Michael Bannon, a wealthy but bored businessman and candymaker, issues the code word "Gumball" to his fellow automobile enthusiasts, who gather in a garage in New York City to embark on a coast-to-coast race "with no catalytic converter and no 55-mile-per-hour speed limit" in the shortest amount of time. There is only one rule: "There are no rules". Their longtime nemesis, Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Roscoe, who has been trying for years to arrest Bannon and his group, has flown in specially to attempt to shut down the race. He is unsuccessful, and the race begins early the next morning in spite of his momentary interference. Most of the film is devoted to the adventures of the various driving teams and Roscoe's ineffectual attempts to apprehend them. A number of running gags ensue – the Jaguar that will not start (and never even makes it off the starting line); the silent (and somewhat-psychotic) motorcyclist Lapchik's numerous mishaps; Italian race driver Franco Bertollini's frequent detours to seduce beautiful women – as well as some stunts and driving sequences, including the first moving car into moving tractor-trailer stunt later to become a trademark of Knight Rider, the typical sequence of workers carrying a large glass window only to have it shattered by a speeding vehicle, and a race in the Los Angeles River at the same location where Greased Lightning would defeat the Scorpions' Mercury in Grease. The race ends at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California where the finishers celebrate their arrival and the defeated Roscoe sulks off to one side – until a fleet of police cars and tow trucks, summoned by Roscoe, arrive to impound the Gumball vehicles. Roscoe had contrived a plan to see to it that all of them were guaranteed to be illegally parked once the post-race party in the parking lot ran past 11 p.m. Bannon congratulates Roscoe on his final victory (final because Roscoe, who has been after Bannon and Smith since they were in high school, has reached mandatory retirement age). Contemplating how they will all return home without cars, he again utters the word "Gumball" to the assembled group to indicate a race back to New York. Lapchik, the last contestant to finish the race, roars through the parking lot with a stuck throttle and is launched out into the water.

In December 1944 during the reign of the Arrow Cross Party in World War II, four friends are chatting around the table of a bar owned by Béla when a wounded photographer who has just come back from the battlefront joins them. During their gathering, two Arrow Cross officers come in for a drink. After leaving, the group bitterly refer to them as murderers. One of the friends, a watchmaker named Miklós Gyuricza, poses a moral question to János about two hypothetical characters; Tomóceusz Katatiki and Gyugyu. Tomóceusz Katatiki was the leader of an imaginary island, and Gyugyu was his slave. The powerful and careless Katatiki treated the poor Gyugyu with extreme brutality, but never felt any remorse as he lived by the barbarian morality of his age. Gyugyu lived in misery and suffering but found comfort in the fact that whatever cruelty happens to him it is never caused by him and he is still a guiltless person with a clear conscience. What would he choose, if he had to die and reincarnate as one of them? The photographer says that he would choose Gyugyu, but the others don't believe him. As they go home we get to know some of the deepest secrets of their lives. It turns out that Gyuricza is hiding Jewish children at his flat. Meanwhile, László drinks excessively, plagued with the question Gyuricza posed, and experiences hallucinations in his drunken stupor. The next evening, the four friends are at the bar again when Arrow Cross officers arrest them after being advised the friends called the party officers murderers. They are taken to an office of the party where an Arrow Cross official (Zoltán Latinovits) forces them to slap a dying partisan in the face in order to be freed. Gyuricza is the only one that complies. Gyuricza exits the building, severely disturbed by what transpired. As he walks through the city, buildings explode and crumble.

