In the Second Age of Middle-earth, the lords of Elves, Dwarves, and Men each receive Rings of Power. Unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, imbuing it with his power to control the other Rings and conquer Middle-earth. A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor. Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger, vanquishing him and returning him to spirit form, marking the beginning of the Third Age. The Ring corrupts Isildur, who takes it and is later killed by Orcs. The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum, who possesses it for five centuries, until it abandons him and is found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire with his old friend, Gandalf the Grey. He leaves the Shire for one last adventure, passing on his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, learns its true nature, and discovers that Gollum was captured by Sauron and revealed two words during interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins." Gandalf warns Frodo to leave the Shire. As Frodo departs with his gardener friend, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf heads to Isengard to seek counsel from his friend, the powerful wizard Saruman. Saruman reveals Sauron has dispatched his nine Nazgûl servants to retrieve the Ring. Gandalf immediately attempts to flee to warn Frodo, but is imprisoned by Saruman who has allied himself with Sauron, communicating with him via a palantír. Frodo and Sam join up with fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin and evade the Nazgûl before reaching Bree to meet Gandalf, who never arrives as Saruman captures him. A Ranger named Strider helps them get to Rivendell but they are ambushed on Weathertop by the Nazgûl, who wound Frodo with a Morgul blade. Arwen, Strider's beloved Elf, finds them, rescues Frodo, and takes him to Rivendell to be healed and reunite with Gandalf, who had escaped Isengard on a Great Eagle. That night, Arwen declares to Strider she is willing to sacrifice her immortality for their love. Learning of Saruman's betrayal from Gandalf and that they are now facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father Lord Elrond holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed. However, Elrond explains that it can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, the volcano where it was forged. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, the Elf Legolas, Gimli, Boromir of Gondor, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, now living in Rivendell, gives Frodo his old sword Sting, and a chainmail shirt made of mithril. The Fellowship of the Ring is forced to travel through the Mines of Moria due to a storm summoned by Saruman. Gandalf warns Frodo that Gollum, released from Sauron's fortress, has been trailing them with the intention to reclaim the Ring. They find the Dwarves of Moria dead and are attacked by Orcs and a troll. While they hold off the attack, they are pursued by Durin's Bane, a Balrog. The others escape as Gandalf confronts the Balrog and falls into a deep chasm while battling it. The devastated Fellowship reaches Lothlórien, where Galadriel, the Elf-queen, tells Frodo that he alone can complete the quest and warns that one of his companions will try to take the Ring. She shows him a vision of Sauron enslaving Middle-earth should he fail. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to destroy the Fellowship, intending to betray Sauron and claim the Ring for himself. The Fellowship travels to Parth Galen by river. As warned by Galadriel, Frodo is confronted privately by Boromir, who attempts to take the Ring. Uruk-hai scouts ambush the group; their leader, Lurtz, mortally wounds Boromir as he fails to stop them from capturing Merry and Pippin. Aragorn arrives and kills Lurtz, comforting Boromir in his final moments, promising to aid Gondor in their conflict. Worried the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to go to Mordor alone, but Sam insists on accompanying him, honouring Gandalf's promise to protect him. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli plan to rescue Merry and Pippin, while Frodo and Sam navigate the pass of Emyn Muil towards Mordor.

