Man-su, an award-winning veteran employee at a papermaking company, lives happily in his beloved childhood home with his wife Mi-ri and their children: Si-one, Mi-ri's teenage son from a previous marriage, and Ri-one, an autistic cello prodigy. The company is bought out and a devastated Man-su is laid off after defending his fellow workers, but assures his family he will resume papermaking within three months. Thirteen months later, Man-su has been unable to find another job in the papermaking industry. His family is forced to minimize their spending, including rehoming their two dogs with Mi-ri's parents, upsetting Ri-one, whose cello teacher recommends her for expensive advanced classes. The family considers selling their home to the parents of Si-one's friend Dong-ho, and Mi-ri takes a part-time job as a dental assistant to suave dentist Jin-ho, while Man-su endures a toothache he cannot afford to treat. Man-su attempts to join the successful Moon Paper company, but is humiliated by manager Seon-chul. Wanting his job, Man-su nearly kills Seon-chul with a potted plant, but realises this will not matter unless he is the best candidate to replace him. Instead, Man-su uses a fake job advertisement to identify his chief competitors: Beom-mo and Si-jo. Retrieving his father's Vietnam War gun, he prepares to kill Seon-chul, Beom-mo, and Si-jo to eliminate his competition. Spying on Beom-mo, an unemployed drunkard, Man-su is bitten by a snake and treated by Beom-mo's dissatisfied wife, A-ra, and is later unable to stop Beom-mo from discovering A-ra's infidelity. A-ra finds Man-su confronting Beom-mo at gunpoint, leading to a struggle for the gun, but A-ra shoots Beom-mo dead and Man-su escapes. He arrives late to a costumed party, where Mi-ri dances with Jin-ho instead. A-ra and her lover bury Beom-mo, but Man-su recovers the gun. Man-su and Mi-ri accuse each other of infidelity, and she reminds him that he was a violent drunk when Si-one was very young, but they reconcile. At the shoe store where Si-jo works, Man-su recognises him as a kindred devoted father, but tricks him into staying late and feigns car trouble; when Si-jo stops to help, Man-su reluctantly shoots him and drives away with his corpse. Si-one and Dong-ho are arrested for stealing iPhones from Dong-ho's father's store, but Man-su and Mi-ri blackmail Dong-ho's father, who used the store for his own infidelity, into having Dong-ho take the blame. Detectives question Man-su about Beom-mo and Si-jo's disappearances, having linked them as unemployed paper men. Smoking on the roof, Si-one witnesses Man-su in his greenhouse trying to dismember Si-jo's corpse with a chainsaw. Unable to do so, Man-su buries the body in his garden, alongside Si-one's stolen iPhones, and plants an apple tree. Plying Seon-chul with alcohol at his remote cabin, Man-su breaks his sobriety and drunkenly extracts his own tooth. Haunted by nightmares about his father and the chainsaw, Si-one informs his mother, who digs up the tree and calls Man-su. Determined to protect his family, Man-su suffocates Seon-chul with meat and stages his death to appear as if he choked on his own vomit. Mi-ri tells Si-one that Man-su dismembered and buried a pig to nourish the apple tree, and she and Man-su come to a tense understanding. Moon Paper hires Man-su to replace Seon-chul, allowing the family to keep their home and reunite with their dogs. Ri-one's antisocial behavior improves, and Mi-ri realises her unusual drawings are actually musical compositions. The detectives reveal that A-ra has implicated Beom-mo as a gun-owner, and conclude that he murdered Si-jo and went on the run, lifting suspicion off Man-su. At his new job, Man-su celebrates alone in a modern paper mill run by machines instead of workers.

