During World War II, Allied POWs who have repeatedly escaped from camps in Germany are moved to a new camp under the command of Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger. He warns the senior prisoner, Group Captain Ramsey, that escapees will be shot. Several POWs unsuccessfully attempt to escape on the first day. Hilts, a notoriously prolific American escapee, finds a blind spot at the fence and gives himself up to the guards without revealing the discovery to them. He is placed in a cell next to Ives in "the cooler", and the two become friends. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett re-establishes the escape-planning committee from their former camp, and proposes breaking out 250 men to divert Germans away from the front. The POWs work on three tunnels: "Tom", "Dick", and "Harry". Preparations are widespread and elaborate. Welinski and Dickes lead the digging, Sedgwick makes equipment such as picks and air bellows, Ashley-Pitt conceals the excavated dirt in plain sight, while Cavendish surveys the tunnels’ routes and leads a choir to mask the sounds of any escape-related activities. MacDonald gathers intelligence, Griffith sews civilian disguises, Blythe forges documents, and Hendley secures supplies on the black market. Aware that Hilts is planning his own escape, Bartlett asks him to allow himself to be recaptured so he can draw maps of the surrounding area but Hilts refuses. When "Tom" nears completion, Bartlett orders "Dick" and "Harry" sealed off. Meanwhile, Hilts, Hendley, and Goff brew potato moonshine and celebrate the Fourth of July with the camp. However, the guards find "Tom" during the celebration. Ives snaps, climbs the fence, and is shot dead. Hilts, shaken, agrees to Bartlett's proposal, and Bartlett orders "Harry" reopened. Welinski's claustrophobia is triggered after a tunnel collapse, but Dickes offers to guide him. Bartlett objects to Blythe's participation on discovering his progressive myopia but Hendley offers to guide him. On the night of the escape, "Harry" is dug to the surface but the exit has come up 20 feet (6.1 m) short of the woods, increasing the danger of detection. Hilts then uses 30 feet of rope to signal the prisoners to exit the tunnel. The escape is also briefly aided by a fortuitous air raid blackout, which allows more to escape. Dozens flee before Cavendish unintentionally draws suspicion by slipping, and an impatient Griffith rushes, alerting the guards. In all 76 escapees make it through the tunnel. Welinski and Dickes steal a boat and board a ship for Sweden, while Sedgwick heads to France, where the Resistance smuggles him to Spain. The rest are captured: Cavendish is betrayed by a truck driver. Hendley and Blythe crash a stolen plane short of Switzerland when the engine fails; Blythe is shot and Hendley is recaptured. Hilts rides a stolen motorcycle for the Swiss border with soldiers in pursuit who capture him when he fails to jump the cycle over the frontier fence. Ashley-Pitt sacrifices himself when he kills a Gestapo officer before he can expose Bartlett: however, Bartlett and MacDonald are still arrested after another Gestapo officer tricks MacDonald into speaking English while boarding a bus. With Ashley-Pitt and Blythe killed, 48 of the 50 escapees, including Bartlett, MacDonald, and Cavendish, are executed. Ramsey informs Hendley and other returning survivors of the murders, and says that Bartlett's plan to create havoc was a success. Hendley questions whether it was worth the price. Von Luger, ashamed of the murders, is relieved of command. Hilts is returned to the cooler and resumes his solo game of catch.

