Billionaire New Yorker Damian Hale is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He finds a business card directing him to Professor Albright, who informs him about a medical procedure called "shedding", in which one's consciousness is transferred into a new body. Damian agrees to the procedure and follows Albright's instructions to stage his own public death. Albright then transfers him into a new, younger body, and prescribes medication to alleviate the vivid hallucinations which he claims are side effects of the procedure. Damian starts a new life in New Orleans under the incognito name of Edward Kidner and is quickly befriended by his neighbor Anton. He later forgets to take his medicine and has hallucinations of a woman and child. Damian (as Edward) questions Albright, who dismisses it, but accidentally mentions details of the hallucinations that Damian had not disclosed. Albright then arranges for Damian to take a vacation in Hawaii, but Damian, convinced the hallucinations are a real memory, identifies a landmark he saw in his vision and heads to a farmhouse outside of St. Louis. There, he finds the woman, Madeline, who reacts to him as her apparently deceased husband Mark. Damian plays along as Mark, though he is shocked to learn that Mark may have sold himself to Albright, in order to pay for their daughter Anna's life-saving treatment. Damian and Madeline are suddenly attacked by Albright's men, including Anton. Damian fatally wounds Anton and kills his accomplices, then flees with Madeline to pick up Anna from school. At a nearby motel, Damian then uses a laptop to research additional details regarding "shedding", and discovers that a man named Dr. Francis Jensen, now deceased, was the pioneer researcher in the field of transhumanism. In a video, Damian notices a tic Jensen shares with Albright, then sees Albright sitting next to Jensen, deducing that Jensen may have shed his consciousness into Albright's body. Damian then finds Jensen's wife, Phyllis, in a nursing home, but she has Alzheimer's and remembers nothing. Damian lures Jensen (Albright) to the facility, where he reveals that the pills are meant to fully eliminate the original personalities of the bodies used in the shedding procedure, telling Damian that without the pills, Damian's consciousness will die, and Mark's will re-emerge. Jensen later escapes when more killers arrive. Damian is almost overpowered, but Madeline wounds the attacker, who proves to be Anton in a new body. Anton reveals that he has shed multiple times. While Damian confiscates Anton's pills, Anton taunts Madeline to ask her "husband" why he cannot answer personal questions about their life. Madeline then confronts "Mark" over his lack of knowledge of their personal details, causing Damian to reveal the entire story. He takes her and Anna to his old friend Martin O'Neill and convinces Martin to arrange for Madeline and Anna to flee to the Caribbean. When he and Madeline discover Anna playing with Martin's previously deceased child Tony, Martin admits that he allowed Tony to also use shedding and that Jensen's men are coming. Damian then reveals shedding's secret to Martin, who reacts in shock and disgust. Damian distracts Jensen's men while Martin helps the others to flee. Damian again fatally injures Anton, but the other thugs realize that Damian is alone and turn back, recapturing Madeline and Anna. Damian then purposely stops taking his medicine to experience more of Mark's memories, which reveal that Jensen has a lab in an abandoned warehouse. Jensen captures him and starts to shed Anton into Mark's body. Damian, remembering that metal interferes with the process, hides a bullet casing in his mouth, causing the Shedding Machine to malfunction, preventing the transfer of Anton's consciousness. Masquerading as Anton, Damian then rescues the others. Although Jensen tries to claim that Damian needs him to survive, Martin was able to reverse-engineer the pills and give Damian the formula, allowing Damian to safely torch Jensen to death with a flamethrower. After killing Jensen, he has Martin complete Madeline and Anna's escape to the Caribbean. Damian later visits his estranged daughter Claire but does not reveal his presence inside Mark, simply giving her a letter that reconciles Claire with her father. Damian then travels to the Caribbean and fully stops taking his medicine. The real Mark then slowly re-emerges and finds a video message from Damian thanking him for the time that he gave to him. The story concludes with Mark finally reuniting with his family.

