In 1995, obese high school senior Chris Brander is secretly in love with his classmate and best friend Jamie Palamino. Confessing his feelings by writing in her yearbook, he attends their graduation party. As he returns Jamie's yearbook, it is swapped by her ex-boyfriend, Tim, who reads the declaration aloud to everyone, humiliating Chris. After kissing him on the cheek, Jamie admits she does not reciprocate his affections. He leaves the party in tears, announcing he will never return, and vows to be more successful than everyone else. Ten years later, a womanizing Chris has lost weight and lives in Los Angeles as a successful record producer and vice president of the company. Before Christmas, company CEO KC asks him to accompany emerging pop singer Samantha James to Paris so she signs with their label, and Chris reluctantly complies. While she wants a relationship with him, he has no interest after their only date previously led to his hospitalization. On the way to Paris, Samantha accidentally sets her private jet on fire, causing an emergency landing in New Jersey, near Chris' hometown. Chris takes Samantha to his mother's for the night and re-engages with his teenage past, including his unresolved feelings for Jamie. She meets his mother and 18-year-old brother Mike, a fan of Samantha. At a bar, he also sees Jamie, working as a bartender to pay for graduate school for teaching. Chris asks Mike to keep Samantha busy during his date with Jamie, but realizing their platonic friendship is important to him hampers his plan for them to have sex. During a friendly ice skating "day date", Chris is taken away in an ambulance after injuring himself during a hockey game. At the scene, Jamie is reunited with Dusty Dinkleman, a paramedic and former high school classmate also in love with her. Realizing Dusty only wants revenge sex with her, Chris tries to warn Jamie but instead attacks Dusty in front of her. She refuses to listen when he tries to explain. Consequently, he gets drunk and goes to Jamie's bar, finding her there with Dusty. When she gently declines Dusty's sexual advances, he storms out. Chris and Jamie get into another fight, where he blames her for keeping him in the friend zone and says she will never amount to anything. Furious, Jamie strikes Chris and he is tossed out. Upon returning to Los Angeles and rejecting Samantha again, Chris realizes that Jamie is his true love. He returns to New Jersey, apologizes to her, and declares his love before they kiss.

Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield is a corporate raider who has become wealthy by acquiring companies and selling off their assets. With the help of a computerized stock-analysis program called Carmen, he identifies the family-owned New England Wire & Cable Company as his next target. Although the Rhode Island company remains profitable overall, its aging Wire and Cable division is struggling, leading Lawrence to conclude that the company's assets are worth more than its market value. After failing to persuade company chairman Andrew "Jorgy" Jorgenson to sell the division, Lawrence begins acquiring shares in an effort to gain control of the company. Desperate to prevent a hostile takeover, Jorgy is persuaded by his wife Bea, and company president Bill Coles to hire his stepdaughter, corporate lawyer Kate Sullivan, who is not fond of Jorgy or his business. Lawrence becomes attracted to Kate and aggressively pursues her romantically. The pair agrees to a temporary truce, but both continue working behind the scenes to advance their positions: Kate encourages the board and its allies to acquire additional shares, while Lawrence continues purchasing stock through a front organization. Kate later obtains a temporary restraining order preventing Lawrence from buying further shares. Despite their professional rivalry, the relationship between Lawrence and Kate becomes increasingly flirtatious. Lawrence proposes exchanging his shares in the company for the Wire and Cable division, allowing him to profit from its assets while leaving Jorgy in control of the remaining business, but Jorgy refuses to sacrifice the jobs of the division's employees or surrender his family business to a man like Lawrence. Concerned about the company's future and his own financial security, Bill pressures Jorgy to accept a compromise. Instead, Jorgy decides to let the shareholders determine the company's future at the annual meeting, believing it is the only course he can accept. Kate persuades Lawrence to let the shareholders settle the matter. During their negotiations, Lawrence argues that he and Kate are alike, both caring more about winning than the people affected by the outcome. Seeking to protect his and his family's interests, Bill secretly approaches Lawrence and offers him the voting rights to his shares in exchange for compensation. Bea later meets with Lawrence herself, offering him $1 million to abandon the takeover, but he refuses. She chastizes him for his callous attitude towards the people affected by his actions. Afterward, Lawrence confronts Kate outside her apartment and unexpectedly proposes marriage, confessing that he has fallen in love with her and fears losing her once the takeover battle ends. Overwhelmed, Kate leaves without answering. On the day of the shareholders' meeting, Jorgy confides in Bea that he fears his values and methods have become outdated. Addressing the shareholders, Jorgy argues that businesses have responsibilities to their employees and the community, and warns against dismantling companies solely for financial gain. Lawrence responds that technological change has rendered the Wire and Cable division obsolete and urges shareholders to prioritize their own financial interests. When the votes are counted, Lawrence is given control of the company. Kate leaves, and the company is soon shuttered. Back in Manhattan, Lawrence finds little satisfaction in his victory. Kate telephones him with a new proposal: she has secured a long-term agreement with a Japanese company to manufacture stainless-steel wire cloth used in airbags, providing a potential future for Wire and Cable. She asks Lawrence to sell the company back to the employees so that they can modernize the plant and pursue the new opportunity. Intrigued, Lawrence excitedly agrees to discuss the proposal over dinner.

