The film opens and follows a young man, Martin, traveling on an overnight train from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh. Martin sedates a woman with a syringe full of narcotics, rapes her, slices her forearm with a razor blade, then drinks her blood, allowing her to slowly bleed to death. The next morning, he is met at the train station by his elderly cousin, Tata Cuda, who escorts him to a second train destined for Braddock, Pennsylvania. Martin claims to be much older than his appearance would suggest. He has romantic monochrome visions of religious icons, vampiric seductions, and torch-carrying mobs, but whether these are memories or fantasies is not specified. Cuda has reluctantly agreed to give Martin room and board alongside his granddaughter, Christina. Cuda is a Lithuanian Catholic who treats Martin like an Old World vampire, referring to him as " Nosferatu." He tries unsuccessfully to repel Martin with strings of garlic and a crucifix. Martin mocks these attempts. Christina is also highly skeptical and critical of Cuda's beliefs, and thinks Martin should receive psychiatric treatment. Cuda warns that if Martin murders anyone in Braddock, he will stake him through the heart. Martin seeks advice from a local radio disc jockey, who dubs him "The Count." He rejects many common perceptions about vampires, saying there is no "magic stuff." The DJ's listeners consider Martin to be a hit. Martin gets a job at Cuda's grocery store delivering groceries to customers. One of his customers, Abby Santini, a depressed housewife, becomes taken with Martin. Martin phones the radio show host to describe his infatuation with Abby and senses that she wants to have sex with him. Martin confides that he has never had sex with a woman who was awake. One day, unbeknownst to his family, Martin goes to Pittsburgh and targets a woman he sees at a grocery store. Believing her to be alone while her husband is away on business, he breaks into her house but finds her in bed with a lover. After a series of struggles, Martin kills and feeds on the man instead of the woman, then drugs and rapes the woman before leaving the scene. After Sunday church, Cuda brings home Father Howard, asking about the possibility of exorcism and demon possession. Father Howard calls Father Zulemas at Cuda's request. Together, Cuda and Zulemas confront Martin and attempt to perform an exorcism on him. At this point, Martin has a vision of people trying to exorcise him, then fleeing. Martin then escapes from Cuda and Zuelmas himself. Later that night, Martin terrorizes Cuda in a playground, donning a cape and false fangs. When Cuda attempts to strike him with his walking cane, Martin removes his teeth and makeup, stating, "It's just a costume... It's only a costume," then drifts away into the night. Christina, becoming increasingly frustrated by her disagreements with Cuda, ultimately moves out of his house to live with her boyfriend Arthur and bids Martin goodbye. Later, Martin has sexual intercourse with Abby and they begin an affair which lessens his appetite for blood. Worried about experiencing withdrawal, Martin attacks a pair of homeless derelicts and narrowly escapes the police. Upon returning to Braddock, he visits Abby only to discover that she has committed suicide by cutting her wrists in a bathtub. Cuda, who has learned of Abby's death, believes Martin to be her killer and fatally stakes him through the heart before burying him in a backyard flower bed. Radio callers inquire and speculate about "The Count" while Cuda places a small crucifix atop Martin's grave.

The crew of the joint British and American Space Shuttle Churchill, under the command of Colonel Tom Carlsen, finds a 150-mile-long (240 km) spaceship hidden in the coma of Halley's Comet. Inside, the crew discovers hundreds of desiccated bat-like creatures and three naked humanoid bodies (two male and one female) in suspended animation within glass containers. The crew recovers a bat-alien and the three bodies and begins the return trip to Earth. During the return journey, mission control loses contact with Churchill. A rescue mission discovers that Churchill has been gutted by fire. The crew is dead and the escape pod is missing, yet the three containers bearing the bodies remain intact. The bodies are taken to the European Space Research Centre in London. Prior to a postmortem, the female alien awakens and drains the life force from a guard. She escapes the facility and drains other humans of their life force. The two male vampires awaken and violently attempt escape, but are apparently destroyed by grenades thrown by another guard. The guard drained by the female alien revives two hours after his death, with the ability to drain others of their life force. The Churchill escape pod is found with Carlsen inside. He recounts the events aboard Churchill, including feeling compelled to open the female vampire's container and share his life force with her, leading to the draining of the Churchill crew's life force. He set fire to the shuttle to save Earth from the same fate and escaped in the pod. When hypnotised, it becomes clear that he has a psychic link to the female alien, and he reveals her ability to shapeshift. Carlsen and SAS Colonel Colin Caine trace her to a psychiatric hospital in Yorkshire, where they believe they have trapped her within the heavily sedated body of the hospital manager, Dr. Armstrong. The two male vampires have survived by shapeshifting into the soldiers who killed their previous bodies, and now are infecting London's population. The female alien escapes from her sedated host and disappears. Martial law is declared as vampires multiply by absorbing the life force of humans. The life forces are channeled by the male vampires to the female vampire, who transmits the energy to their spaceship, now in geosynchronous orbit over London. Hans Fallada impales a male vampire with an ancient weapon of "leaded iron." He, Carlsen, and Caine surmise that the vampires have visited Earth periodically with the coming of Halley's Comet, creating the vampire legends. Caine finds Fallada, possessed and manic, and shoots him. Fallada dessicates. Caine retrieves the weapon from a dead corpse which explodes into dust. Carlsen tracks the female vampire to St Paul's Cathedral, where she is lying upon the altar, transferring energy to her spaceship. She reveals she and Carlsen are now a part of each other due to the sharing of their life forces. Caine kills the second male vampire and throws the weapon to Carlsen, who impales himself and the female alien simultaneously. A burst of energy blows open the dome of St Paul's. The two ascend the column of energy to the spaceship, which returns to the comet as Caine watches.

