A gang of masked criminals rob a mafia -owned bank in Gotham City, betraying and killing each other until the sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. The vigilante Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and police lieutenant Jim Gordon ally to eliminate Gotham's organized crime. Batman's true identity, the billionaire Bruce Wayne, publicly supports Dent as Gotham's legitimate protector, believing Dent's success will allow him to retire as Batman and romantically pursue his childhood friend Rachel Dawes —despite her being with Dent. Gotham's mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from the Joker, the police, and Batman. The Joker interrupts the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half of the fortune their accountant, Lau, concealed before fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid extradition. With the help of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong and returns him to the custody of the Gotham police. His testimony enables Dent to apprehend the crime families. The bosses accept the Joker's offer, and he kills high-profile targets involved in the trial, including the judge and police commissioner Gillian Loeb. Although Gordon saves the mayor, the Joker threatens that his attacks will continue until Batman reveals his identity. He targets Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, but Batman rescues her. Bruce struggles to understand the Joker's motives, to which his butler Alfred Pennyworth says that "some men just want to watch the world burn." Dent claims he is Batman to lure the Joker out, who attacks the police convoy transporting Dent. Batman and Gordon apprehend the Joker, and Gordon is promoted to commissioner. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who says he finds Batman entertaining and has no intention of killing him. Having deduced Batman's feelings for Rachel, the Joker reveals she and Dent are being held separately in buildings rigged to explode. Batman races to rescue Rachel while Gordon and the other officers go after Dent, but they discover the Joker has given their positions in reverse. The explosives detonate, killing Rachel and severely burning Dent's face on one side. The Joker escapes custody, extracts the fortune's location from Lau, and burns it, killing Lau in the process. Coleman Reese, a consultant for Wayne Enterprises, deduces and tries to expose Batman's identity, but the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital unless Reese is killed. While the police evacuate hospitals and Gordon struggles to keep Reese alive, the Joker meets with a disillusioned Dent, persuading him to take the law into his own hands and avenge Rachel. Dent defers his decision-making to his now half-scarred, two-headed coin, killing the corrupt officers and the mafia involved in Rachel's death. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals that two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, are rigged to explode at midnight unless one group sacrifices the other. To the Joker's disbelief, the passengers refuse to kill one another. Batman subdues the Joker but refuses to kill him. Before the police arrest the Joker, he says that although Batman proved incorruptible, his plan to corrupt Dent has succeeded. Dent takes Gordon's family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel's death. He flips his coin to decide their fates, but Batman tackles him to save Gordon's son, and Dent falls to his death. Believing Dent is the hero the city needs, and the truth of his corruption will harm Gotham, Batman takes the blame for his death and actions, persuading Gordon to conceal the truth. Alfred burns an undelivered letter from Rachel to Bruce that says she chose Dent, and Fox destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped Batman find the Joker. The city mourns Dent as a hero, and the police launch a manhunt for Batman.

Dom Cobb and Arthur are "extractors" who perform corporate espionage using experimental dream-sharing technology to infiltrate their targets' subconscious and extract information. Their latest target, Saito, is impressed with Cobb's ability to layer multiple dreams within each other. He offers to hire Cobb for the ostensibly impossible job of implanting an idea into a person's subconscious; performing "inception" on Robert Fischer, the son of Saito's competitor Maurice Fischer, with the idea to dissolve his father's company. In return, Saito promises to clear Cobb's criminal status, allowing him to return home to his children. Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: a forger named Eames, a chemist named Yusuf, and a college student named Ariadne. Ariadne is tasked with designing the dream's architecture, something Cobb himself cannot do for fear of being sabotaged by his mind's projection of his late wife, Mal. Maurice Fischer dies, and the team sedates Robert Fischer into a three-layer shared dream on an airplane to America bought by Saito. Time on each layer runs slower than the layer above, with one member staying behind on each to perform a music-synchronized " kick " (using the French song " Non, je ne regrette rien ") to awaken dreamers on all three levels simultaneously. The team abducts Robert in a city on the first level, but unknown to any team member, his subconscious projections, trained to anticipate such a scenario, attack them. After Saito is wounded, Cobb reveals that while dying in the dream would usually awaken dreamers, Yusuf's sedatives will instead send them into " Limbo ": a world of infinite subconscious. Eames impersonates Robert's godfather, Peter Browning, to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company. Cobb explains to Ariadne that he and Mal entered Limbo while experimenting with dream-sharing, experiencing fifty years in one night due to the time dilation with reality. After waking up, Mal still believed she was dreaming. Attempting to "wake up," she committed suicide and framed Cobb for her murder to force him to do the same. Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind. Yusuf drives the team around the first level as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Cobb persuades Robert that Browning has kidnapped him to stop the dissolution and that Cobb is a defensive projection, leading Robert to another third level deeper as part of a ruse to enter Robert's subconscious. In the third level, the team infiltrates an alpine fortress with a projection of Maurice inside, where the inception itself can be performed. However, Yusuf performs his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, forcing Arthur and Eames to improvise a new set of kicks synchronized with them hitting the water by rigging an elevator and the fortress, respectively, with explosives. Mal then appears and kills Robert before he can be subjected to the inception; he and Saito are subsequently lost in Limbo, forcing Cobb and Ariadne to rescue them in time for Robert's inception and Eames's kick. Cobb reveals that during their time in Limbo, Mal refused to return to reality; Cobb had to convince her it was only a dream, accidentally incepting in her the belief that the real world was still a dream. Cobb makes peace with his part in Mal's death. Ariadne kills Mal's projection and wakes Robert up with a kick. Revived into the third level, Robert discovers the planted idea: his dying father telling him to create something for himself. While Cobb searches for Saito in Limbo, the others ride the synced kicks back to reality. Cobb finds an aged Saito and reminds him of their agreement. The dreamers all awaken on the plane, and Saito makes a phone call. Arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb passes the immigration checkpoint, and his father-in-law accompanies him to his home. Cobb uses Mal's "totem" – a top that spins indefinitely in a dream – to test if he is indeed in the real world, but he chooses not to observe the result and instead joins his children.

The unnamed Narrator works an office job as an automobile recall coordinator. He goes to a doctor for his disordered sleep, complaining that he falls asleep unexpectedly and wakes up in unknown places. The doctor suggests he attend a testicular cancer support group to see what actual pain looks like. The Narrator does so, and finds that the honesty and vulnerability he experiences there improve his sleep. He begins attending other support groups and encounters Marla Singer, another impostor, whose presence unnerves him. After a confrontation, the two agree to split the groups they attend. The Narrator meets luxury soap salesman Tyler Durden on a business flight. Upon returning home, the Narrator finds his apartment destroyed in an explosion, and calls Tyler. They meet at a bar, where Tyler criticizes the Narrator's consumerist lifestyle and mocks him for not directly asking for a place to stay. Tyler agrees the Narrator can stay with him, but first asks a favor: for the Narrator to punch him as hard as he can. The Narrator does so, instigating an agreeable exchange of painful blows. At Tyler's large and decrepit house they start an underground "Fight Club" at the bar, as a way for men to reclaim control of their lives. Tyler saves Marla from an overdose, leading to a sexual relationship, while the Narrator remains cold to her. Tyler has the Narrator promise not to talk to Marla about him. His experiences at Fight Club transform the Narrator, and he grows increasingly disillusioned with his career. He extorts his boss by beating himself up in his boss's office, staging it as if the boss had assaulted him, and uses the hush money to expand Fight Club. He attracts new members, including his cancer support group friend, Robert "Bob" Paulsen. Tyler transforms the club into Project Mayhem, which commits increasingly destructive anti-capitalist acts. The Narrator confronts Tyler, who confesses to exploding the Narrator's apartment to free him from his consumerist lifestyle. They argue, then Tyler goes missing. When the police kill Bob during a Project Mayhem mission, the Narrator tries to dismantle Project Mayhem and discovers its nationwide reach. Across several cities, the Narrator finds local chapters and asks if they have seen Tyler, but they give evasive and confusing answers until one member identifies the Narrator as Mr. Durden. The Narrator calls Marla to enquire about their relationship; she calls him Tyler. Once she hangs up, Tyler appears in the room with the Narrator and rebukes him for involving Marla. The Narrator realizes he and Tyler are the same person, with Tyler taking control during the Narrator's apparent narcolepsy. The Narrator discovers Project Mayhem's ultimate objective: to erase all debt records by blowing up the skyscrapers of consumer credit companies. He warns Marla to stay away from him and goes to alert the police, but finds the officers are themselves Project Mayhem members. They attempt to castrate him on Tyler's orders. The Narrator escapes and disarms one of the bombs, prompting Tyler to attack him. The Narrator reasons that Tyler's gun must be in his own hand, and finds that he is now holding it. He shoots himself in the cheek, "killing" Tyler but leaving the Narrator alive. Marla and he hold hands and watch the skyline as buildings collapse.

