In Gothenburg a gang of five Swedish-Somali teenage boys act out an elaborate scheme for taking the belongings of three teenage boys, in which the gang members play good cop/bad cop which is previewed at the very start of the film with an earlier theft from two different boys. First, they ask the time. When one of the victims checks the time on his mobile phone they claim it looks like one which was stolen from a brother of one of them. The three boys are seeking help in a coffee shop, and the owner offers shelter but does not feel the need to call the police, as requested. The 3 are ultimately intimidated to come along with the 5 to verify this with "the brother". The film is interspersed with scenes of adults traveling in a comfortable, uncrowded train. At one point the conductor announces that a cradle has been found and should be picked up lest it would be removed for safety and fire precautions - the travelers chuckle. When the conductor removes it at one station the station manager brings it back into the train, because the message had merely been announced in Swedish, and is then repeated in English. In the tram, a gang of 3 adults are beating them up, as per a woman, searching for a stolen phone. Two boys get separated from the other six. A man witnesses the scene but does not interfere, but slips a note with his name to one of the boys, saying he would stand witness in trial if need be. Eventually, the one boy offers the other boy to make a call, then calls his mother and leaves a message. It is not her, but the rest of the group calling him back, telling them their location so they reunite. After some moving around, and the boy being forced to play The Entertainer on his clarinet, one boy of the gang wants to quit; the gang questions him and the eldest /leader responds by beating him up in the bus, and kicking him. An older man tries to interfere, but is intimated by one of the boys. None of the adults help the boy even though he is injured. The four remaining gang members proceed with the three boys. The group exits past a building site with large machines and a couple of security guards safeguarding the building site. They walk into meadow at a lake under a tree. The four force the three to participate in a running contest, with one of the three against one of the four, where the group of the winner gets all valuables of all the boys. The two walk along a curved path to the starting point from where they have to run back to the others. The three lose due to a trick of the four: the boy from the group of three thought they had to run along the path, but the other boy ran straight. The 5 argue about the bounty, justifying their share according to the roles one saying "I played good cop" another "I played bad cop". The three are free to go. Without phone to contact their parents and without money for the tram, they travel without a ticket; they do not explain the circumstances to the 2 conductors, get fined 1200 Kronas each and scolded for fare evasion.Later the gang is seen in a restaurant when the mother of one of the other boys calls. They make fun of her and him. Half a year later the father of one of the victims walks in a park with his son and a friend with his son. The victim recognizes the gang member sitting on a bench with the wooden cradle. The father and his friend ask for the phone and pull him when he does not comply. A pregnant female bystander disapproves but is told to stand clear. After the boy forks out the phone, the two adults leave him alone but get confronted by two female witnesses.

American actor Phillip Vanderploeg lives in Tokyo and constantly searches for work following his success in a toothpaste commercial seven years earlier. He is stuck taking minor roles until he is hired by Rental Family, a company that provides actors to play stand-in family members and friends for strangers. Initially reluctant due to its absurd premise, Phillip, desperate for funds, takes more jobs after the company's owner, Shinji, insists that they need a " token white guy ". Phillip is hired to act as the fiancé of Yoshie, who wants to perform a traditional wedding for her parents. Phillip nearly bails, reluctant to lie to Yoshie's family, but his co-worker Aiko convinces him to commit. Phillip later discovers that Yoshie is a closeted lesbian who is already married and is planning to depart to Canada with her wife. They profusely thank him for his help, giving him a different perspective on the job. Phillip takes on two long-term jobs - in one, he acts as the estranged father of a young half-Japanese girl named Mia, whose single mother, Hitomi, believes that presenting Phillip as Mia's real father will help Mia enroll in a private school. In another, Phillip is hired by a woman named Masami to act as a journalist profiling her father Kikuo Hasegawa, a retired actor with dementia; Masami hopes Phillip will make Kikuo feel remembered. Phillip forms strong bonds with Kikuo and Mia, who initially resents her "father" for abandoning her but eventually warms up to him. Phillip's agent informs him that he has landed a highly coveted role, which he declines for Mia's sake. Hitomi warns Phillip against getting too close to Mia and is offended when he criticizes her for planning Mia's whole life for her. At Masami's insistence, Phillip reluctantly declines Kikuo's request to take him to his abandoned childhood home in Amakusa. He also learns