The story is presented as a flashback of Max Eriksson, a Vietnam veteran. A platoon of American soldiers led by Lieutenant Reilly is ambushed by Viet Cong (VC) after a panicked soldier exposes their position during a night patrol. Eriksson falls into a VC tunnel entrance, and Eriksson's squad leader, Sergeant Tony Meserve, pulls him from the hole as the platoon breaks contact. While resting by a river village in the Central Highlands, the platoon is again ambushed by VC. One of Meserve's friends, Specialist 4 "Brownie" Brown, is killed, leaving Meserve deeply affected. The platoon is ordered to return to their base. Frustrated because his squad has been denied leave for an extended period, Meserve orders the squad to kidnap a Vietnamese girl to take with them on their next mission, an extended reconnaissance patrol. Eriksson's objections are ignored, and he voices his concerns to his closest friend, Rowan, before Meserve leads him out of camp, along with Corporal Thomas E. Clark, Private First Class Herbert Hatcher, and Private First Class Antonio Dìaz, a replacement radio operator. The squad enters a village after nightfall and kidnap a Vietnamese girl, Tran Thi Oanh. The squad treks into the mountains seeking privacy for their planned sexual assault, and Dìaz begins to reconsider his part in kidnapping Tran and begs Eriksson to stand up to Meserve with him. The group enters an abandoned hooch, and when Eriksson is threatened by Meserve, Clark and Hatcher, Dìaz gives in to peer pressure and leaves Eriksson isolated in his opposition. Meserve forces Eriksson to stand guard while the men take turns raping Tran. At daybreak, Eriksson is ordered to guard Tran while the rest of the squad takes up a position near a railroad bridge overlooking a Viet Cong river supply depot. Eriksson has earned Tran's trust and prepares to desert in order to return Tran to her family, but he is ordered to take Tran to the bridge before he can carry out his plan. Meserve requests close air support for an assault on the depot and orders Dìaz to kill Tran with a knife. To prevent the murder, Eriksson fires his rifle into the air, alerting the nearby Viet Cong. Tran, repeatedly stabbed by Clark, tries to escape during the ensuing firefight. Meserve subdues Eriksson with his rifle butt and the squad shoots Tran numerous times, knocking her off the bridge to her death. Eriksson wakes up in a field hospital and tells Rowan everything that happened. He suggests reporting to Reilly and company commander Captain Hill, but they prefer to bury the matter. When Eriksson presses the issue, Hill decides to transfer him to a tunnel rat unit and reassign the men in Meserve's squad. After narrowly escaping an attempt by Clark to kill him in the latrine with a grenade, Eriksson assaults him with a shovel. Meserve realizes that killing Eriksson is unnecessary because no one cares about the crime. Shaken, Meserve dismisses Eriksson as crazy. The incident is finally investigated after Erikkson discusses it with an Army chaplain. The four men who participated in the rape and murder are court-martialed and convicted. Meserve receives ten years' imprisonment at hard labor and a dishonorable discharge, Clark receives life in prison, and Hatcher and Diaz receive fifteen and eight years of hard labor, respectively. Eriksson awakens from a nightmare to find himself on a transit line in San Francisco, just a few seats from a Vietnamese-American student who resembles Tran. She disembarks at Dolores Park and forgets her scarf, prompting Eriksson to run after her to return it. As she thanks him and turns away, he calls after her in Vietnamese. She surmises that she reminds him of someone and that he has had a bad dream, but assures him that "it's over now."