In November 1973, " Control ", head of British intelligence ("The Circus"), sends field agent Jim Prideaux to Budapest to meet a Hungarian general and potential defector, who has offered to identify a mole installed by Soviet spymaster Karla amongst the Circus' senior leadership. Prideaux realises the meeting is a trap, attempts to leave and is shot in the back. Control and his deputy, George Smiley, are forced to retire, and Control dies shortly after. Sir Percy Alleline becomes the new Chief, with Bill Haydon, Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as his inner circle. Despite Control's and Smiley's suspicions, the four had begun handling a high-level Soviet source ("Operation Witchcraft"), which Alleline believes will give the Circus access to American intelligence. Alleline and Bland meet with Permanent Undersecretary Oliver Lacon, the senior civil servant responsible for the Circus, to discuss the ongoing cost of a secret safe house to meet the Witchcraft source. After the meeting, field agent Ricki Tarr, currently in hiding due to being connected to several deaths in Istanbul, telephones Lacon to inform him of a mole within the Circus. Aware that Control had a similar theory, Lacon asks Smiley to investigate. Smiley recruits Tarr's handler Peter Guillam and retired Special Branch Inspector Mendel to assist him. After setting up a base in the Hotel Islay, Smiley has Guillam steal personnel records and copies of the Circus' slush fund accounts. He discovers several Control loyalists were ousted after Prideaux's shooting, as well as a record of payment made to "Mr. Ellis", one of Prideaux's identities, after the shooting. In Oxford, Smiley interviews former analyst Connie Sachs. Sachs had discovered evidence that Soviet cultural attaché Alexei Polyakov was actually an undercover military officer, and suspected his true role was to run a mole in London; Alleline had scoffed at her findings and sacked her. Back in London, Smiley discovers Tarr in his house. Tarr tells how he was assigned to trail Boris, a Soviet trade delegate in Istanbul who was offering to defect, but who he quickly guessed was actually KGB. After Tarr witnessed Boris assault his wife and fellow agent Irina, he and Irina began an affair. Irina offered to reveal the identity of a top-level mole in exchange for asylum in the West. Hours after Tarr cabled London about the existence of a double agent, the local station chief was murdered and Irina abducted. Smiley sends Guillam to the Circus archive to steal the duty officer's logbook for the month Tarr contacted London. Guillam is warned by Alleline that Tarr is suspected of treachery, but Smiley vouches for him by noting that the log entry for Tarr's cable is missing. That night, Smiley recounts his only meeting with Karla to Guillam. While working under the name "Gerstmann" in 1955, Karla was captured and traded to the Soviet Union by the Americans. Believing he would likely be executed upon his return, Smiley travelled to Delhi to recruit him. However, his constant urging for Karla to think of his wife only revealed Smiley's weakness: his love for his wife, Ann. A chainsmoker, Karla listened silently, stole a lighter given to George by Ann, and returned to the Soviet Union. Smiley contacts another sacked loyalist, former duty officer Jerry Westerby, who tells him of how Prideaux's shooting sent Control into shock. Hoping to find George, Westerby had telephoned Ann; Haydon then arrived and took charge. Guillam wonders how Haydon could have learned of the emergency, to which Smiley informs him that Haydon was having an affair with Ann. Smiley interviews Prideaux, now working at a rural prep school. Prideaux explains that his Budapest mission was to identify the mole and relay one of five code-names to Control drawn from the English children's rhyme " Tinker, Tailor ". Alleline was "Tinker", Haydon "Tailor", Bland "Soldier", Esterhase "Poorman", and Smiley "Beggarman". However, he was captured and tortured by the KGB, during which he witnessed Irina's execution. During his interrogation, Karla personally visited and asked how close Control was to identifying the mole before trading Prideaux back to the Circus. Smiley realises that Witchcraft is actually a KGB ruse. Alleline and his allies believe that Polyakov is giving them invaluable intel from a "high-placed source": Karla. In fact, the intel is largely fake or exaggerated, with just enough to make it appear genuine. Smiley informs Lacon and the Minister that the true object of Witchcraft is to form a partnership between the Circus and the CIA, enabling the mole to leak both British and American intel. To draw out the mole, Smiley instructs Tarr to hold the Paris Station at gunpoint and force them to send a fake cable to the Circus. To ensure his compliance, Smiley agrees to Tarr's request to trade the mole for Irina, despite knowing she is dead. Smiley and Guillam surprise Esterhase as he leaves the Circus and drive him to an airstrip and waiting plane; Esterhase gives them the address to the safe house rather than be deported. Smiley and Guillam wait at the safe house for the mole to alert Polyakov that Tarr is about to blow their cover. The mole is revealed to be Haydon, and Smiley arrests him at gunpoint. The Circus holds Haydon at its training and debriefing facility, Sarratt. Smiley informs him he will be traded for British operatives held in the Soviet Union, and agrees to settle several of Haydon's sexual relationships with both women and men. Haydon informs him that Karla ordered him to seduce Ann to cloud Smiley's judgment. He also confirms that Prideaux, a long-time friend (and, it is hinted, lover), suspected Haydon was the mole and tipped him off before his Hungary mission. Haydon was able to inform Karla and prevent Prideaux from being killed by the KGB. Blaming Haydon for allowing his torture, Prideaux infiltrates Sarratt with a hunting rifle and kills Haydon from a distance, shooting him in the cheek and watching as he collapses. Ann returns home, Alleline is dismissed from the Circus in disgrace and retires, and Smiley is reinstated and takes up his new post as chief.

