Giovanni is a young, bluish-colored cat, whose father is away on a fishing trip and whose mother is ill at home. At school, during a lesson about the Milky Way, Giovanni's teacher asks him what the galaxy is composed of. Giovanni knows that it is made of stars, but is unable to say so, and his classmate Campanella does the same to save Giovanni from their fellow schoolmates' teasing. After school, Giovanni works a typesetting job at a print shop, and buys a loaf of bread and some sugar. He returns home to find that no milk was delivered that day, so he heads to the dairy, where he is told by an elderly cat to return at a later time. That night, the Centaurus Festival, or the Festival of Stars, takes place in the town. Upon reaching the festivities, Giovanni is mocked by his classmates for expecting an otter-skin coat from his father. Giovanni runs to the top of a hill at the edge of town and gazes up at the night sky. A steam train suddenly appears, and Giovanni boards it. On board, he is joined by Campanella, and as the train sets in motion, the two observe fields of flowers outside the windows of their train car. The train travels past the Northern Cross and halts at a stopover, where Giovanni and Campanella disembark. They walk down a flight of steps and are directed by a sign towards "The Pliocene Coast", where they find their teacher leading an excavation of fossils from crystallized sands. They return to the train, where they meet a bird-catcher who catches herons and turns the birds into candy. Giovanni and Campanella help a blind wireless operator to his radio system. He picks up a transmission which an elderly passenger identifies as the hymn " Nearer, My God, to Thee ". When a ticket inspector appears, Giovanni discovers in his pocket a rare ticket which allows him to go anywhere that the train runs. They are then joined in their seats by a tutor and two children, who were on board a ship that sank after hitting an iceberg. They share apples and pass by a vast cornfield where they hear the " New World Symphony ". As the train passes Scorpius, one of the children recalls a story about a scorpion who perished in a well after escaping a weasel; regretting that it did not sacrifice itself for a good cause, the scorpion prayed to bring happiness to others in its next life, and its body burst into a bright flame that still burns in the night sky. The train stops at the Southern Cross, where every passenger except for Giovanni and Campanella disembark for the Christian Heaven. Giovanni pledges that he and Campanella should continue on the train's journey together forever, but as the train approaches the Coalsack, Campanella sees what he claims to be "the true Heaven", where his mother is waiting for him. Campanella vacates the train, leaving Giovanni alone. Giovanni awakens on the hilltop. He returns to the dairy, where this time he collects a bottle of milk from a farmer. As Giovanni passes through town on his way home, he learns that Campanella fell into a river while saving one of their classmates, Zanelli, from drowning. Giovanni hurries to the river, where he finds Campanella's father giving up searching for his son, as his disappearance occurred 45 minutes prior. He tells Giovanni that he has received a letter from his father, stating that he will be home soon. Giovanni believes Campanella is "at the edge of the universe", which he says he knows "because we explored it together". He vows to be like the scorpion who promised to bring happiness to others, and continues homeward.

In 1959, on board a spacecraft, two aliens race to keep an experiment from being released by a third member of the crew. The seemingly possessed third alien shoots the canister into space where it crashes to Earth. Nearby, a college man takes his date to a parking spot when they see a falling star and investigate. It lands in the path of an escaped criminally insane patient. As his date is attacked by the axe-wielding maniac, the boy finds the canister, from which a small slug-like thing jumps out and into his mouth. Twenty-seven years later in 1986, Chris Romero pines over a love lost, supported by his disabled friend J.C. Hooper. During pledge week at Corman University, Chris spots a girl, Cynthia Cronenberg, and falls instantly in love. To get her attention, he decides to join a fraternity. Cynthia's boyfriend, who heads the Beta Epsilon fraternity, tasks them with stealing a cadaver from the university medical center and depositing it on the steps of a rival fraternity house. Chris and J.C. find a frozen corpse in a secret room, but when it grabs them, they flee. The thawed corpse then kills a medical student working at the lab. Detective Ray Cameron, a haunted cop, is called in to the cryogenics lab break-in, where he discovers one of the bodies – the boy who discovered the alien experiment in 1959 – is now missing, set free by Chris and J.C. The corpse makes its way back to the sorority house where he picked up his date twenty-seven years ago. There, his head splits open and releases more of the slugs. Called to the scene, Cameron finds the body, interpreting the condition of the head as the result of an axe wound in the face. The next day, the fraternity brothers confront Chris and J.C., who they believe to be responsible for the previous night's incident. They are then taken in for questioning by the police. Based on the testimony of a janitor who witnessed them running out of the university medical center, "screaming like banshees," they confess to breaking in but deny moving the corpse. That night, the dead medical student rises from his slab and runs into the janitor. Cynthia attempts to convince Chris and J.C. that the attacks are zombie-related, but they are skeptical. When J.C. sees Cynthia leaning on Chris' shoulder, J.C. leaves the two alone and is attacked by the slugs that emerge from the possessed janitor. After Chris walks Cynthia back to the sorority house, he runs into Cameron, who has overheard their conversation. At his house, Cameron explains to Chris that the escaped lunatic's 1959 victim was his ex-girlfriend, and that he secretly hunted down and killed the axe-murderer in revenge. After Cameron reveals that he buried the body under what is now the house mother’s house, he gets a call that the same axe-wielding lunatic has killed the house mother. Cameron blows off the corpse's head with his shotgun, which releases more slugs. The next night, while everyone prepares for a formal dance, Chris finds a recorded message that J.C. posthumously left for him. J.C. says that the slugs have incubated in his brain, but he has discovered that they are susceptible to heat. He confesses his love to Chris, and wishes him luck with Cynthia. Chris recruits Cameron, who was in the midst of a suicide attempt, and they retrieve a flamethrower from the police armory. They arrive at the sorority house just as Cynthia breaks up with Brad, who has become possessed. After killing him, the Beta fraternity brothers show up, despite having been killed in a bus crash. Cynthia and Chris team up to destroy the outside zombies while Cameron clears the house. After they stop the horde, Chris spots more slugs racing toward the basement; Cynthia explains that a member of the sorority had received specimen brains for biology class. In the basement, they find an enormous pile of slugs and Cameron, tape across his mouth, prepping a can of gasoline. The detective begins counting down as he splashes gasoline and Chris counts down in sync with him as he and Cynthia race out of the house. As Cameron opens up the house's gas valve, several slugs leap to attack him. He flicks his lighter and the house goes up in a fiery explosion. Chris and Cynthia share a kiss as they watch the house burn.

