The Ulam are a tribe of cavemen who carefully guard a small flame, which they use to start larger fires for cooking and protection. After being forced out of their cave during a raid by the ape -like Wagabu, the Ulam become despondent for their future when the seed flame is accidentally extinguished while seeking refuge in a marsh. Since the tribe does not know how to create fire themselves, the tribal elder decides to send three men, Naoh, Amoukar, and Gaw, on a quest to find fire. During their journey, the trio encounters several dangers, including the Kzamm, a tribe of more primitive-looking cannibals who have a roaring cooking fire. Gaw and Amoukar lure most of the Kzamm away from their encampment, while Naoh kills the remaining warriors, though not before being bitten on the genitals, causing him agony. The trio discovers a man and women, their bodies painted with ash, bound to a tree by the Kzamm. They free the captives, but one succumbs to his injuries. The lone survivor, a woman named Ika, begins to follow the men. The three Ulam take a burning stick and prepare to return home. Ika makes a plant-based poultice to help Naoh recover from his genital injury. Later that night, the group makes a large bonfire, unaware that a Kzamm has spotted it from a distance. In the morning, the group wakes up to an ambush by a large group of Kzamm. Just as the Kzamm are about to attack, they suddenly back down as a herd of woolly mammoth appear. Naoh approaches the herd, offering a tuft of grass to the patriarch. The mammoth accepts the offering and allows Naoh and his companions to approach the herd. The herd then stampede towards the cowering Kzamm, driving them away. Later that night, Amoukar attempts to mount Ika, but she hides near Naoh, who then asserts his claim by raping her in front of the other two males. Ika realizes they are passing near her home village and tries to persuade the Ulam to go back with her. When they refuse, it appears that Ika and the Ulam will be going their separate ways, until Naoh, looking depressed, turns around — followed by the somewhat more reluctant Gaw and Amoukar — and the group reunites. After Naoh leaves the others to scout a village, he becomes trapped in quicksand, nearly sinking to his death. He is discovered and captured by the Ivaka, Ika's tribe. In the village, Naoh is physically inspected by the chief and deemed a good specimen, after which he is made to understand that he is required to mate with certain fat women of the tribe. The petite Ika is excluded, and when she attempts to lie near him later that night, she is chased away. The Ivaka demonstrate for Naoh their advanced knowledge of fire-making with a hand drill, causing him to weep with joy. Gaw and Amoukar eventually find Naoh among the Ivaka and make a rescue attempt, but Naoh appears unwilling to leave. At night, they knock Naoh unconscious and with Ika's guidance escape the camp. The next day, Naoh washes off the Ivaka body paint he had been wearing. He tries to mount Ika again, but she teaches him the more intimate missionary position. Not long before they reach the marsh where they started the journey, the three are ambushed by rivals from within the Ulam, who want to steal the fire and claim the prize themselves. However, Naoh and his group defeat them using the Ivakan atlatls, which are superior to Ulam weapons. Upon rejoining the Ulam, the group presents the fire to the delight of all. But during the ensuing celebration, the fire is accidentally extinguished again when the firekeeper falls into the marsh. Naoh attempts to create a new fire as he had seen in the Ivaka camp, but after several failed attempts, Ika takes over. Once the spark is lit, the tribe rejoices. Months later, Naoh and Ika prepare to have an interspecies child.

