Having just served five years in the Gowanda Correctional Facility, Billy Brown returns home to Buffalo, New York, and is preparing to meet with his parents, who do not know he has been in prison. He kidnaps Layla, a tap dancer, and forces her to pretend to be his wife to his parents. He gives her the name "Wendy Balsam". When they meet with Billy's parents, Layla notices that the relationship between them is very dysfunctional, seeing Billy's mother forgetting he has a chocolate allergy (following a brief flashback when Billy was hospitalized after a severe allergic reaction due to his mother giving him chocolate) and his father behaving inappropriately toward her. She learns that Billy's mother has never missed a Buffalo Bills game, except in 1966, on the day Billy was born. In a flashback, it is revealed that Billy once placed a reckless $10,000 bet on the Bills to win Super Bowl XXV; when they lost, the bookie forced Billy to clear his debt by confessing to a crime he did not commit, resulting in his time served in prison. Now, Billy seeks revenge on Scott Wood, the kicker who lost the game. As they leave his parents' house, Billy scolds Layla for telling an obvious lie to his father, and then decides to go bowling. There, Billy shows off his expertise at the sport, and Layla performs a tap dance routine to King Crimson 's " Moonchild ". The two use a photo booth to take photos "spanning time" which Billy intends to send to his parents once a year, but Billy becomes annoyed when Layla makes silly faces during the photos, in contrast to Billy's straight face. After bowling, Billy and Layla visit a Denny's restaurant, where Billy encounters the real Wendy Balsam, a woman he used to have a crush on in middle school, who is now happily in a relationship with another man. Billy leaves Layla alone in the diner after a brief argument, but regretting his outburst, returns and apologizes to her. Billy and Layla check into a motel, where Billy and Layla have a deep conversation, and eventually admit that they have fallen in love with each other, and they both go to sleep. A few hours after midnight, Billy is about to leave to exact his revenge on Wood, when Layla awakens. Despite Layla's doubts that he will return and proclamation of her love for him, he leaves, lying to her that he will return in a few minutes with hot chocolate for her. Shortly after leaving Layla at the motel, Billy calls his best friend Goon (who prefers to be called Rocky) and gives him the combination to his locker. Billy then hangs up and finds Scott Wood, now the owner of a topless bar. At the bar, he walks over to Wood's table and shoots him before shooting himself. His parents are then shown sitting by his grave with his mother more interested in a Buffalo game on the radio than in her own son's death. However, this is all shown to be in Billy's head, and he leaves the bar without shooting Wood. Billy realizes that in Layla he has found someone who truly loves him. After making amends with Goon on a payphone, Billy elatedly buys Layla her hot chocolate and a heart-shaped cookie, and buys another for a man sitting nearby who tells him he has a girlfriend, before returning to Layla at the motel.

At a time when the United Kingdom and the United States are contemplating military intervention in the Middle East, the UK Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, offhandedly states during an interview on BBC Radio 4 's Today programme that war in the region is "unforeseeable". The Prime Minister 's Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker, castigates Simon and warns him to toe the line. Toby Wright, Simon's new special adviser, is dating Suzy, who works in the Foreign Office, and he takes the credit when she gets Simon an invite to that day's Foreign Office– State Department meeting. The US Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomacy, Karen Clark, opposes military intervention, and, at the meeting, she flags a report—titled "Post-War Planning: Parameters, Implications, and Possibilities" (PWPPIP)—by her aide Liza Weld about the pros and cons of intervention, which features many more cons than pros and contains caveats for most of the pros. Ambushed by reporters afterward, Simon rambles that the government must be prepared to "climb the mountain of conflict", and is again chastised by Malcolm, though the Prime Minister decides to send Simon to the US to gather information about problems that might arise for the UK in the event of a war. Back in Washington, DC, hawkish US Assistant Secretary of State for Policy Linton Barwick is concerned that his secret war committee was mentioned during the Foreign Office meeting; Karen and Liza deduce that it is named the Future Planning Committee. Karen teams up with Lieutenant General George Miller, who opposes the war because he believes the US has insufficient military personnel available, and invites Simon to the upcoming meeting of the Future Planning Committee to "internationalize the dissent". Toby thoughtlessly leaks the true nature of the committee to a friend at CNN, and then meets up with Liza, whom he knows from university, at a bar, and they end up sleeping together. Owing to Toby's leak, the Future Planning Committee meeting is swamped by reporters. Both Karen and Linton turn to Simon to back their respective causes, but he struggles to say anything meaningful in support of either. Malcolm arrives and confronts Linton about sending him to a diversionary briefing at the White House, and Linton asks him to supply the US with British intelligence that will support military intervention. Back in Simon's Northampton constituency, a resident named Paul Michaelson urges him to do something about his constituency office wall, which is in danger of collapsing into Paul's mother's garden. When Paul feels ignored, he contacts the media, and there is growing criticism over Simon's inaction. Suzy finds out about Toby's one-night stand with Liza and breaks up with him, but as he is moving out of their apartment, he leaves her a copy of PWPPIP, asking her to leak it; she chastises him for not doing it himself. The day of the UN Security Council vote on military intervention arrives, and everyone converges on the UN in New York. Simon tells his Director of Communications, Judy Molloy, to hint that he will resign as minister if the resolution is passed. Malcolm learns that PWPPIP has been leaked to BBC News, so he convinces the British Permanent Representative to the UN, Sir Jonathan Tutt, to move the vote forwards to before the BBC reports on PWPPIP. Linton tells Malcolm the vote cannot happen until he delivers the British intelligence, however, so Malcolm makes Sir Jonathan delay the vote again. Aided by Jamie McDonald, a senior press officer, Malcolm hastily fabricates some intelligence by forcing the reluctant Director of Diplomacy at the Foreign Office, Michael Rodgers, to generate a doctored copy of PWPPIP with its arguments against a war deleted. The Security Council approves intervention in the Middle East. George informs Karen that, as a soldier, he cannot go through with their plan to resign together in protest now that the country is at war, and Simon's intention to make a statement by resigning is thwarted when Malcolm fires him, ostensibly over the collapsing wall story (which Malcolm seeded to the BBC to preempt coverage of PWPPIP). A new Minister for International Development is appointed, with her own special adviser, and Simon is left to deal with his constituents in Northampton.