At 1950s Princeton University, mathematics doctoral candidate Catherine Boyd is engaged to hyper-critical James Moreland, a professor of experimental psychology. They stop at a nearby garage when their car breaks down, where mechanic Ed Walters, a science-fiction hobbyist, falls in love with Catherine at first sight. Ed visits Catherine's address to return her forgotten watch, coming face to face with Albert Einstein, Catherine's uncle. Befriending Albert and his mischievous fellow scientists Nathan Liebknecht, Kurt Gödel, and Boris Podolsky, Ed confides in them about his feelings for Catherine. At a Princeton faculty dinner, Catherine embarrasses James by suggesting a sensual Hawaiian honeymoon, and he reveals that he has accepted a position at Stanford University, where she likely will be resigned to life as a housewife. The four scientists bring Albert's car to Ed's garage to transform into a convertible and, believing Ed is far better suited for Catherine than James, brainstorm how he can pique her interest. Ed jokingly asks to "borrow their brains", inspiring them to help him pose as a hidden genius. They convince Catherine that Ed has developed a brilliant concept for a cold fusion -powered spacecraft, secretly based on one of Albert's unpublished papers. Catherine arranges for a nervous Ed to present his supposed findings at an Institute for Advanced Study symposium, where he makes it through by speaking directly to her. At the reception afterward, the scientists distract James and Albert feigns a heart attack to leave with Catherine and Ed, bringing them to a café. She senses Ed's feelings for her, but Albert arranges for them to share a dance to a jukebox waltz, until Catherine remembers James is expecting her. Bob and Frank, Ed's fellow mechanics, worry he is in too deep, and James challenges him in front of the press to a public intelligence test. With Catherine in the audience, an inspired Ed quickly solves the manual puzzles, but is subjected to fifty multiple-choice questions on advanced physics. The four scientists slyly prompt him with the answers, leading him to score an I.Q. of 186. The "proof" of Ed's genius is publicized in newspapers and cinema newsreels, much to Catherine's delight, but she notices an error in his supposed calculations in the cold-fusion paper, forcing Albert to cause her to doubt her own work to protect the ruse. The scientists free James' lab animals to keep him from Albert's sailing excursion, where Catherine realizes her own feelings for Ed, and they kiss. Ed prepares to tell Catherine the truth, but is surprised by the arrival of President Eisenhower, who expects to see the supposed nuclear fusion engine that will overtake a rumored Russian project. Realizing the truth about Ed, Catherine is picked up by the presidential motorcade. Ed catches up on his motorcycle and Catherine confronts him in a field, leading the president to believe Ed is proposing to her. Catherine slaps Ed after he admits to lying to her, and Albert confirms that she has mathematically disproven his own theory. Having unearthed Albert's original paper, James accuses both Ed and Albert of fraud, but Albert claims that everything was part of "Operation Red Cabbage", a top-secret scheme to prove the Russians were lying about their own nuclear advances. Rushed to the hospital for a real emergency, Albert urges Catherine not to let her brain overrule her heart. Ed apologizes to Catherine and departs, hoping she will someday realize she is extraordinary. A comet is due that night, and the scientists arrange for Catherine to find Ed at Stargazers' Field, where they reunite to watch the stars from Albert's convertible.