In 1947, John Nash arrives at Princeton University as a co-recipient, with Martin Hansen, of the Carnegie Scholarship for Mathematics. He meets fellow math and science graduate students Sol, Ainsley, and Bender, and his roommate Charles Herman, a literature student. Determined to publish an original idea of his own, Nash is inspired when he and his classmates discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar. Nash argues that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success, which leads him to develop a new concept of governing dynamics. His theory earns him an appointment at MIT where he chooses Sol and Bender over Hansen to join him. In 1953, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to decipher encrypted enemy telecommunications. Bored with his work at MIT, he is recruited by the mysterious William Parcher of the United States Department of Defense with a classified assignment: to identify hidden patterns in magazines and newspapers to thwart a Soviet plot. He is given an implanted diode that gives him a passcode to access a drop spot at a mansion. Nash becomes increasingly obsessive with his work and grows paranoid. Nash falls in love with a student, Alicia Larde, and they eventually marry. After a shootout between Parcher and Soviet agents, Nash tries to quit his assignment but is forced to continue. While delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash believes Soviet agents are pursuing him and is forcibly sedated. He awakens to a psychiatric facility under the care of Dr. Rosen. Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee (niece of Charles), and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Alicia, Sol and Bender investigate her husband's study, which shows various news and magazine clippings. Alicia uncovers the stack of unopened "classified documents" from the drop point and brings them to Nash, revealing the truth of his assignment. Overcome with shock, Nash slices his arm open to uncover the diode, which doesn't exist. Nash is given a course of insulin shock therapy and eventually released. Frustrated with the side effects of his antipsychotic medication, in particular erectile dysfunction, he secretly stops taking it. He encounters Parcher, who urges him to continue his assignment in a shed near his home. In 1956, Alicia discovers Nash has relapsed and rushes home. She finds that Nash had left their infant son in the running bathtub, convinced "Charles" was watching the baby. Alicia calls Dr. Rosen, but Nash accidentally hits her and the baby, believing he's saving them from Parcher. As Alicia flees with the baby, Nash realizes that all of them have looked the same ever since he first encountered them, in particular that "Marcee" has always remained a young girl, and concludes they must be hallucinations. Against Dr. Rosen's advice, Nash chooses not to be hospitalized again, believing he can deal with his symptoms himself with Alicia's support. Nash returns to Princeton, approaching his old rival Hansen, now head of the mathematics department, who allows him to work out of the library and audit classes. Over the next two decades, Nash learns to ignore his hallucinations and, by the late 1970s, is allowed to teach again. In 1994, Nash is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on game theory and is honored by his fellow professors. At the Stockholm ceremony, he dedicates the prize to his wife. Nash reencounters Charles, Marcee, and Parcher after the ceremony, but ignores them as he, Alicia, and their son leave.

Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful but elderly warlord, decides to divide his kingdom among his three sons. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, though Hidetora will retain the title of Great Lord. Second and third sons Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro and will be given the Second and Third Castles. However, Saburo is exiled after criticizing his father's lecture about unity. Hidetora's retainer Tango is also exiled for defending Saburo. Taro's wife Lady Kaede urges him to take full control of the clan. When Taro demands Hidetora renounce his title, a furious Hidetora leaves and travels to Jiro's castle, only to discover that Jiro is only interested in using him as a pawn. As Hidetora and his retinue wander, he decides to take over the Third Castle, which had become deserted after Saburo's exile. Later, the Third Castle is attacked by Taro and Jiro's combined forces, and all of Hidetora's retinue are either killed or commit ritual suicide. Jiro's general Kurogane takes advantage of the confusion and shoots Taro dead with an arquebus. Hidetora succumbs to madness and is allowed to leave. Tango and court fool Kyoami, still loyal to Hidetora, accompany him as he wanders across the land, haunted by visions of the people he killed in the past. They take refuge in a peasant's home only to discover that the occupant is Tsurumaru, the brother of Lady Sue, Jiro's wife. Hidetora had blinded Tsurumaru after massacring his family and left him impoverished. With Taro dead, Jiro becomes the Great Lord of the Ichimonji clan, and moves into the First Castle. Lady Kaede seduces Jiro, and demands that he kill Lady Sue and marry her instead. Jiro orders Kurogane to do the deed, but he refuses, seeing through Kaede's perfidy. Kurogane then warns Sue and Tsurumaru to flee. Tango, learning that Jiro is considering sending assassins after Hidetora, rides off to alert Saburo. Saburo's army enters Jiro's territory to find Hidetora, forcing Jiro to hastily mobilize his army. A brief truce is reached and Saburo rides off after learning of Hidetora's whereabouts. Jiro breaks the truce and attacks Saburo's remaining forces, suffering significant losses, and is forced to retreat when informed that the armies of the neighbouring lords are marching on the First Castle. Saburo tracks down Hidetora, who has partially recovered his sanity, and the two reconcile. However, Saburo is shot and killed by one of Jiro's assassins. Overcome with grief, Hidetora dies on his son's body. Tsurumaru and Sue arrive at the ruins of the family castle. Sue leaves to retrieve the flute Tsurumaru has inadvertently left behind, giving him a picture of Amida Buddha for protection before she departs. She never returns. As the First Castle is besieged, Kurogane learns of Sue's death, and confronts Kaede. After confessing that her plot was revenge against the entire Ichimonji clan for massacring her family, Kaede is beheaded by Kurogane. Jiro, Kurogane and all Jiro's men subsequently die in battle. A funeral procession is held for Saburo and Hidetora. Meanwhile, left alone in the castle ruins, Tsurumaru trips, dropping the Amida Buddha image that Sue had given to him.