While hosting a party in his Manhattan penthouse, financial publisher Chris Thorne meets beautiful lawyer Diane Lightson, and agrees to escort her to consult client Howard Suntz in Atlantic City the following day. Two of Chris's clients, boisterous Brazilian billionaire siblings Fausto and Renalda Squiriniszu, overhear Chris planning the road trip with Diane and invite themselves along. During the trip, the Squiriniszus urge Chris to take a scenic detour off the drab New Jersey Turnpike, which ultimately places them in the dilapidated village of Valkenvania. After running a stop sign and subsequently attempting to outrun pursuing chief of police Dennis Valkenheiser, the group is captured and taken before his 106-year-old grandfather, Judge Alvin "J.P." Valkenheiser. At their hearing, Chris's dismissive and disrespectful attitude offends Judge Valkenheiser, and the yuppies are locked in a hidden room under the courthouse to be judged the next day. They later overhear Judge Valkenheiser mercilessly executing a group of convicted drug dealers in a deadly roller coaster nicknamed "Mr. Bonestripper". Invited upstairs for dinner, the quartet learns that Judge Valkenheiser is detaining them due to his deep and longstanding grudge against "bankers", which he considers Chris to be. Judge Valkenheiser explains that in 1917, a financier from New York swindled his grandfather into mining out the town in exchange for shares in the now defunct United Coke Company, subsequently impoverishing both the family and the town. The group attempts an escape, but Judge Valkenheiser's massive mute granddaughter Eldona captures Chris and Diane. The Squiriniszus escape by jumping through a window, and make it to the edge of the property before encountering a waiting Dennis. Noticing that Dennis seems stressed and overworked, the Squiriniszus talk him into abandoning his dead-end life and career by escaping with them. A series of trick hallways and booby traps land Chris and Diane in an attic room filled with IDs and news clippings, where the couple discover that Judge Valkenheiser has been using the house to capture and terminate undesirables—especially bankers—since the 1890s. During another escape down a series of slides, Diane lands in the property's salvage yard, where she meets and befriends Judge Valkenheiser's severely deformed grandchildren Bobo and L'il Debbull, who are barred from living in the house. Chris, still in the house, sneaks into Judge Valkenheiser's bedroom to explore, but Judge Valkenheiser discovers and attacks him. While attempting to flee from Judge Valkenheiser, Chris collides with Eldona. Judge Valkenheiser ceases his attack and declares Chris must marry Eldona per "house policy". Meanwhile, in the court room, the alternative rap group Digital Underground, having been arrested for speeding, is ordered by Judge Valkenheiser to verify their claim of being musicians, which they do with an impromptu performance. Delighted, Judge Valkenheiser acquits the band, but then asks them to stay behind as musicians and witnesses for the wedding. Chris initially cooperates in exchange for his life, but is later caught pleading with the group to help him escape. The band departs without understanding Chris's plight, and an enraged Judge Valkenheiser sentences him to execution via "Mr. Bonestripper". The machine breaks down just before Chris is fed into it, and he escapes unscathed into the junkyard. Judge Valkenheiser attempts to lure Chris by abducting and trapping Diane in another murderous contraption known as the Gradertine, but Chris distracts the Valkenheisers by setting off an explosion, proceeding to retrieve Diane at the last second before the pair escapes the premises via a passing freight train. After Chris and Diane report their ordeal to the authorities, the police prepare a large-scale raid of Judge Valkenheiser's courthouse. Chris and Diane are asked to accompany the police to Valkenvania only to discover that the troopers involved are fully aware of and allied with Judge Valkenheiser due to his ability to swiftly handle undesirables. Just as the combined forces are about to dispatch Chris and Diane for knowing too much, the massive underground coal fires roar out of control, finally destroying the courthouse, and the duo successfully escapes from the ensuing chaos. In Brazil, Dennis, now the Squiriniszus' personal security detail and Renalda's lover, vows to shield the siblings from harm. Back in New York, Diane awakens Chris to the news broadcast of the Valkenvania disaster. Chris spots Judge Valkenheiser rummaging through the debris where he announces that he and the rest of his family survived. Brandishing Chris's driver's license, Judge Valkenheiser announces that they plan to move in with "grandson" Chris, who panickily flees the scene, leaving a cartoonish hole in the wall.

