Charlie Cartwright, an amorous English tour guide, takes groups of Americans on whirlwind nine-countries-in-18-days sightseeing tours of Europe. Having overslept with his newest conquest, he is late meeting tour #225, finding a resentful group eager to start. Samantha Perkins, one of those tourists, is on vacation to contemplate whether to marry her fiancé, George. In London, Charlie begins a campaign to charm and seduce the gorgeous Samantha, who considers him frivolous and conniving, reluctant to become just another conquest. Despite verbal sparring, they become mutually attracted, and the confirmed bachelor Charlie proposes marriage. Samantha ultimately decides to settle for neither the unexciting George, who turns up unexpectedly, nor the charismatic Charlie, who is unsuitable husband material. Fred and Edna Ferguson take their daughter Shelly on the trip to separate her from an undesirable boyfriend with whom she is getting sexually involved. In Amsterdam, Shelly meets an activist American college student who follows her around different tour locations, where they sneak off on his motorcycle to spend time together sightseeing through counterculture eyes. Also in Amsterdam, Irma Blakely disappears on a Japanese tour bus she mistakenly boards when separated from her group. Multiple attempts must be made before the two tours overlap to restore her to her husband, Harve. Although Harve pines for Irma during the whole trip and must be coaxed into joining the group at a nightclub, when Irma finally reappears in Rome, she finds him onstage dancing with burlesque dancers and mistakenly believes he has been partying in her absence. Irma declares they will go to Japan next year, since she has made many friends on her improvised tour. In Belgium, Jack Harmon revisits the World War II site where he fought in Bastogne. As he tells tall tales to a fellow tourist, Freda Gooding, of a German retreat, he literally crosses path with a German veteran who is acting out a contradictory tale of Allied retreat to his wife. In Rome, eager to see Gina, a woman he met during the war, again, Jack's fantasies are shattered when he finds that, while still attractive, she is now a grandmother with a family. In consolation, he turns to Freda Gooding, a widow, and begins to get to know her. Often getting slapped, Bert Greenfield sneaks pictures of breasts, thighs, and other intimate angles of voluptuous women, pretending that he is "scoring" with them, and sending made-up stories to his buddies. Desperate, he pays a pretty girl to pose with him in an embrace; she returns his money out of pity and kisses his cheek before departing. In Italy, John Marino takes time from the tour to meet his relatives, who receive him warmly but alarm him when they want to fix him up with Francesca, a plump, plain cousin, who he jumps through a bathroom window into a canal to avoid. The next day he is handed a pile of messages from “a cousin” and spends the rest of his time avoiding her. As he is leaving Venice, John finds that he has been dodging a different―beautiful―cousin he laments not getting to know; Bert laments not getting her photo for his collection. Throughout the tour, Fred complains to Edna that the tour is an ordeal and he is eager to get home. His one objective is to have a custom pair of Italian shoes made, for which he goes through an arduous process to make the non-English-speaking shoemaker understand his specifications. After Fred leaves, the shoemaker selects a pair of ready-made shoes from a catalogue, completely mistaking the specifications, that he will mail to the U.S. to fulfill the "special order". Despite having complained throughout the whole tour, Fred declares they will go on a tour of Scandinavia next year. Throughout the tour, kleptomaniac Harry Dix steals "souvenirs" such as towels, ashtrays, Bibles, bells, lifesavers, telephones, and paintings from each location, which he stows into a commodious suitcase. At the airport on departure, his suitcase is so heavy that it collapses, spilling all his pilfered objects, which he leaves behind. Starting tour #226, Charlie gives an introductory speech evoking unexpected adventure, reflecting his new romantic, less cynical, outlook, as the new group of tourists rotate seats and get to know each other.