In the early 1960s, a motown three-girl " Greek chorus " – Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon – introduce the film, warning the audience of some impending horror ("Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors"). Orphaned Seymour Krelborn and his co-worker, Audrey, work at Mushnik's Flower Shop in the rough, rundown Skid Row neighborhood of New York City, which they lament that they cannot escape ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). Struggling from a lack of customers, Mr. Mushnik decides to close the store, but Audrey suggests he may have more success by displaying an unusual plant that Seymour owns. Immediately attracting a customer, Seymour explains he bought the plant – which he dubbed "Audrey II" – from a Chinese flower shop during a solar eclipse ("Da-Doo"). The plant brings much business to Mushnik's shop but soon starts to wither. Seymour accidentally pricks his finger and discovers that Audrey II needs human blood to thrive ("Grow for Me"). Soon after, Audrey II begins to grow rapidly, and earns Seymour a spot on energetic DJ Wink Wilkinson's radio show, making him a local celebrity. Meanwhile, Audrey suffers at the hands of her sadistic and evil biker boyfriend, Orin Scrivello; however, she has feelings for Seymour and secretly dreams of being married and living happily with him in the suburbs ("Somewhere That's Green"). Seymour continues to feed Audrey II his own blood, draining his energy ("Some Fun Now"). He attempts to ask Audrey out, but she turns him down because she has a date with Orin, who is revealed to be a dentist who enjoys his patients’ misery ("Dentist!"). After Seymour closes up shop, Audrey II finally has a chance to speak to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give. The plant suggests that Seymour murder someone, promising to bring him fame and fortune that will impress Audrey. Seymour initially refuses but eventually agrees after he witnesses Orin physically and verbally abusing Audrey in the street ("Feed Me (Git It!)"). After Orin finishes with his masochistic patient, Arthur Denton, who had requested "a long, slow, root canal", Seymour draws a revolver on Orin, but cannot bring himself to use it. Orin, who abuses nitrous oxide, puts on a type of venturi mask to receive a constant flow of the gas, but breaks the valve, and Seymour watches as he asphyxiates. Seymour dismembers Orin's body and feeds it to Audrey II, which has grown to enormous size, but is unknowingly witnessed by Mushnik, who flees in fear. Audrey, feeling guilty over Orin's disappearance, is comforted by Seymour and the two admit their feelings for each other ("Suddenly, Seymour"). That night, Mushnik confronts Seymour about Orin's death. Holding Seymour at gunpoint, Mushnik threatens to turn Seymour over to the police but reconsiders and instead offers to stay silent and let Seymour flee Skid Row in exchange for the plant and its profits. As Audrey II opens its mouth to feed, Seymour begins to tell Mushnik how to care for the plant and backs him into the plant's reach. The plant swallows Mushnik whole ("Suppertime"). Despite widespread success, Seymour worries about Audrey II's growth and unbridled appetite ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). Torn between continuing his partnership with the plant and the thought of losing Audrey if he's no longer successful, Seymour becomes overwhelmed. Audrey congratulates Seymour on a contract for a botany TV show and tells Seymour the producers will return with the money the following day. Seeing a way out, Seymour proposes to Audrey, asking her to marry him that afternoon. He'll take the money in the morning and escape Skid Row with Audrey, leaving the plant to starve. After Audrey accepts Seymour's marriage proposal, Audrey II catches Seymour leaving and demands another meal: Seymour agrees but insists on meat from a butcher. While Seymour is gone, the plant telephones Audrey, coaxes her into the shop and attacks her ("Suppertime II").

