Charles Duchemin (Louis de Funès) is the editor of an internationally known restaurant guide, for which he still personally performs numerous restaurant tests using an assortment of elaborate disguises to escape detection by the restaurant owners. After being appointed to the Académie française, Duchemin decides to retire as a restaurant critic and trains his son Gérard (Coluche) to continue the family business. However, unbeknownst to Charles, Gérard is more interested in his true passion—working as a clown in a small circus which he has co-founded and supports financially. Charles Duchemin is informed that Jacques Tricatel (Julien Guiomar), the owner of a company of mass-produced food, is trying to take over a large number of quality restaurants which had been awarded stars by Duchemin. Duchemin fears that customers will be misled into eating low quality food at Tricatel-owned restaurants. A short time later, an operative hired by Tricatel enters Duchemin's offices and tries to steal the almost finished restaurant guide from this year. Duchemin is able to trick the operative into stealing last year's data and, together with Gérard, follows him to watch him hand over the files to Tricatel's assistant Lambert (Daniel Langlet). Duchemin resolves to fight against Tricatel. First he agrees to appear on a famous talk show hosted by Philippe Bouvard, who had long been trying to get Duchemin on the show, but only under the condition that Tricatel also be invited. He then orders his staff to obtain incriminating information on Tricatel which he plans to use during the talk show confrontation. Charles begins a lengthy tour of France's restaurants to finish up this year's restaurant guide. Gérard decides to come with him because Charles' new young secretary Marguerite (Ann Zacharias) will also attend and Gérard is smitten by her. During the tour, they are followed by Lambert. Since the circus cannot perform without Gérard, it is decided that the circus will follow the Duchemins' journey and Gérard will slip out of the hotel every night to take part in the performance. During one of the nights Gérard is followed by Lambert, who gives this information to Tricatel. He, in turn, informs Charles who secretly attends the next circus performance. During the performance he confronts Gérard and fires him. When Charles returns to the hotel-restaurant alone, he himself is confronted by the manager. The manager once was the owner of a highly rated restaurant but Duchemin had taken away the restaurant's stars a few years ago, which led to his bankruptcy. He had to sell his business to Tricatel which now delivers the disgusting food that is served in the restaurant. The manager forces Charles at gunpoint to eat all the leftovers in the kitchen, leading Charles to become ill. The next day, when recuperating in the hospital, Charles notices that the ordeal has completely taken away his sense of taste. Lambert, who is still shadowing the Duchemins, finds this out and gives the information to Tricatel who plans to humiliate Duchemin by letting him perform a blind tasting during the talk show. He also informs the press of Charles' condition who swarm the hospital. After Charles rehires Gérard, both manage to escape the journalists and lie low in Gérard's circus. On the day of the talk show Charles and Gérard, with Marguerite's help, infiltrate Tricatel's food factory to obtain incriminating evidence. They find out that all the food is made from artificial ingredients, e.g. petroleum and rubber. They are discovered by company security. When this information is brought to Tricatel, who is already in the TV studio, he demands that both be killed discreetly in the factory. The security forces try to chase the Duchemins into a food processing machine where they would be killed without leaving a trace, but Charles notices the trap and they can trick the security forces into believing they have been killed and flee the factory with some of the artificial food as evidence. They return to the talk show at the last minute. Charles lets Gérard perform the blind tasting demanded by Tricatel, who does a good job until the last challenge: a red wine. When Charles sees Gérard struggle, he storms the stage and successfully identifies the wine by simply looking at it in the wine glass. Then the Duchemins let Tricatel perform a taste test with the food they obtained from the factory. When Tricatel is totally disgusted by the food they let everyone know that those are Tricatel's own products. Furthermore, Tricatel's demand to kill the Duchemins had inadvertently been filmed and is now shown to the audience. Tricatel is booed from the stage. The film ends with Gérard handing in his resignation but reconsidering when he finds out that Marguerite will continue to work for the company. The final scene shows the inaugural dinner at the Académie française where vol-au-vent is served. In his dish Duchemin finds the watch he lost in the food factory.