Three years after the destruction of the Death Star, the Imperial fleet, led by Darth Vader, dispatches probe droids across the galaxy in search of the Rebel Alliance. One probe locates the Rebel base on the ice planet Hoth. A wampa captures Luke Skywalker before he can investigate the probe crash site, but he escapes by using the Force to retrieve his lightsaber and wound the beast. Before Luke succumbs to hypothermia, the Force spirit of his deceased mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, instructs him to go to the swamp planet Dagobah to train as a Jedi Knight under Jedi Master Yoda. Han Solo discovers Luke and insulates him against the weather inside a tauntaun carcass until they are rescued the next morning. Alerted to the Rebels' location, the Empire launches a large-scale attack using AT-AT walkers, forcing the Rebels to evacuate the base. Han, Princess Leia, C-3PO and Chewbacca escape aboard the Millennium Falcon, but the ship's hyperdrive malfunctions. They hide in an asteroid field, where Han and Leia grow closer amid the tension. Vader summons several bounty hunters, including Boba Fett, to find the Falcon. Evading the Imperial fleet, Han's group travels to the floating Cloud City on the gas planet Bespin, which is governed by his old friend Lando Calrissian. Fett tracks them there, and Vader forces Lando to surrender the group to the Empire, knowing Luke will come to their aid. Meanwhile, Luke travels with R2-D2 in his X-wing fighter to Dagobah, where he crash-lands. He meets Yoda, a diminutive creature who reluctantly accepts him as his Jedi apprentice after conferring with Obi-Wan's spirit. Yoda trains Luke to master the light side of the Force and resist negative emotions that will seduce him to the dark side, as they did Vader. Luke struggles to control his anger and impulsiveness and fails to comprehend the nature and power of the Force until he witnesses Yoda using it to levitate the X-wing from the swamp. Luke has a premonition of Han and Leia suffering, and, despite protestations from Obi-Wan and Yoda, he abandons his training to rescue them. Although Obi-Wan believes Luke is their only hope, Yoda asserts that "there is another." Leia confesses her love for Han before Vader freezes him in carbonite to test whether the process will safely imprison Luke. Han survives and is given to Fett, who intends to collect the bounty on Han from Jabba the Hutt. Lando frees Leia and Chewbacca, but they are too late to stop Fett's escape. The group fights its way back to the Falcon and flees the city. Luke arrives and engages Vader in a lightsaber duel over the city's central air shaft. Vader defeats Luke, severing his right hand and separating him from his lightsaber. He urges Luke to embrace the dark side and help him destroy his master, the Emperor, so they may rule the galaxy together. Luke refuses, citing Obi-Wan's claim that Vader killed his father, which prompts Vader to reveal that he is Luke's father. Distraught, Luke plunges down the air shaft and is ejected beneath the floating city, where he dangles from an antenna. He reaches out through the Force to Leia, and the Falcon returns to rescue him. They are pursued by TIE fighters and Vader's Star Destroyer, but manage to escape after R2-D2 repairs the Falcon ' s hyperdrive. After the group joins the Rebel fleet, Luke's missing hand is replaced by a robotic prosthesis. He, Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 observe as Lando and Chewbacca depart on the Falcon to find Han.

On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven, where guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George to earn his wings. Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's life, beginning when 12 year-old George rescued his younger brother Harry from drowning in a frozen pond, leaving George deaf in his left ear. George later saves pharmacist Mr. Gower from accidentally poisoning a customer. Before starting college, George plans a world tour. He is reintroduced to Mary Hatch, who has had a crush on him since childhood. When his father dies from a stroke, George postpones his travel to settle the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan. Avaricious board member Henry F. Potter, who owns most of the town's businesses, seeks to dissolve the company, but the board of directors votes to keep it open if George runs it. George works alongside his uncle Billy and gives his tuition savings to Harry, with the understanding Harry will run the company when he graduates. When Harry returns from college married and with a job offer from his father-in-law, George resigns himself to running the Building and Loan. George and Mary rekindle their relationship and marry, but forego their honeymoon and use the money to keep the company solvent during a run on the bank. Under George, the company establishes Bailey Park, a housing development to compete with Potter's slums. Potter entices George with a high-paying job, but George rebuffs him when he realizes that Potter's goal is to close the Building and Loan. On Christmas Eve, the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, a Navy fighter pilot awarded the Medal of Honor for preventing a kamikaze attack on a troopship. Billy goes to deposit $8,000 ($ 143,068 in 2025) of the Building and Loan's money in Potter's bank. He taunts Potter with a newspaper headline about Harry, but absentmindedly wraps the cash in Potter's newspaper. Potter keeps the money while Billy cannot recall how he misplaced it. While a bank examiner performs an audit, George fruitlessly retraces Billy's steps. Frustrated and angered by Billy's blunder, which may lead to scandal and jail, George resents