An iguana nest is exposed to the fallout of a military nuclear test in French Polynesia. Years later, a Japanese cannery vessel in the South Pacific is suddenly attacked by a giant creature, with only one fisherman surviving. While confined in a hospital in Tahiti, the traumatized survivor is visited by a mysterious Frenchman, who questions him over what he witnessed. The survivor repeatedly replies "Gojira". NRC scientist Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos is researching the effects of radiation on wildlife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone when he is interrupted by an official from the U.S. State Department who has come to pick him up for a special assignment. Nick is sent to Panama to observe a trail of destruction and footprints left by an unknown creature and then Jamaica to examine the damaged ship with massive claw marks on it. Nick identifies skin samples he discovered in the shipwreck as belonging to an unknown species. He dismisses the military's theory of the creature being a living dinosaur, instead deducing that it is a mutant created by nuclear testing in French Polynesia, close to where it was last spotted. The creature drowns several fishing trawlers in the Eastern American Seaboard, and travels to New York City, leaving a path of destruction. The U.S. military orders an evacuation of the city. On Nick's advice, a plan is set to lure the creature into revealing itself with a large pile of fish. However, their attempt to kill it fails, causing further damage to the city before it escapes. Nick collects a blood sample and, by performing a pregnancy test, discovers the creature reproduces asexually and is about to lay eggs. Nick also meets up with his ex-girlfriend Audrey Timmonds, a young aspiring news reporter. Unnoticed by Nick, she uncovers a classified tape in his provisional military tent concerning the monster's origins and turns it over to the media. She hopes to have her report put on TV to launch her career as a news reporter. Charles Caiman misuses the tape in his own report, declaring it his discovery, and dubs the creature " Godzilla ". As a result of the tape's disclosure, Nick is removed from the operation, and he ends his relationship with Audrey. His taxi is hijacked by the mysterious Frenchman, who identifies himself as Philippe Roaché, an agent of the French secret service. Philippe explains that he and his colleagues have been closely watching the events to cover up their country's role in the nuclear testing that created Godzilla. They suspect a nest somewhere in the city and cooperate with Nick to trace and destroy it. Godzilla resurfaces again and evades a second military strike. After diving into the Hudson River, it is attacked by Navy submarines. After destroying one submarine, it is shot down by torpedoes as it tries to burrow to safety; Godzilla sinks to the river bed and is believed to be dead by the authorities. Meanwhile, Nick and Philippe's team, followed by Audrey and her cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti, find the nest inside Madison Square Garden. The eggs begin to hatch, and the offsprings attack the team as they carry the scent of fish. Nick, Animal, Audrey, and Philippe take refuge in the Garden's broadcast booth and successfully send a live news coverage to alert the military of the offsprings presence. A prompt response involving an airstrike is initiated as the four escape moments before the Air Force jets bomb the arena. Audrey and Nick reconcile before Godzilla emerges from the Garden's ruins, having survived the torpedo attack. Enraged by the deaths of its young, it chases them across the streets of Manhattan. The team manages to trap Godzilla within the suspension cables of the Brooklyn Bridge, allowing the returning Air Force to strike it down with missiles. Godzilla collapses to the ground and dies, as the remaining citizens and authorities celebrate. Audrey tells Caiman that she quits working for him after what he has done, before leaving with Nick and Animal. Philippe, taking Animal's tape and promising to return it after removing its specific contents, thanks Nick for his help, and parts ways. Meanwhile, in the ruins of Madison Square Garden, a single surviving egg hatches, and the hatchling roars to life.

The world has been struck by a mysterious incident called the "Violent Unknown Event" or VUE, which has killed many people and left a great many survivors suffering from a common set of symptoms: mysterious ailments (some appearing to be mutations of evolving into a bird-like form), dreaming of water (categorised by form, such as Category 1, Flight, or Category 3, Waves) and becoming obsessed with birds and flight. Many of the survivors have been gifted with new languages. They have also stopped ageing, making them immortal (barring disease or injury). A directory of these survivors has been compiled, and The Falls is presented as a film version of an excerpt from that directory, corresponding to the 92 entries for persons whose surnames begin with the letters FALL-. Not all of the 92 entries correspond to a person – some correspond to deleted entries, cross references and other oddities of the administrative process that has produced the directory. One biography concerns two people – the twin brothers Ipson and Pulat Fallari, who are played (in still photographs) by the Brothers Quay. The Falls includes clips of a number of Greenaway's early shorts. It also anticipates some of his later films: the subject of biography 27, Propine Fallax, is a pseudonym for Cissie Colpitts, the central figure of Drowning by Numbers (1988), while the car accident in biography 28 prefigures that in A Zed and Two Noughts (1985). The largely formal and deadpan manner of the narration contrasts with the absurdity of the content.