Buckaroo Banzai and his mentor Dr. Tohichi Hikita perfect the "oscillation overthruster", a device that allows an object to pass through solid matter. Banzai tests it by driving his Jet Car through a mountain. While in transit, he finds himself in another dimension. After exiting the mountain and returning to his normal dimension, he discovers an alien organism has attached itself to his car. Dr. Emilio Lizardo, incarcerated at the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane, sees a television news story of Banzai's successful test. In 1938, Drs. Lizardo and Hikita had built a prototype overthruster in Princeton, New Jersey, but he tested it before it was ready and became stuck between dimensions. In those moments, he saw alien creatures and struggled until freed by his colleagues, emerging crazily changed and violent. Understanding that Banzai has finally accessed the 8th dimension, Lizardo escapes the asylum and plots to steal the overthruster. Banzai and his band, "The Hong Kong Cavaliers", are performing at a nightclub when Banzai interrupts their musical intro to speak to a sad woman in the audience, Penny Priddy. During a song he performs especially for her (" Since I Don't Have You "), she attempts to shoot herself, which is mistaken for an assassination attempt on Banzai. After questioning her at the New Brunswick jail, he realizes she is his late wife Peggy's long-lost identical twin sister and bails her out. Later, during a press conference to discuss his Jet Car experience, the overthruster, and the specimen of alien/transdimensional life he obtained while traversing the 8th dimension, Banzai is called to the phone, where he receives an electrical shock. Simultaneously, strange men disrupt the event and kidnap Hikita. When Banzai returns, his electrical shock enables him to recognize them as humanoid aliens, and he gives chase. He rescues Hikita, and they evade the aliens long enough for the Cavaliers to rescue them. Banzai and the Cavaliers return to the Banzai Institute, where they are met by John Parker, a messenger from John Emdall, the leader of the peaceful Black Lectroids of Planet 10. Parker delivers a recording from Emdall in which she explains that her people have been at war with the hostile Red Lectroids for years, managing to banish them to the 8th dimension. Lizardo's failed test of the overthruster in 1938 allowed the Red Lectroids' tyrannical leader, Lord John Whorfin, to take over Lizardo's mind and enable several dozen of his allies to escape. Because Banzai has now perfected the overthruster, Emdall fears Whorfin and his allies will try to acquire it to free the other Red Lectroids and tasks Banzai with stopping Whorfin; otherwise, the Black Lectroids will attack Russia from their orbiting ship, triggering a nuclear World War III that will annihilate the Red Lectroids on Earth as well as humankind. The Cavaliers track the Red Lectroids to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in New Jersey. They realize that Orson Welles 's broadcast of The War of the Worlds described the Lectroids' arrival in Grovers Mill, New Jersey in 1938, though afterward the Lectroids forced him to state it was fictional. Yoyodyne has been building a spacecraft to cross over to the 8th dimension, disguised as a new United States Air Force bomber. While the Cavaliers plan their response, Red Lectroids break into the Institute and kidnap Penny, unaware that they have also captured the overthruster, which she was carrying. At Yoyodyne, Penny refuses to tell the Red Lectroids where the overthruster is, and they begin torturing her. Banzai enters Yoyodyne headquarters alone; the Cavaliers soon follow, reinforced by several groups of the Blue Blaze Irregulars—civilians recruited to assist the Cavaliers. Banzai saves Penny and fights off the Red Lectroids, though she is wounded and unconscious. While the Cavaliers tend to her, Banzai and Parker sneak into a pod on the Yoyodyne spacecraft. Lacking Banzai's overthruster, Whorfin insists they use his imperfect model, which fails to make the dimensional transition; instead, the Red Lectroid spaceship breaks through the Yoyodyne wall and takes off into the atmosphere. Lord Whorfin ejects the pod containing Banzai and Parker from the craft, but they activate it and use its weapon systems to destroy Whorfin and the other Red Lectroids. Banzai parachutes back to Earth while Parker returns to his people in orbit using the pod. With the situation resolved and war averted, Banzai finds Penny, who appears to have died from her injuries. When he gives her a farewell kiss, Emdall allows Banzai one more brief moment of electricity, reviving Penny.

Lieutenant Droste wants to build an air station in the middle of the ocean to allow pilots on intercontinental flights to refuel and repair any damage to their aircraft. With the help of the pilot Ellissen, he manages to win the support of the Lennartz-Werke for the project. Ellissen, who has taken up with the owner's sister Claire Lennartz, shies away from marriage and seeks new adventure. After two years, the platform has been installed in place and is ready for operation. During a storm, the radio connection to the platform is lost. The last noises heard were gunshots and screams. The weather clears and the best pilots immediately head for F.P.1. Ellissen, in a lovesick depression, is convinced by Claire to fly her to the platform. Immediately after touching down their plane receives rifle fire and subsequently rams a railing. They find the crew of F.P.1 knocked out by gas deliberately released by a saboteur. Before chief engineer Damsky fled in a boat, he opened the ballast valves, causing a danger that F.P.1 will sink. Claire finds the badly injured Droste and takes care of him. Ellissen has to recognize that Claire is slipping away from him. After a short time, he pulls himself together and takes a plane out to get help. He sees a ship, parachutes from his plane, is taken aboard the ship, and calls for help via radio. A fleet of ships and planes are sent to rescue F.P.1.

