Dr. John Harvey Kellogg opened a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he practiced his unusual methods for maintaining health, including colonic irrigation, electrical stimulus and sexual abstinence, vegetarianism and physical exercise. The sanitarium attracts well-to-do patients including William and Eleanor Lightbody, who are suffering from poor health following the death of their child. On their way to Battle Creek they meet Charles Ossining, who is hoping to make a fortune by exploiting the fad for health food cereals. Ossining finds a partner in Goodloe Bender. Having enlisted the services of George Kellogg, the doctor's estranged adopted son, they attempt to produce "Kellogg's Perfo Flakes". In the sanitarium, Will Lightbody is separated from his wife, and is soon harboring lustful thoughts toward Nurse Graves and patient Ida Muntz. His wife Eleanor, meanwhile, befriends Virginia Cranehill, who has a modern attitude toward sexual pleasure, influenced by the works of Dr. Lionel Badger. Will eventually succumbs to Ida Muntz's charms. Later he learns that Ida has died during treatment. Following the electrocution of a patient in the defective sinusoidal bath, and the discovery of yet another death, Will suffers a breakdown, flees the sanitarium, gets drunk and eats meat. At a restaurant, he meets Ossining, and agrees to invest $1,000 in his health food business. Will returns drunk to the sanitarium, where he is reprimanded by Dr. Kellogg and is abandoned by a distraught Eleanor. Ossining's business is a disaster, with no edible product. He and the partners resort to stealing Kellogg's cornflakes and repackaging them in their own boxes. Ossining meets his aunt, his sole investor, on visiting day at Kellogg's sanitarium, and is there exposed as a fraud and arrested. Nurse Graves attempts to seduce Will, who is guilt-stricken and spurns her advances. He searches for Eleanor, only to find her and Virginia Cranehill receiving clitoral massages from Dr. Spitzvogel while Dr. Badger masturbates. Will is incensed, thrashes Dr. Spitzvogel with a branch and takes Eleanor away. George Kellogg visits his father, but things go badly. George burns down the sanitarium. In the ensuing chaos, Ossining escapes. Kellogg seems to reconcile with George in the mud bath in the aftermath of the fire. In a final coda, the Lightbodys have reconciled and are happily married, with four daughters. Will receives a check for $1,000 from Ossining, who has become a cola beverage tycoon. Dr. Kellogg dies of a heart attack while diving from a high board.

Near the completion of his sentence in Sing Sing, Paul Vitti's life is threatened by assassins and corrupt guards while incarcerated. He starts singing showtunes from West Side Story to get the attention of Ben Sobel, who previously hung up on him while attending his father's funeral. The FBI assigns Ben to perform psychiatric tests on Paul to determine if he is feigning insanity. After the tests, it appears that Paul's mental state is deteriorating, and the FBI approves Paul's release into Ben's custody for one month of further therapy. As Ben drives Paul from prison, Paul immediately reveals that he was faking. Ben persuades Paul to find a regular job, as requested by the FBI. Paul attempts to find a legitimate job—in a car dealer, a restaurant and a jewelry store—but his rude manners and paranoia complicate things, ending in his getting fired from each job. At the same time, Paul is told by de facto boss Patti LoPresti that the Rigazzi family wants him dead. He responds by telling the Rigazzis that he is "out" and is seeking a new line of employment. He eventually finds employment working as a technical advisor on the set of a TV series based on the Mafia. Meanwhile, FBI agents inform Ben that Paul has gathered right hand man Jelly and his old crew, and may be planning something major. This rouses Ben's suspicion, and he visits Paul. They both become involved in a car chase with Rigazzi hitmen, which ends with Paul escaping. The FBI blames Ben and gives him 24 hours to locate Paul. After tracking down Paul through Ben's son Michael, who is now working as Paul's chauffeur, Ben discovers that Paul is planning a big, armored car heist, with LoPresti as a partner. He attempts to intervene and talk Paul out of it, but Paul proceeds, and Ben is forced to go along. The crew ambushes the armored car with smoke grenades and lifts it over a fence in the midst of the confusion. They extract more than $22 million of gold bullion, but LoPresti's thugs take over, revealing themselves to have been working for Rigazzi. Ben, in a fit of anger, beats their leader Eddie, and Paul's men restrain the others. Paul's crew uses the gold bullion to frame the Rigazzi family, leaving Eddie and the Rigazzi goons locked in the armored truck, which is suspended from the crane. This leads to the arrest of the entire Rigazzi family, preventing a mob war. Paul, Ben, Jelly, and the others escape, having created a distraction by using Paul's film crew connections to confuse the federal agents. Ben meets with Paul and Jelly near bridges on the New York waterfront, and they part ways as friends, singing another West Side Story showtune.

