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.

May Canady is a young woman working as a veterinary assistant. As a child, she endured bullying and ostracism due to her lazy eye; although her optometrist has fixed it via glasses and corrective lenses, May still struggles to connect with others socially in her adulthood. When May was a child, her mother made and gifted her a glass-encased doll named Suzie, giving her the advice "if you can't find a friend, make one" and instructing her to never remove Suzie from the case. As an adult, May maintains that Suzie is her only true friend. May becomes infatuated with a local mechanic named Adam, finding his hands especially attractive. She eventually introduces herself to him, and they begin to date. May's colleague, Polly, also shows an interest in her. One day, May remarks that Polly has a beautiful neck. During their flirtation, Polly gives May a cat named Lupe. May invites Adam to her apartment, where he shows her a short film, titled Jack and Jill, that he made while in college about two young lovers who go on a picnic and end up cannibalizing each other. May becomes aroused by the film. While passionately kissing, she bites Adam's lip, drawing blood. Disturbed, Adam abruptly leaves. Humiliated, May berates Suzie and shoves her into the cupboard. May begins volunteering at a day care center for blind children, where she takes a liking to a sullen young girl named Petey, who makes her a clay ashtray with May's name pressed into it. Feeling abandoned by Adam, May responds to Polly's advances and they start a relationship. May overhears Adam expressing disgust with her to his friends. Devastated, she visits Polly, but finds her with another woman named Ambrosia. At home, May seeks comfort from Lupe; when Lupe ignores her, May angrily throws Petey's ashtray at her, killing the cat and shattering the ashtray. May soon develops delusions that Suzie is talking to her. May takes Suzie to the day care center, introducing her to the children as her best friend. The children attempt to take Suzie out of her case despite May's protests, ultimately shattering the case, injuring themselves and May, and destroying the doll, much to May's distress. The following day, May meets a young punk and invites him to her house, where she notices and compliments a tattoo of Frankenstein's monster on his arm. Upon discovering Lupe's corpse in her freezer, he calls May a "freak". May breaks down and fatally stabs him in the head with scissors. After some contemplation, May determines that she needs "more parts". On Halloween, May, dressed in a homemade costume resembling Suzie, goes to Polly's house, where she slits Polly's throat with a pair of surgical scalpels and stabs Ambrosia in the temples. She then visits Adam and his new girlfriend, Hoop, at his house, murdering both of them with the scalpels. At home, she sculpts a life-sized patchwork doll out of the punk's arms, Polly's neck, Ambrosia's legs, Adam's hands, and Hoop's ears, using Lupe's fur as the hair. Using the shards of the ashtray to form an anagram, she names the doll "Amy". Realizing that Amy lacks eyes, May gouges out her lazy eye and places it into the doll's head. Shrieking in pain and bleeding, May repeatedly begs the doll to "see" her and collapses on the bed next to it. Her creation comes to life and caresses her face affectionately with Adam's hands, at which May smiles.

In April 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British frigate HMS Surprise is ambushed by the French privateer Acheron off Brazil, suffering heavy damage by cannon balls. After escaping by using rowboats to tow the ship into a nearby fog bank, Surprise ' s captain Jack Aubrey refuses to return home and insists on giving pursuit at any cost. Shortly afterwards, Surprise is again chased by Acheron by using a weather helm wind advantage; that night, Aubrey deploys a crude, lantern-lit decoy raft, sails a different course, and sends the Acheron going the wrong direction. Now in pursuit of the Acheron, the French ship attempts to lose them in a heavy storm at Cape Horn. Surprise nearly sinks, and Aubrey sacrifices popular crewmember Warley to save the ship as a whole. Escaping calamity, but losing the Acheron, Aubrey follows a hunch and changes course for the Galápagos Islands, where he suspects the enemy ship will be hunting British whalers. To make up for the mounting losses, Aubrey promises Surprise ' s surgeon and his close friend, Stephen Maturin, that he will become the first naturalist to explore the islands' unique flora and fauna. However, Surprise then hits the doldrums, becoming stuck with no wind. Drifting for days in the heat, the crew becomes restless and superstitious, and blame midshipman Hollom for their misfortunes; the men believe him to be a cursed "Jonah", and begin treating him poorly. Guilt-stricken, Hollom commits suicide in the night by jumping overboard with a cannonball. Mystically, the wind picks up the next morning, and Surprise resumes the chase. Arriving at the Galápagos Islands, the men are amazed by the wildlife. However, they quickly encounter marooned whalers who confirm Aubrey's suspicions; they