A scientist in the distant future has set out to avert a catastrophic ecological disaster and sends a small number of high tech devices that resemble toys back in time to the 21st century. Ending up in Seattle, they are discovered by siblings Noah Wilder and his younger sister Emma. The "toys" are initially incomprehensible to them, other than one which appears to be a stuffed rabbit. The children keep their discovery a secret from their parents. Emma becomes telepathically connected to the rabbit, naming it "Mimzy", which imparts knowledge onto her. The children gain genius -level intellects and psionic powers – Noah can teleport objects using a card-sized rectangle of green lines of light and a conch shell to control spiders, but thanks to her link, Emma develops more advanced abilities, becoming the only one who can use the "spinners", stones that can float and produce a force field. Emma describes herself as "the chosen one" but names Noah as "the engineer" without which she cannot "build the bridge to the future". The children's parents and Larry White, Noah's science teacher, discover the devices and the children's powers. By mistake, Noah causes a power outage over half the state of Washington, alerting the FBI to their activities. The family is held for questioning by Agent Nathaniel Broadman, during which Mimzy is revealed as artificial life using nanotechnology created by Intel. Emma relates a dire message from Mimzy which states that many of her kind were sent into the past before, but none of them were able to return to their proper time period, because they lacked an "engineer" like Noah, and now Mimzy, the last one that the scientist was able to send back, is beginning to deteriorate. To save the future, Mimzy must acquire a sample of uncorrupted human DNA to correct the damage done to DNA by ecological catastrophes. The FBI do not believe them, so Noah and Emma use their powers to escape. Mimzy absorbs a tear from Emma, which contains her DNA. Via the time portal that Noah constructs using the toys, Mimzy returns to the future, leaving a Sri Yantra symbol; Larry, who witnessed the event, says he saw "numbers", a reference to a dream he had that related to him winning lottery numbers he had missed out before by never buying a ticket. In the future, Mimzy provides the genetic information required to restore humanity, both physically and mentally, with Emma coming to be dubbed "Our Mother" by the populace.

In 1957, Soviet agents led by Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko kidnap American archeologist Indiana Jones and his partner George "Mac" McHale. They infiltrate Hangar 51 in Nevada and use Jones to locate a mummified alien from the Roswell incident. Jones locates the mummy before being double-crossed by Mac, but escapes to a nearby model town at the Nevada Test Site, minutes before an atomic bomb test. He survives the blast in a lead-lined refrigerator in one of the town's mock houses before being rescued and interrogated by the FBI. Returning to Marshall College, Jones discovers he has been placed on an indefinite leave of absence. Mutt Williams, a young greaser, approaches Jones and informs him that his former colleague, Harold "Ox" Oxley, found a crystal skull in Peru in search of the mythical city Akator. KGB agents attempt to capture them, but the two escape, during which they instigate a brawl between the greasers and jocks and lose them during the chase through the College Campus District. The duo later travels to Peru. In Peru, they find carvings made by Ox, which lead the pair to the grave of Francisco de Orellana, which contains an elongated crystal skull. Leaving the grave, they are captured by the Soviets and taken to a camp in the Amazon rainforest. They are reunited with Mac, Spalko, an addled Ox, and Mutt's mother, Marion Ravenwood. Spalko tells Jones that the skulls are alien in origin and that she intends to use them to project Soviet propaganda into the minds of Americans. Jones has a brief telepathic connection to the skull, which commands him to return it to Akator. He realizes that Ox is attempting to communicate through automatic writing, discovering a route to the city. They first attempt an escape until Indy and Marion get caught in quicksand, during which Marion reveals that Mutt is Indy's son. Mutt manages to save them, but they are recaptured by the Soviets. While en route to Akator, Jones retakes the skull from the Soviet troops and escapes from them alongside Marion, Ox, Mutt and Mac, who claims to be a double agent, all the while leaving a trail for Spalko. Jones and his companions locate Akator, where they learn that the skull belonged to one of thirteen "interdimensional beings" whom the early Ugha tribes worshipped as deities. Spalko catches up and returns the skull to its skeleton, which comes to life and offers her the reward of omniscience. As an interdimensional portal opens above the chamber, abducting Mac and Spalko's remaining soldiers, the skeletons combine into a reanimated alien, who transfers an overwhelming amount of knowledge into Spalko's mind, vaporizing her. Jones, Ox, Marion and Mutt escape the crumbling city as a flying saucer rises from the ruins and departs for another dimension. As Ox regains his sanity, Jones and his party return to the United States, where he is reinstated at Marshall College and promoted to associate dean, and marries Marion.