Xavier, a 24-year-old economics graduate student from Paris, attends the Erasmus Programme in Barcelona to further his career, against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine. On the flight, Xavier meets a married couple from France, a doctor named Jean-Michel and his wife Anne-Sophie. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somewhere to live. Xavier eventually finds a flatshare with students from England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany and Denmark. The roommates develop a companionship as they struggle with their different languages and cultures. Martine visits Xavier and returns disappointed when she realizes things are not the same. Xavier begins an affair with Anne-Sophie, using seduction tips learned from Isabelle, his lesbian roommate from Belgium. William arrives from England to visit his sister Wendy and creates tension with his abrasive manner and culturally insensitive comments. Xavier becomes depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks Jean-Michel's advice, but he tells Xavier that his wife has confessed everything, and tells him to stop seeing her. Discord divides the roommates, but they come together to aid Wendy, who was nearly caught by her boyfriend Alistair in a sexual encounter with an American man. After saying goodbye to his new close friends, Xavier returns to Paris and gets his desired job at the ministry, but realizes that his experiences in Spain have changed him. He subsequently runs away on his first day on the job and pursues his dream to become a writer, recounting the story of his experiences in the Auberge Espagnole. Towards the end, Xavier can be seen getting together with his now ex-girlfriend Martine as well.

"Time destroys everything" (French: "Le temps détruit tout"). "Time reveals everything" (French: "Le temps révèle tout"). Alex and Marcus, a young couple, wake up together and discuss their relationship, as well as an upcoming party, while in the nude. Marcus voices concern about Alex's ex, Pierre, also being invited because he "stole his girl", to which Alex responds that he did not steal anything, because she is not an object and it was all her decision. Alex reveals she had a dream of herself standing in a red tunnel that breaks in two. The two talk about a potential pregnancy and Marcus expresses hope in one before Alex takes a pregnancy test, the result of which is never shown, but she seems particularly pleased with. On a public train, Pierre, Alex's ex who is also invited to the party, constantly bickers with Alex over his inability to satisfy her during their relationship, while Marcus shows no interest in their squabble. Alex explains to Pierre that he always focused too much on her, and a sexual partner can feel and is aroused by their partner's pleasure. At the party, Marcus gets drunk and takes cocaine, much to Alex's disapproval. She leaves the party, asking Pierre to look after Marcus. Alex descends into a red pedestrian underpass on her way back to the train when she notices a transgender prostitute getting attacked by a man. He immediately turns his attention to Alex, anally raping her before savagely beating her into unconsciousness. After Marcus and Pierre discover Alex being taken away by paramedics, they encounter street criminals Mourad and Layde, who offer to help them find the culprit. They use an ID left at the scene by the prostitute to locate her. Marcus verbally assaults Concha, the prostitute, and threatens to cut her face open in order to gather that the rapist's name is Le Ténia ("the tapeworm ") and that he frequents a gay BDSM club called Rectum. The men are chased off by other prostitutes; Marcus and Pierre jump into a taxi cab and speed off into the night. When the cab driver doesn't know where Rectum is, Marcus attacks the driver, stealing his vehicle. The two end up finding the club's location, with Pierre reluctantly following behind Marcus. Leading the charge, Marcus proceeds to get into a fight with a man he suspects of being Le Ténia, who overpowers him and breaks his arm before attempting to rape him. Pierre comes to his rescue and beats the man to death with a nearby fire extinguisher as the man's companion, the actual rapist, watches in amusement. Marcus is carried out of Rectum on a stretcher while Pierre is arrested by police as Mourad and Layde deride them. Meanwhile, in a nearby small apartment, a man named the Butcher tells a friend that he was arrested for raping his daughter before dismissing the commotion going on outside.