were raided by the Acheron. Aubrey breaks his promise to Maturin and pursues the ship. As they depart, the captain of marines accidentally shoots Maturin in the abdomen while carelessly aiming at an albatross. Remorseful, Aubrey turns around, anchors at the Galápagos, and assists Maturin in performing self-surgery. Finally giving up his pursuit of Acheron, Aubrey grants Maturin the freedom to explore the Galápagos and gather specimens before they return to Portsmouth. While looking for the flightless cormorant, Maturin discovers Acheron anchored on the other side of the islands. He hurriedly returns to Surprise and informs Aubrey. Back onboard the ship, Maturin shows Aubrey a curious camouflaging phasmid disguised as a stick. Inspired, Aubrey orders his warship to become disguised as a vulnerable, unarmed whaler. The crew don disguises, paint over the ship's name, and plot an ambush. Acheron is successfully tricked, and is lured into an up-close raid. The Surprise reveals her flags, and dismasts the privateer with sudden cannon fire. Aubrey leads a boarding party onto the stalled Acheron and captures the ship after fierce hand-to-hand combat, with significant losses on both sides. Searching for the enemy captain, Aubrey finds the Acheron ' s surgeon, de Vigny, who informs him that his French counterpart has died; his last request was to give Aubrey his sword. Both ships are repaired to seaworthy condition by the crew of Surprise, whose first lieutenant Pullings is promoted to captain and ordered to sail Acheron to Valparaíso to parole their French captives. As Acheron sails away, Maturin mentions to Aubrey that de Vigny died from a fever months ago. Realizing that the "surgeon" was really the Acheron 's captain in one final ruse, Aubrey orders the crew of Surprise to reverse course and to beat to quarters in pursuit of the captured ship. Maturin is once again denied the chance to explore the Galápagos, but Aubrey wryly notes that since the bird he seeks is flightless, "it's not going anywhere." As is their recreational entertainment on the voyage, the officer duo joyfully plays their violin and cello in the Captain's cabin to Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid as Surprise pursues the captured Acheron once more.

An 18-year-old boy and his girlfriend walk home from church. The boy gets abducted and then stripped naked. When the boy's family paid the ransom, he was dumped on a highway with an ear cut off. In December 2003, former Force-Recon Marine and CIA SAD/SOG officer John Creasy travels to Mexico to visit his old friend Paul Rayburn, who convinces him to take a bodyguard position with Samuel Ramos, a wealthy Mexico City automaker. He needs protection for his young daughter, Lupita "Pita" Ramos, due to a kidnapping insurance policy that requires a bodyguard to be in place. Struggling with alcoholism and guilt from his past, Creasy attempts suicide with his own handgun, but a failed 9mm primer prompts him to eject the round, preserve it, and reconsider his fate. Revitalized by the thought that he is meant to live, he takes on his role as Pita's protector, reducing his drinking and finding solace in the Bible. As he bonds with the child, coaching her competitive swimming, their relationship flourishes. One day, while waiting outside Pita's piano lesson, Creasy recognizes a car that has been following them. As two federal policemen block the street, he realizes Pita is about to be kidnapped. Creasy engages the attackers, killing four but sustaining serious injuries while Pita is abducted. As authorities investigate, Creasy becomes a suspect, but Reforma reporter Mariana Garcia Guerrero questions the narrative. Federal police officer Miguel Manzano relocates him to a veterinary clinic to protect him from corrupt officials. The kidnappers, led by the unseen "Voice", demand a $10 million ransom, which Samuel complies with, aided by Police Lieutenant Victor Fuentes. However, when the ransom drop is ambushed and the Voice's nephew is killed, the Voice threatens the Ramos family, stating that it is "too late" and Pita will be lost forever as retribution. Manzano warns Creasy about the powerful "brotherhood" involved, composed of corrupt officials and criminals, and Creasy vows to kill everyone connected to the kidnapping. With Rayburn's help, Creasy assembles an arsenal and begins his quest for revenge. He brutally interrogates the getaway driver for information, leading him to confront several kidnappers and recover incriminating evidence. Garcia Guerrero discovers Fuentes's involvement in the brotherhood, prompting her and Manzano to assist Creasy in his mission. Creasy's rampage intensifies as he confronts Fuentes, learning that Samuel's lawyer, Jordan Kalfus, orchestrated the kidnapping to claim insurance money. Creasy arrives to confront Kalfus at his house but finds the lawyer's beheaded corpse floating in the pool. He then confronts Samuel about his involvement with the kidnapping and the ruse is revealed: Samuel and Kalfus agreed to orchestrate the kidnapping in order to pay off old debts belonging to the former's father. Both had expected Lupita to be safely returned by paying off the ransom