Research scientist Galen Erso and his family are in hiding on the planet Lah'mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives to press him into completing the Death Star, a superweapon capable of destroying planets. Galen's wife Lyra is killed in the confrontation while their daughter Jyn escapes and is rescued by Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera. Fifteen years later, cargo pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, taking a holographic message from Galen to Saw on the moon Jedha. Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor learns of the Death Star and Bodhi's defection from an informant at Kafrene. Jyn is freed from an Imperial labor camp on Wobani and is brought to the Rebels' base on Yavin 4, where Rebel leader Mon Mothma convinces her to find Galen so the Alliance can learn more about the superweapon. Cassian is covertly ordered to aid Jyn but to kill Galen rather than extract him. Jyn, Cassian, and reprogrammed former Imperial droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, where the Empire loots kyber crystals to power the Death Star. In Jedha City, Saw and his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against the Empire, and Jyn and Cassian get caught in the crossfire. Aided by blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe and his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, Jyn makes contact with Saw, who is holding Bodhi. Saw shows her the message in which Galen reveals he has secretly built a vulnerability into the Death Star. The schematics are located in an Imperial data vault on the planet Scarif. Onboard the Death Star, Krennic orders a test-fire, which destroys Jedha City. Jyn and her group take Bodhi and flee the moon, but accidentally leave Galen's message behind. Saw chooses to stay behind and dies in the explosion. Imperial governor Grand Moff Tarkin congratulates Krennic before using Bodhi's defection as a pretext to take control of the Death Star. Bodhi leads the group to Galen's Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu, where Cassian hesitates to kill Galen. Rebel bombers then attack the facility; Galen is wounded and dies in Jyn's arms before she escapes with her group on a stolen Imperial cargo shuttle. Krennic is summoned by Darth Vader to answer for the attack on Jedha City. Krennic seeks his support for an audience with the Emperor, but Vader instead Force -chokes him to ensure no further problems occur. Jyn proposes a mission to steal the Death Star schematics, but the Alliance Council feels there is no chance of victory. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn's group leads a small squad of volunteers to raid the vault using the stolen Imperial shuttle, which Bodhi dubs "Rogue One." They gain entry through the planet's shield, and Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO infiltrate the base while the others attack the Imperial garrison as a diversion. The Alliance learns of the raid from intercepted Imperial communications and deploys the fleet in support, engaging in a space battle against the Imperial forces. K-2SO sacrifices himself so Jyn and Cassian can retrieve the data. Chirrut is killed after activating the switch to allow communication with the Rebel fleet, and Baze is killed shortly afterward. Bodhi is killed by a grenade after informing the Rebel fleet that it must deactivate the planetary shield to let the plans be transmitted. Rebel Admiral Raddus uses an Alliance ship to crash two Imperial Star Destroyers into each other; the wreckage destroys the shield generator. Jyn obtains the plans but is ambushed by Krennic, who is shot and wounded by Cassian. Jyn transmits the plans to the Rebel command ship moments before the Death Star arrives above Scarif. Tarkin then orders the Death Star to destroy the citadel; Krennic is vaporized by the demolition beam, while Jyn and Cassian find themselves unable to escape the explosion, and embrace as they are killed in the ensuing shockwave. The Rebel fleet begins to jump to hyperspace; however, many ships are intercepted by Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. Vader boards the Rebel command ship and slaughters many troops in an attempt to reclaim the plans, but a smaller ship escapes with them. Aboard the fleeing ship preparing to enter hyperspace, Princess Leia Organa declares that the plans will bring hope for the Rebellion.

David Kim lives in San Jose, California with his daughter, Margot. His wife, Pamela, was diagnosed with lymphoma and died before Margot entered high school. David calls Margot who says she is with a study group and will be there all night. That same night, Margot attempts to call David three times, but he is asleep. The following day, David is unable to contact Margot. Believing she is attending her piano lesson, David calls the instructor, but is told that Margot canceled her lessons six months earlier. He finds a phone for her friend Isaac and finds out from Isaac's mom that he and some friends, including Margot, are on a camping trip in the mountains. Once Isaac reaches out to him he finds out that Margot never made it on the trip with her friends prompting him to call and file a missing person's report. The case is assigned to Detective Rosemary Vick. Through her social media accounts, and after speaking with "friends" of Margot David learns she isn't really close with any of the friends and Margot has become a loner since Pamela's death. He discovers she pocketed and transferred $2,500 to a now-deleted Venmo account. Vick reports Margot made a fake ID and shows traffic camera footage of her car outside the city, suggesting she may have run away. Unconvinced, David discovers Margot had been using a streaming site called YouCast, and befriended a young woman named Hannah. Vick reports Hannah's innocence, having been sighted in Pittsburgh at the time of the disappearance. From Margot's Tumblr account, David notices she frequently visited Barbosa Lake near the highway where she was last seen. He finds her Pokémon keychain there, and the police discover her car in the lake, which contains an envelope with $2,500. A search party is organized, but a storm delays the operation. After David has an altercation with a boy who claims to know Margot's whereabouts, Vick tells him he can no longer participate in the investigation. Undeterred, David visits TMZ, which displays the crime scene photographs, and notices his brother Peter's jacket. He discovers text messages between Margot and Peter that suggest an incestuous relationship. Upon confrontation, Peter explains they were only smoking marijuana and confiding in each other. He chastises David for being negligent towards Margot, who is still grieving Pamela's death. Vick calls David and tells him an ex-convict named Randy Cartoff confessed to raping and killing Margot before committing suicide. An empty-casket funeral is arranged for Margot. As David uploads photos to a funeral streaming site, he notices the website's stock photograph features a picture of Hannah. Discovering she is a stock model, he contacts her, and she reveals that she does not know Margot and that the police never called her. Talking to a police dispatcher, David learns that Vick was not assigned to the case but volunteered. He discovers she knew Cartoff through a volunteer program for ex-convicts. Reporting this to the sheriff, David confronts Vick, who is arrested at the funeral. Vick agrees to confess, in exchange for leniency for her son, Robert. Having a crush on Margot, Robert used the YouCast account under the name Hannah to get close to her. Margot sent money to Robert's Venmo account, believing he was a working-class girl whose mother had cancer. Ashamed for lying, Robert wanted to return the money in person and followed her to Barbosa Lake to reveal himself. He surprised her by getting into her car, and she ran, with him accidentally pushing her off a cliff into a 50-foot-deep ravine. Assuming the accident was fatal and could be perceived as manslaughter or even first-degree murder, Vick decided to cover up the incident, pushing the car into the lake and fabricating the fake ID evidence to make it look like Margot ran away. After David found the car, Vick turned Cartoff into the fall guy and staged his confession. Vick says that Margot is still in the ravine, suggesting that even if she had survived the fall, she could not have lived five days without water. David tells the police to return to the ravine, remembering the storm on the third day of the search, which could have provided her with water. The rescue crew finds Margot severely injured but alive. Two years later, Margot applies for college to major in piano. David tells her Pamela would have been proud of her. Margot changes her desktop picture from one of Pamela and her to the one David sent her of the two of them in the school hallway after the rescue, reflecting a closer relationship between them.

