Taxi portrays director Jafar Panahi as he courses through the streets of Tehran while pretending to be a share taxi driver. He wants to hear a piece of his passengers' lives and declines any payment for the services. His earliest passengers include a conservative-minded man who supports capital punishment and a woman supporting its abolition, a pirated video vendor named Omid who once lent foreign films not available in the country to Panahi, an injured man and his wife who insist on recording a last will due to their panic, and a pair of superstitious old women wanting to release their goldfishes to a holy spring. Eventually, Panahi picks up his niece, Hana, at her school. She discusses film-making and wants Panahi's advice on creating a short film for a school project; her teacher has talked about several rules on creating films in Iran, including the avoidance of siahnamayi, or portraying a dark image about the country. However, Hana's teacher also stated that people should create films as they see fit. The two stop near a coffeehouse where Panahi meets with a family friend he has not seen for seven years. The latter inquires about a burglary he recently experienced and his dilemma of not informing the authorities about the thieves, whom he personally knows, as they are poor and have nothing else to lose. Meanwhile, Hana films a case of siahnamayi herself when she spots a boy who picks up money that had been dropped on the road by a couple of newlyweds and initially refuses to return it. Finally, Panahi and Hana meet with Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer about to see the imprisoned Ghoncheh Ghavami and possibly convince her to give up her hunger strike. While adjusting her seat, Hana stumbles upon a purse belonging to one of the old women with the goldfishes. Sotoudeh decides to leave early so Panahi can deliver the purse, but not before giving him a rose as a goodwill for filmmakers. Panahi and Hana proceed to the springs and are able to return the purse; at the same time as this happens, a pair of thieves (or government agents) ransack the taxi, before the film cuts off.

In January 1865, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln expects the American Civil War to end soon, with the defeat of the Confederate States Army. He is concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may be discarded by the courts after the war and that the proposed Thirteenth Amendment will be defeated by the returning slave states. He feels it is imperative to pass the amendment beforehand, to foreclose any possibility that freed slaves might be re-enslaved. The Radical Republicans fear the amendment will be defeated by some who wish to delay its passage; support from Republicans in the states is not yet assured. The amendment also requires the support of several Democratic congressmen in order for it to pass. With dozens of Democrats being lame ducks after losing their re-election campaigns in 1864, some of Lincoln's advisors recommend waiting for a new Republican nominated Congress. Lincoln relies on Francis Preston Blair, a founder of the Republican Party, to influence members of the state conservative faction to vote for the anti-slavery amendment. Blair in turn insists that Lincoln allow him to engage the Confederate government in peace negotiations, knowing his two sons will once again be in danger after the spring thaw permits renewed military operations. While Lincoln knows such negotiations would anger the Radical Republicans, he needs to support the slavery amendment; he also cannot proceed without Blair's support and reluctantly authorizes the peace mission. Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward also need to secure Democratic votes for the amendment and Lincoln suggests they concentrate on the lame-ducks who will feel less restricted so as to vote independently. Lincoln also authorizes agents to offer federal jobs to the soon to be unemployed Democratic congressmen. Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest son of President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, returns from Harvard Law School and announces his intention to discontinue his studies and enlist in the Union army. He hopes to earn a measure of honor and respect outside of his father's shadow. The President reluctantly secures an officer's commission for him. His wife fears their son will be killed and urges her husband to pass the amendment and end the war. At a critical moment in the debate in the United States House of Representatives, racial-equality advocate Thaddeus Stevens agrees to moderate his position and argue that the amendment represents only legal equality between the races, not a declaration of actual equality. Confederate envoys ready to meet with Lincoln are instructed to remain outside of Washington, D.C. as the amendment approaches a vote on the House floor. Rumors of the peace envoy circulate, prompting both Democrats and conservative Republicans to advocate postponing the vote. In a carefully worded statement, Lincoln denies there are envoys in Washington, and the vote passes by a margin of two votes. Black visitors to the gallery celebrate, and Stevens returns home to his "housekeeper" and lover, a biracial woman named Lydia Hamilton Smith. When Lincoln meets with the Confederates, he tells them that slavery cannot be restored, as the North is united for ratification of the amendment, and several of the southern states' reconstructed legislatures would also vote to ratify. As a result, the peace negotiations fail, and the war continues. On April 3, Lincoln visits the battlefield at Petersburg, Virginia and speaks with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. On April 9, Grant receives General Robert E. Lee 's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. On April 14, Lincoln meets members of his cabinet to discuss future measures to enfranchise blacks, before leaving for Ford's Theatre. That night, while Lincoln's son Tad is watching a play at Grover's Theatre, the manager stops the play to announce that the President has been shot. The next morning, at the Petersen House, Lincoln dies with a peaceful expression across his face. In a flashback, he finishes reciting his second inaugural address on March 4 with the words, "With malice toward none, with charity for all".