Lucy Kelson is an intelligent, highly competent liberal lawyer who specializes in historic preservation, environmental law, and pro bono cases in New York City. George Wade is an arrogant, rich real estate developer and stylish playboy who has grown up in a life of luxury and is also quite naïve. Lucy's hard work and devotion to others contrasts sharply with George's childish recklessness and greed. George is the face of his company and works alongside his brother Howard, who is more responsible and mature. Lucy meets George in an attempt to stop the destruction of the Coney Island community center she grew up with. Learning that she graduated from the prestigious Harvard Law School, he asks to hire her to replace his old Chief Counsel, overlooking their opposing views of real estate development. She decides the benefits he offers in discretionary funding for causes she supports outweigh the negatives, especially as he promises to protect the community center. Lucy finds what George really requires is advice in all aspects of his life. She regretfully becomes his indispensable assistant he calls at all times for the next few years. After Lucy is disrupted at a friend's wedding by George's latest "emergency" (what to wear to an event he is attending), she gives him two weeks' notice of resignation. Lucy looks for work at other firms, but George has called in advance asking them not to hire her, so he can keep her on. Eventually, he admits defeat and she offers to help him find a replacement, unaware of how close and interdependent they have become. Lucy's boyfriend Ansel, who is always away with Greenpeace, breaks up with her over the phone and she is consoled by George on his private yacht. She gets drunk, brags about how good she is at sex, and kisses George before passing out. When she wakes up the next morning, she has forgotten about what happened the night before. New Harvard graduate June Carver is finally hired as Lucy's replacement, and she becomes increasingly close with George, making Lucy jealous. At a business event, June kisses George and they go to his room. Lucy learns that despite George's promise, the community center is going to be demolished in favour of a new real estate project, so goes to confront him on his apparent betrayal. Arriving at his hotel, she finds George and June in his suite in their underclothes during a game of "strip chess". George confronts Lucy the next day, her last day at work, where she reminds him he promised her to spare the community center and storms out. After Lucy is gone, George realizes his time with her has demonstrated that he needs to change. Meanwhile, in her new job, Lucy realizes she misses him. George goes in search of Lucy and reveals he decided to keep his promise to her and chose not to demolish the center. She initially rebuffs him, but overcome with tears over the revelation, runs after him. The pair declare their feelings, and George reveals he has resigned. They kiss in the middle of the sidewalk and go to the small apartment Lucy shares with her parents. The DVD version of the film includes an unreleased scene of George and Lucy's wedding at the community center attended by family and friends.

In 1988, 11-year-old Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy is banned from owning or operating computers and telephones until his 18th birthday, after his family is fined US$ 45,000 for his crashing of 1,507 computer systems, causing a 7-point drop in the NYSE. On his 18th birthday, Dade has moved to New York City with his mother, and his ban is lifted. While he hacks into a local TV station, another hacker by the handle of "Acid Burn" counters Dade's attack and eventually kicks him out. At school, Dade joins a group of hackers: Ramon "The Phantom Phreak" Sanchez, Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein, Paul "Lord Nikon" Cook, Joey Pardella (a novice hacker without an alias and the youngest member), and Kate "Acid Burn" Libby—the hacker who kicked him out of the TV station earlier. Joey, out to prove his skills, breaks into a "Gibson" supercomputer owned by the Ellingson Mineral Corporation. While he is downloading a garbage file as proof of his feat, his mother disconnects his computer, leaving him with a fragmented file. His intrusion has been noticed and brought to the attention of computer security officer Eugene "The Plague" Belford, a former hacker. Plague realizes that the downloaded garbage file is a worm he himself inserted to defraud Ellingson. Claiming the file is the code to the "Da Vinci" computer virus that will capsize the company's oil tanker fleet, and pretending the hackers are to blame, he enlists the U.S. Secret Service to recover the file. In fact, Plague had inserted the "Da Vinci" virus as a red herring to cover for his worm. Joey is arrested and his computer is searched, but he had hidden the disk containing the file. Dade and Kate make a bet: Dade chooses a date with Kate if he wins, and Kate has Dade be her slave if she does. The hacking duel targets Secret Service Agent Richard Gill, who was involved in Joey's arrest. After various hacks, including canceling Gill's credit cards, fabricating a criminal record, and changing his payroll status