South Florida high school dropouts Ali Willis and Lisa Connelly befriend local deli employees Bobby Kent and Marty Puccio, going out on a double date. Later that evening, in Bobby's parked car, Ali performs oral sex on Bobby, while Lisa and Marty have sex in the back seat. Lisa later learns she is pregnant, but thinks the child is Bobby's instead of Marty's, since Bobby beat Marty unconscious and raped her after. Bobby emotionally and physically abuses Marty, who puts up with his violent tendencies. On one occasion, Bobby rapes Ali while forcing her to watch gay pornography with him. Lisa later tells Marty that everyone suspects Bobby is attracted to him. Marty reveals that the abuse started when they were boys, starting with Marty taking drugs at an early age, which Marty thinks Bobby has been using to take advantage of him. Marty and Bobby later go to a gay bar, where Marty is told to strip down and dance for money, while Bobby takes pleasure in his humiliation. Lisa eventually proposes that the group murder Bobby. Ali recruits her new boyfriend, the pot -smoking and acid -dropping Donny Semenec, and a troubled friend, Heather Swallers, who has recently been released from rehab. Lisa recruits her cousin, the shy and nerdy Derek Dzvirko. They initially plan to kill Bobby with a gun stolen from Lisa's mother. Ali and Lisa lure Bobby to the Everglades, the plan being that Lisa will shoot him while he has sex with Ali, but Lisa finds herself unable to do it. Realizing they need help, the group hires a supposed "hitman" and a friend of Ali's, Derek Kaufman. The group orchestrates a new plan: they drive with Bobby to the Everglades again, and Ali again lures Bobby to the bank of a canal with the promise of sex. Heather haphazardly gives a signal to Donny, who sneaks up behind Bobby and stabs him in the back of the neck. Horrified by the violence, Ali, Heather, and Dzvirko run back to Ali's car. Lisa watches as Marty and Donny repeatedly stab Bobby and slit his throat, before Kaufman bludgeons Bobby with a baseball bat. Kaufman forces Dzvirko to help carry the dying Bobby into the swamp, presuming alligators will consume the corpse. Marty later realizes that he left the sheath to his diving knife at the canal. The group returns to retrieve the sheath and finds Bobby's corpse being devoured by crabs. Lisa, Dzvirko, Ali, and Heather do not believe they did anything wrong, since they did not directly participate in Bobby's actual murder. Lisa decides to dispose of the knife, which is the only evidence linking them to the crime. Unable to maintain the secret, Dzvirko and Lisa reveal to their other friends what they've done, while Ali phones in an anonymous tip to the media, alerting them to Bobby's death. Lisa calls Kaufman and speaks to his younger brother, who says that Kaufman has already been arrested for the murder. Eventually, all the teenagers turn themselves in, except for Marty, who is subsequently arrested. Some time later, the group appears in court, wearing prison jumpsuits, with Lisa visibly pregnant by this time. Marty and Donny begin to argue, leading the others to join in as they each respectively deny their culpability in front of an onlooking courtroom. Title cards reveal the convictions the perpetrators received in real life: Derek Kaufman, Donny Semenec, and Lisa Connelly received life sentences; Ali Willis, 40 years; Derek Dzvirko, 11 years; Heather Swallers, seven years; and Marty Puccio, the death penalty, which was vacated in 1997.