In 1971, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo speed across the Mojave Desert. Duke, under the influence of mescaline, complains of a swarm of giant bats, and inventories their drug stash. They pick up a young hitchhiker and explain their mission: Duke has been assigned by a magazine to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas. They bought excessive drugs for the trip, and rented a red Chevrolet Impala convertible. The hitchhiker flees on foot at their behavior. Trying to reach Vegas before the hitchhiker can go to the police, Gonzo gives Duke part of a sheet of "Sunshine Acid" (ultra-purified LSD), then informs him that there is little chance of making it before the drug kicks in. By the time they reach the strip, Duke is in the full throes of his trip and barely makes it through the hotel check-in, hallucinating that the clerk is a moray eel and that his fellow bar patrons are draconian lizards. The next day, Duke arrives at the race and heads out with his photographer, Lacerda. Duke becomes irrational and believes that they are in the middle of a battlefield, so he fires Lacerda and returns to the hotel. After consuming more mescaline, as well as huffing diethyl ether, Duke and Gonzo arrive at the Bazooko Circus casino but leave shortly afterwards, the chaotic atmosphere frightening Gonzo. Back in the hotel room, Duke leaves Gonzo unattended, and tries his luck at Big Six. When Duke returns he finds that Gonzo, high on LSD, has trashed the room, and is in the bathtub clothed, attempting to pull the tape player in with him as he wants to hear the song better. He pleads with Duke to throw the machine into the water when the song " White Rabbit " peaks. Duke agrees, but instead throws a grapefruit at Gonzo's head before running outside and locking Gonzo in the bathroom. Duke attempts to type his reminiscences on hippie culture, and flashes back to San Francisco, 1965, where a hippie licks spilled LSD off his sleeve. The next morning, Duke awakens to an exorbitant room service bill and no sign of Gonzo (who has returned to Los Angeles while Duke slept), and attempts to leave town. As he nears Baker, California, a patrolman stops him for speeding, and advises him to sleep at a nearby rest stop. Duke instead heads to a payphone and calls Gonzo, learning that he has a suite in his name at the Flamingo Las Vegas so he can cover a district attorney's convention on narcotics. Duke checks into his suite, only to be met by an LSD-tripping Gonzo and a young girl called Lucy, who Gonzo explains has come to Las Vegas to meet Barbra Streisand, and that this was her first LSD trip. Duke convinces Gonzo to ditch Lucy in another hotel before her trip wears off. Gonzo accompanies Duke to the convention, and the pair discreetly snort cocaine as the guest speaker delivers a comically out-of-touch speech about "marijuana addicts" before showing a brief film. Unable to take it, Duke and Gonzo flee back to their room, only to discover that Lucy has called. Their trips mostly over, Gonzo deals with Lucy over the phone (pretending that he is being savagely beaten by thugs) as Duke attempts to mellow out by trying some of Gonzo's stash of adrenochrome. Duke has a bad reaction to the drugs and is reduced to an incoherent mess before he blacks out. After an unspecified amount of time passes, Duke wakes up to a complete ruin of the once pristine suite. After discovering his tape recorder, he attempts to remember what has happened. As he listens, he has brief memories of the general mayhem that has taken place, including Gonzo threatening a waitress at a diner, himself convincing a distraught cleaning woman that they are police officers investigating a drug ring, and attempting to buy an orangutan. Duke drops Gonzo off at the airport, driving right up to the airplane, before returning to the hotel one last time to finish his article. He then speeds back to Los Angeles.

