Joong-ho is a dishonest pimp and former police detective who is in financial trouble because two of his prostitutes have gone missing. One night, he commands Mi-jin to service a customer, despite her protests over her sickness. Joong-ho then realizes this customer was the last to see his missing girls. Believing that this customer is trafficking his women, Joong-ho nevertheless sends Mi-jin in so that she can forward the customer's address to him. Joong-ho contacts his old police task force for help, but they cannot assist because the mayor of Seoul, whom they were guarding, has been attacked with feces; this results in the police suffering a media firestorm. The customer, Yeong-min, takes Mi-jin back to the house but Mi-jin fails to contact Joong-ho due to the bathroom having no cell service. Yeong-min binds Mi-jin, but her struggles prevent her murderer with a chisel, so Yeong-min hits her with a hammer, knocking her out. Just then, an elderly couple from the local church arrives, inquiring about the real house owner, Mr. Park; they recognize his dog. Yeong-min then invites the elderly couple in and murders them. Joong-ho, only aware of the customer's district, searches. Yeong-min tries to ditch the couple's car, but collides with Joong-ho's car. Joong-ho's suspicions are aroused as Yeong-min has blood on his shirt and refuses to give his phone number. Joong-ho calls the customer's number and Yeong-min's phone rings. Yeong-min flees but is caught and beaten by Joong-ho. Both men are arrested by a local cop. At the station, Yeong-min casually admits that he committed nine murders. Competing police divisions argue over who will investigate the high-profile unsolved murders in the area. Despite the confession, the police have no physical evidence so they cannot detain Yeong-min for long. Yeong-min reveals Mi-jin is alive, but the police doubt it. Joong-ho goes to Mi-jin's apartment to collect DNA samples, and from there he takes Mi-jin's daughter Eun-ji with him while he follows up a lead in Yeong-min's hometown. Joong-ho learns that Yeong-min was jailed for three years for lobotomizing his nephew. Another prostitute informs Joong-ho that Yeong-min is impotent. When Yeong-min is questioned about his impotency being part of his motive, he attacks the interrogator. Joong-ho's assistant finds a room where Yeong-min had once lived; Joong-ho discovers religious drawings on the room's walls. Eun-ji wanders off while following a woman who looks like her mother, then meets with an accident and is brought to a hospital by Joong-ho. Yeong-min provides a false lead after being beaten again by Joong-ho. The prosecutor discovers Yeong-min's injuries and demands Yeong-min's release, refusing to wait for DNA test results. Saying that Yeong-min's arrest will be seen as the police's attempt to save face, the prosecutor demands Joong-ho's arrest for injuring Yeong-min. Joong-ho is handcuffed and attacks his former teammates to escape; one of them frees him. Meanwhile, Mi-jin frees herself and escapes from the house. Badly injured, she finds help at a nearby corner shop and hides in the back. The police are informed, but the nearest officers are fast asleep. Yeong-min stops at the same shop to buy cigarettes. Not knowing Yeong-min is the attacker himself, the shopkeeper tells him about Mi-jin's story, asking him to stay to protect them from the attacker while they await the police. Yeong-min uses the shopkeeper's hammer to murder both her and Mi-jin. Alerted by police sirens, Joong-ho arrives to find the police have cordoned off the bloody shop. Yeong-min escapes off-camera back to Mr. Park's house, where he stores Mi-jin's severed head and hands in a fish tank. Yeong-min buries the elderly couple and kills Mr. Park's dog. The humiliated police throw everything into the search for Yeong-min, while the story is leaked to the public. A distraught Joong-ho follows a lead to the local church and then notices that a church statue matches the drawings he had seen in Yeong-min's old room. As Mr. Park was the sculptor and Yeong-min his "assistant", the deacon points Joong-ho to Mr. Park's house. Joong-ho enters the residence, interrupting Yeong-min's departure. They fight, with Joong-ho ultimately getting the upper hand, but the police arrive and restrain Joong-ho from killing Yeong-min. Yeong-Min is taken away while the police excavate the yard, finding several bodies. The film ends with Joong-ho sitting silently by Eun-ji in her hospital room, holding her hand.