Detroit engineer Preston Tucker has been interested in building cars since childhood. During World War II he designed an armored car for the military and made money building gun turrets for aircraft in a small shop next to his home in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tucker is supported by his large extended family, particularly his wife Vera, his sons Preston Jr. and Noble, and his daughter Marilyn Lee. As the war winds down, Tucker becomes inspired to build the "car of the future". The "Tucker Torpedo" will feature revolutionary safety designs, including disc brakes, seatbelts, a pop-out windshield, and headlights which swivel when the car turns. Tucker hires young designer Alex Tremulis to help with the design and enlists New York financier Abe Karatz to arrange financial support. Raising the money through a stock issue, Tucker and Karatz acquire the enormous Dodge Chicago Plant to begin manufacturing. Abe hires Robert Bennington to run the new Tucker Corporation on a day-to-day basis. Launching "the car of tomorrow" in a spectacular way, the Tucker Corporation is met with enthusiasm from shareholders and the general public. However, the Tucker board of directors, unsure of his ability to overcome the technical and financial obstacles ahead, send Tucker off on a publicity campaign and attempt to take complete control of the company. While Tucker travels the country, Bennington and directors change the design of the Tucker 48 to a more conventional design, eliminating the safety and engineering advances Tucker was advertising. At the same time, Tucker faces animosity from the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler —and from the authorities, led by Michigan Senator Homer S. Ferguson. Tucker returns from his publicity tour and confronts Bennington, who curtly informs him that he no longer has any power in the company to make decisions, and that the engine originally planned for the car is not viable. Tucker then receives a call from Howard Hughes, who sends a private plane to bring Tucker to his aircraft manufacturing site. Hughes advises Tucker to purchase the Aircooled Motors Company, which can supply both the steel Tucker needs, as well as a small, powerful helicopter engine that might replace Tucker's original 589 power plant. Unable to change Bennington's design, Tucker modifies the new engine and installs it in a test Tucker in the secrecy of his backyard tool-and-die shop. This prototype proves successful, both in durability and in crash-testing. However, Tucker is confronted with allegations of stock fraud. Ferguson's investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) causes Karatz—once convicted of bank fraud —to resign out of fear that his criminal record will prejudice the hearings. Yellow journalism all but ruins Tucker's public image, but the courtroom battle is resolved when he parades his entire production run of fifty Tucker 48s, proving that he has reached production status. After giving a speech to the jurors on how capitalism in the United States is harmed by efforts of large corporations against small entrepreneurs like himself, Tucker is acquitted on all charges, but the Tucker Corporation falls into bankruptcy. In the film's closing shot, Tucker's entire production line—fifty "cars of the future"—is driven through the streets of downtown Chicago, admired by everyone as they pass.

A group of students from Volda University College, Thomas, Johanna, and their cameraman Kalle, set out to make a documentary about a suspected bear poacher, Hans. At the site of an illegally slain bear they interview local hunters, who comment that the bear tracks look odd. Finn Haugen, head of the Norwegian Wildlife Board, dismisses the idea that the bear tracks could have been faked. The students follow Hans in an attempt to secure an interview but he continually rebuffs them. Following him into a forest at night time, they see flashing lights and hear roars. Hans comes running back, screaming "Troll!" Thomas is bitten by something as they run away. After finding their own vehicle destroyed, they escape in Hans's Land Rover. Hans reveals he is not hunting bears, but trolls. The students ask for permission to interview him and film his hunt, to which he consents on the condition that they do exactly as he instructs. The next day, Hans asks if any of them believe in God or Jesus, because a troll can smell a Christian man's blood. Hans wields a "flash-gun", a weapon that emits powerful UV-rays to simulate sunlight and turns trolls to stone, or makes them "just explode" depending on how old they are. Hans flushes out a giant three-headed troll and manages to turn the troll to stone. He explains that he only allowed them to come along because he's tired of working for little compensation and wants them to divulge the truth. Finn's team, who actually works for the Troll Security Service (TSS), arrives to deposit a bear carcass and plant fake tracks. Finn tells the students their tapes will be confiscated. During interviews, Hans reveals that his job is to kill trolls that come near populated areas, while Finn's is to keep trolls a secret. He reveals that the trolls have been acting aggressively lately and have begun to leave their territories more often. He plans to get a troll blood sample to determine why. Using live goats on a bridge as bait, Hans obtains a blood sample from a bridge troll. He takes it to a TSS veterinarian, who informs him it will take several days for results. Investigating a farm, Hans and the students find tracks leading into an abandoned mine, which turns out to be the lair of cave trolls. The cave trolls return unexpectedly and the group is trapped inside. The trolls pick up the scent of Kalle, who turns out to be a Christian, and discover the group. Everyone runs for the cave entrance into daylight, but Kalle is caught and killed. The students get a replacement camerawoman, Malica. Finn demands that Hans head north to troll territory to get the problem under control. The group finds signs of a Jötunn, a giant mountain troll 50–100 metres tall. Thomas, who was bitten a few days ago, falls ill, and they learn that the troll blood sample came back positive for rabies. After several attempts, Hans manages to kill the Jötunn by launching a rocket-like projectile that transforms the troll into stone. Before doing so, he directs the others to find the highway. Finn and his TSS-agents arrive to confiscate the students' tapes. Thomas flees with the camera and ends up at the side of a road, with a truck oncoming, when the footage ends. An epilogue tells the audience that none of the students were heard from again. The film ends with a news-clip of the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appearing to admit to the existence of trolls, though the press fails to take notice.

