At William Bloom's wedding party, his father Edward recalls the day Will was born, claiming he caught an enormous catfish using his wedding ring as bait. Will has heard his father's fanciful tales many times, and believes they are lies. Fed up by the stories, Will has a falling out with his father. Three years later, Edward is diagnosed with cancer, prompting Will and his pregnant wife Joséphine to spend time with him in Alabama. Edward's life is chronicled through flashbacks, beginning with his boyhood encounter with a witch. She shows Edward how he will die, which does not faze him. As he reaches adulthood, he finds his home too confining, and sets out into the world. He meets a giant named Karl, and they begin traveling together. When they find a fork in the road, they take separate paths. Edward traverses a swamp and discovers the hidden town of Spectre, where he befriends the poet Norther Winslow and the mayor's daughter, Jenny. Not ready to settle down, Edward leaves Spectre, but makes a promise to Jenny that he will return. At Joséphine's request, the bed-ridden Edward tells her how he met his wife, Sandra. In more flashbacks, Edward and Karl visit the Calloway Circus, where Edward falls in love with a beautiful woman. Edward and Karl get jobs in the circus, and the ringmaster Amos Calloway reveals to Edward one detail about the woman each month. Three years later, Edward discovers that Amos is a werewolf, but shows no ill will towards him. In gratitude, Amos reveals the woman's name as Sandra Templeton. Edward confesses his love to Sandra, but she rebuffs him despite his romantic gestures. Sandra's fiancé, Don Price, beats Edward up, which prompts Sandra to break off their engagement and marry Edward instead. In more flashbacks, Edward is conscripted into the army and fights in the Korean War. He parachutes into the middle of a North Korean military show, steals important documents, and persuades the conjoined twins Ping and Jing to help him escape in exchange for making them celebrities. Upon returning home, Edward becomes a traveling salesman. In the present, Will investigates the truth behind his father's tales. He meets an older Jenny, who explains that Edward rescued Spectre from bankruptcy and rebuilt it with help from his circus friends. Jenny reveals that although she loved Edward, he remained loyal to Sandra. Edward has a stroke and Will visits him at the hospital. Unable to speak much, he asks Will to narrate how his life ends. Will tells his father a fantastical tale of their daring escape from the hospital. They arrive at the banks of a lake, where everyone from Edward's stories has gathered to see him off. Will carries his father into the river, where he transforms into a giant catfish and swims away. Satisfied by Will's story, Edward dies peacefully. At the funeral, Will and Joséphine are surprised to see all the people from Edward's stories, although they appear less fantastical. Later, Will passes on Edward's stories to his sons.

In Montreal, Canada, a writer meets Pi Patel, whom he has been told would be a good subject for a book. Pi tells the writer the following story: Pi's father names him Piscine Molitor Patel after Piscine Molitor, a famous French swimming pool. In secondary school in Pondicherry, he adopts the Greek letter " Pi " as his nickname to avoid bullying, because his first name Piscine sounds like ‘pissing’. He is raised in a Hindu family, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and decides to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God". Pi's mother supports his desire to grow, but his rationalist father tries to secularize him. Their family owns a zoo, and Pi takes interest in a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After he gets dangerously close to Richard Parker, his father forces him to witness it killing a goat. When Pi is 16, his father announces that due to " The Emergency ", they must move to Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the animals. The family books passage with the animals on a Japanese freighter. During a storm, the ship founders while Pi is on deck. He struggles to find his family, but a crewman throws him into a lifeboat. A freed plains zebra jumps onto the boat with him, breaking its leg. The ship sinks into the Mariana Trench, drowning his family. After the storm, Pi awakens in the lifeboat with the zebra and is joined by a Bornean orangutan. A spotted hyena emerges from under a tarpaulin, forcing Pi to retreat to the end of the boat. The hyena kills the zebra and later the orangutan. Richard Parker suddenly emerges from under the tarpaulin, killing the hyena before retreating to cover. Pi fashions a small raft which he tethers to the lifeboat to be safe from Richard Parker. His moral code is against killing, but he begins fishing, enabling him to sustain the tiger. When the tiger jumps into the sea to hunt for fish and swims toward Pi, he considers letting him drown but ultimately helps him into the boat. One night, a humpback whale destroys the raft and its supplies. Pi trains Richard Parker to accept him in the boat and realizes that caring for the tiger is helping to keep himself alive. Weeks later, they encounter a floating island. It is a lush jungle of edible plants, freshwater pools and a large population of meerkats, enabling Pi and Richard Parker to eat, drink and regain strength. At night, the island transforms into a hostile environment. Richard Parker