Hopper, an archaeology professor, is exploring a remote cave system on the trail of missing hippies from the 1970s. After discovering what appears to be a cowboy paused in place in a tunnel, he returns to town and dismisses his graduate students, Taylor and Jackie, stating that their research is done. Several days later, as Hopper has not returned, Taylor and Jackie go looking for him, with their friend Cara, who brings her sister, Veeves, and her friend Furby. Following Hopper's trail to the campsite by a cave, they find an entrance with climbing ropes leading inside. They decide to follow it, but Furby chooses to stay behind as backup for the base camp. They lower themselves into the cave, hearing strange noises. When Furby does not answer their radio calls, Jackie tries to climb back out, but the rope frays, and she falls, injuring herself and Taylor. Calling for help, they receive a transmission from inside the cave and follow it. At a different junction, they discover another opening to the cave and Furby, dead with a broken neck. Watching his video recordings, they notice several days elapsed from his perspective, while only an hour had passed in the cave. He began researching the hippies' belongings, discovering they were Hopper's parents and that they were accompanied by his sister. His parents were following legends of the Fountain of Youth and speculated that this cave system was the root of the story. Furby found another cave opening. After several days, he went into the cave to retrieve keys for a vehicle but fell when his rope severed. Taylor deduces the cave is inside a time distortion where events move more slowly. With few options, Cara free-climbs out of the cave to get a GPS signal. Outside, the terrain has become barren, and there is no signal. Returning to the cave, comparing video recordings, Cara has experienced about thirty minutes on the surface while she had been gone at most a few seconds from the others' viewpoint, confirming Taylor's theory. Reviewing Furby's footage again, they learn that he survived the fall but was murdered by a caveman. Cara and Taylor deduce the time difference is much more drastic than they suspected and entire years are passing within seconds, meaning the few hours they have been in the cave is enough to span several thousand years outside. Hearing more howling, Cara prepares to climb out again for help but is interrupted by a futuristic 8-foot-tall humanoid spaceman descending via a retractable ladder. A caveman suddenly attacks, but is subdued non-lethally. They flee just to find a whole tribe of cavemen inspecting the dead bodies of the cowboy and Hopper's parents. Discovered, Taylor fights the cavemen and is killed. The spaceman returns, protects the others from the cavemen, and then places Taylor into a healing pool of water. More cavemen attack, and the spaceman is exposed to the air in the caves, which is toxic to him. Dying, he shows the students several media clips about their disappearance and indicating that humans have left a dying Earth, resettling (and evolving) on Mars. Taylor finds Hopper injured in front of another time dilation, containing his sister, a legion of conquistadors and a cavemen horde virtually frozen in the midst of a battle over control of a waterfall, the source of the time distortion. Hopper explains the field is strongest here, making rescue of his sister impossible; he tells Taylor to go and save the others, as he is also dying. Preparing to leave the cave with the spaceman's ladder, the students are attacked by cavemen before they can get through; Cara is grabbed and pulled through the portal before she can help her friends. From their perspective, she instantly reappears through the portal, futuristically dressed and with tentacle-like mechanisms which pull her friends through. A short time later, Furby awakens, along with Hopper and Hopper's family, all having been retrieved and resurrected with the healing waters. The others arrive, happily explaining they are in a space station and have a lot to talk about.