the sacrifices he has made and the family that has kept him trapped in Bedford Falls. He appeals to Potter for a loan, but has only a meager life insurance policy for collateral. Potter scoffs that George is worth more dead than alive and, accusing him of bank fraud, phones the police. George flees Potter's office, gets drunk at a bar and prays for help. Contemplating suicide, he goes to a bridge, but before he can jump, Clarence falls into the water below and George rescues him. When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence takes him into an alternate timeline in which he never existed and Bedford Falls is called Pottersville, an unsavory town occupied by sleazy entertainment venues and callous people. No one knows George, including his mother and Mary, who is an " old maid ". He learns that Uncle Billy was committed to an institution after the Building and Loan failed and Mr. Gower was jailed for manslaughter for poisoning the customer. George also discovers Harry's grave; without George to save him, Harry drowned as a child, and without Harry to save them, the troops aboard the transport were killed. George races back to the bridge and begs Clarence, and then God, for his life back. His wish granted, he gleefully rushes home to await his arrest. Meanwhile, Mary and Billy have rallied the townspeople, who donate more than enough to replace the missing money. Harry arrives and toasts George as "the richest man in town". Among the donations is a gift from Clarence, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, with the inscription, "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!" When a bell on their Christmas tree rings, George's youngest daughter, Zuzu, explains that "every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

In a period of galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen blueprints to the Death Star, a colossal space station built by the Galactic Empire that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, secretly a rebel leader, has obtained the schematics, but her ship is intercepted and boarded by Imperial forces under the command of Darth Vader. Leia is taken prisoner, but the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO escape with the plans, crash-landing on the nearby desert planet of Tatooine. Darth Vader orders his troops to pursue the droids. The droids are captured by Jawa traders, who sell them to the moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew, Luke Skywalker. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he discovers a recording of Leia requesting help from a former ally named Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2-D2 goes missing, and while searching for him, Luke is attacked by Sand People. He is rescued by the elderly hermit Ben Kenobi, who soon reveals himself as Obi-Wan. He tells Luke about his past as one of the Jedi Knights, peacekeepers of the former Galactic Republic, who drew mystical abilities from the Force and were all but exterminated by the Empire. Luke learns that his father, also a Jedi, fought alongside Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars until Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered him. Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's lightsaber, the signature weapon of the Jedi. R2-D2 plays Leia's full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to Alderaan and give them to her father, a fellow veteran, for analysis. Luke initially declines Obi-Wan's offer to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force. However, he quickly changes his mind after Imperial stormtroopers murder his family and destroy his home while searching for the droids. Seeking a way off the planet, Luke and Obi-Wan travel with the droids to the city of Mos Eisley and hire the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee partner Chewbacca, pilots of the starship Millennium Falcon. On the way to Alderaan, Obi-Wan begins Luke's training in the use of the Force. Meanwhile, the Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin has Alderaan obliterated by the station's superlaser. The Death Star's tractor beam captures the Falcon, but Luke and his companions manage to avoid detection and infiltrate the station. Vader, however, senses Obi-Wan's presence, and begins searching for him. As Obi-Wan deactivates the tractor beam, Luke persuades Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue Leia, who is scheduled for execution after refusing to reveal the location of the rebel base. After disabling the tractor beam, Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel against Vader, which allows the rest of the group to escape. Using a tracking device placed on the Falcon, the Empire locates the rebel base on the moon Yavin 4. Analysis of the Death Star schematics reveals a weakness in a small exhaust port leading directly to the station's reactor. Luke joins the Rebellion's X-wing squadron in a desperate attack against the Death Star, while Han and Chewbacca leave to pay off a debt to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. In the ensuing battle, Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters and destroys several rebel ships, while Tarkin prepares to destroy Yavin 4 with the Death Star. Han and Chewbacca unexpectedly return in the Falcon, knocking Vader's ship off course before he can shoot Luke down. Guided by the voice of Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke uses the Force to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, causing the Death Star to explode moments before it can fire on the rebel base. In a triumphant ceremony, Leia awards Luke and Han medals for their heroism.

