In early 2003, GCHQ analyst Katharine Gun obtains a memo detailing a joint United States and British operation to spy on diplomats from several non – permanent United Nations Security Council member states (Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea), to "dig dirt" on them. This was to influence the Security Council into passing a resolution supporting an invasion of Iraq. Angered that the UK is being led into a war on false pretences, Katharine leaks the memo to a friend involved in the anti-war movement, who passes it to anti-war activist Yvonne Ridley. She gets it to The Observer journalist Martin Bright. The Observer foreign editor Peter Beaumont allows Martin to investigate the story. To verify the memo's authenticity, Martin enlists the help of the Observer ' s Washington correspondent Ed Vulliamy to contact the memo's author Frank Koza, Chief of Staff at the "regional targets" section of the NSA. Despite the Observer ' s pro-war stance, Peter convinces the chief editor Roger Alton that the leaked memo is worth publishing. The leaked memo's publication in March 2003 generates public and media interest. The Drudge Report attempts to discredit the document as a fake, as staffer Nicole Mowbray had inadvertently changed the text from American to British English with a spellchecker. However, Martin is able to produce the original memo, confirming its authenticity. Katharine's actions prompt GCHQ to launch an internal investigation. Seeking to prevent an invasion of Iraq and to protect her colleagues from suspicion, Katharine confesses to the leak. She is arrested, questioned, then released on bail. Following the outbreak of the Iraq War, Katharine seeks the services of the Liberty lawyers Ben Emmerson and Shami Chakrabarti. The British Government decides to charge her with violating the Official Secrets Act, tasking the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, with the prosecution. To exert pressure, the British authorities attempt to deport her husband Yasar Gun, a Turkish Kurd. However, Katharine is able to halt the deportation with the help of her MP, Nigel Jones. Katharine's defence strategy is that she acted from loyalty to her country, seeking to prevent it from being led into an unlawful war. With the help of Martin, Ed, and former Foreign Office deputy legal adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Ben discovers that the Attorney General Peter Goldsmith changed his position on the legality of the war after meeting lawyers from the Bush Administration. Despite the odds against her, Katharine refuses to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced charge. In court, the Crown prosecutor offers no evidence against Katharine. Ben responds that this is because doing so would have shown that the Blair government led the UK into war on false pretences. The film then mentions the human toll of the Iraq War and that Lord Goldsmith's advice on the illegality of the Iraq War was made public in 2010. It ends with footage of the real Katharine addressing the media following the dismissal of her case, and Ben shunning Ken for putting Katharine through the ordeal "to make an example of her".

Kang Jae-hyeok works at the aging Hanbyul Nuclear Power Plant, which is their namesake town's only source of energy and jobs. Jae-hyeok, who had earlier lost both his father and brother working at the plant in his early years, lives with his mother, sister-in-law, and nephew Min-jae. He expresses his desire to work at a fishing vessel to make money for his family rather than work at the plant, but is discouraged by everyone he knows, including his childhood friend & fiancée Yeon-joo. Pyeong-seok is one of the head operators of the plant, who alongside a coalition of his concerned plant workers and anti-nuclear activists, tries to get the President of South Korea Seok-ko Hang, to shut down the plant due to urgent safety concerns, but they are dismissed by the other senior plant operators, especially the Prime Minister. An earthquake suddenly strikes the town, causing the nuclear reactor to overheat. Due to the plant's aging safety systems, attempts to cool down the overheating reactor are ineffective. Meanwhile, Hang's administration fiercely debates between allowing the reactor to vent radioactive particles into the air to relieve pressure from the core or evacuating large population centers around the plant, before they settle on evacuating residents closest to the reactor. Due to the lack of a contingency plan in place, the only route leading out of town quickly became gridlocked. This critical delay led to the reactor building exploding before the crew could open the pressure release valves themselves, killing or injuring most of the plant workers. Jae-hyeok hauls out his friend Gil-seop and much of the workers out from the plant before he collapses from radiation poisoning. The KCDC quarantines the town's residents not far from the reactor. However. after Yeon-joo gets proof that the reactor exploded and delivers the news, they set up a jammer and locks the evacuees inside the evacuation center as they leave them for dead, except for the junior nurse Mi-sook, who is treating Jae-hyeok and other plant workers. Yeon-joo, along with the town's residents manage to break out from the evacuation center and commandeers one of the buses for their citizens to escape. Despite the firefighters' efforts to cool the reactors, some of the firefighting crew also began experiencing radiation poisoning symptoms as well. Hang, after fallen into depression for the reactor explosion, orders the firefighters to use seawater to decommission the reactors completely. He and Pyeong-seok discovers that there is a growing crack underneath the storage tank in the basement, putting the spent fuel rods in danger of overheating. When the Army 's military engineers refuse to step in, Hang addresses to the nation, requesting aid from the plant workers to perform a dangerous operation of sealing the cracks in the basement. Jae-hyeok bitterly declines, but at the insistence of Gil-seop, he eventually agrees for the sake of the people. He calls a distraught Yeon-joo before he boards on a bus back to the town along with their surviving crew. During their operation, the crack underneath the coolant tank grew bigger and they are ordered to retreat. Jae-hyeok suggests they seal the door and blow up the tank to allow the spent fuel rods to fall into the basement, effectively creating a new tank. However, at the current situation, both of these steps must be executed simultaneously, meaning one will not be leaving out alive. Jae-hyeok, the only person among the group who can operate explosives and having already been too sick from radiation poisoning, volunteers to sacrifice himself, allowing the workers to then seal himself into the waste room before fleeing the area. Jae-hyeok uses his helmet-mounted camera to broadcast a farewell message to his family and Yeon-joo before blowing himself up, sending all the fuel rods into the flooded basement and averting a larger nuclear disaster.

