In 1880, Thomas Edison has unveiled his electric lightbulb. He plans to distribute power to American neighborhoods using Direct Current (DC), which is cheaper and cleaner than gaslight, but is limited in range and needs an expensive wiring infrastructure. George Westinghouse, a successful business man and inventor himself, wishes to learn more, and invites Edison to dinner. After being snubbed by Edison, Westinghouse sets out to prove alternating current (AC) is the better technology, as it can work over greater distances and at significantly lower cost. Edison and Westinghouse compete to get cities across the United States to use their system. Westinghouse does an AC demonstration at Great Barrington in March 1886. Inventor Nikola Tesla arrives in the United States and begins working with Edison, but is disappointed by Edison's unwillingness to reconsider his ideas and to fulfill what Tesla thought was a financial promise which Edison passes off as just a joke. Tesla then leaves Edison's team. Edison fiercely guards his patents and sues Westinghouse. Edison suggests that AC is dangerous and engages in a publicity war, while Westinghouse stands behind its technical merits. As Edison struggles to find ways to make DC more affordable, Westinghouse attempts to get the high-voltage AC system to work with motors. Edison's wife dies, and Westinghouse is also struck by personal tragedy when his friend Franklin Pope dies in an electrical accident. Both face significant financial risk. To generate funds Edison commercially sells his speaking machine " The Phonograph ". To damage the reputation of AC, Edison shows that it easily electrocutes animals, and secretly works to help the creators of the electric chair, despite his previous objections to manufacturing weapons or other machines of death. The first person to die by electrocution is William Kemmler, and newspapers label the event as "Far Worse Than Hanging". Westinghouse discovers Edison's involvement and reveals it to the press. After an unsuccessful attempt to strike out on his own, Tesla is approached by Westinghouse to work together, and build a practical AC motor. Edison is increasingly marginalized and J. P. Morgan merges Edison Electric into General Electric. The competing systems come to a head as they both put forward proposals to illuminate the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Samuel Insull presents the bid on behalf of Edison, and Westinghouse presents his competing bid. The fair is abundantly lit, and Westinghouse is successful. At the fair Westinghouse and Edison meet briefly. Edison discusses what it was like to achieve a great invention, and suggests that his next invention (motion pictures) could be so incredible that people might forget his name was ever associated with electricity.

A brief summary of conditions in East Germany and the border zone shows stock footage such as Conrad Schumann 's jump over barbed wire in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is constructed. In April 1978, in the small town of Pößneck, Thuringia, teenager Lukas Keller attempts to escape East Germany by riding a bulldozer through the Inner German border zone, but is shot by automatic machine guns and left for dead by the guards. His family is informed while on a picnic with their friends the Strelzyks and the Wetzels, and the entire Keller family are taken by the police. Aggravated with life under the GDR regime, Peter Strelzyk proposes a daring plan to his friend Günter Wetzel: they will build a balloon to carry themselves and their families (a total of eight people) over the border to West Germany. They purchase 1,255 sq yd (1,049 m 2) of taffeta, claiming that it is for a camping club, and Günter sews the fabric together with a sewing machine in his attic while Peter experiments for months with devising a burner for the hot-air balloon. They face setbacks such as fires while trying to inflate the balloon, a lack of power for the burner, extremely suspicious neighbors and doubts about the plan's feasibility by Günter's wife Petra. Peter and Günter then stop seeing each other in order to avoid suspicion that may arise when the Strelzyks escape. Peter and his eldest son Frank complete the burner and, after extensive testing, manage to inflate the balloon. On July 3, 1979, the four members of the Strelzyk family attempt to fly the balloon. They successfully lift off but they are spotted by a border guard. However, a cloud dampens the balloon and the burner, and they crash within the border zone only a few hundred feet from the fences, and the balloon floats away. Miraculously, they escape the zone, return to their car and drive home. Meanwhile, the border guard finds the balloon and the Stasi, led by Major Koerner, begins an investigation to identify the balloon's creators in order to prevent them from carrying out a second escape attempt. Initially distraught over his failure, Peter is convinced by his sons to try again, knowing that the Stasi may soon uncover the plot. Peter convinces Günter to help him and both families begin work on a larger balloon to carry them all out of East Germany. Petra agrees to the plan, especially because her mother in West Berlin is very sick and the East German government has repeatedly denied her request to visit her. Having identified the initial launch area, the Stasi begins closing in on Pößneck. The Strelzyks and Wetzels purchase smaller quantities of taffeta from various stores to avoid suspicion, but they are running out of time. Peter tries to buy taffeta, claiming it is for his group of Young Pioneers, but the store manager secretly notifies the Stasi. The men eventually finish the balloon, but have no time to test it. On 15 September 1979, the families prepare to act on the plan while the Stasi finds blood-pressure medicine belonging to Peter's wife Doris where the first balloon had landed. The Stasi contacts the pharmacy and is able to identify the owner of the pills as Doris. The families' neighbor, a member of the Stasi, reports that they had been acting suspiciously. The families leave only minutes before the Stasi arrives at their homes. They reach their launch point while the border is placed on emergency alert. The balloon is inflated and the burner is lit. Both families climb into the balloon's basket and cut their ropes. A fire is started in the cloth, but it is quickly extinguished by Günter. They later notice a hole in the balloon and hope that it will hold. While in flight, the balloon is spotted and Koerner pursues them in a helicopter. Eventually, the burner's propane supply is expended and the balloon descends, and the border guard is mobilized to find them. The balloon lands in a clearing with all eight people unharmed. Peter and Günter attempt to determine where they are as they are discovered by a police car. Peter asks the police if they are in the West, and the police officer confirms. Overjoyed, Peter and Günter light their signal flare. The families happily embrace.