In 1954, each boy in a group of Florida Angel Beach High School students plans to lose his virginity. They go to Porky's, a strip club in the Everglades, believing that they can hire a prostitute to satisfy their sexual desires. The club's proprietor, Porky Wallace, takes their money but humiliates the boys by dumping them into the swamp. When the group demands their money back, Sheriff Wallace, Porky's brother, drives them away but not before he extorts them for the rest of their money, further embarrassing them. After Mickey Jarvis, who returned to Porky's for revenge, is beaten so badly he has to be hospitalized, the gang becomes hellbent on exacting revenge on Porky and Sheriff Wallace, eventually sinking Porky's establishment into the swamp. Porky and his men, joined by Sheriff Wallace, chase the group, but the boys make it across the county line, out of Sheriff Wallace's jurisdiction, where local police officers and the high school band meet them. One of the officers, Mickey's older brother, Ted, repeatedly damages Porky's Hudson Hornet, promising to drop all charges against Porky for driving an unsafe vehicle if the night's events are forgiven. Because the boys are too young to have been allowed into Porky's legally, Porky and Sheriff Wallace agree. In a subplot, the boys peep on female students in the girl's locker room shower, and Tommy Turner, Billy McCarty, and Pee Wee Morris see several girls showering. Pee Wee gives them away when he shouts at an obese girl, who has been blocking his view, to move so that he can see. While a few girls run out, most stay, finding the situation funny. To test their attitude, Tommy sticks his tongue out through his peephole but gets it smeared with soap. Infuriated, he drops his pants and sticks his penis through the opening just before female coach Beulah Balbricker, who has a running feud with Tommy, walks into the shower area. Spotting the protruding member, she sneaks up on Tommy, grabs his penis, and pulls with all her might. Tommy pulls free and escapes, but Beulah is determined to prove that the offending member, which has a mole on it, belongs to Tommy, going so far as to request that Principal Carter hold a police-type line-up of the boys in the nude so she can identify it. However, Carter balks at her request. As the other basketball coaches laugh, Coach Roy Brackett suggests asking the police to send a sketch artist and hang wanted posters around the school. When that suggestion gets even Carter laughing, Balbricker leaves in a huff. At the end of the film, she sneaks out of the bushes to ambush Tommy and actually drags his pants down, but she is pulled off him by police and dragged away screaming that she saw "it" and that she can identify its owner. Tommy breaks the fourth wall, saying, "Jeez!" to the camera. Another subplot involves Coach Brackett taking an interest in the attractive coach, Lynn Honeywell. Coach Fred Warren repeatedly refers to Honeywell as "Lassie" while pointing to the equipment room, much to Coach Brackett's confusion. He quickly finds out why when he and Honeywell hide out in the equipment room after an argument with Balbricker, and Honeywell becomes turned on by the scent of the room. This leads to the pair having quickie sex in the room, as Honeywell begins loudly howling like a dog, thus revealing why she is called Lassie. Her orgasmic howls are heard throughout the entire school, much to the students' and Coach Warren's amusement, but not to Balbricker and head coach Goodenough. Brackett and Honeywell are eventually fired as a result.

One year after Han Solo 's capture and imprisonment in carbonite, C-3PO and R2-D2 enter the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. They were sent as a goodwill gift by Luke Skywalker, who hopes to negotiate with Jabba for Han's release. Disguised as a bounty hunter, Princess Leia infiltrates the palace under the pretense of having captured Chewbacca. She releases Han from the carbonite but is caught by Jabba and enslaved. Luke arrives to bargain for the release of his friends, but Jabba drops him through a trapdoor to be eaten by a rancor. After Luke kills the beast, Jabba decrees that he, Han, and Chewbacca will be fed to a Sarlacc, a deadly ground-dwelling creature. However, Luke retrieves his new green lightsaber from R2-D2, and the group of friends battle Jabba's thugs aboard his sail barge. During the chaos, Boba Fett falls into the Sarlacc's pit, and Leia strangles Jabba to death with her chains. The group escapes as Jabba's sail barge is destroyed. As the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training with Yoda, who is dying when he arrives. Before Yoda dies, he confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father, the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, and that there is another Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi 's Force spirit tells Luke that Leia is his twin sister, and that he must face Vader again to finish his training and defeat the Empire. The Alliance learns that the Empire has been constructing a second Death Star under the supervision of the Emperor. The station is protected by an energy shield on the forest moon of Endor. Han leads a strike team, including Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca, to destroy its generator. Once on the moon, the team gains the trust of a tribe of Ewoks. Luke tells Leia she is his sister, and that Vader is their father. Luke surrenders to Imperial troops and is brought before Vader, but fails to convince him to reject the dark side of the Force. Luke is brought to the Emperor, who intends to turn him to the dark side. He reveals that Luke's friends on Endor and the rebel fleet are heading into a trap. On the forest moon, Han's team is captured by Imperial forces, but the Ewoks counterattack, allowing the Rebels to infiltrate the shield generator. Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar lead the rebel assault on the Death Star, but find its shield still active and the Imperial fleet waiting for them. The Emperor reveals to Luke that the Death Star is fully operational and orders the firing of its massive laser, which destroys a rebel starship. He tempts Luke to give in to his anger and embrace the dark side of the Force. Luke attacks him, but Vader intervenes, and the two engage in a lightsaber duel. During the battle, Vader realizes Luke has a sister, and he threatens to turn her to the dark side. Luke becomes enraged and severs Vader's prosthetic hand. The Emperor orders Luke to kill his father, but Luke refuses. The Emperor then tortures Luke with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down a shaft to his demise, but is fatally wounded in the process. Before dying, Vader asks Luke to remove his mask in a moment of reconciliation. After the rebel strike team destroys the shield generator, Lando leads fighter ships into the Death Star's core. Lando and the X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles destroy the station's main reactor and escape before it explodes. Later, Luke cremates Vader's body on Endor before reuniting with his friends. As the Rebels celebrate their victory, Luke sees the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker standing nearby.

Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful but elderly warlord, decides to divide his kingdom among his three sons. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, though Hidetora will retain the title of Great Lord. Second and third sons Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro and will be given the Second and Third Castles. However, Saburo is exiled after criticizing his father's lecture about unity. Hidetora's retainer Tango is also exiled for defending Saburo. Taro's wife Lady Kaede urges him to take full control of the clan. When Taro demands Hidetora renounce his title, a furious Hidetora leaves and travels to Jiro's castle, only to discover that Jiro is only interested in using him as a pawn. As Hidetora and his retinue wander, he decides to take over the Third Castle, which had become deserted after Saburo's exile. Later, the Third Castle is attacked by Taro and Jiro's combined forces, and all of Hidetora's retinue are either killed or commit ritual suicide. Jiro's general Kurogane takes advantage of the confusion and shoots Taro dead with an arquebus. Hidetora succumbs to madness and is allowed to leave. Tango and court fool Kyoami, still loyal to Hidetora, accompany him as he wanders across the land, haunted by visions of the people he killed in the past. They take refuge in a peasant's home only to discover that the occupant is Tsurumaru, the brother of Lady Sue, Jiro's wife. Hidetora had blinded Tsurumaru after massacring his family and left him impoverished. With Taro dead, Jiro becomes the Great Lord of the Ichimonji clan, and moves into the First Castle. Lady Kaede seduces Jiro, and demands that he kill Lady Sue and marry her instead. Jiro orders Kurogane to do the deed, but he refuses, seeing through Kaede's perfidy. Kurogane then warns Sue and Tsurumaru to flee. Tango, learning that Jiro is considering sending assassins after Hidetora, rides off to alert Saburo. Saburo's army enters Jiro's territory to find Hidetora, forcing Jiro to hastily mobilize his army. A brief truce is reached and Saburo rides off after learning of Hidetora's whereabouts. Jiro breaks the truce and attacks Saburo's remaining forces, suffering significant losses, and is forced to retreat when informed that the armies of the neighbouring lords are marching on the First Castle. Saburo tracks down Hidetora, who has partially recovered his sanity, and the two reconcile. However, Saburo is shot and killed by one of Jiro's assassins. Overcome with grief, Hidetora dies on his son's body. Tsurumaru and Sue arrive at the ruins of the family castle. Sue leaves to retrieve the flute Tsurumaru has inadvertently left behind, giving him a picture of Amida Buddha for protection before she departs. She never returns. As the First Castle is besieged, Kurogane learns of Sue's death, and confronts Kaede. After confessing that her plot was revenge against the entire Ichimonji clan for massacring her family, Kaede is beheaded by Kurogane. Jiro, Kurogane and all Jiro's men subsequently die in battle. A funeral procession is held for Saburo and Hidetora. Meanwhile, left alone in the castle ruins, Tsurumaru trips, dropping the Amida Buddha image that Sue had given to him.

Rožat "Rusty" Sabich is the right-hand man of Kindle County prosecutor Raymond Horgan and is known as an effective and ruthless prosecutor. In his most recent case, Rusty oversees the prosecution of a mother who tortured her son by placing his head in a vise in their basement, delivering a damning closing argument where he uses the boy's own words - "mommy hurt my head" - to convict her. Shortly thereafter, Rusty's colleague Carolyn Polhemus is found raped and murdered in her apartment. Horgan insists that Rusty take charge of the investigation, as he faces a fierce re-election challenge from Nico Della Guardia and Tommy Molto, both disgruntled former members of his office. Rusty faces a conflict of interest since he had a brief sexual affair with Carolyn; despite having since reconciled with his wife Barbara, he remains obsessed with Carolyn. Det. Harold Greer is initially in charge of the murder investigation, but Rusty has him replaced with his friend Dan "Lip" Lipranzer, whom he asks to limit the scope of the murder investigation. Horgan loses patience with Rusty's handling of the case, particularly after admitting he also had a brief relationship with Carolyn. When Della Guardia wins the election, he and Molto (who replaces Rusty as chief deputy) reappoint Greer to take over the case. Greer learns about the affair, and Rusty is arrested and indicted for Carolyn's murder. Rusty hires Sandy Stern as his lawyer, while the case is assigned to Judge Larren Lyttle. As the trial begins, an important piece of evidence - a beer glass with Rusty's fingerprints - goes missing and Lyttle refuses to delay until it is found. Horgan perjures himself on the stand, claiming Rusty insisted on handling the investigation and was deliberately slow in pursuing leads. However, Stern forces Raymond to admit that Rusty never confessed to having an affair with Carolyn, and Raymond's own affair with her caused him to show improper favoritism. Lip uncovers that Carolyn had stolen