Setsuko Kawashima is a lonely, middle-aged office worker in Tokyo who is aloof from her co-workers, lives in a cluttered studio apartment and is estranged from her sister, Ayako. One day, she meets with her niece Mika, who tells Setsuko that she signed up for a year of English classes but can no longer afford to attend, as she needs to save money and keep working. Mika persuades Setsuko to buy her out and sends her to the school for a free first class. At the school, Setsuko meets John, an American teacher who hugs her warmly, gives her the American name of Lucy and a bright blonde wig so she can adopt an American persona. She meets Takeshi Komori, a classmate in the English class who goes by the name Tom. Setsuko is quickly charmed by John and decides to continue attending classes. At their next session, she learns that John has abruptly quit to return to the United States. Outside the school, she spots John and Mika kissing and getting into a cab. Ayako informs her that Mika has moved to the US. Setsuko returns to English class, but finds the new teacher too conventional and leaves the school. When she receives a postcard from Mika containing her address in Los Angeles, Setsuko impulsively decides to follow her, with Ayako insisting on joining her, despite her strained relationship with her daughter Mika. It is revealed that Setsuko harbors resentment towards Ayako for stealing and marrying her boyfriend. Arriving in Los Angeles, the two are surprised to find only John at home, who claims that Mika has left him and he has no idea where she is. After raiding his room, however, Ayako discovers a postcard sent by Mika from a motel in San Diego. The sisters have John rent a car and drive them to the motel where Mika was last heard from. While waiting for Mika to reappear, John offers to teach Setsuko how to drive and the two end up having sex. Later that night, Setsuko goes to a tattoo parlor to get the same tattoo as John, but when she shows it to him, he rebuffs her. The next morning, Ayako confronts John and tells him to take her to Mika. He goes to his house where he introduces Ayako to his estranged wife and daughter, who know where Mika is but will not tell him. Setsuko, left alone at the motel, runs into Mika who tells her that she broke up with John after discovering his family. They have a picnic near the beach where Mika teases Setsuko about having a crush on John, and Setsuko responds by revealing that she had sex with John. The two women engage in a physical altercation, culminating in Mika jumping off a cliff in a suicide attempt, but she survives. At the hospital, an enraged John asks Setsuko if she told Mika about them. She insists that she loves John, but he rejects her and drives off. Ayako tells her to stay out of their lives. Back in Tokyo, Setsuko learns she is being transferred to another department, prompting her to quit. Shortly after leaving the office, she overhears her co-workers laughing and cheering. Distraught over losing John, her job, and her family, she attempts suicide by overdosing on pills at home. She is found by Takeshi, who makes her vomit the pills. She tries to seduce him, but he kindly rejects her advances. As they head to a subway station, Takeshi reveals that his son killed himself and that he blames himself for being too strict, which is why he enjoys slipping into his Tom persona. He asks Setsuko for a hug, and she agrees.

