weeknd and gets into a fight with him. Feeling betrayed, Howard confronts Julia and demands that she move out of his apartment. Garnett returns the opal before an auction and offers to purchase it for $175,000, but Howard refuses, believing it is worth much more. Garnett demands his ring back, but Howard lies, saying it is at his house. After Garnett leaves in dismay, Howard berates Demany for allowing Garnett to hold onto the opal for so long. Incensed, Demany quits and trashes Howard's office. After an awkward Passover dinner, Dinah rejects Howard's plea to give their marriage another chance. Just before the auction starts, Howard discovers the opal has been appraised for significantly less than his initial estimate of $1 million. He convinces his father-in-law, Gooey, to bid on the gem to drive up the price, but the plan backfires when Garnett fails to top Gooey's final bid. A furious Gooey gives Howard the opal before Arno, Phil, and Nico assault Howard outside the auction house. Howard returns to KMH, bloody and in tears. Julia comforts him, and they reconcile. Howard learns that Garnett is still willing to purchase the opal. Garnett goes to KMH to pay, giving Howard enough money to repay his debt to Arno. Arno, Phil, and Nico arrive at KMH just before Garnett leaves, but before they enter his office, Howard tells Julia to bet the cash on a three-way parlay on Garnett playing well. Julia escapes as the thugs find Howard in his office and threaten him, while Julia travels by helicopter to the Mohegan Sun casino to place the bet. Arno tells Howard to call Julia and cancel the bet, but he refuses. Furious, the three attempt to pursue her, but Howard locks them between the store's security doors. Howard watches the game on television while Arno, Phil, and Nico remain trapped. Garnett's Boston Celtics win the game, winning Howard $1.2 million. An ecstatic Howard frees Arno, Phil, and Nico, but the enraged Phil shoots Howard dead. Arno protests and tries to escape, but Phil shoots him dead, too. Julia leaves the casino with Howard's winnings as Phil and Nico loot the store.

In 2025, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race to bring digital constructs into reality. ENCOM's CEO Eve Kim and her partner Seth Flores visit a remote station near Skagway, Alaska built decades earlier by Kevin Flynn. Finding Flynn's "permanence code", enabling constructs to exist for more than 29-minute intervals, they transfer a digital orange tree into the real world. Julian Dillinger, the head of Dillinger Systems and grandson of former ENCOM executive Ed Dillinger, introduces his shareholders to Ares, a Master Control Program he describes as the "perfect, expendable soldier". Ares shows signs of self-awareness and notes Julian's indifference to his programs' survival, while Julian's mother, Elisabeth, expresses concern about their constructs' limited lifespans. Julian sends Ares and his unit to attack ENCOM's digital Grid, downloading Eve's personal data in pursuit of the permanence code. Against his programming, Ares tries to save an injured program, but Julian extracts him and disables ENCOM's Grid. Redeployed to the outside world, Ares tracks Eve's jet as she and Seth return to ENCOM with the permanence code. Learning of Julian's cyberattack from their colleague Ajay Singh, Eve flees as Ares and his second-in-command Athena chase her through the city on Light Cycles. Eve hijacks Athena's Light Cycle but is cornered by Ares, and destroys the drive containing the code. Reaching the end of his 29-minute lifespan, Ares recognizes Eve's empathy towards his plight. As Ares and Athena are "derezzed", Julian digitizes Eve onto the Dillinger Grid. Ares reveals the code can be obtained using Eve's identity disc, and Julian is willing to let her die as a result. Lying to Athena that Julian is "indisposed", Ares bargains with Eve, asking to achieve permanence in exchange for her freedom. Suspicious, Athena contacts Julian and, deciding that Ares is malfunctioning, returns with orders to de-rez him. Evading their pursuers, Ares and Eve return to the real world. En route to ENCOM, they reflect on their motivations, as Ares shows further signs of self-awareness and individuality. Eve realizes a copy of the code might be stored in Kevin Flynn's original office, preserved at ENCOM Tower, where they reunite with Seth to upload Ares onto Flynn's original Grid using a particle laser. They are ambushed by Athena, who destroys the laser to trap Ares, but experiences a moment of self-awareness before de-materializing. Ajay and his assistant Erin arrive, joining Seth and Eve in using Athena's own laser to hack the Dillinger Grid. Elisabeth retakes the position of CEO and tries to turn off the particle lasers, but Athena re-materializes and fatally stabs her, to Julian's horror, having interpreted her as an obstacle in his directive to obtain the code "by any means". On Flynn's Grid, Ares encounters a manifestation of Flynn, and they discuss Ares's desire for permanence. Intrigued by Ares's wish to live and to save Eve, Flynn grants him the permanence code and re-materializes him via backdoor at Flynn's Arcade. Athena pilots a Recognizer into the city, capturing Eve while the ENCOM staff breach the Dillinger Grid, but Ares intercepts Athena and her unit. Ajay, Seth, and Erin shut down the Dillinger mainframe, preventing Ares's fellow Dillinger programs from re-materializing, and a wounded Athena permanently de-materializes in Ares's arms. The police raid Dillinger headquarters, but Julian uses the laser to digitize himself. Eve and Ares go their separate ways, as ENCOM uses the permanence code to benefit the world. Ares sends Eve a postcard, traveling the world in search of Flynn's son, Sam, and his companion, Quorra. Eve reconstructs the Skagway facility on top of ENCOM Tower, including the orange tree. Back in the damaged Dillinger Grid, Julian is transformed by an identity disc that belonged to his grandfather's program Sark.