Thieves infiltrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art inside an actual Trojan horse, preparing to steal an entire gallery of paintings, but are apprehended. In the confusion, billionaire Thomas Crown – the crime's secret mastermind – steals Claude Monet 's painting of San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk. NYPD Detective Michael McCann heads the investigation into the theft of the $100 million artwork, with the unwelcome assistance of insurance investigator Catherine Banning. Crown lends a Camille Pissarro to fill the Monet's space in the museum and falls under Banning's suspicion. She persuades McCann to begin surveillance of Crown, deducing that he is motivated not by money but by the sheer thrill of the crime. Banning later accepts Crown's invitation to dinner. At dinner, Banning has a copy of Crown's keys made; she and her team search his home and discover the Monet, which is revealed to be a taunting imitation painted over a copy of Poker Sympathy from the Dogs Playing Poker series. Banning confronts Crown, and the two give in to their mutual attraction and have passionate sex. Banning and Crown continue their cat-and-mouse game and their trysts, despite McCann's surveillance. Accompanying Crown on a trip to Martinique, Banning realizes he is preparing to run but rejects his offer to join him when the time comes. McCann presents Banning with photographs of Crown with another woman, Anna, complicating her feelings toward the case and her prime suspect. Banning and McCann discover that the fake Monet is in fact an expert forgery that could only have been painted by someone with access to the original; they visit the likeliest forger, Heinrich Knutzhorn, in prison, to no avail, although his body language suggests to them that he recognizes the work. Later, Banning finds Crown packing his belongings with Anna. He promises Banning his interest lies with her alone, stating that Anna works for him but he would be compromising her to define the nature of their association. Crown offers to return the Monet by putting it back on the wall of the museum, and gives Banning a time and place to meet him when he's finished. Tearfully, Banning leaves and informs McCann. The following day, the police stake out the museum, waiting to arrest Crown. Banning learns from McCann that the fake Monet was painted by Anna; the imprisoned forger Knutzhorn is her father, a former business partner of Crown, who became her guardian. Crown arrives and advertises his position in the lobby. The police realize that Crown expected Banning to turn him in and that he has set up another plot. Before the police can apprehend him, Crown blends into the crowd, aided by lookalikes in bowler hats à la René Magritte 's 1964 painting The Son of Man. Evading the officers, Crown releases smoke bombs and pulls a fire alarm, setting off the museum's fire sprinklers. His donated Pissarro, hanging in the Monet's place, is washed clean by the sprinklers to reveal the real Monet. Crown's game is made clear: upon stealing the Monet, Crown had Anna forge the Pissarro over it and "returned" it to the museum. However, Crown has now vanished with another painting—one that Banning had told him she would have selected over the Monet. With the Monet recovered, Banning considers her role in the case concluded; the second missing painting is not covered by her employer. McCann briefly stops Banning to press her for anything she might know, but admits he has since stopped caring whether or not they catch Crown and bids her farewell. Banning then races to meet Crown at the rendezvous, but finds only a bowler-hatted courier who delivers to her the newly-stolen painting. Devastated, Banning has the painting sent to McCann and boards a flight back to London. In her seat after takeoff, she begins to cry when a hand from the row behind extends to her a handkerchief and offers her comfort. The passenger's thinly disguised voice, gives the game away and she turns to find Crown sitting behind her, and the two are reunited.

A political sciences teacher, Rainer Wenger, is forced to teach a class on autocracy, despite being an anarchist and wanting to teach the class on anarchy. When his students, the third generation after the Second World War, do not believe that a dictatorship could be established in modern Germany, he starts an experiment to demonstrate how easily the masses can be manipulated. He begins by demanding that all students address him as "Herr Wenger", as opposed to Rainer, and places students with poor grades beside students with good grades — purportedly so they can learn from one another and become better as a whole. When speaking, they must stand and give short, direct answers. Wenger shows his students the effect of marching together in the same rhythm, motivating them by suggesting that they are superior to the anarchy class, which is below them. Wenger suggests a uniform of a white shirt and jeans, to remove class distinction and further unite the group. A student in the class named Mona argues it will remove individuality, but she is dismissed. Another student in the class named Karo shows up to class without the uniform and is ostracized. The students decide among themselves they need a name, deciding on "Die Welle" (The Wave). Karo suggests another name, but she is the only person in the class who votes for it. The group is shown to grow closer together, and former bullies Sinan and Bomber are shown to reform, protecting Tim, the class outcast, from a pair of anarchists demanding he sell them drugs. Sinan also creates a distinctive logo for the group, while Bomber creates a salute. Tim becomes very attached to the group, having finally become an accepted member of a social group. He burns all of his brand-name clothes, after a discussion about how large corporations do not take responsibility for their actions. Karo and Mona protest the actions of the group, and Mona, disgusted with how her classmates are embracing fascism, leaves the project group. Her other classmates do not see the connection with fascism and continue attending the class. The members of The Wave begin spray-painting their logo around town at night, having parties where only Wave members are allowed to attend, and ostracizing and tormenting anyone not in their group. When Tim and his group of new friends are confronted by a group of angry punks (including those that Tim faced previously), Tim pulls a Walther PP pistol, causing them to back down. Tim explains to his shocked friends that the pistol only fires blanks. Tim later shows up at Wenger's house, offering to be his bodyguard. Although he declines his offer, Wenger still invites Tim in for dinner; this puts further strain on his already tense relationship with his wife, Anke, who thinks his experiment has gone too far. Wenger finally asks Tim to leave his house, only to find the next morning that Tim had slept outside on his doorstep. Anke, upset upon learning this, tells Wenger to stop the experiment immediately. Wenger accuses her of being jealous and insults her dependency on pills. Shocked, Anke leaves him, saying the Wave has made him into a terrible person. Karo continues her opposition to the Wave, earning the anger of many in the group, who asks her boyfriend, Marco, to do something about it. A water polo competition is due to happen later that day, and Wenger asks the Wave to show up in support of the team. Karo and Mona, denied entry to the competition by members of The Wave, sneak in another way in order to distribute anti-Wave fliers. Members of the Wave notice this and scramble to retrieve the papers before anybody reads them. In the chaos, Sinan starts a fight with an opposing team member, with the two almost drowning each other as a result. Members of the Wave in the stands begin to violently shove one another. After the match, Marco confronts Karo and accuses her of causing the fight. She replies that the Wave has brainwashed him completely. He slaps Karo, causing her to get a nosebleed. Unsettled by his own behaviour, Marco approaches Wenger and asks him to stop the project. Wenger seemingly agrees and calls a rally for the Wave members for the following day in the school's auditorium. Once in the rally, Wenger has the doors locked and begins whipping the students into a fervour. When Marco protests, Wenger calls him a traitor and orders the students to bring him to the stage for punishment. However, Wenger turns out to have been acting and was using this meeting to test the students and to see how extreme the Wave has become. Wenger declares that he is disbanding the Wave, but Dennis argues that they should try to salvage the good parts of the movement. Wenger points out there is no way to remove the negative elements of fascism. Seeing the movement falling apart right in front of his very eyes, Tim suffers a mental breakdown and pulls out a gun, refusing to accept the Wave is over as he does not want to lose all that he's gained. When Bomber says the gun only fires blanks and tries to take it, Tim shoots him, revealing it has live rounds. When Tim asks why he shouldn't shoot Wenger too, Wenger says that without him, there would be no one to lead the Wave and it would just die anyway. Utterly consumed by despair, Tim abruptly shoots himself in the head, preferring to commit suicide than go on living without the movement. Horrified, Wenger cradles his corpse and looks on at how his actions have resulted in his whole class being scarred for the rest of their lives. The film ends with Wenger being arrested by the police and driven away, Bomber being taken away to the hospital, and Marco and Karo being re-united; the final shot shows Wenger in the back of a police car, staring blankly into the camera, a look of distress on his face.