In 1962, during the Cold War, Elisa Esposito works as a janitor in a secret government laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland. Found abandoned by the side of a river as an infant with scars on her neck, Elisa is mute and communicates through sign language. Her only friends are her closeted middle-aged neighbor Giles, an advertising illustrator, and her coworker Zelda. Colonel Richard Strickland has captured a creature from a South American river and taken it to the facility for study. Elisa discovers it is a humanoid amphibian, and bonds with the creature after visiting him in secret. Seeking an advantage in the Space Race, Strickland persuades General Frank Hoyt to vivisect the Amphibian Man to examine his respiratory system. Scientist Robert Hoffstetler, a Soviet spy, pleads with Strickland to keep him alive for further study, while being ordered by his handlers to kill the creature. Giles reluctantly agrees to help Elisa free Amphibian Man after failing a work assignment and being rejected by a local restaurant manager whom he discovered was both racist and homophobic. Hoffstetler and Zelda also become involved in the plot and successfully get the Amphibian Man to Elisa's apartment. Elisa keeps him in her bathtub, planning to release him into a nearby canal when heavy rain allows access to the ocean. When Giles tries to stop the Amphibian Man from devouring one of his cats, his arm is slashed and the Amphibian Man flees. Elisa coaxes him back to her apartment and the creature touches Giles on his balding head and wounded arm. The next morning, Giles discovers his hair is regrowing and the wounds on his arm have healed. Elisa's infatuation with the Amphibian Man culminates in sexual intercourse. General Hoyt gives Strickland an ultimatum to recover the Amphibian Man or his career will be over. Hoffstetler is told by his handlers he'll be extracted from the US in two days. The Amphibian Man's health begins to deteriorate. Strickland follows Hoffstetler to a meeting with his handlers where Hoffstetler is shot. Strickland intervenes, shooting the handlers, then tortures the dying spy into revealing the Amphibian Man's whereabouts. Strickland confronts Zelda in her home and her husband reveals Elisa has the Amphibian Man. Zelda warns Elisa to release the creature before Strickland can arrive. He ransacks Elisa's apartment and finds evidence of the creature in the bathtub and a calendar note revealing where she plans to release him. "Unable to perceive the shape of You. I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love. It humbles my heart. For You are everywhere." Elisa and Giles are bidding farewell to the creature at the canal when Strickland arrives, knocks Giles down, and shoots both the Amphibian Man and Elisa. Giles and Strickland fight while the Amphibian Man heals himself, then fatally slashes Strickland's throat. As the police arrive with Zelda, the Amphibian Man jumps into the canal with the unconscious Elisa and kisses her. When he uses his healing power again, the scars on her neck open to reveal gills. The now-amphibious Elisa revives and embraces him.