retreats to the lifeboat while Pi and the meerkats sleep in the trees; the water pools turn acidic. Pi deduces that the island is carnivorous after finding a human tooth embedded in a flower. Pi and Richard Parker leave the island, reaching Mexico after over 200 days at sea. Pi is heartbroken that Richard Parker does not acknowledge him before disappearing into the jungle. While he recovers in a hospital, insurance agents for the Japanese freighter company interview him, but do not believe his story and ask what really happened, specifically concerning why the ship sank. So Pi retells the story, in which the animals are replaced by humans: his mother for the orangutan, an amiable Buddhist sailor for the zebra, the ship's brutish cook for the hyena, and Pi himself for Richard Parker. The cook kills the sailor and feeds on his flesh. He then kills Pi's mother, after which Pi kills him and uses his remains as food and fish bait. The insurance agents are dissatisfied with this story but leave without questioning him further. When the writer recognizes the animal story may be an allegory for the human story, Pi says that it does not matter which story is true because his family died either way, and neither story provides the explanation the insurance company wanted. He asks which story the author prefers, and the author chooses the first, to which Pi replies, "and so it goes with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer reads that Pi survived his adventure "in the company of an adult Bengal tiger".

Elwood P. Dowd is an amiable but eccentric man whose best friend is an invisible, 6 ft 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 in-tall (1.92 m) white rabbit named Harvey. As described by Elwood, Harvey is a púca, a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology. Elwood spends most of his time taking Harvey around town, drinking at various bars and introducing Harvey to almost everyone he meets, much to the puzzlement of strangers although Elwood's friends have accepted Harvey's (supposed) existence. His older sister Veta and his niece Myrtle Mae live with him in his large estate, but have become social outcasts along with Elwood due to his obsession with Harvey. After Elwood ruins a party Veta and Myrtle Mae arranged in secret, Veta finally tries to have him committed to a local sanatorium. In exasperation she admits to the attending psychiatrist, Dr. Sanderson, that she sees Harvey once in a while herself. Mistaking Veta for the real mental case, Sanderson has Elwood released and Veta locked up. Dr. Chumley, head of the sanatorium, discovers the mistake and realizes he must bring Elwood back, searching the town with Wilson, an orderly. With Veta's help, Chumley eventually tracks Elwood to his favorite bar, "Charlie's", and decides to confront him. Four hours later, Wilson returns to the sanatorium and learns from Sanderson and nurse Kelly that Chumley and Elwood had not returned. They all go to Charlie's and find Elwood alone; he explains that Chumley wandered off with Harvey after several rounds of drinks. As they converse, Elwood encourages Sanderson and Kelly to dance, rekindling their romantic relationship. Elwood eventually explains that he met Harvey one night several years ago after escorting a drunk friend to a taxi, and they had since enjoyed going to bars and socializing with other patrons to hear their grand life stories and aspirations. Convinced Elwood is insane and may have harmed Chumley, Wilson calls the police and has Elwood escorted back to the sanatorium. Chumley returns to the sanatorium disheveled and paranoid, and is followed by an invisible presence who opens and closes locked doors. When the others arrive, Chumley invites Elwood to his office. In private, Chumley says that he now knows Harvey is real, and Elwood explains Harvey's various powers, including his ability to stop time, send anyone to any destination for as long as they like, and then bring them back without a minute passing. Chumley expresses his fantasy to go to Akron with a beautiful woman for two weeks. Veta arrives with Judge Gaffney and Myrtle Mae, prepared to commit Elwood, but are convinced by Sanderson that an injection of a serum called Formula 977 will stop Elwood from "seeing the rabbit". As they prepare the injection, Veta tries to pay the cab driver but, emptying her purse, is unable to find her smaller coin purse. She interrupts the injection procedure and asks Elwood to pay the driver. Warmed by Elwood's kindness, the cab driver explains how he has driven many people to the sanatorium to receive the same formula, warning Veta that Elwood will soon become "a perfectly normal human being, and you know what stinkers they are." Veta is upset by this, and halts the injection; she then finds her coin purse, and realizes that Harvey had intervened to save her brother. Wilson and Myrtle Mae, who had met at Elwood's house, reveal that they have become a couple, and Elwood invites Wilson over for tomorrow night's dinner. Leaving the institute, Elwood sees Harvey on the porch swing. Harvey tells him that he has decided to stay and take Chumley on his fantasy trip to Akron. Dejected, Elwood walks out the gate, but when it is closed he sees Harvey coming back. The gate lever is then moved to the open position by an unseen force. Elwood happily says "Well, thank you, Harvey; I prefer you too", and they follow Veta and Myrtle Mae along the road and into the sunrise.