In the year 10,191, the known universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The most valuable substance in the empire is the spice melange, which extends life and expands consciousness. The spice also allows the Spacing Guild to fold space, allowing safe, instantaneous interstellar travel. The Guild's leader demands Shaddam clarify a conspiracy that could jeopardize spice production. Shaddam reveals that he has transferred power and control of the planet Arrakis, the only source of the spice, to House Atreides from their archenemies, House Harkonnen. However, once the Atreides arrive, the Harkonnens will eliminate them with aide from Shaddam's own Sardaukar troops. Shaddam fears the Atreides due to reports of a secret army that they are amassing. Lady Jessica, the concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusive sisterhood with advanced physical and mental abilities. As part of a centuries-long breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a mental "superbeing" whom the Bene Gesserit would use to their advantage, Jessica was ordered to bear a daughter but disobeyed and bore a son, Paul Atreides. Paul is tested by Reverend Mother Mohiam to assess his impulse control and, to her surprise, passes the test. The Atreides leave their homeworld Caladan for Arrakis, a barren desert planet populated by gigantic sandworms. The native people of Arrakis, the Fremen, prophesy that a messiah will lead them to freedom and paradise. Duncan Idaho, one of Leto's loyalists, tells him that he suspects Arrakis holds vast numbers of Fremen who could prove to be powerful allies. Before Leto can form an alliance with the Fremen, the Harkonnen launch their attack. Leto's personal physician who is also secretly a Harkonnen double-agent, Dr. Wellington Yueh, disables the shields, leaving the Atreides defenseless. Idaho is killed, Leto is captured, and nearly the entire House of Atreides is wiped out by the Harkonnen. Baron Harkonnen orders Mentat Piter De Vries to kill Yueh with a poisoned blade. Leto dies in a failed attempt to assassinate the Baron using a poison-gas tooth implanted by Yueh in exchange for sparing the lives of Jessica and Paul, killing Piter instead. Paul and Jessica survive the attack and escape into the deep desert, where they are given sanctuary by a sietch of Fremen. Paul assumes the Fremen name Muad'Dib and emerges as the messiah for whom the Fremen have been waiting. He teaches them to use Weirding Modules —sonic weapons developed by House Atreides—and targets spice mining. Over the next two years, spice production is nearly halted due to Paul's raids. The Spacing Guild informs the Emperor of the deteriorating situation on Arrakis. Paul falls in love with young Fremen warrior Chani. Jessica becomes the Fremen's Reverend Mother by ingesting the Water of Life, a deadly poison, which she renders harmless by using her Bene Gesserit abilities. As an after-effect of this ritual, Jessica's unborn child, Alia, later emerges from the womb with the full powers of an adult Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. In a prophetic dream, Paul learns of the plot by the Emperor and the Guild to kill him. When Paul's dreams suddenly stop, he drinks the Water of Life and has a profound psychedelic trip in the desert. He gains powerful psychic abilities and the ability to control the sandworms, which he realizes are the spice's source. The Emperor amasses a huge invasion fleet above Arrakis to wipe out the Fremen and regain control of the planet. He has the Baron's older nephew Glossu "The Beast" Rabban beheaded and summons the Baron to explain why spice mining has stopped. Paul launches a final attack against the Harkonnen and the Emperor's Sardaukar at Arrakeen, the capital city. Riding atop sandworms and brandishing sonic weapons, Paul's Fremen warriors easily defeat the Emperor's legions. Alia assassinates the Baron while Paul confronts the Emperor and fights the Baron's younger nephew Feyd-Rautha in a duel to the death. After killing Feyd, Paul demonstrates his newfound powers and fulfills the Fremen prophecy by causing rain to fall on Arrakis. Alia declares him to be the Kwisatz Haderach.