New York prizefighter Terry Malloy's career was cut short when he purposely lost a fight at the request of mob boss Johnny Friendly. Terry now works for Friendly's labor union as a longshoreman while his older, more educated brother Charley is Friendly's right-hand man. Terry is coerced into luring fellow worker Joey Doyle onto a rooftop, where he believes Friendly's henchmen want to talk Joey out of testifying to the Waterfront Crime Commission. When they instead murder Joey by throwing him off the roof, Terry confronts Friendly, but is threatened and bribed into acquiescence. Joey's sister Edie and priest Father Barry try to inspire the dockworkers to stand up to Friendly. Terry attends the meeting as a snitch, but when it is violently broken up by Friendly's men, he helps Edie escape and misses Father Barry convincing one worker to testify. After the testimony, the worker is killed in a staged workplace accident. Terry's unwillingness to testify is softened by his growing feelings for Edie, and her and Father Barry’s pursuit of justice. He confesses his role in Joey's death to both. Shocked by this, Edie distances herself from him. Friendly sends Charley with a job offer to keep Terry quiet. Knowing refusal will get Terry killed, Charley urges him to comply. When Terry expresses regret about throwing his best fight and blames Charley for setting up the fix, Charley hands him a gun and tells him to run. Terry finds Edie and they kiss. After hearing someone in the street, they find Charley murdered. Determined to kill Friendly, Terry is convinced by Father Barry to instead testify in court. Following the hearing, Friendly loses his powerful connections and faces indictment. When he is excluded from the next hiring call at the harbor, Terry confronts Friendly together with the other workers, saying that he is proud of testifying and no longer betraying himself. After seeing Terry get beaten severely by Friendly’s thugs, the longshoremen refuse to work without him and renounce Friendly, wishing to run the union "on the up-and-up". Encouraged by Edie and Father Barry, Terry stumbles to the warehouse. The men follow him inside and the door closes, leaving Friendly outside, ignored by the workers and shippers.

Philippe Gerbier, the head of a French Resistance cell, is arrested by Vichy French police on suspicion of Resistance activity. Although he is acquitted due to a lack of evidence, he is still sent to an internment camp. He and a young Communist work on an escape plan, but before they can execute it, Gerbier is transported to Paris. While waiting to be questioned by the Gestapo, he manages to kill a guard and flee. In Marseille, Gerbier, Félix Lepercq, Guillaume "Le Bison" Vermersch, and Claude "Le Masque" Ullmann trick Paul Dounat, the young agent who betrayed Gerbier, into meeting them. They take him to a house, but discover the neighboring house is newly occupied, so they cannot use their guns to kill Dounat. Lacking a decent knife, they strangle their former associate. Félix meets his old friend Jean-François Jardie in a bar and recruits the risk-loving former pilot to join the Resistance. While on a mission to Paris, Jean-François visits his older brother Luc, a renowned philosopher who appears to live a detached, scholarly life. He then travels to the Mediterranean coast to help evacuate some Allied soldiers, along with Gerbier and the "Big Boss", to London via a submarine to Gibraltar. Jean-François does not recognize him in the dark, but the Big Boss turns out to be Luc, whose identity is a closely guarded secret. In London, Gerbier tries to arrange additional support for the Resistance from the Free French leadership, and Luc is decorated by Charles de Gaulle. When Gerbier learns Félix has been arrested by the Gestapo, he cuts his trip short and parachutes into the French countryside. After Félix's arrest, Mathilde, a Parisian housewife who is part of the Resistance, moves down to Lyon to run Gerbier's cell. Gerbier is impressed by her abilities, so he keeps her around. She devises a plan to rescue Félix, who is being tortured at the Gestapo headquarters. Jean-François, after hearing the details, writes Gerbier a letter of resignation and incriminates himself with an anonymous letter to the Gestapo so he will be jailed with Félix. Mathilde, Le Masque, and Le Bison try to rescue Félix disguised as Germans and with a forged order to transfer him to Paris, but their plan fails when the prison doctor pronounces him unfit for transport, as he is barely alive. When Jean-François, who has also been badly beaten, sees the rescue has failed, he gives Félix his only cyanide pill. Having seen Gerbier's picture on a wanted poster during the rescue attempt, Mathilde urges him to lie low, but he says there is no one who can take his place at the moment. He is swept up in a raid by Vichy police and handed over to the Germans. Taken to be executed, Gerbier and his cellmates are told