Mitsuha Miyamizu is a high school student in Itomori, a rural town in Gifu. Bored with her provincial life, she wishes to be reborn as a boy in Tokyo. Soon, she begins intermittently switching bodies with Taki Tachibana, a high school student and part-time waiter from Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. On certain days, they awaken in each other's bodies and must live the entire day as the other, reverting to their own bodies during sleep. They set rules for sharing their bodies, communicating via writing on paper, their phones, and their skin. In each other's bodies, Mitsuha sets Taki on a date with his coworker Miki Okudera; Taki, meanwhile, increases Mitsuha's popularity at school, and accompanies her grandmother Hitoha and younger sister Yotsuha to a shrine in the Goshintai crater. He offers kuchikamizake fermented with Mitsuha's saliva. Hitoha explains God 's sovereignty over both time and the connections between humans. Mitsuha informs Taki that Comet 279P/ Tiamat is expected to pass nearest to Earth on the day of the autumn festival. Taki, in his own body, goes on the date with Okudera the next day. While she enjoys it, she deduces Taki's preoccupations with someone else through his unusual behavior. Realizing his feelings for Mitsuha, Taki attempts and fails to call her. The body-switching stops inexplicably. Taki, Okudera, and his classmate Tsukasa Fujii travel to Hida to search for Mitsuha. Unfamiliar with her town's name, Taki sketches it from memory. A Takayama ramen-shop owner, recognizing Itomori, offers to take them there. They discover its ruins, almost entirely decimated by Tiamat's fragments. Simultaneously, Mitsuha's messages vanish from his phone. The comet having passed in 2013, Taki realizes that Mitsuha has been separated from him by three years, since he lived in 2016. At Hida City Library, the three discover that the Miyamizus and their friends were among its 500 fatalities. Taki begins to lose his memories of Mitsuha. Later, Taki rushes to Goshintai to imbibe Mitsuha's kuchikamizake. Upon doing so, he faints, undergoing a vision chronicling much of her life, realizing that she once came to Tokyo to find him. Although then unaware, she passed her kumihimo braid onto him, which he has worn as a lucky bracelet ever since. He awakens in Mitsuha's body on the morning of the festival. Hitoha undergoes an epiphany upon observing "Mitsuha's" uncharacteristic behavior; speaking directly to Taki, she reveals that the body-switching has been in their family for centuries. Taki enlists Mitsuha's friends Sayaka and Tessie to force an evacuation prior to Tiamat's impact by destroying Itomori's substation and hijacking its emergency broadcast system. He returns to the shrine, where Mitsuha has awakened in his own body. At twilight, their timelines intersect, allowing them to meet in person. Taki returns Mitsuha's braid; as they attempt to write their names on each other's palms, night falls before Mitsuha can write hers. Returning to Itomori, Mitsuha finds that the mayor, her estranged father Toshiki, had instructed residents to stay put. She persuades him to order an evacuation instead. Beginning to forget Taki, she discovers that he wrote "I love you" on her hand instead of his name. Taki awakens in his own time, without memory of Mitsuha. Five years later, Taki has graduated from university; with persistent melancholy, he struggles with job searching. He has continuously fixated on the Itomori meteor strike, in which a last-minute evacuation order miraculously saved Itomori's residents. Eventually, on April 8, 2022, he glimpses Mitsuha, now resident in Tokyo, on a parallel metro train; they race to find each other. On the steps of Suga Shrine, Taki calls out to Mitsuha, and they simultaneously ask for each other's names.