Kim Ki-taek and Chung-sook live in a semi-basement flat (banjiha) in Seoul with their daughter Ki-jung and son Ki-woo. As the family has financial struggles and low-income jobs, family friend Min-hyuk gives them a scholar's rock meant to promise wealth. Leaving to study abroad, he suggests that Ki-woo lie about his qualifications to take over Min-hyuk's job as an English tutor for Da-hye, the daughter of the wealthy but naïve Park family. Min-hyuk trusts Ki-woo because he likes Da-hye and wants to ask her out when he returns. After Ki-jung helps forge a certificate for him, Ki-woo, posing as a Yonsei University student named "Kevin", goes to the Parks' home, where he is hired by the mother Mrs Park by the end of his first lesson. The Kims' scheme is to secure jobs for each family member within the Park household while concealing their true identities. Ki-woo recommends "Jessica," actually Ki-jung, as an art therapist for the Parks' young son, Da-song, who has been traumatised after seeing a "ghost" in their kitchen. Ki-jung then frames Yoon, the Parks' chauffeur, by making it appear as though he had a sexual encounter in the car, leading to Ki-taek being hired as his replacement. The Kims exploit the peach allergy of the Parks' longtime housekeeper, Moon-gwang, to convince Mrs Park that Moon-gwang has tuberculosis, and Chung-sook is hired as her replacement. Meanwhile, Ki-woo begins a secret romantic relationship with Da-hye. While the Parks are away on a camping trip, the Kims revel in the luxuries of the house when Moon-gwang suddenly appears at the door, claiming to have forgotten something in the basement. She goes through a hidden entrance to an underground bunker created by the house's architect and previous owner, who had kept its existence secret from the Parks. There, Moon-gwang's husband, Geun-sae, has been hiding from loan sharks and is revealed to be the "ghost" Da-song saw. Moon-gwang begs Chung-sook to allow Geun-sae to continue living there in exchange for regular payments, but the three other Kims, who are eavesdropping, accidentally reveal their true identities. Moon-gwang films them and threatens to expose their deception to the Parks. After the Parks call to inform the Kims that they are returning early due to a sudden severe rainstorm, the Kims quickly destroy all evidence of their ruse and subdue Moon-gwang and Geun-sae in the bunker, although Moon-gwang is injured during the struggle. The Kims manage to escape, but the torrential rain floods their flat with sewage water, forcing them to take shelter in a gymnasium alongside other displaced people. The next day, Mrs Park organises an impromptu garden party for Da-song's birthday, with the elder Kims assisting while the younger Kims are invited as guests. Ki-woo enters the bunker with his scholar's rock, with intentions unknown. Moon-gwang is already dead from injuries sustained in the previous day's brawl; Geun-sae bludgeons Ki-woo with the rock, leaving him unconscious. Geun-sae then leaves the bunker and stabs Ki-jung with a kitchen knife in front of horrified party guests. Da-song faints upon seeing the "ghost" again. Chung-sook impales Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer after a struggle. While Ki-taek tends to Ki-jung, Mr Park orders him to drive Da-song to the hospital. Ki-taek, gradually enraged by the Parks' lack of empathy or awareness of their own privilege, stabs him with Geun-sae's knife and flees. Weeks later, Ki-woo is recovering from brain surgery, and he and Chung-sook have been convicted of fraud and placed on probation. Ki-jung has died from her injuries, and Ki-taek – now a wanted fugitive – has disappeared. Geun-sae is presumed to have been a random homeless man, and the motives for the murders remain unsolved. Ki-woo spies on the Parks' former home, now owned by a foreign family, and notices a Morse code message in a light visible from outside. Ki-taek, hiding in the bunker, has buried Moon-gwang in the garden and sends daily messages, hoping Ki-woo will see them. Still living in a semi-basement flat with his mother, Ki-woo writes a letter to Ki-taek, vowing to earn enough money one day to buy the house and free him.

In the first section of the film, the cast and crew of a low-budget zombie film called True Fear are shooting at an abandoned water filtration plant. Director Higurashi, desperate for film success due to mounting debts and frustrated at the actors' work, arranges for a blood pentagram to be painted to revive real zombies per the plant's haunted past. The cameraman turns into a zombie and bites assistant director Kasahara, turning him into one as well. Actress Chinatsu, actor Ko, and makeup artist Nao lock the zombies out of the plant. Higurashi insists they continue filming using the real zombies. The sound engineer rushes out of the plant and is infected. Higurashi brings the zombified sound engineer back in for more footage, throwing him at the actors. Nao decapitates the zombified sound engineer and is splattered with zombie blood. Chinatsu, Ko, and Nao attempt to escape, but Higurashi facilitates an attack by zombified Kasahara while he films. Chinatsu is confronted by the zombies and saved by Ko. They reunite with Nao, who suspects that Chinatsu is infected. Nao attempts to kill Chinatsu and chases her, dispatching the zombies in the process. Chinatsu escapes to a roof, with Nao and Ko following. Offscreen, Ko kills Nao with an axe to save Chinatsu. Chinatsu thinks she is infected and runs away to a building with a pentagram painted on the outside wall. An unidentified zombie approaches Chinatsu and leaves. Chinatsu also exits the building, finding an axe before seeing Ko wandering on the roof. She approaches Ko to find that he has been zombified. Chinatsu confronts zombified Ko in a scene similar to the start of the film, and after being briefly interrupted by a mysteriously revived Nao, Chinatsu decapitates zombified Ko. Higurashi berates Chinatsu for