Three bank robbers – Eddie, Jojo and Sammy - plan what they think is a perfect bank heist. As they exit the bank one of them throws the money in the trunk of what looks like their car but is just identical. Dejected, the leader of the crew, Eddie, muses that the human factor is what goes wrong with his plans and that what he needs is robots – something that he can control and that will follow orders exactly. The three part ways, and Eddie is left to come up with his next plan. Eddie finds his inspiration as he watches some Doberman Pinschers chase off a couple of boys who were chasing some boys who were trying to rob a junkyard. He poses as a journalist doing a story about trained military dogs, and he convinces an Air Force dog handler named Barney to work with him in a dog training business. At the same time, Eddie reconnects with Jojo and Sammy to come up with a plan to rob a payroll from a bank, including building a replica of the bank. When Barney is discharged from the Air Force, he comes to work with Eddie and is surprised when Eddie has Dobermans for Barney to train instead of German Shepherds, which is what Barney is accustomed to training. Barney, unaware that Eddie is planning to use the dogs in his heist, reluctantly agrees to train the six Dobermans, to which Eddie bestows the names of famous bank robbers (Dillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker). They are accompanied by a bulldog that Eddie names J. Edgar, after J. Edgar Hoover. As Barney trains the dogs, he becomes suspicious and figures out the bank robbery plot on his own. Barney confronts Eddie, who tells Barney that he is free to leave and not to worry about the dogs. Eddie reveals that if Barney leaves, he’ll kill the dogs. Barney has also become close with Eddie’s girlfriend, June, and she convinces Barney to stay and finish the job. Eddie outlines the specifics of the plan to Barney, which, if successful, will net the crew $600,000 if all of the dogs come back successfully. For his part Barney wants half of the take, but he agrees to a one-fourth share after some convincing by Sammy. June is left out of the arrangement but gets a promise from Eddie to receive $15,000 out of his share. June realizes that Eddie sees her as disposable, and she and Barney get even closer behind Eddie’s back. On the day of the bank robbery, all six dogs do exactly what they are trained to do and enter the bank one at a time, lying down and waiting for the command to start the robbery. Dillinger is the last to enter and carries the note giving the instructions to the tellers. Just before he’s supposed to blow the dog whistles corresponding to each dog, Barney has second thoughts (because June, looking for a bigger share, tells him the dogs will be killed afterwards to get rid of evidence) and leaves the command post across the street. Eddie and June are left to finish the operation and blow the whistles. While Sammy and Jojo head back to the training ranch, sprinkling dirt from the ranch along the way as a sort of trail of breadcrumbs, June picks up where Barney left off. The operation goes off exactly as planned, and the dogs collect the money and head home. One of the Dobermans is hit by a car, and another dog collects that dog’s saddlebag and continues on its way. Another dog is distracted by a white Husky in a backyard and stops to make friends with it. Eddie connects with Sammy and Jojo at the ranch, but June goes to a different spot and blows the whistles again, giving the command to the dogs to attack the bank robbers. She blows the whistles again, and the dogs collect the bags of money and run to June’s location, where she hopes to get the money, but the dogs will not let her have it. They're not robots—only Barney had any feeling for them, so they feel no connection to anyone else. She tries to get the whistles to signal to the dogs one more time, but J. Edgar takes the whistles and runs off as the Dobermans follow him. June runs after the dogs but can’t catch them. As June watches, J. Edgar and the five remaining Dobermans run into a valley carrying the bags of money.

Calvin loves Chicago, his hometown and the place where he has been running his barbershop business in addition to supporting his family. Unfortunately, the city has become plagued by gang violence and criminal activity as of late, and tensions have begun to rise, especially in his neighborhood. Eddie comes running into the barbershop frightened because he claims to have made a comment at some thugs over their pants sagging. He gets Calvin panicked as the door starts banging, but it is really just a delivery man bringing him his breakfast, to his annoyance. Calvin and Angie now run the barbershop. It has a separate section for women to work, with new recruits Bree and Draya. On the men's side are Jerrod, Raja, and Rashad, new husband of Terri. Isaac and Jimmy no longer work there, but still keep in touch as customers. JD, the estranged cousin of former barber Ricky, has given up a life of crime and now runs a food truck business. However, he openly lies about what he does with the proceeds from the food truck business, claiming that he donates the money to charity. In truth, he and his overbearing grandmother keep the money for themselves. The shop also has a boy named Anthony Clark working there while he puts his focus on school. Rashad's son Kenny has been hanging out with Calvin's son Jalen. The boys come in one morning before school, and Calvin catches him trying to swipe two Snickers bars. Outside members of the Gangster Disciples pull up and try to steal the boys' sneakers, until the Vice Lords from the area appear and tell the other gang to step off. The Vice Lords leader, Yummy is friendly with the boys, assuming that they are willing to join his gang, and hands each boy a $100 bill. The men and women of the barbershop converse on the subject of modern women, with Bree