Structural engineer John Garrity lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his estranged wife, Allison, and their diabetic son, Nathan. He is on the way home to watch the near-earth passing of a recently discovered interstellar comet nicknamed "Clarke", along with his family and neighbors. While at the supermarket, John receives an automated DHS message announcing that he and his family have been selected for emergency sheltering. He returns home just as a comet fragment is seen entering the atmosphere on live TV. Previously expected to land in the ocean near Bermuda, the fragment instead strikes Tampa, vaporizing the city along with most of the state. John then receives a call with instructions to head to Robins Air Force Base for an evacuation flight, as Clarke is on a direct collision course to Earth and the impact will cause an extinction-level event in two days. John, Allison, and Nathan pack up and drive away. The way to the base is clogged by heavy traffic, so the Garritys abandon their car and continue on foot. Nathan's insulin is accidentally left behind in the car. As they reach the base, John realizes it is missing and goes back to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Nathan's medical condition is discovered, disqualifying him for sheltering, and Allison stays with him. John returns and boards a plane, but quickly jumps off upon realizing Allison and Nathan were left behind. As John exits the base, a panicked mob breaks in, destroying several evacuation planes when gunfire ignites spilled jet fuel. Returning to their car, John finds Allison's note saying they are going to her father's home in Lexington. After getting medical supplies, Allison and Nathan hitch a ride with Ralph and Judy Vento, only for Ralph to kidnap Nathan to use him and the wristbands to board a flight. John hitch-hikes a ride on a military truck full of people heading towards Canada, planning to get off in Lexington. A passenger named Colin tells him they are headed to Osgoode, Ontario, where private planes are flying to Greenland, believed to be the military evacuation site. Another man attempts to steal John's wristband, causing the truck to crash, killing Colin. John is forced to kill the other man in self-defense. At another air force base, the Ventos attempt to pose as Nathan's parents, but are arrested when Nathan reveals he's not their child. Allison and Nathan are reunited shortly after at a nearby FEMA camp in Knoxville. The following morning, John learns that the largest fragment will hit in approximately 24 hours. Stealing a car, John reaches his father-in-law, Dale's, house, and Nathan and Allison arrive shortly after. The family learn about a complex of underground bunkers near Thule Air Base in Greenland, confirming that is where the evacuees are being sent. Dale chooses to stay behind, bidding farewell to his daughter's family. John, Allison, and Nathan proceed in Dale's truck. While making steady progress to Osgoode, the family learns over the radio that Clarke's largest fragment, which is 9 miles (14 km) wide, will hit Western Europe and obliterate it. They arrive at the Osgoode airport just in time to board the last flight out. As they reach Greenland, a comet fragment strikes, causing the plane to crash and hit a glacier,killing the pilot. The Garritys and the rest of the passengers flag down a military truck and enter the bunker complex just as the largest fragment enters the atmosphere and hits Earth, devastating civilization along with the world. Nine months later, the bunker makes radio contact with other survivors around the world. The Garritys and other occupants exit the shelter, as reports come in that the atmosphere is finally clearing, giving the survivors the chance to bring Earth back onto its feet.

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.