Rogue Trader tells the true story of Nick Leeson, a young employee of Barings Bank who after a successful spell working for the firm's office in Indonesia is sent to Singapore as General Manager of the Trading Floor on the SIMEX exchange. The movie follows Leeson's rise as he soon becomes one of Barings' key traders. However, everything isn't as it appears – through the 88888 error account, Nick is hiding huge losses as he gambles away Barings' money with little more than the bat of an eyelid from the powers-that-be back in London. Eventually the losses mount up to well over £800 million and Nick, along with his wife Lisa, decide to leave Singapore and escape to Malaysia. Nick doesn't realise the severity of his losses until he reads in the newspaper that Barings has gone bankrupt. They then decide to return to London but Nick is arrested en route in Frankfurt. Nick is extradited to Singapore where he is sentenced to six and a half years in jail. While in prison, Lisa divorces him and Nick is diagnosed with colon cancer. Because of this, he did not complete his sentence.

The Roman Empire has been unable to fully conquer Britain, reaching a harsh stalemate in the North. The Picts engage in guerrilla warfare against the Romans along the Glenblocker forts and the Gask Ridge at the southern border of the Scottish Highlands. At the Roman outpost of Pinnata Castra, Pict warriors led by Vortix and Aeron kill the entire garrison, taking only the second-in-command, Centurion Quintus Dias, because he can speak the Pictish language. Brought before Pict king Gorlacon, who has united the northern tribes, Dias is brutally interrogated, but escapes on foot. A messenger from the fort reaches Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman governor of Britannia, who hopes to obtain favour with the Roman Senate and transfer back to the comforts of Rome. He dispatches the Ninth Legion under General Titus Flavius Virilus to eradicate the Pict threat, providing him with a Celtic Brigantian scout, Etain. Marching north, the legion rescues Dias from his pursuers. Etain leads them into an ambush where, surprised by flaming pitch-wood 'boulders', they are massacred and the wounded Virilus is captured. The few survivors – Dias, the legionaries Bothos, Thax, Brick, Macros and Leonidas, and the cook Tarak – set out to rescue Virilus, finding him at Gorlacon's village. Sneaking in at nightfall, they are unable to break his chains, and he orders them to return to Roman territory without him. In Gorlacon's hut, Thax suffocates the king's young son to prevent him giving them away. The next morning, Gorlacon burns his son's body on a funeral pyre and forces Virilus to fight Etain, who as a child witnessed her parents raped and slaughtered by the Romans; she kills him with a spear through the heart. Gorlacon sends her after the legionaries at the head of a group of mounted warriors, including Vortix and Aeron, to avenge his son's death. The Romans plan to travel north away from Roman territory, to throw the Picts off their trail, then head west and back south. After several days' pursuit, the Picts continually catch up with the fugitives, who jump off a cliff into a river to escape them; Tarak is killed before he can jump, and Macros and Thax become separated from the others. Dias' group camp for the night while their pursuers camp across the river. Dias and Brick raid the enemy camp, killing two men and wounding a third, who reveals they are being pursued because of the death of Gorlacon's son, which Thax had kept secret. Etain has launched her own attack on the Romans, and Dias and Brick return to discover Leonidas dead and Bothos wounded. Meanwhile, Macros and Thax have washed up further down river. The two encounter a wolf pack and end up running. When Thax falls Macros returns to help him, only for Thax to cut his Achilles tendon and leave him to the wolves. Dias, Bothos, and Brick find the forest hut of Arianne, an exiled Briton accused of witchcraft who learned Latin from a nearby Roman outpost. She gives them shelter, food, and medical attention for Bothos. When Etain and her warriors arrive, Arianne hides the Romans under her floorboards.When Bothos, Dias, and Brick leave Arianne's in the morning; Arianne, having become fond of Dias, is saddened to see him go. They find the outpost abandoned, with an order declaring that the Roman troops have retreated south by order of Emperor Hadrian. Seeing Etain's warriors approaching and tired of running, they set up a defensive position inside the fort. Brick is killed, as are Vortix, Aeron, and the rest of the Britons, with Dias finally killing Etain. Taking the Picts' horses, Dias and Bothos continue south, reuniting with Thax. Reaching Hadrian's Wall, now under construction, Thax threatens Dias, afraid he will report his dishonourable actions. They fight, with Dias choking Thax to death. Bothos, joyfully riding toward the Romans, is mistaken for a charging Pict and shot by an archer. Devastated, Dias reports to Agricola, who worries that news of the legion's annihilation will lead other tribes to revolt. Fearful of his reputation being tainted by a military failure, he decides the Ninth Legion's fate should remain a mystery and Dias must be silenced. Dias foils the attempt on his life by Agricola's daughter Drusilla. Badly wounded in the thigh, he knocks Drusilla unconscious and escapes from the camp, returning to Arianne in the forest. The film ends with Arianne kissing him after he falls from his horse.