that some of Aiko's jobs involve her pretending to be a mistress apologizing to the wives of unfaithful husbands, often resulting in her being physically assaulted. Phillip is reluctant to lose the connections he has made, but Shinji asserts that parting ways with clients is a brutal but inevitable part of the job. Following the successful school interview, Phillip is forced to tell Mia that he must return to the United States. His time with her inspires him to take Kikuo to Amakusa. There, Kikuo finds a time capsule containing pictures of himself with his first wife, who died of an illness shortly after he left her to pursue his acting career in Tokyo; he breaks down upon seeing the photos and tearfully thanks Phillip for bringing him. Shinji calls Phillip and berates him for "kidnapping" Kikuo, but Phillip accuses him of using Rental Family to soullessly fill empty holes rather than make genuine connections. Kikuo collapses from exhaustion and is rushed to the hospital by Phillip, who is arrested for Kikuo's abduction. Mia discovers Phillip's true identity when her friend recognizes him on television. She is initially upset with her mother for lying to her, but later forgives her. During another session where Aiko acts as a man's mistress, she breaks character, informs the man's wife of the truth, and makes an oral resignation to Shinji. At home, a perplexed Shinji dismisses his "wife" and teenage "son," revealing them to be rented actors. Aiko and her co-worker Kota pretend to be lawyers interviewing Kikuo in an attempt to exonerate Phillip. Shinji also arrives, posing as a police detective. They convince Masami not to press charges against Phillip. Some time later, Kikuo dies in his sleep. Aiko, Shinji, Kota, and Phillip attend his funeral, where Phillip lays the photos from the time capsule on his body. Phillip visits Mia, who was accepted into the school. He reintroduces himself to her with his real name, and the two continue to spend time together as friends. Phillip and Aiko continue working at Rental Family, which discontinues the "apology services" that led to Aiko's abuse. Phillip returns to the Shinto shrine he once prayed at with Kikuo; having previously declined Kikuo's invitation to see what he was praying to, he looks inside, sees his reflection in a mirror, and smiles.

Wilee is a disenchanted Columbia Law School graduate who has put off taking the bar exam, dreading the humdrum life of the legal profession. He enjoys working as a New York City bicycle messenger, despite arguments with his girlfriend and fellow bike messenger, Vanessa, who insists that he should make something of himself. Vanessa's roommate Nima exchanges her savings of $50,000 to Mr. Leung, a Chinese hawaladar, for a ticket. The ticket is to be given to Sister Chen as payment for Chen's gang smuggling her son and mother into the United States. Robert Monday, a gambling addict, learns of the ticket, which can be returned to Mr. Leung for the money. He approaches Nima, who already hired Wilee to deliver it to Sister Chen. He attempts to trick Wilee into giving him the ticket, but Wilee refuses. Wilee rides off, with Monday in pursuit. Wilee heads to the police station only to find out Monday is a police detective. Thinking he is delivering something illegal, Wilee informs his dispatcher Raj that he cancels the delivery. Returning to Nima's college, Wilee leaves the envelope, which is picked up by his rival, Manny. With the delivery receipt stolen from Nima, Monday calls the dispatch to redirect the delivery to a different address. Wilee runs into Nima and confronts her about the ticket, and she reveals the truth. Wilee catches up to Manny, who refuses to give Wilee his drop. They race each other and are chased by a bike cop who had earlier tried to arrest Wilee. Near Monday's address, the bike cop tackles Manny off his bike and arrests him. Vanessa, who had learned of Monday's trickery and raced over gives Manny's bag to Wilee. As they are about to escape, Wilee is hit by a taxi, and fractures several ribs. He is put in an ambulance with Monday, while his damaged bike is taken to an impound lot, with the envelope hidden in the handlebars. Monday tortures Wilee, who asks for his bike back. Wilee tells Monday that the envelope is in Manny's bag, and Monday leaves to search for it, while Wilee meets with Vanessa in the impound lot. She gives him the envelope, which she had retrieved, and he escapes on a stolen bike. Monday, realizing Wilee has tricked him, pursues Wilee to Sister Chen's place. Meanwhile, Nima calls Mr. Leung for help. He deploys his enforcer, the Sudoku Man, to help her. As Wilee reaches Chinatown, Monday confronts and threatens to kill him, but Vanessa arrives with a mob of messengers, dispatched by Raj, who distract Monday. Wilee delivers the ticket to Sister Chen, who tells the captain of her ship to allow Nima's family aboard. Monday is confronted by Chinese and Italian mobsters and doesn't notice Sudoku Man, who shoots Monday in the back of his head using a Sudoku book to silence the pistol. Dying and feeling faint, Monday tries to get in his car but dies before he can do so. Nima's mother calls her and confirms that she and Nima's son have gotten on the ship. Nima meets with Wilee and Vanessa while they are finally reunited. Sometime later, Wilee is back on his job stating while one day he might settle in a firm job but does not feel ready.