In 1996, San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb interviews drug dealer Ronny Quail, who is outraged that the government used civil asset forfeiture to keep his house even after he was acquitted. Webb's ensuing article about the abuses of forfeiture garners repeated phone calls from a woman named Coral, whom he agrees to meet when she says she has documents that prove the government sponsored cocaine sales in the U.S. Coral gives Webb a transcript of grand jury testimony (normally kept secret) which was accidentally released to her boyfriend, an accused drug dealer, during discovery. After Webb reveals to the prosecutor in the case that he has the transcript, the government drops the charges against Coral's boyfriend in order to protect their main witness: Oscar Danilo Blandón. After Webb researches Blandón and comes across the pending case of "Freeway" Rick Ross, he is stunned to learn that Blandón is a paid informant. Armed with this knowledge, Ross' attorney elicits from Blandón his sworn testimony outlining the CIA 's alleged involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking—that the CIA actively supported Blandón and his partners’ smuggling of cocaine into the U.S. and used the profits to benefit the Nicaraguan Contras. Webb travels to a prison in Managua and speaks to Blandón's partner, Norwin Meneses, who confirms Oliver North 's involvement in the basic "drugs for guns" scheme to use profits from cocaine trafficking to fund the Contras. In Washington, D.C., Webb tracks down Fred Weil, a National Security Council employee who was an investigator on the Kerry Committee report, which touched on the same issues. Like many other people that Webb speaks to, Weil warns him that the subject may put him in danger. For good measure, federal agents summon Webb to a meeting where they warn him against publishing what he has learned. The paper publishes Webb's story as a three-part series with the title " Dark Alliance "; it is an immediate sensation. Humiliated by being scooped by a regional paper, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and The New York Times all dig into Webb's reporting. Webb views their follow-up reporting as being far too deferential to the CIA. Eventually, their reporting turns to Webb himself, including an affair he had while working at The Plain Dealer. Webb is banished to the newspaper's Cupertino bureau to cover mundane local news. However, he continues to work on the story. He is awakened in his motel room one night by John Cullen, who is precisely the kind of CIA source with direct knowledge of the scheme that Webb's reporting needs. Webb's exhilaration at finding Cullen is quickly dampened when the paper reveals its plans to write an open letter calling into question aspects of its "Dark Alliance" reporting. At a Society of Professional Journalists dinner honoring Webb as the Bay Area "Journalist of the Year", he submits his resignation to his editors. An epilogue reveals that in 2004 Gary Webb was found dead in his apartment, shot twice in the head. His death was ruled a suicide.

Popular Democratic U.S. President Andrew Shepherd prepares to run for re-election. The president and his staff, led by Chief of Staff and best friend A. J. MacInerney, attempt to consolidate the administration's 63% approval rating by passing a moderate crime control bill. However, support for the bill in both parties is tepid: conservatives reject it, and liberals think it is too weak. If passed, however, Shepherd's re-election is presumed to be guaranteed. Shepherd resolves to announce the bill, and have the Congressional support to pass it, by his State of the Union Address. When the widowed President's cousin Judith is sick and unable to act as hostess at a state dinner for the French president, Shepherd realizes his staff's public portrayal of him as lonely widower is true. Soon after, Shepherd meets and is attracted to Sydney Ellen Wade, a lawyer employed by an environmental lobbying firm working to pass legislation to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He invites Sydney to act as hostess (and his date) at the state dinner, where she charms the guests and shares a dance with Andy. During a meeting, Shepherd strikes a deal with Wade: if she can secure 24 votes for the environmental bill before his State of the Union Address, he will deliver the last ten. MacInerney believes Wade will fail to obtain enough votes, thus releasing Shepherd from responsibility if the bill fails to pass. Shepherd and Wade begin seeing each other and fall in love. Republican presidential hopeful Senator Bob Rumson steps up his attacks, focusing on Wade's activist past and maligning Shepherd's ethics and family values. The President's refusal to refute Rumson's aspersions lowers his approval ratings and erodes crucial political support that threatens the crime bill. Wade is dejected after her failed meeting with three Michigan congressmen to discuss the environmental bill. When she tells Shepherd about the meeting, she inadvertently mentions that the only bill the congressmen want to defeat more than the President's crime bill is Wade's environmental bill. Shepherd and MacInerney are conflicted about how they obtained this sensitive information. However, they are unable to ignore the opportunity to pass the crime bill, even if it means the President going back on his deal with Wade. Eventually, Wade secures enough votes for the environmental bill while Shepherd is three short. He can only obtain them by shelving the environmental bill to solidify the three Michigan congressmen's votes for the crime bill, which he reluctantly agrees to do. Wade's firm fires her for failing to achieve their objectives and for seemingly jeopardizing her political reputation. She goes to see Shepherd to end their relationship and says she has a job opportunity in Hartford, Connecticut. While he defends the crime bill as his top priority, she criticizes it as weakly worded with little chance of preventing crime. Prior to the State of the Union Address, Shepherd makes a surprise appearance in the White House press room and rebukes Rumson's attacks on his values and character, as well as his relentless innuendos that Wade prostituted herself for political favors. He declares he will send the controversial environmental bill to Congress with a massive 20% cut in fossil fuels – far more than the 10% originally proposed. Furthermore, he is withdrawing the crime bill for a stronger one that among other things, bans the purchase of handguns by private citizens. Shepherd's passion galvanizes the press and his staff. Shepherd and Wade are reconciled, then she walks him to the doors of the House chamber where he enters to thunderous applause as he is about to deliver the State of the Union Address.