that, if they can reach the far wall of a room before they are killed by machine gunners, they will be allowed to live a little longer. Once the shooting starts Gerbier runs to the wall, when suddenly Mathilde and Le Bison appear by a window and throw smoke bombs to block the Germans' view and a rope to help Gerbier. He climbs it and escapes with the group. Gerbier goes to hide out for a month in an abandoned farmhouse. One day, Luc arrives to discuss what to do about Mathilde, who has been arrested. He worries she will inform on her confederates, as her teenage daughter has been threatened. Luc hides when Le Masque and Le Bison arrive with the news that Mathilde is free and two members of the Resistance have been captured. Gerbier orders Mathilde's immediate execution, but Le Bison refuses to do so and swears to prevent Gerbier from killing her, so Luc emerges and convinces Le Bison that Mathilde would want them to kill her before she is forced to identify anyone else. Luc accompanies Gerbier, Le Bison, and Le Masque to Paris. They locate Mathilde on the street, and Le Bison shoots her twice before they drive away. Closing text reveals that all four men were captured and died within less than a year, either through suicide or at the hands of the Nazis. Gerbier's precise fate is succinctly described as "on 13 February 1944, he decided not to run this time".

In the fall of 1959, Todd Anderson begins his junior year of high school at Welton Academy, an Episcopal all-male preparatory boarding school in Vermont. He is assigned one of Welton's top students, Neil Perry, as his roommate, and meets Neil's friends: Knox Overstreet, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Charlie Dalton. On the first day of classes, the boys meet their new English teacher, John Keating, a Welton alumnus who studied English literature at the University of Cambridge. Keating teaches them the Latin expression carpe diem, encouraging them to "seize the day". During his classes, he has the students take turns standing on his desk to demonstrate ways to look at life differently, tells them to rip out the introduction of their poetry books that explains a mathematical formula for rating poetry, and invites them to make up their own style of walking in a courtyard to form their individualism. These unusual methods attract the attention of strict headmaster, Gale Nolan. Upon learning that Keating had been a member of the unofficial Dead Poets Society during his time as a student, Neil restarts the club. He and his friends sneak off campus to a cave to read poetry. Keating's lessons and the conversations in the club encourage them to live on their own terms. Knox pursues Chris Noel, a cheerleader who is dating Chet Danburry, a football player whose family is friends with his. Neil discovers his love of acting and wins the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream despite the disapproval of his authoritarian father, who wants him to attend medical school. Keating helps Todd come out of his shell when he takes him through an exercise in self-expression, resulting in his spontaneous composition of a poem in front of the class. Charlie publishes an article in the school newspaper on behalf of the Dead Poets Society recommending that girls be admitted to Welton. In response, Nolan paddles Charlie, attempting to force him to reveal the names of the other members of the Dead Poets Society; Charlie refuses. Keating gently admonishes him, advising the boys that one must assess all potential consequences of one's actions. On the eve of the play's opening performance, Neil's father discovers his involvement and demands that he quit. Neil performs in the play, but his father retaliates by telling him he plans to withdraw him from Welton and enroll him in Braden Military School in preparation for Harvard Medical School. Lacking support from his mother and unable to explain his feelings to his father, a devastated Neil commits suicide. At Neil's parents' request, Nolan investigates his death. Cameron shifts blame onto Keating to avoid punishment for his role in the Dead Poets Society, and he names the other members of the group. Charlie punches him for his betrayal and is expelled. Each of the boys is called to Nolan's office to sign a letter confirming Cameron's false allegations. Todd reluctantly signs under his parents' pressure, and Keating is fired. Nolan takes over Keating's English class. As Keating interrupts the class to gather his belongings, Todd confesses that the boys were pressured into signing the letter that led to his dismissal. Keating assures Todd that he believes him. Nolan threatens to expel Todd and anyone else who speaks out of line. Despite the threat, Todd stands up on his desk and says, " O Captain! My Captain! ". Several other members of the Dead Poets Society, along with several classmates, follow suit. Touched by their support, Keating proudly thanks the boys and departs.