Ruben Stone plays drums in the avant-garde metal duo Blackgammon, with his singer girlfriend, Lou. They live in an RV and tour the United States performing gigs. When Ruben begins to lose his hearing, he goes to a pharmacy seeking a diagnosis. The pharmacist refers him to a doctor, who finds that Ruben has lost most of his hearing and that the rest will deteriorate rapidly. Although cochlear implants may benefit him, insurance does not cover the high cost. The doctor suggests that Ruben eliminate all exposure to loud noises and undergo further testing, but Ruben continues to perform. Lou wants to stop performing for his safety, but Ruben wants to continue. She is also concerned about his sobriety, as he is a recovering drug addict. They call his sponsor, Hector, who finds a rural shelter for deaf recovering addicts run by a man named Joe, a recovering alcoholic who lost his hearing in the Vietnam War. Ruben leaves with Lou because they will not let her live there with him, and he wants only the implants. Anxious for his well-being, Lou leaves and persuades Ruben to return to the shelter. Ruben meets the other members of the shelter, attends meetings, and settles into his new life. He is introduced to schoolteacher Diane and the children in her class and learns American Sign Language. Joe tasks Ruben with writing and sitting peacefully in his study in an effort to make him comfortable with the silence. Ruben joins Diane's class and connects with the children and the rest of the community. He gives the children and Diane drumming lessons. Joe invites Ruben to stay as an employee of the community. Ruben illicitly uses Joe's office computer to follow Lou's activities and learns she is performing music in Paris. He has his friend Jenn sell his drums and other music equipment, then he sells his RV, using the money for cochlear implant surgery. Ruben asks Joe to loan him money to buy back his RV while he awaits the activation of the implants. Joe refuses, saying that Ruben is behaving like an addict. He asks Ruben if he's experienced any moments of stillness during his time in his study, before asking him to leave the community, as it is founded on the belief that deafness is not a handicap. Ruben has his implants activated but is disappointed by their distorted sound. He flies to Paris to meet Lou at the home of her wealthy father, Richard. Richard confides in Ruben that though he initially disliked him, he recognizes that Ruben made Lou happy. Lou has settled into her new lifestyle and has ceased self-harming. At a party, Lou and Richard perform a duet; Ruben's perception of the sound is distorted by the implants. When Ruben tells Lou he wants to return to their music, she responds with interest but begins scratching her arms. Ruben tells her all is well and that she saved his life. She tells him that he saved hers too. The next morning, Ruben takes his things and leaves while Lou sleeps. In a park, the ringing of a church bell is distorted by his implants; Ruben removes his processors and sits in silence.

