In the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, Jimmy Rabbitte is a young music fanatic who aspires to manage an Irish soul and rock and roll band in the tradition of 1950s and 60s African-American recording artists. He places an advert in the local newspaper and holds auditions in his parents' home. After being deluged by several unsuitable performers, Jimmy decides to put together a band consisting of friends and people he encounters—lead singer Deco Cuffe, guitarist Outspan Foster, keyboardist Steven Clifford, alto saxophonist Dean Fay, bassist Derek Scully, drummer Billy Mooney, and female backup singers Bernie McGloughlin, Natalie Murphy and Imelda Quirke. Jimmy then meets trumpeter Joey "The Lips" Fagan, a veteran musician who offers his services, and has unlikely stories about meeting and working with famous musicians. Joey names the band "The Commitments". After purchasing a drum set and acquiring a piano from Steven's grandmother, Jimmy secures the remainder of the band's musical equipment from Duffy, a black market dealer. The band rehearses on the first floor above a snooker hall, and after much practice, they convince a local church community centre to give them a gig, under the pretence of it being an anti- heroin campaign. Jimmy then hires Mickah Wallace, a belligerent and hot-tempered bouncer, to act as the band's security. The band draws a good crowd, but after Deco inadvertently hits Derek with his microphone stand, the amplifiers explode, resulting in a power outage. Tensions run high among the band members, as Joey seduces Natalie, then Bernie, then Imelda, all while Deco grows increasingly obnoxious and unruly, believing himself to be the star of the band. The band performs at another venue where, at the end of one song, Billy accidentally knocks over his hi-hat cymbals, leading to a heated argument between him and Deco. Billy leaves the band in fear of going to jail if he beats up Deco – much to Jimmy's frustration – and Mickah replaces him as the band's drummer. During the band's next performance at a roller disco, their first paying gig, Jimmy is confronted by Duffy, who demands payment for the equipment he provided the band. Mickah intervenes and violently attacks Duffy, who is escorted out. Jimmy then goes on stage and introduces the band, which elicits boisterous cheers from the audience. After the band secures another gig, Joey promises Jimmy that he can get his friend, Wilson Pickett, to sing alongside them. On this promise, Jimmy convinces several journalists to attend the band's next performance. At the venue, the band draws a large crowd, but its members begin arguing with each other offstage, and become doubtful when it appears that Pickett will not show. They go back on stage, where Deco denounces Jimmy for misleading the audience about Pickett's appearance; the band's performance of one of Pickett's songs, " In the Midnight Hour ", silences the crowd's protests. After the performance, the fighting continues; during a heated argument, Mickah beats up Deco outside the club, and Jimmy storms off in frustration, claiming that the band is finished. Joey follows Jimmy, who berates him for misleading the band about Pickett. Joey apologizes to Jimmy, and assures him that despite the band breaking up, Jimmy is still a success for helping the others realize their self worth and potential to rise above their previous lot in life. Just as Joey leaves, Pickett's limousine pulls up next to Jimmy, and his driver asks for directions to the club, revealing that Joey was telling the truth about Pickett; he just showed up too late. In a closing monologue, Jimmy explains that the band's members have since gone their separate ways; Bernie joined a country band, Deco got his record deal and became a bigger egomaniac, Mickah sings for a punk band, Outspan & Derek still play as street buskers, Dean formed a successful jazz band, Joey's mother got a postcard that he was touring with Joe Tex (who had died a decade prior), Steven became a doctor but misses playing music, Billy is recovering from getting kicked in the head by a horse, Imelda married Greg (who won't let her sing anymore), Natalie became a successful solo singer, and implies that she and Jimmy are in a relationship.

Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy widower father Jack have made her impossible to work with. Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics and has a lot of offers go to the NHL teams who want to sign him. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate collide in a hallway in the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that permanently damages his peripheral vision, leaving him medically unfit to play and ruining his dream of competing in the NHL. During Kate's event, her partner apparently accidentally drops her, albeit with little sign of regret or concern, during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal. While training for the 1992 Winter Olympics over the next two years, Kate drives away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her new coach, Russian native Anton Pamchenko, has to find a replacement, an outsider who doesn't know that Kate is spoiled and difficult. He tracks down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and as a carpenter on the side, living with his brother, and playing in a hockey bar league. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate's partner, even though he has macho contempt for figure skating. Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately, and their first few practices do not go well as they antagonize each other. However, they develop a mutual respect as both strive to outdo each other in work ethic. As their relationship grows warmer, they learn to set aside their differences, becoming a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. Kate even boldly defends Doug to her former coach who patronizes and insults them, and Doug defends his unusual choice of sport to his own family and friends, whom he had expected to mock him. At the U.S. Nationals, despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they seem to place third, shattering their Olympic dreams. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance to second place, earning their spot on the Olympic team. However, their potential is threatened by their growing attraction to each other. Kate attempts to seduce Doug after a night of drunken celebration, revealing that she broke off her engagement to wealthy financier Hale Forrest. Usually a ladies' man, given his growing feelings for her, Doug uncharacteristically rebuffs her advances, recognizing that she is drunk and not thinking clearly. When she gets angry at his rejection and insults him, he is hurt, and as he leaves, he tells her, "It didn't have to be like this." When a hungover Kate visits Doug's room the next morning, intending to apologize for her behavior, a rival skater answers Doug's door. Realizing that Doug has slept with another woman almost immediately after leaving her, she becomes enraged. However, the temporary rift is set aside when they decide to work on perfecting an extremely difficult skating move invented by Pamchenko, which will assure them a gold medal if they can pull it off without serious injury. At the finals at the Albertville Olympics, they look to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. However, another argument threatens their chemistry on the ice, and in the process Doug and Kate both discover that Kate is the fallible partner after all. Before getting on the ice for their decisive performance, Doug professes to Kate that he has fallen in love with her, leaving Kate overcome with emotion, and she decides they are going to do the Pamchenko despite them never having successfully achieved it during practices. They proceed to skate with a passion neither had shown before, ultimately performing the Pamchenko flawlessly to win them the gold medal. When Doug asks Kate why she wanted to perform the risky maneuver, Kate replies because she loves him, and they kiss each other before the cheering crowd.

On Devil's Night in crime-ravaged, decrepit Detroit, a young woman, Shelly Webster, is raped and mortally wounded, while her rock musician fiancé, Eric Draven, is shot and thrown to his death from the window of their loft apartment. Police Sergeant Daryl Albrecht accompanies Shelly to the hospital, where she eventually dies from her injuries. A narration recounts the legend of a crow that carries souls to the land of the dead; if a person dies under tragic circumstances, the crow can resurrect their restless spirit to set things right. One year later, Shelly and Eric's graves are visited by Sarah, a young girl the pair cared for due to her neglectful mother. A crow lands on Eric's gravestone and taps on it, resurrecting him. Disoriented and distressed, Eric returns to their ruined loft and experiences flashbacks of the murders: a gang of men—Tin Tin, Funboy, T-Bird, and Skank—attacked the couple because they were protesting forced evictions in their apartment building, which the gang’s leader, the ruthless crime boss Top Dollar, intended to seize. Realizing that any injury he suffers heals instantly, Eric dons black-and-white face paint and sets out to avenge himself and Shelly, guided by the crow. The crow leads Eric to Tin Tin, whom he stabs to death. He next visits the pawn shop where Tin Tin had pawned Shelly's engagement ring. Eric recovers the ring and blows up the shop but spares the owner, Gideon, so he can alert Top Dollar's men that Eric is coming for them, only for Top Dollar to kill Gideon. Albrecht begins investigating the apparent vigilante disturbances, while Eric finds Funboy taking drugs with Sarah's estranged, addicted mother, Darla. He gives Funboy a fatal overdose and purges the drugs from Darla's body, telling her that Sarah needs her. Eric visits Albrecht and confirms his suspicions about the vigilante's identity. Albrecht tells Eric that he stayed with Shelly until she died, witnessing the thirty hours of suffering she endured. Eric touches Albrecht, absorbing the pain Shelly felt. Later, Eric saves Sarah from being hit by a car, revealing to her that he has returned. Eric next targets T-Bird, killing him in an explosion. The following morning, Sarah and Darla reconcile, and Sarah reunites with Eric at his apartment. Top Dollar holds a meeting with his associates to discuss plans to burn the city to the ground on Devil's Night. Eric arrives for Skank, but a gunfight erupts, ending with Eric throwing Skank from a window to his death. Top Dollar, his lover and half-sister Myca, and his right-hand man Grange escape. Myca deduces that the crow is the source of Eric's immortality. Satisfied with his vengeance, Eric gives Shelly's engagement ring to Sarah and returns to his grave. Grange abducts Sarah on her way home and takes her to an abandoned church, where Myca and Top Dollar await. Top Dollar takes Shelly's ring. The crow alerts Eric to Sarah's plight, and he rushes to rescue her but is ambushed by Grange, who wounds the crow and renders Eric vulnerable. Albrecht arrives and kills Grange, while Myca attempts to seize the crow for its power; it claws out her eyes, causing her to fall to her death from the bell tower. Top Dollar retreats to the church roof with Sarah, where he fights and badly wounds Eric, and reveals that he ordered T-Bird and his men to clear their apartment, making him responsible for Eric and Shelley's murder. Eric transfers Shelly's pain into Top Dollar, causing him to stumble off the roof and be fatally impaled on a gargoyle. Sarah and a wounded Albrecht are recovered from the church, while a dying Eric goes to Shelly's grave, where her spirit arrives to comfort him and return his body to rest. Some time later, Sarah visits the graves, and the crow gives her Shelly's ring.