In September 1975, Howard Beale, the longtime anchor for the UBS Evening News, the flagship evening news program of the Union Broadcasting System (UBS), learns from friend and news division president Max Schumacher that he has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The following night, Beale announces to his audience that he will kill himself on next Tuesday's newscast. UBS tries to immediately fire Beale, but Schumacher intervenes so that he can have a dignified farewell. Beale promises to apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches into a rant about life being "bullshit". Beale's outburst causes ratings to spike, and much to Schumacher's dismay, UBS executives decide to exploit the situation. When Beale's ratings soon top out, programming chief Diana Christensen reaches out to Schumacher with an offer to help "develop" Beale's show. He declines the professional proposal but accepts her more personal pitch; the two begin an affair. When Schumacher decides to end Beale's "angry man" format, Christensen persuades her boss, Frank Hackett, to slot the evening news show under the entertainment division so she can develop it. Hackett bullies UBS executives to consent and fire Schumacher. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading viewers to shout, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" from their windows. He is soon hosting a new program called The Howard Beale Show, top-billed as "the mad prophet of the airwaves". The show becomes the highest rated program on television, and Beale finds new celebrity preaching his angry populist message in front of a live studio audience that, on cue, chants his signature catchphrase. Schumacher and Christensen's romance withers as the show flourishes, but in the flush of high ratings, the two ultimately find their way back together; Schumacher separates from his wife of over 25 years for Christensen. Seeking another hit, Christensen cuts a deal with a terrorist group called the Ecumenical Liberation Army (ELA) for a new docudrama series, The Mao Tse-Tung Hour, for which the ELA will provide exclusive footage of their activities. Meanwhile, Beale discovers that Communications Corporation of America (CCA), the parent company of UBS, will be bought out by a larger Saudi conglomerate. He urges his audience to pressure the White House to quash the deal. This panics UBS because the network's debt load has made the merger essential for its survival. CCA chairman Arthur Jensen arranges a meeting with Beale, describing the interrelatedness of the participants in the international economy and the illusory nature of nationality distinctions. Jensen scolds Beale and persuades him to abandon his message and preach a new gospel that serves Jensen's interests. Christensen's fanatical devotion to her job and emotional emptiness ultimately drive Schumacher away, warning her that she will self-destruct if she continues on her current path. Audiences find Beale's new sermons on the dehumanization of society depressing and ratings start to slip, yet Jensen refuses to fire him. To boost the network's ratings, Christensen, Hackett and the other executives decide to hire the ELA to assassinate Beale on the air. The assassination succeeds, putting an end to The Howard Beale Show and kicking off the second season of The Mao Tse-Tung Hour. A voice-over proclaims, "This was the story of Howard Beale: the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings."

Disillusioned knight Antonius Block and his cynical squire Jöns return from the Crusades to find the country ravaged by the plague. The knight encounters Death, whom he challenges to a chess match, believing he can survive as long as the game continues. The knight and his squire pass a caravan of actors: Jof and his wife Mia, with their infant son Mikael and actor-manager Jonas Skat. Waking early, Jof has a vision of Mary leading the infant Jesus, which he relates to a smilingly disbelieving Mia. Block and Jöns visit a church where a fresco of the Danse Macabre is being painted. The squire chides the artist for colluding in the ideological fervor that led to the crusade. In the confessional, Block tells the priest he wants to perform "one meaningful deed" after what he now sees as a pointless life. Upon revealing to him the chess tactic that will save his life, the knight discovers that it is actually Death with whom he has been speaking. Leaving the church, Block speaks to a young woman condemned to be burned at the stake for consorting with the Devil. He believes she will tell him about life beyond death, only to find that she is insane. In a deserted village, Jöns saves a mute servant girl from being raped by Raval, a theologian who ten years earlier had persuaded the knight to join the Crusades and is now a thief. Jöns vows to destroy his face if they meet again. Jöns kisses the servant girl, who resists his advances. He then tells her to repay her debt by becoming his servant. She reluctantly agrees. The group goes into a town where the actors are performing. Skat is enticed away for a tryst by Lisa, wife of the blacksmith Plog. The stage show is interrupted by a procession of flagellants led by a preacher who harangues the townspeople. At the town's inn, Raval manipulates Plog and other customers into intimidating Jof. The bullying is broken up by Jöns, who slashes Raval's face. The knight and squire are joined by Jof's family, and the mute servant girl. Block enjoys a picnic of milk and wild strawberries that Mia has gathered and promises to remember that evening for the rest of his life. He then invites Plog and the actors to shelter from the plague in his castle. When