a file for a bribery case involving a criminal named Leon Wells, one of Carolyn's old clients from her days as a probation officer. Wells confesses that Carolyn helped him solicit and deliver bribe money to Judge Lyttle to escape prosecution. The thrust of Stern's defense is that Della Guardia and Molto have framed Rusty to exploit the case's public notoriety, repeatedly referencing the missing file to unsettle Lyttle. During cross-examination of the coroner, it is revealed that Carolyn underwent a tubal ligation, thus having no reason to use the spermicidal contraceptive which was found on her. Stern then proves the fluid sample was not actually taken from Carolyn's body, implying the coroner is complicit in framing Rusty. Based on the disappearance of the beer glass, the lack of motive, and the fluid sample's validity nullified, Judge Lyttle promptly dismisses the charges against Rusty. Rusty confronts Stern about the bribery file, believing that he blackmailed Lyttle into dismissing. Stern reveals that Lyttle also had a sexual relationship with Carolyn and that both he and Raymond knew that Lyttle was taking bribes. Though Lyttle had offered his resignation, Raymond felt that he was a brilliant judge and deserved another chance. Despite this, Stern believes Lyttle tried the case with integrity. He then pointedly asks Rusty if justice really was served, implying he has doubts. Lip meets with Rusty and reveals the missing beer glass, explaining he didn't bother returning it to evidence when he was taken off the case. He admits he also doubts Rusty's innocence. Disillusioned, Rusty throws the glass into a river. While repairing a fence on his property, Rusty discovers a small hatchet coated with blood and hair and realizes it is the murder weapon. Barbara discovers him cleaning it and, in a detached monologue, admits she murdered Carolyn because of the affair, which drove her into a near-suicidal depression. She explains she had left enough evidence for Rusty to know it was her but did not anticipate him being charged. In a voice-over, Rusty explains that Carolyn's murder remains unsolved as trying two people for the same crime is impossible and he could never bring himself to take Barbara away from their son. Rusty accepts his role in bringing about Carolyn's death, stating that as with most cases there is "a crime, a victim, and punishment".

Former Ohio State quarterback and rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah assists senior agent Angelo Pappas in investigating a string of bank robberies by the "Ex-Presidents": robbers who wear rubber masks of former presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Rather than robbing the vault, they demand only the cash the tellers have in their drawers and are gone within ninety seconds. Pursuing Pappas's theory that the criminals are surfers, Utah infiltrates the surfing community. He fabricates a family tragedy to persuade orphaned surfer and restaurant waitress Tyler to teach him to surf after she saves him from drowning during his first attempt. Through her, he meets Bodhi, Tyler's ex-boyfriend and the leader of a gang of surfers consisting of Roach, Grommet, and Nathaniel. The group is wary of Utah, but they accept him when Bodhi recalls how a knee injury derailed Utah's football prospects. As he masters surfing, Utah finds himself drawn to the surfers' adrenaline-charged lifestyle, Bodhi's philosophies, and Tyler. Following a clue retrieved by analyzing toxins found in the hair of one of the bank robbers, Utah and Pappas lead an FBI raid on another gang of surfers, resulting in the deaths of two of them, as well as one of the agents. The raid inadvertently ruins a DEA undercover operation, as those surfers were wanted for separate charges regarding drug dealing, and they are determined not to be the Ex-Presidents. Watching Bodhi's group surfing, Utah begins to suspect that they are the Ex-Presidents, noting how close a group they are and the way one of them moons other surfers in the same manner one of the robbers does. Utah and Pappas stake out a bank, and the Ex-Presidents appear. While wearing a Reagan mask, Bodhi leads Utah on a foot chase through the neighborhood, which ends when Utah's old injury flares up after he jumps into a flood control channel. Despite having a clear shot, the injured Utah allows Bodhi to escape. At a campfire that night, it is confirmed that Bodhi and his gang are the Ex-Presidents. Tyler discovers Utah's FBI badge and angrily terminates their relationship. Shortly afterward, Bodhi coerces Utah into skydiving with the group. After the jump, Bodhi reveals that he knows Utah is an FBI agent and has arranged for his friend Rosie, a non-surfing thug, to hold Tyler hostage to blackmail him into assisting the Ex-Presidents with their last bank robbery of the summer. During the robbery, they decide to infiltrate the vault, causing them to take longer than normal. Grommet is killed when an off-duty police officer and one of the bank security guards attempt to foil the robbery. The robbers kill the officer and security guard, then abandon Utah. Utah is arrested for the robbery and castigated by FBI director Ben Harp for the