going off script. Chinatsu kills Higurashi, and she ends the first section by standing on the blood pentagram in a trance-like state. The second section of the film is a flashback involving the personal lives of the fictional cast and crew of a production called One Cut of the Dead, a film-within-the-film of the same title (thus making True Fear a film-within-the-film within another film-within-the-film). Takayuki Higurashi, director of a TV drama starring alcoholic actor Manabu Hosoda, is approached by network executives to direct a low-budget zombie film in one take to launch the new Zombie Channel. He is initially reluctant, but accepts in hopes of reconnecting with his daughter Mao, a horror movie fanatic. Actors cast for One Cut of the Dead include idol Aika Matsumoto as Chinatsu, cynical actor Kazuaki Kamiya as Ko, Shunsuke Yamagoe as the sound engineer, and Hosoda as the cameraman. The One Cut of the Dead movie-within-the-movie is also revealed to be a live show, so no reshoots or delays are possible. The third section of the film depicts the chaotic shooting of One Cut of the Dead from behind the scenes. The actors cast as director and makeup artist could not make filming, forcing Takayuki and his wife Harumi to step in to fill their respective roles. During the shooting, Takayuki overacts his first scene by physically accosting Matsumoto. Hosoda passes out drunk and later vomits. Yamagoe's diarrhea leads to his character leaving the plant off-script. Dealing with these forces Takayuki and the other actors to start to improvise and make small talk. The main cameraman suffers a back injury and has to be replaced. Harumi goes off-script and attacks various real cast and crew during the scene of Nao chasing Chinatsu, forcing Takayuki to choke her out and later forcibly remove her from interrupting the ending scene between Chinatsu and Ko after she abruptly wakes up. The zombie who did not attack Chinatsu turns out to be a crew member giving instructions. The camera crane accidentally gets broken, forcing the real cast and crew to form a human pyramid in order to mimic a crane shot for the final shot, with Mao having to hold the camera standing atop Takayuki's shoulders. The faux-crane shot is successful, and the real cast and crew are elated at the successful filming. The final credits are shown over footage of the real-life filming by the One Cut of the Dead crew, including the faux-crane shot being taken from the top of a stepladder.

On November 9, in Palm Springs, Nyles wakes up and fails to consummate sex with his girlfriend Misty. That evening, Nyles attends a wedding reception for Tala and Abe. There, he bonds with the maid of honor, Tala's depressed half-sister Sarah. Nyles and Sarah leave the party to have sex in the nearby desert. As he undresses, Nyles is hit by an arrow shot by an assailant, then he crawls into a cave, warning Sarah not to follow him. Concerned for Nyles, she follows him and is sucked into a vortex. Sarah wakes up and realizes that it is November 9 again. She confronts Nyles, and he explains that by following him into the cave, Sarah has become stuck in a time loop with him; falling asleep or dying resets the loop, repeating November 9. Nyles reveals that the man who shot him, Roy, is from the wedding and that Nyles inadvertently trapped him in the time loop. For revenge, Roy sometimes hunts down Nyles, as he enjoys putting him through pain even though his "deaths" are only temporary. Sarah tries various methods to escape the loop, but is unsuccessful. Nyles, having already been in the loop for a long time, has become complacent and carefree, abandoning hope of escape. Sarah resigns herself to her fate and adopts Nyles' carefree and reckless lifestyle. Nyles and Sarah become close. They begin to look forward to their days together, where they are free to do anything without consequence. One night, Nyles and Sarah camp out in the desert, get high, and have sex. The day after, Sarah sleeps in and is woken up by Abe, with whom she had sex on November 8, the night before the wedding. Guilt-ridden, Sarah refuses to talk to Nyles about their previous night, expressing nihilism about their life in the loop. After being pulled over by Roy disguised as a cop, Sarah runs him over. She and Nyles argue, leading him to admit that he had sex with Sarah many times in the loop, something he previously lied about. An angry Sarah starts avoiding Nyles. Nyles feels lost without Sarah and spends days aimlessly moping, discovering Abe and Sarah's affair in the process. One day, Nyles visits Roy at his home in Irvine. Having now experienced a painful injury at the hands of Sarah, Roy realizes what he has put Nyles through, and they reconcile. Meanwhile, Sarah spends her days studying to become an expert in quantum physics and general relativity. After some experimentation, she believes that exploding oneself in the cave will break the time loop. Sarah offers Nyles a chance to escape with her, but he confesses his love for her and asks if they can stay in the loop together forever. She refuses, resolved to try her escape plan without him. Sarah attends the wedding one last time, giving a heartfelt speech to Tala, and then travels to the cave with explosives. Nyles has a change of heart, and rushes to the cave to leave with her. He declares that he would rather die with her in an explosion than remain in the loop alone. Sarah reciprocates his feelings, and they kiss in the cave, as she presses the detonator. The two then relax in the pool of a nearby house, which Nyles had shown Sarah during one of their loops. The residents return and catch them there, which seems to indicate that the plan has worked and it is now November 10. In a mid-credits scene, Roy, having gotten a voicemail from Sarah explaining her plan to escape the loop, returns to the wedding and asks Nyles if the plan would work. Nyles does not recognize Roy, who smiles, realizing that Nyles is out of the time loop.