with the remaining insurance money. However, the ambush by Fuentes caused the plan to collapse, with Samuel killing Kalfus in a rage. Despondent over this revelation, Creasy gives Samuel a gun and the bullet he once used in his suicide attempt. Samuel kills himself as Creasy leaves. Garcia Guerrero and Manzano trace the ransom money and uncover the Voice's identity. Creasy captures the Voice's brother, who shoots him during the melee. Creasy learns the ringleader's real name is Daniel Sanchez. They arrange an exchange for Pita, and during the meeting, Creasy, injured but determined, reassures her of his love before she is sent to safety. As Creasy is taken away to the Voice, he dies of his injuries en route; later that day, Manzano executes the Voice during the latter's arrest.

In response to a brief blackout at the FBI Cyber Division headquarters, FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman asks local law enforcement to bring in high-level computer hackers nationwide. NYPD Police Detective John McClane is assigned to pick up hacker Matt Farrell in New Jersey. After McClane arrives at Farrell's residence, assassins sent by Thomas Gabriel, a hacker and leader of cyberterrorists, attack them. McClane and Farrell manage to escape. As McClane and Farrell travel to Washington D.C., Farrell tells McClane he had written an algorithm for Mai Linh (Gabriel's girlfriend and co-conspirator) to crack a specific security system; he believed his work was being used for white hat purposes. Meanwhile, Gabriel orders his crew of hackers to take over transportation grids and the stock market while nationally broadcasting a threatening message to the U.S. government. Farrell realizes this is a "fire sale", a cyber attack designed to disable the nation's infrastructure. As McClane and Farrell are driven to DHS headquarters, Linh—posing as a dispatcher—reroutes them into a helicopter ambush. McClane fends off the attackers and destroys the helicopter. McClane asks Farrell what he thinks Gabriel's next move will be. Farrell deduces that Gabriel's next target will be the power grid. The two drive to a utility superstation in West Virginia and find it under the control of a team led by Linh. McClane and Farrell kill Linh's team. After a struggle, Linh and McClane end up in a vehicle that is stuck in an elevator shaft. McClane climbs out of the vehicle and escapes, but the vehicle falls to the bottom of the elevator shaft and explodes, killing Linh. Farrell traces Gabriel and uploads his picture to Bowman, who learns that Gabriel has orchestrated the fire sale. McClane learns that Bowman and Gabriel once worked together for the DOD as chief programmer. Gabriel warned the department about weaknesses that made America's network infrastructure vulnerable to cyberwarfare, but he was ignored and later fired for his unorthodox methods, so he is seeking revenge. Enraged over Linh's death, Gabriel redirects natural gas to the superstation and causes an explosion in another attempt to kill McClane and Farrell. The two barely escape, but the destruction of the facility causes a massive blackout throughout the Eastern Seaboard. McClane and Farrell travel by helicopter to the home of super hacker Frederick "Warlock" Kaludis in Baltimore. Warlock identifies the piece of code Farrell wrote for Linh as a means to access data at a Social Security Administration building at Woodlawn, Maryland. Doing a traceroute, Warlock locates Gabriel; he is at Woodlawn. McClane, Farrel, and Bowman discover that Woodlawn is actually an NSA facility intended to back up the nation's personal and financial records as a failsafe in the event of a cyber attack; it was designed by Gabriel himself. The blackout on the FBI was intended to trigger the download of the financial data to Woodlawn, and Gabriel plans to steal the data. Meanwhile, Gabriel orchestrates the kidnapping of McClane's estranged daughter, Lucy as a bargaining chip to threaten McClane. McClane and Farrell race to Woodlawn. The two are separated during the infiltration; Farrell finds the facility's main server and encrypts the data Gabriel's men downloaded before getting captured; and McClane kills more of Gabriel's men. Gabriel flees the building, taking Farrell and Lucy with him. McClane pursues them, hijacking their semi mobile base. Accessing the communication system of an F-35B Lightning II, Gabriel orders the pilot to attack the truck McClane is driving, but the jet is destroyed by falling debris. McClane survives the attack and sees Gabriel's vehicle pull into a nearby hangar. At the hangar, Gabriel demands that Farrell decrypt the financial data from Woodlawn. When he refuses, Gabriel shoots him in the leg and threatens to kill Lucy. McClane arrives and kills two more of Gabriel's men, but is shot and wounded by Gabriel's last man, Emerson. Gabriel positions himself behind McClane, putting the barrel of the gun in his shoulder wound. McClane then pulls the trigger. The bullet travels through McClane's shoulder and hits Gabriel in the heart, killing him instantly. Farrell then grabs a pistol and kills Emerson as the FBI arrives. Afterward, McClane thanks Farrell for saving Lucy's life.