In 1976 television presenter Tony Wilson sees the Sex Pistols perform at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall for the first time. Inspired, Wilson starts a weekly series of punk rock shows at a Manchester club, where the newly formed Joy Division perform, led by the erratic, brooding Ian Curtis. Wilson founds a record label, Factory Records, and signs Joy Division as the first band; the contract is written in Wilson's blood and gives the Factory artists full control over their music. He hires irascible producer Martin Hannett to record Joy Division, and soon the band and label have a hit record. In 1980, just before Joy Division is to tour the United States, Curtis hangs himself. Joy Division rename themselves New Order and record a hit single, " Blue Monday ". Wilson opens a nightclub, the Haçienda; business is slow at first, but eventually the club is packed each night. Wilson signs another hit band, Happy Mondays, led by Shaun Ryder, and the ecstasy -fuelled rave culture is born. Despite the apparent success, Factory Records is losing money. Every copy of "Blue Monday" sold loses five pence, as the intricate packaging by Peter Saville costs more than the single's sale price. Wilson pays for New Order to record a new album in Ibiza, but after two years, they still have not delivered a record. He pays for the Happy Mondays to record their fourth studio album in Barbados, but Ryder spends all the money on drugs. When Wilson finally receives the album, he finds that Ryder has refused to record vocals, and all the tracks are instrumentals. At the Haçienda, ecstasy use is curbing alcohol sales and attracting gang violence. The Factory partners try to save the business by selling the label to London Records. However, Wilson reveals that the Factory does not hold contracts with any of its artists and, therefore, does not own a catalogue of recordings. This renders the company ultimately worthless and the deal falls through. While smoking marijuana on the roof of Haçienda after its closing night, Wilson has a vision of God, who assures Wilson he has earned a place in history.

Ben Quick is on trial for barn-burning, but since there is no evidence the judge just orders him to leave town. Ben hitches a ride to Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, with two young women in a convertible, Clara Varner and her sister-in-law Eula. Clara's father, Will Varner, is the domineering owner of most of the town. Will is away, but his only son, Eula's husband Jody, agrees to let Ben become a sharecropper on a vacant farm. When Will returns from a stay in the hospital, he is furious at Jody for hiring a notorious "barn burner", but soon begins to see in Ben a younger version of himself and comes to admire his ruthlessness and ambition, qualities that Jody lacks. Will is also disappointed that his 23-year-old daughter, Clara, has not married the man she has been seeing for five or six years: Alan Stewart, a genteel Southern "blue blood" and a mama's boy. Will therefore schemes to push his daughter and Ben together. However, she is openly hostile to the crude upstart. Will is determined to have his bloodline go on, so he offers to make Ben wealthy if he marries Clara. Meanwhile, Minnie Littlejohn, Will's longtime mistress, is dissatisfied with their arrangement and wants to get married. Jody becomes increasingly frustrated, seeing his position being undermined, and his marriage falters. After Ben sells some worthless wild horses for Will, he is rewarded with the job of clerk in Will's general store alongside Jody. Will even invites him to live in the family mansion. Jody pulls a gun on Ben and threatens to kill him. Ben talks his way out by telling Jody about buried Civil War -era coins he has supposedly found on a property that Will gave him, a down payment to seal their bargain over Clara. Jody starts digging and finds a bag of coins. He is elated, thinking he has finally escaped his father's domination; he buys the land from Ben. Late that night, Will finds his son, still digging. After examining a coin, Will notices that it was minted in 1910. Jody is shattered. Ben aggressively pursues Clara. She finally asks Alan what his intentions are, and he replies that he only wants to "help" her. Misinterpreting what Clara tells him, Will goes to congratulate Alan and his mother on the impending marriage, but is infuriated when he learns the truth. He returns home. A defeated Jody finds his father alone in their barn. Jody bolts the entrance and sets the barn on fire, but he cannot go through with it and releases Will. Will is touched by Jody's change of heart and calls him his "strong right arm." Men from town assume Ben is the culprit and intend to lynch him, but Clara rescues him from the mob and drives him back to the plantation. Will defuses the situation by telling the mob he accidentally started the fire himself. Ben confesses to Clara that his father was a barn-burner, committing arson when offended, and that he has been falsely dogged by such accusations because of his father. Ben tells her he is leaving town, but Clara makes it clear she has fallen in love with him. Will is so pleased with the success of his scheme, he declares he may decide to live forever.