Johnny Van Owen is a rapper who drifts from city to city. Johnny is performing at a nightclub, rapping and dancing with his crew and a club background singer playing " Cool as Ice (Everybody Get Loose) ". While the group passes through a small town, Johnny falls for honor student Kathy Winslow. The crew is stranded in the town after Jazz's motorcycle breaks down and has to be left at a local repair shop. While waiting for repairs, Johnny uses the opportunity to see Kathy. She already has a boyfriend named Nick, whom he advises Kathy to dump. Johnny shows up with his crew at a local club frequented by Kathy and her friends. Noticing that no one was enjoying the live music playing at the club, Johnny and the crew decide to perform a musical number, "People's Choice", by unplugging the other band's instruments and taking control, shocking the audience and ending with Johnny sweeping Kathy off her feet, humiliating Nick. Nick offers to forgive Kathy and take her home, but she refuses and walks home by herself. Unbeknownst to Kathy, she is stalked by Clarke and Morrisey, two strange men in a car. She is saved by Johnny, who takes her home. At the club's parking lot, a jealous Nick and his friends smash up motorcycles belonging to Johnny's friends. Nick's friends attack Johnny who fights back, leaving Nick and his buddies unconscious and Nick himself in the hospital with a broken nose. Kathy's father, Gordon, becomes suspicious of Johnny, and warns Kathy to stay away from him because they can't trust strangers. The next day, Kathy goes for a ride with Johnny against Gordon's wishes. They ride all over town, including a construction site. When they finally return home, they are greeted by an angry Gordon, who coldly warns Johnny to stay away from Kathy. Gordon, under pressure from his wife Grace, reveals to Kathy the secret of his past—he was once a police officer. They were on the run from the corrupt Clarke and Morrisey and were able to escape using fabricated documents, explaining why he kept his life a secret from Kathy all these years. Kathy criticizes Gordon, saying it was not fair that he lied to her in order to protect her, yet refuses to permit her to see a total stranger. The next day, Johnny agrees to give Tommy, Kathy's younger brother, a ride on his bike. They cruise through the streets, and finally back to the Winslow home, where Tommy is later kidnapped. At the repair shop, the crew prepares to leave town since the bike has been repaired, but they tell Johnny to say goodbye to Kathy. When Johnny arrives at the Winslow house, he finds an envelope meant for the family. It turns out to be a message from Clarke and Morrisey with Tommy recording it. Fearing the worst, Gordon accuses Johnny of criminal involvement, much to Kathy's dismay. When Kathy asks Johnny to play the tape left behind by Clarke and Morrisey, he hears a loud clanging noise from a construction vehicle, revealing the message was recorded at the construction site. The gang ambushes Clarke and Morrisey and rescues Tommy. When the police arrive, the gang return Tommy to the Winslows and Gordon apologizes to Johnny. Johnny tells Kathy he has to move on, but she decides to follow him. Nick arrives in his car, telling Kathy to get used to being a biker chick because she will never see him again. Kathy holds on as Johnny uses the car as a ramp and the two new lovers ride off into the big city. The film ends with Johnny reaching his destination, rapping "Get Wit It" and dancing with his crew to an audience at a nightclub. Kathy joins him on stage after the show is over, dancing alone in the spotlight.

Jackass: The Movie is a compilation of stunts, skits, and pranks, intercut with on-set talking heads with its cast. The movie begins with an over-the-top, Hollywood parody featuring the entire main cast riding a giant shopping cart downhill amidst huge explosions, as each cast member is individually introduced to the audience. Towards the end of the scene, Johnny Knoxville delivers his iconic intro line, "Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville! Welcome to Jackass !" Immediately after, the guys crash into a fruit stand, launching them into the fruit. Many stunts take place throughout the duration of the film. However, the most notable stunts and pranks include: Johnny Knoxville getting flipped over, and subsequently being knocked out, in a golf cart; Steve-O snorting wasabi mixed with soy sauce; Bam Margera pranking his mother April by planting a live alligator in her kitchen; Chris Pontius dancing in public as his character "Party Boy" while wearing nothing but a thong; Ryan Dunn fighting against female Japanese kickboxing champion Naoko Kumagai; Ehren McGhehey eating a snow cone made from his own urine; Wee Man wreaking havoc around Japan in a giant traffic cone; Preston Lacy sitting on a bench which is rigged to collapse, thus ripping his pants and exposing his buttocks to unsuspecting bystanders; and Dave England defecating in a display toilet at a hardware store after uncontrollably defecating in his pants in a van. The final stunt involves a toy car being inserted into Ryan Dunn’s anus in order to have it shown in an x-ray. Steve-O was originally set to do the stunt, but was told beforehand by his father that he would be disowned had he gone through with it. The end result is successful, as the toy car appears once the x-ray has been taken. The car is later seen being defecated out in the end credits. This is followed by a scene of Johnny Knoxville being launched into a lake via catapult (The end result of a failed Rube Goldberg test), where comedian Rip Taylor closes the film.

Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway to study Norwegian men, in an effort to help optimize their use of their kitchens. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik (Joachim Calmeyer). By the rules of the research institute, Folke has to sit on an umpire's chair in Isak's kitchen and observe him from there, but never talk to him. Isak volunteered for the program with the promise of a horse, but he only receives a dala horse, a little painted wooden statue. Isak stops using his kitchen and observes Folke through a hole in the ceiling instead. The two lonely men, observer and observed, slowly overcome the initial Norwegian-Swede and subject-observer distrust and become friends. Isak's friend Grant visits him often. Grant is a concentration camp survivor and feels Folke is stealing his friend. The friendship between Folke and Isak costs Folke his job during an inspection. He is forced to leave and drive up to the Swedish border, but then he returns, only to find Isak has died of a broken heart. Folke, now alone, occupies Isak's home and takes up Isak's friendship with Grant.

A United States Coast Guard vessel intercepts and boards an American yacht in the Caribbean Sea and finds evidence that the ship's owner and passengers, American businessman Peter Hardin and his family, were murdered by the piloting Colombian crew. CIA analyst Jack Ryan learns that Hardin was laundering money for the South American Cali Cartel, the leader of which, Ernesto Escobedo, ordered Hardin's murder for embezzling millions in drug profits. U.S. President Bennett, Hardin's close friend, discreetly authorizes National Security Advisor James Cutter to initiate covert operations in Colombia to destroy the cartel. Ryan is appointed acting Deputy Director of Intelligence when Admiral James Greer undergoes treatment for pancreatic cancer. Ryan requests Congress to increase funding to support Colombians fighting the drug cartels, giving his assurance there is no U.S. military involvement, unaware that Cutter will use the funds to assemble RECIPROCITY, a special forces team recruited by CIA operative John Clark and aided by Robert Ritter, the CIA Deputy Director of Operations. President Bennett sends Ryan to negotiate with the Colombian government to allow the United States to seize Escobedo's assets, including $650 million hidden in off-shore accounts, while Escobedo's intelligence officer, Colonel Félix Cortez, secretly orders the Cartel to ambush Ryan's convoy. Ryan survives the fracas, though several colleagues are killed, including Dan Murray and FBI Director Emile Jacobs. Cortez's identity is ascertained after he murders Jacobs’ secretary, Moira, who was an unwitting informant. Blamed for the attack, Escobedo organizes a meeting with the other Cartel heads. RECIPROCITY discovers this and launches an airstrike on their gathering, though Escobedo and Cortez, en route, barely escape unscathed. Cortez learns Americans were responsible and brokers a deal with Cutter: Cortez will kill Escobedo to assume leadership, then will reduce drug shipments to the U.S. and allow American law enforcement to make regular arrests to influence public opinion on the United States’ declared war on drugs. As part of the exchange, Cortez wants the location of RECIPROCITY disclosed to him and all CIA support to RECIPROCITY eliminated. Clark's team is stranded when Cutter accepts Cortez's deal, and are overwhelmed by Cortez's mercenaries in the jungle. U.S. surveillance monitored Cutter’s conversation with Cortez unbeknownst to him and Ryan accesses Ritter's computer to obtain evidence regarding the illegal Colombian operations. Ritter, however, warns Ryan that because he secured funding for the operation, Congress will hold Ryan solely responsible, revealing that he and Cutter have been granted President Bennett's pre-emptive pardons from any wrongdoing. Greer succumbs to his illness and Ryan flies to Bogota after the funeral to seek out Clark, unaware Cutter and Ritter have led Clark to believe that Ryan betrayed RECIPROCITY. Clark captures Ryan, but teams up with him when he realizes Ritter and Cutter played them both. Ryan and Clark procure a helicopter and fly to RECIPROCITY's last known position, where they find team sniper Chavez, who reports that most members were killed, and learn Captain Ramirez and one remaining squad member were captured. Ryan meets with Escobedo and informs him of Cortez's deception, while Clark simultaneously commences the rescue of his men who are being held captive in a coffee facility fronting Escobedo's cocaine operation. Escobedo confronts Cortez but is killed by Cortez's associate. Chavez kills Cortez during the escape, and Ryan narrowly escapes along with Clark and the freed prisoners. Back in the United States, Ryan refuses President Bennett's request to help cover up the conspiracy and instead testifies before the Congressional Oversight Committee about the recent events.