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

On May 10, 1998, in Richmond, Virginia, high school student Leo Biederman observes an unidentified object in the night sky at his astronomy club's star party. His picture is sent to Marcus Wolf, who realizes it is a comet on a collision course with Earth. Wolf dies in a car crash while racing to raise the alarm. In 1999, MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner investigates Secretary of the Treasury, Alan Rittenhouse, over his connection with a woman named "Ellie," whom she assumes to be a mistress; she is confused when she finds him and his daughter, Lilly, loading a boat with large amounts of food and survival gear. The FBI apprehends Lerner and takes her to meet President Tom Beck, who persuades her not to share the story in return for a prominent role in the press conference he will arrange. She subsequently discovers that "Ellie" is actually an acronym — E.L.E. — which stands for, " extinction-level event." Two days later, Beck announces that the Wolf–Biederman comet is on course to impact the Earth in roughly one year, and could cause humanity's extinction. He reveals that the United States and Russia have been constructing the Messiah in orbit, a spacecraft to transport a team to alter the comet's path with nuclear bombs. The Messiah later launches, with a crew of five American astronauts, and one Russian cosmonaut. They land on the outer-most layer of the comet, and drill the nuclear bombs deep beneath its surface, but it shifts into the sunlight. Consequently, Mission Commander Oren Monash is blinded, and an explosive release of gas propels medical officer Gus Partenza into space. The remaining crew escape, and detonate the bombs. However, rather than deflect the comet, the bombs split it in two. Beck announces the mission's failure, and that both pieces—the larger now named Wolf and the smaller named Biederman—are still headed for Earth. Wolf is on a collision course with western Canada, and its impact is expected to fill the atmosphere with dust, blocking all sunlight for two years and creating an impact winter that will kill all life on the planet's surface. Martial law is imposed and a lottery selects 800,000 Americans to join 200,000 pre-selected individuals in underground shelters in Missouri 's limestone bluffs. Lerner, who has become an MSNBC anchor during the crisis, is pre-selected, as are the Biedermans, as gratitude for Leo discovering the comet. Lerner's mother, Robin, upon learning most senior citizens are ineligible for the lottery, commits suicide. To save his girlfriend Sarah and her family, Leo marries her, but Sarah's parents are not allowed to accompany her and she refuses to go without them. A last-ditch effort to deflect the comets with ICBMs fails. Upon arrival at the shelter, Leo decides to return to Virginia to find Sarah. On a motorcycle, he reaches Sarah's family on the freeway, which is heavily filled with traffic. Her parents force her to leave with Leo and her baby brother, while they remain behind. The MSNBC crew draws straws to decide who will board an evacuation helicopter with Lerner. At the last minute, Lerner gives up her seat to her colleague, Beth, and her young daughter. She instead travels to her childhood beach home and reconciles with her estranged father. Biederman hits the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and creates a megatsunami that destroys several countries and much of the East Coast of the United States, reaching the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys plus Europe and Africa. Millions including Lerner, her father, and Sarah's parents perish while countless more are left homeless. Leo, Sarah, Sarah's brother and other survivors make it to safety in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The Messiah crew, now dangerously low on life-support and propellant fuel, decide to sacrifice themselves by flying deep inside Wolf, and detonating their remaining nuclear bombs. They all say goodbye to their loved ones before executing their plan. Millions of pieces of ice and rock burn harmlessly in the atmosphere and light up the sky for an hour, averting further catastrophe. Beck addresses thousands at an under-construction replacement United States Capitol, and announces the start of rebuilding their home that the Messiah has saved.

Set in Saint Petersburg in 1860, the story revolves around retired officer Yakovlev. A deadly shot, Yakovlev is effectively a kind of mercenary in that he is available for hire through his associate Baron Staroe to stand in for others in formal duels. Much later in the film, flashbacks reveal that years ago an Aleut shaman has predicted he would never die, and so far that seems about right as Yakovlev wins duel after duel, wounding and more often killing noble opponents. Although duels of honor are technically illegal in Russia at the time, most people turn a blind eye to the law. The code of practice is not written down anywhere, and yet everyone knows the rules and rituals, while many participants see it as an almost mystical rite. To take part in a duel is to accept that one's fate is ultimately in the hands of God, hence the practice of Russian roulette. Eventually, it turns out that all of Yakovlev's recent duels were secretly arranged by Count Beklemishev. He is a shadowy puppet master with a grudge and designs on Princess Martha Tuchkova whose brother (Prince Tuchkov) Yakovlev is scheduled to duel with next. When attraction stirs between him and the pretty blond princess, problems arise, especially since, as the flashbacks reveal, Yakovlev has an agenda of his own.