After Columbia University parapsychology professors Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler experience their first encounter with a ghost at the New York Public Library, the university dean dismisses the credibility of their paranormal -focused research and fires them. The trio responds by establishing "Ghostbusters", a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse. They develop high-tech nuclear-powered equipment to capture and contain ghosts, although business is initially slow. Following a paranormal encounter in her apartment, cellist Dana Barrett visits the Ghostbusters. She recounts witnessing a demonic dog-like creature in her refrigerator utter a single word: "Zuul". Ray and Egon research Zuul and details of Dana's building while Peter inspects her apartment and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her. The Ghostbusters are hired to remove a gluttonous ghost from the Sedgewick Hotel. Having failed to properly test their equipment, Egon warns the group that crossing the energy streams of their proton pack weapons could cause a catastrophic explosion. They capture the ghost and deposit it in an ecto-containment unit under the firehouse. Supernatural activity rapidly increases across the city and the Ghostbusters become famous; they hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore, to cope with the growing demand. Suspicious of the Ghostbusters, Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck asks to evaluate their equipment, but Peter rebuffs him. Egon warns that the containment unit is nearing capacity and supernatural energy is surging across the city. Peter meets with Dana and informs her that Zuul was a demigod worshipped as a servant to "Gozer the Gozerian", a shapeshifting god of destruction. Upon returning home, Dana is possessed by Zuul; a similar entity possesses her neighbor, Louis Tully. Peter arrives and finds the possessed Dana/Zuul claiming to be "the Gatekeeper". Louis is brought to Egon by police officers and claims that he is "Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster". The Ghostbusters agree that they must keep the pair separated. The next morning, Peck returns with law enforcement and city workers to have the Ghostbusters arrested and their containment unit deactivated, causing an explosion that releases the captured ghosts. Louis/Vinz escapes in the confusion and makes his way to the apartment building to join Dana/Zuul. In jail, Ray and Egon reveal that Ivo Shandor, leader of a Gozer-worshipping cult in the early 20th century, designed Dana's building to function as an antenna to attract and concentrate spiritual energy to summon Gozer and bring about the apocalypse. Faced with supernatural chaos across the city, the Ghostbusters convince the mayor to release them. The Ghostbusters travel to a hidden temple located on top of the building as Dana/Zuul and Louis/Vinz open the gate between dimensions and transform into demonic dogs. Gozer appears as a woman and attacks the Ghostbusters, then disappears when they attempt to retaliate, with its disembodied voice demanding the Ghostbusters "choose the form of the destructor". Ray inadvertently recalls a beloved corporate mascot from his childhood, and Gozer reappears as a gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that begins destroying the city. Against his earlier advice, Egon instructs the team to cross their proton energy streams at the dimensional gate. The resulting explosion destroys Gozer's avatar, banishing it back to its dimension, and closes the gateway. The Ghostbusters then rescue Dana and Louis from the wreckage and are welcomed on the street as heroes.