Sara Goldfarb, a widow living alone in a Brighton Beach apartment, watches television. Her son Harry is a heroin addict, along with his friend Tyrone. The two deal heroin in a bid to realize their dreams; Harry and his girlfriend Marion plan to open a clothing store for Marion's designs, while Tyrone seeks the approval of his mother and an escape from the ghetto. When Sara receives a call that she has been invited to appear on her favorite game show (presumably a scam, prank call, or delusion on her part), she begins a restrictive crash diet, hoping to fit into a red dress that she wore at Harry's graduation. At the advice of her friend Rae, Sara visits a physician who prescribes her amphetamines to control her appetite. She begins losing weight rapidly and is excited by how much energy she has. When Harry recognizes the signs of her drug abuse and implores her to stop taking the amphetamines, Sara insists that the chance to appear on television and the increased admiration from her friends Ada and Rae are her remaining reasons to live. As time passes, Sara becomes frantic waiting for the invitation and increases her dosage, which causes her to develop amphetamine psychosis. Tyrone is caught in a shootout between drug traffickers and the Sicilian Mafia and is arrested despite his innocence. Harry has to use most of their saved money to post bail. As a result of the gang warfare, the local supply of heroin becomes restricted, and they are unable to find any to buy. Eventually, Tyrone hears of a large shipment coming to New York from Florida, but the price has doubled and the minimum purchase risk is high. Harry encourages Marion to engage in prostitution, particularly with her psychiatrist, Arnold, as a client. This request, along with their mounting withdrawal symptoms, strains their relationship. Sara's increased dosage of amphetamines distorts her sense of reality, and she begins to hallucinate that she is mocked by the host and crowd from the television show, and attacked by her refrigerator. Sara flees her apartment and goes to the casting agency office in Manhattan to confirm when she will be on television. Sara's disturbed state causes her to be admitted to a psychiatric ward, where she undergoes electroconvulsive therapy after failing to respond to various medications. After the heroin shipment descends into a melee, Harry and Tyrone travel to Miami to buy heroin directly from the wholesaler. However, Harry's arm has become gangrenous from heroin use, so the two stop at a hospital. The doctor realizes that Harry is a drug addict and calls the police, resulting in Harry and Tyrone being arrested. Back in New York City, a desperate Marion begins to work for a pimp, Big Tim, and participates in group sex for drugs. Sara's treatment leaves her in a catatonic state of dissociation, to the horror of Ada and Rae, who weep and try to comfort each other on a bench outside the hospital. Harry's arm is amputated above the elbow, and he breaks down in tears as he realizes Marion will not visit him (despite a gentle nurse trying to reassure him that she will come). Tyrone is subjected to grueling labor and psychological abuse from the racist prison guards, all while experiencing a painful heroin withdrawal. Marion returns home and lies on her sofa, clutching her score, and is surrounded by her crumpled and discarded clothing designs. Each of the four characters curls into a fetal position, ending with Sara, who imagines herself as the game show winner, with an engaged and successful Harry arriving as a guest and embracing her.

In 1947, John Nash arrives at Princeton University as a co-recipient, with Martin Hansen, of the Carnegie Scholarship for Mathematics. He meets fellow math and science graduate students Sol, Ainsley, and Bender, and his roommate Charles Herman, a literature student. Determined to publish an original idea of his own, Nash is inspired when he and his classmates discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar. Nash argues that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success, which leads him to develop a new concept of governing dynamics. His theory earns him an appointment at MIT where he chooses Sol and Bender over Hansen to join him. In 1953, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to decipher encrypted enemy telecommunications. Bored with his work at MIT, he is recruited by the mysterious William Parcher of the United States Department of Defense with a classified assignment: to identify hidden patterns in magazines and newspapers to thwart a Soviet plot. He is given an implanted diode that gives him a passcode to access a drop spot at a mansion. Nash becomes increasingly obsessive with his work and grows paranoid. Nash falls in love with a student, Alicia Larde, and they eventually marry. After a shootout between Parcher and Soviet agents, Nash tries to quit his assignment but is forced to continue. While delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash believes Soviet agents are pursuing him and is forcibly sedated. He awakens to a psychiatric facility under the care of Dr. Rosen. Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee (niece of Charles), and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Alicia, Sol and Bender investigate her husband's study, which shows various news and magazine clippings. Alicia uncovers the stack of unopened "classified documents" from the drop point and brings them to Nash, revealing the truth of his assignment. Overcome with shock, Nash slices his arm open to uncover the diode, which doesn't exist. Nash is given a course of insulin shock therapy and eventually released. Frustrated with the side effects of his antipsychotic medication, in particular erectile dysfunction, he secretly stops taking it. He encounters Parcher, who urges him to continue his assignment in a shed near his home. In 1956, Alicia discovers Nash has relapsed and rushes home. She finds that Nash had left their infant son in the running bathtub, convinced "Charles" was watching the baby. Alicia calls Dr. Rosen, but Nash accidentally hits her and the baby, believing he's saving them from Parcher. As Alicia flees with the baby, Nash realizes that all of them have looked the same ever since he first encountered them, in particular that "Marcee" has always remained a young girl, and concludes they must be hallucinations. Against Dr. Rosen's advice, Nash chooses not to be hospitalized again, believing he can deal with his symptoms himself with Alicia's support. Nash returns to Princeton, approaching his old rival Hansen, now head of the mathematics department, who allows him to work out of the library and audit classes. Over the next two decades, Nash learns to ignore his hallucinations and, by the late 1970s, is allowed to teach again. In 1994, Nash is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on game theory and is honored by his fellow professors. At the Stockholm ceremony, he dedicates the prize to his wife. Nash reencounters Charles, Marcee, and Parcher after the ceremony, but ignores them as he, Alicia, and their son leave.