During a commencement gala at the newly opened Los Angeles headquarters of Nakamoto, a Japanese keiretsu, a call girl, Cheryl Lynn Austin, is strangled while having rough sex on the boardroom table. LAPD Lieutenant Webster "Web" Smith and John Connor, a former police captain and expert on Japanese affairs, are sent to act as liaison between the Japanese executives and the investigating officer, Smith's former partner Tom Graham. During the initial investigation, Connor and Smith review surveillance camera footage, and realize that one of the discs is missing. Smith and Connor suspect Eddie Sakamura, Cheryl's boyfriend and agent of a Nakamoto rival, of killing her, and interrogate him at a house party. Sakamura promises to bring Connor something, and Connor reluctantly lets him go after confiscating his passport. Ishihara, a Nakamoto employee whom Connor had previously interrogated, delivers the missing disc, which clearly shows Sakamura having sex with Cheryl and strangling her. Graham and Smith lead a SWAT raid on Sakamura's house. He tries to flee in a Vector W8 sports car, but crashes and is killed. Smith learns that Sakamura had attempted to contact him about the missing disc, so he and Connor take the disc to an expert, Jingo Asakuma, who reveals that the disc has been digitally altered to implicate Sakamura. Nakamoto is in the midst of sensitive negotiations for the acquisition of an American semiconductor company, with Senator John Morton, a guest at the party, abruptly changing his stance on a bill that would prevent the merger from going through. Suspecting his sudden shift is somehow related to the murder, Connor and Smith attempt to interview him at his campaign office, but without success. Upon returning to Smith's apartment, the duo find Sakamura alive and well. He reveals that he was being tailed that day by Tanaka, a Nakamoto security agent attempting to locate the original disc. Not wanting to be seen with Sakamura, Tanaka stole his sports car and committed suicide by crashing it. Sakamura gives Connor the original disc, but before he can leave, Lt. Graham arrives with Ishihara. Sakamura is killed fighting off Ishihara's men, and Smith is shot and left for dead, surviving only thanks to a bulletproof vest. After being interrogated, Smith is put on paid leave due to an ongoing investigation of an earlier corruption charge. Regrouping with Connor and Jingo, the three view the original surveillance footage, which shows Senator Morton having sex with Cheryl and performing erotic asphyxiation on her. Falsely believing he killed her, Morton changes his position on the regulation bill to stay in Nakamoto's good graces. After leaving the boardroom, the footage shows another figure approaching and killing Cheryl by strangulation. Hoping to draw the killer out, Connor and Smith fax Morton stills of the footage showing his involvement in the murder. Morton contacts Ishihara, revealing the executive to be in on the cover-up, and then Morton commits suicide. Connor, Smith, and Jingo interrupt the merger negotiations to show Nakamoto President Yoshida the surveillance footage. Bob Richmond, an American lawyer working for Nakamoto, reveals that he is the real killer and tries to run away, only to be killed by Eddie Sakamura's yakuza friends. Yoshida maintains his and his colleagues' innocence, quietly exiling Ishihara to a desk job back in Japan. Smith drives Jingo home, where she casts doubt on whether Richmond was really the murderer, or if he was simply taking the fall to protect someone higher up in the company.

In 2500, sea level rises have put every continent on Earth underwater. The remains of human civilization live on makeshift floating communities built out of scavenged materials known as atolls, having long forgotten about living on land. Rumors of a "Dryland" still exist, but it is considered a myth by most. The Mariner, a lone drifter, arrives at an atoll on his trimaran to trade dirt, a rare commodity, for supplies. When the locals see that the Mariner is a mutant, with gills and webbed feet, several accost him and he kills one in self-defense. As a result, the Mariner is sentenced to be drowned in a tank of organic sludge. While the Mariner is trapped in the tank, the atoll is attacked by the Smokers, a formidable pirate gang that has been systematically raiding and destroying atolls. Helen, a strong-willed atoll resident, tries to escape on a gas balloon dirigible with her young ward Enola and inventor Gregor. However, Gregor accidentally departs with only himself on board, stranding the two. She frees the Mariner on the condition he takes them with him. The Mariner skillfully fights his way out, damaging the Smokers' forces and causing an explosion that blinds its leader, Deacon, in one eye. The Mariner, Helen and Enola board the trimaran and escape. Following a brief skirmish with the Smoker's scout seaplane, the trio encounters a drifter suffering from cabin fever whom the Mariner kills after a trade gone awry, and a mutated shark the Mariner kills for food. Despite his initial reluctance and