Up-and-coming Manhattan press agent Sidney Falco scans the New York Globe for the column of J.J. Hunsecker, a media kingpin whose journalism and radio show dominate the entertainment world. For the fifth day, J.J. has not publicized any of Sidney's clients, as he is protective of his 19-year-old sister Susan and has asked Sidney to end her affair with jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Sidney has been unsuccessful. Steve is performing at the Elysian Room with his group as Sidney argues with his uncle Frank D’Angelo (who is Steve's manager), who has promised Steve and Susan will part. Learning from cigarette girl Rita that Susan is awaiting Steve behind the club, he interrupts them. Steve accuses him of "scratching for information like a dog." Rita asks Sidney to help her keep her job, at risk because she refused to sleep with J.J.’s competitor, Leo Bartha. Sidney secures a date with Rita. Questioned by Susan, he reassures her that J.J. is a close friend. J.J. greets his informer Harry Kello, a corrupt NYPD lieutenant indebted to J.J. for saving his job after Kello beat a suspect. J.J. gives Sidney an ultimatum to destroy Steve and Susan's relationship. Sidney attempts to blackmail Leo, threatening to expose his affair with Rita unless Leo prints a gossip item that Steve is a Communist who smokes marijuana. Leo chooses his journalistic integrity, which his wife Loretta praises as his first decent act in years. Sidney bribes another columnist, Otis Elwell, with the promise of a sexual favor from an "available" woman. Rita initially objects, but ultimately assents to Sidney's plan in order to stay employed. The smear appears in Otis's column and the quintet is fired. As planned, J.J. gets Steve rehired with a phone call in front of Susan, but Steve rebukes him for his malignant influence on society. Susan breaks up with Steve to save him from J.J.'s vengeance. J.J. orders Sidney to plant marijuana on Steve; Sidney balks, saying he can accept a dog collar but not a noose. He acquiesces when J.J. offers to let Sidney write his column for three months while he vacations with Susan. Sidney slips marijuana into Steve's coat pocket. Kello assaults Steve, who is hospitalized. Sidney celebrates, but is summoned to J.J.'s penthouse where Susan is about to commit suicide by jumping from the balcony. He takes her to her bedroom to rest. Arriving to find the two holding each other, J.J. scolds him. Realizing that Susan set him up, Sidney reveals that J.J. conspired to frame Steve. He leaves, vowing to reveal the truth and telling J.J. that Susan is lost to him. J.J. calls to tell Kello that Steve is innocent, ordering Sidney be arrested for planting evidence. Kello ambushes Sidney and beats him. J.J. begs Susan to stay as she packs; she says death is preferable to living with him. J.J. watches from the balcony as she strides into the coming dawn.

The film, split into two parts, is based on a true story of the creation and development of the Soviet space and missile industry. Due to security concerns, names were altered in the script, though most of the characters are easily recognizable. Sergei Korolev was the prototype for the lead character of Andrei Bashkirtsev, played by Kirill Lavrov. Part 1: Andrei Bashkirtsev has been obsessed with flying since his youth. Bashkirtsev's career takes shape after meeting with the visionary space scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (played by Innokenti Smoktunovsky). Before World War II he develops the first rockets and builds a launch center in Central Russia. Then he makes the " Katyusha " weapon and takes it to the front-lines of World War II. In spite of his arrest and imprisonment, he continues working on rocket design. He is released from prison upon his request to fight in the front-lines against the Nazis. Part 2: After the end of World War II, Bashkirtsev designs a new rocket system and works with nuclear scientist Igor Kurchatov on the nuclear missiles program. Then he makes a new rocket that launched " Sputnik " to orbit in 1957 from Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. His next achievement is the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and other human space missions. By the mid 1960s Bashkirtsev makes developments for the flight to the Moon. However, Bashkirtsev's uncompromising character causes him many problems with Soviet politicians, in addition to other pressures in his life, and he dies from a heart attack. His mission is carried on by his colleagues and apprentices.