In a dystopian near future, Cassius "Cash" Green and his artist girlfriend Detroit live in the garage of Cash's uncle Sergio. Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. He struggles with customers until his older co-worker Langston teaches him how to use his " white voice " and adopt a blithe, affluent persona during calls, at which Cash excels. Cash's co-worker Squeeze forms a union and recruits Cash, Detroit, and their friend Sal. When Cash participates in a protest, he expects to be fired but is instead promoted to an elite "Power Caller" position within the company. In the luxurious Power Caller suite, the lead Power Caller known as Mr. _______ tells Cash to always use his white voice. He learns that RegalView secretly sells military arms and cheap labor from the megacorporation WorryFree, through which employees sign lifetime contracts to work and be housed in factories, i.e. slave labor. Though Cash is initially uncomfortable with the job, he is celebrated at work and can now afford a new apartment and a flashy car while paying off Sergio's house, keeping him from joining WorryFree in the process. Through his newfound success, he initially improves his relationship with Detroit and boosts his sex life significantly. He stops participating in the union push and Detroit quits her RegalView job to avoid conflicting loyalties between the two, while secretly participating in the Left Eye Faction, an anti-WorryFree activist group. She eventually breaks up with Cash, arguing that his immoral job has changed him, while he insists he has the right to be proud of his success. As Cash is escorted through the union's picket line one morning, a picketer throws a can of soda at his head and injures him. Footage of the incident becomes a popular Internet meme, and even the woman who threw the can profits from it when she signs a sponsorship with the soda brand she threw. Cash attends Detroit's art exhibit and artistic performance uninvited, at which she uses a white voice of her own. He tries to stop the event, but that only motivates Detroit to kick him out, and she later has "everything but sex" with Squeeze. Cash is invited to a debaucherous party with WorryFree CEO Steve Lift, where he is goaded into rapping for the predominantly white guests. Later, in a private meeting, Steve offers Cash a powdered substance which Cash snorts, believing it is cocaine. Cash looks for the bathroom but takes a wrong turn and discovers a shackled half-horse, half-human hybrid who begs him for help. Steve explains that WorryFree plans to make their workers stronger, more obedient, and more profitable by transforming them into human-horse "Equisapiens" through snorting a powder that modifies their DNA. Cash fears that he just ingested the substance, but Steve assures him it was cocaine. Cash refuses an offer of $100 million to become an Equisapien for five years to act as a false revolutionary figure to keep the employees in line. Cash discovers he dropped his phone when he encountered the Equisapiens, who recorded a plea for help with it and sent it to Detroit. Taking advantage of his infamy as a meme, he appears on the extremely popular television show I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me, where he endures humiliations and beatings in order to share the video to spread the word about WorryFree's cruelty. The plan backfires: Equisapiens are hailed as a groundbreaking scientific advancement, a cult of personality develops around Steve, and WorryFree's stock price reaches an all-time high. Cash apologizes to Squeeze, Sal, and Detroit, and rallies the union in a final stand against RegalView. He uses a security code from the Equisapiens' video to break into Steve's home. He goes to the picket line, where the police start a riot and detain him, but the Equisapiens overpower them and free him. Cash and Detroit reconcile and move back into Sergio's garage, once again poor but happy together. However, Cash suddenly starts to turn into an Equisapien, with Steve having lied to him about the cocaine. Sometime later, a fully transformed Cash leads a mob of other Equisapiens to Steve's house and breaks down the door.