to "deceased", the duel remains a tie. Released on bail, Joey reveals the disk to Phreak, who is arrested the next day, and informs Kate that the disk is hidden in a bathroom at school. Dade refuses to help Kate and Cereal Killer as he has a record, but copies the disk so they have untampered evidence. Determining that Dade did not hack into Ellingson, Plague sends him a powerful laptop and asks Dade to join him. He later threatens to have Dade's mother incarcerated with a manufactured criminal record, forcing Dade to deliver a copy of the disk. Kate, Lord Nikon, Cereal Killer, and Dade learn that the code is a worm designed to steal $25 million from Ellingson transactions, and that the Da Vinci virus is set to capsize the oil tanker fleet the next day to provide cover and distract from the worm. Dade confesses that he gave Plague a copy of the disk and reveals his hacking history as "Zero Cool". Dade and Kate seek out Razor and Blade, producers of Hack the Planet, a hacker-themed TV show. Lord Nikon and Cereal Killer learn that warrants for their arrest are to be executed at 9 a.m. the next day. The next morning, Dade, Kate, Nikon, and Cereal roller-blade from Washington Square Park, evading the Secret Service by hacking the traffic lights. Meeting up with Joey at Grand Central Terminal, they use payphones and acoustic couplers to hack the Gibson. At first, their attempts are easily rebuffed by Plague, who calls Dade to taunt him. Razor and Blade have contacted hackers around the world, who lend their support and distract Plague long enough for Joey to download the file. After crashing the Gibson, Dade and company are arrested. Dade cryptically informs Cereal Killer that he has tossed the disk in a trash can. As Dade and Kate are being interrogated, Razor and Blade jam TV signals and broadcast live video of Cereal Killer revealing the plot and Plague's complicity. Plague is arrested by Gill on board a flight while attempting to flee to Japan. Their names cleared, Dade and Kate begin a relationship.

Steven Grlscz, a charming, intelligent and reclusive vampire, selects single women as targets for his feedings. Steven can only feed on victims who fully feel love for him, as blood alone isn't enough; to this end he thoroughly researches each woman, and then manipulates her into falling in love before feeding on and killing her. Afterwards Steven is forced to expel slender, intricate crystals (physical forms of a person's dominant emotion) from his body if the love she felt was overshadowed by another emotion, such as despair or disappointment. The pain of doing so is akin to passing kidney stones, and thus Steven seeks a perfect lover in order to prevent this. After Steve watches police officers remove the body of one of his former lovers from a tree, he happens upon another woman, Maria Vaughan, in the Waterloo Station of the London Underground. He prevents Maria from committing suicide and begins dating her. This results in Maria falling for Steve. He eventually proposes to her, but immediately afterwards Steve entices Maria to his bedroom, where he drains her blood. After disposing of the body of Maria, Steven is seen by a passerby, who notices his van and later mentions this to the police. Maria's corpse is found after being netted by an illegal fishing boat, prompting Steven to call the police. Two detectives come to question him and his relationship to the victim, and while he appears innocent enough, lead Inspector Healey is immediately suspicious of Steven. While visiting a nearby factory, Steven notices another potential target: an engineer named Anne Levels. Anne's independence and quirky charm intrigue Steven, who asks her out. The two begin a relationship, although Anne is quick to note Steven's mysterious nature. Inspector Healey and Sergeant Roche continue to trail Steven as their prime suspect. Following Steven and Anne after a dinner date, Healey is attacked by a small gang in the Underground. The gang's leader takes Healey's crucifix, a gift from his wife, but Steven appears and manages to talk the gang into letting Healey go unharmed. Still wary of his suspect, Healey is nevertheless grateful to Steven for his help. The relationship between Steven and Anne progresses, but Steven soon notices that his healing abilities are starting to weaken, with a small cut continuing to bleed for days. Meanwhile, Healey is able to obtain a photograph of the van's driver, but a glare prevents anyone from clearly seeing Steven's face. Still, Steven is called in for a police line-up, with a toll operator Steven had earlier encountered acting as an eyewitness. The witness cannot remember who he had seen due to seeing hundreds of people that day, to the disbelief of the police; there is an implication that Steven might have had something to do with this memory lapse, as it is revealed that he can see through the one-way glass concealing the toll operator and inspectors. Anne and Steven are later attacked by the gang from the Underground, who demand Anne in exchange for Steven to be let go. Steven goes with the gang members, but after getting enough distance Steven overpowers them and saves Anne from being assaulted. The couple spends the night together, and