After residents of a Paris apartment building complain of a smell coming from one of the apartments, the emergency services break down its door to find an elderly woman's corpse in the bedroom, adorned with cut flowers. Several months before the opening scene, Anne and her husband Georges, both retired piano teachers in their eighties, attend a performance by one of Anne's former pupils, Alexandre. They return home to find that someone has unsuccessfully tried to break into their apartment. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, Anne silently has a stroke. She sits in a catatonic state, not responding to Georges. She comes around as Georges is about to get help, but has no idea the stroke occurred. Georges is unable to persuade her to get medical attention until Anne finds she is unable to pour herself a drink. Anne undergoes surgery on a blocked carotid artery, but the surgery goes wrong, leaving her paralyzed on her right side and reliant on a wheelchair. She makes Georges promise not to send her back to the hospital or to a nursing home. Georges becomes Anne's dutiful, though slightly irritated, caretaker. One day, Anne, seemingly having attempted to commit suicide by falling from a window, tells Georges she doesn't want to go on living. Alexandre, her former pupil whose performance they attended, stops by and Anne gets dressed up and carries on a lively conversation during the visit, giving Georges hope that her condition was temporary. But she soon has a second stroke that leaves her demented and incapable of coherent speech. Georges continues to look after Anne. Georges begins employing a nurse three days a week. Their daughter, Eva, wants her mother to go into care, but Georges says he will not break the promise he made to Anne. He employs a second nurse, but fires her after he discovers she is mistreating Anne. One day, Georges sits next to Anne's bedside and tells her a story of his childhood, which calms her. As Anne closes her eyes, he quietly picks up a pillow and smothers her to death. Georges returns home with bundles of flowers in his hands, which he proceeds to wash and cut. He picks out a dress from Anne's wardrobe and writes a long letter. He tapes the bedroom door shut and catches a pigeon that has flown in through the window. In the letter, Georges explains that he has released the pigeon. Georges imagines that Anne is washing dishes in the kitchen and, speechless, he gazes at her as she cleans up and prepares to leave the house. Anne calls for Georges to bring a coat, and he complies, following her out of the door. The film concludes with a continuation of the opening scene, with Eva seated in the living room after wandering around the now-empty home.

In 2031, 17 years after an attempt to stop climate change via stratospheric aerosol injection with the compound CW-7 catastrophically backfired, creating a new ice age that destroyed life on Earth, the remnants of humanity shelter in a state-of-the-art self-sustaining circumnavigational train, the Snowpiercer, run by reclusive transportation magnate Wilford. The passengers on the train are segregated, with the elite in the extravagant front cars and the poor crammed into squalid tail compartments overseen by armed guards. Urged by his mentor Gilliam, Curtis Everett and his second-in-command, Edgar, lead the tail passengers in a revolt. They discover that the guards have no ammunition and overwhelm them, freeing Namgoong Minsoo, a captive security specialist. For his assistance, they bribe him with Kronole, an addictive drug made from industrial waste. Namgoong also insists that his clairvoyant daughter, Yona, be freed. Curtis and his fellow revolutionaries discover that the protein bars they were being fed were made of dead cockroaches. Namgoong helps the tail mob advance, but they face guards armed with melee weapons and overseen by Minister Mason. Edgar is held hostage, but Curtis allows him to be killed to capture Mason, forcing her to order the remaining guards to surrender. The tail mob stays back, holding the guards captive, while Curtis takes Mason, Namgoong, Yona, skilled fighter Grey, and Tanya and Andrew (two parents who had their children taken from them) towards the front of the train. Curtis's group travels through several opulent cars. Namgoong and Yona recognize a landmark outside and speculate that the ice may be thawing more and more with every passing year. The group reaches a schoolroom, where a teacher is indoctrinating the children on Wilford's greatness. A bald man brings eggs for the children to celebrate the train's eighteenth circumnavigation of the Earth. Then the bald man goes to the tail army and shoots them with automatic firearms hidden under the eggs. The captured guards are freed, as is Mason's henchman, Franco. The teacher, who received a gun from the bald man, kills Andrew before Grey kills her. Franco broadcasts to the classroom his execution of Gilliam, which prompts Curtis to execute Mason in turn. Curtis's group moves on, but Franco catches up with them, killing Grey and Tanya. Franco is then seemingly killed by Curtis and Namgoong. In the last compartment before the engine, Namgoong reveals that he collected the Kronole to use it as an explosive to escape the train with Yona, believing they can now survive outside, pointing out the melting ice. Curtis explains that in the early days of the train, the tail section resorted to cannibalism. Edgar was an infant when