murders, but Pappas punches Harp out after an angry altercation and vows to bring in Bodhi himself. Pappas and Utah head to the airport where Bodhi, Roach, and Nathaniel are about to leave for Mexico. During a shootout, Pappas and Nathaniel are killed, and Roach is seriously wounded. With Roach aboard, Bodhi forces Utah onto the plane at gunpoint. Once airborne and over their intended drop zone, Bodhi and Roach put on their parachutes and jump from the plane, leaving Utah to take the blame. With no other parachutes available, Utah jumps from the plane with Bodhi's gun and intercepts him in mid-air. Despite landing safely, Utah's knee gives out again, allowing Bodhi to escape. Bodhi meets with Rosie, who frees Tyler; with Roach dead from his wounds, the two men flee the country and go their separate ways. Nine months later, Utah tracks Bodhi to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, where a record-breaking storm is producing lethal waves. This is an event Bodhi had talked about experiencing, calling it the "50-year storm." Bodhi begs Utah to release him so he can ride the once-in-a-lifetime wave, and Utah, knowing Bodhi will not come back alive, agrees and bids him farewell. As Bodhi surfs to his death, Utah walks away, throwing his FBI badge into the ocean.

Eight men planning to rob a jewelry store for a diamond shipment eat breakfast at a diner. To pull off the heist, boss Joe Cabot assembles six experienced robbers who are strangers to each other. Joe and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot, have known some of the team for years, but to shield identities, the rest use aliases: Mr. White, a career criminal; Mr. Blonde, a trigger-happy ex-convict; Mr. Orange, a reputed drug dealer; Mr. Pink, a paranoid neurotic; Mr. Brown, a pseudo philosopher; and Mr. Blue, an even-tempered cohort. When an alarm is tripped during the heist, after Blonde started to shoot bystanders, the police arrive quickly. Running from police, Pink hijacks a car, killing a couple of police officers in a shootout. White, who shoots police officers pursuing in a prowler, flees with Orange, who is shot hijacking a car before he kills the driver. Shot in the abdomen, Orange bleeds profusely in the back seat of the car driven by White. Despite Orange's pleadings to be taken to a hospital, White insists that he is not fatally wounded. At their warehouse hideout, White and Orange rendezvous with Pink, who informs them that he has hidden the diamonds nearby. Pink believes that the job was a setup and that the police were waiting to ambush them. White informs Pink that Brown is dead, Blue and Blonde are missing, and Blonde—a loose cannon—murdered several bystanders during the heist. White is furious that Joe, his old friend, would employ Blonde, who he describes as a psychopath. Pink argues with White, who feels responsible for Orange being shot, over whether to get medical attention for Orange, and Pink is wary that Joe is not there to get a doctor. The pair draw guns on each other, but they stand down when Blonde arrives with a kidnapped policeman, Marvin Nash. In flashback, having been paroled after a four-year prison sentence, Blonde meets with the Cabots. To reward him for not giving Joe's name to the authorities, the Cabots offer Blonde a no-show job. Though grateful, Blonde insists that he wants to get back to "real work", and they recruit him for the heist. In the present, White and Pink begin to torture Nash for information. Eddie arrives and orders them to go with him to ditch the getaway vehicles, leaving Blonde in charge of prisoner Nash and the in-and-out-of-consciousness Orange. Nash denies prior knowledge of the heist, but Blonde resumes the torture by slashing his face and cutting off his ear with a straight razor while a radio plays " Stuck in the Middle with You ". When Blonde prepares to set Nash on fire, Orange shoots and kills him. Disclosing to Nash that he is an undercover police officer, Orange says that the police will arrive when Joe comes to the warehouse. Nash replies that he recognized Orange, revealing that Nash protected Orange's cover under torture. Flashbacks show scenes of Orange gaining Joe's and White's confidence and building rapport with the team. When Eddie, Pink, and White return, Orange tries to convince them that Blonde planned to kill them all and steal the diamonds for himself. Eddie shoots and kills Nash and accuses Orange of lying, since Blonde proved loyal to his father. Joe arrives with news that the police have killed Blue. Suspecting that Orange is the traitor behind the setup, Joe is about to execute him, but White intervenes, holding Joe at gunpoint and insisting that Orange is not a police officer. Eddie aims his gun at White, creating a Mexican standoff. All three fire. Both Eddie and Joe Cabot are killed, and White and Orange are wounded. Pink (the only uninjured person), takes the diamonds and flees, but is apprehended by the police outside. As White cradles the dying Orange in his arms, Orange confesses that he is in fact a police officer. White presses his gun to Orange's head. The police storm the warehouse and order White to drop his gun. Gunshots sound and White collapses.

