Recently widowed Walt Kowalski is an ill-tempered and racially prejudiced Korean War veteran and retired Ford factory worker. His Rust Belt neighborhood in Metro Detroit has become ridden with gang violence among poor Hmong immigrants, including Walt's next-door neighbors, the Vang Lor family. Walt is estranged from his spoiled family, and on his eightieth birthday angrily rejects his son's suggestion that he move to a retirement community in favor of living alone with his aging Labrador retriever Daisy. A chronic smoker, Walt suffers from coughing fits, occasionally spitting up blood. As Walt's late wife requested, her priest, Father Janovich, tries to comfort Walt and persuade him to go to confession. Despite being harshly rejected by Walt, Father Janovich persists. Thao Vang Lor is coerced by a Hmong gang led by his cousin, "Spider," to steal Walt's 1972 Ford Gran Torino as an initiation. Walt catches Thao and thwarts the theft; Thao escapes after Walt nearly shoots him. When the gang tries to abduct Thao forcefully, Walt scares them off with his M1 Garand rifle, earning the local Hmong community's respect. As penance, Thao's mother makes Thao work for Walt performing tasks that improve the neighborhood. The two men soon form a tenuous mutual respect. Walt mentors Thao, helping him obtain a construction job. Walt also rescues Thao's sister, Sue, from being raped by three African American gangsters. Despite his initial prejudices, Walt bonds with the Vang Lor family. With his cough worsening, Walt consults a doctor who provides a dismal prognosis, which he conceals. After the gang assaults Thao on his way home from work, Walt physically assaults a member as a warning. In retaliation, the gang beats and rapes Sue, and then injures Thao in a drive-by shooting. Out of fear, the family refuses to report the crimes. The following day, an enraged Thao seeks Walt's help to exact revenge; Walt convinces him to return later that day. Walt buys a suit, gets a haircut, and finally confesses to Father Janovich. When Thao arrives, Walt takes him to his basement and gives him his Silver Star, telling him that he is haunted by the memory of killing an enemy child soldier who was trying to surrender to him, and he wants to spare Thao from shedding blood. He locks Thao in the basement and departs to the gang's residence. When Walt arrives, the gang members draw their guns as he berates them for their crimes, drawing the attention of the neighbors. Walt puts a cigarette in his mouth, slowly reaches into his jacket pocket, and pulls his hand out quickly. Thinking Walt is brandishing a pistol, the gang members shoot and kill him. Walt's hand opens to reveal his Zippo lighter bearing the 1st Cavalry insignia. Following Walt's direction, Sue frees Thao, and they arrive at the scene. A police officer tells Thao and Sue that Walt was unarmed and that the gang members are arrested for murder. The officer goes on to say that the gang members will be going to prison for a very long time, thanks to witnesses coming forward. Father Janovich conducts Walt's funeral, which his family, his barber, and the Hmong community attend. Afterward, Walt's last will and testament is read. Much to the dismay of Walt's family, Walt leaves his house to the church and his cherished Gran Torino to Thao, on the condition that Thao does not modify the car. Sometime later, Thao drives along Detroit's Jefferson Avenue with Daisy at his side.

In 1903, American seaman Henry Adams is stranded penniless in Britain and gets caught up in an unusual wager between two wealthy, eccentric brothers, Oliver and Roderick Montpelier. They persuade the Bank of England to issue a one million pound banknote, which they present to Adams in an envelope, only telling him that it contains some money. Oliver asserts that the mere existence of the note will enable the possessor to obtain whatever he needs, while Roderick insists that it would have to be spent for it to be of any use. Once Adams gets over the shock of discovering how much the note is worth, he tries to return it to the brothers, but is told that they have left for a month. He then finds a letter in the envelope, explaining the wager and promising him a job if he can avoid spending the note for the month. At first, everything goes as Oliver had predicted. Adams is mistaken for an eccentric millionaire and has no trouble getting food, clothes, and a hotel suite on credit, just by showing his note. The story of the note is reported in the newspapers. Adams is welcomed into exclusive social circles, meeting the American ambassador and English aristocracy. He becomes very friendly with Portia Lansdowne, the niece of the Duchess of Cromarty. Then fellow American Lloyd Hastings asks him to back a business venture. Hastings tells Adams that he does not have to put up any money himself; the mere association will allow Hastings to raise the money that he needs to develop his gold mine by selling shares. Trouble arises when the Duke of Frognal, who had been unceremoniously evicted from the suite Adams now occupies, hides the note as a joke. When Adams is unable to produce the note, panic breaks out amongst the shareholders and Adams's creditors. All is straightened out in the end, and Adams is able to return the note to the Montpelier brothers at the end of the month.