Andrew Beckett is a senior associate at Philadelphia's law firm Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow, & Brown. He conceals his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from others in the office. A partner in the firm, Walter Kenton, notices a lesion on Beckett's forehead. Although Beckett attributes the lesion to a racquetball injury, it indicates Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-defining condition. During the 10 days given for a case assigned to him, Beckett tries to hide his lesions by staying home from work. He finishes the paperwork for this the night before the statute of limitations for the case ends, bringing it to his office and leaving instructions for his assistants to file it the following day. However, he receives a call the next day asking for the paperwork, which cannot be found, and is informed that there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. His paperwork is finally located in an alternative location and is filed with the court at the last moment. Beckett is called to a meeting the morning afterwards where the firm's partners fire him. Beckett believes someone deliberately hid the paperwork to give the firm an excuse to do so and that the termination is a result of his AIDS status and his sexuality. He asks ten attorneys to represent him in suing the firm for wrongful dismissal, the last of whom is African-American personal injury lawyer Joe Miller, whom Beckett previously opposed in a different case. Miller appears uncomfortable that a man with AIDS is in his office. After declining to take the case, Miller immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the disease. The doctor explains that the routes of HIV infection do not include casual contact. Unable to find representation from another lawyer, Beckett feels compelled to act as his own attorney. While conducting research at a law library, Miller sees Beckett at a nearby table. A librarian approaches Beckett and says that he has found a case of AIDS discrimination for him. As others in the library begin to stare uneasily, the librarian suggests Beckett go to a private room. Seeing parallels in racial discrimination, Miller approaches Beckett, reviews the material he has gathered, and agrees to take the case. As the case goes to trial, the partners of the firm take the stand, each claiming that Beckett was incompetent and that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly point out Beckett brought AIDS upon himself via willing gay sex with strangers and is therefore not a victim. To demonstrate Kenton would recognize the lesion as a symptom of AIDS-related illness, his former co-worker Melissa Benedict—who contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion —is brought in to testify. She mentions how his facial expressions showed discomfort around her because of it. Kenton denies recognizing Beckett's lesion, and insists Benedict was an innocent victim due to the transfusion, unlike Beckett. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Miller asks Beckett to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions are indeed visible and recognizable as such. Throughout the trial, Miller's homophobia slowly disappears as he and Beckett bond from working together. Beckett collapses and is hospitalized after Charles Wheeler, the partner he most admired, testifies against him. Another partner, Bob Seidman, confesses that he suspected Beckett had AIDS but never told anyone and refused to let him discuss it, which he deeply regrets. During Beckett's hospital stay, the jury votes in his favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages, totaling over $5 million. Miller visits the visibly frail Beckett in the hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After the family leaves the room, Beckett tells his lover Miguel Alvarez that he is "ready". At the Miller home later that night, Miller and his wife are awakened by a phone call from Alvarez, who tells them that Beckett has died. A memorial is held at Beckett's home, where many mourners, including Miller and his family, view home movies of Beckett as a happy child.