The film follows multiple loosely related narratives, each pertaining to the three Jordan sisters and those within their sphere of influence. Trish Maplewood, the eldest Jordan sister, is a housewife who lives an upper middle class life. She is married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood and has three children. Trish is unaware of Bill's secret life as a pedophile who is obsessed with 11-year-old Johnny Grasso, a classmate of their son, Billy. When Johnny comes to the Jordan house for a sleepover, Bill drugs and rapes him. Later, Bill learns that another boy, Ronald Farber, is home alone while his parents are away in Europe. Under the guise of attending a PTA meeting, Bill drives to the boy's house and rapes him as well. After Johnny is taken to the hospital and found to have been sexually abused, the police arrive at the Maplewood residence to question Bill and his wife. Bill mistakenly asks the officers if this is about Ronald Farber, even though the police only mentioned Johnny's name when they arrived, inadvertently implicating himself in an as-yet unknown crime. The next morning the family awakens to the words "serial rapist" and "pervert" spray painted on their house. After school, Billy questions his dad about the things being said at school, and Bill admits that he raped the boys, that he enjoyed it, and that he would do it again. When Billy asks if he would ever rape him, his father tearfully replies, "No. I'd jerk off instead." Trish packs her family into the car the next morning, leaving for her parents' condo in Florida. Helen Jordan, the middle sister, is a successful author who is adored and envied by everyone she knows. However, her charmed life leaves her ultimately unfulfilled, she despairs that no one wants her for herself, and that the praise regularly heaped upon her is undeserved. She is fascinated by an unknown man who makes obscene phone calls to her apartment and tries to seek out a relationship with him. The man, her neighbor Allen, routinely makes obscene phone calls threatening to sexually assault women for his own gratification, but proves unable to actually touch Helen when given the opportunity to make good on his promises. Allen, who is coincidentally one of Bill's patients, begins a friendship with Kristina, who lives in the same apartment block down the hall. While on a date, Kristina tells him that she killed the apartment doorman after he raped her. Joy, the youngest sister, is overly sensitive, having been repeatedly criticized by her overbearing sisters, and lacking direction. She tearfully breaks up with her boyfriend and coworker, Andy, who reveals and keeps a custom gift he had made for her, calling her shallow. A few days later, he kills himself, and Joy quits her telephone sales job and leaves to do something more fulfilling. She gets hired as a scab worker, teaching at an immigrant-education center. Her students do not like her, and she begins to feel empty in that job as well. Helen tries to set her up with other men. Expecting to hear from a suitor, she instead gets an obscene call from Allen. Later, one of her Russian students, Vlad, offers her a ride in his taxi, and they end up having sex. She is initially smitten, but she soon realizes Vlad was using her and that he may be married. After being attacked by someone she thinks is his wife at the school, she goes to his apartment to make amends. There she discovers the woman is not his wife after all, even though they live together. In Vlad's apartment, Joy sees her missing guitar and CD player. Vlad coerces her into lending him $500 in exchange for her stolen belongings, and Joy quits her job. Finally, the sisters' parents, Mona and Lenny, are separating after 40 years of marriage, but will not get divorced. Lenny is bored with his marriage, but does not want to start another relationship; he simply "wants to be alone." As Mona copes with being single during her twilight years, Lenny tries to rekindle his enthusiasm for life by having an affair with a neighbor. It is no use, however, as Lenny eventually finds that he has become incapable of feeling. In the final scene, the Jordan family is united in Mona and Lenny's condo. Helen resolves to set Joy up with Allen, and is finally inspired to write a new piece after hearing about Kristina's killing of the doorman. Trish does not acknowledge Bill's actions, still acting as if everything is normal. Mona and Lenny trade barbs from across the table. Billy achieves an orgasm for the first time on the balcony while looking at a woman sunbathing. Due to his father's grooming, he proudly declares this to his family.