Technicians at a secret underground facility prepare for an annual ritual designed to save humanity from extinction. Similar operations around the world stage elaborate sacrificial scenarios based on local horror traditions. Most have already failed this year, and when a Japanese operation unexpectedly collapses, the American team finds they are humanity's last hope. Five college students set out for a weekend getaway at an isolated cabin owned by the cousin of Curt Vaughan, a confident athlete. Accompanying him are his girlfriend Jules, Dana, Holden, and Marty, an eccentric but perceptive stoner. Although the group appears ordinary, unseen technicians are already manipulating their environment. Chemicals pumped through vents subtly alter the students' moods and behavior, nudging them into familiar horror-movie roles: the athlete, the scholar, the fool, the virgin, and the promiscuous party girl. Once inside the cabin, hidden cameras monitor the friends as they explore, while technicians bet on which monsters the group will accidentally unleash. The students discover strange relics and artifacts in the cellar. Dana reads aloud from an old diary belonging to Patience Buckner, whose sadistic family once lived on the property. Her words awaken the Buckners as violent undead killers. Manipulated by chemicals released into the woods, Curt and Jules wander outside to have sex where Jules is brutally murdered by the zombie Buckners. Curt barely escapes. Marty discovers the surveillance equipment hidden throughout the cabin but is attacked while trying to warn the others. The survivors attempt to flee but the facility blocks their escape with collapsing tunnels and sealed roads. Curt attempts a dramatic motorcycle jump across a ravine, crashes into an invisible force field and falls to his death. Attempting to escape in an RV, Holden is killed and the vehicle crashes into the lake. Dana struggles ashore, only to be cornered by one of the Buckners. At the facility, the technicians celebrate, believing the ritual is nearly complete. Their relief is interrupted when Marty suddenly reappears, rescues Dana, and leads her to a hidden elevator connected to the underground complex where the pair uncover the horrifying truth. The entire cabin ordeal has been orchestrated as a ritual sacrifice to appease the "Ancient Ones", colossal subterranean beings capable of destroying the world. The objects in the cellar determine which monsters are released upon the victims, and the chosen victims themselves are forced into symbolic archetypes required by the ritual. When security forces corner Dana and Marty, they unleash imprisoned werewolves, ghosts, giant snakes, mutant killers, and countless other horrors. The technicians who coldly manipulated the victims are massacred in gruesome fashion. Dana and Marty reach an ancient temple beneath the facility, where the director explains the sacrifices must occur in sequence, with the "virgin" dying last or surviving. Since Marty, the designated fool, unexpectedly survived, the ritual remains incomplete. The director urges Dana to kill him and save humanity. A werewolf mortally wounds Dana before she can decide. Marty kills the creature, and together they realize they no longer believe humanity deserves saving through endless cycles of ritual murder. Accepting the consequences, they share a final moment together as the temple collapses. One of the Ancient Ones rises, bringing about the end of the world.

Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows, leads an attack on a CIA plane over Uzbekistan to abduct nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel. Meanwhile, eight years after the death of Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent and the arrest of the Joker, organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham by the Dent Act, legislation that gives expanded powers to the police. Police commissioner James Gordon has kept Dent's killing spree a secret and allowed the blame for his crimes to fall on Batman. Bruce Wayne, still mourning the death of Rachel Dawes, has become a recluse. Bane conspires to help Wayne Enterprises board member John Daggett take over the company, and they begin by trying to buy Bruce's fingerprints. Cat burglar Selina Kyle steals Bruce's prints from Wayne Manor for Daggett, but he double-crosses her, and she alerts the police. Bane's henchmen capture Gordon in the sewers but he escapes and is found by steadfast Gotham City police officer John Blake, an orphan who has deduced Bruce's secret identity. Blake persuades Bruce to resume his vigilantism. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Bruce's fingerprints to verify fraudulent transactions, leaving Bruce ousted from his company and bankrupt. Fearing Bruce will purposely get himself killed fighting Bane, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, resigns in the hope of saving him after revealing to him that Rachel was going to marry Dent, and thus, Bruce should let her go. Bane kills Daggett to pursue his own goals while Bruce and Wayne Enterprises's new CEO, Miranda Tate, become lovers. Selina agrees to take Batman to Bane, but instead leads him into a trap under Wayne Tower. Bane gloats that he intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul 's mission to destroy Gotham City before he brutally cripples Batman in combat. He takes Bruce to an ancient underground prison in the Middle East, where Bruce learns that Ra's al Ghul's child was born and raised there, but had a protector who helped that child escape. Back in Gotham, Bane detonates explosives to trap the police forces in the sewers, destroys all but one bridge surrounding the city, kills Gotham mayor Anthony Garcia, and forces Pavel to convert the fusion reactor core owned by Wayne Enterprises into a decaying neutron bomb before publicly killing him. He exposes Dent's crimes to the city and releases the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary, effectively taking over Gotham. He also has Gotham's elite exiled and killed in proletarian kangaroo courts presided over by Jonathan Crane. Five months later, Bruce, now healed, escapes the prison. As Batman, he returns to Gotham and frees the police, and together they war with Bane's army. During the battle, Tate stabs Batman, revealing herself as Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia al Ghul. Bane is her decoy and guardian who had helped her escape the pit, becoming mauled in the process. Talia activates the bomb, but it fails due to Gordon blocking the signal. Selina kills Bane and helps Batman pursue Talia, hoping to return the bomb to the reactor chamber, where it can be stabilized. Talia's truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman reveals his identity to Gordon, and uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb over the bay, where it safely explodes. In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and honored as a hero. Since Bruce is also presumed dead, Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage, and Bruce's estate is left to Alfred. Gordon finds the Bat-Signal repaired, while Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed the Bat's malfunctioning autopilot, implying that he escaped the Bat before the detonation. In Florence, drinking a Fernet Branca, Alfred discovers that Bruce is alive and in a relationship with Selina, and they acknowledge each other with a smile. Blake, whose legal first name is revealed as Robin, resigns from the GCPD, disillusioned with how they'd handled Bane's takeover, and receives a package leading him to the Batcave.