Following his appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards as his superhero character Fartman, radio personality Howard Stern boards his flight home and finds himself seated next to a stranger named Gloria who is visibly repelled by him. Stern, thinking she sees him as a moron, begins to tell his life story, starting with the verbal abuse he received as a young child from his father Ben. Stern has always dreamed of being on the radio after visiting his father's recording studio but grows up to be a quiet, socially awkward guy. He decides to work in radio and studies communications at Boston University. He becomes a DJ at WTBU, the college station, and meets his girlfriend Alison. After graduating, Howard works at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, and is promoted to program director, which allows him to marry Alison. He leaves the station after being asked to fire a fellow DJ and moves to WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, where he befriends DJ Fred Norris. Howard adopts a more casual attitude on the air, becoming more open and up front. He and Fred attend the premiere of actress Brittany Fairchild's new film. The three leave early for Fairchild's hotel room, where she strips for a bath and convinces Howard and Fred to join in. Brittany's behavior becomes more sexual, and an embarrassed Howard leaves. When Alison finds his wet underwear in their car and believes he has been unfaithful, she leaves him. Howard leaves Hartford for WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, and is miserable, but Alison goes to Detroit and forgives him. WWWW then switches to country music and Howard quits. Howard starts at WWDC in Washington, D.C., in 1981 and meets his news anchor Robin Quivers, whom he encourages to riff with him on the air. They refuse orders from boss Dee Dee for constantly breaking format. One of their antics, in which Howard assists a female caller to reach orgasm, almost gets him fired until a ratings boost forces Dee Dee to keep him and hire Fred to the team. Meanwhile Alison announces her pregnancy, but it ends in miscarriage. Although they cheer each other up by joking about it, Howard makes light of the situation on the air, which greatly upsets Alison. When Alison becomes pregnant again, Howard gets his dream offer to work in New York City at WNBC, where he has the chance to become a nationwide success. However, upper management at NBC hired Howard not realizing what his show was like until they see a news report about him. Program director Kenny Rushton, whom Howard refers to as Pig Vomit, offers to keep Howard in line or he will force him to quit. Howard, Fred, and Robin ignore Kenny's restrictions on content until a risqué Match Game with comedian Jackie Martling causes Rushton to fire Robin. The show fails with her absence, and her replacement quits after Howard's interview with an actress who swallows a kielbasa sausage. Robin is eventually brought back, but Howard's antics continue with a naked woman in the studio, resulting in Kenny cutting off the broadcast. Howard gets the show back on the air and gets into a physical altercation with Kenny in his office. In 1985 Howard becomes number one at WNBC, and Kenny tries to gain Howard's friendship but is promptly turned down. Howard thanks his fans with an outdoor concert by AC/DC. During the performance Alison is rushed to the hospital and gives birth to a girl. The film then cuts back to the flight, revealing that Howard has told his story to Gloria. Though he believes he could pick her up, Howard remains faithful and meets Alison at the airport as his daughters run to greet him. During the end credits Stuttering John rants about his absence in the film. At the Oscars Mia Farrow then presents an Academy Award for Best Actor to Howard, who appears as Fartman once again, but Howard falls from mid-air and the audience applauds. Having left radio, Kenny now manages a shopping mall in Alabama and blames Howard for his downfall. During his outbursts his swearing is drowned out by jackhammer noises.