Before his 111th birthday, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins writes a story of his adventure for his nephew, Frodo. Many years ago, the Dwarf king Thrór led his kin to prosperity under the Lonely Mountain until the dragon Smaug arrived. Smaug destroyed Dale, drove the Dwarves from their mountain, and took their gold. Thrór's grandson, Thorin Oakenshield, appealed to Elf king Thranduil for help, but was denied, causing him to foster a hatred for Elves. In the Shire, 51-year-old Bilbo is tricked by the wizard Gandalf the Grey into hosting a dinner for Thorin and his company of Dwarves: Balin, Dwalin, Fíli, Kíli, Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. Gandalf aims to recruit Bilbo as the company's "burglar" to assist them in their quest to enter the Lonely Mountain. Reluctant at first, Bilbo changes his mind after the company leaves without him the next day, racing to join them. Traveling onward, they are captured by three Trolls. Bilbo delays the Trolls from eating them until dawn, and Gandalf exposes them to sunlight, turning them to stone. The company discovers the Trolls' cave and finds treasure and Elven blades. Thorin and Gandalf each take an Elf-made blade, Orcrist and Glamdring, respectively; Gandalf gives an Elven dagger to Bilbo. The wizard Radagast the Brown finds the company and tells Gandalf about his encounter with the Necromancer, a sorcerer who has been corrupting Greenwood with dark magic, at Dol Guldur. Chased by Orcs, Gandalf leads them through a hidden passage to Rivendell. There, Lord Elrond discloses a hidden indication of a secret door on the company's map of the Lonely Mountain, which will be visible only on Durin's Day. Gandalf approaches the White Council — consisting of Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman the White — and presents a Morgul blade, the Witch-king of Angmar 's weapon, which Radagast obtained from Dol Guldur as a sign that the Necromancer is linked to an eventual return of Sauron. Saruman expresses concern about the Dwarves' quest and requests Gandalf to end it. However, Gandalf secretly reveals to Galadriel that he anticipated this and had the Dwarves move forward without him. The company ventures into the Misty Mountains and evades fighting Stone Giants. They seek refuge in a cave but are captured by Goblins and taken to their leader, the Great Goblin. Bilbo becomes separated from the Dwarves and falls into a crevice where he meets Gollum, who accidentally drops a golden ring. Bilbo pockets the ring and confronts Gollum. They play a riddle game, wagering that if Bilbo wins, he will be shown the way out; if he loses, Gollum will eat him. Bilbo tricks Gollum and wins, but Gollum realizes his ring is missing. Chased by Gollum, Bilbo discovers the ring grants him invisibility. As he escapes, Bilbo briefly considers killing Gollum, but spares him out of pity. The Great Goblin informs the Dwarves that Azog, an Orc war-chief who killed Thrór and lost a hand to Thorin outside of Moria, has placed a bounty on Thorin. Gandalf arrives, helps the Dwarves escape, and kills the Great Goblin. Bilbo reunites with the group and hides his new ring. The company is ambushed by Azog and takes refuge in trees. Thorin charges Azog but is injured by his Warg. Bilbo saves Thorin and confronts Azog, just as eagles summoned by Gandalf to rescue them arrive. The company escapes to Carrock, where Gandalf heals Thorin, who then renounces his disdain for Bilbo. They see the Lonely Mountain in the distance, where the sleeping Smaug is awoken by a thrush knocking a snail against a stone.

In 1920's Los Angeles, stuntman Roy Walker is hospitalized, bedridden and paraplegic (possibly permanently) after jumping off a bridge for a stunt for a film. He meets Alexandria, a young Romanian -born patient in the hospital who is recovering from a broken arm, and tells her a story about her namesake, Alexander the Great. Roy promises to tell her an epic tale if she returns the next day. The next morning, as Roy spins his tale of fantasy, Alexandria's imagination brings his characters to life. Roy's tale is about five heroes: a silent Indian warrior, a bow and arrow-wielding ex- slave named Otta Benga, Italian explosives expert Luigi, Charles Darwin alongside a pet monkey named Wallace, and a masked swashbuckling bandit. The evil ruler Governor Odious has committed an offense against each of the five, and they all seek revenge. They are later joined by a sixth hero, a mystic. Alexandria vividly imagines people around her appearing as the characters in Roy's story. Although Roy develops affection for Alexandria, he has an ulterior motive: to trick her into stealing morphine from the hospital pharmacy. He intends to use the morphine to die by suicide because the woman he loves has left him for the actor for whom he provided the stunt footage. However, Alexandria brings him only three pills; she threw away the rest, having mistaken the "E" Roy wrote in "morphine" for a "3". The story becomes a collaborative tale to which Alexandria also contributes. The masked bandit, whom Roy intended to represent Alexandria's late father, becomes Roy, and Alexandria is his daughter. Roy talks Alexandria into stealing a bottle