The film begins with Ross Ulbricht's arrest in San Francisco in 2013. It then delves into Ross's background, portraying him as a well-educated aspiring entrepreneur living in Austin, Texas. Ross comes up with the idea for Silk Road as a way to challenge government control and regulations, believing in the idea of taking back liberty. He starts the website to allow anonymous buying and selling of illegal goods using cryptocurrencies, and it flourishes, with Ross making millions by facilitating the sale of illegal items such as drugs, weapons, and identity information. Julia connects him with a contact at Gawker in order to drive interest in the site, and though the plan works, the increased attention leads to Meanwhile, DEA agent Rick Bowden has returned to work following a mandated stay in rehab after abusing drugs. Despite having little experience with technology, he is punished with a reassignment to the cybercrimes unit, where he is instructed to wait out nine months until he can retire with a full pension. Unwilling to merely languish, Rick begins to investigate Silk Road by registering and posing as a regular user, though his findings are ignored or dismissed by his superiors and colleagues, who are much younger and mock his seemingly outdated methodology and tactics. He is eventually assigned to an FBI task force unit dedicated to taking down Silk Road and tracking down Ross. Rick manages to ingratiate himself with Ross, building a friendship with him over Silk Road chatrooms with the help of the more tech-savvy Rayford, a former informant that Rick had blackmailed into lending assistance. After Ross hires Curtis Clark Green, a longtime user and seller on Silk Road, as Silk Road's sole employee, the task force manages to track down Green. Rick apprehends Green, and Ross grows increasingly panicked as Green apparently disappears. Rick, posing as a disinterested third party, offers to assist, and Ross agrees. After squeezing information about Silk Road and Ross from Green through torturous interrogation, Rick manipulates Ross into ordering Green's murder (which he feigns) while privately using Green to steal cryptocurrency from Silk Road's escrow. Both Ross and Rick's personal lives begin to fray: Julia, already having become disillusioned with Silk Road's impact on poor communities after learning that crystal meth and crack cocaine are being sold there, breaks up with Ross for good after he grows increasingly paranoid and obsessed. Ross also begins to question his own mission after learning of a teenager who died while taking drugs purchased from Silk Road. Meanwhile, Rick's investigation puts an emotional and financial strain on his family as he remains engrossed in the case. Ross begins to rely on Rick as a fixer, with Rick even showing up to his apartment incognito to coach him upon learning that FBI agents will be coming to his address for questioning after intercepting forged passports that he purchased from Silk Road. Cognizant that he will be arrested for his involvement once Ross is captured, Rick extorts Ross for hundreds of thousands of dollars by posing as both a hacker and hitman offering to dispose of said hacker, intent on providing for his family while he is in prison. The FBI task force, completely unaware of Rick's activities, eventually close in on Ross, and he is arrested in a public library. Rick is arrested not long afterwards, though not before confronting his superiors and warning that actors like Ross will soon be running the world. Ross and Rick are both sentenced to prison, where Ross passes Rick by chance one day and stares after him in disbelief.