Nick "The Zone" Falzone and his fellow air traffic controllers at the New York TRACON pride themselves on their ability to handle the intense stress of being a controller for one of the busiest airspaces in the country, even boasting of the 50% drop-out rate for new additions to staff unable to cope with the pressure. The group is joined by the quiet and confident Russell Bell, a veteran of TRACONs in the Western US. Russell quickly proves to be exceptionally capable of handling the increased workload using unorthodox and risky methods. Nick feels challenged by the new controller's ability to outperform him at seemingly every task. He warns his supervisor Russell is a loose cannon, especially after discovering that Russell once stood on a runway to allow himself to be violently propelled by a landing commercial airliner's wake turbulence. At a supermarket, Nick encounters Russell's despondent young wife Mary, who is sobbing over a grocery cart full of alcohol. In consoling her, he ends up at the Bells' house, where they cheat on their respective spouses. Several days later, Mary informs Nick that she immediately told Russell about their one-night stand and that the confession has actually improved their marriage. Fearing retaliation, Nick confronts Russell at work and is confused and surprised by his even-tempered response to the situation. Meanwhile, Nick's wife, Connie seems to become more and more intrigued by Russell, and Nick becomes increasingly paranoid that he will eventually seek revenge by having sex with her. While out of town for his father-in-law's funeral, Nick can't bring himself to lie when a grieving Connie challenges him to say that he has never cheated on her. As their flight home approaches New York, she sarcastically boasts that she slept with Russell. The plane then makes an odd turn, and he believes Russell is harassing him, or possibly going insane, purposely directing the plane into a dangerous storm. Soon after going to TRACON to confront Russell, a bomb threat is called into the facility. The building is evacuated and both Nick and Russell volunteer to stay behind to handle the daunting task of landing all the planes on approach before the alleged bomb is set to go off in 26 minutes. Successfully routing all but one plane that has lost radio contact, Nick leaves the building as the deadline approaches while Russell remains inside to make contact with the plane by calling one of its passengers via Airfone. Russell is lauded as a hero for making the effort despite the threat, which turned out to be a hoax. Russell abruptly quits and he and Mary move to Colorado. Connie leaves Nick, and his performance at work suffers; the once cocky, boastful controller is sent home after being responsible for two "deals" (near mid-air collisions) in one shift. After learning that Russell had ordered the diversion of his flight not to provoke him, but rather to clear a path to make a plane with a medical emergency on board next in line for a landing, Nick impulsively drives out to Colorado to make amends. Nick seeks his advice on how to get his personal life back in order, but Russell is unable to make him understand with words. He instead brings Nick to a runway so that he too can experience being caught in a landing aircraft's turbulence. They engage in the stunt together, and it has a profound effect on Nick, who thanks Russell. He returns to New York, where he regains his form at work, and reconciles with Connie.

In the year 2678, the spaceship Hunter-Gratzner is struck by micrometeoroids that penetrate the hull, killing the captain and sending it off course toward a nearby planet. First Officer Owens and docking pilot Carolyn Fry attempt an emergency landing. As the ship descends uncontrollably, a panicked Fry prepares to jettison the passengers held in cryostasis to save herself, but Owens intervenes. The ship crash-lands, killing Owens and most of the passengers. The survivors include Fry; Imam Abu al-Walid, escorting three young students (Ali, Hassan and Suleiman) to New Mecca; a teenage boy named Jack; prospectors Shazza and Zeke; wealthy merchant Paris; law enforcement officer William J. Johns; and his prisoner, the dangerous and enigmatic criminal Richard B. Riddick, who escapes in the confusion. While searching for him across the sun-scorched and seemingly barren planet, the group discovers an abandoned geological research settlement with a nonfunctional dropship. When Zeke goes missing, the survivors suspect Riddick. However, Fry investigates a nearby underground cave where she is attacked by aggressive creatures and narrowly escapes. Johns recaptures Riddick and offers to release him in exchange for helping them escape the planet. While exploring the settlement, one of the students, Ali, disturbs a cluster of juvenile creatures, which devour him before retreating underground to avoid the sun, revealing a fatal vulnerability to light. Using an orrery, Fry discovers that a total eclipse—occurring every twenty-two years—is imminent. Once darkness falls, the creatures will emerge to hunt, explaining the fate of the previous settlers. As tension builds, both Johns and Riddick try to win Fry to their side: Fry recounts Riddick's cold pragmatism, while Riddick exposes Johns as a morphine-addicted bounty hunter who had refused to use his drugs to ease Owens' agonizing death. The group races back to the Hunter-Gratzner to retrieve power cells for the dropship, but the total eclipse begins, unleashing thousands of flying creatures that kill Shazza. The survivors take shelter inside the Hunter-Gratzner, but the creatures breach it and devour Hassan. Realizing they must reach the dropship, they enlist Riddick—whose surgically enhanced eyes grant him night vision—to guide them through the darkness. Armed with available and improvised light sources, the group sets out. When the group reaches a narrow canyon teeming with creatures, Paris panics, runs, and is killed. Riddick reveals that Jack is actually a girl disguising herself as a boy, and her menstrual blood is attracting the creatures. In private, Johns suggests to Riddick that they wound Jack and leave her behind as a distraction. Riddick pretends to agree, then attacks Johns—injuring him and leaving him to be killed by the creatures. At Riddick's urging, the remaining group sprints through the canyon as the creatures begin cannibalizing one another. After reaching the other side, rain begins to fall, extinguishing their improvised torches. Suleiman is killed in the ensuing attack. Riddick initially moves on alone but ultimately returns to fight off the creatures and save Jack. He hides Fry, Abu al-Walid, and Jack in a cave, then sets out to retrieve the dropship. Suspicious, Fry follows and finds him preparing to take off and abandon them. Fry pleads with Riddick to help her save the others, but he urges her to escape with him instead. Guilt-ridden over her earlier attempt to sacrifice her passengers, she refuses, admitting she would now die to protect the others. Together, they rescue Abu al-Walid and Jack (with small, bioluminescent native lifeforms), but Riddick is cornered and wounded by the creatures. Fry returns to save him, but she is fatally stabbed by one of the creatures and carried off. Riddick returns to the ship but delays takeoff, allowing the creatures to gather around it before using the engines to incinerate as many as possible. Once in space, Jack asks what they should tell the authorities about him; he tells them that Riddick died on the planet.