In 1980s Boston, Irish mob boss Frank Costello introduces himself to a young Colin Sullivan. Years later, Sullivan has been groomed as Costello's spy inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and joins the Special Investigation Unit. Another police academy recruit, Billy Costigan, is selected by Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam to infiltrate Costello's organization. Serving a prison term as his cover, Costigan draws Costello's attention by committing several crimes, and is recruited into the gang. His mental state declines as he becomes increasingly involved in Costello's violent criminal enterprise, but Queenan and Dignam convince him to remain undercover. Sullivan begins dating police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden, who becomes Costigan's court-ordered therapist. Costigan notifies the MSP that Costello will be selling stolen microprocessors to Chinese mobsters, but Sullivan helps thwart the attempted sting operation. Costello and the MSP both realize they have been compromised, and both Costigan and Sullivan are tasked to find the opposing mole. Costigan learns Costello is a protected FBI informant, sharing his discovery with Queenan. He and Madden begin an affair. Following Costello, Costigan sees him give Sullivan an envelope of information on his crew. Costigan is unable to identify Sullivan, who realizes he is being followed and mistakenly stabs a passerby before fleeing. Lying to his fellow officers to have Queenan followed, Sullivan realizes Queenan is meeting with his mole, and informs Costello's gang. Costigan, fearing he will be discovered and killed for being the mole, meets with Queenan to abort the operation. However, Queenan helps Costigan escape as Costello's men arrive, and is thrown from the building to his death. Fatally wounded in the ensuing firefight with police, Costello's henchman Timothy Delahunt tells Costigan he knows that he is the mole before dying. In the wake of Queenan's murder, Dignam is suspended after an altercation with Sullivan, who learns from Queenan's files that Costello is cooperating with the FBI. A news report identifies Delahunt as a Boston Police Department undercover officer, but Costello suspects this is a ruse to protect the real mole. Sullivan directs the MSP to tail Costello, resulting in a gunfight that kills most of Costello's crew. Sullivan confronts a wounded Costello, who admits to being an informant. They exchange gunfire, and Sullivan kills him. His assignment finished, Costigan reveals himself to Sullivan but recognizes Costello's envelope on his desk, deducing Sullivan is Costello's mole. Costigan flees, and Sullivan realizes he has discovered the truth, deleting Costigan's police records. Costigan leaves an envelope of evidence with Madden, who finds a recording he mailed to Sullivan of Sullivan's incriminating conversations with Costello. Meeting Sullivan on the rooftop where Queenan was killed, Costigan arrests him. Trooper Brown, Costigan's police academy classmate, arrives as Costigan holds Sullivan at gunpoint, declaring he has evidence tying Sullivan to Costello. Taking the elevator to the lobby, Costigan is shot and killed by Trooper Barrigan, who reveals he is another of Costello's spies in the MSP. Brown is shot by Barrigan, who, in turn, is shot by Sullivan, framing Barrigan as Costello's only mole. Sullivan recommends Costigan be posthumously commended, but after Costigan's funeral, a pregnant Madden leaves him. He arrives home to find Dignam, who shoots him and departs.