arguing that good women are always losing to the "hoes," and that men complain about women having fake body parts but still lust after those same women. Another topic of discussion is racism against black people, which Raja disagrees with on the basis that the country has a black President, to which Rashad counters that Obama, a former Chicago resident, has done nothing when news involving murdered black children have been all over the media. Still, he insists that there has never been a better time to be a black person. Calvin has recently been talking to a smooth talking businessman called One-Stop about taking the barbershop business from the south side to the north side to avoid the dangers in the streets. Only his wife Jennifer is aware of this, and she's only considering for Jalen's sake. A regular client, Jay, enters for an appointment with Draya, but another man, Marquis, shows up, clearly having a beef with Jay. The two men nearly fight in the shop as it is revealed they are both "shot callers" from rival gangs, until he and Rashad intervene. The boys get in trouble at school after being involved in a fight with the gang from earlier that morning. Jalen is unharmed, but Kenny has a bruise under his eye. It pushes Calvin to consider putting his son in Catholic school, and also makes him trust Kenny even less, to the point where he confronts Rashad and tells him that they shouldn't be hanging out so much. Things get more serious when Jennifer goes through her son's dresser drawers and finds gang paraphernalia. With trouble going on in the neighborhood, Jimmy stops by and says there is a plan for an enclosure with heavy police presence, which would hurt the businesses. The members of the shop band together to organize a forum that night with the community to set up a ceasefire, along with free haircuts to anyone that passes by. Outside the shop, Terri becomes suspicious of Draya for being flirty and close to Rashad. He offers to take her home one evening on his way to pick up his daughter. She invites Rashad up to her apartment to talk, but Rashad knows what's up, even if she denies it being sexual, and declines her offer. The barbershop team set up for Jay and Marquis to arrive at the same time so they can get involved in the ceasefire. After a bit of tension and another near altercation, both men agree to the ceasefire out of respect for Calvin. Over the weekend, the ceasefire begins. Jerrod and Raja put the word out on Twitter for people to come to the barbershop. A large number of people show up, and things appear to be going smoothly. While at the barbershop, Rashad goes in the supply room in the back of the shop to grab some items, and Draya does as well. He apologizes for misinterpreting her motives from the other night. She forgives him but then tries to kiss him. Terri enters and heads into the back, looking for him. She catches the both of them hiding in the supply closet after he ignored her calling his name, leading her to believe they were hooking up. Terri attempts to fight Draya, chasing her to the front of the shop, however Calvin and the others stop her. She storms out and Rashad follows to try and explain himself, but she doesn't believe or trust him. As the shop celebrates a day of peace, Officer Terrence stops by to announce the tragic news that Anthony was shot to death on his way home from the library. Understandably devastated, Calvin gives up on the ceasefire and loses hope that they can make a difference in the neighborhood. The tension leads to Rashad revealing Calvin's intentions to move the shop to the north side of the city (after overhearing his conversation on a phone call) which infuriates Angie, since he kept his plans from her. Calvin storms out of the shop and goes to the bar, with Eddie joining him. He tries to assure Calvin that although Anthony's death was a tragic loss, they still may have prevented even more gunshot deaths. That inspires Calvin to return to his shop and apologize, while also restarting the ceasefire. Almost immediately, the shop gets a visit from Anthony Davis, which brings more attention to the shop. By evening the shop has even more business including media coverage, as well as becoming a trending topic on Twitter. JD brings his food truck and racks up some nice business as well, until his lies catch up to him and is guilt tripped into giving up a substantial amount of his earnings to a real charity. Terri returns to the shop and sees Rashad. She apologizes for accusing him of adultery and they reconcile. Kenny runs into the shop and tells Calvin that Jalen is at the park ready for a gang initiation, from which he had previously backed out. Calvin rushes to the park and his son is seen approaching Yummy about the initiation. When he gets there, the gang has left, but he stayed behind. Without a word, he joins his father. In the morning, the ceasefire comes to an end and the shop celebrates. Everyone begins to go home. Bree and Jerrod walk together, and they admit they have feelings for each other. They set up a dinner date for the next night. Draya later visits Terri and apologizes for coming onto Rashad, saying that she feels that Terri has her life figured out while she doesn't. Terri forgives her and Draya offers a proposition for the couple. Jalen visits his dad at the shop asking him to cut his hair. Calvin obliges and cuts off his dreads. They reaffirm they love each other and Calvin tells him to sweep the floor. Calvin says that he still loves his city, and he never gave up on it, since it had never given up on him. Father and son join Jennifer, Rashad, Terri and the kids. During the closing credits, the shop gets an unexpected visit from President Obama. Eddie volunteers to give the man a haircut after earlier claiming to have cut his hair years ago. Visibly nervous, Eddie messes up and accidentally shaves a good part on the back of the President's head.