they encounter Skat and Lisa in the forest, she returns to Plog, while Skat fakes a remorseful suicide. As the group moves on, Skat climbs a tree to spend the night, but Death appears beneath and cuts down the tree. Meeting the condemned woman being led to execution, Block asks her to summon Satan so he can question him about God. The girl claims she has done so, but the knight only sees her terror and gives her herbs to take away her pain as she is placed on the pyre. They encounter Raval, stricken by the plague. Jöns stops the servant girl from uselessly bringing him water, and Raval dies alone. Jof then sees the knight playing chess with Death and decides to flee with his family, while Block knowingly keeps Death occupied. As Death states, "No one escapes me," Block knocks the chess pieces over, but Death restores them to their places. On the next move, Death wins the game and announces that when they meet again, it will be the last time for all. Death then asks Block if he achieved the "meaningful deed" he wished to accomplish. The knight replies that he has. Block is reunited with his wife and the party shares a final supper, interrupted by Death's arrival. The other members of the party then introduce themselves, and the formerly mute servant girl greets him with " It is finished. " Jof and his family have sheltered in their caravan from a storm, which he interprets as the Angel of Death passing by. In the morning, Jof sees a vision of the knight and his companions being led away over the hillside in a Dance of Death.

On their fifth anniversary, writing teacher Nick Dunne returns home to find that his wife, Amy, is missing. Amy's fame as the inspiration for her parents' Amazing Amy children's books ensures widespread press coverage. The media finds Nick's apathy towards the disappearance suspicious. Before her disappearance, Nick and Amy's marriage deteriorated. Both lost their jobs in the recession and moved from New York to Nick's hometown to support his dying mother. Nick grew distant from Amy and began an affair with his student Andie, while Amy became resentful toward Nick. Detective Rhonda Boney and the forensic team find evidence of a struggle and blood loss in the house. Boney learns of the couple's financial problems, disputes, and Amy's attempt to buy a gun. Medical reports indicate that Amy was pregnant, of which Nick denies knowledge. On each anniversary, Amy sets up elaborate treasure hunts for Nick. This year's clues appear in places where Nick had sex with Andie, revealing Amy's knowledge of his affair. Nick discovers thousands of dollars' worth of items purchased with his credit card, unauthorized and hidden in his sister Margo's woodshed. Amy's clues lead authorities to a diary documenting her growing fear that Nick will kill her. Amy hides in a campground in the Ozarks. After discovering Nick's affair, Amy conceived an elaborate plan to frame him for her murder. She had him increase her life insurance, secretly used his credit card to buy the woodshed items, stole a sample of her pregnant neighbor's urine to fake a pregnancy to elicit media sympathy, wrote increasingly fabricated diary entries and placed incriminating evidence for police to find. On the morning of her disappearance, Amy drained and splattered her own blood across the kitchen. Her original plan was to drown herself after Nick's arrest and have her body found to ensure his death sentence. Nick deduces Amy's scheme, convinces Margo of his innocence, and hires lawyer Tanner Bolt, known for representing husbands suspected of uxoricide. Nick meets two of Amy's ex-boyfriends. Tommy O'Hara claims that she framed him for rape and ruined his life after they broke up. The wealthy Desi Collings, against whom Amy filed a restraining order for stalking, rejects Nick. When Amy's campground neighbors rob her, she calls Desi for help, convincing him that she fled Nick's abuse. Desi agrees to hide her in his lakehouse. Bolt convinces Nick to admit to his affair on a popular talk show, thus seizing the narrative initiative from the media. Andie reveals the affair at a press conference shortly beforehand, but Nick insists on conducting the interview. He affirms his innocence and feigns regret for his shortcomings as a spouse, knowing that Amy is watching. The interview garners widespread sympathy for Nick. However, Boney, having gathered adequate evidence, arrests Nick and Margo. Bolt bails them out, and they brace for the impending trial. After watching Nick's interview, Amy rekindles her attraction to him and begins crafting her escape story. Using surveillance cameras and self-inflicted injuries, she makes it appear that Desi kidnapped and raped her. She seduces Desi, slits his throat during sex, and returns home, clearing Nick of suspicion. Medical examiners lend credence to Amy's story. During questioning, Boney probes her inconsistencies, but Amy accuses Boney of incompetence. The FBI closes the case, but Boney gleans Amy's guilt. At home, Amy tells Nick the truth, but says that she forgives him after seeing him plead for her return on TV. Nick shares this with Boney, Bolt, and Margo. They agree that Amy is guilty, but acknowledge a lack of evidence. Bolt wishes Nick well and returns to New York. A televised interview takes place in their home seven weeks later. Anticipating Nick's intention to leave her and expose her story, Amy reveals her pregnancy minutes before the interview, having inseminated herself with Nick's sperm from a fertility clinic. Nick reacts violently but feels responsible for the child and decides to stay with Amy, to Margo's distress. The couple announces on television that they are expecting a child.