Kim Ki-taek and Chung-sook live in a semi-basement flat (banjiha) in Seoul with their daughter Ki-jung and son Ki-woo. As the family has financial struggles and low-income jobs, family friend Min-hyuk gives them a scholar's rock meant to promise wealth. Leaving to study abroad, he suggests that Ki-woo lie about his qualifications to take over Min-hyuk's job as an English tutor for Da-hye, the daughter of the wealthy but naïve Park family. Min-hyuk trusts Ki-woo because he likes Da-hye and wants to ask her out when he returns. After Ki-jung helps forge a certificate for him, Ki-woo, posing as a Yonsei University student named "Kevin", goes to the Parks' home, where he is hired by the mother Mrs Park by the end of his first lesson. The Kims' scheme is to secure jobs for each family member within the Park household while concealing their true identities. Ki-woo recommends "Jessica," actually Ki-jung, as an art therapist for the Parks' young son, Da-song, who has been traumatised after seeing a "ghost" in their kitchen. Ki-jung then frames Yoon, the Parks' chauffeur, by making it appear as though he had a sexual encounter in the car, leading to Ki-taek being hired as his replacement. The Kims exploit the peach allergy of the Parks' longtime housekeeper, Moon-gwang, to convince Mrs Park that Moon-gwang has tuberculosis, and Chung-sook is hired as her replacement. Meanwhile, Ki-woo begins a secret romantic relationship with Da-hye. While the Parks are away on a camping trip, the Kims revel in the luxuries of the house when Moon-gwang suddenly appears at the door, claiming to have forgotten something in the basement. She goes through a hidden entrance to an underground bunker created by the house's architect and previous owner, who had kept its existence secret from the Parks. There, Moon-gwang's husband, Geun-sae, has been hiding from loan sharks and is revealed to be the "ghost" Da-song saw. Moon-gwang begs Chung-sook to allow Geun-sae to continue living there in exchange for regular payments, but the three other Kims, who are eavesdropping, accidentally reveal their true identities. Moon-gwang films them and threatens to expose their deception to the Parks. After the Parks call to inform the Kims that they are returning early due to a sudden severe rainstorm, the Kims quickly destroy all evidence of their ruse and subdue Moon-gwang and Geun-sae in the bunker, although Moon-gwang is injured during the struggle. The Kims manage to escape, but the torrential rain floods their flat with sewage water, forcing them to take shelter in a gymnasium alongside other displaced people. The next day, Mrs Park organises an impromptu garden party for Da-song's birthday, with the elder Kims assisting while the younger Kims are invited as guests. Ki-woo enters the bunker with his scholar's rock, with intentions unknown. Moon-gwang is already dead from injuries sustained in the previous day's brawl; Geun-sae bludgeons Ki-woo with the rock, leaving him unconscious. Geun-sae then leaves the bunker and stabs Ki-jung with a kitchen knife in front of horrified party guests. Da-song faints upon seeing the "ghost" again. Chung-sook impales Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer after a struggle. While Ki-taek tends to Ki-jung, Mr Park orders him to drive Da-song to the hospital. Ki-taek, gradually enraged by the Parks' lack of empathy or awareness of their own privilege, stabs him with Geun-sae's knife and flees. Weeks later, Ki-woo is recovering from brain surgery, and he and Chung-sook have been convicted of fraud and placed on probation. Ki-jung has died from her injuries, and Ki-taek – now a wanted fugitive – has disappeared. Geun-sae is presumed to have been a random homeless man, and the motives for the murders remain unsolved. Ki-woo spies on the Parks' former home, now owned by a foreign family, and notices a Morse code message in a light visible from outside. Ki-taek, hiding in the bunker, has buried Moon-gwang in the garden and sends daily messages, hoping Ki-woo will see them. Still living in a semi-basement flat with his mother, Ki-woo writes a letter to Ki-taek, vowing to earn enough money one day to buy the house and free him.

Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows, leads an attack on a CIA plane over Uzbekistan to abduct nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel. Meanwhile, eight years after the death of Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent and the arrest of the Joker, organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham by the Dent Act, legislation that gives expanded powers to the police. Police commissioner James Gordon has kept Dent's killing spree a secret and allowed the blame for his crimes to fall on Batman. Bruce Wayne, still mourning the death of Rachel Dawes, has become a recluse. Bane conspires to help Wayne Enterprises board member John Daggett take over the company, and they begin by trying to buy Bruce's fingerprints. Cat burglar Selina Kyle steals Bruce's prints from Wayne Manor for Daggett, but he double-crosses her, and she alerts the police. Bane's henchmen capture Gordon in the sewers but he escapes and is found by steadfast Gotham City police officer John Blake, an orphan who has deduced Bruce's secret identity. Blake persuades Bruce to resume his vigilantism. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Bruce's fingerprints to verify fraudulent transactions, leaving Bruce ousted from his company and bankrupt. Fearing Bruce will purposely get himself killed fighting Bane, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, resigns in the hope of saving him after revealing to him that Rachel was going to marry Dent, and thus, Bruce should let her go. Bane kills Daggett to pursue his own goals while Bruce and Wayne Enterprises's new CEO, Miranda Tate, become lovers. Selina agrees to take Batman to Bane, but instead leads him into a trap under Wayne Tower. Bane gloats that he intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul 's mission to destroy Gotham City before he brutally cripples Batman in combat. He takes Bruce to an ancient underground prison in the Middle East, where Bruce learns that Ra's al Ghul's child was born and raised there, but had a protector who helped that child escape. Back in Gotham, Bane detonates explosives to trap the police forces in the sewers, destroys all but one bridge surrounding the city, kills Gotham mayor Anthony Garcia, and forces Pavel to convert the fusion reactor core owned by Wayne Enterprises into a decaying neutron bomb before publicly killing him. He exposes Dent's crimes to the city and releases the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary, effectively taking over Gotham. He also has Gotham's elite exiled and killed in proletarian kangaroo courts presided over by Jonathan Crane. Five months later, Bruce, now healed, escapes the prison. As Batman, he returns to Gotham and frees the police, and together they war with Bane's army. During the battle, Tate stabs Batman, revealing herself as Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia al Ghul. Bane is her decoy and guardian who had helped her escape the pit, becoming mauled in the process. Talia activates the bomb, but it fails due to Gordon blocking the signal. Selina kills Bane and helps Batman pursue Talia, hoping to return the bomb to the reactor chamber, where it can be stabilized. Talia's truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman reveals his identity to Gordon, and uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb over the bay, where it safely explodes. In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and honored as a hero. Since Bruce is also presumed dead, Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage, and Bruce's estate is left to Alfred. Gordon finds the Bat-Signal repaired, while Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed the Bat's malfunctioning autopilot, implying that he escaped the Bat before the detonation. In Florence, drinking a Fernet Branca, Alfred discovers that Bruce is alive and in a relationship with Selina, and they acknowledge each other with a smile. Blake, whose legal first name is revealed as Robin, resigns from the GCPD, disillusioned with how they'd handled Bane's takeover, and receives a package leading him to the Batcave.

The film starts with a Polaroid photograph of a dead man. As the sequence plays backward, the photo reverts to its undeveloped state, entering the camera before the man is shot in the head. The film continues, alternating between black-and-white and color sequences. The black-and-white sequences begin with Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator, in a motel room speaking to an unseen and unknown caller. Leonard has anterograde amnesia and is unable to store recent memories, the result of an attack by two men. Leonard explains that he killed the attacker who raped and strangled his wife Catherine, but a second clubbed him and escaped. The police did not accept that there was a second attacker, but Leonard believes the attacker's name is "John G" or "James G". Leonard investigates using notes, Polaroid photos, and tattoos to keep track of the information he discovers. Leonard recalls Sammy Jankis, another anterograde amnesiac, from his insurance industry days. After tests confirmed Sammy's inability to learn tasks through repetition, Leonard believed that his condition was at best psychological and turned down his insurance claim. Sammy's distraught wife repeatedly asked Sammy to administer her insulin shots for her diabetes, hoping he would remember having recently given her a shot and avoid giving her a fatal overdose. However, Sammy administered