The movie begins with Donald Foley retrieving curling stones from a lake near Long Bay, Ontario. Foley dies after retrieving the stones, and a codicil to his will demands that the curling rink he formerly coached be re-assembled, and enter a bonspiel to win the Golden Broom by placing a stone containing his ashes on the button. The team's skip, Chris Cutter, had skipped town ten years ago over the shame of failing to call a burnt stone, abandoning his fiancée Julie Foley (Donald's daughter) at the altar, and throwing the team's stones into the lake. Chris returns to Long Bay, where he convinces the former members of his team, Neil Bucyk, James Lennox, and Eddie Strombeck, to enter the competition for the Golden Broom. While the rink practices for the Golden Broom tournament, Chris tries to make amends with Julie, which is complicated by his feelings for her younger sister Amy. Neil deals with his resentment towards his wife, and unhappiness at running a funeral home inherited from his father-in-law. Eddie deals with his low sperm count and dissatisfaction about being unable to father children. James is working as a minor drug dealer, and tries to raise money to pay off a supplier to whom he is indebted. After losing a match to an extremely elderly rink, the team realises they need a coach to be prepared for the bonspiel. Chris reconciles with his estranged father Gordon Cutter, so he will coach them. Gordon trains the team for the upcoming bonspiel. In the first match of the bonspiel, the rink plays another one, skipped by former Olympian Alexander Yount. Chris again fails to call a burnt stone, demoralising himself, the rest of his rink, and his father. Chris goes drinking at a bar, where Amy meets him and informs him she and Julie have come to an understanding; Julie accepts that he and Amy love one another, and once Chris accepts it they can be together. Julie, an astronaut will meanwhile be blasted off into space. Chris goes to his mother's grave where he encounters his father; they reconcile, and Gordon tells him to go be with Amy. Neil quits the rink, and is replaced by Gordon. However, in the second to last match, Gordon once again throws out his back and is unable to curl. However, Chris and his rink manage to win the match. In the final match of the bonspiel, the rink once again meets Yount's. With Gordon injured, Chris is forced to curl with a rink of three. Down 6-0 early, Gordon laments that they "need a good lead man." At this time, Neil and his wife are at the country club. Joanne rushes to the club and convinces Neil to rejoin the rink. Chris and his rink stage a comeback, and are now within victory. On the critical final shot, one of the sweepers burns the stone, noticed only by Chris. In this instance, Chris calls the burn. Yount allows Chris to retake the shot, to which Chris changes up his shot. Chris throws his father's rock directly at the centre of the house with great force, smashing it and the rock it collided with. A large piece of granite lands directly on the button, along with Coach Foley's ashes. Chris and his rink have not only won the Golden Broom bonspiel, but have also fulfilled Coach Finley's final wish. In the end the team resolves their issues: Chris finally connects with Amy, Neil and Joanne talk about his dream to own a plant nursery and not run the funeral home, Eddie finally impregnates his wife and James finally is forgiven his debt to his drug supplier, as the collector is from a long line of curlers.

After a night of partying, an intoxicated Bobby Moore and his friends are killed when their car collides head-on with a truck on a bridge on their way home to the town of Bomont, Georgia. The tragedy prompts his father Shaw Moore, the town reverend, to persuade the city council to pass several draconian laws and ordinances, one of which bans all unsupervised dancing within city limits. Three years later, Boston -raised teenager Ren McCormack moves to Bomont to live with his uncle Wes Warnicker, his aunt Lulu, and cousins Sarah and Amy after his mother's death from leukemia and his father's desertion. On his first day at Bomont High School, Ren becomes friends with fellow seniors Willard Hewitt and Woody, who explain the ban on dancing. He is attracted to Shaw's rebellious daughter Ariel, who is secretly dating dirt-track driver Chuck Cranston. After Chuck insults him, Ren ends up in a school bus motocross race and wins despite his inability to drive one and almost getting himself killed when the bus catches fire. Shaw mistrusts Ren and forbids Ariel from ever seeing him again. Ren and his classmates want to do away with the law against dancing and have a senior prom. He also teaches Willard how to dance. After a while, Ariel begins to fall for Ren, prompting her father to complain to Ren's uncle, who explains the circumstances of Ren's mother's death and his opinion that while Shaw may think Ariel is too good for Ren, perhaps the opposite is true. Ariel dumps Chuck, resulting in a fight between them in which Ariel is physically assaulted and gets a black eye. Later in church, Shaw finds out about it and believing Ren responsible, demands his arrest, but Ariel tells him that he cannot blame everything on Ren as he did with Bobby. She then reveals that she lost her virginity, to which Shaw begs for her to not say that in the church, and Ariel sarcastically asks him if he will pass another law, as it did not stop her and Chuck from