Krank (Daniel Emilfork), a highly intelligent but malicious being created by a vanished scientist, is unable to dream, which causes him to age prematurely. At his lair on an abandoned oil rig (which he shares with the scientist's other creations: six childish clones, a dwarf named Martha, and a brain in a vat named Irvin) he uses a dream-extracting machine to steal dreams from children. The children are kidnapped for him from a nearby port city by a cyborg cult called the Cyclops, whom in exchange he supplies with mechanical eyes and ears. Among the kidnapped is Denrée (Joseph Lucien), the adopted little brother of carnival strongman One (Ron Perlman). After the carnival manager is stabbed by a mugger, One is hired by a criminal gang of orphans (run by a pair of conjoined twins called "the Octopus") to help them steal a safe. The theft is successful, but the safe is lost in the harbor when One is distracted by seeing Denrée's kidnappers. He, together with one of the orphans, a little girl called Miette (Judith Vittet), follows the Cyclops and infiltrates their headquarters, but they are captured and sentenced to execution. Meanwhile, the Octopus orders circus performer Marcello (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) to return One to them. He uses his trained fleas, which inject a poison capsule that causes mindless aggression, to turn the Cyclops guards against each other. While Marcello is rescuing One, Miette falls into the harbor and sinks, seemingly drowned, but an amnesiac diver living beneath the harbor rescues her. Miette leaves the diver's lair to find One and Marcello both drowning their sorrows in a bar. Upon seeing Miette alive, the remorseful Marcello lets One leave with her. However, the Octopus confronts them on the pier, and uses Marcello's stolen fleas to turn One against Miette. A spectacular chain of events triggered by one of Miette's tears leads to a ship crashing into the pier before One can throttle her. Marcello arrives and sets the fleas on the Octopus, allowing One and Miette to escape to continue searching for Denrée. Back at Krank's oil rig, Irvin tricks one of the clones into releasing a plea for help in the form of a bottled dream telling the story of what is going on on the oil rig. It reaches One, Miette, and the diver, and the latter remembers that he was the scientist who made them, and that the oil rig was his laboratory before Krank and Martha attacked him and pushed him off it to take it for themselves, leaving him for dead in the water. They all converge on the rig; the diver to destroy it, and One and Miette to rescue Denrée. Miette is almost killed by Martha, who is harpooned to death by the diver, pretending her "allergy to iron". Miette then finds Denrée asleep in Krank's dream-extracting machine, and Irvin tells her that to release him she must use the machine to enter the dream herself. In the dream world, she meets Krank and makes a deal with him to replace the boy as the source of the dream; Krank fears a trap but plays along, believing himself to be in control. Miette then uses her imagination to control the dream and turn it into an infinite loop, destroying Krank's mind. One and Miette rescue all the children, while the now-deranged diver loads the rig with dynamite and straps himself to one of its legs. The diver regains his senses as everyone is rowing away and pleads with his remaining creations to come back to rescue him, but a seabird lands on the handle of the blasting machine, blowing up him and the rig.

Second-term Democratic U.S. President Jackson Evans must select a new Vice President following the sudden death of his vice president, Troy Ellard. The obvious choice seems to be Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway, who is hailed as a hero after he recently dove into a lake in a failed attempt to save a drowning woman. The President instead decides that his " swan song " will be helping to break the glass ceiling by nominating Ohio Senator Laine Hanson. In accordance with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, approval from both houses of Congress is required. Standing in her way is Republican Congressman Sheldon Runyon of Illinois, who believes she is unqualified for the position, and backs Hathaway for the nod. His investigation into her background turns up an incident where she was apparently photographed participating in a drunken orgy as part of a sorority initiation. He is joined in his opposition by Democratic Representative Reginald Webster. The confirmation hearings begin in Washington, D.C., and Runyon, who chairs the committee, quickly addresses Hanson's alleged sexual imbroglio. Hanson refuses to address the incident, neither confirming nor denying anything, and tries to turn the discussion towards political issues. Anticipating that Hanson would deem her personal past "none of anyone's business", Runyon starts rumors in the media saying that the sexual escapade in college was done in exchange for money and favors, making it prostitution. Hanson meets with Evans and offers to withdraw her name, to save his administration more embarrassment. Despite the wishes of the administration, she refuses to fight back or even address Runyon's charges, arguing that to answer the questions dignifies them being asked in the first place—something she does not believe. Evans meets with Runyon, informing him he will not choose Hanson as vice president. Runyon casually brings forward Hathaway as a replacement. They make an agreement that Runyon will back down on his attacks if Evans chooses Hathaway as vice president. However, Evans requests Runyon to make a public statement defending Hathaway, which Runyon agrees to do. Hanson, Hathaway, and Runyon are all invited to the White House where Evans shocks them with an FBI report revealing that Hathaway paid the woman to drive off the bridge. Hathaway is arrested and Runyon is disgraced because he vouched for Hathaway's integrity just hours earlier. Evans meets with Hanson, and she finally tells what actually happened that night in college. She said that she did indeed arrive at a fraternity house to have sex with two men as part of an initiation, but changed her mind before any sex occurred. However, she did not prove her innocence, citing that by doing so will further the idea that it was acceptable to ask the questions in the first place. Evans addresses Congress, where he chastises all Democrats and Republicans who blocked Hanson's confirmation. He explicitly lambasts Runyon, who leaves in humiliation. Although he declares that Hanson had asked for her nomination to be withdrawn so he could finish his presidency with triumph over controversy, he remains adamant by rejecting her resignation and calls for an immediate confirmation vote.