Wu Qianli, commander of the People's Liberation Army 's 7th Company, returns home after the Chinese Civil War. He tells his family that his brother, Wu Baili, was killed in action. Having been allotted land for his service, he promises his parents he will build them a house, but his leave is cancelled when China enters the Korean War. Qianli's younger brother, Wanli, asks to go with, but is refused. On 15 September 1950, where the Battle of Incheon is underway. U.S. aircraft are shown indiscriminately bombing a village in Andong Province, China. The film then jumps to Beijing on 4 October 1950 where the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party is meeting in Zhongnanhai to discuss the war situation. Mao Zedong asks whether the U.S. Army crossing the 38th parallel means they will also cross the Yalu. The military briefer states that by stationing forces in Taiwan, the U.S. has already invaded China and U.S. forces in Korea threatens China's security. To Qianli's horror, Wanli has enlisted and is stationed in the 7th Company. Wanli gets bullied by the other members of the 7th Company en route to Korea, with Qianli refusing to help him and at first refuses to even give him a rifle. The train is bombed while track is being fixed, forcing the 7th Company to continue on foot while avoiding American aircraft. The 7th Company stumble upon a battle and aid a group of Chinese soldiers. Wanli and Qianli kill four Americans in hand-to-hand combat and avoid being killed by a tank. The 7th Company continues to the front lines, eventually arriving and delivering field radios.The 7th Company is allowed to rest. Mao Zedong's son, Anying, serving under the pseudonym "Liu", helps distribute clothing to them before the company is ordered to the front lines. The Chinese soldiers stay hidden in the mountains, running low on supplies and facing below-freezing temperatures while American soldiers celebrate Thanksgiving in relative comfort and anticipate going home for Christmas. U.S. radio detection detects the headquarters where Anying is stationed and aircraft are sent to bomb the base. While most of the staff take shelter in bunkers, Anying runs back to the base to collect a map and is killed in the bombing. The 27 November offensive begins with Chinese soldiers swarming the positions of the U.S. Army 31st Infantry Regiment at Sinhung-ni. The Americans begin to retreat and Qianli shoots the U.S. commander, Colonel Allan MacLean, but then stops Wanli from executing him. At Hagaru-ri reinforcements are ordered to Sinhung-ni. A USMC Vought F4U Corsair attacks the Chinese forces and drops a smoke marker on the overrun base but is then shot down by a Chinese soldier using a bazooka. Lei Suisheng puts the smoke marker in a jeep and drives off, joining up with the retreating U.S. column. The U.S. bombers destroy the American column and Lei is killed. Hagaru-ri, which is under attack by the Chinese. U.S. forces are forced to retreat by air and land while they are pursued by Chinese forces. The scene then shifts again to the 3rd Company, 3rd Division, 58th Corps on Hill 1071, which is shown holding out against U.S. forces. Yang Gensi, as the last surviving member of his unit, suicidally attacks American tanks with a satchel charge. The retreating U.S. Marine column finds a group of Chinese soldiers frozen to death at their post. General Oliver P. Smith salutes them; his voiceover is heard saying that fighting against such strong-willed men, the U.S. was not ordained to win.The closing scenes show a U.S. mass grave at Hungnam as the city burns during the Hungnam evacuation. Captions state that 105,000 U.S. troops were evacuated by 24 December and that the 9th Corps captured Hungnam. The captions explain the significance of the battle of Lake Changjin, which was a "perfect example for annihilating a U.S. reinforced regiment" and how Chinese forces stopped MacArthur's "presumptuous" plan to end the war by Christmas and "set the stage for the final victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" despite the deaths of more than 197,000 Chinese.