After some footage of four inebriated soldiers filmed by PFC Juan Sebastián Restrepo a week before deployment, text is displayed that reads: "In May 2007, the men of Second Platoon, Battle Company began a 15 month deployment in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. It was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. Military." The Korengal flows north to the Pech, which then flows east to the Kunar River Valley on Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan. American soldiers and supplies were ferried into the remote Combat Outpost (COP) Korengal by Chinook helicopters. As an example of the ever-present dangers faced by the soldiers in the area, the first scene in the film that takes place in Afghanistan depicts a fire-fight after a military Hummer is disabled on a narrow mountain road by an IED. The remainder of the film chronicles the lives of the men of Second Platoon from a few months after their arrival in the Korengal Valley to the time of their return home. Early in their deployment, Pfc. Timothy R. Vimoto, 19, was killed in action, and the unit lost PFC Restrepo, their medic, shortly after. When Capt. Dan Kearney decided to construct an advanced outpost, the men chose to call it "OP Restrepo" in honor of their fallen comrade Juan Restrepo who so many have come to build a strong relationship with, which is where most of the film takes place. At Restrepo, the men came under fire almost daily, and often multiple times in a single day, from shifting enemy positions in the surrounding landscape. In addition to interrupting the flow of Taliban troops and weapons through the Korengal Valley, a major goal for the American troops was to provide security for the construction of a road and gain the trust of the populace. The film portrays negotiations and interactions between the soldiers and local leaders and citizens, some of which are congenial, and some of which are more antagonistic. A significant portion of the second half of the film consists of a depiction of Operation Rock Avalanche, which took place in October 2007. During the dangerous mission to hunt Taliban fighters in the Korengal Valley, Battle Company lost Staff Sergeant Larry Rougle during an ambush by a large number of enemies. SSG Rougle was at point and took the brunt of the attack, allowing his soldiers to secure a position and fight. A recipient of the Purple Heart who served two tours in Iraq and three in Afghanistan, SSG Rougle was subsequently buried in Arlington National Cemetery. According to Junger, Restrepo is a film, not just about the events of combat, but also about "brotherhood", and it shows the soldiers' dedication to their duty, as well as their commitment to one another. Interspersed throughout the film are excerpts from interviews recorded with some of the soldiers after Second Platoon returned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team 's base near Vicenza, Italy, in which the men candidly reflect on their experiences, feelings about those who were wounded or killed, and the emotional distress they will carry with them. Before the credits roll, text is displayed that reads: "In April 2010, the United States withdrew from the Korengal Valley. Nearly 50 American soldiers died fighting there."

Dave Brown, a 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), patrols the Rampart Division. While training a new officer, he roughs up a suspect to find the location of a meth lab. After work, he goes home to his two daughters and two ex-wives, who are also sisters. After dinner, he goes to a piano bar where he picks up a stranger and has a one night stand. The next day, Brown is t-boned in his patrol car. When the other driver attempts to flee, Brown brutally beats him and the assault is captured on video by a bystander. The video creates another controversy for the LAPD, which is already besieged by the recent Rampart scandal. The assistant district attorney pressures Brown to retire, but he refuses and outlines his defense. Over the course of the film, it is revealed that although Brown failed the bar exam, he remains extremely knowledgeable about case law. Back at the piano bar, Brown picks up a lawyer named Linda after first determining that she is not surveilling him. Later he meets with ex-cop Hartshorn, who suggests that Brown was set up to distract from the Rampart scandal. As the LAPD exerts more pressure on Brown, he retains legal counsel. Soon after, his ex-wives ask him to leave their houses so that they can sell them. Brown meets Hartshorn again and mentions his need for cash. Hartshorn tips him off to a high stake card game happening later that night at the Crystal Market. While Brown surveils the card game, it is knocked off by two armed men. Brown pursues the gunmen, killing one and letting the other go. He then stages the scene to make it look like he was shot at. Brown realizes that a homeless man nicknamed "General" witnessed the whole thing from his wheelchair. As another investigation into Brown heats up, he goes to a hotel and blackmails the concierge into giving him a room. Next, he blackmails a pharmacist into giving him an assortment of drugs. When Brown next meets Hartshorn to give him a cut of the money from the card game, he asks for the source of Hartshorn's tip, suspecting he was set up again. Hartshorn refuses to name his source. Brown then meets with General in a parking lot to make sure that he will not testify about witnessing the shooting. The next day, an investigator with the district attorney, Kyle Timkins, surveils Brown, who confronts him. Brown insists that he is not a racist, merely a misanthrope. Brown grows increasingly paranoid and reliant on drugs as the pressure on him mounts. He pulls a gun on Hartshorn and accuses him of setting him up. The elderly man scuffles with Brown until he has a heart attack. Instead of calling an ambulance, Brown leaves him to die. Back at the hotel, Brown's two daughters drop off some dry cleaning at his room, and he confesses to his younger daughter that everything she has heard about him is true. Brown summons Timkins to a meeting and tapes a confession in front of him. He admits that he has been a dirty cop, and that in 1987 he killed a business acquaintance. He justified the murder because he knew the man was a serial rapist, which is why he got away with the extrajudicial killing. Timkins refuses the confession, insisting that he will arrest Brown for his most recent murder. The film ends with Brown revisiting his family and staring at his elder daughter on the front porch before disappearing into the night.