The protagonist XXXX (otherwise unnamed) is a London cocaine distributor who abhors violence and operates with the care and professionalism of a legitimate businessman. His chief associates are his enforcer and partner Morty, and Gene, an Irish gangster who serves as his liaison to mob boss Jimmy Price. Just as XXXX is ready to retire from criminal life, he is summoned to a lunch meeting with Jimmy, who gives him two tasks. The first is to track down Charlie, the drug-addicted runaway daughter of one of Price's associates. XXXX enlists the con men Cody and Tiptoes to find her; they learn that Charlie has apparently been kidnapped, but are unable to discover who abducted her. The second task is for XXXX to oversee the purchase of one million ecstasy tablets from the "Duke", a low-level criminal who recently returned to London from Amsterdam with his girlfriend Slasher and crew of thugs led by his right-hand man Gazza. Unbeknownst to XXXX, the Duke and his crew have stolen the pills from a gang of Serbian war criminals. He meets the Duke's feckless nephew, Sidney, and finds himself attracted to his girlfriend Tammy. XXXX tries to broker the sale of the pills to Liverpool gangsters Trevor and Shanks but they refuse, informing him of their origin and that the vengeful Serbians have sent the assassin Dragan to recover the pills and kill the thieves. As the Duke had mentioned his name to the Serbians, XXXX is also a target. XXXX arranges a tryst with Tammy but is kidnapped and brought to Eddie Temple, a wealthy crime lord. Eddie explains that Charlie is his daughter, whom he has recovered; Jimmy, having recently lost a fortune due to bad investments he blames on Eddie, wanted her as a hostage until Eddie recouped his losses. Eddie gives XXXX a recording, revealing that Jimmy has been working as an informant for Scotland Yard, planning to betray XXXX to the police once the pills were sold in exchange for immunity for his own crimes and XXXX's money. Eddie demands that XXXX sell him the pills instead. XXXX assassinates Jimmy at his home, but later finds that his accountant, an associate of Jimmy's, has vanished along with XXXX's money. Confronted by Gene and Morty, he shares the evidence of Jimmy's betrayal, and the pair acknowledge him as the new acting boss. Gene shows them the corpse of the Duke, who was killed by one of his men when Slasher threatened to go to the police if Jimmy did not help them out of their situation. XXXX hires hitman Lucky, an associate of Trevor and Shanks, to ambush and kill Dragan, but Dragan kills Lucky first and makes XXXX promise to recover the pills. Sidney brings XXXX to Duke's old hideout, and, as he tries to bargain with Gazza for the pills, the police arrive. XXXX and the Duke's gang barely escape the raid, while Dragan watches from afar as the pills are confiscated. However, it turns out that XXXX arranged for the raid, with Cody and Tiptoes posing as officers to secure the pills. XXXX delivers the Duke's severed head to Dragan as a peace offering; satisfied, Dragan reports to the Serbians that the police have seized the drugs. The Serbians accept the loss, which is revealed to be a small amount in comparison to their overall manufacturing capacity. When XXXX and his crew arrive at Eddie's warehouse to sell the pills as arranged, Eddie's henchmen relieve them of the drugs at gunpoint, and Eddie welcomes him to the "layer cake" of criminal hierarchy. Having anticipated this double-cross, XXXX arranges Trevor and Shanks to gun down Eddie's men in an armed robbery, take the drugs, and sell them via Dizzy so he can settle his accounts. The gang assembles for lunch at the Stoke Park Country Club, honouring their new boss, but XXXX declines their offer of leadership and follows up on his initial plan to retire. With Tammy on his arm, he leaves the club, but is shot by a jilted yet apologetic Sidney. He collapses, bleeding out on the steps.