The film opens with a group of primary school children in 1977, who have a Victoria State Central Bank representative, Mr.Johnson, who give them lessons on saving and give them the chance to open their first checking account, and telling them that if they will put in any money for 25 years, at the end they will eventually set aside $727,000. In the present, the Centa Bank's board of directors orders CEO Simon O'Reily to find a way to increase profits. Then he discovers the work of a mathematician, Jim Doyle, whose software B.T.S.E., based on fractal geometry of Benoit Mandelbrot makes it possible to predict stock market trends. Doyle is hired by O'Reily and supplied with the best computer hardware. He befriends Vincent, who had advised O'Reily to hire him, and enters into a relationship with his colleague Michelle Roberts, who views O'Reily's business activities critically. Meanwhile, the couple Diane and Wayne Davis, who took out a loan in a foreign currency at the bank, become insolvent. The son of the couple is found dead after a meeting with the deliverer of the eviction notice. The Davises hire a lawyer, Stephen O'Connor, to sue the bank on the grounds that they were not informed about the risks of a loan in foreign currency. Invited by O'Reily to a party at his house, Jim takes Michelle, she insults the landlord and the relationship between her and Jim is broken, because he is hiding something and don't want to open up with her. O'Reily asks Jim to change his attitude to him and their business and ask him as a proof of loyalty to falsely state in court that he was present as an intern in the bank's loan counseling to the Davises and that Wayne Davis was sufficiently informed. That causes the Davises to lose their lawsuit. This also causes the final breakup between Jim and Michelle; the latter then decides to investigate Jim's past. Jim informs his boss that a stock market crash will soon occur. Michelle finds out in Jim's hometown that his real name is not Jim Doyle but Paul Jackson; the bank had terminated his father's credit, whereupon his father committed suicide. A man who watches Michelle on behalf of O'Reily learns the truth and warns O'Reily. O'Reily wants to stop the bank's stock sale in that moment, but Wayne Davis breaks into O'Reily's house to shoot him. O'Reily offers him two million dollars if Davis allows him to make a phone call. Wayne realizes that it would be a very important call for the bank, so he destroys the house's power-box to stop this important phone call, which is intended to warn the bank of Jim's plans, and leaves the estate. Stock prices initially perform as expected, but then they rise instead of falling. The bank goes bankrupt after losing $50 billion. Jim leaves the country. He meets Michelle for the last time and tells her that the money has partly been lost forever and partly has been "redistributed". Then ask to her to come after him before departure, which she refuses. The Davises discover at an ATM that their bank balance is $727,000 - an amount referenced in the opening credits. They want to clarify the matter at the neighboring bank branch, but it is one of the many branches that have been closed by O'Reily. They decide to keep the money.

In 1815, Edmond Dantès, second mate of a French merchant vessel, and his friend Fernand Mondego, a representative of the shipping company, seek medical help on Elba for their ailing captain. Napoleon Bonaparte is in exile on the island. Having kept his guardians from killing the pair, Bonaparte privately requests that Edmond deliver a letter to the mainland in exchange for his physician's services. Edmond is sworn to secrecy, but Fernand witnesses the exchange. The captain dies. In Marseille, the company owner, Morrell, commends Edmond for his bravery, promoting him to captain over first mate Danglars, who had given Edmond explicit orders not to land at Elba. Fernand lusts after Edmond's lover Mercédès and decides with Danglars to inform on Edmond regarding the letter, which reveals information that could be used to aid Bonaparte's escape from Elba. Villefort, the city's chief magistrate, has Edmond arrested. Villefort then learns that the letter is addressed to his own father Clarion, a Bonapartist. He burns the letter and orders Edmond imprisoned in the Château d'If, an island prison. Before being taken to the island, Edmond escapes and flees to Fernand, who reveals that he and Danglars were complicit in his betrayal, but is apprehended again. In exchange for persuading Mercédès that Edmond has been executed for treason and that she should take comfort in Fernand, Villefort has Fernand assassinate Clarion. Six years later, an eruption in the ground of Edmond's cell reveals another prisoner, Abbé Faria, who has been imprisoned for eleven years after refusing to tell Bonaparte the whereabouts of the Spada family's treasure. Faria has been digging an escape tunnel, but he dug in the wrong direction and ended up in Edmond's cell. In exchange for Edmond's help digging a new tunnel, Faria educates him in several academic and martial disciplines. Faria is fatally injured in a tunnel cave-in. Before dying, he gives Edmond a map to the treasure and implores him to use it only for good. Edmond escapes the prison by taking Faria's place in the disposal of his corpse and is thrown into the sea, pulling warden Armand Dorleac along with him and drowning him. Wading ashore, Edmond encounters a band of pirates preparing to execute one of their own, Jacopo. Their leader, Luigi Vampa, decides justice and entertainment