One year after Han Solo 's capture and imprisonment in carbonite, C-3PO and R2-D2 enter the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. They were sent as a goodwill gift by Luke Skywalker, who hopes to negotiate with Jabba for Han's release. Disguised as a bounty hunter, Princess Leia infiltrates the palace under the pretense of having captured Chewbacca. She releases Han from the carbonite but is caught by Jabba and enslaved. Luke arrives to bargain for the release of his friends, but Jabba drops him through a trapdoor to be eaten by a rancor. After Luke kills the beast, Jabba decrees that he, Han, and Chewbacca will be fed to a Sarlacc, a deadly ground-dwelling creature. However, Luke retrieves his new green lightsaber from R2-D2, and the group of friends battle Jabba's thugs aboard his sail barge. During the chaos, Boba Fett falls into the Sarlacc's pit, and Leia strangles Jabba to death with her chains. The group escapes as Jabba's sail barge is destroyed. As the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training with Yoda, who is dying when he arrives. Before Yoda dies, he confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father, the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, and that there is another Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi 's Force spirit tells Luke that Leia is his twin sister, and that he must face Vader again to finish his training and defeat the Empire. The Alliance learns that the Empire has been constructing a second Death Star under the supervision of the Emperor. The station is protected by an energy shield on the forest moon of Endor. Han leads a strike team, including Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca, to destroy its generator. Once on the moon, the team gains the trust of a tribe of Ewoks. Luke tells Leia she is his sister, and that Vader is their father. Luke surrenders to Imperial troops and is brought before Vader, but fails to convince him to reject the dark side of the Force. Luke is brought to the Emperor, who intends to turn him to the dark side. He reveals that Luke's friends on Endor and the rebel fleet are heading into a trap. On the forest moon, Han's team is captured by Imperial forces, but the Ewoks counterattack, allowing the Rebels to infiltrate the shield generator. Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian and Admiral Ackbar lead the rebel assault on the Death Star, but find its shield still active and the Imperial fleet waiting for them. The Emperor reveals to Luke that the Death Star is fully operational and orders the firing of its massive laser, which destroys a rebel starship. He tempts Luke to give in to his anger and embrace the dark side of the Force. Luke attacks him, but Vader intervenes, and the two engage in a lightsaber duel. During the battle, Vader realizes Luke has a sister, and he threatens to turn her to the dark side. Luke becomes enraged and severs Vader's prosthetic hand. The Emperor orders Luke to kill his father, but Luke refuses. The Emperor then tortures Luke with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down a shaft to his demise, but is fatally wounded in the process. Before dying, Vader asks Luke to remove his mask in a moment of reconciliation. After the rebel strike team destroys the shield generator, Lando leads fighter ships into the Death Star's core. Lando and the X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles destroy the station's main reactor and escape before it explodes. Later, Luke cremates Vader's body on Endor before reuniting with his friends. As the Rebels celebrate their victory, Luke sees the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker standing nearby.