The Ark spacecraft escapes from the planet Cybertron carrying an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons, and crash-lands on the dark side of Earth's Moon in 1962. NASA detects the crash, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the spacecraft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and secretly inspects the Ark before returning to Earth. In the present day, three years after the battle of Egypt, the Autobots assist humanity in preventing major conflicts. During a mission to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to investigate suspected alien technology, the Autobots are attacked by Decepticon scientist Shockwave and his giant worm Driller. After the two escape, Optimus Prime discovers that the technology is a fuel cell from the Ark. The Autobots travel to the Moon and discover Sentinel Prime, the Autobots' leader before Optimus, in a comatose state along with five Pillars he created as a means of establishing a "Space Bridge", a wormhole able to teleport matter between two points. On Earth, Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky lives with his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, but is unable to work with the Autobots. At his new job, co-worker Jerry Wang gives him information about the Ark, before being assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak. Sam contacts Seymour Simmons to investigate the Decepticons' murders of people connected to the American and Soviet lunar space missions. They locate two surviving cosmonauts, who show photos of hundreds of Pillars on the Moon, and realize that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Apollo 11 mission and left Sentinel and the five Pillars for the Autobots to find, knowing that Sentinel was the key to activating the Pillars. Meanwhile, Sam and the Autobots fight off three pursuing Decepticons — Hatchet, Crankcase, and Crowbar — and return Sentinel to their base. Revealing that he made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron's survival, Sentinel betrays the Autobots and kills Ironhide. Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth. Dylan Gould, Carly's boss, is revealed to be working with the Decepticons, and captures Carly with the help of Soundwave, who was disguised as Carly's car. At the demand of the Decepticons, the Autobots are exiled from Earth, but Starscream destroys their ship as it takes off. The Decepticons invade Chicago while placing Pillars around the world to begin transporting Cybertron to the Solar System, planning to enslave humanity and use Earth's resources to rebuild their homeworld. Sam teams up with former NEST soldier Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly and arrest Dylan. They are nearly killed by the Decepticons before the Autobots, who survived their ship's destruction, intervene. Sam, along with NEST teams led by Lennox and Navy SEALs, rescue Carly and begin fighting the Decepticons. During the battle, the Autobot Que is executed, and Bumblebee kills Soundwave, while Optimus fights Sentinel. Laserbeak, Starscream, Shockwave, and the Driller are also killed in the ensuing battle. Meanwhile, Wheelie and Brains sneak onboard and sabotage the Decepticon mothership. Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced by Sentinel as leader of the Decepticons. Sam fights Dylan and knocks him into the Pillar, which electrocutes and kills him. Bumblebee destroys the Control Pillar, closing the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Sentinel overpowers Optimus, but is incapacitated by Megatron, who is determined to regain his leadership. Megatron offers a truce, but Optimus refuses and kills Megatron by tearing off his head, before executing Sentinel for his betrayal. Sam and Carly are reunited, and the Autobots remain on Earth as their hopeful home.

In 2002, young Quinn Abercromby is visiting a London Underground construction project. Construction workers penetrate a cave and a dragon emerges from hibernation, incinerating the workers with its fire breath. The only survivor is Quinn, whose mother Karen, the project engineer, dies protecting him. The dragon flies out of the Underground and soon more dragons appear. The world's militaries fail to stop the spread of the dragon population and target large populated areas with nuclear weapons, leaving humans nearly extinct. 18 years later, in 2020, the dragons are dying off but have become increasingly aggressive in search of food. Quinn, along with his best friend Creedy, leads a community of survivors at Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland where he plans to outlast dragons until they return into hibernation; as insurance, he shares his notes and plans with Jared, an orphan he rescued and is mentoring to take over as community leader. The community is short on supplies, causing unrest pending the harvest of their meager crops. Eddie and some of his followers steal a truck to harvest the crops for food but are attacked by a dragon. Quinn, Creedy, and Jared repel the dragon, which burns most of the crops, leaving the community without food. A group of heavily armed Americans led by Denton Van Zan then arrive in an armored convoy. Quinn is initially sceptical and suspects they are marauders, but Van Zan convinces him to let them stay when he reveals the dragons' main weakness: poor vision during twilight. With Quinn's help, Van Zan and his team slay the dragon who destroyed the crops. Van Zan introduces Quinn to Alex Jensen, his team's helicopter pilot and intelligence officer, and briefs Quinn on their