In 2011, Fern loses her job after the closure of the US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada; she had worked there for years along with her husband, who recently died. Fern sells most of her belongings for a van to live in and travels the country searching for work. She takes a seasonal job at an Amazon fulfillment center through the winter. Linda, a friend and co-worker, invites Fern to visit a desert rendezvous in Arizona organized by Bob Wells, which provides a support system and community for fellow nomads. Fern initially declines, but changes her mind as the weather turns cold and she struggles to find work in the area. There, she meets fellow nomads and learns basic survival and self-sufficiency skills for the road. When Fern's van blows a tire, she visits the van of a nearby nomad, Swankie, to ask for a ride into town to buy a spare. Swankie chastises Fern for not being prepared and invites her to learn road survival skills; they become friends. Swankie tells Fern about her cancer diagnosis and shortened life expectancy and her plan to make good memories on the road rather than waste away in a hospital. They eventually part ways. Fern takes a job as a camp host at the Cedar Pass Campgrounds in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Also working there is Dave, another nomad she met and danced with at the desert community. When he falls ill with diverticulitis, she visits him at the hospital where he has had emergency surgery. They take restaurant jobs at Wall Drug in South Dakota. One night, Dave's son visits the restaurant looking for him, telling him that his wife is pregnant and asking him to meet his grandchild. He is hesitant, but Fern encourages him to go. Dave suggests that she come with him, but she declines. Fern takes a new job at a sugar beet processing plant, but her van breaks down, and she cannot afford the repairs. Unable to borrow money, she visits her sister's family at their home in California. Fern's sister lends her the money to get the van fixed. She questions why Fern was never around in their lives and why she stayed in Empire after her husband died, but she tells Fern that she is brave to be so independent. Fern later visits Dave and his son's family in Point Arena, California, learning that Dave has decided to stay with them long-term. He admits to having feelings for her and invites her to stay with him permanently in a guest house, but she decides to leave after only a few days, heading to the ocean. Fern resumes her seasonal job at Amazon and later returns to the Arizona gathering. There, she learns that Swankie has died, and she and the other nomads pay tribute to her life by tossing stones into the campfire. Fern opens up to Bob about her loving relationship with her late husband, and he shares the story of his son's suicide. Bob espouses the view that goodbyes are not final in the nomad community as its members always promise to see each other again "down the road". Fern returns to the nearly abandoned town of Empire to dispose of the belongings she has been keeping in a storage unit. She visits the factory and the home she shared with her husband before returning to the road.

In a sleepy village in Italy, Jiminy Cricket arrives at the shop of a woodworker and toymaker named Geppetto, who lives with his pet cat Figaro and fish Cleo creates a puppet he names Pinocchio. As he falls asleep, Geppetto wishes upon a star for Pinocchio to be a real boy. Late that night, the Blue Fairy visits the workshop and brings Pinocchio to life, although he remains a puppet. She informs him that if he proves himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish, he will become a real boy. When Jiminy reveals himself, the Blue Fairy assigns him to be Pinocchio's conscience. Geppetto awakens upon hearing the commotion from Pinocchio falling, and is overjoyed to discover that he is alive and will become a real boy. The next morning, while walking to school, Pinocchio is led astray by con artist fox Honest John and his sidekick Gideon the Cat. Honest John convinces him to join Stromboli 's puppet show, despite Jiminy's protestations. Pinocchio becomes Stromboli's star attraction, but when he tries to go home, Stromboli locks him in a bird cage and leaves to tour the world with Pinocchio. After Jiminy unsuccessfully tries to free his friend, the Blue Fairy appears, and an anxious Pinocchio lies about what happened, causing his nose to grow and become a tree branch with a bird's nest. The Blue Fairy restores his nose and frees Pinocchio when he promises to make amends, but warns him that she can offer no further help. Meanwhile, a mysterious Coachman hires Honest John to find disobedient and naughty boys for him to take to Pleasure Island, a notorious and infamous place. Honest John, despite the legal risks and the Coachman's implication of what happens to the boys, accepts the job out of fear, and finds Pinocchio, persuading him to take a vacation on Pleasure Island. On the way to the island, Pinocchio befriends Lampwick, a delinquent boy. At Pleasure Island, without rules or authority to enforce their activity, Pinocchio, Lampwick, and many other boys soon engage in vices such as vandalism, fighting, smoking and drinking. Jiminy eventually finds Pinocchio in a bar smoking and playing pool with Lampwick, and the two have a falling out after Pinocchio defends Lampwick for his actions. As Jiminy tries leaving Pleasure Island, he discovers that the island hides a horrible curse that transforms the boys into donkeys after making "jackasses" of themselves, and they are sold by the Coachman into slave labor. Pinocchio witnesses Lampwick transform into a donkey, and with Jiminy's help, he flees before he can be fully transformed himself, though he still has a donkey's ears and tail. Upon returning home, Pinocchio and Jiminy find Geppetto's workshop deserted, and obtain a letter from the Blue Fairy in the form of a dove, stating that Geppetto had set out to sea in search for Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, but got swallowed by a gigantic and vicious sperm whale called Monstro and is now trapped in its belly. Determined to rescue his father, Pinocchio jumps into the Mediterranean Sea with Jiminy and is soon swallowed by Monstro, where he reunites with Geppetto. Pinocchio devises a scheme to make Monstro sneeze and allow them to escape, but the whale chases them and destroys their raft with his tail. Pinocchio selflessly pulls Geppetto to safety in a cove just as Monstro crashes into it and he and Pinocchio are killed in the process. Back at home, Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo mourn Pinocchio. Having succeeded in proving himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, Pinocchio is revived and turned into a real human boy by the Blue Fairy, much to everyone's joy. As the group celebrates, Jiminy steps outside to thank the Fairy and is rewarded with a solid gold badge that certifies him as an official conscience.