The single biggest threat to man's continued dominance on the planet is the virus. — Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D., Nobel laureate, Film introduction: Outbreak (1995) In 1967, during the Stanleyville mutinies, a virus called Motaba, which causes a deadly fever, is discovered in the African jungle. To keep the virus a secret, U.S. Army officers Donald McClintock and William Ford order the bombing of the camp where soldiers were infected, killing all occupants. Twenty-eight years later, USAMRIID virologist Colonel Sam Daniels investigates an outbreak in Zaire which wiped out an entire village aside from two survivors (the shaman and a young boy). He and his crew – Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schuler and new USAMRIID officer Major Salt – gather information and return to the United States. Ford, now a brigadier general and Daniels's superior officer, dismisses Daniels's fears that the virus will spread. A white-faced capuchin monkey that is host to the virus is smuggled into the country. James "Jimbo" Scott, a worker at a California animal testing laboratory, is infected when he steals the monkey. Scott tries to sell the monkey to Rudy Alvarez, a pet-store proprietor, but Alvarez refuses to buy it. The monkey scratches Alvarez and he later becomes infected. A hospital technician in Cedar Creek is also infected after accidentally breaking a vial of Alvarez's blood. Scott releases the monkey into the woods outside Palisades. While flying to Boston, Scott develops symptoms and infects his girlfriend, Alice, at the airport. Their illness is investigated by Dr. Roberta Keough, a CDC scientist and Daniels's ex-wife. Scott, Alice, and Alvarez die, but Keough determines no one else in Boston was infected. In Cedar Creek, the virus quickly mutates into an airborne, influenza -like strain after many are infected in a superspreading event at a local movie theater. Daniels flies to Cedar Creek against Ford's orders, joining Keough's team with Schuler and Salt. As they search for the monkey, the Army quarantines the town and imposes martial law. Schuler is infected when his suit tears, and Keough accidentally sticks herself with a contaminated needle. When Ford provides an experimental serum that cures the original strain, Daniels realizes that his superiors knew about the virus before the outbreak. Daniels learns about Operation Clean Sweep, a military plan to contain the virus by bombing Cedar Creek, incinerating the entire town and its residents, ostensibly to prevent Motaba's expansion to pandemic proportions. However, McClintock, now a major general, wants to conceal the mutated virus's existence and preserve the original strain as a biological weapon. To prevent Daniels from finding a cure, McClintock orders him arrested for carrying the virus. Daniels escapes, and he and Salt fly a helicopter to the ship at sea that carried the monkey. Daniels obtains a photo of the monkey and releases it to the media; a mother in Palisades contacts the CDC upon realizing her young daughter has been playing with the monkey (which she named Betsy). Daniels and Salt arrive and Salt tranquilizes Betsy. Ford delays the bombing after Daniels informs him Betsy was captured. On their return flight, Daniels and Salt are pursued by McClintock in another helicopter. Salt fires two rockets into the trees, setting them afire to simulate a crash. Back in Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy's antibodies with Ford's serum to create an antiserum; although it is not clear what happens to Schuler, they save Keough. McClintock returns to base and resumes Operation Clean Sweep, refusing to listen to Ford. Daniels and Salt fly their helicopter directly into the bomber's path to its target. With Ford's help, Daniels persuades the bomber's flight crew to detonate the thermobaric bomb over water and spare the town. Before McClintock can order another bombing, Ford relieves him of command and orders his arrest. Daniels and Keough reconcile as Cedar Creek's residents are cured.

Mormon missionary Joseph Young, assigned with his mission partner to Los Angeles, finds the city to be a hostile and unenthusiastic place for their work. The problems worsen when they knock on the door of sleazy porn director Maxxx Orbison and several security guards are sent to dispose of them. Joe defeats them all singlehandedly with a variety of martial arts skills. Impressed by his performance and bored by his current project's lead actor, Orbison attempts to hire Joe to play the title character and lead of his pornographic superhero film, Orgazmo. Joe is conflicted because of his religious beliefs, but the $20,000 salary offered would pay for a wedding in the temple in Utah where his fiancée Lisa has expressed a strong desire to wed. After learning that a stunt cock would stand in for him during explicit close-up scenes, Joe reluctantly accepts despite being given a very clear sign from God to refuse. Joe finds the crew of the film intimidating but befriends co-star Ben Chapleski, a technical genius and MIT alumnus who works in the pornographic industry to satiate his overactive libido. He plays Orgazmo's sidekick Choda Boy, who assists Orgazmo with specially designed sex toys, including Orgazmo's signature weapon, the Orgazmorator, a ray gun that forces orgasm upon whomever it is fired. Ben invites Joe to his home and shows Joe a real Orgazmorator he has built, and he and Joe spend an evening using it on unsuspecting citizens for amusement. At a sushi bar owned by Ben's Japanese friend G-Fresh, the two witness a group of thugs vandalizing the bar to force out G-Fresh so their dance club next door can expand. Later, when Ben and Joe are gone, G-Fresh is coerced to leave after the same thugs assault him. Upon finding this out, Joe and Ben don costumes and use their film props and the Orgazmorator to sneak into the club and steal back the contract G-Fresh was forced to sign. Joe is agitated after nearly being shot in the head, but Ben is excited by being a real superhero. Orgazmo becomes an amazing success, both financially and critically, and Orbison withholds Joe's paycheck to keep him in town long enough to announce a sequel. Tempted by a doubled salary, Joe is confronted by Lisa, who has found out what he has been doing and leaves him. Facing production difficulties and harassment from Orbison's unsympathetic nephew A-Cup, Joe tries to back out of the project, but Orbison refuses. When Joe stands up to him, Orbison has Lisa kidnapped. Ben realizes the thugs who assaulted G-Fresh work for Orbison, and he joins Joe in storming Orbison's mansion before Lisa can be forced to perform in one of Orbison's films. Fighting through Orbison's group of henchmen, Joe and Ben meet their match in A-Cup. Joe encourages Ben to unleash his long- repressed Hamster Style discipline of martial arts, allowing Ben to beat A-Cup. After repairing his damaged Orgazmorator, Joe repeatedly shoots Orbison with it, incapacitating him and capturing all the henchmen. Ben blows up the mansion with another device, the "Cock Rocket", destroying Orbison's base of operations. Joe and Lisa reconcile, and she gives him her blessing to remain in Los Angeles and continue being a hero alongside Ben. A doctor tells Orbison that after so many orgasms in a row, his testicles have swollen to the size of oranges, and surgical removal is the only option. A now insane Orbison declares revenge on Orgazmo and becomes the personification of A-Cup's character, who is immune to the Orgazmorator: Neutered Man.

In October 1957, the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. Witnessing Sputnik as it passes over the mining community of Coalwood, West Virginia, 17-year-old Homer Hickam is inspired to build his own rockets. His family and friends are skeptical of his ambition, especially his father John Hickam, who wants Homer to work in the coal mine that he manages. Homer recruits his friends Roy Lee Cooke and Sherman O'Dell, as well as the social outcast Quentin Wilson, to his rocketry team. Their teacher, Freida J. Riley, supports their endeavors as they launch their first small rockets. When one rocket lands near John's office and nearly injures some workers, John warns Homer not to launch rockets on company property again. The boys begin launching rockets beyond the borders of the coal company's property with the help of Ike Bykovsky, the manager of the mine's machine shop. John continues to oppose Homer's rocketry and sends Bykovsky to work in the mine as punishment for helping the boys. After several of their rockets explode, the boys finally get a rocket to fly. The rocket launches attract the interest of the community, but the boys are forced to abandon their pursuits after they are accused of starting a wildfire with a stray rocket. After a mining accident injures John and kills Bykovsky, Homer is devastated, as he feels responsible for Bykovsky's death. However, John tells Homer that Bykovsky was not forced to stay in the mine, so Homer is not to blame for his death. Homer drops out of high school to work in the mine, contributing to his family's income as his father recovers. Homer is inspired by Miss Riley to read a book on applied rocket science, which teaches him how to calculate a rocket's trajectory. He and Quentin use this knowledge to locate their missing rocket and prove it could not have started the fire. The boys present their findings to Miss Riley and the school principal, Mr. Turner, who later determines that the fire was caused by a flare from a nearby airfield. Homer leaves the mines and returns to school and rocketry. The boys win the school science fair, which allows Homer to attend the National Science Fair in Indianapolis. Homer's presentation on rocketry is well received at the National Science Fair, but someone steals a key piece of his equipment—the de Laval nozzle. Homer makes an urgent call to his mother Elsie, who enlists the new machine shop manager, Mr. Bolden, to build a replacement nozzle. The nozzle is shipped overnight to Indianapolis. Homer wins the top prize in the competition, after which he is bombarded with college scholarship offers. He returns to Coalwood triumphant and visits Miss Riley, who is dying of Hodgkin lymphoma. Many Coalwood citizens come to watch the launch of the boys' final rocket, including John, who had not attended any of the previous launches. The rocket, named Miss Riley, reaches an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m). During the closing credits, it is explained that Miss Riley died soon after the launch. It is revealed that all the boys went to college, and Homer went to work for NASA.

In the summer of 1937, three convicts – Pete, Delmar, and Everett – escape from a Mississippi chain gang to retrieve a buried treasure hidden by Everett before the area is flooded to make a lake. The three are assisted by a blind man driving a handcar on a railroad, who prophetically tells them they will find a different fortune than the one they seek. The trio then travels to Pete's cousin, Wash, who breaks off their shackles, feeds them, and allows them to sleep in his barn. While they are sleeping, Wash reports them to Sheriff Cooley, who torches the barn with his men. Wash's son helps the trio escape. Pete and Delmar get baptized in a river the next day, but Everett refuses to join them. The group then picks up Tommy Johnson, a young black man who claims that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar. In need of money, the four stop at a radio station, where they record a rendition of " Man of Constant Sorrow " as the "Soggy Bottom Boys". That night, the trio parts ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police. They then briefly fall in with outlaw George "Baby Face" Nelson, who has been robbing banks and killing cows, but after becoming depressed, George gives the trio his cash and walks off. Unbeknownst to the trio, their radio recording becomes a major hit. Near a river, the group hears singing and finds three women washing clothes. The women give them corn whiskey and they lose consciousness. Upon waking, Delmar finds Pete's clothes lying next to him, empty except for a frog. Delmar is convinced the women were sirens who transformed Pete into a frog, and so takes the frog with them. Later, one-eyed Bible salesman Big Dan invites them for a picnic lunch, then mugs the men and kills the frog. On their way to Everett's hometown, Everett and Delmar glimpse Pete working on a chain gang. They arrive in town in the midst of a campaign rally for Homer Stokes, the challenger in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Everett confronts his wife Penny, who told their daughters that he was hit by a train. He gets into a fight with Vernon, her new suitor and Stokes' campaign manager. While recovering at a movie theater, Everett and Delmar encounter a group of prisoners including Pete, who warns them that an ambush has been set up at the treasure site. That night, they sneak into Pete's holding cell and free him. Pete confesses that he gave up the treasure's location to the police under torture, but Everett then confesses that he made up the treasure to convince the men he was chained with to escape with him, so that he could stop his wife from getting remarried. Pete, enraged, fights with Everett until the trio stumble into a Ku Klux Klan rally, presided over by Homer Stokes as its Grand Wizard, and find that the Klan has captured Tommy to lynch him. The trio disguise themselves as Klansmen and attempt to rescue Tommy, but they are unmasked by Big Dan. Chaos ensues as the trio rush Tommy away and cut the supports of a large burning cross, which falls on Big Dan. Everett persuades Pete, Delmar, and Tommy to help him win his wife back. Disguised as hillbilly musicians, they sneak into a Stokes campaign gala dinner that she is attending and perform "Man of Constant Sorrow", unaware that the Soggy Bottom Boys are famous. The crowd is electrified, but Stokes recognizes them from the KKK rally and interrupts the performance. When he demands the group be arrested and reveals his white supremacist views, the crowd runs him out of town on a rail. Pappy O'Daniel, the incumbent governor, seizes the opportunity to endorse the Soggy Bottom Boys, grant them full pardons, and hire them as his "brain trust". Penny agrees to remarry Everett as long as he finds her original ring. The group then encounters an exuberant George Nelson as he is paraded through town by a mob on his way to be executed. The next morning, the group arrives at Everett's cabin in the valley, which Everett had previously claimed was the location of the treasure. They are ambushed by Sheriff Cooley and his deputies, who have been lying in wait. Dismissing their claims that they had received pardons, Cooley orders their hanging. As Everett prays to God, the valley is flooded, killing the officers and saving the group, who survive by floating on top of their own coffins. Tommy finds a ring in the flotsam and they return to town, but when Everett presents the ring to Penny, she claims it is not hers and firmly insists that she will not marry Everett without the original ring. As Everett belligerently pursues her, the blind handcar driver passes by on the railroad tracks.

Professional thief Danny Ocean is released after four years in a New Jersey prison. He travels to Los Angeles and reunites with friend and colleague Rusty Ryan. They travel to Las Vegas to secure financial backing from wealthy friend Reuben Tishkoff for a multi-million dollar heist to rob three casinos owned by Tishkoff's ruthless rival, Terry Benedict. These are the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand. Legally required to have enough cash to cover all casino patrons' bets, Danny estimates that during an upcoming high-profile boxing match, the casinos will hold over $150 million in an underground vault guarded by virtually unassailable security measures and systems. Having been forced out of his casino by Benedict, Tishkoff readily agrees to participate. Danny and Rusty recruit eight accomplices: con man Frank Catton, retired con man Saul Bloom, auto specialists Virgil and Turk Malloy, explosives expert Basher Tarr, surveillance technician Livingston Dell, acrobat Yen, and pickpocket Linus Caldwell. A precise replica of the vault is built to practice the heist, and team members are assigned to infiltrate or surveil the Bellagio to assess the security, staff routines, and the building's layout. Linus, tasked with tracking Benedict, discovers he is dating Danny's ex-wife, Tess. Believing Danny's motive is driven by wanting to reunite with Tess, Rusty wants to call off the heist, but Danny refuses. Danny later meets with Tess, who is still hurting from their failed relationship, and also Benedict, who has Danny barred from his casinos. The team commences the heist while Danny enters the Bellagio. Benedict has him detained in a surveillance-free room to be beaten by Bruiser, who secretly works with Danny. Danny reaches the vault elevator through the vent and meets up with Linus, who has infiltrated the casino as a state gaming official. Meanwhile, Saul, disguised as a wealthy foreigner, persuades Benedict to secure a briefcase containing jewels—actually disguised explosives—in the casino vault. Virgil and Turk smuggle Yen into the vault in a casino trolley. Basher triggers a stolen EMP device which disables electricity across Las Vegas, including the laser grid protecting the elevator shaft, allowing Danny and Linus to descend to the vault entrance. The pair neutralizes the guards and, with Yen, use Saul's explosive "jewels" to destroy the vault locks and secure the cash. Rusty calls Benedict and reveals the robbery, blackmailing him to surrender half the cash to a van waiting outside or else all the money will be blown up. Verifying the compromised vault by camera, Benedict complies, but has his men pursue the van while summoning a SWAT team to retake the vault. During the SWAT team's assault the explosives are detonated, destroying the remaining half of the cash while the thieves seemingly escape. Meanwhile, the van is discovered to be under remote control and the money bags filled with paper advertisements. Benedict dismisses the SWAT team before realizing that the video footage was faked because the Bellagio logo, a recent addition, was not on the vault's floor; the footage was from the team's replica vault. It is revealed that, after intercepting the 911 call, the team entered the casino disguised as SWAT members and left the vault with duffel bags containing over $160 million in cash. Danny returns to the secure room before Benedict arrives to confront him. Tess receives a call telling her to watch her TV which shows a surveillance camera feed of Danny tricking Benedict into admitting that he would give up Tess in exchange for the money's return. Unable to connect Danny to the heist, Benedict instead gets him arrested for parole violation; Danny and Tess reconcile before he is taken away. As dawn breaks, the remaining team contemplates their victory before going their separate ways. Several months later, Danny is released from prison and picked up by Rusty and Tess. They drive off, knowingly followed by Benedict's men.

In the early hours, con artist Juan successfully scams a cashier at a convenience store, and is apprehended by the staff as he attempts the same scam on a different cashier. Fellow con artist Marcos feigns being a police officer and takes Juan away from the store. Marcos requests Juan be his partner for the day, saying his has recently disappeared. Although reluctant, Juan agrees because his father, also a con man, is in jail and requires $70,000 to bribe a judge at his hearing. Later that day, the pair are presented an elaborate and lucrative scheme when Sandler, Marcos' elderly former associate, contacts him to help sell the "Nine Queens", a counterfeit sheet of rare stamps, to Vidal Gandolfo, a wealthy Spanish collector staying at the hotel where Marcos' sister, Valeria, works. Vidal will be deported from Argentina the following day due to corruption charges. Vidal meets with Marcos and Juan. Lacking sufficient time to properly authenticate the stamps, Vidal hires an expert who confirms their validity. Vidal offers $450,000 for the stamps, with the exchange to take place that evening. Outside the hotel, the expert tells Marcos and Juan he knew the stamps were forged and demands a bribe. The fake stamps are then stolen out of Juan and Marcos' hands by thieves on a motorcycle who, unaware of their value, toss them into a river. To salvage the scheme, Marcos and Juan approach Sandler's widowed sister Berta; her deceased husband owned the real stamps. She agrees to sell for $250,000. Marcos says he can put up $200,000 and asks Juan to contribute the remaining $50,000, but Juan becomes suspicious of Marcos since it is the exact amount of money he so far has saved. After visiting his father in jail, he ultimately agrees to the arrangement and the pair buy the real stamps. Marcos and Juan return to the hotel to meet Vidal. After finding out Valeria is Marcos' sister, Vidal says he will now only buy the stamps if he is able to have sex with Valeria. Valeria agrees, and says her price for doing so is for Marcos to confess to their younger brother, Federico, that Marcos cheated both Valeria and Federico out of their family inheritance. After he does so, Valeria spends the night with Vidal. The next morning, Valeria informs them that Vidal paid for the stamps with a certified check. On their way to the bank, an attempted mugging is revealed to be an attempted con by Marcos to cheat Juan out of his share; Juan reveals he hid the check and will hand it to Marcos as they reach the bank. Upon arrival, they see a crowd outside and learn the bank has failed due to fraud by the management, making the check worthless. Juan, looking disillusioned, walks away, while Marcos sticks around to see if he can find a way to still get the money. Juan arrives at a warehouse, where he greets the motorcycle thieves, Vidal, Sandler, Berta, and Valeria, who is Juan's girlfriend – revealing that the real con was to swindle Marcos out of $200,000, as revenge for all the times he cheated his family and his partners. It has been argued that the film draws attention to the endemic nature of corruption in Argentinan society, whilst demonstrating a national "desire to take action against the corrupt and greedy (embodied in Marcos) in the absence of a reliable justice system".

Ovidiu Gorea is a jaded high-school teacher and novice writer in his mid-40s who is still living with his parents. He has just published a collection of short stories titled Nobody Dies for Free that the bookstores reject because no one buys it. The high school principal asks him to deal with a problem-student, Robert. Ovidiu has Robert call one of his parents for talks, but the boy sends his sister, Diana, a gorgeous teenager, instead. Ovidiu is smitten. He convinces Diana to go on a date with him, but what he thinks will be a quiet evening over coffee turns into a bar-hopping binge that leaves him nearly broke. One night, he meets a shabby-looking drunk beggar who offers to recite poems in exchange for vodka. The two start talking and Ovidiu learns that the guy makes two or three times more money than him in a month out of this. He asks for an explanation and the beggar refers him to the Filantropica Foundation. Located in a desolate basement, the Filantropica Foundation is actually the lair of Bucharest 's beggars ' leader, Pavel Puiuț. A former convict, he realized that begging leads nowhere "unless there is a touching story behind the hand that begs", so he created an organized network of beggars, each with an invented, tear-jerking, background story that yields millions. Puiuț listens to Ovidiu's story and thinks he is perfect for his new "project". He pairs Ovidiu with Miruna, his secretary, and sends them to high-profile restaurants, where, in collusion with a waiter, they pose as a couple of poor teachers celebrating their wedding anniversary who find, at the end of their dinner, that they don't have enough money to cover the check; Ovidiu is responsible with making a scene that would strike a chord with one of the rich people present, who would pick up their check out of pity; later, out in the back, Ovidiu, Miruna, and the waiter would split the money. After several such performances, Ovidiu makes enough money to impress the materialistic Diana. He rents a roadster, takes her to lakeshore clubs, and impresses her friends, his sole purpose being sleeping with her. The reluctant Puiuţ even gives him access to the foundation's "show-house" (a day-rental house meant to impress third parties), but a poorly timed customer call gives Ovidiu's cover away and an angry Diana leaves him. Meanwhile, Miruna falls for her partner in crime and is angry that he keeps "bitching" about that "bimbo", instead of going for a "real woman". She manages to get him into her bed and Ovidiu is surprised to find out she is a former prostitute. The next day, an enamored Miruna convinces Ovidiu to play the scam for their own benefit and actually enjoy a dinner out. The ploy goes terribly wrong when they go to a karaoke bar, where due to the loud music, their scene has no effect and the waiter, who is not in on it, takes Ovidiu to the back and beats him. Puiuț then unveils the grand purpose of his " project ": he sets the unsuspecting Ovidiu to appear with Miruna "in character" on Chestiunea Zilei (a popular TV night show) and tell the karaoke bar beating story; he then calls, pretends of being revolted and announces that his foundation has opened an account for people who want to offer money for the "poor teachers". Meanwhile, in school, Ovidiu is visited by two thugs who ask him about Robert, who owes $3,000 to "a person" and who only has two days to make good. Ovidiu withdraws the amount from the foundation's account, calls Diana and gives her the money for her brother. She pretends being impressed and teases Ovidiu by telling him to visit her later that night. Naturally, she deceives him once more, by leaving the city in the afternoon. To top it off, Ovidiu finds Robert in a park, turned into a beggar, who tells him that "Diana" was not his sister, just "some chick". Now $3,000 short, Ovidiu goes home to find the media and Puiuț claiming he has just won the big prize in the lottery. It is again one of Puiuț's scams, who reminds Ovidiu he "has him" because of the $3,000. Ovidiu accepts his fate and Miruna as his wife. The movie has an ominous ending, with Puiuț finding Robert in the street, convincing him to join his operation and then breaking the fourth wall: "Do you feel pity for this piece of trash? Hah! Got your money!".

Shy 17-year-old Noriko Shimabara lives with her younger sister Yuka, her mother Taeko, and her father Tetsuzo in Toyokawa, Japan. Unsatisfied with her small-town life, she hopes to move to Tokyo, especially when she learns that her childhood friend Mikan is now working independently as an idol. Tetsuzo disapproves of her ambitions and instead hopes she will attend a local university after high school. Noriko discovers Haikyo ("Ruins"), a website where other teenagers from Japan communicate. Feeling alienated and misunderstood by her parents, and encouraged by her new friends from the site, she runs away from home and travels to Tokyo. She meets Haikyo's leader, a 25-year-old woman named Kumiko who uses the screen name "Ueno Station 54," at locker 54 in Ueno Station. Kumiko introduces Noriko to her family and takes her to visit her grandparents, whom Noriko later learns are actually paid actors working for Kumiko's organization, I.C. Corp, which offers paid rental family services to clients. Abandoned as an infant, Kumiko has developed a nihilistic view of society, even coldly rejecting her birth mother's attempts to reconcile in Kumiko's adulthood, and founded I.C. Corp to allow lonely people to fulfill their fantasies of a happy family life. One of the I.C. Corp actors, Broken Dam, is hired by a man who wants her to act as his unfaithful wife so he can murder her. Broken Dam happily agrees, seemingly completely unfearful of death. Kumiko attends the session, and, impressed by Broken Dam's willingness to die for her role, orders 54 I.C. Corp actors to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train at Shinjuku Station. She makes Noriko witness the event, hoping Noriko will undertake an equally consequential task one day. Back in Toyokawa, Yuka, who is also a Haikyo user, speculates on whether her sister was involved in the mass suicide and how Tetsuzo would react if she were to disappear as well. Yuka runs away to Tokyo to join I.C. Corp, but deliberately leaves behind hints for Tetsuzo to find so he can ascertain what has happened to her. Taeko's mental state rapidly deteriorates in the wake of her daughters' absences, and she eventually commits suicide. Tetsuzo quits his job as a reporter to investigate his daughters' disappearances and sadly realizes that he was never supportive or aware of his daughters' feelings. Taking cues from sensationalist media tabloids, he comes across Haikyo and concludes that his daughters are part of a cult called the "Suicide Club". Tetsuzo contacts a member of I.C. Corp, who refutes the existence of a "Suicide Club" and instead expounds on a concept of social roles that forms the basis of the organization. Two years after Noriko and Yuka's departure, Tetsuzo convinces his friend Ikeda to pose as a client for I.C. Corp, renting Kumiko as his wife and Noriko and Yuka (who now go by the aliases Mitsuko and Yoko, respectively) as his daughters. Tetsuzo finds a house in Tokyo resembling the Shimabara family's and chooses it as the meeting site, moving all of their furniture into it. He hides in a wardrobe to observe as the session commences. Noriko and Yuka are unsettled upon arriving at the house, but fall back into their roles when prompted by Kumiko. After Ikeda sends Kumiko on an errand, Tetsuzo reveals himself, though the girls insist he is a stranger. Kumiko's bodyguards arrive and attack Tetsuzo, but he retaliates and fatally stabs them all. Kumiko returns shortly thereafter, initially continuing to act out her role as normal before imploring Tetsuzo to kill her and run away with Noriko and Yuka, whom she addresses by their real names for the first time despite Noriko's protests. A distraught Yuka asks to extend the session. Tetsuzo, Kumiko, Mitsuko and Yuka eat dinner together. Tetsuzo treats Kumiko as his wife, referring to her as Taeko. That night, Yuka leaves at the crack of dawn and walks toward the city center, deciding that she is done being Yoko, but is no longer Yuka either. Mitsuko awakens shortly thereafter and, speaking to herself, bids goodbye to Yuka, her youth, Haikyo, and Mitsuko, before finally declaring that she is Noriko.