gruff attitude, the Mariner slowly warms up to his companions and has a bonding moment with Enola teaching her to swim. After evading a trap set by the Smokers, the Mariner confronts Helen about their unusual persistence. She admits they are after Enola for the supposed directions to Dryland tattooed on Enola's back. Helen then demands to know where the Mariner collected his dirt. He takes her in a jury-rigged diving bell and shows her the underwater remains of Denver, Colorado, and the soil on the ocean's floor, crushing her belief in Dryland. When they surface, the pair find that the Smokers have caught up. They capture Enola and try to kill Helen and the Mariner before the two dive underwater. The Smokers set the trimaran on fire and leave. Sorting through the wreckage of his boat, the Mariner sees a collection of National Geographic magazines and compares their images to Enola's doodles, realizing she was drawing Dryland objects. Gregor, having spotted the smoke from his dirigible, finds Helen and the Mariner and takes them to a new makeshift atoll. The Mariner takes a captured Smoker's jet ski to chase down the Smokers' base of operations, the remains of the Exxon Valdez, where they manage to manufacture fuel, ammunition and cigarettes. Deacon's advisors struggle to decipher the tattoo. To keep his followers' minds off their dwindling resources, he bluffs that he has decoded the map on Enola's back and orders them back to their stations to row. The Mariner infiltrates the "'Dez" and confronts the Deacon, threatening to ignite the oil reserves in the hold unless Enola is returned. The Deacon calls the Mariner's bluff, knowing that it would destroy the ship, but to his shock, the Mariner drops a flare into the oil reservoir. The ship is engulfed in flames, and begins to sink. The Mariner rescues Enola, escaping via a rope from Gregor's balloon with Helen and the Atoll Enforcer aboard. The Deacon fires on the balloon, shaking Enola into the ocean. As the Deacon and some of his men converge on her, the Mariner makes an impromptu bungee jump from the balloon to grab Enola before the Deacon and his men collide on their jet-skis, inducing an explosion that kills the trio. Gregor later identifies Enola's tattoo as coordinates with reversed directions. Following the map, the balloon party discover Dryland, covered with vegetation and wildlife. They also find a hut with the remains of Enola's parents. The Mariner, feeling that he does not belong on Dryland, takes an old wooden catamaran from the island and departs, as Helen and Enola bid him farewell.

By 2025, advancements in medical technology have perfected bio-mechanical organs. The Union corporation sells these expensive "artiforgs" on credit, and when customers fail to pay on time, the company sends "repo men" to forcibly repossess the organ—in which the customer is tased and offered the request of an ambulance, sometimes resulting in the customer's death. Remy and his lifelong friend Jake are the Union's best repo men, but Remy's wife Carol believes his work is a bad influence on their son, Peter. When Remy allows Jake to perform a repossession outside their family barbecue, an angry Carol leaves with Peter. Raiding a "nest" of Union debtors fleeing the country, Remy and Jake impress their boss, Frank, but Remy's mind is made up to transfer to the sales department. Jake arranges one last job—repossessing the heart from a musician Remy admires—but a malfunctioning defibrillator injures Remy, requiring the replacement of his own heart with an artiforg. Carol divorces Remy and he moves in with Jake, but his newfound sympathy for customers leaves him unable to lie as a salesman and unable to dissect deadbeat customers as a repo man. With Remy behind on his heart payments, Jake takes him to another nest with enough artiforgs to clear his debt, but Remy cannot do the job. Jake leaves, and a debtor knocks Remy unconscious. Waking up, Remy rescues Beth, a lounge singer he recognizes, who is suffering from drug use and her numerous unpaid artiforgs. Breaking into the Union office, Remy attempts to clear his and Beth's accounts but is interrupted by Jake, who lets him leave. On the run, Beth and Remy lay low in the city's abandoned outskirts, and Beth reveals that she was forced to buy black market artiforgs after running up severe debts. They begin a relationship, and Remy decides to document his life as a repo man with an old typewriter. Tracked down by Ray, a rival repo man, Remy lures him into falling through a hole in the floor. Beth falls as well, damaging her prosthetic knee, but Remy kills Ray. Remy sneaks into his former workplace, stealing jammers to evade other repo men's organ scanners. He demands that Frank clear his account, only to discover this can now only happen at the Union's central office due to his earlier attempt. Remy and Beth attempt to flee the country at the airport, but security is alerted by bleeding from Beth's knee. A fight ensues, and Jake arrives in time to watch them escape. With help from Beth's associate Asbury, they have Beth's knee replaced