In late 1682 northern Italy, Catholic monk Marco d'Aviano is known far and wide for his ability to perform miracles. Crowds gather to watch him speak, hoping that he can perform a miracle to stop the advancing Ottoman Empire. The ruler of the Ottomans, Sultan Mehmed IV, appoints Kara Mustafa Pasha as his Grand Vizier. Kara Mustafa seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate across Europe and is notorious for turning Christian churches in conquered territories into mosques. Kara Mustafa terrifies Europe after informing the Sultan that he intends to march the Ottoman military into Rome, conquering the city and turning St. Peter's Basilica into a mosque. Kara Mustafa shows his favorite wife, Leila, an amulet that was given to him by a man after he saved him from dying in an accident while visiting Venice. Leila tells Kara Mustafa that she is troubled by a recurring dream where he is killed by arrows fired from hundreds of archers after a monk holds up a cross. Disturbed by this, Kara Mustafa consults a kahin, who predicts that Kara will see much blood, but the blood will not be his. Before Kara Mustafa leaves for Europe with his army, he gives the amulet to his tearful son, promising that the amulet means he will return. A comet with a red tail is seen, and is taken by both Kara Mustafa and Marco as a sign of victory. Marco stops an angry mob, stirred up by anti-Ottoman sentiment, from killing one of his friends, a Muslim named Abu'l. However, despite this, Abu'l leaves his deaf wife behind to assist the Ottomans in their invasion of Europe. The ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Leopold I requests Marco's presence in Vienna for advice on current events. Marco arrives and informs the shocked Emperor that the Ottomans have broken their peace treaty and are heading towards Vienna, having already advanced to Hungary. Marco suggests that Leopold ally himself with Saxony, Bavaria and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Leopold disregards Marco's advice. Leopold's daughter, the Duchess of Lorena, is suffering from breast cancer, and Marco miraculously heals her disease. She encourages her father to listen to Marco's advice. The number of troops in Vienna soon grows to 50,000, vastly outnumbered by the 300,000 man Ottoman army. At this time, Kara Mustafa instructs Abu'l to serve as his translator, instructing the people of Vienna to surrender to the Ottomans. Abu'l's wife, Lena, who accompanied Marco to Vienna, is shocked to see her husband working with the Ottomans. That night, she sneaks into the camp to speak to him, only to be captured by the Ottomans. Abu'l is asked if he knows her, and he says no. She is then brought to the other captive women who are being used as sex slaves for the army, but Abu'l later pays to have her released. The Tartars arrive, warning Kara to protect the rear of their army from the Polish, but he ignores this advice. The Turks use cannons to destroy Vienna’s walls and attack the city. The forces defending Vienna suffer heavy casualties and begin to doubt if they will stop the Ottomans from taking the city. However, at this time, the Polish arrive, led by King Jan III Sobieski. The largely protestant forces of Vienna do not want to listen to the Catholic Polish king, but Marco convinces them to do so. Sobieski plans a desperate charge from the top of the Kahlenberg mountain behind the Ottoman forces, where they will least expect an attack. Kara Mustafa realizes that the man he saved all those years ago in Venice was actually Marco. Curious, he has Abu’l arrange for a meeting with Marco. The two men discuss the differences between Islamic submission and Christian virtues, and Marco tries in vain to convince Kara Mustafa to abandon his attack on the city. On September 11, 1683, Marco gives a speech to the army urging them to defend their Christian faith and western civilization from destruction. Using strategy and traps, the Ottoman cavalry suffers heavy casualties. When the Ottomans are weak, the Polish troops on top of the Kahlenberg attack from the rear and win the battle. Following this defeat, the Ottomans never again march into western Europe. Kara Mustafa is enraged at the loss and admonishes his tacticians, who angrily inform him that he was the one who did not listen to their concerns about artillery on top of the Kahlenberg. Kara Mustafa appears to charge at the troops on horseback, only to be killed by arrows. However, it is determined that this was merely a decoy, and the real Kara Mustafa fled from the battle. On Christmas Day, 1683, Sultan Mehmed orders Kara Mustafa's son to watch his execution as punishment for failing to capture Vienna and fleeing from the battle in cowardice. After the execution, Kara Mustafa's son throws the amulet his father gave him in the snow.

Seasoned 9-1-1 operator Jordan Turner receives a call from 15-year-old Leah Templeton, fearing for her life as a man breaks into her home while her parents are away. Jordan calmly advises her to hide, which she does under the bed. After the intruder has searched the room thinking Leah has left, he proceeds to leave the house. The girl believes he has left, but when her call is disconnected, Jordan calls back, and the ring gives Leah's location away to the intruder. After the male intruder captures Leah, Jordan attempts to dissuade him, but he responds, "It's already done," and hangs up. The next day, a television report confirms that Leah has been murdered. Emotionally affected, Jordan decides she can no longer handle field calls. Six months later, Jordan is training 9-1-1 operators. Teenager Casey Welson, after heading home from the Mall, is almost hit by a car in the parking garage. The driver apologises but then assaults her and throws her into the trunk of his car. Kidnapped, Casey uses a disposable phone to call 9-1-1. Brooke, a rookie operator, receives the call but can't handle it, so Jordan takes over. However, since Casey is using a burner phone, her exact location cannot be determined by GPS. As the kidnapper drives, Jordan gets Casey to provide details about the man who abducted her and the colour of the car which she describes as a red/maroon 4 door car. Jordan gets her to knock off the tail light and wave to signal an incoming car. While waving, a woman driving behind sees Casey's arm, and calls 9-1-1 on a phone with GPS. With her disclosure of the location, Jordan shares the location to the police. The woman drives near the kidnapper’s car and tells 9-1-1 the plate number of the car, but it comes up as a stolen plate. While Jordan is questioning further, the woman overtakes the vehicle, which spooks the kidnapper and forces him to exit the highway. The woman provides the road he took to Jordan. When Casey discovers paint in the trunk, Jordan has her pour the paint out of the tail-light hole to help police with tracking the car. The paint pouring attracts the attention of another driver, Alan