Aging former Formula One (F1) prodigy Sonny Hayes has spent the last 30 years living as a racer-for-hire, following a career-ending crash at the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix that has left him burdened by the failure to live up to his potential. After winning the 24 Hours of Daytona, he is approached by his former teammate Rubén Cervantes, owner of the struggling APXGP F1 team, who asks him to be their second driver. Rubén explains that unless APXGP wins one of the nine remaining Grands Prix of the season, his investors will sell the team. Sonny reluctantly agrees after Rubén insists that victory will prove he is the "best in the world". Sonny meets the team, including technical director Kate McKenna and ambitious rookie Joshua Pearce. Joshua fears that the failing APXGP could derail his career and aims to attract interest from another team. Sonny struggles with the modern F1 machinery but quickly diagnoses APXGP's weaknesses, proposing that the vehicles be upgraded with enhanced aerodynamics to compensate for their speed disadvantage. At the British Grand Prix, Sonny and Joshua compete against each other rather than cooperating, resulting in both crashing out. Acknowledging the team's need to secure a points finish, Sonny exploits the rules at the Hungarian Grand Prix by deliberately colliding with rivals to trigger safety car periods. This allows Joshua to close the gap to the frontrunners and secure APXGP's first top-ten finish. During the rain-affected Italian Grand Prix, Sonny advises Joshua to remain on slick tires, trading grip for speed and elevating him to second place. However, he ignores Sonny's instruction to wait for a straight before overtaking Max Verstappen, skids and flies off the track, while his car bursts into flames. Sonny rescues him, but Joshua is injured and misses the next three races. An increasingly arrogant Joshua returns at the Belgian Grand Prix and deliberately forces Sonny into a crash. Afterward, Sonny criticizes him for foolishly setting the team back for personal glory. Seeking to ease tensions, Kate organizes a poker game to highlight their similar backgrounds, after which Sonny and Kate spend the night together. He later admits to her that he races to recapture the rare moments when he feels untouchable. Following an anonymous tip alleging that Kate's car upgrades are illegal, APXGP is forced to remove them, leaving the team at a disadvantage. Frustrated—and realizing he has skipped his ritual of having a random playing card with him in the cockpit—Sonny drives recklessly during the Las Vegas Grand Prix and crashes. While he recovers, Rubén discovers that Sonny's 1993 injuries left him medically unfit for F1, with risks of blindness or death, and fires him for his own safety. APXGP board member Peter Banning then admits to Sonny that he orchestrated his signing and the anonymous tip to sabotage the team and force its sale, offering Sonny significant compensation to let APXGP fail. Meanwhile, Joshua begins applying Sonny's racing techniques, admits fault for his earlier crash, and recommits to the team. Concealing his blurred vision and headaches, Sonny persuades Rubén to let him return, just as the FIA clears Kate and restores her upgrades. At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Joshua battles Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for the lead. After Sonny is caught in a minor crash, the race is red-flagged, allowing APXGP to repair both cars before a three-lap sprint to the finish. On the restart, Sonny overtakes Leclerc and sacrifices his own chance of victory by holding off Hamilton so Joshua can move into first. On the final lap, Hamilton and Joshua collide, clearing the way for Sonny to take his first F1 win and secure APXGP's future. Joshua is offered a seat with Mercedes but declines. As the team celebrates, Sonny quietly prepares to leave, parting on good terms with Joshua and promising to see Kate soon. Some time later, he lines up for the Baja 1000. When asked what he is racing for, Sonny laughs.

When several members of the GraveDiggers outlaw motorcycle club are murdered, Sydney detective Stone (Ken Shorter) is sent to investigate. Led by the Undertaker (Sandy Harbutt), a Vietnam war veteran, the GraveDiggers allow Stone to pose as a gang member. Leaving behind society girlfriend Amanda (Helen Morse), Stone begins to identify with the Undertaker and his comrades Hooks (Roger Ward), Toad (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Dr Death (Vincent Gil), Captain Midnight (Bindi Williams), Septic (Dewey Hungerford) and Vanessa (Rebecca Gilling), the Undertaker’s girlfriend. Amid violent confrontations with the Black Hawks, a rival gang the GraveDiggers hold responsible, Stone uncovers a political conspiracy behind the killings. When the truth is revealed, Stone must choose between his job and his loyalty to the GraveDiggers.