Christopher Boyce, an expert in the sport of falconry and the son of a former FBI special agent, gets a job as a civilian defense contractor working in the so-called "Black Vault," a secure communication facility through which flows information on some of the most classified US operations in the world. Boyce becomes disillusioned with the US government through his new position, especially after reading a misrouted communiqué dealing with the CIA 's plan to depose the Prime Minister of Australia. Frustrated by this duplicity, Boyce decides to repay his government by passing classified secrets to the Soviets. Daulton Lee is Boyce's childhood friend, a drug addict and minor cocaine smuggler nicknamed "The Snowman", who has frustrated and alienated his family. Lee agrees to contact and deal with the KGB 's agents in Mexico on Boyce's behalf, motivated not by idealism but by what he perceives as an opportunity to make money with plans to settle in Costa Rica, a nation that at that time had no extradition treaty with the United States. As the pair become increasingly involved with espionage, Lee's ambition to create a major espionage business coupled with his excessive drug use begins to strain the two from each other. Alex, their Soviet handler, becomes increasingly reluctant to deal with Lee as the middleman because of Lee's periods of irrationality. Above all, Boyce wants to end the espionage so that he can resume a normal life with his girlfriend Lana and attend college. Boyce meets with Lee's KGB handler to explain the situation. Meanwhile, Lee is desperate to regain the Soviets' regard after realizing that the KGB no longer needs him as a courier. Lee is observed tossing a note over the fence at the Soviet embassy in Mexico City and is arrested by Mexican police and a US Foreign Service officer accompanies him to the police station. When the police search his pockets and find film from a Minox camera Boyce used to photograph documents along with a postcard used by the Soviets to show Lee the location of a drop zone, they produce pictures of the same location that was on the postcard, showing officers surrounding a dead policeman on the street. The Foreign Service officer explains that the Mexican police are trying to implicate him with the murder of the policeman. The police then take Lee away and interrogate him violently. Hours later, Lee reveals that he is a Soviet spy. Told by the Mexican police that he will be deported, Lee is offered a choice of where to be sent. Lee suggests Costa Rica, where he owns a house paid for with drug money, but the choice is merely between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lee reluctantly agrees to go back to America and is arrested as he walks across the border. Realizing that he too will soon be captured, Boyce releases his pet falcon, Fawkes, and then sits down to wait. Moments later, US Marshals and FBI agents surround him. In the closing scene, Lee and Boyce are seen being escorted to prison.

In 180 AD, the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius intends to return home after he leads the Roman army to victory against Germanic tribes near Vindobona. Emperor Marcus Aurelius tells Maximus that his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule and that he wishes Maximus to succeed him, as regent, to restore the Roman Republic. Angered by this decision when Marcus Aurelius tells the news to him, Commodus secretly assassinates his father by smothering him personally on the spot. Commodus proclaims himself the new emperor and requests loyalty from Maximus, who refuses. Maximus is arrested by Praetorian Guards led by Quintus, who tells Maximus that he and his family will die. Maximus kills his captors and, wounded, rides for his home near Turgalium, where he finds his wife and son murdered. Maximus buries them, then collapses from his injuries. He is found by slave traders, who take him to Zuccabar and sell him to the gladiator trainer Proximo. Maximus fights in local tournaments, his combat skills helping him win matches and gain popularity. He earns the nickname "the Spaniard " and befriends Juba, a gladiator from Carthage, and Hagen, a gladiator from Germania. In Rome, Commodus organizes 150 days of gladiatorial games to commemorate his father and win the approval of the Roman public. Upon hearing this, Proximo reveals to Maximus that he was once a gladiator who was freed by Marcus Aurelius, and advises him to "win the crowd" to gain his