In Heian-era Kyoto, a woodcutter and a Buddhist monk, taking shelter from a downpour under the Rashōmon gate, have just returned from giving evidence in a trial about the murder of a samurai, and are baffled at the conflicting stories they have heard. They are joined by a commoner, who asks to hear what happened. The film intercuts the discussions of the three men at the gate with flashbacks of witness testimonies and reconstructions of the events described. The woodcutter gives evidence that he had found the body of the samurai three days earlier, alongside the man's cap, his wife's hat, pieces of rope, and an amulet. He had been killed with a sword. The monk states that he had seen the samurai on the day of the murder traveling on foot, accompanying his wife on horseback. A policeman presents the main suspect, a captured bandit named Tajōmaru. In Tajōmaru's version of events, he follows the couple after seeing them in the woods, and lures the samurai away with the prospect of buried treasure. Tying the man up, he returns to rape his wife, who tries to defend herself with a dagger, but ultimately submits. Ashamed of her dishonor, the wife asks Tajōmaru to fight with her husband, saying she will belong to the man who wins. Tajōmaru agrees and kills the samurai (supposedly in an honorable way), only to find that the wife has fled. The wife, having been found by the police, tells a different story. In her version, Tajōmaru leaves immediately after raping her. She frees her husband from his bonds, but he stares at her with contempt and loathing. The wife approaches him with her dagger, and then faints. She awakens to find her husband dead, with the dagger in his chest. In shock, she wanders through the forest until coming upon a pond in which she unsuccessfully tries to drown herself. The dead samurai's testimony is heard through a Shinto medium. In his version, after raping the wife, Tajōmaru asks her to marry him. She accepts, but asks Tajōmaru to kill her husband first. Shocked at her fickleness, Tajōmaru gives the samurai the choice to let her go or have her killed. The wife breaks free and flees, with Tajōmaru unsuccessfully giving chase. Some hours later, Tajōmaru returns and releases the samurai, who then kills himself with his wife's dagger. Later, he feels someone remove the dagger from his chest, but cannot tell who. Back at the Rashōmon gate, the woodcutter proclaims all three stories to be false, and repeats that the samurai was killed with a sword, not a dagger. Pressed by the commoner, the woodcutter admits that he had actually seen the murder but says that he lied to avoid getting into trouble. In the woodcutter's telling, Tajōmaru promises to marry the wife after raping her. She breaks free and releases her husband, expecting him to kill the assailant. However, the samurai refuses to fight, unwilling to risk his life for a ruined woman. Tajōmaru retracts his promise. The wife taunts them both, demanding that they fight for her. They fight unwillingly and clumsily. When the samurai is disarmed and begs for his life, Tajōmaru kills him. The wife flees, and Tajōmaru steals the samurai's sword and limps away. The woodcutter, the monk, and the commoner are interrupted by the sound of a crying baby. They find a child abandoned at the gate along with a kimono and an amulet. The commoner attempts to steal the items, and the woodcutter rebukes him. The commoner deduces that the woodcutter had lied not because he feared getting into trouble, but because he had stolen the wife's dagger and needed to avoid it appearing in his evidence. The commoner leaves, mocking the others. The monk attempts to soothe the baby. Having lost his faith in humanity after the events of the trial, when the woodcutter attempts to take the child, he recoils. The woodcutter explains that he intends to raise the child along with his own children, and the monk softens, his faith restored. As the woodcutter leaves with the child in his arms, the rain stops.