of pills locked in a fellow patient's cabinet, and then downs the contents. As he falls asleep he attempts to finish the story with the Bandit finding love, and he tells Alexandria not to return the next day. She does not obey, and is devastated to see a dead patient being taken away; however, the deceased is Roy's elderly, denture -wearing roommate. Roy awakens and lashes out when he realizes the pills were placebos. Alexandria, desperate to help Roy, sneaks out of bed to the pharmacy. She climbs onto the cabinet but loses her footing, falls, and sustains a severe head injury. She receives surgery, after which she is visited by Roy, who confesses his deception. He pleads with Alexandria to ask someone else to end the story, but she insists on hearing Roy's ending. Roy reluctantly and drunkenly continues the story. The heroes are betrayed and die one by one, and it seems that Governor Odious will be triumphant. Alexandria becomes increasingly upset, but Roy insists that it is his story to tell and the Bandit is a coward. She declares that it is hers too and begs Roy to let the Bandit live. Roy finally agrees, and the epic tale comes to an end; Governor Odious lays dying and the Bandit and his daughter are alive and together. In a final twist, Roy confronts the character representing his ex-girlfriend. She says the story's pain and suffering were all part of a "test" of the Bandit's love for her. The Bandit rejects her and her manipulations at last. With the story complete, Roy and Alexandria, along with the patients and staff of the hospital, watch the finished film that Roy appeared in, a Western featuring bandits, a Native American man, and Roy's ex-girlfriend. The crowd is delighted, but Roy's smile is broken in disappointment as he realizes his stunt has been cut from the film. Alexandria's arm eventually heals and she returns to the orange orchard where her family works. Her voice-over reveals that she believes Roy has recovered and is now back at work again. A montage of cuts from several of silent films ' greatest and most dangerous stunts plays; she imagines all the stuntmen to be Roy.

In a world where witches exist alongside non-magical humans, 13-year-old Kiki decides to go out on her own, which all young witches must do when they turn 13. She takes with her her familiar spirit, a talking black cat named Jiji. Her mother insists that she take her mother's old, reliable broomstick. Kiki flies off into the cloudless night when the moon is full, searching for a new town for settlement. She encounters another witch and her cat whom she finds pretentious, but they cause Kiki to wonder what her special "skill" is. Kiki finds the town of Koriko and accidentally flies through traffic, causing disruptions. She is approached by a policeman, but a boy named Tombo helps her escape. Kiki looks for a place to live and work in her new town. She finds the Gutiokipanja bakery, owned by Osono and her husband, Fukuo, who are expecting a child. Osono invites her to live in a room above the bakery. Kiki opens a business delivering goods by broomstick, known as the "Witch Delivery Service". Her first delivery is of a small stuffed toy of a black cat that resembles Jiji, as a birthday gift for Osono's neighbor's nephew Ket. Along the way, she is caught in the wind and ends up in a forest filled with crows, which attack her, causing her to lose the toy. They come up with a plan in which Jiji pretends to be the toy for Ket until Kiki can retrieve the real one. She finds it in the log cabin of a young painter with crows, Ursula, who repairs and returns it. With the help of Ket's dog Jeff, Kiki successfully retrieves Jiji and replaces him with the stuffed cat. The next day, Tombo gives her an invitation to visit his aviation club. However, she gets busy with her deliveries, and gets caught in a thunderstorm on her way back. Drenched from the rain, she decides not to go. She then falls ill, but Osono cares for her until she recovers. Osono secretly arranges for Kiki to see Tombo again by assigning her a delivery addressed to him. Kiki apologizes for missing the party, and Tombo takes her for a test ride on the flying machine he is working on, fashioned from a bicycle. Kiki warms up to him, but is once again disgusted by Tombo's friends. Kiki becomes depressed and discovers she can no longer understand Jiji. She has also lost her flying ability and is forced to suspend her delivery business. Ursula then visits Kiki and invites her go to her cabin. She agrees, and the two spend time together there. Ursula determines that Kiki's crisis is a form of artist's block, and then advises her to find a new purpose, so that she can regain her powers. While visiting a former customer's house, Kiki witnesses an airship accident on television. Tombo is seen trying to help tie the dirigible to the ground, but a gust of wind pushes the aircraft away with him clinging to the rope. Kiki rushes to the scene and asks to borrow a broom from a local shop-owner. She regains her flying power and manages to rescue Tombo after the airship crashes into the city's clock tower. With her confidence restored, she resumes her delivery service, and writes a letter home saying that she and Jiji are happy.