freedom. Proximo takes his gladiators to fight in Rome's Colosseum. Disguised in a masked helmet, Maximus debuts in the arena as a Carthaginian in a re-enactment of the Battle of Zama. Unexpectedly, he leads his side to victory and wins the crowd's support. Commodus and his young nephew, Lucius, enter the Colosseum to offer their congratulations. Seeing Lucius, Maximus refrains from attacking Commodus, who orders him to reveal his identity. Maximus removes his helmet and declares he will seek vengeance on Commodus, who is compelled by the crowd to let Maximus live. That evening, Maximus is visited by Lucilla, his former lover and Commodus' sister. Distrusting her, Maximus refuses her help. Commodus arranges a duel between Maximus and Tigris of Gaul, an undefeated gladiator. Several tigers are set upon Maximus, but he prevails. At the crowd's desire, Commodus orders Maximus to kill Tigris, but Maximus spares his life in defiance. In response, the crowd chants "Maximus the Merciful", which angers Commodus. To provoke Maximus, Commodus taunts him about the murder of his family, but Maximus resists the urge to strike him. Increasingly paranoid, Commodus instructs his advisor, Falco, to have every senator followed, and refuses to have Maximus killed for fear he will become a martyr. Maximus discovers from Cicero, his ex- orderly, that his former legions remain loyal to him. He secretly meets with Lucilla and Gracchus, an influential senator. They agree to help Maximus escape from Rome to join his legions in Ostia, which will enable him to oust Commodus and hand power back to the Roman Senate. Soon after, the Praetorians arrest Gracchus. Lucilla meets Maximus at night to arrange his escape and they share a kiss. Lucius accidentally hints at the conspiracy, and Commodus threatens him and Lucilla. Commodus sends the Praetorians to attack the gladiators' barracks, and during the battle Proximo and his men sacrifice themselves to enable Maximus to flee. Maximus makes it to the rendezvous point with Cicero, but Commodus' soldiers kill Cicero and capture Maximus. Commodus demands that Lucilla provide him with an heir. He challenges Maximus to a duel in the Colosseum to win back public approval, and stabs him before the match to gain an advantage. Despite his injury, Maximus disarms Commodus during the duel. After Quintus and the Praetorians refuse to help Commodus, he unsheathes a hidden knife, but Maximus overpowers him and kills him. Before Maximus succumbs to his injuries, he asks for political reforms, the emancipation of his gladiator allies, and the reinstatement of Gracchus as a senator. As he dies, Maximus envisions reuniting with his wife and son in the afterlife. His friends and allies honor him as "a soldier of Rome" and carry his body out of the arena. That night, Juba visits the Colosseum and buries figurines of Maximus' wife and son at the spot where Maximus died.

Twelve ordinary Japanese jurors are summoned to serve in a murder trial. The defendant is a bar hostess accused of pushing her ex-husband into an oncoming truck. After the trial, they are sequestered in a room and the verdict is taken, which is quickly and unanimously decided to be "not guilty." Everyone has business to attend to, and the jurors are nice people unwilling to believe a woman could commit murder, so they quickly prepare to leave. However, Juror #2 has second thoughts, stopping everyone and saying, "Let's discuss this." Juror #2 takes the initiative to convince their peers that the woman is, in fact, guilty. As the jurors discuss the case, it becomes clear that the other eleven jurors all sympathize with the defendant and chose a 'not guilty' verdict based on those sympathies and not the evidence itself. The jurors once again consider the circumstances of the case. Gradually, more and more of them begin to lean toward a "guilty" verdict for premeditated murder. However, some jurors still waver between "guilty" and "not guilty." Upon further argumentation, the circumstances that had seemed unfavorable to the defendant were in fact evidence of her innocence. Furthermore, it becomes clear that Juror #2, who initially asked for the "discussion", is projecting his own family troubles onto the defendant and harboring an irrational grudge. After much deliberation, the jurors are convinced once again of the defendant's innocence and unanimously vote for acquittal. After voting and submitting their statements, the twelve jurors each go home satisfied.