The film begins with a video documentary by Dr. David Kruipen (Val Kilmer), a research scientist on Banks Island, in the Canadian Arctic and the outbreak of a pandemic, with 400 dead and 10,000 infected. This is followed by a flashback to when David, his assistant Jane (Anne Marie DeLuise) and two other researchers tranquilize a polar bear, then discover the frozen remains of a woolly mammoth. They transport the polar bear to their research station. David calls his daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac) and pleads with her to visit the research station. Their relationship has been strained since the recent death of her mother. Meanwhile, a group of students, Ling (Steph Song), Federico (Kyle Schmid) and Atom (Aaron Ashmore), are selected to join David's research team; Evelyn decides to come. Days later, David's research team begins feeling the effects of a strange illness, and David tells helicopter pilot Bart not to bring his daughter Evelyn to the station. However, Evelyn insists, leaving Bart no choice but to bring her to the station along with the students. In the meantime, Jane shoots and apparently kills David and another researcher. The students discover the body of the polar bear, and Bart is bitten by a bug while touching it. Evelyn is awakened in the middle of the night by an all-terrain vehicle approaching the station. When Evelyn investigates, she discovers Jane in the helicopter. Jane has destroyed the helicopter's control panel, eliminating any immediate chance of escape. Ling wakes up with many bug bites on her face and torso, and Jane dies in Evelyn's arms. Realizing Ling is sick, Federico calls in a helicopter to rescue Ling. Attempting to find David, Evelyn and Atom discover eggs in the brain of the mammoth. Assuming her father has been infected, Evelyn and Atom deduce that something has made the group sick. Evelyn decides to cancel the rescue helicopter and quarantine the group until a better-prepared team can rescue them. Federico, discovering he too is infected, goes berserk and destroys the radio. The bite on Bart's arm is infected and he has Atom and Evelyn amputate his arm at the elbow. The group decides to destroy the facility and wait things out in the helicopter. Ling is attacked by bugs who have made their way in through the ventilation system. Bart discovers that the amputation was useless as his upper arm is now showing signs of infection; he opts to stay behind with Ling. They deliberately overdose on morphine and fall asleep as the bugs swarm over them. Federico comes running out, refusing to be checked for infection, then turns on Evelyn and Atom. As he is about to shoot Evelyn, he is shot from behind by David. David insists they destroy the research station. Evelyn finds a video David recorded and discovers that David has intentionally infected himself, preparing to set the bugs loose to teach humanity a lesson about global warming 's effects. As a rescue helicopter comes to pick up David, Evelyn and Atom are locked up by David, but they escape. Atom grabs one of the helicopter’s skids to attempt to make the helicopter land, but falls to the ground after being shaken off by the pilot’s attempts to stabilise it, and is mortally injured. As the helicopter starts flying away, Evelyn shoots at it, causing it to crash into a building previously doused in gasoline. David and the helicopter crew die in the resulting fire; Evelyn finds Atom, who dies in her arms. The following day another rescue team arrives, finding the destruction and Evelyn, the sole survivor. Later, as a radio station airs information based on Evelyn's reports, a hunter calls his dog away from a dead bird the dog has been eating. Bugs emerge from the bird's body, which was infected from eating the mammoth. The closing scene shows the hunter's truck heading towards a large city.