Psychologist Kris Kelvin is about to be sent on an interstellar journey to evaluate whether a decades-old space station, positioned over the oceanic planet Solaris, should continue its research. He spends his last day on Earth with his elderly father and a retired pilot named Burton. Years earlier, Burton had been part of an exploratory team at Solaris but was recalled when he described strange happenings, including seeing a four-meter-tall child on the surface of the water on the planet. A panel of scientists and military personnel dismissed these visions as hallucinations, but now that the remaining crew members are making similarly strange reports, Kelvin's skills are needed. After leaving the house, Burton tells Kelvin that he recognized the child's face as that of one who was orphaned due to the disappearance of one of the Solaris explorers. Upon his arrival at the Solaris research station, he finds it in disarray. He soon learns that his friend among the scientists, Dr. Gibarian, has killed himself. The two surviving crewmen—Snaut and Sartorius—are erratic. Kelvin also catches fleeting glimpses of others aboard the station who were not part of the original crew. He finds that Gibarian left him a rambling, cryptic farewell video message, warning him about the strange things happening at the station. The video shows two appearances of a little girl who should not be aboard the station, with Gibarian asking Kelvin if he has seen her and insisting he is not insane, and should strange things happen to Kelvin, it will not be Kelvin having gone insane. After a fitful sleep, Kelvin is shocked to find Hari, his wife who died ten years earlier, sitting in his sleeping quarters. She is unaware of how she got there. Terrified by her presence, Kelvin launches the replica of his wife into outer space. Snaut explains that the "visitors" or "guests" began appearing after the scientists conducted radiation experiments, directing X-rays at the swirling surface of the planet in a desperate attempt to understand its nature. That evening, Hari reappears in Kelvin's quarters. This time, he calmly accepts her and they fall asleep together in an embrace. Hari panics when Kelvin briefly leaves her alone in the room, and injures herself attempting to escape. But before Kelvin can give first aid, her injuries spontaneously heal before his eyes. Sartorius and Snaut explain to Kelvin that Solaris created Hari from his memories of her. The Hari present among them, though not human, thinks and feels as though she were. Sartorius theorizes that the visitors, also called "guests", are not composed of atoms like regular humans, but are made of neutrinos, and that it might still be possible to destroy them through use of a device known as "the annihilator". Later, Snaut proposes beaming Kelvin's brainwave patterns at Solaris in hopes that it will understand them and stop the disturbing apparitions. In time, Hari becomes more human and independent and is able to exist away from Kelvin's presence without panicking. She learns from Sartorius that the original Hari had taken her own life ten years earlier. Sartorius, Snaut, Kelvin and Hari gather together for a birthday party, which evolves into a philosophical argument, during which Sartorius reminds Hari that she is not real. Distressed, Hari kills herself again by drinking liquid oxygen, only to painfully resurrect after a few minutes. On the surface of Solaris, the ocean begins to swirl faster into a funnel. Kelvin falls ill and goes to sleep. He dreams of his mother as a young woman, washing away dirt or scabs from his arm. When he awakens, Hari is gone; Snaut reads her farewell note, in which she explains how she petitioned the two scientists to destroy her. Snaut then tells Kelvin that since they have broadcast Kelvin's brainwaves into Solaris, the visitors have stopped appearing and islands have started forming on the planet's surface. Kelvin debates whether to return to Earth or remain on the station. Kelvin appears to be at the family home seen at the beginning of the film. He sinks to his knees and embraces his father. The camera slowly cranes away to reveal that they are on a Solaris island.

The film opens with a prologue that consists of four segments described by critics as "vignettes". They show the principal characters in different parts of the world and provide their backstories. Nilo, an elegantly dressed man, enters a flat in Veracruz. Nilo immediately executes the unsuspecting tenant with a silenced revolver and proceeds to casually walk out of the building and onto the square. A group of Palestinian militants disguised as Jews causes an explosion near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, after which they take shelter at their hideout, where they assemble weaponry and plan their escape. After getting surrounded by the Israel Defense Forces, they split up; two are killed and one is apprehended. The only one who manages to escape is Kassem, a demolitions expert. The segment finishes as he helplessly stares from a crowd at his captured companion. While discussing a book his wife is editing, Victor Manzon discovers an anniversary gift from her: a watch with a special dedication. After meeting with the president of the Paris Stock Exchange, where he is accused of fraud, Victor is given 24 hours to provide collateral to have the charges dropped. Victor meets his business partner and brother-in-law, Pascal, and they quarrel; Victor insists that Pascal contact his father for financial assistance. Victor dines with his wife and her friend in a glamorous restaurant; he later receives a message from a butler that Pascal is waiting outside. When he learns that Pascal's father has refused to help, Victor is adamant that they try again. He walks his partner to a car, but Pascal unexpectedly commits suicide. Faced with impending doom, Victor leaves both his wife and the country. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, an Irish gang robs a Catholic church that is connected with a rival Italian Mafia crew and organizes cash bingo games. During the heist, a robber shoots and wounds one of the priests counting the proceeds of the bingo. Back in their car, the Irish gang members engage in a heated argument that causes Jackie Scanlon, the driver, to lose concentration and collide with a truck. Everyone is killed but Jackie, who escapes with serious injuries. The wounded priest turns out to be the brother of Carlo Ricci, an Italian Mafia kingpin who also controlled the flow of money in the church and is determined to kill Jackie at all costs. Jackie meets with his friend Vinnie, who reveals the gravity of the situation and finds a suitable place for him to escape. Jackie has no option but to agree. Kassem, Victor, and Jackie all assume fake identities and end up in Porvenir, a remote village somewhere in South America. Its conditions are in stark contrast to their previous lives. The village economy is heavily reliant on an American oil company. Kassem befriends a man called 'Márquez', presumably a Nazi war criminal. They all live in extreme poverty and earn meager salaries. All want out, but their savings are inadequate for emigration. After some time, Nilo arrives in the village, raising suspicions. In the meantime, an oil well explodes, and the only way to extinguish the fire is to use dynamite. Since the only available dynamite has been improperly stored in a remote depot, the nitroglycerin contained inside has become highly unstable; the faintest vibration could cause an explosion. With all other means ruled out, the only way to transport it the 218 miles (351 km) is to use trucks. The company seeks four drivers to man two vehicles. Kassem, Victor, Jackie and 'Márquez' are offered the job, but they have to assemble the trucks using scrap parts. Shortly before their departure, Nilo kills and replaces 'Márquez', which angers Kassem. The four drivers embark upon the perilous journey, facing many hazards and internal conflicts. Despite their differences, they are forced to cooperate. They traverse a decrepit bridge during a violent thunderstorm, Kassem and Victor nearly losing their truck in the process. The team is forced to use one of the boxes of dynamite to destroy a massive fallen tree blocking their path. The rough terrain on a cliff-side road causes Kassem and Victor's truck to blow a tire, sending the truck over the cliff; it explodes and kills the pair. When Nilo and Jackie stop at the scene of the destruction, armed guerrillas surround them in an attempted robbery. They kill the men but Nilo is mortally wounded, soon dying from his injuries. Now alone, Jackie struggles to stay sane, overwhelmed by sleep deprivation, hallucinations and flashbacks. When his truck's engine dies less than 2 miles (3.2 km) short of the destination, he is forced to carry the remaining dynamite on foot. Once he finally reaches his destination, he collapses from exhaustion. At the bar back in Porvenir, Jackie is given a Colombian passport and payment for the job by the oil company, as well as an offer of another job. Before he leaves, he asks a charwoman for a dance. As the two dance, Carlo Ricci's henchmen, along with Jackie's old friend Vinnie, emerge from a taxi and walk into the bar wielding guns. A single gunshot is heard, and Jackie's fate is left unknown as the film cuts to black.