would be better served by pitting Edmond against Jacopo in a knife fight. Edmond wins but spares Jacopo, who swears himself to Edmond for life. They both work with the pirates until they arrive in Marseille. Edmond learns from Morrell, who does not recognize him, that his father committed suicide out of grief, and that Fernand and Mercédès have wed. With Faria's map, he and Jacopo locate the treasure on the island of Montecristo. With his newfound wealth and comprehensive education, Edmond establishes himself in Parisian society as "The Count of Monte Cristo" with Jacopo as his manservant and swears vengeance on those who conspired against him. Edmond ingratiates himself to the Mondegos by staging the kidnap and rescue of their son, Albert. He lures Fernand, Villefort, and Danglars into a trap by letting slip the notion that he has located the Spada family's lost treasure and is shipping it through Marseille. His plans result in Danglars being caught red-handed in the act of theft and Villefort being tricked into revealing his role in Clarion's death; both are arrested. Fernand is brought to financial ruin as Edmond has his gambling debts called in. Even though his appearance has changed dramatically, Edmond is recognized by Mercédès. Eventually, she softens him, and they rekindle their relationship. As Fernand prepares to flee the country, Mercédès reveals that the only reason she married him was that she was already pregnant with Albert, who is actually Edmond's son. Edmond ambushes Fernand in the ruins of his family's country estate, having led him to believe that the treasure would be waiting for him. Albert intervenes when Edmond attempts to kill Fernand, but Mercédès tells him of his true parentage. Fernand attempts to flee but changes his mind upon realizing that he has nowhere to go and challenges Edmond to a fight to the death; Edmond prevails. Edmond purchases Château d'If, intending to raze it, but instead leaves it standing as he swears to Faria to use his fortune for good and departs with his new family.

The film begins with a continuing series of flashbacks into the childhood of Daniel Balint, a young Jewish yeshiva student. Brilliant but troubled, he often challenged his teachers with unorthodox interpretations of scripture. During a debate about the Binding of Isaac, Daniel argues that the story was not about Abraham 's faith but God's power: that God's purpose was not to have Abraham accomplish a particular task, but rather to demand unquestioning obedience; harshly depicting God as a bully. It is from these early experiences that Daniel begins to defect from his Jewish identity. In the present day, Daniel is now a fanatically violent neo-Nazi in New York in his early twenties. Daniel and his group of skinhead friends find a meeting of fascists run by Curtis Zampf and Lina Moebius, where he also makes a connection with Lina's daughter Carla. Daniel advocates killing Jews, and a banker named Manzetti in particular, but Curtis and Lina oppose harming Jews on practical if not moral grounds. Impressed with Daniel's intelligence and oratory, Lina invites him to their camp retreat in the country. Afterward, Daniel and his neo-Nazi friends pick a fight with two African-American men, get arrested, and are bailed out by Carla. He spends the night with her but returns to his ailing father's home where he is harangued by his sister Linda for his Nazi beliefs, but she also urges him to stay and have Shabbat dinner. The men watch TV, which is forbidden on the Sabbath according to some Orthodox Jews, leading them to commiserate on the incomprehensibility of Jewish law. Guy Danielsen, a journalist writing an article on hate groups, meets Daniel for an interview. He listens to Daniel's antisemitic speech, but then reveals that he knows Daniel is Jewish from tracking down his old rabbi and bar mitzvah record. Enraged by this, Daniel pulls out a pistol and threatens to commit suicide if Guy publishes the truth. Daniel goes to the fascist camp retreat, where he meets Drake, a skilled marksman, along with an explosives expert. Six of the retreat participants, including Daniel, go to a Jewish deli, where they torment the owner about Jewish dietary laws until a fight breaks out. Daniel and his friends are required by a court to take sensitivity training, where they listen to the experiences of Holocaust survivors. One talks about how his infant son was murdered by a Nazi. Daniel is enraged that the man did nothing to save his son, but all the survivors assert that Daniel would also have done nothing, and he walks out in anger. The story haunts him, and he imagines himself as the Nazi. Later that night, Daniel and the gang break into a synagogue, vandalize it, and plant a time bomb under the pulpit. They also tear, trample, and spit on a Torah scroll, though Daniel protests. After they leave, Daniel takes the scroll and a tallit katan with him. The next morning, the neo-Nazis hear on the news that the bomb failed to go off. Back in his cabin, Daniel puts on the tallit under his shirt and performs a combination of the Nazi salute and a Hagbaha. Drake approaches him with a plan to kill Manzetti. Outside a temple, Daniel fires at him but misses. Drake discovers the tallit and realizes that he is a Jew, so Daniel shoots him and escapes. He continues to meet with Lina and Curtis, who want to start an above-ground movement to bring fascism into the political mainstream, inviting Jews, blacks, and liberals. Daniel reluctantly agrees to help them raise funds. At the meetings that