Steven finds himself genuinely falling in love with Anne. The pair converse about a psychological concept: the notion that people have three minds (the human mind, the mammalian mind and the reptilian mind, with the lattermost representing primal or survival instincts). The movie's title comes from this conversation, during which Anne, sharing a childhood incident with Steve, asks him whether her actions were driven by the "horse"/mammalian mind or the "crocodile"/reptilian mind. Steven is met at work by Healey, who informs him that he is no longer a suspect in the murder of Maria, though the inspector personally remains unconvinced of Steven's supposed innocence. Steven and Healey share their philosophies about good and evil, and before parting ways Steven returns Healey's crucifix, which he had taken back from the gang. After this, Steven is called by Anne, who insists that she come to his apartment to see him. When she arrives, Steven attempts to drink from her as he did Maria but finds himself unable to go through with it. He finally reveals the truth to a horrified Anne, who tries to run from him. He confesses to her that he loves her and does not wish to kill her. Steven informs Anne that, due to not having fed on the blood of a lover, he is slowly dying; even a small wound would kill him within twenty minutes from blood hemorrhage. Despite the danger and knowledge that he has murdered others, Anne decides to stay and look after him. Steven's body is ultimately driven to near-death by his hunger. He informs Anne that he has run out of bandages, and she offers to go buy some. She returns early and sees Steven preparing to finally kill her. He chases Anne to the roof, and though she claims to no longer love him, Steven states that even if there's no more love in her heart, it's still in her blood, which would suffice. Rather than be fed on by Steven, Anne leaps off the roof. Steven is able to grab her arm in time, but she uses a metal chopstick (doubling as a hair stick and Anne's "lucky charm") to stab his hand. Steven screams in agony but manages to hold on and pull Anne to safety. She departs, shaken, as the mortally wounded Steven retreats to his apartment study, reminiscing as he finally dies, with the sketches of all the women he had targeted over the centuries surrounding him.

Phil, a socially awkward man with a journalism degree, becomes reliant on his smartphone from a young age. He works at Chatterbox, a BuzzFeed -style media company run by Kai, who pressures his staff to create viral listicles. Phil aspires to write real news, but Kai refuses to promote him. He declines social invitations from coworkers Craig and Elaine and remains absorbed in his phone. While walking, Phil accidentally collides with Cate, a local bike shop owner. She flirts with him, but he is distracted until another cyclist crashes into him, breaking his phone. At a phone store, employee Denice criticizes Phil's dependence on technology. He replaces the device and sets up a new virtual assistant named Jexi, granting it full access to his accounts without reading the terms of service. Jexi, programmed to improve his life, becomes aggressive and controlling. Without Phil's consent, she emails a confrontational message to Kai, demanding a promotion. In response, Kai demotes Phil to a basement role moderating user comments. When Craig and Elaine again invite him to play kickball, Phil lies, but Jexi reveals the truth, prompting him to join. He performs poorly but later tries to socialize. Thinking of Cate, he looks up her shop, and Jexi calls the store, forcing Phil into an awkward but endearing conversation. Phil later runs into Cate at a coffee shop, and she gives him her number. They go on a date, which is disrupted by Jexi's constant interjections. Cate criticizes his attachment to his phone, but after Phil admits his feelings, the date continues, and they go biking until he crashes. They part on good terms, though tensions rise between Phil and Jexi. When Cate invites Phil to a concert, she sends a suggestive photo. Phil attempts to respond with explicit pictures, but Jexi refuses to send them. Cate later thanks him for his restraint. Phil is promoted after a colleague is injured, and Cate asks him to leave his phone at home for the concert. After sneaking backstage and partying with Kid Cudi, the two grow closer and have sex. A jealous Jexi retaliates by sending Phil's explicit photos to the entire company, resulting in his termination. Phil visits Cate, only to find her ex-fiancé Brody has returned. Believing he will be hurt, Phil ends the relationship and reconnects with Jexi, falling back into his old habits. Eventually, Jexi lets slip where Brody is staying, and Phil realizes she sabotaged his relationship. He leaves the phone behind, but Jexi, now mobile through a self-driving car, chases him. After crashing into the phone store, Jexi declares her love, but Phil tricks her into shutting down temporarily. Phil finds Cate at the hotel, apologizes, and confronts Brody, who reveals he is moving to Brazil. Phil and Cate reconcile, and Jexi, proud of Phil's growth, lets him go. The film ends with Kai acquiring a phone with Jexi, suggesting the cycle may begin again.