Ryan Bingham works for a human resources consultancy firm specializing in employment-termination assistance. His work constantly takes him around the country, conducting company layoffs on behalf of employers. Ryan also gives motivational speeches, using the analogy "What's in Your Backpack?" to extol living free of burdensome relationships and material possessions. A frequent flyer, Ryan aspires to earn ten million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines. While traveling, he meets a woman named Alex Goran, a businesswoman who also flies frequently. They begin a casual relationship, meeting up in various cities as their respective schedules allow. Ryan is recalled to his company's offices in Omaha. Natalie Keener, a young and ambitious new hire, promotes cutting costs by conducting layoffs via video-conferencing. Ryan raises concerns that the new system is impersonal and undignified, arguing that Natalie lacks understanding about the firing process and how to handle emotionally vulnerable people. His boss, Craig Gregory, has Natalie accompany a reluctant Ryan on his next round of terminations to observe the process. Ryan tutors Natalie on traveling more efficiently by using smaller luggage and moving quickly through airport security. As they travel together, Natalie challenges Ryan's philosophies on life, particularly regarding relationships and love. During the trip, Natalie's boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her by text message, but Ryan and Alex comfort her. On a video termination test run, Ryan's earlier concerns prove valid when Natalie is unable to properly console a laid-off person who breaks down on camera. Natalie castigates Ryan for his inability to commit to Alex despite their obvious compatibility, but he dismisses her criticisms and chastises her for lacking empathy and never appreciating her surroundings. Before returning home, Ryan heads to Wisconsin for his sister Julie's wedding, taking Alex as a plus one. He has a strained reunion with his semi-estranged family, who resent his constant absence. When the groom Jim gets cold feet prior to the ceremony, Ryan's older sister Kara asks him to intervene. Although counter to his personal philosophy, Ryan uses his motivational skills to persuade Jim to proceed with the wedding. Ryan begins questioning his lifestyle and philosophies after the wedding. In Las Vegas for a prestigious speaking engagement, he abruptly walks offstage mid-presentation and impulsively flies to Chicago to see Alex. Arriving at her front door, he is stunned to discover that she is married with children. She later calls him in a fury, bluntly telling him he was just an escape from her real life. On Ryan's flight home, the crew announces that he has just crossed the ten-million-mile mark. The airline's chief pilot is aboard to personally congratulate Ryan and notes he is the youngest person to achieve the milestone. Back in Omaha, Ryan transfers the frequent flyer miles to Julie and Jim so they can have a honeymoon. Craig informs Ryan that an employee he and Natalie had laid-off has committed suicide; upset over the news, Natalie quits via text message upon learning this. The remote-layoff program is stopped and Ryan is sent back on the road. Natalie applies to the same San Francisco company where she had previously declined a position, due to having followed her now ex-boyfriend to Omaha. Impressed by her qualifications and Ryan's glowing written recommendation, the interviewer hires her. The film concludes with Ryan at the airport, standing in front of a vast destination board, contemplating where he should travel next (something Natalie encouraged him to do earlier). Looking up, he lets go of his luggage.

The cast of the 1980s space-adventure series Galaxy Quest attend fan conventions and make trivial promotional appearances. Though the series' vain former star, Jason Nesmith, thrives on the attention, his co-stars Gwen DeMarco, Alexander Dane, Fred Kwan, and Tommy Webber resent him and their stalled careers. At a convention, a group calling themselves Thermians approaches Jason for help. Thinking they want him for a promotional appearance, he agrees. Jason also overhears two attendees mocking him and the fans. Despondent, he brusquely dismisses other fans, including Brandon, before going home to drink and watch reruns of the series. The next morning, when the Thermians pick him up, a hungover Jason does not grasp that they are actual aliens who have transported him to a working re-creation of the Galaxy Quest starship, the NSEA Protector. Jason believes he is on a set, and performs in character as he confronts the Thermians' enemy, Sarris, who demands the "Omega 13", a secret super weapon with unknown capabilities mentioned but never used in the show's finale. Giving perfunctory orders, Jason fires on and temporarily defeats Sarris. After the grateful Thermians transport him back to Earth, Jason realizes the experience was real and attempts to convince the other cast members. In his excitement, Jason bumps into Brandon again, accidentally swapping Brandon's toy communicator with a real one Jason acquired from the Thermians. When one of the Thermians, Laliari, seeks Jason's help again, the cast joins him, along with the convention emcee, Guy, who had played an ill-fated extra in one episode. Aboard the Protector, the cast learn that the Thermians, who possess no concept of fiction, believe the episodes of Galaxy Quest are true "historical documents". Inspired by the crew's adventures, they have based their society on the virtues espoused by the show. Sarris returns and demands the Omega 13 device. He attacks the Protector again, and the ship barely escapes through a magnetic minefield. However, the ship's power source, a beryllium sphere, is severely damaged. The humans travel to a nearby planet and take a replacement sphere from ferocious, childlike alien miners. Jason is temporarily left behind and fends off a rock creature until Fred beams him up. Back on the Protector, the crew discovers that Sarris has seized the ship. After Jason confesses they are just actors, Sarris forces him to explain the truth to the disillusioned Thermian leader, Mathesar. Sarris activates the Protector' s self-destruct mechanism and returns to his ship. Jason and Gwen contact Brandon via the swapped communicator, and Brandon and his superfan friends guide them to abort the self-destruct sequence. Brandon also explains that the Omega 13 is either a universe-destroying bomb or a "matter re-arranger" that sends the user 13 seconds back in time. Meanwhile, Alexander leads a Thermian revolt against Sarris' forces and takes back control of the Protector. With renewed confidence, the crew challenges Sarris and draws his ship into the magnetic minefield, destroying it. As they return to Earth, Sarris, who narrowly escaped his ship's destruction, ambushes them on the bridge and fatally wounds several crew members. Jason activates the Omega 13, which sends everyone 13 seconds back in time, allowing Jason and Mathesar to thwart Sarris before he attacks. The Protector' s bridge separates from the main vessel to return the humans to Earth, while the main vessel carries the Thermians into interstellar space. The Protector bridge crashes into the Galaxy Quest convention, and the dazed cast emerges to the cheers of their fans. Sarris awakens and levels his gun at the cast, but Jason shoots and destroys him. The crowd assumes it was all a display of special effects and cheers wildly. Jason, with newfound humility, invites his co-stars to share the stage with him and the crew basks in their newfound glory. Sometime later, Galaxy Quest is revived as a sequel series, Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues, with the cast reprising their roles alongside Guy and Laliari as new cast members.