In a period of galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen blueprints to the Death Star, a colossal space station built by the Galactic Empire that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, secretly a rebel leader, has obtained the schematics, but her ship is intercepted and boarded by Imperial forces under the command of Darth Vader. Leia is taken prisoner, but the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO escape with the plans, crash-landing on the nearby desert planet of Tatooine. Darth Vader orders his troops to pursue the droids. The droids are captured by Jawa traders, who sell them to the moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew, Luke Skywalker. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he discovers a recording of Leia requesting help from a former ally named Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2-D2 goes missing, and while searching for him, Luke is attacked by Sand People. He is rescued by the elderly hermit Ben Kenobi, who soon reveals himself as Obi-Wan. He tells Luke about his past as one of the Jedi Knights, peacekeepers of the former Galactic Republic, who drew mystical abilities from the Force and were all but exterminated by the Empire. Luke learns that his father, also a Jedi, fought alongside Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars until Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered him. Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's lightsaber, the signature weapon of the Jedi. R2-D2 plays Leia's full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to Alderaan and give them to her father, a fellow veteran, for analysis. Luke initially declines Obi-Wan's offer to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force. However, he quickly changes his mind after Imperial stormtroopers murder his family and destroy his home while searching for the droids. Seeking a way off the planet, Luke and Obi-Wan travel with the droids to the city of Mos Eisley and hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee partner Chewbacca, pilots of the starship Millennium Falcon. On the way to Alderaan, Obi-Wan begins Luke's training in the use of the Force. Meanwhile, the Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin has Alderaan obliterated by the station's superlaser. The Death Star's tractor beam captures the Falcon, but Luke and his companions manage to avoid detection and infiltrate the station. Vader, however, senses Obi-Wan's presence, and begins searching for him. As Obi-Wan deactivates the tractor beam, Luke persuades Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue Leia, who is scheduled for execution after refusing to reveal the location of the rebel base. After disabling the tractor beam, Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel against Vader, which allows the rest of the group to escape. Using a tracking device placed on the Falcon, the Empire locates the rebel base on the moon Yavin 4. Analysis of the Death Star schematics reveals a weakness in a small exhaust port leading directly to the station's reactor. Luke joins the Rebellion's X-wing squadron in a desperate attack against the Death Star, while Han and Chewbacca leave to pay off a debt to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. In the ensuing battle, Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters and destroys several rebel ships, while Tarkin prepares to destroy Yavin 4 with the Death Star. Han and Chewbacca unexpectedly return in the Falcon, knocking Vader's ship off course before he can shoot Luke down. Guided by the voice of Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke uses the Force to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, causing the Death Star to explode moments before it can fire on the rebel base. In a triumphant ceremony, Leia awards Luke and Han medals for their heroism.