follow, Daniel first charms, then enrages, their potential donors with his intellectual games, leading to his expulsion. When news breaks that Manzetti was killed, Lina suspects Daniel, since he proposed the assassination, but Drake is the real killer. Carla comforts Daniel and they sleep together at his home. When she sees the stolen Torah, she asks Daniel to teach her Hebrew. He soon runs into an old friend and his fiancée, Stuart and Miriam, who invite him to a Rosh Hashanah service, assuming that he is an anti-racist skinhead. When Daniel arrives, another old friend calls him out as a racist skinhead. As he is leaving, Miriam, who works for the District Attorney, tells him that half of the people in Lina's meetings are informants for the D.A. She asks Daniel to record conversations at a meeting so she can help him with possible charges stemming from the Manzetti killing, but he refuses. As Yom Kippur approaches, Daniel calls Miriam and insists on taking Stuart's place leading the Ne'ila service at the bimah on Yom Kippur. He and his friends plant a new bomb under the temple's pulpit even though they find it reinforced, limiting the explosion. When Daniel takes the pulpit the next day, he is shocked to see Carla in the congregation. He again imagines himself in the story the Holocaust survivor told him, this time as both the Nazi and the Jew. With minutes to go, Daniel stops and tells everyone to get out because there is a bomb, but refuses to leave himself. There is a flash of light, and Daniel is shown ascending the stairs in the Jewish school he left as a child. His old teacher approaches, hoping to talk about the Binding of Isaac, and suggests that Isaac died on the mountain and was reborn in the world to come. But Daniel ignores him and keeps climbing up but unexplainably meets his teacher on every floor, asking Daniel to stop, calling out, "There's nothing up there."

In 1913 Houston, eight-year-old Howard Hughes 's mother gives him a bath and teaches him to spell "quarantine", warning him about the recent cholera outbreak. Fourteen years later, in 1927, he begins to direct his film Hell's Angels, and hires Noah Dietrich to manage the day-to-day operations of his business empire. After the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, and decides to convert the movie to a sound film. Despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the result and orders it to be recut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and germaphobia. In 1935, Hughes test-flies the H-1 Racer, pushing it to a new speed record despite having to crash-land into a beet field when the aircraft runs out of fuel. Three years later, he flies around the world in four days, breaking the world record. He subsequently purchases majority interest in Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA). Juan Trippe, company rival and chairman of Pan Am, asks his crony, Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, to introduce the Community Airline Bill, which would give Pan Am exclusivity on international air travel. Hepburn grows tired of Hughes's eccentricity and workaholism, and leaves him for fellow actor Spencer Tracy. Hughes quickly finds a new love interest with 15-year-old Faith Domergue, and later actress Ava Gardner. However, he still has feelings for Hepburn, and bribes a reporter to keep reports about her affair with the married Tracy out of the press. In the mid-1940s, Hughes contracts two projects with the Army Air Forces, one for a spy aircraft, and another for a troop transport unit for use in World War II. In 1946, with the H-4 Hercules flying boat still in construction, Hughes finishes the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft and takes it for a test flight. However, one of the engines fails midflight; he crashes in Beverly Hills and is severely injured, but miraculously survives. The army cancels its order for the H-4 Hercules, although Hughes still continues the development with his own money. Dietrich informs Hughes that he must choose between funding the airlines or his flying boat. Hughes orders Dietrich to mortgage the TWA assets so he can continue the development. By 1947, his OCD worsens and Hughes becomes increasingly paranoid, planting microphones and tapping Gardner's phone lines to keep track of her, until she kicks him out of her house. The FBI searches his home for incriminating evidence of war profiteering, searching through his possessions. Brewster privately offers to drop the charges if Hughes sells TWA to Trippe, but Hughes refuses. Hughes's OCD symptoms become extreme, and he retreats into an isolated " germ -free zone" for three months. Trippe has Brewster summon him for a Senate investigation, certain that Hughes will not show up. Gardner visits him and personally grooms and dresses him in preparation for the hearing. An invigorated Hughes defends himself against Brewster's charges and accuses the Senator of taking bribes from Trippe. He concludes by announcing that he has committed to completing the H-4 aircraft, and that he will leave the country if he cannot get it to fly. Brewster's bill is promptly defeated. After successfully flying the aircraft, Hughes speaks with Dietrich and his engineer Glenn Odekirk about a new jetliner for TWA. However, he begins hallucinating and has a panic attack. As Odekirk hides him in a restroom while Dietrich fetches a doctor, Hughes begins to have flashbacks of his childhood, his love for aviation and his ambition for success, compulsively repeating the phrase, "the way of the future".