In Phoenix, Arizona in late 1959, real estate secretary Marion Crane steals $40,000 in cash from her employer after hearing her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, complain that his debts are delaying their marriage. She sets off to drive to Sam's home in the town of Fairvale, California, switching cars in Bakersfield after an encounter with a suspicious policeman. A rainstorm forces Marion to stop at the secluded Bates Motel a few miles from Fairvale. Norman Bates, the proprietor, whose Second Empire style house overlooks the motel, registers Marion (who uses an alias) and invites her to dinner with him in the motel's office. When Norman returns to his house to retrieve the food, Marion overhears him arguing with his mother about his desire to dine with Marion. After returning, he discusses his hobby as a taxidermist, his mother's "illness" and how people have a "private trap" they want to escape. When Marion suggests that Norman should have his mother institutionalized, he becomes offended and insists that she is harmless. Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money. As she showers, a shadowy figure enters the bathroom with a kitchen knife and stabs her to death. Shortly afterward, Norman is heard horrified at his mother's actions and rushes back to find Marion dead. He hurriedly cleans up the murder scene and places Marion's body, her belongings, and, unbeknownst to him, the hidden cash in her car, before sinking the vehicle in a swamp. Marion's sister, Lila, arrives in Fairvale a week later, tells Sam about the theft and demands information about Marion's whereabouts. He denies knowing anything about Marion's disappearance. Arbogast, a private investigator, approaches them, stating that he has been hired to retrieve the money. He stops in at the Bates Motel and questions Norman, whose nervous conduct, stuttering, and inconsistent answers arouse his suspicion. Arbogast examines the guest register and discovers from some handwriting in it that Marion spent a night in the motel. When Arbogast infers from things Norman says that Marion had spoken to his mother, Arbogast asks to speak to her, but Norman refuses to allow it. Arbogast leaves and calls Lila to tell her of his suspicions and that he will return to the motel, speak to Norman's mother, and rejoin Lila in town later. When Arbogast returns and enters the Bates' house to search for Norman's mother, a shadowy figure at the top of the stairs stabs him to death. When Sam and Lila do not hear back from Arbogast, Sam goes to the motel to look for him. Sam spots a silhouette in the house who he assumes is Norman's mother, who is unresponsive to Sam's calls. Lila and Sam alert the local sheriff, Al Chambers, who tells them Norman's mother died in a murder–suicide by strychnine poisoning ten years before. Chambers suggests that Arbogast lied to Sam and Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. Convinced that something happened to Arbogast, Lila and Sam drive to the motel and check in. Sam distracts Norman in the office while Lila sneaks into the Bates' house. Suspicious, Norman knocks Sam out. As Norman heads to the house, Lila hides in the fruit cellar and discovers the mummified body of Norman's mother. Lila screams in horror, and Norman, wearing women's clothes and a wig, enters the cellar and attempts to attack her, only to be subdued by a recovered Sam. At the police station, a psychiatrist explains to Lila, Sam, and Chambers that Norman killed his mother and her lover out of jealousy. Unable to bear the guilt, he stole his mother's corpse and treated it as if she were still alive, then re-created his mother as an alternate personality, as jealous and possessive toward Norman as he felt about his mother. Whenever Norman was attracted to a woman, "Mother" would take over. Under the "Mother" personality, Norman killed two women before he killed Marion and Arbogast. The psychiatrist concludes that "Mother" has now completely submerged Norman's personality. Norman sits in a jail cell and hears his mother's voice stating the murders were his doing. Marion's car is towed from the swamp.

Luis "Mountain" Rivera is an aging heavyweight boxer. He is managed by Maish Rennick, and Army serves as his cutman. During his latest bout, against young up-and-comer Cassius Clay, Mountain takes a serious beating and the doctor refuses to certify Mountain for future fights. Afterward, Maish is confronted by Ma Greeny and her thugs. They threaten Maish's life if he fails to repay them for the losses they incurred after betting that Mountain would go down in the fourth round of the match - a fix that Maish had guaranteed. Maish's deal with them had been that they should deduct from their winnings the vast sums of money that Maish's betting losses had run up with them. Meanwhile, Mountain struggles to find a job and visits an employment agency, where he meets Grace Miller. Grace is initially standoffish but quickly becomes sympathetic to Mountain, and says she'll be in touch. Later, Grace meets with Mountain to tell him of an opening for a counselor position at a children's camp, which interests Mountain. The two bond over a drink and Mountain shares stories of his time in the ring. Mountain returns to his apartment - shared with Maish and Army - where Maish proposes the three get into professional wrestling. Mountain is reluctant, not liking the staged nature of wrestling. Maish, hoping that Mountain will forget about the job interview, takes him to a bar, where they both get drunk. Army arrives at the bar to remind Mountain about the appointment. However, Rivera embarrasses himself at the hotel where the interview is to take place by behaving drunkenly in plain sight of the camp owners. After this episode, Grace confronts Maish in tears, condemning him for controlling Mountain and ruining his chance to make a new life for himself. Maish responds forcefully and eloquently to Grace's accusation that he has been over-controlling of Mountain, disputing the notion that he cares nothing for the boxer, his best interests, and his future. He tells Grace that she must stop daydreaming and recognize that her idealized conception of Luis Rivera is as false and damaging to the fighter as is Maish's alleged mediocre management of the boxer's career. Further, he tells her that her so-called "vision" for Rivera's post-boxing future as a counselor at a children's summer camp is as naïve and pathetic as it is improbable. To pay off Maish's gambling debts, Mountain agrees to perform as Native American wrestling persona "Big Chief Mountain Rivera." Just prior to entering the ring for his first match, an overwhelming tide of humiliation sweeps over Mountain, causing him to change his mind. Maish blurts out that he bet against Mountain in the fight against Clay, and as Rivera attempts to leave the locker room, Ma Greeny and her thugs enter, threatening Maish. This causes Mountain to change his mind and agree to wrestle, thereby allowing Ma to be paid and saving Maish's life. In the final scene of the film, Mountain enters the ring amidst jeering ridicule to face Haystacks Calhoun, a wrestler from Arkansas billed at 601 pounds (273 kg).