Particle physicists and estranged friends Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert co-authored Ghosts from Our Past, a book detailing their paranormal investigations since high school. Erin later disavowed the work, while Abby continues her research at the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science in Manhattan, with engineering physicist Jillian "Holtz" Holtzmann as her partner. Now a professor at Columbia University and in line for tenure, Erin, discovering that Abby republished their book, convinces her to cease its publication if she helps Abby and Holtzmann investigate a haunting at the Aldridge Mansion. They encounter the malevolent ghost of the family’s eldest daughter before she escapes, restoring Erin's belief in the supernatural and friendship with Abby. Erin loses her bid for tenure at Columbia after their vlog becomes viral. Erin offers to join Abby and Holtzmann as the latter are dismissed from Higgins Institute. After stealing equipment, they establish temporary headquarters above a disused Chinese restaurant. They verbosely name themselves "Conductors of the Metaphysical Examination", build trappings and hire jock Kevin Beckman as a receptionist. MTA staffer Patty Tolan encounters a ghost in a subway terminal built under a former prison and contacts the team. They find the ghost and test Holtzmann's prototype proton packs on the entity, but fail to capture it. They advertise their services with a "no ghosts allowed" logo that Holtzmann had based on a graffiti artist's defacement and the name pundits have labeled them "Ghostbusters". Patty joins the team, providing city expertise, PPE and a repurposed hearse from her uncle dubbed " Ecto-1 ". Mad scientist and occultist Rowan North has triggered supernatural events by attracting ghosts across Manhattan with self-developed ionizers modeled after the Ghostbusters' technology, allowing him to experiment and create a dimensional vortex powered by turned PSI energy. When Rowan plants another device at a music festival, the Ghostbusters are called and capture a demonic ghost there, becoming city sensations but antagonizing him. When debunker Doctor Martin Heiss challenges the quartet, Erin releases the ghost as evidence; it throws him out of a window and escapes. The group is brought before Mayor Bradley and his deputy, Jennifer Lynch, who reveal that they and the DHS are aware of the city's supernatural activities. While privately acknowledging the team's work, they publicly denounce them as fraudsters. The Ghostbusters realizes Rowan is planting his devices along ley lines, with their alignments intersecting at the Mercado Hotel in Times Square, a site of violent occurrences where Rowan's vortex will breach the netherworld, potentially triggering an apocalypse. When they confront him in the building's basement, Abby warns him of apprehension, but unwilling to turn himself in, Rowan electrocutes himself with his main machine. After deactivating it, Holtzmann finds an annotated copy of Ghosts from Our Past that explains the similarity between their technologies. Erin later discovers that Rowan planned his suicide to become a ghost himself. Rowan returns as a deity-like ghost and attacks the Ghostbusters at their headquarters by possessing Abby, but Patty thwarts him. He then possesses Kevin, escapes to the hotel, opens the portal and releases galvanized ghosts. Rowan subdues the authorities, but the Ghostbusters fight through his army to reach the portal. After leaving Kevin's body, Rowan takes on a kaiju -sized form based on the ghost in the Ghostbusters' logo and becomes rampant. The team uses the Ecto-1's nuclear reactor to incite a nuclear explosion inside the vortex; it reverses the portal, forcing Rowan and the ghosts back in and saving the city. Rowan attempts to take Abby with him, but Erin leaps into the portal and rescues her. Despite the city's fascination with the supernatural and its lauding of the Ghostbusters as heroes, the mayor continues to denounce them publicly while covertly funding their operations. With added resources, the Ghostbusters move to a disused firehouse, where they build more equipment, including an ecto-containment system. While investigating EVP, Patty hears the word " Zuul ".