The story begins with Benjamin García, nicknamed "Benny" (Damián Alcázar), saying farewell to his mother and younger brother to migrate to the United States. 20 years later, he is deported back to Mexico, where he finds a bleak reality where an economic crisis and a wave of crime and violence hit the country as a result of the war on drugs. His mother and godfather tell Benny his younger brother was killed under strange circumstances, leaving behind a wife and son. Benny soon meets them is attracted towards his brother's widow, Guadalupe Solís (Elizabeth Cervantes), and promises in front of his brother's grave to help her and his nephew. Some time later, he meets his childhood friend Eufemio "El Cochiloco" Mata (Joaquín Cosío), who has become part of a drug cartel. He learns that Eufemio and his brother worked together in the "Los Reyes del Norte" cartel, going by Pedro "El Diablo" García, but he was killed by the rival cartel "Los Panchos". Days later, Benny, now in a relationship with Guadalupe, finds himself in trouble after his nephew is arrested for robbery and will only walk free with a bribe of 50,000 pesos (about 4000 USD in 2010). Benny asks Cochiloco for help and joins the cartel, where he meets the boss, Don José Reyes (Ernesto Gómez Cruz) and his son Jesús "El J.R." Reyes. He's accepted into the cartel, not before being reminded about the rules: Honesty, loyalty, and absolute silence. Benny seems content, but after witnessing the torture and killing of "La Cucaracha", a whistleblower for the federal police, he starts to doubt himself in front of the horrors he must commit. Despite this, Guadalupe convinces him to stay, claiming they "could get used to anything except starving". Benny starts to adapt and progress in the cartel, and becomes wealthy when he and El Cuchiloco save a shipment of drugs from El Texano (Mario Almada) from attack by a rival gang and are rewarded by Don José. Benny brings his mother money and a television as a gift to apologize for his failure to keep his promise from before he left for the US, and she chastises him for following in his brother's footsteps before requesting he give her his watch and buy her a walkman. As Benny and El Cuhciloco continue to work for the cartel, they are arrested and offered a deal by a federal agent - to help the government to capture Don José in exchange for being entered into witness protection. Don José, furious that the police and mayor were unable to prevent the arrest, orders them to go after his brother, the leader of the rival gang Los Panchos. Benny reveals to Guadalupe that he plans to save the money he makes working for Don José and take her and his nephew to live in the United States as soon as he can afford it. The rival cartel grows stronger and begins a major dispute, for which Los Reyes employ ex-military mercenaries as new members. J.R. divides them in three groups and gives them separate missions. When he returns home, a worried Gudalupe tells Benny that her son is missing, and Benny goes out to find him. He learns that his nephew is working with Los Panchos and goes to bring him home, warning him of the danger he faces by working with the rival gang and telling him not to end up like his father. Benny receives a call from Cochiloco saying he's in trouble. Someone had betrayed them and told the rival cartel their location, with J.R. killed in the ambush as he was having sex with two of the mercenaries. Since J.R. was probably hiding his homosexuality from his father, Cochiloco decided to lie to Don José about his death, which causes him to doubt the loyalty of his subordinate. The day of the funeral, Don José looks at Cochiloco with distrust and resentment, who he believes is responsible for his son's death. He orders another one of the mercenaries, "El Sargento," to kill Cochiloco's eldest son. The latter, filled with rage, seeks revenge against Don José, but dies off screen in his attempt. Don José offers the remaining members a large reward to kill his brother Don Francisco "Pancho" Reyes, his nephews Los Panchos, and whoever gave the location of his son's squad. They slaughter the rival cartel and discover the traitor was a young man from the same town: Benjamin "El Diablito" García, Benny's nephew, but the other members don't recognize him. Angry and nervous, Benny questions his nephew about his reasons, who in tears confesses he did it because he found out it was Los Reyes who killed his father, showing the gold chain he always wore, the one Benny gifted him when he left for the United States. Benny begins to search for the truth, interrogating his partner "El Huasteco" who reveals the truth at gunpoint: Don José personally tortured and killed Pedro