having sex. Shaw abruptly slaps her without warning, shocking his wife Vi and prompting Ariel to tearfully and angrily criticize his domineering ways and storm out. When Shaw tries to apologize, Vi stops him, telling him he has gone too far. Supporting the dancing movement, she tells him that he is not being good to Ariel; he cannot be everyone's father; and dancing and music are not the problems. Ren goes before the City Council to request the anti-dancing laws be abolished. As part of his statement, he reads several Bible verses given to him by Ariel, which describe that even in ancient times people would dance to rejoice, exercise, celebrate, or worship. However, Reverend Moore walked into the meeting with the votes to defeat Ren's motion already in his pocket, and it goes down to defeat. Despite the City Council's refusal to abolish the anti-dancing ordinances, Ren's boss Andy Beamis offers his cotton mill, which is technically in the neighboring town of Bayson, as a site where the seniors can have their prom. Knowing that Moore still has enough influence of pressuring parents to not let their teenagers come, Ren visits him at the church one evening. In conversation, they realize their common ground is the loss of a loved one. After Shaw tells the story of Bobby, Ren describes his mother's death. He states with quiet determination that even though the City Council refused the motion to abolish the law, they cannot stop the dance. He then respectfully requests permission to take Ariel to the prom, and Shaw agrees. A few days before the prom, Shaw unexpectedly asks his congregation to pray for the high school students putting on the event. The students (and many parents) prepare and decorate the mill for the big night. On prom night, not long after Ren and Ariel arrive, Chuck and several of his friends show up, intending to start trouble. Chuck's gang is subdued and run off by Ren, Ariel, Willard, Ariel's best friend Rusty Rodriguez, and Andy. They enter the mill where Ren flings confetti into a shredding machine and yells, "Let's dance!" as everyone joins in dancing to a country rendition of " Footloose ".

Michael Baskin is an average 11-year-old boy. His father, Billy Baskin, is a struggling artist and temporary sole caretaker of the children, while his wife attends to the estate of her recently deceased father in Australia. Upon hearing that an abandoned mansion has recently burned down, Michael and his friend Connie decide to explore the remains. Outside the mansion, Connie dares Michael to take a look inside, leading to a frightening encounter with the ghosts of its homeless inhabitants who had died in the fire. Michael does not know this yet, but his fearsome run-in with the ghosts has given him a mysterious illness, "The Fright." Michael wakes up the next morning to find that "The Fright" has made him lose his hair. After a failed attempt with a wig, the ghosts visit Michael in his sleep and give him the recipe of a magical formula for hair growth, the main ingredient of which is peanut butter. Michael's first attempt to make the formula is thwarted when his father and sister dispose of it, thinking he was creating something to ingest. The ghosts return the following night, giving themselves a second chance to repay him for giving his money to some homeless people. They also give Michael special instructions on not adding too much peanut butter, which will result in dreadful results. Michael successfully makes the formula but ignores their instructions and wakes up the next morning to find that his new hair has begun to grow super fast. After only a few minutes, he has grown a full head of hair. Suspicious, Connie confronts Michael about his unusual ability. When Michael reveals his concoction, Connie decides to apply some to his pubic area in an attempt to create the illusion that he is going through puberty. Connie soon discovers that the joke is on him. Soon, Michael and Connie's hair grows to such lengths that it becomes a nuisance for the school and their classmates, resulting in their suspensions. While Michael searches for a solution, Connie discovers that the hair will stop growing by yelling at it. The art teacher at Michael's school, the Signor, frightens children and forbids them from using their imagination. After getting fired from the school, the Signor finds out about Michael's condition and kidnaps him (and many other neighborhood children) to make magic paint brushes from Michael's ever-growing hair, in which he subdues Michael with a knockout drug. The kidnapped children are put to work under harsh conditions. The paintbrushes are so powerful that they paint whatever their user imagines without need for detail or neatness. Michael's sister, Suzie, and Connie discover the Signor's magical paintbrush factory and try to rescue Michael and the other kids. Connie tries to use force, but Signor and his dog James overpower him. Instead, Connie tricks the Signor into painting a picture of the abandoned mansion. Connie then dares him to investigate inside, leading "The Fright" to be passed on from Michael to the Signor. The Signor, now bald, escapes from the haunted house and chases the children, locking them up. Just as Connie is about to escape with Michael, Susan and their dad find the factory, and the local police arrest the Signor. The film ends with the family reunited, the mother returning home, and Michael's hair no longer growing out of control.