Unemployed 28-year-old cartoonist Gordon "Gord" Brody leaves his parents' home in Portland, Oregon, to pursue his lifelong ambition of obtaining a contract for an animated television series. His parents, Jim and Julie, give him a Chrysler LeBaron which he drives to Los Angeles and starts work at a cheese sandwich factory to make money. Gord shows his drawings to Dave Davidson, the CEO of a major animation studio; Davidson commends the artwork but calls the concepts depicted, including a vigilante "X-Ray Cat", nonsensical. Disheartened, Gord quits his job and returns to his parents. Jim constantly insults and belittles Gord following his return, telling him to forget about being an animator and "get a job". When Gord pressures his friend Darren into skating on a wooden half-pipe he has built outside the Brody home, Darren falls and breaks his leg. At the hospital, Gord impersonates a doctor, delivers a baby, and meets an attractive wheelchair-bound nurse named Betty. Gord visits Betty at her home, where she shows him the protoype rocket-powered wheelchair she is working on. Betty initiates a romantic encounter with Gord, and persuades him to beat her legs with a cane for masochistic pleasure. She offers to perform fellatio on him, but he declines and leaves, stating they're moving too fast. Gord lies to his father that he has got a job in the computer industry. While his father thinks he is at work, Gord takes Betty out to a restaurant. However, Jim encounters him at the restaurant and disparages Gord's deception and laziness along with Betty's disability. After a fight in the restaurant, Gord is arrested and Betty bails him out. Following her advice, Gord attempts to continue drawing; however, he gets into an argument with Jim, who then smashes Gord's half-pipe. Gord and his parents then go to a family therapy session, where Gord falsely accuses his father of fingering Gord's younger brother, Freddy. The 25-year-old Freddy is sent to a home for sexually molested children despite clearly being an adult. Julie, fed up with Jim's real and perceived behavior, leaves Jim and ends up dating the basketball player Shaquille O'Neal. While in a drunken stupor, Jim tells Gord how much of a disappointment he is to him. Affected by his father's words, Gord decides to abandon his aspirations to be a cartoonist and gets a job at a local sandwich shop. After seeing a television news report on Betty's successful rocket-powered wheelchair, Gord is inspired to pursue his dreams once again. He returns to Hollywood with a concept based on his relationship with his father: an adult animated series called Zebras in America. Jim follows Gord there after threatening Darren into revealing his whereabouts. While Gord is pitching the show to Davidson, Jim bursts in and trashes Davidson's office. Thinking Jim's actions are part of Gord's pitch, Davidson greenlights Zebras in America and gives Gord a million-dollar check. Gord spends a quarter of that money on an elaborate thank you to Betty for inspiring him, using a helicopter to deliver jewels to her. She thanks him but says she really only wants to perform fellatio on him. Gord spends the remainder of his windfall to relocate part of the Brody house to Pakistan with his father inside, unconscious—a response to Jim's earlier put-down that "If this were Pakistan, you would have been sewing soccer balls when you were four years old!". A furious Jim chases Gord into a tent, where Gord masturbates a bull elephant and causes it to spray his father with semen. Gord and Jim soon come to terms, but are then abducted and held hostage. The kidnapping becomes a news item, as Gord's series has already become popular. After 18 months in captivity, Gord and Jim return to the United States, where a huge crowd—including Betty, Darren, and a protestor holding a sign asking “When the fuck is this movie going to end?”—welcomes them home.