In a distant galaxy, a starship searches for the evil Count Zarth Arn. Closing in on a planet, the ship is attacked by a mysterious weapon which drives the crew insane. Three escape pods launch, but the ship crashes into the atmosphere of the planet and is destroyed. Meanwhile, smugglers Stella Star and Akton run into the Imperial Space Police, led by robot sheriff Elle and Police Chief Thor. Akton and Stella escape by jumping into hyperspace. When they emerge, they discover an escape pod from the attacked starship, and in it, a disoriented survivor. The police track their hyperspace trail and apprehend them. Tried and convicted of piracy, they are sentenced to life in prison on separate planets. Stella escapes from her prison, but Elle and Thor recapture her, only to inform her the authorities have canceled her sentence; she is taken to an orbiting ship, where she is reunited with Akton. They are contacted by the Emperor of the Galaxy, who thanks them for recovering the starship survivor. The Emperor orders Stella and Akton to find a secret weapon of immense power which Count Zarth Arn has hidden away. They are offered clemency if they help find two more missing escape pods as well as the mothership, one of which may contain the Emperor's only son. Accompanied by Thor and Elle, Stella and Akton arrive at the location Akton computes for the first escape pod. Stella and Elle take a shuttle and land near the pod on a beach. There are no survivors. Stella meets an Amazonian warrior tribe and is escorted to their underground fortress. On arrival, Elle is ambushed, shot and left for dead, and Stella is taken before Amazon Queen Corelia, who is in league with Zarth Arn. Elle, revealed not to have died, makes his way to the throne room, taking Corelia hostage to secure Stella's release. They escape, but the queen activates a giant robot which chases them until they are rescued by Akton and Thor. On an uninhabited, frozen planet, Stella and Elle investigate the mothership crash site. They find no survivors. Upon their return to the ship, Thor, who has ambushed and apparently knocked out Akton, reveals that he is an agent of Zarth Arn. Thor locks Stella and Elle outside on the planet's surface, where the temperature drops thousands of degrees at night. Elle preserves Stella's life by using his energy to keep her heart going while they freeze over in the snow. Akton revives and battles Thor, killing him and subsequently rescuing Elle and Stella. Approaching the planet of the third escape pod, their ship comes under attack from the weapon which downed the starship. Akton steers the ship through it, saving them. Stella and Elle, inspecting the pod wreckage, are attacked by cavemen who smash Elle to pieces and abduct Stella. The Emperor's son, Prince Simon, arrives and rescues her by firing lasers through his eyes. They are again attacked and overpowered by the cavemen, but Akton appears and fights them off with his laser sword; he then reveals that they are standing on the Count's weaponized planet. Arriving at an underground laboratory, the three are captured by guards. The Count appears and reveals his plan to use them as bait to bring the Emperor to the planet and then have his weapon self-destruct, destroying the planet, the Emperor and all three of them. He leaves, ordering his two robot golems to keep the group there. Akton engages them in a laser sword duel and defeats the robots, but is mortally wounded by one of them and fades away, thanks to Simon's assistance, which helps to continue the duel with one of them. The Emperor arrives and fires a green ray from his flagship to "stop time" for three minutes, allowing them all to escape as the planet explodes. A battle commences between the Emperor's armada and the Count's, with the Emperor's soldiers storming the Count's space station. The attack fails and the victorious Count gets ready to destroy the Emperor's home planet. The Emperor decides to ram the Count's space station with a massive space station, the Floating City, in a 4th dimensional attack, “Starcrash”. Elle has been rebuilt by the Emperor's men. Stella and Elle fly the City towards the space station and escape together just as their station crashes into the Count's, winning the war. Stella and Elle are picked up by Simon and the two humans embrace. The Emperor delivers a victory speech.

In 1964, eight-year-old Allen Bauer and his family are taking a boat tour at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Allen is fascinated by something below the surface and jumps overboard, even though he cannot swim. In the ocean, he encounters a young girl, and when they hold hands, he inexplicably finds himself able to breathe underwater. However, Allen is rescued and pulled back to the surface, and the two are separated. Since no one else saw the girl, Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death hallucination. After the boat pulls away, the young girl is revealed to be a mermaid. Twenty years later, Allen is now co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City with his womanizing older brother, Freddie. Throughout the years, Allen's relationships have failed as he subconsciously seeks the connection he shared with the mermaid. Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he encounters eccentric scientist Walter Kornbluth on a diving expedition. When his motorboat restarts, Allen falls into the sea and is knocked unconscious; his wallet drops onto the coral below. He later wakes up on a beach, with a headache from the accident, in the presence of a beautiful, naked young woman who is unable to talk. After kissing Allen, the woman dives into the sea, where she transforms into a mermaid. While swimming underwater, she is sighted by Kornbluth. The mermaid finds Allen's wallet and uses a sunken ship's charts to locate New York. She comes ashore naked at the Statue of Liberty and is arrested for indecent exposure. Using information from the wallet, the police contact Allen, and she is released into his care. The mermaid learns how to speak English from watching television and is eager to explore the city. Unable to say her real name in human language, she selects "Madison" from a Madison Avenue sign. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days, and the moon is full", unable to return home if she stays any longer. Despite Madison's occasionally outlandish behavior, she and Allen fall in love. He proposes to her, but she declines and runs away. After some contemplation, Madison returns to Allen and agrees to marry him, with the added promise of telling him the truth about herself after an upcoming dignitary dinner to welcome the President. Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that Madison is the mermaid he encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her by splashing her with water. After his first attempts are unsuccessful, Kornbluth ultimately infiltrates the dignitary dinner, soaking Madison with a hose and unmasking her identity. Madison is seized by government agents and taken to a secret lab, headed by Kornbluth's cold-hearted rival, Dr. Ross, for examination. As she withers away in captivity, Kornbluth learns that the scientists are planning to dissect her, causing him to regret his actions. Allen is shocked by Madison's secret and rejects her, but when he voices his disillusionment to his brother, Freddie berates him, reminding him how happy he was with her. Realizing that he still loves Madison, Allen confronts the guilt-ridden Kornbluth, who, having been rejected by his colleagues despite proving the existence of mermaids, agrees to help rescue her. Kornbluth, accompanied by Allen and Freddie impersonating Swedish scientists, enters the lab and smuggles Madison outside. Freddie stays behind to be arrested in Allen's place, while Kornbluth unsuccessfully tries to stop military troops from catching the couple. As they make it to New York Harbor, Madison tells Allen that he can survive underwater as long as he is with her, prompting Allen to realize that she was the girl he had met underwater as a child. She warns him that if he comes to live in the sea, he will never be able to return to land. Madison dives into the water as the troops close in on them. When they attempt to arrest Allen, he jumps in after her but starts to drown. She kisses him, gifting him the ability to swim and breathe underwater. Frogmen try to recapture them, but the couple fight them off and escape. Allen discards his jacket as the couple happily swims toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.