The film consists of two parts. In the first part entitled "Encounters" a successful journalist from Moscow Yuri Aliabiev (Y.Vasiliev) travels to a small city in the Urals because a certain Anikina, woman living in the city, writes complaints about local authorities accusing them of dissipation and bribe-taking. Arriving in the city Aliabiev meets Shura Okaemova, a nice-looking girl who works at a local plant. Attracted by Shura's intelligence and beauty Aliabiev attempts to seduce her but Shura rejects his attempts. Aliabiev leaves for Moscow and then on a business trip for Paris. The second part ("Garden and Spring") tells about Aliabiev's life in Paris where he meets Annie Girardot, attends the rehearsal of Mireille Mathieu and conducts extensive discussions with his new friend, an American journalist, trying to persuade him in the advantages of Soviet way of life. Returning from Paris to Moscow Aliabiev travels to the city in the Urals again. He failed to forget Shura and wants to resume their relationship. On arriving to the city he finds out that Anikina wrote letters to local authorities accusing Shura of a liaison with him. The Komsomol meeting decided to move Shura from her house to a hostel. Aliabiev finds Sura to tell her about his love and they decide to marry.

The scientist Ludvík Jahn returns to his hometown after two decades away. He is interviewed by Helena, an attractive older woman whom he begins to seduce. Jahn then discovers Helena is married to Pavel, an old rival. Jahn flashes back to his college days and his love for Markéta, a devout believer in communism. In an attempt to make the humorless Markéta lighten up, Jahn sends her a postcard reading "Optimism is the opium of mankind. A 'healthy spirit' stinks of stupidity. Long live Trotsky! Yours, Ludvík". Markéta turns the postcard over to the Party, however, and Jahn is brought before a Party hearing to answer for his words. Pavel, a friend who had pledged to help him, calls in the meeting for Jahn's expulsion from the college and the Communist Party, and Markéta joins the vote against him. Jahn then undergoes six years of "reeducation", which are split between prison and army service in a technical auxiliary battalion under a sadistic drill sergeant. While in the army, Alexej, a true believer in communism, appeals to higher authorities against their treatment; when the man is consequently expelled from the Party, he commits suicide. In the present, Jahn successfully seduces Helena, motivated more by a desire for revenge on Pavel than attraction to her. Though Helena falls in love with him, he discovers that she and Pavel have long been estranged, and Pavel has a new lover of his own. The only person hurt by Jahn's attempt at revenge is Helena.

The Space Shuttle Explorer, commanded by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski, is in Earth orbit to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Ryan Stone is aboard on her first space mission, to perform hardware upgrades on the telescope. During a spacewalk, Mission Control in Houston warns Explorer ' s crew about a rapidly expanding cloud of space debris caused by the Russians shooting down a defunct spy satellite, and orders the crew to return to Earth immediately. Communication with Mission Control is lost shortly after, as more communication satellites are disabled by debris. Debris strikes Explorer and Hubble, tearing Stone from the shuttle. Kowalski, using a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), rescues her and they return to Explorer, discovering that it has suffered catastrophic damage and the rest of the crew are dead. Kowalski decides they should use the MMU to reach the International Space Station (ISS), which is in orbit about 1,450 km (900 mi) away. He estimates that they have 90 minutes before the debris field completes an orbit and threatens them again. On their way to the ISS, the two discuss Stone's home life and her daughter, who died young in an accident. As they approach the station, they see that the ISS's crew has evacuated using one of its two Soyuz spacecraft, with the remaining craft exhibiting damage and unable to return to Earth. Kowalski suggests using it to travel to the nearby Chinese Tiangong space station, 100 km (60 mi) away, to board its similar Shenzhou spacecraft and return to Earth. They try to grab onto the ISS, but only make tenuous connection to the Soyuz's parachute cords, which are not strong enough for them both. Despite Stone's protests, Kowalski detaches himself to save her from drifting away with him. Stone enters the ISS as Kowalski floats away. Unable to establish communication with him, she concludes that she is the mission's sole survivor. Inside the station, a fire breaks out, forcing Stone to rush to the Soyuz. As she maneuvers it away from the ISS, the tangled parachute tethers snag, preventing the spacecraft from leaving. She performs a spacewalk to cut the cables, succeeding just as the debris field returns, destroying the station. Stone angles the Soyuz towards Tiangong but discovers that the engine has no fuel. After an attempt at radio communication