Glasgow, 1973. The film starts with a young boy—James's friend Ryan Quinn—twirling himself in mesh curtains before his mother clouts him and readies him to visit his father. But Ryan chooses to play with James instead and runs off, with his mother unawares. Ryan meets James at the canal and drowns during some rough horseplay, at which point James runs away. No one apparently saw that James had tussled with Ryan before his death, but his sense of guilt lingers. Ryan's family are re-housed. On leaving day, Ryan's mother gives James the pair of brown sandals she'd bought for her son on the day of his death, which James purposefully scratches with a piece of broken glass. Sensitive James tries to make sense of the insensitive aspects of his environment as the film proceeds in an episodic structure. He encounters the local gang bullying a girl, Margaret Anne, as they throw her glasses into the canal, but he does nothing. James falls in with the gang at one point—though they threaten to throw him into the canal to drown him like Ryan—and joins them when they visit Margaret Anne, where they each penetrate her sexually. When James is offered a turn, he lies fully clothed on Margaret Anne as she strokes his head tenderly. One day he takes a bus to the end of its route on the outskirts of Glasgow. He explores a new housing estate under construction. Standing in front of a kitchen window in a half-built house, he wonders in awe at the view: an expansive field of wheat, blowing in the wind and reaching to the horizon. James climbs through the window and escapes into the blissful freedom of the field. One of James' friends, a simple boy named Kenny, receives a pet mouse as a birthday present. After the gang throw the mouse around in the air to make him "fly," Kenny asks James where he would fly to. James, trying to prevent the gang from throwing it at the wall, says the moon. Kenny then ties the mouse's tail to a balloon and releases it as James and the gang watch. In a fantastical shift, the film shows it floating to the moon. Then, Kenny's mouse joins a whole colony of other mice frolicking on the moon. James and Margaret Anne become friends and find comfort in each other's company. After his mother delouses James and his sister, he uses the materials to delouse Margaret Anne at her flat. They bathe together during the process, playing with the soap together in a child-like way. Kenny later falls in the canal trying to catch a perch and is rescued by James' father, who briefly becomes a local hero and is given a medal for bravery. While his father is in a deep sleep following the rescue, James lets in the council inspectors tasked with assessing merit for rehousing. In his disheveled state, his father makes a poor impression on the inspectors. He berates James for the mistake and says that their likely rejection would be James's fault. After receiving the medal, his father goes out drinking with friends. He also buys a pair of cleats for James, presumably to mend their relationship. The local gang falls upon James's father while he's playing with a stray cat on the way home and slashes him with a switchblade. When he comes home, drunk and injured, he forcefully offers the cleats to James, who rejects them. When James's mother tries to tend to his father's injuries, he slaps her as the family look on. After, James throws the cleat at him and runs away. He visits Margaret Anne's home and the two embrace in bed. She asks him if he loves her and he says that he does. The Army eventually arrive to clean all the rubbish from the neighbourhood. After failing to recover Margaret Anne's glasses from the canal, James sees her once again with the local gang taking turns sexually abusing her. James snaps at Kenny, saying that he killed his own mouse. Kenny then starts chanting "poor cow" about Margaret Anne, drawing James's anger. He continues, chanting that he saw James kill Ryan Quinn. After a tender moment with his little sister, James rises early and goes to the canal, where he sinks below the surface. A brief scene is shown of James and his family moving into the new neighbourhood, carrying their furniture and possessions across the wheat field that James discovered earlier. James walks behind the main group and slowly faces the camera, his face breaking into a full smile. The closing credits play, showing James sinking in slow motion in the murky canal water, with his fate left up to interpretation.

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