In a dystopian 2045, people seek to escape from reality through the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a virtual reality entertainment universe created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Games. After Halliday's death, a pre-recorded message left by his avatar Anorak announces a contest, granting ownership of the OASIS to the first to find the golden Easter egg within it, which is locked behind a gate requiring three keys players can obtain by accomplishing three challenges. The contest has lured several egg hunters, or "Gunters", and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) who seeks to control the OASIS and insert intrusive online advertising. IOI uses an army of indentured servants and employees called "Sixers" to find the egg. Wade Watts, an avid orphaned Columbus, Ohio -based Gunter using the avatar Parzival, participates in the first challenge, an unbeatable race, along with his best friend Aech, and Art3mis, a female avatar whom Parzival has a crush on. Parzival regularly visits Halliday's Journals, a simulated archive of Halliday's life and hobbies, run by the Curator. Wade receives the Copper Key from Anorak after he wins by driving backward, while Art3mis, Aech, and his friends Daito and Sho, all win the race afterward, later being collectively named the High-5 on the OASIS' scoreboard. Sorrento hires the mercenary i-R0k to learn Wade's true identity, intent on bribing him to win the contest on IOI's behalf. Wade and Art3mis discover from the Journals that Halliday once dated Morrow's wife Karen "Kira" Underwood. Wade and Art3mis visit the Distracted Globe night club to look for clues, where Wade confesses his love and true name to Art3mis. They survive an IOI raid in which Art3mis abandons Wade, explaining that her father died in debt to IOI. i-R0k, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, informs Sorrento of his findings. Sorrento contacts Wade with his offer. When rejected, Sorrento attempts to kill Wade by bombing his house, killing Wade's aunt Alice among others. Art3mis' player Samantha Cook takes Wade in. Together, they realize the second challenge relates to Halliday's regret of not pursuing a relationship with Kira. Along with Aech, Daito, and Sho, Parzival and Art3mis search for the Overlook Hotel 's recreation. Art3mis asks Kira to dance and wins the Jade Key. Sorrento's subordinate F'Nale Zandor storms the Gunters' hideout, taking Samantha to an IOI Loyalty Center to pay off her father's debt. Wade escapes with the help of the other High-5 users, Helen Harris (Aech), Toshiro (Daito), and Zhou (Sho) in Helen's truck. Samantha escapes confinement after Wade and others hack Sorrento's OASIS rig. The third challenge is found in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom, where players must guess Halliday's favorite Atari 2600 game to earn the Crystal Key. iR0k places a forcefield around the castle using the Orb of Osuvox, but Art3mis eventually disables it. The High-5 lead an army of OASIS players against the Sixers. Sorrento fights back but Aech, Daito, and Art3mis destroy his avatar. Parzival destroys Samantha's avatar, allowing her to flee IOI while the High-5 pick her up, and reaches the console, but Sorrento uses the Cataclyst bomb to wipe out every avatar on Planet Doom including himself. Parzival survives using an extra life coin given to him earlier by the Curator in a bet. He plays the 1980 game Adventure and wins the Crystal Key by locating Warren Robinett 's Easter egg. He uses the three keys to enter a treasure room where Anorak offers him a contract. Parzival recognizes it as the one Morrow signed when Halliday forced him out of Gregarious Games and refuses to sign it. Anorak transforms into Halliday, who expresses his regrets in life and hands over the Easter egg. Sorrento and F'Nale are arrested in the aftermath of the bombing. Ogden Morrow appears, revealing he is the Curator. Wade decides to run the OASIS with the High-5, inviting Morrow to join them as a consultant. As the IOI Loyalty Centers shut down, the High-5 make the controversial choice to close the OASIS every Tuesday and Thursday, so people can spend more time in the real world.