by castrating him for having slept with Don Jose's wife. Between laughs and rage he realizes the other members do know his nephew, and it was a matter of time before they found out about his involvement in the ambush. Benny knocks Huasteco unconscious and ties him up before going back to take his nephew to safety and get him out of the country, sending him on a bus to meet someone who can take him into the US where he is to travel on to Phoenix. Before he can return to town, Benny receives a call from Guadalupe warning him Los Reyes already know what's going on, and Benny urges her to abandon the town. Benny resorts to the federal police to testify against Don José for protection, but all too soon he realizes they're involved with Los Reyes as well. After being tortured he attempts to save himself from being brought to Don José by bribing to policemen to let him escape, offering them money and drugs. When they arrive at his brother's grave, Benny shows the policemen the bribe, which was hidden in a small niche on the grave. But as they are distracted, Benny takes out a gun to shoot the agents, however, he misses and one of them shoots back. Benny is left for dead and buried in a shallow grave next to his brother's, knowing Don José had ordered them to bring Benny alive for punishment. The morning after, Benny wakes up and gets out of the grave just to find that Guadalupe had been murdered by the cartel. Badly hurt, he decides to get away to recover. Months later, Don José becomes the county governor, and hold a public Independence Day celebration which leaves them exposed. Benny decides to kill off Los Reyes and his family while they are giving the traditional Independence Day Cry to the town, mowing them down with an AK-47, wiping out the cartel. In the final scene, it is shown that Benny died offscreen. Diablito pays respects in front of Benny's grave with a smile on his face, and leaving in his van to later arrive in a drug warehouse to kill Benny's assassin, Don Francisco's grandson - ensuring the cycle of violence plaguing Mexico will only continue.

The conglomerate Webscoe Industries hires computer programmer Gus Gorman, who secretly embezzles $85,000 from the company payroll. Gus comes to the attention of Webscoe's CEO, Ross Webster. A cunning billionaire fixated on using technology for financial domination, Webster sees Gus's skills as a valuable asset. With the help of his stern sister, Vera, and his mistress Lorelei Ambrosia, he blackmails Gus into aiding his schemes. Superman extinguishes a fire in a chemical plant, and, as Clark Kent, he returns to Smallville for his high school reunion. Clark reconnects with childhood friend Lana Lang, who has a young son named Ricky. Superman later saves Ricky from a combine harvester accident during a picnic with Lana. Webster orders Gus to use the weather satellite 'Vulcan' to create a storm that destroys coffee crops in Colombia, aiming to corner the market. Gus complies, but Superman neutralizes the storm. Recognizing Superman as a threat, Webster orders Gus to synthesize Kryptonite. When the computer fails to recognize the total chemical composition, Gus substitutes tar for the unknown elements. Lana invites Superman to Ricky's birthday party. Gus and Vera infiltrate the party and give Superman the synthetic Kryptonite, which leaves him unharmed, to their confusion. Instead, he gradually becomes corrupted after exposure to it, committing sophomoric acts such as straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa and blowing out the Olympic Flame. Gus proposes building a supercomputer for Webster in exchange for creating an energy crisis by redirecting oil tankers. Lorelei seduces Superman and manipulates him into causing an oil spill. Superman suffers a nervous breakdown and splits into two beings: the corrupted Superman and Clark Kent. The two fight, and Clark defeats his corrupted counterpart by strangling him to death. Superman then repairs the damage of the oil spill. After surviving exploding rockets and a missile, he confronts Webster, Vera, and Lorelei in the supercomputer. The computer becomes self-aware and defends itself against attempts to disable it as it transforms Vera into a cyborg. Vera attacks Webster and Lorelei with energy beams that immobilize them. Superman retrieves a can of acid from the chemical plant and uses it to destroy the computer. Superman hands Webster and cronies to the authorities. Gus starts anew in West Virginia. Meanwhile, Clark visits Lana in Metropolis, where she begins working as a secretary for Perry White. Lois Lane returns from Bermuda with an exposé on corruption, and Superman restores the Leaning Tower of Pisa before flying into space.