Denado, but the kidnapper viciously bludgeons him into unconsciousness with a shovel and, assuming him to be dead, stuffs him into the trunk of his car, a black Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited, with Casey. On the road again, Alan awakens in his trunk and begins panicking. Hearing his screams, the kidnapper pulls over and kills him. When he later stops for gas, Casey tries to crawl out of the trunk into the back seat and yell for help. When a gas attendant sees her and tries to open the car door, the kidnapper douses him with gasoline and burns him alive. Meanwhile, the police find the kidnapper's abandoned car, a red Toyota Camry LE in a parking lot off a nearby highway and, using fingerprints left at the scene, discover the kidnapper's identity, Michael Foster. Arriving at their destination, Michael removes Casey from the trunk. He finds the phone in her pocket, still connected to 9-1-1. Jordan informs Michael that the police have discovered his identity and have enough evidence to charge him for his crimes, advising him to surrender and to not hurt Casey. Before smashing the phone, Michael responds, "It's already done,” making Jordan realise that Michael was also behind Leah’s death. Meanwhile, Jordan’s boyfriend, police officer Paul Phillips, and others raid Michael's home, finding only his wife and children. When an officer finds a photo of Michael and his sister, Melinda, Paul notices Casey's physical resemblance. Additionally, their childhood home is revealed by Michael's wife to have burned down, although a nearby cottage, which police later raid but then find it empty, still remains. As Michael begins to torture Casey, now restrained to a foldable wheelchair and subjected to nitrous oxide, she manages to spray him in the eyes and escape, but is later recaptured after being horrified by what she finds in another room. Determined to rescue her, Jordan drives to the cottage where she finds a number of photos of Michael with his leukemia -stricken sister. Stepping outside, she recognises sounds from an outdoor flagpole — exactly what she'd heard in the background at the end of the 9-1-1 call. Next to the flagpole, she also finds a trap door where the primary house once stood. Jordan accidentally drops her cell phone down the cellar and climbs down to get it. Jordan hides from Michael in the cellar. Looking around, it becomes clear Michael had incestuous feelings towards his sister and was distraught when she fell ill and died. Michael keeps a prop head which he treats as his sister. He has been killing and scalping people similar to her since then, trying to find scalps that match his sister's hair, which she lost from chemotherapy. Jordan soon finds Casey strapped to the wheelchair and attacks Michael as he begins to scalp Casey’s forehead. Jordan frees her and they try to escape, during which Casey stabs Michael in the back with scissors. Removing the scissors to hurt Casey, Jordan and Casey kick him back down into the cellar, knocking him unconscious. Instead of calling 9-1-1, they tape him to the same chair he used to torture Casey. When Michael regains consciousness, the women reveal that they intend to leave him there to die. Casey will claim she blacked out and escaped, and Jordan found her in the woods, while everyone will assume that Michael has fled. He first insults them, then pleads that they cannot do this to him. Jordan replies with his own words, "It's already done," and locks the door as Michael screams in horror.

In 1971 in Durham, North Carolina, Ann Atwater tries to get better housing conditions for poor black people, and is ignored by the all-white judge panel. Ann's daughter's school catches on fire, causing local Ku Klux Klan president C. P. Ellis to fear that the black children will come to the white schools. Bill Riddick sets up a meeting with them both, to arrange charrettes to discuss segregation and other issues. Both refuse at first as they hate each other, but are convinced. C.P. proudly refuses to sit with Bill and Ann, since they are black and he is white. They agree to pick some people randomly from the group to vote on the issues at the end of the meeting sessions. C.P tries to talk to these selected to vote, but is rebuffed. A black reverend asks Bill if he can play gospel music at the end of each session. C.P. refuses, saying that if the Black people want to sing gospel music at the charrette, he should be allowed to put out his KKK items on display. Ann refuses, but Bill agrees. At one meeting, a group of black teenagers tries to destroy the KKK items, but Ann stops them and tells them to instead understand what the KKK is. C.P. observes. Bill insists Black and White people in their group sit next to each other in the cafeteria as they eat. He makes C.P and Ann sit together alone. They eat in tense silence, then she asks him if he has a boy in Murdock. C.P. refuses to talk about his son. Murdock is a facility for disabled boys, and his son has Down syndrome. C.P. rushes to Murdock, as his son Larry has been put in the same room with another boy who is screaming, upsetting Larry. C.P. demands that his son be placed in a room of his own, but the nurses say he can't afford it. Ann visits Larry and convinces Bernadette, who works there, to put him in his own room. Bill takes Ann, C.P., and the rest of their group to visit the black school that was burned. C.P. is shocked by the damage. Ann's daughter says hi to Ann, but gives C.P the evil eye when she realises who he is. C.P.'s wife Mary, overjoyed with Ann's help, goes to thank her. Ann is told that C.P. has always been racist. Mary later calls C.P out when he tells her about his encounter with Ann's daughter, asking him what he expected. The encounter and Mary's words leave C.P shaken and start to question his beliefs. The night before the final vote, C.P.'s KKK troublemaking friends threaten the selected voters to vote for segregation. When C.P. finds out, he is dismayed. Especially since one of the targets is a Vietnam vet who C.P had talked to earlier and learned that the man's manager, a black man, is also a vet and had saved his life on several occasions. When Ann hears about it, she screams at C.P., calling him a coward. During the voting, all the issues pass, coming down to the final issue of desegregation. The voters give their vote one by one. Ann votes for it, and C.P. surprises everyone by doing the same, realizing the KKK is hateful. He also makes a speech and rips up his KKK membership card, to the fury of his watching KKK friends. They threaten him and try to set fire to his gas station but C.P. douses it. The white community shuns and boycotts his station. Ann and Bill bring in the black community to buy from him instead. The real life Ann and C.P. went around to different cities together, to talk about their experiences. They remained friends to the end of C.P.'s life, with Ann giving the eulogy at his funeral.