Workers building an extension to the London Underground at Hobbs End dig up a skull. Palaeontologist Dr. Matthew Roney identifies it as a five-million-year-old apeman, more ancient than previous finds. Part of a metallic object is uncovered nearby. Believing it to be an unexploded bomb from the London blitz, they call in an army bomb disposal team. Meanwhile, Professor Bernard Quatermass learns that his plans for the colonisation of the Moon are to be taken over by the military, who want to establish missile bases in space. Colonel Breen is assigned to Quatermass's British Experimental Rocket Group. When the bomb disposal team call for Breen's assistance, Quatermass accompanies him to the site. When another skull is found within a chamber of the "bomb", they realise that the object itself must also be five million years old. Noting the ship's imperviousness to heat, Quatermass suspects it is of alien origin. Roney's assistant, Barbara Judd, goes to the site with Quatermass. She becomes intrigued by the name of the area, recalling that "Hob" is an old name for the Devil. A policeman mentions a legend that the bombed-out house opposite the station is haunted. All three go there to investigate. Quatermass and Barbara later find historical accounts of hauntings and other spectral appearances going back centuries, coinciding with disturbances of the ground around Hobbs End. A member of the bomb disposal team witnesses a spectral apparition of Roney's apeman appearing through the object's wall. An attempt to open a sealed chamber in the object using a Borazon drill fails. Later, however, a small hole is seen. The hole widens to reveal the corpses of insectoid creatures with horned heads. An examination of their physiology suggests that they came from Mars. They resemble images of the Devil; Quatermass believes that the spaceship is the source of the spectral images and disturbances. They reveal their findings to the press. Quatermass theorises that the occupants of the spaceship came from a dying Mars. Unable to survive on Earth, they sought to preserve part of their race by creating a colony by proxy, by enhancing the intelligence of and imparting Martian faculties to the indigenous primitive hominids. Quatermass theorises that the insectoids used medical and surgical techniques that were more advanced than those on present-day Earth. These apemen's descendants evolved into humans, retaining the vestiges of Martian influence buried in their subconscious. Breen thinks that the "alien craft" is Nazi propaganda designed to sow fear among Londoners. A government minister believes Breen and decides to unveil the spaceship at a press conference. The drill operator, Sladden, is later overcome by a psychic force and flees. His mind unleashes telekinetic energy displays, disrupting people and property. He comes to rest in a church. Before recuperating, Sladden has a vision of insect creatures under an alien sky. Sladden sees himself as one of them and feels that he has to flee to save his life. At Hobbs End, Quatermass brings a machine which taps into the primeval psyche. While trying to replicate the circumstances under which Sladden was affected, he notices that Barbara has fallen under the spaceship's influence. Using the machine, he records her thoughts. Quatermass presents the recording to the minister and other officials. It shows Martians engaged in what he interprets as a genocidal race purge, to cleanse the Martian hives of all mutations. The minister and Breen dismiss the recording. A power line later is dropped within the craft, giving it a jolt of electrical energy. The effect and range of the spaceship's influence on Londoners increases; they go on a rampage, attacking all those perceived as different, with deadly telekinetic displays of energy. Breen is drawn towards the spaceship and killed by the energy emanating from it. Quatermass falls under the alien control too, but is snapped out of it by Roney, who is unaffected. A small portion of the population turns out to be immune. The psychic energy intensifies, ripping up streets and buildings, while a spectral image of a Martian resembling the image of the Devil of legend towers above London. Recalling stories about how the Devil could be defeated with iron and water, Roney theorises that the Martian energy can be discharged into the earth. Roney climbs a building crane and swings it into the image. The crane bursts into flames as it discharges the energy, killing Roney. The image and its effects on London disappear.