Kanji Lalji Mehta, a middle-class Gujarati atheist, owns a shop of Hindu idols and antiques in Mumbai. He mocks religious activities around him until one day, a low-intensity earthquake hits the city, with Kanji's shop being the only one destroyed; his family and friends blame this on his atheism. At the insurance office, Kanji learns that the disaster claim does not cover any damage caused by natural calamities classified under " Act of God." Running out of options, he decides to sue God but fails to find a lawyer for such a lawsuit. Hanif Qureshi, a working-class Muslim lawyer, helps him file the case after Kanji decides to fight on his own. Legal notices are sent to the insurance company as well as to religious people like Siddheshwar Maharaj, Gopi Maiyya, and their group's founder, Leeladhar Swamy, forcing them to court as representatives of God. As the court case commences and gains attraction for its bizarre quality, Kanji finds himself facing armed fundamentalists and harassment, with his mortgage provider occupying the house and his family leaving him. He is then rescued by Krishna Vasudev Yadav, who claims to be a real estate agent originally from Gokul, Uttar Pradesh, yet is also responsible for supernatural acts outside of the human realm. The lawsuit causes a public outcry. On Krishna's advice, Kanji goes to the media and gets wide coverage. Sympathisers join him in the lawsuit, causing the number of claims to skyrocket and Catholic fathers and Muslim Maulvis to also be forced as defendants. When the court demands written proof that the earthquake was an 'Act of God,' Krishna steers Kanji toward holy books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Quran, and the Bible. Kanji reads them and finds a passage in each that says the world and all events are a creation of God and come from God's will alone. This strengthens his case and increases public support. However, Kanji suffers a stroke in court and is rushed to the hospital, where he goes into a coma and is paralyzed. When he opens his eyes after a month, he finds Krishna, who reveals that he is God and proves it by curing Kanji completely. He further reveals that while He created the entire world, animals and humans, religion was created by humans, and he was the one who destroyed Kanji's shop because he sought to punish the godmen who showed his fear to the public to earn money. He adds that he created the entire world and thus does not like to live in temples, contrary to what the godmen claim, and he is not interested in the offerings he gets from devotees. Instead, he created millions of humans who die of hunger and would be glad if those offerings were given to them instead. He figured out that an atheist like Kanji would end up exposing them if he destroyed his shop, and thus destroyed it by causing the disaster, and started to help him with the lawsuit by appearing as a human, befriending him, and revealing himself in his true form so that Kanji realises that although he does exist, he does not live in temples but in every creature he created. Kanji learns that the lawsuit's verdict was in his favour, and religious organizations were ordered by the court to pay the compensation to all the plaintiffs. As a result of this, people have begun revering Kanji himself as a god. Leeladhar, Gopi Maiyya, and Siddheshwar have taken advantage of this by opening a temple dedicated to Kanji and accumulating millions in donations. Krishna explains to Kanji that his job as God is to show people right and wrong – people do with it what they will. Moved by Krishna's words, Kanji breaks his own statue, admonishing the crowd about trusting in God-men and advises them to search for God in themselves and in others, not in statues; that God is everywhere, not just in temples, and faith should come from within. He tells them not to believe in fraudulent godmen, as their job is to turn religion into business. After successfully completing the job, he goes back to thank Krishna, only to find that he and his motorcycle have disappeared. Kanji's family arrives, and they get reunited. Kanji sees Krishna's keychain on the ground. When he is about to keep it, he hears Krishna's voice, telling him to get rid of the keychain, as fear of God and reliance on religious objects were what he'd fought against. Kanji smiles and throws it away, watching as it disappears into the sky with a flash.

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge tells his colleagues that he has no intention of celebrating Christmas. He refuses to donate to two men collecting for the poor. His nephew, Fred, invites him to dinner the next day, but Scrooge refuses, disparaging Fred for having married and mocking him for his lack of success. He gives his mistreated clerk, Bob Cratchit, the day off for Christmas but demands that he come to work early the next day. Scrooge returns home and is visited by the ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that he must change his ways or be condemned to wander the earth in agony for the selfish deeds he committed in life. Marley says Scrooge will be visited by three spirits, the first to arrive at one o'clock that night. Frightened, Scrooge takes refuge in his bed. The Ghost of Christmas Past arrives. Scrooge is shown himself alone at school, unwanted by his father after his mother died in childbirth. His beloved sister Fan arrives to take him home, telling Ebenezer that their father has had a change of heart toward him. The Spirit then shows Scrooge the annual Christmas party thrown by his former benevolent employer, S. Fezziwig. Scrooge watches his younger self propose to his sweetheart