In 1980s Boston, Irish mob boss Frank Costello introduces himself to a young Colin Sullivan. Years later, Sullivan has been groomed as Costello's spy inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and joins the Special Investigation Unit. Another police academy recruit, Billy Costigan, is selected by Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam to infiltrate Costello's organization. Serving a prison term as his cover, Costigan draws Costello's attention by committing several crimes, and is recruited into the gang. His mental state declines as he becomes increasingly involved in Costello's violent criminal enterprise, but Queenan and Dignam convince him to remain undercover. Sullivan begins dating police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden, who becomes Costigan's court-ordered therapist. Costigan notifies the MSP that Costello will be selling stolen microprocessors to Chinese mobsters, but Sullivan helps thwart the attempted sting operation. Costello and the MSP both realize they have been compromised, and both Costigan and Sullivan are tasked to find the opposing mole. Costigan learns Costello is a protected FBI informant, sharing his discovery with Queenan. He and Madden begin an affair. Following Costello, Costigan sees him give Sullivan an envelope of information on his crew. Costigan is unable to identify Sullivan, who realizes he is being followed and mistakenly stabs a passerby before fleeing. Lying to his fellow officers to have Queenan followed, Sullivan realizes Queenan is meeting with his mole, and informs Costello's gang. Costigan, fearing he will be discovered and killed for being the mole, meets with Queenan to abort the operation. However, Queenan helps Costigan escape as Costello's men arrive, and is thrown from the building to his death. Fatally wounded in the ensuing firefight with police, Costello's henchman Timothy Delahunt tells Costigan he knows that he is the mole before dying. In the wake of Queenan's murder, Dignam is suspended after an altercation with Sullivan, who learns from Queenan's files that Costello is cooperating with the FBI. A news report identifies Delahunt as a Boston Police Department undercover officer, but Costello suspects this is a ruse to protect the real mole. Sullivan directs the MSP to tail Costello, resulting in a gunfight that kills most of Costello's crew. Sullivan confronts a wounded Costello, who admits to being an informant. They exchange gunfire, and Sullivan kills him. His assignment finished, Costigan reveals himself to Sullivan but recognizes Costello's envelope on his desk, deducing Sullivan is Costello's mole. Costigan flees, and Sullivan realizes he has discovered the truth, deleting Costigan's police records. Costigan leaves an envelope of evidence with Madden, who finds a recording he mailed to Sullivan of Sullivan's incriminating conversations with Costello. Meeting Sullivan on the rooftop where Queenan was killed, Costigan arrests him. Trooper Brown, Costigan's police academy classmate, arrives as Costigan holds Sullivan at gunpoint, declaring he has evidence tying Sullivan to Costello. Taking the elevator to the lobby, Costigan is shot and killed by Trooper Barrigan, who reveals he is another of Costello's spies in the MSP. Brown is shot by Barrigan, who, in turn, is shot by Sullivan, framing Barrigan as Costello's only mole. Sullivan recommends Costigan be posthumously commended, but after Costigan's funeral, a pregnant Madden leaves him. He arrives home to find Dignam, who shoots him and departs.

In 1897, in the hilltop city of Cheesebridge in the European country of Norvenia, rumors spread that Boxtrolls, subterranean trolls who wear cardboard boxes, have kidnapped and killed a baby. When the city's pest exterminator, Archibald Snatcher, tells the city's mayor, Lord Charles Portley-Rind, they strike a deal to allow Snatcher membership in the city's cheese-loving council, the White Hats, if Snatcher can exterminate every Boxtroll. Unbeknownst to Portley-Rind, Snatcher has severe lactose intolerance. In reality, the Boxtrolls are peaceful and emerge from underground at night to scavenge for discarded items. The Boxtrolls’ leader, Fish, cares for the baby, who he has named Eggs. As Eggs grows up, Snatcher captures several Boxtrolls, leaving him distraught. One night after Lord Portley-Rind's daughter, Winifred, sees Eggs with Fish and another Boxtroll named Shoe, Snatcher captures Fish. Eggs sneaks to the surface to rescue Fish. He emerges in an annual fair to commemorate his disappearance, where he discovers the city's inaccurate portrayal of the Boxtrolls. He follows Winnie, and she directs him to Snatcher's headquarters, located at an abandoned factory. Eggs rescues Fish, but they are caught while trying to escape. Snatcher recognizes Eggs as the baby and reveals that he is forcing the captured Boxtrolls to build him a machine. Winnie, who covertly followed Eggs, overhears this exchange, helps Fish and Eggs escape from Snatcher and takes shelter with them in the Boxtrolls' caves. Fish explains that Eggs' father was Herbert Trubshaw, a great inventor who discovered that the Boxtrolls were fellow inventors. Snatcher was a close friend of Herbert, but one night, he asked Herbert to build something that could help him kill the Boxtrolls. However, knowing that the Boxtrolls were innocent, Herbert refused, so Snatcher threatened to kidnap Eggs. During the struggle, Herbert gave Eggs to Fish to protect him before seemingly being killed by Snatcher. Winnie agrees