mission. After killing hundreds of dragons, Alex discovered they were all female; she postulates that they reproduce quickly because the species relies on a single male to fertilize all the eggs en masse. Having tracked the spread of the dragons, they believe that the male is in London and that if they kill it, the dragons will no longer be able to reproduce, effectively eradicating the species. Quinn, suspecting that the male dragon is the same one that killed his mother, refuses to help, knowing that London is infested with dragons and that if they fail, the dragons will track them back to their shelter. Van Zan drafts the castle defenders, despite Quinn's objections. Van Zan, Alex, and some of the castle's men then depart for London, but true to Quinn's warnings, their caravan is attacked by the male dragon. Everyone except for Van Zan and Alex are killed. The dragon then finds the castle and attacks, killing many of its inhabitants. Quinn gets the survivors to an underground bunker, but they are trapped by rubble when the dragon returns; during this attack, Creedy is killed. Van Zan and Alex return and free everyone trapped in the bunker. Quinn leaves Jared in charge and decides to help Van Zan and Alex hunt down the male dragon. They fly to London and find hundreds of female dragons; one is cannibalized by the much larger male out of hunger. This scatters the female dragons and leaves the male alone. Van Zan coordinates a plan: split up, bait the male into attacking, ground him with explosive crossbow bolts, and shoot one into his mouth once he is ground level. The plan initially works, but the dragon detonates the first explosive bolt early with its fire breath and Van Zan is swallowed whole. Quinn and Alex gather the last explosives and lure the dragon to ground level, where Quinn fires an explosive down the dragon's throat, killing it. Three months later, Quinn and Alex erect a radio tower on a hill overlooking the North Sea, having seen no dragons since the battle in London. Jared arrives and reveals they have contact with French survivors who want to speak to the group's leader. Quinn declares Jared the new community leader and dedicates himself to rebuilding civilization with Alex.

Maax, the high priest of a cult in the city of Aruk, is warned by witches of a prophecy, which foretells his death at the hand of King Zed’s unborn son.Maax sends a witch to magically abduct the child from his mother. The witch brands the child and prepares to sacrifice him, but a passing traveler rescues him. The traveler names the child Dar and takes him to the nearby village of Emur to raise as an adoptive son. While growing up, Dar develops an unusual ability to telepathically communicate with animals, which his father warns him to keep secret. Emur is destroyed by the Junds, a horde of savage barbarians, leaving an adult Dar as the only survivor. Dar sets out for Aruk with his father’s weapons to seek revenge against the Junds. Along the way, several animal companions join him: the golden eagle, Sharak; the ferrets, Kodo and Podo; and the black panther, Ruh. Dar also meets Kiri, a young woman who is a slave to the cult of Ar. One night, Dar encounters a race of sinister bird-like people. The bird-folk surround Dar, but upon realizing that he travels with Sharak, they give him a medallion and allow him to pass. Dar reaches Aruk to find Maax and his cultists in control of the city. Dar rescues a young girl from imminent sacrifice and returns her to her father, Sacco. From Sacco, Dar learns that Maax, who is allied with the Junds, has imprisoned King Zed in the temple, and he is sacrificing their children to his god Ar. Realizing that Kiri is among those to be sacrificed, Dar leaves Aruk to find and save her. He is joined by the warrior Seth, and Zed’s younger son, Tal. The three rescue Kiri, who reveals she is Zed’s niece and recruits Dar to help rescue the king. While Seth leaves to gather rebel forces, Dar helps Kiri and Tal enter the temple and free Zed. The group flees Aruk with the help of Sacco. At the rebel camp, Zed devises a plan to attack Aruk and defeat Maax. Dar warns Zed that the small rebel force cannot defend the city against the Junds. Zed senses Dar’s gift with animals and angrily denounces him as a freak and coward; Dar leaves the rebel camp. Seth learns that Maax has been magically spying on the group and warns Zed the plan is compromised. Zed, lusted for revenge, disregards Seth’s warning. The next morning, Dar learns the attack failed, and Zed and the others were captured and are to be sacrificed. Dar rushes to Aruk and fights his way to the top of the temple, where Maax reveals Dar’s parentage before murdering Zed. Dar defeats Maax, however Maax is healed by a witch’s magic. Kodo leaps onto Maax and causes him to fall into the sacrificial flames, killing them both. The Junds ride to Aruk and attack at nightfall. Dar gives Sharak the medallion of the bird-folk, who flies away with it. Aruk's defenders manage to trap many Jund warriors in a flaming moat of tar, however the Junds eventually surround the defenders. The Jund chieftain, recognizing Dar from Emur, challenges him to single combat; Dar defeats him. As the remaining Junds close in, the bird-folk appear and devour the remaining Junds. The next day, as Dar prepares to leave Aruk, Seth recognizes his branding and realizes Dar is the firstborn of Zed, and therefore the rightful king of Aruk. Dar declines the kingship, insisting that Tal will make a good king. Dar continues his travels alongside Kiri, Sharak, Ruh, and Podo, as well as two baby ferrets.