Detroit engineer Preston Tucker has been interested in building cars since childhood. During World War II he designed an armored car for the military and made money building gun turrets for aircraft in a small shop next to his home in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tucker is supported by his large extended family, particularly his wife Vera, his sons Preston Jr. and Noble, and his daughter Marilyn Lee. As the war winds down, Tucker becomes inspired to build the "car of the future". The "Tucker Torpedo" will feature revolutionary safety designs, including disc brakes, seatbelts, a pop-out windshield, and headlights which swivel when the car turns. Tucker hires young designer Alex Tremulis to help with the design and enlists New York financier Abe Karatz to arrange financial support. Raising the money through a stock issue, Tucker and Karatz acquire the enormous Dodge Chicago Plant to begin manufacturing. Abe hires Robert Bennington to run the new Tucker Corporation on a day-to-day basis. Launching "the car of tomorrow" in a spectacular way, the Tucker Corporation is met with enthusiasm from shareholders and the general public. However, the Tucker board of directors, unsure of his ability to overcome the technical and financial obstacles ahead, send Tucker off on a publicity campaign and attempt to take complete control of the company. While Tucker travels the country, Bennington and directors change the design of the Tucker 48 to a more conventional design, eliminating the safety and engineering advances Tucker was advertising. At the same time, Tucker faces animosity from the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler —and from the authorities, led by Michigan Senator Homer S. Ferguson. Tucker returns from his publicity tour and confronts Bennington, who curtly informs him that he no longer has any power in the company to make decisions, and that the engine originally planned for the car is not viable. Tucker then receives a call from Howard Hughes, who sends a private plane to bring Tucker to his aircraft manufacturing site. Hughes advises Tucker to purchase the Aircooled Motors Company, which can supply both the steel Tucker needs, as well as a small, powerful helicopter engine that might replace Tucker's original 589 power plant. Unable to change Bennington's design, Tucker modifies the new engine and installs it in a test Tucker in the secrecy of his backyard tool-and-die shop. This prototype proves successful, both in durability and in crash-testing. However, Tucker is confronted with allegations of stock fraud. Ferguson's investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) causes Karatz—once convicted of bank fraud —to resign out of fear that his criminal record will prejudice the hearings. Yellow journalism all but ruins Tucker's public image, but the courtroom battle is resolved when he parades his entire production run of fifty Tucker 48s, proving that he has reached production status. After giving a speech to the jurors on how capitalism in the United States is harmed by efforts of large corporations against small entrepreneurs like himself, Tucker is acquitted on all charges, but the Tucker Corporation falls into bankruptcy. In the film's closing shot, Tucker's entire production line—fifty "cars of the future"—is driven through the streets of downtown Chicago, admired by everyone as they pass.

In 2084, Mars is a colonized world under the tyrannical regime of Vilos Cohaagen, who controls the mining of valuable turbinium ore. On Earth, construction worker Douglas Quaid experiences recurring dreams about Mars and a mysterious woman. Intrigued, Quaid visits Rekall, a company that implants realistic false memories, and chooses one set on Mars (with a blue sky) where he is a Martian secret agent. However, before the implant is completed he lashes out, already thinking he is a secret agent. Believing Cohaagen's "Agency" has suppressed Quaid's memories, the Rekall employees erase evidence of Quaid's visit and send him home. En route, Quaid is attacked by men led by his colleague Harry because he unknowingly revealed his past; Quaid's instincts take over and he kills his assailants. At home, he is assaulted by his wife Lori, who claims she was assigned to monitor Quaid by the Agency and that their marriage is a false memory implant. He flees but is pursued by armed men led by Richter, Cohaagen's operative and Lori's real husband. A man who says he is Quaid's former acquaintance gives him a suitcase containing supplies and a video recording in which Quaid identifies himself as Hauser, a Cohaagen ally who defected after falling in love. According to the recording, Cohaagen brainwashed Hauser to become Quaid and conceal his secrets before securing him on Earth. Hauser instructs Quaid to return to Mars and stop Cohaagen. On Mars, Quaid evades Richter and, following a note from Hauser, travels to Venusville, a district populated by humans and those mutated by air pollution and solar radiation within the cheaply built domes protecting the colony. He meets Melina, the woman from his dreams, who knows him as Hauser and believes he is still working for Cohaagen. In his hotel room, Quaid is confronted by Lori and Dr. Edgemar from Rekall, who tell Quaid he is still at Rekall on Earth, trapped in his fantasy memory and on the verge of permanent brain damage. Quaid notices Edgemar is sweating and, believing he is real, kills him. Quaid is captured by Richter's men, but Melina rescues him and Quaid kills Lori. The pair escape with taxi driver Benny to Venusville. The mutants lead them to a hidden rebel base, where Quaid meets their leader Kuato, a mutant growing out of the abdomen of his brother George. Kuato psychically reads Quaid's mind, learning that Cohaagen is hiding a 500,000-year-old alien reactor built into a mountain that, once activated, produces breathable air but could also destroy all turbinium, ending Cohaagen's monopoly over both resources. Benny shoots George, revealing himself to be in Cohaagen's employ, and Cohaagen's forces attack the base, killing the rebels. Before he is shot by Richter, Kuato implores Quaid to start the reactor. Cohaagen disables Venusville's air supply to slowly suffocate the remaining inhabitants. Quaid and Melina are brought to Cohaagen, who explains that Hauser was his close friend who volunteered to become Quaid as an elaborate ruse to bypass the mutants' psychic abilities, infiltrate the rebellion, and destroy it. Quaid's Rekall visit had activated him earlier than planned and Cohaagen has been helping him to survive the oblivious Richter's pursuit. Cohaagen orders Hauser's memories to be restored in Quaid and Melina to be reprogrammed as his subservient lover, but they manage to escape to the mines below the reactor. Benny, Richter, and his men attack them, but the pair outwits and kills them all. Cohaagen awaits them in the reactor control room, claiming that activating it will destroy the planet. He activates an explosive to destroy the controls, but Quaid throws the explosive into a nearby tunnel, where it detonates and creates a breach to the Martian surface. The explosive decompression blows Cohaagen out to the surface where he suffocates and dies. Quaid activates the reactor before he and Melina are also blown out. The reactor melts the planet's ice core into gas that bursts to the surface, forming a breathable atmosphere and saving Quaid, Melina, and the rest of Mars's population. As everyone beholds the now-blue sky, Quaid momentarily wonders if everything was a dream, before he and Melina kiss.