Curtis killed his mother, and Curtis was going to eat him when Gilliam offered his severed arm instead, stopping the bloodshed. Curtis wants to confront Wilford for causing such horrors. Wilford's assistant, Claude, emerges from behind the engine room door to invite Curtis inside. Curtis meets Wilford and, to his shock, learns that he and Gilliam conspired to stage Curtis's rebellion to reduce the tail section's population to sustainable levels. After ordering the execution of most of the tail section residents, Wilford offers Curtis his position leading the train. Curtis appears ready to accept as Yona overpowers Claude, rushes in, and asks for a match. In desperation, she pulls open a floorboard to reveal Tanya's son, Timmy, who has been enslaved to work as a replacement for a broken machine part. Appalled, Curtis pummels Wilford and rescues Timmy from the machinery, losing his arm in the process. Andy, Andrew's missing son, crawls out of a nook and climbs into the engine core despite Curtis's pleas. Curtis gives Yona the match to light the fuse for the Kronole bomb, while Namgoong fights and kills Franco, who followed them. Damaged by the fighting, the door to the engine room cannot be closed, forcing Curtis and Namgoong to use their bodies to protect Yona and Timmy from the blast. The explosion triggers an avalanche that derails the train and wrecks it. Curtis and Namgoong are unresponsive, so Yona and Timmy escape the wreckage. They see a polar bear in the distance, indicating that life exists outside the train and has not died out, as they were always led to believe.

Selected at birth and legally adopted by a television studio following an unwanted pregnancy, Truman Burbank is the unsuspecting star of The Truman Show, a reality television program filmed and broadcast worldwide, 24/7, through hidden cameras. Truman's hometown, Seahaven Island, is set inside an enormous soundstage in Los Angeles, which allows Christof, the show's creator and executive producer, to control nearly all aspects of Truman's life. Truman's world is populated by actors and crew members who serve as his community while keeping him from discovering the truth. To prevent Truman from escaping, Christof has orchestrated various scenarios such as the "death" of Truman's father in a boating accident to instill thalassophobia, and has the cast reinforce Truman's anxieties with messages about the dangers of traveling and the virtues of staying home. Though the producers intend for Truman to fall in love with and marry a woman named Meryl, he develops feelings for an extra named Sylvia. Sympathetic to Truman's plight, Sylvia tries to tell him the truth, but is promptly fired and removed from the set. Truman marries Meryl, but their relationship is stilted and passionless, and he continues to dream of traveling to Fiji, where he was told Sylvia had moved, and living a happy life with her. In the real world, Sylvia joins "Free Truman", an activist group that calls for Truman's liberation from the show. As the show approaches its thirtieth anniversary, Truman notices unusual occurrences such as a stage light falling from the sky; an isolated patch of rain that falls only over him; a radio transmission describing his movements; and the reappearance of his father, who is rushed away by crew members before Truman can confront him. Inferring that the city somehow revolves around him, Truman questions his life and asks his closest confidants to help him solve the mystery. Truman's suspicions culminate in an attempt to escape the island, but increasingly implausible occurrences block his path. Eventually, he is caught and returned home under a flimsy pretext. There, he confronts Meryl and challenges the sincerity of their marriage. As he holds her at knifepoint, Meryl breaks character to call for help and is removed from the show. Hoping to bring Truman back to a controllable state, Christof reintroduces his father to the show under the guise of him having developed amnesia following the accident. The show regains its ratings, and Truman seems to return to his routines. One night, however, Christof discovers that Truman has begun sleeping in his basement. Disturbed by this change in behavior, Christof sends Truman's best friend Marlon to visit and discovers that Truman has disappeared through a makeshift tunnel. Christof suspends the broadcast for the first time in its history, leading to record viewing numbers. Truman is found sailing away from Seahaven, having conquered his fear of water. Christof resumes the transmission and, unable to fetch Truman by rescue boat, creates a violent storm in an attempt to capsize Truman's boat, ignoring the protests of the executive producers and his assistants. Truman nearly drowns but continues to sail until his boat strikes the wall of the soundstage. He finds a staircase leading to an exit door. As he contemplates leaving, Christof speaks to Truman, revealing the truth about the show and encouraging him to stay by claiming that there is no more truth in the real world than in his artificial one. Truman utters his catchphrase—"In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night"—before bowing to the audience and exiting. Sylvia races to greet him as the executive producers end the program with a shot of the open exit door, leaving Christof devastated. Viewers around the world celebrate Truman's escape, before quickly becoming bored and switching to the other TV channels.