Jen and Mel run "The Breaker Upperers", an Auckland agency for people who need help breaking up with their partners. Using unorthodox means, such as impersonating police officers to inform a woman, Anna, that her husband has died and his body has gone missing, while in reality, he is hiding in their car. The two women have been friends since their twenties, after finding out that they shared a boyfriend, Joe. Although Mel has moved on, Jen is still obsessed with Joe, who has moved back to town with his wife and children. Mel and Jordan, a teenaged client afraid to break up with his fearsome girlfriend, Sepa, are mutually attracted, much to Jen's concern. The three meet with Sepa and her gang to break up the couple. Sepa ends up punching Jen in the face, and afterward, Mel and Jordan begin dating. One day, Jen and Mel meet Anna again. She still believes her husband's body is missing and that they are police officers. Anna and Mel soon become friends, having many shared interests. Jen is annoyed and feels left out. Anna begs them to reveal her husband's file. Jen and Mel, in their police costumes, continue the charade in the local police station. They are exposed when an officer mistakes them for strippers, requesting a lap dance. Afterwards, a shocked Anna storms out. Mel apologises, explaining that Anna's husband had hired them. Furious, she won't forgive them, declaring that what they do is wrong. Taking Anna's words to heart, Mel considers quitting, infuriating Jen, who doesn't find fault with what they are doing. Jen blames Mel for causing her breakup with Joe many years ago. Despite being reminded that Joe had hurt both of them, Jen cuts Mel from her life and the agency. Meeting Joe for dinner, Jen declares her longtime love for him, stating he is "the one". Initially believing she is joking, Joe laughs at her. He reveals that he had cheated on her with several other women as well. Joe rebuffs Jen by stating that although he was unfaithful in the past, he has since grown up. Meanwhile, Mel continues to see Jordan. Although he is kind and caring, she realises that due to his age, he remains naive and childish. He is also still in love with Sepa, who had been supportive of his budding rugby career. Jen runs into Mel at the shops, the latter revealing that she is pregnant. She wishes to keep the baby, but is unsure of things with Jordan. Jen enlists the help of Sepa, who is still in love with Jordan. At the local pub, Jordan is being publicly congratulated on his recent contract to play rugby with the Gold Coast Titans. Mel is also in attendance, and is worried when Jordan announces he will forfeit the contract to stay with her and the baby. Sepa and her gang arrive with Jen. Declaring her love for Jordan, she apologises for her past aggression, realising her need to change. She and her gang sing for Jordan, while Jen sings to Mel about their friendship. Mel then coaxes Jordan to go back to Sepa and accept the rugby contract, telling him she and the baby will visit him as often as possible. With her support, Jordan reunites with Sepa, and Jen and Mel make amends. In the end credits, Jen and Mel have rebranded their agency to help clients with "make-ups and break-ups". Anna has forgiven Mel, and they resume their friendship. Jordan has moved to the Gold Coast and is seen happily playing with his infant daughter.