with an Inuk on Earth, Stone resigns herself to her fate and shuts off the cabin's oxygen supply to commit suicide. As she begins to lose consciousness, she experiences a hallucination of Kowalski telling her to rig the Soyuz's soft landing rockets to propel the capsule towards Tiangong. Stone regains the will to go on, restoring the spacecraft's oxygen flow and rigging the landing rockets accordingly. Unable to dock with Tiangong, Stone ejects herself from the Soyuz and uses a fire extinguisher as a makeshift thruster to travel to the rapidly deorbiting station. She enters Tiangong ' s Shenzhou capsule just as the station enters the upper atmosphere, and undocks. The Shenzhou capsule re-enters the atmosphere and lands in a lake. Radio communication from Houston informs Stone that she has been tracked on radar and that rescue crews are on their way. Stone opens the hatch and sheds her space suit, allowing her to reach the surface and crawl onto the beach before standing and walking away.

On their fifth anniversary, writing teacher Nick Dunne returns home to find that his wife, Amy, is missing. Amy's fame as the inspiration for her parents' Amazing Amy children's books ensures widespread press coverage. The media finds Nick's apathy towards the disappearance suspicious. Before her disappearance, Nick and Amy's marriage deteriorated. Both lost their jobs in the recession and moved from New York to Nick's hometown to support his dying mother. Nick grew distant from Amy and began an affair with his student Andie, while Amy became resentful toward Nick. Detective Rhonda Boney and the forensic team find evidence of a struggle and blood loss in the house. Boney learns of the couple's financial problems, disputes, and Amy's attempt to buy a gun. Medical reports indicate that Amy was pregnant, of which Nick denies knowledge. On each anniversary, Amy sets up elaborate treasure hunts for Nick. This year's clues appear in places where Nick had sex with Andie, revealing Amy's knowledge of his affair. Nick discovers thousands of dollars' worth of items purchased with his credit card, unauthorized and hidden in his sister Margo's woodshed. Amy's clues lead authorities to a diary documenting her growing fear that Nick will kill her. Amy hides in a campground in the Ozarks. After discovering Nick's affair, Amy conceived an elaborate plan to frame him for her murder. She had him increase her life insurance, secretly used his credit card to buy the woodshed items, stole a sample of her pregnant neighbor's urine to fake a pregnancy to elicit media sympathy, wrote increasingly fabricated diary entries and placed incriminating evidence for police to find. On the morning of her disappearance, Amy drained and splattered her own blood across the kitchen. Her original plan was to drown herself after Nick's arrest and have her body found to ensure his death sentence. Nick deduces Amy's scheme, convinces Margo of his innocence, and hires lawyer Tanner Bolt, known for representing husbands suspected of uxoricide. Nick meets two of Amy's ex-boyfriends. Tommy O'Hara claims that she framed him for rape and ruined his life after they broke up. The wealthy Desi Collings, against whom Amy filed a restraining order for stalking, rejects Nick. When Amy's campground neighbors rob her, she calls Desi for help, convincing him that she fled Nick's abuse. Desi agrees to hide her in his lakehouse. Bolt convinces Nick to admit to his affair on a popular talk show, thus seizing the narrative initiative from the media. Andie reveals the affair at a press conference shortly beforehand, but Nick insists on conducting the interview. He affirms his innocence and feigns regret for his shortcomings as a spouse, knowing that Amy is watching. The interview garners widespread sympathy for Nick. However, Boney, having gathered adequate evidence, arrests Nick and Margo. Bolt bails them out, and they brace for the impending trial. After watching Nick's interview, Amy rekindles her attraction to him and begins crafting her escape story. Using surveillance cameras and self-inflicted injuries, she makes it appear that Desi kidnapped and raped her. She seduces Desi, slits his throat during sex, and returns home, clearing Nick of suspicion. Medical examiners lend credence to Amy's story. During questioning, Boney probes her inconsistencies, but Amy accuses Boney of incompetence. The FBI closes the case, but Boney gleans Amy's guilt. At home, Amy tells Nick the truth, but says that she forgives him after seeing him plead for her return on TV. Nick shares this with Boney, Bolt, and Margo. They agree that Amy is guilty, but acknowledge a lack of evidence. Bolt wishes Nick well and returns to New York. A televised interview takes place in their home seven weeks later. Anticipating Nick's intention to leave her and expose her story, Amy reveals her pregnancy minutes before the interview, having inseminated herself with Nick's sperm from a fertility clinic. Nick reacts violently but feels responsible for the child and decides to stay with Amy, to Margo's distress. The couple announces on television that they are expecting a child.