The opening sequence showcases extreme slow-motion shots of the main characters, a collapsing horse, falling birds, butterflies, different planets, and images of Earth colliding with a rogue planet.

In 1970, Nicholas Garrigan graduates from the University of Edinburgh Medical School. With dull prospects at home, he decides to seek adventure abroad by working at a missionary clinic in Uganda run by David Merrit and his wife, Sarah. After Garrigan arrives in Uganda, General Idi Amin overthrows President Milton Obote in a coup d'état. Amin gives a well-received speech, but Sarah is pessimistic. Garrigan is called to a car accident involving Amin and treats Amin's hand. During the incident, Garrigan takes a gun and shoots a mortally wounded cow when no-one else is willing to perform euthanasia. Initially hostile to Garrigan, Amin warms up to him after discovering he is Scottish due to his xenophilia for the Scots. Delighted by Garrigan's initiative, Amin exchanges clothing with him and subsequently invites Garrigan to serve as his personal physician and lead efforts to modernise the Ugandan healthcare system. While working for Amin, Garrigan becomes a trusted confidant and is entrusted with a wider range of duties, including matters of state. Despite being dismayed by acts of government repression, Garrigan accepts Amin's explanation that cracking down on political opposition will bring lasting peace to Uganda. Garrigan eventually learns that Amin has ostracized the youngest of his three wives, Kay, because she has given birth to an epileptic son, Mackenzie. When treating Mackenzie, Garrigan and Kay start to form a relationship. Eventually, Garrigan becomes disillusioned by Amin as he witnesses increasing amounts of paranoia, murders and xenophobia. He attempts to announce his intention to return home, but is rebuffed by Amin. While at a party, after doing his best to evade a go-go dancer who is assigned to become his lover, he and Kay have sex; and she says he must find a way to leave Uganda. Amin secretly replaces Garrigan's British passport with a Ugandan one to prevent him from escaping, which leads Garrigan to seek help from Stone, the local Foreign Office representative. Garrigan is told by Stone he will be secretly transported out of Uganda if he assassinates Amin, which Garrigan refuses. In 1972, Amin orders the expulsion of Asians from Uganda over Garrigan's protests. This creates a labor shortage that tanks Uganda's economy. Kay informs Garrigan that she has become pregnant with his child. Aware that Amin will murder her for infidelity if he discovers this, she begs Garrigan for a secret abortion. Delayed by Amin's command that he attend a press conference with Western journalists, Garrigan fails to meet Kay at the appointed time. Kay concludes she has been abandoned and seeks out a primitive abortion in a nearby village, where she is apprehended by Amin's forces. Garrigan finds her dismembered corpse on an autopsy table. Distraught, he decides to kill Amin. A hijacked aircraft is flown to Entebbe Airport by pro- Palestinian hijackers seeking asylum. Amin, sensing a major publicity opportunity, rushes to the scene, taking Garrigan along. At the airport, one of Amin's bodyguards discovers Garrigan's plot to poison Amin under the ruse of giving him pills for a headache. Garrigan is beaten by Amin's henchmen before Amin arrives and discloses he is aware of the relationship with Kay. As punishment, Garrigan's chest is pierced with meat hooks before he is hanged by his skin. Amin arranges a plane for the release of non- Israeli passengers, and the torturers leave Garrigan unconscious on the floor while they relax in another room. Garrigan's medical colleague, Dr. Junju, takes advantage of the opportunity to rescue him. He urges Garrigan to tell the world the truth about Amin's regime, asserting that the world will believe Garrigan because he is white. Junju gives Garrigan his own jacket, enabling him to mingle unnoticed with the crowd of freed hostages and board the plane. When the torturers discover Garrigan's absence, Junju is killed for aiding in the escape. The Entebbe incident irreparably ruins Amin's reputation in the international community, and in 1979 he decides to invade Tanzania, which counterattacks and captures Kampala, overthrowing him. He lives the rest of his life in exile in Saudi Arabia until his death in 2003.