The pregnant Bride and her groom rehearse their wedding. Bill — the Bride's former lover, and the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad — arrives unexpectedly and orders the Deadly Vipers to kill everyone at the wedding rehearsal. Bill shoots the Bride in the head, but she survives and swears revenge. Four years later, the Bride, having already assassinated Deadly Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, goes to the trailer of Bill's brother Budd, another Deadly Viper, planning to ambush him. Having been warned by Bill beforehand, he incapacitates her with a non-lethal shotgun blast of rock salt and sedates her. He calls Elle Driver, another former Deadly Viper, and arranges to sell her the Bride's sword for $1 million. He seals the Bride inside a coffin and buries her alive. Years earlier, Bill tells the young Bride of the legendary martial arts master Pai Mei and his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, a death blow that Pai refuses to teach his students; properly used, the attack is reputed to leave an opponent able to take only five steps before dying. Bill takes the Bride to Pai's temple for training. Pai ridicules and torments her during training, but she eventually gains his respect. In the present, the Bride uses Pai's techniques to escape from the coffin and claw her way to the surface. Elle arrives at Budd's trailer and kills him with a black mamba hidden within the case full of money for the sword. She calls Bill and tells him that the Bride has killed Budd and that she has killed the Bride, using the Bride's real name: Beatrix Kiddo. As Elle exits the trailer, Beatrix ambushes her and they fight. Elle, who was also taught by Pai, taunts Beatrix by revealing that she killed Pai by poisoning his favorite meal in retribution for him plucking out her eye after she called him "a miserable old fool". Enraged, Beatrix plucks out Elle's remaining eye, blinding her, and leaves her screaming and stumbling in the trailer with the black mamba. In Acuña, Mexico, Beatrix meets a retired pimp, Esteban Vellajo, who helps her find Bill. She tracks him to his home, and discovers that their daughter B. B. is still alive, now four years old. Beatrix spends the evening with them. After she puts B. B. to bed, Bill shoots Beatrix with a dart containing truth serum and interrogates her. She explains that she left the Deadly Vipers when she discovered she was pregnant, in order to give B. B. a better life. Bill explains that he assumed she was dead; he ordered her assassination when he discovered she was alive and engaged to a "jerk" he assumed was the father of her child. The two begin to fight, but Beatrix traps Bill's sword in her scabbard and strikes him with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Surprised that Pai taught her the attack, Bill reconciles with her, then falls dead as she walks away. Beatrix leaves with B. B. to start a new life.