Psychiatrist Margaret Ford has achieved success with her recently published book about obsessive-compulsive disorder, but feels unfulfilled. Her patient, Billy Hahn, says his life is in danger because he owes money to a criminal figure named Mike Mancuso. He threatens suicide, brandishing a gun. Margaret persuades him to surrender the weapon to her and promises to help him. That night, Margaret visits a pool hall called House of Games where she confronts Mike. He is willing to forgive Billy's debt if Margaret accompanies him to a back-room poker game and watch for the tell of George, another player: he plays with his ring when he bluffs. She agrees, and notices George playing with his ring after making a big bet. She discloses this to Mike, who calls the bet. However, George wins and demands that Mike pay the $6,000 bet, which he is unable to do. George pulls a gun, but Margaret intervenes and offers to pay the debt with a personal check. She then notices the gun is a water pistol, and realizes the entire game is a confidence trick for her money. She declines to pay, but spends the rest of the night socializing with the con men. The experience excites her and she returns the next night. She asks Mike to teach her about con games so she can write a book about it. Mike appears skeptical, but agrees. Margaret is enchanted by Mike showing her simple con tricks. Eventually, the two sneak into a hotel room and have sex. Afterward, Mike tells Margaret that con artists take a small token from every "mark" to signify their dominance. While Mike is in the bathroom, she takes a small pocket knife belonging to the room's occupant. Mike says he is late for another large-scale con that he and his associates are planning at the same hotel. Mike reluctantly allows her to tag along, posing as his wife. The con involves Mike, his partner Joey, and the "mark", a businessman, discovering a briefcase full of money and taking it to a hotel room. They discuss whether to turn it in or split it among themselves. When the "mark" withdraws to the bathroom, Margaret discovers that he is an undercover cop part of a sting operation. She warns Mike, and they attempt to escape, but the cop tries to arrest them. After a struggle, Margaret accidentally causes the cop to fatally shoot himself. She, Mike, and Joey escape to the garage, where they force Margaret to steal a car and drive past two uniformed police officers with the con men concealed in the back seat. They drive the car to a riverbank and are preparing to abandon it when they discover that the briefcase, containing $80,000 borrowed from the Mafia for the con, is gone. Margaret offers to give Mike $80,000 of her own money so he can repay the mob. Mike tells Margaret they must split up to avoid any police attention, and claims to be going into hiding. Riddled with guilt, Margaret returns to her office and refuses to see any patients. Billy arrives in high spirits, and after a brief conversation, she spots him driving away in the same red convertible that she "stole" at the hotel. She tracks him to a bar and sees Mike, all his associates, the man posing as the hotel guest, and the fake undercover policeman, discussing the night's events - a scheme to con Margaret out of $80,000. She also learns that the pocket knife she stole from the hotel room belongs to Mike, who set up the room to appear occupied. He mocks Margaret for stealing it. After overhearing Mike is going to the airport that night, she intercepts him there and says she is so worried about the police that she has withdrawn her entire life's savings. In a non-public area, she pleads with him to start a new life with her. Mike is lured by the money, then realizes he is being tricked when she inadvertently reveals she overheard the con men discussing the pocketknife. He says her money is gone, but she pulls out Billy's gun and demands that he beg for his life. Disbelieving her, Mike refuses, but Margaret shoots him in the leg. When Mike curses her, she shoots him five more times, killing him. She calmly conceals the gun and leaves. Some time later, Margaret has returned from a vacation, she has written another successful book, and is meeting her friend and colleague Dr. Littauer. They talk over lunch, and Margaret says, "When you've done something unforgivable, you must forgive yourself, and that's what I've done, and it's done". While her friend is away from the table, Margaret distracts another diner and steals a gold lighter from her purse, relishing the thrill.