In rural Centerville, police Chief Cliff Robertson and officer Ronnie Peterson respond to a report from farmer Frank Miller regarding a missing chicken. They briefly interact with Hermit Bob, a bearded eccentric, in the woods. On their way back to the station, Cliff notices there is still daylight after 8 p.m. and Ronnie's watch and cell phone stop working. Later, at a diner, hardware store owner Hank Thompson hears a radio report concerning polar fracking. Two corpses reanimate when night falls and kill the two diner employees, who are discovered by Hank the next morning. Ronnie believes zombies killed the employees. Young travelers Zoe, Jack, and Zack stop for gas and meet Bobby. At the Centerville Juvenile Detention Center, inmate Geronimo tells fellow inmates Olivia and Stella that polar fracking has altered the Earth's rotation. Cliff and Ronnie find open graves at the cemetery, while Hermit Bob spies on them. Cliff emphatically rejects Ronnie's suggestion of informing Farmer Miller of the general suspicion that zombies are on the loose. Ronnie teaches Cliff how to kill zombies, and Bobby and Hank prepare weapons. Motel owner Danny Perkins watches news about pets behaving strangely and then finds out his cats are missing. Other of Farmer Miller's animals have disappeared. That evening, more zombies rise, and Danny is attacked and transformed. Cliff and Ronnie bring supplies to the station and tell fellow officer Mindy Morrison about the zombies. The corpse of Mallory, a local alcoholic, reanimates in the police station and Ronnie decapitates her. Two corpses reanimate at the funeral home and are beheaded with a sword by Zelda Winston, who recently bought the funeral home. She goes to the police station, where the three officers leave her to operate communications. The cops drive through town and find the three travelers dead at the motel. Ronnie beheads the bodies, much to Mindy's distress, and takes Zoe's Sturgill Simpson CD. Zelda waves her hand over the police computer and it generates code. Ronnie begins playing the CD on the police car sound system, but Cliff throws the CD out the car window. Hank and Bobby face zombies at the hardware store. Each zombie says only one word, related to something from their past or an item they see as a zombie. Zombies maul Farmer Miller. Inmates Geronimo, Olivia, and Stella flee the detention center, again observed by Hermit Bob. When zombies overwhelm the patrol car at the cemetery, Officer Mindy sees her dead grandmother, and exits the car, only to be engulfed by zombies. Ronnie says he knew all would end badly because Jim gave him the entire script ahead of time, while Cliff only got the pages for his own scenes. Zelda drives Ronnie's car through town, stopping to behead one last Fashion Zombie, and then walks calmly through the cemetery with sword in hand. Zombies amble away from the patrol car as a spinning UFO appears over the cemetery. Cliff and Ronnie watch as it beams up Zelda and departs. The two leave the car, and kill zombies including Bobby, Miller, Danny, Hank, and Mindy. Hermit Bob watches from the woods through binoculars, lamenting how the world is a terrible place, as zombies overwhelm Cliff and Ronnie.

At a party, guests are waiting for the married couple Laura and Oliver Bradford to arrive. John Hillgrove, a blind pianist, proceeds to perform his tone poem titled "The Enchanted Cottage," which he wrote in their honor. Laura Pennington cycles to a seaside New England cottage where she meets Hillgrove and his young nephew Danny. Laura had heard fantastical stories about the cottage from her mother before her death. Feeling ostracized for her homely appearance, she is hired as a caretaker by Mrs. Abigail Minnett, a widowed tenant owner. She feels a mutual connection with Laura after losing her husband during World War I. Oliver Bradford, a soon to be called up Army Air Forces pilot, arrives, having rented the cottage with his new fiancée, Beatrice Alexander. Beatrice, however, is displeased with the cottage decor, but Laura reassures her that the cottage is magical, showing her the window where couples have written their names. Later that night, a honeymoon party is planned for the engaged couple, but Oliver sends a letter stating he will be unable to arrive. He has been called back into military service before his wedding. Beatrice subsequently cancels their leasing agreement. One year later, a telegram arrives stating Oliver's intention to rent the cottage indefinitely. Oliver arrives, hiding his face inside his trench coat, and locks himself in his room. During a stormy night, Laura enters his room where Oliver reveals his disfigurement from the war. His face is scarred, and his right arm and hand are disabled after his plane was shot down in the Battle of Java. The next morning, Laura develops a connection with Oliver in the garden. Hillgrove arrives and converses with Oliver, stating that when he became blind, he developed a new lease on life by appreciating music. By nighttime, Oliver receives a letter from his mother, Mrs. Price, but he refuses to see her and his stepfather due to how he looks with his war injuries. Laura finds Oliver by the seashore. In an attempt to keep distance from his mother, Oliver proposes to Laura, and she accepts. After their honeymoon, Laura and Oliver return to the cottage, both feeling transformed. A flashback to before their wedding dinner is shown in which the couple initially reflect on their sham marriage. Laura tries to declare her love for Oliver but is unable to do so. She runs to her bedroom in tears, but Oliver comforts her. He realizes his genuine love for Laura, seeing her as a beautiful, glamorous woman. Laura in return sees him as handsome and unscarred. At the cottage, Oliver's mother and stepfather arrive, and Hillgrove unsuccessfully attempts to notify them about Oliver and Laura's "transformations". However, Mrs. Price mentions Laura's "not being pretty" while complimenting her character before she leaves, which breaks the spell of their mutual illusion, and they're "transformed" back to their former selves. The couple turns to Mrs. Minnett, who gives them her validation of their love, telling them that her beloved late husband made her feel beautiful, because that's how people who are truly in love see each other—and that's the real enchantment of the cottage. She then leaves the room. Oliver and Laura hold hands, then proceed to write their names on the window. Back to the present, the couple arrives at the front door, where they happily embrace and kiss each other as their idealized selves before entering the house.