British Army Colonel Katherine Powell discovers an undercover British/Kenyan agent has been murdered by the Al-Shabaab group. From Northwood Headquarters, she takes command of a mission to capture three of the ten highest-level Al-Shabaab leaders meeting in a safe house in Nairobi. A multinational team works on the capture mission, linked by video and voice systems. Aerial surveillance is provided by a USAF MQ-9 Reaper drone controlled from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada by Second Lieutenant Steve Watts. Undercover Kenyan field agents, including Jama Farah, use short-range ornithopter and insectothopter cameras to link in ground intelligence. Kenyan special forces are positioned nearby to make the arrest. Facial recognition to identify human targets is done at Joint Intelligence Center Pacific at Pearl Harbor. The mission is supervised in the United Kingdom by a COBRA meeting that includes British Lieutenant General Frank Benson, two government ministers and a ministerial under-secretary. Farah discovers three high-level targets arming two suicide bombers for a presumed attack on a civilian target, prompting Powell to change the mission objective from "capture" to "kill". She requests Watts prepare a precision Hellfire missile attack on the building and solicits the opinion of her British Army legal counsel who advises her to seek approval from superiors. Frustrated, Benson asks permission from the COBRA members, who can't find consensus and refer the question to the UK Foreign Secretary who is on a trade mission to Singapore. He in turn defers to the United States Secretary of State, who declares the American suicide bomber an enemy of the state. The Foreign Secretary then insists that COBRA take due diligence to minimise collateral damage. Alia, who lives next door, is near the target building selling her mother's bread. The senior military personnel stress the risk of letting would-be suicide bombers leave the house. The lawyers and politicians involved in the chain of command argue the personal, political, and legal merits around launching a Hellfire missile attack in a friendly country not at war with the US or UK, with the significant risk of collateral damage. Watts sees a more direct risk of little Alia selling bread outside the targeted building, and they delay firing until she moves. Farah is directed to buy all of Alia's bread so she will leave, but doing so blows his cover, and he flees without collecting it. Seeking authorisation to execute the strike, Powell orders her risk-assessment officer to find parameters that will let him quote a lower 45% risk of civilian deaths. He re-evaluates the strike point and assesses the probability of Alia's death at 45–65%. She makes him confirm only the lower figure which she reports up the chain of command. The strike is authorised, and Watts fires. The missile destroys the building and injures Alia, but one conspirator survives. Watts is ordered to fire a second missile, which strikes the site just as Alia's parents reach her. They rush Alia to a hospital, where she is pronounced dead. In the London situation room, the under-secretary berates Benson for killing from the safety of his chair. Benson counters that he has been on the ground in the aftermath of five suicide bombings and adds as he is leaving, provoking her to tears: "Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war."