The story begins with the independence of Bangladesh after the 1971 war. Amongst those affected by the partition are two orphans: Bikram Bose and Bala Bhattacharya. They meet Lateef, who offers them food in exchange for smuggling guns. One of Lateef's customers, an army officer, wants one of the boys as his sex slave; if Lateef refuses, his daughter will be taken. Lateef chooses Bala at first, but Bikram insists that he will go instead. Bala refuses to leave his best friend and returns to save Bikram from the officer, whom they kill. This makes them partners in crime; when the army chases them, Lateef is killed while trying to protect the duo. Bikram and Bala flee to Calcutta and work at a restaurant. After being mistreated and insulted, they learn that pilfering coal is a way to make easy money. As adults in 1988, Bikram and Bala loot coal trains and sell the huge quantity of coal. Their chief competitor is Dibakar. When Bikram and Bala loot one of Dibakar's trains, his men threaten them. Undeterred, they promise to loot his next train as well. When they arrive to loot Dibakar's train, he calls them " refugees," and a fight ensues. Before they kill Dibakar, Bikram and Bala tell him that they are Indians, not refugees. Now having control of the coal business, they expand into other businesses by laundering money with Kaali Kaka's help. They become local heroes by building hospitals, donating to charities, and building schools. Although they provide jobs for the poor, their business dealings make them a target of the law. Assistant Commissioner of Police Satyajeet Sarkar is summoned to arrest Bikram and Bala. Sarkar, knowing that they can cover their tracks with Kaali Kaka, warns them that he will arrest them when he finds evidence against them. A businessman invites Bikram and Bala to the opening of his new club in Calcutta. He introduces them to Himanshu, his assistant. They meet Nandita, a cabaret dancer. They both fall in love with her, and decide that whoever wins her heart will marry her. Nandita invites them to a theatre to tell them whom she loves. Bala gets into a fight there with a man who makes a disrespectful comment on Nandita and Bala shoots him. Bikram tells Bala to go into hiding, promising not to see Nandita until he returns. Sarkar warns Bikram that if Bala returns to Calcutta, he will be killed. Nandita tells Bikram that she loves him, but if they do not observe Durga Puja together, she will never see him again. Bikram agrees to meet her. Later, Bala learns about this through Himanshu, and returns to Calcutta. Enraged when he sees Bikram and Nandita, Bala accuses Bikram of breaking his promise and shoots at him. He hits Nandita instead, who is rushed to hospital and survives. Bala learns that their businesses are in Bikram's name, and demands his share. Bikram agrees, even sharing the ration card which is proof of their Indian nationality. Bala suggests sharing Nandita; angering Bikram, who fights Bala. Bikram wins but spares Bala as he saved his life. However, he warns Bala that if he bothers Nandita, he will kill him. When Bikram proposes to Nandita, she says she cannot marry him unless he leaves his criminal life behind; Bikram agrees. A vengeful Bala blows up Bikram's coal mines and kidnaps Nandita. As Bikram prepares to kill Bala, Sarkar asks Bikram to turn the state's evidence against Bala so he and Nandita can marry. Bala tells Nandita that he will kill her unless she leaves Bikram; Nandita retorts that she still loves Bikram after explaining the differences between him and Bala. She also clarifies that Bikram was waiting for Bala even when Bikram was with her. Heartbroken, Bala apologises to Nandita and returns her to Bikram. In reality, Nandita is an undercover police officer helping Sarkar arrest Bikram and Bala. When Bikram prepares to help Sarkar implicate Bala, he encounters the man whom Bala supposedly killed and learns that he is also an undercover police officer. Nandita tries to convince Bikram that he will be treated leniently by the law. He believes the law was responsible for destroying their childhood and innocence. Nandita reveals her identity to Bikram, and he realises that she was a trap Sarkar set to separate him from Bala. When she asks him to surrender, he