by a black-market surgeon. Asbury is killed by Jake, who admits that he rigged the defibrillator to force Remy to stay a repo man by forcing him to get an artificial heart and pay off the debt. Jake then knocks Remy unconscious. Beth awakens Remy and they narrowly escape a Union raid. Briefly subdued by an anti-Union freedom fighter, Remy decides to free all Union customers from debt. He meets Carol and Peter to say goodbye, giving his manuscript to Peter. Remy and Beth kidnap Frank, using him to break into Union headquarters and fight their way to the server room. The server's only interface is an organ scanner, requiring Remy and Beth to cut themselves open to use the scanner internally on each of their artiforgs, clearing their accounts. Frank and Jake access the room, finding Beth near death as Remy attempts to scan her heart. Ordered to kill Remy, Jake kills Frank instead, helps revive Beth, and deposits grenades into the server, destroying the mainframe and wiping the records of every Union customer. Sometime later, Remy enjoys his freedom on a tropical beach with Beth and Jake, and Peter has published his father's manuscript, The Repossession Mambo. However, it is revealed that Remy is actually in a coma, having sustained severe brain damage when Jake knocked him unconscious. Jake has paid off Remy's debt and linked his brain to a neural network, allowing Remy to live out his life peacefully in a computer-generated dream world; their victory over the Union was merely part of this dream. Preparing to deal with an unconscious Beth, Jake says goodbye to Remy, while Frank delivers a sales pitch for the neural network.

In the Arizona desert, truck driver Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald is passed by a woman in a Jaguar XK-E, escapes being given a citation by the Arizona Highway Patrol thanks to the Jaguar, then runs into fellow truck drivers Pig Pen/Love Machine and Spider Mike. Another "trucker" had informed them over the CB radio that they are okay to increase their speed. The "trucker" turns out to be Sheriff "Dirty" Lyle Wallace, a long-time nemesis of the Duck, who extorts them for $70 each. The truckers head on to Rafael's Glide-In where the Duck's sometime girlfriend, Violet, works as a waitress. Melissa, the driver of the Jaguar, is also there; her car broke down and she had to sell it and some of her belongings in an effort to reach Dallas, as she is on her way to look for a job. The Duck offers Melissa a ride; Violet is unimpressed and ushers him away to give him a special birthday present. While they are away, Wallace shows up at the Glide-In checking plates. Pig Pen and Spider Mike start making fun of Wallace over the diner's base-station CB radio, leading to Wallace attempting to falsely arrest Spider Mike for vagrancy. The Duck enters and tries to smooth things over, but Mike punches Wallace when he makes a crack about the father of the baby that Mike's pregnant woman is expecting. This leads to a brawl in the diner when some AHP state troopers arrive to assist Wallace. The assorted truckers prevail and decide to head for the state line to avoid prosecution while messing with the police cars while the cops are knocked out. The truckers drive across Arizona and New Mexico, with Wallace in pursuit. Duck angers Wallace even further when he accidentally pushes him off the road and causes him to crash. When Wallace calls for reinforcements from the state police, Duck leads the truckers off the main highway and down a rough dusty desert trail, causing several of the police cars to crash, while Wallace's state police vehicle is crushed between Pig Pen and Spider Mike's rigs. As the rebellious truckers evade and confront the police, Rubber Duck becomes a reluctant hero. The Governor of New Mexico, Jerry Haskins, meets Rubber Duck at his request, after being told that the Governor has ideas of using the National Guard on the convoy after Rubber Duck and his convoy manage to avoid a New Mexico State Police roadblock and then get their escort through town due to Rubber Duck carrying hazardous materials. About the same time, Wallace and a brutal Texas sheriff arrest Spider Mike (who had left the convoy to be with his wife after she gave birth to their son) in Alvarez, Texas. Wallace's plan is to use Mike as bait to trap Rubber Duck. A janitor at the jail, aware of the plan, sends messages by CB radio that Spider Mike has been wrongfully arrested and beaten. Various truckers relay the message to New Mexico. Rubber Duck ends the meeting with Haskins and leaves to rescue Spider Mike. Several other truckers join him in heading east to Texas. The truckers eventually destroy half of the town and the jail and rescue Spider Mike. Knowing they will now be hunted by the authorities, the truckers head for the border of Mexico. On the way, Rubber Duck gets separated from the rest of the convoy when the others get stopped by a minor traffic accident involving Pig Pen/Love Machine. In a showdown near the United States-Mexico border, Rubber Duck is forced to face Wallace, the Texas Highway Patrol, and a