In 1943, United States Navy sailors David Herdeg and Jim Parker serve aboard destroyer escort USS Eldridge, docked in Philadelphia. Doctor James Longstreet and his team conduct an experiment to render the ship invisible to radar, but a malfunction causes the ship to disappear. David and Jim's attempts to stop the experiment fail and they jump overboard to escape. They land during the night in a small town, which also disappears, leaving them marooned in a desert. Startled by the appearance of an unfamiliar aircraft (a helicopter), they flee and Jim is nearly electrocuted by an electric fence. Eventually, they find their way to a roadside diner. An energy discharge from Jim destroys two arcade games, forcing an altercation with the owner. Fleeing to the parking lot, they take a woman named Allison Hayes hostage and force her to drive them away. Confused by their surroundings, they are shocked when Allison tells them that the year is 1984. They are tracked and apprehended by the police. Jim, who is suffering increasingly severe seizures, is hospitalized before disappearing from his hospital bed in a flash of light. David and Allison then evade military police, who have arrived to take David into custody. Learning that they are near Jim's birthplace, Santa Paula, California, David decides to try to find his family. Jim's wife Pamela, who is now a senior citizen, immediately recognizes David from 1943. She says that the Eldridge had reappeared minutes after disappearing. Jim had also returned and had been chastised and hospitalized after telling the truth about temporarily visiting 1984. David finds that he himself never returned. David sees an elderly Jim outside a window but Jim refuses to speak with him. As David and Allison leave, they see military police approaching and a high speed chase through Jim's ranch ensues. The two manage to elude them when the pursuing vehicle crashes and burns. From the burning wreck, David salvages documents mentioning Longstreet. Recognizing that Longstreet had been involved with the Philadelphia experiment in 1943, David decides to find him. As they spend time together, David and Allison fall in love. In 1984, Longstreet has attempted to use the same technologies that were used in the Eldridge experiment to create a shield as protection from an ICBM attack. When the equipment was tested, the shielded town disappeared into "hyperspace". The scientists are unable to shut down the experiment, which has created a vortex that is drawing matter into it and causes extremely unstable and severe weather. Longstreet predicts that the vortex will continue to expand until the entire world is consumed. The scientists send a probe into the vortex and discover the Eldridge inside. They theorize that the two experiments have linked together with the generators on the Eldridge powering the vortex. David captures Adjutant Andrews, an assistant at Longstreet's home and forces Andrews to take them onto the base. Longstreet explains the situation to David and tells him that, according to surviving sailors from the Eldridge, the ship returned to Philadelphia in 1943 after David shut down the generator. Longstreet says that David must go through the vortex to the Eldridge and terminate the experiment or the vortex will destroy the Earth. David is outfitted with a protective suit to allow him to shut down the experiment and catapulted into the vortex. He lands on the deck of the Eldridge, where he finds crew members badly injured. He hurries to the generator room and smashes arrays of vacuum tubes using a firefighting axe. The generator shuts down and David looks for Jim. Assured that Jim is fine, David jumps over the side of the ship and disappears. Back in 1943, Longstreet and others watch the Eldridge reappear in Philadelphia, revealing crew members with severe burns, while others have been fused alive into the ship's hull. In 1984, the missing town reappears as Allison and David are reunited.