Starman is a love story. It's It Happened One Night — John Carpenter The Voyager 2 space probe, launched in 1977, carries a phonographic disc with a message of peace, inviting alien civilizations to visit Earth. The probe is intercepted by an alien ship traveling through space which then sends a scout vessel to establish first contact with Earth. Instead of greeting the vessel, the U.S. government shoots it down. Crashing in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin, the lone alien occupant, looking like a floating ball of energy, finds the home of recently widowed Jenny Hayden. He uses a lock of hair from her deceased husband Scott, to clone a body for himself. The alien "Starman" has seven spheres with him which provide energy to perform miraculous feats. The alien uses the first sphere to send a message to his people stating that Earth is hostile and his spacecraft was destroyed. He arranges to rendezvous with them in three days' time. He then uses the second sphere in self-defense and the third to create a holographic map of the United States, coercing Jenny into taking him to the rendezvous in Arizona. Jenny, however, attempts to escape. Having a very basic understanding of the English language from the phonographic disk, the Starman learns to communicate with Jenny and assures her that he means no harm. He explains that if he does not reach the rendezvous point, Arizona's Barringer Crater, in three days, he will die. Jenny teaches the Starman how to drive a car and use credit cards, so he can continue the journey alone. When he resurrects a dead deer, she is moved and decides to stay with him. The authorities pursue the pair across the country. A police officer shoots and critically wounds Jenny. To escape, the Starman crashes their car into a gas tanker and uses another sphere to protect them from the explosion. They take refuge in a mobile home that is being towed. He uses another sphere to heal Jenny. After being assured that she will recover, he proceeds to hitchhike toward Arizona without her, but Jenny reaches him while he and his driver are stopped at a roadblock. Reunited, they hitchhike together, resuming their journey towards the crater. Later, while stowing away on a railroad boxcar, the two have sex. The Starman tells Jenny, "I gave you a baby tonight." She reveals that she is infertile, but he assures her that she is pregnant. He explains that Scott is the posthumous father, as Starman used Scott's DNA to clone himself. As a child also of Starman, their son will possess all the Starman's knowledge and will grow up to be a teacher. Starman offers to stop the pregnancy if she wishes, but Jenny embraces him, accepting the gift. They accidentally travel too far on the train and arrive in Las Vegas. Jenny loses her wallet. The Starman uses one of their last quarters in a slot machine, which he manipulates to win the $500,000 jackpot. They buy a Cadillac to complete their journey to Arizona. National Security Agency director George Fox learns that the Starman's flight trajectory, prior to being shot down, was to the Barringer Crater. So, he arranges to have the Army capture the Starman, dead or alive. SETI scientist Mark Shermin, another government official involved in the case, criticizes Fox's heavy-handed approach and reminds him that the Starman was invited to Earth. Appalled to learn that Fox is planning to vivisect the alien, Shermin then resolves to help the Starman escape rather than let Fox capture him. Jenny and the dying Starman reach the crater as Army helicopters pursue them. Just as they are surrounded, a large spaceship appears and descends into the crater. Light surrounds the couple and the Starman is fully healed. While preparing to leave, he tells Jenny he will never see her again. Jenny asks him to take her with him, but he says she would die on his world. He then gives her his last sphere, saying that their son will know what to do with it. Jenny watches as the ship departs.