National Guard unit stationed on a bridge. Firing an M60 machine gun, Wallace, the Texas DPS troopers, and the Guardsmen cause the truck's tanker trailer to explode, while Rubber Duck deliberately steers the tractor unit over the side of the bridge, plummeting into the churning river below, presumably sending Duck to his death. Melissa witnesses this from the shoreline once she realized Duck's intention after he had her get out of his truck and tossed out her luggage as well so she wouldn't be harmed, while Pig Pen/Love Machine and the other members of the convoy blare their horns in mourning. Even Wallace looks remorseful over the demise of his long-time adversary. A public funeral is held for Rubber Duck. A distraught Melissa is led to a school bus with several "long-haired friends of Jesus" inside that had joined the convoy earlier. There she finds Rubber Duck in disguise sitting in the back - revealing that he had swum from the wreckage after the tractor sank into the river. The convoy takes to the road with the coffin in tow, presumably heading for Washington, D.C.. As the bus passes Wallace, he spots the Duck and bursts into laughter over seeing that his adversary survived.

Having escaped from Central America with his comrades Drew Blakeley, Derek Godwin, Michel-Claude, Terry, and Richard, mercenary Jamie Shannon gets an offer from Endean, a British businessman working for a tycoon. Endean's company is interested in "certain resources" in the small African nation of Zangaro, which is run by the brutal dictator, President Kimba. Shannon goes on a reconnaissance mission to Zangaro's capital of Clarence and meets British documentary film maker Alan North, who fills him in on the political situation in Zangaro. Shannon's activities arouse the suspicions of the police (especially a suspected dalliance with Gabrielle Dexter, a woman who turns out to be one of Kimba's mistresses), and he is arrested, severely beaten and imprisoned. His wounds are treated by Dr. Okoye, a physician and prisoner who was formerly a moderate political leader. North agitates for Shannon's release, and two days later he is deported. When Shannon tells Endean that there is no chance of a coup, Endean offers him $100,000 to overthrow Kimba by invading Zangaro with a mercenary army. Endean's employer intends to install a puppet government led by Colonel Bobi, Kimba's greedy former ally, allowing Endean's employer to exploit the country's newly discovered platinum resources, an agreement guaranteed by Colonel Bobi. Shannon refuses the offer and instead proposes to his estranged girlfriend Jessie that they start a new life in the Western U.S. When she refuses his proposal, he accepts Endean's contract on condition that he will have control of the military operation. Provided with a million dollars for expenses, Shannon contacts some of his associates from Central America and they meet in London to plan the invasion. The group illegally procures a supply of Uzi submachine guns, ammunition, rocket launchers, mines, and other weapons from arms dealers. North encounters Shannon by chance in London and suspects him of being a CIA agent. Shannon asks Drew to scare North away without hurting him, but North is killed by a hitman hired by Endean to follow Shannon and his crew. Drew captures the assassin, and when a furious Shannon learns that Endean had sent the hitman but that the hitman had killed North on his own initiative, he kills the assassin in turn and leaves the body at Endean's house during a dinner party held for Colonel Bobi. To transport the group and equipment to the coast of Zangaro, Shannon hires a small freighter and crew. At sea, the team is joined by a force of Zangaran exiles trained as soldiers by a former mercenary colleague. Once ashore in a night attack, the mercenaries and their troops use their array of weapons to attack the military garrison where Kimba lives. Drew bursts into a shack in the barracks' courtyard and finds only a young woman with a baby; when he turns to leave without harming them, she shoots him in the back with a pistol. After the mercenaries storm the burning, bullet-scarred ruins of the garrison, Shannon blasts his way into Kimba's mansion. There he finds Kimba stuffing packs of bills into a briefcase; when a whimpering Kimba offers Shannon some of the money to spare his life, Shannon kills him. The following morning, Endean arrives by helicopter with Colonel Bobi and they enter the presidential residence, where they find Shannon and Dr. Okoye awaiting their overdue arrival. Shannon introduces Dr. Okoye as Zangaro's new president, who tells Colonel Bobi that he is under arrest, and when Endean protests ("This whole country's bought and paid for!"), Shannon tells him, "You're going to have to buy it all over again," and silences him by shooting Bobi. Shannon, Derek, and Michel load Drew's body onto a Land Rover, in line with the toast they drank on planning the operation "Everyone comes home". The film concludes with the mercenaries driving through the deserted streets of Clarence until they are out of frame.