Oskar resides with his mother in the Swedish suburb of Blackeberg in 1982. His classmates bully him, and he spends his evenings imagining revenge. One evening, he meets Eli, who appears to be a girl his age. Eli has moved into the adjoining apartment with a man, Håkan. Eli informs Oskar that they cannot be friends, but the two begin exchanging coded messages through their shared wall. Eli learns that Oskar is being bullied by schoolmates and encourages him to stand up for himself. Oskar then enrolls in exercise classes after school. Håkan kills a person on a footpath to harvest blood for Eli, but is interrupted by a passerby. Eli is prompted to waylay and kill a man, Jocke. A recluse witnesses the attack from his flat but doesn't report the incident. Håkan hides Jocke's body in a hole in the lake. Håkan makes another effort to obtain blood for Eli by trapping a boy in a room after school. When he is unsuccessful, Håkan pours acid onto his own face to avoid identification. Eli visits Håkan in the hospital, where he offers his own neck for feeding. Eli drains him of his blood, and Håkan falls out the window. Eli goes to Oskar's apartment and spends the night with him, during which they agree to "go steady", though Eli states, "I'm not a girl". While on a field trip, the bullies again harass Oskar, who this time hits their leader in the head with a pole, injuring him. On that same trip, some of Oskar's classmates discover Jocke's body. Oskar suggests that he and Eli form a bond and cuts his hand. Eli laps up his blood then runs away. Jocke's friend Lacke has a fight with his girlfriend Virginia, and afterward Eli attacks her. She survives but discovers that she has become sensitive to sunlight. Oskar confronts Eli, who admits to being a vampire. Oskar is upset by Eli's need to kill people for survival. Eli insists that they are alike, in that Oskar wants to kill and Eli needs to kill, and encourages him to "be me, for a little while." While in the hospital, Virginia asks an orderly to open the blinds in her room, and bursts into flames, committing suicide. Lacke sets out to kill Eli, whom he finds asleep in the apartment's bathtub. Oskar intervenes, and Eli wakes up and feeds on Lacke's blood. Afterward, Eli thanks Oskar and kisses him. Fearing that they've attracted too much attention from the neighbors, Eli decides that it isn't safe to stay and leaves that night. Oskar is lured out to resume the program at the pool. One of the bullies holds Oskar under the water. Eli arrives and rescues him by killing and dismembering the bullies, except for one, who is left sobbing on a bench. Oskar is seen travelling on a train, with Eli in a box beside him. Eli taps the code for "kiss" to Oskar, who responds the same.

Professor John Oldman is packing his belongings into his truck, preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an impromptu farewell party: Harry, a biologist; Edith, an art history professor and devout Christian; Dan, an anthropologist; Sandy, a historian who is in (unrequited) love with John; Art, an archaeologist; and his younger student Linda. As John's colleagues press him to explain the reason for his departure, he builds on Dan's reference to Magdalenian cultures and, slowly and somewhat reluctantly, reveals that he was born in the Paleolithic period. He states that he has lived for more than 14 millennia and that he relocates every 10 years to prevent others from realizing he does not age. He begins his tale under the guise of a possible science fiction story, but eventually stops speaking in hypotheticals and answers questions from a first-person perspective. His colleagues refuse to believe his story but accept it as a working hypothesis to glean his true intentions. John relates that he was a Sumerian for 2000 years, later a Babylonian, and eventually went east to become a disciple of the Buddha. He claims to have had a chance to sail with Columbus (admitting that at the time he still believed the earth was flat) and to have befriended Van Gogh (one of whose original paintings he apparently owns, a gift from the artist himself). During the conversation, each guest questions John's story based on their own academic specialty. Harry struggles with how biology could allow a human being to live so long. Art, arguably the most skeptical of the group, questions prehistory. He exclaims that all of John's answers, although correct, could have come from any textbook; John rejoins that, like any human, his memory is imperfect and he only sees events from his own narrow, hence not omniscient, perspective. Dr. Will Gruber, a psychiatry professor who arrives at Art's request later that afternoon, questions whether John feels guilty about outliving everyone he has ever known and loved. He then threatens John with a gun (later revealed to have been unloaded) before temporarily leaving. John then learns from Harry that Will's wife had died the previous day after a long illness. John chases after Will, expresses his condolences, and rejoins the group. The discussion veers toward religion, and John mentions that he does not follow any religion. Even though he does not necessarily believe in an omnipotent God, he does not discount the possibility of such a being's existence. Pressed by the group, John reluctantly reveals that in trying to take the Buddha's teachings to the west, into the eastern Roman Empire, he became the inspiration for the Jesus story (another possibility is that he may have been the Teacher of Righteousness). After this revelation, emotions in the room run high. Edith, the representative Christian literalist