On November 9, in Palm Springs, Nyles wakes up and fails to consummate sex with his girlfriend Misty. That evening, Nyles attends a wedding reception for Tala and Abe. There, he bonds with the maid of honor, Tala's depressed half-sister Sarah. Nyles and Sarah leave the party to have sex in the nearby desert. As he undresses, Nyles is hit by an arrow shot by an assailant, then he crawls into a cave, warning Sarah not to follow him. Concerned for Nyles, she follows him and is sucked into a vortex. Sarah wakes up and realizes that it is November 9 again. She confronts Nyles, and he explains that by following him into the cave, Sarah has become stuck in a time loop with him; falling asleep or dying resets the loop, repeating November 9. Nyles reveals that the man who shot him, Roy, is from the wedding and that Nyles inadvertently trapped him in the time loop. For revenge, Roy sometimes hunts down Nyles, as he enjoys putting him through pain even though his "deaths" are only temporary. Sarah tries various methods to escape the loop, but is unsuccessful. Nyles, having already been in the loop for a long time, has become complacent and carefree, abandoning hope of escape. Sarah resigns herself to her fate and adopts Nyles' carefree and reckless lifestyle. Nyles and Sarah become close. They begin to look forward to their days together, where they are free to do anything without consequence. One night, Nyles and Sarah camp out in the desert, get high, and have sex. The day after, Sarah sleeps in and is woken up by Abe, with whom she had sex on November 8, the night before the wedding. Guilt-ridden, Sarah refuses to talk to Nyles about their previous night, expressing nihilism about their life in the loop. After being pulled over by Roy disguised as a cop, Sarah runs him over. She and Nyles argue, leading him to admit that he had sex with Sarah many times in the loop, something he previously lied about. An angry Sarah starts avoiding Nyles. Nyles feels lost without Sarah and spends days aimlessly moping, discovering Abe and Sarah's affair in the process. One day, Nyles visits Roy at his home in Irvine. Having now experienced a painful injury at the hands of Sarah, Roy realizes what he has put Nyles through, and they reconcile. Meanwhile, Sarah spends her days studying to become an expert in quantum physics and general relativity. After some experimentation, she believes that exploding oneself in the cave will break the time loop. Sarah offers Nyles a chance to escape with her, but he confesses his love for her and asks if they can stay in the loop together forever. She refuses, resolved to try her escape plan without him. Sarah attends the wedding one last time, giving a heartfelt speech to Tala, and then travels to the cave with explosives. Nyles has a change of heart, and rushes to the cave to leave with her. He declares that he would rather die with her in an explosion than remain in the loop alone. Sarah reciprocates his feelings, and they kiss in the cave, as she presses the detonator. The two then relax in the pool of a nearby house, which Nyles had shown Sarah during one of their loops. The residents return and catch them there, which seems to indicate that the plan has worked and it is now November 10. In a mid-credits scene, Roy, having gotten a voicemail from Sarah explaining her plan to escape the loop, returns to the wedding and asks Nyles if the plan would work. Nyles does not recognize Roy, who smiles, realizing that Nyles is out of the time loop.