In 2017, widespread use of remotely controlled androids called "surrogates" enables people to operate an idealized body (a more youthful version of their own, or a wholly different one) from the safety of their homes, becoming slovenly and housebound as a consequence. Protected from harm, a surrogate's operator can indulge in risky behaviour, and they can make their surrogate perform acrobatics beyond human capability. In Boston, FBI agent Tom Greer has been estranged from his wife Maggie since their son's death in a car crash several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies. Tom and his partner, Agent Jennifer Peters, investigate the death of two people who were killed when their surrogates were destroyed at a Fort Point club. Jared Canter, one of the victims, is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter, the inventor of surrogates and the former head of their manufacturing company, Virtual Self Industries (VSI). The two determine that a human, Miles Strickland, used a new type of weapon to overload the surrogates' systems and kill their operators. After locating Strickland, Tom attempts to bring him into custody. Strickland uses the weapon, killing six police officers, and injures Tom during the chase; Tom inadvertently crash-lands into an anti-surrogate zone known as the Dread Reservation (one of many throughout the US). A mob helps Strickland and destroys Tom's surrogate. The Dread leader, a man known as the Prophet, kills Strickland and confiscates the weapon. With his surrogate destroyed, Tom is forced to interact in the world without one. He learns that VSI originally produced the weapon, designed to load a virus that overloads a surrogate's systems, thus disabling it, under a government contract. Unexpectedly, the weapon also disabled the fail-safe protocols protecting operators. The project was promptly scrapped and all prototypes supposedly destroyed. Tom also learns that Andrew Stone, his FBI superior, supplied the weapon to Strickland and ordered Dr. Canter's assassination, upon VSI's request, for his criticism of surrogate use. Jared, who had, unbeknownst to the assassin, been using one of his father's many surrogates, was killed instead. An unknown man murders Jennifer in her home and then hijacks her surrogate, and the Prophet orders the weapon delivered to her. During a military raid on the reservation, the Prophet is shot, revealing he was actually a surrogate, with audience learning that Canter himself was its operator. Tom steals the code that activates the weapon from Stone, but "Jennifer" escapes with the codes. Immediately travelling to Canter's home, Tom discovers that Canter has been controlling not only the Prophet, but also Jennifer and the surrogate he used to kill Jennifer as well. Using Jennifer's surrogate in FBI Headquarters, Canter uses the weapon to kill Stone. Considering all surrogate users irredeemable, he proceeds to upload the virus to all surrogates, which will destroy them and kill their operators. Canter reveals that he only wanted to empower the disabled to live normal lives, but after he was fired from VSI, they capitalized on surrogacy for profit. Convinced his plan is unstoppable, Canter disconnects from Jennifer's surrogate and swallows a cyanide pill. Tom takes control of Jennifer's surrogate and, with the assistance of the network's system administrator, Bobby Saunders, insulates the virus so the operators will survive, but a second step is required to save the surrogates. After a moment of consideration, Tom chooses to let the virus permanently disable surrogates worldwide. With all the surrogates disabled, people emerge from their homes, confused and afraid. Returning home, Tom shares an emotional embrace with Maggie in her real form. The film ends with an aerial view of the collapsed surrogates along with overlapping news reports of downed surrogates all over the world and how people are now "on their own" again.