Jay Trotter and his best friend Looney are cab drivers. Looney records his passengers' private conversations with a hidden microphone. He has a new tape of two men talking about an upcoming horse race and how one of the horses, due to unethical practices by its owner and trainer, is sure to win. Trotter and Looney go to the track to place a $50 win bet on the horse, despite the fact that Trotter told his wife Pam that he would quit betting forever. In the restroom of the bar next door to the racetrack, he prays, asking for just one big day. A man exiting the bathrooms overhears him and says to let it ride. Trotter places a $50 bet on the tipped horse, who wins and pays $28.40 to win (earning Trotter $710). Armed with newfound confidence, Trotter approaches the two men from Looney's cab ride and gives them the tape of their taxi conversation. Out of gratitude, they give Trotter a tip for the next race. He places a large bet and wins again. Sensing that this could be his "lucky day," Trotter intends to "let it ride" (parlaying all of his track winnings on every race). Just before the next race, before he can make another bet, he is arrested in a case of mistaken identity. After he is released, he realizes the horse he was going to bet has lost. Now, he really feels this is his "lucky day". Trotter resumes his lucky wagering streak. As he accumulates more money and uses his new clubhouse friends' membership in the track's exclusive clubhouse dining room, he starts meeting other well-to-do gamblers, including the wealthy Mrs. Davis and a sexy vixen named Vicki. Trotter soon becomes a hero to the ticket seller, whose window he uses to wager every time, and to the customers of the track's bar. However, Trotter has neglected his wife Pam, who realizes he must be at the racetrack. She confronts him at the track clubhouse and flies into a rage. Trotter calms her and tells her of his hot streak. Unable to decide on a horse in the next race, he takes a survey of the track patrons and, eliminating any selection they give him, bets on the remaining horse, Fleet Dreams, who wins. Trotter decides to call it a day and goes home to Pam, buying her a diamond necklace on the way. At home, he finds Pam intoxicated and passed out. He heads back to the track to help the patrons of Marty's bar across the street, but when he suggests sharing his luck by betting their money together, they all balk at the idea. Disconcerted, Trotter goes for a walk around the track. Vicki suddenly offers to go to bed with him. He turns her down by professing his love for his wife. After Looney advises him not to, Trotter makes a bet of $68,000 on Hot to Trot. As the race begins, Looney and Trotter argue, and the main characters all make resolutions. Vicki vows to give up rich guys and consider a poor one, looking at Looney. The race comes down to a photo finish. While everyone awaits the result, Pam shows up to thank Jay for his gift and to tell him not to worry about the money, when the announcer reports the winner: Hot to Trot. The total winnings from Trotter's bet on the last race at 40:1 odds would have netted him around $2.7 million. However, the large wager dropped the odds on Hot To Trot down to 8:1, netting Trotter $612,000.

Ms. Martin, the CEO of Tri-Oceanic Corp., hires geologist Steven Beck to supervise an undersea mining operation for three months. The crew consists of members Glen "Doc" Thompson, Elizabeth "Willie" Williams, Buzz "Sixpack" Parrish, Justin Jones, Tony DeJesus Rodero, Bridget Bowman and G.P. Cobb. While working outside their deep-sea station in a pressure suit, Sixpack discovers a Soviet shipwreck, Leviathan. The crew salvages a safe from Leviathan, finding records detailing the deaths of several crew members as well as a video log from the captain. Sixpack also finds a flask of vodka which he shares with Bowman. Doc and Beck review the captain's video, which describes puzzling medical problems amongst his crew. They also discover that Leviathan was scuttled. The following morning, Sixpack feels sick and Doc discovers lesions along his back. Sixpack dies a few hours later, but Doc and Beck keep it quiet to avoid a panic. Doc checks the crew to confirm no one else is showing Sixpack's symptoms but does not have the chance to examine Bowman. While Beck and Doc confer with Martin on the surface, Bowman begins feeling ill. She finds Sixpack's corpse, which is mutating and growing. When Bowman's hair starts falling out, she realizes the same thing is happening to her. Beck and Doc request emergency evacuation, but Martin reports a severe storm on the surface that will delay evacuation for twelve hours. Doc finds that Bowman has committed suicide. Her body is taken to the station's sick bay, where it merges with Sixpack's. When Doc and Beck discover the mutating bodies, they decide to dump both in the ocean. Just as they are about to "flush" the cadavers, the body bag begins squirming. Believing someone inside may be alive, the crew opens it. The creature inside claws Cobb before they eject it. The team realizes that Leviathan was experimenting on its unwitting crew with mutagens containing piscine DNA. The mutagen was mixed with the vodka that the crew, and later Sixpack and Bowman, drank. The ship was scuttled when the experiment spiraled out of control. A tentacle that was severed when the corpses were ejected mutates into a lamprey -like creature that attacks DeJesus in the kitchen. Jones seals the kitchen's pressure doors and goes for help. He asks Cobb to watch the door, but when he searches for a weapon, the creature assimilates DeJesus and rips its way out of the kitchen. It then grows tentacles that attack the crew. The creature attacks the medical bay, devouring blood and plasma from the cooler. This inspires Beck to use a pint of his blood to attract the monster, then attempt to flush it the same way they did with the Sixpack and Bowman creature. Doc ejects the escape pods so that no one can escape and risk bringing the mutagen to the surface. Beck consults with Martin for emergency evacuation. Martin assures them that they will not be left behind, but that she cannot carry out the rescue because of a hurricane. Cobb's injuries worsen, causing him to mutate and infect Doc. Williams escapes as Beck and Jones try trapping the creature. They escape to another part of the station. The crew tries accessing weather information through the computer, but it is blocked. Williams asks the computer for a financial report from the company and they discover that Tri-Oceanic Corporation has declared them dead, labeling it an accident. The creature damages vital systems, causing the pressure to drop and an implosion to occur. They decide to use their dive suits to escape. The creature attacks them, but is crushed by the lift as Beck escapes. They make it to the surface, which is calm and sunny. As they are met by a Coast Guard helicopter, the first mutant surfaces nearby and tries to take Jones. Jones keeps it from escaping at the cost of his own life and Beck throws a demolition charge into the creature's mouth, causing it to explode. After they are dropped off on a Tri-Oceanic oil drilling platform, the two survivors are greeted by Martin. Martin tells them she believed they would make it, smiling and asking how Beck feels. Beck punches Martin in the face and answers, "Better. A lot better."