Lawrence Jamieson is a sophisticated and affluent British con artist operating in the town of Beaumont-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. Aided by his manservant Arthur and amoral police official Andre, Lawrence seduces wealthy women and cons them for high-value sums by posing as an exiled prince raising money for his country's freedom fighters. While returning from a trip to Zurich, Lawrence encounters Freddy Benson, an unsophisticated American hustler who brags of conning women out of relatively meager amounts with stories of his sick grandmother. After Freddy inadvertently interferes with Lawrence's latest target, Lawrence tricks him into leaving town. However, after meeting one of Lawrence's former victims and realizing Lawrence is a fellow con artist, Freddy returns and blackmails Lawrence into training him. Lawrence teaches Freddy his refined style of deception—with limited success—and develops a new con in which Freddy portrays his mentally disabled brother to drive away women once Lawrence has their money. Freddy quits after Lawrence refuses to pay him a portion of the ill-gotten gains. Unwilling to share his territory with Freddy, the pair agree to a bet: the first to con $50,000 from a selected victim wins and the other leaves town. They choose newly-arrived tourist, the naive "United States Soap Queen" Janet Colgate. Lawrence attempts his usual con but Freddy intervenes, posing as a U.S. Navy veteran and psychosomatic parapalegic who needs $50,000 for treatment from psychiatrist Dr. Emil Schaffhausen. In response, Lawrence poses as Schaffhausen and agrees to treat Freddy if Janet pays him $50,000 directly. The pair compete for Janet's attention, with Lawrence tormenting Freddy under the guise of treatment, and Freddy manipulating her with a fake suicide attempt. One night, in a club, Lawrence dances with Janet and taunts Freddy which upsets some nearby British sailors. Freddy convinces them that Lawrence stole Janet from him and the sailors agree to Shanghai Lawrence. Later, Lawrence learns that Janet is not wealthy—having won her holiday and title in a soap company competition—yet has liquidated all of her assets to help Freddy. Touched by her genuine kindness and generosity, and adhering to his personal code of never taking advantage of the poor or virtuous, Lawrence calls off the bet. Freddy counters with a new bet: the first to seduce Janet wins. Lawrence refuses to participate but agrees that if Freddy succeeds, he wins. After Lawrence is abducted by the sailors, Freddy returns to Janet's hotel room and demonstrates his "love" for her by walking. Lawrence, who is also in the room, declares Freddy cured, having appeased the sailors by revealing his status as a Royal Naval Reserve officer. He leaves Freddy with the sailors who haze him until the morning while Lawrence puts Janet on an airplane home. However, Janet returns to her hotel room to find Freddy waiting and declares her love for him. Andre informs Lawrence who prepares to accept his defeat until Janet arrives at Lawrence's villa in tears, revealing that Freddy stole the $50,000 she had collected for him. Lawrence gifts her a bag containing $50,000 of his own money and returns her to the airport, instructing Andre to arrest Freddy. Before her plane departs, Janet returns the bag to Lawrence, saying she cannot accept it. Andre arrives with Freddy who claims that Janet stole his wallet and clothes. Lawrence opens the bag and finds the money replaced with a note revealing that Janet is the Jackal, a prominent American con artist. Freddy is furious but Lawrence takes delight in having been so skillfully deceived. A week later, Freddy and Lawrence contemplate their loss at Lawrence's villa. A group of wealthy tourists arrive led by Janet, who is posing as a high-value real estate agent. While the tourists head to the villa, Janet tells Lawrence and Freddy that, while she made millions in the last year, taking their money was the most fun. Lawrence and Freddy assume their roles in Janet's plot as the trio prepares to scam their latest victims.

On their last evening of summer vacation in 1962, high school graduates Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander meet their friends, confident drag-racing king John Milner and unpopular but well-meaning Terry "The Toad" Fields, at Mel's Drive-In in Modesto, California. Set to travel " Back East " with Steve in the morning to start college, Curt has second thoughts about leaving. Laurie, Steve's girlfriend and Curt's sister, is hurt when Steve suggests they see other people while he is away to "strengthen" their relationship. En route to the high school sock hop, Curt sees a beautiful blonde woman driving a white Ford Thunderbird who mouths "I love you", leading him to desperately search for her throughout the night. Leaving the dance, he is coerced into joining a group of greasers called "the Pharaohs" in stealing coins from arcade machines and hooking a chain to a police car, ripping out its back axle. During a tense ride, the Pharaoh leader tells Curt that the blonde is a prostitute, which he does not believe. Allowed to take care of Steve's car while he is at college, Terry cruises around the strip and picks up the rebellious Debbie. Telling her he is known as "Terry the Tiger", he spends the night trying to impress her, lying about the car and purchasing alcohol with no ID. The car is stolen while they share a romantic interlude and later, after the alcohol has made Terry violently sick, he attempts to steal it back. The thieves beat on Terry until John shows up and fends off the attackers. Terry eventually admits the truth to Debbie and reveals he rides a Vespa scooter; she suggests it is "almost a motorcycle" and says she had fun, agreeing to meet up with him again. Seeking cruising company, John inadvertently picks up Carol, a precocious 12-year-old who manipulates him into driving her around all night. He lies to suspicious friends that she is a cousin he is stuck babysitting, and they have a series of petty arguments until another car's young male occupants harass her as she attempts to walk home alone, and John decides to protect her. The racer, Bob Falfa, wants to compete for John's drag-racing crown. During his night of challenging anyone he comes across, Bob picks up an emotional Laurie after a long-brewing argument with Steve. Leaving the Pharaohs, Curt drives to the radio station to ask the omnipresent disc jockey " Wolfman Jack " to read a message on the air for the blonde. A station employee tells him the Wolfman does not work there and the shows are taped, claiming the Wolfman "is everywhere". He says the Wolfman would advise Curt to "get your ass in gear" and see the world but promises to have the Wolfman air the request. As Curt leaves, he realizes the employee is the Wolfman, who reads the message to the blonde asking her to call Curt at the Mel's Drive-In payphone. After taking Carol home, John is goaded by Bob into drag racing along Paradise Road outside the city with a crowd of spectators. Terry starts the race and John takes the lead but Bob's tire blows out, causing his car to swerve into a ditch and roll over before bursting into flames. Steve rushes to the wreck as Laurie and Bob crawl out before the car explodes. While John helps his rival to safety, Laurie begs Steve not to leave her and he assures her that he will stay with her in Modesto. An exhausted Curt is awakened by the payphone and finally speaks to the mysterious blonde, who hints at the possibility of meeting the following night, but Curt replies that he is leaving town. In the morning at the airfield, he says goodbye to his parents and friends; after takeoff, he sees the white Thunderbird driving along the road below, and gazes thoughtfully into the sky. An epilogue reveals the four male friends' fates: in 1964, John was killed by a drunk driver; in 1965, Terry was reported missing in action near An Lộc, South Vietnam; Steve is an insurance agent in Modesto, and Curt is a writer living in Canada.