refuses and rejoins Bala. Himanshu brings Bala into the coal mine to meet Dutta. Himanshu tells him that he is Dibakar's brother and saw him murdered by Bikram and Bala. He reveals Nandita's identity and tries to kill Bala, but Bikram rescues him, and Bala kills Himanshu. While trying to escape, they are then cornered by Sarkar and Nandita, who again tells Bikram that she loves him and he should surrender; Sarkar also tries to convince Bala to surrender. Bikram and Bala see a passing train and run towards it. As Bikram and Bala are inches away from catching the train, Sarkar and Nandita shoot at them. Ambiguous over their deaths, the story ends with Bikram and Bala as they narrate how they were, are and will always be the goons.

A man wakes inside a laboratory on an airship. A scientist, Estelle, tells him that his name is Henry, she is his wife, and he has been revived after an accident that left him amnesiac and mute. She replaces his missing limbs with cybernetic prostheses, but mercenaries led by the psychokinetic Akan raid the ship before she can replace Henry's voice. Akan claims all of Estelle's research as his corporate property. He kills Estelle's scientists, but Henry and Estelle flee in an escape pod, landing in Moscow. The mercenaries follow and abduct Estelle. Henry is rescued by a stranger named Jimmy, who informs him that his cybernetic limbs are running out of power, which will kill him if he cannot recharge. Jimmy is killed by corrupt police paid by Akan, but Henry escapes. He is joined by another Jimmy, now an alcoholic bum, who informs him that one of Akan's associates, Slick Dimitry, has a charging pump which Henry needs to recharge. The two are attacked, and again Jimmy is killed. Henry escapes, and hunts Dimitry through Moscow before capturing him. Just as Dimitry promises him information, he is killed by a sniper. Henry removes the pump from Dimitry's heart and receives a call from Jimmy, who directs Henry to a brothel. Henry meets two more distinct versions of Jimmy; one a nervous nerd, the other a drug-fuelled sex maniac, who replaces his pump. The brothel is attacked by Akan's forces. Akan taunts Henry about Estelle, who is being transported by an armored convoy, before ejecting Henry from the brothel. Outside, Henry encounters another Jimmy, a stoner, who transports him to Akan's convoy. Henry attacks the convoy and locates Estelle and Akan, who beats him with a baseball bat and has him buried in the woods. Jimmy finds Henry before he's buried and resuscitates him, only to be shelled by a tank. After killing the tank crew and fending off a helicopter, Henry finds another Jimmy, who leads him to an abandoned hotel and a hidden laboratory. Here, the original Jimmy—a quadriplegic scientist—reveals that he is seeking revenge against Akan, who crippled him after his own cyborg super-soldiers failed. The other Jimmys are actually clones based on aspects of the original Jimmy's personality that he can control via a headset. The clones sing and dance with Henry to the song " I've Got You Under My Skin ". Jimmy realizes that Henry has been unknowingly broadcasting his location to Akan, and the two fight their way out of the building against the opposing strike force. Jimmy and Henry drive to Akan's headquarters. They fight their way into an elevator, but the real Jimmy is mortally wounded. Before dying, Jimmy thanks Henry for being a friend, and removes a memory blocker, gradually restoring Henry's memories. Henry fights his way to the highest floor, where he is greeted by Akan and an army of cyborg super-soldiers with Henry's memories. On the roof, Henry wipes out the entire army to the song " Don't Stop Me Now ", before Akan severely wounds Henry. Estelle arrives and reveals that she is actually Akan's wife. Everything that happened was an elaborate ruse to field-test their ability to manipulate cyborg soldiers into doing anything to "rescue their wives", including committing terrorist acts. Akan and Estelle prepare to board a helicopter, leaving Henry for dead. Although Henry blacks out, a memory of his father soon revives him and motivates him to finish Akan. After a brutal fight, Henry jumps onto Estelle's helicopter, Akan's severed head in hand. Estelle asks him how he did it and he paints an "EZ" on the wall with his own blood to mock her. Enraged, she shoots Henry several times, and one of the bullets ricochets off of a barbed wire wrapped around his prosthetic hand and hits her, causing her to stumble out of the helicopter. As she tries to manipulate him into saving her, Henry slams the door on Estelle's hands, sending her plummeting to her death. During the credits, a recording from Jimmy tells Henry he has another thing to do.