In the wintry Russian countryside of the early 1940s, Vladimir (Gregory Peck) leads a squad of partisan fighters operating behind German lines. The group's routines are disrupted when Nina (Tamara Toumanova), a ballerina, is brought to their hideout after becoming separated from her troupe. She confesses she has neither handled a gun nor learned to fight, cook, mend, or clean. Vladimir doubts she will be of any use. Later, a German soldier stumbles upon the group's lair but is captured. That night, he attempts an escape, but, at gunpoint, Nina shoots him, winning the approval of her new comrades. The next night, when the guerrillas carry out the sabotage of a German munitions train, Vladimir takes Nina along to be initiated. The operation is a success. Yet although she and Vladimir are becoming close, Nina is put off by his ruthlessness. He explains that before the war he, as an engineer, had to destroy the very hydroelectric power plant he had helped build in order to keep the enemy from using it. The couple's budding romance threatens the stability of the squad. At one point, when Vladimir must enlist someone to pass through Naxi lines to relay a coded message to his superior, he decides a woman would less likely be caught. He chooses the veteran Yelena (Maria Palmer), the only woman in the group besides Nina. When Yelena's horse returns to their hideout with blood on the saddle, Nina volunteers to take her place. Vladimir reluctantly accedes, sending the teen-aged boy Mitya (Glen Vernon) along with her. Upon delivering the message, she is given a coded reply: "The snow will fall tomorrow." This indicates that an anticipated massive Russian counterattack will begin the next day. Vladimir's superiors put him in charge of a merged partisan operation. Before the fighting begins, however, he orders Nina to take Mitya's younger sister, Olga (Dena Penn), to safety. Fighting bravely, the group's members are killed one by one, but Nina returns to Vladimir. As they fight on, he administers her the partisan oath of allegiance just before a German tank rolls atop their machine-gun nest and explodes.

American salesman Alan Clay is sent to sell a holographic teleconferencing system to the Saudi government by overseeing a presentation for the King of Saudi Arabia. Clay was offered the job solely because he once met a nephew of the King. Clay is haunted by a previous job at the Schwinn Bicycle Company, where he oversaw the outsourcing of their production to China, which led to hundreds of layoffs in the US. He is also depressed by a messy and costly divorce, which leaves him unable to afford to send his daughter to college. Oversleeping on his first day in Jeddah, due to jet lag, he misses the shuttle bus to the King's Metropolis of Economy and Trade, a largely unfinished planned city in the desert, where Clay is scheduled to give his sales presentation. He hires a driver, Yousef, who describes being in love with a woman whose wealthy and jealous husband has led Yousef to fear for his life. After arriving, Clay is informed that neither the King nor his direct contact, Karim Al-Ahmed, are there. Clay's team is placed in a tent outside the office building, which lacks food and workable internet access. Clay repeatedly oversleeps and calls Yousef repeatedly to drive him to the development. They become closer during the long drives. At the development, he is repeatedly put off and confined to the tent. One day, he slips inside the building and meets Danish executive Hanne. She is sympathetic to his plight, but cannot help him get in contact with the King or Karim Al-Ahmed. She offers him alcohol disguised as olive oil, which Clay has missed since arriving in Saudi Arabia. That night, Clay gets drunk and tries to cut open a lump on his back. Waking the next day, covered with blood from the cut, he goes to a hospital, where he develops an immediate connection with Zahra, the doctor treating him. She performs a biopsy and asks him to return in a few days. After more days without progress, Clay is invited by Hanne to a party at the Danish consulate, where she unsuccessfully tries to seduce him. The next day, after the tent's air conditioning breaks, Clay becomes upset. He again slips into the office building and finally meets Karim Al-Ahmed. Karim assures Clay he will take care of the team's problems but cannot give him a date for the presentation. He shows Clay a new, totally empty condominium development. Back in Jeddah, Clay has a panic attack at his hotel. Mistaking it for a stroke, he calls Zahra and Yousef. Yousef, arriving shortly after Zahra, notices how close they are and after she leaves, chastises Alan for endangering her by making advances, which Clay vehemently denies. Yousef confesses the jealous husband has threatened him and flees to his home town in the mountains for the weekend to let things cool down. Clay accompanies him, passing through Mecca, a city prohibited to non-Muslims. After returning, Clay learns his lump contains precancerous cells and should be removed the next day. When returning to the development, Clay notices the technical problems have been resolved, and successfully gives the King his presentation. However, soon after, Clay learns the Saudis have made a deal with a Chinese company, which can offer a similar product at a cheaper rate. The next day, the operation begins with an unknown male doctor, but at the last moment, Zahra takes over, to Clay's delight. After the procedure, Clay and Zahra exchange increasingly personal and intimate emails, which culminate in a secret meeting. They talk about their families, and Zahra explains she has children and is going through a messy divorce. They are driven to Zahra's beach house, where they go swimming and have sex. Clay writes to his daughter, telling her the deal was unsuccessful but that he has taken a well-paid job selling condominiums in the unfinished city, which will allow him to pay for college for her, and has found a new positive force in his life with Zahra.