of the group, begins crying. Will, who has returned after saying he drove around and did not know where else to go, demands that John end his tale and give the group closure by admitting it was all a hoax. He threatens to have John involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation should he refuse to do so. John appears to ruminate over his response before finally "confessing" to everyone that his story was a prank. John's friends leave the party with various reactions: Edith is relieved, Harry is open-minded, Art never wants to see John again, Will still believes John needs professional help, Sandy and Linda clearly believe John, and Dan is implied to believe John. After everyone else but Will and Sandy has left, Will overhears their conversation, which suggests the story could be true after all. John mentions some of the pseudonyms he has used over the years, and Will realizes one in particular was his father's name. He asks John specific questions that only a very close acquaintance could answer. When John answers them all correctly, Will has an emotional breakdown, suffers a heart attack, and dies in John's arms. After the body has been taken away, Sandy realizes that (if the story is true) this is the first time John has seen one of his grown children die. John wordlessly gets into his truck and drives to an unknown destination. Having reconsidered, he then stops and waits for Sandy, who slowly walks over to the truck.

Tim Lake grows up in Cornwall with his father James, mother Mary, uncle Desmond, and younger sister Katherine ("Kit Kat"). The morning after a less-than-great New Year’s Eve party, James tells Tim that the men of their family can travel back in time to moments they have lived before. Tim tests this by going back to the previous night’s party and changing a few events. When he returns, James discourages him from using his gift to acquire money or fame, due to the boredom felt by other family members. Tim decides to use it to improve his love life. The following summer, Kit Kat's friend Charlotte visits. Although instantly smitten, Tim waits until the last day to tell her; she tells him he should have told her earlier. Tim travels back in time to tell Charlotte in the middle of the holiday, but she suggests he wait until her last day. Heartbroken, he realises that she is uninterested in him and time travel cannot change anyone's mind. Tim moves to London to pursue a career as a lawyer, initially living with his father's acquaintance Harry, a playwright. He visits a Dans le Noir restaurant, where he meets Mary, an American who works for a publisher. They flirt in the darkness, and she gives Tim her phone number. He returns home to a distraught Harry, whose play's opening night has been ruined by an actor forgetting his lines. Tim goes back in time to help the actor so the play is a triumph. However, when Tim tries to call Mary, he discovers that by going back to help Harry, the evening with her never occurred so he does not have her number. Recalling Mary's obsession with Kate Moss, he attends a Kate Moss exhibition every day until he sees Mary. Having never met Tim, she is confused but allows him to join her and her friend. During lunch, he discovers that she now has a boyfriend. Tim goes back to when they met, turning up before the potential boyfriend arrives, and persuades Mary to leave with him. Their relationship develops, and Tim moves in with Mary. One night, he encounters Charlotte, who is now interested in him, but he turns down the invitation of intimacy as he is in love with Mary. Tim returns home and proposes. They marry, and shortly afterwards have a baby daughter, Posy. Kit Kat's toxic relationship and employment struggles lead her to drunkenly crash her car on Posy's first birthday. Tim decides to intervene: he prevents the crash and, breaking the tradition of keeping the time travel ability secret, takes her back to avert the bad relationship. Returning to the present, he finds that Posy has never been born but he has a son instead. James explains that changing events prior to their children's birth may alter the exact child conceived. Tim accepts that he cannot solve his sister's problems by changing her past; he lets the crash happen, ensuring Posy's birth, and he and Mary help Kit Kat face her problems. She settles down with Tim's friend Jay. Tim and Mary have another child, a boy. Tim learns that James has terminal lung cancer and time travel cannot change it, as going back to remove his smoking would undo his and Kit Kat's conceptions. His father has known his illness would come for some time, and so has been travelling back in time to extend his life and spend more time with his family. He tells Tim to live each day twice to be truly happy: first, with all the everyday tensions and worries, but the second time noticing how sweet the world can be. Tim follows this advice; his father dies, but on the day of the funeral, Tim travels to the past to visit his father. Mary tells Tim that she wants a third child. He is reluctant as he will not be able to visit his father again. Tim tells James, so together they travel back to relive a happy memory from Tim's childhood, taking care not to change the experience to avoid causing changes to the present. Mary gives birth to another girl. Jay and Kit Kat, very happy together, have their first child. The family accepts the loss of James, and Tim realises that it is better to live each day once only. He ultimately decides to not time travel at all and comes to appreciate life with his family as if he is living it for the second time.