As 1999 nears its end, Los Angeles has become a dangerous war zone. A Chinese restaurant is robbed by a group of criminals, with one recording the event with a SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device), an illegal electronic device that records memories and physical sensations directly from the wearer's cerebral cortex onto a MiniDisc -like storage device. Lenny Nero, a former LAPD officer turned black marketeer of SQUID recordings, buys the robbery clip from his main supplier Tick. Elsewhere, Iris, a prostitute and former friend of Faith Justin (Lenny's ex-girlfriend), is chased by LAPD officers Burton Steckler and Dwayne Engelman. Iris escapes on a subway car, but Engelman pulls off her wig, revealing a SQUID recorder headset. Lenny pines for Faith and relies on emotional support from his two best friends—Max Peltier, a private investigator, and Lornette "Mace" Mason, a bodyguard and limousine driver. Mace has unrequited feelings for Lenny from when he was still a cop and acted as a father figure for her son after her boyfriend was arrested on drug charges, but disapproves of his SQUID-dealing business. While Lenny and Max are drinking at a bar, Iris drops a SQUID disc through the sunroof of Lenny's car before it is towed away. Mace picks Lenny up and takes him to a nightclub where Faith is going to sing. There, Lenny receives a SQUID disc from an anonymous contact and unsuccessfully tries to get Faith away from her new boyfriend, Philo Gant. Philo is a music industry mogul who managed the recently murdered rapper Jeriko One. While in the car with Mace, Lenny plays the disc the contact gave him and watches as Iris is brutally raped and murdered by an attacker at the Sunset Regent hotel. As they approach the hotel, Iris's body is taken out on a stretcher. The next day, they take the disc to Tick, who cannot identify the source of the recording, but recalls that Iris was looking for Lenny. Deducing Iris may have left something in Lenny's car, Mace and Lenny go to the impound and find Iris's disc. Steckler and Engelman appear and demand the disc at gunpoint, but Lenny and Mace escape in her bullet-resistant car before being forced to stop at a dock. Steckler pours gasoline on the car and sets it on fire, but Mace drives it into the harbor, extinguishing the flames. When they reach the surface, the cops have left. Mace takes Lenny to her brother's house, and they watch Iris's disc, showing Iris was with Jeriko One when Steckler and Engelman pulled him over and murdered him, because his anti-police lyrics and activism incited protests against the LAPD. The two return to Tick, who Max explains has been rendered brain-dead from forceful exposure to amplified SQUID signals. Lenny fears Iris's attacker covered his tracks by "killing" Tick and will come after Faith. Back at the nightclub, Lenny and Mace confront Faith, who reveals that Philo is afraid Iris's disc would reveal that he kept his artists under surveillance. Lenny and Mace disagree over whether to trade the disc to Philo for Faith's freedom or release it publicly, which could incite a citywide riot. As midnight approaches, Lenny and Mace sneak into a private party that Philo is hosting at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel for the city's wealthy elite. Lenny has a change of heart and tells Mace to give the disc to deputy police commissioner Palmer Strickland. In Philo's penthouse suite, Lenny finds Philo brain-dead on the floor and another disc, revealing Faith's affair with Max, who "fried" Philo's brain with an amplified recording of them feigning rape. Pointing a gun at Lenny, Max explains that Philo hired him to kill Iris, but when Philo wanted Faith dead as part of the coverup, he decided to frame Lenny for the murders. Lenny and Max struggle in a fight, Faith intervenes and pulls off Max's wig with a SQUID inside - assuring a confession - and Max stabs Lenny in the back. The fight culminates with Lenny on the balcony with Max hanging over; Lenny pulls the knife from his back to cut his necktie and drop Max to his death. Lenny goes downstairs to find Mace, leaving Faith standing alone on the balcony. Meanwhile, on the crowded streets, Mace subdues Steckler and Engelman with baton and taser, but other officers take down Mace. The crowd moves in, in support of Mace, and a major riot seems inevitable. Strickland, who has viewed Iris's disc, arrives and orders Mace's release and the arrest of Steckler and Engelman for murder. Engelman commits suicide; Steckler threatens Mace, but the officers gun him down. Lenny finds Mace, and the two share a hug before she gets in Strickland's car. Then Lenny drags her out, and they share a kiss as the crowd celebrates the turn of the new millennium.