to help Eggs tell her father the truth. At a ball held to commemorate the purchase of a giant cheese wheel called the Briehemoth, Eggs tries to reveal his identity to Portley-Rind, but is confronted by Snatcher, who is disguised as a woman named Madame Frou-Frou. While trying to avoid Snatcher, Eggs inadvertently knocks the cheese wheel into a river. He announces himself as the baby, but Portley-Rind does not believe him. He tries to persuade the remaining Boxtrolls to flee, but unknowingly demoralizes them. Snatcher digs into their caves with his new exterminating machine and captures them all. Eggs awakens in a cage to discover that Herbert is still alive and imprisoned beside him. He sees the Boxtrolls stacked in a crusher and begs them to stand up for themselves, but they are seemingly killed by the crusher. Snatcher drives his machine to Lord Portley-Rind's house, shows him the flattened boxes as evidence of the Boxtrolls' extinction, and demands Portley-Rind's white hat in exchange for killing the final Boxtroll, which is actually Eggs disguised. The Boxtrolls, who have escaped from the crusher by leaving their boxes, arrive to free Eggs while Herbert reveals himself, causing Portley-Rind and the citizens to realize that Snatcher had lied to them. Snatcher tries to take Portley-Rind's hat by force while two of his henchmen, Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles, decide to turn against him. Eggs and the Boxtrolls manage to disable the machine, which crushes Snatcher's right-hand man, Mr. Gristle, to death. Eggs and Snatcher are thrown clear and land on the recovered Briehemoth. This causes Snatcher to swell to a grotesque, monstrous size. Snatcher holds Winnie hostage and forces Lord Portley-Rind to give up his hat in exchange for her safety, but eventually explodes after eating a piece of a rare cheese. Now that the townspeople know that Boxtrolls are peaceful, both sides agree to form a peaceful coexistence with each other.

The film begins shortly after the end of the Second World War, with a man arriving in Monte Carlo. After checking into an expensive hotel and paying with cash, he takes in the high life of Monte Carlo, successfully gambling in a casino and attracting the attention of a beautiful French woman. Later, she discovers tattooed numerals on his arm, revealing him as a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. The film then flashes back to Berlin in 1936, where the man, Salomon Sorowitsch, is revealed as a successful forger of currency and passports. Caught by the police, he is imprisoned, first in a labour camp, then in Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz. In an effort to secure himself protection and meagre comforts at the camp, he turns his forging skills to portraiture, attracting the attention of the guards, who commission him to paint them and their families in exchange for extra food rations. Sorowitsch's talents bring him wider attention, and he is transferred out of the concentration camp. Brought in front of the police officer who arrested him in Berlin, he finds himself put together with other prisoners with artistic or printing talents and begins working in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp devoted to forgery. The counterfeiters are kept in relatively humane conditions, with comfortable bunks, a washroom and adequate food, although their guards continue to subject them to brutality and insults. His fellow prisoners have a range of backgrounds from Jewish bank managers to political agitators, and while some are content to work for the Nazis to avoid the extermination camps, others see their efforts as supporting the German war effort. At first, self-preservation appears to guide Sorowitsch, but his motives for forging for the Nazis are complicated by his growing concern for his fellow prisoners, his awareness of their role in the wider war against the Nazis, and his professional pride in counterfeiting the US dollar, a currency he was previously unable to forge. Sorowitsch juggles the Nazi demands for progress, his co-counterfeiters' determination to sabotage the operation, and his loyalties to his fellow prisoners. The prisoners successfully counterfeit the British pound but intentionally delay the forgery of the US dollar. Gradually, the inmates discern slivers of evidence that the war has turned decidedly against the Nazis. One day the camp guards suddenly announce that the printing machines are to be dismantled and shipped away, which leads the counterfeiters to fear that they will finally be killed. Before anything happens to them, the German guards flee the camp in advance of the Red Army. Starving prisoners from other parts of the camp, armed with confiscated weapons, take over and break into the compound where the counterfeiters had been held in relative luxury. Until the insurrectionists see the well-fed printers' prison tattoos, they believe them to be SS officers and threaten to shoot them. The counterfeiters then must account for their forging actions to the half-dead prisoners. The film then returns to post-war Monte Carlo, where Sorowitsch, apparently disgusted by the life he is now leading on the currency that he forged for the Nazis, intentionally gambles it all away. Sitting alone afterward on the beach, he is joined by the French woman, concerned after his seemingly disastrous losses at the table. Dancing slowly together on the beach, she continues to remark on all the money he has lost, to which he replies, laughing, "We can always make more".