Mark Renton, a 26-year-old unemployed heroin addict living with his parents in Leith, regularly takes drugs with his friends: treacherous, womanising James Bond fanatic Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson, and docile and bumbling Daniel "Spud" Murphy. Renton's other friends include aggressive neurotic psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie, and honest footballer Thomas "Tommy" Mackenzie, who both abstain from heroin use, warning him about his dangerous drug habit. Tiring of his reckless lifestyle, Renton attempts to wean himself off heroin with a bare room, food, and opium suppositories from dodgy dealer Mikey Forrester. Developing diarrhoea, he has to relieve himself in the disgusting toilet of a betting shop, then imagines swimming in the filthy water as he retrieves the suppositories. On a night out, Renton notices that his cessation of heroin use has increased his libido. He seduces Diane Coulston, returning to her home to have sex. The following morning, he is horrified to learn that she is underage and lives with her parents, whom Renton mistakes for her flatmates. Diane threatens to report him to the police if he does not continue the relationship. After several unsuccessful attempts to reintegrate into society, Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud relapse into heroin use; Tommy also begins to join them after Lizzy dumps him due to their sex tape disappearing (which Renton had stolen). Despite the group's shock at the negligence-induced death of Dawn, the infant daughter of Sick Boy and fellow heroin user Allison, they still do not quit using. When Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud engage in shoplifting, Renton and Spud are caught while Sick Boy narrowly escapes. While Spud receives a short custodial sentence, Renton avoids jail by entering a drug rehabilitation programme where he is given methadone to help him, but quickly relapses and nearly dies of a heroin overdose. Returning home, Renton is locked in his childhood bedroom by his parents and forced to go cold turkey. Following severe withdrawal punctuated by hallucinations of his friends, his parents on a game show answering questions related to HIV and visions of Dawn crawling on the ceiling, Renton is released upon the condition of an HIV test. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, he tests negative. However, Renton learns that Tommy, who is now severely addicted to heroin, has tested HIV-positive. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London and works as a property letting agent. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety in London and corresponds with Diane, who updates him on home developments. Renton's attempt at a fresh start in London is soon hindered as both Begbie, wanted for a failed armed robbery, and Sick Boy, now trying to be a pimp and drug dealer, re-enter his life. Renton attempts to hide them in a property that has yet to be sold but sees them assault prospective buyers, leading to the loss of Renton's job. The trio returns to Edinburgh to avoid police attention, and they end up attending the funeral of Tommy, who has died of AIDS-complicated toxoplasmosis. Following the funeral, Sick Boy asks Renton, Begbie, and Spud (recently released from prison) for help in buying two kilograms of pure heroin from Mikey Forrester, for £4,000, to sell on, with Renton needing to supply £2,000 of the asking price. He reluctantly agrees after Begbie threatens him. The four return to London to sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000. As they celebrate in a pub, Renton suggests to Sick Boy and Spud that they take the money and cut out Begbie, who subsequently beats another patron after an accident. While Sick Boy is receptive, Spud refuses. The next morning, Renton quietly steals the bag of money and attempts to leave, noticing that Spud observes this but chooses to not warn the others. Begbie, discovering Renton and the money gone, destroys their hotel room in a furious rage, which alerts the police who arrive and arrest him. Renton leaves the group behind, promising himself that he will live a happier, cleaner lifestyle. In a post-credit scene, Spud finds £4,000 left for him by Renton, and leaves to begin a new life.

Following the end of the Gulf War, U.S. soldiers remaining in theatre are bored from the lack of action and throw parties at night. Major Archie Gates, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, is trading sex for stories with a journalist, Cathy Daitch, when he is interrupted by Adriana Cruz, the television reporter he is assigned to escort. While disarming and searching an Iraqi officer, U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow, his best friend Private First Class Conrad Vig, and their unit find a map in the officer's anus. Troy asks Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin to help interpret the document. Major Gates identifies it as a map of bunkers near Karbala containing gold bullion stolen from Kuwait. They decide to steal it, and Gates distracts Adriana by assigning Specialist Walter Wogeman to take her to investigate a false news tip. They find the gold among other Kuwaiti plunder, and stumble on the interrogation of Amir Abdullah, whose wife pleads with them not to abandon the anti-Saddam dissidents. She is executed by the Iraqi Republican Guard and the group decides to free the Iraqi prisoners, triggering a firefight. They withdraw as Iraqi reinforcements arrive. Trying to evade a CS gas attack, they blunder into a minefield and get separated. Iraqi soldiers capture Troy while the others are rescued by a group of rebels who take them to their underground hideout. Conrad, Chief, and Archie agree to help the rebels and their families reach the Iranian border after they rescue Troy. Confined in the bunker in a room full of Kuwaiti cell phones, Troy calls his wife on a MicroTAC and tells her to report his location to his local Army Reserve unit. The call is cut short when he is dragged to an interrogation by Iraqi Captain Saïd. The Americans and the rebels persuade a band of Iraqi Army deserters to sell them looted Kuwaiti luxury cars, then outfit them to resemble Saddam's entourage. The phony convoy scares away the bunker's defenders and Troy is freed. Saïd is spared, and they find more Shi'ite dissidents held in a dungeon. Iraqi soldiers return before they can depart, and in the ensuing firefight they kill Conrad and wound Troy with a punctured lung. Archie radios Walter and Adriana to arrange transport for the dissidents while hapless American officers in the camp try to locate the trio after the message from Troy's wife arrives. Every rebel is given a bar of gold, and the Americans bury the rest before the convoy arrives. The convoy carries the dissidents to the Iranian border, where the three Americans intend to escort the rebels across to protect them from the Iraqi border guards. American officers intervene and arrest the trio while the rebels are recaptured. Archie offers the buried gold to the American officers in exchange for letting the refugees through. The commanding officer agrees to assisting the rebels get into Iran, but insists the charges of being absent without leave and disobeying orders will result in a courts-martial of Archie, Troy, and Chief. The epilogue reveals the three surviving soldiers were cleared of the charges and honorably discharged because of Adriana's reporting. Archie becomes a military adviser for Hollywood action films, Chief leaves his airport job to work with Archie, and Troy returns to his wife and baby to run his own carpet store. The stolen gold is returned to Kuwait, who claim a small amount is still missing.