In 1933, Gareth Jones is an ambitious young journalist, who has gained some renown for his interview with Adolf Hitler. The son of an English teacher in the Welsh colony of Hughesovka in Soviet Ukraine, Jones is troubled by the question of how Stalin 's Soviet Union can be having a spending spree, as the numbers do not add up. Jones works as a political advisor to David Lloyd George, the former British prime minister, but with funding limited owing to the economic difficulties, and after failing to make his case in a critical meeting, he is made redundant. Trading on his connections in Britain and in Russia, Jones manages to obtain a Russian visa with the intention of setting up an interview with Stalin. Upon arrival in Moscow, he meets Eugene Lyons, a Russian-American journalist, who is with a party of British engineers from Metropolitan-Vickers; they take him to a party at the home of Walter Duranty and give him cryptic hints that the Soviets are not as enlightened as they make out, and that Stalin's ability to pay for British engineers or new factories may not rest on the famed efficiency of the Ukrainian farms as they have claimed. He is also informed that journalists are forbidden to venture outside of Moscow. Through a chance meeting with fellow British journalist Ada Brooks—who is under close observation by the OGPU, the Soviet secret police—he learns that his contact in Moscow was murdered by the authorities while investigating the supposed Ukrainian agricultural revolution. Armed with this information, Jones alters his documents to make him appear to be still employed by Lloyd George and obtains an invitation to Ukraine by the Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov. On the train journey south, Jones takes advantage of a brief stop to leave his train and sneak onto another train, which is taking starving peasant workers to Hughesovka—now renamed Stalino. At Stalino, he finds that all of the grain shipments are being immediately sent to Moscow, but he is labelled a foreign spy and forced to flee into the woods. After escaping, he witnesses almost abandoned villages, with the remaining peasants dying in their own homes. After travelling for several days, he is told by locals that the famine has been started deliberately by Moscow. He is then caught by the OGPU. Taken to a Soviet prison, Jones briefly encounters the engineers whom he met in Moscow, who have now also been accused of espionage. Under interrogation, he is told that he will be sent back to London without charges, with an expectation that he will repeat to the press the story the Soviets wish to be heard: that Ukraine is the breadbasket of the USSR and any stories of a famine are rumours. Only if he does this, will the Russians agree to release the engineers. Back in London, his publisher introduces him to George Orwell, who persuades Jones to tell the truth for the greater good. In response to Jones's claims, Duranty—who through bribery is using his position to act as a propaganda mouthpiece for Stalin—mobilises his contacts to rebut any stories of famine in Ukraine. Litvinov similarly puts pressure on Lloyd George to force Jones to retract his claims. He refuses, but becomes a pariah as the public turns on him. Out of desperation, he returns to his father's home in Wales, but later hears that the American media mogul William Randolph Hearst is at a nearby stately home that he owns. Jones manages to reach him and persuades him to use his publications to revive the accusations of induced famine. The extra publicity revives public belief in the truth of the Holodomor. The film ends by recording that Jones died two years later while reporting in Inner Mongolia. Travelling with a fellow journalist who was also a member of the Comintern, he was kidnapped by bandits and executed.

Self-made millionaire businessman Thomas Crown is a handsome, dashing, cultured adrenaline junkie. Out of boredom, he masterminds a five-man heist of $2.66 million from a Boston bank, with the getaway driver dumping the money in a quiet cemetery trash can. None of the men ever meet Crown face to face, nor know or meet each other before the robbery. Crown retrieves the money after secretly trailing the drop. He deposits it into a numbered bank account in Geneva over several trips to avoid drawing undue attention to his actions. Independent investigator Vicki Anderson is contracted by the bank's insurance company to investigate the heist; she will receive 10% of the stolen money if she recovers it. Speculating that whoever planned the robbery was familiar with the bank's routines because he had an account there, and that the stolen money has been spirited to Switzerland, Vicki and the police draw up a list of bank customers who have made several recent trips to Geneva. When she sees Crown's profile on the list, she intuitively recognizes him as capable of orchestrating the robbery, and shortly thereafter guesses the cellular method that he used to organize the robbers. Growing closer to her quarry, Vicki makes it clear to Crown that she knows he is the thief and that she intends to prove it. A game of cat and mouse ensues, which spurs both a physical and emotional attraction that soon evolves into an affair. This complicates Vicki's vow to find the money and help detective friend Eddy Malone bring the perpetrator to justice. A reward offer entices the wife of the getaway driver, Erwin Weaver, to inform on him for $25,000. Vicki finds out that he was hired by a man he never saw but whose voice he heard (via a microphone). She tries placing Erwin in the same room as Crown, but there is no hint of recognition on either's part. While Vicki is clearly closing in on Crown, even using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as leverage against his liquid assets, he forces her to realize the extent of her conflicted emotions. When she seemingly persuades him to negotiate an end, Malone stubbornly refuses to make any deal, leaving her torn between the men, her convictions, and her heart. Crown organizes another robbery exactly like the first with different accomplices and tells Vicki where the "drop" will be, because he has to know for sure that she is on his side. The robbery goes off like clockwork. Choosing her loyalty, Vicki and the police stake out the cemetery, where they watch one of the robbers make the drop, then lie in wait to ambush Crown. However, when his Rolls-Royce arrives, he has sent a messenger in his place, with a telegram inviting her to either bring the money and join him or to keep the car as a consolation prize. Reflexively smiling at his eluding her trap, she soon realizes she had revealed her hand yet gained nothing in return. Tearing the telegram to bits, she strews the pieces to the wind, tearfully staring at the sky while Crown escapes unruffled overhead.

Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy widower father Jack have made her impossible to work with. Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics and has a lot of offers go to the NHL teams who want to sign him. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate collide in a hallway in the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that permanently damages his peripheral vision, leaving him medically unfit to play and ruining his dream of competing in the NHL. During Kate's event, her partner apparently accidentally drops her, albeit with little sign of regret or concern, during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal. While training for the 1992 Winter Olympics over the next two years, Kate drives away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her new coach, Russian native Anton Pamchenko, has to find a replacement, an outsider who doesn't know that Kate is spoiled and difficult. He tracks down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and as a carpenter on the side, living with his brother, and playing in a hockey bar league. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate's partner, even though he has macho contempt for figure skating. Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately, and their first few practices do not go well as they antagonize each other. However, they develop a mutual respect as both strive to outdo each other in work ethic. As their relationship grows warmer, they learn to set aside their differences, becoming a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. Kate even boldly defends Doug to her former coach who patronizes and insults them, and Doug defends his unusual choice of sport to his own family and friends, whom he had expected to mock him. At the U.S. Nationals, despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they seem to place third, shattering their Olympic dreams. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance to second place, earning their spot on the Olympic team. However, their potential is threatened by their growing attraction to each other. Kate attempts to seduce Doug after a night of drunken celebration, revealing that she broke off her engagement to wealthy financier Hale Forrest. Usually a ladies' man, given his growing feelings for her, Doug uncharacteristically rebuffs her advances, recognizing that she is drunk and not thinking clearly. When she gets angry at his rejection and insults him, he is hurt, and as he leaves, he tells her, "It didn't have to be like this." When a hungover Kate visits Doug's room the next morning, intending to apologize for her behavior, a rival skater answers Doug's door. Realizing that Doug has slept with another woman almost immediately after leaving her, she becomes enraged. However, the temporary rift is set aside when they decide to work on perfecting an extremely difficult skating move invented by Pamchenko, which will assure them a gold medal if they can pull it off without serious injury. At the finals at the Albertville Olympics, they look to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. However, another argument threatens their chemistry on the ice, and in the process Doug and Kate both discover that Kate is the fallible partner after all. Before getting on the ice for their decisive performance, Doug professes to Kate that he has fallen in love with her, leaving Kate overcome with emotion, and she decides they are going to do the Pamchenko despite them never having successfully achieved it during practices. They proceed to skate with a passion neither had shown before, ultimately performing the Pamchenko flawlessly to win them the gold medal. When Doug asks Kate why she wanted to perform the risky maneuver, Kate replies because she loves him, and they kiss each other before the cheering crowd.

Jack and Kate, who have been together since college, are at JFK Airport, where he is about to leave to take up a twelve-month internship with Barclays in London. She fears the separation will be detrimental to their relationship and asks him not to go, but he reassures her that their love is strong enough to last and that the internship will be beneficial to their future together. Thirteen years later, Jack is a wealthy bachelor and Wall Street executive in New York City, with millions at his disposal. At work, he is putting together a multi-billion dollar merger and has ordered an emergency meeting on Christmas Day, disregarding his employees' desires to spend time with their families. In his office, on Christmas Eve, he gets a message to contact Kate. Jack ponders whether Kate is attempting to reconnect, but chooses not to return her call. On his way home, Jack is in a convenience store when a young man, Cash, enters claiming to have a winning lottery ticket worth $238, but the store clerk refuses him, saying the ticket is a forgery. Cash pulls out a gun, and Jack, trying to defuse the situation, offers to buy the ticket, calling it a “business deal." Cash eventually agrees. Outside, Jack patronizingly tries to help Cash, who, feeling like he is being preached to, asks Jack if anything is missing from his own life. When Jack haplessly says he has everything he needs, Cash enigmatically remarks that Jack has "brought this upon himself" and walks away. A puzzled Jack returns to his penthouse to sleep. Jack wakes up the next morning on Christmas Day in a suburban New Jersey bedroom with Kate and two children. Confused, he rushes out to his home in New York, but the doorman and his neighbor claim not to recognize him. He goes to his office, which is closed for the holiday, and is turned away by security. Outside, he encounters Cash, now smartly dressed and driving Jack's Ferrari. Although Cash offers to explain what is happening, all he does is make a vague reference to "the organization" and tell Jack that he is getting "a glimpse" of something that will help him to figure out for himself what is important in life. Jack returns to the house and tries to tell Kate the truth, but she reacts angrily. He receives some help from his young daughter, Annie, who believes Jack is an alien and her real father will soon return. He struggles to adjust to fatherhood and his modest family life, finding that he is a tire salesman working for Kate's father and Kate is a non-profit lawyer. When he discovers this is the life he would have had if he had stayed in the U.S. as Kate had asked, he lashes out at Kate and expresses resentment for her holding him back. Jack