In 2002 Toronto, 13-year-old Meilin "Mei" Lee lives with her parents, Ming and Jin, helps take care of the family's temple dedicated to her maternal ancestor Sun Yee, and works to make her mother proud. She hides her personal interests from Ming, such as the fact that she and her friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby are fans of the boy band 4*Town. One night when Ming, who is strict and overprotective, discovers Mei's crush on Devon, the 17-year-old local convenience store clerk, she inadvertently humiliates Mei in public. That night, Mei has a vivid nightmare involving red pandas; waking up the next morning, she finds that she has transformed into one. She hides from her parents and discovers that she transforms only when she is in a state of high emotion. When Mei reverts to human form, her hair remains red, and so she goes to school in a touque. Ming initially believes Mei is experiencing her first period, but learns the truth when she gets into an altercation with the school's security guard, causing Mei to transform from embarrassment and run home in panic and tears. Ming and Jin explain that Sun Yee was granted this transformation to protect her daughters and her village during wartime, and that all her female descendants have also had this ability. This has become inconvenient and dangerous in modern times, so the red panda spirit must be sealed in a talisman by a ritual on the night of a lunar eclipse, which will take place in a month's time. Mei's friends discover her transformation, but take a liking to it. Mei finds that concentrating on them enables her to control her transformations. Ming allows Mei to resume her normal life, but refuses to let Mei attend 4*Town's upcoming concert. Instead, the girls secretly raise money for the tickets at school by exploiting the popularity of Mei's red panda form while lying to Ming about how Mei is spending her time. To raise the last 100 dollars, Mei agrees to attend school bully Tyler's birthday party as the red panda. Before Mei leaves, Mei's grandmother and aunts arrive to assist with Mei's ritual. At the party, Mei is upset to discover that the concert will be on the night she is to undergo the ritual. In her rage, she attacks Tyler when he insults her family, frightening the other kids. Ming discovers Mei's activities and blames Mei's friends for everything. Mei fails to come to her friends' defense to maintain Ming's approval. While cleaning, Jin finds videos she recorded of herself as the red panda with her friends and tells her she should not be ashamed of this side of her, but to embrace it. During the ritual, as Mei's red panda form is about to be sealed, she decides to keep her powers and abandons the ritual to attend the concert at the SkyDome. In making her escape, she breaks Ming's talisman, releasing her red panda form as well. At the concert, Mei reconciles with her friends and Tyler. However, an enraged Ming, having become a kaiju -sized red panda, disrupts the concert while intending to take Mei back by force. Mei and Ming argue about the former's independence. As they fight, Mei accidentally knocks her mother unconscious. Mei's grandmother and aunts break their talismans to use their red panda forms to help drag Ming into a new ritual circle. Mei's friends and 4*Town join in singing to complete the ritual, sending Mei, Ming, and the other women to the astral plane. Mei reconciles with her mother and helps Ming mend her bond with her own mother, whom Ming accidentally scarred in anger in the past. The other women contain their red pandas in new talismans; Mei decides to keep hers, Ming accepting that she is finding her own path. One year later, the Lee family raises money to repair the damage to the SkyDome. Mei and Ming's relationship has improved. Mei balances her temple duties (where her red panda form is now an attraction) and spends time with her friends and Tyler.