A terrible storm causes hundreds of dikes to break in Zeeland, resulting in the North Sea flood of 1953. Julia, a single mother living with her parents, is caught in the middle of a catastrophic flood. She is rescued from drowning and taken to safety by her neighbor Aldo, who is a member of the armed forces. However, her baby is left in a wooden box in the attic of Julia's parental home. Together Julia and Aldo return to the disaster area to look for the baby. When they finally find the box, it is empty, and they conclude that someone must have taken the child. The child ended up with a woman who recently lost her own baby in a car accident. Julia met her but because the woman did not want to lose the baby, she hid him from Julia. Eighteen years later, Julia meets her son and the woman again and she finds out what has happened.

In 1918, a man named Burt Berendsen is sent by his estranged wife's parents to fight in World War I. While stationed in France, Burt befriends African-American soldier Harold Woodman. After sustaining injuries in battle, Burt and Harold are nursed back to health by nurse Valerie Bandenberg. After the end of the war, the three live together in Amsterdam. Burt returns to New York City to be with his wife. Harold begins a romantic relationship with Valerie. Valerie, however, eventually abandons Harold, who also returns to New York. Fifteen years later, Burt has opened his medical practice treating veterans of the war. Harold is now a lawyer, and they have not heard from Valerie since they left Amsterdam. Harold asks Burt to perform an autopsy on Bill Meekins (a senator who served as the commander of their regiment during the war) at the behest of Meekins's daughter Elizabeth, who believes that he was murdered during his recent trip to Europe. Aided by medical examiner Irma St. Clair, Burt performs the autopsy, which reveals poison in Meekins's stomach. Burt and Harold meet with Elizabeth to talk about the autopsy results, but she is soon killed when a hitman pushes her into traffic. The hitman frames Burt and Harold for her death, and they flee as the police arrive. Burt and Harold try to find out who told Elizabeth to hire them. This leads them to wealthy textile heir Tom Voze, his patronizing wife Libby, and Tom's sister Valerie (whose real surname is Voze). Valerie had persuaded Elizabeth to hire them, knowing that they were trustworthy. Valerie is under constant supervision by Tom and Libby, who claim that she suffers from a nerve disease and epilepsy. They were actually poisoning Valerie to keep her compliant. Burt and Harold talk with Tom, who suggests that they talk to General Gil Dillenbeck, a notable veteran who is friends with Meekins, to learn who accompanied Meekins on the trip (and might have poisoned him or be able to lead them to the person who did). While Burt attempts to contact the general, Irma visits him at his medical practice. She says that she was attacked and her wrist broken while trying to bring him the autopsy report, and the attacker took the paper from her. After resetting her wrist, Burt kisses Irma. Meanwhile, Harold and Valerie notice that the hitman, Tarim Milfax, has been watching the house. They follow him to a forced sterilization clinic owned by an organization known as the "Committee of the Five". After a fight with Milfax, Harold and Valerie reunite with Burt. Valerie takes them to the Waldorf Astoria New York. There, they meet Paul Canterbury and Henry Norcross, Valerie's benefactors from Amsterdam. They are secretly spies in the intelligence community. The Committee of the Five is a cabal in the US with ties to Germany and plans to overthrow the American government. Dillenbeck can help foil their plot. The trio meets with Dillenbeck, who is offered a large sum of money from a man on behalf of an unnamed benefactor to deliver a speech advocating for veterans to forcibly remove U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Dillenbeck as a puppet dictator instead. Dillenbeck agrees to help the trio foil the plot and to speak at a veterans reunion gala that Burt and Harold are hosting to draw out whoever is behind the plot. At the gala, Tom introduces Dillenbeck to the industrial leaders Nevins, Belport and Jeffers. Burt realises that they actually want Dillenbeck to become the fifth member of their cabal. Dillenbeck reads his speech instead of the one he was paid to read. Milfax tries to shoot him, but Harold, Valerie, and Burt stop him in time. Milfax is arrested and the Committee of the Five is revealed to be four industry leaders, including Tom. They intended to turn the United States into a fascist country. Tom and the other leaders are arrested by the police, but do not stay in jail long, and expose Dillenbeck in the press following their release. Dillenbeck testifies about the incident to Congress. Harold and Valerie leave the country since they cannot be together in the United States. Burt wishes them farewell, planning to reopen his medical practice and pursue a relationship with Irma.