In a sleepy village in Italy, Jiminy Cricket arrives at the shop of a woodworker and toymaker named Geppetto, who lives with his pet cat Figaro and fish Cleo creates a puppet he names Pinocchio. As he falls asleep, Geppetto wishes upon a star for Pinocchio to be a real boy. Late that night, the Blue Fairy visits the workshop and brings Pinocchio to life, although he remains a puppet. She informs him that if he proves himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish, he will become a real boy. When Jiminy reveals himself, the Blue Fairy assigns him to be Pinocchio's conscience. Geppetto awakens upon hearing the commotion from Pinocchio falling, and is overjoyed to discover that he is alive and will become a real boy. The next morning, while walking to school, Pinocchio is led astray by con artist fox Honest John and his sidekick Gideon the Cat. Honest John convinces him to join Stromboli 's puppet show, despite Jiminy's protestations. Pinocchio becomes Stromboli's star attraction, but when he tries to go home, Stromboli locks him in a bird cage and leaves to tour the world with Pinocchio. After Jiminy unsuccessfully tries to free his friend, the Blue Fairy appears, and an anxious Pinocchio lies about what happened, causing his nose to grow and become a tree branch with a bird's nest. The Blue Fairy restores his nose and frees Pinocchio when he promises to make amends, but warns him that she can offer no further help. Meanwhile, a mysterious Coachman hires Honest John to find disobedient and naughty boys for him to take to Pleasure Island, a notorious and infamous place. Honest John, despite the legal risks and the Coachman's implication of what happens to the boys, accepts the job out of fear, and finds Pinocchio, persuading him to take a vacation on Pleasure Island. On the way to the island, Pinocchio befriends Lampwick, a delinquent boy. At Pleasure Island, without rules or authority to enforce their activity, Pinocchio, Lampwick, and many other boys soon engage in vices such as vandalism, fighting, smoking and drinking. Jiminy eventually finds Pinocchio in a bar smoking and playing pool with Lampwick, and the two have a falling out after Pinocchio defends Lampwick for his actions. As Jiminy tries leaving Pleasure Island, he discovers that the island hides a horrible curse that transforms the boys into donkeys after making "jackasses" of themselves, and they are sold by the Coachman into slave labor. Pinocchio witnesses Lampwick transform into a donkey, and with Jiminy's help, he flees before he can be fully transformed himself, though he still has a donkey's ears and tail. Upon returning home, Pinocchio and Jiminy find Geppetto's workshop deserted, and obtain a letter from the Blue Fairy in the form of a dove, stating that Geppetto had set out to sea in search for Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, but got swallowed by a gigantic and vicious sperm whale called Monstro and is now trapped in its belly. Determined to rescue his father, Pinocchio jumps into the Mediterranean Sea with Jiminy and is soon swallowed by Monstro, where he reunites with Geppetto. Pinocchio devises a scheme to make Monstro sneeze and allow them to escape, but the whale chases them and destroys their raft with his tail. Pinocchio selflessly pulls Geppetto to safety in a cove just as Monstro crashes into it and he and Pinocchio are killed in the process. Back at home, Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo mourn Pinocchio. Having succeeded in proving himself brave, truthful, and unselfish, Pinocchio is revived and turned into a real human boy by the Blue Fairy, much to everyone's joy. As the group celebrates, Jiminy steps outside to thank the Fairy and is rewarded with a solid gold badge that certifies him as an official conscience.