Goddard Bolt is the callous CEO of Bolt Enterprises. Bolt shows little regard for other people's needs or for the environment. He has his eye on the slum of Los Angeles, with the intent of tearing it down. Bolt makes a bet with his biggest rival, Vance Crasswell, who also has an interest in the property. Crasswell challenges Bolt to survive on the streets as if he were homeless for 30 days. Should Bolt lose, Crasswell owns the property, but should Bolt win, Crasswell will sell it for practically nothing. There are three conditions: Bolt will be completely penniless; he must wear an electronic anklet that will activate if he leaves the boundaries, forfeiting the bet if he exceeds 30 seconds out of bounds; and at no time can he reveal to any of the slum area residents that he is Goddard Bolt. To add to the look, Bolt has his mustache shaved off, then Crasswell confiscates his toupée. Bolt is taken to the slums, thrown out of the limo and begins the bet. Unbeknown to Bolt, Crasswell schemes to make Goddard's stay on the streets as bad as possible. Bolt, homeless, hungry and filthy, is befriended by skid-row inhabitants Sailor and Fumes, and given the nickname "Pepto" after falling asleep in a crate with a Pepto-Bismol logo on its side. During the bet, he meets and eventually becomes attracted to Molly, a homeless woman who used to be a dancer on Broadway. During a scuffle with two muggers, Bolt is pushed out of bounds, which activates his anklet. To prevent the "30-second forfeiture", Bolt rushes back in, which impresses Molly with his supposed bravery, as it looks like he is tackling the muggers. Bolt learns a series of important life lessons during his "adventure", namely that life is not about accomplishments or material success, but rather the integrity of the human spirit. However, Bolt is unaware that the unscrupulous Crasswell has no intention of honoring their bet. When Crasswell realizes that Bolt is honoring the bet fair and square, Crasswell bribes Bolt's lawyers into fabricating the story that Bolt had lost his mind and has his property seized. Bolt finds this out first hand as, upon completing the bet, he forces his way into a party which is being held by Crasswell at Bolt's home and his lawyers feign ignorance. Forced to live on the streets for good and remanded to a free clinic by mistake, a drugged Bolt murmurs that "life stinks". Molly implores him to remember the small things, such as the two of them waltzing, that make life livable. Crasswell, meanwhile, has his own plans for the slum area, planning to tear it down as well. Bolt incites Fumes and the other slum residents to stage a mock battle during the televised ceremony of Crasswell demolishing the slum area. Realising that he will be ousted, Crasswell attempts to stop Bolt with a hydraulic excavator. When Bolt's grapple has plucked Crasswell and has him hanging by his jacket, the scene is freeze-framed into a news report saying that Crasswell, in a court case, was forced to admit he made a bet with Bolt, then reneged on the terms. Bolt, now in control of the area, has plans to renovate it into the "Bolt Center", which will give the slum residents employment, renovate the tenements into livable homes, and give the children a private school financed entirely out of pocket by Goddard Bolt. The news report ends by saying that Bolt has married Molly, and the press are expecting an extravagant event, only to then be shown Goddard and Molly taking their wedding vows in a simple chapel in the slum area, then driving off in a limousine with a vanity plate "PEPTO".

During the first ice age, a caveman attempts to make fire with his cavewoman girlfriend. An earthquake causes a cave-in that buries them. In 1992, an earthquake awakens Dave Morgan, an Encino teenager who strives to attain popularity in high school. Stoney Brown is an unpopular student who is Dave's best and only friend. Dave is in love with Robyn Sweeney, who was his best friend in grade school. Her boyfriend, Matt Wilson, is a jock who humiliates Dave and Stoney. One day, while digging a pool in his backyard, Dave discovers the caveman, who is frozen in a gigantic block of ice. He leaves the ice block unattended in the garage before leaving for school the next morning and space heaters cause the ice to melt, releasing the caveman. When Dave returns home with Stoney, they find hand paint covering the walls and the house in disarray. A beeping smoke alarm leads them to Dave's bedroom, where they discover the caveman attempting to start a fire. He panics upon seeing them and hearing a telephone, but Stoney uses the flame of a lighter to calm him. After bathing and trimming him, Dave names him Linkovich "Link" Chomovsky. Dave and Stoney get Link some clothes and fool Dave's parents Betty and Larry and sister Teena into thinking he is an Estonian exchange student sent to live with them. They enroll him in school, where Link's bizarre behavior and supreme athletic skills make Dave and Stoney popular by association, allowing Dave to get closer to Robyn, stoking Matt's anger. Soon, Stoney's eccentric attitude influences Link's mannerisms, which causes a rift between Dave and Stoney. Matt starts a fight with Link at a skating rink and becomes more enraged after Robyn leaves him. During a school field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits, Link grieves after realizing that the cavepeople he knew are all dead. Stoney and Dave reassure Link that he is not without friends. During a driver's ed lesson, Link drives away in a car with Dave, Stoney and Robyn before stopping at a dance club. Dave and Link are arrested after the police follow them. Dismayed by Link's antics and Robyn's desire to go to the prom with Link, Dave tries to abandon him but Stoney reprimands him, leading to a fight between the two. This causes Link to return and break up the fight, leading Dave to apologize. On prom night, Link is a hit at the party with Robyn as his date, while Dave stays home. Matt breaks into Dave's bedroom and steals photographic evidence that Link is a caveman. As Dave and Stoney pursue Matt and his friends, another earthquake happens. Matt exposes Link as a caveman in an attempt to destroy Dave and his reputations but the student body accepts Link's status. Matt is humiliated, Dave and Robyn make up and the three boys lead the entire prom in an impromptu caveman-like dance with Infectious Grooves providing the music. After the prom, some of the students visit Dave's house for a pool party, where Dave and Robyn kiss. Meanwhile, Stoney and Link discover breast prints on the slider and paint covering the walls of Dave's home. They follow muddy footprints to the bathroom and find Link's girlfriend, who also survived the earthquake during the ice age. He joins her in the bathtub and embraces her happily. She is also made to look like a modern human.