Ali Hassan works for Danka TV in Karachi, Pakistan, and dreams of migrating to the United States, but his visa applications are rejected for seven years straight in the aftermath of September 11 attacks. While covering a local event for his channel, he discovers Noora, a poultry farmer and Osama bin Laden lookalike, and hits upon an idea to make a fake Osama tape. He recruits his assistant Gul, colleague Lateef, makeup artist Zoya and radio jockey Qureishi in his scheme, and tricks Noora into shooting the tape under false pretenses. He then sells the tape to Majeed, the owner of Danka TV, hoping to raise money for the elusive US visa. However, the US government and Pakistani Intelligence get involved once it releases, thwarting his plans and starting a war in Afghanistan. A CIA and Pakistani team, led by Ted Wood and Usman, is formed to investigate Osama's location in Pakistan. Ali decides to defuse the situation by making another tape in which Osama declares a ceasefire with the US, and somehow manages to convince Noora and Qureishi who disapprove of his actions. During the shooting, Noora unwittingly detonates a grenade, which kills his beloved rooster. Depressed, he runs away from the studio with the Osama makeup still on, forcing Ali and the others to follow suit. Meanwhile, Ted Wood and Usman track them down and arrest the entire team. However, during their interrogation, the truth is revealed, and to save Ted's face, Ali convinces him to make his planned tape of Osama declaring a ceasefire. When the second fake tape releases, the United States accepts the offer of a ceasefire, and Ali is at last able to make it to America.

The film opens in documentary style, chronicling the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti.It then follows Michelangelo, a renowned Cinquecento sculptor of the Republic of Florence, in the early 16th century, and shows him at work on large-scale sculptures near St. Peter's Basilica. When Pope Julius II commissions him to paint the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo resists because he finds the ceiling's paneled layout of the Twelve Apostles uninspiring. Nonetheless, he is forced into taking the job. During the initial attempt, Michelangelo is discontented with the results, and destroys the frescoes. He flees to Carrara, and then into the mountains where he finds inspiration from nature. Michelangelo returns and is allowed to paint the entire vault in a variety of newly designed biblical scenes based on the Book of Genesis, which the Pope approves. The work proceeds nonstop, even with Mass in session. Michelangelo faces opposition and criticism from the Pope's cardinals, due to its depictons of nudity in the paintings. As months turn to years, Michelangelo's work is threatened when he collapses due to fatigue. He is nursed back to health by Contessina de' Medici, daughter of his old friend Lorenzo de' Medici. After recovering, Michelangelo returns to work after learning he is at risk of being replaced by Raphael, whom the Pope commissions to paint the reception rooms of the Papal palace. Meanwhile, the Papal States are threatened during the War of the League of Cambrai. Preparing for battle and having reached the limits of his patience, the Pope terminates Michelangelo's contract, and has the scaffolding torn down. Raphael, impressed with the work in progress, asks Michelangelo to show humility and finish the ceiling. Michelangelo travels to see the injured and weakened Pope, and pleads for him to restore the patronage. Though the Pope believes an invasion of Rome is inevitable, he raises the money needed to resume work on the ceiling. One night, Michelangelo finds the ailing Pope inspecting the portrait of God in The Creation of Adam, which the Pope declares "a proof of faith" yet doubts Michelangelo's conception of God as merciful and Adam as innocent, then the Pope collapses and becomes bedridden. Though everyone assumes that the Pope will die, Michelangelo goads him into having the will to live and to finish his work and asks permission to allow him return to Florence, a request the Pope refuses. As Michelangelo leaves, the Pope recovers and upon seeing the cardinals and the monks, as well the choir, he angrily shooes them away. The tide of war turns in favor of the Papal States, as allies (including England and Spain) pledge to assist the Pope. A Mass is held in which the congregation is shown the completed ceiling, to a positive response. After the ceremony, Michelangelo asks to begin carving the Pope's tomb. Realizing he has a short time to live, the Pope agrees but changes his mind when he gives Michelangelo another commission to paint a new fresco behind the altarpiece to replace the dilapidated ones (and gives Michelangelo the choice of subject like the crucifixion or the last judgment). The Pope then admits that Michelangelo's conception of God is accurate before goading him to continue his work. As the Pope leaves, Michelangelo turns back to look at the space behind the altarpiece, where he will later paint his Last Judgement 25 years later.