Buddy Ackerman, an influential movie mogul, hires Guy, a naïve young writer, as his assistant. Guy, who had just graduated from film school, believes that his new job is a golden opportunity. Despite warnings from Rex, the outgoing assistant who has become hardened under Buddy's reign, Guy remains optimistic. Buddy turns out to be the boss from hell; he treats Guy like a slave, subjects him to sadistic (and public) verbal abuse, and has him bending over backward to do meaningless errands that go beyond just his work life. Guy is humiliated and forced to bear the brunt of his insults. Guy's only solace is his new girlfriend Dawn, a producer at Buddy's firm. When Buddy apparently fires Guy in a phone call, Guy finally snaps and takes Buddy hostage in order to exact revenge. He ties Buddy up and subjects him to severe beatings, torture and mind games. It is later revealed that due to a botched call waiting function on Buddy's home phone, Guy hears Buddy and Dawn arranging a rendezvous at Buddy's house. Once in Guy's power, Buddy reveals for the first time a human, vulnerable side. He tells Guy that his wife had been shot, raped, and murdered on Christmas Eve twelve years prior, and reveals that he, too, was once a bullied assistant to powerful, tyrannical men and spent a decade putting up with such abuse to become successful himself. He also reveals that abusing Guy was his way of teaching Guy that he must earn his success. Dawn arrives at the scene to find Guy aiming a gun at Buddy's face and insists that she had only agreed to see Buddy as a way of helping Guy's career. Dawn pleads with Guy to put down the gun, whereupon Buddy tells Guy that he has to pull the trigger in order to get ahead in the business. After a moment's indecision, Buddy screams at Guy to shoot, which Guy does. It is revealed that Guy killed Dawn, who is blamed for kidnapping and torturing Buddy, and was subsequently promoted. Later, Guy coldly tells a former colleague to find out what he really wants and then do anything to get it, echoing the numerous times Buddy told Guy. A beaten up Buddy then passes by Guy's office, making eye contact with him and silently gesturing to call him into his office for a meeting. Guy excuses himself and goes into Buddy's office, ignoring his ringing telephone. Buddy shuts his office doors as other employees walk by.

Shashi Godbole is a traditional Marathi homemaker and entrepreneur in Pune who makes and sells laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish and daughter Sapna take her for granted, mock her because of her poor English-speaking skills, and generally treat her with disrespect, making Shashi feel negative, insecure, and underconfident. However, her young son, Sagar, loves her as she is, and her elderly widowed mother-in-law offers her words of sympathy. Shashi's older sister, Manu, who lives in New York City, invites Shashi's family to the marriage of her daughter, Meera, with Kevin. It is decided that Shashi will travel to New York alone five weeks in advance to help Manu organise the marriage, while her husband and children will join her as the marriage approaches. During her flight to America, Shashi is given inspirational advice by a fellow passenger. Upon her arrival in New York, Shashi is warmly welcomed by Manu and her younger daughter, Radha. While Shashi is in New York, she has a traumatic experience at a coffee shop where a staff member is rude to her due to her inability to communicate in English. She is comforted by fellow customer, French chef Laurent, who himself is weak in English. Using the money she earned by selling laddoos, Shashi secretly enrolls in a conversational four-week English class, showing her resourcefulness at navigating an unfamiliar city alone. The class comprises the instructor David Fischer, a Mexican nanny Eva, a Pakistani taxi driver Salman Khan, a Chinese hairstylist Yu Son, a Tamil software engineer Ramamurthy, a shy African-Caribbean man Udumbke, and Laurent. Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone's respect with her charming behavior and her cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi, leading to some interpersonal conflict. When he tries to kiss her at the rooftop of a building, Shashi pushes him away and runs off, but fails to explain that she is married. Meanwhile, Radha finds out about Shashi's secret English classes and is supportive of her pursuit. Shashi begins watching English films at night and does her homework diligently. To complete the English-speaking course and receive an academic certificate, each student must write and deliver a five-minute speech. Shashi's family shows up earlier than planned as a surprise, and after missing out on an event where Sagar injures his leg, Shashi eventually decides to quit because of scheduling conflicts and the fact that she considers herself to be an irresponsible mother since she did not realise that Sagar was injured. The test date coincides with that of the marriage, forcing Shashi to miss the test. Radha invites David, Laurent, Salman, Eva, Ramamurthy, Yu Son and Udumbke to the marriage, where Satish is taken aback at being introduced to a diverse group of people by his wife. Shashi gives a touching and enlightening toast to the married couple in English, surprising everyone. In her speech, Shashi extols the virtues of being married and having a family, describing the family as a safe space of love and respect where weaknesses are not mocked. Satish and Sapna regret treating her with disrespect. David declares she has passed the course with distinction and issues her the certificate. Shashi thanks Laurent for "making her feel better about herself." Shashi's family returns to India by flight, where Shashi fluently communicates in English with the flight attendant.