In the near future, a newly created device called the DC Mini allows users to view people's dreams. The head of the team working on this treatment, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, begins using the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside the research facility by assuming her dream world alter-ego, a detective named Paprika. Atsuko's closest allies are Dr. Toratarō Shima, the chief of the department, and Dr. Kōsaku Tokita, the inventor of the DC Mini. Paprika counsels a detective named Toshimi Konakawa, who is plagued by a recurring dream regarding an unknown former colleague and a victim in a homicide case he is investigating. She gives Toshimi a card with the name of a website on it, which leads him into a bar where he is able to meet Paprika, who compares the Internet to dreams. In a meeting with the company chairman, Dr. Seijirō Inui, to discuss the theft of three DC Mini prototypes, Toratarō goes on a nonsensical tirade and jumps through a window, nearly killing himself. Upon examining Toratarō's dream, which is a parade of random objects, Kōsaku recognizes his assistant, Kei Himuro, which confirms their suspicion that the theft was an inside job. While investigating Himuro's home, Atsuko ignores the warnings that Paprika gives her, and accidentally slips into a dream space, which, due to her frequent use of the DC Mini, can now affect her constantly. Atsuko almost dies, after ignoring another warning by Paprika, but is rescued by her co-investigators. When two other scientists fall victim to the DC Mini, Seijirō bans the use of the device. This fails to hinder the crazed parade, now inside Himuro's dream, which claims Kōsaku. Paprika and Toratarō discover that Himuro is only an empty shell. The real culprit is Seijirō, who believes that he must protect dreams from humankind's influence through dream therapy, with the help of Dr. Morio Osanai. Investigating the demise of the two scientists, Toshimi meets with Atsuko, Toratarō, and Kōsaku. Leaving the meeting, he has an anxiety attack. In an emergency session with Paprika, she reveals the scenes in his dreams each correspond to genres of movies. The parade bursts into Toshimi's dream, prompting Paprika to leave the session to help Kōsaku in Himuro's dream. Paprika is captured by Seijirō and Morio, who obsessively confesses his love for Atsuko and peels away Paprika's skin to reveal Atsuko underneath. However, he is interrupted by the outraged Seijirō, who demands that they finish off Atsuko. Meanwhile in his dream at the bar, Toshimi learns his recurring dream is based in anxiety over the illness and death of his colleague from his youth whose memory he'd repressed, with whom he aspired to be a film director. Resolving his anxieties, Toshimi finds and enters Himuro's dream and flees with Atsuko back into his own dream. Morio gives chase, which ends in Toshimi shooting Morio. The act kills Morio's physical body in the real world. Dreams and reality begin to merge. The dream parade runs amok in the city, and reality starts to unravel. Toratarō is nearly killed by a giant doll, but is saved by Paprika, who now appears as a fully separate entity from Atsuko. Amidst the chaos, Kōsaku, in the form of a giant robot, eats Atsuko and prepares to do the same to Paprika. Seijirō, in a megalomaniacal delirium, returns in the form of a giant humanoid nightmare and threatens to darken the world with his delusions. Paprika throws herself into Kōsaku's body. A baby emerges from the robotic shell and consumes Seijirō, aging into a fully-grown combination of Atsuko and Paprika as she does so, then fades away, ending the nightmare. In the real world, Atsuko sits at Kōsaku's bedside as he wakes up. Toshimi later visits the website from Paprika's card and receives a message from Paprika, suggesting the film Dreaming Kids to him. He enters a cinema and purchases a ticket for Dreaming Kids.