Jean Fournier is a quiet young bank employee in Paris, living with his widowed father. After accompanying his colleague Caron to a casino and winning at roulette, he decides to have a holiday on the French Riviera, despite his father's warning that gamblers always lose in the end. In the casino in Nice, he meets Jackie Demaistre, a middle-aged woman who has left her husband and infant son to pursue her compulsion. The two develop an emotional connection, though she warns him that she will sacrifice anything to keep on gambling, not for the money, she claims, but for the thrill. As her remaining belongings are in a suitcase at the railway station, where she plans to sleep, he offers her his hotel room. They drink, talk, and make love. Back in the casino, the two win a fortune with which, having bought a sports car and smart clothes, they take a suite in Monte Carlo and hit the tables there. Losing everything, they take the train back to Nice, where Jean convinces his father to send him some money. When this too is lost in the casino, Jean calls it a day and walks off, saying that he is returning to Paris. Hurt at this double rejection, of her and of their gambling partnership, Jackie angrily tells him to go. Shortly afterwards, she runs after him and the two embrace in the sunset.

Former Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan learns, in a routine investigation, that a mysterious man, who calls himself " Booth ", is planning to assassinate the President of the United States (unnamed in the film). Booth soon makes a phone call to Horrigan and reveals that he knows Horrigan's history: he (Horrigan) was one of President Kennedy 's bodyguards, but failed to protect JFK on the day of his assassination. Obsessed with his failure and tormented by feelings of guilt, Horrigan has become a cynical, loveless alcoholic, but now he requests to be assigned to protect the current President. His co-worker is the playful-but-businesslike Lily Raines. Booth continues to call Horrigan from time to time, even though he knows that his calls are being traced. He calls from public telephones and allows his calls to be traced, but escapes before the Secret Service can arrest him. He needles Horrigan for his failure to protect Kennedy but also calls him a "friend". Booth escapes Horrigan and at one site, he inadvertently leaves a palm print on a passing car. The Federal Bureau of Investigation matches the print, but because the person's identity is classified, the agency chooses not to disclose it to the Secret Service. The FBI does, however, notify the Central Intelligence Agency. Horrigan learns that the assassin is in fact Mitch Leary, a skilled killer who used to work for the CIA, but suffered a mental breakdown and is now a "predator" seeking revenge on his former masters. Leary is also independently wealthy and tech-savvy. He is able to mold a zip gun out of composite material so as to evade metal detectors, and he can carry two small bullets past a metal detector concealed in a key-ring ornament. He is therefore in a position to carry a functional pistol into a fundraising event at which the President is scheduled to speak in person to the donors. D'Andrea, one of Horrigan's underlings, confides to Horrigan that he intends to retire immediately because of nightmares about a previous incident in which he was almost killed, but Horrigan persuades him to remain on the case. The two of them succeed in catching up to Leary after tracing one of his phone calls. Leary flees to the top of a building; the two bodyguards chase Leary across Washington rooftops, where Leary shoots and kills D'Andrea but saves Horrigan from falling to his death as he clings to the side of the building. As he supports Horrigan at the edge of the roof, Leary taunts Horrigan with his immediate dilemma: he (Horrigan) can save the President by shooting Leary, but then Horrigan will himself fall to his death. Horrigan is forced by circumstance to let Leary escape: choosing to "save ass", as Leary gleefully puts it, rather than save the President. Feelings of guilt over having failed to save D'Andrea on the rooftop further de-moralize Horrigan. At the fundraiser, Horrigan receives an electronic communication containing some crucial information he had requested, and realizes that Leary is there, disguised, and armed. As Leary draws his pistol and takes aim at the President, Horrigan jumps between them and saves the President's life, shouting "gun!" at the top of his voice. Leary fires his pistol, but Horrigan is wearing the regulation bullet-proof vest. While the Secret Service hustles the President to safety, Leary takes Horrigan as a hostage and pulls him into one of the hotel's external glass elevators. Horrigan is also wearing a regulation hidden microphone; he openly instructs Raines and sharpshooters to fire upon Leary. They fire but miss, shooting out the elevator's full-height windows. Horrigan takes advantage of the surprise and engages Leary in a ferocious, hand-to-hand combat in the small elevator. Leary falls through one of the ornamental windows and finds himself in the same position Horrigan was in before: hanging by his fingers from a precarious perch with only his arch-enemy to save him. Though Horrigan sincerely offers to pull him up to safety, Leary commits suicide by letting go, and falls to his death. Upon returning home to Washington, and now a widely publicized hero, Horrigan announces his retirement. Horrigan shows Raines into his apartment, where an unexpected farewell message from Leary is found on Horrigan's answering machine. They play the message, in which Leary begins to commend Horrigan on his character, but Horrigan and Raines leave the apartment before the message ends. The film ends with Horrigan and Raines enjoying a romantic interlude at the Lincoln Memorial.