Wu Qianli, commander of the People's Liberation Army 's 7th Company, returns home after the Chinese Civil War. He tells his family that his brother, Wu Baili, was killed in action. Having been allotted land for his service, he promises his parents he will build them a house, but his leave is cancelled when China enters the Korean War. Qianli's younger brother, Wanli, asks to go with, but is refused. On 15 September 1950, where the Battle of Incheon is underway. U.S. aircraft are shown indiscriminately bombing a village in Andong Province, China. The film then jumps to Beijing on 4 October 1950 where the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party is meeting in Zhongnanhai to discuss the war situation. Mao Zedong asks whether the U.S. Army crossing the 38th parallel means they will also cross the Yalu. The military briefer states that by stationing forces in Taiwan, the U.S. has already invaded China and U.S. forces in Korea threatens China's security. To Qianli's horror, Wanli has enlisted and is stationed in the 7th Company. Wanli gets bullied by the other members of the 7th Company en route to Korea, with Qianli refusing to help him and at first refuses to even give him a rifle. The train is bombed while track is being fixed, forcing the 7th Company to continue on foot while avoiding American aircraft. The 7th Company stumble upon a battle and aid a group of Chinese soldiers. Wanli and Qianli kill four Americans in hand-to-hand combat and avoid being killed by a tank. The 7th Company continues to the front lines, eventually arriving and delivering field radios.The 7th Company is allowed to rest. Mao Zedong's son, Anying, serving under the pseudonym "Liu", helps distribute clothing to them before the company is ordered to the front lines. The Chinese soldiers stay hidden in the mountains, running low on supplies and facing below-freezing temperatures while American soldiers celebrate Thanksgiving in relative comfort and anticipate going home for Christmas. U.S. radio detection detects the headquarters where Anying is stationed and aircraft are sent to bomb the base. While most of the staff take shelter in bunkers, Anying runs back to the base to collect a map and is killed in the bombing. The 27 November offensive begins with Chinese soldiers swarming the positions of the U.S. Army 31st Infantry Regiment at Sinhung-ni. The Americans begin to retreat and Qianli shoots the U.S. commander, Colonel Allan MacLean, but then stops Wanli from executing him. At Hagaru-ri reinforcements are ordered to Sinhung-ni. A USMC Vought F4U Corsair attacks the Chinese forces and drops a smoke marker on the overrun base but is then shot down by a Chinese soldier using a bazooka. Lei Suisheng puts the smoke marker in a jeep and drives off, joining up with the retreating U.S. column. The U.S. bombers destroy the American column and Lei is killed. Hagaru-ri, which is under attack by the Chinese. U.S. forces are forced to retreat by air and land while they are pursued by Chinese forces. The scene then shifts again to the 3rd Company, 3rd Division, 58th Corps on Hill 1071, which is shown holding out against U.S. forces. Yang Gensi, as the last surviving member of his unit, suicidally attacks American tanks with a satchel charge. The retreating U.S. Marine column finds a group of Chinese soldiers frozen to death at their post. General Oliver P. Smith salutes them; his voiceover is heard saying that fighting against such strong-willed men, the U.S. was not ordained to win.The closing scenes show a U.S. mass grave at Hungnam as the city burns during the Hungnam evacuation. Captions state that 105,000 U.S. troops were evacuated by 24 December and that the 9th Corps captured Hungnam. The captions explain the significance of the battle of Lake Changjin, which was a "perfect example for annihilating a U.S. reinforced regiment" and how Chinese forces stopped MacArthur's "presumptuous" plan to end the war by Christmas and "set the stage for the final victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" despite the deaths of more than 197,000 Chinese.