each injection, and his wife died. The color sequences are shown reverse-chronologically. In the story's chronology, Leonard self-directively gets a tattoo of John G's license plate. Finding a note in his clothes, he meets Natalie, a bartender who resents Leonard because he wears the clothes and drives the car of her boyfriend, Jimmy Grantz. After understanding Leonard's condition, she uses it to get Leonard to drive a man named Dodd out of town and offers to run the license plate as a favor through the Department of Motor Vehicle's database. Meanwhile, Leonard meets with a contact, Teddy, who helps with Dodd, but warns about Natalie. Leonard finds that he had previously annotated his Polaroid of Teddy, warning himself not to trust Teddy. Natalie provides Leonard with the driver's license for a John Edward Gammell, Teddy's full name. Confirming Leonard's information on "John G" and his warnings, Leonard drives Teddy to an abandoned building, leading to the opening where he shoots him. In the final black-and-white sequence, prompted by the caller, Leonard meets with Teddy, an undercover officer, who has found Leonard's "John G", Jimmy, and directs Leonard to the abandoned building. When Jimmy arrives, Leonard strangles him fatally and takes a Polaroid photo of the body. As the photo develops, the black-and-white transitions to the final color sequence. Leonard swaps clothes with Jimmy, hearing him whisper "Sammy". As Leonard has only told Sammy's story to those he has met, he suddenly doubts Jimmy's role in his wife's murder. Teddy arrives and asserts that Jimmy was John G, but when Leonard is undeterred, Teddy reveals that he helped him kill the real attacker a year ago, and Teddy has been using Leonard since. Teddy points out that since the name "John G" is common, Leonard will cyclically forget and begin his search again and that even Teddy himself has a "John G" name. Further, Teddy reveals that Sammy's story is Leonard's own story, a memory Leonard has repressed to escape feelings of guilt. After hearing Teddy confess all of this, Leonard burns the photograph of the dead Jimmy and the photo of himself right after killing the real attacker a year ago, pointing to his chest where he would get a tattoo to document his successful revenge. In a monologue, Leonard explains that he is willing to lie to himself in order to get justice against anyone who has wronged him. He targets Teddy by ordering a tattoo of Teddy's license plate number and writing a note to himself that Teddy is not to be trusted so that he will mistake Teddy for John G and kill him. Leonard drives off in Jimmy's car, confident that, despite this lie, he will retain enough awareness of the world to know that his actions have consequences.

In 1984 East Germany (GDR), Stasi Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, code name HGW XX/7, is ordered by his friend and superior, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz, to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman, whose pro- communist politics and international recognition have so far kept the state from directly monitoring him. Dreyman's apparent life as a model East German mystifies Wiesler; the playwright has no known vices or record of disloyalty or dissent at all. At the request of Minister of Culture Bruno Hempf, Wiesler and his team bug Dreyman's apartment, set up surveillance equipment, and report Dreyman's activities. Wiesler is disappointed to discover that Hempf is having Dreyman observed not for suspicions of disloyalty or dissent, but for his own lustful interest in Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria Sieland. After an intervention by Wiesler leads to Dreyman discovering Hempf's coercive relationship with Sieland, he implores her not to meet Hempf again and to be true to herself. She returns to Dreyman's apartment without seeing Hempf. Dreyman's friend Albert Jerska, a blacklisted theatrical director, gives him sheet music for Sonate vom Guten Menschen (Sonata about Good People). Shortly afterwards, Jerska hangs himself. Dreyman realises that the GDR has not published its suicide rates since 1977, and decides to publish an article in Western media. To determine whether or not his flat is bugged, Dreyman and his friends feign a defection attempt. A sympathetic Wiesler does not report it and the conspirators believe they are safe. Since all East German typewriters are registered and identifiable, an editor of prominent West German newsweekly Der Spiegel smuggles Dreyman a Groma Büromaschinen Kolibri, an ultra-flat typewriter, which he hides under a floorboard. It has only a red ribbon, which stains his fingers. Dreyman publishes an anonymous article in Der Spiegel accusing the state of concealing the country's elevated suicide rates. The article angers the East German authorities but the Stasi cannot link it to a registered typewriter. Rejected by Sieland, Hempf orders Grubitz to arrest her. She is blackmailed into revealing Dreyman's authorship of the article, although the Stasi do not find the typewriter. Grubitz, suspicious of Wiesler, has him conduct the follow-up interrogation of Sieland. Wiesler makes Sieland reveal the typewriter's location. When the Stasi return to Dreyman's apartment, Sieland realises that Dreyman will know she betrayed him and runs into the street in front of a passing truck. Dreyman runs after her and Sieland dies in his arms. Grubitz finds nothing beneath the floorboard; he ends the investigation with a perfunctory apology to Dreyman. Grubitz