later apologizes and grows closer to Annie and her baby brother, Josh, and realizes he never fell out of love with Kate. He comes to enjoy his family life and begins succeeding at his sales job. One day his former boss, Peter Lassiter, comes in to have a tire blowout fixed. Taking advantage of the chance meeting, Jack uses his business savvy to impress Lassiter, who invites Jack to his office, where Jack worked in his 'other' life. There, after a short interview, Lassiter offers him a position. While he is excited by the potential salary and other perks, including a lavish apartment in Manhattan, Kate is less certain. She expresses deep misgivings about raising their children in the city and leaving their old life behind, telling Jack that they should be thankful for the life they have. Jack returns home only to discover his plane ticket to London. Upon closer examination, he realizes that he did in fact take the flight, but then came back the next day to be with Kate. Reminded of Jack's choice, she reciprocates his feelings by telling Jack that she is prepared to follow him and move the family to the city in order to do just as Jack did for her. Jack encounters Cash at a grocery store and is frightened by the idea of leaving this life, which he now loves, behind. Cash reminds him that a glimpse, by definition, is an impermanent thing. Jack returns home again and watches over his children and then tries to stay awake while watching Kate sleep but eventually does fall asleep and wakes to find he has returned to his old life, on Christmas Day. Jack returns to the office to close the big acquisition deal, making plans to fly to Aspen to prevent it from failing, but first visits Kate, now an unmarried corporate lawyer, preparing to move to Paris. She only called him to return a box of his old possessions, and when Jack asks her to meet for coffee, she suggests that he look her up if he's ever in Paris. Jack chooses not to go to Aspen and instead chases after Kate to the airport and begs her to stay. She reacts with confusion, as their relationship has been over for more than a decade, and refuses. Jack then describes in detail their life together and their children, saying it was a dream that seemed real and admitting that he can no longer conceive of a life without her. Intrigued, she eventually agrees to go with him for a coffee. From a distance, they are seen talking inaudibly and laughing over their coffees and their possible future.

Following his appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards as his superhero character Fartman, radio personality Howard Stern boards his flight home and finds himself seated next to a stranger named Gloria who is visibly repelled by him. Stern, thinking she sees him as a moron, begins to tell his life story, starting with the verbal abuse he received as a young child from his father Ben. Stern has always dreamed of being on the radio after visiting his father's recording studio but grows up to be a quiet, socially awkward guy. He decides to work in radio and studies communications at Boston University. He becomes a DJ at WTBU, the college station, and meets his girlfriend Alison. After graduating, Howard works at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, and is promoted to program director, which allows him to marry Alison. He leaves the station after being asked to fire a fellow DJ and moves to WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, where he befriends DJ Fred Norris. Howard adopts a more casual attitude on the air, becoming more open and up front. He and Fred attend the premiere of actress Brittany Fairchild's new film. The three leave early for Fairchild's hotel room, where she strips for a bath and convinces Howard and Fred to join in. Brittany's behavior becomes more sexual, and an embarrassed Howard leaves. When Alison finds his wet underwear in their car and believes he has been unfaithful, she leaves him. Howard leaves Hartford for WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, and is miserable, but Alison goes to Detroit and forgives him. WWWW then switches to country music and Howard quits. Howard starts at WWDC in Washington, D.C., in 1981 and meets his news anchor Robin Quivers, whom he encourages to riff with him on the air. They refuse orders from boss Dee Dee for constantly breaking format. One of their antics, in which Howard assists a female caller to reach orgasm, almost gets him fired until a ratings boost forces Dee Dee to keep him and hire Fred to the team. Meanwhile Alison announces her pregnancy, but it ends in miscarriage. Although they cheer each other up by joking about it, Howard makes light of the situation on the air, which greatly upsets Alison. When Alison becomes pregnant again, Howard gets his dream offer to work in New York City at WNBC, where he has the chance to become a nationwide success. However, upper management at NBC hired Howard not realizing what his show was like until they see a news report about him. Program director Kenny Rushton, whom Howard refers to as Pig Vomit, offers to keep Howard in line or he will force him to quit. Howard, Fred, and Robin ignore Kenny's restrictions on content until a risqué Match Game with comedian Jackie Martling causes Rushton to fire Robin. The show fails with her absence, and her replacement quits after Howard's interview with an actress who swallows a kielbasa sausage. Robin is eventually brought back, but Howard's antics continue with a naked woman in the studio, resulting in Kenny cutting off the broadcast. Howard gets the show back on the air and gets into a physical altercation with Kenny in his office. In 1985 Howard becomes number one at WNBC, and Kenny tries to gain Howard's friendship but is promptly turned down. Howard thanks his fans with an outdoor concert by AC/DC. During the performance Alison is rushed to the hospital and gives birth to a girl. The film then cuts back to the flight, revealing that Howard has told his story to Gloria. Though he believes he could pick her up, Howard remains faithful and meets Alison at the airport as his daughters run to greet him. During the end credits Stuttering John rants about his absence in the film. At the Oscars Mia Farrow then presents an Academy Award for Best Actor to Howard, who appears as Fartman once again, but Howard falls from mid-air and the audience applauds. Having left radio, Kenny now manages a shopping mall in Alabama and blames Howard for his downfall. During his outbursts his swearing is drowned out by jackhammer noises.