In 1973, sports handicapper and Mafia associate Sam "Ace" Rothstein is sent by the Chicago Outfit to Las Vegas to run the Tangiers Casino, with frontman Philip Green. He soon doubles the casino's profits, with a portion of the earned cash profits skimmed directly from the casino count room and delivered to the Midwest Mafia bosses. Chicago boss Remo Gaggi sends mob enforcer, and Ace's childhood friend, Nicky Santoro to help him protect their cash skim and the casino's workings as well as Ace himself. Nicky recruits his younger brother Dominick and right-hand man Frankie Marino after he is listed in the Black Book to gather an experienced crew, not just to safeguard the casino but also to engage in shakedowns and jewelry burglaries for their own gain. Nicky's criminal activities in Las Vegas start drawing too much media and police attention Ace meets and falls in love with beautiful con artist, showgirl, and former prostitute Ginger McKenna. They have a daughter, Amy, and marry. He entrusts Ginger with $2 million in cash and $1 million in jewelry. Still, their marriage is soon thrown into turmoil due to Ginger's relationship with Lester Diamond, a hustler and pimp who is also her longtime ex-lover. Eventually, Ace arranges for Nicky and his crew to beat up Lester when they catch him accepting $25,000 from her in a cafe. In 1976, Ace fires slot manager Don Ward for incompetence. Ward is brother-in-law to Clark County Commission chairman Pat Webb, who cannot convince Ace to re-hire him. Webb gets Ace's gaming license denied, jeopardizing the latter's position. Ace insults the board and local politicians in the license hearing, creating a spectacle for the news cameras, which brings unwanted media attention onto the casino. Since Ace is disallowed from legally running the casino, he begins hosting a local television talk show inside the casino, irritating the bosses back home for bringing more unneeded attention to their business. Ace blames Nicky's reckless lawbreaking for the ongoing pressure from police and state government, which leads to an argument between Ace and Nicky in the desert, concluding with threats by Nicky. Ace's renewed attempts to get Nicky to leave Las Vegas only strain their friendship more. In 1980, Ace contemplates divorcing Ginger as their marriage appears to collapse. She later kidnaps Amy and plans on fleeing to Europe with her and Lester. When Ace finds out about her plan, he convinces Ginger to return with Amy. Later on that night, he catches Ginger phoning a hit on him and responds by kicking her out of their home; she then returns home and Ace reluctantly decides to forgive her and give their marriage another chance. Ginger confides in Nicky about the situation, and they start an affair. Ace soon finds out, as do private investigators. Nicky ends things with Ginger once she asks him to kill Ace, while also threatening to go to the FBI about their criminal activities. She then leaves Ace, with all of her money and jewelry, only to later get arrested by the FBI not long afterwards. In 1982, the FBI discovers Artie's records which he had kept after being put in charge by the Midwest Bosses to oversee the skimming operation after it was discovered that people on the inside were skimming their skim. The FBI closes the Tangiers, and convinces Green to cooperate. They approach Ace for help, showing him photos of Nicky and Ginger together, but he turns them down. The Chicago bosses are arrested and prepare for their arraignment. Following Gaggi's directive, they arrange hits on everyone involved in the casino operation who could possibly testify against them. In 1983, Ginger, whose personal fortune has been squandered by lowlife associates, is killed with a "hot dose" in Los Angeles. That same year, Ace narrowly survives a car bomb, and suspects Nicky to be the man responsible for it as the attempt was not professional enough for the bosses to have ordered it. Ace plans to confront Nicky, but never gets the chance to do so when the bosses - finally fed up with the extent of Nicky's reckless criminality - arrange to have Nicky and Dominick killed in 1986; the two brothers are ambushed by Frank and their own crew, brutally beaten with baseball bats, and buried alive in a shallow grave in a remote Illinois cornfield. A coda depicts the Mafia pushed out of the casino industry by big corporations, which purchase and demolish nearly all the old casinos. New, even more glamorous casinos are built, which are impersonal and cold, a development lamented by the narrator. Because he remains a reliable, high-stakes earner for the outfit, Ace Rothstein is allowed to live; he moves to San Diego and resumes sports handicapping.