Akademik Vladislav Volkov, a Russian research vessel in the South Pacific, communicates with the orbiting space station Mir. An energy source traveling through space strikes Mir, killing the cosmonauts and beaming itself down to Volkov. The electrical surge takes over the ship and attacks the crew. Seven days later, the tugboat Sea Star, captained by alcoholic Robert Everton, loses its uninsured cargo while sailing through a typhoon. Sea Star 's crew discover the engine room taking on water. When Sea Star takes refuge in the eye of the storm to make repairs, Volkov appears on their radar. Realizing that it could be worth millions in salvage, Everton orders his crew aboard. On Volkov, most of the electronics have been destroyed and the Russian crew are seemingly missing. Everton orders Sea Star 's navigator and ex- Navy officer Kelly Foster to help a fellow crewman, Squeaky, restore power to the ship. The ship's anchor then drops on its own, sinking Sea Star with deckhand Hiko and first mate J.W. Woods Jr. on board. Sea Star 's engineer Steve Baker leaves Squeaky to guard the engine room, where a robotic creature lures him to his death. Steve rescues an injured Hiko, while Woods comes out unscathed. As Foster treats Hiko in the sick bay, Chief Science Officer Nadia Vinogradova, the sole surviving member of Volkov 's crew, shoots at the crew before Steve subdues her. Nadia is hysterical about "it" needing power to travel through the ship and implores the crew to shut down the generators. She attacks Everton and Foster, who subdue her and take her to the bridge. Steve, Woods, and crewman Richie Mason look for Squeaky in the engine room but instead stumble upon an automated workshop producing more robots. The three are attacked by the robots and what appears to be a gun-wielding Russian crew member. The Russian is revealed to be a cyborg, but the three bring it down with salvaged munitions from Volkov 's small arms locker and take its seemingly dead body to the bridge. Nadia explains that the sentient electrical energy beamed from the Mir took over the ship eight days prior, scanned the ship's computers to find information on killing humans, then used the automated workshops to convert Volkov' s crew into cyborgs; the one brought to the bridge was the ship's captain and Nadia's husband. As the storm resumes, the crew head for the computer room. En route, they are ambushed by a converted Squeaky and a giant robot that kills Woods. The survivors barricade themselves in the communications room. Richie sends out a mayday, but Everton shoots out the radio, unwilling to give up his salvage. Foster punches Everton and removes him from command. Richie uses the computers to talk to the alien; it says that it is "aware" and sees mankind as a "virus" which it plans to use as "spare parts." This drives Richie insane, causing him to gun down Squeaky and flee. When the remaining crew leave the room, Everton talks to the alien, which recognizes him as the "dominant lifeform." The crew discovers that the alien has moved Volkov ' s computer elsewhere in the ship. Realizing that Volkov is moving, they return to the bridge by going outside, where Hiko is lost to the typhoon. Meanwhile, Everton is guided to one of the workshops, where he makes a bargain with the alien. Foster identifies Lord Howe Island as Volkov' s destination, with Nadia surmising that the alien wishes to seize a British intelligence station from which it could seize control of the world's military forces. As they decide to sink Volkov, the survivors are confronted by the now-cyborg Everton, which they defeat with a thermite hand grenade. They empty Volkov 's fuel tanks and set explosive charges. Foster, Steve and Nadia run into Richie. A giant robot (piloted by the alien) then appears and attacks the trio. The alien captures Foster and tortures her for the detonator's location. A mortally wounded Richie informs Steve that he prepared a jury-rigged ejection seat that can be used for escape. Nadia and Steve rescue Foster, and Nadia sacrifices herself by shooting a flaregun at nearby gas tanks to kill the alien; however, it is only damaged by the explosion and pursues the survivors. Foster and Steve use Richie's ejection seat, escaping the robot form, which triggers pin grenades causing an explosion of the missile bomb and sinks Volkov, causing the sentient electricity to disperse in the seawater. A U.S. naval ship later rescues Foster and Steve.

A botched switching operation by yard hostlers Dewey and Gilleece at an Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR) yard in northern Pennsylvania results in a runaway freight train pulled by locomotive 777 (Triple 7) heading south at full throttle, hauling 39 cars. Believing it is coasting, yardmaster Connie Hooper orders Dewey and Gilleece to pursue the train and sends lead welder Ned Oldham ahead in his truck to switch it off the main line. Ned arrives at the switch after the train has passed, and the crew realize that the train is running on full power, let alone, the air brake was not latched on. During this, a train heading in the exact direction, carrying children on a field trip, evaded Triple 7 in the nick of time. Attempts by Dewey and Gilleece to board the train fail, prompting Connie to alert Oscar Galvin, Vice President of Operations, and coordinate with state police to block road crossings. Federal Railroad Administration inspector Scott Werner warns that eight of the 39 cars contain phenol, a highly toxic and flammable chemical, which poses catastrophic risks if the train derails in a populated area. Despite Connie's suggestion to derail the train in unpopulated farmland, Galvin and AWVR's president reject the idea, prioritizing cost-saving measures. Instead, veteran engineer Judd Stewart is sent to slow down Triple 7 with another locomotive to allow AWVR employee and U.S. Marine veteran Ryan Scott to board from a helicopter. The plan fails: Ryan is injured, and Stewart's locomotive derails and explodes, killing him. With Triple 7 approaching a dangerous curve above the heavily populated town of Stanton, Galvin reluctantly approves a controlled derailment near the smaller town of Arklow. Meanwhile, veteran engineer Frank Barnes and rookie conductor Will Colson are moving freight cars with locomotive 1206 going north on the same line as Triple 7. Frank, a seasoned railroad veteran facing his forced early retirement, and Will, who is preoccupied with a restraining order from his wife Darcy over an incident with a former high school colleague and living with his brother, are ordered to pull off into a siding RIP track just before the runaway train races by, smashing through their last boxcar. Frank notices an open coupler on Triple 7's rear car and proposes coupling 1206 to it, using their brakes to slow it before it reaches the Stanton curve. Frank predicts that the portable derailers set up at Arklow will fail due to Triple 7's weight and speed. Galvin dismisses the plan, threatening to fire Frank, Will, and Connie when she supports them. Ignoring him, Frank and Will proceeded with their pursuit. As predicted, the derailers fail, and Triple 7 barrels through them unhindered. Connie and Werner, realizing Frank's plan is their only option, override Galvin and coordinate support. Frank and Will catch up to Triple 7, and Will exits 1206's cab to complete the coupling. When the locking pin will not engage, Will kicks it into place, but his foot gets crushed. Despite the injury, he hobbles back to the cab and takes control of the dynamic brakes while Frank climbs atop the freight cars to manually engage the handbrakes, car by car. Their efforts initially slow Triple 7, but eventually, 1206's brakes burn out, and Triple 7 begins accelerating again. Using the independent air brake, Will and Frank coordinate their brake timing via radio, reducing speed enough to navigate the Stanton curve elevated bridge. However, Frank is blocked from reaching Triple 7's locomotive by a bulkhead flatcar with no walkway. Ned arrives in his truck, speeding alongside the tracks with the police escorting him. Will jumps onto the truck bed, and Ned races ahead of the train. Will leaps onto Triple 7's engine, gains control, and brings the runaway train to a stop. There is later a press conference and Frank, Will, and Ned are commended for their actions. In the aftermath, Will reunites with Darcy and their son, learning that she's pregnant with their second child. Connie arrives to congratulate Frank and Will. Frank is promoted and later retires with full benefits. Will recovers from his injuries and continues working with AWVR. Connie ascends to VP of Operations, while it’s implied Galvin was fired for his poor handling of the incident. Ryan recovers from his injuries, while Dewey is fired and finds work in the fast-food industry.