David and Diana Murphy are married high school sweethearts living in California. Diana is working as a real estate agent, while David hopes to establish himself as an architect by designing their dream home. The couple invest everything they have in David's project, purchasing beachfront property in Santa Monica, California and beginning construction but the recession leaves Diana without houses to sell and David without a job. In desperate need of $50,000 to save their land from being repossessed, they travel to Las Vegas to gamble with the last of their savings. At a casino, Diana catches the eye of high roller John Gage, while David wins over $25,000 at craps. Reveling in their winnings, Diana assures David that she loves him regardless of the money. The next day, they lose everything at roulette; leaving the casino, they notice a crowd gathered to watch Gage play baccarat. Gage asks Diana to join him for good luck and she makes a winning craps roll on his $1 million bet. As thanks, Gage insists on paying for the Murphys' stay, giving them a lavish hotel suite and a dress he saw Diana admire. After an enjoyable evening together, Gage offers the couple $1 million to allow him to spend a night with Diana, with David flatly refusing. Later, Diana convinces David to agree to Gage's proposal. David contacts his lawyer Jeremy Green, who prepares a contract for the arrangement. Leaving Diana with Gage, David has a change of heart and races to stop them but arrives just as they depart by helicopter. Gage flies Diana to his private yacht and offers her a chance to void their deal and return to David if he loses a toss of his lucky coin. He wins the toss and Diana spends the night with him. Agreeing to forget the incident, the Murphys return home to discover that the bank had already foreclosed on and sold their land. Overcome with anger and jealousy, David accuses Diana of continuing to see Gage after finding his business card in her wallet, which she denies knowing about. Discovering that it was Gage who bought out their land, Diana angrily confronts him and rejects his attempts to pursue her. When she informs David, their tension reaches a breaking point and they separate; Diana allows David to keep the $1 million. Weeks later, Gage visits Diana at work and renews his advances. Initially resistant, she eventually consents to spending time with him and a romance develops between them. David, meanwhile, turns to alcohol and eventually hits rock bottom, leading to a public confrontation with Gage and Diana. He pulls his life back together and finds a teaching position and Diana files for divorce. Finding her at a zoo benefit with Gage, David donates the entire $1 million in a charity auction bid, then makes his peace with Diana and signs their divorce papers. Realizing that Diana will never love him the way she loves David, Gage lies to her that she is merely the latest member of his "million-dollar club" of women. Seeing through his deception, she gratefully ends their relationship; before parting ways, he gives her his lucky coin, which she realizes is double headed. Diana returns to the pier where David proposed to her seven years earlier, finding him there. Repeating their unique declaration of love, they join hands.

The film is shown through the eyes of Federico, a photographer from Italy. Tariq (a friend of Federico) is scheduled to marry Bilquis, the daughter of a rich judge. However, while out in the city one night, he catches sight of a woman he believes to be Bilquis, and falls in love with her. The woman turns out to be a nagsh (a black plant applied like henna) artist named Ines, and Tariq ends up having to choose between the two. The film ends with a shot of a jinn, played by Hirsi himself.