In post-Soviet Russia, civil war erupts as a result of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya. Military units loyal to Vladimir Radchenko, a Russian ultra-nationalist rebel, take control of a nuclear missile installation in the Russian Far East near the Chinese and North Korean borders and threaten nuclear war if confronted. USS Alabama, a U.S. Navy submarine, is dispatched on patrol with orders to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike if Radchenko fuels his missiles. Combat-hardened veteran Captain Frank Ramsey chooses Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter, who has an extensive education in military history and tactics but no combat experience, as his new XO. Tensions arise between the headstrong Ramsey and the more analytical and cautious Hunter, exacerbated by Ramsey's decision to order a missile drill amidst the chaos caused by a galley fire that results in the death of the chief mess officer. Hunter helps fight the fire and discreetly questions the decision but is chastised by Ramsey for the appearance of discord. Alabama receives an Emergency Action Message ordering a missile launch against the Russian base. As Alabama prepares to fire, a second radio message is detected before a rebel Russian Akula -class submarine attacks, damaging the boat’s radio and leaving the message incomplete. With the last confirmed order being to launch, Ramsey decides to proceed. Hunter disagrees, believing the partial second message may be a retraction. When Hunter refuses to consent as is required for a launch to be authorized, Ramsey tries to relieve him of duty. Hunter orders Ramsey arrested for attempting to circumvent two-man protocol. The Chief of the Boat sides with Hunter and has Ramsey relieved of command and confined to his stateroom, putting Hunter in charge. The Russian submarine attacks Alabama again. Alabama emerges victorious but is damaged when a torpedo detonates next to her hull. The main propulsion system is disabled, and the bilge bay begins flooding. As the crew tries to restore propulsion, Hunter orders the sealing of the bilge with sailors trapped inside, saving Alabama at the expense of the men. Propulsion is restored before Alabama reaches hull-crush depth. Officers and crew loyal to Ramsey unite and stage a mutiny. They retake the control room, confining Hunter, the Chief of the Boat, and some others to the officers' mess. Repairs to the radio continue, but Ramsey is determined to proceed without waiting for verification. Hunter escapes his arrest and prepares to retake the ship. He gains the support of weapons officer Peter Ince in the missile control room, further delaying the launch and leading Ramsey to go there. Hunter's party storms Alabama' s command center, removing the captain's missile key. Ramsey and his men return, resulting in an armed Mexican standoff. With news that the radio will soon be repaired, Ramsey and Hunter agree to wait until the deadline for a preemptive missile launch to be effective. Communications are eventually restored, revealing the full message from the second transmission – a retraction ordering that the missile launch be aborted because Radchenko's rebellion has been quelled. Ramsey turns the conn over to Hunter and returns to his cabin. The two men are put before a tribunal at Naval Station Pearl Harbor to answer for their actions. The tribunal concludes that both men were right and both men were wrong, and Hunter's actions were deemed lawfully justified and in the best interests of the United States. Unofficially, the tribunal reprimands both men for failing to resolve their differences. Thanks to Ramsey's personal recommendation, the tribunal agrees to grant Hunter command of his own sub while allowing Ramsey to save face via an early retirement with full honors. Outside, Hunter meets with Ramsey to express his gratitude, and the two men part ways amicably. A textual epilogue states that as of January 1996, only the President has the authority to launch nuclear missiles.

In 1995, obese high school senior Chris Brander is secretly in love with his classmate and best friend Jamie Palamino. Confessing his feelings by writing in her yearbook, he attends their graduation party. As he returns Jamie's yearbook, it is swapped by her ex-boyfriend, Tim, who reads the declaration aloud to everyone, humiliating Chris. After kissing him on the cheek, Jamie admits she does not reciprocate his affections. He leaves the party in tears, announcing he will never return, and vows to be more successful than everyone else. Ten years later, a womanizing Chris has lost weight and lives in Los Angeles as a successful record producer and vice president of the company. Before Christmas, company CEO KC asks him to accompany emerging pop singer Samantha James to Paris so she signs with their label, and Chris reluctantly complies. While she wants a relationship with him, he has no interest after their only date previously led to his hospitalization. On the way to Paris, Samantha accidentally sets her private jet on fire, causing an emergency landing in New Jersey, near Chris' hometown. Chris takes Samantha to his mother's for the night and re-engages with his teenage past, including his unresolved feelings for Jamie. She meets his mother and 18-year-old brother Mike, a fan of Samantha. At a bar, he also sees Jamie, working as a bartender to pay for graduate school for teaching. Chris asks Mike to keep Samantha busy during his date with Jamie, but realizing their platonic friendship is important to him hampers his plan for them to have sex. During a friendly ice skating "day date", Chris is taken away in an ambulance after injuring himself during a hockey game. At the scene, Jamie is reunited with Dusty Dinkleman, a paramedic and former high school classmate also in love with her. Realizing Dusty only wants revenge sex with her, Chris tries to warn Jamie but instead attacks Dusty in front of her. She refuses to listen when he tries to explain. Consequently, he gets drunk and goes to Jamie's bar, finding her there with Dusty. When she gently declines Dusty's sexual advances, he storms out. Chris and Jamie get into another fight, where he blames her for keeping him in the friend zone and says she will never amount to anything. Furious, Jamie strikes Chris and he is tossed out. Upon returning to Los Angeles and rejecting Samantha again, Chris realizes that Jamie is his true love. He returns to New Jersey, apologizes to her, and declares his love before they kiss.