As the students of a Kiev seminary are sent home for vacation, three of them become lost in the countryside in the middle of the night. They spot a farmhouse and ask the old woman at the gate to let them spend the night. She agrees, on the condition that they sleep in separate areas of the farm. As one of the students, Khoma Brutus, lies down in the barn to sleep, the old woman tries to seduce him, which he staunchly refuses. She hypnotizes him, climbs on his back and rides him across the countryside like a horse. Khoma suddenly finds that they are flying and realizes she is a witch. Invoking the name of Christ, he forces her to land and beats her violently with a stick until she turns into a beautiful young woman, who cries out that he is killing her. Terrified, Khoma runs back to his seminary, where the rector informs him that a wealthy sotnik 's dying daughter has specifically requested that Khoma say prayers for her soul. He reluctantly complies and finds he is returning to the farm where he met the witch. The girl dies before he arrives, and to his horror, he realizes she is the witch and that he has caused her death. The sotnik promises Khoma great reward if he will stand vigil and pray for her soul for the next three nights. If he does not, grave punishment is implied. After the funeral rites, the villagers tell the story of a huntsman who was bewitched by the girl and asked her to ride him like a horse, reminding Khoma of his own encounter. Khoma is taken to the chapel where the girl's corpse lies and is locked in for the night. He lights every candle in the chapel and begins to recite the prayers. He pauses to sniff tobacco, and when he sneezes, the girl opens her eyes and climbs out of the coffin. Khoma quickly draws a sacred circle of chalk around himself, which acts as a barrier. Hearing him but unable to see him, the girl persistently tries to get to him as he prays fervently. When the rooster crows in the morning, the girl returns to her coffin and all the candles blow out. Khoma gets drunk to strengthen himself for the second night. He draws the sacred circle again and begins his prayers. The coffin rises into the air and bangs against the sacred circle's barrier, prompting a panicked Khoma to pray for God 's protection. Standing up in the coffin, the girl flies around the sacred circle while repeatedly calling out Khoma's name. As the rooster crows, the coffin returns to its place, and shortly after the girl lies down, she attempts to curse Khoma, causing his hair to turn grey. Trying to explain what happened in the chapel, Khoma pleads with the sotnik to be allowed to leave, but the sotnik threatens him with a thousand lashes if he refuses, while offering him a thousand chervontsy if he completes the task. Khoma attempts to escape but is stopped by the sotnik's servants, who bring him back to the farm. On the third and final night, a drunken Khoma once again draws the sacred circle before beginning his prayers. The girl summons various demonic figures to torment him, but they cannot get past the sacred circle either. She ultimately summons Viy, a large humanoid creature. Khoma believes himself to be safe upon hearing the rooster crow, but when he makes eye contact with Viy, Viy points at Khoma and the demons attack him. The rooster crows again and the demons all flee, leaving Khoma motionless on the floor. The girl turns back into the old woman and lies down in the coffin, which instantly falls apart. The rector enters the chapel and, seeing what has happened, races off to tell the others. Back at the seminary, one of Khoma's two friends proposes they drink to his memory, while the other doubts that Khoma is actually dead.

During World War II, MI6 officers Colonel Turner and Admiral Rolland assemble a commando team to rescue American Brigadier General George Carnaby, a chief planner for the Western Front, who is a prisoner at Schloß Adler (Castle of the Eagles), an alpine mountaintop fortress in Bavaria, accessible only by cable car. Disguised as German soldiers, the team—Major John Smith, Sergeants Harrod and MacPherson, Captains Lee Thomas, Ted Berkeley, and Olaf Christiansen, and US Army Ranger Lieutenant Morris Schaffer—parachutes near the castle. Harrod is found dead with a broken neck, and Smith deduces he was murdered. Smith secretly meets with his lover, British agent Mary Ellison, but keeps her involvement from his men. Smith and his team infiltrate the village at the base of Schloß Adler where he meets undercover agent Heidi Schmidt in a tavern, who has arranged for Mary to work inside the castle. Smith discloses to Mary that Carnaby is actually an imposter, US Corporal Cartwright Jones, and his capture was staged by the British. Later, Smith discovers MacPherson dead. When a German colonel arrives in the tavern with soldiers ostensibly searching for deserters, Smith realises he is really searching for his team, and surrenders to avoid an unwinnable fight. Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen are taken to the castle, while Smith and Schaffer escape and infiltrate the castle via cable car. Inside, they reunite with Mary and observe General Rosemeyer and Colonel Kramer interrogate Carnaby. Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen arrive, revealed to be German double agents. Smith and Schaffer intrude, weapons drawn on the men. However, Smith then forces Schaffer to surrender his weapon and identifies himself as Major Johann Schmidt of the Schutzstaffel 's (SS) intelligence branch. He exposes Carnaby's identity and claims that Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen are MI6 agents impersonating German spies. Smith conveys proof of his identity by showing the name of Germany's top spy in Whitehall to Kramer, who silently affirms it, and challenges the double agents to prove themselves as German agents by providing the list of agents they set up across Britain. With the list in his hand, Smith reveals the truth: believing German spies have extensively infiltrated British intelligence, MI6 identified Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen as suspects, and launched the mission to prove this and obtain the identities of their agents and commander. Smith's ploy is interrupted by the arrival of SS Major von Hapen, who suspects everyone, but Smith causes a distraction which allows Schaffer to fatally shoot von Hapen, Kramer, and Rosemeyer. The team, including Mary and Carnaby, make their escape, taking Thomas, Berkeley, and Christiansen as prisoners. As alarms sound, Schaffer sets explosives around the castle while Smith radios Rolland for extraction. The group travel to the cable car station, sacrificing Thomas as a decoy. Berkeley and Christiansen attempt to escape on a cable car, but they are killed by Smith. The team escapes on the next cable car. Reunited with Heidi in the village, they use a bus to battle their way onto an airfield and escape aboard a Ju 52 transport, with Turner waiting onboard. In the air, Smith reveals that Kramer identified Turner as Germany's top spy in Britain, confirming Rolland's suspicions. Turner chose Smith to lead the mission, believing he was a German double agent—unaware he was working undercover for Rolland. To ensure the mission's success, Smith secretly recruited Mary—his trusted ally—and Schaffer, who had no ties to the compromised MI6. To avoid a humiliating court martial and execution, Turner is permitted to jump from the aircraft to his death. As the exhausted operatives fly home, Schaffer wryly suggests that Smith keep his next mission "all-British".

Early in the 20th century, Frederick Frankenstein, a lecturing physician at an American medical school, is actively distancing himself from his grandfather Victor Frankenstein, the infamous mad scientist, pronouncing his surname as "Fronkensteen". When Frederick inherits the family castle in Transylvania, he travels to Europe to inspect the property. At the Transylvania train station, Frederick is met by a hunchbacked, bug-eyed servant named Igor, whose own grandfather worked for Victor and who states his name is pronounced "Eye-gore". A woman named Inga also greets him. Arriving at the estate, Frederick meets Frau Blücher, the dour, intimidating housekeeper. After discovering the secret entrance to Victor's laboratory and reading his private journals, Frederick resumes his grandfather's experiments in reanimating the dead. Frederick and Igor steal a recently executed criminal's corpse. He sends Igor to steal the brain of a deceased "scientist and saint" named Hans Delbrück. Igor accidentally destroys Delbrück's brain and takes one labeled "Abnormal" instead. Frederick unknowingly transplants it into the corpse and brings the Monster to life. Frightened by Igor lighting a match, the Monster attacks Frederick and nearly strangles him before being sedated. Unaware the Monster exists, the townspeople gather to discuss their unease at Frederick continuing his grandfather's work. Inspector Kemp, a one-eyed police inspector with a prosthetic arm and a heavy German accent, visits the doctor's and demands assurance that Frederick would not create another monster. Returning to the lab, Frederick discovers Blücher releasing the creature. She reveals the Monster's love of violin music, her own romantic relationship with Frederick's grandfather, and her planning out the events that inspired Frederick to create a monster as Victor did. The Monster becomes enraged by electrical sparks from a thrown switch and escapes the castle. While roaming the countryside, the Monster interacts with a young girl and a blind, hermetic monk. Frederick recaptures the Monster and locks himself in a room with him. He calms the Monster's homicidal tendencies with flattery and a promise to guide him to success, embracing his heritage as a Frankenstein. At a theater filled with prominent guests, Frederick shows "The Creature" following simple commands, then performs " Puttin' On the Ritz " with him. During the performance, a stage light explodes and frightens the Monster, who becomes enraged at the booing crowd, and charges at them when they throw rotten vegetables. He is captured and chained by police. Back in the laboratory, Inga attempts to comfort Frederick; they have sex on the suspended reanimation table. The Monster escapes from prison the same night Elizabeth, Frederick's socialite fiancée, arrives unexpectedly. The Monster takes her captive, but she falls in love with him as he has sex with her. While the townspeople hunt the Monster, Frederick plays the violin and Igor plays the horn to lure his creation back to the castle and recaptures him. Just as the Kemp-led mob storms the laboratory, Frederick transfers some of his stabilizing intellect to the Monster, who reasons with and placates the mob. Kemp gives the Monster a warm reception. Sometime later, Frederick and Inga are wed and Elizabeth marries the now-sophisticated Monster. While in bed with Frederick, Inga asks what he got in return during the transfer procedure. Frederick growls wordlessly like the monster and embraces Inga while Igor plays the horn on the roof.