In October 1986, two women are found raped and murdered on the outskirts of a small town. Local detective Park Doo-man, not having dealt with such a serious case before, is overwhelmed. Evidence is improperly collected, investigative methods are suspicious and modern forensic technology is near non-existent. Park claims to be able to find suspects by eye contact. He questions a scarred mentally handicapped boy, Baek Kwang-ho, after Park's girlfriend Seol-yung suggests the boy used to follow one of the victims around town. Park's partner Cho beats Baek and forces him to confess. Seo Tae-yoon, a detective from Seoul with more scientific training in crime scene analysis, volunteers to assist the investigation. However, his and Park's methods clash. Seo determines Baek is not capable of committing the crimes. After closely studying the crime reports, he discovers the decomposed remains of a third victim who had been killed earlier and finds that the killer struck on rainy nights and targeted women wearing red. Inspector Kwon, the police force's diligent but unrecognized female officer, observed that the same obscure song was requested on the local radio station on the night of each crime. Despite a stakeout, on the next rainy night, the killer murders a woman near a gypsum mine. The next night, Park, Cho and Seo stake out the crime scene and interrupt a man masturbating. They apprehend him, but his improvised "confession" does not fit the details of the crime. He mentions a mysterious person who rises out of the outhouses at a local school; this fits with a similar story that two local schoolgirls told Seo on the night of the most recent murder. Seo investigates and finds the killer's only surviving victim, a traumatized woman living near the outhouses. She tells him details that exclude the man arrested at the crime scene. Park and Seo fight when the man is released, but when the killer strikes again, they agree to work together. Their investigation leads them to Hyeon-gyu, a handsome clerk at the mine who originated the song requests. Seo notes that Hyeon-gyu's hands are soft like the survivor's description and that he moved to the town around the time of the first murder, but otherwise has no concrete evidence. Listening to Baek's "confession" again, they realize that he had seen one of the murders as it occurred. They go to the restaurant run by his father, where they encounter a drunken Cho, who has been suspended for beating Hyeon-gyu. When other patrons mock the police for not solving the crime, Cho instigates a brawl. Baek hits Cho with a broken table leg, causing a rusty nail to puncture his leg, and runs off. Park and Seo chase him, but before they can learn what he knows, the frightened Baek stumbles in front of a passing train and is killed. The coroner discovers semen in the latest victim, which could identify the culprit. But since South Korea is behind on the necessary scientific advancements, they are forced to send the sample to the United States to compare it against Hyeon-gyu's. Meanwhile, the untreated wound in Cho's leg begins to develop tetanus, forcing it to be amputated. On the next rainy night, Seo surveils Hyeon-gyu but dozes off and loses track of him. Park's girlfriend Seol-yung walks through a secluded wooden area, passing one of the schoolgirls Seo had befriended. The killer, watching from the trees, arbitrarily picks the schoolgirl and murders her. Enraged, Seo attacks Hyeon-gyu the next day. Park interrupts him with the results of the DNA test. They are inconclusive - Hyeon-gyu is neither confirmed nor excluded as a suspect. However, as Park looks him into the eyes, he seems to sense that Hyeon-guy is the killer. Nevertheless, as Seo tries to shoot Hyeon-gyu, Park stops him and Hyeon-gyu is allowed to leave. In 2003, the crimes remain unsolved. Park has married Seol-yung and is now a father and businessman. He passes by the first crime scene and stops at the spot where the first victim was found. A young girl tells him she saw a man in the exact place, who was reminiscing about something he had done there a long time ago. Park asks the girl what the man looks like, and she answers he looks very ordinary, so much to the point where she is unable to describe any outstanding details. Shaken by the realization that the killer blends into society and could be anybody, Park stares into the camera.