Alice, who accepts. He is then shown how he is tempted to leave Fezziwig's to join a business run by Mr. Jorkin. Scrooge witnesses the death of Fan after she gives birth to Fred and discovers he missed her last words asking him to look after her son. Scrooge's younger self joins Jorkin and meets Jacob Marley. Jorkin's firm buys Fezziwig's business, and Alice breaks her engagement to Scrooge because of his dedication to "a golden idol". When Jorkin is found to have embezzled funds from the now bankrupt company, Scrooge and Marley seize the opportunity to buy his shares. One Christmas Eve seven years earlier, Scrooge refuses to see Marley until the workday is finished and arrives just as his friend dies cold and alone. The Spirit reproaches Scrooge for taking Marley's money and house, as an ashamed Scrooge finds himself back in his bed. Scrooge is then visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present who takes him to see how "men of goodwill" celebrate Christmas. The spirit shows Scrooge poor miners joyfully singing Christmas carols and the Cratchits' celebration on Christmas Day. Scrooge asks whether their ailing young son, Tiny Tim, will survive his physical disabilities. The Spirit hints that he will not unless the future is changed but questions why Scrooge should care for the "surplus population". Scrooge and the spirit then visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred defends Scrooge from his guests' critical remarks. An older Alice is working in a poorhouse, where she ministers to the sick and homeless. The Spirit shows Scrooge two emaciated children, personifying Ignorance and Want. When Scrooge shows concern for their welfare, the Spirit scourges the miser with his own words: "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Finally, Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows him the Cratchits mourning Tiny Tim's death. Three people, including Scrooge's charwoman, Mrs. Dilber, sell off the possessions of a dead man, and two businessmen joke they will only attend the man's funeral if lunch is provided. When shown a gravestone bearing his own name, Scrooge begs the Spirit for a second chance; he then awakens in his bed. Scrooge learns that it is Christmas Day and gleefully realises he still has an opportunity to make amends. Though Mrs. Dilber is initially frightened by his transformation, Scrooge reassures her and gives her the day off with pay. He anonymously purchases a prize turkey for the Cratchits and sends it to them. He delights Fred by attending his dinner party, asking his niece-in-law's forgiveness and dancing with her. The next day, Scrooge plays a prank on Bob Cratchit and pretends to be about to fire him for lateness, but instead says he will raise Bob's salary and assist his family. Scrooge embodies the Christmas spirit and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim, who recovers.

In AD 932, King Arthur and his squire Patsy, who bangs coconut shells together as Arthur mimes riding a horse, travel Britain searching for men to join the Knights of the Round Table. Along the way, Arthur debates whether swallows could carry coconuts, passes through a town infected with a plague, recounts receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake to two anarcho-syndicalist peasants, and defeats the Black Knight. At an impromptu witch trial, he recruits Sir Bedevere the Wise, later joined by Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, and the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film, along with their squires and Robin's minstrels. Arthur leads the knights to Camelot, but changes his mind after the knights in the castle perform a musical number, deeming it "a silly place". God then appears and orders Arthur to find the Holy Grail. Arthur and his knights arrive at a castle occupied by French soldiers, who claim to have the Grail and taunt the Britons, driving them back with a barrage of barnyard animals. Bedevere concocts a plan to sneak in using a Trojan Rabbit, but forgets to tell the others to hide inside it; the Knights are forced to flee when it is flung back at them. Arthur decides the knights should go their separate ways to search for the Grail. Meanwhile, a modern-day historian filming a documentary on the Arthurian legends is killed by an unknown knight on horseback, triggering a police investigation. Arthur and Bedevere are given directions by an old man and attempt to satisfy the strange requests of the dreaded Knights Who Say "Ni!". Sir Robin avoids a fight with a Three-Headed Knight by running away while the heads are arguing amongst themselves. Sir Galahad is led by a grail-shaped beacon to Castle Anthrax, which is occupied exclusively by nubile young women, all of whom attempt to woo him, but is "rescued" against his will by Lancelot. Lancelot receives an arrow-shot note from the nearby Swamp Castle. Believing the author is a lady being forced to marry against her will, he storms the castle and slaughters several wedding party members, only to discover the author is an effeminate prince. Arthur and his knights regroup and are joined by Brother Maynard, his monk brethren, and three new knights: Bors, Gawain and Ector. They meet Tim the Enchanter, a pyromancer who directs them to a cave where the location of the Grail is said to be written. The entrance to the cave is guarded by the Rabbit of Caerbannog. Underestimating it, the knights attack, but the Rabbit easily kills Bors, Gawain and Ector. Arthur uses the " Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch ", provided by Brother Maynard, to destroy the creature; the police officers investigating the