In New York City 's Central Park, people begin committing mass suicide. The event is believed to be caused by a bio-terrorist attack using an airborne neurotoxin. The behavior quickly spreads across the Northeastern United States. High school science teacher Elliot Moore and his wife Alma are persuaded by Elliot's mathematician colleague Julian to accompany him and his daughter Jess on a train out of Philadelphia. During the trip, the group learns Boston and Philadelphia have been affected. The train loses all radio contact and stops at a small town. When Julian learns his wife has left Boston for Princeton, he decides to look for her and entrusts Jess to the Moores. However, Julian arrives to find Princeton has been affected, causing the driver of the car in which he is riding to ram into a tree. Julian survives but commits suicide by slitting his wrist with a glass shard. Elliot, Alma, and Jess hitch a ride with a nurseryman and his wife. The nurseryman hypothesizes that plant life has developed a defense mechanism against humans consisting of an airborne toxin that stimulates neurotransmitters and causes humans to kill themselves. The group is later joined by other survivors coming from various directions, and the small crowd chooses to avoid roads and populated areas. When the larger part of the group is affected by the toxin, Elliot suggests the nurseryman was right and the plants are targeting only large groups of people. He splits their group into smaller pockets and they walk along. The trio ends up with a pair of teenage boys, Josh and Jared, who are later shot and killed by the armed residents of a barricaded house. Elliot, Alma, and Jess wander the countryside and come upon the home of Mrs. Jones, an eccentric and paranoid elderly woman. Jones initially agrees to house the group for the night but is suspicious of them having bad intentions; the next morning, she decides to expel them. In a fury, she leaves the house alone and is affected by the toxin. The shaken Elliot realizes the plants are now targeting individuals. Left with no option when Mrs. Jones strikes her head into several windows, the trio chooses to die and embraces in the yard only to find themselves unaffected by the toxin. The outbreak has abated as quickly as it began. Three months later, Elliot and Alma have adjusted to their new life with Jess as their adopted daughter. Alma learns she is pregnant and surprises Elliot with the news. On television, an expert compares the natural event to a red tide and warns the epidemic may have only been a harbinger of an impending global disaster. In Paris 's Tuileries Gardens, people begin committing mass suicide.

When an Amacore oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, Captain Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. are sent to shut down the operation and transport the crew – Amacore executive Ian, rig supervisor Kelly, Rodney, Davis, Liddle, Jeremy, Sammi, Rady, Kyle, Newman, and Dr. Gerber – out of the desert. However, en route to Beijing, a major dust storm disables one engine, forcing them to crash land their C-119 Flying Boxcar in an uncharted area of the Gobi Desert. Kyle falls to his death and the crash kills Dr. Gerber and Newman. Their cargo consists of used parts and tools from the rig, the rig's crew, and Elliott, a hitchhiker. When the dust storm ends, it becomes apparent that they are 200 miles (320 km) off course with only a month's supply of water. Jeremy thinks about walking to get help, but Rady explains that July is the hottest month in the Gobi, and that he won't make it. In the middle of the night, Davis goes out to urinate without informing anybody, trips, gets lost in a sandstorm, and dies. The group panics after a failed search for him, and Kelly argues with Frank, who says that walking out of the desert would fail and that their only option is to await rescue. The group initially agrees but reconsiders after Elliott, claiming to be an aeronautical engineer, pitches a radical idea: rebuild the wreckage of their C-119 into a functional aircraft. Frank initially refuses, which causes Liddle to wander off on his own in protest. Frank attempts to find him. He comes across a valley littered with debris, cargo from the aircraft, which dropped out when the tail was torn open. Among the debris he discovers the bullet-ridden and stripped body of Kyle. Liddle says he will only go back with him if they build the plane, and Frank agrees. They struggle for several weeks building the new aircraft, through dust storms, lack of water, and fighting amongst the group. Rady christens it Phoenix after the legendary bird. A problem evolves when a group of smugglers camp nearby; when Ian, A.J., and Rodney attempt to communicate. However, once Liddle spots Kyle's watch on a bandit's wrist, the bandits open fire, wounding Rodney. Frank kills one and captures the other, but after a short debate, Elliott unilaterally shoots the final bandit in the head, then rebukes the group for wasting water, time, and effort on a foolish mission, blaming Frank for allowing it. The two fight briefly and Elliott quits the project. Elliott refuses to continue until everyone verbally says, "please" and acknowledges that he is in charge. After finishing the Phoenix Frank discovers that Elliott's aircraft design experience has been restricted to the design of model aircraft, much to the anger of everyone. While everyone argues, Ian quietly locates the Bandit's pistol and nearly shoots Elliott before Frank intervenes. In high wind, Liddle notices the plane slowly lifting on its own, proving Elliott's design theory, and the group stops fighting. However, the following storm buries most of their supplies, the original fuselage, and most of the Phoenix itself. Frank rallies the group and inspires them to keep working to reach their loved ones and they eventually dig out the Phoenix. With only a few attempts to start the engine, Frank tries a risky procedure to clear the fuel cylinders, but it works, and the engine revs to life. The noise draws additional smugglers, who open fire on the craft and disable the rudder. Elliott manages to fix the problem during takeoff. The Phoenix plummets off the edge of a cliff at the end of their runway, but the additional airspeed from the fall allows Frank to pull up and fly away. Through a series of photos, we see what became of the survivors when they made it back to civilization. All have been revitalized by the experience and have happy lives: Frank and A.J. start their own airline (appropriately named Phoenix Aviation), Sammi and his wife start their own restaurant (Jeremy and Rady are there to celebrate), Liddle is reunited with his wife and kids, Ian enjoys golf by taking early retirement, Kelly is boss on an ocean oil rig, and Elliott is wearing a flight suit on a Flight International magazine cover with the headline: " NASA 's New Hope?"