Jen and Mel run "The Breaker Upperers", an Auckland agency for people who need help breaking up with their partners. Using unorthodox means, such as impersonating police officers to inform a woman, Anna, that her husband has died and his body has gone missing, while in reality, he is hiding in their car. The two women have been friends since their twenties, after finding out that they shared a boyfriend, Joe. Although Mel has moved on, Jen is still obsessed with Joe, who has moved back to town with his wife and children. Mel and Jordan, a teenaged client afraid to break up with his fearsome girlfriend, Sepa, are mutually attracted, much to Jen's concern. The three meet with Sepa and her gang to break up the couple. Sepa ends up punching Jen in the face, and afterward, Mel and Jordan begin dating. One day, Jen and Mel meet Anna again. She still believes her husband's body is missing and that they are police officers. Anna and Mel soon become friends, having many shared interests. Jen is annoyed and feels left out. Anna begs them to reveal her husband's file. Jen and Mel, in their police costumes, continue the charade in the local police station. They are exposed when an officer mistakes them for strippers, requesting a lap dance. Afterwards, a shocked Anna storms out. Mel apologises, explaining that Anna's husband had hired them. Furious, she won't forgive them, declaring that what they do is wrong. Taking Anna's words to heart, Mel considers quitting, infuriating Jen, who doesn't find fault with what they are doing. Jen blames Mel for causing her breakup with Joe many years ago. Despite being reminded that Joe had hurt both of them, Jen cuts Mel from her life and the agency. Meeting Joe for dinner, Jen declares her longtime love for him, stating he is "the one". Initially believing she is joking, Joe laughs at her. He reveals that he had cheated on her with several other women as well. Joe rebuffs Jen by stating that although he was unfaithful in the past, he has since grown up. Meanwhile, Mel continues to see Jordan. Although he is kind and caring, she realises that due to his age, he remains naive and childish. He is also still in love with Sepa, who had been supportive of his budding rugby career. Jen runs into Mel at the shops, the latter revealing that she is pregnant. She wishes to keep the baby, but is unsure of things with Jordan. Jen enlists the help of Sepa, who is still in love with Jordan. At the local pub, Jordan is being publicly congratulated on his recent contract to play rugby with the Gold Coast Titans. Mel is also in attendance, and is worried when Jordan announces he will forfeit the contract to stay with her and the baby. Sepa and her gang arrive with Jen. Declaring her love for Jordan, she apologises for her past aggression, realising her need to change. She and her gang sing for Jordan, while Jen sings to Mel about their friendship. Mel then coaxes Jordan to go back to Sepa and accept the rugby contract, telling him she and the baby will visit him as often as possible. With her support, Jordan reunites with Sepa, and Jen and Mel make amends. In the end credits, Jen and Mel have rebranded their agency to help clients with "make-ups and break-ups". Anna has forgiven Mel, and they resume their friendship. Jordan has moved to the Gold Coast and is seen happily playing with his infant daughter.

In an alternate 1990, a war between humans and robots has left the world in disarray. With the help of Sentre CEO Ethan Skate, who developed Neurocaster technology that allowed humans to upload their minds into drone robots, humanity managed to win the war, while robots were banished to the Exclusion Zone. However, the success of this technology meant many people opted to live their virtual lives in a semi-vegetative state while drones did most of the work. In 1994, teenager Michelle lives with her deadbeat foster dad Ted. Years earlier, she was involved in a car crash along with her family, in which her parents and brother reportedly perished, and has since lived with a succession of foster families. Michelle is also having trouble at school due to her refusal to use Neurocaster technology to participate in virtual classes. One day, the sentient robot Cosmo – a robot character of the cartoon of the same name which Michelle's declared-deceased younger brother Christopher, who was a child prodigy, watched – finds Michelle. He is only able to communicate using gestures and a limited set of pre-recorded words, but manages to convince her that he is controlled by Christopher. Michelle and Cosmo set out across a dystopian landscape to find him by first finding Dr. Clark Amherst, the doctor who confirmed Christopher's death. Along the way, they encounter Keats, a veteran, and Herman, a sentient robot who is able to take on multiple forms. Together, they eventually meet up with a band of robots in the Exclusion Zone led by Mr. Peanut. There, they find Dr. Amherst and his robot friend P.C., who explains that Sentre found Christopher in a seemingly permanent vegetative state after the accident and discovered that they could create the Neurocaster technology by exploiting Christopher's exceptional intellect and integrating his consciousness into the Neurocaster; this technology was instrumental in giving humans an advantage in the war against the robots. However, after Christopher unexpectedly came out of his coma thirteen months later, a remorseful Amherst built a way for his mind to escape. Sentre drones, under the command of Colonel Bradbury, attack and recapture Christopher, killing Amherst and destroying the robots' home. Determined to rescue her brother, Michelle and P.C. infiltrate Sentre's headquarters with the help of Keats and Herman, while the other robots wage war with Skate's drone army. Disgusted with Skate's actions, Bradbury defects and helps Peanut to confront Skate while Michelle discovers Christopher in a comatose state, his consciousness trapped within the Neurocaster system. In the virtual realm, Christopher explains to Michelle that his consciousness is powering Skate's drones, and expresses his desire to be freed from his exploited existence. Michelle disconnects him, resulting in his physical body dying. Christopher's death triggers the shutdown of Sentre's drone operations. In the aftermath, Skate is arrested and the world begins to rebuild from the devastation wrought by the war and corporate greed. Michelle then broadcasts to the world exposing how the Neurocaster technology has affected people's lives and inviting those who wish to live in peace to the Exclusion Zone. Cosmo's body is dumped in a junkyard, but he is shown rising up, suggesting that a part of Christopher's consciousness may still reside within the robot.