informs Wiesler that while the investigation is over, so is Wiesler's career; his remaining years with the Stasi will be steam-opening letters for inspection in Department M, a dead-end assignment for disgraced agents. The same day, Mikhail Gorbachev is elected leader of the Soviet Union. Two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hempf and Dreyman meet at a performance of Dreyman's play, each reflecting on life before and after German reunification. Dreyman asks why he was never monitored by the Stasi, to which Hempf replies that he had been: "We knew everything." Dreyman finds the abandoned listening devices in his apartment and rips them from the walls. Dreyman reviews his Stasi files at the Stasi Records Agency, reading that Sieland was released just before the second search and could not have removed the typewriter. He is confused by other contradictions until, seeing a red fingerprint in the final report, he realises that the officer in charge of his surveillance – Stasi officer HGW XX/7 – had removed the typewriter from his apartment and concealed his activities, including his authorship of the suicide article. He tracks down Wiesler, who now works as a mailman, but ultimately decides not to approach him. Two years later, Wiesler passes a bookstore window display promoting Dreyman's new novel, Sonate vom Guten Menschen ("Sonata about a Good Person"). He opens a copy of the book, discovering that it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, in gratitude". As he buys a copy, Wiesler is asked if he would like it giftwrapped. He replies: "No, it's for me."

Eight men planning to rob a jewelry store for a diamond shipment eat breakfast at a diner. To pull off the heist, boss Joe Cabot assembles six experienced robbers who are strangers to each other. Joe and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot, have known some of the team for years, but to shield identities, the rest use aliases: Mr. White, a career criminal; Mr. Blonde, a trigger-happy ex-convict; Mr. Orange, a reputed drug dealer; Mr. Pink, a paranoid neurotic; Mr. Brown, a pseudo philosopher; and Mr. Blue, an even-tempered cohort. When an alarm is tripped during the heist, after Blonde started to shoot bystanders, the police arrive quickly. Running from police, Pink hijacks a car, killing a couple of police officers in a shootout. White, who shoots police officers pursuing in a prowler, flees with Orange, who is shot hijacking a car before he kills the driver. Shot in the abdomen, Orange bleeds profusely in the back seat of the car driven by White. Despite Orange's pleadings to be taken to a hospital, White insists that he is not fatally wounded. At their warehouse hideout, White and Orange rendezvous with Pink, who informs them that he has hidden the diamonds nearby. Pink believes that the job was a setup and that the police were waiting to ambush them. White informs Pink that Brown is dead, Blue and Blonde are missing, and Blonde—a loose cannon—murdered several bystanders during the heist. White is furious that Joe, his old friend, would employ Blonde, who he describes as a psychopath. Pink argues with White, who feels responsible for Orange being shot, over whether to get medical attention for Orange, and Pink is wary that Joe is not there to get a doctor. The pair draw guns on each other, but they stand down when Blonde arrives with a kidnapped policeman, Marvin Nash. In flashback, having been paroled after a four-year prison sentence, Blonde meets with the Cabots. To reward him for not giving Joe's name to the authorities, the Cabots offer Blonde a no-show job. Though grateful, Blonde insists that he wants to get back to "real work", and they recruit him for the heist. In the present, White and Pink begin to torture Nash for information. Eddie arrives and orders them to go with him to ditch the getaway vehicles, leaving Blonde in charge of prisoner Nash and the in-and-out-of-consciousness Orange. Nash denies prior knowledge of the heist, but Blonde resumes the torture by slashing his face and cutting off his ear with a straight razor while a radio plays " Stuck in the Middle with You ". When Blonde prepares to set Nash on fire, Orange shoots and kills him. Disclosing to Nash that he is an undercover police officer, Orange says that the police will arrive when Joe comes to the warehouse. Nash replies that he recognized Orange, revealing that Nash protected Orange's cover under torture. Flashbacks show scenes of Orange gaining Joe's and White's confidence and building rapport with the team. When Eddie, Pink, and White return, Orange tries to convince them that Blonde planned to kill them all and steal the diamonds for himself. Eddie shoots and kills Nash and accuses Orange of lying, since Blonde proved loyal to his father. Joe arrives with news that the police have killed Blue. Suspecting that Orange is the traitor behind the setup, Joe is about to execute him, but White intervenes, holding Joe at gunpoint and insisting that Orange is not a police officer. Eddie aims his gun at White, creating a Mexican standoff. All three fire. Both Eddie and Joe Cabot are killed, and White and Orange are wounded. Pink (the only uninjured person), takes the diamonds and flees, but is apprehended by the police outside. As White cradles the dying Orange in his arms, Orange confesses that he is in fact a police officer. White presses his gun to Orange's head. The police storm the warehouse and order White to drop his gun. Gunshots sound and White collapses.