On April 3, 2005, the NDR series robot "Andrew" is introduced into the Martin family home to perform housekeeping and maintenance duties and introduces himself by showing a presentation of the Three Laws of Robotics. The eldest daughter Grace despises Andrew, but her younger sister Amanda is sympathetic to him, and Andrew discovers he feels emotions, and is drawn to spend more time with his "Little Miss". He accidentally breaks one of her glass figurines and is able to carve a new one out of wood, which surprises her father Richard. Richard takes Andrew to NorthAm Robotics to inquire if Andrew's creativity was part of his programming. NorthAm's CEO Dennis Mansky claims this is a problem and offers to scrap Andrew, but instead Richard takes Andrew back home and encourages him to continue his creativity and explore other humanities. Andrew becomes a clockmaker and earns a sizable fortune managed by Richard after they find that robots have no rights under current laws. In 2020, Richard encourages Dennis to retrofit Andrew with the ability to present facial expressions to match his emotions. In 2032, Andrew presents Richard with all the money he has made to ask for his freedom. Wounded by this, Richard refuses but grants Andrew his independence on the condition that he may no longer reside at the Martin home. Andrew builds his own home by the beach. In 2048, Richard is on his death bed, and apologizes to Andrew for banishing him all those years ago. Following Richard's death, Andrew goes on a quest to find other NDR robots that are like him, frequently communicating back to Amanda, who has since married and divorced, and has a son Lloyd and granddaughter Portia. In 2068, Andrew discovers Galatea, an NDR robot that has been modified with a female personality and traits. Andrew becomes interested in how Galatea was modified by Rupert Burns, the son of the original NDR designer, and finds he has a number of potential ideas to help make robots appear more human-like. Andrew agrees to fund Rupert's work and to be a test subject and is soon given a human-like appearance. Andrew finally returns to the Martin home and finds that Amanda has grown old while Portia looks much like her grandmother at her age. Portia is initially cautious of Andrew, but soon accepts him as part of the Martin family. When Amanda dies, Andrew realizes that all those he cares for will also pass on. He presents ideas to Rupert to create artificial organs that not only can be used in humans to prolong their lives but also to replace Andrew's mechanical workings. Andrew gains the ability to eat, feel emotions and sensations, and even have sexual relationships, resulting in him and Portia falling in love. Andrew petitions the World Congress to recognize him as a human as to allow him to marry Portia, but the body expresses concern that an immortal human will cause jealousy from others. Many years later when Portia is nearly 75 years old, Andrew returns to Rupert for one last operation: to change the artificial fluids driving his body into a blood equivalent. Rupert cautions him that the blood will not last forever, causing his body to age and will die eventually, a fate Andrew accepts. An unknown amount of years later, a now visibly aged Andrew again approaches the World Congress, with Portia as support, to appeal their past decision, wanting to be able to die with dignity. On April 2, 2205, with Andrew's body deteriorating, he and Portia are both under life support monitored by Galatea, now with a human appearance. They hold hands and watch the World Congress as they recognize Andrew as a human being, the world's oldest at 200 years, and giving all rights confirmed by that, including validating his marriage to Portia. Andrew dies during the broadcast, which is confirmed by Galatea while Portia asserts that Andrew already knew the answer. After ordering Galatea to turn off her life support, Portia soon dies, hand-in-hand with Andrew as she whispers to him "See you soon".