In the late 20th century, unexplained apocalyptic disasters devastate the world. Most knowledge and technology from the past has apparently been lost, and the former United States reverts to an unconnected pre-industrial society. In 2013, a nomad traveling to St. Rose, Oregon wanders the Western U.S., trading performances of long-forgotten Shakespearean plays for food and water. In one town, the nomad is impressed into the Holnists, a neo-feudalist militia obsessed with a misinterpreted self-help book that serves as the region's tyrannical authority, led by General Bethlehem. The nomad, dubbed "Shakespeare" by Bethlehem, faces harassment by Captain Idaho, who mentions Colonel Getty once challenged Bethlehem for leadership; Bethlehem won the fight and mutilated Getty. The nomad is sent to kill a lion, but he escapes by jumping into a river. Idaho arrives and forces the nomad and another conscript to fight to the death. Idaho kills the conscript, but before he can shoot the nomad, the lion kills him. The nomad flees and takes refuge in an abandoned United States Postal Service Jeep DJ, burning letters and wearing the long-deceased postal carrier's coat to stay warm. Now donning the postal uniform and mail bag, the nomad arrives in the town of Pineview and is held at gunpoint by their leader, Sheriff Briscoe. To avoid execution, the nomad claims to be a "Postman" from the newly-restored U.S. federal government, presenting a letter addressed to elderly villager Irene March as proof. The Postman inspires teenager Ford Lincoln Mercury, who he swears in as a postal carrier and helps reactivate Pineview's abandoned post office. That evening, the Postman is approached by Abby and her husband Michael, who is sterile, to conceive a child for them. The following morning, the Postman leaves for the town of Benning, taking Pineview's mail and packages with him. The postman delivers letters to Benning, bringing the residents hope. Meanwhile, during a raid on Pineview, Bethlehem learns of the Postman's claim of a restored government in Minneapolis. Fearing his loss of power if word spreads, Bethlehem has the post office razed, kills Michael, and abducts Abby. Benning repels a raid by Bethlehem, and the Postman offers to negotiate for them; however, General Bethlehem does not recognize the Postman, refuses to negotiate, and orders him killed. The Postman and Abby flee into the surrounding mountains, where they recover over the winter in an abandoned cabin. In the spring, they leave and encounter another postal carrier, who reveals that Mercury has kept the Postal Service alive by recruiting other carriers and opening more post offices, connecting settlements across the former U.S. and forming a quasi-society in the "Restored United States". Bethlehem, threatened by the rise of the Restored U.S., persecutes and publicly executes postal carriers. Wracked by guilt for their deaths, the Postman reads a fake announcement from the President of the Restored U.S. ordering the Postal Service to disband, and writes a confession to Bethlehem admitting that the Restored U.S. was a lie. Bethlehem orders the execution of Mercury and another postal carrier, and redoubles his efforts to hunt down the Postman. The Postman, Abby, and a group of young postal carriers travel to Bridge City, tailed by Holnist scouts, who reveal Bethlehem is looking for the Postman. The Postman organizes a Restored U.S. Army to face the Holnists in a pitched battle. Unwilling to allow further bloodshed, the Postman reveals to Bethlehem that he is "Shakespeare" and challenges him to a one-on-one duel for power with their troops as witnesses; per Holnist traditions, Bethlehem accepts. The Postman wins the hand-to-hand fight, but spares Bethlehem's life to maintain morale. Bethlehem tries to shoot the Postman as he turns away, but is shot dead by Getty, who disarms the Holnists. Thirty years later in 2043, the Postman dies at the age of 70. His adult daughter Hope speaks at a ceremony unveiling a memorial honoring his efforts in St. Rose, part of the Restored U.S., with the implication that modern society and technology have returned following the country's reestablishment.