In 1943, Flyora and another Belarusian boy dig up a rifle from a trench to join the Soviet partisans. They do so in defiance of their village elder, who warns them that this would arouse the suspicions of the occupying Germans. The boys' activities are noticed by a reconnaissance aircraft. The next day, partisans arrive at Flyora's house to conscript him against his mother's wishes. Flyora is taken to a partisan camp in the forest, where he becomes a low-rank militiaman who performs menial tasks. When those partisans trained to fight leave, their commander Kosach orders Flyora and several other men to remain behind at the camp. Bitterly disappointed, Flyora walks into the forest weeping. He comes across Glasha, an emotionally unstable adolescent girl working as a partisan nurse. The forest is suddenly attacked by dive bombers and German paratroopers, forcing the duo to flee. They hide from German officers passing through the forest and sleep under a tree for the night. Flyora and Glasha travel to his village, only to find it deserted. Denying that his family is dead, Flyora believes they are hiding on a nearby island across a bog and runs off. Glasha follows, by chance seeing a pile of executed villagers behind his house, before yelling at Flyora to leave quickly. They become hysterical after wading through the bog, where Glasha screams at Flyora that his family is dead. Rubezh, a partisan fighter, rescues them and takes them to meet the surviving villagers. The village elder, severely burned by gasoline, tells Flyora of his family's deaths and repeats his warning about digging up the rifle. Once again hysterical, Flyora submerges his head in the bog, but Glasha and the villagers stop him. Rubezh takes Flyora and two other men to raid a warehouse for food. The group find the warehouse unexpectedly guarded by German troops and are forced to retreat. Flyora's two comrades are killed by a land mine. Rubezh and Flyora coerce a Nazi-collaborating farmer to hand over his cow, but a German machine gun kills Rubezh and the cow. Flyora attempts to steal a horse and cart from another man to transport the cow, but he convinces Flyora to hide his gun and Red Army jacket as SS troops appear. He takes Flyora to his house in Perekhody village. German troops and collaborators surround and occupy the village. Flyora runs outside and sees women, children, and the elderly being forcibly marched down the street. Flyora warns them that they are being herded to their deaths, but he is forced into a barn church with them. The Germans barricade the doors, leaving the people inside screaming while the soldiers laugh. Flyora and a young woman with a child exit the church; the woman's child is thrown back in while she is dragged off to be gang raped. The soldiers throw explosives into the church and barricade the windows. The church is set on fire, killing everyone inside as the soldiers celebrate. A German officer holds a pistol to Flyora's head to pose for a picture, then abandons him as the soldiers leave. Flyora wanders away from the scorched village, finding the aftermath of a partisan ambush on the escaping Germans. Flyora recovers his jacket and rifle, only to spot the gang-raped woman bleeding and stumbling in a fugue state. He finds Kosach and the partisans nearby, having captured some of the Germans and their collaborators responsible for the church fire. They plead for their lives, blaming a fanatical and unapologetic Obersturmführer. Kosach suggests that one collaborator douse the others with petrol; he willingly does so, but the partisans shoot them all before they can be set on fire. As the partisans leave, Flyora notices a boy looking at a painting of Hitler in a puddle. When the boy leaves, Flyora repeatedly shoots the portrait; a montage of clips from Hitler's life plays in reverse, but when Hitler is shown as a baby on his mother 's lap, Flyora stops shooting and cries. A title card states, " 628 Belorussian villages were destroyed, along with all their inhabitants ". Flyora rushes to rejoin his comrades.

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