A mysterious Japanese man arrives in Gokseong, a small village in the mountains of South Korea. Soon after, a bizarre infection breaks out, causing villagers to become deranged and violently kill their families. Officer Jong-goo's daughter, Hyo-jin, becomes one of the infected. Jong-goo then meets a mysterious young woman named Moo-myeong, who claims the Japanese stranger is an evil spirit. A local hunter reports seeing the stranger with glowing red eyes eating a deer carcass. After a series of disturbing events and violent deaths, Jong-goo enlists the help of a Japanese-speaking deacon, Yang I-sam. They investigate the stranger's house, discovering a shrine with photos and belongings of the murdered villagers, including Hyo-jin's shoe. As Hyo-jin's condition worsens, Jong-goo confronts the stranger, ordering him to leave the village. Jong-goo's family discovers a dead goat hanging at their gate, and Hyo-jin stabs their neighbor to death. A shaman named Il-gwang is consulted, who claims the stranger is a demon and performs a death-hex ritual. Jong-goo stops the ritual midway, instead taking Hyo-jin to the hospital. The next day, Jong-goo and his companions hunt down the stranger but are attacked by the reanimated corpse of another victim, giving the stranger time to flee. They eventually kill him, and Hyo-jin's health improves. Il-gwang encounters Moo-myeong and vomits blood. After his ritual fails, he leaves town in terror but a swarm of flying insects stops him. He calls Jong-goo, warning that Moo-myeong is the real demon, and the stranger was a shaman who was trying to kill her. Meanwhile, Yang I-sam receives news that his uncle Oh Seong-bok has killed his family. Jong-goo goes home and finds that Hyo-jin has disappeared. While looking for Hyo-Jin, Jong-goo runs into Moo-myeong, who he confronts about Hyo-jin's whereabouts. Moo-myeong claims his daughter is possessed by the stranger, who is consuming her life force. She also tells him his daughter is still alive, has just returned and will kill his family. She reveals that she has set a trap for the demon, and that all Jong-goo has to do is remain there and wait. Jong-goo replies that he is not sure if he believes her. The shaman phones him and says he must not let Moo-myeong tempt him. Moo-myeong instructs him to simply wait until the third crow of the rooster. Meanwhile, Hyo-jin returns home possessed and while eating with her hands, eyes a knife in the kitchen. While Jong-goo is engaged with Moo-myeong, Yang I-sam returns to the stranger's house armed with a sickle and finds him alive inside a cave. Yang promises to leave if the stranger reveals his true form. The stranger chuckles at this. Jong-goo notices Moo-myeong is wearing items of the victims and sees his daughter's hairpin on the ground. Believing this to be proof that she is responsible for the infection, he returns home before the rooster's third crow. Upon returning home, Jong-goo discovers that Hyo-jin has slaughtered his wife and mother-in-law; she then attacks him. Meanwhile, the stranger repeatedly photographs Yang I-sam. He then assumes his true appearance—that of a red-eyed demon, bearing stigmata. Il-gwang returns with a camera in his hand and finds Jong-goo's dead family as Hyo-jin sits in a trance and Jong-goo lies dying. Il-gwang photographs the dead family members, then returns to his car and retrieves a box which he drops, revealing photos of other families and victims of the demon. Jong-goo reminisces about the happy times with his daughter as he dies.