In 1971, a policeman pulls over Elmo McElroy, a recent college graduate with a degree, for driving under the influence of marijuana. Due to his arrest and conviction, McElroy cannot find work as a pharmacologist. In the present day, drug lord "the Lizard" calls a meeting of his colleagues, hoping to sell a new substance invented by Elmo. During the meeting, in a bid to escape from the Lizard's manipulation, Elmo blows up the building, killing everyone but the Lizard. Enraged, the Lizard contacts contract killer Dakota, who previously killed the only witness in a case against the Lizard. Dakota reluctantly accepts when the Lizard offers to clear her gambling debts and give her a $250,000 bonus. Felix DeSouza, a local " fixer " in Liverpool, has been sent by Leopold Durant, head of a local criminal organization, to collect Elmo from Manchester airport, in exchange for two tickets to a sold-out football match between Liverpool and Manchester United. En route to the airport, Felix enters a pub full of Manchester United supporters and antagonizes them before letting off a rocket flare inside; the United fans give chase but his friends rescue him in their car. Elmo lands in Manchester, is greeted by Felix and is taken to the meeting with Durant. At the meeting, Elmo pitches POS 51, a synthetic drug that can be produced with minimal facilities and is 51 times as potent as other drugs. A second opinion from Pudsey, Durant's chemist, confirms Elmo's claims, and Durant gives him over a million dollars in bonds. Since it is $18 million short of the agreed payment, Elmo refuses to sell. On a roof across the street, Dakota is about to shoot Elmo in the head when the Lizard calls cancelling the hit; not wanting to kill Elmo until he has the formula. Instead of killing Elmo, she is to kill anyone who meets with him. She ends up killing everyone but Durant, Elmo, and Felix, who is shot in the buttocks. As Elmo and Felix leave the hotel, skinheads who want the drug attack them. Elmo protects them with a golf club. Detective Virgil Kane and his partner Arthur arrive on the scene and give chase. They are soon lured into a game of chicken by Elmo, who escapes. Kane and Arthur return to the crime scene and Kane demands 50% of Durant's deal with McElroy. A miscommunication leads to Durant's death. Felix contacts a gun dealing club owner and drug distributor named Iki, promising him the formula for £20 million. As Elmo and Felix acquire the ingredients necessary for the drug's manufacture, all of which are over-the-counter products, the now-armed skinheads take them hostage. The skinheads claim they have a lab, though it turns out to be a broken-in animal testing facility. Elmo makes two batches of the drug; one blue and one red. Elmo claims that the red pill is the stronger version, and after he takes one, the skinheads try it. While they are partying, waiting for the effect of the drug, Elmo secretly spits out his red pill. He tells Felix it is a powerful laxative; Elmo and Felix leave after throwing rolls of toilet paper at the incapacitated skinheads. At Iki's rave club, Elmo initiates his deal and delivers the drug to the waiting crowd. Kane and the police interrupt the deal and arrest Felix. After appearing, Dakota reveals that her real name is Dawn and that she and Felix were domestic partners. She abducts Elmo, leaving with him via the roof. Elmo overpowers her, suspending her over the edge of the roof. Having no choice, she strikes a deal with him and they escape Kane. Meanwhile, Kane blackmails Felix during an interrogation and forces himself into the deal with Iki, which Felix sets up for him. Felix, Elmo and Dawn meet Iki in a private viewing box at the football match at Anfield. This time, the deal is interrupted by the Lizard, who kills Iki and demands the formula to POS 51. The Lizard celebrates with a drink, as Elmo reveals that the drug is a placebo and POS stands for Power of Suggestion. Kane interrupts them as Elmo's cocktail, an explosive ingested by the Lizard, takes effect, killing the Lizard. Kane is knocked unconscious and arrested by Arthur, while the main three exit unscathed. Dawn and Felix settle down together, and Elmo purchases the Scottish Highland castle of the Chief of Clan McElroy, while explains that he has spent the movie wearing a kilt with "the tartan of my slave master", but that Elmo now claims both the Castle and the Tartan as his own.