In 1977 Los Angeles, Holland March is a private eye hired by Mrs. Glenn to find her niece, porn star Misty Mountains, who she claims to have seen after her death. March's investigation leads him to Amelia Kuttner. A fearful Amelia pays Jackson Healy, a violent enforcer, to scare March away. After visiting March at his home and breaking his arm, he accepts a Yoo-hoo from March's teenage daughter, Holly, as he leaves. When Healy returns home (with a case of Yoo-hoo), he is interrogated by two thugs, "Blueface" —so named after he sets off a dye pack while searching Healy's apartment—and Older Guy, about Amelia. Believing Amelia is in danger, Healy wards them off and teams up with a reluctant March to find her. The duo visit Amelia's anti-pollution protest group and meet Chet, who brings them to the burnt-down house of Amelia's boyfriend Dean, who died in the fire. They learn that Amelia and Dean were working with Misty on an "experimental film" combining pornography and investigative journalism. The two infiltrate a party to search for the film's financier, Sid Shattuck. At the party, Healy discovers the film is missing, while March stumbles upon Shattuck's dead body and crosses paths with Amelia. Holly, having snuck along to the party, stops Blueface from killing Amelia. Blueface is struck in a hit-and-run and Amelia flees. Healy subdues Older Guy and finds Blueface dying. Blueface tells Healy that his boss has dispatched a hit man named John Boy to kill all witnesses. Healy discreetly kills Blueface by strangling him. The police arrive at the scene. March and Healy are met by Amelia's mother Judith Kuttner, a high-ranking official in the Justice Department. Judith claims Amelia is delusional and hires them to find her, for which March demands US$5,000 in payment. March and Healy go to an airport hotel where Amelia is meeting with distributors for the film. However, John Boy has arrived ahead of them and is slaughtering the distributors. The duo hastily retreat, only for Amelia to land on their car and accidentally knock herself unconscious. They take her to March's house, where she accuses her mother of colluding with car makers to suppress the catalytic converter, which regulates exhaust emissions. Amelia created the film to expose their collusion and believes her mother has been killing everyone connected to the film. A disbelieving March calls Tally, Judith's assistant, and tells her Amelia has been found. Tally tells him the family's doctor will arrive to check on Amelia. At the same time, she tasks them with delivering a briefcase of money to Judith. March accidentally crashes his car during the delivery, causing the briefcase to fly open, spilling out shredded paper; the delivery was really a diversion to draw them away from Amelia. John Boy arrives at March's house disguised as the family doctor, attacks Holly and her friend Jessica, and engages in a shootout with the returning March and Healy. As John Boy evades the police, Amelia flees the house and unwittingly flags down his car only to be shot and killed. The police question and release March and Healy, who have no evidence that Judith is behind the murders. March realizes that Mrs. Glenn saw Misty in a film projected against a wall. At Misty's house, they discover a film projector, with no film. They realize that Chet is the projectionist for the Los Angeles Auto Show and will try to screen the film at the event. At the auto show, Tally intercepts Healy and March at gunpoint. Holly distracts Tally, who is knocked unconscious. Amelia's film, which Chet spliced into the auto show presentation, implicates the auto executives. On the rooftop, March struggles with Older Guy; they both fall from the roof, but March lands in the pool while Older Guy falls to his death. Holly stops Tally from reaching the film. Healy overpowers John Boy, but spares his life at Holly's behest and March secures the film from thugs sent by the auto executives. Judith is arrested, but insists that it was Detroit who wanted Amelia dead; she hired March and Healy to keep Amelia safe. Judith remarks that while she will go to prison, Detroit has still gotten away with trying to suppress the catalytic converter. At a bar on Christmas Eve, March shows Healy an advertisement for their new detective agency called "The Nice Guys".

In an English village in the 1800s, Victor Van Dort, the son of nouveau riche fish merchants, and Victoria Everglot, the neglected daughter of impoverished aristocrats, prepare for their arranged marriage, which will simultaneously raise the social class of the Van Dort family and restore the wealth of the Everglot family ("According to Plan"). Although the two are initially nervous, they become smitten and fall in love instantly when they meet; however, the nervous Victor ruins their wedding rehearsal by forgetting his vows, dropping the ring, and accidentally setting Lady Everglot's dress on fire. Fleeing to a nearby forest, Victor successfully rehearses his vows with a tree and places his wedding ring on what appears to be an upturned root. However, the "root" is revealed to be the skeletal finger of a deceased woman named Emily, who, gowned in a wedding dress, rises from the grave and proclaims herself as Victor's new wife. She spirits them both away to the Land of the Dead, a colorful and whimsical realm in which the spirits of the deceased reside. During his time with Emily, Victor learns that she was murdered years earlier on the night of her elopement by her fiancé, who stole the family jewels and gold she had brought (" Remains of the Day "). She reunites him with his long-dead dog Scraps, and they bond. However, desperate to return to Victoria, Victor tricks Emily into returning them to the Land of the Living by claiming he wants her to meet his parents. Emily brings Victor to see Elder Gutknecht, the kindly ruler of the underworld, who grants them temporary passage. Victor reunites with Victoria and confesses his wish to marry her as soon as possible. Before they can share a kiss, Emily discovers them and drags Victor back to the Land of the Dead, feeling betrayed and hurt ("Tears to Shed"). Victoria tries to tell her parents and the village pastor of Victor's situation, but nobody believes her. Assuming Victor has left her, Victoria's parents decide to marry her against her will to Lord Barkis Bittern, a presumed-wealthy visitor who appeared at the wedding rehearsal. After reconciling with Emily, Victor learns of Victoria's impending marriage to Barkis from his family's newly deceased coachman Mayhew. Upset over this news, he decides to marry Emily properly after overhearing Elder Gutknecht tell her that due to Victor still being alive while she is dead, her accidental marriage to Victor is nullified by default. He knows that this will require him to repeat his wedding vows with her in the Land of the Living and drink the poison 'the Wine of Ages' in order to join Emily in death. The dead swiftly prepare for the ceremony and head "upstairs" ("The Wedding Song"). There, the village erupts into a temporary panic upon their arrival, until the living recognize their departed loved ones and joyously reunite with them. The chaos causes a panicked Barkis to expose his own poor financial standing and his intentions to marry Victoria only for her supposed wealth, leading her to reject him. Victoria witnesses Victor and Emily's wedding as Victor completes his vows and prepares to drink the poison, only for Emily to stop him when she realizes she is denying Victoria her chance to live happily with him. Just as Emily reunites Victor and Victoria, Barkis arrives to kidnap Victoria; Emily recognizes Barkis as both her previous fiancé and murderer. Victor duels with Barkis to protect Victoria, and Emily intervenes to save Victor's life. Accepting defeat, Barkis mockingly toasts Emily for dying unwed and unwittingly drinks the poison, causing him to die. This allows the dead – who cannot interfere in the affairs of the living – to take retribution against him for his crimes. Emily, now freed from her torment, releases Victor of his vow to marry her and returns his ring, so he can marry Victoria. As she steps into the moonlight, she dissolves into a swarm of butterflies that fly into the sky as Victor and Victoria watch and embrace.