In 1989, Kevin Flynn, the CEO of ENCOM, disappears. Twenty years later, his son Sam, now ENCOM's primary shareholder, pranks the corporation by releasing the company's signature operating system online for free. ENCOM executive Alan Bradley, Kevin's old friend, approves of this, believing it aligns with Flynn's ideals of free software; nonetheless, Sam is arrested for trespassing. Alan posts bail for Sam and tells him of a pager message originating from Flynn's shuttered video arcade, which has been disconnected since his disappearance. There, Sam discovers a hidden basement with a large computer and particle laser, which suddenly digitizes and downloads him into the Grid, a virtual reality created by Kevin. He is captured and sent to "the Games", where he must fight a masked computer program named Rinzler. When Sam is injured and bleeds, Rinzler realizes Sam is human, or a "User". He takes Sam to Clu, the Grid's corrupt ruling program, who resembles a young Kevin. Clu nearly kills Sam in a Light Cycle match, but Sam is rescued by Quorra, a skilled warrior and "apprentice" of Flynn, who takes him to Kevin's hideout outside Clu's territory. Kevin explains that he had been working to create a "perfect" computer system and had appointed Clu and security program Tron as its co-creators. The trio discovered a species of naturally occurring " isomorphic algorithms " (ISOs), with the potential to resolve various natural mysteries. Clu, considering them an abnormality, betrayed Kevin, killed Tron, and destroyed the ISOs. The "Portal" permitting travel between the two worlds closed, leaving Kevin trapped in the system. Clu sent the message to Alan hoping to lure him into the Grid (though Sam serves his purpose just as well) and reopen the Portal for a limited time. Since Flynn's "identity disc" is the master key to the Grid and the only way to traverse the Portal, Clu expects Sam to bring Kevin to the Portal so he can take Flynn's disc, go through the Portal himself, and impose his idea of perfection on the human world. Against his father's wishes, Sam returns to Clu's territory and encounters one of the Sirens, named Gem, to help find Zuse, a program who can provide safe passage to the Portal. At the End of Line Club, the owner, Castor, reveals himself to be Zuse, then betrays Sam to Clu's guards. In the resulting fight, Kevin rescues his son, but Quorra's arm is damaged and Castor gains possession of Flynn's disc. Castor attempts to bargain with Clu over the disc, but Clu instead destroys the club along with Castor and Gem. Kevin and Sam stow away aboard a "Solar Sailer" transport program, where Flynn repairs Quorra and reveals her to be the last surviving ISO. The transport is intercepted by Clu's warship. As a diversion, Quorra allows herself to be captured by Rinzler, whom Kevin recognizes as Tron, not killed by Clu but rather reprogrammed. Sam reclaims Flynn's disc and rescues Quorra, while Kevin takes control of a Light Fighter. Clu, Rinzler, and several guards pursue the trio in Light Jets. Rinzler remembers his past as Tron and deliberately collides with Clu's Light Jet to save Flynn. Clu, enraged by Rinzler betraying him, fights Rinzler in midair, taking his spare baton to spawn another Light Jet. Rinzler plunges in to the Sea of Simulation. Clu confronts the others at the Portal, but Kevin reintegrates with his digital duplicate, destroying Clu along with himself. Quorra – having switched discs with Kevin – gives Flynn's disc to Sam, and they escape together to the real world as the ensuing explosion from Kevin's sacrifice destroys Clu's warship and levels the area around the Portal. In Flynn's Arcade, Sam backs up and deactivates the system. He then tells a waiting Alan that he plans to retake control of ENCOM, naming Alan chairman of the board. Sam departs on his motorcycle with Quorra as the sun rises.

Orphaned brothers Sam and Nathan "Nate" Drake are caught trying to steal a map made after the Magellan expedition from a Boston museum. Before the orphanage can expel Sam, he sneaks out to be on his own, but promises Nate that he will return, leaving him a ring belonging to their supposed ancestor Sir Francis Drake. Fifteen years later, Nate works as a bartender in New York City and pickpockets wealthy patrons. Victor "Sully" Sullivan, a fortune hunter who worked with Sam tracking treasure hidden by the Magellan crew, meets Nate and tells him that Sam vanished after helping him steal Juan Sebastián Elcano 's diary. Nate, no longer receiving postcards from Sam, agrees to help Sully find him. Sully and Nate go to an auction to steal a golden cross linked to the Magellan crew. There they meet Santiago Moncada, the last descendant of the Moncada family, who had financed Magellan's expedition, and Jo Braddock, leader of Moncada's mercenaries. Nate is ambushed by Braddock's men, and the ensuing fight creates a distraction for Sully to steal the cross. The duo travels to Barcelona, where the treasure is supposedly hidden, and rendezvous with Sully's contact Chloe Frazer, who has the other cross. Nate, Chloe, and Sully follow clues in Elcano's diary to Santa Maria del Pi, finding a secret crypt behind the altar. Nate and Chloe enter, finding a trap door, but as they open it, the crypt floods with water. Sully helps them escape after subduing an ambush by Braddock. Using the two crosses to unlock a secret passage, Nate and Chloe find a map indicating the treasure is in the Philippines. Chloe betrays Nate and leaves to take the map to Moncada, but she indicates that Sully is keeping a secret about Sam. Sully recovers Nate and reveals that Sam was shot and possibly killed by Braddock three years prior and that he left him for dead, straining their partnership. Moncada, Chloe, and Braddock's team depart in a cargo plane to find the treasure, on which Braddock murders Moncada, gaining control of the operation. Nate and Sully stowaway on the plane, so Nate confronts Braddock. A battle ensues; Sully parachutes out with the map, while Nate and Chloe are ejected from the plane, landing in the Philippines. There, they realize the map does not pinpoint the treasure. Nate discovers the treasure's true location through hints left by Sam's postcards, but leaves fake coordinates for Chloe after correctly doubting her loyalties. Nate discovers the Magellan ships and reunites with Sully, who had managed to follow Nate. Braddock follows close behind, forcing Nate and Sully to hide as her crew airlifts the ships. In their escape, Sully commandeers one of the helicopters, and Braddock orders another helicopter to approach for a boarding action. Nate defends himself from Braddock's mercenaries and shoots down the other helicopter with one of the ship's cannons. When Braddock corners Nate, Sully throws a bag of collected treasure at her, casting her into the sea, where she is killed when the ship falls on her. As the Philippine Navy arrive, Nate and Sully get away with a few pieces of treasure Nate had pocketed, while Chloe is left empty-handed. Meanwhile, an imprisoned Sam, revealed to be alive and having somehow survived being shot by Braddock, writes another postcard to Nate asking him to watch his back. In a mid-credits scene, Nate meets a man working for Roman, offering his ring for a "Nazi map" he has. He tries to betray Nate, but Sully saves him. They escape but are cornered by an unseen figure.