Investment banker Laurel Ayres is a smart and single woman trying to make it up the Wall Street corporate ladder, until one day she finds out that she is being passed over for a promotion because of her gender. Unable to face the fact that her less intelligent male protege, Frank Peterson, has now become her boss, she quits and tries to start up her own company only to find out that the male dominated world of Wall Street is not interested in taking an African American woman seriously, and thus is forced to create a fictional white man, Robert S. Cutty (inspired by a bottle of Cutty Sark) to legitimize her talents and make her professionally relevant in said world. Ayres does extensive research into the cultural and performative codes of the culture she seeks to impersonate. Ayres' financial wisdom is joined by the intelligent and computer-savvy secretary Sally Dugan, who also was not properly recognized for her talents. Together, they are able to become the most successful independent stockbrokers in the world while helping a struggling high-tech computer company stay afloat. However, the ruse eventually runs into problems because Cutty is still getting credit for Ayres' great ideas, while competing firms and tabloid journalists are willing to do anything in order to bring the wealthy and elusive Cutty into the public and on their side. Ayres is forced to recruit her best friend (who works at a nightclub as a female impersonator) to craft a disguise, complete with facial prosthetics, so she can appear as "Cutty" and fool the naysayers. When that fails, she and Dugan decide to kill Cutty, but the plan backfires, as they are then charged with his murder. Frank uncovers the ruse and blackmails the two women so he can be Cutty's front man. The film ends with Ayres donning the Cutty disguise one last time to attend a meeting of an exclusive gentlemen's club to accept Cutty's awards and unmasking herself in order to teach the male-dominated industry the evils of racial and sexual discrimination. Ayres is finally given credit for her work and creates a huge business empire with her friends at the helm. Frank is ridiculed when he attempts to land a job with the business.

Twenty-one year old Anastasia "Ana" Steele is an English literature major at Washington State University Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington. When her roommate, Kate Kavanagh, catches a cold and is unable to interview Christian Grey, a twenty-seven year old billionaire entrepreneur, for the college newspaper, Ana agrees to take Kate's place. At Christian's Seattle headquarters, she stumbles her way through the meeting. Christian, who is that year's WSU commencement speaker, takes an interest in her, and she in him. Soon after, he visits the hardware store where Ana works and offers to do a photo shoot to accompany the article for which she had interviewed him. Christian asks Ana out for coffee, but leaves abruptly after she confesses to being a romantic, saying he is not the man for her. He later sends her first edition copies of two Thomas Hardy novels, including Tess of the d'Urbervilles, as a gift, with a quote from the latter book about the dangers of relationships on an accompanying card. Ana and her friends celebrate graduation at a local bar. After drinking too much, she calls Christian, saying she is returning the books, and berating him for his behavior towards her. He goes to the bar to find her, arriving just as her photographer friend, José Rodriquez, attempts to kiss her against her will. Ana, suddenly sick, throws up and passes out. The next morning, she wakes up in Christian's hotel room, relieved that nothing sexual happened between them. After the two kiss passionately in an elevator, and he takes her for a ride in his helicopter, a romance starts to develop. He insists, however, that she sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing her from revealing details about their relationship. He explains that he is a dominant who engages in sexual bondage relationships, but only as defined in a contract between the participants. Ana reveals that she is a virgin. While considering the agreement and negotiating her own terms, and after briefly visiting his "Red Room," a place stocked with a bed and a variety of whips and shackles, she and Christian spend the night together. The next morning, after making pancakes and meeting Christian's adoptive mother, the two go for a drive, during which Christian explains that he was introduced to his dominant practices at age 15 by a woman Ana dubs "Mrs. Robinson". His parents know nothing about this, even though "Mrs. Robinson" was and still is a friend of the family. Christian bestows a series of gifts and favors upon Ana, including a new car and a laptop. After she and Kate move to Seattle, he insists that she go over his contract before moving forward. After looking into it in some detail, Ana initially says no, but is persuaded otherwise and finds herself willingly giving her consent. During dinner at his parents' home, Ana suddenly mentions she is leaving the next day to visit her mother in Georgia. This makes Christian angry, especially when she says she wants more than the one-sided relationship he's proposing. She then goes to Georgia, visits a lounge for cocktails, and is shocked when Christian shows up. He meets her mother, takes Ana air gliding, then returns to Seattle to tend to a business emergency. After returning home, Ana and Christian have a night in his "Red Room". She consents to what he wants, but he remains emotionally distant, upsetting her. While still considering the contract, and in an effort to understand Christian's psychology, Ana asks him to demonstrate the worst punishment he would inflict on her for rule-breaking. He whips her with his belt, making her count each stroke out loud. Crushed, she declares her love for him, but says his behavior is unacceptable. He replies that he is too psychologically broken to have the relationship that she wants. Devastated and depressed, Ana leaves Christian, and he promises to send her a check for the old car he sold without her consent. As he goes after her, Ana orders him to stop. Christian tries to plead with her, saying her name, and Ana cuts him off by saying his own name, turning his plea into a farewell as the elevator doors close.

Secret agent John Steed and meteorologist Dr. Emma Peel are summoned to The Ministry. They meet the spymaster, codenamed Mother, who informs them that the Prospero project — an attempt to influence the weather — was apparently sabotaged by Peel. Dr. Peel claims she is innocent, and she is sent to work alongside Steed to find the real culprit. Mother's second-in-command, Father, claims that Peel has dissociative identity disorder. The duo visits Sir August de Wynter, a former Ministry scientist. He takes an instant liking to Peel, as they both share a love of weather. Steed and Peel follow a lead to Wonderland Weather, a business that artificially creates heat or rain with a special machine, where they discover two dead men in teddy bear suits. The members of a secret organization, led by de Wynter, all don teddy bear suits to disguise their identities. One of them, however, looks exactly like Peel. Steed arrives in time to save Peel, as the double jumps off a roof and disappears. Steed and Peel go off to visit de Wynter at his mansion but are attacked by mechanical bees. An elderly Ministry agent, Alice, helps them to flee; nevertheless, de Wynter captures, drugs, hypnotizes, and sexually assaults Peel while she's in a barely coherent state. When de Wynter is later distracted, Peel tries to escape but feels faint and finds herself trapped due to the mansion's ever-changing floor plan. Becoming desperate, she smashes her way through the wall where Steed then finds her unconscious and rescues her. Back at Steed's apartment, Peel wakes up and is fired by Steed. However, Peel is arrested by Father, while Steed visits Invisible Jones, a man inside The Ministry, to investigate the meaning of a map found at Wonderland Weather. After viewing photos of failed genetic experiments including cloning (revealing that the other Emma Peel is a clone), Steed determines Father is working alongside de Wynter. Father and the Peel clone gas Peel unconscious but are confronted by Mother, whom they incapacitate. De Wynter, controlling the weather using Prospero, confronts the world leaders, boasting that he controls the weather and they will have to buy the weather from him at great expense. He gives them a midnight ultimatum. Father and the clone take Peel to a hot air balloon, where she regains consciousness and escapes during a snowstorm. Father and the clone perish when the balloon collides with the Wonderland Weather sign. Once reunited, Steed and Peel share a kiss. Jones determines de Wynter is using the Prospero instruments on a secret island, and Peel and Steed travel there to stop him. Peel defuses the Prospero device just as a hurricane forms over London. Steed duels de Wynter and impales him with his own cane, causing de Wynter to be disintegrated by a powerful bolt of lightning. The duo escapes just as the base self-destructs, and rendezvous with Mother on the roof of a building.