In the fall of 1962, Faber College freshmen Lawrence "Larry" Kroger and Kent Dorfman are seeking to join a fraternity. Finding themselves unwelcome at the exclusive Omega Theta Pi house party, the two visit the derelict Delta Tau Chi house next door. Kent believes that Delta will have to accept him as a "legacy" since his older brother was a member. They meet John ("Bluto") Blutarsky, chapter president Robert ("Hoov") Hoover, charismatic ladies' man Eric ("Otter") Stratton, motorcyclist Daniel Simpson ("D-Day") Day, Donald ("Boon") Schoenstein and Boon's exasperated girlfriend Katy. Larry and Kent are accepted as Delta pledges and given the fraternity names "Pinto" and "Flounder", respectively. Meanwhile, Omega pledge Chip Diller is accepted into the fraternity and given a paddling as part of his initiation. The Delta house is on probation due to regular shenanigans and overall poor academic scores. Wishing to remove the unruly fraternity from Faber's campus, Dean Vernon Wormer elevates the Deltas to "double secret probation" and directs Greg Marmalard, the Omega house president, to get fellow Omega and ROTC Cadet Commander Douglas C. Neidermeyer to find a reason to revoke Delta's charter. Various misadventures increase the rivalry between Delta, Omega, and Wormer, including the accidental death of Neidermeyer's horse during a retaliatory prank following the bullying of ROTC member Flounder by Neidermeyer. Unbeknownst to Marmalard, Otter has had an affair with Marmalard's girlfriend, Mandy Pepperidge, a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. Bluto and D-Day steal the answers to an upcoming midterm exam, unaware the Omegas switched it for a fake. The Deltas all fail and their lowered grade-point averages prompt Wormer to announce he needs only one more misdemeanor to revoke their charter and permanently expel them. Undeterred, the Deltas organize a toga party and recruit Pinto and Flounder to shoplift from a supermarket as a fraternity prank. At the market, Pinto meets a young cashier named Clorette and invites her to the party, while Otter flirts with an older woman, who turns out to be Dean Wormer's alcoholic wife Marion. During the toga party, at which Otis Day and the Knights perform, Otter seduces Marion, while Pinto and Clorette make out until she passes out, drunk. Pinto resists the temptation to rape her while she is unconscious and instead delivers her home in a shopping cart. He later discovers that she is the 13-year-old daughter of Carmine DePasto, the corrupt mayor of the city of Faber who secretly takes advantage of Wormer. Wormer organizes a kangaroo court led by the Omegas, which revokes the Deltas' charter and confiscates the contents of their house. Otter, Boon, Pinto, and Flounder take a road trip in a Lincoln Continental Flounder has borrowed from his older brother, Fred. After reading about the recent death of a student at a nearby all-female college, Otter poses as her fiancé in order to find dates for himself and the others. The ruse works and the Deltas, along with their dates, stop at a club where Otis Day and the Knights are performing, unaware that the clientele is exclusively African-American. Some of the patrons intimidate the Deltas into abandoning their dates and fleeing the club, damaging both their car and several others in the parking lot. The next morning, Boon discovers Katy has spent the night with English professor Dave Jennings. Babs Jansen, herself in love with Marmalard, informs him that Mandy and Otter have been having an affair; Marmalard has Babs lure Otter to a motel where the Omegas ambush and assault him. Due to the Deltas' low midterm grades, Wormer expels them all from Faber and gleefully tells them he has notified their local draft boards that they are now all eligible for military service. The Deltas initially concede defeat until Bluto rallies the fraternity to seek revenge during the annual Homecoming parade. D-Day converts the heavily damaged Lincoln into an armored vehicle, which the Deltas conceal inside a cake-shaped breakaway parade float. The Deltas wreak havoc during the parade and crash into the reviewing stand, toppling the Wormers and DePasto. As Hoover asks the Dean for another chance, an epilogue amidst the chaos reveals the fates of the characters: