In 1935, American archeologist Indiana Jones survives a murder attempt in China from Shanghai Triad crime boss Lao Che, who hired him to retrieve the remains of Nurhaci. Jones flees from the city accompanied by his young orphan sidekick Short Round and nightclub singer Willie Scott, unaware that the plane they are traveling on is owned by Lao Che. The plane's pilots dump the fuel and parachute away, but Jones, Willie and Short Round escape using an inflatable raft before the plane crashes. The trio ride down the slopes of the Himalayas and fall into a river before arriving at the Indian village of Mayapore. There, the villagers plead for Jones' aid in retrieving a sacred lingam stone stolen along with the village's children by evil forces from the nearby Pankot Palace. Jones agrees to do so, hypothesizing that the stone is one of the five Sankara stones given by the Hindu gods to help humanity fight evil. Traveling to the palace, the trio are warmly welcomed and allowed to stay for the night as guests, attending a banquet hosted by the palace's young maharaja Zalim Singh. During the night, Jones is attacked by an assassin, but manages to kill him. He discovers a series of tunnels underneath the palace and explores them with Willie and Short Round. Finding a temple and a complex of mine tunnels, they observe Thuggee cultists conducting a human sacrifice. The cult, which possesses three Sankara stones, is revealed to have brainwashed Singh and abducted the children of Mayapore, using them as slave labor to find the remaining stones. During Jones' attempt to retrieve the stones, the trio is captured. Thuggee high priest Mola Ram forces Jones to drink a potion that places him into a trance-like state, under which he prepares Willie for sacrifice. Short Round is briefly enslaved in the tunnels, but he escapes and interrupts Willie's sacrifice by freeing Jones from his trance, who in turn rescues Willie. The trio defeat multiple cultists, collect the Sankara stones and free Singh and the children, escaping an attempt by Mola Ram to drown them. When he and his men ambush the trio on a rope bridge, Jones severs it with a sword, causing several cultists to fall into the crocodile-infested river far below. As Jones, Willie, Short Round, and Mola Ram struggle to climb up the broken bridge, Jones invokes the name of Shiva, triggering the stones to burn through his satchel. Two stones fall into the river; Mola Ram catches the third, but it burns his hand and he falls and is devoured by the crocodiles. Indy catches the stone with no ill effects and climbs up as a regiment of British Indian Army soldiers arrives, alerted by Singh, to defeat the remaining cultists. Jones, Willie, and Short Round return to Mayapore to hand over the stone, and Jones and Willie embrace as the villagers celebrate its and their children's return.

In 1991, Maksymilian "Max" Paradys and Albert Starski volunteer themselves for the first human hibernation experiment, created by professor Wiktor Kuppelweiser. Instead of being awakened 3 years later in 1994 as planned, they wake in the year 2044, in a post-nuclear world. They think they are in a clinic being taken care of by women; Max becomes attracted to Lamia Reno. After asking for professor Kuppelweiser, they are informed that he "doesn't exist", and that there was a war long ago and that males have long been extinct. The men are under constant surveillance; Lamia informs them their society reproduces without males through parthenogenesis. During a briefing, Max kisses Lamia, for which she knocks him down and threatens both men with euthanasia. However, the kiss causes Lamia's drug-inhibited passions to resurface. She finds the oldest living woman Julia Novack, who tells Lamia that the old world with two sexes should be restored. After several days, Max and Albert are permitted to go out to meet with Her Excellency, the supreme ruler of women. Waiting for her in the bio-sanctuary, they spot a tree with two tiny apples and eat them, having had enough of synthetic food. At the meeting they ask what womankind did to mankind. The women reply the extinction of men is not their fault, but Kuppelweiser's, who, during the war, invented an agent which was supposed to temporarily paralyze male genes, but instead destroyed male genes permanently. Max proposes he and Albert serve as reproducers to restore the male population. However, the women do not wish the old order to return; Her Excellency gestures to the "sacred apple tree " and says it was planted by Arch Mother, and from which, when once in paradise, a male took an apple and seduced a woman with it, by which act paradise was lost. Noticing the missing apples, Her Excellency becomes enraged and demands the men be confined again. Max and Albert escape by damaging the electric power grid, but are ultimately caught. The women provide them to submit themselves for "naturalization" - undergoing a sex reassignment surgery. When they refuse, the ceiling above the room reveals an assembly of women to determine their fate. In a trial, the women blame males for oppression, evil and vices, and praise their new society. They engage in historical revisionism by claiming that scientists such as Copernicus, Einstein and Pincus were women. When Max and Albert are taken away, the assembly votes on whether the men should undergo forced 'naturalization' or be 'liquidated'. Naturalization is passed by one vote. The men escape again, and encounter other women who have never seen a man. They are cornered by the security team and escape down a waste chute. They discover the nest of "decadency" - one of the anarchist, " hippie " women's groups, who do not wish to be part of the oppressive regime, playing loud music, and some engaging in lesbian relations. They mistake Max and Albert for government spies and, in the meantime, the pursuing regime forces attack, and subsequent chaos provides the men with an opportunity to escape. During their escape, the men stumble upon Lamia, who provides them with a way to see the outside - a periscope - and reveals that they live deep underground in expanded old mines. The periscope shows a dark, rocky landscape above ground, and sensors indicate high levels of "Kuppelweiser radiation ", a side effect of the M bomb. However, it transpires that Lamia's "help" was a ruse to capture the men and force them into surgery. Lamia is congratulated by Tekla and Emma Dax, but they also inform her that their section will now be in charge of the males, which devastates Lamia. In the hands of Tekla, the fate of the males is to be different. Their organs will be extracted for transplantation, and their remains will be tested as a food source due to a protein shortage. The chief surgeon, Dr Yanda, an old lady, is revealed to be Max's daughter, who now delights in taking revenge for his abandonment of his wife and child in favor of hibernation for profit. Lamia sabotages the surgery and helps the men escape as revenge for Tekla and Dax taking the men and her research. In the periscope room Lamia tells the guards she will blast the whole block if they do not give her the code activating a capsule reaching the surface, while Max and Albert find and change into protective suits. The guards claim that only Her Excellency knows the password required; enraged, Max shouts "kurwa mać!" (a popular Polish profanity as versatile as " fuck " in English, lit. " mother's a whore"), and the capsule is activated. Exploring the barren surface, Max bumps against an invisible barrier and is unable to go further. He cuts the fabric of the barrier, revealing a dazzling light. They all go through the hole and find themselves on a beach, the periscope area surrounded by a small tent-like structure with the barren landscape panorama painted on the inside of the canvas. They reach a forest, but the suits are running out of oxygen. Max points skyward to a flying stork and declares "if it can live, it means we can live too". After removing the suits, they come across a villa with food. While eating in the garden, they are found by Emma; armed with a harpoon, she demands their surrender, but she faints from lack of oxygen. Albert performs CPR on her. When she regains consciousness, Emma begins to fight with Albert; on the TV they see an official government broadcast of events, stating that Lamia and Emma are dead and including an interview with "naturalized" Max and Albert, who claim to be feeling well. Emma is shocked, unable to understand such lies and all the strange environment "with too much air". Max goes with Lamia to a bedroom and tries to explain to her what mating is, while Albert tries his luck with Emma. In the living room, Her Excellency emerges from the elevator hidden within a closet to feed her caged birds. When she opens the wardrobe, she is attacked by Max who was hiding inside. Her Excellency's breasts and hair are stripped, revealing that 'she' is a male in disguise. 'Her' Excellency tells the men that after the war, when the League of Women took power, the few boys remaining were naturalized into girls, but he was hidden by his mother. Growing up in a female disguise, he joined the League and was eventually elected 'Her Excellency'. He was too afraid of women to form a relationship with any and, by revealing himself, to try to restore the old order. The government has been exaggerating the radiation level to keep the inhabitants easier to control; likewise, the inhabitants are medicated to remove sexual desire. The three make a deal: Max and Albert will not compromise 'Her' Excellency's true identity, but they will stay in his home with Lamia and Emma. Later, Max and Albert, disguised as laboratory workers, add male gametes to flasks in the incubation centre. Months later, a nurse, routinely wrapping newborns in blankets, is horrified to see a penis.

Mrs. Brisby, a widowed field mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children on a farm owned by the Fitzgibbons family. She intends to move her family out of the field as plowing time approaches, but her son Timothy has fallen ill, making it impossible for him to travel. Brisby visits Mr. Ages, a friend of her late husband Jonathan, who diagnoses the illness as pneumonia, provides her with medicine, and warns that Timothy must stay inside for at least three weeks to recover. On her way home, Brisby befriends Jeremy, a clumsy but amiable crow, shortly before they narrowly escape the Fitzgibbons' cat, Dragon. The next morning, she discovers that the plowing has begun early. Although her neighbor, Auntie Shrew, helps disable the tractor used for the task, Brisby realizes she needs a better plan. Jeremy then takes her to meet the Great Owl, who at first rejects her, but upon learning she is Jonathan Brisby’s widow, tells her to visit a colony of rats living beneath a rose bush on the farm and seek out Nicodemus, their wise and mystical leader. Brisby enters the rose bush and encounters an aggressive guard rat named Brutus, who chases her away. She is led back in by Ages and is amazed to see the rats' use of electricity and other technology. Brisby meets Justin, the friendly captain of the guard; Jenner, a ruthless and power-hungry member opposed to Nicodemus; and finally Nicodemus himself. From Nicodemus, she learns that many years ago the rats, along with her husband and Ages, were part of a series of experiments at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH for short). The experiments gave them human-like intelligence, enabling them to escape, as well as extending their lifespans. They are unable to live as typical rats would, however, and need human technology to survive, which they can get only by stealing, placing them at great risk of discovery. To avoid being at the mercy of humankind again, the rats have collectively decided to leave the farm and live independently in an area they refer to as Thorn Valley. Nicodemus then gives Brisby a magical amulet that will activate when the wearer is courageous. Meanwhile, Jenner, who wishes for the rats to remain in the rose bush, plots to eliminate Nicodemus. Out of respect for Jonathan, the rats agree to help her move her home. First, they need to drug Dragon so it can be done without interference. Only Brisby can do this, as the rats cannot fit through the hole leading into the house; Jonathan was killed by Dragon in a previous attempt, while Ages broke his leg in another. That night, she puts the drug into Dragon's dish, but the Fitzgibbons' son catches her. While trapped in a birdcage, she overhears a telephone conversation between the Fitzgibbonses' patriarch and the staff of NIMH and learns that the institute intends to exterminate the rats in the morning. Brisby then escapes from the cage and runs off to warn them. As a thunderstorm approaches, the rats begin moving the Brisby home, with the children and Auntie Shrew inside, using a rope and pulley system. Jenner sabotages the assembly, causing it to fall apart and crush Nicodemus to death. Brisby soon arrives to warn the rats about NIMH's arrival, but Jenner attacks her and attempts to steal the amulet as his reluctant accomplice, Sullivan, alerts Justin, who comes to Brisby's aid. Jenner mortally wounds Sullivan and engages Justin in a sword fight, but is killed by a knife in the back from the dying Sullivan. The Brisby home begins to sink into the muddy ground and Brisby and the rats are unable to raise it. All appears lost until Brisby's will to save her family suddenly gives power to the amulet, which she uses to lift the house and move it to safety. The next day, the rats, with Justin as their new leader, have departed for Thorn Valley as Timothy begins to recover, while Jeremy meets and falls in love with an equally clumsy female crow.

In January 1994, the U.S. Ohio -class submarine USS Montana has an encounter with an unidentified submerged object, and sinks near the Cayman Trough. With Soviet ships moving in to try to salvage the sub, and a hurricane moving over the area, the U.S. government sends a SEAL team to Deep Core, a privately owned, experimental underwater drilling platform near the Cayman Trough, to use it as a base of operations. The platform's designer, Dr. Lindsey Brigman, insists on going along with the SEAL team, even though her estranged husband, Virgil "Bud" Brigman, is the current foreman. During the initial investigation of Montana, a power cut in the team's submersibles leads to Lindsey seeing a strange light circling the sub, which she later calls a "non-terrestrial intelligence", or "NTI". Lt. Hiram Coffey, the SEAL team leader, is ordered to accelerate their mission, and takes one of the mini-subs, without Deep Core ' s permission, to recover a Trident missile warhead from Montana, just as the storm hits above, leaving the crew unable to disconnect from their surface support ship in time. The cable crane is torn from the ship and falls into the trench, dragging Deep Core to the edge before it stops. The rig is partially flooded, killing several crew members, and damaging its power systems. The crew waits out the storm so they can restore communications and be rescued. As they struggle against the cold, they find the NTIs have formed an animated column of water to explore the rig, which they equate to an alien version of a remotely operated vehicle. Though they treat it with curiosity, Coffey is agitated and cuts it in half by closing a pressure bulkhead on it, causing it to retreat. Realizing that Coffey is experiencing paranoia as a result of suffering from high-pressure nervous syndrome, the crew spies on him through an ROV, finding him, along with another SEAL, arming the warhead to attack the NTIs. To try to stop him, Bud fights Coffey, but Coffey escapes in a mini-sub with the primed warhead. Bud and Lindsey give chase in the other sub, damaging both. Coffey is able to launch the warhead into the trench, but his sub drifts over the edge and implodes from the pressure, killing him. Bud's mini-sub is inoperable and taking on water. With only one functional diving suit, Lindsey opts to drown and hopefully enter deep hypothermia when the ocean's cold water engulfs her, with hopes of being able to be resuscitated. Bud swims back to the platform with her body; there, he and the crew use a defibrillator and administer CPR, and they revive her. It is decided that they need to disarm the warhead, which is more than 2 miles (3.2 km) below them. One SEAL, Ensign Monk, helps Bud use an experimental diving suit equipped with a liquid breathing apparatus to survive to that depth, though he will only be able to communicate through a keypad on the suit. Bud begins his dive, assisted by Lindsey's voice to keep him coherent against the effects of the mounting pressure, and he reaches the warhead. Monk guides him in successfully disarming it. With little oxygen left in the system, Bud explains that he knew it was a one-way trip, and he tells Lindsey he loves her. As he waits for death, an NTI approaches Bud, takes his hand, and guides him to a massive alien city deep in the trench. Inside, the NTIs create an atmospheric pocket for Bud, allowing him to breathe normally. The NTIs then play back Bud's message to his wife and look at each other with understanding. On Deep Core, the crew is waiting for rescue when they see a message from Bud that he met some friends and warns them to hold on. The base shakes, and lights from the trench herald the arrival of the alien ship. It rises to the ocean's surface, with Deep Core and several of the surface ships run aground on its hull. The crew of Deep Core exits the platform, surprised they are not dead from the sudden decompression. They see Bud walking out of the alien ship, and Lindsey races to hug him.

Children Jacques Mayol and Enzo Molinari grow up in Amorgos, Greece in the 1960s. Enzo challenges Jacques to collect a coin on the sea floor but Jacques refuses. Jacques' father—who harvests shellfish from the seabed using a pump-supplied air hose and helmet —goes diving. His breathing apparatus and rope gets caught and punctured by rocks, and weighed down by water, he drowns in front of the children. By the 1980s, both are well known for their freediving skills. In Sicily, Enzo rescues a trapped diver from a shipwreck. He is a world champion freediver and now wishes to find Jacques and persuade him to return to no-limits freediving to prove he is still the better of the two. Jacques works as a human research subject with dolphins and is participating in research into human physiology in the lakes of the Peruvian Andes, where his bodily responses to cold water immersion are being recorded. Insurance broker Johana Baker visits the station and is introduced to Jacques. After hearing that Jacques will be at the World Diving Championships in Taormina, Sicily, she fabricates an insurance problem that requires her presence there, to meet him again. The two start dating. However, neither of them realizes the extent of Jacques' allure for the deep. Jacques beats Enzo by 1 metre, and Enzo offers him a crystal dolphin as a gift, and a tape measure to show the small difference between their respective records. Johana goes back home to New York but is fired after her deception is discovered; she leaves New York and begins to live with Jacques. She hears the story that mermaids appear to the ones who truly love the sea and lead them to an enchanted place. At the next World Diving Championships, Enzo beats Jacques' record. The depths at which the divers compete enter new territory, and the dive doctor suggests they should stop, to no avail. Jacques is asked to look at a dolphinarium where a new dolphin has been placed, and where the dolphins are no longer performing; surmising that the new dolphin is homesick, the three of them break in at night to liberate and return her to the sea. Back at the competition, other divers attempt to break Enzo's world record, but each fails. Jacques succeeds, reaching 400 feet (120 m). Angered by this, Enzo prepares to break Jacques' record. The doctor warns that the competitors must not go deeper, as the pressure becomes lethal at those depths. Enzo dismisses the doctor and attempts the dive anyway but is unable to return to the surface. Jacques dives to rescue him. Enzo, dying, tells Jacques that he was right and that it is better down there. He begs Jacques to help him back down to the depths, where he belongs. Distraught, Jacques refuses, and Enzo dies in his arms. To honor his dying wish, Jacques takes Enzo's body back down to a depth where the human body becomes negatively buoyant, and lets his friend sink into the depths. Jacques—himself suffering from cardiac arrest after the dive—is rescued by supervising scuba divers and requires his heart to be restarted with a defibrillator before being placed in medical quarters to recover. Jacques appears to be recovering from the diving accident but later experiences a hallucinatory dream in which the ceiling collapses and the room fills with water, and he finds himself in the ocean depths with dolphins. After discovering she is pregnant, Johana returns to check up on Jacques but finds him lying unresponsive in his bed with bloody ears and a bloody nose. Johana attempts to help him, but Jacques gets up and walks to the diving boat and gets suited up for one final dive. Desperately, Johana begs Jacques not to go, saying she is alive but whatever has happened at the depths is not, but he says he has to. She announces she is pregnant and begs Jacques to stay. However, she eventually lets him go. The two embrace and Johana breaks down crying. Jacques then places the release cord for the dive ballast in her hand, and—still sobbing—she pulls it, sending him down to the depths. Jacques descends and floats for a moment, staring into the darkness. A dolphin then appears, and Jacques lets go of his harness, swimming away with it into the darkness.

In April 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British frigate HMS Surprise is ambushed by the French privateer Acheron off Brazil, suffering heavy damage by cannon balls. After escaping by using rowboats to tow the ship into a nearby fog bank, Surprise ' s captain Jack Aubrey refuses to return home and insists on giving pursuit at any cost. Shortly afterwards, Surprise is again chased by Acheron by using a weather helm wind advantage; that night, Aubrey deploys a crude, lantern-lit decoy raft, sails a different course, and sends the Acheron going the wrong direction. Now in pursuit of the Acheron, the French ship attempts to lose them in a heavy storm at Cape Horn. Surprise nearly sinks, and Aubrey sacrifices popular crewmember Warley to save the ship as a whole. Escaping calamity, but losing the Acheron, Aubrey follows a hunch and changes course for the Galápagos Islands, where he suspects the enemy ship will be hunting British whalers. To make up for the mounting losses, Aubrey promises Surprise ' s surgeon and his close friend, Stephen Maturin, that he will become the first naturalist to explore the islands' unique flora and fauna. However, Surprise then hits the doldrums, becoming stuck with no wind. Drifting for days in the heat, the crew becomes restless and superstitious, and blame midshipman Hollom for their misfortunes; the men believe him to be a cursed "Jonah", and begin treating him poorly. Guilt-stricken, Hollom commits suicide in the night by jumping overboard with a cannonball. Mystically, the wind picks up the next morning, and Surprise resumes the chase. Arriving at the Galápagos Islands, the men are amazed by the wildlife. However, they quickly encounter marooned whalers who confirm Aubrey's suspicions; they were raided by the Acheron. Aubrey breaks his promise to Maturin and pursues the ship. As they depart, the captain of marines accidentally shoots Maturin in the abdomen while carelessly aiming at an albatross. Remorseful, Aubrey turns around, anchors at the Galápagos, and assists Maturin in performing self-surgery. Finally giving up his pursuit of Acheron, Aubrey grants Maturin the freedom to explore the Galápagos and gather specimens before they return to Portsmouth. While looking for the flightless cormorant, Maturin discovers Acheron anchored on the other side of the islands. He hurriedly returns to Surprise and informs Aubrey. Back onboard the ship, Maturin shows Aubrey a curious camouflaging phasmid disguised as a stick. Inspired, Aubrey orders his warship to become disguised as a vulnerable, unarmed whaler. The crew don disguises, paint over the ship's name, and plot an ambush. Acheron is successfully tricked, and is lured into an up-close raid. The Surprise reveals her flags, and dismasts the privateer with sudden cannon fire. Aubrey leads a boarding party onto the stalled Acheron and captures the ship after fierce hand-to-hand combat, with significant losses on both sides. Searching for the enemy captain, Aubrey finds the Acheron ' s surgeon, de Vigny, who informs him that his French counterpart has died; his last request was to give Aubrey his sword. Both ships are repaired to seaworthy condition by the crew of Surprise, whose first lieutenant Pullings is promoted to captain and ordered to sail Acheron to Valparaíso to parole their French captives. As Acheron sails away, Maturin mentions to Aubrey that de Vigny died from a fever months ago. Realizing that the "surgeon" was really the Acheron 's captain in one final ruse, Aubrey orders the crew of Surprise to reverse course and to beat to quarters in pursuit of the captured ship. Maturin is once again denied the chance to explore the Galápagos, but Aubrey wryly notes that since the bird he seeks is flightless, "it's not going anywhere." As is their recreational entertainment on the voyage, the officer duo joyfully plays their violin and cello in the Captain's cabin to Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid as Surprise pursues the captured Acheron once more.

Frank Towns is the pilot of a cargo plane flying from Jaghbub to Benghazi in Libya; Lew Moran is the navigator. Passengers include Capt. Harris and Sgt. Watson of the British Army; French physician Dr. Renaud, German aeronautical engineer Heinrich Dorfmann, and oil company accountant Standish. There are also several oil workers, including Trucker Cobb, a foreman suffering from mental fatigue; Ratbags Crow, a cocky Scot; Carlos and his pet monkey; and Gabriele. A sandstorm disables the engines, forcing Towns to crash-land in the Sahara. As the aircraft comes to a stop, two workers are killed and Gabriele's leg is severely injured. The radio is unusable, and they are too far off course to be found by searchers. Aboard the plane is a large quantity of pitted dates, but only enough water for 10 to 15 days if rationed. Captain Harris sets out to find an oasis. When Sgt. Watson feigns an injury to stay behind, Carlos volunteers, leaving his pet monkey with Bellamy. Harris and Towns refuse to allow the mentally-unstable Cobb to go along, but Cobb defiantly follows anyway and dies of exposure. Days later, Harris returns to the crash site alone and barely alive. Sgt. Watson discovers and ignores him, although others find him later. Dorfmann proposes a radical idea to build a new aircraft from the wreckage. The C-82 has twin booms extending rearwards from each engine and connected by the horizontal stabilizer. Dorfmann wants to attach the outer sections of both wings to the left engine and boom, discarding the center fuselage and both inner wing sections. The men will ride atop the wings. Towns and Moran believe that he is either joking or delusional. The argument is complicated by a personality clash between Towns, a proud traditionalist aviator who flew for the Allied Forces during the Second World War, and Dorfmann, a young, arrogant German engineer. Moran struggles to maintain the peace. Towns initially resists Dorfmann's plan, and is incensed when he learns that it anticipates Gabriele's death before the plane is ready to fly. Renaud sways his opinion, saying activity and hope will help sustain the men's morale. Dorfmann supervises the reconstruction, while Towns remains skeptical. The mortally-injured Gabriele dies by suicide, depressing the men; they consider abandoning construction of the new plane. Dorfmann, caught exceeding his water ration, justifies it, saying that only he has been working continuously. He promises to not do it again, but demands everyone work equally hard from then on. Standish dubs the aircraft " Phoenix ", after the mythical bird that is reborn from its own ashes. When a band of Arabs and Berbers camp nearby, Harris and Renaud leave to make contact, while the others remain hidden with the aircraft. The two men are found murdered the next day. In a dramatic clash that begins in a quiet moment, Captain Towns and Moran are stunned to learn details about Dorfmann's career as an airplane designer. Dorfmann readily tells them that he works for a model airplane company designing radio controlled model airplanes. When asked if he ever worked on the "real thing", Dorfmann calmly tells them no and proudly shows Captain Towns the biggest airplane he ever worked on in his company's sales catalog, which has less than a 2m meter wingspan. When Towns and Moran incredulously question how a toy designer believes he can design a real airplane and make it fly, Dorfmann suddenly becomes angry hearing the word "toy" and vehemently exclaims that toy airplanes and the model airplanes he designs are not the same thing. Dorfmann goes on to bitterly explain that the aerodynamic principles of model airplanes are the same as "the real thing", and in fact many model planes require more exacting designs than full-size aircraft because they don't have the advantage of a pilot flying them. With water and time running out, and having no other choice but to die of dehyration or die trying to fly the cobbled together airplane, Towns and Moran forge ahead without telling the others about Dorfmann's credentials even though they suspect Dorfmann is crazy. Phoenix is completed. Only seven starter cartridges are available to ignite the engine. The first four startup attempts are unsuccessful. Over Dorfmann's objections, Towns fires the fifth cartridge with the ignition off to clear the engine's cylinders. The next startup attempt is successful. The men pull Phoenix to a hilltop, and climb onto the wings. When Towns guns the engine, Phoenix slides down the hill and over a lake bed before taking off. After successfully landing at an oasis with a manned oil rig, the men celebrate, and Towns and Dorfmann are reconciled.

In a bar, a college student affirms that the United States does not have any folktales involving characters who grant wishes. An elderly man then interrupts him, insisting that he is wrong. He mentions O.W. Grant, who carries a pipe in the shape of a monkey's head. Grant travels the country granting wishes to strangers, usually messing with them in the process. However, if he likes you, he will play it straight. Meanwhile, St. Louis -based grocery warehouse worker Neal Oliver aspires to be an artist, despite the lack of support from his father and girlfriend. At a party for his 22nd birthday, O.W. Grant is the waiter who serves the cake. While blowing out the candles, Neal wishes for an answer to his life. His father responds by handing him an admission letter to law school that Neal does not want to attend. The family goes outside to look at the red BMW convertible that Neal's dad bought him as a gift, but Neal notices that the car was clearly meant for his dad and not him. Neal is later struck on the head by a falling bucket. Neal wakes up in the hospital, where a doctor named Ray comes in and does a sight test using playing cards. Neal has to name the suit on the cards. Neal asks if he got it right, and Ray points out that the cards actually had red spades and black hearts, emphasizing that things are not always what they seem. After leaving the hospital, Neal sees a woman that he has been dreaming about in a billboard advertisement, but the billboard company insists that the billboard is blank. After checking the billboard, Neal sees a new picture of her, this time with a framed inscription "Call 555-1300". Neal calls the number, and a recorded message says that he has an appointment at 555 Olive Street, Suite 1300 in the downtown area. At the appointment, Ray gives him a package to deliver to a Robin Fields in Danver, Colorado (not " Denver "). Neal will find Danver by taking Interstate 60. With no Interstate 60 on the roadmap, Neal sets out south to where it should be, (between I-40 and I-70) and encounters O.W. Grant on the roadside. Grant gives Neal directions to Interstate 60. On his journey, Neal meets a man who can consume unnatural quantities of food and drink; a woman looking for perfect sex; a mother looking for her son, who lives in a city where the population is addicted to a government-controlled drug; a dying ex-advertiser on a crusade to punish dishonesty; and Mrs. James, who runs the Museum of Art Fraud that actually contains real masterpieces posing as fakes. At the town of Morlaw, where all citizens are lawyers who spend their days suing each other, Neal finds Lynn, the imprisoned woman he has been dreaming about and painting. Lynn met O.W. Grant and wished to find the right guy. They have sex at a motel. Neal also makes a painting of the motel. Neal leaves to deliver the package in Danver, while Lynn stays behind. On the radio, Neal hears of a reported murderer on the loose, and the description matches his car. He abandons his vehicle to hitchhike. In Danver, Neal meets "Robin Fields", who turns out to be O.W. Grant. After opening the package (which holds a replacement monkey-head pipe for O.W.'s broken one), Grant uses his powers to "warp" Neal back in time, where he wakes up in the hospital before he first encountered Ray. Leaving the hospital, Neal confronts his father and asserts his right to live his life without the latter's interference. His sister takes him to an art gallery where Neal sees his painting of the motel – submitted on his behalf by O.W. Grant after Neal had "left it" there. He is approached by Lynn, who in reality works with Danver Publishing, because she took an interest in his painting. She talks about wanting to commission him to do more paintings on roadside motels and diners.

In the 23rd century, after more than a year's journey, the United Planets starship C-57D arrives at the distant planet Altair IV to determine the fate of the ship Bellerophon, sent there 20 years before. Dr. Edward Morbius, one of the original expedition's scientists, warns the ship not to land for safety reasons, but Commander John J. Adams ignores his warning. Adams and Lieutenants Jerry Farman and "Doc" Ostrow are met by Robby the Robot, who transports them to Morbius' residence. Morbius describes how all other members of their expedition had been killed, one by one, by an unseen "planetary force", with the Bellerophon being vaporized as the last survivors tried to escape. Only Morbius, his wife (who, Morbius claims, later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira were somehow immune. Morbius offers to help the starship return home, but Adams says he must receive further instructions from Earth. The next day, Adams finds Farman kissing Altaira. Furious, he rebukes Farman and criticizes Altaira for wearing revealing clothing. That night, an invisible intruder sabotages communications equipment aboard the starship. The next morning, Adams and Ostrow go to Morbius' residence to discuss the intrusion. While waiting, Adams happens upon Altaira swimming. After she dons a new, less revealing dress, Adams apologizes for his behavior toward her, and they kiss. They are suddenly attacked by Altaira's pet tiger, and Adams is forced to disintegrate it with his blaster. Morbius appears and tells Adams and Ostrow that he has been studying artifacts of the Krell, a highly advanced race that mysteriously perished in a single night 200,000 years before. One such device enhances the intellect, which Morbius had used. He barely survived, but his intellectual capacity had doubled. Another is a vast 8,000-cubic-mile (33,000 km 3) underground machine, still functioning, powered by 9,208 thermonuclear reactors. Adams tells Morbius he must share these discoveries with Earth, but Morbius refuses, saying, "Humanity is not yet ready to receive such limitless power." Farman erects a force field fence around the starship, but the unseen intruder easily passes through and brutally murders Chief Engineer Quinn, who was repairing the damaged communications equipment. Morbius warns Adams of his premonition of further deadly attacks. That night, the intruder is detected approaching. Its outline and features become visible when it enters the force field and blasters are fired at it, to little effect. The thing kills Farman and two other crewmen. When Morbius is awakened by Altaira's screams, the creature suddenly vanishes. Adams tries to persuade Altaira to leave. Ostrow sneaks away and uses the Krell intellect enhancer, but is fatally injured. Before dying, he informs Adams that the underground machine's purpose was to create anything by mere thought, anywhere on the planet. However, he tells Adams the Krell forgot one thing: "Monsters from the id." The machine gave the Krell's own subconscious desires free rein with unlimited power, causing their own extinction. Adams deduces that Morbius's subconscious created the thing that both killed the original expedition members and attacked his crewmen; Morbius refuses to believe him. Altaira tells Morbius that she is leaving Altair IV with Adams. Robby detects the creature approaching; Morbius commands Robby to kill it, but the robot knows it is Morbius and shuts down, being programmed to never kill a human. Adams, Altaira, and Morbius hide in the Krell laboratory, but the creature melts its way through the thick doors. Morbius finally accepts the truth and confronts and disowns his other self, but is fatally injured by the creature as it vanishes. Before he dies, he has Adams activate a planetary self-destruct system, warning them to be far away in deep space. At a safe distance, Adams, Altaira, Robby, and the surviving crew witness the obliteration of Altair IV. Adams reassures Altaira that in about a million years, the human race will stand where the Krell did. They embrace as C-57D heads back to Earth.

Bilbo and the Dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain as the dragon Smaug sets Laketown ablaze. Bard breaks out of prison and kills Smaug with the black arrow. Smaug's falling body crushes the Master of Laketown and his cronies, who were escaping on a boat with the town's gold. Bard becomes the new leader of Laketown and guides its people to seek refuge in the ruins of Dale. Thorin, now possessing the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden. Upon hearing that Laketown survivors have fled to Dale, he orders the entrance of the Lonely Mountain sealed off. Meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast. They battle and defeat the Nazgûl and then face a formless Sauron, whom Galadriel banishes to the East. Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends his son Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their second army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's army, bolstered by Orc berserkers and giant bats. Thranduil and an Elf army arrive in Dale to reclaim treasure held by Dwarf king Thrór. To avoid war, Bard attempts to negotiate with Thorin, asking him to share the gold previously promised to Laketown, but Thorin refuses. That night, Gandalf arrives to warn Bard and Thranduil of Azog's army, but Thranduil dismisses him. Bilbo sneaks the Arkenstone out of Erebor and gives it to Thranduil and Bard to trade for treasures and prevent war. The next morning, a combined army of Elves and Lake-town men approaches the Lonely Mountain, and Thranduil and Bard reveal that they have the Arkenstone. Thorin believes it to be a ruse, but Bilbo reveals the truth, at the same time reprimanding Thorin for his greed. Thorin nearly kills Bilbo but is stopped by Gandalf. Thorin's cousin, Dáin arrives with his Dwarf army, and a battle looms until Azog's forces arrive. As Dáin leads his forces to face the Orcs, Gandalf convinces Thranduil to join forces against Azog's army. Azog splits his army, sending some of his forces to attack Dale, so Bard and Lake-town army return to the city to defend it. Inside Erebor, Thorin, realising his greed and selfishness, regains his sanity and leads his company to join the battle. He rides with Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli to Ravenhill to kill Azog. Meanwhile, Tauriel and Legolas arrive to warn the Dwarves of Bolg's arrival, and Bilbo volunteers to relay the news to Thorin, using his magic ring to move through the combat unseen. Azog kills Fíli as Bilbo and the other Dwarves are forced to watch. Bolg overpowers Tauriel and kills Kíli, who has come to her aid. Legolas battles Bolg and eventually kills him. The Great Eagles arrive with Radagast and Beorn, and the Orcs are finally defeated. In the climax, Thorin engages Azog in a duel and kills him, but is fatally wounded. Bilbo reconciles with the dying Thorin, while Tauriel mourns Kíli. Thranduil advises Legolas to seek out a ranger in the north who goes by the name Strider. Thorin's company settles back into Erebor with Dáin as their new king. Bilbo bids farewell to the company's remaining members and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part ways on the outskirts of the Shire, Gandalf admits his knowledge of Bilbo's magic ring and warns him of it, although Bilbo assures him that he had lost the ring. Bilbo returns to Bag End to find his belongings being auctioned off because he was presumed dead. He stops the sale and tidies up his home, revealing he still possesses the ring. Sixty years later, Bilbo happily receives a visit from Gandalf on his "111th" birthday.

In a dystopian 2045, people seek to escape from reality through the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a virtual reality entertainment universe created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Games. After Halliday's death, a pre-recorded message left by his avatar Anorak announces a contest, granting ownership of the OASIS to the first to find the golden Easter egg within it, which is locked behind a gate requiring three keys players can obtain by accomplishing three challenges. The contest has lured several egg hunters, or "Gunters", and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) who seeks to control the OASIS and insert intrusive online advertising. IOI uses an army of indentured servants and employees called "Sixers" to find the egg. Wade Watts, an avid orphaned Columbus, Ohio -based Gunter using the avatar Parzival, participates in the first challenge, an unbeatable race, along with his best friend Aech, and Art3mis, a female avatar whom Parzival has a crush on. Parzival regularly visits Halliday's Journals, a simulated archive of Halliday's life and hobbies, run by the Curator. Wade receives the Copper Key from Anorak after he wins by driving backward, while Art3mis, Aech, and his friends Daito and Sho, all win the race afterward, later being collectively named the High-5 on the OASIS' scoreboard. Sorrento hires the mercenary i-R0k to learn Wade's true identity, intent on bribing him to win the contest on IOI's behalf. Wade and Art3mis discover from the Journals that Halliday once dated Morrow's wife Karen "Kira" Underwood. Wade and Art3mis visit the Distracted Globe night club to look for clues, where Wade confesses his love and true name to Art3mis. They survive an IOI raid in which Art3mis abandons Wade, explaining that her father died in debt to IOI. i-R0k, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, informs Sorrento of his findings. Sorrento contacts Wade with his offer. When rejected, Sorrento attempts to kill Wade by bombing his house, killing Wade's aunt Alice among others. Art3mis' player Samantha Cook takes Wade in. Together, they realize the second challenge relates to Halliday's regret of not pursuing a relationship with Kira. Along with Aech, Daito, and Sho, Parzival and Art3mis search for the Overlook Hotel 's recreation. Art3mis asks Kira to dance and wins the Jade Key. Sorrento's subordinate F'Nale Zandor storms the Gunters' hideout, taking Samantha to an IOI Loyalty Center to pay off her father's debt. Wade escapes with the help of the other High-5 users, Helen Harris (Aech), Toshiro (Daito), and Zhou (Sho) in Helen's truck. Samantha escapes confinement after Wade and others hack Sorrento's OASIS rig. The third challenge is found in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom, where players must guess Halliday's favorite Atari 2600 game to earn the Crystal Key. iR0k places a forcefield around the castle using the Orb of Osuvox, but Art3mis eventually disables it. The High-5 lead an army of OASIS players against the Sixers. Sorrento fights back but Aech, Daito, and Art3mis destroy his avatar. Parzival destroys Samantha's avatar, allowing her to flee IOI while the High-5 pick her up, and reaches the console, but Sorrento uses the Cataclyst bomb to wipe out every avatar on Planet Doom including himself. Parzival survives using an extra life coin given to him earlier by the Curator in a bet. He plays the 1980 game Adventure and wins the Crystal Key by locating Warren Robinett 's Easter egg. He uses the three keys to enter a treasure room where Anorak offers him a contract. Parzival recognizes it as the one Morrow signed when Halliday forced him out of Gregarious Games and refuses to sign it. Anorak transforms into Halliday, who expresses his regrets in life and hands over the Easter egg. Sorrento and F'Nale are arrested in the aftermath of the bombing. Ogden Morrow appears, revealing he is the Curator. Wade decides to run the OASIS with the High-5, inviting Morrow to join them as a consultant. As the IOI Loyalty Centers shut down, the High-5 make the controversial choice to close the OASIS every Tuesday and Thursday, so people can spend more time in the real world.