Major Thomas Egan is an officer with the U.S. Air Force stationed at an Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a former F-16 Falcon pilot, married, with two children who live with him in a suburban house off-base. His current assignment involves flying armed MQ-9 Reaper drones in foreign air space in support of the U.S. war on terror. He is admired by his commanding officer and support staff for his calm demeanor, precise flying, and adaptability. Privately, he is concerned about the assignment, which he took after being informed there was reduced call for and increased competition among fighter pilots in the Air Force. His previous CO informed him that a tour flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would look good on his record and would increase his chances of being posted back to a flying assignment. At first, the new assignment seems stressful but relatively benign. He is assigned to attack more clear-cut terrorist cells, vehicles, and facilities in Afghanistan. He flies these assignments during daylight hours over his targets, which is night-time in Las Vegas, leaving his days free for his sleep period, and to spend time with his wife and children. However, the high-tempo assignment – he is attacking targets on almost a daily basis – begins taking its toll. His wife notices the stress he's under and he begins drinking when off-duty. Still, his performance is excellent and his crew is rated among the highest in the squadron, so, on the orders of his commanding officer, he is assigned to more challenging missions under the direction of CIA controllers. Many of these targets are in Yemen and Somalia, places where the U.S. has no acknowledged military mission. The targets themselves are increasingly morally ambiguous: crowds the CIA controller calls terrorist cells, public buildings the controller says are sleeping spots for high level terrorist leaders or factories for making explosives. Collateral damage goes from being a rare occurrence to a routine one. On several occasions, the CIA controller orders strikes on obvious civilian targets – including women and children – describing these casualties as unfortunate but necessitated by terrorist leaders using them as human shields. Egan's performance declines and his drinking intensifies. He narrowly avoids being arrested for drunk driving, and starts avoiding home commitments, not wanting to inflict the stress he's under on his wife. He relishes a rare overwatch assignment protecting U.S. troops as they sleep, but must break a promise to his wife in order to perform the mission. On another overwatch mission, the troops are killed by an improvised explosive device that Egan could not protect them from. After a stress-induced violent episode at home, Egan's wife demands to know the details of Egan's work, and Egan tells her. She appears appalled. Soon after, she says she is leaving him and taking the children to Reno, Nevada, blaming his drinking and violent behavior. Finally, Egan cracks. His CIA controller orders a strike on a small group of civilians responding to an explosion at a building Egan had previously destroyed. Rather than obey the order, Egan simulates a glitch in the UAV control system and the targets escape. His CO has no choice but to demote him away from the attack role into a surveillance one. While on a surveillance mission, Egan notices a man whom he had previously watched rape a woman several times approaching her home. His Mission Intelligence Coordinator had previously described this man as "a bad guy. But not our bad guy." Egan conspires to send his support staff on a break, then uses the surveillance UAV to attack and kill the rapist. He then leaves the base without orders and is seen driving away from Las Vegas toward Reno.

Leon Phelps (also known as the " Ladies Man ") was a Saturday Night Live character played by Tim Meadows during the 1990s. The sketch was that of a broadcast program in which Phelps, a young, suave black man, would give dubious romantic advice and sex tips. The Ladies Man openly proclaimed that he would court any woman at all including skanks, providing the woman weighs no more than 250 pounds. A night of romance would generally revolve around a bottle of Courvoisier. After finally going too far during a broadcast, Leon is fired, but he receives a note from one of his former flames who wants him to come back to her—and is willing to support him in high style. This sounds just fine with Leon, except that the woman didn't sign her name, and now Leon has to backtrack through his numerous conquests of the past and figure out who wants him to work his love magic. Meanwhile, a secret group called the Victims of the Smiling Ass (V.S.A. for short), consisting of the angry husbands and boyfriends whose women have cheated with Leon, have discovered Leon as their target and are now hot on his trail, eager to get revenge.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, seven-year-old Mary Adler, a mathematical genius, lives with her uncle and de facto guardian, Frank. Her best friend is her 43-year-old neighbor, Roberta Taylor. Frank, a former philosophy professor and now boat mechanic, feels strongly that Mary should attend a normal elementary school so she can have a normal childhood. In first grade, Mary shows remarkable mathematical talent, which impresses her teacher, Ms. Stevenson. It emerges that Mary's mother, Diane, had been a promising mathematician, dedicated to the Navier–Stokes problem (one of the unsolved Millennium Prize Problems) before taking her own life when Mary was six months old. Mary has lived with Frank ever since. Despite Mary's initial disdain for average children her own age, and her boredom with their classwork, she begins to bond with them when she brings her one-eyed cat, Fred, for show-and-tell. Later, she defends a classmate from a bully on the school bus. The principal, having discovered Mary's math talent, encourages Frank to send Mary to a private school for gifted children, offering the opportunity of a scholarship. Frank turns it down, based on his family's experiences with similar schools. The principal contacts Frank's estranged mother and Mary's maternal grandmother, Evelyn. Evelyn, a former mathematician herself, believes that people with capabilities such as Mary's have an obligation to use their talents to help further society, and feels that Mary should be specially tutored in preparation for a life devoted to mathematics, as Diane was. But Frank is adamant that his sister would want Mary to be in a normal school and have the childhood she did not have. Evelyn sues Frank for full custody. While she is on the stand in court, it is revealed that not only did Evelyn homeschool Diane, she kept her socially isolated, so that she could be completely focused on mathematics. When Diane and her teenage boyfriend ran away to a ski resort, Evelyn filed a lawsuit and threatened to charge him with kidnapping, forcing him to cut ties with Diane. Diane attempted suicide for the first time shortly after, something Evelyn argues was an isolated incident. When Frank takes the stand, he admits working at a low-paying job without health insurance. His lawyer, worried that the judge will side with Evelyn due to her financial resources, convinces Frank to take a deal orchestrated by Evelyn's lawyer. Mary is placed in foster care, where she can attend the private school. Evelyn waits until her 12th birthday, when she will be able to decide where she wants to live. The foster parents live near Frank, and he is entitled to scheduled visits. Mary is devastated and refuses to see Frank when he tries to visit. Thanks to a tip from Ms. Stevenson, Frank rescues Mary's cat Fred from the pound moments before he is about to be put down. Frank realizes that Evelyn, who is allergic to cats, is overseeing Mary's education in the guest house of the foster home. Frank goes to the foster home and reconciles with Mary. He informs Evelyn that Diane had completed the Navier–Stokes problem, but left instructions for Frank not to publish the solution until after Evelyn's death, revealing Diane's deep resentment towards her mother. Frank offers Evelyn the opportunity to publish Diane's work if she drops her custody case, to which she reluctantly agrees. Mary is placed back in Frank's custody, living a normal public-school childhood while taking college-level courses in her spare time. Frank is also implied to have returned to his philosophy roots.