John Hancock is an alcoholic, reckless superhuman imbued with flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Acting as a haphazard and unrefined superhero in Los Angeles, he is shunned, ridiculed and hated by the public for his drunken and careless crime fighting acts and rude and unpleasant disposition. Hancock rescues Ray Embrey, a community-minded but struggling public relations specialist, from an oncoming train, but also accidentally derails it in the process. In gratitude, Ray offers to help improve Hancock's public image and hopes that he will be the spokesperson for his charitable brand, "All Heart". Hancock meets Ray's family, his son Aaron, and his wife Mary, who is suspicious of him. Ray encourages Hancock to issue a public apology and surrender himself to local authorities, hoping that it will build public confidence in Hancock and create demand for him to return. Hancock reluctantly agrees and is placed in prison where he easily fends off attacks from other inmates but struggles to connect with his support groups for alcohol abuse and anger management. Ray visits frequently, encouraging Hancock to be patient, and later Ray's family visits as well, bringing him homemade spaghetti with meatballs. The crime rate in Los Angeles rises and Hancock is eventually released to help. Sporting a new leather super suit, he successfully rescues a wounded police officer during a bank robbery shootout and hostage situation orchestrated by Red Parker, ending when Hancock prevents Parker from using a ' dead man's switch ' by slicing off his hand and turning both over to the police. The public applauds Hancock as a hero and the officers praise him for ending the crisis without loss of life. Hancock has dinner with Ray and Mary and reveals that he is an amnesiac and immortal, having woken up in a hospital 80 years ago with no memory of his identity. Ray tells Hancock that Mary is Aaron's stepmother and that his biological mother had died in childbirth. Carrying a drunk Ray home, Hancock kisses Mary, who kisses him back but then throws him through the wall, revealing that she also has superpowers. The next day, Hancock and Mary speak in private. She explains that ancient cultures called them gods or angels (and now superheroes) and that there were more like them in the past; however, their peers inevitably bonded in pairs as soulmates, lose their powers in the process, live human lives and eventually die. When Mary refuses to answer questions about their connection, the two begin a brawl that moves through L.A. During the fight, Mary reveals that they were together for three thousand years and are the last of their kind, but the two stop fighting when they reach Ray, who confronts them about the secrecy. Hancock leaves and stops a store robbery, but he is shot and finds that a bullet has hurt him. While receiving hospital treatment, Mary explains that the closer they are, the more mortal they become, and they will lose their powers unless they stay apart. The last time Hancock and Mary were together was eighty years ago when Hancock was attacked and she fled so that his powers would return. Parker escapes prison with several inmates and attacks the hospital to get revenge. Mary is caught in the crossfire and injured. Hancock manages to use some of his fading strength to fight and kill the convicts but is injured when Parker shoots him. Ray saves him by cutting off Parker's other hand with a fire axe before killing him. Hancock throws himself out of the hospital, trying to increase his distance from Mary so they can both recover, before flying off. A month later, Ray and his family receive a call from Hancock (who is now in New York City), revealing that he has imprinted the Moon's surface with Ray's "All Heart" marketing logo. In a mid-credits scene, Hancock confronts a criminal holding a woman at gunpoint and demanding that he help him escape from the police. Hancock shows restraint when dealing with the criminal but does smile when the gunman insults him indicating that the felon is about to have a bad day.