Bill is an elderly ex- vaudevillian who lives alone, often looking at photographs of his deceased wife. Each day after breakfast, he goes to the supermarket, where he is friendly to employees, often charming them with a magic trick. Kate is a 14-year-old teenager who gets in a squabble with an intimidating man named Demesta. The girl, who is wrapped in a towel and apparently otherwise nude, has locked herself in a bathroom to evade him. Demesta pounds on the door and demands to know the details of a drug deal that Kate has fouled up. Kate escapes through the window, wearing only the towel, while a police officer knocks on the door of the apartment and grapples with Demesta. He is chased down the street while she goes in a different direction. Kate slips down a hillside staircase, losing the towel in the process, exposing dorsal nudity while fleeing in the nude. Bill comes out of the grocery store, talking to the bag boy about magic tricks, and opens the trunk of his Pierce Arrow. They both see Kate, lying naked in the trunk, covered partially by a deflated car tire inner tube. Stunned, Bill convinces the bag boy that it was just an illusion and drives away. Stopping on a secluded street, he confronts Kate, who asks him to take her to his house. He reluctantly agrees. Bill asks Kate what's going on but she refuses to answer. He allows her to take shelter in his home and loans her some of his clothes. Kate attempts to escape by dropping out of a window, spraining her ankle in the process. This attracts the attention of Bill's nosy neighbors, Stan and Sue. Next, Bill goes to see his friend Max in a nursing home. Max, another ex-vaudevillian and a former roommate, is despondent and non-verbal. Bill visits him daily, cheerfully describing his daily activities. Today, he tells Max about Kate. Later, Bill is confronted by his daughter, Shirl and her husband, Harris. Shirl says Bill is senile and tries to get power of attorney of his bank account. Bill refuses and Shirl becomes furious. Meanwhile, Demesta is still in a rage. He intimidates Kate's friend Roy, and vows to find Kate, implying that he will harm her. Stan and Sue step up their meddling, calling Shirl about Kate. Shirl returns, demands to see Kate, and is put off by Bill again, who denies harboring a juvenile. Kate finally confesses to Bill that she is on the run from a drug dealer. She explains that Demesta gave her money to make a connection but that she threw the cache into the sewer in a moment of panic. Bill advises her to go to the police but Kate is afraid to do so. That night, Bill's poker buddies arrive and he introduces them to Kate. The evening is interrupted when Shirl returns with two police officers. Kate is concealed with a levitation magic trick and his daughter becomes more furious. The next day, before Bill leaves to visit Max, Kate relates the story of a boy she once knew who also refused to talk and how he started talking once all the other kids ignored him. During the visit, Bill tells Max that he will never come to see him again unless he talks. Max breaks down and begs Bill not to leave. Bill returns home to find Kate gone and becomes despondent. Meanwhile, Kate returns to her foster home, collects her belongings, and meets Roy at school. Kate reveals that she never made the connection and still has the $20,000 in cash. Shocked, he tells her that Demesta will kill her. She says she plans to leave town with the money. When Roy tells her that Demesta knows where she has been hiding, she worries for Bill. After she returns to Bill's house, Demesta forces his way in and a chase ensues. Bill holds Demesta at bay with a sword and incapacitates him. The police are summoned and Demesta is arrested. Shirl arrives and Bill asks her for a favor. Max packs his belongings, preparing to go back home with Bill, when he learns that Shirl and Harris have agreed to act as foster parents for Kate. Bill explains that Kate will stay with him and Max on the week-ends. The film ends with the threesome departing together.