Goddard Bolt is the callous CEO of Bolt Enterprises. Bolt shows little regard for other people's needs or for the environment. He has his eye on the slum of Los Angeles, with the intent of tearing it down. Bolt makes a bet with his biggest rival, Vance Crasswell, who also has an interest in the property. Crasswell challenges Bolt to survive on the streets as if he were homeless for 30 days. Should Bolt lose, Crasswell owns the property, but should Bolt win, Crasswell will sell it for practically nothing. There are three conditions: Bolt will be completely penniless; he must wear an electronic anklet that will activate if he leaves the boundaries, forfeiting the bet if he exceeds 30 seconds out of bounds; and at no time can he reveal to any of the slum area residents that he is Goddard Bolt. To add to the look, Bolt has his mustache shaved off, then Crasswell confiscates his toupée. Bolt is taken to the slums, thrown out of the limo and begins the bet. Unbeknown to Bolt, Crasswell schemes to make Goddard's stay on the streets as bad as possible. Bolt, homeless, hungry and filthy, is befriended by skid-row inhabitants Sailor and Fumes, and given the nickname "Pepto" after falling asleep in a crate with a Pepto-Bismol logo on its side. During the bet, he meets and eventually becomes attracted to Molly, a homeless woman who used to be a dancer on Broadway. During a scuffle with two muggers, Bolt is pushed out of bounds, which activates his anklet. To prevent the "30-second forfeiture", Bolt rushes back in, which impresses Molly with his supposed bravery, as it looks like he is tackling the muggers. Bolt learns a series of important life lessons during his "adventure", namely that life is not about accomplishments or material success, but rather the integrity of the human spirit. However, Bolt is unaware that the unscrupulous Crasswell has no intention of honoring their bet. When Crasswell realizes that Bolt is honoring the bet fair and square, Crasswell bribes Bolt's lawyers into fabricating the story that Bolt had lost his mind and has his property seized. Bolt finds this out first hand as, upon completing the bet, he forces his way into a party which is being held by Crasswell at Bolt's home and his lawyers feign ignorance. Forced to live on the streets for good and remanded to a free clinic by mistake, a drugged Bolt murmurs that "life stinks". Molly implores him to remember the small things, such as the two of them waltzing, that make life livable. Crasswell, meanwhile, has his own plans for the slum area, planning to tear it down as well. Bolt incites Fumes and the other slum residents to stage a mock battle during the televised ceremony of Crasswell demolishing the slum area. Realising that he will be ousted, Crasswell attempts to stop Bolt with a hydraulic excavator. When Bolt's grapple has plucked Crasswell and has him hanging by his jacket, the scene is freeze-framed into a news report saying that Crasswell, in a court case, was forced to admit he made a bet with Bolt, then reneged on the terms. Bolt, now in control of the area, has plans to renovate it into the "Bolt Center", which will give the slum residents employment, renovate the tenements into livable homes, and give the children a private school financed entirely out of pocket by Goddard Bolt. The news report ends by saying that Bolt has married Molly, and the press are expecting an extravagant event, only to then be shown Goddard and Molly taking their wedding vows in a simple chapel in the slum area, then driving off in a limousine with a vanity plate "PEPTO".

Ben is a witty and charismatic but narcissistic and easily-enraged serial killer who holds forth at length about whatever comes to mind, be it the "craft" of murder, the failings of architecture, his own poetry, or classical music, which he plays with his girlfriend Valérie. A film crew joins him on his sadistic adventures, recording them for a fly on the wall documentary. Ben takes them to meet his family and friends while boasting of murdering many people at random and dumping their bodies in canals and quarries. The viewer witnesses these grisly killings in graphic detail. Ben ventures into apartment buildings, explaining how it is more cost-effective to attack old people than young couples because the elderly have more cash at home and are easier to kill. In a following scene, he screams wildly at an elderly lady, causing her to have a heart attack. As she lies dying, he casually remarks that this method saved him a bullet. Ben continues his candid explanations and his rampage, shooting, strangling, and beating his victims to death. His murders often involve robbery and theft. His victims include women, the elderly, immigrants, and postmen (his favorite targets). He enjoys killing a postman at the start of each month because they tend to have parcels with money and other goods he can steal. He also enjoys killing women because he claims they do not fight back as much. However, Ben also kills a real estate developer who rudely evicted one of his friends, and when he kills an immigrant night watchman at a construction site, he expresses concern that the construction company hired the African employee for unscrupulous reasons (before launching into his own racist tirade and requesting the film crew expose the body’s genitals). At the same construction site, Ben points out where he killed and buried two Muslims, and explains that he made sure to entomb their bodies in a wall that faces Mecca. During filming, some of Ben's crew are killed; their deaths are later called "occupational hazards" by a crew member and off-handedly mourned. The camera crew becomes more and more involved in the murders, starting out as silent accomplices but gradually assisting Ben in his killings. When Ben invades a home and kills an entire family, they help him hold down a young boy and smother him with a pillow, all the while keeping up a casual conversation. At the abandoned building that Ben uses for a hideout, the crew encounters two Italian criminals or gangsters also hiding out in the building. Ben kills the Italians before discovering that they were actually also being filmed by a competing documentary camera crew. Ben and his camera crew have fun taking turns as they shoot the rival crew members to death and record the whole thing. After a night of drinking with the film crew, Ben invades a home and interrupts a couple having sex. He then takes the pair hostage, holding the man at gunpoint while he and the crew gang-rape the woman. The following morning, the camera dispassionately records the aftermath: the woman has been butchered with a knife, her entrails spilling out, while the husband had his throat cut. Later, Ben's girlfriend and family receive death threats from the brother of one of the Italian criminals whom Ben had killed earlier. Ben kills an acquaintance in front of his girlfriend and friends during a birthday dinner as it is suggested he had been close to her while he was in prison. Spattered with blood, they act as though nothing horrible has happened, continuing to offer Ben gifts. The film crew disposes of the body for Ben. After a victim flees before he can be killed, Ben is arrested, but he escapes. At this point, someone, presumably the brother of the dead Italian along with other members of the two dead Italians' criminal organization, starts taking revenge on Ben and his family. Ben discovers that his girlfriend Valérie has been killed: a flutist, she has been murdered in a particularly humiliating manner, with her flute inserted into her anus. He later finds that his parents met the same fate, with his mother, who owns a shop and is "not a musician", being sodomized with the end of a broomstick. This prompts Ben to decide that he must leave. He meets the camera crew to say farewell, but in the middle of reciting a poem, he is abruptly shot dead by an off-camera gunman. The camera crew is then picked off one by one. After the camera falls, it keeps running, and the film ends with the death of the fleeing sound recordist.

One night shortly before Malcolm Little is born, a party of Klansmen surround the Little family home in Omaha, Nebraska, break all the windows, and ride off into the night. Malcolm has a Grenadian mother and African-American father. His father, an activist for black rights, is killed. His death is registered as a suicide and the family receives no compensation. Malcolm and his siblings are put into protective care. He performs well in school and dreams of being a lawyer, but his teacher discourages it due to his skin color. During World War II, Malcolm lives in Boston. One night at a dance, he catches the attention of the white Sophia, and the two begin a sexual relationship. Malcolm travels to New York City 's Harlem with Sophia, where he meets "West Indian" Archie, a gangster who runs a local numbers game, at a bar. The two become friends and start co-operating an illegal numbers racket. One night at a club, Malcolm claims to have bet on a winning number; Archie disputes this, denying him a large sum of money. A conflict ensues between the two and Malcolm returns to Boston after an attempt on his life. Malcolm, Sophia, his friend Shorty, and a woman named Peg decide to perform burglaries to earn money. By 1946, the group has accrued a large amount of money from their crimes. However, they are later arrested. The two women are sentenced to two years as first offenders, while Malcolm and Shorty are sentenced to 8–10 years. While incarcerated, Malcolm meets Baines, a member of the Nation of Islam, who directs him to the teachings of the group's leader Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm grows interested in the Muslim religion and lifestyle promoted by the group, and begins to resent white people for mistreating his race. He is paroled from prison in 1952 after serving six years, and travels to the Nation of Islam's headquarters in Chicago. There, he meets Muhammad, who instructs him to replace his surname "Little" with "X", which symbolizes his lost African surname that was taken from his ancestors by white slavemasters; he is rechristened as "Malcolm X". Malcolm returns to Harlem and begins to preach the Nation's message; over time, his speeches draw large crowds of onlookers. He proposes ideas such as African-American separation from white Americans. In 1958, Malcolm meets nurse Betty Sanders. The two begin dating, quickly marry and become the parents of four daughters. Several years later, he is now in a high position as the spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. During this time, he learns that Muhammad had fathered numerous children out of wedlock, contradicting his teachings and Islam. After President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in November 1963, Malcolm comments that the assassination was the product of white violence that has been prevalent in America since its founding, saying the killing is an example of "the devil's chickens coming home to roost." This statement damages his reputation and Muhammad suspends him from speaking to the press or at temples for 90 days. He announces that he has been forced out of the Nation of Islam and will start his own mosque in New York. In early 1964, Malcolm goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca where he meets Muslims from all races, including white. His house is firebombed in early 1965. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm speaks before a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom, but assassins shoot him several times. One of his bodyguards shoots one of the shooters in the leg before a furious crowd beats him. Malcolm is transported to a hospital, where his death is announced to the crowd. The film concludes with a series of clips showing the aftermath of Malcolm's death. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a eulogy to him, and Ossie Davis recites a speech at his funeral. Nelson Mandela delivers a speech to a school, quoting an excerpt from one of Malcolm's speeches.

The film follows the personal relationship between Arkady Shapira, his terminally ill wife Irina, and their two sons, Joshua and Reuben. Joshua, the elder brother, is a hit-man for the Russian-Jewish mafia in Brooklyn and estranged from his family. After finishing a contract killing, Joshua is ordered to kill an Iranian jeweler in Brighton Beach, which he reluctantly accepts. Joshua stands outside his family's apartment, where he is spotted by one of his old friends Sasha, who tells Joshua's brother Reuben the next day. Reuben goes to the hotel where Joshua is staying to see him. Joshua asks Reuben how he knew he was in Brighton, and they plan to meet again the next day. Joshua waits near the boardwalk where Sasha is and intimidates him to tell who else knows about Joshua being in Brighton. Sasha brings Joshua to the car repairstand where Viktor and Yuri are. Joshua says they will help him find the Iranian jeweler and when they refuse, Joshua threatens them. When a man notices Joshua walking on the street, Joshua follows him to a phone booth and shoots him dead to avoid being exposed, angering neighborhood boss Boris Volkoff. Joshua starts dating his ex-girlfriend Alla Shustervich, who asks Reuben if he has seen Joshua anywhere, and the trio see a movie together. Eventually, Reuben takes Joshua home to see his parents again, but Arkady denounces him as a murderer and kicks him out. Joshua uses information about his father's affair to see his dying mother, who, after reminiscing about the past, asks him to go to his grandmother's birthday party, which Joshua agrees to. On the day of the party, Joshua meets with his friends to kidnap the jeweler. They take him to the dump where Joshua kills the man, before burning the body in the furnace. They wipe the gun clean of prints and drop it near the furnace. Reuben witnesses the killing, and takes the gun from the murder scene. Arkady discovers that Reuben has been skipping school for two months and beats him. Upon seeing Reuben's bruised face, Joshua brings Arkady to a snowy field and prepares to kill him, but loses his nerve after Arkady tells him that there's nowhere left for him to go in Brighton Beach. Afterwards, Arkady relinquishes his son to Volkoff and Irina dies. The next day when Reuben is riding his bike, two of Volkoff's men push him to the ground and tell him that Joshua is a dead man. With the mafia pursuing him, Joshua stays at Alla's. Volkoff's men look for Joshua and search Alla's neighborhood. Reuben finds out from Sasha where Joshua is and rides there on his bike to warn his brother. One of Volkoff's men finds Alla outside hanging out laundry and shoots her before escaping. Reuben finds Alla's body and shoots the second would-be assassin. Sasha arrives on the spot and, seeing somebody behind the sheets that Alla had hung out to dry, immediately shoots the person through the sheet, believing it is one of the men looking for Joshua. When he looks behind the sheet, he realizes that he has killed Reuben; he runs off before Joshua can show up. Afterwards, Joshua finds Reuben and takes his body, wrapped in the sheet, to the furnace for cremation.

Léon is an Italian-American hitman (or "cleaner", as he refers to himself) working for a mafioso named "Old Tony" in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City. One day, Léon meets Mathilda Lando, a lonely twelve-year-old who lives with her dysfunctional family in an apartment down the hall from Léon and has stopped attending class at her school for troubled girls. Mathilda's abusive father attracts the ire of corrupt DEA agents, who have been paying him to stash cocaine in his apartment. After they discover that he has been stealing from their stash, DEA agents invade the apartment, led by their drug-addicted boss, Norman Stansfield. During their search for the missing drugs, Stansfield murders Mathilda's family while she is out shopping for groceries. When she returns, Mathilda realizes what has happened just in time to continue down the hall to Léon's apartment; he hesitantly gives her shelter. Mathilda quickly discovers that Léon is a hitman. She begs him to take care of her and to teach her his skills, as she wants to avenge the murder of her four-year-old brother. At first, Léon is unsettled by her presence and considers killing her in her sleep, but he eventually trains Mathilda and shows her how to use various weapons. In exchange, she runs his errands, cleans his apartment, and teaches him how to read. Mathilda looks up to Léon and quickly develops a crush on him, often telling him she loves him, but he does not reciprocate. When Léon is out on a job, Mathilda fills a bag with guns from Léon's collection and sets out to kill Stansfield. She bluffs her way into the DEA office by posing as a delivery girl and is ambushed by Stansfield in a bathroom. One of his men arrives and informs him that Léon had killed Malky, one of the corrupt DEA agents, in Chinatown that morning. Léon, after discovering her plan in a note left for him, rescues Mathilda, killing two more of Stansfield's men in the process. An enraged Stansfield confronts Tony, who is roughed up and forced to disclose Léon's whereabouts. Léon tells Mathilda about how he became a hitman. When Léon was nineteen in Italy, he fell in love with a girl from a wealthy family, but Léon came from a poor family. The two made plans to elope. When the girl's father discovered their plans, he killed her out of anger. Léon killed the father in revenge and fled to New York, where he met Tony and trained to become a hitman. Later, while Mathilda returns home from grocery shopping, an NYPD ESU team sent by Stansfield captures her and infiltrates Léon's apartment. Léon ambushes the ESU team and rescues Mathilda. Léon creates a quick escape for Mathilda by smashing a hole in an air shaft. He tells her that he loves her and to meet him at Tony's place in an hour, moments before the ESU team fires a grenade into the apartment, wounding Léon and creating chaos. He manages to disguise himself as a wounded ESU officer and sneaks down through the staircase. He goes unnoticed by everyone except Stansfield, who follows him and shoots him in the back. As Léon dies, he presses a grenade pin in Stansfield's palm, saying that it is from Mathilda. Stansfield opens Léon's vest to find a cluster of grenades, which detonate, killing Stansfield. Mathilda goes to Tony and tries to convince him to hire her, but Tony flatly refuses to employ a twelve-year-old and tells Mathilda that he is holding Léon's money for her. Tony gives Mathilda $100 and orders her back to school, where the headmistress re-admits her after Mathilda reveals what has happened. Mathilda walks onto a field near the school to plant Léon's houseplant, as she had told Léon, to "give it roots".

Long-time friends and small-time London criminals Eddie, Tom, Soap, and Bacon put together £100,000 so that Eddie, a card sharp, can participate in one of "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale's high-stakes three-card brag games. The game, however, is rigged and they wind up owing £500,000 to Harry, to be paid within a week. Harry sends his debt collector Big Chris and his son Little Chris to Eddie's father JD, since Harry's true intention is to acquire JD's bar in payment of the debt. Also interested in two expensive antique Holland & Holland shotguns up for auction, Harry gets his enforcer Barry "the Baptist" to hire two thieves, Gary and Dean, to steal them from an insolvent lord. After the incompetent thieves unwittingly sell them to Nick "the Greek", a local fence, Barry threatens them into retrieving the guns. Meanwhile, Eddie returns home and overhears his neighbours, a gang of robbers led by a brutal man called "Dog", planning a heist on some cannabis growers loaded with cash and drugs. He tells the other three and they decide to rob the neighbours after they return from their heist. Tom buys the shotguns from Nick (both unaware of their true value), for use in the plan. Dog's gang execute their heist, and despite a gang member's death by his own Bren gun and an incriminating encounter with a traffic warden, they succeed, returning with a duffel bag full of money and a van loaded with bags of cannabis. Eddie and his friends ambush them and escape in the van containing the cannabis and the warden. They transfer the loot to their own van and return home, knocking out the warden and dumping him by the road before arranging for Nick to fence the drugs to violent gangster Rory Breaker. Rory agrees to buy the cannabis at half price but two of his men visit the house of the growers, discovering that they have been robbed and the cannabis Rory just bought has been stolen from his own growers. Rory threatens Nick into giving him Eddie's address and tasks one of the growers, Winston, with identifying the robbers. While the friends celebrate at JD's bar, Dog's crew, having accidentally discovered that they were robbed by their neighbours, set up an ambush in Eddie's flat. Rory and his gang arrive at the flat instead and in the ensuing shoot-out, all except Dog and Winston are killed. Winston leaves with the drugs, while Dog attempts to escape with the shotguns and the cash but Big Chris arrives, incapacitates him, and takes both. Attempting to recover the guns for Harry, Gary and Dean follow Big Chris, oblivious to the fact that Big Chris is taking them to Harry. Having delivered the money and guns to Harry, Big Chris returns to his car to find Dog holding Little Chris at knifepoint, demanding the cash be returned to him. Big Chris complies and starts the car. Meanwhile, Gary and Dean burst into Harry's office. The ensuing confrontation results in the deaths of Gary, Dean, Barry, and Harry. Having discovered the carnage at their flat and their loot and gear missing, the four friends head to Harry's office, finding a second set of corpses and the money from the heist. Big Chris deliberately crashes into their car to disable Dog and then fatally bludgeons him with his car door. He then retrieves the cash from the unconscious Eddie but allows Tom to leave with the shotguns after a brief stand-off. The friends are arrested but soon released after the warden identifies Dog and his crew as the culprits. Back at the bar, Eddie, Bacon, and Soap send Tom out to discard the guns, as they are the only remaining evidence linking them to the case. While Tom is away, Big Chris arrives to announce his intentions of leaving the friends alone, but warns them not to seek him out in the future. Big Chris then returns the bag, from which he has taken all the cash and which is now empty save for a catalogue of antique weapons. Leafing through the catalogue, the three friends learn that the shotguns are actually far more valuable than they had realised and frantically call Tom to dissuade him from disposing of them. The film ends with Tom leaning over Battersea Bridge, holding his mobile phone ringing in his mouth, as he prepares to drop the guns into the River Thames.

Los Angeles police officer Jim Kurring investigates a disturbance at a woman's apartment, finding a body in a closet. Dixon, a neighborhood boy, unsuccessfully tries to tell him who committed the murder. Jim goes to the apartment of Claudia Wilson, whose neighbors called the police after she argued with her estranged father, Jimmy Gator, and blasted music while snorting cocaine. Seemingly oblivious, Jim asks her on a date. Jimmy hosts a quiz show called What Do Kids Know?, where children and adults compete against each other, and is dying of cancer. The newest child prodigy on the show, Stanley Spector, is hounded by his father Rick for the prize money and demeaned by the adults, who prevent him from using the bathroom during a commercial break. When the show resumes, Stanley wets himself. As the show continues, a drunken Jimmy sickens, ordering the show to go on after he collapses. After Rick berates him, Stanley runs away. Former What Do Kids Know? champion Donnie Smith, whose parents took all his prize money, has been fired from his job and is in love with a male bartender with braces. Donnie wants to get braces himself, thinking the bartender will love him back. He hatches a plan to steal the money from his former boss for the surgery. The show's former producer, Earl Partridge, is also dying of cancer, only faster than Jimmy. Earl's trophy wife, Linda, collects his prescriptions while he is cared for by a nurse, Phil Parma. Earl asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank Mackey, a coarse but charismatic motivational speaker and pickup artist. Frank is interviewed by a journalist who knows Frank took care of his dying mother after Earl left. Frank storms out of the interview, after which Phil tries to contact him. Linda goes to see Earl's lawyer, hoping to change his will. She married Earl for his money, but now genuinely loves him and does not want it. The lawyer suggests she renounce the will and decline the money, which would go to Frank. Linda rejects his advice and berates Phil for seeking out Frank, but later apologizes. She drives to a vacant parking lot and attempts suicide by drug overdose. Dixon finds Linda near death in the car, takes the money from her purse, and calls an ambulance. Jim loses his gun while trying to catch a suspect. When he meets Claudia, they promise to be honest with each other, so he confesses his ineptitude as a cop and admits he has not been on a date since he divorced three years earlier. Claudia says he will hate her because of her problems, but Jim assures her that her past does not matter. They kiss, but she leaves him. Jimmy goes home to his wife, Rose, and confesses that he cheated on her. She asks why Claudia does not talk to him, and Jimmy admits that Claudia believes he molested her. Rose demands to know if it is true, but Jimmy says he cannot remember. Disgusted, Rose leaves him and he too decides to commit suicide. Elsewhere, Donnie steals the money, but when he decides to return it due to his conscience, he cannot get back inside the office. While Donnie climbs a utility pole to the roof to try to return the money, Jim sees him and feels compelled to investigate. Suddenly, frogs begin falling from the sky. One of them hits Donnie, he falls from the pole, smashes his teeth and is pulled to safety by Jim. Linda's ambulance crashes near the hospital. As Jimmy is about to shoot himself, frogs fall through his skylight, causing him to shoot the television and cause a house fire. Rose crashes her car near Claudia's apartment but makes it inside and reconciles with her daughter. Earl is awakened and sees Frank beside him before dying. The next day, Jim's lost gun falls from the sky, after which he helps Donnie return the money. Frank goes to the hospital to be with Linda, who will recover. Stanley tells Rick that he needs to be nicer to him, but Rick just tells him to go to bed. Jim goes to see Claudia, telling her he wants to make things work between them. As Jim is explaining this, Claudia glances into the camera and smiles.