Extreme sport athlete Johnny Utah and his friend Jeff are traversing a steep ridgeline on motorbikes. The run ends with a jump onto a lone stone column, where Jeff overshoots the landing and falls to his death. Seven years later, Utah is an FBI agent candidate. He attends a briefing on a skyscraper heist in Mumbai, in which the criminals stole diamonds, escaping by parachute. A similar heist happens in Mexico where the criminals unload millions of dollars in bills, then disappear into the Cave of Swallows. Utah's research concludes that they were done by the same men, who are attempting to complete the Ozaki 8, a list of eight extreme ordeals to honor the forces of nature. They have already completed three, and Utah predicts they'll attempt the fourth on a rare sea wave phenomenon in France. After presenting his analysis, Utah is sent undercover to France under a field agent named Pappas. They reach France and Utah gets help from others to surf the tall tube wave. As he goes in, there is already another surfer riding the wave, leaving Utah unstable. Utah gets sucked into the wave and faints, but the other surfer bails and rescues Utah. He wakes aboard a yacht with the surfer, Bodhi, and his team: Roach, Chowder, and Grommet. They leave him to enjoy the party and he gets acquainted with a girl, Samsara. The next day, Utah finds the men in an abandoned Paris train station after he overhears them talking about the location. Bodhi gives him an initiation fight and soon he is accepted into the circle. They travel to the Alps for the next ordeal: wingsuit flying through "The Life of Wind" cliffs. The four succeed in their attempt and spend some time together with Samsara. The next day, they climb the snow peaks for the sixth ordeal, snowboarding down a steep mountain of snow. They reach their spot, but Utah decides to extend his line, so the others follow him. Chowder slips and falls to his death, and Utah becomes depressed about it. After a party, Samsara explains that she and Bodhi both knew Ono Ozaki when they were young, that her parents died in an avalanche accident and Ozaki gave her a home after. She explains further that after Ozaki completed his third ordeal, despite what was widely believed that he died attempting the ordeal, he was actually killed by a whaling ship crashing into his boat while he was trying to save humpback whales. On his boat, Bodhi (a young boy at the time) decided not to tell the truth of his story but to finish what Ozaki started. Next they travel to a gold mine where Bodhi detonates explosives Grommet and Roach planted. After blowing his cover, Utah chases Bodhi, managing to trip his bike. Bodhi escapes because Utah cannot stand up after the crash. The FBI freezes Bodhi's sponsors' assets; Bodhi plans to rob a nearby Italian bank on a mountain top. Utah and the police intercept the group, resulting in a crossfire that kills Roach. As the group flees, Utah chases and shoots one of them to death, who is revealed to be Samsara and not Bodhi. Utah finds the location of the next ordeal: free solo climbing with no safety beside Angel Falls in Venezuela. He finds Bodhi and Grommet and chases them on the climb, but Grommet falters, falling to his death. Utah catches up to Bodhi, but he falls backward down the waterfall, completing what should have been the last ordeal. Bodhi, however, has to redo the fourth ordeal, because he bailed out on the wave when he chose to save Johnny. Seventeen months later, Utah finds him in the Pacific facing another giant wave. As Utah tries to get Bodhi to come back with him and pay for his crimes, he eventually lets Bodhi attempt to surf it, both knowing that he will not come back. The wave engulfs Bodhi, killing him. Utah begins going through his own ordeals, unclear whether he is still an FBI agent.

In 1982, Sam Brenner and his friends Will Cooper and Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamonsoff play at an amusement arcade together before Brenner participates in a video game championship, where he seemingly loses a Donkey Kong match to Eddie "The Fireblaster" Plant. Videotaped footage of the event is put in a time capsule that gets launched into outer space. In the present, Brenner, now an electronics installer, is summoned alongside lieutenant colonel Violet van Patten to the White House, where Cooper, now President of the United States, shows surveillance footage of a besiegement at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Brenner notes the attack's resemblance to the game Galaga, but Admiral James Porter of the United States Navy strongly advocates against its inference in the case. Brenner meets up with Lamonsoff, who reveals the attack was caused by an alien force that mistook the time capsule's footage as a declaration of war and are now challenging Earth to a best-of-three battle using technological recreations of the championship's games, claiming they have won the first match. Brenner and Lamonsoff inform Cooper of a coordinated aim at India, but he dismisses their concerns. After the aliens win the second match by demolishing the Taj Mahal as Arkanoid, Brenner and Lamonsoff train Navy SEALs to play the games while van Patten develops effective rayguns. Calling themselves the "Arcaders", the team heads to London, where the aliens attack Hyde Park as Centipede before being repelled by Brenner and Lamonsoff. Cooper, Lamonsoff and Brenner recruit a convicted Eddie to assist in New York City, where the Arcaders battle a giant Pac-Man in Mini Coopers representing the ghosts. After Brenner defeats Pac-Man, the Arcaders receive Q*bert as a trophy. During a celebration at the White House however, the aliens announce that one of the Arcaders has cheated, meaning Earth forfeits the challenge. Before being abducted by the aliens, van Patten's son Matty discovers Eddie cheated in the fight against Pac-Man using a code written on his glasses, which he also used in the 1982 video game championship. The aliens attack Washington, D.C. with an army of 1980s video game characters. With Cooper and a repentant Eddie's help, the Arcaders fight through the onslaught while Lamonsoff persuades Lady Lisa, a video game character whom he has a crush on, to join them. Brenner, Violet, Will and Q*bert are summoned to the aliens' mother ship for a final chance to save Earth by facing the aliens' leader as Donkey Kong. The group is placed on the game's starting level, with Donkey Kong and the captives at the top level. Struggling against the obstacles, Brenner loses hope until Matty reveals Eddie's cheating. Realizing he actually is the world's best Donkey Kong player, Brenner regains his spirit and defeats Donkey Kong, resulting in the aliens' forces, including Lisa, being neutralized. The Arcaders are hailed as heroes as Will negotiates a peace agreement with the aliens. Eddie apologizes to Brenner for cheating and acknowledges him as the best Donkey Kong player. Seeing Ludlow devastated over Lisa's termination, Q*bert cheers him up by shapeshifting into her. Brenner and van Patten begin a relationship, Eddie meets Serena Williams and Martha Stewart as he requested and the aliens return to their home planet.

Athena-1, a space station owned by nefarious gene-manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. Kerry Atkins, the lone surviving crew member, manages to escape in the escape pod when the station implodes, along with a trio of pathogen canisters that Energyne CEO Claire Wyden ordered her to retrieve, but the pod disintegrates upon re-entry, killing Atkins. One canister is swallowed by an American crocodile in the Everglades National Park and another lands in a Wyoming forest where a wolf is exposed to the pathogen. Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. He is friends with George, a rare leucistic western lowland gorilla that he rescued from poachers who murdered his mother and communicates with him via sign language. The third Energyne canister crash-lands in George's habitat, exposing him to the pathogen. As George grows considerably larger and more aggressive, Davis is contacted by genetic engineer Doctor Kate Caldwell, who explains that the pathogen was developed by Energyne to rewrite genes on a massive scale. She had hoped to advance research on CRISPR as a potential cure for diseases, but discovered Energyne's plans to use it as a biological weapon and was falsely incarcerated, during which her terminally ill brother died. George escapes from captivity and runs amok at the preserve. George calms down, but is soon captured by a government team led by Agent Harvey Russell and put on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airplane. Meanwhile, Claire and her brother Brett oversee a mercenary team's attempt to capture the mutated wolf, Ralph, which goes awry as the entire team is killed. Claire, resolving to capture Ralph and use George to cover up her plot, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure the animals – engineered to respond aggressively to a certain radio frequency – to Chicago, unconcerned about the massive risk to civilian lives this poses. George reacts violently to the sound and crashes the plane, though Davis, Kate and Harvey parachute to safety. George survives the crash and joins Ralph as they make their way to Chicago, while Davis and Kate are aided by Harvey in stealing a UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter in pursuit. They arrive to find George and Ralph tearing through the city as the military struggles to stop them. The crisis worsens when the mutated crocodile, Lizzie, joins the duo. Planning to steal an antidote to turn the animals back to normal, Davis and Kate infiltrate Energyne's base of operations at the tower and take several vials of it, but are caught by the Wydens as Claire reveals that the antidote only eliminates the animals' enhanced aggressiveness rather than reversing the pathogen's effects altogether and shoots Davis, but he survives. When George climbs to the top of the tower, Claire orders Davis to distract him while she attempts to escape with Kate at gunpoint. Kate slips a vial into Claire's handbag and pushes her toward George, who swallows her whole along with the vial, returning him to his former personality. Down below, Harvey takes incriminating evidence from Brett and allows him to escape, only for Brett to be crushed to death by falling debris upon exiting the building. As the damaged tower topples, Davis and Kate survive by crash-landing a helicopter on the Federal Plaza. Davis stays to help George defeat the other animals, while Kate and Harvey rush to prevent the military from deploying a GBU-43/B MOAB against them. During their confrontation, Davis tricks Ralph into attacking Lizzie, who decapitates him before gaining the upper hand against her enemies, only to be stabbed to death in the eye by a rebar -wielding George. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted as Davis is joined by his allies in rescuing misplaced civilians.

Lifelong vegetarian Justine begins her first semester at veterinary school, the same one her older sister Alexia is attending and where their parents met. On her first night, she meets her roommate Adrien, who claims he's gay, and they are forced to partake in a week-long hazing ritual, welcoming the new students. They are brought to a party, where Alexia shows Justine old class photos of students bathed in blood, including one with their parents. The next morning, the new class is splattered with blood and is forced to eat raw rabbit kidneys. Justine refuses because of her vegetarianism, but Alexia forces her to eat one. Justine leaves with Adrien and later discovers an itchy rash all over her body. She consults a doctor, who diagnoses her with food poisoning and gives her cream for the rash. The next day, Justine begins having cravings for meat, which makes her feel ashamed. After a failed attempt to steal a burger from the cafeteria, she and Adrien take a late-night trip to a gas station so no one will see her eating meat. Unsatisfied, she eats raw chicken in the morning, and later throws up a long bundle of her own hair she had been chewing on. That night, Alexia attempts to give her a bikini wax, but when Alexia tries to cut the wax off with sharp scissors, Justine kicks her away and Alexia accidentally cuts off her own finger. Alexia faints, and Justine picks up the finger, tastes the blood, and starts eating it. Alexia wakes up to find Justine doing this but later tells their parents that her dog, Quicky, ate it. The next morning, Alexia takes Justine to a deserted road, where Alexia jumps in front of a car, causing the two people in it to crash into a tree. Alexia starts eating one of the passengers so that her sister will "learn"; Justine is dismayed. Despite this, Justine's craving for human meat grows and she starts lusting after Adrien. That night, she arrives at a party, where paint is thrown at her as part of another hazing ritual and she is forced to make out with a boy. While kissing, Justine bites the middle of his bottom lip off, leaving the other party guests shocked and disgusted. Justine returns to her dorm and takes a shower, where she picks a chunk of his lip out of her teeth and eats it. Justine confides in Adrien and they end up having sex, during which Justine tries to bite Adrien but instead bites her own arm until it bleeds profusely, seeming to orgasm while doing so. At another party, Justine becomes extremely intoxicated and Alexia takes her to the morgue. The next day, everyone in school stares at Justine, some avoiding her. Adrien shows her a video where Justine is crawling on all fours, attempting to take a bite out of the arm of a corpse as Alexia eggs her on, to boos and cheers from a crowd of watching party guests. Justine confronts Alexia and fights her, eventually biting each other until they are pulled apart by other students. Justine helps Alexia up, and they walk each other back to their dorms. The next morning, Justine wakes up in bed with Adrien and notices she is covered in blood. She pulls off the blankets, finding Adrien dead with most of his right leg eaten and a stab wound in his back. Justine then sees a bloody Alexia slumped on the floor. Justine is initially furious that Alexia killed Adrien but then cleans Alexia and herself up in the shower. Alexia is imprisoned for the murder of Adrien, and Justine is sent back home. There, Justine's father tells her that what happened is neither hers nor Alexia's fault. He explains that when he first met their mother, he could not understand why she did not want to be with him. Her father says he finally realized when they kissed the first time, indicating a scar on his lip. He then opens his shirt, revealing scars and missing chunks of his chest, and assures Justine that she will find a solution.

A teenage girl, Cee, and her father, Damon, descend in a landing pod from a transport spaceship to the surface of a forest moon covered in poisonous spores to mine for gems that are located within living organisms. They suffer a technical malfunction during the descent which cripples the lander, and touch down some distance away from their planned prospecting site. They begin traveling to the site on foot and come across an abandoned dig site. Damon and Cee extract a fleshy pod from the earth and dissect it to reveal a valuable gem. Cee implores her father to take the gem and return to the lander, but Damon insists they continue to the original landing site. The pair set out again, and Damon is approached by two rival prospectors: Ezra and his silent companion. Ezra and his partner plan to rob Damon and hold him at gunpoint, but Damon suggests in a counter-offer that they join forces. Damon explains that he has been contacted to assist a group of mercenaries who stumbled upon the legendary queen's lair, a dig site of extraordinary value. Damon suggests that rather than digging for the mercenaries, Ezra, his companion, and Damon can work together and take the entire dig for themselves. Ezra agrees, but Cee, who has been hiding throughout this encounter, ambushes the two hostile prospectors with a rifle - allowing Damon to wrest a weapon from Ezra before taking the latter and his partner hostage. Damon attempts to rob Ezra, but the partner attacks him and the pair shoot each other. Ezra's partner is killed and Damon is mortally wounded before being killed by Ezra himself. Cee flees back to her damaged lander, which fails to start, and is found by Ezra several hours later. When Ezra attempts to enter, Cee wounds him in the arm with her rifle and takes him prisoner. Ezra suggests that they follow Damon's original plan and aid the mercenaries in exchange for passage on the mercenaries' ship. Cee reluctantly agrees, and the pair sets out for the queen's lair. Ezra's wound has become infected by the poisonous spores in the atmosphere, and so the pair approaches a group of human villagers with the intent to trade for medical treatment. The villagers instead offer a trade of gems in exchange for Cee. As Ezra asks about details of the offer, Cee flees the village and is briefly captured by a villager but is allowed to escape. After running for some time alone, Cee runs into Ezra once again. Cee asks him if he would've given her to the villagers in exchange for medical care but he says no. He explains they refused to help him so his wound has worsened considerably and Cee helps him amputate his arm. The pair set out once more and soon arrive at the mercenary camp surrounding the queen's lair. After negotiating passage on the mercenaries' ship, Cee and Ezra attempt to fulfil their end of the contract and extract gems from the queen's lair. They fail several extraction attempts, and as their mercenary guard turns to report their failure, Ezra attacks and kills him. The commotion attracts the rest of the mercenaries, and a fight ensues. Several mercenaries are killed, and Ezra is gravely wounded. Cee tends to Ezra's wound, and the pair escape into orbit on the mercenaries' ship.

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge tells his colleagues that he has no intention of celebrating Christmas. He refuses to donate to two men collecting for the poor. His nephew, Fred, invites him to dinner the next day, but Scrooge refuses, disparaging Fred for having married and mocking him for his lack of success. He gives his mistreated clerk, Bob Cratchit, the day off for Christmas but demands that he come to work early the next day. Scrooge returns home and is visited by the ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that he must change his ways or be condemned to wander the earth in agony for the selfish deeds he committed in life. Marley says Scrooge will be visited by three spirits, the first to arrive at one o'clock that night. Frightened, Scrooge takes refuge in his bed. The Ghost of Christmas Past arrives. Scrooge is shown himself alone at school, unwanted by his father after his mother died in childbirth. His beloved sister Fan arrives to take him home, telling Ebenezer that their father has had a change of heart toward him. The Spirit then shows Scrooge the annual Christmas party thrown by his former benevolent employer, S. Fezziwig. Scrooge watches his younger self propose to his sweetheart Alice, who accepts. He is then shown how he is tempted to leave Fezziwig's to join a business run by Mr. Jorkin. Scrooge witnesses the death of Fan after she gives birth to Fred and discovers he missed her last words asking him to look after her son. Scrooge's younger self joins Jorkin and meets Jacob Marley. Jorkin's firm buys Fezziwig's business, and Alice breaks her engagement to Scrooge because of his dedication to "a golden idol". When Jorkin is found to have embezzled funds from the now bankrupt company, Scrooge and Marley seize the opportunity to buy his shares. One Christmas Eve seven years earlier, Scrooge refuses to see Marley until the workday is finished and arrives just as his friend dies cold and alone. The Spirit reproaches Scrooge for taking Marley's money and house, as an ashamed Scrooge finds himself back in his bed. Scrooge is then visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present who takes him to see how "men of goodwill" celebrate Christmas. The spirit shows Scrooge poor miners joyfully singing Christmas carols and the Cratchits' celebration on Christmas Day. Scrooge asks whether their ailing young son, Tiny Tim, will survive his physical disabilities. The Spirit hints that he will not unless the future is changed but questions why Scrooge should care for the "surplus population". Scrooge and the spirit then visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred defends Scrooge from his guests' critical remarks. An older Alice is working in a poorhouse, where she ministers to the sick and homeless. The Spirit shows Scrooge two emaciated children, personifying Ignorance and Want. When Scrooge shows concern for their welfare, the Spirit scourges the miser with his own words: "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Finally, Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows him the Cratchits mourning Tiny Tim's death. Three people, including Scrooge's charwoman, Mrs. Dilber, sell off the possessions of a dead man, and two businessmen joke they will only attend the man's funeral if lunch is provided. When shown a gravestone bearing his own name, Scrooge begs the Spirit for a second chance; he then awakens in his bed. Scrooge learns that it is Christmas Day and gleefully realises he still has an opportunity to make amends. Though Mrs. Dilber is initially frightened by his transformation, Scrooge reassures her and gives her the day off with pay. He anonymously purchases a prize turkey for the Cratchits and sends it to them. He delights Fred by attending his dinner party, asking his niece-in-law's forgiveness and dancing with her. The next day, Scrooge plays a prank on Bob Cratchit and pretends to be about to fire him for lateness, but instead says he will raise Bob's salary and assist his family. Scrooge embodies the Christmas spirit and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim, who recovers.