historian's murder hear the explosion and begin pursuing them. Inside the cave, they find an inscription from Joseph of Arimathea, directing them to "the Castle of Aarrgh". They are interrupted by an attack from the animated "Legendary Black Beast" that lives in the cave, which devours Brother Maynard and pursues the others. Arthur and the knights escape after the film's animator unexpectedly suffers a fatal heart attack, erasing the Black Beast. The knights approach the Bridge of Death, where the soothsaying bridge-keeper demands they each answer three questions in order to pass or else be cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Lancelot easily answers simple questions and crosses. An overly cocky Robin is defeated by an unexpectedly difficult question, and an indecisive Galahad fails an easy one; both are magically flung into the gorge. When Arthur asks for clarification on a question regarding the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, the bridge-keeper cannot answer and is himself thrown into the gorge. Arthur and Bedevere cannot find Lancelot, unaware that he has been arrested by police investigating the historian's death. They find Castle Aarrgh occupied by the French soldiers from earlier in the film. After being repelled by showers of manure, they summon an army of knights and prepare to assault the castle. As the army charges, the police arrive, arrest Arthur and Bedevere on suspicion of the murder of the historian, and break the camera, abruptly ending the film.

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 the morning of 6 April 1941 in Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, two bon vivants, Petar Popara, nicknamed Crni (Blacky) and Marko Dren, head home. They pass through Kalemegdan and shout salutes to Marko's brother Ivan, an animal keeper in the Belgrade Zoo. Marko lets Blacky's pregnant wife Vera know that they have enrolled Blacky in the Communist Party (KPJ).

On February 1, Cynical television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania. Alongside his new producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry, Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities. He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment, the small town, and the "hicks" who live there, asserting that he will soon leave his station for a new job. On February 2, Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn to Sonny & Cher 's " I Got You Babe " playing on the clock radio. He gives a half-hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities. Contrary to his prediction, the blizzard strikes the area, preventing all travel, and although he desperately searches for a way to leave, he is forced to spend the night in the town. The next morning, Phil again awakens to "I Got You Babe" and the same DJ banter on the radio in his room at the Cherry Street Inn. He experiences the previous day's events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing déjà vu. He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed, only to awaken on February 2 once more. Phil realizes that he is trapped in a time loop of which no one else is aware. He confides his situation to Rita, who directs him to a neurologist, who in turn directs him to a psychologist; neither can explain his experiences. He gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high-speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned; the next morning, Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn once again. Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins to spend his loops indulging in binge eating, one-night stands, and robbery, using his growing knowledge of the day's events and the town's residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. He eventually focuses on seducing the sweet-natured Rita, using the loops to learn more about her and exploit that knowledge. No matter what steps he takes, Rita rebuffs his advances, particularly when Phil tells her he loves her; she asserts that he does not even know her. Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways, including kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff. Each time, he reawakens on February 2. He tries to explain his situation to Rita again, using his detailed knowledge of the day to predict events accurately. Convinced, Rita spends the day with him and encourages him to view the loop as a blessing rather than a curse. As they lie on the bed together at night, Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere. He wakes alone on February 2. He decides to use the loop to change himself and help others: he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes and learns to play the piano, sculpt ice, and speak French. Despite his efforts, however, he is haunted by his inability to prevent a homeless old man from dying of natural causes. During one iteration of the loop, Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen, amazing Rita. Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney. That night, Rita witnesses Phil's expert piano-playing as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds. Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation, Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction. Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita's image and tells her that no matter what happens, even if he is trapped in the loop forever, he is finally happy because he loves her. They share a kiss and retire to his room. Phil wakes the next morning to find Rita still in bed with him; it is now February 3. He tells Rita he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her.