After being homeschooled her entire life and having spent the last twelve years in Africa, 16-year-old Cady Heron begins her first day at North Shore High School. She has trouble making friends and is put down by the teachers on her first day, although she does befriend outcasts Janis Ian and Damian Leigh, who explain the school's various cliques to her, warning her about the "Plastics", a trio of wealthy and mean girls consisting of ruthless queen bee Regina George, insecure gossiper Gretchen Wieners, and bubbly airhead Karen Smith. Regina, Gretchen, and Karen take a shine to Cady and unexpectedly invite her to join the Plastics. Upon realizing this, Janis hatches a plan to infiltrate the group and destroy Regina's reputation. Cady becomes infatuated with her classmate Aaron Samuels. Karen and Gretchen warn her that, as Regina's ex-boyfriend, he is off-limits, though Regina assures Cady she does not care if Cady and Aaron date. Despite Janis's insistence that Regina is "evil", Cady comes to enjoy hanging out with the group, including writing insulting remarks about their classmates and teachers in a scrapbook called the "Burn Book." However, at a Halloween house party, instead of talking to Aaron on Cady's behalf, Regina kisses him in front of her and resumes their relationship. Feeling betrayed, an enraged Cady fully commits to Janis's plan. Over the following months, Cady, with Janis and Damian's help, manages to trick Gretchen into revealing her secrets, break up Regina's relationship with Aaron (and spend time with him by pretending to need math tutoring), and cause her to gain weight by giving her high-calorie snack "Kalteen Bars" under the pretense that they are diet food. After violating the Plastics' dress code rules by wearing sweatpants on Monday, due to her weight gain, Regina is kicked out of the group, as Cady becomes the new "queen bee". While Cady's parents are out of town, she throws a house party, and drunkenly admits to Aaron that she does not actually need math tutoring, and he renounces her for being as manipulative as Regina. Janis and Damian angrily confront Cady for throwing a party instead of attending the former's art show and declare that she has become as plastic as she pretended to be. Meanwhile, Regina becomes enraged when she discovers Cady's sabotage, and inserts fake slander of herself into the Burn Book, hoping to frame the latter and the other Plastics. Regina spreads the contents of the book throughout the hallways, inciting chaos. Principal Duvall and math teacher Ms. Norbury gather the female junior students in the gym to talk through their social issues. During this, Janis reveals her plan to destroy Regina to her face and openly mocks her, much to the students' excitement. Regina furiously storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady. While ranting at Cady, Regina is hit by a school bus, fracturing her spine. Rumors circulate that Cady intentionally pushed Regina in front of the bus. After realizing a comment she wrote in the Burn Book has framed Ms. Norbury as a drug dealer, which has caused the police to come to the school and interrogate her math class, Cady decides to take full responsibility for the book. Regina, Gretchen, and Karen are spared punishment, but Cady becomes a social pariah, resulting in being grounded by her parents. To earn extra credit, Cady joins the school Mathletes, moderated by Ms. Norbury and led by fellow student Kevin Gnapoor. At the state finals, she correctly answers the tiebreaker question, winning the championship. The team arrives at the Spring Fling dance, where Cady is unexpectedly elected queen. She breaks the plastic tiara and distributes the pieces to others in the crowd, makes peace with Janis, Damian, and the Plastics, and shares a slow dance and a kiss with Aaron. The Plastics disband by the time senior year begins. A fully recovered Regina joins the school's lacrosse team to channel her anger positively, Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians" clique, and Karen becomes the school's weather girl. Cady begins dating Aaron and continues to hang out with Janis and Damian, with the former starting to date Kevin. While reflecting on herself on the relative social peace that has taken over North Shore High, Cady notices a new popular clique in the freshman class and wonders how long the "Junior Plastics" will last, jokingly imagining them being hit by a school bus.