Cassiel and Raphaella, two angels, observe the busy life of reunited Berlin. Due to their divine origin, they can hear the thoughts of the people around them, and try to console a dying man. Cassiel has been following his friend Damiel (a former angel), who senses his presence and talks about his experiences as a human. He owns a pizza parlor named Casa dell'angelo (Angel's House) and has married Marion, a trapeze artist whom he met when he was an angel. She works in a local bar in West Berlin, and the two have a young daughter, Doria. Cassiel follows Raissa Becker, an 11-year-old girl who lives in the former East Berlin. He observes her life and notices that she and her mother Hanna Becker are being followed by Philip Winter, a detective who works for Anton Baker. Baker is an American arms dealer and pornographer who owns a transport company. Cassiel follows Becker and Winter into an abandoned building. As Raphaella and Cassiel sit on top of the Brandenburg Gate, he expresses a desire to experience human life. Visiting Raissa, he finds her alone at her flat and leaning over the balcony railing. As she falls, Cassiel tries to save her and suddenly becomes human, catching the child. He has to adjust to the transformation, learning to modulate the volume of his voice and to negotiate streets and avoid being hit by cars. His only possession is an angel's armor, which became tangible when he leaped into humanity. In the subway, Cassiel is tricked into gambling by Emit Flesti ('Time Itself'), losing his armor and money won during the game. Raphaella begs Flesti to give Cassiel time to understand what it is to be a human; he agrees but does not promise to stop hunting him. Arrested and detained, Cassiel struggles to satisfy police demands for identification. He cannot give (or comprehend) his name or address, but refers the police to his friend's pizza shop. Damiel arrives at the station and takes his now human friend home. Tricked by Flesti into drinking alcohol, he becomes addicted and robs a shop with a gun taken from a teenager, who had been planning to kill his abusive stepfather. Cassiel begins begging to make his way and feigns a car accident with Baker to compel him to pay for the forging of a passport and birth certificate he has ordered under the name Karl Engel (Charles Angel). Baker hires Cassiel as his valet, to pass him cards for cheating his fellow gangsters at poker. Stopping by Casa dell'Angelo to return items borrowed from Damiel, Cassiel encounters Flesti again. He is collecting money from Damiel, after having loaned him money to set up the business. After Cassiel saves Baker's life, Baker makes Cassiel his partner. But after learning the true nature of his business, Cassiel decides to leave Baker's service and stop him. Winter is killed by Flesti. With the help of Damiel and former angel Peter Falk, Cassiel gets into Baker's airport storage area. His team takes all the weapons and destroy the pornography copying machines. They send the weapons to a barge owned by other friends. Once having completed the plan, Cassiel feels ready to live as a human, but Flesti reports that Baker's rival, Patzke, has hijacked the barge with Baker's and Cassiel's friends inside. Becker is also captured and reunites with his sister, Hannah, on board. Flesti reveals himself as Time and says that he has to make Cassiel understand he does not belong in the human world; he has a word written on his forehead. At a boat lift, Cassiel gets on the barge and frees Raissa, moments before he is killed. Flesti slows time so the rest can take over the barge and save the entire party. Cassiel's friends are saddened by his death, but when Damiel hears a ring in his ear, he understands that Cassiel has been reinstated as an angel and is near, and Damiel laughs in joy.