Recent Georgetown University graduates Alec Newberry, Leslie Hunter, Kevin Dolenz, Jules Van Patten, and Kirby Keager wait to hear about the conditions of their friends: Wendy Beamish, a sweet-natured young woman devoted to helping others, and Billy Hicks, a former fraternity boy and now reluctant husband and father, after a minor car accident caused by Billy's drinking. At the hospital, Kirby spots an intern named Dale Biberman, with whom he has been infatuated since college. The group gathers at their favorite college hangout, St. Elmo's Bar. Billy has been fired from the job that Alec helped him secure. At their apartment, Alec pressures Leslie to marry him, but she thinks they are unprepared. Kirby is telling Kevin of his love for Dale when Billy shows up, asking to spend the night as he cannot cope with his wife Felicia. Jules accuses Kevin of being gay and loving Alec. When Kevin visits Alec and Leslie for dinner, Alec confesses to Kevin that he recently had sex with a lingerie saleswoman. Billy and Wendy get drunk together, and Wendy reveals that she is a virgin. They kiss, and Billy, tugging at her clothing, makes fun of her girdle. Wendy insists they remain platonic friends. At St. Elmo's during a Halloween party, Jules reveals to Leslie that she is having an affair with her married boss Forrester Davidson. Billy sees Felicia with another man in the crowd and attacks him. Billy is thrown out of the bar but reconciles with Felicia. The women confront Jules about her affair and reckless spending, but she insists that everything is under control. Kirby takes a job working for Kim Sung Ho, a wealthy Korean businessman, and invites Dale to a party at Mr. Kim's house, which he is using without Mr. Kim's permission. Wendy arrives with Howie Krantz, an ungainly Jewish boy whom her parents want her to marry. Alec announces that he and Leslie are engaged, upsetting her. She confronts him about her suspicions of his infidelity, and the two break up. Alec accuses Kevin of telling Leslie about the tryst with the lingerie woman. Jules gives Billy a ride home, and Billy makes a pass at her. Furious, Jules orders him out of her car; Felicia witnesses the confrontation. When Dale skips the party, Kirby drives to the ski lodge where she is staying and meets her boyfriend Guy. Kirby's borrowed car gets stuck, and Dale and Guy invite him in. The next morning, as Kirby prepares to leave the lodge, Dale tells him that she is flattered by his interest in her. He kisses her, and then Guy takes a photo of them before he leaves. Leslie goes to Kevin's apartment to spend the night after the breakup and discovers photographs of her. Kevin confesses his love for her, and the two have sex. Alec goes to the apartment to apologize to Kevin and finds Leslie there. Wendy tells her father that she wants to be independent and move into her own place. Jules has been fired from her job, fallen behind on her credit card payments, and her possessions have been seized. She locks herself in her apartment and opens the windows, intending to freeze to death. Her friends attempt to coax her out, but she is unresponsive. Kirby fetches Billy, who landed a job at a gas station courtesy of Kevin, to calm Jules down. Billy convinces Jules to let him in, and they talk about the challenges of life, overheard by the rest of the gang. Wendy moves into her own place; Billy visits and informs her that he is getting a divorce and moving to New York City to try making it as a musician, and the two have sex. At the bus station, the group gathers once more to say goodbye to Billy. Billy urges Alec to make up with Leslie, but she declares that she does not want to date anyone for a while. Alec and Kevin make up, and the group makes plans to meet for brunch. However, they decide not to go to St. Elmo's and instead choose Houlihan's because there are "not so many kids" there.

The crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) are enjoying shore leave after the starship's shakedown cruise, with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy camping at Yosemite National Park. Their leave is interrupted when the Enterprise is ordered by Starfleet Command to rescue a human, a Klingon, and a Romulan, all diplomats who have been taken hostage on Nimbus III, a planet set aside as a neutral location to advance dialogue among the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire. Learning of the Enterprise ' s mission, the ambitious Klingon Captain Klaa decides to pursue Kirk for personal glory. On Nimbus III, the Enterprise crew discovers that Sybok, a renegade Vulcan, is behind the hostage crisis, prompting Spock to admit that Sybok is his half-brother. After the Enterprise crew saves the hostages, Sybok reveals that the hostage-taking was a ruse to lure a starship, which he plans to use to travel to the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree. Sybok believes it lies behind the Great Barrier, a powerful energy field at the galaxy's center, and that God is located there. To take control of the ship, Sybok uses his ability to reveal and heal the innermost pain of a person through the Vulcan mind meld, thus gaining the loyalty of most of the crew. McCoy's pain is that he had helped fulfill his terminally ill father's request to die, only to find later that a cure could have saved his father's life, which has caused him years of guilt. Spock's pain is the knowledge that his father rejected him at birth for being "too human". Kirk refuses to let Sybok remove his pain, claiming that it is necessary to make him human. The Enterprise successfully breaches the Great Barrier, unaware they are being followed by Captain Klaa's warship, a Klingon bird-of-prey. They discover a lone barren planet, and Sybok, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy take a shuttlecraft down to the surface. It appears uninhabited, but after Sybok calls out, a glowing field appears which quickly morphs through many forms representing various religions before settling into the image of a bearded human face, to which Sybok explains that they have come for "your wisdom". The entity asks how they breached the barrier, and upon being told about the Enterprise, it declares that it will use the ship to carry its wisdom to every corner of the universe. A skeptical Kirk asks "What does God need with a starship?", and when the entity asks who he is, Kirk expresses doubt that the actual supreme being would not already know. Irritated, the entity attacks him and Spock, after which they discover it is a powerful and malicious being, imprisoned on Sha Ka Ree in the distant past, with the Great Barrier put in place to keep it from escaping. Realizing his earlier naiveté, Sybok apologizes and attempts to distract the entity by physically attacking it, allowing the others the opportunity to escape. Kirk orders the Enterprise to fire a photon torpedo at the entity, but only Sybok is killed by the strike. Spock and McCoy beam back to the ship moments before the Klingon ship unexpectedly attacks and damages the Enterprise, stranding Kirk on the planet with the weakened and enraged entity. As Kirk attempts to escape from the entity, the Klingon Bird of Prey arrives and destroys the entity with a volley of disruptor fire. Kirk is beamed aboard the Klingon ship, where Spock is unexpectedly waiting. As Spock explains, he convinced the Klingon General Korrd (one of Sybok's hostages who had become a loyal follower) to order Captain Klaa to stand down and apologize for his actions, which Klaa grudgingly does. After returning to Earth, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy resume their camping trip at Yosemite.