While working with a team from the University of Chicago on a project to convert hydrogen from water into clean energy, student machinist Eddie Kasalivich inadvertently discovers a sound frequency in his home laboratory that perfectly stabilizes their process the next day. As the team celebrates with a party at the project laboratory, Dr. Paul Shannon, the leader of the project, and Dr. Alistair Barkley, the project manager, debate whether or not to share the scientific discovery. Later that night, project physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair finds her car unable to start, so Eddie gets her home by bus. Back in the laboratory, Alistair and assistant Dr. Lu Chen prepare to upload their discovery to the Internet to share the breakthrough with the world, while a van approaches the premises. Chen hears a noise and goes outside to investigate, but is kidnapped by unknown assailants as Alistair is also attacked. Once he has dropped Lily off at Alistair's house, where she lives on the third floor, Eddie returns to the laboratory to retrieve his motorcycle but notices a suspicious van departing. Hearing alarms, he runs inside to find Alistair dead with a plastic bag over his head and Chen missing. As the hydrogen reactor has become dangerously unstable, Eddie, unable to deactivate it, speeds away as a concealed detonator triggers a massive hydrogen explosion that destroys the laboratory and eight blocks' worth of surrounding streets. Upon returning from questioning by the FBI, Eddie and Lily realize that they are being framed after encountering planted evidence in both of their houses. The two flee to an observatory in Wisconsin belonging to Maggie McDermott, an old friend of Eddie's. After resting up, they contact Paul but are almost caught and narrowly escape. As the pair are evading more police, Paul meets with Lyman Earl Collier at the C-Systems Research complex, where it is revealed that C-Systems orchestrated the plot to destroy the laboratory and frame the pair for it, with Lyman ordering the attack. Despite some disagreement, Paul and Lyman decide to continue hunting for the pair, a task facilitated when Eddie covertly arranges a meeting with Paul. At their rendezvous, Paul reveals his involvement in framing Eddie, but the meeting ends in an ambush in which Lyman's thugs Yusef Reed and Clancy Butler, who murdered Alistair, capture Lily while Eddie barely escapes. After tracing the license plate on the thugs' van, Eddie tracks them to the secret C-Systems Research facility where Paul and Lyman are forcing Lily and Chen to replicate the project. When C-Systems' test reactor malfunctions, Paul, the scientists and the prisoners all depart, allowing Eddie to furtively "fix" the system that night. The next morning, one of the other scientists discovers the working reactor and everyone celebrates. A suspicious Paul immediately obtains a download of the fusion data, and secretly gives it to his assistant, Anita, for safekeeping. He then encounters Eddie at a computer in the company boardroom, who demands his release for making the reactor work. Paul agrees but Lyman refuses, so Eddie sets the reactor to explode while sending proof of his innocence to the FBI and blueprints of the reactor to "hopefully a couple thousand" international scientists. Lyman responds by shooting Chen dead, then locking in Eddie and Lily to die in the explosion as he, Paul, and their staff flee the site. Lyman is given a falsified copy of the fusion data before Paul kills him for overstepping the bounds of the program, leaving his body in an elevator. During his own escape, he deactivates the containment system, allowing Eddie and Lily to escape. They are attacked by Reed and Butler over an ascending construction lift but escape by climbing aboard it moments before a blast wave sweeps through the complex, incinerating the corpses of Reed, Butler, and Lyman. Having survived the shockwave, Eddie and Lily are met by FBI agents Ford and Doyle, now convinced of their innocence, who take them to safety. Paul is shown dictating a memo to Anita in a chauffeured limo, informing the Director of the CIA that "...C-System no longer a viable entity." In a post-credits scene, the C-Systems facility is seen imploding into the landscape.