In the 1890s, a group of "Harvey Girls"—new waitresses for Fred Harvey 's pioneering chain of Harvey House restaurants—travels on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to the town of Sandrock, New Mexico. On the trip, they meet Susan Bradley, who is traveling from Ohio to Sandrock to marry a man named H. H. Hartsey, whose beautiful love letters she received when she answered a "lonely-hearts" ad. Upon arrival, Susan is dismayed to find that Hartsey is a "mangy old buzzard" who does not at all meet her expectations. As Hartsey senses Susan's disappointment, the two eventually agree that they are mismatched and call off the wedding. Hartsey then reveals to Susan that his letters were actually written as a joke by Ned Trent, co-owner of the Alhambra Saloon, prompting Susan to confront Ned. Smitten with Susan, Ned offers to pay for her trip back to Ohio, but she instead vows to run him and his saloon out of town. Susan joins the Harvey Girls, and on the Harvey House's opening night, Ned visits the restaurant and orders a rare steak. Realizing that the meat has disappeared, Susan marches over to the Alhambra with two six-shooters, recovers the stolen meat and serves Ned a raw steak. Later that night, after someone shoots at a lamp in the Harvey Girls' dormitory, most of the women want to flee, but Susan and other waitresses decide to stay, unaware that Ned's business associate, Judge Sam Purvis, is determined to close the Harvey House in order to maintain his own thriving business running the Alhambra in town. The next day, Ned confronts Purvis about the shooting and demands that he apologize to the Harvey Girls. Instead, Purvis lies to Susan and another waitress, Deborah Andrews, claiming that Ned is not pleased to have the Harvey House in town. Determined to find the culprit behind the shooting, Susan seeks out Ned at the Alhambra and is confronted by Em, Ned's lead saloon singer who is in love with him; she reveals to Susan that it is actually Purvis, not Ned, who wants to run the Harvey House out of town. Susan later finds Ned alone in a remote valley, and as they discuss love letters and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's poem The Courtship of Miles Standish, they kiss. Returning to town, they find Deborah trapped in the Harvey Girls' closet with a rattlesnake, which Ned shoots dead. Susan accuses Ned of placing the snake in their closet, prompting him to leave. Ned then tells Purvis to stop harassing the Harvey Girls. Some time later, Ned informs Susan that the Alhambra will be relocated to Flagstaff, Arizona, the next morning, and she cries as they say goodbye. Later that night, when Purvis and his henchmen set fire to the Harvey House, Ned fights them off, but the restaurant burns down. The next morning, Ned offers the Alhambra as a replacement for the Harvey House. Just before Em boards the train to Flagstaff, Ned tells her he is staying in Sandrock. Susan, thinking that Ned too is leaving, boards the same train and is spotted by Em. Realizing that Susan loves Ned so much that she is willing to become a saloon girl to be with him, Em pulls the emergency brake and points out Ned, riding toward the train on his horse. Ultimately, they wed in the desert, surrounded by the Harvey Girls.

In Montreal, scientist André Delambre is found dead with his head and arm crushed in a hydraulic press. His wife Hélène confesses to the crime but refuses to provide a motive, and begins acting strangely. In particular, she is obsessed with flies, including a supposedly white-headed fly. André's brother, François, lies and says he caught the white-headed fly. Thinking he knows the truth, Hélène asks François to bring the police inspector in charge of the case, Charas, so that she can explain the circumstances of André's death to them both. In flashback, André, Hélène, and their son Philippe are a happy family. André has been working on a matter-transporter device called the disintegrator-integrator. He initially tests it only on small, inanimate objects, such as a newspaper, before proceeding to living creatures, including the family's pet cat (which fails to reintegrate, but can be heard meowing somewhere) and a guinea pig. After he is satisfied that these tests are succeeding, he builds a man-sized pair of chambers. One day, Hélène, worried because André has not come up from the basement lab for a couple of days, goes down to find André with a black cloth draped over his head and a strange deformity on his left hand. Communicating only with typed notes and knocking (once for "Yes", twice for "No"), André tells Hélène that he tried to transport himself, but that a fly was caught in the chamber with him, which resulted in the mixing of their atoms. Now, he has the head and left arm of a fly, though he retains his human mind. Conversely, the fly has a miniature version of his head and left arm. André needs Hélène to capture the fly so that he can reverse the process. After she, her son, and their housemaid exhaustively search for it, she finds it, but it slips out of a crack in the window. André's will begins to fade as the fly's instincts take over his brain. Time is running out, and while André can still think like a human, he smashes the equipment, burns his notes, and leads Hélène to the factory. When they arrive, he sets the hydraulic press, puts his head and arm under, and motions for Hélène to push the button. André's arm falls free as the press descends, and trying not to look, she raises the press, replaces the arm, and activates the machine a second time. Upon hearing this confession, Inspector Charas deems Hélène insane and guilty of murder. As they are about to haul her away, Philippe tells François he has seen the fly trapped in a web in the back garden. François convinces the inspector to come and see for himself. The two men see the fly, with both André's head and arm, trapped on the web as Philippe told them. It screams, "Help me! Help me!" as a large spider advances on it. Just as the spider is about to devour the creature, Charas crushes them both with a rock. Knowing that nobody would believe the truth, François and Charas decide to declare André's death a suicide so that Hélène is not convicted of murder. In the end, Hélène, François, and Philippe resume their daily lives. Sometime later, Philippe and Hélène are playing croquet in the yard. François arrives to take his nephew to the zoo. In reply to his nephew's query about his father's death, François tells Philippe, "He was searching for the truth. He almost found a great truth, but for one instant, he was careless. The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world and the most dangerous." The film closes with Hélène escorting her son and François out of the yard.